savannah, thanks. >>> just a few hours after the unemployment numbers came out, as savannah mentionedthe president turned up in afghanistan. and chuck todd, on the white house lawn, has that part of the story. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. what made this trip doubly surprising is it happened today, a day of the jobs report, the day of the debt commission, and in the midst of this tax negotiation with a gridlocked congress, and all of it for a trip to afghanistan secretly done that was designed simply to boost troop morale. the president turned up in the dark of night at bagram airfield in afghanistan today. president obama was last seen at the white house hanukkah reception last night at 6:44 p.m. >> happy hanukkah, everybody. >> reporter: just after 9:30 p.m., he snuck off for a 13-hour flight, landing at 11:00 this morning in afghanistan. on the ground for less than four hours, the president was briefed by his team, led by general david petraeus, and ambassador carl eikenberry. although high winds prevented the president from taking a helicopter to kabul for

>> reporter: yes, chuck and savannah. the snow has stopped falling, but not before about 17 inches fell here in the twin cities. public schools are closed in the twin cities, and right now we are dealing with the bitter cold. windchill values as i am talking are about 20 degrees below zero when you factor in the wind. highs today will stay in the single digits and folks are continuing to assess the damage, of course, at the metrodome. amazing before and after pictures. of course, typically air pressure keeps that dome inflated. but the heavy snow and wind over the weekend caused the dome to collapse, the fourth time in the stadium' history. and repair crews are on their way to assess the damage. no word on how much it will cost or how long it will take to repair the damage to the metrodome. now, the game originally scheduled for monday night between the vikings and the giants. that will take place at detroit's ford field. tickets are free to that game, so a lot of folks are lining up this morning in detroit to get tickets

good morning. >> good morning savannah and chuck. looks like the futures indicating a stronger open on wall street. like we're up for the dow futures by 20 points above fair value after we have good news on the jobs front. out with the weekly jobless claims. down by 3,000, not a big drop, down to 420,000. lowest level weeb we've seen, second low et seen this whole year. the trend is going in the right direction as three weeks in a row we've seen lower numbers coming in. a lot of people hopeful maybe we're getting at the point to chip away at unemployment. numbers today on housing. a mixed bag. new home starts out up by 3.9%. permits down by 4%. permits give a lot of indication about what's to come over the next few months. fedex out with numbers that were a little disappointing. right now futures down, at least it looks like opening shares down 2% but gave good news, too. let me tell you quickly. fedex said that volume's improving and starting to reinstate some employee benefits. a good picture for the american worker as well. back t

>> savannah guthrie at the white house tonight. savannah, thanks for your reporting. >>> a dramatic moment in washington tonight. you don't see this often, even over the course of a lifetime. the censure of a member of the house of representatives. >> will the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel, kindly appear in the well. >> democrat charles rangel tonight standing in the well of the house, accepting the punishment as read by speaker pelosi. he has represented his harlem congressional district for 40 years. he today became the first house member since 1983 to be formally censured by his peers. the worst punishment short of expulsion. he said the censure was painful to accept. he was convicted of 11 ethics violations, including failure to pay taxes. the vote to convict tonight was 333-79. >>> if you have spent time on the east, you night know what they call lake-effect snow. it's when weather whips across the moisture of the great lakes and then dumps it on or near buffalo, new york. and a whole lot of other places. well, it has st

john, you just look cold. >> i am cold, savannah, believe me. this is the third straight day of snowfall here in northwestern indiana. the snow be, make effect snow blowing in here off lake michigan. there's already two feet of snow in a lot of the areas around here. the wind creating drifts of up to four feet and the roads and highways are being covered with with snow as quickly as they can be cleared. still, roads, highways closed here. there were about 100 cars stranded on the highways yesterday. drivers stuck in their cars for hours and savannah, i know you are from arizona, chuck's from florida. it is about 16 degrees right now. the temperature has been dropping since the sun came up, the high was -- the high of the day was about 20 before sunrise and believe it or not, you look at these waves in lake michigan, they have been chasing surfers out of the water here. >> come on. >> oh, geez. >> that's just crazy. >> kind of looks like you are in maine, like the atlantic ocean or the northern california, just does not look like a lake. twoencht

