way to forge ahead with creating a two-state solution. and the settlements that continue to pop in the west bank that have many palestinians fearing they may not have their season state in the future if they continue to throw as they have been. and thirdly, that will likely ask the president to speak to israeli officials in releasing palestinian prisoners being held currently in israeli jails and then president obama after his trip to gentlemramallah will se. it will be interesting to hear what he has to say. we may get a glimpse on what the obama administration has in store when it comes to both israeli and palestinian officials, richard. >> at least now from the pictures, atia, showing a visible simpatico. thank you. new report this morning is sounding the alarm on the intelligence community. this morning's "the washington post" claims u.s. spy agencies are reportedly dropping the ball when it comes to key national

security hot spots. now, these findings came out a 2012 panel of white house advisers including now defense secretary chuck hagel. "the post" saying agencies like the cia are ignoring places like china and the middle east to instead focus on current military operations and drone strikes. authorities say operations have been side-lined dating back more than a decade of conflict. the white house has not commented publicly on the report but recent remarks from top officials suggest they share the panel's concerns. let's go to north korea now. issued a new threat to the united states. that country saying it will waste no time attacking u.s. mill area bases in japan and on the island nation of guam. if provoked. those threats come a day after kim jong-un ran a mock strike. pyongyang has stepped up its rhetoric in recent days. over what it calls hostile,

ongoing military drill s betwee south korea and the u.s. although north korea is believed to lack the technology to carry out such an attack washington says it's deploying more anti-missile batteries in alaska to counter a possible threat. a massive man hunt continues this morning as colorado police search for the cold-blooded killer of the head of the state department's state corrections. tom clements was shot at his front door tuesday night in monument, just north of colorado springs. investigators say due to his position as executive director of the corrections department there could be any number of people who may have had a motive to target him. state police have few leads but they are looking for a vehicle that according to a neighbor was left running outside just minutes before the murder. >> that's being described as something lar to, perhaps a late '80s early '90s lincoln, perhaps a cadillac, something of that

nature. it's a boxy-style vehicle, if will you. it's a two-door. it's dark in color, either black or some other dark color. being described as shiny. just yesterday colorado governor john hickenlooper signed into law some of the toughest gun legislation in the country. two huge rocket engines from apollo moon missions have been recovered from the depths of the atlantic ocean. after nearly 40 years, the engines have been brought up from the ocean floor by the ceo of amazon.com. the engine fell back to earth once their fuel is spent. they weigh over 18,000 pounds. so far they can't i've which missions the rockets were from. nasa called it a historic find. and basos it was an incredible adventure. bill karins joins us on weather. i didn't know he was a huge

space buff. >> that's what i would do if i had millions. >> let's go find something. exactly. good morning, everyone. the nation is really struggling to get out of this winter weather pattern. it's very cold in the northwest with snow showers around pipe want to compare where we're at right now compared to last year. this is last year at this time. almost all of the lower 48, pretty much east of the rockies had no show whatsoever. we had a pretty good snow pack in areas of the west. as we look at what's happening, there's a lot more snow from new england to the midwest. it doesn't look like we have much snow in nevada, and utah and even colorado compared to what we had last time at this year. we're not done yet. it looks like this storm we moved through yesterday is going to bring snow especially wyoming and colorado. not so much the mountains of california which is running behind average for this year. i mentioned northwest higher elevations we're not quite getting awe the way down to the north. but it is a chilly morning.

and you will see the hit and miss showers in the morning commute. that's why we have the rain showers in the forecast. temperatures will get warmer as the day goes on. high temperatures there getting up to almost 50 degree yesterday, no concerns with winds like yesterday. prescott, arizona even cooler, near 70. much of the country now has cooled off. not just areas in the east. >> yeah, winter hanging on so far a little longer. >> kick it out. coming up a major company wants workers to step on the scales or face fat fines. signs guantanamo bay prison is not closing anytime soon. nbc has new information about a $150 million plan to overhaul gitmo. plus, who crashes a $250,000

car and then just walks away from the wreck? you're watching "early today".

