Right now. December 14th. You said hey, baby, its warm outside. Cant believe you called america baby. Amazingly warm throughout much of the country. Al will have a forecast to tell us how long thats going to last. First on a monday morning, a breaking story overnight in egypt where investigators say they have yet to find any sign of an act of terror that brought down that russian jet over sinai back in october. Here at home, president obama heads to the pentagon today to tackle the issue of isis. We have two reports beginning with nbcs keir simmons and that crash investigation. Keir, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. This is a vaguely worded brief statement, but it is stunning. Reporter it is a brieff sometime, but stunning. It garners the agencies around the world. Egypt played down terrorism if the beginning. Now officials appear to say an isis bomb may not have brought down the russian passenger jet that crashed back in october. Across the sinai. There is no evidence of terrorist action. Egypts officials announce from cairo this morning. No evidence even of illegal intervention causing the crash of the russian passenger plane that killed autdll 224 people on board. Russian and western governments said airbus 321 was likely brought down by a bomb. The plane operated by metrojet lost control with air traffic after passing sharm el sheikh. And previously, egyptian officials were focusing on critical cockpit recordings pointing to an explosion. An isis affiliate last month sent this picture showing the homemade explosive made from a soda can. Now the head of the egyptian committee. What they think brought down the plane which is not a bomb. Privately, British Security officials are convinced it was a bomb. Britain reached that conclusion. Since then, the Tourism Industry in egypt has been devastated. Keir, a story coming out from paris that a teacher on her way to school was attacked by a man that claimed he had ties to isis. What do you know . Reporter matt, nbc news is learning this has been part of the antiterrorism prosecutors office. A hooded man anttacked the Nursery School teacher in the same area where they were tracked down in an apartment. The man grabbed a box cutter from the table of School Supplies and slashed the teachers neck and stomach area. From daish or isis. It is too early to draw conclusions so far, matt and savannah. Keir simmons, thank you. The strategy to defeat isis is on the president s agenda. He is making a trip to the pentagon with his National Security team. We have Kristen Welker with that part of the story. Reporter he is going to the pentagon to calm fears ahead of the Christmas Holiday and show he is ramping up on the fight against isis. This is his first visit since the paris attacks and attacks in San Bernardino. The Vice President will update the president on the campaign to defeat the terrorist group. Mr. Obama who had come under fire for not being tough enough against isis is hoping to put the criticism to rest. The pentagon recently stepped up air strikes and sent in Additional Special ops forces to fight in syria. Says additional steps are under additional consideration. The white house cautions the president will not announce a change in strategy. In the weekly address, the president argued american air strikes, now more than 8,500 are taking out isis leaders in recent weeks. Expect the president to highlight that again. He will hold a similar briefing later this week. Savannah. Thank you, kristen. Lets turn to the president ial race. New numbers from the nbc news wall street journal poll. They are stacking up how the republicans are doing against Hillary Clinton. We will break everything down with chuck todd in a moment, but first, Peter Alexander is in las peter, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning to you. Ben carson has dropped presipitiously. Ted cruz was risen among voters. Can cruz knock off trump . This morning, donald trump and ted cruz are the duo dominating the republican field. The new nbc news poll shows trump leading nation wide, but cruz gaining steam up 12 points since october. In iowa, cruz up ten points over trump. Trump is blasting the freshman senator tweeting, i was disappointed that ted cruz would speak behind my back and get caught and deny it. Well, welcome to the Wonderful World of poll tibiticpolitics. You look at the way he has dealt with the senate where he like a bit of a maniac. You cant walk into the senate and scream and call people liars. Reporter cruz is embracing trumps maniac. Tweeting the music video of the 1980s hit maniac. Quote, in honor of my friend donald trump and good hearted maniacs everywhere. Im not looking to be politically correct. Im doing this to do the right thing. Reporter rubio says the motivation is clear. I think he made them to recapture the lime light. Reporter and as ben carsons numbers plummet, down 18 points in the last month. Is taking more of a politicians experience. I have healers experience. Reporter carson a ripe target for saturday night live. With will ferrell. I tell you something, thats not going to work when you have to go to china or ajerbazjan. Where you have to talk loudly so they understand. Reporter and the wall street journal poll shows that Hillary Clinton would trounce donald trump in a headtohead match up. It is closer with clinton and cruz. One other note tomorrow night, a new man on the main stage. Chris christie after all the gains he made in new hampshire. Matt and savannah. Peter alexander, thank you very much. Lets turn to chuck todd. Moderator of meet the press. Good morning. We have the huge surge for cruz. It seems like this is carson cratering. This is not everybody wants to somehow say trump is falling. He has gained in the iowa poll. Cruz is the traditional