good friday morning. coming up on "early today," the world's most watched tv event is just two days away. we've got your best super bowl preview right here. the alabama standoff with the 5-year-old hostage enters its fourth day. an explosion rips through this office building killing 25, others are feared trapped in the rubble. plus, clinton hshg rides off in the sunset, chuck hagel gets downright offensive. and lions and tigers and bears, oh my, "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for friday, february 1st, 2013. good morning, i'm mara schiavocampo. super bowl weekend is here as

fans of both the baltimore ravens and the san francisco 49ers descend upon new orleans, the town known for its lavish matters is gearing up for one of its biggest parties ever. nbc's jay gray is live for the latest. >> reporter: good morning, mara. from outside the beautiful superdome lit up in new orleans. look, depending on your perspective, a lot of people either ending their party or continuing into new orleans. the perfect city to hold such a big bash. a lot of people looking forward to the game. but as you talked about, a lot of people looking forward to a lot of things. for many, it's the ads that air on super sunday. we have a sneak peek of some you'll see. >> hey, son, have fun tonight. ♪ ♪

>> you know what this room needs? a smile. who wants to come with i? ♪ traveling along there's a song that we're singing come on get happy ♪ >> you guys are three minutes late. >> don't be no cloud on a sunny day? >> sir? >> rhythmic, man. >> that's the power of german engineering. >> reporter: funny, racy, raucous, ads a big draw on supersunday. also this weekend a very fitting tribute. there will be 26 students from sandy whom elementary, the home of the horrific attack that will be here and sing "america the beautiful" an anonymous donor paid to have them, their families and some of their staff flown to new orleans. that's it from the big easy. back to you. well, for the first time since the inauguration, beyonce

has broken her silence on the national anthem lip singeing controversy. ♪ home of the brave ♪ the brave >> at a simple news conference thursday the grammy winning singer erased all her doubts of being able to perform live and this point a cappella performance. >> due to the weather, due to the delay, due to no proper sound check, i did not feel comfortable taking a risk. >> beyonce will be performing the halftime show at sunday's super bowl. and she said that, yes, she will absolutely be singing live. well, the first jobs report of 2013 will be released this

morning. the so-called experts predict the unemployment will stay at 8.7 perfect. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. tracie, good morning. let's start with the jobs numbers, what are we expecting to see? >> reporter: unemployment not expected to budge, mara. not enough to move us forward as quickly as the administration and a lot of jobless americans would like to see just in the past week, 38,000 new unemployment applications also not what the country needs to see right now to move forward. the economy on a bit of a see-saw. republicans here say the president having a hard time explaining that. his jobs council expires today. meantime as you noted, the dead ceiling has been extended allowing more borrowing through late may. what congress has not done prevent the big spending cuts coming in march. we'll follow that. >> tracie potts in washington, thanks so much for that. the family of a 5-year-old

boy being held captive in alabama say they are, quote, holding on by a thread, waiting for that boy's release. tuesday, 65-year-old jimmy lee dykes is accused of kidnapping the boy and killing the bus driver. ethan is held in an underground bunker and reportedly not been harmed. negotiators have been talking to dykes through a pipe but say there are no signs of progress. it was a dramatic and contentious day of testimony for chuck hagel. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: john mccain seized on hagel's opposition to the surge in iraq. >> the question is, are we right or wrong, that's a pretty straightforward question. >> well, i'm not going to give you a yes or no anxious. >> reporter: over his 2008 comments related to israel that

a quote jewish lobby intimidate lot of people in congress. >> name one person in your opinion who is intimidated by the israeli lobby in the united states senate. >> well first -- >> name one. >> i don't know. >> reporter: hagel was repeatedly pressed by both democrats and republicans to make clear this point on israel. >> i strongly support israel. >> reporter: hagel had on the terror organization, incorrectly referred to the u.s. policy on iran and nuclear weapons as containment. >> by the way, i've just been handed a note that i misspoke. >> reporter: hagel said he fully backs the president's position that iran cannot be allowed to get nuclear weapons and says the u.s. should talk to iran. >> that was nbc's kelly o'connell. three stories that we'll be developing later today. secretary of state hillary clinton says her good-byes at the white house in the morning and then gives a farewell address at state later in the

