coming up on "early today," breaking news as isis fighters launch a major offensive close to the location of u.s. military advisers. dangerous windchills. a major blizzard and new arctic blasts on the way this weekend. a massive outpouring in chapel hill for three slain students. plus president obama acting like the rest of us. and "saturday night live's" massive star-studded 40th anniversary show just got super sized. it's friday the 13th. "early today" starts right now. a very good morning to you. we have new developments out of iraq for you to start. iraqi security forces supported by sunni tribe fighters retook the town of al baghdadi after isis militants attacked from the north, south and west.

some reports saying isis had control at one point. it happened eight miles from an air base where u.s. marines are training iraqi troops. isis fighters arers are still close to town borders. the premier league saying there's been no direct attack on that air base and militants have been pushed back by u.s. coalition-led air strikes. some of the coldest wither in the country. 35 million people in 17 states under some form of windchill advisory from the upper murder west to the deep south. it's zero degrees in some places, below zero in others. a bitter weekend ahead. by monday, parts of new england could be 10 so 20 below with windchills as low as minus 35. but that's not all, my friends. blizzard watches are in effect saturday night through sunday for the entire england coast. and yes that includes boston where crews have worked nonstop for three weeks to move six feet of snow. meteorologist bill karins will be here shortly for your valentine's day forecast. convicted army soldier

chelsea panning will begin her first step to becoming a woman. in a historic ruling the u.s. military approved her for hormone therapy. private chelsea manning, formerly known as bradley manning, is currently serving a 35-year sentence for espionage. manning was found guilty of sending classified documents to the wikileaks website. shortly after sentencing she made it clear she wanted to become a woman through gender reassignment. in september she sued the federal government for access to hormone therapy. that lawsuit argued that private manning had been diagnose the with gender dysphoria which is the sense of being a woman? a man's body and was at risk for self-sass traition and suicide if she did not get more focused treatment. federal and many states and local prisons already administer hormone therapy to prisoner with gender dysphoria but manning is the first transgender military press they are to request and be granted the treatment. ethics scandal is rocking

oregon's governor's office. lawmakers including fellow democrats want john kitzhaber to quit. he and his fiancee are under criminal investigation allegedly asking to find his fiance paid jobs with groups hoping to influence oregon policy. hayes is accused of a bogus marriage involving marrying a nigerian immigrant in 1996 for $5,000. kitzhaber is oregon's longest-serving governor. you'll hear this at courthouses today across alabama. same-sex couples lining up to marriage licenses to get those after a hearing yesterday a federal judge made it clear probate judges cannot refuse gay couples. it's been legal there since monday. but 11th hour pressure from alabama's chief justice had some

places refusing to give them out all week. alabama is the 37th state to allow same-sex marriage. new help for the country's war vets. a suicide prevention bill. president obama signed it yesterday. it supports programs that help warning war vets transition back into society. the bill was named after clay hunt. clay was an iraq vet who ended his life in 2011 while struggling with ptsd. his parents were at that ceremony. some estimates show 22 veterans commit suicide each and every day in america. later today president obama will take on cyber security, signing an executive order encouraging companies to share cyber theft data. this looked like old faithful. except this is los angeles. officials say a car hit a hydrant and a guiser in san fernando valley. fire trucks blocked the intersection. they didn't stop one car. this white car here drives right into the gusher.

wanted to save $10 for a car wash. spend the $10, right? it started with a smash. a julie store in the uk. a stolen car ramming through a front window. masked men dressed in black not far behind. they slipped and slid their way straight into the goods. they used axes to hack into the display and back counters. security smoke filled the room then they flee as fast as they arrived as that smoke's entering. thousands of dollars of gold jewelry, poof gone in a cloud of smoke with the burglars. let's get over to bill kerins. they got a lot of money out of that. >> yeah for now. >> talk about smoke. let's talk about snow. >> across the country, people are shaking their heads at what boston and parts of new england are going through. they have another blizzard heading their way. here's the fact of the day. boston they think of it as a snowy cold city they've never had two confirmed blizzards in one winter before. they had one two weeks ago, they

have a good chance of this becoming a blizzard too. we'll wait and see if that piece of history comes to fruition. we're watching saturday night into sunday. snow banks are over their heads at the end of their driveways and a possibility of another 6 to 12 inches of snow. the winds with this will be much worse than the last one. we could see 60-mile-per-hour gusts on the coast. we could see 50-mile-per-hour gusts inland. even as far away as new york city we could see 40-mile-per-hour gusts. that's a lot of blowing and drifting of snow. you feel for those people. they're not going to be able to leave their homes on sunday. monday will be another day of bigging out. bitterly cold too. windchills right now are, the country's been split. very warm in the west the last couple of days and negative 21 windchills in northern new england around burlington vermont. yesterday in southern california, 85 in l.a. 86 in san diego. even sacramento was 73. lake tahoe, little if any snow they've been setting record highs day after day. northwest low to mid 60s is

above-average temperatures. this weather pattern doesn't show signs of changing. the eastern half of the country will be cold the next week or two. dry and warm in the west continuing into the future. that's our national weather. here's aove average. pretty crazy weather pattern. very extreme. >> you've got a lot of crazy talk on that wed over the west coast, my friend. 80s? all right, bill karins thank you so much. the passing of a journalist described as one of the most gifted writers at the new york times. plus one of the most spraining courtroom scenes we have seen in a very long time. we'll have that. you're watching "early today."

