i'm lynn berry. this is "early today."ust your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> a village in spain turned up the heat for an annual tradition. on the eve of the feast of st. anthony, nearly 120 houses were mounted and rode near as possible. sometimes over about 20 bonfires prepared by locals. although the origin of the ritual has been lost, it can be traced back to the 18th century and is thought to cleanse the horses of disease. >>> in china, there's a price to pay for being single. rather than tell their parents they're still flying solo, many young people are hiring rental boyfriends to join them on their next visit home. thousands of pseudo suitors are advertising their services online, offering to chat with parents, cook, and even do chores. buyers pay by the hour or day to avoid that "when are you settling down" lecture. >>> finally, is it break dancing, brick dancing, or both? a cementer in china has created a style of break dancing that mimics the 40 steps used in the brick laying process. his d

i'm lynn berry.oday, we begin with a western wallop. in the pacific northwest, folks are bracing for what could be a major snow storm with the potential of several feet of accumulation in mountain areas. travel is already been snarled in cities like portland and seattle where the average annual snowfall is barely six inches. nbc's kirk gregory reports. >> reporter: old man winter is slamming into the pacific northwest. snow has been falling steadily in parts of oregon and washington making road conditions hazardous. with the worst expected later today. seattle, more used to rain than snow, is preparing for a major winter wallop. the national weather service has issued a winter storm warning for much of the region where up to two feet of snow is forecasted in the cascade mountains. >> get off on 34. turn around. it's going to be closed until probably tomorrow. >> really? >> reporter: interstate 90 through the snowe kwal mi pass was closed tuesday because of avalanche danger. >> the weather does what i

it ends up on national tv. >>> i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> some bet vets in nick rarag are giving cats a second chance. these cats were rescued from traps set by local farmers. conservationists moved in to rescue them from near death. they will be hand fed until they're strong enough to be released into the wild. >>> a colorful celebration took place in india in preparation of spring season. 40 days before the hindu spring festival of holy, people gathered a temple to mark the beginning of the jubilation. priests dusted worshippers with plumes of colored powder. holy encourages brotherhood in society and people of all faiths to join in celebration. >>> and finally, in thailand competitors hit the sheets, but definitely did not rest. hundreds turned out to see the fourth annual bed race on sunday. participants from all over the world turned their beds into decorative floats and raced them down the main street. the event raised about $.5 million, which will be

i'm lynn berry.>> today we begin an improving outlook. according to new poll numbers it appears americans are becoming more optimistic about the state of the economy. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal "poll finds 30% say the country is headed in the right direction. that's up eight points from a month ago. 45% approve of the job president obama is doing in handling the economy. that is a six-point rise over the last month. and more people said they believe the economy will get better instead of worse in 2012. that is a seven-point jump over last month. all three polls came in at the highest positive levels they have been at in a year. on the heels of that, president obama kicked off a three-day campaign-style swing through five battleground states yesterday. and his first stop in arizona, there was a tense exchange between the president and that state's republican governor jan brewer. nbc's tracie potts is joining us now from washington with those details. >> lynn, grorpg good morning. you can

i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with a fight in florida. it was a verbal battle in jacksonville between mitt romney and newt gingrich in the final debate before tuesday's primary. they squabbled about many issues, including housing, immigration, even a colony on the moon. nbc's steve handlesman reports. >> reporter: mitt romney threw the first punch at newt gingrich. >> the idea i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. >> you tell me what language you would use to describe someone that thinks deporting a grandmother or grandfather from their family -- >> our problem is not 11 million grandmothers. >> reporter: florida's housing crisis is blamed by freddie mac. >> we should have had a whistleblower, not a horn tooter. >> frankly, i've had enough of this. we discovered governor romney owns both shares of freddie mac and fannie mae. >> reporter: they fought about spending in space, going to the moon. >> i do not want to turn around and say, it doesn't really matter. let the chinese dominate space. >> that's what got us into the trouble we're in now. w

