good morning. breaking overnight. egyptian investigators announce they found no evidence a terror attack brought down that russian passenger plane over sinai in october killing all 2241 on board. this despite an isis claim of responsibility and a russian report concluding bomb downed that jet. we're live with the new twist in the investigation. frenemies, donald trump turns on rival ted cruz calling him a maniac after the texas senator pulls ahead in iowa and gains ground in a new national poll. cruz laughing it all off on media still calling trump his

another debate tomorrow night. too hot to handle. a popular holiday gift even harder to find this morning. some hover boards yanked from amazon amize growing safety concerns stemming from a series of fires. and hey, baby, it's warm outside. dozens of record-breaking temperatures across much of the country, making it a banner weekend for millions, but don't tell that to the people in kansas today, monday, december 14, 2015. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today" with matt lauer and savannah guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning. morning. how about this weather. you know what's fun to do in the spring, go down to washington and check out the cherry bless somes. right now. >> december 14th. outside. can't believe you called america baby. >> amazingly warm throughout

al will have a forecast to tell last. first on a monday morning, a breaking story overnight in egypt where investigators say they have yet to find any sign of an act of terror that brought back in october. here at home, president obama heads to the pentagon today to tackle the issue of isis. we have two reports beginning with nbc's keir simmons and that crash investigation. keir, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning. this is a vaguely worded brief statement, but it is stunning. it contradicts the conclusions of governments and intelligence agencies around the world. egypt has played down links to terrorism from the beginning. now it's official. saying an isis bomb may not have brought down a russia passenger jet that crashed back in october. debris from flight 9268 was strewn across the sinai but there's no evidence of terrorist action, egypt's civil aviation officials announced from cairo

no evidence even of illegal intervention causing the crash of the russian passenger plane that killed all 224 people on board last october. russian and western governments have said the airbus 321 was likely brought town by a bomb. the plane operated by metrojet lost contact with air control just 23 minutes after the passing from sharm el sheikh en previously egyptian officials have said they were focusing on critical cockpit recordings pointing to an explosion. while last month an isis affiliate said this picture showed the crude homemade explosive made from a soda can it claims to have smuggled on board. now the head of the egyptian committee investigating the crash claims no criminal action is suspected. the egyptians are not saying what they think did bring down the plane if not a bomb. privately british security officials tell me they are convinced it was a bomb.

since then egypt's tourism industry has been devastated. matt? >> keir, one other story to ask you about. there's a story coming out of paris overnight that a teacher there on her way to school was attacked by a man who then claimed that he had ties to isis. what do you know about it? >> reporter: that's right, matt. nbc news is just learning that this has been a path to the anti-terrorism office, a hooded man attacked the teacher in the st. denis region of paris, where the ringleader was tracked down and killed in an an apartment. this man apparently grabbed a box cutter from a table of school supplies, splashed the teacher's neck and the stomach area and one witness says is said to have said this is from daesh or isis. now, this teacher's life thankfully is not in danger and officials have been saying it's too early to draw conclusions so far, matt and savannah. >> key simmons in london for us.

the isis threat and the strategy to defeat it is on the pentagon's desk making a rare visit to the pentagon with miss national security team. nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker is following that part of the story. >> reporter: that's right, good morning to you. president obama is making this rare trip to the pentagon to both calm public fears ahead of the christmas holiday and to show he's trying to ramp up his response to fighting isis. now, this will be his first visit there since the attacks in paris and san bernardino. his national security council, which includes the vice president, will update the president on the campaign to defeat the terrorist group. mr. obama, who has come under fire for not being tough enough against isis, is hoping to put some of that criticism to rest. now the pentagon recently stepped up air strikes and sent in additional special ops forces to conduct raids in iraq and syria. defense secretary ash carter has indicated additional steps are under serious consideration. white house officials have cautioned the president won't announce a major change in

stress he's willing to escalate the u.s. response, if necessary. in his weekly address, the president argued american air strikes, now more than 8,500, are working, taking out a number ever isis leaders in recent weeks. expect mr. obama to highlight that message again when he speaks publicly after his meeting. he'll hold a similar briefing later this week at national counterterrorism dinner. savannah, matt. >> all right, kristen welker at the white house, thank you. let's turn now to the presidential race. new numbers overnight from our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll and revealing how the republican candidates stack up against democrat candidate hillary clinton and first nbc news national correspondent is in las vegas ahead of tomorrow night's gop debate. >> reporter: good morning. tomorrow night the marquee matchup will be between donald trump and ted cruz. it's almost a nightmare scenario for the republican establishment

precipitously, ted cruz has risen rapidly, especially among very conservative voters, and the key question this morning is can cruz knock off trump? >> this morning donald trump and ted cruz are the duo dominating the republican field. the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows trump still leading nationwide, but cruz gaining steam, up 12 points since october. with marco rubio at 15%. and in iowa cruz is now in control, up ten points over trump. with cruz surging trump is blasting the freshman texas senator for criticizing trump at a private fund-raiser tweeting i was disappointed that ted cruz would speak behind my back, get caught and then deny it. well, welcome to the wonderful world of politics. trump argues cruz dos doesn't have the temperament to be president. >> when you look at way he's dealt with the senate, where he goes in there like a, you know, frankly like a little bit of a main yafnlgt you can't walk into the senate and scream and call people liars.

trump's maniac label. she's a maniac, maniac >> reporter: tweeting the music video to the 1982's hit "maniac." quote, in honor of may friend donald trump and good-hearted maniacs everywhere. trump defending his provocative plan to ban muslims from entering the u.s. >> i'm not looking to be politically correct. i'm doing this to do the right thing. >> reporter: rubio insists the motivation behind trump's comment is clear. >> obviously i think he made them partially to capture the limelight after having lost. >> reporter: and as ben carson's poll numbers plummet, down 18 points in the past month, he's taking aim at cruz. >> he has more of a different kind of experience, a politician's experience and i have a healer's experience. >> reporter: and carson now a ripe target for "saturday night live" with will ferrell back at george w. bush. >> i can barely hear him when he talks. i'll tell you something, that's not going to work when you have to go to china or azerbaijan.

they will understand! >> reporter: it was fun to have will ferrell back this weekend. there's some new numbers from our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll out this morning that show hillary clinton would trounce donald trump in a head-to-head matchup and much closer though between clinton and marco rubio, ted cruz and ben carson. one other note ahead of tomorrow night. there's a new man back on the main stage. that's chris christie. after all the gains he's made in new hampshire. matt and savannah, back to you. >> peter alexander, thank you very much. let's turn to chuck todd, nbc political director and moderator of "meet the press." good morning, chuck. >> good morning. >> a huge surge for trump. trump isn't falling but this is carson cratering. >> that's exactly what this is. everybody wants to somehow say trump is falling. he's not. he actually gained in that iowa poll and gained in our pot. cruz has become the traditional christian conservative candidate. what we normally see when it

