this morning on "early today" -- pre-emptive strike. former head coach joe paterno prepares for the worst. after the oops, texas governor rick perry tries to recover from his monumental debate gaffe. meet a goat with a narly debate gaffe. meet a goat with a narly pastime. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la creuz. nbc news has learned joe paterno, college football's all-time winningest coach has reached taught a high-powered washington, d.c. criminal attorney. this as speculation swirls about the potential for civil suits, the families of alleged victims could file against the former coach. meanwhile, officials are digging deeper into the allegations of abuse and a cover-up that have

rocked the campus to its core. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: later today the penn state board of trustees will meet again as multiple investigations into alleged child sexual abuse continue. >> the specific aspects of these terrible activities that occurred and terrible damage that was done really remains to be established by whatever law enforcement investigations are yet under way. as well as the investigation by our own board of trustees, special committee. >> reporter: pennsylvania governor tom corbett shifted it to the victims of the attacks after a visit to the campus last night. >> we need to identify these victims of sexual abuse. we need to find them, we need to help them. they are our children. >> reporter: while the nittany lion's interim football coach looks for a way to bring his splintered team and college back together. >> i'm going to find a way to restore the confidence and start a healing process.

>> reporter: it is an overwhelming task. >> it's going to be tough for this campus to move forward. >> reporter: a long and difficult journey that will include a candlelight vigil for the victims of the alleged abuse on friday night. jay gray, nbc news, state college, pennsylvania. turning now to the campaign trail, texas governor rick perry isn't letting his debate fumble sideline. the gop contender went into full-on damage control mode facing critics and comics head on. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that and the strategic move by the obama administration. good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. not remembering which federal agency to cut, it's actually gotten a lot of attention for texas governor rick perry who was languishing in the polls but now he's been all over tv in the last 24 hours or so, including late night talk shows. they had quite a bit of fodder to work with. take a look at what was said last night on david letterman. >> number six --

>> hey, listen, you try concentrating with mitt romney smiling at you, that's one handsome dude. >> i know. i know exactly what you're talking about. >> reporter: now, analysts are saying on a serious note, perry is going to have to do a lot of prep, that he cannot afford to make another mistake like this in tomorrow's debate in south carolina, which will focus, by the way, on national security. meantime, back here in washington, the obama administration is effectively putting off a decision on the keystone oil pipeline from nebraska officials, environmentalists they have decided to put off that decision until the 2012 election. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. elsewhere on this veterans day, a rare display of bipartisanship to help put those who sacrificed for the nation back to work. on capitol hill yesterday every senator on the floor voted in favor of a measure to award tax

credits of up to $9600 to companies that hire disabled vets who are been looking for a job for at least six months. the plan also calls for more job counseling and training for vets and troops about to be discharged. the measure now moves to the house where it is expected to pass. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. the u.s. navy soared to new heights in new york yesterday. the mz 3- 8 air ship was the first blimp to be launched in half a century. test flights were conducted for communication exercises. who says the youth don't care about politics. high school senior was elected mayor of aredale, iowa. the 18-year-old didn't campaign, wasn't on the ballot and didn't even have to kiss any babies to become mayor of the town with a population of 74. he secured the win with write-in votes. well, las vegas is inundated with couples from around the world wanting to start their new

life together on 11-11-11. yesterday koums lined up at the county wedding bureau to finish the paperwork needed to walk down the aisle on the magical date. a california surfer turned his pet goat's first trip to grove beach into a totally awesome sight for beach goers. he put the animal on the surfboard. from the looks of it, she's a natural. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's nbc meteorologist bill kari karins. normally you would say hang ten, in her case it would be, is it hang four? >> the four hooves? >> yeah, four hooves. >> i've never seen that before. nice dismount, by the way. good morning morning and good veterans day. the forecast looks simple and quiet. temperatures have definitely come down in areas of the east. another chilly morning through the midwest. everywhere in blue on this map has a windchill below 32

degrees. it's chilly around san antonio this morning. we expect windchills like this in the northern plains and windchills will be a factor today, even in new england. we had that storm go through yesterday. a lot of heavy rain eastern new england, really from hartford over to boston northwards. we didn't get much from new york city to philly to d.c. southeast has cleared out, too. that front has made it all the way down to south florida. we're very cool. it's going to be a raw type day in new england and great lakes. we'll see a little warming trend beginning now throughout the central plains. as far as the rainfall goes, it's just about gone. we're still dealing with a little on the extreme areas out there on the cape and down east maine and from bangor to caribou. maybe a little snow mixing in the high country of the white and green mountains. that's about it. otherwise expect lake-effect snow showers, maybe even a little snow flurry activity areas near lake erie, ontario today. d.c., 54 and sunny.