i'm lynn berry.oday, we begin with the early advantage. polls are not even open yet for today's florida primary, but mitt romney is already beating newt gingrich. according to ballots counted from half a million early voters, the former massachusetts governor has a double-digit lead. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from tampa with the latest. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. those numbers give us a sense of what may happen as the polls now open here in florida. of course, we'll know by the end of the day, but according to the exit polls from those early voters that you mentioned, mitt romney has a two-to-one advantage. >> thank you for all your work. i need your vote tomorrow. get out there and vote. >> reporter: he's got reason to feel confident. take a look at the polls. here's why. >> newt has a ton of baggage. >> reporter: romney and his super pac are bombarding the state with ads, most of them negative. it's part of romney's new game plan. >> he's b

i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today."t your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

i'm lynn berry. here are your top headlines this morning.esterday's online protest against anti- piracy legislation may be paying off. a growing number of lawmakers are now pulling their support of the stop online piracy act and their protect i.p. act. critics fear the bill would create unprecedented censorship of the web. >>> a contractor working for the federal reserve stole the software to track finances worth millions and allegedly copied the code to help his private computer programming business. >>> someone was able to smuggle a magazine published by al qaeda to a detainee at guantanamo bay. one issue contained tips on how to kill americans. authorities say now mail between prisoners and their attorneys is being inspected. >>> good and bad news for the washington monument. a billionaire is coming forward to donate $7.5 million to finish repair work after last summer's earthquake. however, that work will need to keep the monument closed through the rest of this year. >>> they were all the rage after kate middleton's wedding but do not t

i'm lynn berry.oday, we begin with an impassioned plea. millions watched last night as president obama delivered his third state of the union speech. something democrats hope will be seen as a compelling appeal for his election to a second term. in it, the president called for national unity and laid out plans for the future. nbc's tracie potts is in washington with more on this. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. americans were listening to hear what the president would say and watching to see what members of congress would do. democrats and republicans, many of them sat together, but listening to this speech, they didn't seem to agree on much. >> osama bin laden is not a threat to this country. >> reporter: mentioning the death of osama bin laden brought bipartisan applause. but he quickly turned off republicans with promises to ensure millionaires pay no less than 30% in taxes. >> now, you can call this class warfare all you want, but asking a billionaire to pay as much as has

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with anybody's glam. the gop presidential contest is heating up in the sunshine state where mitt romney is hoping that releasing tax returns will help him reclaim his front-runner status after being beaten in south carolina on saturday. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on all of this. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. let's talk about romney and those taxes. he said not until april when the 2011 taxes are ready. now he says i'll release them early. in fact, i'll do it this week. he says, why not? santorum also planning to release his taxes now. gingrich already did. he paid almost $1 million in taxes. that expected to be a big topic at debate in tampa tonight. florida voters getting a chance to decide who they want to represent their state as a winner in this primary that's coming up in just about a week now. coming out of south carolina, newt gingrich now has the momentum. he has not been on top of the p

i'm lynn berry.oday we begin with a fiery fight. with a week to go before the florida primary, the republican presidential candidates came out swinging in last night's debate here on nbc. romney accused gingrich of influence pedaling. steve handlesman reports from tampa. >> reporter: newt gingrich and mitt romney each with one primary win tried to finish one another off in florida. >> i think it's about leadership. the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994. at the end of four years, he had to resign in disgrace. >> i think the american public deserves a discussion about how to beat barack obama. i think this is the worst kind of trivial politics. >> i'm here to point out things we all need to know. >> you ought to stop and look at the facts. >> reporter: ron paul is not contending florida. rick santorum polling a weak third here warned i'd could be active in cuba. in a state hard hit by the houdsing crisis, freddie mac is a big issue. the federally backed lender blame

. >>> good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we'll begin this morning with romney rocketing. with just over 24 hours to go before the florida gop primary vote, temperature and the rhetoric between the two top contenders is rising as are mitt romney's poll numbers. nbc's brian moore joins us from washington with the latest on all of this. brian, good morning. >> reporter: mitt romney is up in the polls and under the skin of newt gingrich. with the all-important florida primary a day away, newt gingrich is asking conservatives to keep his contest with mitt romney alive. >> i believe the republican party will not nominate a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate for massachusetts. >> the latest nbc news poll shows romney has taken a lead in the state with 50 delegates on the line. ron paul isn't contesting florida and rick santorum has gone back to pennsylvania to tend to his ailing daughter. that makes florida a virtual two-man contest. >>

