Affluenza teen arrives in los angeles overnight in the custody of u. S. Marshals. People want to know, what were you thinking . This as her son fights his own extradition. Why he could remain in mexico for months. And prepping for a party. With an increased eye on security, the world gets set to celebrate the arrival of a new year. Today, thursday, december 31st, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Its new years eve morning. Im Savannah Guthrie alongside craig melvin, alongside matt. Most. We have to stay up until im going try. I cant believe that 2015 flew by like that. Later in the show, well tell in style. Our top story is a breaking one. The criminal case against bill cosby after the legendary actor and comedian was arraigned on a sex assault charge. His attorney calls the charge unjustifies. Well talk to her and the attorney who represents a dozen cosby accusers. First, lets get the latest from Stephanie Gosk in pennsylvania. Good morning, savannah. The prosecutor was racing against the clock to beat an expiring statute of limitations. He said it was cosbys own words from a 2005 deposition that triggered the reopening of this case and led to a stunning announcement. Reporter 78yearold bill cosby cosby, carrying a cane and stumbling his way into a small pennsylvania courthouse, to face felony charges of aggravated assault. Clearing a bail to return to his nearby home where the came began in 2004. Former Temple UniversityAndrea Constand agreed to take pills and drink wine, and became paralyzed as cosby performed sexual acts against her wishes. While no charges were filed at the time, constand filed a civil suit in 2005, settled a year later. It was excerpts from a deposition from that suit that triggered the new criminal case. Constands attorney asking cosby about his purchase of quaaludes in the 70s, a now banned drug. Was it in your mind that you were going to use these drugs with young women you wanted to have sex with . Cosby answered, yes. Opening the reopening the case was not a question. A former d. A. Who refused to prosecutor bill cosby. We examined all the evidence that we had available to us. Made this determination because reporter in a statement to nbc news, cosbys attorney suggested the charges were motivated by local politics, and came as no surprise. We intend to mount a vigorous defense against this unjustified charge, and we expect mr. Cosby will be exonerated by a court of law. One of the 12 woman who came forward in the 2005 civil suit said she doesnt believe cosby will admit any wrongdoing at trial. I have not ever known him to be a person who tells the truth. So, no, i dont have a particular desire to hear him testify. Cosbys legal team has denied these allegations from the very beginning. In fact, filing nine defamation lawsuits in recent weeks against accusers. Cosby is expected back in court on january 14th. If hes found guilty, he could face up to ten years in prison. Monique pressley represents mr. Cosby. Thank you for being here. Good morning. What is his state of mind . How is he viewing the charges . I cant testify really about his state of mind personally. Hes been accused unjustly of a crime so, certainly, thats upsetting, but hes in good spirits and he knows he has a legal team that is intent on defending him until he is exonerated. As we mentioned, this is a charge, a set of charges, that could carry up to ten years in prison. Does he fear jail . Well, its a charge, and any person who is charged with a crime, the threat of little bit bitter liberty interests being lost is there. Were going to get to the facts of this old case that was once decided, such that the former d. A. Said there was no need to go further and it belonged in the civil courts. Now, through a game of political life is the center, were back again. Given your dealings so far with this prosecution, do you think there will be discussions about a plea agreement . Would you be open to that, or will this case go to trial . I have no idea what the Prosecutors Office is going to do and what the inner workings are of their system but would you be open to it . My client is not guilty, and there will be no consideration on our part of any sort of arrangement. You said in your statement yesterday that you are expecting he will be exonerated. What is the source of that confidence . Do you think that this is a weak set of allegations . Well, its that, but its also the fact that a court of law doesnt run like the media does, for example. In that, any person who has a picture or a story or something that theyd like to say, if theyre saying it about the right person, and bill cosby is the right person to say air that grievance and have been doing so for the past year. In a court of law, theres a system of laws and rules that judges follow. And i have confidence in that system of justice. As ive said in any number of interviews on this network and elsewhere, i believe when you separate what happens in the court of law from what has been allowed to happen in the fictional court of public opinion, you will get an outcome to justice requires. One possibility is if a judge were to allow it in a pretrial hearing, that other accusers could come forward. Its not certain they would be permitted to testify, but is that a key consideration in your mind, that you could see a set of other accusers be allowed to testify, to try to establish some kind of pattern . We expect the d. A. , who is highly motivated, fulfilling a campaign promise, not necessarily interested in e you played, it was the promise itself. Where he said, bruce castor doesnt care about the victims, isnt tough on crime. These are the things that campaigns are made of. Now, backed into a corner, it seems like the almost new d. A. Has had to fulfill that promise. Im sure that they will do whatever it is they can to try to convince the judge to consider all types of evidence that doesnt belong in a court. Again, we will defend against it, and i have confidence in the judicial system. Pardon and judges will make the right decision. Part of the reason this case was brought was because of a look at the deposition taken in connection with the civil litigation in this case. Is this a situation where mr. Cosbys own words have come back and come back to bite him . No. I think this is a situation where the District Attorneys Office has come back to bite it, and thats what we will see happen. Chose to end the investigation, publicly saying there was not sufficient evidence to go forward. It was that d. A. s office who had my client participate in a civil process. Now, its the same d. A. s office who is trying to use the communicating and participating that would have never happened and, frankly, was illegally released through a Court Reporter theyre trying to use that and say it was a basis for these charges. Also, if you look at the deposition itself, which now is out there, wasnt supposed to be, but is, then youll see there is no admission of criminal wrongdoing with respect to mr. Cosby. There is detailed testimony about this incident and others. A lot of people will say, if hes not guilty, why would he have settled a case with her . Obviously, theres a difference between a civil case and a criminal case, but a person just watching at home thinks, if you think someone is lying, why do you pay them money . Why do you settle . Thats what people at home think. I think the people at home are much more savvy than that, and they have to deal with situations in their own lives where they have people who are threatening them. Who are threatening to come after their homes or their lifestyle or their work or their reputation or their career, decades of whatever it is theyve done in their own capacities. They know there are times its wise to settle claims rather than fight them, especially if its something where you believe everything youre working for will be lost. This may have been one of those times. Im bound right now, oddly enough, i cant even believe it myself, my client is still bound by a confidentiality agreement in this case. Even though the direct Attorneys Office pressed charges. Even the person who brought the civil suit is apparently voluntarily cooperating. We have to toe the line until a court tells us were free to speak. Im sure in the Court Documents allowed to say what needs to be said, everything will be made clear. Monique pressley, good to have you. Its a long road just beginning. Hope to speak to you again. Thank you for having me. Also speaking out is gloria allred, representing 29 people who claim they suffered at the hands of bill cosby. Good morning, craig. What has been the reaction by your clients to the news of the suit filed yesterday . Very happy. Andrea constand, the alleged victim, is going to have her day in court. That the Justice System is going to permit her to be able to testify and have a jury decide on the allegations that she has made. Thats so important. For most of the many, many alleged victims that i represent, if not all, they are barred by the statute of limitations, by the arbitrary having their cases prosecuted, even if there were a District Attorney who believed that case could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. But andrea is within that statute of limitations in pennsylvania and, therefore, a prosecution is going to go forward. Very, very happy about that. I want to pick up on something ms. Pressley just said. A lot of what ms. Constand alleges, the details are early ly eerily similar to what dozens of other women said happened to them. How real of a possibility is it that these other women could be called to testify . Montgomery county indicated in the press release if there are