good thursday morning. coming up on "early today," benghazi failures. the attacks that led to four american deaths could have been prevented according to a new senate report. intelligence overhaul. the president prepares to reveal changes to u.s. spy tactics. we have some surprising details. numbers game. the polls are in for embattled new jersey governor chris christie and just before the subpoenas go out. plus, anonymous no more. who paid $142 million for these paintings. a brawl breaks out on the hard court. and one heck of a catch to show you this thursday morning, the 16th of january. "early today" starts right now.

good morning. i'm richard lui. we begin with breaking news overnight to tell you. three people including the gunman are dead after a supermarket shooting in northern indiana. police say the gunman walked into martin's supermarket last night and used a semi-automatic handgun to kill two women. the gunman was killed by police just as he pointed his gun at a third person. there is more trouble related to our country's nuclear arsenal. in the washington post, air force investigates dozens accused of cheating on nuclear proficiency exams. 34 nuclear missile launch officers allegedly shared answers to a monthly exam on their knowledge of how to operate these missiles. air force chief of staff mark walsh tried to play down the issue, saying, quote, this is not about the compromise of nuclear weapons. it is about the compromise of the integrity of some of our airmen, end quote. a senate intelligence committee outlines details on the brazen attack on the u.s.

consulate in benghazi that killed four americans. this report puts the blame squarely on the state department and cia. not just part of it. nbc's tracie potts is in washington. tracie good morning to you. we have to ask, after all the reports we have seen in recent months and time, what is new here? >> reporter: well, what's new is that not only, richard, does it say the state department and the secretary of state at the time, hillary clinton, are to blame, it also puts some of the blame on ambassador chris stevens who was killed in that attack. the senate intelligence report says the state department failed to act on mounting evidence that militants were targeting our consulate in benghazi. >> state department knew that this was a very violent part of the world and yet they failed to take the proper security measures to protect the people in benghazi. >> reporter: the report calls the september 11th, 2012 attack that killed four americans preventable, noting there were several smaller attacks in the months before.

the cia, a mile away, beefed up its security but the senate report says ambassador chris stevens who was killed declined two officers from the military before in a special operations scene. >> even the ambassador did not want more security. the real problem. >> reporter: the military responded too slowly, the report says, placing ultimate blame on former secretary of state hillary clinton. the state department fired back. >> there was no specific threat indicating an attack was coming. >> reporter: afterwards, the report argued intelligence officials were slow to correct a wrong assertion that blamed protesters, critics insist that story was deliberate. >> this is going to go down as the greatest cover-up in history. >> reporter: even today, 16 months later, no one has been arrested for the attacks and the senate report says one of the reasons for that, richard is that the government hasn't been

particularly cooperative in track those folks down. >> tracie potts as always, thank you so much from washington, d.c. for us. nbc news learning president obama will unveil a plan to overhaul the nsa, this nearly a month after a government review panel issued a 308 page report detailing big gaps in u.s. intelligence gathering. it will include cutting back on tapping, the private phones of foreign leaders and dialing back on logging calls. one major overhaul to tell you about, security clearances. mr. obama will direct more stringent vetting of who gets access to classified documents and information, that in response to numerous internal leaks by edward snowden. today could be the day for subpoenas in the so-called bridgegate scandal involving new jersey governor chris christie. state lawmakers are expected to seek e-mails and text messages from key christie aides. the legislature has already tapped federal prosecutor reed

sheer to aid in the george washington bridge traffic investigation. sheer has previously helped convict former illinois governor rod blagojevich of corruption. as for potential public opinion fallout, a new nbc news/marist poll finding 69% of people have not changed their mind since news of the scandal broke. 18% say it makes them like christie less. 5% say it makes them like him more. 8% are unsure. and is christie telling the truth? well, respondents said, 44% think he is. 33% think he isn't. in a large group, they remain unsure. proof of life, the u.s. obtained new video of army sergeant bowe bergdahl disappearing from his afghanistan base in 2009. officials describe him as frail and shaky in the new video, which they believe was filmed last month. the u.s. intercepted it from a thumb drive last week. the taliban offered to release bergdahl in exchange for five

taliban prisoners being held at guantanamo bay. u.s. military officials say he's being held by the haqqani network in pakistan. bergdahl's family leased a statement in part saying, quote, bowe, if you see this, continue to remain strong through patience. your endurance will care you to the finish line. breathe. the government will be staying open. for now at least. late wednesday the house overwhelmingly passing a $1.1 trillion budget. the bipartisan deal funds the government through the end of september, meaning at least for now there will not be another shutdown. senators are expected to give their okay by the end of the week. president obama says he will sign it. the bill will raise spending slightly for domestic and military programs, but not for obama care. we have new video from the scene of asiana flight 214's crash landing in san francisco from last year. it shows least one rescuers seeing an injured passenger