lanes and the republican party, your conservative lane and establishment lane. trump is his own whole other entity. >> what do you get for your surge, you get attacked by donald trump. >> of course you do. >> that's what's happening now. ted cruz has been very careful, chuck, not to criticize trump publicly. got caught doing it behind the scenes the other day. >> right. >> but is his strategy make sure the trump supporters like him enough so that if trump then craters he'll get their support? >> his only path to the nomination is through donald trump supporters. look, if you look at this as sort of three sections. republican party, cruz and his evangelicals, the establishment lane which right now looks like it's marco rubio land and the donald trump supporters, well, cruz has a better shot at picking off the trump protests and when you talk to trump supporters their second choice a lot of times is cruz, so, in fact, i thought it was an odd decision by trump attacking cruz how he attacked him, by attacking, going, hey, this guy, can't work with snib in the senate. trump supporters, great, he's somebody in there that's really

that actually is going to be supporters. >> i was going to say. that's the surprising -- >> the wrong way to go after him. >> did allow us to use the "flashdance" video which is always good. >> which is always good. >> he start that had. >> i guess the question is are these trump voters transferrable, people who would only go to the polls for trump or just stay home hormight they go and vote for a cruz, isn't that the big question? >> it is and nobody can answer that question. these aren't frequent voters that show up in primaries. when they vote, they vote republican, but it isn't clear they will show up. it's trump that got them involved. it's not -- it's not the environment that got them involved. it is trump that got them involved, so trump's not there, they probably don't show. >> real quickly at debate tomorrow night, if trump throws the first punch at ted cruz, can ted cruz afford to sit back and still try to be nice or does he need to counterpunch? >> he has to count punch. trump supporters want tough f.cruz doesn't look tough,

i actually think, don't be surprised if a bunch of people -- if the two of them decide to pounce on rubio. that's what cruz might do, instead of going after trump. get rid of the other guy in your way, rubio and postpone your fight with trump. >> it will be interesting. >> we'll see. >> chuck, thank you so much. turn now to the weather that's dividing the nation. blast of winter out west and record high temperatures out here in the east. >> starting in washington state where heavy snow caused treacherous driving conditions in steven's pass. accidents and spinouts kept emergency road cruise very busy. more of the same in kansas, sleet, changed to heavy snow sunday. that brought traffic to a stand till in places like dodge city, but it is a completely different story in other parts of the midwest and the east. according to noaa at least 574 record daily highs were mild or broken across the u.s. during the first ten days of december, and that was before this past weekend which saw temperatures soaring into the 60s here in the

you can expect more of the same today with temps expected to be up 30 degrees above average. i have just done al's job and i'm still going to throw to him and say, al, what's going on? >> i'll tell you, flat boy, we're looking -- i should talk. we've got the jet stream way up to the north so spring-like warmth is going to be hajjing out. big area of high pressure funneling this up. got a lot of patchy dense fog in the northeast so there could be some airport delays. look at these temperatures. today 65 in new york city and by wednesday it does cool down. pittsburgh. charleston, we'll see a temperature of 72, and as we get into the midwest, just as warm with temperatures anywhere from 10 to 30 degrees above norm a. evansville will see a high of 60 chilly. now the jet stream is dipped down to the south we've got much colder air funneling down from canada and a big low pressure system, so we are watching this snow storm start to make its way further and further to the east, but what we see for today is as

the snow. we are talking in the rockies anywhere from 12 to 18 inches of snow or more before this is all over. so we're watching this system as it makes its way east. the good news, guys, we're not going to see a big, big drop in temperatures here throughout much of the country. >> okay. >> al, thank you so much. we've got new information this morning on san bernardino shooting investigation and the warning signs that may have been missed, this as another survivor is speaking out today. nbc national correspondent miguel almaguer is in san bernardino. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. the inland regional center behind me where the shooting took place remains a focal point for investigators, this as they try to piece together what happened in the hours before and after the bloodshed h.as fbi investigates a mosque that was firebombed and another vandalized over the weekend dive teams searching for a hard drive at this lake say their work here is done, though the investigation is far from over.

farook and tashfeen malik dumped evidence here close to the time when they murdered 14 and wounded 222. jen stevens was shot twice. >> this guy comes in with a bick guy and starts shooting up, and, yeah, i just hit the ground. you don't really see the bullets them. they are really loud. >> reporter: with farook and malik radicalized as early as 2010 investigators fear the warning signs were most. malik posted ongy hawed on social media and supported it and wanted to be a part of it well before she was approved for her so-called fiancee visa into the u.s. >> i think we need to look had this very, very carefully which is what we're doing. >> reporter: today federal agents are still building their timeline between the shooting and shootout with police. in all, four and a half hours went by. what did the gunman do before they were killed? >> i saw them putting on what i

>> reporter: sergeant andy capps was among first to engage the terrorists in the final shootout. >> we could not let them get away from there because it was apparent what they intended to do. they were going to fight with us and they were going to hurt more people and we just couldn't allow that n.snoosh another focus of the investigation continues to be enrique marquez, syed farook's longtime friend who bautd the assault rifles used in the shooting. he is not a suspect, but as he continues to work with investigators, he may be one of their best leads. matt and savannah? >> all right. miguel almaguer, thank you. a sad anniversary. flags will fly hat half staff in connecticut to market third anniversary of the mass shooting at sandy hook elementary school in new town. 26 people were killed. 20 children and 6 educators. this is the first time, by the way, since the 2012 shooting, that the anniversary has actually fallen on a school day in new town so counselors will be on hand for students and

a moment of silence will be observed in the middle and high schools, but at elementary school there will be no mention of those shootings. and now to some welcome news on the economy. gas prices are dropping, even lower. looks like they may stay low through the holiday season. nbc's tom costello is at a gas station in mc good morning. >> reporter: look at this, 1.94 in virginia. my photographer says he paid 1.74 recently and we are a little bit below the national average and nationwide prices going even lower into the christmas getaway. 'tis the season for gifting and americans are already getting a little something extra in their pockets. gas prices now the lowest in years. at pump, the national average now 2.01 a gallon. kansas has the cheapest gas, 1.77 while california pays the most, 2.65 on average. how cheap is cheap?

gallon of milk at 3.34, and even a small starbuck's cove at 2.15. >> on an inflation-adjusted basis looking at some of the cheapest gas prices since early 1970s. >> reporter: just last week gas was 2.04 and last month 2.19 and since last year prices down 55 cents. the highest national average was july 2008 when gas hit 4.10 a gll. the two top reasons for the plunge, the u.s. is swimming in oil. now, producing more than it imports. meanwhile saudi arabia keeps pumping more. cheap gas is good for u.s. car sales. 16 million vehicles have rolled off dealer lots and 59% of them light trucks and suvs. >> as long as prices stay around the $2 range people will consider bigger vehicles more than when you see gas prices at $5 a gallon. >> reporter: what's that brought

>> gags was more than $4 and now it's $2 so that's pretty good. >> reporter: yeah. pretty good indeed. most experts say we couldan head lower in the coming weeks but likely to hang around $2 more or less for the next several years. by the way, look at heating oil prices. if you have cheaper oil and cheaper gas means cheaper oil prices for heating your house. looking at $1 a gallon lower than last year, so if and when winter ever does show up, you're likely to be paying less for heating your home. guys, 63 degrees here in northern virginia. back to you. >> tom costello bringing glad tidings of great weather and gas prices. >> hard to be talking about heating your home with temperatures in the 60s and 70s, but a lot of places just around the corner. >> and people are saving money on the heating bills so that's

wh >> jeremy: good morning. day. rain gear likely on stand-by the commute. times. temperatures this morning 40. 50s this afternoon. we are tracking some rain on the the way from the great lakes states. doesn't get into new england until 8:00, 9:00 tonight. we'll have some showers and brief downpours overnight tonight. the warm air stays. temperatures near 60 during the >> and that's your latest matt is it. >> thanks very much.

