good morning. coming up on "early today," protests around the nation expand, anger and frustration grow. will anything change in keeping the peace with the system under fire? to the pentagon, the guy in the back is about to move front and center. nasa's attempt at making history today. a drought stricken west coast grappled with way too much water. it's friday, december 5th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm dara brown. we begin with growing outrage in the wake of the grand jury's decision not to indict a new york city police officer in the

apparent choke hold death of eric garner. more than 200 arrests in new york city alone last night, protesters once again blocking major highways like this one and coming face to face with police. larger crowds than wednesday night when the grand jury decision was announced. possibly fueling the anger, reports that key evidence in the case will remain secret. that's because the district attorney in charge of the case has not asked the judge to release all the grand jury transcripts like he promised. in the nation's capital and across the country, they're not just marching in the streets, they're also dying on them. this is a scene in pittsburgh, earlier in the day. and at temple university, students showing solidarity, not only with eric garner's family, but also with the family of michael brown. nbc's sarah dallof has more. >> reporter: calls for justice and reform filled the streets of major cities. in new york, thousands of protesters organized at multiple

locations including the brooklyn bridge. in chicago, demonstrators briefly halted freeway traffic. and in the nation's capital, marching and chanting en masse. a smaller and more subdued crowd gathered at the site where eric garner died, lighting candles and leaving rosaries. demonstrators shut down i-35 in minneapolis and stopped traffic in the downtown area while chanting garner's last words. >> i can't breathe. >> reporter: his final moments were captured on video. officer daniel pantaleo's arm around his neck as he was forced to the ground. it was one of four videos shown to the grand jury. garner's family believes it should have been enough for an indictment. but the head of the police officers union defended officer pantaleo saying garner would still be alive had he not resisted arrest. >> while bringing that person to the ground, yes, they said we can't breathe. but the police officers and the ems did what they're supposed to do at that time. if you're speaking, you can

breathe. >> reporter: the grand jury's decision and protests are sparking discussion among government leaders. new york city's mayor vowed additional training for police. >> fundamental questions are being asked and rightfully so. about how we respect people's rights, how we reduce the use of force in a relationship between police and community. >> reporter: difficult questions with no simple answers in the wake of a controversial grand jury decision. on staten island, sarah dallof, nbc news. now to washington where it appears that president obama will name ashton carter as his new secretary of defense. biggest challenges ahead include isis and getting along with the president's inner circle. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington for us. tracie, what are you hearing about today's announcement? >> reporter: well, we're hearing it likely will happen today and carter is fairly well known here inside the beltway, not so much outside the beltway, but he's the man that the white house thinks can handle a number of

issues now facing the military. isis, afghanistan, ebola, sexual assault, the military's got a full plate. >> the next two years is another -- another zone, i think, of kinds of challenges for this country. and leaders have to be wise enough to know that. >> reporter: defense secretary chuck hagel is out, and there are strong indications his former deputy ashton carter will be named today as hagel's replacement. >> whoever that person is they will be very clear about what the chain of command is. >> reporter: the white house won't confirm, but praised carter earlier this week. >> he's somebody that certainly deserves and has demonstrated strong bipartisan support. >> reporter: but the outgoing democrat and incoming republican over the committee in charge of confirmation hearings agree. carter is a weapons expert who managed chief budget cuts in the defense department, but can he crack the president's inner

circle? critics are concerned about a -- >> live shot of cape canaveral where the orion spacecraft is about to take off. this is a live picture from cape canaveral and we're going to listen in live. >> eight, seven, six -- >> five, four, three, two, one. and liftoff at dawn. the dawn of orion and a new era of american space exploration. >> passing 25 seconds. velocity, 1341 feet per second. passing 31 seconds. still looking good. good engine control. good chamber pressure in all three boosters and full power mode. 40 seconds in. stand by to go to the partial

thrust mode in the floor. we have partial thrust command in the floor. floor pressure beginning to drop as expected. as we come up on the one minute mark. mark one minute into the flight. still looking good. good chamber pressure in the core booster and the partial thrust mode. good pressure in the full power mode. one minute, 15 seconds into the flight. we have the valve open in the second stage. one minute, 22 seconds in. max cue. maximum dynamic pressure on the vehicle, passing 124. orion and delta four now transcending the speed of sound. one minute, 31 seconds in. >> a success for nasa. looks like the launch is taking off. ship -- this ship, the orion could some day take humans to mars. it accelerated off the pad at