Christian Conservative candidate. What we normally see when it is a breakdown between two lanes in the republican party. Trump is his whole other entity. What do you get for a surge . You get attacked by donald trump. Cruz is careful not to criticize trump. He got caught doing it behind the scenes. Is his strategy make sure the Trump Supporters like him enough so if trump craters, he will get their support . His only path through the nomination is with Trump Supporters. You look at this as three sections of the republican party. Cruz and evangelicals and establishment lane with marco rubio and donald Trump Supporters. Cruz has a better shot of the Trump Supporters. You talk to Trump Supporters. Their second choice a lot of times is cruz. In fact, i thought it was an odd decision by trump attacking cruz. By attacking him by going hey, this guy cannot work anybody in the senate. Trump is really shaking things up. That will be appealing to Trump Supporters. I would say, that is just surprising method of attack. It allowed us to use the flash dance video. We should thank him for that. I guess the question is are these trump voters transferrable . Will they only go to the polls for trump and stay home or might they go and vote for cruz . Is that the question . It is. Nobody can answer that question. These appear to not be frequent voters in primaries. When they vote, they vote republican. It is not clear they will show up. Trump got them involved. It is not the environment. It is trump that got them involved. Trumps not there, they will not show. At the debate. If trump throws the first punch at cruz, can cruz sit back and he has to counterpunch. He is trying to win over Trump Supporters. Trump supporters want tough. If cruz is not tough, that will hurt him. I will be surprised if the two of them decide to pounce on rubio. That is what cruz might do. Get rid of the other guy in your way. Rubio. Then postpone your fight with trump. It will be interesting. Chuck, thank you so much. Lets turn to the weather. It is dividing the nation. A blast of winter out west. Recordhigh temperatures in the heat. Lets start in washington state. Treacherous driving conditions at stevens pass. Accidents and spinouts kept crews busy. Sleet and heavy snow. It is a completely different story in other parts of the midwest and the east. According to noaa, at least 574 record daily highs were tied or the first ten days of december. That was before the past weekend which saw temperatures soaring into the 60s here in the northeast. You can expect more of the same today with temperatures expected to be up 30 degrees above average. I have just done als job. I will throw to him. I should talk. We have the jet stream way up to the north. Springlike warmth hanging out. Big area of High Pressure funneling this up. We have patchy dense fog in the northeast. There could be airport delays. By wednesday, it cools down. 72 in raleigh. 53 in pittsburgh. Charleston will see a temperature of 72. As we get into the midwest, just as warm with temperatures from 10 to 30 degrees anbove normal. We have much colder air funneling down from canada. Plus a big low pressure system. Start to make its way further and further to the east. What we see for today is as the secondary storm comes out, look for intensification of the snow. We are talking in the rockies anywhere from 12 to 18 inches of snow or more before this is all over. We are watching this system as it makes its way east. The good news, guys, we are not going to see a big, big drop in temperatures here throughout much of the country. Al, thank you so much. We have new information this morning on the San Bernardino shooting investigation and the warning signs that may have been missed. This as another survivor is speaking out today. Nbc National CorrespondentMiguel Almaguer is in San Bernardino. Miguel, good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning. The Regional Center where the shooting took place is a focal point for investigators. This as they piece together what happened in the hours before and after the bloodshed. As the fbi investigates the mosque that was fire bombed and another vandalized over the for a hard drive at the lake say the work here is over. Investigators believe Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook had ties here. Jenner jen stevens was shot twice. And i hit the ground. You dont see the bullets, but you can hear them. They are really loud. Reporter with farook and malik radicalized in 2010, investigators fear warnings signs were missed. The New York Times says malik posted on social media saying she wanted to be part of jihad before she came to the u. S. Today, federal agents are building a timeline with the shooting and shootout with police. In all, four and a half hours what did the gunmen do before they were killed . I saw them putting on what i believe to be bulletproof vests. Reporter Sergeant Andy katz. We could not let them get way from there. It is apparent. They were going to fight with us. They were going to hurt more people. We cannot allow that. Reporter another focus of the investigation is enrique marquez. Syed rizwan farooks long time friend who bought the assault rifles. As he continues to work with investigators, he may be one of their best leads. Matt and savannah. Miguel almaguer, thank you. Sad anniversary now. Flags at half staff in connecticut to mark the third anniversary of the mass shooting at sandy hook in newtown. This is the First Time Since the 2012 shooting that the anniversary has fallen on a school day. Counselors will be on location at every school. There will be no mention of the shootings at those schools. And welcome news on the economy. Gas prices are dropping lower. They may stay low through the Holiday Season. We have tom costello with more. Reporter look at this gas station. 