actually fell from 10% to 9.7%. most economists were expecting it to rise. 20,000 jobs were slashed last month, most economists were expecting slight gains. so why did the unemployment rate drop? the report found a sharp increase in the number of people who have stopped looking for work and only those who are looking for work and haven't found it are included in the unemployment rate. here's another reason -- here's another problem. the labor department revised its figures and declared that 8.4 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in 2007. just ahead on msnbc we'll have reaction from christina romer, chair of the white house counsel of economic advisers and stevon moore of "the wall street journal." now a massive winter storm could du dump as much as two feet of snow along the coast coast n. fairfax, virginia, people are heading to the stores to stock up on essentials. bill karins is here with your

weather channel forecast. bill? david, you're going to miss it. d.c. will have one of the top five biggest snowfall events over the next 48 hours. this is enormous bringing snow from the northern plains all the way through the ohio valley. they're actually getting more in the ohio valley than they thought they were going to and heavy rains down to the southeast so this is going to be an incredible event over the next 24 to 48 hours. the snow on the map in white. all of the local schools are kicking out at noon today. they want to get everyone home in the d.c. area before the snow really breaks out and before they struggle with the roads because it's going to be coming down so fast and furious tonight, the plows will not be able to keep up with it. they'll probably be pulled off the roads. it's snowing hard this central areas like columbus. the bull's eye goes from west virginia through northern virginia and then right through delaware and maryland. one to two feet of snow. we're predicting somewhere close to 20 inches in and around the d.c. area and right around through baltimore. that is the bull's eye for this

storm. and, david, i think you were in d.c. earlier this season in december when we had the record breaking snowstorm. two in one year. that's why this is a historic winter for you. >> indeed. bill karins, thanks for the update. we'll be checking in with bill and the rest of the team today. we are following breaking news surrounding sarah palin. newly released e-mails obtained by nbc news show that her husband, todd, played a much bigger role in her administration. the e-mails show that he had a hand in state policy on oil and gas production and he may have even leaked confidential information from his employer to the attorney for the state. there's much more in the startling insiders look how sarah palin governed alaska. we have a live report coming up. the president of toyota was also the grandson of the man who started the company, has now issued a public apology. he says he's sorry for all the problems going on with his cars and he's promising to beef up quality control in the wake of

the massive worldwide recall to fix faulty gas pedestrialpedals. they may issue a recall for the prius because of a brake problem. some 20,000 might be affected after the u.s. government received more than 100 mrants by owners who say they experienced the sudden loss of braking power. >> it's been frustrating and i'm angry. again, within two weeks of bringing the car in, i knew there was something wrong and they were in denial about the problem. >> tom costello is following all of this live in washington, d.c. tom? >> reporter: this is the real problem for toyota. they have the prius situation that is bubbling up right while they're in the middle of the other recall involving 2.3 million vehicles and the sticky gas pedal. what we were looking for out of tokyo with this news conference today was some indication from toyota are they going to recall

priuses. the recall was said to be coming. toyota never made the announcement. the government has put intense pressure on toyota, the u.s. and japanese governments, to launch an investigation into the brake problems on the prius. and so now from the ceo of toyota we are hearing that they are apologizing for all of the problems. they are determined to get back on track, but they have not yet athounsed any sort of a recall on the prius. they have enough recalls under way already, david. >> nbc's tom costello in our washington bureau, thanks for the update. and back now to today's breaking jobs numbers. this is one of those stories there may be a clear contrast between the politics and the economic realities. january's unemployment rate fell to a five-month low, 9.7%, down from 10% in december. that drop may help the obama administration politically. the labor department revised some of the figures showing that

in november, 64,000 jobs were created. reaction, though, now from christina romer, chair of the white house council of economic advisers. dr. romer, the harsh economic realities is that a lot more people stopped looking for work and that contributed to this drop. right? >> there are several things to say. first, with the unemployment rate at 9.7%, the first thing to say is that is still completely unacceptable, still very high, which is why the president has continued to push for actions to help jump-start job creation. he will be announcing small business lending program this morning. i think that is certainly the big issue here. in terms of thinking about what's driving this movement in the unemployment rate down, the number you mentioned is the number of people discouraged. the labor force actually rose this month so because of population changes what we're

