Good morning. Im mara schiavocampo. Weve got two major stories this morning. President obama is telling supporters he needs their help to make the changes he proposed in his state of the union address. Republicans say they oppose higher spending and tax increases. But first, the latest from california on what may be the fiery end to the huge manhunt for accused cop killer Christopher Dorner. Nbcs tony chen is in big bear with the latest. Tony, good morning. Reporter morning, mara. Good morning, everyone. Let me tell you the last 20, 21 hours have been absolutely incredible. I want to give you the latest information. We just got this within about the last hour, hour and a half. That that cabin that was burning that Christopher Dorner was believed to have been holed up. Investigators just recently went in there and they have found human remains. At this point, they will not verify if these remains are that of Christopher Dorner, 33yearold, exlapd Police Officer who apparently started this rampage because he was so angry for getting fired years ago. I will tell you that were about six miles south of where that cabin ended up burning down basically, during an incredible, what seemed like a movie basically a movie script, a movie shootout with sheriffs deputies. Unfortunately, sadly, one of those sheriffs duties passed away. Was pronounced dead when he was brought to an emergency room south of where im standing. I can tell you that basically this all started about noon today when they spotted a stolen vehicle. They chased that vehicle. They knew dorner was in that vehicle. That vehicle ended up at that cabin and then basically the cabin caught on fire and its believed that Christopher Dorner and this manhunt is over. Tony shin live in san bern 9 bernardi bernardino, thank you. Democrats called it a lecture with a broad brush while some republicans called it details to fix the economy. Nbcs Steve Handelsman has more. Reporter president obama made clear his second term priority is decreasing unemployment. A growing economy that creates middle class jobs that must be the north star that guides our efforts. Reporter to cut the deficit more he would reduce spend but to fix climate change. He would demand nor tox cuts on the wealthy. And a tax cut that they wont pay a lower rate than their hard working secretaries. Re the commander in chief announced hes pulling 30,000 troops out of afghanistan within a year. Our war on afghanistan will be over. Reporter on gun control, mr. Prk demanded congress not dodge that the parents of Hadiya Pendleton killed in chicago deserve a vote. Gabby giffords deserve a vote. The families of newtown deserve a vote. Reporter and he called for immigration reform. So did florida senator marco rubio in the republican response, but the gop demands smaller government. Thats why i hope the president will abandon his obsession with raising taxes and instead, work with us to achieve real growth in our economy. Reporter in fact, big partisan battles lie just ahead. In two weeks drastic automatic spending cuts strike unless the two sides can finally cut a deal on spending and tacks. From capitol hill, im Steve Handelsman, nbc news. Four words, one in particular from senator rubio getting a lot of attention. Near the end of the speech, rubio reached off camera for a small bit of water. It grew reaction on twitter. Cloudy skies and rain didnt dampen the spirits of revelers during mardi gras. It caps months of celebrations that began back on january 19th and also included the super bowl a week ago. And the end of mardi gras ushers lent season with Pope Benedict leaving the church. Nbcs Chris Jansing is inside the vatican where the audience with the pope is about to get under way. Chris, good morning. Reporter good morning, to you, mara. In half an hour, we will get the first viewing of Pope Benedict since he made that shocking decision to step down. This is an audience. And it is the first of what will be several appearances before his last day as pope which is february 28th. Later today because its Ash Wednesday he will be saying mass. Normally, its held in a very small church near here but its been moved to st. Peter because of the expected demand for attendance. And then on sunday, he will come out on the balcony which is the traditional sunday, and after that there are expected to be very few appearances by Pope Benedict, as you know, made the decision because hes becoming increasingly frail over the past several years and months to step down. So well be looking in the knicks half hour to see how he seems to be doing, how his health is. And again, getting one of the final glimpses of him as pope. Mara. Chris jansing, thank you for that report. For our weather forecast, bill karins joins us. Good snow yesterday from amarillo to oklahoma city. Thats a storm were tracking across the city. Lets take a look at the big pattern across the country. As i showed you the storm were dealing with in areas of oklahoma and especially amarillo will be the story of the focus. One thing we noticed yesterday, you