you know how many times the irs commissioner went to the white house? do you? no, seriously, do you? happy february, america. there are a few weeks yet left of winter. weeks yet left of winter. please stay calm. "first look" is up next. good thursday morning. right now on "first look," toothpaste bomb. new information from the department of homeland security warning that terrorists may smuggle explosives on to russia bound planes using toothpaste tubes. the winter games begin whether russia is ready or not. we'll take you live to sochi. >> heroin connection as mourners gather to honor philip seymour hoffman. police have a district connection between the actor and a heroin dealer. and plus from "american idol" to congress, clay aiken throws his hat into the ring. and an app to instantly tell strangers your name and

background? and jay takes his final bow on the tonight show. hello everybody and thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. the first day of the sochi olympic games is starting with a terrorist threat. the feds warning that terrorists could try to smuggle bombs on to planes inside toothpaste tubes. it's entirely on flights to russia, not flights in the u.s. it's based on very recent intelligence. no word so far on plans to impose new restrictions on checked bans or carry ones. the russians already banned all liquids from carry johns. u.s. overwhelms say there's no indication of any specific plot or target. instead this is an exercise of caution and they didn't reveal the source of the intelligence. >> meanwhile, the u.s. navy warship "taylor" has entered the black sea. it will join the u.s. command ship mt. whitney, both will

remain nearby during the games and offer assistance during the games if athletes are forced to evacuate. >> all eyes are on sochi where today it makes it's world debut as an olympic host but there's questions on whether the city is actually prepared. kevin tibales is live in sochi. good morning. so is sochi ready for its closeup? >> i think in terms of the olympic games, absolutely. mother nature is cooperating. look at the day here. i have to tell you it's about 50 degrees already. the sun is out. the building is ready for the athletes. i think what you're referring to are a number of tweets and articles written by foreign journalists who say their hotel rooms have not been readied for them. perhaps the water isn't running and the heating doesn't work. that aside, when people arrive at olympic park, everything is spectacular. the venues are spectacular. i, for one, can't wait to see the puck drop or the curling

rock roll or the figure skaters doing whatever it is they do out there. i'll be in awe of it all. there are already are some events taking place in the mountains today with snowboarders. figure skating later today. opening ceremonies behind me tomorrow night. sochi is ready. >> i can feel your excitement. it will be fun to watch. kevin, thank you. this morninging there is an attempt at yogurt diplomacy. russia is holding up 5,000 single serve containers of chobani yogurt. it's supposed to go to the u.s. athletes, but new york senator chuck schumer says it is stranded at new york liberty's airport. he wrote a letter urging the u.s. olympic committee to allow the yogurt through already. it is made in new york and is the official sponsor of a u.s. olympic team. overnight, texas made the

rare move of putting a female inmate to death. susan p basso was executed for torturing and killing a mentally ill man in 1998. she is the 14th woman to be put to death in the u.s. since 1976. she fought back tears and made no final statement. meanwhile, in ohio, officials say they will not review the procedures. the state came under scrutiny last month when a prisoner took 26 minutes to die. now to the investigation into the death of actor phillip seymour hoffman. late wednesday, three of the four people arrested in a heroin dealing bust were arraigned but law enforcement sources tell nbc news that hoffman's phone number was found on the cell phone one of the dealers. all three are behind bars until their next court date. a disturbing new trend on the drug thought to have killed the oscar winner. the dea says the amount of heroin trafficked along the

border with mexico has increased full fold since 2008 and 2012. more than 4,000 pounds are seized every year. meanwhile detectives are still poring over evidence found inside hoffman's apartment. they're looking through a journal kept by hoffman and we still don't know what exactly caused his death. more tests are being done after an autopsy came back inconclusive. last night broadway dimmed its lights in honor of the fallen star. he most recently starred in the 2012 revival of "death of a salesman." >> let's get the latest in sports from alex witt. >> the olympics are underway. for the first time team figure skating and snowboarding slopestyle will debut. and freestyle skating will kick off. shaun white dropped out of slopestyle events deciding to

focus on the halfpipe event. he said with the practice runs have taken even after course modifications and watching fellow athletes get hurt, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other olympic goals on. >> it's the 12th man time. 700,000 fans swarmed the streets to celebrate the super bowl champion seahawks. complete with marshawn lynch and a hoodie that says beast mode throwing skittles into the crowd. >> his favorite. >> i know. people are loving it. in this video,lism s lynch sees something he wants, that's bottle of fireball whiskey. >> curt schilling has been diagnosed with cancer. it didn't disclose the type of cancer he has. he played 20 years with five different teams. his wife also battled cancer after being diagnosed in 2001. we wish him well. >> look at these ladies, they're

doing the run up for the empire state building. it's the 37th annual run-up race. susie walsh finished the 86-floor climb in 11 minutes and 7 seconds. >> my goodness. painful to think about. >> that guy finished first in ten minutes and six seconds for the guys. and jay leno is looking forward to the new olympic events being held this year. >> here's the 100 meter snow freestyle. and the slip and plunge. and the frozen long jump. that doesn't seem -- >> can you say hypothermia? my goodness. >> the butterfly in the snow there? who does that? >> where do they get those people? after a double dose of winter, the northeast is digging out and bracing for a weekend of more nasty weather.

