this morning on "early today," end of the road. the long, nasty battle over tax cuts reaches its conclusion with a late night vote. a free man for now. the man behind wikileaks is released from jail and pledges to expose more secret documents. and bust brawl. fists go flying on a washington bus with a pregnant teen caught fists go flying on a washington bus with a pregnant teen caught in the middle. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with for better

or worse, finally, a done deal. house lawmakers cleared the final hurdle last night, pending a sweeping bipartisan bill to extend bush era tax cuts to the president's desk before they expire january 1st. tracie potts joins us from washington with more. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. a lot going on here from capitol hill including a final vote on that tax deal. the house voted late last night 277-148 with both democrats and republicans supporting this bill. so now it goes to the president's disk for his signature. this will keep our current tax rates with no january 1st hike. unemployment will be extended for 13 months. a 2% payroll tax cut next year and business tax credits in addition to that estate tax that democrats did not like. don't ask, don't tell, which has passed the house, will be voted

on in the senate perhaps today or tomorrow. it will take 51 votes to pass, but 60 votes are preferred and as of late, we understand that there are 61 senators who are willing to support that measure. government spending still up in the air. a temporary measure runs out tomorrow, but we understand now that the senate will not be voting on the democrat's $1.3 trillion plan from late night negotiations, but they have abandon that. it includes thousands of earmarks, pork items for specific districts and republicans called it unbelievable, threatening a filibuster. now we're looking at another temporary extension of government extensions. finally, secretary of state clinton now saying she believes there is a willingness among republicans to get this done. there was late night debate in the senate on that which will likely continue today. lynn.

>> tracie potts there in washington, thank you so much. wikileaks founder julian assange made a triumphant exit from jail yesterday. meanwhile, congress was told thursday assange and his wikileaks website must be prosecuted to prevent future copycat operations on the internet. nbc's jenny wivel has our report on assange's new-found freedom. >> reporter: julian assange emerge from the royal courts of justice in london at the end of a very long day, he looked extremely pleased with himself, however, as he branded his release documents and gave a short statement to the hundreds of journalists who gathered from all around the world on the steps saying, first of all, that he was very grateful for all of the support that he's received, but he remains defiant. >> i hope to continue my work

and continue to profess my independence. >> reporter: he then had to head off to his lodging where he's be staying over the coming weeks as he fights his extradition to sweden the. he has, of course, been living in solitary confinement inside britain's largest prison. where he's going next, he's going to be in a ten-bedroom mansion on a 600-acre country estate. jenny wivel, nbc news, london. >> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. five washington teens are if police custody after they viciously attacked a pregnant teen and her boyfriend on a seattle bus. the confrontation started when one of the teens took an mp3 player from the girl. when she approached them to get it back, they attacked her and her boyfriend punching, slapping and kicking them. fortunately the girl was not hit

in the stomach, her baby was not hurt but she did require stitches for caught above her eye. one houston woman warns don't do what i did. super market security cameras showed the moment a man snatched her wallet the second she left her bag unattended. police are looking for the man who they say tried to use her credit card ten minutes later. with a little help, the hard rock hotel and casino in florida set a world record for smashing 2,400 guitars. the broken guitars were donated to disabled artists who will create art pieces which in turn will be shoulder for charity. and in rhode island, tony lapour, the dancing cop, is spreading holiday cheer. he will be performing at different intersections all around town. his grand performance will be on christmas eve when he comes, you guessed it, dressed as santa.

now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning. >> good morning, lynn. not easy for him. it's cold, he has to bundle up. >> hopefully you have good news for him. >> not bad. let's talk about the weekend problems. for today, not many weather issues. but this weekend, if you're in new england, you could be dealing with a snowstorm possibly. another, another big blast of cold air coming down in the northern plains. the west coast will be soggy. anyone travel to go california over the next weekend will get drenched. as far as the temperatures go this morning, the freezing line not too bad. 20s up in new england as you would expect. now, we're going to watch this storm system that is now in northern texas. this is what will be moving across the country in the southeast and this will possibly be the east coast snowstorm. as of now, it looks to be just far enough off the shore that most of the mid-atlantic misses it. but long island and areas of

eastern new england could still get hit. so still snow from albuquerque to santa fe. but as far as any travel issues, just showers around new orleans. you notice a little warm-up on the eastern seaboard. that's a quick look at your friday forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. you can see we don't really have many weather concerns today. it's more or less heading towards the weekend that we'll have any problems. washington, d.c. after 1 to 2 inches of snow yesterday, it's a cold morning, but 34 degrees and sunshine this afternoon should begin to melt most of that. lynn, more details on that weekend forecast, come. >> bill, thanks so much. also coming up, upbeat economic data. sizzling stock markets and the feel-good auction of the year. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, it was a cool concept back in the early 80s, but will film audiences go for it today? coming up, vincent jackson leads the charge against the 9ers. the corrects continue their

december to remember and quite possibly the dunk of the year. we're running out of time, so it ought to happen soon. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. president obama says the u.s. is make significant progress in its goal of dismantling the taliban in afghanistan. that awaits a long awaited report on the war and a news conference yesterday. however, the international committee of the red cross which rarely makes public statements is painting a much bleaker picture saying humanitarian conditions there are the worst its seen in decades. an army doctor who refused to deploy to afghanistan because he questioned president obama's eligibility to be commander in chief is headed to a military

prison. lieutenant colonel terrance lakin who became the poster boy for the so-called birther movement will serve six months and be dismissed from the army. former president jimmy carter thinks america may be ready to elect a gay president. carter said the country's population has made tremendous strides forward in dealing with the issue of home mow sexuality and that the u.s. may have a gay president in, quote, the near future the. and researchers in spain are showing whoff what may be the wheelchair of the future. it enables users to stand, walk and climb stairs. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,499 after gaining 41 points yesterday. the s&p was up 7 points. the nasdaq added 20. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei shed 7 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng rose