savannah, thanks for starts us off. now to our congressional correspondent kelly o'donnell on the hill. kelly, starting with that 9/11 health and compensation bill, most americans are not used to seeing this amount of change where you are in such a short time. >> reporter: brian, it's amazing to think one day after emotional appeals from first responders, tons of media pressure and the clock ticking down toward christmas, congress did pass that 9/11 bill. it helps to pay for medical needs of survivors and workers at ground zero who are suffering serious, even deadly illnesses. first responder john seal says he finally has peace of mind. >> to me, that's better than opening any christmas present this year, and it's because of everybody's hard work that this christmas will be the best christmas that i've never known. >> reporter: it happened because democrats and republicans negotiated really hard this morning to cut down the overall cost of the bill to $4 billion, and to tighten up some of the program's requirements. bri

of chuck, savannah? >> all right, kelly o'donnell on capitol hill.t's going to be a crazy weekend, but who knows, maybe it gets wrapped up this weekend. kelly, thanks very much. and, of course, an earmark actually saves zero dollars in the budget the way it works. it just directs dollars. and i think sometimes that fact does get lost in the debate. all right. let's than 24 hours after being released from prison, wikileaks founder julian assange was defiant today, defending himself against the charges in sweden and responding to reports that he could be charged here in the u.s. for leaking classified information. >> we don't know what the grounds of that investigation is. in fact, like the swedish investigation, the whole damn thing is kept secret. something is wrong in the united states that such an investigation against me and in effect, my organization, and indeed now, we see serious calls against the "new york times," as well, that all that is to be conducted in secret. >> well, nbc's peter alexander is in suffolk, england. and peter in the interv

savannah, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this review was not a long three-month protracted battle like we saw last year over how to proceed in afghanistan. the white house is sticking to its basic counterinsurgency strategy. the question here is, what is working and what isn't? progress in afghanistan, the president described an al qaeda organization on its heels. >> it's harder for them to recruit, it's harder for them to travel, it's harder for them to train, it's harder for them to plot and launch attacks. in short, al qaeda is hunkered down. >> reporter: the administration's two-month strategy review concludes aggressive counterterror operations have hobbled al qaeda's senior leadership in pakistan. and a surge of 30,000 additional troops to afghanistan has enabled key gains against taliban strongholds, particularly in the south. but the report warns the successes are fragile and reversible. >> the sense of progress among those closest to the fight is palpable. >> reporter: today, top officials insisted troops will begin

savannah, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president portrayed this bill as a victory for the middle class but had to backtrack on a key campaign promise to let those lower bush tax rates expire for the wealthiest americans. at the bill signing today at the white house, it was notable who was there and who wasn't. republican senate leader mitch mcconnell came, but democratic leaders nancy pelosi and harry reid did not, though there were plenty of other key democrats there. the president acknowledged this had been a tough compromise for some in his party to swallow. but he said americans expect their leaders in washington to work together. >> candidly speaking, there are some elements of this legislation that i don't like. there are some elements that members of my party don't like. there's some elements that republicans here today don't like. that's the nature of compromise. yielding on something each of us cares about to move forward on what all of us care about. >> reporter: this is a massive $857 billion tax package. it

savannah guthrie, something extraordinary on friday. president clinton comes to meet with president obama. they meet privately, presumably to get some advice. and then a funny thing happens on the way to the exit. that is, they find their way into the briefing room. watching this scene unfold was great washington theater. here was a portion of it. >> i'm going to let him speak very briefly and then i actually have to go over and do some -- just one more christmas party. he may decide he wants to take some questions, but i want to make sure that you guys heard from him directly. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. president. first of all, i feel awkward being here. and now you're going to leave me all by myself. >> here is what i'll say. i've been keeping the first lady waiting for about half an hour. so, i'm going to take off. >> i don't want to make her mad. please go. >> you're in good hands. and gibbs will call last question. >> help me. thank you. >> what i love, savannah guthrie, is that i didn't sense the awkwa

