it's tuesday, december 29th. and right now on "first look," breaking news overnight. captured, the affluenza teen and his missing mother in police custody. busted at a mexican resort. we've got late-breaking details. extreme weather. more than half the country impacted by severe snow, rain and ice. as fatalities rise. a grand jury votes against indictment of police in the tamir rice case as cleveland braces for fallout. a drone flies too close for comfort to president obama's motorcade. donald trump takes direct aim at bill and hillary clinton. plus, much more on a very busy tuesday. "first look" starts right now. and good morning everybody.

thanks for being with us. i'm shannon mulaire. we start with that breaking news. affluenza teen, ethan couch has been taken into custody. in puerto vallarta, mexico. his mother was also arrested. both were taken to immigration authorities and not the american embassy, because they could not establish legal status for the united states. couch was spared prison time for a 2013 drunk driving crash that killed four people after his lawyers argued that his wealthy upbringing meant he couldn't tell right from wrong. couch was 16 at the time and had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit. he was sentenced to probation but missed a check-in earlier this month. law enforcement officials believe he fled after video surfaced of people playing beer pong that appears to show couch among the group, which may violate his probation. although it's unclear if anyone seen in that video was drinking. extreme weather and fatalities spread as winter hits with a vengeance. the storm that dumped more than

two feet of snow in parts of texas is moving north, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands and wreaking havoc across multiple states. snow and heavy winds knocked over cars in iowa. the area's under a winter storm warning through tuesday. in wisconsin, heavy snow and ice caused an enormous gas station canopy to collapse on cars and gas pumps. in illinois an ice storm caused a telephone pole to snap, leaving the top in an apparent ghostly levitation. elsewhere in illinois, a school bus and tractor trailer were swept up in rising floodwaters, forcing emergency workers to rescue those inside. and in missouri, at least ten people are dead from continued heavy flooding. nbc's dan schenemen has more. >> reporter: snow, ice and strong winds have pounded the plains and midwest. millions of people are under winter storm warnings. in iowa some roads were closed when as much as a foot of snow fell. in oklahoma thousands were left without power because of the winter storm.

one family thankful for a generator. >> we have the heater hooked up and the refrigerator. so just, you know, the bare necessities. >> reporter: chicago's o'hare airport is one of the transportation hubs where weather stranded travelers. 5,000 flights were canceled or delayed. >> my flight was canceled. didn't find out until i got here. >> reporter: this is part of the same system that dumped up to two feet of snow on new mexico and the system is now moving northeast. where people are ready for the first winter storm of the season. >> snow blower's ready. snow tires are on. so we're good to go. >> reporter: 12 inches of snow could fall in some parts of new england. dan schenemen, nbc news. >> nbc meteorologist bonnie schneider is here. she's tracking the weather for us. good morning, bonnie. >> good morning, shannon. we are looking at that winter storm now impacting new england. and you can see heavy snow falling across parts vermont, new hampshire and boston getting a little bit of snow. don't expect too much accumulation. but we do have a risk for ice as we go through a good portion of the day today, and even into tomorrow we're watching for this

to just stay a little bit frozen. here's the snow atomb lags. you can see there are pockets where we're going to see a foot of snow. isolated areas into interior and northern new england. as the air gets a little warmer in the mid levels of the atmosphere we're likely to start to see a change over to ice. be careful out there and watch out for any slick roadways. in the southeast, it's definitely looking a lot better than it was. because we have thunderstorms coming through but nothing severe. no tornado watches or warnings. at least at present. so that's good news. but i want to give you the heads up since so many of you are traveling that we're likely to see accumulating rain and it will really tally up in and around the central gulf coast into places like destin, florida, pensacola, and montgomery. we're going to see two inches of rain starting today through friday. so if you're driving or traveling be careful with the hydroplaning on the roads. looking at the forecast, aside from what we've been speaking about, minneapolis looking at some snow. not too bad of accumulation, 26 degrees. 25 in salt lake and 22 in denver. dallas breathing a sigh of

relief at least weatherwise. no snow or ice, 49 degrees. shannon, things are improving. but it's going to take a few more days before it gets a little more calm. >> winter has caught up with the rest of the country. bonnie, thank you. a prosecutor says it was a quote, perfect storm of human error. there will be no indictment for the two cleveland cops involved in last year's fatal shooting of 12-year-old tamir rice. he was killed after he reached for what turned out to be a pellet gun. nbc's edward lawrence is in washington and edward, could we see the justice department get involved? >> shannon, it could. the families of the victims are looking to washington to get justice. they want to make sure the justice department does a thorough investigation into whether the officers involved violated the civil rights of the ones they killed. >> reporter: protests in cleveland and across the united states in response to no indictment of officers involved in shooting and killing 12-year-old tamir rice. [ chanting ]