17,000 miles per hour. orion will head past the space station to 3600 miles out, make two orbits around the earth and come hurdling back down under 4,000 degree temperatures. it is about a 4 1/2 hour trip. and the launch was supposed to happen yesterday, but history was put on hold because there were wind gusts and a valve issue and they had to scrub the launch and postpone it to today. this is a $370 million attempt here, so the conditions have to be just right for orion to go up. and now, back to earth. in florida, manatee county sheriff deputies are searching for andreas avalos following a triple murder in bradenton on thursday afternoon. he allegedly shot his wife and neighbor and drove to bay shore baptist church and killed a pastor. authorities are not releasing a motive, but have a witness to battle's murder. witnesses s es saes say avalos they were having an affair.

bill cosby is hitting back at one of his accusers. cosby's lawyer says hughes not only filed her suit after a failed extortion plot. meantime, the navy has stripped cosby of the honorary title of chief petty officer. the comedian served four years in the navy. more than 20 women have now accused cosby of assault. cosby has never been charged with a crime and has denied the allegations in the past. right now, a major slow moving storm is on a collision course for the philippines. the typhoon should make landfall this weekend. the good news, it was downgraded overnight from a super typhoon, but it still packs 145-mile-per-hour sustained winds. because of a potential for widespread flooding and mudslides, thousands of evacuations are under way. it is a procedure people there know all too well. the area was devastated last year by typhoon hinen which

killed more than 6,000 people. now back home, too much of a good thing in california where several days of much needed rain, now there is major flooding and rescue teams have saved the young man trying to cross the swollen river. a cow, it looks lost in knee deep waters and a car, it sat buried in a mountain of mud. now time for a closer look at the weather and meteorologist domenica davis is here with that. what is going on out there. >> i know, dara. it is a parade of storms. and the latest one is hitting the pacific again. today, the focus will be on the rain from san francisco that goes all the way up into oregon and washington. that's where we're going to see the focus of the rain. we'll have moderate to heavy rain coming into the picture by late this afternoon and this evening. here is a look at rainfall expected over the next 48 hours. an additional 1 to 2 inches is likely. so the forecast calls for rain from san francisco up to seattle and then it is dry further inland.

sou southern california gets a break. los angeles dry today with a hi sun. and salt lake city, nice day, 54 degrees. that's a look at your friday forecast. dara? >> seems relatively warm for december. >> yes. it is pretty mild. >> the rain is better than the snow. thank you, domenica. the report is out on bridge gate and new jersey governor chris christie, what did he know and when? plus, baby baby. meet mighty mia. details of her shocking arrival up next.

welcome back. under arrest in abu dhabi. stunning video of the woman they

say stabbed a american teacher to death. they say she was a uae citizen. a year long investigation into bridge gate finds no conclusive evidence as to whether new jersey governor chris christie was or was not aware of the george washington bridge lane closures. but the bergen record points out from the 136 page report that two of his appointees are to blame for the gridlock and that they were, quote, motivated in part by political considerations. in analysis of the report by the wall street journal doesn't completely leave christie off the hook. the paper says accusations by a former ally of christie leaves open question of when he learned of the closures. and, whoa, baby. her mother expected her to be born weighing about 7 pounds, but baby mia had other plans. she was born weighing almost 14 pounds. her mother delivered her at a denver area hospital after

experiencing low glucose levels and trouble breathing. let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning. >> good morning, dara. investors are waiting on big news of the day, the november jobs report expected to show another solid month of hiring and unemployment holding at a six-year low. but wage growth has been slow. amazon is getting into the diaper business. the web retailer will start selling its own brand of diapers and baby wipes exclusively for prime members tass tries to get more people to sign up for the $99 a year service. starbucks is betting on beer and wine to boost sales. it will add more alcoholic drinks and even snacks to its menu, boosting its lunch offerings and rolling out mobile orders. they also plan to open express stores and coffee trucks and an upscale chain with premium coffee. back to you. >> thank you, landon. just ahead, a legend is set to make his big return and a rare disease strikes the nhl.

and it is the play of the day. an insane come from behind last second play to win it all in college football. sports is up next.

this morning on "today," preparations are under way for a royal visit. new york city is getting ready to welcome prince william and kate.