savannah guthrie joins me live from the white house. savannah, we see the president moving along, just giving some i guess some sound bites to all of us, waiting to hear what he's got to say. but give us the headline out of this meeting, or is this really a glorified photo op for some people coming to see some christmas decorations in dc? >> to hear the ceos, it was more than a photo op and more productive than frankly past meetings with ceos have been. i think everybody recognized there was a strange relationship here, and even that is something of a change, for a long time when you ask the white house about this strange relationship with business, they would say what are you talking about, that's overblown. i think there is an act among white house aids this is a relationship that needed tending. and some of the ceos that have come out and talked about the meeting several hours long today with the president seems to think that the tone had been reset. that there had been as one ceo put it, kind of an unburdening going on inside the me

his little sisters 14 and savannah 10.ying to make sense of a horribly frightening cene. >> mom normally keeps it completely spick and span. there's hardly any dust anywhere let alone anything out of order. >> and now everything was anything but. de scattered, things were everywhere. >> and the bedroom? >> my sister, she quickly called us in and we followed her. >> what could you see there? >> there's blood on the ground. a lot? >> yeah. >> her mom's bed was made but -- >> it was kind of happhazardly thrown together. >> she would have done it differently? >> right. >> at that point you were pretty upset i imagine. >> yeah. my biggest fear was that we were going to find her. that's what scared me most is to find her somewhere in the house. >> but they did not. no debbie hawk. not anywhere. >> there was some drag marks, some kind of smear marks leading out to the garage where they stopped. >> and debbie's van was gone, too. >> my initial reaction was, oh my god, what's appened? >> sure. >> who could have done this? the girls

mark strassmann, cbs news, savannah, georgia. >>> a great story there.up later on "the early show" a live report from upstate new york as officials clear a massive traffic backup caused by a big snowstorm. >>> also an update on the murder of hollywood publicist ronni chasen. we'll hear from a former lapd chief bill bratton. plus feeling broke from holiday shopping? well, tips on easy ways to save $500 by january. that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. thanks for watching. i'm betty nguyen. thanks for watching. i'm betty nguyen. have a great weekend! -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. >>> the wrecking ball about to come down on a piece of bay area history. we'll show you what's going up in its place. >> the

savannah guthrie is nbc news correspondent. a lot of briefings, what is the prognosis for afghanistan? >> look, i think this review was portrayed as something exhaustive looking how this counterinsurgency strategy is working and executed ed id in t possible way. it is whether the strategy we have is working. the ultimate conclusion from the administration is progress is being made. they identify areas they need to improve, getting insurgents out of the tribal areas. there was a lot of emphasis on how far pakistan has come and how much it has done. the administration is highlighting the way the al qaeda senior leadership in pakistan has been degraded by some of the counterterrorism measures the administration has undertaken. the real bottom line issue for so many people is when can the troops begin to come home. they are talking about the july 2011 date as the beginning of the draw down as the surged troops, the extra 30,000 troops the president has sent. it has been clear for a matter of weeks since the summit of nato in lisbon

>> starting us off on a friday night, savannah guthrie at one end of washington. now remember this, all of this reprents just one item on the agenda of this lame duck congress before they leave town on the christmas break, before the new congress comes in and gets sworn in. but there's a whole lot more to decide before th skip town. kelly o'donnell on capitol hill with the list tonight. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good eving, brian. they've moved on to one of the top foreign policy priorities for the president, the new s.t.a.r.t. nuclear arms treaty with russia. but domestic politics could complicate that. republican senators met with the president and told him directly that the democratic majority leader harry reid could harm the treaty's chances. their complaint the democrats plan to vote tomorrow on don't ask, don't tell, alienates republicans who say if the treaty is so important, don't jump to those more controversial social issues. democrats say they have to act now, because they have the votes to fally repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the mili