>> reporter: this protest in new york city. >> i'd like to see a legal system that incarcerates killer cops. >> reporter: on november 22nd, 2014, someone called 911, saying there was a gunman in the park. and the dispatcher never relayed critical information to responding officers that it was likely a boy with a toy gun. one second after the officers arrived, they shot tamir. >> it was horrible, unfortunate, and regrettable but it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime. >> someone other than the elected county official who works closely with law enforcement officers of this community day in and day out should have probably made that decision. >> reporter: meanwhile in chicago, mayor rahm emanuel cut his vacation short amid new calls for his resignation. two officers shot and killed a 19-year-old they say was acting out with a baseball bat. chicago police say they accidentally killed a mother of five in the gunfire. >> the justice department is already looking at the chicago

police department as a whole for their community response, and escalation protocols. shannon? >> all right, edward lawrence for us in d.c. edward, thank you. >> rock and roll icon lenny killmister has died at the age of 70 after a brief battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. he started out as a roadie for jimi hendrix before forming motorhead in 1975. the band, which is in the guinness book of world records as loudest band ever revolutionized the music scene by blending heavy metal and punk, all the while influencing rock acts from metallica to faa footers who tweeted we lost a friend and legend. ozzy osbourne tweeted i lost one of my best friends today. he was a warrior and a legend. i'll see you on the other side. his birthday was christmas eve, dead at the age of 70. we're still in the middle of a presidential primary but the 2016 race is starting to have a

general election feel to it. the fight between donald trump and hillary clinton escalating every day. trump is now further dragging bill clinton into the fray, saying he has a quote terrible record of women abuse. the democratic frontrunner fired back releasing a statement saying hillary clinton won't be bullied or distracted by attacks from trump. her husband is getting involved, too, now scheduled to hold campaign events on january 4th in new hampshire. trump may not be impressed though, he tweeted late last night, saying remember, bill clinton was brought in to help hillary against obama in 2008. he was terrible, failed badly, and was called a racist. and make of this what you will, on the same day bill clinton will hold that campaign event, donald trump will pick up the pace with his campaign. last night he said starting around january 4th, the campaign is going to start spending, quote, a lot of money, adding we just don't want to take any chances. we're too close. family members of a 3-year-old syrian boy whose

drowning off the coast of turkey triggered an international outcry for the polite of syrian refugees have arrived in canada. you may recall these heartbreaking photos of alan kurdi whose lifeless body washed up on a beach in september. his mother and brother also drowned, but his father survived. alan's uncle, aunt and cousins arrived in vancouver as refugees on monday. alan's father, though, declined to go to canada and now lives in iraq. according to the international organization for migration, nearly 3700 asylum seekers have died this year while trying to reach europe. newly released 911 calls reveal a chaotic scene as three new jersey boy scouts tried to get help for their scoutmaster who had entered a cave and was attacked by a bear. >> my scout master went into a cave, and the bear is in the cave with him. >> is he like he can't get out because of where the bear is? or is he too injured to get out. >> i think the bear is on top of him. >> my scout master suggested we

get food -- >> he's still attacked. >> we see them. we're over here. >> we have the kids that were walking. >> that plan to lure the bear away worked. none of the boys was injured and the 50-year-old man escaped with non-life-threatening injuries. well done by them. all right let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, landon. >> good morning to you, as well. everything is awesome when it comes to lego. a report in the telegraph suggests the popular children's toys may be a better investment than owning gold. the value of lego sets has gone up 12% a year since 2012. while gold is up less than 10%. the retail market for legos is also luke ra trif with 2014 models going for a third more than their original price. the consumer product safety commission is investigating 22 reports of hoverboard fires in 17 states. overheating batteries are the main concern and several u.s.

airlines have banned hoverboards from checked and carry-on luggage and amazon has yanked some brands. and americans may be resolving to get fit in 2016. the fitbit app was the most downloaded at apple's app store on christmas day. that suggests they were a hot seller during the holidays despite competition from apple and samsung watches. fitbit stock jumping 3% on monday. >> new year's resolutions, landon. thank you. all right. in sports, monday night football in chilly denver with temperatures in the teens. the 11-3 bengals would control home field in the playoffs with a win. a.j. connects with mccarron degreen for the touchdown. brock os wyler connects with imemmanuel sanders to get denve back into the game. we fast forward to the fourth. four seconds left on the clock, and here is the call on espn's spanish station.

