good morning. tonight's the night, the finals of ladies' figure skating, the most popular event of the winter games. two american skaters and canada's joannie rochette are very much in the hunt for a medal, but can anyone stop south korea's kim yu-na from winning the gold? today, thursday, february 25th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to "today" on this boisterous thursday morning, day 14 of the winter games here in vancouver. i'm meredith vieira. >> and i'm matt lauer. and we have more inclement weather, as ann curry joins us as well here at grouse mountain, our home away from home. it has started to sleet after a night of snow here, but it's kind of fun. we've got a good crowd. speaking of figure skating, south korea's kim yu-na was pretty much the odds-on favorite to win the gold coming into the competition. she is still in great shape to win the gold tonight. we're going to have more on that. meanwhile, it was a wild night for the usa on wednesday night. >> erin pac and her teammate have won gold and we'll talk to them about their experience. very excite bed that. however, it does not look like u.s. women's skiers will win a medal in the downhill after lindsey vonn's crash in the downhill on wednesday it actually caused problems for julia mancuso, skiing after, also from the united states. we're going to have more on what appears to be a tense relationship between two of our country's best skiers. but we want to take a quick look at the medal count right now, as we always do at this time of the morning. we find ourselves in the lead -- not ourselves. we're not olympic athletes, but the u.s. out front with 28 medals, germany in second with 24, norway in third with 18. >> all right, as you can see, it is snowing, sleeting here in vancouver, but that's nothing compared to what's going to be happening back home. a major, second major snowstorm, actually, is hitting the northeast today, just 24 hours after another powerful storm dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas. al will have the forecast. and a deadly killer whale attack at florida's seaworld. it happened on wednesday after a show for the crowd. as the park guests were looking on, a huge killer whale attacked a 40-year-old trainer, killing that woman. we're going to actually talk to a person who witnessed this attack, and this is actually the third time that this particular killer whale has been involved in some way or another with the death of a human being. >> you wonder why it was still part of seaworld. >> well, it wasn't part of the main show. >> oh, i see. >> it was actually part of a separate area. >> horrible story. but we begin with the major snowstorm in the northeast. we'll go inside to al for the forecast. good morning, al. >> good morning, guys. first of all, looking live at morristown, new jersey, the snow already coming down pretty good. in newark, new jersey, it's changing over to snow. this is going to be a big, big storm. as we look at the radar, you can see right along the coast we've got some frozen precipitation, that area of pink. rain along the coast on into new england. but as you get into interior sections, we are looking at snow. the path of the storm, this one really, as it moves up along the northeast coast, it intensifies. as we say in the weather business, it bombs out. it really intensifies and then starts to move inland, bringing in with it colder air and wrap-around precipitation. so, this is going to be a classic nor'easter. we've got flood watches from eastern long island to southeastern maine, rainfall amounts anywhere from one to three inches of rain along the coast. that causes flood potential. then it changes over to snow. new york city, just new york city, about 9 to 12 inches of snow. scranton, binghamton, up into berlin, vermont, we are looking at anywhere from 18 to 24 inches of snow back as far west as erie, pennsylvania and elkins, west virginia. and add to that wind gusts and sustained winds anywhere from 15 to 25 miles per hour, wind gusts of over 30 miles per hour, and you have the potential for some blizzard-like conditions over the next 36 hours. airports already reporting delays and cancellations, schools are being closed in new jeey and new york. this is going to be another big one. now let's go back to matt and meredith. >> boy. >> so, what's the good news? all right, al, thank you very much. >> oh, boy. as we said, it was a wild day of action at all the olympic venues. ann is here now to wrap it all up. >> thank you so much, matt. as you all know, it is day 14 of the winter olympics, and yesterday there were some familiar faces on the u.s. team in action. but with mixed results. >> comes out wide. >> reporter: at the olympics, elation and frustration are separated by fractions. >> oh, she's got problems! look out! oh, she crashes! >> reporter: after crashing the bobsled it was americans erin pac and elana meyers who took an unexpected bronze. >> this