amazon puts some brakes on hover boards after a series of fire. >> plus on rossen reports, kids, car seats and a big mistake many parents make in the winter months. what you need to do. this is a really important story, but, first, this is "today" on nbc. anncr: when the attacks come here... ...the person behind this desk will have to protect your family. will he be impulsive and reckless, like donald trump? will he have voted to dramatically weaken counter-terrorism surveillance, like ted cruz? will he have skipped crucial national security hearings and votes just to campaign, like marco rubio? 27 generals and admirals support jeb bush. because jeb has the experience and knowledge to protect your family. right to rise usa is responsible for the content

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back to work monday. it's 7:26 right now. and jeremy reiner has a check of your forecast. good morning j.r. >> jeremy: good morning, crystal. good morning, everyone. temps warm today. another mild day in southern new england. a lot of clouds. maybe a couple of sprinkles and spritzes through the day. rain gear mainly on stand-by. showers arriving around 8:00 tonight. and overnight tonight, temps this afternoon, low 50s. temps tomorrow morning near 60. a windy day tomorrow. >> christa: all right. good news this morning. pats' fan, the team is back on top this morning with their win against the texans. they reclaimed the top seed in the a.f.c. and clinch a spot in the playoffs. tom brady threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns. he also threw t.d. passes to keshawn martin and rob gronkowski. speaking of which, gronk showing no signs at all of his injury in his first game back. governor charlie baker will recognize the two mbta workers today who helped stop a runaway red line train last week.

hold a closed-door meeting this

7:30 now on this monday morning, december 14th, 2015, and it does not feel like it. it's an unseasonal warm day here in new york city and all across the eastern seaboard. we actually hit 67 on sunday, and that snapped a 92-year-old record. it felt pretty good. we're going to talk more about that with al in a investment more about stories making headlines. our new national nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows ted cruz cutting into donald trump's lead in the republican presidential race, now just five point behind the front-runner.

place, followed by ben carson who has dropped 18 points after late october. >> president obama is making a rare visit to the pentagon today. on the agenda, he'll discuss the fight against isis with his national security team. >> and the postal service says today is the busiest mailing day of the year. officials recommend sending packages by december 21st if you want them to arrive in time for christmas. usps expects to deliver more than 1.5 billion pieces of mail this holiday season e coming up, what you could be doing that morning that puts your kids in danger. what jeff rossen shows why their kids should not wear winter coats while strapped in their car seats. >> we'll get to the that and new fallout this morning regarding the hover boards and some well-publicized incidents of them catching fire. so right in the middle of the holiday shopping season amazon has decided to yank most of

overstock.com has dropped them all together and natalie has more on this. >> yeah. supposed to be the hot gift of the holiday season, but now the consumer products safety commission is assessing the risks associated with these motorized balance boards and recognizing their popularity. the agency says the investigation is at the top of their priority list. suddenly the host gift this holiday season has turned into a product too hot to handle it's on fire. >> because of growing safety concerns that some hover boards catch fire, amazon is removing most brands from its site and overstock.com is no longer selling them at all. this hover board caught fire causing thousands of dollars in damage. >> the hover board ignited while it was being charged and actually rolled over to a bed andig nate the the bedding in the bedroom. >> fortunately no one was hurt because lithium ion batteries are considered to be the culprit, more than a dozen airlines are now banning hover

amazon is asking sellers for documentation demonstrating that all hover boards you list are complaint with applicable safety standards. but because they don't fall into a product category such as toys, hover boards aren't regulated and quality varies widely. >> i think it's a legitimate question to ask, if i buy a higher end version, am i getting a safer one and the answer is we don't know. >> one of the largest manufacturers is swagway. ellen degeneres gave one to justin bieber as a gift. in a statement swagway says it puts safety above anything else and exceeds government regulations and to date has no reports of any issues of batteries catching fire or explosions of any kind. we applaud amazon for taking these steps to weed out the low quality boards. >> experts say consumers should use caution with all hover boards. >> read all the manufacturer reference material and make sure that they are not charged unattended and do not leave them

>> that's a goodity. also, the chief says look for the ual label that says the product has been tested and meets laboratory's safety standards. >> thank you very much. >> to the weather, al. >> all righty. wet weather is making its way towards us here in the east and we're also expecting to see more heavier showers and thunderstorms moving through chicago hand maybe some airport delays. atlanta seeing some rain. this is part of a vigorous storm system that's dumping all that snow out to the west. showers through the midwest and into the northeast today and on into tomorrow and as we move to the north of this system colder air will get its way into northern main where we may see some icing conditions, but rainfall generally going to be about an inch to half an inch of rain as we watch this system make its way and its exit on into the tlant ebb. th >> jeremy: good morning. mostly cloudy skies through the day. rain gear likely on stand-by the entire day, even the evening commute. could be patchy drizzle at times. temperatures this morning 40.

we are tracking some rain on the the way from the great lakes states. doesn't get into new england until 8:00, 9:00 tonight. we'll have some showers and brief downpours overnight tonight. the warm air stays. temperatures near 60 during >> don't forget. get your weather any time you need, it weather channel on cable and weather.com online. >> all right, al. we will. coming up, first it was the red cup and now a cooker that's become unbearable for certain starbucks customers and it's become popular on trending. >> and a warning for parents. >> coming up, the common mistake parents make in the winter. how you put your child in the car seat could mean the difference life and death. we have crash tests like that that mastering irresistibly smooth. the lindor truffle ...from the lindt master chocolatiers. a hard outer shell with a smooth center. welcome to the best time of

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you think you're strapping them in and keeping their safe but you're really sweating them up for possible danger this. morning new crash test video that will help us all save a life today. >> this child dummy just went flying out of her car seat and watch this one, the little body violently tossed forward. she was happaned in, all looked good so what went wrong? here with sue from kids and cars and this my 3-year-old son blake and you say i've been making a mistake a lot of parents make about how i put blake in the car seat. >> i think you r.show me what you do. snap, snap and this feels snug to me. >> looks like it's tug and let's take him out and take the jacket off. so i do it. take blake out and remove that puffy coat and put him back in. snap, wow. >> look how loose the straps are now. >> this is unreal. >> isn't it? >> it's actually dangerous. >> reporter: to show you what can happen we're at this official crash test lab here in

climb up here for a moment. we have, as you can see, a child dumby in a winter jacket strapped into a car seat and to meet straps feel pretty tight. simulate a crash down this track at 30 miles per hour. let's get it going. three, two, and right over here, one. >> the child dummy whipping forward and just watch when we runt test again. he goes flying out. even her jacket sliding right off. look at this, so scary to see up close. miriam runs the lab. what should we do. >> see a nice fit of the harness to the child's body, shouldn't be able to punch any webbing and this should at armpit level. >> reporter: an interesting tip and no puffy winter jacket in the car seat. >> that's right. >> reporter: and it makes all the difference. this time child dumby is properly restrained. no winter coat, straps snug