seeing is the labor force is actually going up so that would normally tend to raise the unemployment rate. the thing that brought it down is -- >> one second. that's a fair point that the overall labor force rose in january, but let's compare january of '09 and january '10 in terms of discouraged job seekers. 734,000 discouraged job seekers. in january of '10, 1.1 million. that's a pretty significant rise for just one year, isn't it? >> of course. that's just another one of the signs that i was saying before. this has been a terrible recession. that is why certainly when the unemployment rate is high you do see workers drop out of the labor force. that's part of all of what has made this so difficult. it's also part of the reason we look forward a lot of analysts say don't be surprised if you see the unemployment rate tick up again precisely because has things start to recover you may see some of the discouraged workers start to get hopeful again and come back in.

so i think that is going to be a phenomenon we could be facing. >> let's take a look at various sectors. the service sector in january created 40,000 jobs, temporary help added 52,000 jobs. manufacturing added 11,000. construction dropped 75,000. what do you make of those numbers? what's the good and what's the bad? >> no, i think you are getting that important variation. overall we lost some 20,000 jobs in the payroll survey but we did, for the first time in a very long time, see manufacturing grow. it was led by motor vehicles and parts which, again, something that i think we had a role in jump-starting with our cash for clunkers program. the fact that retail trade is coming back. the fact temporary employment is coming back. all of those are hopeful signs. construction, what we know is that's largely the commercial structures or nonresidential and that kind of fits with what we saw with the gdp numbers last

week. that is a sector that's still struggling. likewise state and local employment is something that's gone down. >> dr. christina romer, we have to cut it there, but thank you for joining us here. we all hope the numbers improve and of course we'll be watching and talking with you in the weeks and months to come. dr. christina romer, one of the president a president's top economic advisers, thank you. let's bring in "wall street journal" senior economics writer stevon moore. your take on what dr. romer just said? >> i certainly think it's good news that we have sort of fallen below that psychological plateau that unemployment rate number drop but most of the rest of the information in this report i think was very discouraging. the fact that we're continuing seeing robust job is demoralizing workers. the other point you raised that i think is a really important one, the fact you have increased

numbers of workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks. these are long-term unemployed workers who have just week after week not been able to find a replacement job. i think the bottom line on this is that it's further evidence the president's economic stimulus plan, which has already spent $300 billion, has been really a complete flop when it comes to job creation. >> i don't know if that's necessarily fair because most economists would say that the unemployment rate would be much worse had it not been for the stimulus. let's put that aside in terms of the psychological argument. >> hold on. >> take my point right there. what about the argument it would be significantly worse, that there would be a lot of people who would have lost their jobs, able to hold on to their jobs because of the stimulus? >> that's irrefutable argument. we don't know what would have happened. what we do know with certainty is the president said we would have unemployment rate less than 8% if we put this in place. we've lost 3 million jobs. >> stephen, he said that when nobody knew how bad it was at the end of the bush administration.

nobody knew a year ago exactly how bad it was. but here's the key point. i want to talk about something that's happened on wall street this morning. the stock market has dropped below 10,000. consumer confidence, as we all agree, is so crucial. with the dow dropping below 10,000, how significant is that in terms of the mindset of consumers now? >> it is important because we lost, you know, tens of billions of dollars of wealth just yesterday when the dow plunged by 200 points. i think it is very significant market. look, one day's bad market does not make a bear market. is when the stock market falls, you've got it spending. that if we're going to get jobs. the we need people to go into the stores and business investment spending and that's not what's happening right now. i just think most of our economic policies right now have not worked to create jobs. one thing i'd like to see the president --

>> that's another debate and, stephen, i promise we'll have you back. we will get into that debate another time. stephen moore from "the wall street journal," thanks for coming on. we appreciate it. >> nice to see you. >> good to see you. up next, the deadly shark attack in florida. we will hear from the lifeguard who tried to save the kite surfer. and check out this x-ray. yes, it's the saints logo and, yes, it's in a woman's throat. we'll tell you what happened and how it got there. the mystery behind this sleeping beauty, what's causing this teen to sleep for up to two weeks at a time. you could buy 300 bottles of water. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. that's what's gonna happen here. ♪ because you're tasty with toasty whole grain. [ crunch ] wheat thins. toasted. whole grain. crunch.

