good morning. coming up on "early today." ray rice and his wife a couple at the center of the storm of violence in the nfl. they speak out for the first time. >> i'm sorry for everything i put my family through. plus, more fallout from bill cosby in the wake of a growing sexual assault scandal. captured on video, the horrifying moment a police helicopter explodes into frames. it's tuesday, december 2nd. "early today" starts right now. good morning, everybody. i'm milissa rehberger.

ray rice is breaking his silence in an exclusive interview with "today" show's matt lauer. that can comes after that video shows him knocking out his wife, janay. he was reinstated to the nfl last friday. nbc's stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: ray rice can play again, but will an nfl team sign him? the former running back for the ravens spoke about his uncertain future with matt lauer. >> what would you think it would take for another owner and another group of fans to put the images of that video behind them and say, we'll take a chance on ray rice? >> one thing i think that, you know, they will have to be, you know, willing to, you know, look deeper into who i am and realize that, you know, me and my wife had one bad night and i took full responsibility for it and one thing about my punishment and everything going along with anything that happens is that i've accepted it, i went fully forward with it. i never complained. i never did anything like that.

i took full responsibility for everything that i did, and only thing i can hope for and wish for is a second chance. >> reporter: but signing rice now is complicated. >> a team's going to have to weigh the sort of pr hits that they're going to take in signing ray rice versus what he may contribute on the field. >> reporter: in july nfl commissioner roger goodell originally suspended him for two games but in september after tmz sports posted this graphic video, goodell suspended rice indefinitely. his wife janay rice and her mother speaking with matt lauer. >> was there ever any incident of violence in your relationship with ray or has there been any incident of violence since that elevator incident? >> no. no. >> no. >> there's no way. >> reporter: but despite his wife's support and being reinstated in the league, there is still no clear sign the former baltimore raven will ever get back on the field. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york.

and there will be more of matt lauer's exclusive interview with ray rice this morning on "today." more fallout for the nfl team whose five players made the hands up, don't shoot gesture in support of michael brown and in ferguson the first of many steps to ease the tension got off to a bad start. residents said they didn't have enough time to speak and some of those who did speak got caught in the riots in the light of the grand jury announcement. >> i did not receive a call to protect my assets, to protect my life savings! there's not a back door on my building. if i would have been there the night of the fire i would have burned! i would have been killed because my building was totally burned and destroyed. >> we are hurting. we don't expect you all to come up with a miracle. that's why we're here. to support you. but don't waste our time with the same innuendos and the same

rhetoric. >> in washington, president obama met with civic leaders. and nbc's tracie potts is in washington for us this morning. what was the biggest take away from the president's meeting? >> reporter: well, it seems to be that he really wants to push some action, not a lot of sitting around the table as the president put it. also new this morning, more fallout in the social media dispute over what some of the st. louis rams players did on sunday. there are new tweets just a few hours ago from st. louis county police, disputing whether rams executive apologized for players don't shoot demonstration. >> they're exercising their right to free speech. they will not be disciplined. >> michael brown! >> reporter: protests continued coast to coast. >> we're trying to get people to look at this and see what's going on. we need a dialogue. >> reporter: we learned overnight seven people were

arrested in new york. in atlanta last night attorney general eric holder was interrupted. >> no justice, no peace! >> what we saw there was a genuine expression of concern and involvement. >> reporter: the first ferguson commission meeting proved the community is at a boiling point. >> don't waste our time with the same innuendos and the same rhetoric! >> reporter: president obama is promising action. >> but what i heard today was real change. real change in the making. >> reporter: the president's asking congress for $263 million for community policing. including 50,000 new police body cams, new rules for when officers can use military equipment on the streets. and concrete ideas on how police can work with communities of color. >> we can build confidence and we can build trust but it's not going to happen overnight. >> reporter: around the country residents and police are frustrated.

now, the president says he wants some action. he wants those task force recommendations, those concrete ideas on his desk in 90 days. >> tracy, thank you. sources confirmed to nbc news one of the wives and a child of isis leader al baghdadi had been arrested in lebanon. reuters reports they were crossing from syria. this a day after the fbi and the department of homeland security issued a builton to millions of americans. they're urging military families and former service members to scrub their contacts and social media profiles. while they say there isn't a specific plot yet, they say identifying yourself as military can provoke lone wolf attacks. more sex scandal for bill cosby while he deflects sexual assault allegations. he's stepping down from temple university. he became a trustee in 1992 and

the comedian is a frequent commencement speaker there. in a statement, cosby said he wanted to quote, do what would be the best in the interest of the university and its students. he has denied all of the allegations and he has never been charged with a crime. the gop staffer who dissed the obama daughters has now resigned. elizabeth lauten worked for congressman fincher. she said malia and sasha lacked class during the turkey pardoning. >> we don't have royalty but we have our first family so we might feel protection over them. >> this was not lauten's first social media slipup. back in august, she made a post on her boss' twitter account about shagging. southern california is bracing for a wet weather. people there on are on alert for flooding and mudslides and the sandbags are already stacked up a the plywood is up.

