we begin this morning with a new chief in the house. president obama has named a new chief of staff. chicago's veteran financier and political manage william daley. brian mooar joins us from washington with the latest on that and a very busy day in congress yesterday, as well. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, veronica. well, the name william daley may well sound familiar. he's a member of chicago's famed political family. also the former commerce secretary. this is a signal from the obama administration to the business community that the president is not anti-business. this is certainly a change to the white house, this new chief of staff. but it wasn't exactly the kind of change many democrats were expecting the president to make. moving to the congressional budget office and a report that a repeal of the health care reform out of the house of representatives, it's a long shot, but if it happens, it could add $230 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade. now house speaker john boehner is brushing off that report. he says he's going full speed ahead on repealing what he calls obamacare. republicans did raise the constitution on the house floor but cut a few corners historically speaking. they repealed the part that deems slaves 3/5 of a person. finally, republicans are a bit red faced. members voted half a dozen times on the house floor yesterday, and it turned out they hadn't been officially sworn in yet. veronica? >> very interesting. brian mooar in washington. as brian mentioned, the republicans will pursue a repeal of the new health care law, despite opposition from the congressional budget office. rachel maddow asking democrat welch if the push for the appeal is a chance to give americans a second chance at health care reform. >> the democrats blew it in explaining to the american people what was in the health care reform and why it was so important. and the republican were very successful vilifying bicycle obamacare. it meant a million different things to a million different people. now that we're say and asking the question, do you think your kids should stay on your policy when they get out of high school and stay on your insurance when they don't have health care, do you think your seniors, mom and dad on medicare and trying to take care of themselves, should they have free preventive care? do you think somebody with a pre-existing condition shouldn't be able to buy insurance? americans is the that. the republicans know it. the reason they're not having hearing is if they had a hearing they'd lose. you know, the campaign is one thing. when you get to governing, you have to acknowledge that the decisions you make have real world consequence for real people, real families all across this country. and we've got to take on that fight to make the american people know what's at stake. >> lean forward with rachel mad oh each night as she takes on the biggest stories of the day, weeknights at 9:00 eastern on msnbc, the place for politics. for the first time since the 9/11 terror attacks, the pentagon laid out plans to reduce spending and reduce the size of the military. yesterday, defense secretary robert gates announced $78 billion in spending cuts over the next five years. the proposal includes reducing troop levels by up to 47,000 and raising health care premiums for military retirees and their families. gates said the defense department is not exempt from belt-tightening just because of its duty to defend the nation. according to the "huffington post," citing an italian news organization, countless turtle doves have been found dead in italy. the report comes following a string of massive bird deaths around the world. although there's been a lot of speculation behind a cause, biologists say the realty is that these die-offs happen all the time with 95 recorded in north america alone over the past eight months. what's happening this time? one famed harvard biologist says mass media, particularly the internet, is simply giving the die-offs more attention. in other news today, california police are looking for two armed suspects who attempted to rob a food truck driver. the men approached the truck window. one reached inside holding a gun and grabbed the tip jar. the clerk snatched it back and hid. the suspects left empty-handed. in tennessee, a walmart customer is recovering from a broken nose and other injuries after a blow to the face with a jar of cheese. a man who was previously asked to leave ran down the aisle toward an employee. he grabbed the jar and hurled it at the employee and missed, hitting a woman instead. now he's wanted by the police. and half ton life-sized butter sculpture is on display at the annual pennsylvania show. it's made of a massive amount of lard is to symbolize the dairy industry's support of the campaign to encourage kids to be active and eat healthier. all right. now for a look at national weather, we turn to more than meteorologist bill karins with the weather forecast. i don't know, fighting obesity with 1,000 pounds of butter -- >> maybe it was no salt added butter. >> exactly right. that's exactly what they were trying to say. >> we'll assume. let me talk about the snow we're going to have today. on the scale of snowstorms, you know, the blizzard was, say, maybe an eight out of ten, this is going to be maybe a two out of ten. really is not a huge ordeal because it's following on the heels of what happened in new york city. it's going to get a lot more attention than it probably deserves. we have weather advisories and light snow. knowing that we're heading to the middle of january, this is not a significant, big storm. there's a lot of cold air out that is plunged down all the way now into atlanta and even into orlando. the cold front has kicked through even miami. much of florida is much colder than it has been in the past. our jet stream has done the big dip.oncentrated, organized, big storm, we have four little ones. we've got two ocean storms that are going to miss all of the continental united states. then we have one weak one now heading into areas of upstate new york and pennsylvania, and one rotating behind it through the northern great lakes. there are areas of snow and snow showers, but there's no concentrated area of heavy snow. you see it on the radar here. all the white is areas of snow. and there are light snow showers everywhere from pittsburgh now approaching new york city. there's nothing that is what we consider heavy snow or even moderate snow. nothing that's going to cause you really difficulties