other alleged victims, they should contact detectives. Law enforcement is well aware of the many clients that i have and what they allege, that mr. Cosby did to them. Its all on my website. Gloria allred. Com. Weve done news conferences. Theyre aware of it. If, in fact, the prosecutor feels that some of the descriptions by my clients are of same or similar acts, as alleged in the charges against mr. Cosby, many of my clients have already indicated that they will be prepared to testify in the criminal case if their testimony would be considered rel vabt evant and admissible. Are there women that have contacted you who have not come forward yet, who have made similar accusations against bill cosby . The answer is yes, yes and yes. Even before the charges yesterday, some of whom said they would be prepared to testify, but didnt want to go public before that time. Since yesterday, ive had even gloria allred, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Another story were following, this historic flooding wreaking havoc in several states. The waters rising across missouri, illinois and other parts of the south, as officials monitor the levies in danger of breech ing breaching. Miguel almaguer has more. The river has risen to 30 feet above flood stage. There is good news. It appears this river crested a few hours ago. The bad news, there are several levies that are in jeopardy here, and the threat is far from over. Reporter this morning, the mississippi, the missouri and the marimack rivers are raging. Homes have washed away. Neighborhoods have been torn apart. At least 21 in the area are dead. A death toll many fear will rise with the water. And its a historic flood. Parts of i44 shut down. The coast guard and the National Guard have been dpe eployed. All hands on deck ready for rescue. Outside st. Louis, flood records have been shattered. In eureka, theyve never been hit this hard. Four feet high here, because im six feet tall. Reporter with hundreds of homes now islands, thousands more are in danger. Nearly two dozen levy risk. Power plants, water facile ity ies are down. Rising river cresting around valley park, where nearly 900 have been forced to pack up and get out. Its devastating to think about everything. Our own home going under with everything in it. Reporter with the Missouri River in st. Louis expecting to crest today, the flood stage sits at 30 feet. The water here expected to reach 13 feet above that. Theyre packing tens of cities big and small. The next 24 hours, critical, as the water rises. Any sense of comfort vanishes. I pray everything goes good and were safe. Overnight, another major freeway, i55, has also been shut down. Its never happened in this area before. The u. S. Army core of engineers is worried. The question now, will the riverbanks hold back all the water . Savannah and craig, back to you. Thank you. Believe it or not, we are hours away from the start of a new year, and people are getting ready to celebrate at home and around the world. Police are tightening security in the wake of recent terror attacks and foiled plots. Nbcs ron mott is a few blocks away in times square. Good morning to you, sir. Hey, craig, good morning to you. The big day, finally here. Officials in new york city say threats that might emerge tonight. Around the world, as you mentioned, even more severe security precautions go into place. One city is going so far as to cancel its new years eve celebration. Happy new year reporter this morning, americans are getting ready to ring in the new year. Law enforcement is preparing, too. On the lookout for any suspicious activity in cities throughout the country. In new york, police are deploying up to 6,000 officers in times square. Nearly 1 Million People will gather to watch the ball drop at midnight tonight. We strategically deploy our offices to areas where there will be large crowds. Reporter earlier this month, the nypd conducted a demonstration of its new Strategic Response group, a unit designed for Critical Incidents and major events like new years eve. In los angeles, officials are dpeer gearing up for tomorrows rose parade. Preparations are underway for their new years eve preparations. Officials say there is no credible terror threat. Major events are scheduled to go on as planned. Overseas, authorities are taking more extreme precautions. In paris, there will be no fireworks show. The city still reeling from novembers terror attack, is mobilizing 11,000 police and military officers, 2,000 more than last year. And belgium officials cancelled festivity ies over fear of a terror threat. Three, two, one, happy new year reporter at home, spirits remain high. Law enforcement, training for weeks, hoping to ensure that americans have a safe and happy start to 2016. Considering the high level of security that will be in place tonight, one nypd official said, new york city and times square safest place in the world today. Back to you. Thanks. New developments in the San Bernardino terror attack. A federal grand jury on wednesday indicted a friend of one of the shooters. Enrique marquez is accused of conspireing with farook to commit terror attacks in 2011 and 2012. Hes accused of making false statements when buying the guns used in the shootings. 14 people were killed when farook and his wife opened fire at the Conference Center december 2nd. The rain has stopped in missouri, but awful situation. The rain has been stopped for a couple days, but it takes a while for all of the water to work its way from the tributaries and the smaller rivers to fill into the mississippi. Weve had a lot of the flooding near st. Louis. Over the course of the next couple days, we are going to see this threat go farther to the south, once the water reaching see flooding through the ekend. There are 46 locations still seeing major flooding right now. Well see that threat through arkansas all weekend long. We do also have rain across the southeast. Weve had pockets of heavier rain thats produced flooding across the southeast. With this moisture streaming in from the gulf of mexico, northern florida could see flooding with the heavier downpours today and into tomorrow. Thats a look at the weather across the country. Your local our allnew beyond the Scale Program puts the focus the number on the scale. Lose weight while eating healthier, with all new smartpoints. And move more by including fitness in ways that work for you. See how good youll feel with the new Weight Watchers beyond the Scale Program 30s and who 40s in the city. Much along long eye lapped and the jersey shore. The clouds are breaking up. We should see sunshine. Bright sunny intervals, were hoping. That will allow temperatures back into the mid and upper 40s. 40 in times square, low 30s will be the temperature. Then its quiet for the new year. No weather of consequence. Gets pretty cold next week with highs in the 30s. Thats your latest forecast. Dylan, thank you. Coming up, the mother of the socalled affluenza teen, brought back to the u. S. Overnight as her son fights extradition from mexico. The decision that could drag out this case for weeks or months. Also ahead, a year in the life of the president through the lens of his official photographer. First, this is today on kids don t stay little forever. So help them get the opportunity they need. It s never too early or too late to save for college. You can open a ny 529 account with just 25. And you may get tax benefits if you pay income tax in new york state. Someday you ll look back and be glad you got started. Ny s 529 College Savings program. Were looking back at the best commer to the couple wondering what a good deal looks like. No. Seriously . Well give it a 6 for composition. Scary. Putting a fair, no haggle price on the window . Not zany enough . Sometimes the best deals are pretty plain to see. Feel a cold coming on . New zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45 . Shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam. Why let someone else have all the fun . The sometimes haphazard, never boring fun. The why cant it smell like this all the time fun. The learning the virtue of fun. Why let someone else have all the fun . Thats no fun. Unleash the power of dough. Good morning, im michael gargiulo. Tonights Largest Party is in times square. Kat, security is already tight. Reporter you know what, michael, usually we see people gathering here at 9 00 a. M. To secure a spot. The people in charge of the event think theyll get here earlier because the weather is so warm. Theyve been doing test runs of the countdown clock, the confetti and the ball. The nypd saying this will be one of the safest places on the planet. 6,000 officers will be in this immediate area to keep everyone safe. Michael, back to you. Kat, thank you very much. Morning commute, heres emily. Hey, michael. Good morning, everyone. Service restored on the l. I. R. R. Still find 60 minute recity sid dual delays from the earlier possible spot. The garden state parkway, a crash there causing problems. Also delays on the cross west route 22. The new england through way, a disabled tractortrailer in the right lane, michael. Emily, thank you very much. Well be right back with chriss forecast. Pretty nice finish to the old year. Weve got clouds that will break up for sunshine. Turns breezy. High temperature 48 degrees. Again, the northwest wind will kick up a little bit more tonight. 