may like this one, the mayor up in connecticut what asking people to come help shovel. He said hes offering minimum wage. This is for minimum wage. Anyone who could do it could come. 500 people, 14 and older, showed up. Maybe some of of them are a helping hand, maybe some made a little extra money. As far as this snow, not much impact as far as needing to be shoveled. But we are dealing with deep rain in the deep south. What is that, four days in a row, five days in a row with cloudy Rainy Weather in the deep south. It helps the drought in georgia. The northern ozarks, southern missouri, maybe a little snow, an inch or two. Temperatures are above freezing so the roadways are a little wet. As far as that forecast for tonight as it makes its way to the midatlantic, maybe a coating to an inch, baltimore, and new york city, half an inch. Thats this time tomorrow. As i said, not really a huge deal. Very nice day in the west, by the way. Thats a look at your national forecast. Now heres a look at the weather outside your window. Austin texas has 65 and sunny. Albuquerque, 46. There is pretty nice weather out there, a little chilly with new mexicos standards. Baltimore, again, a chance of rain and snow showers will be later today. And ill have an update on the forecast for that weekend storm coming up. All right. Thanks so much, bill. Well, straight ahead, no power and just a handful of working toilets equals misery for 4,000 Carnival Cruise passengers. Plus, a fresh senator getting slapped down by veteran colleagues. Early today is back in two minutes. Welcome back. Here are some other stories making news this morning. Chuck hagel is one step closer to becoming secretary of defense. The senator Armed ServicesCommittee Approved his nomination along party lines 1411. Hearings became heated after texas senator ted cruz suggested hagel received money from what he called quote extreme and radical groups. This senator feels like that senator cruz has gone over the line. He basically has impugned the patriotism of the nominee. Senator hagel is an honorable man. Hes served his country and no one on this committee at anytime should impugn his character or his integrity. Meanwhile, treasury secretary jack lew heads to capitol hill for his confirmation hearing. Its confirmed that he will succeed timothy geithner. Conditions seem to be going from bad to worse aboard the abandoned cruise ship. Those on board said filled with sick passengers, scarce food and only a handful of toilets. The ship is being towed. And a tiny affenpinscher beat out hundreds to win best in show at the westminster kennel club. Banana joe, or joe, was best in show. And a little m and a action gives markets a boost. Keep an eye on the current owner of this network. Trading on comcast such earlier than expected. Acquisition of g. E. s remaining stake in universal. It will end 21 years of partnership. Comcast will also purchase our iconic mro iic properties h0 rockefeller center. The tech sector bellweather delivers after the bell. And tim cook fired back about his companies 137 billion stockpile of cash. He called it a silly side show. But did say a program to return funds to Share Holders would be considered. Meanwhile, an online tv streaming service. On the fiscal front the u. S. Treasury reported a rare surplus in january of 2. 9 billion thanks to that Social Security tax cut that expired last month. Meanwhile, transunion says the National Rate hike on payments has fallen. A happy valentines day is not compliblg indicated. 79 of women said a romantic dinner and movie is their preferred valentines day date. But a special treat to help your lady wouldnt hurt. Edible shoe designs from the chocolatier go from 30 to 50 a pair. Meet the worlds basketball freethrow shooter in action. Plus, what started this courtroom brawl. And how did it get so out of control . [ male announcer ] so theres lots of people out there who arent happy with their internet. [ spokesman ] hi, are you lindsay . Yes. Did you say, my internets so slow its like a car with no gas . Yes. [ male announcer ] well lindsay, youre about to get verizon fios quantum, americas fastest, most reliable internet. So thats what you used to have. Okay. And thats fios. Wow, this is crazy fast, almost unbelievable. [ male announcer ] that will put some gas in the old tank lindsay. Supercharge your internet speeds. Switch to fios and well triple your speed for free with an upgrade to fios quantum. Living life at quantum speed, call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities thats powerful. At 8009746006 tty v. Welcome back. Now to some other stories that caught our eye this morning. We start with nebraska where drama in a courtroom with two families attending a sentencing hearing broke into an allout brawl. Police had to use pepper spray and fin down some of the fighters to regain control of the situation. One person was september to the hospital and two others were arrested. In boston, all that snow has to go somewhere. So city crews have enlisted a snowzillo that convert water