good thursday morning. coming up on "early today" -- defense secretary panetta says it's time to lift the ban on women in combat but not everyone is happy about that. hillary clinton faced congressional fire over the benghazi attacks. will john kerrs hearing be as rough? the frozen tundra outside your door. looks like america's credit card won't get rejected after all. >> and when distracted drivers challenge locomotives don't be the one going against the train. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, january 24th, 2013. good morning, i'm mara schiavocampo.

another military milestone. today, the secretary of defense is expected to announce by unanimous recommendation of the joint chiefs of staff that he's lifting the ban that prevent s female soldiers and marines from serve on the lines of combat. here's nbc news pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: for the past ten years, u.s. military women have served on the front lines in both iraq and afghanistan, but never allowed in direct ground combat roles. lifting the 20 year ban against women in combat will ultimately put them directly in the heat of battle. it opens some 237,000 combat positions to women. women will be assigned to roles communication, logistics and drivers. gradually, they'll work closer to battle as medics are. before they become infantry troops.

women have paid the ultimate price of war. 152 u.s. military women have been killed in iraq and afghanistan. tammy duckworth lost both of her legs as an army helicopter pilot in iraq. she says lifting the ban will level the playing field. >> you can make it to a general, for example, without an arms combat command at the brigade or battalion level. and this allows them into half of that command time. >> reporter: at first, women would have to volunteer for combat duty and meet the same physical standards faced by men. >> well, it has to. the standard doesn't change just because they're a woman. >> reporter: but is the military prepared for women in combat? >> there will be plenty of complaints about it. i don't think it's going to have an actual effect on the strength of the force. >> reporter: and are women ready for combat? jut ask tammy duckworth. >> well, i didn't lose my legs in a bar fight. >> that was nbc's jim miklaszewski reporting. on capitol hill wednesday, secretary of state hillary clinton testified in

back-to-back senate and house committee hearings. republicans in congress grilled clinton about the september 11th terrorist attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi that killed four americans. nbc's mish michelle lee has more. >> reporter: secretary of state twice. >> i would have relieved you of your post. i think its inexcusable. >> reporter: she testified in often heated house and senate committee hearings on the deadly attack in benghazi, libya. >> of all these warnings, we didn't have a single department asset. apparently available to come to the rescue. >> reporter: from questions about a lack of security to accusations the administration deceived the public, republicans came on strong. >> we were misled, there were supposedly protests and then something sprain out of that. >> reporter: clinton stood her

ground and told asked about telling rice about the video. >> the fact is we have four dead americans, was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night that decided to go kill some americans? what difference at this point did it make? it is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from happening again. >> reporter: republican lawmakers found little satisfaction in her answers. >> there was a lot of evidence. >> well, i'm sorry -- >> you mentioned traps appearance, you haven't provided a call log of messages. >> reporter: clinton says the department is now making two dozen changes to address security and leadership inadequacy found in an independent report. she describes the situation in benghazi as complicated. and says some questions still remain unanswered. in washington, i'm danielle lee, nbc news. there will be another important hearing on capitol hill today. democratic senator john kerry will face his peers when presented by secretary of state

hillary clinton to succeed her in the state department. he will face questions about his military service in vietnam. the senator worth an estimated $184 million has also promised to divest his holdings in companies that could be a conflict of interest. kerry is easily expected to win. the house has passed legislation that will keep them from defaulting on their debt. it's quick fix that will avoid a showdown with the white house. it eliminates the dollars to dollars that they expected. the senate is expected to approve the bill as early as tomorrow. meanwhile, "new york times," reports senate leaders from both sides of the aisle are on the filibuster. the tactic that forces a majority party to bring 60 votes to the floor. a rule is expected today. vice president joe biden will team up with google for a chat about gun control. biden will answer questions for about 30 minutes on the new