[ speaking spanish ] >> that translates to no! the game goes in to overtime. brandon mcmanus is redeemed as he hits the game-winner 37-yarder. final score broncos 20, bengals 17. both teams are 11-4 going into the final week how about that. in san antonio, it was bat versus batman when the spurs' mascot needed a net to capture a bat that just happened to be flying courtside in the arena. the critter was taken away by animal control as the spurs mascot soaked in that moment. now, to the action where san antonio wins their 18th straight home game and improves to 28-6. the league's second-best record as they hold off minnesota 101-95. and steph curry doing it again, nailed his sixth career triple double as the warriors won for the 29th time in 30 attempts. 122-103 over the kings.

to baseball now, where the new york yankees just added one of the best closers in the game. hard throwing chapman is moving from cincinnati to the yanks for four minor leaguers. almost 200 million americans' personal information is at risk. we'll talk about that. plus, what would you spend to clone your family pet? how about 100 grand? details on that next. santa has a magic snow globe for every family. and this year, look at what he put in our driveway. the lexus december to remember sales event is here.

lease the 2016 es350 for $349 a month for 36 months and we'll make your first month's payment. see your lexus dealer.

some good advice for you here. if you ever plan to fly a drone, don't do it near the president. the secret service stopped a man who was flying his drone by president obama's motorcade in hawaii yesterday. he was reportedly unaware that the presidential motorcade was driving through. no arrests were made, though. president obama and the first family are in hawaii for their annual holiday vacation. all's well that ends well. shocking revelation. a security researcher has uncovered a massive 300 gigabyte data base containing 191 million u.s. voter registration records.

the information which anyone can access appears to include the names, addresses, phone numbers and party affiliations of every registered u.s. voter going back to 2000. some of the information may have come from nation builder, a campaign software vendor, but the company says it does not own the mystery database. well, when one english couple's beloved boxer dillon died earlier this year they decided to spend $100,000 to clone pym. after a south korean biotech company implants dillon's dna into a blank dog egg, two adorable twin puppies named chance and shadow were born. that's a vine video of one of the cute little puppies. and a rare sight in they're gansate bay, rhode island yesterday. a 50 foot humpback whale was spotted breeching the surface headed south to open water. e flu virus hits big. with aches, chills, and fever, there's no such thing as a little flu.

and it needs a big solution: an antiviral. so when the flu hits, call your doctor right away and up the ante with antiviral tamiflu. prescription tamiflu is an antiviral that attacks the flu virus at its source and helps stop it from spreading in the body. tamiflu is fda approved to treat the flu in people two weeks of age and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu, tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing, have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion, or abnormal behavior. the most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. anti-flu? go antiviral with tamiflu.

♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here. lease the 2015 gs350 with complimentary navigation system for these terms. see your lexus dealer.

all right. time now for your tuesday edition of "scrambled politics." back to the future making headlines in new hampshire after a tough editorial in the union leader compared donald trump to the film's bully biff tannin. trump hit back last night. >> i remember when this was a big paper. look at the size of this thing. if they cut it down anymore you won't be able to find it. it looks like the things, you know, when you go to the grocery store where they give you a little handout. what do they call that? coupons.

so this guy, his name is joe mcquaid. no, he's-he's a low-life. i'm telling you. >> all right. how's this for publicity? according to "usa today" in the week before christmas the gop front-runner generated just over 50 million interactions on facebook. we're talking likes, shares, posts and comments. that's nearly double the combined 29.6 million total of all of the other presidential contenders. how about that? then there's the old-fashioned way. bernie sanders will debut these four ads on the economy and healthcare in brimary states starting today. in you haven't already you'll soon see those campaign lawn signs pop up in your neighborhood. but do those signs generate votes? a new study led by a columbia university professor shows they don't have a huge effect. but enough to sway a close election, and increase in voter share by 1.7 percentage points on average. interesting.

the san yule survey of america's most admired woman and man is here. hillary clinton takes the top spot for a record 20th year. second place mallely yew saf today and. president obama has more than triple the mentions. for the silver medal a tie between pope francis, and donald trump. unlikely partners. we should note this poll was conducted just before his proposed muslim ban. and that is your morning dish of scrambled politics. all right, political analyst and best-selling author ellis henican is here. good morning to you. a little surprised by that one? >> i can't believe we didn't make the list this year. >> i'm shocked. >> good morning. there's always hope. >> always next year. >> all right. let's talk about new hampshire. this is getting pretty interesting now. trump now taking aim at christie, although he trails by a few points, even in new hampshire. >> mm-hmm. >> so, is this sort of an attempt to knock him out of the running here?

