we're going to be live from new hampshire tomorrow. i'm hoping to get at least one candidate to speak with me. talk to me jon huntsman. singing endorsement. mitt romney passed over by the biggest newspaper in the state where he was governor again. rescued at sea. four people are forced ed td t ship when their cruiser catches fire. and mt. etna roars back to life for the first time this year. those stories and much more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with a big endorsement. the boston globe's endorsement of jon huntsman is not only a boost for the former utah november but also a snub for mitt romney. tracie potts joins us now from washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. all of the candidates realize that south carolina is going to be a big prize for conservatives, but new hampshire comes first. and the front-runner there is taking heat from opponents for courting both. mitt romney starts the day again in south carolina after picking up endorsement there's from the state's governor and senator john mccain, and slamming president obama for making appointments without senate confirmation. >> instead of free enterprise, choosing the winners and losers, instead the government and the

people in power will choose who they want to give special favors to. >> reporter: the boston globe endorsed jon huntsman calling him best prepared. hundredsman sl >> the people of new hampshire don't want a coronation, they want people to earn the vote as opposed to sitting tonight down in south carolina, so certain of a victory. >> reporter: huntsman backers have doubled their ad buys. newt gingrich promises to keep his ads positive but challenged romney's credentials. >> he's not a conservative. it's a joke for him to call himself a conservative. it's a saturday night live skit. >> reporter: rick santorum is calling his eight-vote loss in iowa a tie and is not backing away from religion. >> we always need a jesus candidate. we always need something more than themselves, some higher

power, and not just the economy. >> reporter: back here in washington, a citizen's group that focuses on ethics is asking the justice department to investigate whether newt gingrich was lobbying when he got over $1.5 million consulting for freddie mac. gingrich insisted he was not. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. egyptian prosecutors are calling for the execution of hosni mubarak by hanging. the 83-year-old mubarak who has been brought to court each day on a hospital gurney, is accused of ordering security forces to fire on protesters during last year's uprising killing 800 people. one prosecutor said "retribution is the solution." even if mubarak does receive the death penalty there could be months of appeals and the army would likely intervene. there are new and disturbing allegations of sexual assault among the candidates at the air

force academy in colorado. three cadets are accused in separate incidents going back to the spring of 2010. in some cases, the alleged victims were fellow cadets. one of the suspects is accused of forcible rape, this after a report found a spike in all service academies and a 20% jump in cadets who say they were sexually assaulted at the air force academy. here is your "first look" at some other news going on around america. massive waves turned hawaii's coast into dangerous territory. spectators flack s flocked to shore to witness the power of the ocean, and the thrill seeks who dared to go into the treacherous water. a florida woman believe she's has a record breaking collection of shoes in her closet. she recentlyshowed off 733 pairs

of converse. recent dipping mercury in florida nearly killed thousands of butterflies. lees of the largest butterfly habitat to move them indoors. and finally, a family in new mexico found out that their dog has expensive tastes the hard way. the pooch ate mom's $4500 wedding ring. when the dog failed to return the ring the natural way, a vet was called in to extract the ring. now all is well. that's the right way to say it. the natural way? >> yes. >> apparently the family said they were looking for the ring, they looked at the dog and he just looked guilty. >> what about her? have to keep that ring on that finger? >> i know. was she looking guilty? how about those butterflies in

florida? >> they're fine. out there sun tanning again. yesterday was an incredibly warm january day. we didn't have any cold air really locked up. boston made it to 39 degrees which by eay january standards is on the warm sides. we were 70 degrees in south dakota in rapid city. mid 60s in montana. people were playing golf and people were playing tennis in the middle of the country north through the dakotas. it was actually warmer in the northern plains than in miami, florida yesterday. yesterday was an incredibly warm day. to emphasize how warm it's been this december and january. now, as we head to the weekend, some of those highs are heading to the east. so 40s and 50s. there is cooler air now dropping down from the north. so we are done with those amazing records out through the northern plains. it will be a warm weekend throughout the southern half of the country, but we will add rain to that.

for today, we dropped into the 40s instead of the 60s in areas like montana. in the east, d.c., 53. new york city, 50. that will feel warm. just two days ago we had that windchill of zero. 75 in san antonio. still a lot of warm air. as i mentioned, there will be rain. this is our future cast. the blue shows you where it will snow. the green where it will rain. the white is the clouds. rain today into tonight along the gulf. as we go through the weekend it lingers. so louisiana, mississippi, alabama, coastal texas, on and off rain this weekend. nothing too heavy. maybe an inch or two at most. as we go through the tail end of saturday night into sunday, a bit of snow comes down into colorado. that's it. no big storms out there. the snowfall totals over the next 48 hours are unimpressive. northern new england could get a tiny bit of light snow. maybe three to six inches denver northwards on saturday. today's forecast, looks nice

coast to coast once again, just slightly caller. calling 40 in minneapolis cool in the middle of winter. their average high should be in the 20s. >> crazy. >> an unbelievable winter. you wonder if sooner or later we will pay for it. >> i was checking out twitter, somebody wants to thank you for that warm weather and said he had to sleep with the fan on last night. jobs pick up, barnes and noble bummer and why you have to be careful while paying bills over the phone. coming up, miami's big three is now one. and the bruins catch fire in boston. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up!