policy recommendations to reduce gun violence. the white house has planned numerous ones during his second term. it starts the 1:45 p.m. eastern time, and the name is a 21st century update of president franklin roosevelt's famous fire side chats on the radio. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the forecast. it's cold. >> just depends where you are. people down in texas walking around in shorts. let's show you the highs yesterday. talk about a nation divided. you look at areas in southern portions of texas to florida were in the 70s yesterday. beautiful weather, all the way up to denver. but then the really cold stuff. minneapolis to chicago. then take a look at what happened in northern new england. burlington, vermont, had a high temperature of 1 degree. what's amazing, lake champlain isn't frozen yet. it's actually been a very mild winter. this is what happens when you have 1 degree temperatures over the water. amazing footage here.

this is what i call steam fog. it's extremely cold air going over the unfrozen relatively mild lake. pretty cool video there, lake champlain. let's show you what we're dealing with this morning. windchills are brutal in northern new england. these are actual temperatures. minus 10 and minus 9 in caribou. when we factor in the windchills, we're at minus 21 in minneapolis. minus 21 in burlington. boston is even minus 14. there's one area of travel trouble. one area of snow from washington, d.c. to the coast, southern maryland, about a fluffy one to two inches. could make it slippery this morning. the next storm is on its way. this is going to bring light snow to many areas of the east. details on that, and also tomorrow. that's a look at your national forecast. now, here's a look at weather outside your window. tampa, florida, not a bad place to beat this cold snap. if you're a little snowbird from the north. you are going to watch

temperatures where they should be today, upper 60s and low 70s. so if you were warm yesterday. you're warm today. if you were freezing yesterday, you're, again, complaining. >> not good for those of us who are freezing. thank you, bill. straight ahead on "early today," notre dame's manti te'o tells all about his girlfriend hoax. we'll hear from him next. north korea warms that a new test may be coming soon. plus, the most valuable nba franchises in the country. "early today" is back in two minutes. arly today" is back in minutes.

welcome back. here are some other stories making news this morning. north korea is threatening to carry out more rocket launches in a nuclear test that would target the u.s. for what it called continuing hostility. this after the u.n. security council condemned pyongyang's rocket launch and expanded recommendations against the regime. the search is on for three canadian men missing in

antarctica after their small plane disappeared. los angeles police say a former fourth grade teacher has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing 19 students and an adult co-worker between september 2011 and march 2012. robert pimental is being held on $12 million bail. in an interview set to air today, manti te'o said he was a victim in the hoax for this girlfriend that never existed. couric asked, why didn't come sooner. >> this girl i thought died on december 2. and then i get a call december 6th saying she's alive. do i want to be on tv? what would you do? prince harry defended himself over remarks made earlier this week about killing

military fighters in afghanistan. >> you often do things that you don't expect to do wearing this uniform. and disturbing video from russia, a dash cam captured a toddler being thrown from a car during a horrific crash. fortunately, aen oncoming truck narrowly missed the girl who police say was not strapped in a car seat. well, the impact felt over the world. a profit of over 13 billion in growth in sales of iphones and ipads wasn't enough to impress investors. ale stock fell 11%. only 11.3% of workforce belongs to a union. that's the lowest in 76 years. and the most valuable nba franchise, new york knicks at $1.1 billion. l.a. lakers, at an even $1 billion. followed by the bulls, celtics and mavericks.

the ntsb is now looking at issues raised by whistle blowers involving the 786 dreamliners. questions were raise ared about the question that make the the chargers for the lithium battery. ia yoo ceo melissa meyer has a habit of keeping executives waiting minute or hours for her. and j.p. diamond said if only washington could reach a grand bargain to fix the fiscal environment, then the u.s. could have a booming environment. before she was the princess of wales, this unseen photo of princess diana is being auctioned off. written on the picture "not to be published" probably because she's sitting so close to mr. russell. and an college upset. and a fine for one of the most elite players.

plus, terrible timing for one truck driver trying to beat a train. and take a look at what happens when you fight a fire in near zero temperatures. you're watching "early today."

