approval of a controversial oil pipeline to a bill to extend payroll tax cuts he will reject it. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more on this. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. the president, the administration had actually decided to put off a decision on the controversial keystone xl pipeline until after the election, but republicans now say they want it approved now because it can create tens of thousands of jobs. the $7 billion pipeline would run through middle america at a cost of, as i said, $7 billion. but there are environmental concerns. and there have been protests over those concerns, greenhouse gas emissions, possible oil spills. republicans say we could be looking at up to 138,000 new jobs. but the president with the prime minister of canada yesterday, told congress, be on notice, i will reject any effort to link this pipeline to the payroll tax cut extension currently here in congress. republicans are concerned that

it could break social security. lynn? >> tracie potts for us in washington, thank you. well, former penn state football assistant coach jerry sandusky was arrested wednesday on new charges of alleged sexual child abuse. a lawyer for sandusky says he expects his client will be released some time later today after posting a $250,000 bail. nbc's kurt gregory reports. >> reporter: mr. san dwrufk, any comments? police led jerry sandusky away from his home in handcuffs wednesday afternoon following new criminal charges of alleged child sexual abuse. the charges involve allegations by two new accusers who claim sandusky abused them. in court documents a grand jury accuses sandusky of assaulting one of the boys in the basement of his home. it says the victim claims, quote, he screamed for help, knowing that sansandusky's wifes upstairs but no one came to help him. the former penn state assistant

coach was free on bond following his initial arrest on november 5 th, charged with sexually abusing eight other children. according to grand jury testimony, sandusky met all of the alleged victims through the second mile charity. sandusky has repeatedly said he is innocent of all charges. >> how would you take it if you were facing the kind of charges he's facing and your life's work was helping kids? you'd be devastated. he and his wife and his children are all devastated by this. >> reporter: sandusky's lawyer says he expects him to be out of jail on bail some time today. kurt gregory, nbc news. meanwhile, in upstate new york a very different outcome for child sex abuse allegations that gained national attention in the wake of that penn state scandal. authorities say former syracuse university assistant men's basketball coach, bernie fine, cannot be prosecuted for sexual child abuse charges, this because of the statute of limitations which are run out. while a new york district attorney found two former ball

boys to be credible, legally their accusations of molestation date back too far, to the mid-1980s and '90s. elsewhere, a federal judge showed little mercy yesterday for impeached florida -- or former illinois governor rod blagojevich sentencing him to serve 14 years in jail for corruption. pleading for leniency in a chicago courtroom yesterday, blagojevich offered his first public apology since he was convicted on 17 counts of bribery and attempted extortion. the soon-to-be 55-year-old former governor admitted to making, quote, terrible mistakes, including most notoriously trying to cash in as governor and by selling off the appointment to president obama's old senate seat. his sentence is set to begin february 16th. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. a couple of indiana thieves rammed their way into a gun store with an suv. whoa. once inside, the mass robbery

suspects smashed display cases, escaping with several semi-automatic weapons in a second vehicle. the owner believes the crime was pulled off by former customers. a washington man exchanged gunfire with police during a dramatic standoff. the shootout forced neighbors to evacuate and lock down nearby schools. the suspect kept officers at bay with high-powered rifles. he continued firing at officers even after a fire ignited in his home. while the house eventually burneded to ground, authorities have yet to recover the gunman's body. finally in florida where surveillance cameras recorded the culprit behind a false fire alarm inside an elementary school -- if you look closely there, footage of last year's incident shows a squirrel climbing up the wall and actually pulling the alarm lever. pretty smart squirrel. the tape of the troublemaker was shown at a recent budget meeting to secure more money for maintenance. for a look at regional and

national weather here's bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning. >> good morning. >> i would have said america's funniest home videos but whatever works. >> anything to get out of that math test. >> true. >> good morning, everyone. no ideas, students. as far as the weather goes, this storm system riding quickly up the east coast. thankfully it's flying out of here. some areas have picked up snow and we'll do a little shoveling, especially in the berkshires, white mountains, eventually green mountains throughout northern new england. as i mentioned, it's flying. we're done in new york city. just about done in hartford. boston, i give you another two, three hours at most and then you're done with this storm. up in new hampshire and maine it will be affecting your morning commute. everyone else, it's just going to be windy and much colder. winds are howling around this area of low pressure. like an old fashioned another ea nor'easter. winds gusting up to 30 miles an hour from d.c. northwards up to coastal areas of new england.

