is going to win the medal of valor like those at the white house today. but there is reason to appreciate them, both in the heroic and in the specific, and in the aggregate, for what they do for us every day. that does it for us, we'll see good thursday morning. right now on "first look" -- the oscar pistorius murder investigation gets even more complex as the lead detective is facing multiple murder charges stemming from another case. a massive winter storm is blanket the midwest as it heads east. americans are facing massive pay cuts if the president and congress don't work out a sequester deal. plus, an ex-senator admits fathering a child with an ex-lawmaker. kansas jayhawks with a little pregame harlem shake.

"first look" is coming up. it starts right now. good morning. here we go again, another massive dose of winter is coming for a big portion of the country, the midwest is bracing for a fresh dose of the white stuff after a separate storm dumped some 20 inches of snow in parts of michigan and oklahoma, up a half a foot fell in tulsa and in kansas, the first round of the world golf championship had to be canceled because of the snow. we'll get the latest in a few minutes. new details and a dramatic turn in the oscar pistorius murder case. this morning, we're leading that the state's lead investigator will himself face attempted murder charges stemming from an incident back in 2011. the news come as the strack star is back in court today. all this as prosecutors point to

nonstop shouting before the murder. the case against the 26-year-old may be starting to unravel after a series of police oversights. pistorius is charged with premeditated murder in the valentine's day shooting death of his mod girlfriend. prosecutors insist there will be no change to their team. turning back now to weather. as the midwest prepares for a major blast of winter the leading edge of a massive storm blanketed parts of the western u.s. on wednesday from arizona to colorado it's now moving east and forecasters in some states are predicting as much as a foot of snow. jay gray is in kansas city. jay, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, mara. schools and some businesses are closing for the day. no flakes yet. we expect that in the next few

hours. at the height of this storm, we could see an inch of snow falling. this morning, they're waking up to a blast of winter weather. the snow has already started to fall across the region including parts of okaying, arkansas, ko and kansas. shovels are out. then plows are already working. but if the forecast holds they may not be able to keep up the pace. some areas expect blizzard conditions and a cccumulations 2 feet or more. they're stocking up on supplies to ride out the storm. >> it's not convenient and we have enough roads in the country that do get rather snow bound. >> reporter: patrol officers warn it's going to get worse.

>> if you don't need to go out, we're asking people to stay off the roadways just because of the conditions that are deteriorating. >> reporter: will be, forecasters say, for at least the next 24 hours. the snowfall here not expected to stop until some time this evening. once it starts. by then we could see a foot of snow or more on the ground here. live in kansas city, i'm jay gray. back to you mara in that warm studio. >> stay warm out there. tea party activists are blasting rick scott of florida for changing his mind on medicare expansion. he'll now support it. during his 2010 campaign for governor, scott opposed obama care as a job killer. and now here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics.

president obama has his highest approval rating in three years with the new bloomberg poll showing 55% of americans like his performance. new jersey governor chris christie has an amazing 74% approval rating. senator marco rubio's dive to take a drink of water is getting attention overseas, during his current mideast trip, they made a splash with a toast of water bottle in their meeting. pete domenici revealed that he fathered a son outside of his marriage 30 years ago. he says that he's sorry for his behavior. the nra's political action committee raised $1.1 million in january, the most since august of 2012. republican senator graham of south carolina said that he'll block the nomination of cia

nominee john brennan until he gets more answer about the attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi. mitch mcconelle was fooled by a phoney news item. the white house has released first lady michelle obama's new official photo. certainly a new look for the first lady's -- a different look from her 2009 official photo. president obama came his assessment of golfer tiger woods. >> he plays a different game than i do. he's on another planet. he knew that i wasn't a big threat to his world ranking. and i knew that i better keep my day job. >> that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. congress is in recess this

