ity. so for the record, i'm with ellenor holmes-norton, free the sleds. breaking news right now on "first look." guilty. the jury returned a swift decision in the "american sniper" trial. details and reaction straight ahead. a mysterious underground tunnel has national security officials searching for clues at the pan-am games in toronto. and earth-shaking gas explosion sends concussions a mile wide, while injuring 15. plus the clock is ticking on our department of homeland security. one step closer to designer babies. and here's one way to take on old man winter. we'll explain. good morning everybody. thanks so much for joining us today. i'm betty nguyen. all right, we have breaking news that happened overnight. a verdict in the "american schneider" murder trial. >> we the jury find the defendant, eddie ray routh, guilty.

>> the jury's decision capping off an emotional day. at one point, the widow of ex-navy s.e.a.l. chris kyle stormed out of the courtroom. nbc's jay gray with more now from stephenville, texas. >> i've been advised that the jury has reached a verdict in this matter. >> reporter: the decision came quickly. just over 2 1/2 hours after deliberations began. >> we the jury find the defendant, eddie ray routh, guilty of the felony offense of capital murder as charged in the indictment. >> reporter: routh watched quietly as the jury was polled their decision unanimous, then stood as he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of "american sniper" chris kyle and his friend chad littlefield. many including members of the jury were openly weeping during an emotional victims impact statement from littlefield's father, don, immediately following the verdict, which ended with him staring directly at routh and saying "you said you did not know chad's name when you brutally murdered him. you will have the rest of your wasted life each and every day

of it to remember his name. let me remind you, his name is chad littlefield." and then he slowly spelled it out, letter by letter. little field's mother wiped away tears as she spoke outside the courthouse. >> we've waited two years for god to get justice for us on behalf of our son, and as always, god has proved to be faithful. >> reporter: kyle's widow walked out of the courtroom earlier in the day during closing arguments by the defense. she did not return when the verdict was announced. jay gray nbc news, stephenville, texas. now to new jersey and a violent gas explosion. take a look at this. it was all caught on a police dash cam. look at that. a home is all but disintegrated as debris shot into the air. the blast boomed and it was actually felt a mile away. the fire chief said some people nearby were treated for

concussion-like injuries. it happened as a crew for a natural gas company was searching for a reported leak in the neighborhood. now, that explosion injured 15 people. two gas company employees are still in critical condition. now let's take you to washington, where there could be a breakthrough to avoid a shutdown of the department of homeland security. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell now says that he is willing to pass a clean dhs bill as democrats initially requested. he would instead put his party's plan to repeal president obama's executive actions on immigration -- he's going to put that up for a separate vote. party leaders are expected to discuss the issue in a closed-door meeting today. nbc's tracie potts has the latest now from washington. tracie. >> reporter: hi, betty. we are going to talk about why you may not notice if this shutdown actually happens with homeland security. but first, the issue here has been republicans who want to oppose the president's immigration orders by blocking them as part of the funding for

homeland security. and today, the administration is taking a new approach to convincing them otherwise. this afternoon, homeland security secretary jeh johnson's bringing in new firepower, his two predecessors both republicans, urging congress not to let the agency run out of money friday. >> we shouldn't compromise our homeland security just because republicans want to pick a political fight. >> reporter: but if homeland security shuts down will the public really notice? border patrol the coast guard and airport screeners would all stay on the job, unpaid. cleanup from superstorm sandy and hurricane katrina could slow down. office workers who cut those checks would stay home. >> this is government gridlock in congress at its worst. >> what is their purpose? what is their purpose? why don't they just do the right thing? >> reporter: senate republicans are offering a compromise, separate votes on the money and

rolling back president obama's immigration orders. >> i don't know what's not to like about this. >> reporter: before voting democrats want assurance house republicans will go along. >> we have to make sure that we get a bill to the president, not that we send a hot potato to boehner. that doesn't do the trick. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner hasn't said if he's got the votes. in a statement, a spokesman for house speaker john boehner called senate democrats hitrepublicans hypocrites for sending the orders but not voting to block them. >> tracie thank you. a california truck driver is in police custody this morning. jose alejandro sanchez-ramirez apparently abandoned his cars on the tracks of a metrolink train, causing a fiery collision. his lawyers say the vehicle just got stuck is what he says. 28 people on the train were injured, 4 critically. three of the train's five cars ended up on their side. that rail crossing is rated one of the most dangerous in all of

