solved her own case and has been reited with her family today. solved her own case and has been reited with her family today. thursday, january 20th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal levision > good moing. welcome to "today" on a thursday morning. >> good mornin everybody. what an incredible story. the mother of this baby sayshe ner gave up, even the father id that basically even though theyere separated, her mother and faer, they haseen keeping his address in the national center for missi and exoited children to make sure they had a chance toind their daughter again. >> there a picture from 23 years ago. look a this family day. reunited after 23 years. that woman said thing just didn't add up as she got older. she started to question her own identity. we'll tell you more about that also, we've got to talk about weather. lo. this is a live shot in kansas city, missouri,ust a taste of what's headed to the mid-atlant later today and what we'll be dealing with ts time tomoow. al is calling for around six inches of snow here in new york city. othe spots in the ntheast could be in for even more. we'll get his forecast coming . >> he better come up with good news fast. also ahead, we'veot new details on gabrielle giffords' remarkablerecovery. she wa able totand up with assistance for the first time on wednesday. she could b headed to aouston rehab facility by the end of is week. amazing. deils coming up. > on a much, much lighter note, you're going to join a marching band. >> bottom line is that i -- >> you're lghing now. wait until you actually do it. >> ie been able toump off a idge, but can i actually do this? it's something i've always wanted to do. this morning i going to fure out what it's like to be a member of a marching band. i learned a lot. >> we'll give people more of a warning so they can turnheir tv down when theime comes. let's begin with the latest on ts is snowstorm in the northeast. al is upstairs with details. >> we've got this snow coming. we've got ridvideo out of nebra. they've picked up five to seven inches of snow. here's the latest radar. from okloma to st. louis and cincinnati, we've got this snow making it way toward us. here's what we've gots far as the watchesnd warnings. are looking at winter storm warningsn the last 24 urs. we picke up ne inches in columbia. st. louis, eight inches. hastings, neaska, six inches of snow the watches and warnings stretch all the way fro texas into boon. it's a wide area. here's what we're expecting. we're looking for this storm system to com out of texa it is already spreading snow fromulsa to st. los. by thursday afternoon, the snow spreads into pittsburgh. then mov along the coast and friday morning, it's up into new england by friday night. owfall amounts, here'shat we're looking for. three to six inches in cincinnati. new york, three to five inches. boston, three to five, maybe eight inches of snow in the outlying areas. philadelphia only picks up two to four washington, d.c.,ess than an inch. ann? >> thank you so much. >> chinese president hu jintao makes his way to capitol hil today following a star-studd state dinner at the white house. 've got andrea mitchel joining us now with details. good morning >> good moing. on a day capped by that glittering state dinner with jimmy carter a bill clinton, both attending, president obama spoke of cooperation and friendly competion between the united states and china. l aimed at ironing out problems i a very colicated relationship. the white house spared no details to welcome china's leader. from the first lady i red, a color traditionally thoht to bringood luck in china, to t star-studded guest list. foreignolicy task-breakers from both parties. yoyo ma, barbara streisand. >> i worked in a chinese restaurant. >> reporter: jackie chan, michelle qu michelle kwan. the all-amicanenu a five-star version of surf and turf. apple pie and ice cream. and the bestf american jazz. hospitality that eve led to a breakthrough on panda diplomacy, extending chins loan of waington's favorit chinese imports. >> our national zoo will continue to dazzle children and visito with the beloved giant pandas. >> reporter: still, all the pomp and ciumstance and personal diplacy couldn't disguise fundamental disagreements over business and hum rights. >> we come from very different cultures and with very different historie we have some core views as americans about the universeiality of certai rights. >> reporter: and human rights advocates were invited to dinner. >> i take the reason that i was invited as really a statement to president hu. >> reporter: a me that didn't satiy critics. >> let's not forget, china is e most egregious human rights violator in the world. >> reporter: most of