35 the overnight low. It turns partly cloudy. Midnight should be 40 or so with the wind chills in the low 30s. Weekend. Its dry. In fact, storm free into the middle of next week. Just a quick shot of air. Highs in the 30s monday and tuesday. Coming up on the today show, etiquette tips on how to deal with the personalities youll encounter. Other updates in a half hour. 7 30 now, thursday morning, the last day of 2015. Goodbye, 2015. Cant believe it. Theres times square getting ready, all dolled up. One Million People will come to ring in the new year later tonight. Back in studio 1a, lets look at some of the news thats happening right now. Bill cosbys free on a 1 million bond following his arrest on a sex assault charge in pennsylvania. It involves a former Temple University employee who cosby invited to his home in 2004. Attorney told savannah that shes confident her client will be exonerated. The midwest dealing with historic flooding today. The mississippi is expected to flood in st. Louis. Later today, itll be 13 feet above flood stage. Heavy turbulence is blamed for injuries to 21 passengers on an air canada flight. It was going from toronto to shanghai. It made an emergency landing. The mother of socalled affluenza teen ethan couch is back in the u. S. She was flown from mexico to the u. S. Overnight where she was handed over to u. S. Marshals. Her son won a temporary delay in his extradition. The latest. Good morning. There were a lot of fast moving developments overnight. Ethan couchs mother is expected back here in texas to face a judge at some point. The question is when. Her son is still in mexico. For how long . Reporter this morning, tonya couch, the mother of the back in the u. S. Deported from mexico, she arrived in los angeles overnight. People want to know, what were you thinking . Reporter prosecutors in texas planning to charge her with hindering an arrest for allegedly helping her son run from authorities. A felony that could put her behind bars for up to ten years if shes convicted. Meanwhile, ethan couch was rushed from this immigration facility to mexico city. Earlier, his fully retained mexican authorities filed paperwork to block his deportation. Now, a judge must decide. Its on their time schedule. Weve seen these happen as quickly as two weeks to two months. It depends on the court system down there. Reporter jason mills is an export in deportation law. Does this indicate that ethan couch wants to stay in mexico for the long haul . I think it does. Or at least ethan wants to stay anywhere besides the united states. Apartment in Puerto Vallarta is where the couches were found. The pair didnt register when they crossed into the country in this pickup truck. A cell phone call they made to Dominos Pizza helped investigators pinpoint their location. Couch had been on the run since failing to check in with his probation officer. The 18yearold killed four people when he drove drunk. The prosecution argued he flew up grew up too after affluent and didnt know right from wrong. The pair flew a Going Away Party before they went missing. In his first Public Comments since the appearance, couchs father released a statement through the attorney saying, hes fully cooperating with the investigation. Investigators dont believe he thank you very much. Lets get a check of the weather for dylan in for al. Again, another unseasonably warm day is coming to an end. Its not going to be too cold, itll be regular. For january. Exactly. So much above average up and down the east coast, that weve been getting used to the warmer temperatures. Itll feel like a shock to the system once we get to the colder air. Through today, the last day of the year, new york city will still be above average with a temperature of 48 degrees. Roanoke, 54. Charleston, 16 degrees above average, high of 75 degrees. Through the weekend, well get back into the 30s up in cleveland. Raleigh will sink to the lower 50s by the time we get to saturday. New york will be in the low to mid 40s, which is more typical for this time of year, if not a touch above average. Atlanta will sink to the mid 50s, too. Even florida, were looking at 50s. As yes plan for the day today, theres not a lot going on. Well see lakeeffect snow around the great lakes. For tonight for the new years at mostly clearly skies. On new years day, showers along the gulf coast, but most of the country looking thanks very much. Clouds breaking up for sunshine. Gusty breeze out of the northwest will get going. Temperatures really not going very much from where they are. Mid and upper 40s, thats it. Tonight upper 30s to near 40 in times square. Tomorrow the new year brings in quiet temperatures. Seven day forecast shows the first several days of the new year quiet, storm free. Highs in the 30s come monday and tuesday. Thats your latest forecast. Thank you. Whats the deal with that . President obama was trading some one liners with Jerry Seinfeld. They made us laugh, made us cry, the top commercials of 2015. Welcome. We have three chevys here. Award on the podium next to the vehicle that you think was ranked highest in initial quality by j. D. Power. Hmm. Can i look around at them . Sure. Highest ranking in initial quality. Its gotta be this one. This is it. You are wrong. Really . Actually its all three. You tricked me. J. D. Power ranked the chevy malibu, silverado halfton and equinox highest in initial quality in their segments. Thats impressive im very surprised i am. Im very surprised. Chevy hit three home runs. [ julie ] the wrinkle cream graveyard. If it doesnt work fast. Youre on to the next thing. Clinically proven neutrogena rapid wrinkle repair. It targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. In just one week. One week . This ones a keeper. Rapid wrinkle repair. And for dark spots rapid tone repair. From neutrogena. After trying brookside crunchy clusters, carlybeyar tweeted at this point, i should just be a brookside chocolate ambassador. Well, i am sorry, carly. It s something you earn. Brookside. Talk about delicious. I recommend nature made vitamins. Because i trust their quality. They were the first to have a vitamin verified by usp. An independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards. Nature made. The number one pharmacist recommended [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] for tim and richard smucker, giving a gift of their familys delicious jam always made the holidays just a little bit sweeter. We forgot to put our names on them richard, i think theyll know who its from. Thank you boys. Youre welcome. Youre welcome. [ male announcer ] happy holidays from our family to yours. I love christmas it takes a lot of work. To run this business. But i really love it. Im on the move all day long. And sometimes, i just dont eat the way i should. So i drink boost to get the nutrition that im missing. Boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin to help maintain muscle. All with a great taste. I dont plan on slowing down any time soon. Look for savings on boost in your sunday paper. Jane didn t like restrictions. Not in life. And not when it came to watching her calories. Why settle on taste . Jane thought. That s why jane loves light fit greek nonfat yogurt. Creamy awesomeness and 12 grams of protein. No settling here. What else does jane love . That you could win a fitbit flex from light fit. Learn more on specially marked packs. Light fit. Feel free to enjoy. We are back at 7 40 with the best commercials of 2015. The digital age made it harder on advertisers to get our attention, but the right spot can keep you from reaching for the remote or looking for the skip button online. Barbara is an editor at media post pnts post. Com. We all hate the online ads. We want to swat it away. Look what geico did. I think they got it right. Dont thank me. Thank the savings. You cant skip this geico ad because its already over. Geico, 15 minutes could save you then the dog, its this corny old ad. You cant believe it. The geico label is there the whole time. Then the dog rampages over the table and eats everything. It could go on for three minutes. Instead of begging you to watch it, its they move their eyes a tiny bit. The people are frozen. This next one from amazon tugs at the heart strings. It was a twist. Look at this one here. Little man when you stand by my side then i know i dont have to hide from anyone then you have this miniature horse thats going to come through the doggy dog, right yeah, just poking through the door. The point is, you can order anything overnight on your mobile phone. They use the little man music, and its little horse movement, little house movement. Theres like this rue dolph scenario. Humor words in ads. As it does in the next one. I remember this from the soup bowl. Super bowl. What happened . Peter hit me in the nose. Im sure it was an accident. Eye for an eye. Its what dad always said. I never said that, honey. Shut up marsha, eat a snickers. This has been a formula for snickers five years. No one expected these two. Theyre acting like marsha and jan. They always redid the mouth of the mother and father to say those things. Marsha, marsha, marsha. This next one played at the emmys for apple music. It was a modern day take on the mix tape. You have a boyfriend that makes you a mix tape in your laptop. Watch whats next. This is incredible. Come on one of the things i liked about this ad is you got to think that this is something that could actually happen with these three women. Yes. They had such chemistry. Thats a party you want to be at. 90 cooler than most ads just because of the star power, but its relatable. When women get together to watch the emmys, it stole the show because it was interesting. It was another story. People wanted to go there. If they ever get together, id like to be invited. There are two more parts of the commercial. They try to cook dinner, try to eat it. Coming up, a change coming to the menu at chickfila and while customers are not happy about it. Big news is faster than verizon and at t. Based on data from the worlds foremost authority on independent measurement. To celebrate, were gonna cut some prices in half. Switch to sprint and save 50 on verizon, at t or tmobile rates. No gimmicks. No tricks. Its the biggest offer in u. S. Wireless history what about verizon . 