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. >>> we begin this morning with an empassioned plea. millions watched last night as president obama delivered his third state of the union speech, something democrats hope will be seen as a compelling appeal for his election to a second term. in it, the president called for national unity and laid out plans for the future. nbc's steve handelsman has more from capitol hill. steve, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, thanks, good morning from capitol hill. even his harshest critics concede, this is what barack obama does best, his democrats up here loved this state of the union address. >> the president of the united states. >> reporter: barack obama came to congress pushing his re-election feed, that republicans call class warfare. >> we can set for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of americans barely get by or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair s

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and we begin this morning with an improving outlook. according to new poll numbers, it appears americans are becoming more optimistic about the state of the economy. the latest nbc news/wall street journal poll finds 0% say the country is headed in the right direction. that's up eight points from a month ago. 45% approve of the job president obama is doing in handling the economy. that's a six-point rise over the last month. more people say they believe the economy will get better instead of worse in 2012. that's a seven-point jump over last month. all three polls came in at the highest positive levels they've been at in a year. on the heels of that, president obama kicked off a three-day campaign style swing through five battleground states yesterday. at his first stop there was a tense exchange between the president and that state's governor brewer. >> lynn, good morning. it was tense or intense depending on h

i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. international organization doctors without borders has stopped its work in miss rat ra. they only saw detainees sent back for further interrogation. they vowed to address the abuse but insists it's not widespread. >>> the united nations got an unexpected delivery earlier this month. 35 pounds of cocaine. the narcotics stuffed inside hollowed out textbooks were intercepted at the u.n. mail room inside forged diplomat pouches with no return address. u.n. officials say the packages originated in mexico city. >>> tragedy struck rio de janeiro late wednesday night when a 20-story building spontaneously collapsed and crumbled, taking down two more buildings with it. rescuers have pulled six bodies from the rubble. more than a dozen are still missing. >>> this week's spectacular light show continues in northern europe, all thanks to the biggest solar storm in six years. folks in norway were treated to this amazing display of aurora boreal borealis, which doesn't even look real. >>> the dow o

i'm lynn berry. >>> today we begin with a fiery fight. a week to go before the florida primary, the republican candidates came swinging on a debate last night on nbc. romney accused gingrich of, quote, influence pedaling. nbc steve handelsman reports from tampa. >> reporter: newt gingrich and mitt romney each with one primary win, tried to finish one another off in florida. >> i think it's about leadership and the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leads of our party in 1994 and at the end of four years he had to resign in disgrace. >> i think the american public deserve a discussion about how to beat barack obama and what we would do about the economy. i think this is the worst kind of trivivial plots. >> reporter: ron paul is not contending florida. rick santorum a week third, warns al qaeda could be active in cuba, but in a state hard hit by the housing crisis, freddie mac is an issue. the federally backed lender blamed by many for the mortgage mess. newt gingrich worked for freddy and rel

i'm lynn berry, and today we begin with a narrowing field. despite carrying the largest endorsement, jon huntsman is officially ending his bid for the republican presidential nomination. he's expected to endorse front-runner mitt romney later today. tracie potts joins us from washington with all of those details. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. this is interesting after getting the endorsement over the weekend and after placing third in new hampshire, the one race john huntsman got the voters to back him now in south carolina looks like before that primary this weekend, he is going to bow out later this morning and then after that we understand he will endorse mitt romney, who is still the front-runner in this race, even in conservative south carolina. he's got on average a seven-point lead. huntsman is expected to talk to romney today. no word what his immediate plans are after dropping out or how often we might see him on the campaign trail with mitt romney. romney certainly seems to be the focus now in south carolina. all of t

i'm lynn berry.>> today, we begin with cruise casualties. the death toll is now 11 from that grounded luxury liner off the coast of italy and it could go higher. in a dramatic raued yo tape, the captain who is facing criminal charges was ordered to go back to the ship he abandoned friday night. two dozen people are still missing. nbc's michelle kosinski has the latest. >> reporter: a loud blast mid-day was not an accident. but the fastest way inside the concordia's hull. this video was shot by divers urgently making their way. a hole, they punched. then deep inside the murky silence that friday night was the start of a vacation. they hammer their way through the dim maze of ruins under 30 feet of water at times, searching for victims. as the search continued, the ship's captain was in court charged with manslaughter, causing the wreck abandoning ship, which an audio recording now reveals. in a heated phone conversation from off the ship friday night, a few hours after the accident, with furious port

