election day is like christmas r civics' dorks, this is like christmas, birthday, graduation, anniversary all rolled into one. very exciting week in the news. now it's time for the last word memory lapse -- texas governor rick perry's big stumble at last night's republican presidential debate. penn state sacking -- legendary football coach, joe paterno, is fired in the wake of a child sex scandal. and laid to rest -- now you can own a creepy piece of michael jackson's history. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more are straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. well we begin this morning with one for the record books,

last night in michigan, republican presidential hopefuls squared off on the economy. in what wasn't shaping up to be a very memorable debate. until what may be a game-changing gaffe by texas governor rick perry. perry took to twitter after the debate saying he quote, stepped in it. nbc's steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: for the cnbc debate on the economy, the republican candidates came to a state with 11% unemployment. on a day when u.s. stocks dived and the italian debt crisis got so bad, it threatened our recovery. what should we do? hemplen cain -- >> we must grow this economy we have the biggest economy in the world. >> mitt romney, no u.s. bailout. >> no, no, no, we do not need to step in to bail out banks either in europe or banks here in the u.s. that may have italian debt. >> rick perry, no bailouts at home, either. even though the chrysler and gm bailout saved this detroit community. >> if you are too big to fail,

you are too big. >> when moderator maria bartiromo asked cain about sexual harassment, the audience protested. cain claimed his supporters are hanging in. >> they don't care about the character assassination, they care about leadership and getting this economy growing and all the other problems we face. >> a big problem is housing. prices down, foreclosures up. >> if you want the housing market to come back, the economy has to come back. >> let markets work, help people get back to work. let them buy homes. >> rick perry looked sharp until he tried to tick off three government agencies he would kill. >> commerce, education and the -- let's see -- i can't. >> the cringe moment. perry disaster. >> oops. >> as the gop candidates competed to lead america back to prosperity. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news,

rochester, michigan. following the debate on the "last word" with lawrence o'donnell. lawrence asked republican strategist steve schmidt and msnbc's alex wagner to weigh in on rick perry's debate blunder and if it spelled doom for his campaign. >> it's over for him. i think his campaign effectively ended tonight. just an extraordinary moment. the likes of which we have never seen before in a presidential debate. he had fallen off the radar screen, he's fallen to michele bachmann's levels in the race, think that was something over tonight. >> ha was something akin to wetting your pants on the last day of school. there's no reprieve for rick perry. especially ironically on energy, which something he has hammered out over and over and over. >> it turns out later he was thinking of the department of energy. he finally got that out. the governor of texas, the oil business centered there, and he couldn't quite remember oh yeah, the department that regulates my big industry, i want to get rid

of them. >> it was one of those white knuckle moments where you could almost hear him saying -- line, line. i think once you have the pity of the american public, you've also lost their vote. >> don't miss the "last word," week nights at 10:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc, the place for politics. in a massive shakeup at penn state university, legendary football coach, joe paterno, was fired last night. university president, graham spaneier was also let go, amid a widening scandal over how the school handled allegations of sexual child abuse by a former assistant coach. penn state students flooded the streets last night in protest. at least two were arrested. nbc's jay gray reports. >> the turmoil at penn state poured into the streets overnight. as word quickly spread of a late decision by the university board of trustees that legendary coach, joe paterno and

university president, graham spannier, would be relieved of their duties immediately. >> things had reached a point where a change was necessary and we thought in the best long-term interests of the university

passengers suffered injuries while a man inside the home was unharmed. a collision between two tankers on an arizona highway produced a fiery wreck. killing one of the drivers.

the explosionive fire occurred after a milk tanker rear-ended another, carrying over 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel. thick smoke and flames forced officials to evacuate homes and businesses and hotels within a mile radius until firefighters were able to get that blaze under control and finally, mother nature pulled out her winter blanket in wisconsin. covering parts of the state with two to six inches of snowfall. the winter-like conditions smacked areas with heavy snow and downed power lines. leaving close to 15,000 people in the dark last night. now let's check your national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins, he has the weather channel forecast. and the people in alaska are sort of chuckling at the folks in wisconsin, saying you ain't seen nothing. >> so the snowflakes aren't going to scare us. is it early for the chicago and wisconsin snow, actually a week or two late.