50 off. At t too . 50 off. Even tmobile . 50 off. Plus, well even pay your switching fees, up to 650 per line. So switch today. [elf] heres one of our best elves, hard at work. [kid] whats back there . [santa] touchdown. Come on. [elf] santa, the davidsons are here to see our workshop. [santa] oh. Well. Hello uh, this is my sleigh its how i deliver all the presents by myself [team member] santa, you got anything else going to albany . [santa] by myself [santa] muffled noises [vo] ship with fedex ground at fedex office. We are in the age of ageless. Age neutral. Age defiant. Age agnostic. Olay is a purveyor of ageless. Only the best 1 of ingredients make it into our products. For transformed skin without expensive brands or procedures. Its the ultimate beauty victory. Nobody has any idea how old you are. With olay, you age less. So you can be ageless. Olay. Ageless. Did you say 97 . You know, that 97 Customer Satisfaction rating. 97 . Helped by geicos fast and friendly claims service. Huh. Geicos as fast and friendly as it gets. Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. Were back. 7 48. Sheinelle is in the orange room for carson. You have the president s year in photos sbl s photos. White house photographer turns out two Million Words a day, if a picture is worth a thousand words. Heres nbcs ron allen. Reporter they are unique behind the scenes, closeup images of a president. Serious matters inside the white house. A first daughter drops by the oefl office oval office to see her dad. The president with a moms twin sons. The first lady wiping a tear. Nbc news lot an exclusive first look. I probably take between 500 and 2,000 a day. Probably about 250,000 a year, somewhere in that over seven years . Over seven years. Were talking a lot of pictures. Reporter part of his mission, to document history. President obama and the first family greeting pope francis. A handshake with cubas castro. A big smile after the iran nuclear deal. Mr. President there for Vice President biden at his sons funeral. He is the president of the united states, but hes also a human being. I try to show his personality as theres obviously a lot of pictures with little kids in my year end gallery. He loves babies. Reporter thats Deputy National security adviser ben rhodes daughter ella before the party. Have you ever seen a president lying on the floor with a baby in an elephant suit . Definitely not. Reporter the obama administrations wide open policy door for staff children. A lot of them are children of working moms, and he knows what a sacrifice they make, in terms of being at work a lot. Reporter this gallery has 111 pictures. Whats his favorite . Itll hopefully be the one i make later today or tomorrow. Thats what keeps you going. Youre trying to get a good picture tomorrow. Reporter ron allen, nbc news, with the president in honolulu. 2,000 pictures a day. Giving a behind the scenes look of the white house all year. One of the most favorited the president with a baby in a mini pope mobile. The number one picture of the year, the president with ella in the white house. Year in photos at today. Com. 2,000 photos a day. Amazing. What a fantastic job. Its amazing. Hes so be professional. He comes in, takes the picture and is out. Can you imagine the stories he has to tell, not that hed tell them. Hes seen it all. Thank you, sheinelle. Everything you need to know about tonights celebration. Mr. Manners will help us dodge those embarrassing situations. I thought you were talking about these two. Carson and and i sure had a lot on my mind when i got out of the hospital after a dvt blood clot. What about my family . My lil buddy . In the hospital but i wondered if this was the right treatment for me. Then my doctor told me about eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Pnot only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots, t but eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding v than the standard treatment. Knowing eliquis had both. Turned around my thinking. Pdont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Peliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Pdont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Pif you had a spinal injection while on eliquis pcall your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. Pwhile taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. Pand it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Pseek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Peliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Ptell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. V eliquis treats dvt pe blood clots. V plus had less major bleeding. Both made switching to eliquis right for me. Ask your doctor if its after trying brookside chocolate, people talk about it online. Love at first taste. I would liquefy it and bathe in it. Curse you, brookside your nefarious plans have succeeded. Nefarious . Are we still talking about chocolate . Brookside. Quilted northern works so well people can forget their bathroom experience. Just like they forgot conductor randy, who sees all and forgets nothing. At least hes not constable bob. I dont have like a pair of jeans im trying to get into; ive been down that road honey child. And i dont have like a dress or some big red carpet im really just looking at 2016, as the year of my best body; thats what i want for you too. Lets let 2016 be the year of our best bodies. To the woman in the mid90s showstopper. Youre right. Its time to set this bird free. Hot blooded, check it and see. Got a fever of 103. Feelin hungry . How bout a donut . Im hot blooded. Im hot blooded whether its 30years old or 30days old, carmax will appraise it in as little as 30 minutes. And then your only concern will be how to spend the cash. Live. This is news 4 new york now. Grand Central Parkway by the l. I. E. 7 56 on thursday, december 31st. Good morning, im michael gargiulo. The death of a College Student who fell nine stories from a mid his identity has not been released. We know he was a 20yearold from rockaway. A College Student. That fall happened as he climbed the Four Seasons Hotel. He was trying to take a picture when he lost his footing. Nypd searching for four suspects who posed as Police Officers during a car jacking in the bronx. The four men pulled up behind their victims vehicle at morris avenue east 182nd street. All four had badges and appeared to have protective vests on as well. They ordered those victims out of their mini van and then they took off with it. Right now take a look at the morning commute. Heres emily west with that. Hey, emily. Hey, michael. All right. Were going to check the weather for it. The clouds a little bit off. The high of 48 degrees. Tonight clear, breezy, chilly to ring in the new year. Right around freezing tomorrow. 43 is the high. Partly sunny and blustery. Saturday, partly cloudy, seasonably cold, high of 42. Sunday, partly cloudy and chilly. We will check in with emily and see whats happening. Hey, emily. Hey, michael. We have 60 minute delays on the bridge. It has been restored, garden state parkway. 109. The ramp is blocked on 78 on the garden state parkway. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody its 8 00 on today. Coming up, your onestop shot to bring in 2016. A preview of the crowd in times square. Well kick off a preview with hosts carson and andy cohen. Today, thursday, december 31st, 2015. Happy new year happy new year from the today show. Were having twins from mississippi, happy new year. May your new years sparkle and shine. Bring it on, 2016. Happy new year. Welcome back to today. Good morning, everyone. It is december 31st, 2015. In sydney, australia, it is 2016 already. Thats a live picture. They know how to ring in the new year. Happy new year to the plaza, as well. Large crowd. We are not far behind sydney. Well celebrate the new year in a few hours from now. Thanks for having you with us. We have craig in for matt. Dylan in for al. Sheinelle in for carson. Why am i working today . You got the short straw. Cosby says her client has been unjustly accused in a game of political football. Cosby is free on 1 million bail after being charged with aggravated indecent assault. Stephanie gosk has more. Good morning. Good morning, natalie. Im outside of bill cosbys home, the scene of the alleged crime from over a decade ago. The prosecutor in the case was racing against the clock to beat an expiring statute of limitations. He says, in part, this case was reopened because of cosbys own words from a 2005 deposition. That led to the stunning announcement. Now, cosbys legal team suggests that it was motivated, the decision in part, by local politic politics, and the d. A. Used this case as political football in a recent election. Cosbys defense attorney spoke with savannah this morning. She was asked if her client would consider a plea deal. My client is not guilty, and there will be no consideration on our part of any sort of arrangement. Cosbys defense team has denied these allegations from the very beginning. In recent weeks, theyve filed nine defamation lawsuits against the accusers. Cosby is expected back in the courtroom on january 14th. If hes found guilty on these charges, natalie, he faces up to ten years in prison. Stephanie, thanks. The mother of the socalled affluenza teen, ethan couch, is back in the