week, but a few democrats are coming to work on capitol hill today. they're looking into the impact of the sequester, $85 billion in federal spending cuts that go into effect in just eight days unless lawmakers cut a deal. what does that mean for you? tracy potts has details on many of the programs on the chopping block. >> reporter: if you work at the pentagon, you could get one day off a week unpaid. leon panetta has warned congress, they're looking at these furloughs. if you don't work at the pentagon there are a number of other areas where you could be affected as well. take a look. the cbo said that we're looking at 750,000 job losses. small business loans down $902 million. the fbi could lose 1,000 federal agents. nutrition aid for women and

children, over 500,000 could lose that. not to mention other programs that could go away like meals on wheels. so, how will this midwest storm impact all of us? nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with the details. >> yeah, not many people will want to be traveling in the central plains today. jay gray in kansas city, two hours, it's going to be snowing incredibly hard in kansas city. now, as far as the radar goes, the blue is the intense snow. the pic shows you ice. the green is just plain old rain there from oklahoma city southward. if you're in the wichita, kansas, area, go outside, you may see some flashes in the snow, you have thundersnow at the current hour. i-35, quickly becoming

impassable throughout much of this region. through the south, a line of thunderstorms will be tracking through ft. worth and dallas. further to the north, just some freezing rain, already coming down throughout the ozarks. watch out on the bridges. the winter storm warnings are in effect here. iowa, nebraska, kansas and missouri. the snowfall forecast, this pink is 6 to 12 includes wichita and kansas city. omaha and des moines. it looks minneapolis/st. louis, lighter snowfall. but still some impact. >> when you say thundersnow, that always freaks me out a little bit. coming up -- the latest on a plane crash out of nashville that killed five. plus, congressman jesse jackson jr. has pleaded guilty, now the fight to limit his jail time begins. and take a look at this. sun spots that the have the ability to swallow six earths.

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welcome back. we got some developing stories to tell you about. in syria, a car bomb exploded this morning in downtown damascus. eyewitness said that the blast went off at a security check point between the government building and the russian embassy. reports that there were no deaths but at least four injuries. five people are the died after a late-night plane crash in georgia. it ran off the runway at mcduffy county airport. s. the white house is quietly moving to have the supreme court overturn california's ban on same-sex marriage, but president obama told the san francisco tv station that he doesn't want to inject himself too much in the process, the high court will take up two cases surrounding same-sex marriage later this year. former congressman jesse jackson jr. pleaded guilty to

using campaign funds as a personal piggy bank. he'll be sentenced in june. and take a look at this sun spot is big enough to swallow six earths whole, nasa said that it could trigger solar flairs. wall street opens on a low note. the dow dropped 108 points the pain continued today with the nikkei falling 160 points. on wall street, the battle over apple's stock pile of cash continues today. a hedge fund manager will try to sell share holders that apple should sell stock. before the bell, walmart's sales lower.

yesterday's unexpected dep kline in housing starts sparked a selling frenzy. tomorrow boeing is expected to pitch an official plane to get its dreamliner back in service. meanwhile carnival has been slapped with a lawsuit suffered by the 3,000-plus passengers on that stranded ship "triumph." "new york times" is selling boston globe. sony unveiled the next playstati playstation. google has released a doesying new video the company is in talks with warby parker. this honey press release from senator chuck schumer --

and finally, here's a sweet deal, the cottage where the boss wrote "born to run" could be yours for $349,000. one block from the jersey shore. coming up -- a first of its kind at the nfl tryouts. plus, this is how one representative reacts to new legislation he opposes. we'll show you more and you guess what it is about. any ideas? coming up on "first look." rs bl♪ ♪ feed the senses. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke.

