this morning on "early today" -- still in it. embattled presidential candidate herman cain wants to speak in person with his wife before deciding what to do. buying frenzy. what's behind wall street's biggest single session gain since 2009? and scare tactic. why an indian snake charmer unleashed his wrath on a local why an indian snake charmer unleashed his wrath on a local tax office. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a decision in days. lashing out against so-called

character attacks designed to force him out of the race, herman cain has put off a final call on the future of his presidential campaign until next week. cain says he needs to talk to his wife in person before making any final decisions. nbc's steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: even though herman cain said he will decide by next week whether to continue, he implied the answer will be yes. in an interview on fox. >> politics as usual is that once it gets rough and gets rocky and they start trying to attack your character, politics is usually drop out of the race. well, that's just not me. >> reporter: the pressure, cain said, is taking a toll on his wife gloria, but she told him she loved him. >> we want cain! >> reporter: with much of his support intact, cain can wait until january when voters in iowa decide by the alleged 13-year affair, the charges of

sexual harassment and cain's foreign policy flubs. if heb drops out, the reuters shows the field wouldn't shuffle much. romney would get cain voters. he denied flip-flopping. >> it's not accurate. >> reporter: newt gingrich would get cain voters. he vowed if he's the nominee and barack obama won't debate him seven times, gingrich will shadow him. >> wherever the president goes, i will show up four hours later and take apart his speech. >> reporter: but the former front-runner is not done yet. >> if i raise $1 billion and the american people are going to raise some cain in 2012. >> reporter: i'm steve handelsman, nbc news. a battle is being waged between lawmakers on capitol hill over how to pay for a

payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of the month. in pennsylvania yesterday, president obama warned a lapse in the tax break could be a, quote, serious blow to the economy. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with all the details. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. you may not be aware, but you got an extra $1,000 this year if you're working. payroll taxes went down by 2% but that runs out december 31st if congress doesn't act, you'll be paying that money starting in january. at a rally if scranton, pennsylvania, yesterday, president obama said this could cause a massive blow to the economy, allowing this payroll tax cut to go into effect again. he wants to pay for it. democrats want to pay for it with a 3% permanent tax on millionaires but republicans won't go for that at all. they say it's punishing the job creators. their new plan to freeze federal pay through 2015, cut 200,000 federal jobs and raise medicare premiums on the rich, also making sure millionaires don't

get food stamps and unemployment. looks like it's going to be another year-end showdown over taxes. >> tracie potts for us in washington, thank you. elsewhere, a new accuser in the penn state sexual child abuse scandal has filed the first civil lawsuit against former football coach jerry sandusky, his charity and the university. in the suit the 29-year-old claims sandusky sexually abused him more than 100 times over the course of four years. and threatened to harm his family if he told anyone. he says he chose to come forward now because of the bravery of other victims and the pain he feels about those who may have been abused after him. sandusky has admitted to showering with boys but denying he is a pedophile. now, here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. california federal agents have derailed what's being called the most sophisticated underground drug trafficking tunnel ever discovered. equipped with electricity and ventilation it stretched six

football fields from san diego to tijuana, mexico. the major bust netted 32 tons of marijuana. one of the largest seizures in u.s. history. a thanksgiving fishing trip off the coast of north carolina looks more like a scene from the movie "jaws." a group of friend had a close encounter with one great white shark that was way too close for their comfort. the massive fish nudged the boat and circled for 20 minutes before swimming away. an arizona gun club is under heavy fire from critics over some new holiday pictures. members can pose for christmas card photos with st. nick holding high-powered weapons. at least one state lawmaker has voiced outrage over the mix of christmas and machine guns. finally, a new appliance is offering a chance for customers to make sure they see images on their morning toast. the jesus toaster burns the image of jesus and other religious symbols onto your slice. according to the creator, he's