u. S. After she was deported from mexico. Tonya couch arrived in los angeles early this morning on her way back to texas, where prosecutors plan to charge her with hingering an arrest. Her son is still in mexico after a judge blocked his deportation. Hes been held in mexico city. Today, the Mississippi River is expected to crest in st. Louis, 13 feet above flood stage. In valley park, missouri, some hundreds of homes are flooded. Thousands more are threatened. The flooding is blamed for more than 20 deaths. In the president ial race, jeb bush is shaking up his campaign with a few weeks to go before the first votes are cast. Hallie jackson is in hilton head, south carolina. Good morning. Good morning, natalie. Jeb bush says his new years resolution is winning. To have a shot at that, his Campaign Says theyre changing up their strategy. In a sudden move, pulling money off the airwaves in iowa and south carolina. Reporter jeb bush, now insisting his latest move is not a desperate one. Because its not. Having the best organization on the ground is how you win. Reporter its why bush says hes shifting staffers out of his miami headquarters to key early states, like new hampshire, where hes betting it all, and cancelling 3 million worth of tv ads. Struggling to find its footing, slowly sliding since the summer when bush led the gop race. Even president ial star power support from his father and brother hasnt lifted him out of Single Digits in recent national polls. Im tough, and im tough. Reporter call it the donald trump effect. In a new interview this morning, bush is calling trump a creature of barack obama. But for barack obama, Donald Trumps effect would not be nearly as strong as it is. Were living in a divided country right now, and we need political leaders rather than continuing to divide us, as both president obama and donald trump do, to unite us. Reporter trump, sounding frustrated with bushs attack. I shouldnt even talk about him. Hes down to two or three. It bothers me, when i see a guy spending 60 million on ads against me, a lot of it. Reporter suggesting a new move for his republican rival in the new year. Doesnt he have Something Better . He should go home, relax. As we look ahead to the start of 2016, on this new years eve, a deadline for candidates, how much money theyve raised over the last three months. Overnight, ben carsons campaign pulled in about 23 million, more than last quarter. And a bit more than ted cruz, who is coming in at nearly 20 million. A Cruz Campaign aid telling me, theyre releasing the figure to show what they call cruzs strength heading into the iowa caucus a month away. A lot of money all around. Thank you. If you thought baseball fans in the u. S. Went all out to catch home runs and fly balls, take a look at this. This happened at a cricket match in australia. A ball was hit into the stands, and one fan throws caution to the wind as he lungs and catches it upside down. The women he landed on though, as our friend len would say, nobody got hurt. Right, guys . I hope one of the women wasnt his girlfriend or wife. Those balls hurt, too. Yeah. Theyre like lead. Didnt know that about cricket balls. Thank you. The more you know. Its new years eve, and we, of course, know all about that. Sometimes you have a party and there will be difficult personalities. Awkwardness. We called in mr. Manners himself. Hes here to help us politely mix and mingle as we ring in the new year. Always good to see you. Good morning, everyone. This is one of my favorite games. I know. Well role play. Youll talk about the different personalities you might encounter and how to deal with them. Youre starting with her friend slubby sam. Heres the thing, on new years eve, we have the opportunity to be our best selves. Perhaps, some of us, if were lucky, are going to multiple parties. Impression at each one. If your Party Wardrobe is a polo and khakis, maybe throw on a jacket, tie. Sequence. Thats right, exactly. Step it up. Even if im dressed to the nines and i show up, i certainly dont want to be wallflower walter. Who is that . He doesnt mingle, doesnt speak with anybody, a little shy, hangs around the host, the only person youll know. Theres a chance youll be at a lot of parties you dont know people. What are good conversation starters . What are your new years resolutions . What was your favorite moment of 2015 . Favorite movie of 2015. Easy starters. You make it easy. Im always like, whats going on . Hey. Whats up . How was your last physical . Okay. I am unannounced ursula. Not only do i come to the party, i may bring my friends. We dont want to do that. Before the new years parties begin. Get in your r svps now. Its a little late but better than minutes before the party. If youre the host, the more the merrier. Dont show the angry face when somebody shows up with unannounced guests. But dont be that person. That brings them. Im kissed on the lips kendra. Im afraid of this person. What do i do . It was not typecasting, natalie. Thank god. At midnight, you want to keep it playful but not passionate, unless this is someone youre involved with or theres been obvious chemistry throughout the night. The midnight kiss, the girl that comes along and is like, lets mooch. Kissing everyone. Exactly. Youll get a reputation going into 2016 you probably dont want. It would seem like kiss on the lips kendra and guzzling gabby are the same person. I thought we werent how do you stop me . Youre going to keep the campaign glass in the left hand, keeping the right hand free for handshakes. Grab it by the shem tem, not the bowl. If you hold it by the bowl, itll warm it up quicker. You also get the clink. I heard you werent supposed to clink, you were supposed to approach. Like approach, not clink. How do you feel about that . Drinking champagne, wine, is all about engaging every sense, which is why you smell the wine when you drink it. The clinking is part of engaging the senses. We always learn something when youre here, thomas. Lets clink. You need champagne. Make eye contact when you clink. Exactly. Happy new year. Happy new year. When we come back, how to get out of any awkward worlds colliding. Jerry seinfeld goes one on one with the president. Two guys ready to help you count down to the new year. Carson and andy cohen, filling us in on what they have for nbc look, i know youre a cow and all. And you may not know what im talking about, but, uh. The yogurt made from your milk, is delicious. When youve got a house full of guests on the way and a cold with sinus pressure, you need fast relief. Alkaseltzer plus severe sinus congestion and cough liquid gels rush relief to your tough symptoms. To put you back in control. [doorbell] woman coming alkaseltzer plus sinus. [music] no, no, no, no, people are both soft and strong. Yey which is why our products are too. Fact. Advil pain relievers are used by more households than any other leading brand. To treat their aches and pains more people reach for advil. Relief doesnt get any better than this. How else do you think he gets around so fast . Take the reins this holiday and get the mercedesbenz youve always wanted during the winter event. Hurry, offers end january 4th were back. 8 14. Time for whats trepiding today ingtrending today. The last trending of 2015. Well trend next year. We will. Were not stopping. Have you heard this disturbing story . I love their coleslaw. Youre not the only one. They were swapping it out for something more healthy. Salad and things like this. A lot of people are upset. Chickfila has given the makeup gift for the change. Ill show it to you. What you are about to see is chickfilas 70yearold secret coleslaw recipe. Wow theyre giving it away . They said because this recipe holds a special place in our hearts and history, were excited to give it to you to enjoy at home. The coleslaw is going to be off the menu as of january 11th. Theyre going to replace it with healthy options. Yeah. Broccoli, salad. I dont understand it. If people love it, leave it on. If people dont order it, its their business. Dont remove it completely. Let the people decide. Its paying for itself. Now, you can get the recipe. The coleslaw may come back. It may. Is that your prediction for 2016 . Like the mcrib. Never completely goes away. Its on demand. A lot of folks upset with old navy over shirts they designed for toddlers. Check these out. Old navy selling these shirts that said, aspiring young artist. As you can see, the word artist is crossed out and replaced with astronaut and, you know, president. People, naturally, took their outrage to twitter. Have you seen this . Old navy clearly ignorant to the value of Young Artists in our world. You lost me, old navy. Another made a comment about who likely designed the shirt. Old navy doesnt employ artists. Oh, wait, they do. Old navy said, we take our responsibility to customers seriously. We would never intentionally offend anyone, and we are sorry if that has been the case. This particular tee, weve decided to discontinue the design and well work to remove i can see why people were irritated. They maybe thought it was funny but they were ditching artists. President obama could wear it. He did not become an artist. Way to find the silver lining, dylan. Rebecca of sunny brook farms over here. Weve all experienced an awkward moment. Pretty much every day on this show. Were told when a situation violates the social norms, of course, we dont know how to react, so its basically awkward because we make it awkward. So we have tips. Were here for you. This is good. How to recognize and manage a case of awkwardness. One, reck ognize that has happening is normal and everybody experiences it. Two, call it out. Acknowledge