46. on wall street thursday, upbeat economic news and general optimism kept the profit takers on the sidelines. stocks gained across the board with markets hitting two-year highs. worries on treasury yields fell as did the dollar and gold and unlike the last three days, there was no late day sell-off. first time claims for unemployment fell to 420,000, the third drop in four weeks. housing stops rose slightly last month. businesses and consumers are shipping more packages, so fedex raised earnings prediction, seen as another sign the economy was improving. visa and mastercard tumbled after a fed proposal that would force banks and network toes slash the fees they charge retailers on debit cards. american express was the dow's worst performer. keep an eye on oracle today. after the bell, the

softwaremaker was up. after the close, research in motion jumped after reporting third quarter results. elsewhere, the food and drug administration recommended avastin no longer be used to treat breast cancer, likely causing roche hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. honda plans to recall 143,000 fit subcompacts in the u.s. to fix defective headlight wiring. congress passed a law to make cars and trucks to make an artificial warning noise when traveling below 20 miles per hour. timely, the purse used by georgia littleton to disarm a gunman last week will be auctioned off for charity. happy ending there. lightning strikes thrice in

san diego. the celtics streak reaches a dozen and hockey powers collide north of the border. plus, the arena may still be shaking after this stunt last night. your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. in weather, i'll have an active weekend forecast for you. that's coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, last night in nfl action, a receiver for san diego picked a perfect night to put a charge into the home team. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. when the season started, vincent jackson was nowhere to be found. he held out because he wanted a new deal and missed the first ten games. last night, jackson went back and proved his worth against the 9ers. philip rivers threw up a jump ball down the sideline. jackson went up and he got it. 7-0, chargers and he was just getting warm. rivers found him again in the second quarter. san diego up, 17-0 at the half. jumped towards the end zone, touchdown number three. chargers won it, 34-7. basketball's rajon rondo

will be out a week with an injury. nate robinson, he can do it inside, nate can do it outside. drilled the straightaway three. celts up 11. boston won their 12th straight, 102-90. the nuggets j.r. smith soared to the rim for a two-handed jam. he threw over george hilt for the dunk of the night, maybe for the year. seven seconds left to play, manu gonobili, nuggets win, right? wrong. anthony was called for an offensive foul. the spurs won it, 113-112. it's the most exciting play in hockey, the penalty shot. the goalie went the other way, montreal led, 1-0. this brought the everyone to their feet.

subon leveled marshon. that is going to hurt in the morning. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. an american icon of the airways signs off for the last time. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, speaking of mamerican, we'll tell you how the oldest living american globe-trotter made a comeback. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. let's break down your weekend forecast. for friday, today, no problems out there. a little snow in northern texas. showers in new orleans. east coast looks okay today after yesterday's snow. we should melt it in a hurry. temperatures on saturday in the 30s and 40s, not bad. cold air and snow showers from minneapolis to chicago. the big thing is on sunday, what happens with our ocean storm? we're watching new england for the potential for snow. at this point, it does not look like a blockbuster or nor'easter. stay tuned. if you're watching us from atlanta, georgia, explore the surreal world of savlador dolly. view the paintings and prints at the dolly museum of art. that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. >> thanks so much, bill. now here's a look at this

morning's headlines in entertainment. the big question at the box office this weekend is 28 years too long to do a sequel? "tron legacy" will be the sure fire number one this weekend begin to go earn back the reported $170 million it took to make. experts say it should take in $40 million to $50 million. film hungry family audiences will flock to "yogi bear." it should finish second, above $20 million. critically acclaimed, award nominated, but not exactly what you'd call fun, "the fighter" is expected to finish third. the $100 million dollar romantic comedy, "how do you know" will struggle, lucky to break the top five, lucky to top $10 million. finally, larry king hung up his suspenders for good last night, signing off after 25 years on krn. did you catch it, bill?

>> i didn't. but i'm going to go back and watch some of the highlights of it. i'm glad regis feldman was on, too. >> it's sort of ominous, the lights come down. >> there was a point in time where he had every good interview. >> yep. well, this comes to us from numbers 24 in toledo, ohio, where a practically new man performed some of his old tricks. a few months ago, al price was wheelchair bound with balance problems, but all that changed with the 93-year-old therapist put a basketball in his hand. in the 1940s, al was one of the top trick basketball players in the world. now the 93-year-old harlem globe-trotter is back to his old tricks. look at him. good for him. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today in hd. >> good morning. it is four minutes before 5:00 a.m. it is friday morning. it is cold out there. it is the morning following the day of a small storm yesterday. we have to watch for some ice on the roads. and roads will be icy. 20 degrees down at the airport. the wind is calm and there are some scattered clouds.

some of the suburban temperatures are down in the teens this morning. we saw some single digit reports. here's the satellite. we were done with the precipitation, at least for the time being. there are some lake effect snow spirit in a storm is brewing. there's the potential maybe to get some snow. i will describe all that in just a few minutes in the forecast. >> thank you. it is 23 degrees on tv hill. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. >> a water main break in east baltimore causing problems for folks who live around here. i will have the story. >> those women breaks are causing problems on the road for your morning commute. [ female announcer ] safeway talks hostess gifts. you know what i want for the holidays? do tell. true love. true love is a myth. [ gasps ] you're a myth!

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