it's a chilly start to the morning in the southeast but it will warm up nicely. quiet in the rockies, too. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. lots of sunshine on the map. this big area of high pressure has cool air with it, but that's what you expect as we head into the middle of november. we'll watch temperatures in areas like dallas today. high in the low 70s. not too bad. weekend forecast, of course, coming right up. >> and it's not going to be warm anymore here in new york, that's over? >> we were spoiled for about a week on the east coast. that's come to an end. >> of course we were. progress in europe, hopeful day to hear a home and a staggering sum paid for a not so staggering photo. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, will fans of the gladiator genre drive this film to the top at the box office? coming up, the raiders shut down the chargers and an epic meltdown from golfer john daly. you're watching "early today."

well-being good morning. here are some of your top headlines. a u.s. army sergeant has been convicted by court-martial of the gruesome murders of unarmed afghan villagers and cutting their fingers off. the guilty verdict normally carries a life sentence but the jury panel decided 26-year-old calvin gibbs would be eligible for parole in 8 1/2 years. activists say 30 civilians and 26 soldiers were killed in syria ahead of friday prayers. it's one of the highest daily death tolls in the country's seven-month crack down on pro-democracy protests. a miami civil jury has returned a record $100 million judgment against a former catholic priest accused of sexually abusing dozens of boys.

6-year-old neil dougherty is awaiting trial. a prominent conservation group declared africa's western black rhino extinct. the international union for conservation says poaching has driven other rhino subspecies to the brink of extinction as well. officials in spain are closely monitoring the eruption of an under water volcano because of potentially toxic gases. so far, one person has been sickened. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,893 after rising 112 points yesterday. the s&p gained 10. the nasdaq was up 3. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo, the nikkei added 13 points while in hong kong, the hang seng climbed 173. signs of progress in europe and recovery at home led wall street to a moderate recovery on thursday. italy secured a low interest near $7 billion loans sending

yield on italian bonds to 7%. relief also came from italy's president pledging prime minister silvia berlusconi will step down soon. he's expected to be replaced by respected economists. in greece a day after talks broke down over a new government a senior banker was named prime minister. also u.s. unemployment applications fell to the lowest level since april. exports hit an all-time high in september with u.s. trade deficit at the lowest of the year. cisco rose on results that beat estimates. green mountain coffee plunged 39% on short revenue. viacom expanded its stock buy back to $10 billion and topped expectations thanks to paramount's transformers. nordstrom rose because affluent shoppers are still buying. after the bell, disney rose. starbuc starbucks, which bought evolution fresh, plans a new juice bar chain next year.

and in another round of questioning from english mps news corp. exec james murdoch says he was kept in the dark about phone-hacking at a new defunct tabloid, blaming senior aides. believe it or not, this 1999 photograph of the rhine river sold for $4.3 million this week. a record for any photograph ever sold at auction. a battle of the techs on the gridiron, a hat trick on the ice and a pro golfer plays an amateur round. plus, the raiders and their new quarterback are making people take notice. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. after a pretty nice veterans day, the weekend forecast is shaping up niece nicely. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

and a very good morning to you if you're just waking up. this is "early today." in sports long pro football afterthought for all of their faithful fans, suddenly the oakland raiders are threatening to become relevant again. here's nbc's fred roggin with a look at all your sports headlines. good morning. many believe the raiders pay too much for carson palmer but last night he was worth every penny.