the weirdness. Mode. Dont run away, is take three. That would be even more awkward. Like, bye. Most importantly, be kind. You can always bring up mutual topic. Situations are awkward, and sometimes running away is justified. In an elevator, there was a woman not pregnant, and i oh, no rule number one. You know what . It was a long time ago. Never ask if someone is pregnant. I got off on a floor not mine. Unless it was the maternity floor, you do not ask. Nobody is pregnant here. I know. Craig may be a little pregnant. Now to Jerry Seinfeld and the president , and taylor swifts tease. I love this. Jerry seinfelds web series kicked off last night and featured a special guest, president barack obama. Take a look. Dont you think every american child is a president , and a grow up loving the president . I do well with the 0 to 8 they love me. Partly, they think my ears are big, and i look a little like a cartoon character. Right. Can you adjust the temperature in here . Have you touch add thermostat . No, i make a call. If i slid open your underwear drawer, one brand or a number of brands . You have to go with one brand. One brand, one color . Of course. This is a critical concept. More work you dont need. You have to go off at some point with food. Whats your thing . Nachos. Its one of those where i have to have it taken away. Ill have the guacamole coming out of my eyeballs. What sport is politics . Is it chess . Is it liars poker . Probably most like football. You have to punt a lot. But every once in a while, youll see a hole, and then theres open field. I love it. I cant wait to see the whole thing. Jerry seinfeld tweeted about the me, the most powerful man in the world. Results 19 minutes of nonsense. Said as only jerry can. The sequel to finding nemo is set to come out in june. The first look at two new characters. Bailee the bailey the whale. Voiced by ty burrel. Finally, 2015 has been a good year for taylor swift. The singer released her fifth album, 1989, and went on a world tour. Taylor isnt done yet. She tweeted a screen grab, teasing her new video for out of the woods. The singer appears to be covered in dirt as she looks into the camera with a fierce gaze. The video will premiere tonight. Looks like something out of the hung er hunger games. She perfected the fierce gaze. Ill perfect mine in 2016. Mine is awkward. Very cute. Lets run indicate. I dont think youre capable of fear. Temperatures in the mid 40s right now. 46 the story. Sheepshead and city island all at 46. North and west mid and upper 30s. Long island mid 30s. A lot of cloud cover but breaks in the clouds for a change. Intervals an of sun mixed into the picture. High in the upper 40s. 30s tonight. 43 tomorrow. 42 saturday. Mid 40s sunday. A sharply colder air mass monday tuesday in the 30s. Thats your latest forecast. Savannah and craig . Thank you so much. Times square is one of the Top Destinations in the world to ring in the new year. If you cant be there in person, you can count on carson to bring the festivities to you. In about a minute, youre going to get the baptism of a another chance to get it right. 20 seconds wheres my wife . Feels good. Four, three, two, one happy new year very impressive. Were singing. Happy new year, everybody. Im here with my man, carson, taking over. Oh, my gosh. Man b to, oobs. Look who is with carson. Andy cohen. Im taking my shirt off at midnight. And your pants, you promised. Both. This is a broadcast network. Keep it family. Right. You have a special edition of hollywood game night. Its live. Is that a good idea . Thats a good question, craig. Live with celebrities playing games on new years eve . With alcohol, yes, its a fantastic idea. Andy doesnt do anything not live. Its true. I can appreciate that. Then i cant get in trouble if something goes wrong. We have you on a 15second delay. As always. Last year, i turned away when the shirt started coming off. Yes. You look like you may have been the only sober person there on the stage. Ive been doing this almost 20 years in times square, and its really changed throughout the years. I used to get up and it was a serious broadcasting night, you give the information. Over the years, that has given away to really just doing what everybody else at home is doing, and thats having fun. We have andy, great friends that are really funny. We have great music. Gwen stefani. More importantly, we have the right crew. Were going to be drinking and looking back on the year. Well have a party in times square. Whats your drink s makers gingera ale. Thats mine. If you want Makers Market anything in times square, every who are your celebrities for game night . We have a bunch. John stamos, bob saget, whitney cummings. Bob saget live . I hope you have a delay. Serious delay, yeah. What are the resolutions this year, 2016 . For me, its to try and drink and eat a little more. I go the other way. Im a busy man. More cardio. Work on my friendship with carson. It seems like its solid. Its rock solid. Its been fast. What else can you tell us about tonight . What else do you want to know . Itll be great. Game night for an hour, and thats live. Itll be a disaster. Lets be honest. Yeah. Then were walking to you. Hes like, no, we have to do it live. Then were walking over to you. Theyll come to me. A live walk . To you. Thats the only way to get to you, allegedly. Yes, well cover the walk with make your way to me, sit by a fake fire, drink real alcohol and itll be like donald trump, no. All these witty, cool, funny people will go off. Folks are already starting to packpee . Where are you . Should i have to go at 30 rock before i go . Youre going now. Go right now, before you leave. I dont know whats going to happen. Oh, my gosh. Dont mix anything. Its more. Oh, my gosh. Carson daly, andy cohen, looking forward to tonight. Thanks, guys. Happy new year. So excited. Love you guys. Drink lots of water. 10 00 9 00 central with nbcs new years eve game night with andy cohen. Andy walks to carson in times square to bring in 2016. You have to get out of here. Thats true. Im going on vacation. Peace out. Literally. Yes, they said to go. You have everything . Yeah, sort of. Dont forget to take your mike off. Were not done yet. Coming up, lastminute recipes to make your party pop as you watch andy and carson tonight. Do you have popcorn . Bye, everybody. Happy new live the George Washington bridge. 8 26 right now on this thursday december 31st. Im michael gargiulo. Right now security tight for tonights celebrations in times square. At the ball, the clock, theyve been tested and ready to go. The area is already closed to traffic. There will be 6,000 officers on the ground in times square. 14 innocences and everyone gets screened twice. No one allowed to leave and come back in. If you cant make it, ring in the new year right here on nbc 4 new years eve with carson daly at 11 30 p. M. Heres emily with the morning commute. The good morning, still have 40 minute delays lirr on the port jeff and ronkonkoma. Uptown train delays. Right around hoyt avenue. Also delays in westchester county. A couple accidents at the cross county and saw mill atton kers. One crash there. Lets check the weather. Up to 4 tonight. Clear, breezy to ring in the new year. Midday about 40. The windchill will make it feel freezing. Tomorrow well start 2016 off 43 degrees. Coming up the today show, bob harper stops by to talk about kids don t stay little forever. So help them get the opportunity they need. It s never too early or too late to save for college. You can open a ny 529 account with just 25. And you may get tax benefits if you pay income tax in new york state. Someday you ll look back and be glad you got started. Ny s 529 College Savings program. Welcome back. Its a thursday morning, the 31st of december, 2015, the last day of the year. We have a huge crowd here on the plaza. Getting a jump start on their new years celebration. Hello, folks. Who is going to see the ball drop tonight . A loud crowd. They have to save the voice to ring in 2016. Some folks dont care about their folks. Good looking crowd. As we mentioned, savannah really did have to leave early. She was going on vacation. Had to get out of here. Hopefully, shell make it to the airport. A procrastinate ors guide to throw a party at home. Easy things you can do. Mindy kalings project for 2016, read a book. Shell walk you through her favorites. Bob harper is here to fill us in on a twist coming to his show, and tips to get the year off to a good start. First, get a check of the weather from dylan. Times square, it is going to be nice in the northeast. Temperatures near 50 degrees today. Across the southeast, well see storms, especially through southern georgia. Temperatures are cool through the northern plains. Tonight at midnight, temperatures still in the 40s in new york city. Were in the teens and 20s through the upper midwest. Temperatures only in the upper 20s for areas like seattle. 32 in oregon. On new years day, the first day of 2016, little showery along the gulf coast, but the northeast in the 40s. It is a little chilly but s thanks very much. Clouds breaking up for sun at times. Temperatures leveling off in the upper 40s. A chilly night tonight. Clear to partly sky. Low to mid 30s around the city. Around 40 midnight. Tomorrow look for sunshine and clouds. Sevenday forecast, it stays dry, and chilly saturday and sunday low to mid 40s. Back to the 40s by wednesday. Thats your latest forecast. Dylan, thank you. Whats a new Years Eve Party without kathie lee and hoda, especially when new years eve is on a thirsty thursday. Theyre kicking off the celebrations on nbc with a toast to 2015. Its the ultimate look at the buzziest stories and events of the year. They invited their celebrity friends to the party. 