>> well, yes, donald is still the big dog. they call clinton the big dog but on the republican side that would be donald. the people who are nipping at him are dividing the anti-trump vote, right? so you've got kasich who is making his last stand, chris christie, marco rubio, they're all -- people who hate trump have so many other places to go that really may lead donald in charge. >> it's very interesting here. we should mention the reason he's -- chris christie is getting from the union leader is because they adore christie. >> oh, you think that's an accident? >> it might be part of it. >> low-life publisher. >> let's talk about hillary here because she's responded to trump in a way, here. she had a statement that she released that she doesn't want to be bullied by him. she's not going to stand for it. she talks a little bit about, you know, representing women, immigrants, asian-americans. she's doing one thing here, but is she sort of taking this in order to promote herself and do something else here? >> well, of course. i mean, she is running for president. you know the tone of that might be off a little bit. right? i mean she's giving this kind of

preachy statement about the importance of women in the work -- you can't have that kind of conversation with donald trump. you've got to just punch him right back in the face, right? it may be a little too serious a conversation. >> okay. >> for a smear job like trump >> is it an easy target because of bill clinton for trump to strike back? >> well, yeah, and as you know it's just been announced that next month bill is going to be up in new hampshire campaigning, and a couple of other places on hillary's behalf. >> is he a viability for her? >> i don't think he's a problem. i think he's more a solution. he is still a popular guy. things were running pretty well when he was president. i think she's going to use him a lot more this time than she did eight years ago. >> all right. we'll see. ellis henican. appreciate you joining us. just ahead, breaking news overnight two new terror arrests in well up. plus why did the elephant seal cross the road? it's anyone's guess but it did cause a bit of a traffic mess. oh remotes, you've had it tough.

watching tvs get sharper, bigger, smugger. and you? rubbery buttons. enter the x1 voice remote. now when someone says... show me funny movies. watch discovery. record this. voila. remotes, come out from the cushions, you are back. the x1 voice remote is here.

leading the news in the guardian, belgian police arrest two over suspected new year's eve attack plot. a total of six people were taken into questioning before were released. federal prosecutors say brussels was the focus of the suspected plot. police found military clothing and propaganda material but no weapons or explosives. a bridge in pittsburgh is no more. yesterday the 94-year-old bridge came crashing down. inspection of the city's infrastructure indicated the bridge needed a replacement. a new bridge is expected to be completed over the next two years. this is not your typical traffic jam. an elephant seal delayed motorists in sonoma county, california, yesterday. it repeatedly tried to cross the highway. eventually local officers and

wildlife service crews were able to divert the animal back into the water. look at him go. quick mover. i'm shannon mulaire. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" starts right now. this is your home? >> yeah, it was. >> the worst part was getting outside and realizing that everything really was gone. >> blizzards, floods and deadly tornadoes wreak havoc on texas and the midwest, as a winter storm now moving in to the northeast. we'll have the latest on this severe weather, plus -- >> i actually called a friend of mine who is involved with him, i said is he voting for obama? and it was honestly, it was terrible, they had the flood, they had the hurricane and obama went to new jersey. he was like a little child. it was like he was so -- right? >> campaigning in new hampshire. donald trump unloads on chris christie in a prominent newspaper that endorsed him.

and hearing the nick nip affluenza teen when he used his privileged upbringing as a defense in a deadly drunk driving case. he was sentenced to probation. so why was he found in mexico? 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning. it's tuesday, december 29th, i'm louis burgdorf. severe weather continues to plague much of the country this morning. in texas, residents in the dallas area are now in recovery mode after nine tornadoes touched down on saturday. at least 11 people died. now, according to the nbc affiliate in dallas, at least 18 people are still missing or unaccounted for in garland, texas, where an ef-4 tornado hit. >> as you can