they are reconsidering their overall national criminalization of homosexuality. that's a change. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow night. senate stalemate. partisan skirmishes continue as dueling planning for extending the pay cut are blocked. coastal chaos. wild wind and massive waves batter scotland. and the fur flies. why an animal rights group is handing out the things they're most against. >> good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and we begin this morning with running out of time in what has become an all-too-familiar

scene on capitol hill, republicans and democrats are deadlocked over key legislation. this time if congress can't compromise on how to pay for payroll tax cuts that expire december 31st, tens of millions of americans will see smaller paychecks next year. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: a sharply divided senate shot down competing attempts to extend payroll tax cuts for more than 160 million americans. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: republicans refused to raise taxes on millionaires. democrats wouldn't agree to slash federal jobs. and if congress doesn't extend the tax cut and unemployment insurance, president obama is threatening to keep lawmakers in town through the holidays. >> we are going to stay here as long as it takes to make sure that the american people's taxes don't go up on january 1st. >> reporter: the president is refusing to bow to republicans in the last big showdown of a politically toxic year. >> they think we should do a payroll tax but the question is, what price will they extract from the president in order to get it done?

and i just want to make clear, this is not about me. >> reporter: republicans are pressuring the president to sign off on building the keystone oil pipeline from canada. >> at a time when the american people are still asking the question, where are the jobs, i think this is a bipartisan proposal that a president ought to endorse. >> reporter: before blocking the payroll tax cut bill, senate republicans held up the nomination of richard cordray, the president's choice to be a new financial watch dog for consumers. >> so i just want to send a message to the senate. we are not giving up on this. we are going to keep going at it. >> reporter: the president and republicans winding down this year the way they started it -- at odds. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. well, jon corzine, the former ceo of mf global faced a house committee investigating one of the largest bankruptcies in u.s. history and gave the first public defense of his leadership in that failed company thursday. corzine, the one-time new jersey senator and the first former

senator to be subpoenaed to testify before congress in over 100 years, offered answers to all of those questions and never invoked his fifth amendment rights, despite the fact his testimony can be used against him in the future. corzine testified he doesn't know what happened to missing customer money, didn't monitor movement of specific funds and blamed the firm's failure on bad decisions by his predecessor. well, overseas now where iran has released new video it claims is a high-tech u.s. drone that crashed last week. this video aired on iranian state tv and it shows iranian military officials examining the alleged drone which appears surprisingly intact. the aircraft shows no damage, and some experts, who noted a significant difference in the position of the drone's wings, believe it may be a mock-up. u.s. officials have acknowledged the loss of an rq-170 advanced drone that was involved in a cia

reconnaissance mission. the pentagon has, however, declined to comment on the iranian video. in a community that is still healing from the single deadliest shooting rampage in u.s. history, police in virginia are investigating a tragedy near virginia tech campus that left two dead yesterday. the university said it was just after noon yesterday when virginia tech police officer deriek crouse pulled over a driver in a campus parking lot. witnesses told police that another man walked up and shot the officer, then ran away toward a nearby building. by the time police found him, the gunman had apparently shot himself to death. the officer and father of five did not survive. just terrible there. well, now here's a look at some other news going around america today. a store clerk and customer lived through a terrifying ordeal inside a florida gas station. three masked robbery suspects entered waving guns and demanding money. the suspects held guns to the

heads of the robbery victims all throughout the robbery. the crooks escaped on foot after attempting to empty the cash register. no arrests have been made. this is gross. a massive beehive has residents in one florida community have residents feeling like prisoners in their own neighborhood. you can see why. thousands of bees have taken up residence at a foreclosed property. neighbors are helpless since the city refuses to step in. although the dwelling is empty, officials say removing the beehive is the homeowners' responsibility. that may be a problem. and finally, a fur coat giveaway in cincinnati is turning heads. here's why. peta, people for the ethical treatment of animals, gave over 100 furs to homeless men and women. now, the animal rights group is most known for slashing paint on fur, but they decided to give donated animal coats to the needy. right? that's a good way to use them. keeping with tradition, peta splattered white paint on the coats to remove their monetary value. well now here's a look at

the national weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. >> a little chilly. >> fake fur. it's fine. works just as well. >> got to stay warm, right? >> wow, you are going to get so many angry letters. >> people just want to be warm. it doesn't matter how they do it. just insulate yourself. up there in the northern plains -- you know what i'm talking about, temperatures, feels like the middle of winter. we've entered a quiet tranquil period in weather which is night, a lot want to get their shopping done and looks like the weather won't cause you any problems. here's the big picture setup. right now we've watched the arctic jet stream dip down into the northern plain, the first real good shot of cold air and make these runs at us periodically throughout the winter so it's cool just about everywhere but very cold, the heart of the cold air is up here through the dakotas and eventually it will move its way

through the great lakes and northeast by the time we get to saturday. snow ahead of the arctic front, not a lot but interesting, chicago saw its first snowflakes of the season. chicago, detroit, buffalo, syracuse, much of new england, everyone is waiting for the snow but haven't seen it this season. there's a little bit out there. this is very light. like a powdery, fine snow maybe a half inch at most in areas of northern illinois, all the way right along the border with indiana, ohio and michigan, detroit, same for you and cleveland, you'll see snowflakes this morning but it's not going to cause much of a problem. inner mountain west, you look cold but nice. it's a nice warm-up after a very chilly start. temperatures getting to the 50s as far north as boston. so, lynn, i guess the bottom line is that we get a break. we've had so many bad weather months out there this year we get a break in december. >> bill, thanks.