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another death in the journalism world. "new york times" media columnist david daughters died. the cause is unclear but the "times" says he collapsed in the news room last night. he was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. earlier in the evening carr moderated a panel featuring former cia leaker edward snowden. carr was a cancer 75er and in 2008 wrote a memoir about his drug addiction. the publisher of the "new york times" remembers carr as "a unique human being full of life and energy funny, loyal and loveable." david carr was 58. the fbi will launch a preliminary inquiry into the shooting deaths of three muslim students. the fbi previously said it had not seen crimes of a hate crime despite claims of the families. more than 5,000 people attended the funeral for the husband, wife and sister. fists flying outside the ukrainian parliament on thursday when two lawmakers got into a knockdown knockdown, drag-out fight. there was a bloody nose. both were suspended for five

days. sunday is your last chance to sign up for health insurance through healthcare.gov. with over 7 million people already signed up the obama administration says it's on its way to meeting its goal of 9.1 million. now to a feisty exchange. an 80-year-old woman, a florida judge. keep your eye on the inmates behind the sassy senior. >> i made them banana bread and chocolate pudding pies. >> well he probably -- >> i make a mean chili. >> there you go, ma'am. you brighten my day, ma'am. >> that's what the last guy said. >> after 80 years in this broward county courtroom this woman may have found her calling, or she just nabbed 15 minutes of fame. >> how am i doing as a judge so far? >> not bad but you could do better. >> could we get a drumroll?

>> reporter: the feisty 5'5" 160-pound gray-haired woman pleaded in protest and laughter that in no way did she violate a protective order from her ex-husband of 30-something years. >> ma'am, just don't have anything too do with him, stay away from him -- >> i swear to god and all that's holy on a stack of bibles i will never go near him, talk to him, call him, or even look at him. >> what were you going to swear on besides the bibles? >> i don't remember. oh all that's holy. i didn't recognize your twang. >> ma'am, have you ever thought of doing a standup routine? >> i did. if you pay me good money, sweetheart, i'll be there. i'm really short of funds. >> reporter: but not short of laughs. her attorney couldn't help it. the three-minute routine came to an end with the judge and defendant happily waving good-bye to each other. >> you seem like you have a great wit about you. >> i do, sir.

sweetheart, that's the only thing i have. >> get her on jimmy fallon. landon dowdy, good morning to you. >> richard, good morning to you. stocks are trying to extend thursday's gains today. the markets rallied as investors cheered strong earnings from cisco systems and the cease-fire deal between russia and the ukraine. energy stocks got a boost from higher oil prices. $52 a barrel today. americans will be spending on sweethearts this valentine's day. retail spending is expected to hit nearly $19 billion. thanks to the improving economy the average person will spend $142 with the most on their significant other. men will spend nearly twice as much as women. if you're looking for love with your latte, head to starbucks today. the chain is teaming up with match.com for the world's largest date. from 2:00 p.m. to close meet up with your mate or prospective mate and energy romantic music, food and share snapshots from

your #starbucksdate on social media. just ahead, belushi, murphy fay? which "snl" cast member was ranked the number one best? it was one of catchiest sports ads ever. up next gatorade reveals its new be like mike commercial. "sheesh, i wish i'd looked some more." that's why walgreens makes it easy to switch your prescriptions and save money. just stop by. and leave all the legwork to us. switch your prescriptions to walgreens where you could save even more on medicare part d with copays as low as zero dollars. at the corner of happy and healthy.

this morning on "today," with all that heavy snow that millions have been hit by roofs are in danger of collapsing. find out in a new report how to protect your home. taking you to sports envelope legend tony dorsett is battling degenerative brain disease. he and his wife discussing the impact of cte with nbc news' lester holt in their first joint tv interview. >> there's good days and there's bad days. there's some days i can going somewhere, a place that i've been going to maybe over 20 years or so and i forget how to get there. >> i know you don't want to be the poster image for cte. but to the extent that there's so much awareness now about head trauma about sports about taking care of our kids and young athletes. to that extent what message do you want to send? >> i thought it would be something good for me to come out with this and let people understand the fact that it's there and it's real. >> power to him.

