i'm ann curry. for all of us here at nbc news, thanks for joining us. this morning on "early today," snow smackingdown. millions in the northeast are still without power after this weekend's rare october snowstorm. road hazard, icy weather reeks havoc on commuter necessary maryland. and goulish goul, thousands of the undead gather in california to set a new world of the undead gather in california to set a new world record. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a surprise appearance by winter. parts of the northeast are crippled in darkness this morning after a rare autumn nor'easter dumped a heavy blanket of wet, crushing snow over the weekend. at least 11 deaths have been

reported. more than 3 million homes and businesses have lost power and officials can't say when it will be restored. francis has more. >> reporter: it's not what you would expect to see on the eve of halloween, gob littles and ghouls covered in white. but this winter stormy won't keep kids from getting their treats. >> we're excited, actually. >> reporter: cleanup began sunday in areas more used to raking leaves than shoveling snow in october. >> i think mother nature played a trick on us. >> reporter: a trick that has left 3 million in the dark as crippled limbs fell on roads and power lines. >> a lot of tree damage. >> reporter: damage that can take a while to repair. >> they're going to have extensive and long-term power outages. >> reporter: snow started falling saturday and smashed records as it moved north, tying

up air travel as thousands face delays and cancellations at newark and jfq. passengers on a jetblue flight diverted to connecticut waited seven hours on the plane before finally being cleared for the airport terminal. and as residents continued to dig out and the frost starts to melt off the pump kips -- >> i think we're in for a bigger, bad winter. here we are in october and we've got snow. >> reporter: winter is still more than six weeks away. nbc news. meanwhile, a storm of controversy is swirling around gop the presidential candidate herman cain. a recent report, which has not been confirmed by nbc news, claims two former female employees accuse cain of sexual ly inappropriate behavior. tracie potts joins us with more on that and the latest polls. good morning.

>> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. poe litco is reported that two women who worked with cain in the 90s accused him of inappropriate behavior, that they ended up leaving their jobs with a payout and are prevented, are barred from talking about this at all. cain's spokesperson over the weekend said this was inside the beltway media attacks, that they were thinly sourced allegations. he denies them, saying these are unstashated personal attacks because opponents have been unable to atam his ideas and now they are attacking himself. again, nbc has not confirmed this report from politico. as for the latest poll, herman cain is on top. 23%. mitt romney, only 1% behind. ron paul at 12%. everyone else in single digits. back here in washington today, president obama is expected to sign an executive order, the

first part of his we can't wait agenda. lynn. >> tracie potts there for us in washington. thanks so much. just a reminder about nbc's new prime time news magazine. tonight, prime time gets a new attitude with the premier of rock center with brian williams with in-depth stories from established nbc news reporters along with new team members veteran newsman ted coppel. it begins at 9:00, 10:00 central time following the singoff here on your nbc station. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. elsewhere, and like elsewhere on the east coast, winter-like weather conditions reeked havoc on drivers in maryland. icy roads caused one driver to lose control, slamming into a light pole. police were on the scene of a prior accident when the crash occurred, making matters more dangerous, the storm knocked out traffic signals throughout the

state. thousands of zombies strolled through southern california hoping to devour a guinness world record this weekend. seattle currently holds the record for the largest group of walking dead in one place at 4,700 zombies. organizers of long beach aes fourth annual zombie walk believe they have the numbers to net a new world record. guinness representatives were present but have yet to hand down an official decision. approximately 50 participants broke the out into the dance routine from michael jackson's classic 1983 video thriller. it took the groups six weeks to learn the moves. finally, the president and first lady handed out pre-halloween treats saturday night. children from the surrounding area and military families braved soggy weather to get the goody bags which contained m & ms with the white house seal, white house-shaped butter

cookies and a mix of healthy, dried fruit. so a little bit of something for everyone. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, good morning to you. >> good morning. you can have the fruit and i'll take the butter cookies. >> i'll take it as long as we split the cookies. >> good morning, everyone. calling it historic doesn't do this storm justice that we dealt with. once in a lifetime, maybe once in four lifetimes. it was just one of those storms that you just don't get out there. this is how it looked on the satellite. they call this a bomb because the storm intensified so quickly because by the time it got off the coast of maine, it almost had an eye to it. now thaerchb has lost power, look at the temperatures we have out there. it's still a very cold morning. with millions of people without power, everyone is trying to get where they can, friends' houses or neighbors or hotel rooms. it's way too cold.

whenever there's a big snowstorm coming, everyone runs and gets the food at the grocery stores and batteries because it's situations like this people want too void. as far as hartford goes, temperatures this week will increase a little bit. 40s into the low 50s. by thursday, we should get to about 58. most of your snow will be gone by tend of this week. some rain down there in south florida once again today. showers in the ohio valley. overall, your hall loy wean forecast looks nice in most areas of the country. that's a look at your national forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. sunshine in kansas city, missouri. pueblo, kol, no problems there. it will be another beautiful morning in colorado, but we have snow coming in areas like denver and maybe even colorado springs. i guess the bottom line is, lynn, no big storms really coming this week. nothing like what we just dealt with. >> gives people time to recover, bill. thanks so much. will the fed make a move?

will unemployment improve? and don't mess with maple syrup. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, a cocky cat battles a big storm and a big baseball game to come away with the weekend box office crown. coming up, the eagles are flying high, tim tebow stumbles and another stunning win in st. louis. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. libya's interim prime minister is confirming the presence of a stockpile of chemical weapons in the newly liberated country. according to jabril, foreign inspectors are scheduled to arrive later this week to deal with the issue. this morning's "new york times" reports a plan is in the works to boost u.s. military presence in the persian gulf following the withdrawal of forces from iraq. u.s. officials and diplomates say the buildup could include a

ground presence in kuwait as well as increased air and naval patr patrol. a thunderous explosion of a kansas grain elevator has claimed the lives of at least three young men. rescue efforts are likely to continue today for two inspectors and an additional worker who likely did not survive the blast. after digging back as in records, a uc berkeley physicist decided the earth's temperature is rising. a bone box is less than 1 inch by 1 inch. archaeologists believe it dates back 1400 years. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,231 after adding 22 points on friday.

