good thursday morning. coming up on "early today," winter's fury. at least 11 deaths are blamed on the current deep freeze hitting the south. another storm is right around the corner. justin surrenders. first egging, then dui, now the biebs turning himself in to toronto police for an assault case. happy meal heroin. a drug dealer busted for putting heroin in mcdonald's happy meals. plus, scarlett johansson takes a stand and resigns from oxfam. and hillary hits a popularity high note. and madonna and miley go unplugged. it is thursday, january 30th. "early today" starts right now.

good morning to you. i'm richard lui. we start with parts of the south that are still reeling from a rare and paralyzing winter storm. the worst was in metropolitan atlanta, which has three times the population of manhattan. highways, transformed into parking lots there. people stranded for hours or worse spending the night in their cars. some kids even had to sleep in their schools because the roads were just too dangerous. now critics say the state just was not ready. nbc has the latest for us. >> reporter: wednesday evening traffic on height way the high atlanta area. 24 hours and a world of difference from the miles and miles of cars and trucks going nowhere, stuck after snow and ice paralyzed the nation's ninth largest metro area. >> when it is going to be wet and cold, get the salt trucks on the road, around the clock. it is not that hard. >> reporter: frustration mounted for many drivers as they tried to dig out from the harsh winter storms. they say the state and local governments were not ready.

>> the eyes are on the state. i'm not going to get into that blame game. >> what i was referring to was that the national weather service had continually had their modeling showing that the city of atlanta would not be the primary area where the storm would hit. >> reporter: thousands of schoolchildren were reunited wednesday with their parents after being forced to shelter in place overnight. >> it's been tough. but as long as the kids are safe, i'm fine. >> reporter: the story was much the same for many parts of the deep south, drivers from baton rouge to birmingham stuck for hours along ice-covered roads. but for many, the rare southern snowstorm was not all bad. for college students in north carolina, it was a break from the books. dan shanman, nbc news. the day after, still some concerns like the danger of skidding out because of situations involving ice that you can't see or black ice is what it is called. there in texas as you see this pickup truck spinning out of

control and hitting an embankment. no word on the driver's condition. the legal troubles are piling up for pop star justin bieber. a new assault charge in toronto for the 19-year-old. bieber turned himself into police yesterday amid an army of securities, fans and reporters. he was released and scheduled to appear in court march 10th. the charges connected to an incident with a limo driver in december. police saying bieber was part of a group that the driver picked up outside a nightclub. they say a man struck the driver on the back of the head several times but fled the scene before police arrived. bieber's lawyers say he is innocent. the singer meanwhile pleaded not guilty to other charges he's facing in miami. his lawyer filed the paperwork yesterday. there he's accused ed of dui, resisting arrest and driving a lamborghini with an expired license. his breath tests were under the legal limit and there is the petition urging the white house

to deport the canadian pop star from the u.s. and revoke his green card. now the oval office must respond. why? well, because more than 100,000 people have signed that petition. and, in fact, if you're counting, our last check, it has more than 177,000 signatures. new overnight for you, the state of missouri has executed a convicted murderer. 56-year-old herbert smulls was put to death by lethal injection shortly before midnight. he was convicted in the 1991 killing of a local jeweler. last minute attempts to halt that execution failed. the supreme court stopped the proceedings tuesday night, but later reversed its decision without explanation. it becomes the state's third execution in as many months. a mcdonald's worker in pittsburgh facing charges of selling heroin in happy meals at a drive-through window. shantia dennis was arrested wednesday by undercover police. she allegedly sold the drug to

customers who drove up, using the code words here, i'd like to order a toy. if you said that, it would cost you $82. $2 for the meal, $80 for the heroin. police say they found ten bags of heroin in a happy meal box and recovered another 50 bags from the suspect. she denies the charges. wow. it has become the most memorable part of the state of the union. new york congressman michael grimm physically threatening a reporter and grimm saying he would throw him off the balcony and break him in half. all because of a question that the reporter had asked about an ongoing federal investigation into grimm's campaign finances. well, an initial statement shrugged off the outburst that you see there. the congressman has now, though, called the reporter to apologize and offered to meet him for lunch. and he took a softer tone with our kelly o'donnell. >> i'm a human being. and sometimes your emotions get the better of you. and the bottom line, though, it

shouldn't happen, you shouldn't lose your cool and that's why i apologize. when you're wrong, you're wrong, you have to admit it and it shouldn't happen. >> citizens for responsibility and ethics is calling for a federal investigation into this incident. no word yet on that lunch date. nbc's bill karins is here. that's what we're remembering about the state of the union, that whole interaction there. >> yeah. and first thing he did, that statement, put up the statement he wasn't going to apologize and after it went national and on the "today" show, yeah, then he apologized. >> you got that all on video. hey, good news in the west. >> people are very alarmed. there is this wet substance that is clear and outside. >> what do you call that? >> i think you call that rain. >> water? >> the water. this is a beautiful weather map. the white is the clouds. the green is the rain. it shows that the weather pattern has completely finally changed and the ridge has broken down. that's protected the west from all the stormy weather. so now hopefully in the month ahead we are can return to what we should be doing, the rainy season weather. we haven't gotten drenched but we'll take a small step in the