2016, nonresolution, i am not willing to drink less. One thing i wont be doing in 2016 is diving further into technology. Im going to try to keep it simple this year, and just be in the moment. I will not be giving up cheese. I know that for certain. To not look back at this past year. Instead, i look forward to the future. Next year, i will not be wearing culottes. I wont be getting an iphone. No, i might. Im not going to wear culottes. Im not weaning myself off social media and im not weaning myself off my phone. I will not stop eating chunky Peanut Butter out of the jar in the middle of the night. I will not start dressing like a proper gentleman. Fantastic. Its going to be a fun night. What are you not going to be doing next year . I am not going to be looking back. Im going to seize the day. I love the energy. I enjoyed it so much, i wanted you to say it again. Youre passionate about that. Getting on my case. Once again, the twohour special, a toast to 2015, airs tonight at 8 00 7 00 central, on nbc. Up next, were watching up with mindy kaling. Shell reveal her list of mustread books. Today is brought to you by mercedesbenz mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Back now at 8 36 with help for a new years resolution that might be on our list. Reading more in 2016. Actress and author mindy kaling took us to skylight books in los angeles and shared some of her faf rit Favorite Books with us. This book, i love. Its called inside chefs at europe. It has amazing photographs, great recipes, and simple recipe recipes. You also see these beautiful pictures. Man, that guys fridge is awesome. If my fridge looked like this, i would be stoked. Look at the fruit. My fridge has never seen fruit. Here are two of my Favorite Books. One is a classic, Bridget Jones the greatest book of all time. The other is called the love affairs of nathaniel p. Its realistic and kind of cringeworthy, in how well detailed it is. I think they actually make a good pair of books to give to somebody. This is a great book. This is the best american mystery stories. It was edited by one of my favorite mystery authors. Sometimes a big book seems like a big assignment. With these, read one before you go to sleep, then have terrible nightmares and want to read another one the next day. We should all be feminists, a famous essay sampled in the beyonce song flawless. Believes in the social, political and economic equality. Shes the writer where when i wish i said that. Thats my opinion instantly. I think a lot of people feel reluctant to say theyre feminists which, to me, is a pity. I think if you read this, more people would be like, yeah, im a human. Im a feminist. You wouldnt be scared of the term. Huh, why not be by mindy kaling. In the humor section. I dont know. I think it should be in the classic section. Im going to buy it. This was this was my Favorite Book as a kid, harriett the spy. I, too, kind of look like a little boy with the round face and glasses. Its not a book about her being cute or fashionable or starting a makeup company. Its about her being smart and using her brain, which i love. My dad used to read this book to me when i was growing up, and hed read one chapter a night. To the most. Thank you. Well, i hope you like my picks. I just bought a bag full of more books to read. Yeah, thats it. I think theyre good. I think youre going to like them. Nice, i love it. Huge thanks to mindy. You should add her latest book why not me to your list. Great book. Really good. We also have mindys picks on our website, today. Com. We they asked us to come up with our Favorite Book. I love organ r phan train. Its about two generations of women who were orphans, but completely different decades, but how they come together and finding family and survival. How about you . I shook it up. The question was the highlight or the books that marked your 2015. Heres the deal when you have three kids, these two books we read every single night. I kept it real with you. Pete the cat at the end, he says, i have different shoes. Do you cry . Goodness no. I say to my kids, do you cry . Goodness no every pete the kid, i sing the song. I love my white shoes absolutely. Mine is the third book of the ken follett trilogy series. Its the first one happens around world war i. The second is around world war ii. This happens around vietnam era. All of these lives intertwine. Its so good. I did travel with this one. Yours . Its if the the the world and me. It is absolutely fantastic. Beautifully written. Lets do an exchange. The weekends. Its a letter he wrote to his 15yearold son in the wake of what weve seen in this country over the past year. The violence weve seen. Anyway, its a fascinating read. Cheers, guys. Thank you. We should do a book club more often. We should. Up next, bob harper has the skinny on beginning the new year in a healthy way. Tips, as well. You cant see both at the same time. Your trihonda dealers remind you to put down your device and drive safely. Back now at 8 44. Nbcs the biggest loser returns monday night. The theme of the season, temptation. There will be new twists to keep the challenges fresh. Weve changed the house. Whoa. Weve changed that gym. Oh. Weve even changed me. Really . Just training you, im your new host. Yay the crowd goes wild. Bob harper is here with us on this new years eve. They were excited. Youve been with the show from the beginning. From training and, as you mentioned, the host. How has it been . Really exciting this year. Season one. Being the host of the show, i really wanted to bring my passion, my flavor into this show, and it was a lot of work and a lot of fun. Temptation is the theme this year. Thats right. We are facing every single temptation you would face in the real world. Money, food, luxury, time restraints, which im sure you know. You have a busy schedule. How do you respond to one of the criticisms of the show, that it is too extreme . I would just say that our show is meant to wake you up and to inspire you. Of course, its extreme. Were doing a reality show. People get something from our audience, from our contestants, and thats what we want. We want you to be inspired. Get up off the sofa and move around a little bit. You are not a fan of folks who make the new years resolutions to lose weight. I hate new years resolutions because no one ever it never lasts. It sets people up for failure. Its like, theyre going, its january 1st, im going to change everything. Ill go to the gym every day. The gyms will be packed. After a couple weeks, all those people will go ack to their old ways. I want you to focus on 30 days. Dont think not 365 . Give me 30 days. 30 days of what . I would say, cut out all sugary drinks. That means when you go to the soft fee coffee shops, dont get the frozen mocha lattes, whatever they are, energy drinks, stay away from sugary drinks. For 30 days. What else . I think whats going to because you have all the crap out of your body. And youre going to be more likely to sustain that because youre going to reap the benefits. What about exercise . Im a big cross fitter. I do it all the time. I know. I recommend it all the time. I tell people, for this month, find some sort of exercise program that you would like to do. Cross fit, soul cycle, whatever the case may be, three times a week. Group exercise . It brings you with like minded people. Its like, youre more likely to keep going with it because youre going to make friends, youre going to be with people doing the same thing. Misery loves company. One of the things i found is it helps with the accountability, when you have somebody on the bike next to you, where were you today . I didnt see you. Exactly. Thats a good benefit. And you also say folks should consider changing their diet, as well. Always. When it comes to changing your body, its all about diet. I want people to eat more vegetables. In the 30 days, why dont you make sure that for six days a week, you incorporate some sort of vegetable to every meal youre eating . Youre going to fill up on good, fibrous foods. Youll feel better, and i mean, its naturally going to be low in calories. No one is going to get fat eating broccoli. True. Biggest mistake folks make when they make the new years resolutions. They try to change too many things. They set themselves up for failure. Give yourself a break. Find one thing to focus on the month of january. Stick with it. Its 30 days out of your life. Youre going to feel so much better. Bob harper, good to see you. You, too. The season premiere of the biggest loser, next monday, 9 00 8 00 central. If youre planning to have folks over tonight, some tips. Back at 8 50. You dont have to hit the town tonight to have a good time. Lastminute ideas to add sparkle to your stay at home celebration. I love what youve done. Happy new year already. Happy new year. We have the countdown clocks going throughout here. Thats the theme. Perfect. Wonderful ideas if you are staying home with family and friends. Thats what im doing tonight. This is perfect timing. So am i. I love this. This is the flower centerpiece at your table, but also the ball theme. Exactly. All this is is a floral foam sphere. Burgundy carnations, the Grocery Store flower. Easy and anyone can dont. It adds a wow pack factor to the party. Fantastic statement. The cocktails, i love to serve a signature drink to the adults who come over. Tonight, were having clock tails. I like that. Its fun. Ill show you how i made it. You have a number here, and all this is is a sticker. Decals. Stickers from a craft store. Peel them off. You peel it off. Im going to do the 7, and you do the 