>> i'd like to pack up and move somewhere. but everybody is getting snow. >> yes, indeed. snow, freezing rain and ice grounded more than 3,000 flights and knocked out power to nearly 1 million customers. adding to the region's winter woes, new york and new jersey supply of rock salt is dangerously low. forecasters predict a third round of messy weather on the way. we want to give you a live picture from oklahomacy where kfr's crew is driving on icy roads there. it's only 9 degrees. but it feels like minus 6. with more on what to expect, here is meteorologist bill karins. they don't like this stuff in the south. it could be a dangerous day out there. >> how rare is that? 9 degrees in oklahoma city and snowing. a harsh air mass is following this big winter storm. there's no big winter storm heading for the east coast. it will be cold this weekend but

let me show you the predicted computer model for how much snow will fall over the next five days. a little bit over oklahoma today. gray over new york state, pennsylvania. one to three over the next five days. that would mostly be saturday or sunday. the only big winter storm out there is in the west. no big winter storm this weekend. exclamation point. as far as the snow from yesterday, 10 inches from hartford to boston. indianapolis about 7 inches. right now bf about 64% of the lr 48 covered in snow. it's not going anywhere fast. a very cold morning. 4 degrees for a windchill in dallas. we already mentioned how cold it is. billings, montana, minus 42 windchill. this is a light, fluffy snow that will be on the roads, even treated roads really won't be melting with temperatures this cold. so, a frigid winter day across the middle of the country. i feel for those people without

power. the middle of winter, you don't have power, it's this cold. you can't be in your house, you worry about your pipes freezing. >> hopefully have some kind of generator or wood to burn. >> if not, they're in a hotel room or friend's house. >> an update on the judge's ruling over the apparent coddled affluenza teen. and one of the best selling drinks in the world is spending over $1 billion to put the power of coke in your hands. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ]

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now for your first look at business. >> good morning. you have to check out shares of twitter today. they fell 18% in after-hours trading. the company reporting its first earnings since its ipo in november. analysts focusing on two key metrics showing user growth may be slowing. >> coke adds some fizz to green mountain roasters, up 40% after

after-hours trade. the company is buy 10g% of those k-cup coffee machines. lastly, hackers may have broken into target through the heating vents. reports say they accessed the retailer's servers using a log-in stolen from a heating and air conditioning contractor. the secret service visited the offices of that contractor on wednesday. >> okay. thank you for that. some stories making news, the texas teen who killed four people in a drunk driving crash and used aftluenza as a defense will not be getting jail time. after they complained his wealthy parents gave him a sense of irresponsibility. a texas judge sentenced him to probation. a ruling met with anger and frustration. couch was driving with a blood alcohol count three times the legal limit when he killed four people in a june 2013 car crash. in a press conference

wednesday, house arms services chairman buck mckeon spoke about a briefing that detailed the damage done to the u.s. by nsa leaker edward snowden. >> no matter what opinion the american people hold of the nsa's data collection programs, they would be shocked and outraged to learn that a substantial amount of the information has nothing to do with the nsa. the damage he has done to our military and national defense programs is not the mark of a whistleblower. he has given our enemies an edge and put our war fighters at risk. >> you have to look at this. a high-speed police chase in north carolina came to a dramatic end when the suspect crashed his vehicle into two other cars, he jumped out, tried to make a run for it and was tackled to the ground by police. a gun and various drugs were found in his car.

the political battle over judges. "american idol's" clay aiken wants to be in congress. that's coming up next. look! mo'! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. he was a matted messiley in a small cage. ng day. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list.

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clay and his mother to escape an abusive father. >> i'm not a politician. i don't ever want to be one. but i do want to help bring back to my corner of north carolina the idea that someone can go to washington to represent all the people, whether they voted for you or not. we can all be like that friend who took my mother and me in. a friend who shelters those in time of need and helps open a door to a new life and renewed country for all of our people. he also came out swinging against his gop rival. here is part of his interview last night from "the last word." >> when you see what's happened in this district and so many others where people have gone to d.c. and lined up behind the people in their party. lined up behind the leaders. taken votes. cast votes to get leadership position for themselves. it's disheartening, frustrating. i think the entire country is tired of this type of dysfunction in washington.