look at, that dummy stays right in the seat. come this way, it wonchlt that's the proof right this. >> and if you're worried about your child being cold in the car. here's the best advice >> instead of putting the coat on him, put the coat over him to keep him warm or use a blanket like this. does this work, buddy? >> yeah. thank you. a simple move to save your child from this. >> thank to you my son who had no idea what he was a part of in that car. no question, by the way, use the car seat is the best way to keep your kids safe. just remember strap them in without the winter coat on and by the way, this is interesting. the same advice goes for adults, too. don't sit behind the wheel and don't strap yourself in with a winter coat because the seat belt will not fit against you, the same exact thing. >> wow, eye opening. >> what are you doing tomorrow? >> tomorrow we have another very interesting story. we are talking about what to do if you fall through ice. all part of our save my life series, and you can see i'm

every single winter. fact. lakes and ponds across the country look frozen over but without warning the ice breaks right under you and we're going in to show you how you get out alive and i'm a good swimmer. it's harder than you think to get out. we'll show you the safety tips of how to get out, you or your >> good morning. >> just ahead on "pop you. big news for adele fans out this morning. >> and coming up next, how people are enjoying this spring-like weather. >> cool off, wrangler. >> before the official start of red 97! set! red 97! did you say 97? yes. you know, that reminds me of geico's 97% customer satisfaction rating. 97%? helped by geico's fast and friendly claims service. huh... oh yeah, baby. geico's as fast and friendly as it gets.

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lots of nice people out thereto on a warm morning. temperatures are a hot topic on social media. let's go to tamron in for carson in the original room. >> good morning, guys. coat or no coat. what a thema to have. many cities saw record high temperatures this weekend, as al reported earlier. some places are expected to reach as high at 30 degrees above average. so, of course, we took to social media asking you to share us how you soaked up the unseasonable heat, and you replied. amy tweeted out water skiing santa in buffalo, new york. that looks friend and danny posted from albany. love putting my lights up in t-shirt but where's my snow? it's coming, i'm sure. mike put this one out. mowing the grass, washing the

who would have thought on december 12th. putting that to work and msnbc's joe scarborough tweeted out this little ditty. christmas in connecticut feels more like l.a. in december, so keep your warm winter photos coming as we, guess, should embrace them because sooner or later, al, we won't be washing the car and wearing t-shirts and santa would have been frozen on that lake for sure. >> and out west it is very snowy and very winter-like. >> all right. >> enjoyable. i did see a dog with a sweater on yesterday. that seemed wrong. a little hot. coming up, how the warm weather could save you some cold hard cash during your next trip to the mall. >> also ahead, a very big week for our friend tina fey, a new movie and an elite place in a

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>> christa: breaking news out of methuen. crews on a scene of a serious crash. a car appears to have rolled over. crews are on the scene. and as we toss things over the 7 traffic and danielle gersh, we understand, danielle, it sounds like 93 south is closed right now. >> danielle: that's right, crystal. 93 southbound is totally closed all the lanes northbound. they're diverting traffic on the route 110. you can see the overturned vehicle here in the left lane. again, this is right at route

traffic backed up all the way to rockingham place. are let's go to the maps now, and you can see, after you pass that, not too many delays from methuen on 93 southbound. you're starting to slow down again once you pass over 128 and boston. route 1 is also slow. so a bit of a mess heading north. take a look at your drive times. the expressway, the split to the tunnel, that's a slow drive. back to you, guys. >> christa: all right, daniel. thank you. gate quick check of your forecast with j.r. >> jeremy: a lot of clouds. temperatures in the 40s with sprinkles and drizzle through the day. steadier showers hold off until about 8:00 tonight. >> we'll keep you up to date on this breakin praised as one of america's best mayors

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it's 8:00 on "today." coming up, warm weather hot deals y.this month's record breaking temperatures could mean big savings for shoppers this holiday season. plus, shaking it off. how taylor swift made up with apple and is now teaming up with them to bring her concerts to you. and it's a star-studded morning in studio 1a. kurt russell stops by to talk about his ruthless new role. >> no offense, cowboy, fella. just getting your attention. >> while the one and only tina fey brings the laughs as she talks about starring in "sisters" with her best buddy

>> congrats on your wrestling championship. >> it's ralph lauren. >> is that how you say it? >> yes. >> do you get good wi-fi with that? >> "today," ", ," december 14th. >> from texas, we're loving our neck of the woods. >> here from san diego to get a hug from savannah. >> happy holidays from south carolina! >> merry christmas from santa clara on the "today" show. >> we're back now. 8:00 on a monday morning. it's the 14th day of december. 2015, and if you would have told

out here with thin jackets we probably would have told you you're crazy. a nice start to the day. >> it's gorgeous out here. >> i don't even know why we're wearing coats. very exciting, tina fey is here, absolutely one of our favor ritz and has a new movie called "sisters" with amy poehler. aim here the other day and now tina's side of the storey. >> she and amy will be hosting "saturday night live" and that puts tina in an extremely exclusive club. talk about that coming up. >> first inside to natalie with a check of the top stories of the morning. nat, good morning. >> good morning to you, and in the news this morning egypt saying today it still has no evidence of a terrorism link and the downing of a russian passenger jet over egypt in october. russia is standing by its own finding that the plane with 224 people on board was destroyed by a bomb and an islamic state group claimed responsibility saying it was to avenge russian air strikes in syria. russia has escalated those strikes in response to the incident.

security team are meeting at pentagon this morning to fine tune their isis strategy. it's the president's first trip to the pentagon since the terrorist attacks in paris and san bernardino. in his weekly address the president said american air strikes are having an impact on isis leadership, fighters and weapons. a deadly police shooting in southern california sparked a public outcry this weekend. nbc's blake mccoy is in lynnwood, california, with new video. blake, good morning. >> reporter: natalie, good morning. to you. this is not chicago. that is the message clearly on display here in los angeles this morning with the quick release of the surveillance tapes. authorities believe the tapes show the public was in danger and the shooting justified. >> no justice, no peace. >> no justice, no peace. >> for a second day outrage in los angeles. >> why do you keep on doing this? >> reporter: other this cell phone video showing l.a. county

shooting nicholas robertson as he walked away, firing 13 times, even as he crawled on the ground. it's unclear how many bullets hit robertson, but this video only shows part of the story. says the sheriff's department snow see the suspect entering the frame. weapon in hand. >> these surveillance clips released sunday just 24 hours after the shooting showed the man holding what appears to be a gun. deputies say they were called after he shot the weapon in the air at a residential neighborhood and briefly went into a pizzeria, gun in hand. >> he's handling the gun in an odd sort of way and seems to be agitated. >> reporter: even after falling to the ground, robertson still appears to be holding the gun. deputies believed they were in danger and so were two women and three children just feet away at the gas station. the sheriff says he's well aware of public sentiment across the country surrounding police shootings. that's have he's being as transparent as possible so