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long back. turning back now to our top political stories, joining me on the phone is bob franken, good morning. >> good morning to you. >> let's start with this sequester, if it goes into effect lot of people will feel a pain. a quarter of folks haven't heard of the looming cuts, is there fatigue with all of this budget talk now. >> first, it's a key. people to a large degree have tuned out. the effect won't be felt on march 1st except for those of us who try to generate all kinds of controversy, but it's going to be something that will happen fairly quickly and one of those things where the agency, first of all, start furloughing workers. that will cut pay scales by 20%. >> this sequester came out of

the debt ceiling crisis out of 2011. it was pushed back to march from january. it goes on and on. is this how congress is doing business now, they're putting everything off? >> that's the best result that we can expect these days. congress seems to get us in one mess or another. and then they go off on vacation like they have right now which is a regular thing in congress which is something that they're never going to give up. >> let's turn quickly to the president obama's approval rating, at 55%, why do you think that is? >> because he won the election and because there's a disabeautiful rating for congress that's so high. what the republicans are trying to do is to try to run out the clock. the further they can get from the election they know all of this turmoil is going to cause obama ratings to deteriorate. >> all right, bob franken, thanks for your time this morning. now, here's your "first

look" at some of the other news going on around america. in new jersey, footage from a january accident, surveillance video shows a commuter bus ramming into a school bus, rescues pulled 19 injured people from that commuter bus. in georgia a vicious attack on a female corrections officer was caught on tape. the victim suffered minor injuries. and in missouri, state representative eric burleson is raising some eyebrows after taking a new anti-gun bill to a firing range. the republican lawmaker showing the democrat-sponsored bill, to show their opposition. turning now to sports, a double-overtime thriller in college basketball. number 9 kansas and number 14 oklahoma state went to a second overtime and it took a short

jumper with 16.5 seconds left to give the jayhawks the lead. earlier kansas' bill self drew up a plan for his team called the harlem shake. in oregon, an amazing half-court buzzer-beater gave the salem high school team the conference championship. look at that, the crowd goes wild. 11-year-old julian newman plays on his high school basketball team even though he's 4' 5". in arizona, rare snowstorm blanketed a baseball spring training facility in skocottsda, so baseball will have to wait until the field thaws out. the accenture match play was forced to halt play because of the weather.

and lawrence silverman, the first woman to test at the nfl combine. she'll show her skills next month as a kicker. turning back now to the weather, with bill karins is back with more. >> some people some specifics on their big cities throughout the midwest how much snow we're expecting. . the bull's eye is wichita, toe peek ya. omaha, des moines has the best chance of getting a foot of snow. denver will end earlier today, 4 to 8 inches. minneapolis and chicago, lesser probably around three to six inches. st. louis, missouri, two to four inches for you. you'll also get some sleet and freezing rain on top of it. east coast, you're fine today. dallas/ft. worth, thunderstorms.

new england, this weekend, we'll have a storm to deal with here. snowfall amounts are a little less today than yesterday. still a significant snow event for new england. i'll keep you posted. >> thanks so much, bill. coming up -- your entertainment news. sylvester stallone comes clean about his secret fears. we'll tell you watch what they are. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review. many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors? it's post shredded wheat.

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it's time now for entertainment. which big action star is afraid of heights? not schwarzenegger, not willis, but stallone the star of "cliffhanger." the film director outed stallone

for his high-flying fear. the director said that he had to slowly coax stallone up the mountain they shot on. probably not the best movie for him. america's got talent found its newest judge in mel b. the academy awards, the show's producers have confirmed they're not calling it the 85th academy awards because that sounds old and musty, instead they're going with the oscars. >> oscars on the street -- >> people know what you're talking about. and with the big show happening sunday, nbc asked what is your pick for best picture. argo leads with the most vote. i have seen argo. i haven't seen most of them >> i haven't seen any of the

movie. >> reporter: argo was terrific. >> i'll wait to see what wins and i'll watch that. stay tuned. "way too early" with guest host peter alexander starts right now. ♪ here now is what the vatican is doing. you tell me if this is right or wrong. okay, take a look. >> pope benedict is stepping down. and the roman catholic church needs a new spiritual leader. could it be you? announcing mountain dew's pope to win contest. >> hey mom, i won. >> plus other great prizes. >> that explains a couple of things around this part. good morning to you. i'm peter alexander.