congratulations, new jersey. you want your next governor to run for president, too? the the water crisis in flint, michigan, reaches a fever pitch as the governor faces an onslaught of criticism. and tens of millions of americans are in the path of a monster storm that our bill karins is predicting will be an historic nor'easter. "first look" starts right now. and good morning, everyone. i'm shannon mulaire. we begin with the breaking news and a terror attack on students.

gunmen stormed a university in northwest pakistan, about 21 miles outside of the city of peshawar. the associated press is reporting at least 19 people killed. let's go straight to nbc's kelly cobiella who is live in london. good morning, kelly. what can you tell us? >> good morning, shannon. well, as you can see from those pictures, quite a battle playing out on the campus of this university in northwestern pakistan today. militants used the cover of fog to scale a wall at the university. this university about 21 miles from peshawar. they went in to classrooms and dorms, and started shooting. the associated press saying at least 19 are dead, with at least as many injured, as well, nearby hospitals overwhelmed with the wounded. and the casualty numbers continue to change. the pakistani army is now moving room by room looking for militants. it's not clear how many are on campus. but officials say they've killed four so far.

the pakistan taliban is claiming responsibility this morning, telling our producer in pakistan that five suicide bombers were sent to the university. the government has been aggressively going after the taliban in the last year, after 150 were killed in an attack in a school in peshawar. most of those were children, and the attack put pressure on the government to crack down on the taliban. the head of the pakistan taliban military wing told nbc news this morning, this attack is revenge for that crackdown and also said we will not target primary schools, but we will continue attacks on all other educational institutions. shannon? >> still unfolding this morning. nbc's kelly cobiella from london. thank you, kelly. former alaska governor, sarah palin has endorsed donald trump for president. speaking in iowa, she said trump will bring change as president while adding he's gone rogue, a sly reference to her 2009 memoir. the former vice presidential

candidate went on to slam the republican establishment for attacking the gop front-runner. not everyone is a fan, though, the new york daily news keeping with their recent streak of direct and striking front covers clearly isn't holding anything back in today's paper. nonetheless, the announcement dominated twitter. within five hours of speaking, there were 170,000 tweets mentioning sarah palin, with a peek of 1800 per minute. nbc's katy tur has more from iowa. >> reporter: political fire brand, meets political fire brand. sarah palin made it official throwing her weight behind donald trump at the expense of ted cruz. and doing it right where it matters most, iowa. there's long been chatter of a palin-trump endorsement, after all their politics overlap, they have similar attention grabbing styles -- >> sarah -- >> reporter: -- and they seem to genuinely like each other. >> bye, sweetheart. >> reporter: back in 2011 at a new york pizzeria amid rumors of

a palin presidential campaign, trump even left the door open to running as her vice president. >> well, she didn't ask me for that. we're friends. she's a terrific woman. >> reporter: earlier in this campaign, trump had no kind words for john mccain, who picked palin to be his running mate in 2008, catapulting her to national fame. >> she's a war hero because he was captured. i like people who weren't captured. >> reporter: despised by the elite and adored by the disaffected palin could have also been a natural fit for cruz. in fact she endorsed his 2012 senate run, and he credited her with his win. >> i love sarah palin. sarah palin is fantastic. without her friendship and support i wouldn't be in the senate today. >> reporter: it all spelled bad news for cruz as iowa governor terry branstad took the texas senator to task for his lack of support for renewable fuels. important to iowa farmers. now with iowa less than two weeks away, and polls showing trump neck and neck with cruz, palin's official endorsement could be crucial.

katy tur, nbc news, ames, iowa. less than 24 hours before, the announcement, palin's 26-year-old son track was arrested on misdemeanor domestic violence charges. court documents state that track and his girlfriend were arguing for most of the day when he allegedly hit her in the head with a closed fist, sending her to the ground, where he then kicked her in the knee. palin then allegedly threw his girlfriend's cell phone. she retrieved the phone and ran inside the house where palin allegedly pulled an ar-15 rifle on her, saying, quote, do you think i won't do it? palin was arraigned and released after posting bond. bernie sanders continues his surge against hillary clinton with a new poll showing the vermont senator taking an overwhelming lead in new hampshire just 12 days before voters caucus in iowa. nbc's andrea mitchell has the details. >> reporter: he's moving on up. bernie sanders riding in a spanking new campaign bus in iowa. >> i walk around these comfortable seats but the