he came to play against the chargers. 7-3 in the second. surveyed the field and threw a strike to moore. raiders led 14-3. however the chargers didn't back down. philip rivers to vincent brown, a tremendous catch with two defenders all over him. san diego closed the gap. they were down 17-10. that's as close as they would get. palmer wanted more and he got it. another touchdown to moore. the rookie quickly becoming his favorite target. raiders took over first place with a 17-4 win. now to college ranks, number ten virginia tech secured top spot in the ak. pulled away from georgia tech in the fourth quarter. logan thomas to chris drager. hokies win it 37-26. houston gets no respect. perhaps this will help. sims had a field day against tulane. two touchdowns, 207 yards on just ten carries. sims played only three quarters. that's impressive. houston a perfect 10-0 after a ridiculous 73-17 win. finally, they say a bad day

playing golf is better than a good day at work. try telling that to john daly. he had a forgettable day at australian open. accidentally hit the wrong ball out of the sand trap. apparently he hit a range ball and i don't think that's the brand he uses. then on the next hole, he hit seven balls in the water. yep, seven. it would have been more but he ran out of balls and there were no range balls around. d he decided enough was enough, gave his score card to his partner and walked off. on his way out, his girlfriend shoved a photographer. just another day in the life of john daly. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. calming the storm, oscar officials pick a tried and true host. your early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. speaking of tried and true, we've played hide and seek but never on the scale we'll show you.

welcome back to "early today" on this veterans day. not a lot of action out there weatherwise today. a little rain heading up through maine, exiting during the day. much of the country will be sunny but it's a cold start so budgeted up the kid. as we go throughout the upcoming weekend, it's stormy out west and eventually that moisture will come east. winter storm watches for areas like aspen and veil. the mountains of colorado it will be difficult travel especially from saturday night into sunday. billings with a wintry mix. eastern seaboard, great lakes,

deep south sunday and monday, high pressure is in control. it's chilly but overall a nice weekend. if you're watching us on wsaz news channel 3 huntington, west virginia, see a collection of tapestry from around the globe at from rags -- that's what the saying should be. it's rugs to riches at huntington museum of art. the early event of the day. >> rugs to riches. >> rags to riches, a little pun that i screwed up. >> all right. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. at the box office this weekend, defending champ "puss & boots" may scratch and claw. immortals and action adventure should edge out "puss & boots." the longshot for top spot is adam sandler's holiday theme comedy "jack and jill" with sandler playing identical twins.

it could be an upset winner. despite star power and oscar buzz, the biopic "j. edgar" starti leonardo decap row yoe can't. billy crystal will host the academy awards for his ninth go round and fifth in this decade after a week of turmoil surrounding eddie mury dropping out, they went with the familiar and reassuring. >> his musical numbers off the top are -- i have always loved them. >> i was looking forward to eddie murphy. >> it would have been different. >> tweet us. you finally made it on to twitter. i saw that. congratulations. this comes from albany, georgia, where in tifton a children's game was anything but child's play for hundreds of college student. ready or not, here they come. students at abraham baldwin

agricultural college made a play for the guinness world record of the largest game of hide and seek. they hid out from the "t" and they fell short of record. it certainly was memorable. >> he had to catch 400 people? >> how do you do that? >> he'd be exhausted. i'm ver on da he can la cruz, "early today," just your first stop of the day. playing with your friends?

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4:28 is the time right now. we have 48 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 friday, november 11th, 2011. an assistant coach and a key figure in the jury sandusky abuse schedule will not be at penn state's saturday game at nebraska. he testified in front of a grand jury that he saw his former employer assaulting a young boy and told coach joe paterno about it. there is a large police presence on campus right now. students rioted after head coach joe paterno was fired for failing to notify police when he was told that sandusky allegedly

abused boys. students say it is time to focus on what is important. >> joe paterno has always been my hero. i've been a penn state fan since i was 3 years old. this is a horrible case. you've got to look at the victims here. if he did cover it up, i don't think i can look at him the same way again. >> today the penn state board of trustees and pennsylvania governor tom corbett will meet to appoint a committee to investigate the child sex abuse case, who knew about it, and how to make sure it never happens again. tonight students and alumni will hold a candlelight vigil for the victims. nbc husband has learned that joe paterno has reached out to a prominent criminal defense lawyer here in the district. he once represented george herbert walker bush in the iran-contra affair. he has not met with paterno. venezuela's government is vowing to use all