typically they had already seen snow, but yesterday was the first day. the big huge storm out of alaska, here's pictures from the nome area, they're pretty weather-hardy up there. 90-mile-per-hour winds, blinding snow, that was pretty much added to the list this was like a blizzard along with a hurricane at the same time. storm surge did cause a little bit of damage, but mostly rural and western alaska, we're not seeing a lot of dramatic pictures. if a storm like this happened in the eastern half of the united states, we would still be talking about it for a long time. as far as what we're dealing with, the storm system at one point was 1500 miles wide. now it's gone. now our focus is back in the lower 48. there's not a lot going on, we have our tropical storm shawn just off the coast. there's a cold front coming through new england today, that will suck up some of that wet weather. if you live in maine, new hampshire, massachusetts, long

island. be prepared for rainy weather to move in today. the cold front has cleared out through the midwest, it will be chilly and raw today in areas of wisconsin, michigan, all through the ohio valley, but at least it will be dry. our computers are pinpointing the heaviest rainfall totals, spreading northward, it looks like from hartford eastward. and especially in areas of maine, that's where we could see about one to two inches of rain. the rain cuts off near new york city. from new york city down to philly and d.c., don't expect a lot of wet weather today, most will be up in new england. we're just fine in the southeast. not many issues, beautiful day in texas, although a little bit breezy. and nor big storms on the way. it looks like a quiet weekend forecast coming our way. bill, thanks so much. wall street has the italian blues, toyota has another recall and buying ads online to beat back a political scandal? your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, the nba has another marathon meeting. and one of the strangest plays

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welcome back, i'm lynn berry and here's some stories making news this morning. the "washington post" reports the mortuary at dover air force base disposed of cremated body parts of the nation's war dead from 2003-2008 by dumping the ashes in a virginia landfill. officials say since that discovery, they've been burying ashes at sea. this week, the air force disciplined three mortuary officials for gross mismanagement. in eastern turkey more than two dozen survivors have so far been pulled from the rubble of three buildings brought down by a quake that killed at least seven people. it happened in the same province where another quake killed 600 last month. alabama's jefferson county now holds the record for the largest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history. the county filed yesterday,

years after being plunged into more than $4 billion of debt by a sewer project. and finally this one, under super-creepy. the queen-sized bed in which michael jackson died is being auctioned off next month along with other items from his rented l.a. mansion. not sure who would want that bed. we'll see. and now here is your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,780 after plunging 389 points yesterday. the s&p sank 46 points, the nasdaq tumbled 105. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 254 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng lost a whopping 1,050. well wall street opened lower wednesday on concerns italy's prime minister may not follow through on his promise to resign. and things only got worse from there. silvio berlusconi skiing naled he may want new elections instead of an interim government.

potentially dragging out his departure and slowing economic reform. the italian bond levels sank to levels of portugal and greece. making matters worse, a deal on a national unity government in greece collapsed. more euro gloom? general motors slid almost 11% on unexpected losses in europe. on euro anxiety in one day, wall street's so-called fear index jumped a staggering 31%. financials like morgan stanley, goldman sachs and bank of america were hardest hit. in earnings after the bell, cisco rose on earnings that beat expectations, also in late trade, green mountain coffee plunged after missing estimates. elsewhere, another toyota recall, more than half a million of various models worldwide. working with the government to get more u.s. homes connected to broadband, cable companies will offer internet service for just

$9.95 a month to households with children eligible for free school lunches. and more evidence that politics has gone digital. the hill reports that herman cain's campaign anticipating internet searches on harassment allegations against him, placed ads on google targeting likely words, such as herman cain harassment or herman cain scandal. then an ad appears at the top of those search results for cain truth.com. coming up, off-season tragedy strikes a major leaguer. a strange approach to offense on the ice, and more gyrations in the nba lockout. plus if you're going through pro basketball withdrawal, we've got some of last night's college hardwood highlights. your "first look" at sports coming up. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. this is $100,000.

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how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. and in sports, for pro basketball fans hungry for a little nba action, it wasn't much, but at least there was some movement yesterday in the owners lockout of the players. here's fred roggin. the nba lockout had 132 days and counting. the commissioner's ultimatum has gone without a deal. the pros aren't playing, but the college kids are ramping up for the season. arizona almost stumbled against duquesne. jordan mays knocked down pair of threes late in the second, he had 19. wildcats held on to win 67-59.