purpose of the bus is to help us get around your beautiful state. and that's what we're going to do. >> reporter: with 13 days to go, it's hillary clinton's nightmare scenario. the possibility that bernie sanders' youth brigade could topple her in iowa. it is competitive. in iowa, they have nearly the same number of paid staff and he's spent more on tv ads in iowa and new hampshire and has spent more time in iowa, 51 days to her 39. and by raising money online from small donors, his team says they have the money to keep going. and a big warning sign for clinton in new hampshire. a new cnn poll tonight has sanders ahead by 27 points. a huge leap from his four-point advantage in our poll last week. what about clinton's firewall when the campaign moves south? in alabama, sanders proved he can attract thousands. >> that inevitable candidate, ain't so inevitable. >> her lifeline could be barack obama, whom she's treating like a running mate. >> advising president obama -- >> reporter: that's because in our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, a whopping 87% of democrats view obama favorably.

andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. tragedy on the campaign trail tuesday, one of ben carson's campaign volunteers in iowa died after the van he and three others were riding in hit a patch of ice, flipped over, and was hit by another car. it happened near atlantic, iowa. 25-year-old braden joplin, seen here with carson, died from his injuries. three other passengers in the van were treated and released. on tuesday ben carson temporarily suspended his campaign so he could travel to omaha to meet with joplin's family. state and federal officials are trying to make progress in the ongoing public health crisis in michigan that governor rick snyder is calling a disaster, and a mess. in his state of the state address, snyder said the government had failed, promising those responsible would be held accountable. yesterday flint mayor karen weaver met with president obama. the white house announced department of health and human services official dr. nicole lurie would travel to flint to coordinate federal efforts. last night on msnbc filmmaker

michael moore was highly critical of governor snyder's response. >> he sent in the national guard last wednesday. i was there in flint this week. he sent seven national guard. seven. >> moore also urged president obama to visit flint during his trip to detroit this week. and other celebrities have lent their voices to the growing protest. singer cher suggested that fellow artists help the situation financially and flint native comedian sandra bernhard spread fund-raising and awareness efforts. flint will be braving frigid temperatures to pick up much-needed water from national guard troops. governor snyder also said his e-mails for 2014 and 2015 would be made publicly available online today. it appears isis fighters are getting a massive pay cut. the islamic state says it's slashing salaries by half, according to leaked documents. that means isis fighters in syria would see their pay drop to about $200 a month.

while foreign fighters would get about $400. the financial strain is likely a result of intensified airstrikes on their oil infrastructure in syria and iraq. meanwhile isis confirms the masked executioner known as jihadi john is dead. u.s. officials targeted him in a drone strike late last year. all right let's get down to business now with cnbc's landon dowdy. >> good morning to you, as well. you got your french fries and my chocolate sauce. mcdonald's is adding chocolate covered fries to the menu but only in japan. the fast food giant calls the sweet and salty combo the mcchocko potato. it's available only for a limited time. johnson & johnson is cutting 3,000 jobs from its struggling medical device business over the next two years. sales in the division fell more than 10% last year. jnd j employs about 60,000 people in the medical device unit, almost half its global workforce. meanwhile hackers may not care much anymore about your credit card number.

security experts say uber, paypal and even netflix accounts are more valuable to cyber criminals. prices for this stolen info are fetching higher prices on underground websites. hackers could use a stolen uber account to charge fake rides, or for identity theft. shannon, back over to you. >> all right, landon, thank you very much for that. right now might be the best time all year to buy airline tickets. details ahead. plus jamie foxx to the rescue. the actor becomes a real lifesaver. this week's storm now over idaho will eventually turn into our nor'easter and someone's going to get two to three feet of 12340e. i'll let you know who i think is going to be the most likely to get that coming up. stay tuned.