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i just couldn't sit down anymore and not do anything because it reminded me of what happened during the reign of

hitler. >> remember what we used to know. the government that governs best governs least. >> the tea party faithful have descended on nashville, tennessee, for the start of the first-ever convention. the event is being held at the gaylord opryland hotel and is full of workshops, meetings, funny outfits and speeches. sarah palin is scheduled to give the keynote address after reportedly receiving a $100,000 speaking fee. we are joined live. tell us the controversy. >> reporter: david, good to be with you. one of the quotes is political extremism masquerading as environmentalism is a greater threat than .

we have how this government is similar to the marxist agendas being put forth by those in south america. we have a lot of that going on here. of course sarah palin is going to have -- she headlines tomorrow, the big event. we've raised this in first read today whether or not she's a politician first or a political celebrity first now. there's some questions that she doesn't take questions from reporters. she hasn't really been someone who has had to go on "meet the press," for example, and doesn't have elected office anymore. so $100,000 for a speech, ten of those a year, that's a nice cool million i think some of us would like to have. that's part of what's going on here now. >> domenico montanard, we'll be talking to you throughout the weekend. thanks for the update. sarah palin's keynote speech at the tea party will be saturday night, 9:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. on the west coast and we

will bring it to you live here on msnbc. this is the kind of story that may send shivers up your spine. a kite surfer along the florida beach was enjoying the waves and the wind when he was suddenly attacked and mauled by a group of sharks. a lifeguard swam into the shark-infested waters to try to save the man and this morning that lifeguard talked about what he found after paddling a we're after mile to reach the victim. >> it wasn't until i finally got to him that i realized the amount of blood in the water and he told me he had been bitten, that this is what's going on. >> despite the heroic efforts, steven schaefer died a short time later at the hospital. nbc's kristen dahlgren joins us from florida where this has been the talk of the beaches. are the beaches open today? >> reporter: yeah, they are still open. shark experts say the chances of being bitten are infinitesimal.

it has happened, 14 times in florida's history. a couple of buddies of steve's came by and said they grew up here and never expected this to happen. the lifeguard noticed steve was in distress. he had himself been a victim of a shark bite about 25 years ago, so he knew the kind of danger they were both in. >> i kind of kept it him in the kite itself, kind of offered some protection. it made us much bigger in the water than if i tried just to get him out of the kite. i figured this was the best way to kind of offer us some protection. i had the board butted up against the kite and i knew that there was a possibility this could turn into a frenzy because of the amount of blood in the water. >> reporter: schaefer's friends are planning a memorial here on the beach tomorrow. meantime, experts are trying to figure out just what type of

shark it was. at this point they believe it was probably a bull or a tiger shark between eight and nine feet long, david. >> all right, kristen dahlgren is down there along the beach in florida. thank you very much for the update. we are keeping our eye on a massive winter storm that is about to hit much of the east coast. will you get snowed in this weekend? plus, teenagers tend to sleep a lot, but two weeks at a time? a real-life sleeping beauty. time for your business entrepreneur of the week. kim and mark benson were out of work and down to their last $18,000. she took the lessons she learned losing 200 pounds and sunk that money into starting kim's light bagels and a weight watch meter's website. ♪

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with two days to go until the super bowl you might expect to pay through the nose to score a last-minute ticket. tickets are still relatively cheap compared to previous years but the worst seats in miami will still cost you about $1,200. ♪

♪ since i was a young boy >> roger daltrey and pete townsend of the who with a preview of their super bowl halftime show, and they could have a record setting audience if the matchup between the colts and the saints lives up to the hype. cnbc's darren ravell live on the scene. 100 million people may watch the game. that would be a record. what's the atmosphere like in miami? >> reporter: well, it's electric. some say it's not the ideal matchup for the ratings. some people say that would have been the jets. maybe brett favre against the jets. from everyone i've spoken to, david, it is all about the game first before you talk about the market and a lot of people say the colts and the saints are as tightly matched up as you could be so if they get a close game, if you look at the last ten years of ratings, it's not about market in the super bowl.

