lights when you leave, we will need them on to clean up the mess you have left behind you as you are leaving. politifact, you are a disaster. "first look" is up next. budget breakthrough, u.s. lawmakers strike a tentative deal an agreement to extend the payroll tax cut. nick of time, surveillance picture captures a thief at an airport check point. top dog, who stole the show at westminster? good morning everyone i'm lynn berry, those stories and more are ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. we'll begin this morning with the payroll tax cut.

a deal has been worked out to extend a 2% cut in the payroll tax through the end of the year. tracie potts has more on this. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. here's why it was a big deal. if congress does nothing, then that payroll tax cut that put extra money in workers paychecks this year expires at the end of the month, and no one here on capitol hill wants to deal with the political fallout of that. negotiators announced a tentative deal last night that keeps the 2% payroll tax cut in place. the rest of the year for 160 million working americans. >> at the end of the day, the more americans can keep their own money in their own pocket, that is better long term. >> it happened after the obama administration went at offensive and republicans agreed to add the $100 billion cost to america's red ink. tea party republicans insisted this tax break be paid for. >> this is the bottom line i'm concerned about the pay raising

the fees. >> the deal keeps unemployment benefits rolling. the maximum 99 weeks will drop to 73 by year's end. prevents a 27% cut in payments to melddicare doctors. the president is worried the deal won't go through. until you see me sign this thing you have to speak up. >> with the budget proposal in limbo, the president will be in milwaukee at a manufacturing plant that brought back 150 jobs from china. now, as for the payroll tax cut it looks like, lynn, that deal will be ready to be signed today we could see a vote on the house side by the end of the week. >> tracie, thanks. president obama's approval ratings are up as optimism about the economy grows. a new york times cbs poll the approval ratings reached 50% for the first time since last may,

after the raid that killed osama bin laden. the survey found the percentage of people who believe the economy is improving is now double the percentage of those who think it's getting worse. the poll also found that the president currently holds an edge over all four republican presidential candidates. iran is preparing to defy western nations again today in the standoff over the nuclear program. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad will inform the nation a new plant is fully operational. that is despite western sanctions which have been imposed to force iran to stop the nuclear program before it can build an atomic weapon. the u.s. and europe may turn up the pressure by evicting iran from a financial clearinghouse crucial to the country's sale of oil until overseas markets. two iranians under arrest after a series of explosions in bangkok. four civilians were wounded in the blasts tuesday when

explosives ignited at a bangkok house. the two suspects are in custody but a third suspect escaped to malaysia. the ambassador to thailand says bombs were similar to those used in other attacks on israeli diplomats. israel accuses iran of waging a covert campaign of state terror. iran denied any role in the bomb blasts in thailand. now the first look at some of the other news going on around america, in florida, a brazen robbery happened in the middle of an airport security line. a woman who had just cleared a tsa check point accidentally left her rolex watch in one of those plastic tubs, that guy then spotted the $6500 timepiece and made his move. by the time the woman realized she forgotten it, the watch and the thief were gone. near pittsburgh, a sight could scare even alfred

hitchcauhitc hitchcock. thousands of crows descended on the neighborhood. what they are leaving behind is downright frightening. look at that. can you imagine walking out of your house to that? cars and homes have been completely drenched in bird droppings. some folks have resorted to putting up a scarecrow to shoo them away. finally, if you failed to impress your sweetheart on valentine's day, here's a way to get out of the dog house. you could take the relationship to a whole new level. an ohio company is selling what they call romantic rides aboard their plane. for $425 you will get champagne, chocolates, and a little bit of privacy. i have a feeling there is it a tea -- 80s music going on there. now we turn to bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> i couldn't see you going five feet of that plane.

>> without purel, yes. >> you would need a hose of purer. we'll leave it at that. >> stick to flowers and chocolate, please. >> the plane's name was the bahama mama. that says it all. good morning, everyone a very mild spring-like feel across the country, temperatures in the 40s and 50s. the 60s in south texas. we have a march-like feel to it today and that is going to mean severe storms and also rain, there is not much snow in the forecast right now. the only cold air is up in the northern plains back hr in the rockies. the storm system moving across the current will have a spring-like field strong thunderstorms late today, texas, louisiana, i'll show you areas of concern. i'm using my lightning tracker today, we have a couple thunderstorms out there. you can see flashes, these are are live lightning reports kind of shows me where the thunderstorms are located. a bunch here in the border of kansas, extreme northeast oklahoma and western portions of

