the mud slide happened saturday morning about 55 miles north of seattle. as we learn more, we will let you know more. as we learn more, we will let you know more. "first look" is up next. good wednesday morning, everybody. right now on "first look" findings. the scene at the washington state mudslide is becoming more difficult. recovering the fallen becomes the main concern. inferno rescue. a telephone worker escapes with his life. the tale is ahead. diplomatic maneuvers. president obama deals with the russians while three secret service agents are actually sent home for bad behavior. plus, a problem for the soyuz rocket and the international space station. the latest formal asia flight 370 and a scene that congers up biblical images. thanks for joining us. okay. so the search continues and the death toll continues to climb in

washington state. right now at least 16 people are confirmed dead from the mudslide. the number of missing as high as 176 at one point, and it is changing by the hour. this from overseas. president obama calling washington's governor to provide assistance. we have two reports this morning beginning with nbc's miguel. >> 911 calls reveal terror just after the earth gave way. >> there's like a mudslide and the houses are gone. i got people here screaming for help. >> my neighbor's house and their neighbor's house has been completely taken out. it's collapsed on several of them, and they're trapped. >> reporter: search teams are now trying to pinpoint the missing by tracking their cell phones. in 2006 a smaller portion of the same hill side gave way pouring mud towards the homes below. >> know whatting you know now, you think the county did everything they could have to protect its residents? >> we've done everything we could to protect them.

we've mitigated the landslide from 2006. there's been warnings and advance notifications of the landslide. >> this is joe fryer in darington, washington, east of the mudslide where dozens of volunteers showed up at the fire station to help with the search. among them dane bruner whoos heartbreaking mission is to find his sister. >> i'm going to make sure that that happens. >> when the mudslide hit saturday bruner quickly drove to search for summer, despite the danger, he has returned of day since. with frustration growing, many found their own way into the devastation over the past few days searching for any signs of life. one group took a picture of this house, buried to the roof in mud. despite the magnitude of what they're facing, dane bruner, like the rest of darington, refuses to stop searching. sfwroo if she's gone, then i want to bring her out. if she's alive, then it's all the more there.

one word to sum it up is closure. >> thanks to miguel and joe fryer. now to houston. a massive five-alarm fire and dramatic rescue caught on cell video. you have to watch this because a fireman rescues a construction worker clinging to an apartment complex engulfed in flames. >> oh, my god! >> oh, god! oh, god, oh, god. oh, no, oh, no, oh, no. oh! oh, my god! >> keep going. keep going. >> the glass is melting. >> they need to get him. oh, jesus. oh, god. oh, god. >> get closer to him. >> he can jump from there.

i mean, good grief. >> they need to move that truck up. oh, my god. i think that we probably should be going. oh, thank jesus. thank you, god. oh, my god. oh, no. my god. oh. >> what about this guy? >> they got him. >> wow, that was a close call. amazingly month one was injured. the fire's cause is still under investigation. let's move overseas now where president obama is in belgium for a summit with the european union. we've also learned three secret service agents were september home from the first leg of the

president's trip in the netherlands. knowns news white house correspondent peter alexander joins us live from brussels. peter, good morning. we understand an agent was actually found drunk outside of his hotel room. >> yeah, betty, that's exactly right. u.s. secret service sources confirm to nbc news that one secret service agent was found drunk and actually passed out inside their hotel outside their own room, the very same hotel the president would be staying in in amsterdam. they were found by hotel staff early sunday morning about 24 hours before the president arrived there for a high stakes series of meetings, international diplomacy. those three agents have been sent home for what's been described as disciplinary reasons. president obama today will be visiting a historic world war i battle ground at flanders field cemetery, and he will also be giving us a speech about european union and security as the u.s., once again, reassures its european allies that it

stands by their side in this recent showdown with russia. betty. >> all right, peter alexander for us live. thank you, peter. now to a problem 220 miles above earth. a soyuz spacecraft is expected to dock after hitting a snag in space. the capsule has an american and two russian cosmonauts on board. it was supposed to dock with the iss, but didn't because an engine burn didn't go as planned. nasa says no one on board is in any danger. americans have used the russian spacecraft to get to crew members to the international space station since the u.s. shuttle slooet fleet was retired in 2011. the did hes pat hunt for missing flight 370 has resumed, and in calmer seas. fierce winds and high waves suspended the search yesterday. a dozen planes and two ships from the u.s. and five other countries are helping. nbc's ian williams joins us live from perth, australia.

good morning to you. this search area is so remote and so large some estimates have it the size of alaska. >> good morning to you, betty. officials say they are searching area today, which is smaller and more focused, but, yes, it is still the size of alaska. today's deployment is the biggest we've seen so far. 12 aircraft, including those from australia, new zealand, u.s., china, japan, and korea joining that hunt. also two ships out there, an australian and chinese ship. had he say conditions have been better after that 24-hour suspension because of horrendous weather. visibility today is said to be good, although the water is still very choppy. as of now it's, what, 5:00 in the afternoon here in australia. they have reported no sightings of anything suspicious or significant. now, also yesterday here in perth the arrival of new u.s.