and welcome back to "early today." stories making news this morning for you. the senate has given final approval to a spending bill to keep the government operating through september. it passed with bipartisan support and now heads to the house for consideration. a $150 million plan by the pentagon to overhaul guantanamo bay is drawing stark criticism. the proposed makeover for the detention facility will include a new dining hall, hospital and barracks for guards. it comes as protests from detainees are on the rise with hunger strikes tripling in the last two weeks. south korea believes china is behind a recent cyber attack. after officials say the breach originated from a chinese ip address. the attacks wednesday brought down network servers of tv stations and computer software of two major banks. photos released of the seven marines killed this week a mortar exploded during a training exercise in nevada. the men range in age from 19 to 26. men range in age from 19 to

one of them enlisted less than a year ago and six were veterans of the war in afghanistan. the american academy of pediatrics is throwing its support behind same sex marriage and the right of those couples to adopt children. leaders say marriage helps to guarantee benefits and long-term security for children. currently, 18 states and the district of columbia allow same-sex couples to participate in joint adoption. the vegas strip came to a standstill wednesday as nearly 100 people were arrested while protesting against the cosmopolitan casino. union workers have been negotiating a contract with the casinos owners since it opened two years ago. so just where is the economy headed? according to federal reserve chief ben bernanke the economy is improving. however, interest rates will stay low now until unemployment falls below 6.5%. more news from nike after

the bell investors will look at nike's future orders. china trends. and gross margins for a read on consumer demand in china and here at home. expectations are climbing for home sales. cash-strapped cyprus banks are still closed and late night meetings broke up with no new plan b to fund the island's much need bailout. the european central bank gave cyprus until monday to work out a deal or be cut off from emergency funding. closer to home, cvs is weighing in on its controversial policy to require employees to report their weight and body fat or face a health insurance premium increase. the company insists all data collected during health screenings is private. fans of starbucks will be happy to know beginning in may they can also rack up rewards points with packaged coffee purchases at grocery and drugstores. meanwhile, walmart is expanding its scan and go program, allowing customers to use their smartphones before breezing through a self-check out. the pilot program will pop up in

200 stores nationwide. mcdonald's in china has a new gut busting burger for iron stomach carnivores. the sausage double beef burger has little more than two patties, two sausage links and mustard on a bun. mmm. finally, a viral video milestone, thanks to all those adorable cute, pug puppies in the bathtub and loveable laughing babies, youtube is celebrating a one billion average monthly views. the miami heat unbeatable? they locked in their 24th win in a row. plus it could be considered a crime if you yell bingo in a crowded senior center and not really have five in a row. that story coming up next. you're watching "early today."

now to some other stories that caught our eye this morning. a new york city sanitation truck did more than just plow snow earlier this week. it also plowed into some parked cars along the way. surveillance video caught the truck sideswiping the vehicle causing scrapes and bumps. the owners thought they were a victim of vandalism until the surveillance tape surfaced. a texas teenager is lucky to be alive after his car plunged off the top deck of a five story parking garage. police say the teen was racing another car when he drove off and said he would have likely been killed had he not been wearing a seat belt. back to florida where a robbery suspect head butted a

police officer as he was being handcuffed. the man was immediately pushed to the ground, had his ankles tied and lifted into the back of the police cruiser. take you to california. this one's a head-scratcher. two people fled the scene after crashing the lamborghini the purchased that same day. the nearly 250,000 sports car was simply left in the middle of the street. dealer plates and all. how could you do that to such a car? and in kentucky you can't yell fire in a crowded theater but you can yell -- >> bingo! >> -- in a crowds bingo hall. 18-year-old austin whaley learned the lesson the hard way after shouting the word bingo last month. he's banned from using the word bingo last month and had to change the dog walking route to avoid the bingo hall. turning now to sports. amazing nba come back to keep the heat win streak alive. miami overcame a 27-point deficit. and heat streaked by the cavs. in that process, notching the

24th straight win in their belt. in the first-round of the ncaa tournament number 2, 16 seed and james madison university won to advance to the second round which starts tomorrow with 16 games. they will play top seed indiana friday. good luck in that. then to number 13 seeds lasalle defeated boise state. they advance to the second round to face kansas state. president obama, by the way, he filled out his ncaa brackets. and he predicted that number one louisville will make it to final four. he also chose ohio state, florida and indiana to win it all. nfl chicago bears could not agree on a new contract for eight time pro bowl linebacker brian urlacher so he becomes a free agent after 13 years. and ed reed left the super bowl champ baltimore ravens after 11 seasons and signed with the houston texans.

