should all understand that time elapsing in the race so far has not had an affect on the candidate of mitt romney. something to watch. i'm just saying. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with

that late night agreement, just hours ago, house and senate negotiators agreed on the final version of the new deal to extend the payroll tax cuts to the end of the year. a vote could come as early as friday. tra tracie potts joins us with detail. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. it looks like they have enough support for the negotiators to sign off on this. here is what it means. the 2% payroll tax cut, the $40 we got last year and so far this year will continue until the end of the year but won't be paid for. that means congress will add $100 billion to the nation's debt. unemployment benefits, they will also continue past the end of the month. that will be paid for by auctioning off mobile spectrum and also by requiring new federal workers to pay more in their pensions, but instead of 99 weeks, the max after may will

be 73 weeks and that physician you're in the state with the highest unempt ploit rates. 27% cut for doctors who see medicare patients, that will not happen, that is going to cost $20 billion paid for by adjustments to the new health law. they will try to vote on this we are told on friday, if they can get around some rules that would prevent that vote. lynn? >> tracie thanks. today a busy day for the presidential candidates. mitt romney who grew up in michigan is expected to be endorsed by its governor, rick snyder today. this is less than two weeks ahead of the state's primary on february 28th. rick santorum will be in michigan today to speak about the economy, after releasing four years of his federal income tax returns. they show a steady rise in income from $660,000 in 2007 to a peak of more than a million dollars in 2009. yesterday, president obama

started a three-day campaign trip to the west coast, he is expected to bring in millions of dollars in donations to his reelection effort. the republican battle between mitt romney and rick santorum may come down to which one wins the support of the conservative republicans. last night on last word, santorum's campaign spokesperson told lawrence why she thinks her boss is the real conservative in the race. >> not who is the first out of the gate, who has the staying power. what rick santorum has been doing since he started driving around by himself throughout iowa, and new hampshire and south carolina, is conveying his message as a social conservative on the fiscal issues and social issues, that are important to the people of this party. he is slowly but surely one person at a time convincing them he is the conservative in this case. a lot of people know who mitt romney is, he has nice ads up on television and in many of the

states, he has a nice entourage, people know who he is, at the end of the day people are beginning to look at his record and they see what you outlined in the open, he is the most liberal candidate we have in the race and he is not someone that will truly go and represent the conservative values of the republican party. >> you don't want to miss lawrence o'donnell's "last word" airs weeknights at 10:00 eastern only on msnbc, the place for politics. officials in honduras confirmed 358 people were killed in that prison fire. it started wednesday by an inmate and hundreds were trapped. no way to get out as the flames swept through the jail. kerry sanders has the report. >> reporter: like trapped animals in cages, prisoners had no escape as the fire raced through the overcrowded penitentiary. honduran officials and inmates

who escaped the inferno say the fire was set by an enraged inmate. a local government official says that prisoner called her from a cell phone moments before setting the blaze and announced he intended to kill everyone. the prison built in the 1940s, each door on the jail cell requires a key. the guard with those keys could not be found. >> residents nearby watched helplesslyened to the screams of those dying inside. family members tried to break down the prison gates to reached loved ones, only to find hundreds of prisoners dead. kerry sanders, nbc news. iran's top nuclear negotiator claims the country is ready to resume talks over the nuclear program.

wednesday, mahmoud ahmadinejad toured a facility. it is a move designed to show iran has not been crippled by the killings of the scientists. u.s. intelligence says iran is at least a year away from building any kind of weapon. iran is threatening an oil embargo on european countries in relation -- retaliation for sanctions. here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america. a pilot's cell phone may have saved his life after his plane ran out of gas and crashed in the woods of northeastern mississippi. he was pinned upside down in the wreckage until he was able to find his phone. then he stayed on the line while investigators used cell towers to track him down. some parts of the country are still waiting for winter, in minnesota the ice is thick enough for some spots to get check to see if it's safe. the army corps of engineer did the annual testing of the

biggest lake on the mississippi river, to make sure can get through. from freezing to sizzling, take a look at what researchers are calling the newest hottest pepper on the planet. it is the trinidad scorpion, a rating experts said two million heat units. if you sink your teeth in one seems mild but then turns "nasty." looks nasty, too. now for the national weather, we turn to bill karins has the weather channel forecast. >> whole thing people are trying to make the hottest pepper, they cross breed them. >> i did that once in a restaurant you think a cherry tomato and a hot pepper and ruins the whole meal. >> some people enjoy it.