texas a&m rode the hot hend of ray turner against liberty. the block, the steal, the bucket on the other end. aggies up 23 at the half and they kept it going in the second. off the fast break, naji hibbert with the alley-oop to turner, had he career high 20. good to see steve lavin back on the sidelines, he missed a month after undergoing prostate cancer surgery. he decided to return hours before st. johns hosted lehigh and his team responded. god's gift to chewa led the way, it's no surprise he was chosen from the field. st. john's won it. troubling news out of venezuela, washington nationals catcher, justin ramos abducted from his home by four armed men. he's expected to be washington's starting catcher next season. finally, strange sight in tampa bay, the flyers didn't like what they saw defensively.

this he stood in their own zone with the puck. they didn't move and waited for the lightning to blink. i've never seen anything like that before. eventually the referee whistled the play dead. not a lot of offense when you're playing like that and that game needed overtime. dominique moore drove to the net like a fullback. brett conlin chipped in the rebound. and now for another look at the weather, let's check back in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. he is captain of the ship. bill, what's going on. >> the ship's going down in new england today. it was a beautiful, beautiful stretch of weather, we had ever since the snowstorm, we haven't had any rain at all and today we'll have to bring back the umbrellas, especially in maine, new hampshire, massachusetts. temperatures are mild this morning, but the cold air is on the way. we're down to 42 in pittsburgh and the cold air will be sweeping in behind the rain. so first comes the rain moving up from the south. you can see it the green on the map here, quickly approaching areas of long island and southern new england. that's where it will move first, through rhode island and boston

and up through new hampshire. there's a sharp cut-off line from new york city to new jersey, philadelphia area, pennsylvania, not expecting a lot of rain for you today. most of it is going to be to the north, the computers are predicting as much as an inch of rain in areas of maine. only a couple tenths of an inch from hartford to boston to manchester. so the general rule is have the umbrella from new york up through new england. i think even our philadelphia to d.c. for the most part, you're going to be dry today. it's also very cold in the middle of the country. this wind chill map is one of the coldest ones we've seen so far this year from denver to chicago. at least in that area it's going to be sunny and nice as we go throughout the afternoon. bill, thanks so much. well another award for country's princess. and another award for legendary actor. plus the latest stunning setback in what was suppose to be his big comeback. your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present.

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welcome back to "first look." last night on late night with jimmy fallon, jimmy offered his unique observations on a variety of recent news items. >> some big, big election news here yesterday, herman cain gave his first press conference since being accused of sexual harassment. yup, first cain took a bunch of questions then he took a bunch of phone numbers, it was weird. a little weird. hey listen to this, microsoft is teaming up with yahoo and a.o.l. to sell internet ads, i was so excited, i immediately called my friend who lives in the '90s. you see this yesterday, brad

pitt and angelina jolie were spotted arriving in japan with all six of their children. and today they were spotted leaving japan with all 12 of their children. a deer jumps through at window of a taco restaurant in georgia. or taco bell put it, hey, sometimes the ingredients just deliver themselves. it's a miracle. tonight jimmy welcomes "breaking dawn" actor robert pattinson. enlightened doctor, mike white and musical guests hunter heys. do you live under a rock, bill? that's late night with jimmy fallon. week nights at 12:35 on your local nbc station. i'm going to explain to bill about the "twilight" series coming up. time for a first look at entertainment news, her head is on straight, she sold more than 20 million albums, who knows what's next for taylor swift. last night for a second time, swift was named the country music association's entertainer

of the year. she becomes only the second woman to win the award twice. joining country legend barbara mandrell. piers morgan announces he's leaving "america's got talent." and morgan freeman will pick up a lifetime achievement award at the next golden globe. and speakinging of the oscars on the day after his friend, director brett ratner resigned as producer of next year's telecast, eddie murphy has dropped out as host. bill is chomping at bit to say something. hold on, after the soft opening of "tower heist" last weekend and quitting as oscar host, a lot of people are speculating about his days as a megastar is over. >> i thought he would be -- >> you and three other people. >> i remember the glory days of his, stand-up stuff from like "raw" and "delirious".

>> ricky gervais, bring him back. "way too early" starts right now. two out of three, not bad for texas governor rick perry, who suffers a painful-to-watch lapse during the republican presidential debate in michigan that reinforces something he has said before himself. debates aren't really his strong suit. the question is, in the actual substance of that debate, how did the front-runners mitt romney and herman cain stack up? we'll take a look. meanwhile the end of a 46-year era at penn state university, as the school fires legendary head football coach joe paterno along with his president in the middle of a horrifying sexual abuse scandal. the question is, did the students in the streets flipping over trucks to protest the firing read the grand jury report? i suspect not. and the dow d