good morning to you. i'm richard lui. we start with dirty politics in new jersey. a bridge, a traffic jam and a political rivalry all involving governor chris christie. newly released e-mails and texts suggest one of its top aides engineered a traffic jam. it is creating a political firestorm and not just because governor christie is a top contender for the gop presidential nomination in 2016. nbc's tracie potts is live for us in good morning to you. how does this taint his no nonsense, get it done image. >> reporter: if he can't get out in front of this and distance himself from the e-mails and messages and his staff, it could hurt that image. now washington may get involved. federal officials are telling us the justice department has received a request to look into this to see if any federal laws were broken. it appears the four-day traffic jam that backed up over the george washington bridge last september may have been orchestrated to punish a democratic mayor who did not support republican governor chris christie. according to e-mails, subpoenaed by new york lawmakers. >> none of this applies to me. i'm embarrassed for the people that are valved. i'm completely disheartened. >> reporter: in the e-mails, this woman, a top christie aide tells one of the governor's high school buddies at the port authority, time for traffic problems in fort lee. got it, the official replied. is it wrong i'm smiling, another said. students stuck in traffic are children of christie's political opponents. >> he needs to come clean and say what he knew and how he knew it. >> reporter: he denies having anything wrong to do with it. >> absolutely unequivocally not. >> reporter: now with e-mails, officials say he has explaining to do. >> either he doesn't know what is going on in front office or there is lying going on. >> reporter: in a new statement, christie says his staff misled him, the e-mails are inappropriate and he knew nothing about it. the port authority official who knew christie growing up, he's been slated to testify before the transportation committee in thessembly today but fighting the subpoena saying the signature on that subpoena doesn't look valid. richard? >> we shall see what the governor says today. thank you so much, tracie potts, in washington, d.c. north america seized its first ever bird flu death. the can canadian died after traveling home from beijing in december. health officials call this an isolated case but are tracking down everyone who came into contact with this traveler. now the virus is commonly contracted by those in contact with poultry. but then very rarely passes person to person. the virus has worried health experts for more than a decade. the world health organization confirming 648 human cases of the avian flu virus mostly in asia so far this season. over half of the cases were fatal. drug companies are working on a vaccine. now to a search and rescue mission under way off the coast of virginia. one sailor is missing, two dead after a navy helicopter crashed in the atlantic ocean. two sailors survived, one in serious condition. the mh-53e sea dragon wass eon routine training mission when it made an emergency landing. it is capable of speeds of more than 170 miles per hour. cause of the krags crash is und investigation. one official saying he has no concern about the safety of that helicopter. sex slaves saved from a san diego street gang. it spans some 23 states and 46 cities. prosecutors called this modern day slavery saying bms members lured girls and women over the internet with promises of a luxurious lifestyle. when they arrived, they were branded with tattoos and bar codes. more arrests are expected in this case. there is some good news and bad news orbiting the international space station to tell you about. we'll start with the bad news. the first solar flare of the year forcing officials to scrap a rocket launch for the third time. the supply vessel was kept on the ground due to radiation concerns. there is hope the launch could happen today. now the good news for nasa, at a cost of $3 billion per year, the white house agreed to keep the lights on in the space station until at least 2024. this new agreement extends the life of the vessel by four years and allows additional time to plan for future space exploration. that polar vortex is projected to cost the u.s., the economy, up to $5 billion thanks in pardon to the 11,000 flights that were cancelled this week. it wasn't just the airlines that had trouble, though. new york's hudson river was so frozen, a ferry had to be carved out of the ice. but some good did come out of the big chill. scientists say the sub-zero temperatures will slow invasive insects that have been killing off different plants species. nbc's bill karins joins us right now. from the cold, to the warmth and insects that won't be here this summer. where are you going to go with this, my friend? >> the only positive i heard about that. >> got to go for the sill veer li lining, don't we? >> weather service out of monterey, california, area, putting up dire stats about how dry it has been. about 40% of the way through our rainy season in the west. this is just the year to date. this is the first nine, ten days here, january. with january more of a wetter month in many locations in california, and so far nothing. we really are bone dry. no rain in the forecast. all the rain so far has been loek located in the pacific northwest. a little rain today. it looks like significant rain friday night into saturday with a warm front first and cold front. it really stayed in the northwest. not a lot of moisture made it to the south. you see it is a murky weather pattern. no organized rainfall on this. the mountainous areas of the cascades, snow showers