61-year-old wife of former democratic vice presidential nominee john edwards died tuesday after a six-year battle with breast cancer. she was a political force in her own right, attorney, author and writer for reform. our thoughts are with . first hurdle, lawmakers gear up for a key test vote on the president's task to deal with republicans. snowed under. a massive storm system buries the midwest collapsing the roof of the minneapolis metrodome. and cosmic due side. scientists may have unraveled

one of the solar system's greatest mysteries. well, good morning to you, i'm veronica de la cruz. this is it "first look" on msnbc. we begin with testing the waters. the senate will get its first crack at the president's plan to extend tax cuts for americans today. it waifs the way for a final vote later in the week then on to the house where critics say the real battle will begin. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the details. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. the senate vote thaad is essentially procedural lew will tell us whether or not there is enough support to get it passed in the senate and expect to take a final vote perhaps as early as tomorrow. now, dick durbin, the number two

democrat in the senate is urging the house to get this passed. he says they won't be in as good a position to fight it next year when republicans take over. meanwhile, house democrats say they'll bite the bullet on tax breaks for the wealthy but it's the estate tax that they're really frustrated about. republicans say they need to stick to the president's deal, but democrats say it is excessively generous. they want a separate vote on that. but admit they won't stop the overall deal from passing as a result of it. also, in the last couple of days president obama has gotten a key endorsement former president bill clinton at the white house appearing with president obama saying that this is a good deal for americans. he endorsed it saying at this point it is the best bipartisan deal they could have reached. we'll watch out for the test vote later today. veronica? >> tracey potts, thank you. a massive snowstorm buried

parts of the midwest wreaking havoc on roadways and four dea h deaths are being blamed on it. frances kuo has this report. >> reporter: the great digout has begun. >> i've never seen it this bad. >> a lot of snow on the ground. >> reporter: more than 17 inches piled up and snarled traffic as blizzard-like conditions swept through minneapolis over the weekend. residents spent most of their sunday trying to free their cars and their homes from the snowy mess. >> this one seems a lot more packed down i think from the wind blowing so the snow is heavy. >> reporter: that brought big troubles to the home of the vikings. >> three roof panels ruptured and caused deflation of the roof. >> reporter: the inflatable roof of the stadium collapsed. >> one of the key issues that hurt us was the very high winds

and that with the high snow accumulation really impacted us. >> reporter: the storm that dumped so much snow in minnesota also brought winter's worst to iowa and wisconsin. where officials are warning residents of some counties to stay off the roads. and as the storm moves eastward winter weather warnings have been issued for parts of illinois. all this with winter's official start still nine days away. frances kuo, nbc news. >> elsewhere flooding remains a serious concern in the pacific northwest where homes were swamped along washington rivers. it sent several rushing to get sandbags in place yesterday while hundreds of others were told to consider evacuating. no injuries were reported but scores of homes were flooded as rivers rose. the national weather service says the water in some places could go as high as 22 feet before it starts to fall later today. and here's your "first look"

at some of the other news going on in america today. in washington, d.c., the president and his family spent the evening spreading the holiday spirit. they were greeted by a group of tiny elves at a fund-raiser. one got a little mischief and it was nothing that the first lady couldn't handle. the family was there helping to raise money for the children's national hospital. in connecticut about 500 kids in grades 5 through 8 took part in a lego building competition. they were robot legos. the theme was biomedical engineering so they creates robots that did things like dispense medicine. teachers stress that lessons in teamwork and science are building blocks for a successful future. and then in california 30 tons of snow was dumped onto hermosa beach for the first annual snow festival. take a look at that.

kids of all ages had fun sledding up and down the icy slope and although they were drawn to the wintry weather it was a balmy 83 degrees outside. yikes! okay, let's go ahead and take a look at the national weather. with that is nbc meteorologist bill karins. 83 degrees outside in the snow so 30 seconds later you are sledding in the mud. >> in the mush. >> definitely. i always wonder what people in minnesota are thinking. >> they're laughing. >> then they're like take our snow. let's talk about this. unbelievable weekend of weather. this is our first winter storm that went coast to coast and behind it just the latest arctic blast. last week we had one. this is worse especially here in the northern plains. minneapolis by the way ended up with 20 inches of snow and blew all over the place too because we have blizzard-like conditions. now the storm itself is heading

up here into southern canada. the cold air has made its way all the way down now to southern georgia, it's now invading into florida. there's still some cold air that has to arrive on the eastern seaboard and that will happen in the next 24 hours so that's why you would notice like new york city and boston are in the 40s while the temperatures down here in orlando is only 42. warmer in boston than it is in orlando, florida. doesn't happen that often but the cold air is moving south and hasn't spread to the east coast yet. that will happen as we go throughout the day tomorrow. these are the temperatures. it's a lot worse once we factor in the windchill. it's 7 in atlanta, windchill of 27 in new orleans. even in southern texas, san antonio has a windchill of 32 and now the worst of it by far everywhere in the white they he the negative numbers. international falls, it's kind of known as the icebox of the country, minus 40 windchill and in the negative numbers down to kansas city, columbia over to st. louis, chicago, with a negative 9.