because the storm is leaving and winds out of the north now, finally that cold air from canada is returning. it's about 20 degrees colder this morning than it was at this time yesterday. so, you definitely need winter coat and gloves for yourself and the kids. temperatures this morning are very cold around the rest of the country. it finally looks like and feels like december, just about everywhere, even florida is chillier this morning. we're still cold down there in texas. so, today we get rid of that big storm. it's a quiet but chilly december day from the rockies all the way to the eastern seaboard. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. atlanta, georgia, breezy, chilly 52. denver, colorado, temperatures are very cold. look out for freezing drizzle. dallas, texas, 53 and partly cloudy. pretty potent storm but it is flying out of here so it won't affect too many people's early morning commute. banks rise, boeing and its

workers make peace and what makes a perfume cost $1 million? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, not content with nearly running for president in south carolina's primary, stephen colbert has much bigger plans. coming up, the marlins make another splash. sidney crosby is back on the shelf. and a questionable call leads to overtime in college hoops. 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. health can and human services secretary kathleen sebelius has taken the unprecedented step of overruling the fda by keeped plan b, the morning-after pill, prescription only for girls age 16 and under. sebelius argued young girls wouldn't understand how to use the pill while critics say the decision was politically motivated. a sight-seeing hell kopt

other a luxury sunset tour of the las vegas strip and hoover dam crashed in a remote site killing the pilot and four passenger. recovery operations have been suspended until the morning. a virginia man has been fully exonerated after spending the past 27 years behind bars for a series of rapes he didn't commit. 46-year-old thomas haynesworth was repleased from prison in march but it wasn't until this week the virginia court of appeals cleared his name based on dna evidence. look closely here. new video from nasa's stereo spacecraft has alien hunters abuzz who say it shows a giant cloaked pace craft parked near the planet mercury. it shows a massive solar flare supposedly revealing the object just to the right of mercury. and the world's oldest dog, and kind of the cutest in my opinion. according to guinness has died in japan at the age of 26 years and 8 months. by some calculations that would put his age at around a whopping

125 human years. dog owners will take that. well, now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,196 after gaining 46 points yesterday. the s&p added two points but the nasdaq was down a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei lost 58 points while in congress hong the hang seng fell 132. well, wall street with another day of gains as investors keep their fingers crossed over european financial summit which starts today. traders positioned themselves for either summit success yielding a clear plan to put europe's debt plan under control or a failure and crisis escalate. those hedging against failure drove up the price of the u.s. ten-year treasury note as well as gold. some sit on the sidelines as wednesday's light volume showed. jpmorgan chase and bank of america led. investors prushed off standard &

poor's again putting the european union's credit rating on credit watch negative. in data, a second straight monthly gain in borrowing, including credit card spending underline growing consumer confidence. bloated oil and gas supplies due to weak demand pushed oil prices lower. martha stewart living jumped after jp penny bought a stake in the company. men's warehouse propped up. talbot's skyrocketed after a private equity firm. astrazeneca is slashing over 1100 jobs from the sales force. boeing, union machinists overwhelming extended a contract extension ending a bitter dispute. and finally, want to smell like a million bucks? that's what it will cost you for dkny's golden delicious perfume. it comes in a container made from 14 karat yellow and white

diamond with white diamond, yellow sapphires and a yellow canary. orange, water, white rose, orchid and golden delicious apple. for all those details it should cost a million bucks. marlins change their mind. a top-ranked college team hangs tough. and hockey's golden boy is out once again. plus, the nhl's points leader helps put one out for the philadelphia flyers. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and our big east coast storm is exiting. cold air is on its way. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, if major league baseball's world championship were awarded for winter headlines, but now the miami marlins would have it all sewn up. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. when albert pujols plays in miami next year, not going to be as a member of marlins. they have taken the $200 million offer off the table and signed buehrle to a deal. college hoops between arizona and number 13 florida. wildcats down three, final seconds. inbounds, hill and he was fouled as he was shooting a three. now, you make the call.