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good morning. welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. in nigeria, gunmen open fire in a church during prayer service yesterday killing at least five people. the shootings follow attacks on

other churches by a radical muslim sect. there's been no claim of responsibility but it may have been the work of a group trying to instill sharia law. a dam burst has led to mass evacuations in rio de janeiro. several neighborhoods flooded in just hours. heavy rains are to blame. a dramatic rescue in the waters of australia. two fathers and their two 11-year-old sons were saved after their fishing boat caught fire off the coast of sydney. the boys had the presence of mind to grab a cooler, holding on, staying afloat until help could arrive. 5,000 artifacts from the titanic are going up for auction exactly 100 years after the ill-fated maiden voyage. the winner will have to buy the entire collection and put it on public display valued at $189 million. and the new year brings the first eruption from italy's mt. etna. look at that. lava and volcanic ash started

flowing yesterday morning. the volcano is located above the sicilian town of catania but no risk to those living there. now here is your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,45 after losing two points yesterday. looking at tokyo neat kay dthe dipped 98 points. job numbers drove a steady day-long comeback, more than double than expected private sector jobs were added in december. and weekly jobless claims rose by 12,000. in addition, december's service sector growth was much higher than expected. that data offset early losses driven by worry over european bank shares, particularly

unicredit, italy's largest bank, which is down 30% for the week. also stoke fear the debt crisis is spreading, hungary was forced to pay 10% on its 12-month debt. nevertheless, bank stocks here led the drive back upward. advancing for a third day led by bank of america. techs made the nasdaq, the the day's leading index led by marvel and seagate technology. retailers were mixed by december sales. target, jcpenney and gap were among the s&p's worst but macy's rose strongly. barnes & noble tumbled after saying it might break off the nook reader business and cut itself full-year forecast. bmw beat out mercedes benz for tops in 2011 luxury car sales. hbo will no longer sell dvds to netflix. and finally a florida man threatened by foreclosure by bank of america for being 80 cents short on his mortgage payment after he hit the wrong numbers paying on the phone

finally got a human to listen to him and he won't be losing his home. last night, richard cordray, who president obama just installed using his appoint. talked about his new job in the agency compared to congressional oversight. >> congress has delegated us authority to make some rules that fill in the gaps in legislation. but frankly, when i was attorney general of ohio, and i was trying to help people with their consumer problems, seniors who were being scammed and defrauded of life savings, people losing their homes to foreclosures, people drowning in credit card debt, i was often frustrated because we didn't have the tools needed to try to make problems right for consumers and make the financial marketplace work in a fair manner. at this bureau, we have now been given the authority to work on those types of problems. mortgages, credit cards. these are not things that will dictate rules of the american economy.

they will make the market work better for people so they can make better-informed decisions. decisions they can live with and take responsibility for. i think that's straightforward. i think the american people appreciate the importance of having someone on their side and helping them navigate the financial marketplace. >> don't miss "the last word" on the biggest issues and compelling issues of the day, weeknights at 10:00 p.m. eastern only on msnbc, the place for politics. a paterno replacement, bill clinton likes hockey, the nba people that got fired up after their coach got fired. and two of the three miami millionaires sit the game out but the one who played was key. your watching "first look" on msnbc. d. the next available claims representative will be with you in 97 minutes. [ laughs ] ♪ and if you've got cut rate insurance, there's nothing you can do about this. so get allstate. the only insurance company

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports, the highly paid and highly hyped miami heat were without two of their big gest stars last night, but they still managed to come out on top. >> good morning. miami's big three was down to one last night against the hawks and one was just enough. let's go to atlanta. lebron james and dwyane wade out with nagging injuries. chris bosh stepped up in their absence. down three, ten seconds to play. ball to bosh and he knocked down the triple to force overtime. couldn't have picked a better time to make his second three-pointer of the season. stayed tied for three overtime periods. then the heat finally pulled away.