cannot police themselves. they want an independent investigation. natalie? >> blake mccoy in lynnwood, california, thank you. now to some incredible video from san diego of a community coming together this weekend to help land a struggling hot air balloon packed with a gondola full of people that was coming ghoub a neighborhood. the balloon got caught in a tree on a roof and then on a car. eventually neighbors were able to pull its lines and guide it to a safe landing. and some holiday magic on display in england. builders were remodeling a house and they found a christmas wish -- list that was written 70 years ago. it was tucked inside the chimney and asked for things like a pair of slippers, a tie and a pencil box. the build efforts tracked down the boy who wrote it. he is now a 78-year-old grandfather grandfather, and they even the brought him some of the presents that were mentioned on the list. >> cute. >> that's a great christmas wish answered. >> love it. >> better late than never. >> natalie, thank you. winter officially arrives in

unseasonably warm temperatures it hasn't felt that way across much of the country. >> but that's good news, could save you a bundle if you want to prepare for the dheeld will inevitable come. nbc's olivia sterns is we are that story. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. can you believe it was 70 degrees at jfk. that's wild. the last thing it makes you want to do is run out and buy a coat. the warm temperatures certainly chilly news for retailers as cold weather gear is pile up on shelves, but the good news for you, stores are looking to unload merchandise at a big discount. >> reporter: from coats to boots and hats and gloves scores are all geared up for the cold winter. the only thinged is the weather isn't cooperating. >> guess what? it feels like march out there. we are going to see temperatures that are way above normal. >> reporter: so far this season it's warmer, a lot warmer. in the northeast, november was 4 to 6 degrees above average and 5 to 8 degrees higher in the midwest. and when it comes to winter

means major markdowns. >> we have a great assortment within outerwear and we're offering really great values so it's a good time for customers to shot. >> a big bust for retailers stoktd up on inventory based on last year's cooler than normal weather. many this year blamed disappointing seasons on higher temperatures. unseasonably warm weather has really put a damper on coat sales and sales of boots and that's combined with the unusual mark downs you see this time and equals the huge savings bonanza. how bad is it? tweter sales down 3%, boots 2% and blankets plummeted down 10% compared to last year. what's bad news for retailers is good news for bargain hunters. warm temperatures mean hot deal, up to 50 boston off or more.

heavy discounting until after the holiday. because inventory is so far they are trying to unlow merchandise 1z mace''s, j. crew and the gap, experts say, and if you're bargain hunting this is the year to pounce. >> now is the great time to give the gift of warmth, gloves, coats, hats, scarves. you're going to get great deals on these gifts and after the holidays you can buy some goodies for yourself. a couple of things to consider before you run out to the mall though or perhaps click checkout online, yes, coats and other winter gear are marked down right now, but the deepest discounts will actually be the week before christmas as steve forbes unload and the longer you wait, the bigger the sale. worries they swroent your size or color left.

maxx, marshall's and main street retailers will have merchandise to unload and the discount stores will make out. not every brand, looking for high popular items like uugs or canada goode, as you know none of these go on sale. >> many used last winter as their guide. >> no polar vortex in sight. >> coming up, move over, maria. what conde-throned her song in stores? and never mind a dog. it's turkeys now tormenting your postal air year. >> and look who is here, miss tina fey to talk about her wild side and she will talk about

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[ laughter ] [ male announcer ] for tim and richard smucker, giving a gift of their family's delicious jam always made the holidays just a little bit sweeter. we forgot to put our names on them! richard, i think they'll know who it's from. thank you boys. you're welcome. you're welcome. [ male announcer ] happy holidays from our family to yours. i love christmas! all right.

8:12. good time for what's trend and here's a study that turns over an assumption a lot of people have about those who curse a lot. namely, that they are not very articulate and that they use four-letter words as a crux. we've all thought, that right? >> why are you looking at me? >> you're not that bad. people who swear frequently it turns out actually have larger vocabulary. scientists say those folks tend to be careful about using foul-mouthed language reserving the words for the right times, so we brought an exer in the on this topic because in her new movie "sisters" tina fey, it would turn out has one of the most extensive volk bris anyone has ever had. tina, you buy this? >> yeah. i think -- yes, i think there's a lot of beauty in curse words and when used perfectly they are elegant >> the a half fame cursor in this movie, construction site level cursing. >> probably the most you've are

>> that you've seen on camera. >> i like the study that stus they have bigger vocabulary. >> 0 extra curse words. >> we're going to talk to tina about that movie coming up. what's a typical work day for you guaranteed you? do not have to face anything like this guy. take a look. >> every day. >> wow. >> every day. >> every day. >> that's right. he fend off a flock of turkeys. yes, he's got that handy pole to keep them at bay. >> they do not like the mailman. >> not a lot more to this story but i have to say it's just hilarious. >> made it past thanksgiving and now we're coming for you. >> strength in numbers. next up, late starbuck's controversially. >> oh, boy. >> as if they needed another one. coffee chain became the target of social media for the red cups. some people say it wasn't christmassy enough. well, now they are trying to kill polar bears, according to some. >> look at this the cooky.

its cute little polar bear wearing a red scarf, right? >> anyone see anything else. >> get over it. >> yeah. >> well, to some online it's not a scarf, it's blood around the bear's neck. >> oh, come on! >> really? >> come on. >> a post about this went up last week, and it already has more than 3 million views. >> oh, boy. >> renewing calls of a war on christmas. >> maybe a war on polar bears. >> why does it have to do with christmas? >> because it's a christmas cookie. >> the polar bear cookie was discontinued in 2010, starbuck's saying part of a rotating holiday cookie. >> so those are old cookies. >> pictures of former cookies. >> i think they brought them sglak did they bring them back? >> so they are back now. >> they are adorable. >> i don't see it. >> would you curse about this? >> i could. >> oh, they are not back. >> people reacting to old

>> discontinued. >> so their outrage is also -- >> outdated -- >> what the -- >> big news from adele and taylor swift and a big honor for one of the most iconic women in sports. let's to ""pop start." >> adele just announced this morning, next year, she will tour. it kicks off july 5, st. paul, minnesota and wraps up in mexico city and in between she will hit l.a., new york, washington, nashville, miami, atlanta and dallas. >> see you there. >> yes, we will. >> mark your calendars and tickets go on sale this thursday at 10:00 a.m. >> i know what i'm doing -- focused on next week. >> set your alarm, and to get an idea of what to expect. watch adele's special "live in new york city" at 10:00 right here on nbc and next to "sports illustrated" and the coveted honor of their sports person of the year.

so who is joining the ranks of muhammad ali, billie jean king and michael jordan? this year the honor goes to the great serena williams. the magazine saying this year serena proved to be a force on and off the court, winning three major titles and completing her second serena slam. >> kind of shy. >> she didn't want to come from behind the curtain. >> and she did it also fighting for racial justice and gender equality. serena saying she's beyond honored for recognition. congrats to her and i saw on al's instagram picture he hung out with serena williams and next taylor swift at one point this year she threatened to boycott apple. why are you laughing, savannah is. >> was just peeping his i gi account. >> that's what the kids are saying. >> i'm having enough trouble with social media without you doing abbreviations on me.