either at the airports or on the roads. eventually this will organize a little more up here in upstate new york from the finger lakes to syracuse to the lower areas of the adirondacks, albany could get a couple inches. but as far as the big cities go, not expecting a lot. a little batch of snow, flurries flying in the air to baltimore to philly if you're heading out over the next hour or two. i don't think we'll see a lot of accumulation. from philly northwards to new york city, there may be flurries. the more concentrated snow will arrive late this morning to about the noon hour. these are our snowfall predictions from one of my more reliable computers. i'm buying into it. one to two inches, that's about it. boston possibly three inches for you. but compared to what we've dealt with with the big storm, this is nothing. it's also very cold. so a lot of snow will blow off the roads as long as there's traffic on them. upstate new york, that could be a different story especially later tonight from albany northwards to the high country. that's where the plows will probably have to be out there. that's where you have to shovel. one other area of snow has piled up north of st. louis, if you're driving between springfield and st. louis, you'll have snow-covered roads now approaching interstate 64 and across interstate 70. the forecast for today, snow showers, on and off through new england, minor accumulations. the northern plains very cold and cooler for you down there in florida. so i guess veronica, the biggest message is for everyone they don't have to cancel plans around i-95, just drive carefully and watch the roads. this is not a blockbuster storm. >> i'm worried, though, you got the information from your reliable computer this time? do you normally use the unreliable one? >> i have four or five, they tell me different forecasts and amounts. sometimes some are better than others. >> okay. thanks, bill. >> thanks. employment uncertainty, facebook's future, and how to ruin a college student's holiday, your first look at business headlines is ahead. coming up, rex ryan diss tom brady, stanford gets lucky, and a hockey shot you've not seen before. with all the equipment you use to stay fit, you might want to try lifting one of these. in recent years we've added a unique natural sea salt to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. it helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so if you're ready to eat a little better, grab your spoon and do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ welcome back to "first look," i'm veronica de la cruz. and here are some of the top stories making news this morning. today's "new york times" warns the state department is warning hundreds of human rights activists, government officials, and business people identified in published wikileaks cables of potential threats to their safety. administration officials have also moved a handful of them to safer locations amid fear they may be attacked or imprisoned as a direct results of the disclosure. in the country's first execution of the year, last night the state of oklahoma puts to deaths a 39-year-old man convicted of killing a store clerk during a robbery. billy don alverson was one of four convicted of the 1995 murder. a decommissioned u.s. navy ship has a new home on the bottom of the ocean. after being scuttled this week in the caribbean waters off the cayman islands. officials say the sunken vessel will now serve as an artificial reef and tourist attraction. and a washington state couple are the envy of the nation this morning after coming forward to claim half of tuesday's $380 million mega millions jackpot. the retired boeing worker and his wife, who are the parents of six and grandparents to 23, say their immediate plans for the money include buying a new home and an r.v. congratulations to them. now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,697 after dipping 25 points yesterday. the s&p shed two points. the nasdaq rose seven. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei added 11 points. in hong kong the hang seng fell 99. the answer whether wall street's recent rally has the strength to keep going at least for now could lie in today's big jobs report. news yesterday that first-time jobless claims ticked higher last week added an element of uncertainty to more upbeat predictions for today's december employment report. most experts think employers added about 145,000 new positions last month, predicting the unemployment rate will slip down to 9.7%. traders weren't exactly in a buying mood thursday after retailers reported weaker than expected holiday sales, blaming the blizzard of 2010. target, gap, and macy's all fell. meanwhile, agricultural products-maker monsanto reported higher sales are helping it rake in profits again. microsoft is in the black after announcing its tablet and smartphone technology will contain chips made by engladin arms holding. it uses the chips used in the apple iphone and ipad. nvidia jumps 14%. shares of samsung dipped after a weaker than expected earnings estimate. facebook could be inching closer to going public next year. the social network revealed plans to increase its number of shareholders to above 500 which according to securities and exchange commission rules would require facebook to disclose key financial data or go public. if you think your holidays are stressful, listen to this. officials at cal state l.a. are apologizing for mistakenly e-mailing 500 students to tell them they'd been academically disqualified from returning for the quarter. they blamed a decoding area. the nfl playoffs set to begin, and the postman rings twice in hockey. plus, oklahoma city catches lightning in a bottle as its star player brings the thunder. your first look at sports is straight ahead. welcome back to "first look," i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports, stanford just completed its best football season in school history, and as it turns out, their luck has not run out. here's nbc's fred roggin. good friday morning. as if the season wasn't tough enough for the carolina panthers, the team finished with the worst record in the nfl and was going to draft stanford quarterback andrew luck first overall. now the panthers are out of luck. andrew decided to return to stanford to complete his degree in architectural design. he's leaving an estimated $50 million on the table to stay in school. the only question for stanford -- will coach jim harbaugh follow his quarterback and take less money to stay in northern