nobody going anywhere. what are the odds? that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern, which is when the special coverage of the state of the union begins. at 8:00 eastern, now it is time good tuesday morning. developing right now on "first look," highly provocative. that's how the white house is describing north korea testing a nuclear weapon today. arrests are made in the chicago murder of a 15-year-old girl whose funeral was just attended by the first lady. the pope's resignation sends shock waves around the globe. plus, the manhunt for the rogue l.a. cop escalates. the president prepares for tonight's state of the union. and fat tuesday in new orleans is already off to a big start. good morning. we begin with what the white house is calling a highly provocative act by north korea. the country defined world powers in conducting a third nuclear

test overnight. it happened in an underground testing test in the northeastern part of the country on a street google maps identifies as nuclear west road. seriously. pyongyang confirmed the explosion some three hours after unusual seismic activity was detecting in neighboring south korea. it was a miniaturized nuclear weapon small enough to be mounted on a long range missile that could reach the u.s. it's the country's third test since 22006 and the first under the new leader. president obama went on to say that the move hurts stability in the region but promises to pursue firm action. an emergency meeting is schedule the later this morning. christopher dorner is still on the frun a police dragnet in los angeles. the former lapd cop has been officially charged with killing police officer michael crane in riverside last thursday. dorner is also suspected in two other shooting deaths and when authorities believe are revenge killings for being fired from the police force five years ago.

a large wanted billboard featuring dorner's picture is up in southern california. there is a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture. in chicago, two men have been charged in the shooting death of hydia pendlton. they opened fire on her in a park. the shooting was a tragic case of mistaken i hdentity. >> he indicated that she was not the intended target. in fact, the offenders had it all wrong. they thought the group they shot into including members of a rival gang. >> first lady michelle obama attended the teen's funeral on saturday. hadiya pendleton will be special

guested tonight at the state of the union address. nbc's tracie potts joins us live now from washington with more. what else can we expect to hear from the president tonight? >> reporter: in addition to more about gun violence, more about immigration and a number of other topics, the big issue is going to be money and the u.s. budget in these $85 billion in automatic spending cuts coming now and in just a few weeks. >> tonight instead of focusing on how the budget cuts will effect the pentagon, president obama will focus on the middle class, cuts to head start, research and thousands of government jobs. >> his emphasis on the need to continue to create jobs or to continue to have our manufacturing sector expand, that work isn't done. >> reporter: in the audience tonight, the parents of a slain chicago teenager who just marched in the inaugural parade. >> i'm happy that murder of

hadiya will get guns off the street. >> reporter: the president is expected to address immigration reform, a move that may have more impact outside washington. >> the goal is to move public opinion because that's what moves congress. >> reporter: lawmakers and former lawmakers on both sides say his clear focus must be the budget. >> if we don't get it under control fairly soon and have congress and the president lead us in this area, then we will end up with a nation which is insolvent. >> reporter: republicans are criticizing what happens after tonight's speech. president obama hits the road three cities in three days to push his agenda. >> mr. president, if you're truly worried about this issue, why aren't you working with congress that we elected to prevent it? >> reporter: luckily we'll hear more about that tonight. the republican response coming from florida senator marco rubio. >> all right. we'll be keeping on eye on all that. as a reminder, msnbc will have all day coverage of the president's state of the union address beginning with "morning

joe" live from washington, d.c. and our prime i'm coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. many around the world are still stunned this morning by pope benedict's surprise announcement he's resigning. this hasn't happened in six centuries. it is creating shock waves even from the sky. lightning hitting st. peter's about a zilicca last night after the news broke. we have a reporter live in vatican city this morning. good morning. >> reporter: a day after the shocking announcement by pope benedict that he'll resign, more details remerging about that decision. the vatican's own newspaper says that decision was taken months ago, right after his trip to mexico and cuba in march 2012. that's when the pope realized he was too old and too weak to just perform the duties of a pontiff including, of course, transatlantic trouble. what's going to happen now?

february 28th at 8:00 in the evening rome time he's going to stop being the poem and he won't have any more powers over the catholic church. he'll then retire to the summer residence of the pope. and when a new pope is elected hopefully right before easter, then he'll retire to a life of spirituality to a closer convent inside vatican city. >> thank you so much. turning now to weather. some connecticut residents are still digging out from this weekend's big blizzard. in hampton, they're using heavy equipment and snow blowers and shovels to clear the streets of three feet of snow. some are upset that secondary roads weren't plowed. the heavy snow fall overwhelmed the work crews. and now here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. a new tv ad on gun control features gabrielle giffords, the first ad from her new gun control super pack.