along with northern rockies there. isolated showers near the olympics. as far as expected rainfall in most of this from friday into friday night and saturday, but this could be a significant rain producer. as much as 2 inches of rain in the northwest. we need that in the south. southern portion of the west and california, no signs of it as incredibly dry rainy season continues. that's your nati so it is a broken record into the new year, unfortunately. >> dry, dry, dry. this continues any longer, it will be getting up next to the earthquake season. who knows? strange weather we always talk about that in the northwest. priority one, national security is front and center at the white house. a dramatic crash landing caught on tape. this is "early today." welcome back, everybody. jahi mcmath, the girl declared brain dead by the judge and doctors is, quote, improving according to the family attorney christopher dolan. he wrote on twitter mcmath had procedures including a tracheotomy and said doctors are optimistic about her health improving. in response to outrage over nsa spying revelations president obama met with top chiefs on wednesday. the meeting served as a way for the nsa, cia and fbi to voice their concerns. police in omaha have placed a toddler in protective custody after a video surfaced showing racial slurs directed at him by off camera adults and the boy repeats the words and raises the middle finger. new video surfaced which shows a small plane crash on to a racetrack in iceland. bursting into flames. two out of the three people died in the crash, which police are still investigating. after three years being shot in the head at a campaign event in tucson, gabby giffords celebrated life by going skydiving over southern arizona. according to husband mark kelly, giffords landed beautifully. and savannah guthrie joined giffords in the plane for an exclusive interview coming up on the "today" show this morning. stick around for that. time to get down to business, macy's is planning to slash 2500 jobs, close five stores and add 8 macy's and bloomingdales stores. this effort will save the company about $100 million a year. world wrestling entertainment will launch its own streaming service for under 10 bucks a month including their blockbuster pay-per-view events. for about a million bucks you can own this one of a kind calendar made from 22 pounds of pure gold. a jewelry store in japan is selling the 2014 calendar, complete with images of mickey and minnie. is it worth it? t mobile is willing to pay you for your mobile phone business. the company promises to cover termination fees. customers can receive up to $650 in credit after trading in their phones. fast food restaurants, they are offering big deals right now. pizza hut is giving 50% off for any pizza ordered online. burger king giving free coffee with the purchase of a breakfast sandwich and ihop's all you can pan eat pancakes promotion is back. all your sports headlines coming up including this year's baseball hall of famers. plus miami heetd heat, the players there trade in their basketballs for microphones and wigs? all right. don't quit your day job. this morning on the "today" show, as new jersey chris christie does damage control over the growing bridge scandal, what it could mean for a presidential run in 2016? to sports now. a few days after winning the national championship, the alleged rape investigation of florida state's quarterback, that is back on again. the lawyer for the woman accusing jameis winston says winston, the tallahassee police department and possibly florida state university will face a lawsuit. the florida state attorney decided not to charge winston last month. two years of college play and gone. texas a&m quarterback johnny manziel announcing he's going to the nfl draft on may 8th or the 10th. they expect him to be one of the first five chosen and getting lots of millions of dollars. louisville has a new coach, kind of. bobby pet torino will be back in 2014. louisville's old coach, charlie strong, he went to texas. new baseball hall of fame inductees. among them greg maddux who played for the braves and cubs, and tom glavine who played for the braves and mets and white sox slugger frank thomas, two-time american league mvp. congratulations, all. well deserved. those who lost votes, many from the steroids era. barry bonds, sammy sosa, mark mcguire, robert clements and ravelo palmeiro losing support. georgia upsets missouri in overtime. tied at 63. charles mann nails a crucial two-point shot. georgia wins it 70-64. number four wisconsin badgers still perfect. 16-0. they defeat illinois 95-70 and keep their school best record. over to the pros, the nets stop the golden state warriors nine-game winning streak. down to the wire. kevin garnett breaks up a pass to andre iguodala of the nets. 102-98. jr smith was fined $50,000 for unsportsman-like conduct. he's crying too. he untied an opponent's shoelaces, not once, but twice, in games against dallas and then detroit. smith, known for his off court antics, he tweeted, he does this every game. getting a lot of $50,000 fines. the heat are karaoking for underserved youth and teens. the january 27th charity event is hosted by miami's shane battier. it is $150 to be part of this. ♪ ♪ i'm sorry, miss jackson i am for real ♪ ♪ and it's all because of you ♪ >> ouch. bad voices, bad hair. i guess it is for a charity. 