before she was fatally run over. you can see a rescuer pointing to her on the ground there. we blurred out that image. it appears rescuers did not do anything to indicate there was a crash survivor there. even as the fire truck began to spray foam, the girl is still there on the ground. two fire trucks ultimately ran over her. a coroner ruled 16-year-old ye meng yuan was still alive at the time she was spotted. her family is suing the city of san francisco, two others were killed in the incident and more than 200 injured. one home depot employee, you must see this, was in the right place at the right time. this worker, in anchorage, alaska, was quick on his feet. look at that. he saw a baby about to tumble from a shopping cart. chris strickland was able to catch the child just before hitting the store's concrete floor. home depot has given him an award for the spectacular save there. bill karins, it may be cold, that floor may be hard, but he

was fast, he moved. he caught that baby and wow. >> parents have some explaining to do. >> they do. >> that baby should have been buckled in. >> we'll focus on him. $100 gift certificate, please, for him too, please. >> easily. the temperatures out west yesterday in san francisco with the airport, we never had a january temperature this warm. all time record high for january, records go back to 1950. so about 2,000 january days, that's the warmest we have had in recorded at the airport, sfo. 73. 85 in los angeles. look at the snow pack before and after. this is january of 2013 on the left. the white shows you the snow. the lake in the middle of the two snow areas is lake tahoe. and the snow pack we're dealing with right now. very little white on the map on the right. about 16% right now of the average snow pack. that's why we're starting water restrictions in places like sacramento, in the middle of the rainy season as we go throughout the next ten days, look at this,

still nothing in sight, all the way through, almost the end of the month. so today, another dry day all through the west. that's your >> so we continue. >> all righty. reminds me of the '70s. you weren't old enough when we had a drought like that in the west. a weed amnesty box. the highest paid baseball player. and miracle on the hudson revisited. which talk show host is moving into this $40 million chalet and the neighbor by the way is hugh hefner own the playboy mansion. you're watching "early today." or of "looking for a good deal" and "sheesh, i should've looked some more." ♪

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dead after drinking highly concentrated methamphetamine at the united states border. the teen was trying to persuade inspectors there into thinking he was only transporting apple juice. police put the boy in a holding cell. he began to complain of chest pains and then he died. a navy fighter pilot is in critical condition after its f-18 jet crashed during a training exercise off the coast of virginia. the pilot was able to eject from the aircraft and was eventually rescued by a fishing boat. the colorado springs airport changing with the times. it is giving pot smoking travelers one last chance to ditch their stash. brand-new amnesty boxes will hopefully keep travelers from illegally carrying pot aboard flights. we'll see. a new poll shows that 49% of americans are actually in favor of legalizing marijuana, while virtually the same amount oppose it. remember the iconic image, five years ago, us airways flight 1549 landing in the frigid hudson river and the crew

and passengers from that flight toasted the fifth anniversary wednesday while aboard a new york city ferry, calling it a toast to life. sully sullenberger on that boat, congratulations for that. to business, we turn to courtney reagan. good morning, courtney. >> good morning, richard. citigroup will replace all debit cards affected by the massive data breach at target. reports say citi didn't replace cards sooner because it didn't want to cause a disruption during the holidays. apple will refund $32 million to consumers as part of a settlement with the federal trade commission involving cases where parents discovered their kids bought stuff online such as using make believe currency in virtual games but spending real money. jcpenney is closing steernz cutting jobs in 32 states as part of the effort return to profitability. it follows similar job cuts last week by macy's. back to you. >> thank you very much, courtney. ellen degeneres and porta de

rossi reportedly paid under $40 million for their new home. it is called brodie house. their name, hugh hefner and the playboy mansion. hmm. anonymous no more. just revealed elaine wynn, billionaire ex-wife of casino magnate steve wynn, was the anonymous buyer who paid a record $142 million for francis bacon's three studies of freud. 14 2 million. clayton kershaw has just signed the deal of the century, i will say. it made him baseball's first player earning an average salary of 30 million cool a year. in total, $215 million, seven-year deal to pitch once every five or six days. five or six days. sports, got more of it, up next. so hot in the australian open, the players are all but melting in the sweltering down under. what is that she's holding?