mark strassmann, cbs news, savannah, georgia. >> couric: and that's the "cbs evening news."katie couric. thanks for watching. i'll see you tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >>> your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. comments@captioncolorado.com >>> shot and killed on his second birthday. why two parents are under arrest tonight. >>> complaints about bogus bills and dangerous ways. tonight a major decision on the fate of smartmeters. >>> and they were convicted for leaving the bay bridge by police order. so will they have to pay? good evening, i'm allen martin. >> i'm dana king. >>> today was his second birthday. tonight a little boy is dead shot in the head in a tragic accident. the shooting happened this morning inside an apartment in the east bay. mike sugerman is in antioch where the parents are under arrest tonight. mike. >> reporter: how much sorrow can one family bear? violence seems to be following them

inside studio 1a, i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. it's good to have you here. >>> just ahead, some new problems for lindsay lohan, the actress is now under investigation for allegedly assaulting a staffer at the betty ford clinic. lindsay says she was the actual victim. we'll hear from lohan's accuser coming up in just a little while. >>> is this the new face of crime? using movie quality masks to pull off brazen crimes including california's so-called geezer bandit who's hit a dozen banks. >>> and the bride-to-be likes to go great lengths to look her best on her wedding day. that's pretty normal but a new reality show is taking that concept to a new level, competing for plastic surgery before the big day. >>> we'll begin with the assault allegations against lindsay lohan. kristen welker has the latest for us. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: family members say lindsay lohan has been making real progress, she's been at the betty ford center now for nearly three months and earned enough privileges that she's allowed to leave for sh

savannah guthrie at the white house. savannah, i heard robert gibbs in the briefing. they don't seem that worried about the outcome of today. what does today mean for the rest of the week, not just with the house, but they've got a few other things they would like the senate to deal with. >> absolutely. we heard robert gibbs say the president will stay as long as congress is in town, the president will be in town. as you know, he's planning to take a family vacation after congress goes out, but they very much still hope that something can happen on that new start treaty, the arms control deal with russia. if they could get that through, that would be huge for the president. there are a couple other items hanging out there. including this budget bill that has to get done. frankly if you just look at the math and the calendar, you know that pretty much takes up the senate's whole week. so unclear if they'll be able to get it done, but they are obviously still hoping that start will happen before if end of the year. and as far as the tax deal, i mean, we see the presiden

savannah guthrie, thank you so much. and join issavannah and chuck td weekday mornings for "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. >>> democrats were out maneuvered clearly in the senate last night. that means there will not an omnibus spending bill and republicans are making sure any short-term fix to keep the government open will not include president obama's landmark health reform bill. they've been trying to kill in the courts and through the purse strings. the health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius joins me now. what is the fallout of this? how do you get it funded if they're trying to block you in the senate? >> well, i think, andrea, the initial affordable care act passed with some resources included in the bill. and we are going to continue to implement the law. there is an ongoing discussion. i mean, frankly congress hasn't funded any of government. and we are waiting to see what our budget overall is going to be, other agencies are waiting. and i think the debate is on in the senate whether or not the

how well did it go, savannah? well enough, republicans haven't invited him back for an on-camera moment. >> they don't like to talk about that one. well the excitement isn't over, chuck. >>> no, it's not. up next we unveil the chavannah for the worst presidential moment of 2010. >> you can follow us on twitter, compliment us on twitter. we like roses and thorns. you're watching "daily rundown" only on msnbc. introducing the duracell mygrid™. simple and smart. it's mygrid™. from duracell. trusted everywhere. think you can only charge one thing at a time...? consider this: drop & go charging for up to 4 devices at once... the duracell mygrid™. simple and smart. it's mygrid™. from duracell. trusted everywhere. hey tough guy, that cold needs alka seltzer plus! it has the cold-fighting power of an effervescent packed in a liquid-gel for all over relief! hiyah! dude! hiyah! exchange traded funds. some firms offer them "commission free." problem is they limit the choice of etfs to what makes financial sense to them. td a