the extra push always comes when it's a very close game and people feel like they have to tune in. >> and stars the expectations for extravaganza at halftime, tell us about that as far as what we know. >> reporter: i think there's the mix. some people say the who, great. some people say ever since the janet jackson wardrobe malfunction the nfl has played it a little bit too conservative as far as the age of the people performing. so you have one side saying these guys are too old, saying, really, the who? others saying, the who, we like them. >> darren rovell gets to cover the super bowl. darren, thanks for the report. and, by the way, darren and so many of our colleagues know sports fans love, love to show their loyalty to their team. listen to what happened. this x-ray picked up an earring,

the symbol for the new orleans saints. the woman took off her jewelry before bedtime. she also took some vitamins. as you can see that is now multivitamin. wdsu talked to the woman and, yes, her story is true. she is also okay. she is fine and, i don't know, next time she should keep her earrings on until after the super bowl. the snow is already starting to fall on the east coast. up to 24 inches expected in some areas. we'll tell you who is going to get hit the hardest. plus, breaking this morning, nbc news has obtained personal e-mails of former alaska governor sarah palin. incredible details about just how involved her husband was in her administration. and a man plowed his car into a convenience store, but at least he warned everybody first. whwhwh

snow is on the way and a lot

of it at that from the carolinas to the jersey shore up to two feet of snow is expected and this latest blast of winter weather has forced the closure of the d.c. government and has caused airlines to cancel hundreds of flights. bill karins is tracking the storm. bill, supposed to fly back to the east coast on sunday. should i aim for new york? >> you can go to d.c. on sunday but a lot of people will be trying to go with you. that is the bull's eye. right to the good stuff, the forecast totals here. what we think is going to happen with this storm and this is why it's historic. baltimore and the d.c. area don't get that many storms this strong. upwards of two feet of snow within a 24-hour period starting now and it will be ending sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. philadelphia, you're in that northern fringe. you're going to get hit hard but areas north of philly will not see a lot. right now we're only calling for one to three inches in new york city. it's an area of right through the mid-atlantic from pittsburgh to charleston through the

delmarva that is the bull's eye point for this historic storm tonight and tomorrow. more details throughout the day. david? >> thanks, bill. i appreciate the update. of course we have our eyes on a lot of other news this morning. michael jackson's doctors preparing to surrender. will he be charged for the king of pop's death? a 12-year-old girl gets busted for doodling on her desk but you will not believe what happened next. lindsay vaughn is gracing the cover of "sports illustrated." does the cover jinx cross international borders? let's hope not. back now to the breaking news we reported at the top of the hour. we are poring over details of some of the dealings of sarah palin and her husband todd and they're telling quite the tale. investigative reporter bill dedmond joins us now. bill, what are the big points in the e-mails? >> david, people in juneau had

wondered who was this shadow governor. todd pay lynn was sitting in meetings. legislators were called to meeting he was called in the governor's office. we never knew what todd palin was involved in. he was involved in everything. now we have 3,000 pages of e-mails to and from todd palin and various state officials. he was involved in offering opinions of which judges, names of people to be put on state boards and commissions, he was passing e-mails marked as confidential from his employer british petroleum, bp, to the state lawyer who deals with issues related to british petroleum, regulatory issues, hundreds of issues that he held no position for. he was the first dude, as they called him, in alaska. and it's really surprising. also what you get here is we only see the tip of the iceberg.

we have thousands of pages but many e-mails have been redacted. i talked to a young woman in alaska yesterday. she was on the state board of sexual domestic violence and abuse. well, she didn't get reappointed. she had no idea. nobody told her why she was reappointed. now we know, there's an e-mail where they asked todd palin what do you think about this person? she's from your hometown. and he replies, well, we can see it's redacted, withheld. we don't know his reply. we know the answer came back, thank you very much, that's very helpful, and she didn't get on the board. there's a lot of that going on behind the scenes. >> todd palin's involvement is so much more extensive than a lot of people thought and quite revealing. i guess the key question, does this now expose the palins to any sort of ethics or even criminal liability because of his involvement? >> i'm guessing not. i'm guessing those e-mails that might touch on such areas would