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and now to sports. boy, it is just hot. it is sizzling. 108 degrees, special cold towels on players' faces. we're talking about the australian open. that's maria sharapova. all outside matches got

postponed, it was so hot. before they got postponed, maria sharapova, she had to sweat it out to beat unseeded karen knapp, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8, no tiebreakers there. players in tied games get roasted. saturday is expected to be almost 40 degrees cooler. talking about tiebreakers, triple nba overtime, chicago at orlando. first a double overtime. chicago up by three. seconds left. glen davis right here for three. and we take it to triple ot. the bulls sneak ahead there. and they hold on in triple overtime, 128-125. it starts with the lakers' nick young, drawing a hard foul. the ground opens up, elbows start flying, the lakers and suns clear the benches. two players ejected. suns win the game, yeah, there was a game, 121-114. meet los angeles angels mike trout. 6'2", platform in front of him, almost 6 feet. so he decides i'm going to jump and then he lands.

like the $6 million man. or is that more like $30 million in today's dollars? i don't know. baseball, dodgers. four days until the afc championship duel between the broncos and patriots. tom brady misses practice. illness is unspecified. last week brady said he did have a cold. but he's expected to be okay for sunday. folks are watching that. in the lead up to the game between seattle and san francisco, a seattle radio station pranks a niners fan. they tell her tickets, they tell her that her tickets have to be returned. and the reason they provide, because she's a niners fan. here is her response. >> oh, this is such [ bleep ]. i am going to that [ bleep ] game. i already have those tickets. there's nothing you can do about it. so you better just drop that [ bleep ] attitude right now because i'm going to be there and i'm going to be cheering my head off and you better believe i'm wearing my 49ers jersey and all the gear i can put on my body. paul and ringo come together one more time. details next. [bell rings]

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region. so, alaska, even warm. >> 60 degree difference too. thank you, bill karins. anne hathaway almost danced her way into the silver linings playbook. hathaway was originally cast as tiffany but left the film due to creative differences with the director david o. russell. hathaway won an oscar for les mis and jennifer lawrence for silver linings so everything worked out for the best. busy week for celebs buying and selling their multidollar digs. robert pattinson sold his love nest with kristen stewart. oprah winfrey's condo is for sale at just under $8 million. bill karins is headed there right now. wolf of wall street hotty margo robbie kissing and telling saying that leonardo dicaprio is a great kisser. but robbie adds that the kissing wasn't sexy, just hot and sweaty.

i guess the long takes, repeated shoots and extended makeout sessions took the heat out of it. paul mccartney and ringo star will reunite for one night only. only surviving members of the beatles will perform together on the grammys january 26th. country singing superstar trace adkins is heading back to rehab for alcohol. the singer reportedly got into an altercation with a trace adkins impersonator while aboard a cruise ship where he had been performing with other major country acts. yes. i'm richard lui. this is "early today." we hope it is your first stop of the day right here on nbc. piano... ♪ violin... hey, what are you doing? music lesson. he has to start sometime.

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in the daily mail, nasa's plan to build homes on the moon, space agency backs 3-d print technology which could build the base. the process called contour crafting got giant robot there, a machine, that can build concrete houses within 24 hours. on nbc news.com, pope removes cardinals in shake-up of vatican bank. pope francis removing here four of five cardinals from an oversight body in a break with the clerical financial establishment that he inherited from pope benedict. news that was breaking overnight, three people including the gunman are dead after a supermarket shooting in northern indiana. police saying the gunman walked into martin's supermarket late last night and used a semi-automatic handgun to kill

two women. the gunman was killed by police, just as he pointed his gun at a third person. a california little leaguer is sued by his own coach for what he calls carelessly celebrating. the 14-year-old boy evidently threw his batting helmet in joy after his team scored the winning run in a game. his coach said it struck his achilles tendon and tore it. he's suing for $500,000 for pain and suffering, plus thousands more for lost wages and medical costs. the boy's family saying the suit is absurd. don't let last week's polar vortex put you off all things polar. at a zoo in germany, a camera capturing two tiny polar bear cubs open their eyes. >> never see them on their backs. >> and they're enjoying being on their backs, just chilling. first time we have seen this. the month old babies can be see stretching, yawning, taking a short peek at the world protected by their 7-year-old mama bear. the snow white cubs certainly are in good hands. size of stick of butter is what

they say. time for a look ahead and a look back. the oscar nominations announced this morning. american hustle the favorite here for nomination with gravity and 12 years a slave. the academy award presentations are on march 2nd. california woman faces a trial today in san diego for first known traffic ticket for wearing google glasses while driving. she pleaded not guilty saying the device was not activated at that time. on this day in 1991, the start of the first gulf war as covered by nbc news. >> good evening. it is now 11:30 p.m. eastern standard time and a war conducted by the united states against the regime of saddam hussein and the country of iraq has been going on officially for four and a half hours. it remains primarily an air war. so far as we know, no american ground forces have been engaged. >> and that does it for us. i'm richard lui with bill karins. thanks for stopping by "early today." have a great thursday.

breaking news a. teenager is in a south bay hospital after his clothes caught fire overnight. what we've just learned about the bizarre incident. >> a serial arsonist no longer wreaking havoc in the south bay. what neighbors are saying following news of an arrest. >> and we are just three days away from the nfc championship game. we'll take you to seattle for a look at how the seahawks are gearing up for the 49ers. >> a live shot of san jose. the temperatures yesterday were something. records falling. are we going to have the same today? it's thursday, january 16th and this is "today in the bay." good thursday morning.