missouri. now thunderstorm reports here from abilene, wichita falls, south of oklahoma city. late today we will see a few strong storms, maybe a few isolated tornadoes, talking from areas of east texas in louisiana, damaging winds the biggest threat with the strongest storms, maybe we could see two or three weaker tornados during the day we don't expect a tornado outbreak if you're from lake charles, port arthur, down to new orleans, late today in the evening when you have to deal with storms. the forecast today, quiet in the rockies, middle of the country the wet weather on and off with the showers, maybe downpours with thunderstorms, dallas, you won't be too bad today, best chance of wet weather is early, later this afternoon you should be just fine. east coast is dry, very warm, new york city going to be 53 degrees today in the middle of february. then tomorrow, all that wet weather heads to the east coast, and looks like all rain event, lynn. a little minor buzz about the possibility of a nor easter

sunday, i'll talk about that later in the show. bill, thanks so much. a small step could mean big news for the next ipad. is yahoo facing insurrect n insurrection? the business headlines are straight ahead. jeremy lin does it again, history in hockeytown, man's best friend takes over madison square garden, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats.

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>> welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry here are top stories making the news. the white house is reportedly considering dramatic cuts to the nuclear arsenal. the proposals include 80% reduction to nuclear weapons since the start of the cold war. a warning from the maker of the cancer drug avastin. counterfeit versions are being distributed to u.s. health care

facilities. they don't have the key ingredient to fight cancers of the colon, lung, kidney and brain. oil pipeline in the central city of homs was attacked setting off a huge blaze. it was hardest hit by the crack down on 11 month uprising. activists say government troops stormed several residential neighborhoods in the nearby city. one in eight u.s. voter registrations are either invalid or have serious in accuracies. the pew center plams it on outdated registration system. among the findings, 1.8 million people are listed as active voters but they are actually dead. the dutchess of cambridge spent her first valentine's day as a bride without her husband. she visited charities while prince william is on a royal air

force deployment. the dow opens after adding 4 points yesterday. s&p down a point, nasdaq up a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei jumped 208 points, in hong kong the hang seng surged 447. investors are waiting for the next step in the bail out of greece by europe's financial ministers. greece took a step back and one step forward as the meeting scheduled to day was cancelled, but then greek government officials said they would commit to the spending cuts demanded by the eu. retail sales rebounded in january. the commerce department says spending on retail goods was up four ten thfrns of a percent. timothy geithner told congress the obama administration will end dozens and dozens of corporate tax breaks. airbus says airlines will need

3.5 trillion of new airplanes by 2030. boeing locked in the biggest deal worth more than $22 billion. yahoo hit a snag in negotiations to sell most of the asian holdings to china's alibaba. a major shareholder will lead a mute mutiny and try to seize four seats. the ipad will have a smaller screen according to the wall street journal to compete with rivals with seven inch screens. zynga reported a net loss for the first quarter as a public company. after whitney houston's death, prices were raised on two of her albums on itunes in britain. one was increased 60%, the other 25%.

it has apologized, they say it was a mistake. there was more reaction last night to the controversy over contraception coverage for women who work for church-run ins dugss. last night on politics nation, california senator barbara boxer spoke about the blunt amendment to allow employers or companies to opt out of covering something they object to on religious or moral grounds. >> this is so extreme, you know, they want to take us back to the medical dark ages. if you take the issue of contraception, we know that well over 90%, well over 95% of women some time in their life time used contraception including a huge percentage, well over 90% of all catholic women. so this is something that is mainstream, and we know that when we plan our families, reverend, we have way fewer abortions in this nation, we know that we have way fewer

problems with our children when they are born because they get the pre-natal care, and it goes on and on. it's a win-win-win all around. when the american people tune in on this, they will scratch their head and say what has happened to my grandpa's republican party? they are gone. >> politics nation weeknights at 6:00 eastern here on msnbc the place for politics. the lin-sanity continues. the red wings make history, rangers shutout the bruins. a new breed of competitors in madison square garden, the furry kind. first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. the knicks extended their winning streak after a last second shot from their newest star. here is fred rogin. good morning, has been a memorable ten days for the knicks jeremy lin, when you thought it couldn't get better, it did. here we go toronto, stoudemire back after missing games for his brother's funeral. nice pick and roll, he had 21. final shot, tied at 87. isolation for lin, he drilled a three for the win. the legend continues to grow as jeremy lin does it again c.