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well, this was syracuse, new york, they're used to this scene. the question is, how is washington, d.c.? how is virginia, maryland? possibly new jersey and philadelphia going to deal with the scene like that? possibly for one, maybe two days. so, overnight, our computers still in excellent agreement. the area that is most likely to

see historic nor'easter, this would be starting friday night, continuing saturday into sunday morning, is this area from the maryland, delaware border southward back into central virginia, including d.c., maybe even richmond. moderate snowfall philadelphia and new york. and a lot of questions for areas in southern new england. how far north the snow actually gets. let me show you our computer models. we're 2 1/2 days away from this event. this area of red in here, that's 36 inches of snow. that's a crippling snowstorm by any means anywhere in the country. that would possibly be in the mountainous areas. but even as far as washington, d.c., 24 to 36 inches is possible on our european model. the northern edge, i mentioned is very difficult on this forecast. the european model does not have a lot of snow north of new york city, our gfs american model does. but they're both in excellent agreement that this corridor from philadelphia, wilmington, delaware, washington, d.c., i-95 west is going to get a crippling blizzard.

and the other part of the storm is going to tb the high winds, beach emotion, major coastal flooding, up to 70-mile-per-hour winds on the coast. this storm will have it all. it's been 94 years since washington, d.c. saw 20-inch snowstorm. >> that long? >> we could easily do that with this storm. no one alive for the most part remembers the snowstorm that could possibly be this big in d.c. >> you're a little too excited about this, bill. in a good way. preparing everybody. all right, bill, thank you. actor jamie foxx was a hero in real life on monday. the oscar winner helped pull a driver from his burning truck in southern california, after it careened into a ditch. >> i don't look at it as heroic. i just look at it like, you know, i just had to do something. >> 32-year-old driver is in intensive care for third degree burns and a broken collar bone. former baywatch star pamela anderson spoke to the french parliament yesterday to try to persuade france to stop eating twoi gras which she calls a cool

luxury. right now is the best time to buy airline tickets because of low oil prices and a slowdown in travel. hopper.com reports flights to honolulu could drop $109 below the cheapest fare while flights to miami could drop $38 and to new orleans by $40 in the coming weeks. john mccain stays above the fray as his former running mate stumps for trump. "scrambled politics" is next. when your type 2 diabetes numbers aren't moving in the right direction, it can be a burden. but what if you could wake up to lower blood sugar?

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time now for your wednesday dish of "scrambled politics." so what does senator john mccain think of sarah palin's endorsement of donald trump? mccain gave palin national fame by choosing her as his running mate in 2008. trump criticized the former presidential candidate's p.o.w. history last year, saying mccain isn't a war hero and that he liked soldiers who don't get captured. it appears mccain is taking the high road, choosing not to take sides while saying he and palin remain close friends. trump may want to ride off into the sunset with a different endorsement he got yesterday at the john wayne birthplace museum in iowa. wayne's daughter aissa gave her -- gave her and the wayne family's support for the donald. but not so fast pilgrim. shortly after the announcement the wayne family and foundation said that the daughter doesn't speak for them and that they don't endorse candidates in john wayne's name. so there's that. with the consensus that bernie sanders won sunday's democratic debate it may come as no surprise that he wants more of them. speaking to our rachel maddow last night, sanders called the

democratic debate schedule a, quote, disaster. and said he would do nonsanctioned debates if the other candidates agreed. and in new jersey, governor chris christie has pocket vetoed a bill requiring a mandatory 20-minute recess in the state's elementary schools. this a day after he criticized first lady michelle obama's let's move initiative at a town hall, after a fifth grader complained about the flavor of his school lunch. something that confuses jimmy kimmel. >> why in the world would chris christie even comment on this subject? i mean, this is -- this is an enormous man. he's taking a stand against healthy school lunches? just from a peer pr standpoint, chris christie standing up for tostitos and pizza is like bill cosby doing an ad for lunesta. >> and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." fun for them on the late night talk. nbc political reporter jane

timmons here. >> good morning. >> we have plenty to talk about with sarah palin coming out of the woodwork yesterday, obviously endorsing donald trump here. it certainly made a splash. it was certainly glitzy and glamorous and had a lot of people talking but is it enough to sway voters away from cruz and towards trump? >> the narrative that senator ted cruz is trying to drive here is that trump is sort of a conservative mirage. he's not red enough. and it's hard to say that when sort of the farthest right vp candidate in recent history says, you know, he's her guy. so i think that does short of shore up the far right voters for palin. palin's popularity has dimmed since she was vp but she's still incredibly popular and people like her in that far right group. i think that will help him a lot and it's a blow to ted cruz. he's been endorsed by her before and he keeps trying to say, i am am the guy who's going to fight the establishment. but the original maverick, she's all in for trump. >> she's all in for trump. from politico, sarah palin's tuesday endorsement of donald trump was a big get. for sarah palin. so the question is, is there room for palin in his cabinet?