well, stocks tumble, unemployment improves and coke's secret formula comes out of hiding. sort of. your first look at business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, the deal that was, the deal that wasn't and one washed up fan. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky was released on $250,000 bail thursday after spending a night in jail on new sexual abuse charges. in a statement sandusky's wife defended her husband saying his accusers are making up their story. a new government study finds texting while driving continues to grow at an alarming rate. about half of american drivers between 21 and 24 say they've typed messages or e-mailed while

driving with many believing it's dangerous but only when others do it. nasa's inspector general says the space agency has lost or misplaced more than 500 pieces of lunar rocks and other space samples since 1970. the report says nasa needs to keep better track of what it loans to researchers and museums. and a culinary crisis is spreading in norway -- say it ain't so -- after the popularity of a fat, rich diet fad has eaten up the country's stockpiles of butter. bad weather and poor harvest are also being blamed. butter is being sold on norway's top auction website for roughly four times the normal asking price. and severe winds slam scotland thursday, closing bridges and schools, shutting down travel and leaving thousands without power. wind gusts of up to 150 miles per hour were recorded in one area. once again, wall street is

at the center of political mudslinging in the campaign trail. last night on "the last word," former obama administration adviser elizabeth warren told lawrence o'donnell what she thinks of a new attack road funded by crossroads gps that paints her as a friend of wall street. >> it seems like the strategy now is the kitchen stink strategy. throw anything you can at her and let's see what happens. let's keep in mind what was going on three years ago, karl rove was part of the inner circle while george w. bush is telling congress and a nation we got to bail out the big financial institutions, his secretary of the treasury is handing out money to the largest financial institutions. no strings attached i go down to washington and i'm calling him out for it. i'm calling him out on executive bonuses and on the fact that

they're giving this money away, no strings attached. and i get attacked for it. okay, then we roll forward three years. now karl rove takes money from wall street in order to attack elizabeth warren for being cozy with wall street? this one just goes beyond anything i had never imagined. >> be sure to watch "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" at 10:00 p.m., only on msnbc, the place for politics. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,997 after skidding 198 points yesterday. the s&p sank 26 points. the nasdaq tumbled 52. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 128 points while in hong kong the hang seng plunged 521. well, disappointing news out of europe's financial summit sent stocks into a nose dive thursday. shares fell early after the european central bank president

said there was no plan for large-scale purchasing of european government bonds. recent remarks led markets to believe the bank would buy bonds if no one else did. the effects were immediate, both here and abroad. the yield on italy's ten-year bond soared half a percentage point. spain's ten-year yield rose a third of a point. before the closing bell. another blow, germany rejected key measures to add power to the european bailout fund. the dollar and u.s. treasuries rose on a shift to save assets. financials, which have thrived of late, were hit hardest. morgan stanley particularly exposed to europe tumbled. jpmorganchase slid the worst of any stock on the dow. euro anxiety had investors overlooking good news at home. unemployment claims dropped and wholesale companies increased inventories in expectation of stronger sales. on the downside, household wealth fell for a second straight quarter. mcdonald's, the dow's only gainer, rose on strong same

store global revenue. costco fell on disappointing earnings. watch texas instruments today. after hours, ti cut its quarterly outlook and warned of low demand. wells fargo is paying $148 million to settle claims it overcharged on state and local government investments. all right. the time has come. finally, coca-cola has moved its secret formula for the first time since 1925, this from a bank vault to a new exhibit at the company's downtown atlanta museum. but there's a catch. the 1886 formula itself remains hidden from view. so you're just going to have to wait. coming up, albert says so long to st. louis. the nba says no way. and a very embarrassing moment at baseball's winter meetings. plus, big ben takes a licking but comes back to lead the steelers to victory. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. the droid razr by motorola.

the newest droid armed with motocast. granting you wireless access to files on your home computer from almost anywhere. 4g lte equipped to pull pictures, music, and movies. all at mind-melting speeds. powered by verizon, this droid is too powerful to fall into the wrong hands. when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly.