be among those that were withheld. there was some distribution of what you would think would be confidential state information to this man who, remember, held no state position. he was just married to the boss. but we had the department of labor in alaska look forward to todd palin, information about who withheld taxes for their employees, sending him background checks on ceos of a business that the state wanted to get involved with. so you did have some sharing of confidential information. it's maybe a problem with the state, not with with him. imagine at your work place if the spouse's boss coming by asking you questions, if you were a state employee, you would offer the information. >> we know that, for example, nancy reagan, she used to dictate her husband's schedule so it's not unusual for spouses to sort of be involved, but, i mean, i wonder if you can put this in context, have we heard anything from sarah palin

herself given how embarrassing and how much baggage this might be for her? >> no, we put questions to both palins and did not get a reply. there are a lot of e-mails in here from sarah palin as well, one she's trying to coach the staff to hide expenses of the state's residence, the governor's mansion, the expenses of the tanning bed. the electrician was going to do more work that would get out. she is coaching the staff on how to fit the tanning bed in just right so they don't have to hire another electrician and people would find out more about it. there's a lot of discussion of airplane flights for the palin family members, and how can we find a rationale sometimes after the fact for paying for this flight. the daughter's flying from juneau to anchorage -- >> i think it's right to the h ethical complaints that were filed about the palins, so, again, this is a treasury trophy of information and it's not good news for supporters because this is the kind of baggage that will weigh down sarah palin and raise a lot of questions should she

want to run in 2012. in any case, bill dedman, great work in getting these e-mails. for anybody else who wants to go through these yourselves and look at the e-mails go to msnbc.com. they are all posted there. you take a look yourself and decide what you think on your own. critical evidence is now surfacing about the crucial hours before and after michael jackson died. investigators now believe this voice mail was left at exactly the time jackson's doctor, conrad murray, says he was trying to save jackson's life. listen. >> this is dr. murray. hi, how are you? i'm sorry i missed you. >> the time line will be a huge issue if this case goes to a jury. in new developments right now dr. murray and his lawyers say they are fed up with law enforcement as they await expected charges. a lime green marker and some

doodling landed a girl in big trouble this week. 12-year-old alex a gonzalez admits scribbling on her desk last monday, but her mother says she didn't deserve to be taken out of school in handcuffs to the police department for questioning. and the family is now filing a lawsuit against the city over the incident. "the new york daily news" reports city officials admit their tactics in this case were a mistake. if you're stressed out and overworked, sleeping for a few days straight may seem like a dream come true, but it's become a real nightmare for one 15-year-old girl who has a rare disorder that causes her to sleep for days and sometimes for up to two weeks. stephanie gosk has the amazing story. >> reporter: teenagers need a lot of sleep, but for 15-year-old louisa, sleeping has become a curse. what has been the longest period of time you've been asleep? >> 13 days. >> reporter: unlike the fairy

tale, this sleeping beauty has no prince charming coming to wake her up. she has a rare condition with only 1,000 known cases around the world. >> this kind of state lasts for about one to two weeks generally and then it disappears suddenly. so people feel this is over but, unfortunately, it comes back in a very unrediktable way. >> reporter: her sleeping episodes started just over a year ago. >> we couldn't wake her up and it was constant, louisa, will you get up, please, have something to eat, and she just couldn't even have the energy to open her eyelids. >> reporter: a pediatrician in london made the diagnosis for the family, a frightening syndrome with no cure, only a chance louisa would grow out of it. since then every four to five weeks her family and school friends pick up the signs sleep is setting in. >> i don't talk much and then i go into an episode and i'm like, yeah, i realize i need to go

home. >> reporter: while asleep, life passes her by. dancing is louisa's passion but this year she keeps missing reci recitals. schoolwork and her social life suffer. >> you just catch up and i'm right back to normal. >> reporter: do you wake up and go, what's the gossip? >> yeah, yeah. and everyone is telling me, i'm bombarded with everything. >> reporter: her parents have a harder time staying upbeat. they almost have to force feed her to keep her alive. you lose your daughter -- >> i do, yeah. she doesn't cuddle you, she doesn't talk to you. >> reporter: and they have to defend their daughter from the skeptics who say she's just another teenager with an attitude problem. >> this is somebody who is losing a third of their life to sleep for no reason of their own. >> reporter: it's a real-life fairy tale that this family hopes will have a happy ending. stephanie gosk, nbc news, england.