cte causing memory loss and has been linked to repeated head trauma. the famous dallas cowboys player was diagnosed with signs of cte in 2013. ice hockey a candidate for goal of the year. st. louis' t.j.oshi passes between his legs wide-open david backes fires for the score, st. louis takes tampa bay 6-3. pga tour in california bill murray having some fun. his game, not so much fun. or good. yep. but he does nail the sammy sosa salute at the end there. after playing 18 holes golfer mark hubbard proposed to long-time girlfriend on the 18th hole and she said yes. washington quarterback robert griffin iii posted this touching photo. he and his wife rebecca are expecting. rg4? and talk about re-dos. justin timberlake posting the same photo two weeks ago with his wife jessica. after 23 years, gatorade

releasing a digitally remastered version of the classic "be like my dad" with michael jordanerrdan for their 50th anniversary. m.j.'s favorite flavor citrus cooler with a retro label back at the end of march. nba all-star weekend in new york city. players stopping by "the tonight show" to read superlatives. here's miami's chris bosh with his. >> host of the tonight show, jimmy fallon. he was voted most likely to laugh during "50 shades of grey" and get a [ bleep ] during spongebob. >> you fill that in. just ahead the world's sexiest accent revealed for you. plus ever wonder what the president does when no one's around? this video viewed over 15 million times.

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you'll have to keep your significant mother warm on valentine's day in the west mother nature's going to take care of it. 85 in l.a. 69 in san francisco. great weather. look at the rockies. if you want to go skiing there's still snow at high elevations. the cities themselves salt lake city 63. denver 61. there will be some showers in the northwest on saturday not a big deal. sunday, a little bit cooler in many spots. overall a really nice valentine's weekend. >> it might be tough spring

skiing this year. >> for many areas it's tough. they're getting people there, they don't think there's snow even though there is. now did entertainment. "50 shades of grey" smashing a box office record beating "fast and furious 6" to become the highest grossing in history. it's almost here "saturday night live" celebrating 40 years on television with a monster special airing on nbc sunday night. the top ten include john belushi, eddie murphy tina fey, mike myers, dan aykroyd, bill murray, phil hartman, amy poehler, gilda radner chevy chase. >> no chris farley no dana carver. >> i would not want to rank that. tough trying to pick the top ten. this is the "today" show matt lauer asking "snl" creator lorne michaels the secret to becoming

a primetime player. >> the criteria i used when hiring people if it was 2:00 in the morning and i was walking down the hall and i saw who i wanted duck into another office. i think you have to have people that you can drive cross country with people who you find interesting and bright and look at things in a different way than you do. >> catch the full interview this morning on "today." as part of the "snl" extravaganza, nbc released an app with over 300 hours of clips from the show's history. the 40th anniversary special sunday night on nbc. we were talking, how can you pick the best of 40? all these years. >> you can't. that's why lists are great because you can argue them. will ferrell's got to be on the list. >> who's your favorite? >> church lady. >> all of them are great. "early today." we hope it's your first stop here on nbc. almay celebrates the true spirit of american beauty. which rises from the heart of our great country... dreams are born. hopes fly high...

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leading the news, from "people" magazine perfect match. kentucky woman's kidney donation to stranger leads to love. ashley mcintyre volunteered to help danny robinson. her mom heard his plea for a kidney on the radio. the two say they clicked as soon as they met. >> he will never win an argument, ever. >> i gave you my kidney! roger that british confirmed as world's sexiest accent. after the brits the next twang, american irish, australian french. >> you don't consider that we have an accent because we're here. but we do. to other countries we have an american accent. >> we do. you sound very americano they say in other places. doggy determination. a dog in cedar rapids iowa

walked 20 blocks to the hospital. why? her owner has been recovering from cancer surgery. surveillance shows sissy, the miniature sha nazr strolls into the hospital lob benefit. a security guard spots the wandering dog with the help of her tags. they contact the family. there's sissy. sistersy got to spend a few minutes -- >> security was lacking a little bit. it's okay. >> it's a dog. >> a big boost. that helped a lot, just to see her and talk to her. >> she was on a mission. the way she walked into the hospital, she was on a mission. >> love that story. let's talk about another animal, baby andy roddick vark getting attention at a hungarian zoo. >> hairless cat. >> i don't know about that. just under two weeks old, ears of a rabbit, nose of a pig, a heart of gold loves to dig. not the most attractive. what do you think? >> there's a mate for everyone. >> i guess. this could get more buzz.

the president preparing for this week's interview aimed at getting younger audiences to watch. >> deadline for signing up for health insurance is february -- febru -- february 15th. thanks, obama. that's pretty good. mm! >> mr. president? >> can i live? >> all right so the president wants to spread the word about sunday's health care deadline. the video has over 15 million views. it's funny stuff. >> he has to. that's what people love. the younger generation love to go on the computer, get little clips, put them on facebook or wherever, social media, share it. that's how you get the eyeballs. >> theoretically they want that realness. i'm richard louis along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early

today." have a great friday the 13th and valentine's day.

good friday the 13th. it's 4:30. >> you remind us out of the gate this morning. not superstitious. let's get to the forecast. you're not superstitious, are you? >> no. i'm a believer. we're at 54 degrees in san francisco. have a good looking day shaping up with temperatures warming into the 70s. that warming trend continues into the weekend. right now i want to check on your drive. he's a little sneaky one this morning, good morning to you. >> sneaking in just before the camera took me. we're over here toward the