savannah mentioned some don't trust the numbers. >> right. >> why? >> in the first thing you have to understand numbers are inaccurate when published the confidence numbers are plus or minus 100,000. >> they make a big deal out of it. >> in general what you get is the trend is sort of right and what the trend is showing here is job creation in this recovery is generally weak, and that's accurate been but it could have been 139, minus 139. >> you say recovery amount. so many other items are going up, and this is going down. it doesn't match. >> savannah did a good job pointing out retail numbers. hearing from retailers they're hiring people. people are going in and spending and yet the jobs numbers showed minus 28,000. there's thinking maybe the numbers get revised up, they're not in line with the other data we've seen on the jobless claims and also on manufacturing. >> but what if those numbers are saying loud and clear, jobless recovery? >> i think they are saying that and what we know from just a sheer mathematical point of view, 15 million unemplo

and into the savannah lands. the moans and groans, hundreds, thousands stolen, we rarely speak the taken, i will this time because you have asked. come back, back, back, far edge of memory. we recall them and they are black smith, by all accounts a master craftsman, worthy of praise, honored as a powerful magician. one who could speak the old names of the mother elements, earth, fire, water, wind. they would do as bidding, think. people sing praise songs. he was a gifted black smith. he is not remembered for that. he is best remembered for being a loving father. when his beloved wife died only after a year and embraced his newborn son, i will raise you myself. the elder women with argued against it saying you'll grow up wild without a gentle hand of a mother, a gentle hand to guide him. must divide by custom, take another wife or give the baby to a mother who is childless. how will you feed the baby? you have no milk to give. dinka would not change his mind. the tortoise doesn't have milk to give but knows how to

or further back through each human cell to african eve her grunts are tuning savannahs. i felt the gift shared from the bones later that night in the crowded room when all the instruments had gone silent and a man rose up shyly alone and sang sean moss one of the singer's songs. beautiful country, i take you to by the black water screens of the beast the thrush and the black bird sings sweetly and the wild deer over the mountains branches with fruits and blossom the and hives with honey. and the corn creek lifts it's cries in the grass. [applause] >> your poem has a sense of place and you mentioned earlier the sensation of going to canada and what it felt like to be in that place in canada and in other opportunities to be in that land in ireland. i wonder if you can reflect and margaret as well, what were the physical experiences you were having and what was the importance ever going to the place by way of informing your story? >> i don't know if anybody seen there is a series on now on called african-american lives? >> yeah. >> and it remindses me so much of my experien

i went to savannah awhile back. the college has done so much, with the single-screen theaters. the use them for teaching purposes and continue their operations. the same could be true of a place like this. they need to have renovation, and the two things were greatly together. by working cooperatively with the academy of our university, people can realize a lot of good things. the third issue is the threat to residential housing. i was not surprised but i knew that the number of students in residential housing is relatively small. as of the registration, only about 1600, or 9.5%. this is not all housed in previously residential areas. there were other uses that were converted. the actual numbers were probably a lot smaller. and i think that if they provide housing, they will probably be better off. having been a student in the late 60's, we were going out to collectively compete with other people for the rented properties. they can sometimes find properties that are not residential and make them into residential usage. and this will help the situation rather than making it wors

now we want to move to savannah guthrie. she joins ne from the white house.s this extension for the middle class considered a true victory for the obama administration? >> well, that's how they look at it. it's because they're thinking about what would have happened if there had been no compromise, and that is that taxes would have gone up for everybody, including the middle class, which would have been a violation of another campaign ç promise. this wasn't just a side issue or something he talked about occasionally as president. this is something they talked about time and time again. that they would not let the tax cuts for the wealthiest continue, and yet, that's about to happen. he's about to put pen to paper in a ceremony here at the white house with within the hour doing just that. that's why it's been so hard for some of his ver fant supporters on the left to take this. but the president is a practical person and knew if they didn't do some kind of deal, the taxes would have gone up in january for everybody. so they do look at this deal as something t