i.g. to look. >> look at the i.g. account. >> probably the instagram. >> that's why it would be great. >> moving on. let me go back to my script. where are we? taylor swift. >> thank you. >> at one point this year she threatened to boycott apple, but in a big shift she's now doing business with them. taylor inking a deal so apple can exclusively stream footage from her 1989 concert tour which just wrapped on saturday. it will be available to subscribers to apple music. taylor turned 26 on sunday. happy birthday, taylor. happy belated one to her. finally, mariah carey known as the queen of christmas thanks to her mega hit california all i want for christmas is you." for 20 years the most holiday played song at retailers across the country and the play list provided bid plate network, and that company now says that for the first time since the song's release in 1994 there's a new favorite and it's a cover of paul mccartney "wonderful

classic is now second. that's your "pop start." >> your kids will be impressed when you go home today. >> i'm sure they will. >> check of the weather. >> let's get to it and show what you we've got going on, and we're looking at a big storm system right now out west and here in the east. snow in parts of the men ask a and iowa. wet weather through chicago. the good news is we are going to be looking at temperatures that are staying nice and mild here in the eastern two-third of the no big changes there. the cooler weather though is going to be banked out west, eventually makes its way east and 80s in florida and 70s along the mid-atlantic coast and 67s throughout the ohio and wet weather making its way from the upper midwest to the northeast. patchy dense fogg here in the northeast, lots of snow out west and another storm >> jeremy: good morning. day.

entire day, even the evening commute. could be patchy drizzle at times. temperatures this morning 40. 50s this afternoon. we are tracking some rain on the the way from the great lakes states. doesn't get into new england until 8:00, 9:00 tonight. we'll have some showers and brief downpours overnight tonight. the warm air stays. temperatures near 60 during matt? >> all right. a thank you very much. one of the most entertaining teams in comedy getting together again. tina fey and amy poehler star in the new movie "sisters" playing siblings determined to throw an epic party before their parents sell their childhood home. >> danger. walk away. that's a black diamond slope. >> why aren't you partying? >> because i'm the designated mom tonight. i'm keeping everybody safe. do you have kids? >> i'm sure i do.

type for some reason. tina, good morning. >> nice to see you. good morning, matt, how are you? >> thank you. subjects. >> i'd love to. >> sometimes you watch a movie and an actor or actress with a lot of cursing in the dialogue. don't seem that comfortable with it. this is like one those cases. >> like an old swaddling blank fret my baby times. very comfortable to swear. amy and i, an r-rated movie and while jokes are not all just swearing, there are real jokes, fun for us having done broadcast tv, you know, for 20 years between us to be able to curse a little bit. >> the dialogue between the two of you is very, very funny. >> thank you. >> you get back together and you plate wilder older sister. >> yes. >> and she plays the more good-natured and good hearted sister. >> yes. >> art imitating life. is the that the way we should be? >> in real life i would say we're both the good sister and it was so fun for me to play the out-of-control wrecking ball

up, and it -- it was just so fun to be with maya and people we've known forever. very good time for sure. >> when you do an "snl" reunion like that with maya and amy and bobby main hate. >> kate mckinnon. >> do you approach movie differently in the shooting family? >> the writer at "snl" for many years, paula, she would sit on set and write more jokes while we were shooting, write jokes on post-its and hand them in to us and trust everyone to improvise. can you turn maya on and roll on her for an hour. >> you throw this party and throw all the kids that were part of your group or sometimes outside your group in high school. >> yes. >> and anybody watching the movie can check off all those people. we've all had those people in our lives. >> yeah. >> which takes me back to you as a teenager, which group were you in? >> i was like -- a high functioning nerd, you know, like

choir, so we have our own little subset of friend. not a drop of alcohol. >> if i told your friends in high school at the time that you would go on to become this tina fey they would say or have said? >> they would say she only has one eyebrow, how is she going to work out? i'm going to wax them and make two. >> this would be surprising to your high school? >> i would think so. >> you're going back to host "snl" with amy this week. that puts you, i'll rolled names, puts you in an, teamly exclusive club. here they are here. >> yes. >> all my boyfriends. >> the five-timers club. >> the five-timers club. >> yeah, when lorne called and said amy and i want to host together, yes, but i have to ask you a really serious question, if we host together does it count to getting me in the five-timers club? >> are ow four and a half in. >> alec once hosted with kim

>> treating it like major league baseball stats. >> not being funny in, career highlights, that would be where? >> that would be like third behind lighting the christmas tree once with you and then this interview right now. >> that's good. really. you've been doing a lot of publicity for the movie. >> yes. >> let me fact check on a couple of things that have come out during interviews of late. amy poehler sometimes calls you bet? >> yes. >> my first name is really elizabeth. elizabeth tina so she knows people know that so she calls me betty. >> is betty a term of endearment or because iaged? >> i think it's a term of endearment. >> amy admired a joke you told about catherine the sglat. >> yeah, probably. again, so good at swearing. not a joke i could tell you right now. >> you have a joke about catherine the great?

>> there's another up, you apparently want one thing for christmas. >> just want to take a nap. >> you want pot holders? >> i do want pot holders. my pot holders are worn out. i'm turning into my movement i don't want anything. you understand it now. when you're a mom, i don't want anything. >> are you that big a cook? >> matt, you ruined christmas! and gave it to me early. these are nice, thank you. i'll seriously use these. >> put them under the tree and pretend you didn't get them until christmas day. >> i will do that. the way. >> thank you. >> opened on friday and catch tina and amy back on "snl." >> thanks, matt. i'm seriously pumped about these, our pleasure. >> thank you so much.

ism we're following breaking news out of methuen. crews on the scene of a serious accident on 93 south in methuen near route 110. you see a car appears to have rolled over there. danielle gersh is here. danielle, how are those roads looking now? >> danielle: still a lot of traffic up north toward methuen. the accident is on route 10 in the southbound lane. all lanes are closed. they're hoping to have them opened in the next 15 minutes. northbound you're fine, but the traffic is all the way back the rockingham park, so something to keep in mind. you're still slow on 93 southbound from 128 into boston. route 1 very slow, as well. the pike backed up all the way to framingham.

128 up to newton, very slow, as well, and the expressway over half an hour from the braintree split into boston. back to you. >> sarah: all right. let's get a quick check of the forecast now with jeremy reiner. hey, j.r. >> jeremy: sarah, a couple clouds out there now. a few sprinkles and spritzes through the day. rain arriving by 8:00 this evening, overnight tonight. tomorrow the rain is gone, but the warm air stays near 60. windy day tomorrow. ism "today in new england" returns at 9:00. we hope to see you then. for lynn's family, the big stress is paying four hundred dollars a month in medical and drug costs for aidan. for other families it's higher deductibles, premiums and co-pays that keep adding up. that's why we've got to crack down on price gouging, cap out-of-pocket costs, and fast track approval of less expensive

health care costs under control for lynn's family and for yours. i'm hillary clinton and i

. we're back now. it's a monday morning, the 14th of december, 2015. 384:30 in the morning. pretty day out here on our plaza, huge crowd and huge happy crowd getting ready for the holidays, and by the way, a golden globe nominated series

we'll talk to kristen coming up. >> oh, my gosh. >> look at this bear. >> pigger than her. >> good morning, everybody. nice to have you on our plaza. >> also ahead as we just told people kurt russ sell here. >> wrangler. >> we'll have a little talk with wrangler after that. kurt is here and starring in the new quentin tarantino film called "the hateful eight" including the epic stash that he had to grow for the role. >> all right, and we put out the call for sweet treat and the highlight in today's holiday cookie swap and this morning we finally get to sink our teeth into our first delicious batch. >> that's right. >> and, folks, don't forget. we are throwing our good friend sendoff tomorrow. we'll get you ready for it with a look back at some of our favorite willard moments. >> looking forward to.

