this morning on "early today" -- giving in. house speaker john boehner and days of gridlock over the payroll tax cut. head over heels. traffic cameras capture a horrific collision in china. what a view. a nasa orbiter delivers stunning w images from saturn. hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with the house. after days of stubborning refusing to back down, house speaker john boehner gave in to

growing demands from the white house and his own party to approve a two-month extension for expiring payroll tax cuts. after two quick procedural votes this morning, lawmakers can go home for the year, that's if all goes as planned. brian mooar joins us from washington with the details. good morning. >> reporter: well, lynn, one last bit of drama and guesswork here today. if even one lawmaker objects, the vote would have to be pushed into next week. house republicans have surrendered in the fight over extending the payroll tax cut. >> we were here fighting for the right things. may not have been the politically the smartest thing in the world, but i'm going to tell you what, i think our members waged a good fight. >> reporter: facing immense pressure from the 160 million americans that face a january 1st tax increase and from members of their own party with a costly backlash, republicans decided to go along with the two-month extension passed by

the senate. but a key provision, language that protects small businesses from nightmarish reporting requirements allows gop lawmakers to walk away with an important consolation prize. it's a holiday gift for taxpayers and an election year present for president obama. >> this is it. this is exactly why people get so frustrated with washington. >> reporter: surrounded by people who would pay if the tax cut didn't pass, the president turned up the heat. now he's tweeting that the victory isn't his. he says it's yours. now, if one lawmaker does object, which is much more likely in the house than the senate, it would cost about $4 million to bring everyone back for a vote. lynn? >> brian mooar for us in washington, thank you. well, republican presidential hopeful mitt romney has received what could be an important boost of support from the nation's 41st president, george h.w. bush. the former president told the

newspaper he believes romney is the best candidate for the white house calling him, quote, mature and reasonable, not a bomb-thrower. bush, a texas resident, told the paper while he likes rival candidate and texas governor rick perry, he says he's, quote, not surging forward. while bush's comments were not a formal endorsement, they still give an important boost to the romney campaign less than two weeks before the iowa caucuses. overseas where a deadly crackdown by syria's government has continued without let up, despite the arrival of arab league delegates. human rights activists say at least six people were killed in fresh attacks by government forces yesterday. amateur video shows black smoke and flames in one syrian city after alleged shelling by president al assad's forces. arab league arrived thursday ahead of monitors to assess whether the government is complying with a peace initiative. reports coming in from

state-controlled syrian tv this morning which says, quote, terrorists, unquote, have attacked security facilities in damascus. a look at other stories making news early today in america. police have tracked down a group of vandals all thanks to youtube. the video posted by the culprit show the crew of young criminals ransacking several stories. investigators brought in one teen for questioning who eventually identified the rest of the suspects. southern california's notorious high-speed santa ana wind swept through yesterday, hammering several neighborhoods. wind gusts as high as 72 miles per hour were strong enough to rip trees from the ground and leave tractor trailers overturned. wind warnings and advisories are expected to end today. powerful winds fanned the flames of a san francisco inferno. ripped through two residential buildings forcing half of the city's on-duty firefighters to

suit up. two firefighters were hospitalized and 60 people were left homeless. finally, wouldn't it be nice to be in georgia? the first day of winter felt nothing like it normally does in coastal georgia. instead of bundling up, it was a day for some fun in the sun. 80-degree weather gave locals at least one more chance to hit the beach. >> there's me. >> i hope not. and wear summer outfits before oldman winter puts a freezer on the relaxing weather conditions. sorry, bill, come o we're all thinking it. for a look at your national and regional weather, we hope he keeps his suit on, bill karins -- >> the guy had a suit on. people are running to their tvs like, what were they just watching? >> this is how we'll try to improve our ratings, putting out rumors by bill. >> we're so off track. good morning, everyone. as far as the forecast goes for travel today, we could have airport delays early this morning up in boston or possibly providence. maybe in the new york city

airport. a lot of heavy rain currently, but this is going to move out pretty quickly. by the time we get to the peak morning rush hour, a lot of areas will be done with the rain. washington, d.c. and baltimore, looks like you're finished. right now still wet out there but clearing out quickly. unfortunately, we didn't get a lot of snow in the north. take a look at web cams from stover up to stratton, killington, many great ski areas are getting rain. this isn't what we needed. just hasn't been enough cold air for this storm system. temperatures are for the most part through the 40s. that's what we're dealing with on the radar. throughout the most part throughout the day, though, the rain will be clearing out and it will slowly be improving for that region of the country. we also have heavy snow out there in new mexico this morning. otherwise, travel looks pretty good around much of the country. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. areas like washington, d.c. today, still pretty mild out there. we're not going to see any rain. that's all gone and done with.