>> renee elmers responded to his candidacy by saying his values line up more closely to san francisco than north carolina and hope the race doesn't come down to a singoff because she would surely lose. the fight over new judges is getting personal. on wednesday president obama named darren gales, he would be the first openly gay black man to serve on the bench. florida senator marco rubio blocked the previous nomination of a black gay judge. no word yet from rubio's office on how he'll respond. and if hillary clinton wants joe biden out of the way in 2016, we think we have the answer. the vice president was like a kid in a candy store on wednesday when speaking to the united auto works union. they gave him a preview of the 2015 stingray z6 super car.

>> there's a lot of reasons to run for president. there's one overwhelming reason not to run for president. i would like to get that z6 with 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds. >> all smiles. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. it's thursday, that means bob franken joins me from washington. all smiles as well, bob, today? >> yes. i was thinking about hillary clinton pointing out that she hasn't drive an car since the '90s. >> that's true. she did say that. let's talk about the president for a second. president obama reportedly told a group of senate democrats that he knows he's not popular in some states, so he wouldn't be offended if he wasn't invited to visit during midterms. what does that say about obama and what is at stake in the midterms? >> first of all, i think about the only democrat who would welcome him is maybe clay aiken. but -- who, by the way, i should point out some of the people who know about these things, one of them said he has not a chance of getting elected.

>> really? >> yeah. but it's a good story. as for this president, he's gotten to the point in his presidency where he's quite red hot controversial, and he's being honest to the democrats when he says, look, i can probably help you out most by staying out of your state. >> he's being honest, and some of them are being honest back in a polite way. mary landrieu said i think the president is more focused on running the country than helping me win. is she in a nice way distancing herself from obama? >> i would have to say when it comes to louisiana he would not be number one on the popularity hit parade down there. i suspect she's correct. i think you'll see any number of other senate candidates doing everything they can to distance themselves. the democrat in alaska doing that. the democrat in arkansas doing just that. so i think what we have now is a combination of a lot of controversy, the erosion of a

lot of controversy over the years, and the fact that certain things like obamacare have not worked as well as they would have hoped. >> big news from cvs yesterday. they are distances themselves from the sale of tobacco products by october 1st. they won't do it anymore. the white house applauded the move. will others get on board with this type of thing. >> one would expect. i don't know if you felt the same way, i wondered for years how is it that a drugstore, part of our medical process, could possibly sell cigarettes. >> kind of ironic. >> it's always something that's been offensive to me. now cvs has realized even with the annual $2 billion loss in sales, it will be made up by medical enterprises as it expands. >> thank you very much. coming up, "first buzz" we are talking about the social

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. time for our "first buzz." i have with me alex and bill. guys, just imagine being out with your friends at a bar, a pub, and then someone wearing these google glasses, right, they can look at your face and tap into this app called name tag and in seconds they can match your face and tell you your name, they have photos of you. they have access to your social media profile. they can pick you out of a crowd in no time. it's crazy what technology can do and almost creepy. don't worry, bill.

we won't catch you in the act doing something you probably shouldn't be doing. google is not allowing facial recognition apps just yet. >> this will be the segway, we all thought we would be riding around town. no. we won't be having dinner with the google app. >> i have to jump in. the video of the "the biggest loser" -- >> yes. >> rachel frederickson. she lost 60% of her body weight from start to finish. she started at 260 and ends up at 105. >> it healthy. >> that's the big question. social media exploded. you can see on the face of bob harper and jillian michael, they were shocked. they were impressed but i think you can tell they're reconciling this going maybe too much. social media is going nuts with this. >> too much too fast. >> yeah. yeah. >> guys, we had these big winter sto storms going across the country. in 9 1/2 months us will hear

about the baby boom story. is there truth to this? there are more people born -- that little blue highlighted area are born in august, september, october. there are more people born in those months. >> it's true. >> cabin fever. >> we'll see how it plays out. >> "way too early" starts right now. you know, there's an old expression in my neighborhood, you go home with them that brung you to the dance. i was saying that, i told my staff i was going to say that, they're much younger, they say don't you want to dance with those that brought you to the dance? i said why? taking them home has a concentrati concentration. i said not when i was younger. that's a different story. like i said to my granddaughter, i said sounds like a broken record. she said, pop, what's a record?

any rate -- >> joe biden always knows how to get a laugh. he wants his dance card filled with interested parties in wage equality. did he liver on that message? sochi security remains on high alert after a typical bathroom product becomes a concern for being used as an explosive agent? are they really cracking down on using toothpaste at the olympics? and axl rose gets on the record about the red hot chili peppers. is axl defending flea or squashing him like a bug? this is "way too early." whoa. hey, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. welcome to "way too early," the show not too good for toilet humor, especially if there's a statue of a man in tighty whiteys