off unemployment and aren't going to get it back under this cruddy deal that we've got to give tax cuts to the rich. you know, i don't know why he's crying, but things that move the rest of us to tears don't seem to affect him at all. i don't have a lot of sympathy for him. i think he looks into his heart and figures it out. >> joan walsh, always a pleasure. tonight in our phone survey i asked, do you think president obama's tax cut compromise will hurt his re-election chances? 73% of you said yes. 27% of you said no. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. no. that's "the ed show." up next "first look." houses divided. with the president's tax bill poised to pass the senate, the chamber's top republican issues a take it or leave it warning to house democrats. on thin ice, police dash cam video captures a horrifying crash in ohio. and debacle down under. scary moments as a it stunt with

ac it tore hugh jackman goes wrong shooting oprah winfrey's show in australia. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin with legislative logjam. a final vote on the president's tax cut plan should happen in the senate today. however a trillion dollar spending bill proposal and a plan to repeal don't ask, don't tell could keep congress on the hill into their holiday break. tracie potts joins us from washington with those details. tracie, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. as you can see there is a lot going on. let's start with it taxes. the final senate vote is scheduled to happen it today. it appears they do have the votes to get that passed and it will move on to the house where despite the opposition of many

democrats, house democratic leaders, also say they think that this can pass. republicans have warned them, don't change the bill or we won't approve it. even more urgent now, though, is the government spending bill, trying to keep government running and preventing a government shutdown. their deadline, saturday. that's when temporary funding runs out. democrats have put forth a $1.1 trillion bill that republicans want to take a closer look at. they want to pass another temporary spending bill through january or february until they have more control in the senate, control of the house, and then deal with the issue. harry reid, the senate majority leader, now says they could possibly return a deal with this after christmas. and, don't ask, don't tell, democrats want to get that in while they still have more influence here in congress. the house appears to be ready to vote on it this week, which means the senate may have to come back after the holiday. lynn? >> tracie, thanks so much. and while it seems like

we've heard a lot of back and forth from both sides of the aisles on the president's tax plan, not everyone feels that way. last night on "the ed show" host ed schulz asked congressman grayson if he thinks the tax bill has been debated enough. >> frankly, we are getting the bum rush. that's what this is. this is a bill that spends a trillion dollars, that's $3,000 for every man, woman and child this country. a couple weeks ago i bought a big screen tv for $1500, my first one in about five years, and i spent more than two hours trying to figure out which was the best big screen tv to buy because $1500 is a significant expenditure. here we're talking about a trillion dollars, $3,000 for every single one of us. and it's being forced through without a hearing, without a markup, without even a study of its economic effects. this is the bum rush. and i'm not happy about it. >> the pr game seems to be working. even 68% of democrats across the country want this.

do you believe these polls. i mean last week, monday through friday of last week, president obama, he was on a roll. he was talking to the media, he was holding press conferences, making statements, going to the press room. that had an effect. do you think the public is really behind what you just said? >> i don't think the public knows what's in the bill. >> lean forward with veteran talk show host ed schulz as he tackles the issues that matters most to americans. don't miss "the ed show" week nights at 6:00 eastern here on msnbc. the place for politics. a terrifying scene unfolded in florida yesterday when a distraught gunman took members of a school board hostage before turning the gun on himself. the dramatic shoot-out which contains video shah some viewers may find disit turning was captured by cameras rolling inside the room. nbc's kurt gregory has our report. >> reporter: witnesses say a man identified as clay duke talked briefly with school board

members about his wife's firing. >> we have no idea who you're talking about. >> reporter: she was fired. after spray painting a red figure on a wall, duke waved his gun and ordered women and children to leave and took those remaining hostage. >> leave! >> reporter: a female school board member tried to knock the gun out of duke's hand with a purse. he knocked her to the ground. what you're about it to -- to see is disturbing. >> please don't, please don't, please. >> reporter: duke fired his weapon and although nobody was injured by the initial gunshots, duke was confronted by a security guard. after reviewing video, police say duke exchanged gunfire with the guard. then killed himself. >> obviously a number of rounds were expended and the gun that he had was real. he was not firing blanks. >> reporter: the school board superintendent says security measures for future meetings will be discussed. >> i have employees in there that will probably never be the