is going to be a medal. >> we just tried to stay relaxed and have a lot of fun. erin's a great pilot and we had to stay calm and do what we had to do, and we did it. >> reporter: but while the u.s. celebrated at the sliding centre, at women's aerials, the american women faltered and failed to capture a medal. >> here comes another pass, right here on the inside, apolo anton ohno! >> reporter: on the same night, the most decorated american winter olympian of all time made it look easy. >> a veteran race by apolo anton ohno, so patient, so relaxed. >> i'm having fun, and anything's possible. >> reporter: he advanced to the 500-meter short track finals on friday. >> the american team that was never in the race actually hanging to see if they are going to get a medal out of this. >> reporter: but the women in the 3000-meter relay, it came down to the referees. >> there's the bump. >> reporter: americans took bronze after theouth koreans were disqualified for hitting a member of the chinese team. >> it's going to be quite a challenge today. >> reporter: and it was bad weather to blame in whistler, where the american women's skiers had a rough day on the giant slalom course. >> oh! >> reporter: after lindsey vonn fell, breaking her finger -- >> meanwhile, here comes julia mancuso. >> reporter: julia mancuso began her race. >> because they lowered the interval times between racers -- >> reporter: while vonn still lay against a protective net, mancuso's run was abruptly stopped for safety reasons. >> right, but lindsey vonn -- >> now they've stopped her. >> reporter: after starting again, mancuso finished the day in 18th. >> it's just absolutely extraordinary bad luck for julia mancuso. >> it was a lot of emotion, a little stress and energy put into that run. >> reporter: she wrote on her facebook page, "imagine running a 400-meter sprint and then missing your time and making you run it again after five minutes. not easy." >> i know she's disappointed. i mean, i feel terrible. i mean, obviously, the course deteriorated a lot and i feel terrible that, you know, i crashed. i mean, i don't want to crash for myself, let alone to hurt my teammate's chances of gettg a medal. >> reporter: still in the medal hunt in men's hockey, team usa beat switzerland. and in a hard-hitting game, canada defeated russia 7-3. tonight, all eyes will be on the grace of women's figure skating. wednesday, they took to the ice to rehearse their long programs. and it is a huge night tonight, because we're going to have the finals for the women's figure skating as well as the last two jumps of the men's freestyle skiing aerials and also team usa takes on canada in the women's ice hockey gold medal game. that's the wrap-up. now let's go to you, meredith. >> all right, ann, thank you very much. we're going to turn now to politics. president obama is holding a nationally televised summit on health care today, nearly a year to the day that he kicked off his administration's now stalled push for reform. we will talk to white house press secretary robert gibbs in a moment, but first, chuck todd is nbc's chief white house correspondent. chuck, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. and what the white house hopes is their final public push to get health care through congress, the president hopes today's bipartisan summit provides either some sort of breakthrough or enough political cover to simply push it through congress. >> i look forward to a good exchange of ideas. >> reporter: that was the president wednesday. it was nearly a year ago, though, that the president began his push for health care reform with another summit. >> as we work to determine the details of health care reform, we won't always see eye to eye. >> reporter: and mr. obama is still looking for ideas at today's event. >> i hope everyone comes with a shared desire to solve this challenge, not just score political points. >> reporter: but the republicans have scored points. in massachusetts, republican scott brown won the senate seat held for decades by the democrats' strongest health care reform advocate, the late ted kennedy. that put an end to the democrats' 60-vote majority, and republicans are now pushing for a do-over. >> this isn't a republican position. this is the position of the american people who have said stop this, let's start over and let's see what we can agree to. >> reporter: at a minimum, the white house hopes to re-energize congressional democrats to finish the job. >> get it done! get it done! >> reporter: something they embraced at a pep rally wednesday. >> by the time easter comes, we will fulfill ted kennedy's dream that health care is a right and not a privilege! yes, we can! >> reporter: aides to the president hint mr. obama is looking for one substantial republican idea to latch on to in a very public way today. one potential option, medical malpractice reform. but ultimately, this is about getting a bill psed in congress, specifically