california. the national transportation safety board and the federal railroad administration are investigating that. in toronto, a dirt tunnel is sparking possible security concerns. the mysterious tunnel is 33 feet long. it was found underneath a tennis venue for july's pan-am games. now, no one was inside but there were signs of life. light bulbs, a gas generator, food and rosary. cops are still puzzled over who's behind it. >> we're trying to find and establish who built it why they built it what were their intentions. >> some officials now want a security review ahead of those games. time now to get down to business. six minutes past the hour. let's check in with cnbc's landon dowdy, good morning to you. >> hey, betty. good morning to you. fed chair janet yellen paves the way for a potential rate hike some time this year but she's not tipping her hand as to when that might happen. speaking to a senate panel on tuesday, yellen says the fed is in no hurry, and while the job market is improving, inflation

remains low. investors like what they heard. the dow closing at a new record high. and "consumer reports" is out with its top cars for 2015 and lexus is number one again. that's due to solid reliability ratings. mazda, toyota audi and subaru round out the top five. buick is the first american brand to crack the top ten, in at number seven. purina is facing a class-action lawsuit, claiming its beneful dog food contains ingredients that are poisoning pets. two similar lawsuits have been dismissed in the past. thank you so much. now to sports and my friend frances rivera. good morning, frances. >> hi betty. good morning to you. lots of upsets to bring you here in college hoops, all kinds of them. 14th-ranked maryland upsets number 5 wisconsin. dez wells scores 26 to lead the terps to a 59-53 victory, ending the badgers' ten-game winning streak. and unranked syracuse takes down ninth-ranked notre dame 65-60.

the orange improve to 18-10 overall and beating the irish for the sixth time in their last seven meetings. now to the nba and another milestone for lebron james. he passes scottie pippen to become nba's all-time assist leader as a forward in the cavs' win over the pistons. and deja vu for the bulls' derrick rose. he will undergo knee surgery for the third time in three years. >> oh, no! that's not the kind of deja vu anybody wants. >> yeah. an mri revealed that he has a torn meniscus in his right knee. last season rose played in only ten games before he had surgery for the exact same injury shelving him for the year. well that injury came just 18 months after tearing the acl in his left knee in the 2012 playoffs. yeah, just another hit there. ohio state coach urban meyer is finally back on land after the cruise ship that he was on got stuck at sea an extra day because of that. doesn't that look fake like a movie set or something? >> it really does. >> but that is real dense fog there. about 2,500 passengers were

aboard the royal caribbean ship including hundreds of buckeyes fans for the buckeye cancer fund-raising event. the boat spent nearly 36 hours just circumstanceling the waters going around and around, getting caught in the fog. >> hey, it's a cruise. they were having fun, right? >> but only 20 mooet miles off the coast there. the royal caribbean pr account posted this playful photo. tilt the head look sideways and it spells "ohio." >> now it makes sense why it took so long. this is a gem of a recruiting video you've got to see. >> if you don't go to the university of wisconsin, you're going to end up eating government cheese and living in a van down by the river! >> in a van down by the river! even if you're the late-night comedian, chris farley playing matt foley, one of his iconic figures from "saturday night

live," but no better way to put it than that. if you've got a recruiting tool like that why not, right? >> attendance is going to jump i have a feeling. thank you. a major airline has 128 aircraft taken out of service for missed inspections? plus she's been gone a while, keeping quiet, possibly planning. hear what she has been up to, next. well the worst winter storm of the season for the south is beginning in dallas, texas, and winter storm warnings all the way back up now into southern virginia. all the details on this crippling storm, coming up.

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here's an extreme sport you don't often see. it's called skijoring. think of it as ski racing with the help of a horse. more than 1,000 people came out to watch the competition in silverton, colorado. now, that's horsepower i'd say. spectators say the weather was just perfect with temperatures in the 60s and plenty of action. >> some rodeo action! that was nice. >> exactly. i'm more surprised about the people who say the weather was

just perfect. >> if it was 60 degrees, would you be skiing? no. >> no. >> we'd be running around like -- >> in sports. >> i know we would! it's been bad. >> and smiles. >> and it gets worse today. today is the south's turn and this is storm two. they dealt with a little one yesterday. this will have a much higher impact. this storm has a lot of moisture to work with. the southern branch of the jet stream is very active sucking the moisture out of the gulf and of course, we have all the cold air with it so we had the recipe for the northern edge of this storm to have moderate to steady snow. now we're starting to watch that happening in the dallas area. already watching the sleet and rain turning over to snow. could get a slushy inch or two for your morning commute today. so, careful there. then it just travels right across the south. so, let me try to show you how it's going to all play out. here's first the radar in the dallas area. the pink shows you the mix. the white's showing you the snow. and as we go through the storm, what we're really going to be watching is the heaviest snow will be right around atlanta northwards during the evening rush hour. asheville as we go throughout all the overnight hours.

