both of the house members are relatively inexperience. the iraq war veteran gabbard just won her seat in november and has not been sworn in yet. it is not clear who will be on the list submitted by the state party. but we learned a very piece of important information. we learned before he died, the senator wrote a very personal letter to the governor asking should he die in office, he be replaced by congresswoman hanabusa. the passing of daniel inouye means there is one more to keep an eye on in hawaii.

on september 11th the u.s. ambassador and three other americans were killed on a terrorist attack in libya. tuesday an independent review investigating the incident released its findings. a panel was highly critical of the state department saying they ignored arrests in tripoli for

more guards and security upgrades relied who heavily on specific requests instead of security. and used unprotect militia to protect the compound. the report also found the attack was not the result of protests over anti-islamic video as first reported. in a letter to congress, secretary of state hillary clinton said she accepts all of the panel's 29 recommendations writing there is no higher priority for me or my department. though there seems to be progress still no fiscal cliff deal in washington. house speaker john boehner said he has a backup plan. but that's not enough for one in three americans who according to a new survey are cutting back on spending due to fears of going over that cliff. nbc's tracie potts joins us now with more. good morning. >> reporter: mara, good morning. good morning, everyone. there is brand new evidence in that survey that americans are really feeling the squeeze before we've even gone over the cliff, plus republicans are changing their strategy. republicans are planning a vote as early as tomorrow to keep

taxes low for everyone making up $1 million. >> going to have to go to plan "b." because we want to make sure we do not go off the cliff. >> everyone should understand boehner's proposal will not pass the senate. >> reporter: president obama offered a lower threshold, 400,000. >> the president has come halfway. he hopes that the republicans will do the same. >> reporter: republicans see this million dollar vote as a last-ditchest to save business o ditch effort to save business owners from taxes. >> i think everyone realizes the tax rate will go up. >> reporter: today in washington, experts discuss the impact on affordable housing and new this morning bankrate.com reports the threat of falling over the cliff already has one in three americans cutting back now, mostly poor families and seniors. >> enough is enough! >> reporter: some in washington

urging congress to act. compromise seemed likely 24 hours ago now elusive as republicans push a vote that's not expected to ever reach the president's desk. actually two votes, because we're hearing there could be two separate votes when this comes up tomorrow, one to keep tax rates low for the middle class, and a separate vote to keep rate lows for everyone making under $1 million. >> tracie potts, thank you. as democrats and republicans battle over the budget defense secretary leon panetta is making a last-minute plea to help avoid a fiscal disaster. speaking at the national press club yesterday, panetta suggested stripping out $74 billion in what he called needless spending on unnecessary weapons programs that have "outlived their usefulness." it's unclear whether lawmakers will consider so-called cuts the defense department will suffer $500 billion in automatic cuts which is panetta insists will

make lasting damage on national defense. the national rifle association ended its silence on the connecticut scoot shootings. it said it was shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the massacre and pledged to help make sure this never happens again. meanwhile more victims of friday's massacre were played to rest. jay gray has that story. >> reporter: the long, slow procession of funerals happens again in newtown. four more victims will be laid to rest, including teacher victoria soto. >> whatever actions they took to divert his attention, i'm sure they're the ones that responsible for her being here with us today. >> reporter: while this grieving community continues to remember and mourn the 26 who are not. >> there's no words.

>> just deep sadness. just like -- just right down to the middle of all of us. >> reporter: grief counselors and extra security teams were at schools as class resumed in k w newto newtown, tuesday. sandy hook elementary has been closed. it's not clear when students will restart school, when they do, the classrooms will look the same as they did before the attack at monroe elementary. still everyone here knows they will never be the same. 20 friends, teammates, brothers and sisters will always be missing. jay gray, nbc news, newtown, connecticut. now for a look at the weather including that winter storm making its way east, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning. good morning. this storm will cause a lot of headaches. schools will be canceled in some cases. airports will have cancellations, too. this map shows the areas that will be effected. the pink showing the winter

storm warnings. now we have brand new busily saad wa blizzard warnings from ames to des moines and central wisconsin. you will be dealing with your first blizzard of the season. where are we dealing with the problems this morning? only in the mountainous areas of central and western colorado, also some of the higher terrain there in arizona and new mexico. the storm will begin in earnest and intensify and become a headache as we go throughout the day today. the blue shows the snow. this is this morning. as we go throughout the day today, it blossoms. just clips the colorado area. denver two to four inches. later this afternoon, driving home in nebraska, very dangerous conditions. wind will be howling. heavy snow falling. as we go throughout the overnight hours, that's when the storm picks up in intensity. the dark blue shows where it will be hitting the hardest with blizzard conditions. tomorrow morning through iowa