as far as a lot of the big airports go, dallas, atlanta, chicago, we're looking just fine for the busy travel day. i do feel bad, though, for all those ski areas and everyone else in new england, i mean, it's just -- it's miserable time. people are losing a lot of money. >> bill, thanks so much. more job improvement, best buy says bah humbug, and what you probably won't find overhead this christmas. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. he's back and expected to blow up his competition this weekend at the box office. a dramatic finish between the colts and texans and another bowl, another win for boise state. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the new zealand city of

christchurch followed by several strong aftershocks. there were no reports of serious injury or major damage. this comes just ten months after a devastating 6.3 quake there that left 182 people dead. the entire police force of the mexican city of vera cruz has been fired as part of the country's ongoing effort to end police corruption and drug trafficking. for now, the mexican navy has been brought in to patrol the port city. and the earthquake-damaged washington monument has extensive cracking and chipped stones near its peak that had left it vulnerable to rainfall. that's according to a national park service report that says inspectors found cracks and loose stones along the entire length of the structure. so far, $7.5 million have been allocated for repairs. an eastern china surveillance video captured this brutal head-on collision between a motorcycle and a car that sent two bikes and a rider flying. both were hospitalized with major injuries.

and nasa's orbiter has beamed back breathtaking new images of saturn's largest surrounded by a smaller moon and saturn's rings. titan is the only known moon in the solar system with a fully developed atmosphere. beautiful way to start your day. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,169 after gaining 61 points. the s&p was up 10 points. the nasdaq added 21. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 64 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng jumped 250. wall street rallied thursday on weekly jobless claims dropping to a 3 1/2 year low. for the third straight week, applications for unemployment benefits dropped, bolstering views the economy is gaining momentum. with just over a week of trade left in the year, thursday's gains left the s&p 500 less than

a percent below where it started in 2011. the dow is up over 5% for the year, but the nasdaq is still off 2%. december's consumer sentiments hit a six-month high. confident investors prushed off a downward revision on economic growth, concentrating instead on unmistakenable signs of improvement this quarter. banks, energy and techs were the biggest gainers. bank of america led the dow, morgan stanley led all bank stocks. akamai technologies led tech, zooming on plans to purchase a competitor, tip co surged. american greetings tumbled on a profit dive and higher expenses for 2012. bed bath and beyond slid after warning earnings might miss. immediate johnson fell hard on johnson pulling infant formula nationwide. just days before christmas, best

buy is playing the grinch. alerting some customers it won't fill their online orders. best buy won't specify how many orders or which products are out of stock. finally, bad news for christmas kissers. mistletoe is almost impossible to find this year because of a texas drought and bad weather elsewhere. it's so scarce, you may even have trouble finding fake mistletoe but i'm confident you'll have no problems still having your christmas kiss. well, the indianapolis colts come up big and last-second heroics on the ice. boise state lets it rip right from the opening kickoff. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. we're not looking at too much in the way of stormy weather for all your travel. i'll give you the christmas forecast coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, winless for the entire season, suddenly over the last five days, the indianapolis colts have picked up two wins. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headline. >> hi there, good morning. break up the colts after losing the first 13 games of the season. indy won second straight in dramatic fashion, taking on the texans, it took the colts 59

minutes to find the end zone and they couldn't have picked a better time to do it. down two, dan hits reggie wayne with 19 seconds left in the game. indy shots houston with a 19-16 win. college football, boise state hits the jackpot on the opening kickoff of the las vegas bowl. dug martin takes the bowl to the goal line and goes up touched up the middle, makes his way to the sidelines and he's gone. broncos up 7-0 on arizona state. second quarter when broncos pull out their wild card, a reverse to matt miller and he tosses it to kyle. boise state wins big in vegas, 56-24. matt barkley will return to usc for his senior year, bypassing the nfl draft to take a run at the national title. next own is the first year the trojans will be eligible for a bcs bowl game after two years of sanctions. giants and jets will play tomorrow but last night it was the islanders and the rangers with new york bragging rights on the line.