in the house, where some democrats are pessimistic. >> at least to the house members i've talked to, probably about 15 or 20 of them in the last 24 hours, they've said there are other problems wh this bill. >> reporter: congressional republicans are sptical about today, believing it's nothing more than a staged political event by the president. >> i'm always pleased to see him. he's fun to be around, and i'm sure we'll have a great six hours. >> reporter: now, the real action begins friday as the white house considers a whole bunch of legislative maneuvers to get this through. by the way, in a sign of how nervous i think republins are, in front of the president at the summit, house republicans have set up a truth squad outside the proceedings. meredith? >> chuck todd, thank you very much. robert gibbs is the white house press secretary. mr. gibbs, good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm great. thank you. as chuck just pointed out, the president has spent a lot of time and political capital on this one issue of health care reform. today you have the summit. what does he hope to accomplish in six hours that he hasn't been able to do so far? >> well, look, i think washington can always benefit when the two parties sit down together, put aside their talking points and come with the idea of making progress and compromising on an issue that's important to the american people. i think he's anxious to listen to republican ideas and incorporate more of them into our proposal, and iope that republicans will come with an open mind about dealing with the problem of health insurance reform. >> you use the word compromise. this is what representative john klein of minnesota told "the new york times." he said "no republican is going to go back to his home district and say, you know what, i was wrong about the health care bill." and isn't that the bottom line, that the president and major democrats want a bill to pass and republicans do not? >> well, look, if people go back to their districts, what's happening now is insurance companies are mailing out letters for premium increases next year. we know in california, those on the individual insurance market got letters that say their insurance was going up almost 40%, which is about ten times greater than health care inflation. so, we know what happens if we do nothing. health insurance will skyrocket, it will crush even further small businesses, it will crush the federal budget. we have to do something about it. i don't think anybody wants to go back to their district and talk to that small business owner who had to drop their health insurance or lay off workers because of the crushing cost of health insurance. >> you know, the president right now wants to see 30 million people who are currently uninsured insured. the republican bill would amount to about 3 million people currently uninsured would be getting insurance. is there any wiggle room there for the president? could he compromise on that at all? >> well, look, again, i think the president comes today willing and open to listen to whatever ideas we have, understanding that many of the reforms, including protecting people against insurance companies that discriminate based on pre-existing conditions is likely only to be done if we give more people access to health care. that's what's important in this. and look, meredith, we all pay a $1,000 tax in our insurance because people that don't have health insurance, when they get sick, when they're in an auto accident, they don't have a doctor, so they have to go to the emergency room. so, we end up paying that health care premium twice. >> all right. white house press secretary robert gibbs. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. and a programming note. coming up on monday, march 8th, the first of an exclusive two-part interview with the ultimate white house insider, karl rove. he has a new book coming out that gives his perspective on life inside the west wing as a key strategic adviser to george w. bush. we're going to hear from him about that book and a lot more. again, that's an exclusive interview with karl rove march 8th and 9th only on "today." now let's go back to new york for a look at the rest of the morning's top stories from amy robach. amy, good morning. >> meredith, good morning to you. good morning, everyone. tragedy at seaworld in orlando after one of its most experienced whale trainers was killed wednesday. 