today," gop shake-up. one republican presidential candidate bows out, while another gets slammed by charges from his ex-wife. reno inferno. a wildfire sent thousands of nevada residents fleeing for their lives. and up, up, and away. the u.s. air force conducts the country's first orbital launch of the new year. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello. good morning. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with a wild republican ride. a series of shake-ups made for a

memorable day on the gop campaign trail thursday. first up, rick perry dropped and and endorsed rick gingrich. we learn mitt romney did not win the iowa caucuses. at the end of the day a fiery debate. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: four are left and newt gingrich had the hot hand. the endorsement of rick perry and surging polls in south carolina, so gingrich blew up when the first question in the cnn debate. >> when the story has now gone viral on the internet. >> reporter: was about his ex-wife and infidelity. >> she says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. >> the story is false. to take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary, a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close as despicable as anything i can imagine. >> reporter: mitt romney has learned he lost the january 3rd

caucuses to rick santorum. >> the work to get 25 more votes in iowa, that's for sure. >> reporter: now rivals are slamming his business takeovers that led to firings. >> i find it kind of strange on a stage like this with republicans having to surprise how private equity and venture capital work and how they are successful and create jobs. >> reporter: he paid a 15% income tax rate but hasn't released his returns. gingrich did. $3 million in in 2010 and a tax rate of 32% but santorum -- >> grandee osity has never been a problem with -- >> i think this is a grandee os country of people doing big things. >> it was an idea a minute. no discipline. no ability to be able to pull things together. >> reporter: watching, amused, was ron paul. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, columbia, south carolina.

u.s. officials tell nbc news that six marines were killed in a helicopter crash on thursday. their troops died when their chopper went down. officials say no signs of enemy activity at the time of the crash which is still under investigation. it was the deadliest crash in afghanistan in august when 30 troops were killed when a chinook helicopter rah shot down. a drone strike in paecket, unmanned drone stuck on january 10th, and hit waziristawazirist. an operationing planner was killed. a senior u.s. official says his death reduced pakistan spinning death of another operative plotting the death of innocent civilians. here is a look at the stories making news early today in america. firefighters in reno, nevada had starting to take control of

a massive wildfire but not before it destroyed more than 20 homes and forced 10,000 people to leave the area. vice president joe biden was forced to abruptly end an appearance at a local high school interrupting his remarks upon hearing flames were headed toward the campus. the fire may be to blame for one death. a new jersey man says it's a miracle he is still alive. you can see why. he was driving by a construction site when a steel beam smashed into his van ripping the roof right off. it was being lifted by a crane when it accidentally swung into traffic. if you believe it, the victim walked away with just a broken thumb. unreal. in southern california, another case of delivery people behaving badly. what is it with these guys? this time, a man watched as the surveillance camera caught a u.s. postal worker carelessly throwing a box across his fence. it was a cuckoo clock shipped

from across the country. it was seriously cadamaged. you don't have to call another country to get tech report. the school is turning to its students to fix computers. teachers say the kids often know more about the equipment than they do. now for a look at your national and region weather, here is meteorologist bill karins with a look at the forecast. my 1-year-old nephew seriously when i'm on the ipad he is looking at at me, give it to me. you have no idea what you're doing. >> you had me on the delivery story until the cuckoo clock? >> you don't think a cuckoo clock deserves to be handled with love? >> good morning, everyone. we are going to be dealing with snow as we head through the day today. tomorrow, a minisnowstorm that moves from the middle of the country all the way across the areas of the east. let me show i i who is going to

get the snow. sioux falls to sioux city with snow and des moines just a little bit. quad cities north wards from rochester to the squad cities and northern illinois and wisconsin you'll have snow probably during your morning commute. i think chicago get away with the morning commute and right after is when the snow is beginning in your area. this isn't a big storm. a narrow storm. the track it's going to take is this morning from the iowa area, northern illinois, back through the southern ohio or southern great lakes, northern ohio valley and eventually saturday morning right off the mid-atlantic and southern new england coast line. it's a narrow area that will pick up the snow. the snow could come down and be fluffy and aaccumulate let's. chicago 3 to 6 inches for you and looks like the higher terrain out of the pittsburgh up to 8 and pittsburgh 6 or so. bigger cities that haven't seen a lot of snow, hartford and providence and you have a chance 3 to 6 and main a little more if

you're fortunate. that is the target area for the snow. that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. areas of concern today. we have a little bit of snow overnight last night in areas of massachusetts and also new hampshire and maine that continues this morning so could be slippery there. otherwise temperatures are warm in the south like areas of texas and oklahoma and still very cold in the northwest. we mentioned yesterday how the midwest had those windchills of minus 40? today is better and now it's only like minus 10. >> bill, thanks so much. coming up, google falls short and big blue stands tall and no shortage of volunteers for one contest in florida. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. will kate beckansale return to the top? the bruins score in bunches and the heat burn the lakers and penn state has reason to smile. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. here are your top headlines this i'm lynn berry. a cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of italy. 21 people missing and 11 confirmed dead. a new audio tape showed the ship's officer only reporting an electrical problem rather than asking for help. fbi agents shut down the popular file share site megaupload and made several arrests for piracy laws. in retaliation, the hackers group anonymous claimed it attacked the website of the u.s. justice department. ironically, scientists say they need more research about time. they will do a three-year more

study. a 60-year-old tradition may be over. since 1949, a mystery man has left a half empty bottle of cognac and three red roses at the grave of edgar allen poe. at cape canaveral, florida, last night, the u.s. air force launched a new delta rocket carrying a satellite to provide weather information. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. cow opened 12,623 after adding 45 points yesterday. the s&p up six points and the nasdaq gained 18. overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei rose 126 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng nudged up 167. this morning, we will find out how a mixed bag of late day

