this morning on "early today" -- down to the wire. lawmakers agree on a trillion dollar deal to avoid a government shutdown. final words. republican presidential hopefuls faced off in the last high stakes debate before the iowa caucuses. and escape clause. what led one young man in california to get stuck in a what led one young man in california to get stuck in a tight spot. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with a shutdown averted. last night congressional negotiators signed off on a trillion dollar spending package. just one day ahead of a deadline that could have led to another

government shutdown. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the details on that and a massive defense bill headed to the president's desk. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. here's how they were able to work that budget deal out. democrats agreed to delay some energy efficiency rules that were due to kick in soon. and republicans dropped their restrictions on people spending money and making visits from this country to cuba. those were two big sticking points. as a result, it looks like we'll be able to fund the government through next september. now, included in this senate majority leader harry reid says may be a plan "b" to extend payroll tax cut for two months as well as unemployment benefits and medicare payments as well. without it, doctors are looking at a 27% cut. this would fund ten departments, most of them would be reduced as a result of last summer's deal. the house and the senate expected to approve this today. also now headed to the

president's desk, a $662 billion defense bill for president obama's signature. it would fund soldiers, weapons, national security. it is below the president's request, but they were able to work out an issue with the white house regarding military custody for terror suspects. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. well, on the presidential campaign trail it was all about newt gingrich last night as his fellow gop candidates piled on the front-runner in the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses. nbc's steve handelsman has the story. >> reporter: front-runner newt gingrich, most republicans see him as more conservative than former front-runner mitt romney, but in iowa in the last debate before the january 3rd vote, the controversial former speaker claimed he's more electable next november, too. >> i believe i can debate barack obama, and i believe in seven three-hour debates barack obama

will not have a leg to stand on in trying to defend a record that is terrible. >> reporter: romney's main claim is electability because he was a businessman. >> i can debate president obama based upon that understanding. and i'll have credibility on the economy when he doesn't. >> reporter: libertarian ron paul is polling a close third in iowa. >> you know, fortunately for the republican party this year, probably anybody up here could probably beat obama, so -- >> reporter: they all aimed at gingrich, who advised mortgage lenders before the meltdown. >> when the speaker had his hand out and taking $1.6 million to influence senior republicans to keep the scam going -- >> reporter: he denied it but barged on to a remake of the court system. >> as a historian, i may understand this better as lawyers. >> reporter: a moment of reflection. >> i sometimes get accused of using language that's too strong. >> reporter: romney called gingrich zany. polls call him the leader of

this act. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. elsewhere, there are some sobering new numbers this morning on just how much the ailing economy is affecting the nation and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. according to the census bureau, one in two americans is now either low income or poor. that is 146 million people. over the past 30 years, wages for low income workers have fallen or stayed flat while earnings in the top 5% of households have soared. meanwhile a separate study says a record number of children in the u.s. are now homeless. the study by the national center of family homelessness puts the number at 1.6 million. that's 1 in 45 kids. it's up a staggering 38% from 2007 when the economic crisis began. now here is a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. the family of a 14-year-old pennsylvania girl tasered by a police officer has filed a

federal lawsuit claiming excessive force. police officers say the officer struggled with the teen as she resisted arrest for disorderly conduct and several other charges before he was forced to fire at her. one person is dead and another was seriously injured when a small plane crashed outside an arizona home. the single-engine aircraft was only a half mile from the airport when it went down in the front yard. luckily, no one on the ground was hurt as the pilot imagined to avoid hitting nearby homes. and finally, missing his curfew caused one man to get himself into a sticky situation. oops. a california fire crew was called in to remove a guy who attempted to avoid getting in trouble by sneaking down the chimney. not a smart idea. family members became aware he was stuck after hearing his cries for help. the man was rescued, freed from injury but left with a lot of explaining to do. there's mom. she doesn't look happy. for a look at your national