now, there's still some snow left but the snow part of the storm for the most part is over with. around international we had light snow. snow around cleveland with that lake enhancement you could pick up at least another 6 inches during the day today. right around baltimore and d.c., some of the light rain is changing over to snow as temperatures drop, veronica. be careful today there and just plain old rain up there in maine so a lot going on. just give yourself extra time in any of those areas that have to deal with the ice. >> 7 degrees in hotlanta. >> i know, atlanta, that's cold for atlanta. not fun at the bus stop today. >> thanks, bill. a deal in the works. what to look for on wall street and fashion debate in english soccer. first "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up still the patriots, and cheaters never prosper. "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] if you think you can only charge your things

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welcome back to "first

look." i'm veronica de la cruz. top stories making news, six american troops and two afghan soldiers were killed yesterday when way suicide bomber detonated a mini bus packed with explosives near the gates of a new military installation in southern afghanistan. the taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing which is the deadliest attack on coalition troops this month. london police are investigating reports that a suicide bomber twine twin attacks in sweden lived, studied and worked in england until recently. saturday's explosions which injured two people came as christmas shoppers crowded a busy area of the swedish capital. new research suggests that saturn's mysterious rings may be the result of a cosmic suicide. scientists say a doomed moon hurled itself into the planet about 4.5 billion years ago. however as it made its way gravity stripped off the isaly layers forming the famous rings

which stretch across saturn's equator. anticipation is building for next april's royal wedding. prince william and kate middleton released two official photos to mark their engagement taken by mario testino famous for taking beautiful shots of the late princess diana. wall street and dow opens at 11,410 and s&p edged up 7 and nasdaq climbed 20. taking a look at overseas trading, nikkei rose 21 and hang seng climbed 154. a big holiday acquisition, will it help the santa rally? "the financial times" reports general electric pay announce a 1$1.2 billion takeover of the english oil field services company wellstream holdings as

early as today. elsewhere the grocery store chain great atlantic pacif pacific & tea company filed for bankruptcy. once america's larger grocer they plan to keep stores open with no interruption of business during reorganization. today starts the last full week of trading before christmas. that's where the s&p 500 stands at its highest level since 2008. november's inflation numbers will dominate the week's economic data with a producer price index due tuesday. in the nation's capital, the federal reserve's open markets committee gathers tuesday for its last meeting of the year. recent stronger economic data can spark a fed debate over continuing the central bank's $600 billion stimulus plan. also in washington, wall street will eye the battle over tax cuts although extending them

heads for passage traders launch for bumps in the road. reporting quarterly earnings, best buy, fedex, general mill, research in motion and home builder hovnanian. >> heightweight carves known as snoods favored by players from warm weather countries and not used to damp england's chill but manchester united put the fashion chill on them calling them, hmm, unmanly. bah humbug to him. ffr get those airport pat-downs, it's amazing there hasn't been a passenger revolt over these pesky add-on charges. as chris clackkm explains.

>> reporter: baggage fans have been so lucrative some hotels are offering to pick up your tab just to get your business once you arrive. >> hotels are frying to do their part to offset not only thesance lairry fees but the higher costs they're paying in general over busy holiday travel periods. >> reporter: how much the major airlines made last quarter off baggage fees will be reported later today from the federal bureau of transportation statistics. we already know the fees gross nearly $1.7 billion for the airlines in the first half of the year and added even more in the third quarter. but are they close to maxing out? >> ultimately i think the airlines realize they'll hit a ceiling in how much they can derive from baggage fees. >> reporter: if that happens travel experts expect the airlines to report to other fees. >> i think some of those will include in-flight wi-fi,

continuing to bundle things like premium boarding and premium seats, some new meal options and other things like that. >> reporter: it's probably not what travelers want to hear heading into the holiday travel season. chris clacken, nbc news. while chicago gets blown away the jets hit major turbulence and the fan is the man in oklahoma city. plus, a rough year for the dallas cowboys, last year a division rival rubbed salt in their wounds. yours first look at sports is straight ahead. "first look" on msnbc you're watching. i would have liked to know? i like tacos. you invited eric? i thought eric gave you the creeps. [ phone buzzes ] oh. [ chuckles ] yeah. hey. [ male announcer ] don't be left behind. get it first with at&t. the nation's fastest mobile broadband network. period.