the business of the summit was business. e president and top ceos mplained about ina's rampant piracy of software and movies. the two countries did announce $45 billion in new business deals, including the sale of 200 boeing jets. the white house sa all of this would produce 235,000 new american jobs. >> we want t sell you all kin of stuff. we want to sell you planes, we want to sell you cars, we want toell you software. china did make some concessions, lowering some trade barriers or promising to. but day the chinese leader could find a tougher reception on citol hill. he'll be meeti with the eaker of the house,aohn boehner, and wit senate leaders who chose not to attend the state dinner. >> andr, thank you. with all of the discussion about major policy, trade issues and those kind of things, the big talk last night was about the fit lady dress? >>yes. the dress. beautiful. alexander mclean. me controversy in the fashion columns because he is british designer, a late briti designer, and that he,sadly, committed suicide. heas highly regarded, much beloved in the indury. it was designed by those who took onor him. it was an extraoinarily beautiful dress. red is the symbol of good luck in cha. and everyone the was completely wowed. andhis is t first ste dinner with the new team in the east wing the first lady's new staff. it went off flawlessly. >> that's very important. andrea mitchell, thank you. lovely dress. let's bring in -- let's talk to wal street and a poll that shows presiden obama's approval ting on the ri. this, as he marked exactly t years in office today. chuck todd has details. chk was pointing o that it was a red silk organza dress. >> that's right. the way it flowed down, i was lovely. >> it waslovely. >> we wereefinitely breaking it wn. >> on the suace, it sounds like a lot of good ns for president obama, but does -- do these numberso anything to chan his political reality? >> short-te, yes. in five days he giv the sta of the union. two months ago, we would have said he was going to there o the defensive, that it was the republicans inhe audience that were going to be the ones who were given the benefit of the doubt. what's happened with this poll, wh it showss the american public is suddenly giving the president the benefit of the doubt again. and the burden of proof is back on the republicans. >> his approval rating has jumped to 53%, an eight-point leap from last month, the highest ratg since july of 2009. what's behind those numbers? >> three factors. how he handled tucson, 74% approve of howe did th. o, sple optimism is up again. long-term optimism about where america is goi to be in fiv spiked spiked 20 pointsn the last few months. optimism in the economy spid eight minutes. and then how he's deali with republicans. they think he's going to be th asonable guy and they think reblicans will be the ones who are inflexible. >> optimism for the country, optimism for the economy, so the democrats can feel good abo that. can't the republicans spint this way? can't they y, well, people are timi timistic becausehey see there will be share power in washington. >> you know, and that's what's interesting is at, ye i ink there is some -- you see how they responded to the lame duck and those negotiang deals. right now the president is getting al o the benefit. the republicans aren't getting any of e credit yet. >> let's talk about this heah care vote in the house yesterday. it was passed to repeal health ca. it's not going to g anywhere in the senate. look at the numrs if we can jump aheadn where the amerin people feel about that health care situatio what did you fin >> it is dead even, just in the way it was a polizing vote i the hous just three democrats joined the republicans, -45 split. it's right down party lis. that couldave been a presidential vote. do you want a republican to be in the white house or the democrat? that's how the country is lit, right down the normal red/blue line. >> chu todd, thank youor coming u to new york. we appreciate that. >> i'll be aund for some fashion segments. happy to do that. >> thank you so much. l's turn to arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. she's reached another milestone iner recovery on wednesday. she was able stto stand for the first time. miguel has theatest on this story. good morning. >> ann, good rning. in just a few hours we'll hear from the congresswoman's husband, mark kelly. this comes after the suspect was indicted and a big step forward in his wife's recovery. congresswoman gabrielle giffords is defyinghe odds with the help of doctors. wednesday she stood on her feet for the first time sce the shooting. om her window, she could see the mountains of tucson. >> there's no dbt in my mind really, itifted