>> take it from me, congress must act. let's get this done. >> other guests of michelle obama tonight's state of the union include 6-year-old star of the beast of the southern wild and nasa' mohawk guy will be a guest for the first lady. he'll get a lot of attention for working on the curiosity landing on mars. he'll there be to highlight the president's call for more vees yaz for immigrants working on engineering. we have a website that is designed to create a second screen experience with fact checking and social media reactions. and also on hand tonight, ted nugent who will be a guest of republican congressman steve stockman. last year nugent said he would be dead or in jail if president obama was re-elected. i guess he forgot it add or in

congress. and that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. let the good times roll. it's fat tuesday in bushon street. thousands flock to new orleans to take part in mardi gras. jay gray is live on bourbon street. you having a good time down there? >> reporter: yeah. i got them all the right way. i bought them in a shop. take a look down bourbon street. this place is still packed. that is unbelievable. that is a trash truck trying to get through. it's trash service day. good luck with that. look at this crowd. it's really unbelievable right now to see how many people are still out, either finishing up what has been a long night of partying on the day before fat tuesday or starting their celebrations early. either way, look, the forecast calls for some rain today which is not good news. but a lot of the restaurants, a lot of the hotels really haven't

diminished the crowds any this year. they're still doing great business. the vendors saying maybe they're selling as many ponchos as beads this year. other than that, everything going on without a hitch here for fat tuesday. the end of the mardi gras celebration. you talk about the beads, mara, here, i toss a few back you to. >> we appreciate it. i'm going to pass the bounty along to bill who is here with the weather forecast. if you tell me bad news, you have to give those back. >> it is going to rain a little bit. they do jazz fest in the rain. they can do mardi gras in the rain. >> with enough alcohol, can you do anything in the rain. >> we're going to deal with on this tuesday, a little rain. we're watching the rain moving once again through the deep south. if you're in south carolina or georgia, alabama, mississippi or louisiana, you need to bring the umbrella with you today. soaking rains from montgomery now. atlanta, you're on the northern fringe of this lighter rain up here. savannah is getting rain, too.

now as far as the snow is going to go, today's travel trouble spot is in a spot that doesn't let a lot of know. this is amarillo, texas. north texas into oklahoma. oklahoma city is right on the edge. doesn't look like you're going to be in the heavier band of snow. oklahoma city could get three, four inches of snow later on today and tonight. one of the stories is going to be this big trough of cold air kicking off the east coast. there is a storm on the eastern seaboard. it looks now it's trending more off shore. so that means we could possibly avoid another big snowstorm on the east coast. again, we'll track that throughout the rest of the week. things are looking better. today's forecast, northeast is good. rockies are just fine. we'll watch new orleans down there. i think they'll be okay. just hit and miss periods of rain. >> thanks so much, bill. good news, home prices rising 10% year over year. conditions for the 4,000 passengers strand add board that carnival cruise ship are getting dicier by the day. plus, best in show. the pampered purebreds as

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welcome back. nearly 600 homes were damaged or destroyed after this massive tornado ripped across mississippi. miraculously, no one was killed in the storm. dozens were injured. talk about sea sickness. passengers on a strappeded cruise ship in the gulf of mexico reported limited access to hot coffee, food, and bathrooms. the ship lost power over the weekend and will be towed to a port in alabama by thursday. a judge overturned at tempt to block funding for planned parenthood. it robs individuals on medicaid the ability to choose health care services. the former navy seal shot and killed at a gun range earlier this month is laid to rest. nearly 7,000 people attended the service for chris kyle at

cowboys stadium. his widow told mourners was a devoted husband, father and friend who will never be forgotten. the u.s. has another medal of honor recipient. staff sergeant clint romasha for an attack in afghanistan. his young son got on in the action while at the white house for his dad making him proud. stealing the show there. conflicting reports over the navy seal who says he shot osama bin laden and what his life is like after the military. he tells "esquire" magazine he was denied health coverage after leaving the service and the navy essentially told him "you're out of the service. your coverage is over, go blank yourself." the pentagon calls the story wrong and tells army newspaper stars and stripes that veterans are eligible for five years of free health care through the va. and an american foxhound, a white bichone frise are advancing in the westminster dog

show. good luck to all the competitors. we'll see what the mood is like on the street today ahead of the president's state of the union address. apple's ceo tim cook will have a front row seat. according to the white house, he'll be sitting in the first la lady's box. he has a big speech of his own at a tech conference this morning where he'll be bombarded with questions about how apple plans to share its cash pile with shareholders. getting a buzz oversea this is morning, barclay's is slashing at least 3700 jobs from its corporate and investment arms. on the earnings deck, keep an eye on michael kors. expectations are high for the affordable luxury brand after the first year of public trading. whiskey connoisseurs beware. the kentucky bourbon is being watered down from 45% to 42%. starting to day, american express is launching a new feature ledding card holders make purchases via twitter. each limited time deal include free shipping and registration