they enjoy sweat and cry while they eat their food. good morning, interesting forecast this weekend i'll get to that in a second. first off rain to deal with this morning. warm temperatures, not a lot of snow, a little bit of snow reported in areas of upstate michigan and even there, temperatures above freezing. roads won't be much of an issue, a rain forecast heading in the east, amazing in the middle of the night, middle of february, dealing with all-rain forecast. just an indication how warm the winter has been. the green on the map is the rain. a lot of the ohio valley is dreary, cloudy, cool, rainy, heavier rain along the gulf. a few thunderstorms, nothing too severe thankfully, no tornadoes reported. mobile on interstate 10 heading to tallahassee, you will see heaviest rains. as far as the forecast goes for thursday, eventually all that rain will make it to the east coast. charlotte, raleigh, richmonds, up i-95, d.c., a period of damp

weather. boston if you get showers will be after the daylight hours. in the southeast, maybe a stray thunderstorm or two but overall atlanta light rain for you, new orleans should clear out as you go through the day. tomorrow, once we kick the rain off the east coast, will be another nice day, 52 tomorrow in d.c., 49 in kansas city, so there is a lot of mild air. that is going to be the trend, very important for the weekend forecast, it does appear we're going to see one of the bigger winter storms that we've seen, the problem is it will be mostly a rain event. here is how it looks, this is thursday, this is friday, the storm comes out of the gulf, pretty good size storm, could be a potential nor'easter, usually means a big snow storm with gust y winds, looks to be too wet and warm. mostly a rain event, lynn, finally going to get a big east coast storm. >> you had me all excited

yesterday. >> it won't be snow. >> that is not fair. bill, thanks so much. coming up a major airline raises prices, good news if you're tired of telemarketers, one brand of candy goes on a diet. the first look at business headlines is straight ahead. coming up the spurs go for nine in a row, nine in a row for jeremy lin, you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back do "first look" i'm lynn berry. the l.a. coroner wants to know more about the medications found in her hotel room after she died saturday. it's standard procedure, toxicology reports are still weeks away. the u.s. is setting a new record for interracial marriages. 1 in 12 are now of mixed race citing an increase of asian and

hispanic immigrants. dramatic video being released of gang members setting fire to the offices of a newspaper in mexico in november. more than a dozen men who smashed computers and terrorized employees are still on the loose. could space be the final frontier for tidying up? scientists are developing a vacu f vacuum for outer space. the dow opens at 12,780 after dipping 97 points yesterday. the nasdaq fell 16. look at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei down 22 points. in hong kong the hang seng lost 87. investors appear to be on edge over the financial crisis in greece. stocks were off on wall street as a european official said the

greek government has more questions to answer with a euro zone finance ministers meeting scheduled for monday. moody's agency warns the european crisis could and may bring down ratings for more than 100 banks and could affect u.s. financial institutions as well. u.s. home builders are more optimistic for fifth straight month and the government will report on new construction and permits for january this morning. foreclosure activity was up 3% in january from december. but down 19% from january of last year. american manufacturing output rose in january by seven-tenths of a percent. southwest airlines raised tickets wednesday and other airlines may follow. groupon hopes by march will settle class action lawsuits that alleged the expiration dates on coupons are improper. general motors is holding

down expenses by freezing pension plan for white collar workers and giving salaried employees bonuses but not pay raises. the federal communication commission is cracking down on those robo calls that disturb dinner forcing telemarketers to get people's consent before automated phone calls. mars candy said by the end of 2013 all the candy bars will be slimmed down to 250 calories or less and soon will have less salt. none of those king size candy bars. m&ms are under the limit and won't have to change. or you could buy two candy bars. the spurs continue their street, magic shoot past the sixers, rockets slip by the thunder. we know he can score but he can dish out the assists as well. first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. in sports when you think the lin street could be over, jeremy lin showcases a new part of his game. here is fred rogan. >> with all eyes on jeremy lin it's easy to overlook the knicks are winning. early lead, didn't let up. lin scored 10 points but dished