brandon dubinsky, coast to coast for the goal. rangers up 1-0. don't blink or you'll miss the next goal. off the face-off, gaborik scores on the door step. islanders a step behind all night. rangers win 4-2. toronto, sabres and maple leafs tied 2-2 late in the third. kadry proved he belongs, unleashing a cannon. leafs with a 3-2 win. predators rally from three goals down against the blue jackets. erat completes the comeback with 8.4 seconds left in the game. nashville scores four unanswered and wins this one 6-5. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. well, which film has raked in millions overseas but isn't expected to make much of a dent here? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. if someone hasn't gotten your christmas card and you're penmanship challenged, we'll show where you it likely sits right now.

welcome back to "early today." let me take you through the highlights of your holiday weekend forecast. today, heavy rain early this morning in new england. that's exiting. snow showers this afternoon. a few showers down along the georgia/florida border. light snow in new mexico. west texas is going to get snow late tonight into tomorrow. of anyone getting a white christmas, have you a chance. there's still a possibility of a

wintry mix saturday around the dallas/ft. worth area. not a promise but a slight chance. not a lot of white on the map. a quiet christmas eve forecast. by the time we get to christmas day, we'll have rain, mississippi, possibly up to alabama, snow showers in the great lakes and then a front will be moving into the west. overall, it's a really quiet weekend forecast. good for your travels, but looks like you can keep that sleigh in the garage or basement. watching us on nbc 12 in jacksonville, florida, see synchronized lights dance to favorite sounds of the holiday season at a christmas tree light show at jacksonville landing. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> thanks so much. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. this holiday weekend big films should help boost what lately has been a sickly box office. "mission impossible" fourth film in the popular tom cruise franchise already made $18 million in a five-day imax run and opened wednesday with 9 million bucks and expected to finish the weekend number one

with as much as $30 million. the girl with the dragon tattoo, much awaited adaptation of the first novel of the swedish mystery series opened with $5 million wednesday. rated "r." it will make back the studio's $90 million investment over the long haul but this weekend it will finish second with only about $15 million. steven spielberg's cartoon hero tribute "the adventures of tintin" already made $239 million overseas but expectations are much lower, should finish fifth with under $10 million. finally, the unanimated, noncomputer generated option "we bought a zoo" won't crack the top five and won't even pass $9 million. maybe because they named it "we bought the zoo." come oshg we can do better than that. >> i always want to be a part of that meeting where they say, what should we name this movie? >> postcards on the wall,

somebody says "we bought a zoo," that sounds like a good idea. no. >> focus groups. this comes to us from ksl 5 news in salt lake city, utah, where an army of postal service elves go the extra mile to make sure holiday mail arrives in time, regardless of penmanship. holly spends hours figuring out where mail with unreadable addresses needs to be sent. she and her coworkers use a decoding system to decipher bad handwriting that keeps mail from making it to its destination. >> is her name really holly? >> too convenient. each day they save thousands of mysteries on holiday packages with hopes of getting them to the intended recipient. i'm lynn berry on early "today."

it's friday, december 23rd, the day before the day before christmas, here in the nation's capital. we've had rain almost all night long. good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm pat lawson muse. i'm in for eun yang this morning. new from overnight, "g" street northwest is still closed between 11th and 12th street because of a blown transformer. this happened a little after 11:00 at the intersection of "g" and 11th.

police originally thought it was a robbery at the suntrust as an explosion blew out two windows at the bank. pepco is on the scene working to fix the problem and reopen the area. congress will finally approve an extension of the payroll tax cut just days before it was set to expire. house republicans are bowing to pressure by democrats and fellow republicans in the senate to agree to a two-month version of the tax cut. the senate passed a version of the bill last week. house speaker john boehner demanded a one-year renewal of the tax cut, and he insists that's still the best policy. >> when you look at this, it's another short term extension. this creates uncertainty for job creators. i used to run a small business. i know how this works. and kicking the can down the road for a couple of months does cause problems. >> law makers are vowing to negotiate extending the tax cut next year.