now to mother stories that caught our eye this morning. we begin with an amazing explosion of metal and debris in vermont. a store surveillance camera captured a freight train

barreling through a tractor trailer at a rail crossing. the truck driver said he was distracted and failed to notice the oncoming train. luckily no one was injured. now, to the windy city of chicago where frozen conditions have failed to help a torched warehouse. officials say the ice-incrusted structure will have to be demolished. an arctic blast packing wind and snow whipped the roof off of michigan's pontiac silver dome. it shredded the inflatable covering reducing it to a battered shell. owners plan to install a hard roof later this year. and finally, a naked burglar produced a bizarre chain of events inside a florida home. >> i don't know who he is. he's naked and he's in my house! >> well, the homeowner held the naked intruder at gunpoint until the police got there. number one duke was blown

out by 25th miami. the hurricanes put on a show rallying the blue devils 96-73. in the nba, a tied game in the closing seconds and the bulls' joakim noah hustle to keep the bulls inbound and marco belinelli missed a lay-up. chicago hangs on to beat detroit 85-82. in the nfl, tom brady has been fined $10,000 for this kick during sunday's afc game. the league said it was unnecessary roughness. the family of junior seau is suing the nfl saying the former linebacker's suicide was the result of brain disease caused by violent hits he sustained while playing football. he died at the age of 43. tennis action at the australian open and china's li

na knocked off maria sharapova. she'll face agnieszka radwanska. and in britain, chel assess eaten hazard was kicked out of the game when he kicked a ball boy in the ribs. it the match ended in a scoreless tie. >> announcer: "early today" sports is brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray. never all. just ahead, a robber walks into a pizza place looking for cash and leaves with tears of gratitude instead. plus, that's not, the classic movie favorite "the princess bride" collided with flight attendants over safety concerns in one recent flight. we'll explain next.

welcome back on this thursday morning. caught my attention, international falls called the ice box of america has a temperature currently of minus 43 degrees. i thought that must be a record. the coldest temperature ever was minus 55. not even close, obvious by anyone's standards still brutally cold. of course, we're dealing with cold in the north earn half of the country. tomorrow, widespread, chicago, minneapolis, cleveland, mountains of west virginia, north carolina, virginia, late tomorrow, even tomorrow night, areas like new york and d.c. will get a little film. many places will get a dusting

to two inches not a big deal but a lot of us will see snow. hard to ignore. who doesn't want to start their day with pictures of adorable puppies, the team photos for the 2013 puppy bowl has been released and the canines look ready to roll. the big game february 3rd. lindsay lohan's film the canyons has been rejected by yet another film festival. for having a, quote, ugliness and a deadness to it. kate middleton's embattled portrait artist is lashing out saying some criticism was extremely critical and hurtful. he said that it doesn't photograph very well. peter robin, the voice of charlie brown on many tv shows was arrested near the mexican border on charges of stalking an ex girlfriend.

finally, remember this its famous line -- >> my name is montoya, you came to the right place. prepare to die! >> some passengers in the flight did not recall that line and they became frightened when a man was wearing this shirt and boarded a plane. the man found the situation inconceivable while also a bit comical. this comes to us from ktvh in helena, montana, where a masked rob had a change of heart. the knife-wielding thief bust into a papa john's. he burst into tears revealing he only wanted to feed his family. he was offered a free pizza and wings before leaving. that was side sad. that wag like our zorro segment. i'm mara schiavocampo. this is "early today," this, your first stop of the day today

on your nbc station.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. we're off to another cold start. we have some snow on the ground. a lot of the streets have not been treated yet. the snow is tapering off. we will see a light snow showers and flurries. it will be mostly sunny this afternoon. still cold, though. >> 18 degrees at the airport.

>> the snow is falling here in lutherville. we will show you the conditions. >> i will do my best to answer your questions about this. people were trying to get to the best information. >> hillary clinton handled her hearing on the benghazi and tax. >> a maryland native is showing her support. >> a little bit of snow out there. we

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