afternoon. moments later, john kerry takes the oath and the title of secretary of state. meanwhile, keep an eye on vice president joe bide hoon is in germany meeting with angela merkel. they'll have a midday conference. how is your friday weekend looking? bill karins is here. >> happy february. groundhog's going to be popping up soon. >> and hopefully spring is here. >> we all hope. let's look at the cold, yesterday it was the big story. minneapolis to fargo and now spread as far south as chicago and minneapolis. the windchill is on the brutal side. minus 12. yesterday it was contained to the northern plains now it's spread from illinois to the ohio valley and the great lakes. anytime you get this cold of an air mass over the lakes that still isn't frozen yet, you'll get snow bands. these streamers from the south side of lake erie, from cleveland all through the

new york city throughedway, south of buffalo. and back towards kalamazoo, we've got snow coming off of lake michigan also. as far as the forecast goes what we're looking forward to in the next five days clipper lows. they're coming with one going through west virginia, another one through iowa and another one diving from canada. this will be the pattern from the great lakes for a chance of snow and light snow in the next couple of days. that's a look at your national forecast. now, here's a look at the weather outside your window. so that snow will be coming to an end in west virginia, charleston. four to six fluffy inches of snow. temperatures continue to be the story in the northern plains. no snow for you today, minneapolis, just very cold. weekend forecast coming up. well straight ahead, if you see people wearing the color red today. there's a reason for that. plus, a horrific explosion at mexico's pemex headquarters 25

dead and dozens may be trapped in the rubble. the latest today when "early today" returns in two minutes.

welcome back. here's some other stories making news this morning. in in mexico, dozens of surviving are hospital after an explosion at pemex, 25 people diend and more than 100 injured. the family of u.s. air force pilot lucas gruenther is mourning his death after his body was found off the coast of italy. the f-16 he was flying went down on monday during a training flight. in los angeles cardinal roger mahony is no longer performing any administrative duties in the catholic church. action was taken after the abuse scandal and records that mahony tried to conceal the abuse of children. and from washington, four

cubs born at a zoo in december. look how cute they are. 300 white tigers worldwide. and very cute puppies are getting ready for the super bowl. they're getting a good view and the hedgehog cheerleaders. and don't forget about the kitty halftime show. today marks the tenth anniversary of the american heart association's go red for women campaign. over the past decade awareness of heart disease as the number one killer of women has gone up and death from the disease has gone down. 90% of those registered with the go red campaign made a healthy lifestyle change or getting their cholesterol checked. ♪ ♪ "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil. bring yourself back. turning to business, the dow shot up 1,000 points logging its best january since 1994. the s&p saw its biggest gain

since 1997. since 1950, january in the black has led to full gains. earnings maker merck, chevron meanwhile gas prices are up to $3.42 a gallon due to rising oil prices. the ceo was sentenced to prison after cheating investors out of $25050. >> and not so fast to inbev. don't watch football? well rolling out the first original content. a political drama starring kevin spacey. >> partygoers will consume 150 million avocados on sunday. coming up next, lions, tigers and bears, oh, my, plus a super bowl tradition you don't want to miss. and is former president bill

clinton teaming up with sill vest ter that tone? could happen. details coming up.

welcome back. now to some other stories that caught our eye this morning. we begin in indiana and nnsylvania where snowy conditions proved dangerous for drivers. road closures and multicar pileups plagued commuters while low visibility caused a detroit freeway crash that claimed two lives and injured more than a dozen others. now to philadelphia where a

scary tumble was caught on security cameras. the man was seen stumbling before he lost his balance and fell over the edge of a train platform. other travelers rushed to help the man up. fortunately no trains were coming at the time. lucky for him. next to virginia, radford college students woke up to a nasty surprise when they discovered their cars were flooded. school officials say water from a nearby dam was released safer midnight and the university made announcements and went door to door to warn students. not everyone got the message. students said they never heard any warnings. in massachusetts, one junior high, they have you seeing double. 16 sets of twins one set of triplets in the seventh grade making up 10% of the entire class. it's not quite enough to break any records, though, when it comes to same-age multiples, they tide for the guinness book of world records. in nebraska a special anniversary for the zoo's addition. five baby cubs. the zoo gave them meat cupcakes.