bosh had 33. miami won 116-109. the mavericks continue to struggle. things are bad when you let matt bonner score a game high 17. at one point spurs won by 28. san antonio earned bragging rights in texas, 93-71. hours after firing head coach paul westfall, the kings rallied down from 14 in the fourth to beat the bucks. one of the reasons they canned westphal is because of his rocky relationship with demarcus cousins. last night 19 points, 15 boards. kings won it 103-100. college football, patriots' offensive coordinator bill o'brien will be the new head coach at penn state. o'brien will stay with the pats through the nfl playoffs. the school expected to make the announcement tomorrow. stanley cup champs had a field day against the flames. bruins scored three in the first, four in the second, another pair in the third. if you're counting at home, that's nine. bruins douse the flames 9-0. to philly, the blackhawks rallied from two down late in the game in the third. patrick kane with the equalizer. flyers took the lead for good. van riemsdyk in front, his

second of the game. flyers won it 5-4. finally, president bill clinton on hand to watch rangers and panthers. this went into overtime and gaborik a cannon for the win. i guess that goalie could never be clinton's secretary of defense. the rangers won 3-2 in o.t. that's your "first look" at sports. have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. president clinton and i have something in common, hockey fans. you like hockey? >> i'm okay with it. >> and you like ice skating which is why you are coming with me after the show. >> when you were a young kid, you did ice skating and you're very good at it. >> which is why you are coming with me after the show. >> teach me to skate backwards, i never learned. we have ice on the lakes for the first time this winter in areas of new england. they are still saying it's dangerous to be out

there-on-your snowmobile because it's kind of thin, but at least we are starting to get it for the businesses in northern new england. temperatures in the 20s in new england. d.c. and new york, we have warmed up. look at buffalo and pittsburgh, already starting the morning in the low 40s. it will be a nice afternoon. i just upped the forecast for d.c., now i think it could be 60 degrees this afternoon. 50s in philadelphia to new york. new england, we'll keep you in the 40s. only five days away from the next primary in concord, new hampshire. we will see 37 degrees, all of new hampshire will be very nice as we go into next week for that big day of voting. no storms on the way for new hampshire. looks very nice. >> good news, first iowa an then new hampshire. >> two great weather primaries in a row. >> perfect. the actress with a big new engagement ring and the performer who leaves behind blood. plus chris brown's interesting strategy for avoiding blow-ups when interviewer asks him questions he doesn't like. your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead.

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after iowa, rick perry gives this speech in which he says i'm going home to texas. everybody thinks, oh, it's over. but, no, he's going home to texas to reassess. when you say something like that, when you say i'm going go home and think about quitting, it's very hard to say, yeah, i'm not going to quit. >> i'm back in, ready to play. >> the way they announced he's back in to play. his campaign tweeted a picture. this is the announcement he's getting back in the race.

>> what is that outfit? >> he put on his tights. >> is he in cirque du soleil now? >> he went for a jog, decided to keep running. the only other thing we know that rick perry to do when he decided to go jogging, remember when he shot the coyote? i don't know where he puts the gun, but -- >> tonight on late night, weeknights at 11:30 central. it is time for entertainment news. not much happening this weekend at the box office unless you are a horror fan or just need to catch up on some tom cruise. "mission impossible" should take top spot with around 17 million. r-rated fright flick "the devil inside" is the only wide debut. it should scare up $12 to $15 million for a sure top five finish. drew barrymore is sporting a

nearly 4 carat diamond engagement ring. marrying for the third time this time to an art consultant. jonah hill is reportedly dating ally hoffman, dustin hoffman's daughter. an english tabloid reports that lady gaga freaked out hotel staff by leaving behind lots of blood in her bathtub. sources assure it was just stage blood left over from her show. and finally, chris brown has a solution for the anger that led him to throw a chair last year after walking out of an interview in which he was probed about his ex, rihanna. in 2012 chris brown will do no interviews. >> why does lady gaga have stage blood? >> because she's lady gaga. >> so, it's like the fake capsules you bite on and they pour out of your mouth? >> i wonder how long it takes her to get through makeup every day, and then get out of the makeup afterwards. >> yes. >> hair, costume. >> i'm sure there's a group of people that assist. >> yeah. a team. all right. happy friday. we have good news, it is friday.

have a terrific weekend. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because "way too early" with willie geist begins right now. mitt romney so confident about new hampshire and rightfully so, if you believe the polls, he spent the day in south carolina, site of next week's primaries. the rest of the field going after him as a mushy moderate. if mitt rolls through new hampshire, how will he play in south carolina where newt, santorum and company hope to do damage? president obama announces sweeping cuts to defense to the ire of some, the question is what does the focus on iran and china tell us about the next decade