hour starting with the weather. >> looking at week ahead. start off with a flood threat in the northern plains in the early part of the week and wintry in the northern plains and heavy snow back through the rockies that. snow continues in the pacific northwest and mid-week heavier rain making its way into the northeast, mid-atlantic states and storms along the east coast and the latter part of the week, sunshine for the eastern two-third of the country with mountain rain and snow and hangs around. you can see it stays warm here in the east and cold out west and mid-week still toasty in the much below normal through the rockies and then the latter part of the week things start to normal out. that's w >> jeremy: good morning. mostly cloudy skies through the day. rain gear likely on stand-by the entire day, even the evening commute. times. temperatures this morning 40. 50s this afternoon. we are tracking some rain on the the way from the great lakes states. doesn't get into new england until 8:00, 9:00 tonight.

brief downpours overnight tonight. the warm air stays. temperatures near 60 during >> don't forget check your weather any time you need it. go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. well, this morning we're launching a new make your today series called "pay it forward. ""all of us picked a special person or organization that's meant something to tus and tried to do something special for them. >> today it's my turn and this one is close to home for all of us because i picked someone from our family, our "today" show family. >> welcome to "today" on a busy tuesday morning. >> over the course -- >> when you turn on the "today" show in the morning, this is the

this is my view of the dozen of people working furiously behind scenes to get us on the air every day. eric hill is one of those people. eric has been a production assistant on "today" for almost 30 years and is someone i always look forward to seeing, and i'm not alone. >> every time you walk past eric, he's got a smile on his face and a chuckle in his that's right. >> eric is one of the greatest guys i've ever known. >> eric goes above and beyond to make sure that everyone who comes into his life feels special. >> but for the last six months we've been missing eric because he's been in his hometown of pittsburgh, pennsylvania, being treated for stage four colon cancer, and even though right now he's in the in the studio every morning, we wanted him to know that we are right by his side and maybe one small thing we could do would be to honor a time-test trade digs. >> here it is, 929th annual macy's thanksgiving day parade.

has been with us at the macy's thanksgiving day parade, taking his annual christmas card photo with us, his cohorts. from his very first photo in 1990 with katie and willard. >> doesn't seem like thanksgiving though without a picture of you, me and matt, eric, and i miss, that and i miss you. >> it's always something we look forward to. >> it was very, very special, because you saw in him the true meaning of the holidays. just like a little kid. >> as the years progressed and so did the themes and costumes from a christmas carol to a christmas story, from rudolph to ghost busters and elf. we've always been happy to be eric's elves, and this would have been his 25th anniversary at the parade, but eric's health didn't permit him to be there, so we didn't want him to miss a special milestone. >> look at this. >> with the help of a cardboard cutout and several wacky costumes we tried to do what

>> eric, we wish you a speedy recovery. we miss you, pal. we love you. have a really happy holiday, doctor's orders. >> come back soon. >> take two of these and call us in the morning. >> as we snapped our photos for eric we knew that mailing this card wouldn't do. we wanted it to be a special delivery, a surprise special delivery. we sent one of our camera crews to pittsburgh. all we told eric was that we were shooting staff holiday greetings. he had no idea i was there. >> it's been incredible journey because it's -- it's family. we joke sometimes like i'll see andrew and a couple other people, joanne, like who are the lifers, who -- who survived, but you meet some great people coming back and forth. >> did you say family? >> family. >> hello, good buddy. >> my god. >> how you doing? >> this is a gotcha. >> we feel the same way. >> i love you, i miss you. >> we miss you too. >> doing good. i'm great now.

>> we wanted to come out here and you just said family, 28 years. >> mm-hmm. >> for 24 of those 28 years you have come to the thanksgiving day parade with your crazy costumes and your wacky props. >> mm-hmm. >> and you've dressed us all up and we've taken those amazing pictures for your holiday card. >> you've been great sports. >> and i know you, eric, were disappointed you couldn't be there to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that. >> yeah. >> and we were disappointed, too. we really were and we didn't want you to think that we wouldn't let that milestone or would let that milestone go by without stopping to do something special. so after the parade we got together. >> yeah. >> and we took some liberties. you were there in spirit. >> and the i want to show you that we didn't forget the 25th. >> oh, my god. >> a cardboard cutout and there

years, happy holidays. >> that is -- >> i'm lost for words. that is awesome. and you dressed up. >> so it's our way of saying having a happy holiday, doctor's orders. >> we miss you. >> you're the best. i miss you guys, too. hill. we're hoping he's watching this morning and getting better and recovering than he can be back to the 26th macy's day parade. >> not the same without you, eric. we miss you so much. >> miss. >> you and we love you, and i hope to see you soon. >> tomorrow i'm going to pay it forward a little bit, too, with some kids going through a tough time that i can definitely about that. up next, kurt russell on his new golden globe nominated move "the hateful eight" but first on

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we're back now at 8:30 with kurt russell who stars as one of the despicable characters, and we mean that in the nicest way in tarn tarn's highly anticipated movie "the hateful eight." take a look. >> you ain't got mixed emotions about bringing a woman. >> by woman, you mean her? no. i do not have mixed emotion. >> so you take in. >> you bet. >> you going to wait around and watch it? >> you know i am. >> i want to hear her neck snap in my own two ears. >> good lines, and i actually think you're the facest of the hateful eight. i actually think you're like the sweetie of the try. >> of course, so do i. >> tarantino hand picked you for this role and he loved you. i checked with our censors and can use what we said about you and says you're a bad ass and he

>> he does, i guess, enjoy putting me in these roles. had a great time with him and this one was fantastic. the cast is the -- they are just a great group of people they are fantastic at what the they do, and quintin's just unique. there's only one of him. >> the script is so clever and got nominated for a golden globe, by the way. >> let's just talk about what we have to talk about, the mustache. >> that took a little while. >> like its own character in the film. >> that's true, true. >> so many questions. is it real, was it real? >> yeah, yeah, took about four months to grow. >> no, no. >> i did a picture just before this and i went of the went to the halfway house with more of a mustache and shaved the beard and let mustache keep going. it's like a mustache wearing a man. >> really is. if there could be a golden globe for the mustache you would get it there, would be no competition. >> a lot of people said that deserves an award. >> how did the mustache go over

>> not real gooded. >> how did goldie like it? >> ears ago when i had "tombstone" i had a pretty decent sweeper going and i learned then that goldie wasn't a big fan and actually neither was i and she understood we would have to muscle through it and it was real nice when it came off. >> by the way, it looks like -- nice shoot in the sense that you like everybody, but the conditions looked incredibly grueling. you're in a plies ard for most of it. >> well, you know, in the process of shooting it and where we shot it, turl i'd only four hours from or place in aspen. i'm very used to that. i love that part of the world. i love being there and being in bad. it really wasn't bad. we had a pretty nice winter and had as much snow as we needed in all of that, but, yeah, your feet get cold. >> tarantino has two rules on set that i personally could not live by. one no, electronic gadgets and, two, no nap.