in trump's cabinet if he were to win? >> you know it's definitely a symbiotic move for her here. her star has faded since she was the vp. she sort of left office in scandal. getting on the trump train, it works for her. and she's made it clear she'd like to be secretary of energy. said that in an interview back in september. i think we might hear drill, baby, drill again. >> let's talk about the democratic side of things here. latest wmer poll has bernie sanders leading clinton by 27 points. a 60% to 33%. what is happening here? and is clinton getting nervous? >> i think she is. i think bernie sanders no longer looks like the other candidate, the also-ran. he looks like a definite threat for her in iowa. i mean this is where she got, you know, lost last time that someone comes up right before iowa, and can maybe even win that state. it looks very strong in new hampshire. he's definitely a viable candidate. but this is not the clinton's first rodeo. we'll have to see what she has up her sleeve. >> i wonder how many people in the end come out and vote for sanders. i know he has a very young base of people who support him.

so in the end do you think that's going to affect his numbers? >> just like trump, sort of outsider candidates, people who are appealing to people who aren't normal voters do have that problem. they have to get the vote out. we see the trump campaign sort of pushing people to register, teaching them how to caucus. and i imagine sanders will have the same problem. getting people to the polls, crucial. >> all right. less than two weeks to go until iowa. jane timm joining us this morning on "first look." thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> all right. just ahead, a celestial spectacle that we haven't seen in over a decade. plus the miami mansion owned by the late drug lord pablo escobar is no more. if you're looking to save money on your medicare part d prescriptions, walgreens says, carpe med diem. seize the day to get more out of life and medicare part d. just switch to walgreens for savings that'll be the highlight of your day. now preview the cost of your copay before you fill. you can even get one-dollar copays on select plans.

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leading the news on "usa today," nearly 500,000 foreigners overstayed visas in 2015. collected by the department of homeland security, the study indicates that so-called visa overstays represent an estimated 40% of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country. from nbcnews.come, cocaine king pablo escobar's miami beach mansion bites the dust. demolition on the estate is well under way. the property owner purchased the home in 2014 for about $9 million. he stated he was excited to, quote, see the house of the devil disappearing before our eyes. dramatic. escobar died in a shoot-out with colombian national police in 1993. and from the associated press, oldest christian monastery in iraq is razed. saint elijah's monastery of mosul was reduced to a field of rubble. the site was another target of the islamic state who has claimed responsibility for the destruction of ancient cultural sites in the past.

over 100 firefighters braved cold temperatures to battle a four-alarm fire in philadelphia yesterday. the blaze started in the basement of an apartment complex. officials say almost all of the building's units were occupied at the time. luckily residents were evacuated quickly. two firefighters suffered minor injuries. the source of the fire remains unknown. president obama heads to the north american international auto show in detroit today. the president will be there to check out the latest vehicles, he'll also be promoting the recovery of the u.s. auto industry. and starting this morning for the next 30 days, five planets will be visible simultaneously in a celestial quintet, bill, mars, mercury, venus, jupiter and saturn. an alignment of the five planets has not occurred since 2005. pretty cool. the so-called sexiest doctor alive is looking for a date. but the competition is getting steep. dr. michael -- >> he's not so great -- >> -- was feat youred in

"people" magazine's 2016 sexiest man alive issue. he's offering himself up for a prize. applicants most donate 10 bucks to be considered. "way too early" starts right now. that's right it's 2008 all over again. a young, handsome, charismatic challenger has entered the race and he's losing by 40 points to waldorf from the muppets. the polling is clear. democrats love bernie sanders. and it's resulted in a democratic primary campaign that no one could have anticipated just a few weeks ago. but if you think hillary is worried about the polls, you are wrong. >> well the funny think is after that poll came out about an hour later there was a ppt poll where i was leading him by the same margin about six points up. i don't pay any attention to this >> you can't say i don't pay attention to polls right after citing a poll. >> shock poll. new numbers out of new hampshire

show bernie sanders trouncing hillary clinton with the primary less than three weeks away. plus a tough tuesday for ted cruz, after getting snubbed by two conservative leaders, including sarah palin. she decided to throw her support behind donald trump. >> oh, listen, i love sarah palin. sarah palin is fantastic. without her friendship and support i wouldn't be in the senate today. and breaking news this morning, another deadly attack in pakistan. gunmen storm a university and we're told students, teachers, and terrorists are among the dead. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, january 20th,