and then towards tomorrow morning, it ends in raleigh but still snowing for the norfolk area. so, as far as the snow totals go, again, the highest totals northern alabama, northern mississippi mississippi. betty, we could be talking about areas like raleigh and charlotte, as much as 6-8 inches of snow. >> really? all right. >> get ready. >> exactly, be prepared. southwest airlines has reached a deal with the faa to continue flying some 130 passenger aircraft that it says missed inspection. the planes can fly for the next five days as the checks are completed. southwest initially, though grounded the boeing 737s when it realized the backup hydraulic systems were not inspected. they serve as a backup in case of problems with the aircraft's rudder system. well the department of justice will not be filing civil rights charges against george zimmerman, citing insufficient evidence for the fatal shooting of trayvon martin. tomorrow marks three years since the 17-year-old was shot and killed on the way home from a convenience store. martin family released a statement, saying "although we

are disappointed in these findings, it has steeled our resolve to continue traveling the country with the message of the trayvon martin foundation, which is dedicated to protecting our youth and empowering those who demand justice and peace." in 2013 zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder in martin's death. the jury also found him not guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. zimmerman says he acted in self-defense. well after a weeks-long absence from the spotlight, look who's here! hillary clinton popped up at a technology conference for women in silicon valley. and of course she had to deal with the lingering issue of whether she is running in 2016. >> what you do does not have to be big and dramatic. you don't have to run for office. although if you do more power to you. >> i interviewed president obama last week, and i'm very eager to interview another president. so -- [ laughter ]

>> that's good. >> she tried to sneak that one in. that was pretty crafty. well, the potential front-runner has three scheduled speeches next month. britain has become the first country to improve invitro fertilization using the dna of three people. the procedure will prevent mothers from passing on genetically degenerative diseases to their babies. 17 minutes past the hour. senator elizabeth warren speaks out about hillary clinton's agenda. plus republican infighting over homeland security. scrap vap is next.

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coming up on 20 minutes past the hour. here's your hump day edition of "scrambled politics." for senator elizabeth warren it is game on. she spoke out about hillary clinton with reverend al sharpton on msnbc's "politics nation." >> a lot of progressives have questions about whether she'll be a progressive warrior. what would you say to them? >> you know i think that's what we've got to see. i want to hear what she wants to run on and what she says she wants to do. that's what campaigns are supposed to be about. >> as for secretary clinton, "the new york times" says she stretched campaign messages in silicon valley, starting with lines like this. >> we have to restore economic growth with rising wages for the vast majority of americans, and we have to restore trust and cooperation within our political system so that we can act like the great country we are.

>> according to "bloomberg," mitt romney's 2012 finance chair says an unchallenged clinton could raise -- listen to this -- $1.7 billion for the general election. a new ppp survey on potential gop candidates has wisconsin governor scott walker at the top with a quarter of the vote, followed by dr. ben carson with jeb bush rounding out the top three. according to "politico," gop lawmakers are clashing over a looming homeland security shutdown. they cite four senators saying there was tense debate behind closed doors between the two sides. senator jeff sessions apparently lashed out at the mitch mcconnell plan but senator kelly ayotte struck back in its defense. vice president joe biden tweeted out this group photo, "farewell to the "parks and rec" cast." the final show aired last night. and pete davison got a letter of praise from bill clinton.

his father was a firefighter who died on 9/11 and thanked the president with a tweet that read "i recently read an article about your career and deep family connection to service in the city. as a fan of "saturday night live," i want to congratulate you on joining the cast. i can only imagine how excited you must be, both as a comedian and a lifelong new yorker." very nice. and a reminder tonight, msnbc and telemundo will hold an exclusive town hall with president obama. jose diaz ballard will interview the president and focus on the issue of immigration. what do you want to ask the president? send your question via instagram, twitter or facebook with #obamatownhall. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." 22 minutes past the hour. i'm joined now by jonathan allen of "bloomberg news." good morning. >> good morning. >> well, a department of homeland security shutdown looming, and as we just talked about, gop lawmakers are battling it out behind closed doors, leading majority leader mitch mcconnell offering up a compromise plan. does that indicate deeper concerns about how this will affect his party politically? i mean think about this.