same again. >> reporter: a city on edge. an investigation is under way. kurt gregory, nbc news. wikileaks founder julian assange should know by tomorrow whether he will be freed on bail. for now assange remains in a london prison after swedish authorities seeking to prosecute him for alleged sex crimes, appealed the magistrate's decision yesterday to free assange on about $317,000 bail. here's your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. police in ohio release dash cam video of a horrifying near-fatal accident involving one of their own. an officer was working the scene of an earlier accident when the out-of-control vehicle plowed into him. and the driver of a parked vehicle. the officer went over the guardrail. the other man was pinned. both are recovering and expected to be okay. also in ohio, a good samaritan came to the rescue after a seemingly routine

traffic stop turned into a dangerous struggle between an officer and a resisting suspect. video shows the officer struggling to maintain the upper hand when a passerby first on the scene came to his defense. police commend the woman's bravery but they stress, civilians should never try and get involved. and in missouri, two people survived a spectacular emergency belly landing that sent sparks flying. the pilot couldn't get the landing gear down, so he was forced to perform that risky maneuver, but he did burn off most of his fuel before attempting to land. and now for a look at your national weather. we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. hey, bill. >> lynn, the women standing off, the lady with the purse trying to knock the gun out of the hand and then the woman trying to beat up the guy fighting with the cop. >> athough authorities stress do not do that. it all turned out okay. >> impressive, nonetheless. >> yes. >> let's talk about what

happened yesterday, lynn. we have the cold and the snow, but we had a very rare event take place in oregon state. very strange. a december tornado, not just a weak one either, this is a strong tornado, what we call an enhanced fa ju ta scale, ef 2, the scale goes from 1 to 5. it knocked a lot of roofs off. only one injury, 20 structures damaged. on the ground about one mile in oregon. you don't usually hearing about tornadoes in the pacific northwest. let's talk about the cold. this has been the story the last couple days. it's finally starting to get a little warmer out there in the central plains and the warmer air will slowly head to the eastern seaboard over the next couple days. we're at six in chicago and six in minneapolis. there's still a lot of cold air up here in the great lakes. and we're still very cold in florida. yesterday we were down to the 20s in central florida. this morning we're around 32. we're about two degrees warmer. hopefully we will not do any additional damage to the strawberries and oranges. melbourne is at 28. it's dangerous out there for the

farmers, but it's not going to be a devastating blow, it does not appear. the windchill yesterday was very bad in the mid-atlantic. 10 in raleigh, 13 d.c., baltimore to new york to philly about 12. notice boston has a windchill of 3. there is still a core of very cold temperatures out there. it will slowly improve in the days ahead. the next storm system starting it to show itself in the middle of the country. this will be a quick-moving system, it will head to the east coast by about this time tomorrow and by the time we get to thursday night. it's running into cold air and that means we're going to have a little bit of winter weather to deal with. already winter storm warnings issued for central kentucky. winter weather advisories for almost all of the tennessee valley and southern ohio valley and mostly expecting sleet, freezing rain, and just a little bit of snow there in areas of tennessee and kentucky, including memphis. lynn, finally looks like we're done with the cold cold. look at dallas today. 75 degrees and sunny. so the warmer air is on the way. >> it better be bill, we've had

enough of it. thank you so much. the fed hits a sour note. retail sales are up again. and a computer hits the game show circuit. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up -- the lakers get better. dwight howard calls it quits. one of the best dunks of the season. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] experience dual action power