right direction. sacramento, .12, that ended your stretch. i think like 56 days in a row of dry weather in the middle of the rainy season, a record for you. the whitest of snow, around mammoth, snow too. what are we going to deal with today, a lot of this won't head to the south. we'll see drizle from santa barbara to l.a. we can't call it completely dry. a lot of the snow will be in the inner mountain west. alaska getting cold too. everything returns to normal in the west. only took about two months. that's your national so happy times. another chance of rain it looks like at the end of the week. >> dare we use the word

precipitation? >> very brave of you. >> thank you very much. >> h2o. hillary hits a high note. toronto as mayor rob ford on the wrong side of the law again. plus, returning passengers aboard that sick cruise ship describe their ordeal. >> it was violent for about 24 hours. the first 12 to 14 hours, it was really, really bad. >> some people were terrible. i mean, we really feared there would be some kind of riotous activity. >> you're watching "early today." ♪

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that's just into us. hillary clinton has a wide lead over other democrats heading in the 2016 presidential primaries. that according to a new "washington post/abc news poll. a whopping 73% of people saying they would vote for her over joe biden. the republican race on the other hand here, far less one sidedyan holding a slight lead over jeb bush and chris christie. scarlett johansson is stepping down as oxfam's global ambassador. the beverage company has come under fire for maintaining a factory in israel's west bank, something palestinian activists say is illegal. the cruise ship that had more than 606 sick people on board returned to port in new jersey wednesday. according to the passengers, some people aboard the ship handled the situation better than others. >> oh, some people were terrible. i mean, we really feared that there would be some kind of

riotous activity, but the crew handled it so well. they sat down, they had sessions where they listened to people's complaints. the captain listened as people threatened his life. and he was so good about it. toronto's crack smoking mayor rob ford is being sued for allegedly conspireing to have his sister's ex-boyfriend beaten up while in prison. the plaintiff saying ford ordered the hit on him so he would keep quiet about the mayor's drug and alcohol abuse. we all know peanut allergies can be deadly and now there is a potential breakthrough to watch. scientists in england gave 85 children small doses of peanut flour each day, while gradually increasing that dosage. and they found most kids built up a tolerance after six months. they could eat the equivalent of five peanuts per day. researchers, however, warn that the therapy is still in the early stages and they say do not

try this at home. "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil, the experts in intimate health. time for business. with cnbc's morgan brennan. good morning, morgan. >> that's right, richard. stocks look to rebound today after wednesday's sell-off. disappointing earnings over the health of emerging markets and more cuts to the fed's economic stimulus efforts adding to investors' worries. the dow is at its lowest level since early november. meanwhile, google gets out of the business of making smartphones. it is selling it money losing motorola unit to china's enovo for $3 billion. the deal is expected to face major scrutiny from u.s. regulators. and you could face a higher heating bill. natural gas prices are at a four-year high on worries about tight supplies due to the frigid weather we have been experiencing. about half of u.s. households use natural gas as their primary heating fuel. back to you, richard. >> thank you so much, morgan. sports just ahead for you,

including the excitement building as the great white way transformed into super bowl boulevard. and hear how gold medalist lindsey vonn made one young superfan's day, next. we use this board to compare car insurance rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. [ rattling ] that's one smart board. what else does it do -- reverse gravity? [ chuckles ] split atoms? [ whoooosh! ] hey, how is that atom-splitting thing going? [ rattling ] [ electronic whistling ] oh! [ zap! ] a smarter way to shop around. now, that's progressive. call or click today. awwww...here we go.

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who's that? this morning on "today," matt sits down with one of disco's biggest stars, the bee gees front man barry gibb.

they'll discuss the legacy of the group and his upcoming solo tour. good stuff. the super bowl countdown is on. three days to go now. the super bowl boulevard in times square, i take you first. new york city's mayor, the nfl commissioner and the radio city rockettes unveiling the rolling numerals. who had it worse in practice, the broncos rumbling by the snow drifts in 9 degree windchill, or seattle, where were they? at an indoor facility with the doors open, trying to make it cool. still not warm enough for marshawn lynch. he didn't go to practice. beast mode's lifestyle as he calls it gets wednesdays off. and he only spoke to reporters for seven minutes before getting up. that was one more than yesterday. that's when teammate michael robinson became his spokesperson, kind of. >> slide up in this thing, right? you know what i mean?

this is to break the monotony a little bit. you can direct your questions to me. check. >> michael, how does marshawn feel about -- >> i think marshawn wants that every day. the two best players in the nba face off. lebron james and kevin durant. this is the second half. miami leading by five. durant had grabbed the loose ball and got two. then in the third, the thunder take the lead. james here, whoa, hustling for the shot adding to 32 points. however, my friends, not enough. the thunder get their ninth straight win, 112-95. 76ers at celtics. celtics lead by one. evan turner composed, charges, gets the buzzer beater. both with losing records. the 76ers get the confidence build, 95-94. undefeated arizona, they

don't need any confidence. stanford almost beat them the number one team, 50 seconds left in the game. tied. arizona gets a three-pointer for the lead. later, they also get the win, 60-57. the southeast snowstorm so bad it brought former atlanta braves chipper jones out of retirement. he got called by his friend freddie freeman, who was stuck for hours. 11 hours later, on his atv and 24-year-old freeman clutching on tight to get him home. >> this is lindsey vonn calling. >> oh, my gosh. really? >> yeah. how are you? >> oh, my gosh. >> so while olympic skier lindsey vonn isn't competing, she still had time to call one of her biggest fans while visiting red bull headquarters. christina is surprised. madonna hooks up with miley and oscar winner jennifer lawrence's messy dorito fingers. that's next.

