good friday morning. coming up on "early today." 40 million shoppers is approximately how many target customers' credit and debit cards were compromised. drugs testing congress. the republican representative fresh out of rehab is proposing mandatory drug testing for elected officials. thief busted. this armed robber stealing cell phones is confronted by a brave passenger. plus, showtime at the apollo has theatergoers running for cover as the ceiling collapses. have the "duck dynasty" stars quacked their last? and we'll tell you who earned about 1.5 million bucks an hour in 2013. it's friday, december 20th. "early today" starts right now.

good morning to you, i'm richard lui. as many as 40 million people this morning are struggling with a security nightmare this morning. the target, department store data heist. let's get right to nbc's melissa melay in washington. i understand target issued a letter to customers late last night. >> it explains if you are a victim, richard, what you can do to try and protect yourself. it also talks about what they are trying to do to remedy the situation. of course, they are in a massive damage-control state. a lot of people now, though, scrambling across the country to figure out if they are victims. many of us do it every day without thinking twice. but after one of the largest credit card am sscams in histor one of the nation's largest retailers, the next time you

pull out the plastic, you might reconsider. >> there were about five fraudulent charges. over $60 to $90 each. >> reporter: she's not alone. 40 million cards now vulnerable. over a span of 19 days, thieves access target's terminals and stole its track data, numbers, names, security codes, expiration dates. target now issuing this letter to customers apologizing, saying they're working with a forensics firm to find the culprits. >> use a different card than you used at target during that period. that's probably the safest thing to do. >> anyone who has credit or a credit history wants to continually check. it shouldn't be exposure specific. it should be as a part of ongoing good cyber hygiene. >> reporter: the track data is very valuable on the black market. it can be used to make purchases online or entirely fake cards in a process called cloning. >> the more proactive you become and try to protect yourself, it doesn't really seem to matter. >> reporter: the hardest part, many of the largest theft rings

are overseas. and, of course, because those rings are often overseas, it makes it very tough, richard, for prosecutors here to prosecute there. >> melissa, thank you so much from washington. the florida congressman busted for cocaine possession has left rehab. trey radell is speaking about his future for the first time as well. he says he has no plans to resign from congress but does say he wants all elected officials to get drug tests. the 37-year-old republican pleaded guilty last month and was sentenced to one year probation. he'll return to washington in january. a night at the theater turned to chaos when the ceiling collapsed at london's apollo theater. more than 700 people were packed into the auditorium to watch a mystery play. instead they saw a chunk from the ceiling plaster falling. a london official telling reuters it was a larger than the size of 30 x 30 feet square.

it injured nearly 80 people. >> a loud bang. i didn't think it was an explosion. and the ceiling came down. a lot of dust, chandelier, wood and all that sort of stuff landed on about five or six rows. >> officials say sections of the balcony also fell with the ceiling and pinned down a number of people. investigators are working with structural engineers to figure out exactly what caused the collapse in the century-old theater. for now they're ruling out foul play. it looks like both sides of the senate will leave for the holidays. their compromises avoid wrangling that would have pushed work into the weekend. just before midnight senators voted 84-15 for a kprens i have been defense bill. it cracks down on sexual assault in the military and adds protections for victims. it also includes a 1% pay increase to military personnel. they also moved to vote on janet yellen's nomination to chair the federal reserve to january. that while three of the president's nominations should now make it through today instead of the process going into saturday. the controversy over "duck

dynasty" phil robertson and his anti-gay remarks is far from over. one question now is will the rest of the cast leave the show? the family released a statement thursday in support of the patriarch saying phil's beliefs are grounded in the teachings of the bible. it went on to say we are disappointed that phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right. we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. the new season which starts in january will still have robertson, by the way, because most of the ten-episode season has been filmed already. this year's august premiere was the number one nonfiction series telecast in cable history. so as you all know, 'tis the season to travel. the vast majority of all of us are. examined to travel. with just six days until christmas, many of those jumpnys are already under way. nbc's jay gray joins us live in atlanta. that's where he traveled to this morning. it looks like you didn't get trampled by all the travelers