and regional weather let's check in with meteorologist bill karins. that's what you have to look forward to. he's 2 now. >> i think we all remember -- >> i don't know what you're talking about. >> yeah. that look from mom -- >> i was studying, every night. >> exactly. >> i was. >> you had you. >> uh-huh. >> sneaking out of the studio during my weather. good morning, everyone. it's an amazingly warm morning. the temperature in washington, d.c. right now is 61 degrees. this is the middle of december. the average high should be 46. i mean, it should be probably in the 20s or maybe the low 30s right now. we're as warm as the 50s at this hour all the way up to northern new england. i feel bad for all the ski resorts, snowmobilers. there's a lot of industry that depends on snow in new england. these temperatures, it's very warm and raining at all of these ski resorts. they're struggling to even make snow. it's not cold enough. christmas a week away. that's the break for all the kids. they make a ton of money and

it's not looking good right now. as far as other areas of rain, arkansas has light rain coming out of areas like shreveport, light rain from memphis to nashville. this will move from the southeast into mid-atlantic so areas such as virginia, north carolina, atlanta down through tennessee, you will see some showers today and periods of light rain. everyone else is pretty much dry and nice, too, in the middle of the country with highs in the 40s. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. areas like new york city will watch temperature dropping during the day and also be a very windy day from boston northwards up through new england. wind advisories have been issued for gusts up to 45 miles per hour. we'll also be watching warm conditions in louisiana. of course, the weekend forecast coming up. >> our favorite one. bill, thank you so much. coming up, unemployment dives, stocks rise. and just what the heck happened on quadruple witching day? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. his first official foray

into prime time television is already creating excitement and criticism. coming up, the falcons soar and the new jersey nets owner wants to run the largest country in the world. you're watching "early today."

back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. the justice department says arizona sheriff joe ar a. poa and his deputies engaged in racial profiling of latinos and making unlawful arrests on their bid to crack down on illegal immigrant. he called the move politically motivated. authorities say chicago bears wide receiver sam hurd has been arrested with a kilogram of cocaine in a drug sting operation. they say he wanted to buy five to ten kilos of coke and ten pounds of marijuana.

in india 143 people are dead and hundreds more have been sickened by boot leg the liquor containing toxic methanol. controversial reporter and author christopher hitchen has decide of pneumonia as a result of cancer at the age of 62. an englishman who roamed the world's hot spots as a magazine correspondent moved to the u.s. in '80s and penned several best sellers, including "god is not great". an unpublished charlotte brontate man you script has been snapped up for a record $1.1 million at auction. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,868 after rising 45 points yesterday. the s&p gained 3. the nasdaq eased up 1. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei

added 24 points. in hong kong the hang seng climbed 258. stocks rose thursday for one day traders decided they were not going to worry about europe. but there was still plenty to worry about. christine lagarde, head of the imf called the world's economic outlook, quote, quite gloomy and called for action from all countries to head off global depression. the good news here is too good to ignore. unemployment applications fell to a 3 1/2 year low. new york state manufacturing rose to its highest level since may. new factory orders in the mid-atlantic region surged. bellwether fedex shot up. novellis jumped. michael kors soared 21% in its debut. yet another big company, honeywell, backed off its forecast. morgan stanley will fire 1600 to cut costs. fitch cut long-term ratings on

barclay's and credit suisse by two notches and bank of america, bnp pair business, goldman sachs by one. a surprise resignation by cablevision top executive sparked speculation it may be a takeover target. one analyst calls it, quote, one of the biggest bombshell in recent industry history. the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has matched its record low. today is quadruple witching day. equity options expire, as do stock index futures, stock index options and individual stock futures. the stock to watch today is zynga. its ipo priced at $10 a share. finally, the $116 million taken in by christie's elizabeth taylor jewelry auction makes it the most valuable private jewel collection ever sold. coming up, another serious concussion injury in hockey and sports mixing with politics.

plus, a falcon can easily overpower a jaguar. at least on the football field. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in the weather this upcoming weekend looks fabulous, dry and warm. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." when a sore throat strikes,