the s&p was up a fraction. the nasdaq lost a point. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei lost 62 points. in hong kong, the hang seng dipped 154. last week on wall street, it was all about europe. this week, investors shift their focus to the fed and economic data. traders will warm the federal reserve's two-day policy meeting, which ends wednesday, like hawks. some think the fed will enact another round of bond purchases to stimulate the economy. others feel last week's figures showing third quarter growth spurt, the year's strongest, makes that less likely. wednesday, chairman ben bernanke discusses the fed's economic outlook at his quarterly news conference. investors will carefully study every word. friday comes the all-important monthly jobs report. analysts expect 100,000 jobs added in october, leaving the jobless rate stuck where it has

been for months, 9. %. anything less could jolt wall street. in other data, october auto aut sales will show whether consumers are still making big purchases. lowes, pfizer andamong 100 comp earnings this week. this earnings season, roughly 70% reporting, busted expectations. elsewhere, qantas is flying again after an australian court essentially ruled against both management and labor in a bitter dispute that prompted the airline to ground its entire fleet for three days. finally, in vermont, they take their maple syrup industry very seriesly. counterfeiting is so serious, there is a bill in congress that would make it a felony to sell fake maple syrup penalties to

five years in prison. an unusual snap for a linebacker and baseball's cardinals inspire others to may like champions. plus, could the denver bronco's tim tebow experiment be over? your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. heal low halloween forecast for trick or treating looks just fine with the exception of a few areas of country. i'll talk about those, coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, they say winning is contagious. that was certainly the case yesterday in st. louis. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. you say it's been a good weekend for the city of st. louis would be an understatement. the cards won the world series friday night and yesterday the rams pulled off the upset of the week. they must have inspired the rams, wearing their throwback jerseys, steven jackson running like eric dickerson. 150 yards on the ground and two scores, rams shocked everybody, picked up their first victory of the year, knocking off the saints, the 1-21. dolphins just a few minutes away from getting their first win of the season, then the wheels fell off. eli manning to cruz. giants took their fist lead of the game and won it, 20-17. eagles and cowboys, nfc

showdown more like a letdown. michael vick threw a pair of touchdowns. shawn mccoy ran for two. eagles soared, 34-7. tim tebow is football's version of trick or treat. yesterday he tricked the broncos into thinking he could play quarterback. lions had their way with the bron broncos, 45-10. steelers up seven at the half, now to the fourth, pat's down six. tom brady tried to engineer a comeback, but troy polamalu dared to swat the ball away. pittsburgh held on to win it, 25-17. on this halloween, there is nothing scarier than ray lewis. the turf must have worked. the ravens came back from 21 down against the cards. ray rice led the charge with

three touchdowns. biggest comeback in franchise history, ravens won it, on 30-27. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. this weekend's biggest money-making movie wasn't in a theater near you. we'll explain. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, when it came to restoring the relic of motown's legendary past, another musical legend came to the rescue. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday. we're going to do our best to try to melt that snow as we go throughout this week. when you have one to two feet up there in the berkshire hes, the cat skills and the poconos, it's going to take a little bit. hollywood looks pretty good. south florida, you have a chance of rain for your costumes. also the ohio valley in late today in the carolinas. tomorrow, no big problems until wednesday. if you're watching us on nbc 12 in richmond, virginia, get the family a costume and have some fun. play games and paint pumpkins at halloween hoopla. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> bill, thanks so much. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. friday night's world series game seven and the east coast winter storm put a dent in box office figures this weekend. but there was still a big win r winner. the 3-d animated "puss in boots"

took top spot at $34 million. the popular character voiced by antonio banderas drew a largely 35% of the hispanic crowd. the east hurt justin timberlake's "in time" which took third with $12 million. johnny depp's "the rum diary" disappointed with just $5 million in fifth, leaving it a long shot to earn back the $50 million it cost to make. >> ooh. >> no kidding. finally, the weekend's biggest opening didn't even happen here, steven spielberg's animated tail of the belgium cartoon character opened in 19 other kins taking in almost $56 million. >> but why didn't it open here? >> it will. it's coming christmas week.

>> it will. that upsets me. we'll have to talk to steven. this comes to us from detroit, michigan, where one legendary rocker is dipping into his pocket to save a relic. paul mccartney was disappointed recently after learning he couldn't tickle the ivories on a historic piano. is 877 steinway no longer works. a huge motown fan, mccartney was moved to offer to fix the piano and he is having it pick up today to be restored. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28 is our time right now. we have 39 degrees here in the nation's capital. good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this monday, october 31st, 2011. in prince william county today, the trial of an illegal immigrant accused of killing a nun in a drunk driving accident is set to begin. carlos martinelli montano is set to be tried. martinelli montano was drunk when he crashed into a vehicle carrying three nuns last year.

one sister died. two others were seriously hurt. his hearing stems from two previous dui convictions. today the lululemon trial resumes with prosecutors hoping to build on three days of emotional and sometimes graphic testimony. brittany norwood is accused of killing her coworker jayna murray in the lululemon store back in march. the defense says mnorwood did kill murray, but it was in the heat of a moment, not a planned event. testimony resumes at 9:00 this morning. this morning thousands of people are waking up without power after a rare act snow. the storm left anywhere from a dusting here in the d.c. area to 30 inches in new england. snow and leaves have weighed down tree limbs,