tiger woods says he and lindsay vonn went public about their relationship so the paparazzi couldn't make as much money from pictures they took of the couple. >> it's real simple. we're happy where we're at. i want to limit the paparazzi and sleazy websites that are out there. >> woods said he had situations that were dangerous for his kids because of the celebrity photographers. just ahead, a big story concerning "mad man's" jon hamm and the blogosphere blogging about it. this is a ritual dating back hundreds of years. details next. you're watching "early today".

welcome back on this thursday morning. to get you out the door, your forecast looks good in qaa california. a cooler start. numerous rain showers from seattle to portland through the intermountain west. getting snow showers through the higher elevations. friday morning that storm moves out and begins to affect the rockies. we're beginning to see cooler temperatures in the west. at least we look dry towards the weekend. >> but stocking uing up the hilr that famous west skiing which i like. >> should be okay this year. have you wondered how beyonce lost her weight so fast? "shape" magazine reveal shed gained 50 pounds with blue ivy. her secret, lots and lots of dance workouts.

the new york daily news is reporting a bizarre story of the star of "man man." the show's star john hamm is not a fan of wearing undergarments. so in an effort to cut down on what's reported to be a major distraction, hamm was asked to start wearing underwear. >> he needs like a pr person. everything is pretty good for him. the much guarded plot of the new "transformers" film was slipped out of the film office to the dismay of the director michael bay who was trying to keep everything under wraps. pink stopped a song when she noticed a little girl was crying. after discovering the little girl was upset about an altercation near her seat, pink cheered her up with a toy. >> that's pretty amazing that

she noticed that from the stage. this comes to us from kere from minneapolis. abby harrison says she wants to be the first person on mars on 2030 when she launched her blog astronautabby.com. she won the attention of lukeo promptier. i'm richard lui, this is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

leading the news this

morning "usa today" asks is the post office going extinct. parcelling out old post offices are for sale now. politico is leading a story about the republican party. is the rubio and rand party now. the direction of the gop at stake. the blue planet northern europe's largest aquarium opened its doors. it boasts over 20,000 fish swimming in 20,000 gallons of water. unique features like overhead tanks makes it feel visitors are 20,000 leagues under the sea with water on all sides it's easy to forget you're still on the dry land. there goes nemo right there. that you're still actually on dry land. las vias, the celebration in spain came to a fiery close. paper machete commemorate rates st. joseph. they burn the figures and

cartoon characters, representing purification. i went like ten years ago. it's an amazing site. the weather's normally warmer. love is in the air, or at least that's what officials at the london zoo are hoping. things got off to a rocky start when two new sumatran tigers were brought together for the first time. officials hope these two tigers picks for their genetic superiority will help the tiger population. >> they were teasing each other. time for an early look at some stories on our radar the day ahead. if you're wondering what kind of spring will be sprung on us, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration will announce its temperature and precipitation forecast for the next 90 days. potential flood risks and drought predictions will also be discussed. job fairs aimed at putting veterans and their spouses back

to work will take place in chicago and ft. hood, texas, as part of the ongoing initiative. and happy birthday to larry the twitter bird. the association turns seven years old today. and yes, named after basketball legend larry bird. on msnbc. the pentagon is considering a $150 million makeover of guantanamo prison. '70s icon david cassidy talks about how he's helping a cause close to his heart. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather sports and more, i'm richard lui, along with bill karins, thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good thursday.

. . serious allegations leveled against a youth baseball coach. this man accused of molesting a seen age b teen ailing boy and secretly videotaping another the president meeting with the palestinian authorities why the oakland school district voted to close a well-performing charter school? a live look at the hp pavilion. the ncaap will be tipping off there today. good morning, everybody. it is 4:30. happy to see you. i'm jon kelly. >> i'm laura garcia cannon. last to get to. let's check the forecast with christina loren. good morning

a good-looking day shaping up. that rain really improved our atmosphere. pollen levels have dropped off significantly overnight. we have a warming thend that i think you are going to loch as you start to think about the weekend. as jon pointed out, it is friday eve. let's find out how we are doing on the roadways. we are just before the commute kicks in. 880 moves smoothly before fremont. we will catch up with 880 up farther south. we are looking to the south bay. the maps all over the place look green. yellow down towards 60 miles per hour. you are at the limit throughout this area. hp pavilion has the tournament. watch for traffic there. north 880, slowing as crews are moving the striping work and the expansion. looks like they are starting to move things overnight. that's causing a lot as you are approaching the 5:00 hour. >> an arrest warrant has been issued for a bay area baseb