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good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the atlanta falcons made a serious statement last night against the jacksonville jaguars. if they want to be taken seriously as postseason contenders. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the falcons have waited all season to put together a complete game. well, that wait is over. simply dominated the jaguars in atlanta capped off their first drive with a touchdown. the falcons up 7-0. to the second and the jaguars turn it over deep in their own end and michael turner made them pay. untouched to the end zone. falcons soaring high, up 27-0 at the break. many of you play fantasy football. you're starting your playoffs this week. if you have ryan and roddy white, your team is looking pretty good. white's second touchdown of the game made it 41-0. ryan finished with three scores. falcons routed the jags 41-14. nhl a concussion has taken

out another future hall of famer. chris pronger is shutting it down for the rest of the year because of postconcussion syndrome. the games must go on and flyers have been getting a lift from an unlikely source. wayne simmonds got another score last night against canadiens. capitals and jets scoreless for 58 minutes. ovechkin decide enough is enough, unleashed a rocket with 1:14 left. that's why he's one of the best in the game. capitals are starting to turn thing around after a slow start shutting out the jets 1-0. chris paul a clipper and dwight howard staying put in orlando, nets owner mikhail prokhorov is trying to acquire something much bigger. russian presidency. yep. he's owned the nets for a year. now he wants to take over russia. the savvy billionaire sets out to beat vladimir putin in the next election. that's your early look at sports on "early today."

have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> interesting pair. coming up, a big boost for the box office. and a silent film makes lots of golden global noise. plus, remember this story next time you find something on the street as we'll tell you about a holiday season act of honesty that makes all the difference for a needy family. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." time for your weekend forecast. today, light rain moving through the southeast. that will move off the coastline by saturday. also windy and showers today up in new england. now, as we go through the weekend, some colder air is going to move through, especially in the great lakes into new england. it's not bit early cold but more typical where we should be. much of the country is dry. showers in san antonio. by the time we get to sunday we're looking nice in many spots. only new england on the chilly side. if you're watching us on wpxi tv in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, spend a day seeing stunning blooms of the season surrounded by thousands of l.e.d. lights at the winter flower show at phipps conservatory. >> that's so much. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. after two super low weeks of attendance at the box office, hollywood is very happy to see sherlock holmes on the case, the follow-up to 2009's hugely

successful debut of robert downey jr. and jude law as crime-fighting pair of holmes and watson is expected to take in over $60 million. the new family won't do bad either. second place with around $35 million should go to alvin and the chipmunks. elsewhere the silent film "the artist" led the golden globe nominations with six, best actor, best screen play, best supporting actress. and finally, what do you think about this, howard stern officially signed on as judge for nbc's "america's got talent." already the parents television council complained about the shock jock's appointment but simon cowell says he thinks stern is way too smart to cross the line saying, quote, he's not stupid. >> so the show has core viewers and now a whole bunch of new viewers just to watch to see if

he's going to mess up. >> that's the hope. well, this comes to us from wcau philadelphia, pennsylvania, where in nearby new jersey two acts of kindness came at the right time for a homeless family. carol and her son anthony returned an envelope with over $900 after discovering it just laying in a parking lot. well, the money ended up belonging to a homeless mother of five. she intended to make a downpayment on a new apartment. a week later, the cash-strapped family received a second blessing with their church providing them with a mountain of christmas gifts. that's the season. that's the spirit. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> good morning, everyone. we're starting out very mild this morning, but that's not going to last very long. i'd still take the winter jacket with you, because temperatures are going to change today. it's 59 at the airport right now. it's 48 in hagerstown, 43 now in hagerstown. the temperatures are really falling, and that's our forecast for today. variable clouds, breezy, temperatures will be falling all day. into the 40's by later this morning and this afternoon. we'll check the seven-day forecast through the rest of the weekend when i come back. >> all right, tony. 4:57, 55 degrees on tv hill. new this morning dab a sentencing for an armed robbery suspect and a boater missing in the potomac river. plus -- >> changes in healthcare

benefits for same-sex couples who are baltimore county employees. i'm jennifer franciotti. details are next. >> i'm tara mergener in washington, compromise on capitol hill with the threat of a government shutdown on pause. could an extension of the payroll tax holiday be next? >> and i'm sarah caldwell checking on your friday morning commute. if you're heading out, a few problems that could impact your ride from baltimore down to d.c. we'll update those.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] awe good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. awe i can't believe how warm it is out this morning. >> it's almost 60 degrees about an hour ago, but the temperatures are going to fall off fast. by the time people drive home from work or go to lunch, it will be in the 40's. still have the jacket with you, especially kids that are going out right now, make sure they out right now, make sure they have the herier jacket.