earnings impact markets today. after the bell, earnings from google fell well short of market expectations on both net income and net revenue. at one point after hours, google shares plunged 10%. on the upside, ibm easily beat earnings estimate and promised 10% growth in 2012. tech titans intel and microsoft delivered decent reports sending both stocks higher. a 12% rise in american express helped it surpass earnings estimates. overseas ikea reported a healthy jump in profit and revenue. earlier in the day, stocks were steady, thanks, in part, to the biggest drop in weekly unemployment claims since 2008. investors welcomed upbeat earnings from bank of america as it rebuilds its core businesses. morgan stanley shares climbed after reporting it lost less than expected last quarter. southwest airlines topped estimates despite higher fuel

costs. general motors is once again the world's top selling automaker overtaking toyota by selling 9 million vehicles last year. rupert murdoch's empire will pay at its now defunct news of the world tabloid. actor jude law and his ex-wife and his assistant are among those receiving settlements. the florida department of law enforcement is raising eyebrows as they are shells out 300 bucks to get employees testy to test a breathalyzer. we did that with exstrong coffee. kind of sad. coming up a tragedy in free style skiing. yet another college basketball upset. a shoot-out goal in hockey you have to see to believe. lebron and the heat break away from the outmatched l.a. lakers. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in the weekend forecast, it is highlighted by snow no new

england and a wet forecast for the west. that's coming you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports on paper last night's matchup between the lakers and the heat promised to be a great one. in reality, it couldn't have

been more one-sided. here is nbc's frr with a early look at all of your sports headlines. good morning. the marquee game of the night. lakers and the heat. unfortunately the heat were the only team that showed up. maybe it was traveling across the country or a time difference but the lakers didn't have it. lebron james and company took advantage. at one point they were up by as many as 24. james had a game high 31. final score much closer than it really was. heat won it 98-87. now to houston. hornets and rockets. kevin martin came out of the game firing with 27 points in the first half and finished with 32. this one went to o.t. martin on the break missed the layup. samuel dalembert there to clean up the damage. rockets win it. world champion canadian free style skier passed away yesterday. she obtained a brain injury while training during the park city mountain resort. sarah burke was just 29 years

old. penguins put it together against the first place rangers. malkin has seven goals in the last four games. penguins knock off the rangers 4-1. in blink of an eye, boston took the game over. two goals in 35 seconds. nathan morton and gregory campbell with the honors. bruins score four unanswered to beat the devils 4-1. coyotes mike smith is dizzy with a spinning backhand. illinois and penn state tied. ten seconds to play. tim frazier with the teardrop that made joys for their coach. rough near for penn state but smiling now beating illinois 54-52. >> that is your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin.

who is america's favorite actor? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, he may be commander in chief but can the president survive the audience at harlem's famed apollo theater? you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." on the way for many cities today. today arriving from des moines

to chicago, 3 to 6 inches. later on tonight, detroit, cleveland, north of columbus, indianapolis, a little bit for you. and then it looks like overnight friday night into saturday morning, snow arriving for areas like new york city and possibly philadelphia northward and southern new england. most areas 3 to 6 inches, so enough for the kids to play in and shovel as they go throughout your saturday morning. if you're watching us on whdh in boston, mass. afhrodite and the gods of love. that is your "early today" event of the today. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. the number one film will be all about vampires at war. under world awakening. the fourth installment of the franchise marks kate beckinsale's return as a battling vampire after she skipped the third film and should do well with higher 3d

and imac prices. i hear it's good. "red tails" the true story inhe pilots in the all black program should earn $15 million. the 9/11 drama starring tom hanks and sandra bullock should take in $10 to $12 million. "haywire" starring gino carr ano is not expected to gross the $10 million mark. >> clint eastwood and denzel washington tied for second and sandra bullock was the only woman in the top ten. this comes from news 4 new york where in harlem, we heard president obama like you've never heard him before. take a listen. ♪ i go

>> reporter: not bad, mr. president. yes i was the leader of the free world. he was holding a campaign where more than a few acts have been booed off the stage but not last night. you can see why. no word if he'll try out for nbc's "the voice." he was completely confident. >> butterflies had to be churning. >> when you're at the apollo theater and they are known to boo everybody off the stage, but there you go. learn something about the president every day. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today" p your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

4:28 is our time on this friday morning. we have 39 quite cold degrees out there this morning on this 20th of january. good morning to you, i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this friday, january 20, 2012. we have breaking news off the top in the district. police say a person has barricaded himself inside a home. it happened in the 1000 block of 13th street southeast. news4's tracee wilkins is live with developments. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're told that he's actually inside of an apartment building. i want you to look behind me. you're not able to see that apartment building from where we

are, but this building is the building that's blocking it. you can see that police have this entire area blocked off here to this corner of capitol hill here in southeast. has been closed off. we're talking about 12th and k toward penn and 14th toward l street. so you can see here again police are still on the scene. now this is how this started. it actually began in alexandria, just off of telegraph road. we're told police were following a vehicle, ran the vehicle's plates and found a number of warrants for the driver. they tried to pull him over, and he accelerated. three police cars ended up joining in this pursuit from fairfax county. eventually this person crossed over the wedge, bailed out of -- the wilson bridge, bailed out of his vehicle. he ran into a building located in the 1000 block in northeast. the emergency response team is here. we understand that at this point the emergency response team is going d