into hot air. And now to chicago where 62 children from 23 countries took their oath and were sworn in as u. S. Citizens. Mayor rahm emanuel was the key speak over the citys first ceremony dedicated solely to kids. Instate update. Michigan state versus michigan. Number 8 hosted archrival number 4 michigan. It quickly turned into a rout with Michigan State up 20 points. Its the first time in history that the two teams were in top team. In gainesville, number 7 Florida State undefeated at home and cruised to an easy win over kentucky 6942. And florida takes over first place in the southeast conference. A scathing allegation, the head of the World Antidoping Agency says 25 of world supports are controlled to one degree or another by criminals. The same ones that run drug cartels. Wrestling will have one last chance to stay in the game. 2016 will be the last game. And theyll decide which to secure the spot in 2020 games. Hernandez signs a deal that makes him the highest pitcher in baseball. And on the tonight show, jay leno welcomes jay fisher. A former basketball coach from kansas who has perfected his freethrow form. Clearly, hes called the worlds fastest freethrow shooter. In 30 seconds last night he made 27 free throws, only five less than his current world record of 33. Announcer early today sports is brought to you by touch of gray. Get rid of some gray, never all. Just ahead, Steven Spielberg is sending school kids everywhere around. Plus, a car courier turned sled helped save a woman in labor. Details coming up next. Welcome back. Good news continues with the upcoming weekends forecast. The ocean storm looks to remain that. An ocean storm. Having very minimal impact on the new england area and the midatlantic. If anything, just keep being a little breezier and colder. Because that cold blast will come down this weekend, no matter what for just about everyone in the eastern half of the country. The good news, shortlived. Rain in late in the day for the midatlantic. Thanks so much, bill. Turning now to entertainment, students across the country will get a healthy dose of Abraham Lincoln courtesy of Steven Spielberg. The director announced hes sending free copies of lincoln as part of a program. On tuesday, a whole lot of celebs announced theyre pregnant. Alec baldwin and his wife ended months of speculation. Javier cruz announced theyre expecting their second child. And meadow from sopranos announced shes having her second baby. Queen elizabeth topped the list of the worlds most powerful women with j. K. Rowling and victoria beckham. And finally jayz celebrated his big grammy wins by drinking cognac out of his grammy trophy. They have these shelves, right, trophy rooms. If anybody knows, tweet us, they must have dozens easily. Probably had to build an addition. Build a new mansion. Exactly. This next one comes from wvit in west hartford, connecticut, lori went into labor after three feet of snow was dumped on her neighborhood. Unable to get to the hospital by car, her neighbors and husband used luggage on wood to pull her to the hospital. I thought the storm was no match for the baby, but it was no match for the mom. That is really a cute picture to have, being pulled in the sled. Really cute. Im mara schiavocampo, and this is early today, just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. [ female announcer ] at yoplait, we want you to feel even better about your favorite flavors. So when you call, tweet, and post, we listen. Thats why yoplait light and yoplait original are now made with no high fructose corn syrup. And why we use only natural colors and Natural Flavors in yoplait original. So, anything else we can do for you, let us know. But youll keep it to yogurt, right . cause we shouldnt really help with your love life. Yoplait. It is so good were watching the weather again at this hour. It is a clear, cool start to the morning. But rain is quickly moving toward the region and it could change over to snow. What you could expect with your forecast if a couple of minutes. New this morning, a massive house fire killed one person and displaced others in indian head, maryland. This is exclusive video from one of the firefighters who responded. Some people were taken to the hospital from stress induced shock. Theyre investigating the cause. Changes could be coming to the school after a murdersuicide involving three students. Dr. Wallace lowe spoke at a vigil for the victims. Devon green, the family said he was mentally ill. He had a bag of weapons, a semiautomatic weapon and extra ammunition. One of his roommates was killed and another injured before green turned the gun on himself. This is a holy day for christians. Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of lent. Its a 40day period of spiritual reflection before easter. Many churches will hold Ash Wednesday services today. Cardinal donald worrell, the archbishop of washington will lead a mass after noon today at the cathedral of st. Matthew. One church wants to bring it to you. St. Georges episcopal will had offer ashes to