up her spirits. shs got the strength to stand on her own, lift her head up. >> reporter: just 12 days o, giffords was shot in the face. now she could be released friday. e's readyor rehab and wl go to this houston hospital. >> there'so question that the most difficult part of her recovery for her has yet t come. she's going to have to wk very hard. >> reporter: giffords has had plenty osupport. get-well signs blanket the hospital lawn. some have been brought intoer hospital room. her family says she's held some of the cards i her hand 9-year-old isaac saldona sent ffords $2.85, money raised by sellinsome of his toys. >> i started thinking about her and r in the hospital. so i just wanted to raise money toend it to her. >> rorter: giffords will be the last victim to leave the hospital other survivors speak out for the first time. >> the noise was horrendo. there was like a whirlwind. >> reporter: doris and jim tucker were talki to giffords en the shooting gan. >> ielt like i was hit with a sledge hammer righto myollar bone. i was flat on my back, on the grnd. >> reporter: bullets struc jim in thehoulder and leg. doris escaped unharmed. aseeported wednesday, much of the shooting was captured on rveillance cameras. >> from a police perspective, we clearly ha a case that is solved. >> reporter: the video is said to be grsome. it has noteen released, but the pima county sheriff's lead investigator has seen it. >> what i remember, though, was the deliberation a the purposeful approach that jared loughner had as he walked upo gabrielle giffords. >> reporter: a federal grand jury formally indicted jared lee loughner. giffordsas clearly the target of the atck, but today she's one step closer to leaving the hospital. jared lee loughner faces three charges of attempt itted murder including the attempted assassinatn of the congresswoman. murder charges will follow. prosecutors will almost certainly seek the death nalty. ann? >> all right. miguel, thank yo it is now 7:13. once again, here's matt. thank you. investigators in washington state ar pursuing new leads to find whoever planted a sophisticated bomb along the route of spokane's martin luther king jr. day para. pete williams has the latest on this story. pete, good morningo you. >> matt, good morning to you. here at the fb there saying it was a powerful bomb, one clearly desned to kill. but luckily, itas spotted and disarmed before the king parade. now the hunts on to fin whoever put it there on a day clearly intended to celebre peace. federal agent say they're following promising new leads, hoping to discover who planted a backpack containing a deadly bomb on a spokane city stet. it was placed monday morning, sometime between 8:00 and 9:30 alonthe plannedoute of the city's annual unity parade on the day honoring the birth of dr. martin luther king jr. around 1,00 people who took part in thateventould have passed by it later that day. but thebi says the backpac was spotted on a bench by some city worrs. one of them actual lked inside and saw wires. theyalled police, the parade warerouted and nearby businesses were evacuad. >> now that ty have all of these -- these fire trucks and things, they ink there might be an explosion. that's scary. >> reporter: investigators say it was inside a swiss army brand backpack, pipe bomb apparently filled with gu powder to be detonated with a dio-operated remote control. it contained material to act as shrapn. all of that was wrapped inside two t-shirts, o for a local relay race. the other labeled "treasure land, spring 2009." thfbi hopes these picture will jog someone's memory. the device itself was safely disarmed and did not explode. investigators have much more evidence to rk with. the mayor says the city is luckily someone saw it time. >> o respons was swift and appropriate. the citizens who reported this incint to 911 are toe commended. they really are comnity heroes for being diligt and alert and taking the property steps. >> the fbi is offering a $20,000 rerd for information that helps crack the case. they're also asking for pictus that people may have taken at that street corner on the morning th bomb was placed. matt? >> pete willis, thank you ver much. let's get a cck of the rest of the morning's top stories. hey, talie. good rning. >> good morning. los angeles police are searching for a gunman who shot achool disict police officer. luckily he was savedy his bullproof vest. nine schools with nearly 10,000 students i the area we on lockdown forours on wednesday as police searched for the suspect. new york woman is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the city. laura freeman says her 75-year-d mother would have survived a heart attack durg new york's post-christm blizzard if