nbc meteorologist bill karins is here. this is a real soaker. >> you don't want the flooding, 99% of this is good because we want the reservoirs to fill up. so we'll watch it, see how it plays out over the next two days. right now, going into this drought, drought -- minimal drought busting storm, 55% of the states is exceptional drought, and the bulk of the rain is in the worst drought area. i think it's back to march is the last time we had a storm like this. you can see it's spinning off the coast. what that is doing is sucking up the subtropical moisture and throwing it to california. a slow-moving storm too. and the rain has already moved into all coastal sections. not really south of l.a. down to san diego, but eventually that will occur later today. already impressive, started raining three or four hours ago in san francisco. almost up to half an inch.

san jose less than that. santa rosa and sacramento, it hasn't gotten there yet. so how much rain for the low land areas, the cities, possibly one to three. we're still looking at the possibility -- especiaking rain. that will go until tonight. even in southern california with showers on and off all day tomorrow. so we have got the good, the rain in the next two days and then i'll let you know what the extended forecast has continuing up. >> liquid gold, i like. still ahead, details on the rescue of a boy who was found after four years. and a surprise concert in new york city and a president steps up.

stories making the news this morning. police in west virginia say the man expected of killing four people in three separate shootings died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. they found the body of jody lee hunt in the woods monday ev evening ending an all-day manhunt for him. one of his victims had filed domestic assault charges against him last month. more on the rescue of this 13-year-old florida boy found behind a fake wall in his father's home in georgia. a police officer describes his first reaction when me realized that he was being rescued. >> there was no light when i saw him. there was beams and insulation inside and then we saw him. we got him out of the room and rescued him. when we were able to get him out of the closet, minutes later we were able to get him calmed down. that's exactly what he said, thank you. thank you. >> police did not say whose cell phone the boy managed to use to

text his mother or how he figured out how to contact her. caught on tape, graphic video shows a police helicopter spinning out of control before it exploded. somehow a fire truck crashed into it. amazingly though everybody on board the fire truck and this chopper survived this horrible accident. the fire truck and the chopper were responding to a drunk driver who crashed into a police car. the boss subbed for u2's bono at a surprise concert in new york just moments after bill clinton who opened on behalf of front man who couldn't be there. >> this year for first time ever, more people were put on life saving medicine than were diagnosed with aids. >> bono is still recovering from serious injuries following a cycling accident last month.

let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. >> good morning. stocks look to rebound today following monday's losses. apple led the declines. a lackluster start to the holiday shopping season. and u.s. factory output slowed less than expected last month. we get the november sales from the automakers today. they're expected to hit levels not seen in more than a decade. boosted by black friday deals and cheaper gas prices. and forecasts are expected to rise as much as 26%. not as many shoppering clicking and buying on cyber monday. it was below estimates by 8% and consumers may have taken advantage of deals taken before and after thanksgiving. the average order -- $129, down 1% from last year. back to you. just ahead a selfie from muhammad ali and odell beckham, jr., does it again. another very impressive move.

plus, santa won't be missing this house. a tribute to the envy of nfl fans everywhere. sports is next.

the packaging -- >> there morning on "today," a revealing new study showing an increase in the number of toy-related injuries. what you need to know about the toy shopping season ahead on "today." and the jets versus the

dolphins, the jets started strong. greg salas got the handoff from geno smith and got the early lead, but the dolphins rallied in the fourth. a late field goal gave them the 16-13 win. keeping their wild card playoff hopes alive. on the ice, the lightning have taken over the nhl's eastern conference league. they beat the rangers with a 6-3 win. but the rangers honored right wing martin st. louis for scoring 1,000 career points against the flyers and they presented him with an engraved stick and ping-pong paddles. cool. muhammad ali posted his first selfie on instagram over the weekend. looking good. and remember this catch by odell beckham, jr., against the cowboys? check this out, he kicked a

spinning ball straight through the upright for 31 yards. it took him a couple of tries but still impressive. check out this light show put together by one hard core bills fan. ♪ ♪ the bills make we want to shout, kick your heels up and shout ♪ ♪ throw your hands up and shout, come on ♪ ♪ the bills are making it happen now ♪ ♪ come on and shout >> very cool unless you're the neighbors. a replacement for joan rivers on fashion police and stephen hawking as a bond villain? entertainment is next.