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here's some of the top stories making news this morning. the white house is planning to release a report tomorrow that is expected to conclude the u.s. military has made enough gains in afghanistan to begin withdrawing troops next july. however, according to the "new york times" bleaker assessment from the intelligence community argue that large swabs of the country remain at risk of falling to the taliban and that neighboring pakistan is still supporting insurgents. italian prime minister silvio bur less sconeny will hang on to

power for at least a few more months after surviving a razor thin confidence vote that could have forced his resignation. new york police say they may be hunting for a serial killer after the remains of four bodies were discovered on a remote long island beach. investigators are now working to identify the remains, which appear to have been on the beach for some time. and mexican police are searching for a preschooler and his apparent mother who were captured on camera stealing in a jewelry store. footage shows the woman distracting employees as the young boy swipes about $400 in merchandise. a sales clerk says she never suspected the pair until seeing the video with her own eyes. now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,476 after gaining 47 points yesterday. the s&p was up a point, the nasdaq inched up 2. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 6 points while

in hong kong, the hang seng plunged 455. stocks got off to a flying start tuesday then the fed crashed the party. after the year's last meeting, the federal reserve was unexpectedly pessimistic, calling the recovery slow, looking for unemployment to remain high and reaffirming its controversial commitment to buy $600 billion in bonds to stimulate growth. the reaction was swift. first in bonds, the yield on the ten-year treasury note jumped to 3.46%, that's the highest level since may. a huge increase from the end of trade monday. just to put this in perspective, the leap was equivalent to the dow moving 600 points in one day. ironically, part of why the fed is buying bonds is to help lower long-term interest rates, but the higher yield has the opposite effect. wall street reacted with a late afternoon sell-off that hit financials hard. still, the dow managed to close at its high for the year. spirits had been high earlier

thanks to retail sales rising for a fifth straight month in november. pointing to a firm rebound in consumer spending. the one exception, best buy, it plummeted almost 15% after posting third quarter profit that missed expectations. also fueling early trade, general electric, the current owner of this network. it said it expects to show solid earnings growth in 2011 with up to 5% higher revenue. more upbeat news, a survey showed 45% of executives expect to add workers over the next six months, that's the highest percentage since the survey began in late 2002. very good news there. finally, what is bizarre? in february, a friendly game of jeopardy pits man versus machine. specifically, an ibm computer against two of the show's most successful contestants. the winner of the three-day face-off takes home a million dollar prize. the battle of pennsylvania,

the players snatches a fan's popcorn and a high school basketballer goes ballistic. plus, it's being called the dunk of the year and now you know why. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. oh, my gosh. ♪ [ male announcer ] you know her. we know diamonds. together we'll make her holiday. that's why only zales is the diamond store. where you can get up to $1,000 off now through sunday.

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and helping them prepare for the future. nice boots. nice bag. [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. everyone's eating tacos outside bill's office. [ chuckles ] you think that is some information 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." i'm lynn berry. ? sports last night as if they needed more fire power the two-time defending champion lakers welcomed a new addition.

here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning. it's hard to think that the world champion lakers could get any better, but they did last night. seven footer andrew bonham made a season debut. after having offseason knee surgery. kobe bryant went off in the third scored 16 of his 24 in the quarter and the lakers beat the whiz, 103-9. magic's dwight howard will not take part in another all-star slam dunk contest. carmelo anthony knows a thing or two about dunking. the baseline flush in the fourth and the nuggets won it. 111-94. speaking of dunks the raptors demar derozan threw down the best of the year. he exploded to the rim, but it wasn't enough. bobcats won it, 97-91. funny moment in the rockets kings game. kyle lowry fouled hard,bleed towards the stands, regained his composure. would you like some popcorn? don't mind if i do. rockets won it, 118-105. college basketball after pushing

michigan state to the brink on saturday, oakland beat unranked tennessee. oakland won it. there were tw streaks on the line in philly but only one continues this morning. sydney crosby had two assists bringing his point total straight to 19 games. the flyers tipped in the game winner midway through the third. the flyers snapped the penguins' 12-game win streak. back to basketball. unfortunate moment in a high school game in florida. desoto high's player got into it with another player. the referee assessed holland a it technical foul and then evictevict ejected him. before you knew it, he put him in a bear hug and threw him to the floor. collin was restrained and taken out of the building. he's been suspended & from the team and from school. for a very ugly incident. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. for another look at the weather. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> temper, it temper. >> like where is the etiquette?