1. 94. My photographer paid 1. 71 last week. This is a few penningtonyiesyies below average. Tis the season for gifting. Americans are getting something extra in their pockets. Gas prices lowest in years. Kansas at 1. 77. California pays the most. 2. 65 on average. Gas is now cheaper than a gallon of milk at 3. 34. On inflationnflationinflation, we are looking at the cheapest since the 1970s. Reporter last month, 2. 1819. The highest was july of 2008 when gas hit 4. 10 a gallon. The top reasons for the plunge, the u. S. Is swimming in oil. Producing more than it imports. Saudi arabia keeps pumping more hoping to drive out iran and the u. S. It is good for car sales. 16 million new vehicles have rolled off dealer lots this year. 59 of them light trucks and suvs. As long as gas prices stay on consider bigger vehicles more. Reporter thats what brought this woman in to buy an suv. The gas is below 2. Thats pretty good. Reporter and gas prices likely will lower in the coming weeks. Although most experts say we should stick around 2 a gallon more or less hugging that level for the next several years. By the way, look at heating oil prices. Inn unlikely to affect out the west coast, but down a dollar from a year ago. If winter does return to parts of the country, it is likely cheaper to heat homes. In northern virginia, 63 degrees on this december day. Guys, back to you. Tom costello bringing good tidings. Hard to talk about heating your home with the temperatures in the 60s. A lot of places, it is just around the corner. People are saving money on the heating bills. That is good news. We will get to what is going on 30 seconds. Matt. Thanks very much. Too hot to handle. Amazon puts some brakes on hover boards after a series of fire. Plus on rossen reports, kids, car seats and a big mistake many parents make in the winter months. What you need to do. This is a really important today on nbc. Man at toysrus, you can buy one get one 40 off all sorts of toys. Even that life size stock boy action figure . Nah, thats just steve. Buy one get one 40 off power rangers, crayola, nerf modulus and more. Toysrus. Awwwesome this holiday i can count on someones kid mistaking me for santa. Im so sorry. Come on sweetie. Its okay. And knowing right when my packages arrive. Introducing realtime delivery notifications. One more reason this is our season. Daves been working on his game, and starting each day with a delicious bowl of heart healthy kelloggs raisin bran. Hows your cereal . Sweet tastes like winning. How would you know what winning tastes like . Invest in your heart health, with kelloggs raisin bran. I got you something to keep you warm. On the inside. At jared, we only sell one piece of jewelry for the holidays. The one that melts her heart. And its waiting for you. At jared. The flu virus hits big. With aches, chills, and fever, theres no such thing as a little flu. And it needs a big solution an antiviral. So when the flu hits, call your doctor right away and up the ante with antiviral tamiflu. Prescription tamiflu is an antiviral that attacks the flu virus at its source and helps stop it from spreading in the body. Tamiflu is fda approved to treat the flu in people two weeks of age and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. Before taking tamiflu, tell your doctor if youre pregnant, nursing, have Serious Health conditions, or take other medicines. A severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. Children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion, or abnormal behavior. The most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. Fort dodge police are also investigating why a man was found dead in the grass between two homes. Someone called police about the body around 8 am yesterday. Authorities found the man in the 1 hundred block of 8th street. Police are calling the death suspicious. They have not released the mans name yet. Students in the Waukee School district will soon learn where theyre headed to school next year. The boundaries proposal at six tonight. The change is in an effort to reduce overcrowding in many of its Elementary Schools. Its also in preparation for the opening of grant ragan paris theres a lot to do on a dairy farm. Nobodys gonna do it for you. You have to get out there and do it yourself. Bernie sanders is a wellknown friend of family farms. Bernie cannot be bought out by big money. Bernies opinion cannot be purchased. Its time for our next president to get in there, roll up his sleeves, take off the gloves, and take on wall street, take on big business, take on big money, and get the working class back to where they should be. Hes a rock. 7 30 now on this monday morning, december 14th, 2015, and it does not feel like it. Its an unseasonal warm day here in new york city and all across the eastern seaboard. We actually hit 67 on sunday, record. It felt pretty good. Were going to talk more about that with al in a investment more about stories making headlines. Our new national nbc news wall cruz cutting into Donald Trumps lead in the republican president ial race, now just five point behind the frontrunner. Marco rubio is now in third place, followed by ben carson who has dropped 18 points after leading in that same poll in late october. President obama is making a rare visit to the pentagon today. On the agenda, hell discuss the fight against isis with his National Security team. And the Postal Service says today is the busiest mailing day of the year. Officials recommend sending packages by december 21st if you want them to arrive in time for christmas. Usps expects to deliver more than 1. 5 billion pieces of mail this Holiday Season e coming up, what you could be doing that morning that puts your kids in danger. What jeff rossen shows why t