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welcome back. the question for the super bowl really is how cold it is going to be anymore it how warm is it going to be. the forecast keeps getting warmer and warmer. kickoff should be like 40, maybe even as warm as 42 degrees. weather is not going to be affecting the game at all. winds light. windchill will not be an issue. i think the bigger question is what is the over/under for the number of fans that we'll show

on tv shirtless. >> going to happen either way. talking about what we should call the weather bowl, the way things have been going. thanks. miley cyrus taking to the stage wednesday night with an acoustic set for mtv's unplugged. the show's western vibe really driven home when 21-year-old cowboy miley was joined on stage by 55-year-old cowboy madonna for "we can't stop." surprisingly here, the two bumped and grinded -- >> did you say disturbingly? >> i said surprisingly. they bum ped their way through the song. jennifer lawrence almost got on the bad side of her costume designer on american hustle. while on set for the film, lawrence would eat doritos in costume and get that sticky doritos stuff all over. and luckily for the costume designer, he had three backup dresses. >> cheetos is what gets me. >> yeah. it happens to everybody. cheetos, doritos, and never comes off your fingers. christie, christie brinkley

on the cover of "people" magazine. she shows us she's still got it. how old? 60. >> looks like her 20 years ago. >> you could put 40 on that. while on the howard stern show, eric stonestreet admitted to using dating and hookup app tinder. he said he met a few women using the app and missed out on a recent date because he had to get up early for wednesday's interview with stern. >> show me how to use it? >> we'll move on. i think you're married. you got kids. and kristen bell and dax shepard had enough with the paparazzi. they're taking to twitter on wednesday urging followers to boycott magazines that print photos of celebrity kids claiming children shouldn't be stalked. i'm richard lui. this is "early today," we hope it is just your first stop of the day right here on nbc. [ female announcer ] we lowered her fever. you raise her spirits. we tackled your shoulder pain.

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leading the news on nbc news.com, 8-year-old hero who saved six declared honorary firefighter at funeral. tyler doohan is credited with saving the lives of his mamly members when their mobile home went up in flames. he die wild trying to rescue two others including his grandfather. >> at 8 years of age, tyler proved that there is indeed good in everybody. and that hopefully with this people remember him forever. >> and we will. in the telegraph, prince charles turns royal barman as he pulls a pint in a pub. the prince tried his hand at the tap before tasting the brew, saying he preferred the darker of the two. what do you think? okay? >> yeah. >> not too much. >> first one, i don't think. some stories you may have

missed, parts of california are seeing rain today, but the drought is getting so bad that communities are at risk of running dry. in fact, 17 rural communities are in danger of running out of water within four months. that's according to state officials there. president obama called governor jerry brown on wednesday, telling him the federal government will do whatever is necessary to help them out. pope francis is making things right with the birds. you remember that dove disaster sunday? >> horrible. >> sea bull agull and crow atta the doves as they were released. the pope blessed a green parrot. the bird's owner saying amore recited the crowd's cheer by saying papa. the toronto zoo showing off the newest addition to the polar bear family. this little guy was born on november 9th. his mother had trouble nursing him early on, so he's been in intensive care. looking good there. >> out in the snow. >> now growing strong. enough here to play in the snow for the very first time. he's liking it.

good stuff. for many around the world, nothing says scotland like vikings right? it may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but that doesn't stop residents from holding a spectacular vikings fire festival. think burning man with more chain mail. the festival -- less heat perhaps too. the festival celebrates the viking heritage and is the biggest of its kind in europe. >> an excuse to take my viking outfit out. >> which you like to use on saturdays, only, right? weekends only. time for a look ahead and a look back. a hearing on cell phone evidence in a movie theater shooting. curtis reeves charged in the january 13th killing of a man who was texting a baby-sitter. celebrating birthdays today, christian bale 40, former vice president dick cheney 73, and gene hackman 84, one of greats. keep it here for more news weather, and sports.

i'm richard lui with bi

it's become an unfamiliar sight. we're talking about the rain. it's falling right now across the bay area. will it be enough to ease drought concerns? we have team coverage coming up. >> plus, the search for a suspicious man in the south bay. what he said to a young girl that sent her running for help. >> plus, is it arson? details about a fire at a peninsula recycling plant. >> a live look at the bay bridge this morning. mike's going to warn us, slippery roads. it's thursday, january 30th and this is "today in the bay." good morning. it's 4:30. happy rainy thursday. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we're f