now for the latest in sports, i'll turn it over to my colleague todd pyro. good morning. >> thanks, dara. an incredible finnikrebcredible greenville, north carolina. >> he fires it high. fires it deep. and touchdown! he caught it. >> ucf stuns east carolina on the final play with a 51-yard hail mare touchdown pass. central florida wins. thursday night football, demarco murray ran for a season high 179 yards and a touchdown. and tony romo threw for three scores. this year's top nfl draft clowney done for the season. the texans line backer will have a second surgery on his right knee. he was injured in week one, played in just four games in his rookie season. tiger woods returns to the golf course. it wasn't what he hoped for. in the first round since august, he flubbed four chip shots and finished dead last in the 18 man

field, shooting 5 over 77 in the first round of the hero world challenge. here's how tiger saw it. >> it is weird. i didn't feel like i hit it that bad and my short game was awful. i didn't make anything. but it was just one of those days where really nothing went my way. >> meanwhile, his girlfriend olympic skier lindsey vonn is hoping to have a better comeback. she's racing today for the first time in nearly a year, returning from a knee injury and surgery. she will compete in a downhill race at lake louise in canada. now from the gross department, minnesota defenseman ryan suitor diagnosed with the mumps, making him the ninth person to come down with the disease in the nhl and fifth from his own team. why so common for players to get it? mumps is easily spread through saliva or mucous, usually when someone coughs or sneezes or talks. you can imagine how quickly that can spread between players sharing water bottles and things like that. and wilt chamberlain will be the first nba player to be

featured on a stamp. u.s. postal service will honor him with commemorative stamps, one in a lakers uniform, another in a philly uniform. in order to put his 7'1" frame, the stamps are almost two inches long. that's a third longer than the typical stamp, about 50 million of them will be printed. dara, back to you. that will look good on an envelope. jon stewart's secret message to angelina jolie. that's up next.

happy friday morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm meteorologist domenica davis. yes, we're still talking about rain that will be in friday's forecast, san francisco all the way up to seattle. that's where we're going to see moderate to heavy rain showers. the rain does ease up by saturday. it is looking a bit better. we'll see early morning showers before that clears in the afternoon. it is dry on saturday in los angeles and vegas. that's a look at your friday forecast. back to you, dara. >> thanks, domenica. time for entertainment news. when he said he'll be back, well, he meant it. the first trailer for terminator genesis has been released. in it we see arnold schwarzenegger reprise his classic role in the film. it hits theaters in july of next year. it looks like sherlock star benedict cumberbatch is going to the big screen. he'll take on the role of dr. strange, the newest superhero in the marvel universe. it is expected to hit theaters in 2016. mark wahlberg is asking for a pardon for an assault

conviction from when he was 16. the incident involved him trying to rob a man and spent 45 days in jail. he's hoping for his criminal record to be erased after he dedicated himself to becoming a better person. jon stewart has some interesting information for angelina jolie last night. >> if you ended up with me, instead of brad pitt, we could have been stoli. we could have been a vodka brand. >> i'm dara brown. this is "early today." we hope it is just your first stop of the day on nbc.

leading the news from az central, phoenix police suspect unarmed when killed by officer. an officer thought the suspect was reaching into his pocket for a weapon. he told brisbane to keep his hands in his pockets. when the officer felt threatened, he fired two shots. the item in brisbane's pocket turned out to be a bottle of pills. in the telegraph, pope sacks the head of the swiss guard for being too strict. colonel daniel rudolph will reportedly remain at his post until early next year. an official explanation was given for his dismissal, but it has been widely rumored that pope francis would prefer a less military-like approach to security. now to other stories, the senate passed a bill yesterday

which would end social security benefits for suspected nazi war criminals. this comes after a report by the associated press that several ex-nazis who have been deported were still getting money. the bill is headed for president obama's desk for signature. it has been five years since the ft. hood shooting in texas. now the house passed legislation that would make the victims of the 2009 attack eligible for the purple heart. 13 people died in the shooting, more than 30 others were injured. cleanup is under way at the jung until san jose, california, that's the nickname for what is likely the nation's largest homeless encampment. the last 18 months the city has been working with the homeless population to move everyone to shelters. and time to get a bigger boat. a team competing in the volvo ocean race collided with a reef in the indian ocean last weekend. take a listen. the team had to abandon ship after the 65 foot boat slammed

into the reef at nearly 22 miles per hour. the crew was picked up from a nearby deserted island on wednesday. they hope to repair their boat before the next leg of the race in january. those pictures are frightening. it looks like it should be a movie and not real. >> i know, yeah. it really did. looked like it was effects or something. >> yes. frightening moments though. i like to keep land in sight at all times. >> good idea. now time for a look ahead, beginning to look a lot like christmas near the vatican. a tree just over 80 feet tall and weighing 8 tons arrived in st. peters square yesterday. a lighting ceremony will take place two weeks from today. and happy birthday to actor frankie muniz who turns 29 today. margaret cho is 46. and little richard turns 82. now, keep it right here for more news, weather and sports. i'm dara brown. thanks for watching "early today." we hope you have a great friday and a wonderful weekend.