40-year-old dawn brancheau was said to be rubbing the animal in its tank just before it grabbed her and pulled her into the water, causing her to drown. investigators aren't sure why the 12,000-pound orca whale known as tilly attacked its trainer, but the whale has been involved in two previous deadly attacks. much more on this story, coming up. the head of toyota is vowing to make safety the number one priority of his company. on capitol hill tuesday, akio toyoda testified that he was absolutely confident no electrical failures led to the acceleration problems in toyota vehicles. chrysler is asking more than 355,000 minivan owners to replace faulty crash sensors that control the airbags. the automaker says the sensors can crack and fail in the 2005 and 2006 town and country and dodge grand caravan vehicles. well, fed chairman ben bernanke told congress wednesday that interest rates will remain low to support continued economic growth. and the house is now set to vote on a jobs bill after the full senate passed the $15 billion measure on wednesday. and just today after being released from a washington, d.c., hospital after suffering a heart attack, former vice president dick cheney is having coffee today with his former boss, president george w. bush. it is the first time the two have seen each other since they left office. and a close call this week for an officer in michigan who was on the side of the road with a driver when another car came barreling towards him. he managed to jump to avoid being pinned, and amazingly, suffered only minor injuries. it is 7:15. let's head back now to matt, meredith, ann and al. >> all right, thanks, amy. >> seems like we've got just nasty weather across the whole continent. >> that's right. >> snowing and nasty in the northeast. >> but it just stopped here. >> and that's not the only place. we've got a storm system brewing right now, upper level low in the midsection of the country, causing problems there. as we take a look, show you what we're looking at a low pressure area spinning around, bringing more rain and snow into the midwest, from texas all the way up into oklahoma and parts of kansas. snowfall amounts are going to be about one to three inches. we're looking at rainfall texas into oklahoma, about half an inch to a quarter of an inch. as you can see, sunshine throughout the gulf coast, sunny skies up into the plains, a big storm moves back into the pacific northwest causing more problems here in vancouver and the northwest as well. sunshine through the southwest. and by the way, we're having our crowd smoked for that succulent taste. yeah, we're all beingeing good morning, we have avoided the big brunt of the storm, the storm that can has tracked a little bit farther to the east. a flu flurries northern montgomery county and new fret rick county in maryland, but elsewhere the precipitation has stopped. it's a little bit of dusting in loudoun county. temperatures are in the low to mid 30s around the region. 35 in and that's your latest weather. matt? >> all right, al, thanks very much. as ann mentioned earlier, it was a bumpy start to the women's giant slalom competition yesterday, and in a race it created kind of another bump in the road for two of the top u.s. female skiers, lindsey vonn and julia mancuso. nbc's peter alexander's up at whistler with more on this relationship. peter, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you, again, from what today is a really cd and chilly, rainy whistler. this relationship, these two have been friends since they were 12, rivals since then. they're both 25. they are both fierce competitors. they both have two medals at these games. but a bad luck moment on the mountain wednesday and then some tough comments recently by julia mancuso have revealed what might best be described as icy conditions in their friendship. there's a new chill in the already frosty relationship between american skiing sensations linds vonn and julia mancuso. the latest twist came during vonn's first run in wednesday's giant slalom, where the twtime olympic medalist was leading before she lost control, breaking her right pinky finger, getting tangled in the safety netting, ending her latest medal bid. the next racer, julia mancuso, the defending gold medalist, was already on the top of the course but was forced to stop midrace because of vonn's crash. mancuso was seen in tears as she had to return to the top to start all over again. >> really a bummer when you come into the race that you've been waiting for your whole career and something happens like that. >> reporter: the 25-year-old from squaw valley would have to wait for 13 more skiers and faced deteriorating course conditions. mancuso ended up in 18th place heading into her second run, which was postponed due to bad weather. >> now julia mancuso, meanwhile, is still just very upset. >> i feel terrible and i hope she understands. i definitely didn't want that to happen for the both of us. >> reporter: the dueling stars who share the cover of the latest "sports illustrated" have been described as the yin and yang of u.s. skiing. earlier this week, the magazine's website quoted mancuso taking a shot at vonn, claiming the u.s. ski team is being hurt by a popularity contest. "people are having such a hard time reaching their potential because it's such a struggle for attention," she said. "you come to meetings after races, and it's like it's a bad day if lindsey didn't do well."