heat and pacers, they didn't schedule three consecutive games in a normal season. a record is a record, they will take it. they won it 105-90. no place like home for the red wings, made history in hockey town, the 21st straight game, new nhl record, scored a pair of goals in the first, beat the stars 3-1. rangers and bruins, why new york is the best team in the east, east, rangers shutout the champs. the best athletes played in madison square garden, the final night of the west min ter dog show. a mop with four legs. unfortunately, he didn't clean up yesterday. then beamer. when dogs have trouble fall ag sleep, they count him. what is the westminster dog show

without a prtity boy, the terrier gets the vip treatment. the best in show, may look like an overgrown fur ball, but he is a champ! that is malachy, the pekinese, westminster's top dog. that is the first look at sports, i'm fred rogan. now for another look at the weather here is bill karins, the weather channel forecast. talking trash, bill. >> i love dogs, but it looked like an ewac. >> he was adorable. >> i guess they are adorable. >> i teased you about possibility of nor' easter, we haven't had many blizzarded or huge storms. last night one of our long range computers is hinting at an east coast storm on sunday. to put it in perspective, there is four others of these computers that give us predictions, none of them have it, this one does.

i would show it to you. we are on thursday, friday, here comes the storm up the eastern seaboard the lines show the strength, the pressure how big it would be. would be a classic nor' easter. if that was to occur. as i mentioned other computers don't tap in the cold air and bring rain to the southeast. that is a wait and see but just something i'm interested in. if you have any sunday plans, something you need to pay attention to. right now, light rain showers heading through southern new england, maybe snow showers in the cat skills, a warm day, temperatures in the upper 40s to low 50s in many areas, pittsburgh getting in the low 40s today. across the heartland, we're watching thunderstorms in this afternoon. did i answer your question about the possible east coast storm? >> still quite a tease, you have no answer, i'm dying for one big snow storm.

>> i'm not opening my mouth yet. the plans for whitney houston's funeral have been set, plus oprah winfrey's twitter force thourd do something rare. the first look is straight ahead. you're watching first look rr on msnbc. ral's your soul mate? dude what? no, no, no. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a totally new investing dashboard. everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him. [ male announcer ] try the new 360 investing dashboard at e-trade. discover visine® tired eye relief with hydroblend™, only from visine®. just one drop instantly soothes and revives tired, overworked eyes. and comforts them for up to ten hours. visine® tired eye relief. try now and save $3.

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one of the awards this week's westminster dog show went to martha stewart dog named genghis khan. she could have gone with martha stewart. everyone on the campaign trail is celebrating with their

sweetheart. rick santorum and his wife, karen, newt gingrich and his wife, calista, mitt romney and his swiss bank account. i read this in the past year 118,000 drivers in new york were ticketed for using their cell phones behind the wheel. while the rest are good at doing this, hold on there is a cop. i had to put the phone down i can hear you right now. tonight jimmy welcomes poppy montgomery and the drums. that is at 12:35, 11:35 central on the local nbc station. time for entertainment news. plans have been announced for whitney houston's funeral this weekend. the late singer will be mourned by family and friends in a private invitation-only service this saturday. at the newark, new jersey church where she first began singing in public. one person not likely to be on the guest list? houston's ex-husband, bobby brown.

tmz is reporting brown hasn't been allowed to see his daughter, bobbi kris tina since she was hospitalized sunday and several family members told him to stay away from the funeral. >> fresh from her clean sweep at the grammys, adele hinted to vogue magazine she plans to take a five year break from her singing career to focus on her new relationship. can't she do both? >> finally, oprah winfrey has issued a rare apology after soliciting nielsene viewers in tweet to watch her show in the own network. the request ruffled feathers to reflect a biasing effect. >> she is taking advantage of the weapons she has. >> like you do with your tweets on the forecast. >> i'm working on it. >> #nationalforecast.

i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" on msnbc. w "way too early" with willie geist starts now. another week, another republican candidate pushing his way past mitt romney for the lead in the national polls. this time it's rick santorum. becomes a target for romney's million dollar attack machine in the next primary state of michigan. the question is, if santorum pulls off a win in romney's former home state could it be the end of the road for mitt? a show down in the gulf, united states battle ship stare down in the strait of hormuz with both sides battling for dam i nance, the question is could a trigger finger turn the stand-off in a crisis? we have a report from the deck