rethink possible.

welcome back to "first look." in sports, the chug bears got caught hibernating. here's fred roggin. >> good morning. the patriots and bears are two of the nfl's best teams. but yesterday the pats pulled off a snow job. what a wonderland in chicago didn't stop tom brady. this one to branch to end the first half and patriots won 36-7 and improve to 11-2. jets and dolphins in jersey. watch closely as sal alosi tripped this player off. some called them cheaters but cheaters never positive per. mark sanchez to a wide open santonio holmes and jets lost 10-6. between the redskins and bucks in our nation's capital.

donovan mcnabb for the score. they just need the extra point to tie. oh, boy. the homer couldn't handle the snap and they beat them 17-16 to keep their playoffs alive. a moment of silence for don meredith. michael vick to jackson and he did the rest, turned on the after burners despite the best efforts of a couple of cowboys showboating and fell backwards into the end zone while counting the cowboys. they lead the nfc east. incredible video where the roof collapsed here on saturday. because of that the vikings and giants game postponed will be played tonight in detroit. finally to the nba halftime in oklahoma city, thunder fan robert anders hit a half-court shot to win $20,000.

check out the reaction from barry switzer. everybody is happy and the thunder won 106-77. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at the weather here's meteorologist bill karins. easy shot, i could have made that. >> the first time i've seen that video from the snow collapsing the dome. that was incredible. >> where have you been? >> i haven't seen it yet. i mean that was -- wow, i can't believe they had a camera rolling. let's talk about what's going to happen for the eastern coast because so far this morning you walk out the door and what storm, what cold air, very mild. look at boston, 49. the cold air is beginning to arrive. it is now moving eastward. washington, d.c. is starting to cool off. starting to change over from rain to snow so be careful. the roads will get icy in a hurry in baltimore and d.c. eventually later today the cold air will move into new england but it's going to take a little

longer. snow showers around washington, d.c. especially south of there. be careful. temperatures dropping during the day in new england but, veronica, as we mentioned much of the rest of the country is already frozen. >> it is definitely beginning to look a lot like christmas. a preview of which film may win best picture at the oscars plus one film winning and losing all at the same time over the weekend. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look." then we canoe to the conference. or we could book with hotels.com and stay closer. [ male announcer ] accumulate 10 nights and get a night free. welcomerewards from hotels.com.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. jimmy fallon talked about an awkward moment for a certain

"today" show contributor with a famous father. >> george w. bush's daughter jenna put her home on the market for $500,000. the real estate agent was like, offers have gone way down since the economy was ruined by -- someone. check this out. a group of chinese housewives were busted for trying to smuggle ipads and cell phones into china. oh, man, that is so rat real housewives of beijing county." a video online that shows miley cyrus taking a bong hit and saying i'm having a little bit of a bad trip but luckily she had a friend there to talk her through it and then post the whole thing on tmz. that's what friends are for. >> oh, boy. well, tonight jimmy welcomes jessica alba, comedian colin quinn and steven bishop, late night with jimmy fallon,

weeknights on your local nbc station. good news and bad news at the box office for the number one film. "chronicles of narnia: the voyage of the dawn treader" is took the top spot, fox took over the series after disney abandoned it but at $24.5 million this latest chapter came in way below expectations. still it took in $80 million in 85 other countries which significantly softens the blow. in second place "the tourist" starring box office powerhouse's johnny depp and angelina jolie came in below expectations, $17 million. elsewhere, the influential film critic critics grows the buzz from "the social network" picking it as the year's best picture. paris hilton's one time bff finally married her rocker

boyfriend joel madden in los angeles. the couple who have dated for more than four years have a 2-year-old daughter, harlow winter kate and a 15-month-old son sparrow midnight. so harlow winter kate and sparrow midnight. what happened to names like john and jane or bill and veronica? >> i guess they're too boring nowadays. >> come on. >> better than apple. i won't mention whose child that is. >> harlow i like. >> veronica de la cruz. "first look." "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. the senate takes a test drive in a vote today. expecting a comfortable margin of support for the plan. the question will nancy pelosi and house democrats dig in their heels and fight the president even after the stat gets behind it? meanwhile, the leading house republican was on "60 minutes" talking everything from taxes to