assets, submersible as well as a device which they call a pinger detecter for helping to detect that black box, but neither will be deployed until they've massively narroweded the search area which will, of course, lead them to find at least some debris, and no sign of that yet, betty. >> okay. we'll be watching. ian, thank you. joining us live from perth, australia. now the latest in sports and the women's sweet 16. number one uconn stayed undefeated dominating st. joe's. it is connecticut's second straight win and keeps them on course for their ninth national title. texas a&m also advances. the fighting irish, kentucky and baylor and oklahoma state fill the brackets in the notre dame region. it is home for louisville in the next round joined by tennessee, maryland, and lsu. stanford hopes the next round for north and south carolina and penn state. nba, dallas and oklahoma city

had to go to o.t. before one team picked up the win. kuchb durant had 23 points. the mafz won 128-119. a collision on the first baseline erupts into a bench-clearing brawl between florida and florida state. including heisman winning quarterback james winston jumping into the melee. mexican soccer league officials are condemning a brutal fight that erupted between fans and police last weekend. the brawl ignited after police tried to put out flares lit by fans in the upper section of the stadium. at least 40 people were injured. let's get the latest on our weather outside. least looks like the scene of a movie, bill, what you are about to show us. i couldn't believe when i first saw it. >> this was taken by the meteorologists at ktnx in phoenix. it looks like something out of like, sci-fi movie.

it's a big old dust storm that rolled right through downtown. amazing scene there. this was an aerial view of that same dust storm. sometimes pictures are better than the video. we also want to show you -- that was out there in arizona. the big story in the east today is the blizzard out of cape cod. these are live pictures coming to us from chatham, mass. if you have that light, fluffy, beautiful snow yesterday in d.c., be thankful you didn't see this. this is a huge nor'easter. it's only being felt in cape cod and down east maine. it's hard to believe. i know that's -- >> look at the winds. >> i know, right? as far as the storm goes, they could see hurricane-force winds. it's now about 100 miles off the coast. the heavy snow is isolated on cape cod. the rest of the region not so bad. already winds gusting 30, 40 miles an hour. it's also cold too. all the way down to atlanta this morning. again, most of us missed the storm. you saw the pictures. >> i'm not going to complain after seeing those pictures. i'll take the 32.

>> my good friend dillon dryer is out there in chatham. she'll have a good story to tell. remember that zoo in coppenhagen that killed a giraffe? they just did it again, but to a den of lions. plus, the burger king baby searching for her mom 27 years later finds the woman she is looking for. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good.

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now the first look at business. bertha coombs, good morning to you. >> facebook continuing its shopping spree. it's snapping up virtual reality goggles. the company they're buying is now worth $2 billion. martin zuckerberg says virtual reality could be the next big social wreed platform, but facebook won't make money from selling the devices. rather, from selling ads and virtual goods. king digital, meantime, the maker of the popular candy crush game prices its ipo at $22.50 a share. that values the company at about

$7 billion, making it one of the biggest tech wrdz this year. people start trading today on the new york stock exchange. fewer people are going to the movies it seems. box office revenue rose last year, but that's because ticket prices are higher. the number of tickets sold actually fell. reports say theater owners are considering cutting prices one day a week. >> yeah. you think? that might be why fewer people are going. thank you, bertha. also in the news this morning, according to a soon to be released congressional report the russian government warned u.s. authorities that alleged boston marathon bomber was a violent radical islamist. that information was received a year and a half before the attack. the reason zarn he have was never pulled -- was buzz his last name had been misspelled in a security database. that same danish zoo that killed a healthy giraffe has now killed two adult lions and two lion cubs. zoo reps say it had to be done

to make way for a new male lion who would have killed the cubs "as soon as he had the chance." well, the 27-year-old who was abandoned in a burger king as a newborn says she has found her birth mother. after using facebook to spread the word of her search catherine met with her biological mother for the first time on monday. she got the hug she's always yearned for and says she felt pure joy during that time. one of the most disturbing and eye-catching campaign ads that we've err seen for a very long time, in fact. we'll show you that. it's next. [ amy ] at the end of the day it's so hard to unwind,

but downy sweet dreams can help turn off your mind. it has soothing scents, and makes fabrics so soft. so you can tuck in, relax, and finally turn off. shhhh... ♪ but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling,

enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while sleeping and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. ask your doctor about axiron. some brokerage firms are but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder. isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds". yikes!! then go to e*trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e*trade. less for us, more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing.

