this morning on "early today" -- dead on arrival. the house is set to approve legislation renewing the payroll tax cut but senate democrats say it doesn't have a chance. parents' worst nightmare. horrific nightmare shows a little girl being run over orca encounter. a california tour boat has an amazing run-in with a killer a california tour boat has an amazing run-in with a killer whale. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with dueling power plays. in washington house republicans are scrambling to gather enough

votes to pass a sweeping budget plan but the senate's top democrat says no one's leaving town for the holidays until both sides agree on payroll tax cuts. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. a couple of issues going on here. the budget and the payroll tax cuts. it looks like congress may have a solution to that can they've been kicking down the road month after month. health education among departments unfunded permanently. now it looks like they've worked out the details. aides say there are minor details to continue to work out but it looks like that will happen before the end of the month. now, the payroll tax cut. republicans take a vote in the house today and they expect to tie that to that controversial keystone pipeline. there have been protests over environmental issues with the pipeline. the white house had put off that decision until over a year from now. the senate will reject this, we

are told. president obama has all but said he'll reject any attempt to tie this payroll tax cut extension to the pipeline. the tax cut extension would save the average american $1,000 a year. today's vote would also cut unemployment benefits from 99 weeks to 59 weeks. that's a republican bill expected to pass the house. not expected to pass the senate. >> tracie potts for us in washington, thank you. well, marking a symbolic turning of the page for u.s. forces who fought and died in a war that spanned the better part of a decade, president obama met with iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki yesterday to discuss the past and the future. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: arlington national cemetery, almost nine years after u.s. forces invaded iraq, sparked a civil war but set the stage for democracy. elected iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki went to pay his

respects to the americans who invested the most. the iraqi national anthem. since 2003, 4,483 americans have died in iraq. in a few days almost all u.s. troops will be gone. >> we're here to mark the end of this war. to honor the sacrifices of all those who made this day possible. and to turn the page. >> reporter: president obama opposed the war but today sounded like george w. bush. >> we think a successful democratic iraq can be a model for the entire region. >> translator: but the goals that we established were achieved. >> reporter: were they? credit critics say no. >> is there any reason to trust maliki? >>. >> reporter: tom ridge at a protest outside the white house. iraq's closestally n ally now i.

>> the single greatest terrorist organization in the world is iran. >> reporter: iraq is promising to stage joint training with u.s. forces. >> so that iran doesn't think they have a free hand to rule the region. >> reporter: but thanks to the sacrifice of americans, iraq will now choose its own friends and go its own way. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. elsewhere, about 100 miles from the penn state campus, jerry sandusky will come face to face with several of the men accusing him of sexually abusing them when they were just boys. the former penn state assistant football coach will be in the courtroom at today's preliminary hearing when at least half of his ten accusers will try to convince a judge that there's enough evidence to take their case to trial. sandusky is charged with 50 counts of sexual child abuse and has been under house arrest since last week. here is a look at other stories making news early in america. christmas display sparked

outrage and challenged tolerance and provoked acts of vandalism. a skeleton of st. nick hanging from a crucifix, one of ten holiday displays approved to stand outside a courthouse, was ripped down several times before it was finally removed. although the skeleton santa is gone for now, it touched off a lively debate on freedom of speech there. killer whales in california put a spectacular show on for tourists. whale watchers got up close and personal with the massive animals. swimming right next to the boat, the whales also went airborne lifting their entire body out of the ocean. finally, monday was a productive day for michelle obama. she learned her let's move initiative broke the guinness world record for people performing jumping jacks over a 24-hour period. she also continued a family tradition. with the family dog beau, the

first lady read "twas the night before christmas". for a look at your national and regional weather, bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning. do you read "polar express" or "twas -- >> "twas the night before christmas". >> oh, william. >> give me a tissue. hope you're enjoying your nice start to a tuesday. we're watching a big storm system out in the west. phoenix, arizona, a third of an inch of rain. for desert areas, this is a very significant rain event for you. just enough cold air for mountainous areas outside of tucson, white mountains on the rim, two hours north of phoenix. mountainous areas of new mexico are under storm warnings. the plume of moisture that went right up through the downtown