california. nfl playoffs start tomorrow on nbc. the seahawks host the saints at 4:30. jets travel to indy to play the colts. jets' coach rex ryan knows he'll have his hands full with peyton manning and didn't miss an opportunity to take a shot at tom brady while praising the colts quarterback. >> this is who he is. this guy is tremendous. there's nobody like this guy in the league. nobody studies like him. brady thinks he does and all that stuff, i think there's probably a little more help from belichick with brady than there is with peyton manning. but it's pating manning, you know -- peyton manning, you know, that's who it is. should be a fun weekend of playoff football. if the jets win they'll play brady next weekend. dirk nowitzki sat out another game with a sprained knee. they missed him. the thunder down by one. to the fourth, durr ants doing it all by himself to seal the dunk. a game-high 28. thunder won it 99-95. and finally, a junior league hockey game in iowa. the shot fired so hot that when it hit the post it broke into two pieces. here's the puck sliced right down the middle, and no, you don't get two points for that. that's your first look at sports. have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. and now for another quick look at the weather. here's meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, how did that happen? >> i don't know. i believe they're made of rubber, so -- >> and steel. i mean, how did that happen? that's amazing. >> pretty cool. >> hopefully not that one. >> yeah, he can be proud of what he did. will brag about that for many years. let's update everyone on what's going on in the northeast. overnight, light powdering snow, for cold, a coating. harrisburg's had some. temperatures are very chilly, hartford to albany to boston. new york city's a little warmer along with philly and d.c. so it's going to be a very light, powdery snow that does fall over much of northern new england. it's not going to be a lot of snow as i've been mention. just snow showers are rotating through. we're expecting only a couple inches at worst. we're talking up here outside of the capital district, the catskills, southern adirondacks, we could pick up, say, maybe four to six inches. but for the big cities, it's much less than that as we go throughout the day today. we're expecting maybe an inch in philadelphia, possibly two in new york city. new york city at one point during the blizzard picked up three to four inches in an hour. this is literally nothing. i don't even know if plows will be needed in new york city this time. hardford, around two inches for you. boston, possibly three. you notice the higher totals once we get to the berkshires of massachusetts. also through the catskills, syracuse to utica to rochester could pick up a few inches out of this during the day into tonight. so the snow will develop during the day today. it's going to be light, powdery. just minor travel impacts, veronica. i don't think the airports will have any problem whatsoever. >> all right. here's to hoping, bill. thanks. another embarrassing mug shot of a misbehaving celebrity. plus, the good news keeps rolling in for the homeless man with a golden voice. your first look at entertainment is ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ look at that car, well, it goes fast ♪ ♪ givin' my dad a heart attack ♪ [ friend ] that is so awesome. ♪ i love my car [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] that first chevy, yea, it gets under your skin. ♪ [ female announcer ] and now, winter skin can be too. discover relief from dry, uncomfortable skin with skin relief moisturizing lotion. only aveeno has an active naturals triple oat and shea butter formula that soothes, nourishes and restores moisture. women saw improvement in all five symptoms 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"first look," i'm veronica de la cruz. last night on "late night with david jimmy fallon," the man of the moment, that man with the golden voice, ted williams, was both an announcer and a guest on the show. >> you know him from the movies "liar, liar," "ace ventura," and "dumb and dumber." ladies and gentlemen, please welcome jim carrey! [ applause ] ♪ [ applause ] >> by the way, nbc's "today" show is going to be here, and they were supposed to link up with some type of satellite feed live, and that just blew me away because the "today" show, man. that's a hot show in the morning to me. and matt lauer, man -- >> you like matt lauer? >> he brings the female out in me. [ applause ] >> lauer is hot. matt lauer is hot. >> tonight, jimmy welcomes actress michelle williams and comedian patton swald. that's weeknights at 12:35. 11:35 central on your local nbc station. time for your first look at entertainment news. at the box office for the third straight weekend, "true grit" will battle "little fockers" for number one. neurobox office powerhouse nicolas cage isn't expected to help "season of the witch" earn more than $10 million. even less is expected from "country strong" with experts predictsing it won't even earn double digit millions. elsewhere, a judge dismissed drug conspiracy convictions against anna nicole smith's boyfriend/lawyer howard k. stern, and her psychiatrist, allowing only one misdemeanor conviction against the physician. and -- add jamie presley to the mug shots hall of fame. she was bustsed on dui charges in santa monica and released on $15,000 bail. in yet another happy chapterer of the inspiring voice of the homeless man, ted williams recorded voiceovers for the "lean forward" campaign which began airing last night. msnbc said williams "embodies the very same american ideals that the "lean forward" campaign seeks to highlight." he is also a comedian. funny guy. >> i'm hooked. i know, he seems like a great guy. obviously he's been through more than a lot of us. hopefully he's turning the page. i guess he had the reunion with his mom on the "today" show today. >> that's right. you know that i tweet a lot, right, bill? he's actually one of the top trends worldwide right now. huge, huge. i'm veronica de la cruz and this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. have a terrific weekend. john boehner sits down with brian williams for his first interview as speaker of the house and talks about everything from budget cuts to birthers. the country is did bry-guy have what it takes to make the boehner cry? a new chief of staff against opinions of the far left who claim the executive is too tight with wall street. what are republicans saying? and the cast of "jersey