for a current prospectus visit www.etrade.com/mutualfunds. time for your hump day scrambled mrekz. could marijuana sway the midterm elections? ae new gw battleground poll says 69% of americans are more likely to vote if there's a proposal on the ballot to legalize weed, but 13% say they would be less likely. former president jimmy carter is clearly a fan of -- could the pontiff turned carter, a christian who once admitted to impure thoughts, catholic? >> if pope francis stays on in office and when a female catholic priest asks me to join her church. [ applause ] >> well, a personal foul in an ad for kentucky senator mitch mcconnell. it accidentally shows a brief

clip of duke, a huge faux pas for the senate mirnlt leader in the height of march madness. which kentucky team is he rooting for? the cards or the cats? >> you know, i didn't get this far in my life worrying about answering questions like that. that is the hottest issue in our state. my law school classmate, the governor has refused to take a position on this support in the game, and i think he has got it right. >> playing it safe. sflirchlts well, happy singer pharrell williams is not. he is predicting hillary clinton will win in the 2016 presidential election. he told g.q. magazine we've had a space station that's been orbiting our planet for 16 years, and we still have legislation trying to tell women what to do with their bodies? hillary is going to win. he also called bill clinton the coolest dude in the game. and one iowa senate candidate post that is castration gives her conservative cred. this isn't your ordinary campaign ad. check it out.

>> i'm swroeny ernst. i grew up castrating hogs on an iowa farm, so when i get to washington i'll know how to cut pork. >> well, ernst is one of five republicans running for the g.o.p. nomination in the race to replace outgoing tom harkin. that is your morning dish of scrambled politics. joining us from our nation's capitol is the washington post ken o'kieffe to talk about politics today. proo good morning. >> i want to talk about the president yesterday. he really cut to the chase in a news conference saying while russia's actions in ukraine -- they won't -- he is more concerned with the prospect of a weapon going off in maent may not. that's chilling for those feeling secure since did it 3. >> it is, but that was the whole point of his conversation with world leaders at the hague yesterday. they actually sat through some drills of what would happen if a dirty bomb went off in a major

city to try to illustrate what exactly the response would look like and to remind these leaders that the world does have to work on making sure that the weapons are secure. that was the point of yesterday's meeting. today, of course, is in brussels meeting with g7 leaders and meeting with nato. >> the president may also want to be concerned, ed, about his secret service team after three members were actually sent home from the netherlands for excessive drinking. kind of shocking considering these guys are tasked with protecting the president. >> yeah. these are members of the most elite unit that are sort of seen as the last line of defense to the president. they've really come under attack. they were in the hague over the weekend. in amsterdam as well. they were found -- one of them at least was unconscious after a heavy night of drinking. three of them have been sent home according to reports. obviously a total violation of

secret service policy. the secret service has taken big steps since then to make sure that you're not supposed to be drinking on the job at least ten hours before you begin. this appears to be a clear violation of that. >> do you think it's an isolated case, or do they have a systematic problem there? >> there have been reports ever since that situation that suggests that this behavior has been a little more widespread. clearly this is one case and i suspect as the sun comes up at least in this part of the world we may learn about some others today or later in the week. >> interesting enough. okay. ed, thank you for your insight today. we appreciate it. coming up, bill will be here for the first buzz, and we'll tell you about today. [announcer] who could resist the call...

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big entertainment news this morning for you. after ten years of marriage, gwyneth paltrow and chris martin are separating. the two made the announcement in a post titled "conscious uncoupling." it talked about their attempts to save the marriage. paltrow and martin were married in a secret ceremony back in 2003 and have two children, apple and moses. time for our first buzz today, and we got a superhero doing things that aren't so super. >> it's not the first time i think that we've seen a mugshot with someone with a superman shirt on. that happens. but has the person's name ever been christopher reeves? this is 33-year-old utah man christopher reeves. he was actually arrested for a pretty serious charge, actually. dui and the possession of methamphetamines, but his name

is christopher reeves, does have the superman t-shirt on, and authorities did feel the need to point out that he is not related in any sort of way to christopher reeves. also, not related to george reeves who played superman back in the 1950s. we can go on with this one, but he is locked behind kryptonite bars. >> what are the chances of him wearing that shirt the day that he gets caught and taking a mugshot? or something sd he wir that shirt every day. >> it's kind of the haircut too. >> okay. this teacher in belgium, many of the, may be a superhero to other teachers because he has found a way to get the class to be quiet. you know the show "game of thrones," right. well, a lot of his students watch it. he said if you don't be quiet, i'm going to start writing the names of everyone that gets killed off in the show on the chalkboard and, of course, no one wants a spoiler in a show that has a ton of shockers.

so they got quiet real wick. i think it's ingenius. >> that's pretty original. >> it's definitely worked. they got right to it and zipped it up. thanks for watching today. we do appreciate it. way too early with thomas roberts starts right now. >> i continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in manhattan. >> i think i just made a poo poo. >> thanks for sharing, right? nothing distracts the media faster than the potential of a nuclear in new york, but did the president put the putin problem on the back burner? could there have been a better

warning in place for the washington state mudslide? family members want those answers. you can't forget the unfrefrable mary lou henner. our special guest. this is "way too early." that will go down in the history as one of the best openings ever. i'm thomas roberts. it is wednesday, march 25th. welcome to "way too early" it is show that knows mary lou henner will never forget her appearance right here on this show today. we have a special guest. the obama administration is expected to announce today a new change in the health care law that will allow certain people more time to sign up for coverage. the planned extension first reported by the washington post comes six days before the deadline to enroll in the federal marketplace or face a government fine. now, under the new loophol