an alabama man has been charged with attempted murder. police say he deliberately rammed his truck into a service station. the man was apparently angry over the store's pay before you pump policy. that is to say he paid for gas, never pumped and barreled through the window just missing an employee. after the crash the suspect tried to run off. they were able to subdue him with a stun gun. just days away, the winter olympics and the cover story everywhere. a skier with a lot of gold medal potential. we'll get a preview. >> this is dr. pepper cherry. >> amazingly smooth because it has a little kiss of cherry flavor. >> this isn't going to work. >> for some, super bowl commercials aren't just the sideshow. we will get an early peek. making money in a bad economy -- with unemployment still high, how should you

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scientists are looking at an additive that boosts the strength of flu vaccine. they are not used in our supply of the h1n1 vaccine but are european versions. researchers and vaccine maker says mixing the additive greatly increased the immune responses to a wide variety of flu types.

that's just one of the tv ads you'll be seeing during the super bowl on sunday and the parties are already starting down in miami. the hype and the compelling storylines involving indianapolis colts and the new orleans stants the most watched event in television history. 100 million people are expected to watch and companies trying to reach them are paying cbs $3 million for a 30-second commercial. so what else do we know? msnbc.com entertainment and scoop.com reporter courtney hazlett joins us now. who's in? who is putting their money down for super bowl ads? good morning, david. quite a few people are putting their money down. anheuser-busch has one of the -- i think they bought the most advertising time of anybody buying ads. what's interesting this year, they're looking into also how it makes a difference if you have your ad run in the first quarter versus the fourth quarter. a lot of research is showing the first quarter ads are the ones you want to get in on.

>> and tell us about, courtney, some of your favorite ads that you've seen in advance. >> a lot of my favorite ads, i think a lot of people are going to enjoy the hyundai ad with brett favre. this ad looks into the future with brett favre ten years from now and he's contemplating retirement. anyone watching football knows this is a longtime running joke with brett favre. another ad that's getting a lot of buzz is the harry potter ad for universal studios. the harry potter ride, so to speak, opens up in the spring of this year. the buzz has largely been kept just to word of mouth. this is really the first glimpse you're going to get of it in the super bowl this year. another ad that people are really looking at, like i said before, the anheuser-busch ads, five minutes total ad time and it will run in every single quarter. >> and so i guess beer is a good commodity to be teamed up with the super bowl. >> exactly. >> courtney, thanks so much for

the updit. we look forward to the ads on sunday and more of your reports. thank you. new this morning, the unemployment rate dropped to a five-month low but of course millions of americans are still looking for work while almost everyone nowadays is taking a hard look at the family budget. we're pleased to be joined by dr. watkins, contributor to msnbc companion website thegrio.com. tell us, what's the one single step families can do to save their money? >> well, you have to cut the fat. you have to rethink how you perceive money. you may want to reconsider the difference between the things that you want and the things that you need. i'm telling families to go through and do a line-item analysis of all the things you're paying for every month and determine whether or not you can afford that lifestyle. and if you can't, it's okay to downsize. it's okay to reconsider how you live. it's okay to dig deeper into your resources. remember, you don't have to get a job in order to have an

income. if you like to bake cookies, sell tumer ware, whatever it takes to bring in extra money, i recommend people explore all those options. the goal is not to just get a job but enough money to do what you need to do. >> so many americans essentially are underwater on their mortgage, in other words they owe more than their home is currently worth. what should they do? >> first of all, think about whether or not -- if it you're talking about walking away from the mortgage which some people are considering, make sure you think about whether that's your first or last option. it should not be your first option because there are a lot of options in between. i recommend that people consider whether or not they are a short-term investor in their home meaning do you own your home because you're trying to make money from it or a long-term investor meaning you're comfortable living there and might live there the next 20 years. real estate values will recover although they won't recover to the inflated values before the recession at least not anytime soon and also think about whether or not this is posing a serious liquidity problem. if liquidity is an issue, you don't have the money to pay your mortgage every month, go to your

bank and renegotiate with the bankers. bankers don't want to you default unless you have to. if you can consider default iin deliberately or consider making radical adjustments, make sure you explore all the alternatives before you do so. >> boyce watkins, a contributor to our msnbc.com companion website thegrio.com, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> of course. so will skier lindsay vaughn be the golden girl for the u.s. olympic team? we are counting down to the olympic games, just seven days away. need it. it's the most complete relief you can get in a liquid gel, so you feel better, fast. alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. ..when your nose is raw and sore. plain tissue can make it burn even more. but mom knows there's puffs plus... ...with the magic of three. soothing lotion with a touch of shea butter, aloe and e.