after the guy trips the football player. >> yep. >> it's like what's happening? what is happening to the world? >> boys will be boys, right? that's the only excuse i can come up with. let's talk about what happened this morning. a little bit of light snow in boston this morning. probably a little coating out there on the car or the sidewalk and down there on cape cod. that looks like it's exiting. still some snow showers off the great lakes. for the most part our snow machine is weak this morning. temperatures, they're not too bad. just looking at them as a whole, it's cold in new england but it's mid-december now you expect it. the winds are still up making the windchill kind of brutal. 1 in hartford, 0 albany, 4 pittsburgh, 3 buffalo. the big cities are down in the low teens right now this morning. the windchill is just as bad now as it was yesterday through new england and the mid-atlantic. highs today barely getting into the low 20s today. just brutally cold day up here in new england. a little better in d.c. 33, at least the sun will be out. as far as the rest of the country goes, the story will be

what's going to happen in the tennessee valley. light snow, freezing rain, and even a little bit of sleet today. kentucky and tennessee, careful when you're driving later this afternoon. >> thanks so much. well, australian actor hugh jackman risks life and limb for oprah. plus, another one bites the dust. we'll tell you which hollywood couple throws in the towel. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. last night on "late night with jimmy fallon" jimmy points out what he hopes doesn't happen this week on larry king as the talk show host gets are ready it

to ride off into the sunset. >> this thursday is larry king's final show. cnn has apparently scheduled a bunch of surprises for it. yeah, because if there's one thing you want it to give a 77-year-old man who's had quinn tuple bypass surgery it's lots of surprises. thank you, cnn. appreciate that. congrats to the "today" show on nbc. they celebrated 15 years as tv's highest rated morning show. that's right. [ applause ] love those guys. of course everyone knows morning show ratings are affected by the channel people had on the night before. so i just want to say to the "today" show, you're welcome. expect my fruit basket this week. [ applause ] roker. and tonight jimmy welcomes ben stiller, pro wrestler the ms. and musical guest annie lennox, week nights at 12:35,

11:35 central time on your local nbc station. it's time for your first look at entertainment news. we have more proof it's hard for hollywood couples stay together as one of the biggest separates. after more than two years, scarlett johansson and ryan reynolds have decided to end their marriage. a source told "us" magazine, johansson initiated the split, unhappy with how much time they've been forced to spend apart due to work. on the brighter hollywood side, jennifer conley and paul button bettany confirmed they're expecting their second child together. rip torn pleaded guilty to charges he broke into a bank while armed and drunk earlier this year. he received a 2 1/2 year suspended sentence and three years probation. and finally, hugh jackman, talk about a trooper. to kick off oprah winfrey's show in australia he agreed to zip line from the top of sydney's opera house, he failed to break

in time and smashed into a light above the set. he injured his eye but the show must go on. he got first aid, a little pat there from oprah, and jackman was right there back on the stage. that is a pro. >> doesn't he have a stunt double? not for oprah, it's the real deal. >> not for oprah. >> scarlet johansson's husband, if it was me, i'm saying, i would stop working and, you know, i wouldn't want to be -- >> i would stop working, yes. i feel the same way about ryan reynolds. i don't know if our significant others would like that. i'm lynn berry. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. a flurry of legislative activity in congress today where there will be a senate vote on the president's tax deal, a house vote on a standalone repeal of don't ask, don't tell, and debate in the senate on the start nuclear arms treaty. will any or all of this be passed before congress bolts for the holidays. a wild scene yesterday inside a