selling 50 to 100 of these things a day. now for a look at your national and regional weather let's check in with meteorologist todd santos. every so often people claim to see a religious symbol on toast or whatever, and now this goes out the window. discredits every piece of toast in the future. >> every chip shaped like, it everything. at least he's selling the toaster, not the toast on ebay. you may want to reduce your bid. let's talk about what's going on across the country as you have your toast across the southeast. cool temperatures in place. you notice a lot of the activity closer up toward canadian border, minneapolis, light snow going on right now. there's a look at it with the clouds. remove the clouds so you can see some snow coming down across the area. you're talking really, though, less than an inch across many of these areas, including the twin cities back up into the western portions of the u.p. maybe enough to make slick travel, rapid city and the black hills. the better chances for issues travelwise will be back around

denver where we have winter weather advisories in effect until 5 p.m. south and east, winter storm warnings. that orange spot is the wind river spots in wyoming. blizzard conditions, not snowfall, reduction of visibility as well as strong winds. be careful traveling. a look at denver with snow just getting into town now. you're talking upwards of 5 to almost 8 inches total between early this morning and into the daytime today. temperatures on the mild side. there's a look at the region. let's check out your local forecast. new york city, again, looks like a beautiful day today. again, on the cool side, especially this morning, up to 50 degrees by this afternoon. charlotte, north carolina, upper 50s. about the best we can did. i mentioned the cool numbers back to the gulf coast, new orleans, 65 degrees. so, again we'll talk about the snow coming up, considering there are a few areas that we'll see decent numbers today and tonight. >> todd, thanks so much. coming up, a stunning move by the world's financial powers

sends stocks skyrocketing. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, hell hath no fury like a 6'9" nba free agent scorned. that's right, kris strikes back at kim. coming up, two of the best go head to head in college hoops and a catch you have to see to believe. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines. the fda is considering tightening restrictions on the amount of arsenic allowed in apple juice after consumer groups pushed for the crackdown. just yesterday consumer reports released a study finding 10% of apple juices and grape juices have higher arsenic levels than are allowed in drinking water. well, this is a little gross. horses could soon be slaughtered in the u.s. for human consumption after congress

quietly lifted a five-year ban on using federal funds for horse meat inspection. the legislation was part of an ominous spending bill signed by president obama in mid-november to keep the government afloat. a former colorado sheriff for whom a detention center is named now finds himself an inmate at that very jail. 68-year-old patrick sullivan is accused of offering methamphetamine in exchange for sex from a mail acquaintance. commander jane lovell's checklist used to guide damaged "apollo 13" spacecraft home after the explosion that led to the famous "houston we have a problem call" sold at auction for just owe $388,000. and here's someone you don't want to mess with. a snake charmer in india angered by alleged bribery demands by local officials released dozens of poisonous snakes inside a tax office. fortunately, no one was hurt. definitely don't want to mess

with him. here's an early look at wall street. the dow opens at 12,0 45 after it shot up 490 points yesterday. s&p surged 50 points. the nasdaq spiked 104. overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei climbed 162 points while in hong kong the hang seng skyrocketed 1,012. a bold move by the world's largest financial institution sent a surge of optimism through wall street. an extraordinary coordinated effort, federal reserve, european central bank and other central banks stepped in to make cheaper loans for struggling european banks, easing rising funding pressure. the dow reacted with its best day in over two years. the move touched off a financial buying frenzy. morgan stanley spiked 11%. citigroup almost 9%. jpmorgan chase, 8%.

bank of america, 7%. all those gains came in spite of standard & poor's cutting credit rating on several u.s. banks late tuesday. copper and oil rose sharply as energy, materials and industrial sectors dependent on economic strength roared. u.s. steel shot up 15%. ak steel 13%. alpha natural resources rose 15%. and peabodie energy soared 14%. further boosting investor spirits, data showing clear signs of economic recovery. the private sector added the most jobs in nearly a year in november. november midwest business activity grew faeser than expected. october contracts to buy homes jumped to a high for the year. november was the best month for auto sales in more than two years. elsewhere, reports say private equity firms blackstone and baincapital have teamed up to bid for yahoo. the salvation army's red kettle has gone high tech. a holiday donation tradition

since 1891, now you can host your own red kettle online raising donations from family and friends. making it a little easier for you. coming up, the red wings light the red light. a scary moment in cheerleading. and a top ten college basketball battle. plus, you can argue about whether frisbee is a sport but no arguing this is a major league grab. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. that is pretty incredible. hey, it's the almost end of the week. we'll get you set tore the weekend. you're watching "early today." stain gone. 3q