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick gets video bombed. likes to do his weekly press conference in different spots. to get him back to do it in the lineman locker area before, what do they do, they play a little dunking game with the trash bin. right in front of the cameras and over his head. the niners play the panthers on sunday for their quest for consecutive super bowl berth. having fun along the way there. just ahead, a huge night for the people's choice awards and britney spears. you're watching "early today." welcome back on this thursday morning. the next storm will come into the northwest, as we go through the day today, just light scattered showers. and more significant weather event happens friday afternoon, friday evening. this is a warm front coming to the north, a good slug of moisture with that. some gusty winds too. and then as we go through friday night to saturday morning, the actual storm isself and the cold front will move all the way down along the coastal areas. with that, we see higher winds. we'll see higher -- lots of snow at the highest of elevations with the moisture available. some areas could get two inches of rain, three inches of rain and gusty winds, power outages. good storm from the northwest. >> all right. thank you, bill karins, for that. the people's choice awards kicks off the 2014 season of hollywood's best. hosted by the ladies of "two broke girls." >> now, would this interest you? it's actually an invitation to host the people's choice awards. >> oh my gosh, yes. >> open bar. it doesn't matter. i'll bring my open. >> britney spears won her first people's choice award in her 15 year career. sandra bullock lead the evening with four awards while justin timberlake got just three, but that's the second biggest. congratulations, all. what did jt do after winning big at people's choice, by the way? he went to taco bell. got to do that. did he get the six or 12-pack? >> that tall or is he standing on something? >> i think he's on a milk carton, i don't know. quest love keeps his grammys in an interesting place. on top of his toilet. >> on top of the john, huh? golden throne. >> this is why. he broke his first award, so he decided, hey, i'll put it in the bathroom. he had to keep it company, so put the second and third awards next to it to give it company. diehard elvis fans celebrated his birthday in graceland on wednesday with a rock 'n' roll themed cake. miley cyrus is cover girl for something other than twerking. she is the new face of marc jacobs for spring and summer of 2014. the national board of review awards, meryl streep presented emma thompson for the best actress award and speaking about the legendary walt disney street said he was supposedly a hideous -- mark wale baurg and taylor kitch battling it out on the ellen show to earn money for charity. the competitive duo racing for the same charity the lone survivor foundation. love it when they get celebrities to do something different. i'm richard lui. this is "early today." leading the news in usa today, india orders shutdown a bar pool at u.s. embassy. it's the latest in a diplomatic spat over the arrest of an indian diplomat in new york on visa fraud charges. and in the daily caller, oil fund makes all norwegians theoretical millionaires. they own 1% of the world's stocks but the money is being saved for a rainy day and for future generations. worth like trillions of dollars, though, bill. can you imagine that? to stories you might have missed, utah is ordering state offices to do nothing that would legalize -- or legally recognize more than a thousand same sex marriages. however the state is not declaring them void. but it means, for example, many newlyweds won't be able to file joint state tax returns. it also impacts those that received marriage licenses but didn't have a formal wedding ceremony with witnesses. one salt lake city official tells the associated press that marriage means nothing. the supreme court placed a temporary halt to gay marriages on monday while they appeal the legality. in utah, officials are investigating a freight train derailment. five railcars, three locomotives jumping off the tracks, spilling grain and fuel. thankfully they were able to contain the fuel and no serious injuries were reported. shoppers in france stripped down to stock up on big winter deals. the clothing retailer promised customers at its winter sale two free items, you get two of those, if you vip down to your underwear. so plenty of takers on that one. doors open here, scantily clad shopaholics ran for the entrance, in their underwear, much easier to try on the stuff there. and not a shortage at all. >> what wouldn't people do for free? that's the question. >> maybe if they change the policy to make it less than just underwear, what would you say? >> wouldn't get the free publicity. >> then we can't talk about the story. >> they do the underwear. smart. >> still good video. president obama talks about promise zones today. the president is going to meet with mayors on five proposed anti-poverty zones designed to create jobs. on this day in 2007, the unveiling of a new product. and today more than 400 million of those new products have been sold by apple over the last seven years. >> we got the first look today at what apple says is the next big thing. >> iphone. today -- today apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> the iphone. i'm richard lui, with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." have a great thursday. that breaking news right now in the south bay, fire crews on the scene battling this two alarm house fire. good morning. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. this is at a home on south 17th and east san antonio street not far from san jose university. bob redell got to the scene. we understand two people were able to escape? >> reporter: they were. this fire does speak to the value of having a smoke detector. it was a man and woman in this home. the man there, 42 on the right, he is the man who lived there. he said it was the smoke alarm that woke them up around