this morning on "early today" -- executive action. president obama announces a plan to help ease the burden of student loans. tables turned. surveillance video captures a store clerk taking matters into his own hands during an attempted robbery. and end of an era. a massive holdover from the u.s. and end of an era. a massive holdover from the u.s. cold war with russia is no more. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with on the offensive. white house officials say president obama is ready to roll out the next arm of his we can't

wait economic initiative in denver today with a plan to ease the burden on students and recent grads loaded down with debt. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that and the president's latest approval ratings. good morning to you. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. we're about to reach $1 trillion in student loan debt in this country for the first time outpacing credit cards this year. today in colorado, at the university of colorado, president obama is expected to announce new rules that he calls pay as you earn. they would allow college grads to consolidate old and new loans with a half% discount on their interest rate, lowering patients. for many students, preventing default. one payment instead of two, making it a lot easier for them to get that debt paid down. college, still a good deal, inasmuch as unemployment rates for college grads are half of that the national unemployment

rate. what are all these new initiatives doing for president obama's approval rating? according to the latest new york times/cbs poll, it's even. 46% approve, 46% disapprove. he got a bump recently by announcing all of our troops would be coming home from iraq by the end of this year. >> thanks so much. and that same "new york times"/cbs news poll tracie was referencing, found americans are united on one front. dissatisfaction with congress. 9% approve of the job congress is doing. a whopping 84% disapprove. that's a 22% jump since republicans took control of the house back if january. when asked which gop presidential candidate they prefer, 25% chose businessman herman cain. one-time front runner mitt romney came in with 21% while texas governor rick perry has tumbled to 6%. also weighing in on the gop

race, president obama. last night during his second appearance on "the tonight show with jay leno." >> now, have you been watching the gop debates? >> i'm going to wait until everybody's voted off the island. >> really? >> once they narrow it down to one or two, i'll start paying attention. elsewhere, a newly released report on income levels in this country may shed some light as to why more and more frustrated americans are taking to the streets in protest. according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office, the disparity between how much money americans make has risen sharply over the past three decades. from 1979 to 2007 income for the wealthiest 1% nearly tripled, far outpacing income growth for all over groups. well, while the majority of demonstrations sympathizing with occupy wall street across the

country have been largely peaceful, that was not the case yesterday in california. riot police in oakland used tear gas and flash bangs to disperse antiwall street protesters camped out in front of city hall fort past two weeks. the crowd had been ordered to disperse earlier in the day, but they later regrouped and marched back to city hall. at least 85% were arrested. and now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. a kentucky store clerk turned the tables on a would-be robber who threatened to kill him. the clerk was able to grab the suspect's gun and shoot him before he was able to escape. the suspect was arrested when police arrived. in kansas a tractor-trailer wreck on interstate 70 killed the driver of the wheel behind a semi. it took down a hanging sign post and shut down traffic in both directions for several hours before emergency crews were able to contain the spillage from the rig's tanker.

the cause of the accident has not been determined. well, florida beach goers stumbled upon a publicity stunt. the only question being, whose? a 100-pound, 8-foot tall lego man with the words "no real than you are" on his front, at least appeared to have washed ashore. orlan orlando's lego land denied any responsibility. similar statutes are turned up in england and holland. officials believe it may be the work of artist ego leonard. get it? whose name is on the back of the statue. recent video shows one arizona couple who refused to wait for the dust to settle before starting their life together. look at that. they exchanged vows as a massive wall of dust crashed their september wedding. they will be featured on the today show to discuss their up

in tals. till dust do us part. for a look at your national and regional weather, here's bill karins. >> i get to talk about a hurricane and snowstorm but that was more amazing. good morning, let's get right to it. a snowstorm in colorado to deal with. interstate 80 closed coming out of wyoming this morning. cheyenne is getting heavy snow overnight. denver is break out in snow now. accumulating snow will be heavy down the colorado springs and eventually to the southern rockies, too. winter storm warnings throughout the front range and some interior. all the white on this map is snow. the heaviest is in the little blue coloring near greeley. colorado springs now cold enough. you're starting to pick up snow echoes, too. not quite in pueblo. as far as snow accumulation goes, the bull's eye in pink is 6 to 12 with some spots picking up 1 to 2 feet. that's at higher elevations. in denver we're looking at a possibility of a foot of notice it was 80 monday.

rina, a small hurricane but intense. hurricane center thinks it's heading for cancun. throughout the day tomorrow, they could be dealing with possibility of maybe even a strong major hurricane. significant damage is possible. then it weakens as it heads toward cuba. south florida you look okay. for everyone else in the ohio valley, it's an active weather day. bring that umbrella, rain for you. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. chance of showers and wet weather in many spots. indianapolis, nashville. the snow in colorado. but we are going to see an active weather pattern moving across the country in the next few days. and to top it off, by the time the storm gets to the east coast, some interior sections of new england could see snow thursday night. >> get ready. bill, thanks so much. coming up, doubts about europe, earnings do a u-turn, and a woman prepares to take the helm at another american business giant. your early morning business

headlines are straight ahead. plus, for years you could say he led the dead but now there's a new top earner from beyond. coming up, terrell owens back in. and tonight's world series game could be canceled. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headline this morning. turkish state media is reporting an 18-year-old student has been pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed apartment building 61 hours after a 7.2 magnitude quake devastated the region. rescuers have been searching around the clock for survivors. at least 461 people have been killed. eight new york city police officers have been brought up on federal charges in an alleged gun-smuggling ring. the men are accused of taking part in schemes to illegal by