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it is the final stretch to the opening ceremony, the vancouver olympic winter games. "new york times" magazine has a special olympics issue including a profile of alpine skier lindsey vonn, one of the team usa stars to watch. sports reporter recently vi

visited vonn at her home. >> i usually come 20 minutes before i have to run and i'll go through the course, you know, 10, 15 times in my mind before i get into the starting gate. when i'm in the starting gate -- >> and here a preview of this week's magazine. i had a chance to look at the magazine. it's riveting to read. tell us that lindsey has suffered a lot. she suffered a lot for this career. tell us about it. >> she's an atypical story, i think. people don't realize how much sacrifice it takes to become an elite athlete. it was dramatic from the beginning. her mother almost died giving birth to lindsey. a lot of ups and downs and crashes and injuries, twists and turns. it's not been as easy a road as it looks and that makes it very compelling. >> there's so much anticipation about her winning a record number of gold medals. there was the same sort of anticipation with bode miller in

2006. i understand that lindsey bristled when you brought that up. >> yeah, i mean, she has learned to be pretty polite about it but i first brought it up to her more than a year ago and at that point she was already a little bit tired of hearing about it. they're friendly but she does not -- she is not going to approach the olympics as bode did. she is going to embrace this moment. i think her key where she says i don't know what i'm not but i know that i'm not him. >> when she hears talk about the pressure and so many people pinning their homes on her setting a record, how does she deal with it? >> well, i think she's learned it over the years. three or four years ago she didn't handle the pressure quite as well. there have been a few things. she got married to thomas vonn, a former olympic ski racer himself, and the two of them are a unique partnership, both sort of coach/athlete and husband and wife. he takes the pressure off.

she has learned mental tricks before races to calm herself down. she is just more experienced. she is 25 now. last olympics 21. her first she was 17. she has acclimated to what it takes to be good in those events. >> bill pennington with "the new york times," bill, a terrific piece. again, the special edition also has a profile of speed skater davis and a photo essay of some of the skiers who spend their time aloft including some of the snowboarders. it's a terrific, terrific magazine. thanks for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me. >> you're welcome. just one week to go, the vancouver olympics opening ceremony just seven days away. you can catch all the action on the networks and stations of nbc. that does it for me. i'm david shuster. a reminder to join me at 3:00 p.m. eastern time when special guest ben stein will join us to talk about the money spent in

washington. that will be a feisty interview. tamron hall has the next hour. what do you have? talking about that big storm. already schools are closed in washington, d.c. the government is planning to shut down by midday. and we're also talking about this australian banker who was busted looking at nude pictures on his computer while at work. what happened to him? we've got a follow-up and i'll explain why so many of us are wearing, david, red today. it's a great cause.

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right now on msnbc live with tamron hall, flights are being canceled and major delays at several airports. some schools on the east coast closed, and washington, d.c., will shut down by midday as the northeast gets ready for yet another blizzard. and, i'm sorry, from the head of toyota, promising to improve quality control and now a big decision on what to do about his popular prius hybrid. and breaking news on the jobs

front. an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate. the new numbers and what they mean for the millions of americans still out there looking for a job. and this is something you don't want to have happen on live tv. a brazilian commentator's no way moment. we're tracking that huge winter storm barreling to the nation's capital right now. video in actually of blowing snow. this is north carolina as areas just north brace for blizzard-like companies. it's causing a major mess with several flight cancellations and train service suspended. they will stop taking off at 2:00 p.m. eastern. other carriers are canceling flights including at reagan national and airports in philadelphia and new york. some areas are expecting as much as 2 feet of snow. nbc affiliate live for us i