wk took over custody of chelsa and savannah, not the way they expected to spend their 80s, anymore than they expected to have to defend their son. >> well, he's made some >>> this morning on "early today," first hurdle. lawmakers gear up for a key test vote on the president's tax cut deal with republicans. >>> snowed under. a massive storm system buries the midwest. collapsing the roof of the minneapolis metrodome. >>> and suicide? scientists may have unraveled one of the solar system's scientists may have unraveled one of the solar system's greatest mystery captions paid for by nbc-universal televion >>> good morning to you, i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with testing the waters. the senate will get its first crack at the president's controversial plan to temporarily extend tax cuts for l americans today. the test vote paves the way for a final vote later in the week, and then is on to the house where critics say the real battle will begin. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washiton with the details. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. good mo

southern plains heading toward the georgia coastal area, low pressure developing right around this savannah georgia area. this is going to move to the east and eventually to the ocean. what has to happen for us to get good snow here or any kind of snow at all, they have to reform very strong. low pressure and have that moisture back over our region. at this point, it looks like the storm is going to be a little too far out to the east. so what does that mean for us? let's take a look at this quick graphic. if we get any precipitation at all west, maybe it comes as rain. the snow, if they get it at all, extreme southern portions of virginia. ocean city might see a couple of inches of snow. for our region, looks like maybe a few snow flakes at this point. let's go back to my computer. let's show you what's going on. cold tonight but that low pressure, see how cold it gets then it moves off to the east. new england by monday might see some snow out of it. for us the sun will return. it will be breezy. even sunday we might clear out a little bit. the bay temp around 34, so tonight let's call it

showers in savannah, tallahassee, and new orleans. >> 78 degrees in miami. 53 in atlanta. and 34 in new york. a bitter 11 degrees in fargo. 13 in minneapolis. and 29 in detroit. phoenix will climb to 62 degrees. and 20 in billings. >>> coming up next, a weight warning for anyone who eats lunch at their desk. >>> then, an abc news investigation. gaping holes in airport security. guns and knives missed by screeners. how safe are we? >>> and a brawl breaks out in parliament, sending some lawmakers to the hospital. >>> overseas stocks are mostly higher to end the week. tokyo's nikkei average was down slightly this morning. but hong kong's hang seng is higher. and in london, the ftse opened slightly higher, as well. on wall street, the dow was up 41 points yesterday. the nasdaq rose 20 points. >>> hybrid cars are environmentally friendly, of course. but they're not particularly friendly to the blind. well, that's about to change. a bill requiring hybrid and electric vehicles to have a minimum sound level is now headed to president obama's desk, after the house approved it thurs

rain in savannah, tallahassee and new orleans. >>> dallas, 52. twin city, 13 and kansas city 32. mostly 30s in the northeast, 62 degrees in phoenix. >>> well, the circus wasn't in town but a parade of round red nose, brightly colored hair and floppy shoes was turning heads in mexico city. >> i was really hoping this was about clowns after that dozens of clowns marched through the treat to thank the patron saint, the basilica de la lupe. they juggled all the way. >> to a patron saint of mexico. scared of clowns. back after this. ♪ let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement nsurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to " 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying .up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are th

showers in savannah, tallahassee, and new orleans. >> 78 degrees in miami. 53 in atlanta. and 34 here in new york. a bitter 11 degrees in fargo. 13 in minneapolis. and 29 in detroit. phoenix will climb to 62 degrees. it's 46 in seattle. 30 in boise. and 20 in billings. >>> coming up next, a weight warning for anyone who eats lunch at their desk. >>> then, an abc news investigation. gaping holes in airport security. guns and knives missed by screeners. how safe are we? >>> and a brawl breaks out in parliament, sending some lawmakers to the hospital. at purina one, we want your cat to be as healthy as possible so, we set out to discover the nutritional science in some of nature's best ingredients. that's how we created purina one with smartblend. nutritionally optimized with real salmon, wholesome grains and essential antioxidants, for strong muscles, vital energy, a healthy immune system, and a real difference in your cat. purina one improved with smartblend. discover what one can do. sometimes it's the one they've been asking for - for weeks. live your christmas story at a