there, my friend. >> reporter: good morning, richard. you're absolutely right. i think most of those people are headed to your house, so i hope you have a lot of holiday ham ready for us when we get there. look, the traffic building on 75 and 85 behind me. that's normal for rush hour. the problem is, it's going to continue to be congested for the next couple of weeks, according to aaa. this could be the busiest end of the year travel season ever. 94.5 million people expected to take a trip 50 miles or more. 91% of those will be on the roadway. perhaps that's driven by the idea that the prices at the pump are at a three-year low for holiday travel. that's good news. the average cost, $3.22 a gallon. but one in five stations across the country selling gas for less than $3. i haven't found my less-than-3 station yet. 5.5 million people will travel by air. what it means, you need to allow extra time whether you're going to the airport or getting out on the highway. you need to check the forecast as well.

there's going to be some weather that may affect some trips especially in the midwest. if you're getting out there and traveling, please be safe. everybody have a wonderful holiday season. richard, back to you. >> all right. do not come to my house. go to jay's house. it's much bigger, it has more fun. lots more people, right, jay? >> reporter: not true. >> all right. >> reporter: see you. now to bill karins. should we go to your house instead? >> you could. >> is it bigger? i know that. >> i have a ping-pong table for you if you want. >> ping-pong, yeah. >> i've heard you talk about your ping-pong. cornhole. play some cornhole in the backyard. >> this morning in seattle, kids are wondering do you have to go to school? it is 34 and snowing. the cold air has moved down into san francisco at 42. as far as the white stuff goes, the white on this radar is snow. and it's all the way down to the valley floors this morning, and it has moved in in the last couple hours. roads will be slick. probably the worst traveling in the i-5 area through washington

state or all of the greater seattle area this morning. of course at the higher elevations, it's going to more easily accumulate. in seattle, how much snow are we talking about? not a lot. maybe one, two inches at most. higher obviously totals up around bellingham and back towards spokane getting a decent amount of snow. again, the big news this morning is all the way in downtown seattle, we have snow. and at the airport the last hour. as far as the rest of the west goes, some of that moisture will be diving southward. but not so much towards portland or medford. as, again, that rain in arizona will be moving out during the day for your travel. you'll be doing a little better. all of california and arizona should be okay this afternoon. that's your national forecast. on all surfaces.

did i mention seattle is a fun place to be to see it snowing. it doesn't happen all that often. the driving skills may be a little -- >> oh, no, they're used to it. the deal is it's just a beautiful town. >> yes. >> you'll love it. >> fresh coating of snow. >> a lot of good news from bill karins. very surprising. russia's president putin pardons a chief rival and a tragic ending for a couple who won big on ellen's show. plus, these ducks will be retiring to the jack daniel's distillery. i wonder if they hiccup a lot. oh, what a life. back in two.

welcome back. bad weather is causing multiple bus accidents. first a 64-year-old woman was killed in fallbrook, california, when a tour bus flipped over on its side thursday because of slick road conditions there. 20 passengers were hurt including six with major injuries. and then a second tour bus overturned in coroncorona, california, in rainy weather. more than 30 passengers were injured with one seriously hurt

there. u.s. marine brandon mcgraw was killed in a sky-diving accident on a trip to australia. his wife won that trip on "the ellen degeneres show." ellen issued a statement saying, i've been speaking with cherilyn, and my staff has been in touch with her as well. she's asked us to help keep this private as she tries to deal with this unimaginable tragedy. i hope everyone respects that. a jury decided in favor of actor ryan o'neal about a portrait of the late farrah fawcett. he'll be allowed to keep an andy warhol painting of fawcett. fawcett had left her artwork to the university of texas. president obama commuted the prison sentences of eight non e nonviolent crack cocaine offenders. one of them is a cousin of deval patrick. the president is pushing to have prison sentences corrected for nonviolent criminals. each of the eight offenders had served over 15 years in prison. russian president vladimir putin also made pardons