phoenix area, that was bringing some snow to the north in flagstaff are enjoying the white stuff. this storm will spread to the middle of the country. already light rain in areas like southern missouri. typically this time of year we'd expect a big snowstorm to move across the country. there's not enough cold air available. our snow forecast only northern minnesota the next 48 hours is expecting snow out of this. the middle of the country we'll see rain, umbrella day, chicago, st. louis, kansas city, even san antonio yoe. east coast, you're dry. partly cloudy skies. not a bad day. cold start but philadelphia northwards through new england and the ohio valley, you won't have a lot -- as much sunshine today. temperatures will be warmer. chicago, that's a chilly rain for you at 41 degrees. that's kind of the theme. we'll see some rain out of this storm but not a lot of snow. >> bill, thanks so much. well, coming up, stocks stagger. deceptive data and a dollar coin

sells for millions. plus, it seems like she's won every award possible this year. we'll tell you who beat her out for billboard artist of the year. coming up, the seahawks keep their playoff hopes alive and more bad news for sidney crosby. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. the supreme court has agreed to rule on arizona's controversial law targeting illegal immigrants. the obama administration has challenged several of the law's provision including one that requires a police to question a person's immigration status if he or she is believed to be in the country illegally. iranian tvs experts there are in the final stages of recovering data from a top secret u.s. spy drone that went down in the country earlier this month. billionaire new jersey nets

owner says he'll run against russian prime minister vladimir putin in march's presidential election. this comes after unprecedented protests against putin and his party following allegations of fraud in last week's parliamentary elections. occupy wall street protesters' attempts to block the gates at some of the west coast' busiest ports led to the partial shutdown of docks in california, oregon. several dozen arrests were made. and in china. really disturbing security video shows a little girl being run over by an suv during an apparent temper tantrum on her way to kindergarten. bystanders lifted the vehicle and pulled her out. she was unharmed and her mother even made her go to school that day. tough love there. glad she's okay, though. well, now here is your early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,021 after tumbling 162 points yesterday.

the s&p dropped 18 points. the nasdaq lost 84. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei fell 101 points. while in hong kong the hang seng was down a whopping 18,447. from ratings agencies to small investors reviews for europe's debt agreements were luke warm senlding stocks tumbling. moody's and fitch warned markets the deal didn't go far enough and debt ratings may still be downgraded. spanish and italian debt soared italy's ten-year yield, 6%. gold prices fell to their lowest in almost seven weeks. u.s. bond yields fell as investors looked for safety. wall street's losses were wide. most s&p 500 industry groups fell more than 1%. all ten closed negative.

banks were among the worst off. morgan stanley, citigroup, bank of america and jpmorgan chase all fell. techs dropped after intel lowered expectations following similar moves last week by texas instruments. resource stocks tumbled. oil fell and copper prices plummeted to a near two-week low. elsewhere, diamond foods plunged on an investigation into its payments to walnut farmers. vulcon materials rocketed after martin marietta bid to buy the company for $4.7 billion in stock. turns out home sales data was inflated for years. figures will be lowered all the way back to 2007. it's estimated the national association of realtors overstated 2010 home sales by at least 15%. and finally, a rare 1787 gold

brasher de plume, first dollar coin minted by a goldsmith who was george washington's neighbor has been sold for $7.4 million. coming up, pink slip day in the nfl. and fan lights the red light in hockey. plus, the seahawks butt heads with the rams in monday night football. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the cold and the rainy storm system in the desert southwest is headed for the central u.s. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, all but officially dead early in the season, last night the seattle seahawks won for the fourth time in five game. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> seahawks with a win over the rams. special teams came up big in the first quarter. boldin untouched off the edge and blocked that punt. robinson scooped and scored and seattle on the board. they were up 10-3 at the half. big play in the first, another in the third. jackson found him wide open and baldwin took it in.