and wisconsin. tomorrow morning probably be like one of those days where you stay at home, do not travel. much of central iowa and south and central portions of wisconsin. the other side of this storm is the severe weather side. there's enough strong and severe weather out ahead of it, arkansas and missouri we can deal with the storm there. we will deal with lake-effect snow friday and saturday. how much snow are we talking about? that little area through central parts of nebraska, a possibility of a foot of snow. and ten inches possible for wisconsin down to central portions of iowa. finally we have to watch out for that severe weather threat. areas of yellow, late tonight into tomorrow morning, possibility of isolated tornadoes. watch out missouri, arkansas and louisiana. >> thank you very much. >> a little bit of everything. >> sounds nasty. thanks for that. this next video is shocking. talk about a wild ride. this youtube video shows what appears to be a golden eagle

swooping down on a child in canada and trying to fly away. though the child was dropped from the air, it wasn't hurt. golden eagles are one of the largest birds in north america. kills me to look at that. two women sue over an extremely public cavity search caught on dash cam. and the instagram controversy gets heat the. and a jail break from 20 stories up. you're watching "first look." [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup.

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some stories making news this morning. there's a huge manhunt under way for two bank robbers who made a daring escape from downtown chicago's high-rise jail. they squeezed through a narrow window and scaled down about 12 stories using a makeshift rope and made their getaway. michigan republican governor rick snyder detailed legislation that would have allowed weapons to be brought into churches, day care centers and schools. snyder says his decision was affected by friday's deadly shootings in connecticut. an 11-year-old in utah said

he brought an unloaded gun in his backpack to school to protect himself from an attack like the newtown shootings. the boy was detained on weapons charges even though no one was harmed. nbc has learned that the late senator daniel inoue will lie in state at the u.s. capitol rotunda on thursday. that's a rare honor reserved for s presidents. and instagram said it will remove from terms of service that would allowed photos to be sold and used as part of online advertisements. now here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. former south carolina governor mark sanford is thinking about a run to fill the congressional seat of tim scott who has been named to replace senator jim demint. also considering a run for the seat, his ex-wife jenny. the justice department decided not to charge paula broadwell with cyberstalking after the e-mail scandal that led petraeus

to resign as cia director. the movie "zero dark thirty" opened in theaters in new york and los angeles to positive reviews, but senator john mccain said the film is wrong because the waterboarding of khalid shaikh mohammed did not lead to information to osama bin laden's compound. chris christie is the most favored republican candidate for the 2016 republican nomination in a new poll with 55%. president obama's approval rating reached 57% in a cbs poll focusing on the fiscal cliff talks. former republican senator chuck hagel is a top candidate to become the new defense secretary in the second obama administration, but there's some opposition questioning hagel's support for israel. and ben affleck is reportedly on the list of possible successors if senator john kerry is nominated as secretary of state. affleck will be in washington today testifying before the house armed services committee

about the security situation in congo is that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. the dow saw its first back-to-back triple digit gains in five months tuesday. that was amid optimism that a deal will be reached on the fiscal cliff. today investors will be watching for fresh housing data and earnings from economic and holiday bellwether fedex. this morning, swiss banking giant ubs announced it will pay a record $1.5 billion fine over its role in a global interest rate fixing scheme. in the wake of the newtown massacre, cerberus is selling its majority stake in bushmaster firearms, the rifle used in friday's school shooting. mark zuckerberg is making good on his promise to donate the majority of his wealth to charity, donating 18 million facebook shares worth about $500 million to the silicon valley

community foundation. oracle beat the street's estimates after the bell, and google's effort to put everything on the web, it's now boasting an online archive of high res images of the dead sea scroll dating from 1st century b.c. to 1st century a.d. and follow-up on a sticky situation we told you about over the summer. police in canada charged two suspects in connection with an $18 million maple syrup heist in quebec. only about 70% of the loot was recovered which costs more per barrel than crude oil. police believe the rest was sold in the u.s. a washington state woman survived an avalanche. nurses using robots to check up on patients. and out with the old. a 50-year-old power plant is razed to make way for new businesses in texas. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles

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here's your "first look" at some other news going on around america. in texas, two women are suing two state troopers after they say they endured roadside body cavity searches in full view of the public and without probable cause. the women were stopped for throwing a cigarette out of their car. but then the troopers claimed to smell marijuana which was never found. the women said they never intended for them to be touched or their car to be searched. a public safety official is also named in the suit. a spectacular implosion in texas. it took just seconds to bring down a 50-year-old coal-fire power mant plant and smokestack as hundreds of spectators

watched. it makes way for new businesses. it may sound like something from "the jetsons" at a hospital, but nurses that are part robot and part web cam allows some nurses to check in on vital signs even miles away. it's new robot has been dubbed flo-bot in other than of florence nightingale. a skier was rescued unharmed after searchers located her with metal poles. two men were all also partially buried but they managed to dig themselves out. in denver a flash mob of kindness created some christmas miracles. a small group gathered in front of a local kmart to help the less fortunate, it helped to pelpa pay off layaway bills for some

who might otherwise not have been able to pay. jack pinto idolized cruz and he was buried in his jersey. cruz sent a tweet much love to the entire pinto family, great people with huge hearts. the dallas cowboys have banned josh brent from the sidelines after he attended the game sunday. he is charged in the drunk driving death of teammate jerry brown. no love for tim tebow after the new york jets benchmark sanchez after throwing four picks in monday's loss to tennessee. he'll be replaced by third stringer greg mcelroy. in the nba, nets gerald wallace missed the shot with three seconds left. the jazz held on for a 2-91 win. and olympic snowboarder shaun white posted a video to youtube showing his long red

hair being cut. the flying tomato is donating his trademark long hair to locks of love, the organization dedicated to helping children. now for another look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> feel weird, like giving my first big winter storm forecast. usually we have done a couple by now. this winter was slow starting. this will be the real deal. don't want to forget our friends up in maine, you are getting winter weather yourself. storm system is blowing in colder and and a lot of snow north of bangor, up towards caribou and presque isle. a few snow showers up in northern vermont. anyone traveling in the northeast, today looks just fine. thursday looks fine. friday morning looks like the travel trouble day, heavy rain and a few thunderstorms, but no snow or ice. as far as the snow forecast

goes, it's a narrow band, so not a huge storm, but it will be very intense where it does travel and effect. it's mostly today in colorado, a minor impact for you. denver a couple inches. later today into tonight that we start to watch this storm intensify, the winds will be up to 40, 50 miles per hour, the heavy snow is this pink band. that's 6 to 12 inches of snow. much of central portions of nebraska an then through the heart of iowa, almost all of the big cities in iowa will be effected by this storm. blizzard warnings from ames, and green bay you will get it early tomorrow morning, all day thursday. the other part of this storm, if you're down there in areas from memphis to little rock, areas of louisiana, watch out for severe weather. one of those late night events. we could deal with a few tornados. that's late tonight into tomorrow morning. i think even at this time

tomorrow morning i'll be telling you about strong thunderstorms rolling through the dope south. with all of that said, travel, airports, midwest through the deep south the next two days will be difficult. if you missed last night's season finale of "the voice" we'll tell you the winner. and ann hathaway had one unique request for the makers of le miz.

a 16-year-old kid in australia got busted for posing as a doctor at a hospital. they knew something was up after that one diagnosis, ew, gross. and finally a recent study found that people who like red wine

are more outgoing than those who like white wine. and those who don't care what they drink are more likely to host the fourth hour of the "today" show. anne hathaway brought specific requests to the set of "les mis." hathaway a hard-core vegan made sure all of her character's shoes were absolutely vegan friendly. the costume designer had to find very specific shoemakers to create those vegan boots and flats. in a taped statement responding to the hollywood hacker who leaked nude pictures of her, scarlett johansson said she was truly humiliated and embarrassed by his perverted actions. the hacker was sentenced to ten years in prison. kesha's song "die young," was pulled from many radio stations in the wake of the newtown school shootings. kesha tweeted i didn't want to singn those lyrics. i was forced to. the tweet was quickly deleted. finally "the voice" crowned season three champ last night.

>> the winner of season three of "the voice" is cassadee pope! congratulations! you have just won "the voice"! >> no better reason to watch than to see what cee lo green is wearing. >> "american idol" will start up soon. it is almost like you get the big, huge celebrity judges, it's almost like they're copying the voice. >> that helps people tune n it's like seeing britney spears on "the x factor." >> and "the voice" keeps doing better. >> i'm mara schiavocampo, "way too early" starts right now. this is a difficult time for americans. that's why while we continue to have conversations with the white house, i've continued to