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good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, toppled last week from their top national ranking. the tar heels of north carolina showed plenty of fight last night against the badgers of wisconsin. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. by the end of this week we'll know just how good north carolina's basketball team is. the fifth ranked tar heels have a pair of games against top ten teams. first up, seventh ranked wisconsin. chapel hill, tough place to play. that didn't phase the badgers in the first half. the steal and the bucket, wisconsin down one at break. they hung around until five minutes left when barnes took

over, scored 10 of 20 down the stretch. north carolina won 60-57. they have kentucky on saturday. scary moment during the michigan state/florida state game. spartan cheerleader taylor young fell on the back of her head and neck. she was on the court for about ten minutes, wheeled off on a stretcher but gave the crowd a smile and a thumbs up on her way out of the arena. thankfully she'll be okay. hockey. bruins have had a november to remember. they beat the maple leafs to finish 12-0-1. lucic scored a pair of goals. bruins won 6-3. red wings have got a little streak going as well winning six in a row. holmstrom scored the game winner in the third. howard great in the final period, robbed lightning gilroy in the breakaway. detroit won it 4-2. we played frisbee before but i don't think any of us have played it quite like this.

australian frisbee champ brody smith, apparently there are frisbee champions, launched a disk off a bridge. as it flow over the water, a boat ran under it, a passenger jumped off and made a speedy grab. they say you should never jump off a moving boat. we'll let this one slide. this catch takes ultimate frisbee to a whole new level. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> for the record, i guarantee you bill karins would say that's not real. she's helping lindsay lohan keep on the straight and narrow. plus, white house decorators and the first lady have a holiday treat for those who serve and their families. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." as i mentioned, cool temperatures across the country, even down towards the gulf coast. 45 in new orleans right now. 46 in orlando. 55 in miami. that's the starting point for many of us. denver that's about the warmest you'll see today. later today into the 20s. winds increasing with the snow headed there. in the southwest we'll be dealing with gusty wind. if you're watching us on wlbt tv in jackson, mississippi, hop over for the rare opportunity to see 25 different species at frogs beyond green at mississippi museum of natural

science. >> thanks. you don't actually have to hop but you can walk over there. that's just a fun play on it. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. just when you thought kim kardashian marriage fiasco quieted, you can't hide, the guilted ex has come screeching back. the chicago "sun-times" says egged on by his lawyers, family and friends, kris humphries will seek an annulment rather than divorce claiming victim to fraudulent divorce and claiming he's due big bucks. kardashian claims she did not marry humphries for her tv show that she was truly in love. kanye west came away with seven grammy nominations, adele with six, including record, album, song of the year. the grammys will be awarded in february. finally, file this under --

whatever. possibilities are endless. courtney love is claiming to be lindsay lohan's sobriety coach. yes, you heard me correctly. the notorious 47-year-old singer told "details" magazine, quote, i've taken up lohan because nobody else will. no comment yet from lohan. this comes to us from washington, d.c. where the halls of the white house are decked out in elaborate display of holiday pageantry. tis the season at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. military families joined the first lady for a first look at holiday decorations. amid 37 christmas trees, ornaments resembling the obama's dog. this holiday theme reflects a tribute to the nation's military. the first family's way of thanking troops and their families for the sacrifices they've made. 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. >> good morning. we are off to a quiet start on this thursday. it is colder this morning. the skies are clear. we're in the upper 30's in most areas. near freezing near the pennsylvania line. 37 at the airport. lots of sunshine today. we're on the cold side. a high near 53. we'll come back and check the forecast going through the weekend. >> 37 degrees on tv hill.

occupy camps fighting to stand their ground. >> the defense begins their case in the trial of paul schurick. i am kim dacey. >> online shoppers could soon face a little something else at check out -- sales tax. >> sarah caldwell checking on your morning commute. tracking an accident in finksburg along a 32. ♪

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