is required. if you haven't checked your credit report lately, it could be costing you. a government report finds one in four people have errors on a credit report from at least one of the major credit agencies. good news for home sellers, medium prices climbed 10% last year to $178,900. and demand appears to be good for pepsi's morning drink kick start. it's a juiced up mountain dew. the kpp ran out of free samples it was offering online. straight ahead, a tv station gets hacked by a zombie apocalypse. this you got to see. plus, what's going on between super skier lindsey vaughn and tiger woods? we'll tell you coming up next. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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♪ friskies seafood sensations. ♪ ♪ feed the senses. turning back to one of our top stories, president obama is preparing for his first state of the union address of the second term. joining me now by phone is chief economic correspond ben white. thank you for being here so early. >> good morning to you. happy mardi gras to you. >> to you, too. in the last few weeks we've seen administration make big pushes on immigration and gun control. but the economy and jobs are still really top of mind for many americans. what is the president's plan to get more americans working? >> i think you'll hear him talk about new spending initiatives. he'll talk about infrastructure, job training, that sort of thing. the big problem there is you've got house republicans not inclined to approve any more new spending plans. that's going to be tough for him to get through. i think he's going to try to raise the pressure on them to actually do something in terms

of, you know, spending on infrastructure and job training and other stuff he brought up previously in his administration. it's a tough sell with house republicans. >> do we expect to hear any major policy initiatives on taxes or the budget? >> yeah. i think he'll talk about his balanced approach to deficit reduction. he'll talk about matching spending cuts with new revenues, particularly from tax reform. i think in particular you might hear him talk about raising private equity tax these guys pay at a low rate. he'll talk about raising that a little bit. oil and gas tax subsidies. he wants to get rid of some of those. he doesn't want to do what house republicans do which is spending cuts across the board and no revenue increases. again, it will be hard to get much buy in in the house on that. they want to cut spending and not raise taxes again like he did at the beginning of the year. >> all right. we'll be paying close attention to all of it. ben white, thanks so much. and now here's your first look at the other news going on

around america. we start if san diego. an iconic 1945 photo of the sailor kissing a nurse tend of world war ii is being revived. the 5-foot, 15,000 pound statue of the kiss has been built and transported to san diego where it will be installed along the waterfront in the next few days. elsewhere in california, the atlas five rocket had a smooth launch into outer space delivering a satellite that will orbit the earth 14 times a day to monitor forest fires, droughts, and shrinking glaciers. montana, hackers tapped into one tv station and caused quite a stir by broadcasting a fake zombie apocalypse alert over a talk show. take a listen. >> authorities in your area reported the bodies of the dead are rising from the graves and others are living. they apologized to viewers for that prafrpg. turning to sports, we start in college basketball. number 14 kansas hosting rival

number 10 kansas state. the home team jayhawks player scored 30 points and kansas overwhelmed kansas state 83-62. in the nfl, michael vick signed a one-year deal worth about $10 million to stay with the philadelphia eagles. in baseball, pitchers and catchers are reporting for spring training. boston red sox former mvp was already outfielding ground balls. baseball's regular season starts march 31st. skier lindsey vaughn posted a photo on facebook after surgery on her knee which was injured in a crash in austria last week. vaughn was reportedly flown to colorado on tiger woods' private jet. but she continues to deny rumors that they're dating. the golden state warriors will debut their new yellow short sleeve jerseys on february 22nd making them the first modern era nba team to play in something other than a tank top. i think they're chic. here's an amazing shot he won't see very often. colorado high school basketball player annie olson through a shot almost the entire length of

the court. it bounced once and then went in the basket. it was ruled a loose ball though. it only counted for two points. bummer. just ahead, don johnson's 9 $19 million pay day, plus a grammy gate crasher sent packing by j lo. by earning a degree in the field of counseling or psychology from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others. let's get started at capella.edu. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. [ dad ] tide and downy together. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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nbc officially branded the network the esquire network. it is geared toward the upwardly mobile and highly engaged man. actor don johnson who starred in "gnash bridges" is $19 million richer.

he settled a pay dispute with the show's producers claiming he was entitled to 50% of the profits even though it went off the air years ago. top gear released footage showing a corvette racing a cobra helicopter with a zrast us are ending. the chopper loses control and smashes into the crowned with some crew members garly getting out of the way. thankfully, no one was injured. a big grammy win was notable for more than one reason. in a blinking you'll miss it moment, a man crashed the stage during her acceptance speech and j lo gives the crasher one heck of a look and then the universal sign for get out of here. the man who is a ukrainian tv personality was arrested backstage for trespassing. don't mess with jenny from the block. and 28.4 million viewers tuned n the second highest audience in 20 years. >> it was a good show. >> it's getting good reviews. >> i thought he was great. a lot of good performances. i love that jenny went back to

her roots. get out of here. >> not afraid. >> this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" with guest host mark halpern live from washington starts right now. for the second straight morning, americans here on east coast waking up to major international news. good morning. i'm mark halpern. welcome to "way too early," a few hours ago north korea's state media reported the country detonated a nuclear device. a test that seems to been timed to coincide with president obama's state of the union address this evening. this adds a new dynamic to the president's speech in which he was planning to call for a reduction in america's nuclear arsen arsenal. the underground test was the most powerful to date. if confirmed this would mark