medics would have arrived ster. freeman's mother die after waiting three hours for an ambulance. now let'sook at wall street. nicole lappin is at cnbc's world headquarters. >> we're in the thick of earnings season we'll be watching the financl sector today with morgan stanley's numbers. we're also focusin on tech, with google reporting after the closing bell. we'reeroing in on reports closely since stocks really took a stumblyesterday following disappointing earnings from goldman sas and wells fargo. we're getting a ton of data on unployment, existing home sales. it's goi to a busy day. >> nicole lappin a cnbc's wor hequarters, thank you. alooded river emptying into stormy seas gave fishing boat crew the ride of their lived wednesday in new zealand. the shi were trying to get back to land. they disappeared beneath massive waves. but somehow they surfaced d made it back to shore. it' now 7:18. back to matt, ann and al. makes your smach turn jt loing at those pictures. >> thank you, natalie. got a big recast, mr. roker. >> that's right. we're watching that storm in the mid-atlantic. let's see what else is goi on acro the country ase look at the map. we've got snow showers out in the pacific northwes windy conditions. northe california with high and aroundhere, we've got a cold start to our day. beautiful, though, with jus some high clou out there. tempatures right now range from 36 degrees in tenleown and around petworth. chan till is around 31, colesville in ntgomery county around 32. suitland currently at 33. we'll have increasing clos today. it will be much coldethan yesterday, the high aroun 38 degrees. expect snow to develop around 11:00 p.m. to dnight. 5:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., snow should be >> tt's your latest weather. ann? there have been n demonstrations i tunia this morning following last week's uprising to oust the nation's president. richard engel is in tunisia this morning with the latest on this story. richard, good morning. good rning. those protests were latively sml. there were some shots firedn the air, but the international effort right now is focused mainly on recovering the billions of dollarsllegedly stolen byhe fmer tunisian president and hiwife. in a popular volt unseen in the middleast in decades, tunisian demonstrators ousted one of the region's most unpopular dictators. his hated wife may be the real reason tunisia's repressive regime fell so hard and so fast. a one-time hair dresser, she i wily accused of using old-fashioned mafia tactics to lavishly rich herself and family. press reports say in a final grab, s stole $65 million in gold bars from tunisia's central bank before escaping wither husband to and while the former first couple escaped, many of their relatives were too slow. the tunisian government said it detained 33 of them, most as they tried to leave. state television displayed jewelry, bank records andredit cards. the tunisian people are taking a more direct approach to reclaim what they consider stolen funds. >> this is our mone >> reporter: the polic here aren't even bothering to stop the looters. >> most of the aer here has been directed at the family their houses are the onlynes that are being looted and deroyed. many tunisians say this government fell largely because of the ged of the presidens wife. at nearby cafe, now reopen, as calm is retning here, nearly everyone has a personal story about them. >> she wen until, you kw -- at one point, ty were controlling 60% of the economy. >> reporter: they owned erything from banks to coffe shs. >>f you want to inve in something, they would ask you to invest. otherwise,hey won't let you do it by yourself. >> reporter: a private school she wante to build. but when they found out about the school project, she insisted onbecoming a partne and then forced theoman out. cod you have a successful business in tunisia and not make her your partner? >> no. >> reporter:ou couldn't do it? >> no >> reporter: she may have also had ambitions beyond money. most tunisians believe that the former first ly had alrdy sidelined her 74-year-old husband and wanted to become president herself in 2014. compariss are already being made here to the philippines' rmer first lady and politician amelda rcos. another newspaper has been less kind than that, dubbing her the lady mcbeth of the country. >> richard engel, thank you so much for that report. just ahead, a woman kidnapd when she was just 19 days old, reunited with her family 20 years later. how she helped solve her own case. > but first, this is "today" on nbc. blue dmond almonds! more bold flor! more variety! more value! more of what youant... not whatou don't. blue diamond almonds. 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