including an oil tycoon who is a potential rival. and putin also letting the members of an all-women punk rock band be released just before the holidays. let's move you to business now. we turn to cnbc's seema mody. good morning to you, seema. >> facebook founder mark zuckerberg is cashing in on some stock. he's selling over 41 million shares of the social network work about $2.3 billion. facebook has said most of the net proceeds will go to uncle sam. over a two-year period, he may end up paying between 2 to $3 billion in federal and state taxes, but he's donating about $1 billion worth of facebook stock to charity. and mcdonald's mighty wings didn't prove to be so mighty. the fast-food chain has more than 10 million pounds of frozen wings in storage they need to get rid of fast before the food expires. cnbc spoke with mcdonald's and confirmed they are bringing back the wings very soon. richard? >> i'd better get there quickly. discounts, right? thank you. according to cnbc, warren

buffett earned how much? $1.5 million an hour in 2013. that works out to about $12.7 billion for the year. thanks to the soaring stock market. and speaking of lucky ducks, these five pampered birds just finished their careers at the famed peabody memphis hotel. now, they normally retire to the farm they were raised at. but this group will instead go to the jack daniel's distillery where an 80-year legend says they're linked to somehow. either that or i guess sam adams. just ahead, kobe sidelined again. did he return too soon? that and all your sports highlights when we return.

a picture of that little tree we've got outside. now to sports. the question on kobe now, out six weeks, a season or even a career? the lakers say kobe bryant suffered a knee fracture tuesday, just six games after returning from an achilles injury. the deal is, the team is 2-4 with kobe. 10-9 without. but hold on a second here. some are saying this is the five-time world champ. an 18-season fighter. bryant, in fact, tweeting #brokennotbeaten. it's good to be the king. king james of lebron family has the most jersey sales in all the land. plus he has two more coming out next year. kobe bryant's is number two.

the nba saying overall sales of jerseys up double digits. rolling thunder, oklahoma city unstoppable with their eight straight wins. the bulls keep falling down taking, well, the refs with them. they lose their fourth in a row. thunder win 107-95. it was an all-season low for ucla in scoring. dispute the bruins leading the blue devils by the half, number eight duke surging in the second half. duke wins 80-63. you know, maybe ucla got nervous here. there were 45 nba scouts on hand for that game. number one arizona routs southern. 69-43. arizona's aaron gordon getting 21 points in the game. during a time-out, arizona pays tribute to an air force family. wife tanya campbell you saw there in tears thinking they're getting gifts. nope. as you see there, it's her husband, master sergeant chris campbell, reunited after six months for the holidays. how about a hockey winning goal like that one? a behind-the-back no-looking

shot. philadelphia rallying 5-4 over columbus. you don't want to lose viewers during halftime reports, they're trying to say. so how about imitating the off-broadway hit "stomp." that's what shaquille o'neal, ernie johnson jr. and kenny smith tried to do. charles barkley, evidently here not a fan of musicals. or was just tired. just ahead, prince william's pet names for wife kate. and a joke that he played on little brother, harry. plus caught on tape. sofia vergara singing the classics for the holidays. you've got to hear this.

welcome back. we talked earlier about the snow. right now 4 degrid h 34 and sno seattle. maybe some of the roads will just be wet. watch out on the bridges and overpasses. they tend to get icier faster. we'll watch the cold air coming down. we'll warm it up after we get done with our little snowstorm today. tomorrow, just typical rain showers. we're cool in san francisco at 58 on saturday. and for all your last-minute errands even on sunday, not a lot changes. much of the damp weather will stay up here in the northwest. it's not going to pour. today is by far the worst of it for the morning commute in washington state. >> thank you, bill. news anchors, con men and walt disney all working hard for your movie dollars this weekend. we've got "american hustle" based on the fbi sting operation in the 1970s. tom hanks' newest flick "saving mr. banks." >> are you buying with one?