welcome back. taking a look at the updated radar out of southern california, we're still driving up i-5, but in los angeles the first showers are moving through. they'll get more consistent here. it will be a rainy morning drive through all areas of coastal and southern california. and as far north as northern california. interesting with this storm the northwest is actually pretty dry. still chilly in the 40s today. as we look forward to the week ahead, shower activity tomorrow, may try to make it into arizona tomorrow. or phoenix or tucson area. by time we get to thursday, we're finally dried out in southern california. this is good. we'll see how we end up. we don't want flooding of course. >> very true.

thanks. now for for some entertainment news. following the tragic death of joan rivers etelevision has announced that kathy griffin will be taking over her role as host of "fashion police." the new episodes set to start in january. melissa rivers says kathy just feels right. the final season of "parks and recreation" will air january 13th. two episodes will air every week. house of cards fans have a reason to be excited. they'll be back on february 27th. scarlett johansson and romaine dauriac got married. it took place after the birth of their daughter. very sneaky. and sony is dealing with another hacking accident. five movies were released on the internet, the latest attack may have exposed the salaries of 17 top executives. physicist stephen hawking has declared he wants to be -- ready for this -- the next bond

villain. he says -- >> i can see that. >> i kind of can too. motorized voice would make him perfect. and the force is strong with another star wars trailer. a record-breaking 58 million people have viewed this trailer so far. and that's led to a host of names making fun of the new light saber. we have a swiss army knife light saber. we have a menorah light saber and we have the chain saw light saber. no, i did not -- i take it you did? >> my brother and i had epic battles. >> i can imagine. thank you, bill. i'm milissa rehberger -- >> you know what we're doing after the show. >> we hope this is just your first stop on "today." >> you can be darth vader.

leading the news in the dallas morning news, lawyers ask the supreme court to halt execution of mentally ill texas death row inmate. scott panetti is set for lethal injection wednesday for the 1992 shooting deaths of his in-laws at their texas home. his lawyers ark that he is too mentally ill and execution would violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. and from beta wired, international space station not getting an espresso machine any time soon. it was scheduled for blastoff last month, but complications have pushed it to april of 2015. so just doing it without -- you know? some other stories a billboard along a busy wisconsin highway is the talk of the town.

a group of atheists paid for the ad featuring with a letter to santa, dear santa, all i want for christmas is to church. off. this is causing some real traffic trouble -- >> beautiful. >> but the weight of the ice is causing branchs to break and it's blocking roadways there. several highways were closed on monday, so officials can clean it up. but boy, that sure is pretty. with selfies becoming so popular, more americans are turning to plastic surgery -- >> there's why i'm getting plastic surgery. >> between 2012 and 2013, plastic surgeons reported a 10% increase, that's a lot, in the number of nose jobs. that would be an interesting look for you. we have to suss this out. 7% rise in hair transplants. and also, get this one, this is

curious. a 6% jump in eyelid -- >> i need my eyes to stay open during the daylight hours. >> i think we all do. talk about getting together for the holidays a safari park in china showcased five generations of koalas yesterday. oh, i love them. it began in 2006 when only six were imported from australia. well, they have grown now to nearly 50 in the past eight years. >> wow. >> the park has become the most successful at raising koalas outside of their own continent in australia. don't you want to just hug them. now the senate is scheduled to hold a hearing on domestic violence in sports and house speaker john boehner will light the capitol christmas tree. this year's tree is from minnesota. it went on a tour of 30 communities as it made its way to washington, d.c. happy birthday to quarterback aaron rodgers who is 31 today. singer britney spears is now 33. and actress lucy liu is 46. keep it here for more news,

weather and sports. thanks for watching "early today." have a good one.

the dangerous roadways out there. rain returning to the bay area overnight bringing with it some fog, wind and potential problems for your morning commute. good morning, i'm sam brock. >> and i'm laura garcia-cannon. the rain coming down, drive very carefully out there. christina loren has a look at how our day is going to shape up. >> we really need the rain, although the timing could not be worse. it's going to come in heavily for your morning drive