transport guns, slot machines, cigarettes across state line. five of the men were active duty officers. a former goldman sachs board member is expected to surrender to federal authorities today to face criminal insider trading reeld charges. rajat gupta is accused of providing information that allowed convicted former billionaire hedge fund managerer raj rajaratnam to earn $1 million. former "60 minutes" commentator andy rooney has been hospitalized after developing serious complications from minor surgery. the 92-year-old is said to be in stable condition. and in texas, the last of the most powerful b-53 bombs made by the u.s. in 1962 during the height of the cold war has been dismantled. the 10,000-pound bomb was 600 times more powerful than the one dropped on hiroshima. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,706 after

tumbling 207 points yesterday. the s&p dropped 25 points. the nasdaq sanked 61. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei was down 13 points but in hong kong, the hang seng added 98. pessimism swept wall street tuesday as doubts about a european debt solution along with weak data and corporate earnings sent stocks tumbles. for today's european finance summit, officials have vowed to announce a comprehensive solution for the region's debt crisis. but continued squabbling and tuesday's cancellation of a key meeting with finance ministers fueled fears euro leaders will once again come up empty. market was also dragged lower by october's consumer confidence unexpectedly plunging to its lowest level in 2 1/2 years. wall street's so-called fear index spiked 10%. adding to the negativity in

earnings, 3m fell after missing profit expectations, blaming europe's debt crisis. u.s. steel sank almost 10% on concern over fourth quarter steel demand. delta slumped 5% after missing expectations. and cutting flights this quarter. u.p.s. fell on results showing slowing growth in asia. and netflix plunged almost 35% a day after reporting a shocking loss of subscribers. ominous news after the bell. amazon.com sank on weaker than expected results due to heavy spending and a surprisingly sour outlook for upcoming holiday revenue. elsewhere, big blue is getting a little pink. ibm's global sales chief virginia will take over as ceo in 2012. ford fell ten spots in "krurm reports" annual reliability survey, now ranking 20th out of 28 major brands. finally, a single seat on the first commercial flight of

boeing's new 787 dreamliner was bought for more than $34,000 in a charity sale by japan's all i all-nippon airways. columbus actually wins a game and t.o. wants another go. plus, the hockey season may be just under way, but the chicago blackhawks look in midseason form. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. well, it's hard to believe, but the winter scene in colorado's actually going to spread. your forecast is coming up and you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the st. louis cardinals are back home tonight looking to fend off elimination in the world series. if they can get on the field. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. tonight's game six of the world series could be a wet one. there's a 50% chance of rain in the st. louis area. if they can't get the game in, rangers and cards will play tomorrow night. nhl blue jackets looking for their first win of the year and found it against one of the best in the league, beat the red wins 4-1. ryan johansen banked his first goal off the goalie foot and in. columbus beat the red wings

wings. no sidney crosby, no problem for pens, winning fourth straight. richard park gave the penguins the lead. spin orama and then to marin hossa and score a goal. a no-look pass to hossa. this went to a shootout and kane scores the winning goal. blackhawks beat the ducks 3-2. sabres with a two-goal lead. malone with a breakaway goal. tampa winning their third straight 4-3. hurricanes and senators need aid shootout. jason spezza, nothing here, just a shot and a goal. ruutu scored to extend the shootout. million dollar move and a nickel finish. senators won it 3-2. terrell owens wants to get back to the nfl. problem is, nobody wants him. t.o. hit the field yesterday in

what was supposed to be a workout for nfl teams. but not a single team showed up. 37-year-old recovering from off-season knee surgery and says he's ready to go, but right now he has nowhere to go, so he's going nowhere. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> ouch. coming up, an aging rocker takes a fall. and your daily lohan headlines. your early morning headlines in entertainment are straight ahead. plus, most people would be thrilled to have their car last a couple hundred thousand miles. most people. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this busy wednesday morning. a lot of travel trouble out there today. the snow in colorado, southern wyoming is probably the biggest highlight but also expecting rain to develop. kansas city, unfortunately, for the world series game tonight, windchills in the 40s with on and off rain. chicago, rain today. also up through the big cities of new england, rain this morning. for new york city, rain later today and tomorrow. well f you're watching us on whec news 10 nbc in rochester, new york, see art created using everything from tape to soap, even preserved insects at extreme materials art gallery. now here's an early look at this morning's headline in

entertainment. the king of pop is still the king when it comes to earners in afterlife. michael jackson leads forbes with deceased earners with $170 million over the last 12 months. elizabeth taylor, who died last march, joins the list this year in fifth place with $12, thanks mostly to her white diamonds perfume. for a rock festival, steven tyler had cuts and lost two teeth after falling in a shower. they say he suffered from dehydration. access hollywood reports lindsay lohan is doing a "playboy" photo shoot. tmz reports she'll be paid close to $1 million. lohan's father michael was arrested again for domestic violence tuesday. police took lohan to the hospital after he complained of chest pains. they say he tried to bolt when he thought police had left, but he was quickly arrested.

and this comes to us from wcsh in portland, maine, where one man's amazing ride came to an end and another is beginning after he hit a major milestone. they call him million mile joe. amid elaborate fanfare his 1990 con da accord logged its 1 millionth mile. yes. equal to driving around the earth 40 times. monthly business trips pushed his odometer to the seven-figure plateau. the former mechanic who serviced car himself was gwynn a new model in honor of his achievement. and he should get mechanic of the year. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

during the interview, leno asked the president about his view about what was behind the occupy wall street movement. the president said he believes the american people are frustrated. >> we are working every single day to figure out how do we give people a fair shake, and how do we make sure that everybody's doing their fair share. then people won't be occupying the streets because they'll have a job and they'll feel like they're able to get ahead.