i'm lynn berry.oday we begin with anybody's ball game. the gop presidential contest is heating up in the sunshine state where mitt romney is hoping that releasing tax returns will help him reclaim his front-runner status after being beaten in south carolina on saturday. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with all of this. tracie, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. good morn, everybody. since ron paul has essentially decided not to compete in florida it's winner take all. the winner gets all of the state's delegates this summer. that means this is essentially a three-way race between mitt romney, newt gingrich, and rick santorum. romney who said he wouldn't release his tax information until april, now under pressure from newt gingrich has decided to release those records this week with an estimate of his 2011 taxes. rick santorum also says he'll release his this week. gingrich already has. so that will round it out for the three who are competing in florida. they've got a debate there tonig

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we're going to begin this morning with a taxing situation. with just two days until the south carolina primary, republican presidential front-runner mitt romney is taking heat from his rivals over the revelation that he pays a lower tax rate than the average american. it is a topic that is sure to dominate when the candidates square off tonight in north charleston. nbc's tracie potts is in washington with the details. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. the millionaire front-runner has a couple of financial problems down with the voters in south carolina. first of all, the $374,000 he got in speaking fees last year, an amount he described as not much before the actual amount was released. and also the 15% effective tax rate that he is paying romney in an interview said he explained that's because it is from investments, not from wages, from wages that tax rate could be double. romney has promised to release his tax returns, but not rig

i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on yo your nbc station. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. things 7-eleven nadal this morning. no concerns under way to work or school this morning -- things have settled down. 33 at the airport. mostly sunny skies today. a little on the chilling side. high temperature between 40 and 45. we have the big warmup coming up. >> 32 degrees on tv hill. president obama jumps on line to chat with the public. >> one day to go and it winner takes all. the latest look at the florida presidential primary. >> the debate over same-sex marriage heats up in annapolis. >> a smooth start to your monday [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> a chilly mornin

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.

i'm lynn berry. >>> we begin with an impassion plea. millions watched last night as president obama delivered his third state of the union speech. something democrats hope will be seen as a compelling appeal for his election to a second term. in it, the president called for national unity and laid out plans for the future. nbc's steve handelsman has more from capitol hill. good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: even his harshest critics concede this is what barack obama does best. his democrats up here love this state of the union address. >> the president of the united states! >> reporter: barack obama came to congress pushing his reelection feed that republicans call class war fare. >> we cannot settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do very well while a growing number of americans barely get bit, where we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> reporter: he demanded a new rule f

i'm lynn berry.oday we begin with a taxing situation. with just two days to go until the south carolina primary, republican presidential front-runner mitt romney is taking some heat over his rivals over this revelation that he pays a lower tax rate than the average american. it is a topic that is sure to dominate when the candidates square off tonight in north charleston. tracy potts is here with all of those details. >> reporter: the million air front-runner has a couple of financial problems down with the voters in south carolina. first of all, the $374,000 he got in fees last year in an amount he describes not much before the actual amount was released. and also the 15% effective tax rate he is paying romney in an interview said he, he explained it's from an investment, not from wages, from wages that tax rates could be double. romney has promised to release his tax returns but not right away. he says he'll do it in april which, he says, it's traditionally when candidates tend to to do that after

i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on yo your nbc station. >>> 4:28 is our time now on this monday morning. we have 34 degrees. down near freezing. nice day out there. good morning to you, i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this monday, january 30, 2012. in just a few hours, u.s. park police say they will start to enforce a ban on no camping at the two d.c. occupy sites. mcpherson square and freedom plaza. tensions are definitely mounting ahead of the noon deadline. police used a taser on one protester. [ shouting ] >> this video posted on youtube shows the man who calls himself lash being tased at mcpherson square yesterday. park police say the man became angry about the flyers and confronted officers about the ban. they say they were forced to use a taser when he became aggressive and confrontational. the incident comes when emotions were already high. starting at noon today, park police will enforce the ban at overnight campin