out career high 13 assists. knicks had everything going for them, hottest team in the league, jeremy lin is the talk of the nation. they won 100-85. nets were hoping to win over knicks fans, they need to win games first. mike conley off the backboard to rudy gay. tony allen picked off the pass went untouched coast-to-coast for the bucket. grizzlies won it 105-100. nets dropped seven in a row. you have the spurs, san antonio they are flying under the radar. parker scored 34, 14 assists against the raptors. magic and sixers, orlando the most balanced game of the year, six players scoring in double digits, brian anderson led with 27. magic pull a spell on the sixers, 103-87. >> rockets and thunder, kevin durant gave the lead, houston gets it back with free throws.

down one, kevin durant game on the line, could not get the layup to fall. he had 33 the thunder needed couple more. rockets won it 96-95. cory brewer received his championship ring under mark cuban. dirk nowitzski will get his. mafs won the fifth straight. that is the first look at sports, i'm fred rogan. another quick look at weather here is bill karins, good morning. >> are you in the lin-sanity thing? i made it my personal mission to think more lin puns. i'm using that as an excuse. i hope they continue for that reason. the sports fan that i am. >> huge sports fan. good morning, everyone. starting off in areas of central pennsylvania getting reports of sleet and snow mixing in at the start of same of the rain, temperatures below freezing up

there in central new england you can see the white on the map and pink that is rain and sleet initially coming down but temperatures will warm up during the day i don't expect problems for anyone traveling on the turnpike. eventually d.c. will get rain late this morning. hold off until noon or so around areas like new york, southern new england until late afternoon. here is how the forecast looks, a cloudy day, dreary like yesterday, temperatures won't be that cold. in the mid-40s. a lot of the east coast will have a chance at wet weather from virginia through the carolinas, areas especially in georgia and north florida as middle of the country goes we're quiet, still mild, nice day around clohicago, 42. toward friday, not a lot of trouble, we begin to watch some of the moisture in texas, that will be the advertised weekend storm, still looks like it will be a rain event for everyone. bill, thanks so much. coming up which former presidential candidate won't be

doing the cha-cha. his stamp of kindness gets a parental stamp of approval. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

yesterday, newt gingrich got to feed a panda while he was visiting the san diego zoo. he was like look how much this giant animal loves food. the panda said that, not newt gingrich. talking panda. yesterday president obama told chinese vice president that his country's power comes with increased responsibilities.

then he was like you read that off a fortune cookie, didn't you? got to be honest, i did. big international news after disputes over nuclear program, iran is threatening to stop exporting oil. which means the u.s. may have to tap in the back-up reserve, mitt romney's hair. that might happen any day now. >> tonight jimmy welcomes myra rudolph. late night with jimmy fallon weeknights at 12:35. time for the first look at entertainment news. fans world wide will have a chance to bid farewell to whitney houston. her publicist announced saturday's private funeral in newark, new jersey will be live streamed on the internet. we also learned that according to houston's death certificate she will be buried in the same

new jersey cemetery where her father was laid to rest. former presidential candidate michele bachmann says rumors of her appearing on "dancing with the stars" are false, although, bill, she did win a polka competition in the 10th grade. that is the fun fact for the day. is reconciliation in the works for kobe bryant and his soon to be ex-wife vanessa? the two were reportedly spotting kissing outside the locker room after the lakers game on valentine's day. leave it to valentine's day. finally, after justin bieber flew a 6-year-old cancer patient and her family to new york, the girl's mom described the biebs as "charming." the little girl was charming, so adorable, a great thing he did. >> you can't get any more mom points. he's off the charts squeaky clean. >> are there mom points for teen pop stars?

>> yes. mom approval. >> he also has our approval as we made it perfectly clear. i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" stay tuned, way too early . in national head to head match ups with each candidate this is mitt romney wins the endorsement of michigan's governor the question is can mitt romney rely on his michigan roots to carry him across the finish line? the white house is dismissing iran's claim about the progress of the nuclear program as hype saying "it's not very impressive." the question is with the united states and israel watching closely where is this iranian nuclear story headed? lin-sanity is incurrable as the harvard kid leads the knicks to th