>> no, i'm going to go for this one. ron burgundy's "anchorman 2." >> of course. >> of course. where do you think we got our lessons from? >> we have no choice. >> marie osmond is a grandma. congrats. adele receiving the member of the most excellent order of the british empire. bill, i want to hear prince charles who honored her thursday say that award name. very fun. she called the event, quote, very posh indeed. i don't have the accent. "modern family's" sofia vergara. ♪ >> that was a bad note. >> you know what she was doing? yeah. she was trying to sing some christmas carols to her team, to her show. >> it's good to know she's human. >> very human. >> you can't be funny and gorgeous and sing well, right? >> yeah, she had all those, she'd be the trifecta, i guess? is that what it is? oh, boy. after her last episode in 2014, katie couric's talk show will not be returning after just two seasons. couric is slated to anchor

yahoo!'s video news coverage. one direction is arapahoe shooting victim's favorite group. they sent her a special message. >> hi, claire, we just wanted to share some love with you, all our prayers for you. i hope you get well soon. lots of love. the british hacking scandals have revealed new voice mails involving prince william. evidently he calls kate baby and babykins. he also left harry a message pretending to be harry's girlfriend at the time. quote, kissy, kissy, i love you so much, babykins, yes, i do, giggle, giggle, girl stuff. it's chelsea. that's what he put in the message. imagine that. i'm richard lui. this is "early today," we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc.

leading the news, on the "today" show meet the heroes behind this act of bravery. an armed gunman in a commuter bus demanding passengers' cell phone. one man grabs the gun and he wrestles the robber to the bus floor. slightly haunted pennsylvania home doesn't scare away would-be buyers. the listing of this 1901 victorian comes with sounds of phantom footsteps, a strange knocking, a hardly noticeable scream once a week and ghastly visage lurking behind you in the bathroom mirror. that's all. >> people will buy it. asking price, $144,000. >> bargain. >> you don't even have to pay me to buy that. >> on halloween, having people over.

>> slightly haunted. good idea. new mexico's supreme court unanimously rules to legalize same-sex marriage. before the ruling the state neither legalized nor banned gay marriages. new mexico is the 17th state along with washington, d.c., to legalize gay marriage. hhs announcing a hardship exemption. it's for those whose insurance policies were canceled under the affordable care act and feel they cannot find affordable health insurance through the marketplace. hhs says the exemption will provide those affected a shield from the individual mandate penalty, and it will allow them to buy catastrophic plan through the marketplace. the most annoying words of the year. at number five, obviously followed by just sayin'. >> that's a bad one. >> you know at number three. like at number two. and the most annoying word for the fifth straight year in a row, whatever. >> obviously. >> yolo. right, bill? >> no. >> we'll leave that one alone. new york city taxi drivers are stopping traffic with these

hot images. shall we satan th tantalizing drivers. >> your bar is a little lower than mine. >> the drivers at their most seductive and has sold 4,000 copies already with all the proceeds going to charity. this is one taxicab confession you don't want to miss. hey, you get a good laugh, right? time now for a look ahead and a look back. the first family leaves for vacation tonight. as in past years, the obamas will spend christmas in hawaii. this time it's a 17-day visit. on this day in 1989, invading panama to capture noriega as reported by tom brokaw on nbc. >> american military forces, a nighttime invasion of panama and sporadic fighting continuing this evening. but noriega remains at large tonight. >> have a great weekend.

armed and amount run. right now the search is on for five men involved in a violent home invasion robbery in fremont. how the thieves got away, coming up. plus you can not giving up hope. the major step the family of a young oakland teenager is doing today to keep her from being taken off a ventilator. and how b.a.r.t. and local police officers are coming together to protect holiday shoppers today. take a look outside at san francisco, the trans america building and the city of st. francis it is friday, december 20th, this is ""today in the bay."" good morning, everyone, it is 4:30, christmas almost