i'm lynn berry. >>> today we begin with a fight in florida. it was a verbal battle in jacksonville between mitt romney and newt gingrich in the final debate before tuesday's primary. they sqaubleed about many issues including housing and immigration and even a colony on the move. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: mitt romney, through the first punch at newt gingrich for calling romney anti-immigrant. >> you tell me what language you would use to describe somebody who thinks that deporting a grandmother or a grandfather from their family. >> our problem is not 11 million grandmothers. our problem is -- all right? >> reporter: florida's housing crisis is severe. many blame freddie mac. >> speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them. i think instead we should have had a whistle-blower and not a horn tooter. >> frankly i've had about enough of this. we discovered to our shock governor romney owns shares of both fannie mae and freddie mac. >> you also have investments from mutual

i'm lynn berry. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> a virtual city was chiselled out of ice in moscow. architects and sculptures gathered to construct nearly 20 mini sculptures and a castle made of ice for a competition in russia with. temperatures hovering around only 32 degrees, the mild winter has left the creations susceptible to melting. weather permitting, the castle will remain open until march. >>> in england, 50 cars from the iconic james bond flicks are starring in their own exhibition. marking the movie's 50th anniversary, most of 007's rides have been put on display. some of the cars bore the battle wounds of filming the movies. others had their secret weapon systems exposed. pretty cool there. the exhibition is the largest of the vehicles in the world. >>> and finally, one woman in new zealand is auctioning something off that is very valuable, you may say. with her financial situation getting tough, tina got crafty and started an auction where the winner could

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we begin this morning with cruise casualties. the death toll is now 11 from that grounded luxury liner off the coast of italy and it could go higher. in a dramatic audiotape, the captain, who is facing criminal charges, was ordered to go back to the ship that he abandoned friday night. two dozen people are still missing. nbc's michelle kosinski has the latest. >> reporter: a loud blast midday was not an accident. but the fastest way inside the concordia's hull. this video was shot by divers, urgently making their way to holes they punched. then deep inside, the murky silence that friday night was the start of a vacation. they hammer their way through the dim maze of rooms, under 30 feet of water at times, searching for victims. as the search continued, the ship's captain francesco schettino was in court, charged with manslaughter, causing the wreck, abandoning ship, which an audio recording now reveals. in a heated phone conversation from off the

i'm lynn berry.>> we begin with a growing disaster. the italian cruise disaster appears to be worsening. 25 passengers an four crew members are now unaccounted for and new concerns the ship could be leaking fuel. michelle kosinski has the lastest. >> reporter: rescuers fighting their way while there is time to find people who might still be trapped deep to the costa concordia, had to pull back because of weather. divers on a good day can barely see. >> it's dark and also we -- we are losing the track of our way. >> reporter: among the missing, american retirees jerry and debra hile of minnesota. still emerging video shows how a vacation three hours in evolved into a desperate push to escape. >> people were passing out. people were getting nervous. people were having chest pains. i was having chest pains and having anxiety because i don't know how to swim. >> reporter: infrared video shows people inching down the hall in the dark. blaming the captain for making an unauthorized decision to steer off co

i'm lynn berry. here are your top headlines this morning. >>> a nuclear reactor north of chicago shut down on monday. it lost power and the steam was vented to cool the reactor. officials say the steam contained face levels of a radioactive form of hydrogen. >>> the food and drug administration is being sued by staffers who were legally protected whistle blowers. the lawsuit says the fda violated their free speech writes by secretly monitoring their private e-mail after they raised safety concerns about some medical devices. >>> a pileup that killed ten people has been ordered by the florida's governor for an vaengs. they reopened the road before the accident because smog and smoke had cleared. >>> a new black colored tomato may show up in luxury restaurants before long. it's a cross between wild and cultured tomatoes with the hopefully, appealing new color. >>> at least according to england's daily may, prince william and kate are putting off having a baby next year. the sources say they want to mak

i'm lynn berry. this is "1st look."d, a special edition of "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. >>> why would anybody in the establishment think that a massachusetts moderate, which is a liberal by republican standards, pro abortion, pro gun control, pro tax increase, pro gay rights, why would they think that he's going to be able to debate barack obama some. >> i know the speaker is not real happy. he's knowledge feeling very excited these days. i know are i it's sad. he's been going after me for one thing or the other and you watch it and you shake your head. it's been kind of pain any full revealing. >> we're about to find out if mitt romy's overwhelming show of force here pays off big and