so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint. i can make a plan to pay off big stuff faster... or avoid interest on everyday things. that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today. welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. quick check of sports. quite simply the los angeles angels spent more money in a day than any team has in the history of baseball. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. albert pujols has made a decision and he's heading west. agreed to a 10-year, $254 million deal with the angels. angels definitely the dark horse in the pujols race but when the marlins dropped out and the cards offered him $220 million, the angels upped the ante to $254 and pujols couldn't turn

that down. the angels weren't done. they also signed the best free agent pitcher on the market, lefty c.j. wilson, 5 years, $77.5 million to cap off a monster day in anaheim. nba lakers had a trade in place for the hornets' chris paul then the commissioner david stern stepped in and said, not so fast. the deal involved three teams, sending paul to the lakers, pau gasol to the rockets and in return the rockets would get lamar odom, luis scola, kevin martin and draft picks. after an uproar from nba owners, stern vetoed the deal. you see, the hornets are owned by the league. and the owners thought it was an unfair deal. i'm sure we have not heard the last of them. so stay tuned. no trade in the nfl but the steelers will duz ben roethlisberger for a while. against the browns he was sacked and twisted his ankle. already playing with a broken thumb, now he left the game with a high ankle sprain. ben called it the worst pain he'd ever felt but in true roethlisberger style he rubbed some dirt on it and returned in the second half. not only did he play, but he threw two touchdowns. antonio brown here and he did the rest.

79 yards down the sideline. that sealed it for pittsburgh. steelers won it 14-3, thanks to a gutsy performance by their quarterback. and finally back to baseball where the angels weren't the only ones making a big splash. keeping an eye to the right of the mlb tv set, a man took a spill into a reflecting pool. all we know is that his name is steve. i'm not sure what his friends are calling him. perhaps scuba steve after this. thankfully he was just fine. just a little washed up. that's your first look at sports. have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> all we know is his name is steve. i love that. let's check in with bill karins for his forecast. >> he wasn't even texting or anything. >> at least he has a name. you know, now we can put a name to it. >> very tranquil scene. a little bit of light know to talk about. just enough to cover the car, maybe a little coating on the sidewalks. won't cause school delays but detroit, light snow showers. cleveland also northern indiana, chicago, you saw some snowflakes

also last night that will soon be ending. forecast today, a cold start to your day in areas of new england, not a bad afternoon, upper 40s, low 50s to d.c. and that will slide to the east. no problems on the west coast. texas looks fine through orlando. this is about as quiet as it gets for a december weekend. no snowstorms on the way, by the way. looking very, very slim right now that we'll have a lot of us with a cite christmas looking only two weeks away from christmas now and there's no snowstorms on the way. >> whoa, that's disappointing. debbie downer this morning. thanks. two new films at the box office this weekend. which one will finish on top? plus, she says about kissing a girl but which girl she asked for a lock of air. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ and just let me be

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. on late night with jimmy fallon -- >> so cool. this weekend in new york city is san santa-can. and this is where a bunch of people dress up like santa and go on a pub crawl. yeah, which is different than my typical weekend going on a pub crawl and waking up the next morning dressed like santa. what happened last night? brad pitt and angelina jolie took all six of their shopping at fao schwarz. each kid could pick out three

new toys and through new siblings. warms your heart. some more celebrity news. s it rumored justin bieber is engaged. after his girlfriend selena gomez was spotted yesterday wearing a ring. if it's true justin, i am so happy for you. and, xena, i swear if you hurt him -- >> tonight, jimmy welcomes charlize theron and the queen of soul arooetha franklin. that's on your local nbc station. time for your first look at entertainment news. there's a hodgepodge of hollywood heavyweights that will find themselves atop the box office chart this weekend. despite truly awful reviews the star-studded ensemble comedy "new year's eve" is set to open and ring in the weekend with a chart-topping debut with $20 million, featuring among others

sarah jessica parker, jessica biel, halle berry, ashton kutcher and even robert de niro. >> how many you can cram into one movie. >> the list does go on. jonah hill brings the r-rated comedy back to the box office in "the sitter," another not so well rated opener. katy perry who hosts this weekend's "saturday night live" admits to being a little stalkerish when it comes to kristin wiig. last time she was on "snl," she tweeted she wanted wiig's hair and wiig actually sent her one tied in a blue bow. now you're silent. >> because i love her too and i think if i should do it. >> think about that real long and hard. finally, the color-matching company the pantone color institute announced thursday the shay of orange called tangerine tango will be 2012's top fashion color of the year. all of you should know bill has a tie that's tangerine tango.

>> there is an institute of color? what are you talking about. >> i'm lynn berry. this is "first look." stay tuned because "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. with new polls showing newt gingrich with leads, the romney campaign gets to work casting newt gingrich as unreliable and unelectable. the question is can gingrich keep it together in the 3 1/2 weeks between now and iowa? president obama faces the holidays in the midst of a multifront war with republicans over the payroll tax cut. the extension of unemployment benefits and the bloc's nomination of the head of the consumer protection bureau. what is the president willing to give up to get congressional republicans to play ball. nba commissioner david stern listens to the complaints of his owners and puts the kibosh on a trade that would have sent one of the great point guards to los