>> you really don't want to go here. >> really, why? >> because -- >> that just makes me want to go there more. >> i lost -- be careful what you say here, you might get what you wish for. you know, he doesn't let -- nothing is turned on or off which everybody loved. >> yeah. >> but other one, napping, i've grown up on sets and love napping, and he just doesn't like it when you go to sleep so if you do go to sleep there's a thing called big jerry that's going to be snuck in beside where you are taking and they will take a picture and you will go on the wall of shame and i'll leave big jerry alone. >> going tele. >> little early in the morning for big jer. >> i shouldn't, have i forgot about the second part of story. kurt rils, thank you so much. "the hateful eight" opens in

up next, sweet treats are kick [sfx: sound of hippo's roar] hippo. [sfx: sound of hippo's roar] crit. [sfx: sound of hippo's roar] one bellows. [sfx: hippo sound, light music] one bellows malarkey. donald trump repeatedly says one thing, does another. the hypocrite says he's champion of american workers, but had his line of trump ties made in china. some of the laborers on his palatial dc hotel? illegal immigrants. [sfx: hippo sound] neither for president. america needs proven, honorable leadership. john kasich. new day for america is

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back now at 8:46 with a kickoff to today's holiday cookie swap. >> all this week we're going to get into the spirit of the season with our favorite seasonal treats. >> it's the most wonderful time of the year. made of sugar and spice and everything nice. >> when i bite into my favorite cookie, it makes me feel like a kid again. deliciousness. >> when cookie searches are at an all-time high and three-quarters of americans consume more cookies than any other month of the rear. >> nothing beats the perfect moist, soft, yet still somewhat gooey cooky. >> sugeary, chocolate chip and ginger bread along the most popular. >> when i think cookie, i think chinese almond cookied with the chocolate in the middle. >> america, we asked you to tell

>> my favorite cooky is from helen's kitchen in charlotte, north carolina. secret is it's a great cookie and then she sprinkles a little sea salt on top, mwah. >> and give a shout-out to the bakeries that made them. >> my favorite is lavanes dark chocolate peanut butter chip. >> when i think cookies, i think happiness. >> and you answered. today's great american cookie swap, georgia, you voted for the toffee cookie and ohio the buckeye, and california, persimmon cooky. >> it takes gooded. >> this is like a blueberry muffin if it were smashed down into a perfect little cookie, just like in a. >> so go ahead and indulge and take a bite out of holiday season. >> we are such dorks. a few weeks ago we started our nationwide hunt for great cookies and asked you to number nate an awesome bakery in your state.

picked the bakers that rose to the top and our first match from michigan, texas and colorado starting with chill mcclear fretom's mom cookies in harbor springs, michigan. cheryl has worked there for 20 years and owned the company for 20. good morning. good to see you. >> good morning. >> people say franchise this out and you say no why? >> i say no because if i keep it small i'll keep it good and i want it good always. >> your cookie res see what is. >> white chocolate with pupper sglint what makes it special? >> a lot of peppermint. >> so i'm going to add some white chocolate chips in here and peppermint sticks, a little more white chocolate and peppermint extract and you have got to add a lot of that. there's already some in the dough and i added that. >> mix that together. >> roll it out in a loss, cut it and bake it. >> delicious. >> oh, my -- >> mm-hmm.

introduce our next baker. caly ann buck, amazing, also a college student and has her own bakery and making beautiful chocolate chip cookies and you -- you're a student. i don't understand how you have time to do all this. >> yes, actually, when i started the company i took a semester off from school and now that i'm back in school in boston and i have two texas a&m students that continue the business and we run it together. >> what's the name of your company, caly-in cookie. >> i like that. >> we like to pull them out of the oven about three minutes before and the edges will be a little bit crispy and whenou pull them out you leave them on the pan for 10 to 15 minutes and let them continue to cook and from there you take them off and boda-bing, they are done. >> so you're take them a little bit before they are done. >> yes. >> usually like three minutes. >> great. >> like them soft and chewy.

representing denver, colorado, danon moore from cake crumbs. she opened her bakery eight years ago and people come from good morning. happy holidays? what was your reason for starting your business it is. >> i love cakes and decorating and i live in the neighborhood where we are and i really wanted to create something that could successfully think that's great. >> the cookie you're making is an oatmeal cranberry cookie. what's the secret to it. >> yeah. >> do you use fresh cranberries? >> no, we don't. we used dried cranberries because i don't like raisins, but, really, huge scoop. growing up as a colorado skier i loved giant cookies at the end of a good ski day so big or go home. >> and when you use the ice cream scoop like that they all come out basically uniform size. >> that's great. >> thank you. thanks for all the recipes, and

more about these recipes head to today.com/food. we'll introduce you to more bakers in just a little whooil. >> all right. coming up next as we get set to celebrate the great willard scott tomorrow, we'll take a look back at one of his signature moment on the show >> these were awesome. >> burks fir, this is "today" on

today's thank you, willard, is sponsored by smuckers. thanking willard for the 20 great years of friendship. >> well, this morning we have to say how by thor sweet it is. after 35 years here at "today" willard is retiring tomorrow. we have a huge party planned. >> that's right. over the years we calculated that willard has helped smuckers wish more than 40,000 americans happy birthday as they reach the incredible milestone of 100 years old, but he's not only famous for birthdays. one of willard's most iconic moments came when he dressed up on a dare for charity as carmen miranda long before there were viral moments, there was willard scott. >> long before matt started cross-dressing, willard was cross-dressing. >> carmen miranda. >> carmen miranda. >> boom, here's carmen miranda. >> what a privilege to have been >> they are still talking about it. that was one of those moments on

>> i'll never get that image out of my head. >> everybody was blown away. >> there was a heartfelt reason for doing it. >> i'm a big man of uso. >> we thank you. >> it was for charity. it was to help people. >> if you didn't think i had fun, you are crazy. >> if the internet had existed when willard did carmen miranda. he would have broken the internet. >> so great. >> such a great moment. >> people were talking about that for week. >> one of the first things people mention when we say his name. again we'll have a approximate very proper sendoff for will yard tomorrow on "today" to cap his remarkable run here at nbc. >> he's a legend. >> i love it. >> and he dressed up as boy george once. he really literally has done it all. >> matt, you really carried that tradition on proudly. >> with a genius to have inspired me. that's what i did, no question. >> a lot more about will yard tomorrow and much more on a monday morning. what's coming up next hour?

around to talk with us. >> and our cookie swap as well. >> and we finally get to sink our teeth into youmy cookies. >> i'm going to finish my cooky. >> which is delicious. >> lots more. a check of your local news, your

number 87 helpings the pats in their texas take down. what went wrong after flames broke out at this home. new numbers in the g.o.p. white house. just how close it is newest "star wars" film days away from awakening. a look at local fan's collection straight out of the galaxy, far, far, away. >>meteorologist: we have a lot of clouds on the way. tracking rain for the night. >> that's all mornings. wonderful, crazy mornings. we figure you probably don't have time to wait on hold. that's why at xfinity we're hard at work, building new apps like this one that lets you choose a time for us to call you.

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