the undrafted rookie doing it all. lynch is isn't only playing for a new contract, he's playing for skittles. ninth separate game he scored a touchdown and mom with a bag of the good stuff. no sugar coating this loss fort rams. they were blown out 30-13. tough day for a pair of coaches after starting the season 4-9, dolphins fired head coach tony sparano. and the chiefs let go todd haley. lightning have been a disappointment. got started 28 seconds into the game. and then in the second period, scoring three straight goals, zach parise and adam henrik both had a pair. tampa couldn't recover and the devils held on to win it 5-4. what was supposed to be a two-game break has turned into a lengthy stay. sidney crosby out indefinitely with concussion-like symptom. he's passed every test but still suffering. penguins without their star. maybe they should sign this guy.

burying a shot between center ice. the hole was just a half inch bigger than the size of a puck and he nailed it. he won a car. no, it wasn't a zamboni. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. coming up, the latest in star wars versus star trek battle. the oldest woman ever to make the cover of "vogue." your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. we'll introduce to you one family that truly goes all out for their annual christmas card. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday morning. your forecast in arizona, umbrella, around phoenix, light rain. there is snow in the higher elevations. travel trouble in much of new mexico. that rain heads out to the middle of the country so from chicago, st. louis, today and tomorrow you'll deal with a lot of stormy weather. if you're watching us on wbal tv 11 in baltimore, arizona, pay a visit to st. nick and enjoy a light show choreographed by lynn berry -- i mean to holiday music at harborplace amphitheater. that's your "early today" event of the day. you would like to see that. >> no, you would not. trust me. here's an early look at headlines in entertainment. a spiteful move by flight attendants striking back at alec

baldwin over his airline tantrum is getting him more attention. the american airlines wants 30 rock removed from all in flight entertainment following "saturday night live" spoof. is which right or wrong -- steven spielberg says he's doing a fourth jurassic movie. amy winehouse's dad wants lady gaga to play his daughter on the big screen. adele won artist of the year but her next album won't be out for two or three years. >> busy counting her money. >> 62-year-old "vogue" cover girl meryl streep is the oldest woman to be so honored. and star trek's sulu offered a video between trash talking star wars and star trek wars.

instead, he suggests focusing on just the real sci-fi menace, twilight series, which he calls really, really bad. this comes to us from kare 11 in minnesota, one family add aid whacky twist to dressing up for holiday photos. they turn their annual christmas cards into grand productions. a lot of pressure there. following mom's direction, they dress up in outrageous outfits. even the family pet is enlisted for the yearly holiday greetings sent to nearly 200 family and friends. with their over-the-top costumes they have created their own picture perfect holiday for nearly 20 years. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. the droid razr by motorola.

the newest droid armed with motocast. granting you wireless access to files on your home computer from almost anywhere. 4g lte equipped to pull pictures, music, and movies. all at mind-melting speeds. powered by verizon, this droid is too powerful to fall into the wrong hands.

it is 4:28 right now. 32 degrees. frost on the windshields. it is cold out there. you can see your breath when you walk out the door. get ready. good morning to you. i'm eun yang >> and i'm angie goff in for joe krebs. welcome to "news 4 today" on this tuesday, december 13th. we begin with breaking news in washington state this morning. four service members are dead in two helicopter crashes that happened overnight. both choppers went down sometime after 8:00 last night on the training runs in joint based lewis mccord outside takoma.

they were flying in two two-seat ore helicopters during the crash. it's not clear whether they collided or crashed separately. the service members have not yet been identified. this morning jerry sandusky will face some of the men who have accused him of sexual abuse in court. the former penn state football coach faces more than 50 charges of child sexual abuse. he's been under house arrest since last week on the latest set of charges. several of the alleged victims who are now adults are expected to testify. sandusky says he's innocent. his lawyer suggests the alleged victims may be working together and they may file a high dollar civil lawsuit. today a senate panel will hold a hearing to examine the state and federal reporting requirements for child abuse. maryland senator barbara mikulski says lawmakers are considering tougher penalties for adults who don't report sexual