he was definitely fouled but was he shooting? billy donovan was irate. hill made off three free throw to tie the game and force overtime. florida outscored the wildcats by six in the extra frame. florida got the "w," 78-72. hockey the next two stops on the sidney crosby comeback tour have been canceled. he's taking two games off for precautionary reasons after taking a hard hit monday night. he's missed 68 games with post concussion syndrome. no problem for alex ovechkin but he's been in a bit of a scoring slump. stopped and popped for his first goal in nearly two weeks. capitals scored four in the third and beat the senators 5-3. sabres got things started with three goals in the first. bil billy with his third of the year and flyers scored four straight. jagg

jagr scored in the third. sabres force overtime when giroux was off to the races. a break dast way from center ice, beat ryan miller for the win and flyers win a wild one 5 -4 in overtime. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. one star's named most bankable, another entertainer of the year. your early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. and the survivors gather together for what could be the last time. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this thursday. our nor'easter is heading over cape cod and into the gulf of maine, getting reports of thunder notice. big, wet snowflakes are falling in massachusetts on the 495 loop as the rain transitions over to snow and at the same time we're seeing flashes of lightning in the sky and rumbles of thunder. that will be a quick burst of 1 to 2 inches of snow and then it will exit areas in new england. the middle of the country, you're cold and chilly today but don't have any other winter storms to track in the next couple days. if you're watching us on wlwt in cincinnati, ohio, can see a community production of the classic about a boy in a candy wonderland at willie wonka and chocolate factory. >> thanks so much. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment.

forbes has a new list out, the most bankable stars in hollywood. twilight series star kristin stewart is tops. stop it. every dollar stewart makes, her movies make $55.83, can't say that for you, bill, so don't give her a hard time. in second place is anne hathaway who earns $45.67 for have dollar she's paid. third went to robert -- >> twilight is great. >> yeah, they love it. daniel radcliffe finished fourth. wednesday he was also named entertainment weekly's 2011 entertainer of the year. the harry potter star has also been headlining broadway's "how to succeed in business without really trying." and stephen colbert tried yet again to try to get his name on south carolina's presidential primary ballot only this time he wanted to sponsor the whole thing. yeah. colbert has offered more than $100,000 to name the contest the colbert nation super pack

presidential primary. the state gop director said, quote, the party respectfully declin declines. this comes to us from pearl harbor, hawaii, where thousands gathered for a memorial that may be the last of its kind. international guard jets began an emotional ceremony on the 70th anniversary of the japanese attacks. in particular this day was a day of good-byes. navy divers buried the ashers of one attack survivor on his former ship, joining his ship mates. and because the pearl harbor survivors association is disbanding, this year's gathering will likely be the last for the 120 remaining vets who survived the day of infamiliarmy. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. [ male announcer ] you haven't seen anything

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no one was hurt. route 1 is still closed in both directions until some of the water can recede. firefighters rescued another driver from her car in upper marlboro. the woman was trapped in her vehicle at water street. the woman was not injured. at last check, marlboro racetrack road, though, was still closed. even though there was no snow, vdot was ready to treat the roads. they had added more snow trucks to its fleet. right now want pepco is reporting nearly 2,000 outages. nearly 700 of them are in the district. and we just have one school closing to report this morning. schools in pendelton county,

west virginia, will open two hours late today. >> now let's get the weather report from tom kierein. >> i'm not tom kierein. i'm cha grinned. i see your fingers pointing right now. we did get some snow that fell between 10:00 p.m. and midnight, but the ground temperatures were so warm, it did not accumulate. but commuters are happy. 371 inches of rain at reagan national yesterday. that set the record easily. we have the wind gusting and all of a sudden it's winter again. we have winds gusting from 20 to 25 miles per hour. yes, out in the pendelton county and parts of west virginia and western maryland got 7 inches of