they were more interested in playing with one another. luke cute they are. going to sports, upset in college basketball, number 9 butler bulldogs outplayed in the paint. home team st. louis surprised butler 75-68. number 8 alabama squeaked out a win over washington 57-53. it's arizona's first win in washington in six years. in golf, phil mickelson just missed making history in the opening round of the phoenix open. the last hole birdie ended up out of the cup and he had to settle for a 60. only five players in pga history have shot a 59. snowmobiler caleb moore has died after a crash at the x games in colorado. initially, he walked away from the crash with a concussion. later he had emergency surgery for a heart contusion and suffered a brain complication. moore was 25 years old. and beckham signed with a club in paris.

owned by the government in qatar. and from the world of animals predicting super bowl champions we've got a grizzly bear named ozzie from the zoo in montana given a choice of two banana pies. one marked for each of the two teams. he ate the ravens pie which may indicate that baltimore is his choice but then again, he also ate the pie marked for san francisco, so it could be a very close game or he could be a hungry bear. what does bill clinton, magic mike, sylvester stallone and bruce willis all have in common? we'll have the answer coming up next when "early today" returns.

i want to take you through the weekend forecast. we are going to have areas of snow, you'll be cold today right through the weekend. it includes the northern plains and great lakes especially. great weather with temperatures mild in the rockies all the way to texas. even florida is going to be okay. a bit chillier than lately. the snow with the lake-effect snow, the clipper system dies down on saturday. from chicago, minneapolis, ohio valley, and super bowl sunday, the areas of the east coast, a chance of snow. this super bowl weekend will prove to be a quiet one at the box office if you're looking for "the walking dead" meets "twilight" then "warm bodies" is the one you want to take. and stallone's blizzard ahead is second place.

speaking of stallone and the franchise's third installment including president bill clinton. that's right. stallone says maybe, just maybe, we can see clinton in the upcoming action movie. fox celebrated "die hard's" 25th anniversary by having bruce willis unveil a huge mural. it isn't slowing down with the fifth installment coming up this month. in between those beer ads and car commercials will be a few movie trailers. you can expect new footage from from "star trek" to johnny depp's "the lone ranger." and the new "fast and furious" film and "ironman 3" is getting not one but two super bowl commercials one costing $8 million? and finally to the delight of ladies everywhere, channing tatum has confirmed he's readying a "magic mike" sequel. i can say i'm looking forward to it. will you see it? >> i'm not sure.

it's good. >> i'm not into it. this next one comes from wcnc in charlotte, north carolina. where some window washers proved they exist. four washers suited up as superman, batman, and mr. incredible to surprise children at a children's hospital. the caped crusaders performed for audiences both inside and outside. the hospital hoped the show would bring good cheer to the pint-size patients. that really cute. i can't imagine that not cheering any kids up. >> kids look out the window, they're bored in the hospital, all of a sudden, superman's washing the window. >> i'm mara schiavocampo, and 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. 4:56. temperatures are a little bit below the freezing point. 29 at the airport. we don't have the wind this morning that we had yesterday but it is coming back. there is snow in the forecast. yesterday it was rain. we expect high temperatures to be around the freezing point and some snow showers in the area.

>> thank you. 4:57. all things purple. >> i live at the inner harbor where fans are starting to gather for a left purple friday gathering. >> that is a happy sound. it is purple friday at the be easy.-- at the big easy. >> you go for the extra hot dog and for everything. >> john and jim harbaugh will fight for the ultimate title on sunday, super bowl title. >> we have some localized floo

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