24 gop senators are up for re-election next year. >> that's exactly what's going on here. mitch mcconnell yesterday, by offering this compromise plan basically threw speaker john boehner and house republicans under the bus. he's isolating them making them the only ones who aren't willing to do a clean funding bill for the department of homeland security. and i think what mcconnell's thinking about is that narrow senate majority he has the 2016 elections and a couple dozen seats up. so, i think he hit it right on the head. >> he threw them under the bus. those were your words. now, is this going to put the party in disarray? >> i think the party is in disarray on this. >> good point. >> i think you have a strong faction of republicans who believe that the president's executive order should be challenged through the homeland security bill, and yet, another wing that thinks that's absolute political suicide. >> well, i want to shift to this, because democratic senator elizabeth warren told msnbc's reverend al sharpton that she is actually waiting to see how progressive hillary clinton will be. that's not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? >> it's not a ringing

endorsement. what's interesting here i think is senator warren is trying to preserve her political capital, her power. she's got a really interesting position here as a leader among a lot of democrats right now, to be able to push hillary clinton into a more progressive line on economics. of course, senator warren was one of the full complement of democratic women senators who signed a letter a couple years ago now encouraging hillary clinton to get into the race. so, that will be an interesting dynamic. i think senator warren's really going to push hillary clinton hard. and i think you've already seen hillary clinton moving a little bit, at least rhetorically, towards senator warren. i think what senator warren is saying is she wants to see what the actual policy proposals are from secretary clinton. >> and quickly, how important is senator warren's support, should hillary clinton run? is it invaluable? >> it is invaluable. it's vital. i think having a fight with a progressive leader in the democratic party would not be good for hillary clinton, particularly with a woman on the progressive wing of the democratic party. i think it would take away from

her. when president obama got endorsements from major democratic women in 2008 it was something that really hurt hillary clinton, and i think she's trying to be unified. >> all right jonathan. thank you so much for joining us today. we do appreciate it. >> take care. >> you, too. still ahead, it is huge. what just happened will affect your internet time. charmin ultra strong cleans so much better it meets even the highest standards of clean. with a soft duraclean texture, charmin ultra strong is 4 times stronger. and you can use up to 4x less. charmin ultra strong. it's happening. today, more and more people with type 2 diabetes are learning about long-acting levemir® an injectable insulin that can give you blood sugar control for up to 24 hours. and levemir® helps lower your a1c. levemir® comes in flextouch® the only prefilled insulin pen with no push-button extension. levemir® lasts 42 days without refrigeration. that's 50% longer than lantus® which lasts 28 days. today i'm asking about levemir® flextouch®. levemir® is a long-acting insulin

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leading the news in "the new york times," fcc net neutrality rules clear a hurdle as republicans concede to obama. on thursday the fcc is expected to approve regulating internet service rules for net neutrality to insure that internet providers give consumers fair and equal access to all legal content. well i'm betty nguyen and

this is "first look" on msnbc. we urge you to stick around. there's a lot more coming up. you absolutely do not want to miss it because "way too early" is about to start. have a great day, everybody. ♪ when the gods would destroy, they first put in charge of congress. good morning and welcome to "way too early." longfellows may not have been able to imagine the strange twists and turns of washington politics, but republican leaders this morning are relearning those lessons the hard way. just a few short months after a sweeping national landslide. yesterday, the republican party was routed on keystone net neutrality and a shutdown fight over homeland security that's had the party on the run for weeks. but we begin this morning in texas, where the man who killed "american sniper" chris kyle and a friend is now looking at life

behind bars without parole. after nine days of testimony and less than three hours of deliberation, the jury has convicted eddie ray routh of capital murder. the former marine watched quietly as jurors announced their unanimous decision and the defense argued that routh, who is diagnosed with psychosis and schizophrenia, was not guilty by reason of insanity. kyle considered america's most lethal sniper in history, and chad littlefield, were shot and killed by routh during a trip to a shooting range in 2013. little field's mother wiped tears from her eyes as she praised the verdict. >> we just want to say that we've waited two years for god to get justice for us on behalf of our son, and as always god has proved to be faithful and we're so thrilled