3. Well see how easy this is. Right. Theyre stickers. You stick them on the champagne glass. Tray mine is crooked. Its good. Its a great way for guests to know what drink is theirs the entire evening. You have the clock configuration. I love it. Fantastic. And a great dessert to bring, this is wonderful. Weve done clock cakes. You can pick up a store bought cake at a Grocery Store, then craft store numbers imitating the clock. If you want, you can do the ice k number icing numbers yourself. Even i can do that. We cant forget about champagne. Do it yourself. So easy. I used a craft glue, modjepod modjepodge. You can use the bloom of your choice. Also a hostess gift if youre to the party with it. Itll be a hit. Perfect. Look at these cup cakes. Theyre amazing. Ill take some home. We can send them home with you. How do we do this . We cant forget about the kids. Its great to give your kids an activity. White cupcakes. This is edible silver glitter. You sprinkle it on. I love a metallic cupcake wrapper. It was the key to the sparkle. An oreo truffle ball. To create the ball dropping look there. It imitates the ball. Well paint this on, all edible. You can find this glittery paint. In the craft store. Pick it up for the evening. Then well put the lollipop stick in here and pop it on the cupcake. Kids love oreo. So festive. Hors doeuvres, appetizers. Tuxedo cheese slices. If you dont want to dress up, you can dress up your cheese and crackers for the season. Right. So you take a round cracker, any thinly sliced cheese. For the buttons and the bow tie, black olive. Easy. Go ahead if you want to help me, we can make one. Youre assuming im crafty. You can tie the bow tie. Three olive buttons. Very cute. Great. Now hes all dressed up. Last but not least, you have to leave our guests, dylan, craig and sheinelle, favors. The blackeyed peas for good luck. I love sending guests home with blackeyed peace. Also a great opportunity for leftover holiday ribbon. We can all use a little good luck in the new year. A great parting gift. Great idea. Happy new year. Happy new year. Great job. Thank you. By the way, the res cipes and ideas are on our website, today. Com food. Were not sure live, this is news 4 new york now. Live at the new jersey turnpike by new york liberty airport. December 31 t. Im michael gargiulo. Were now learning the identity of the College Student who took time. 20yearold Conner Cummings from rockaway, new jersey, died. Relative says he climbed up the Four Seasons Hotel and lost his footing while trying to take a picture and plunged to his death. Well see the sun break through the clouds a little bit later on, 48 degrees tonight. Chilly to ring in the new year. At midnight when the ball drops, it will be 40 and a windchill around freezing. The first day of 2016, 43 for partly sunny and blustery. Seasonably cold, high of 42. Coming up on the today show, well look at the top headlines this year, plus the best apps to help you stick to the new years resolution. Kids don t stay little forever. So help them get the opportunity they need. It s never too early or too late to save for college. You can open a ny 529 account with just 25. And you may get tax benefits if you pay income tax in new york state. Someday you ll look back and be glad you got started. Ny s 529 College Savings program. In morning on todays take, well look at our events from 2015. Plus, the most buzzed about commercials commercials of the year. And cocktail hacks and downloadable apps that will have you ringing in 2016 in style. Coming up now. Announcer from nbc news this is todays take with al roker, natalie morales, willie geist and tamron hall, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Put my hands up, theyre fly away sing it, do ylan. Until midnight tonight. Its a party everywhere. Australia already rang it . An hour ago. Its girls morning. We can switch to champagne. Glasses. Lets start right now. Why not . Its going to be a long day. Ring it in now. Elim natalie along with dylan. Willie, tamron and al actually, willie and tamron enjoying time off. Al is getting ready for the Rose Bowl Parade tomorrow. His 19th time doing the rose parade. Incredible. Amazing man. Beautiful tradition. Well be watching al tomorrow morning if i can pry my eyes open. It wont happen if you start drinking champagne now. We demand champagne. About this morning, and we were talking about it earlier, somewhat surreal that its finally come to this, but bill cosby has been charged now. Criminally charged. He walked into a courtroom yesterday to face a felony assault. Bail. Hes now at his home. His accuser is a Temple University employee, andrea cosbys pennsylvania home. She says she agreed to take pills and drink wine, but then she felt frozen and paralyzed as cosby allegedly performed sexual acts against her wishes. Theres no criminal charges at that time. 2005. It was settled a year later. Earlier, we had cosbys attorney on. One of his attorneys on, monique pressley. She spoke to savannah. Hes not guilty, why would he have settled a case with her . Obviously, there is a difference between a civil case and criminal case, but a person watching at home thinks, if you think someone is lying, why do you pay them money . Why do you settle . I dont really think thats what people at home think. I think that the people at home are much more savvy than that, and they have to deal with situations in their own lives where they have people who are threatening them. Who are threatening to come after their homes or their lifestyle or their work or their reputation or their career. Decades of whatever it is theyve done in their own capacities. They know there are times its wise to settle claims rather than fight them. Especially if you believe everything youre working for will be lost. This may have been one of those times. Its a big story in 2015 and itll continue to be in 2016. The preliminary hearing january 14th. Up to ten years behind bars. Cosbystorian attorneys intended to mount a vigorous defense against the unjustified charge, and they say hell be exonerated by a court of law. You talk about it being surreal. For our generation, its hard for us to remove what we know. Dr. Huxtable. American dad for so many years, for so long. Then to see this story play out. Right. Its hard to remove the view yo qu had of him and hear all the stories coming out, to see him trip when he walked out of the car yesterday. A lot of people felt that when you saw him trip and stumble, and you wanted to feel compassion. Obviously, hes innocent until proven guilty. I think everybody at that moment felt somewhat sad. Right. For the whole story. We feel sad for the alleged victims, as well. Well see what happens. New year, for sure. For sure. On a lighter note, lets talk about commercials. I love commercials. I think i was one of those frustrated. If i could have been an ad executive in a previous life, i probably would have been. Oh, i could have come up with good things. There are so many commercials you like seeing. We had babb rbara, an editor at media post. Com, on earlier today. She gave us favorites across the board. You loved the amazon commercial. I love this idea of amazon prime, delivering right away, but they have this lonely horse commercial. Adorable. Little man, when you stand by my side and i know i dont have to hide from anyone sunny and cher. When youre lonely, go on amazon prime and order a companion horse. The horse looks smaller outside in the field than in her living room. Its great. I love that commercial. Adorable. Its right on. Amazon prime, you can pretty much find anything on amazon and it comes the next day. Its right there. I love there are so many ads online now, that you wait and count down the five seconds before you can skip the ad. Yes. Geicos Genius Advertising Department came up with the unskippable ad. Take a look. Dont thank me. Thank the savings. You cant skip this geico ad because its already over. Geico, 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. You dont want to look away. Watch the dog eat the plate of mashed potatoes. Then i was watching it to see who would twitch or if the kids would get out of character. They dont. It goes on for tidee minutes. I watched the whole thing a couple times. And you can skip it. Genius. We also love google androids friends forever. Take a look. Robin hood and little john walking through the forest, laughing back and forth at what the other has to say cute song, cute animals. Baby animals. What could go wrong . Adorable. Golly, what a day i love it. I dont know what its for, but i love it. Google android. There are so many things that people send you or you see on facebook, or theres this new hot have you had owe, and theyre all associated with baby animals. Exactly, im watching. Im in. A lot of people are playing have you played this emoji game . I have, and i realized to predict your new year. I use all my emojis wrong. I was surprised looking at my emoji history, what came up. I swear there were some i never used. Take the top 12 most used emojis and match them to the months in 2016. It is to predict how your year will go. Yours, you were spectacle, but yours is interesting. Im very spectacle. Here we go. January, winkling. I dont know whats happening there. Are you camping in february . Its a purse. I never used a purse emoji, but i am looking for a new purse. Maybe ill get it to february. Farr march is weird. Got things mixed up. Can we look at august . What happens . We have the olympics in rio. The brazilian flag. I was doing it more because i was half brazilian. Its eery. What about yours . January is going to start off not good. I didnt know what was a crying emoji. I thought it was, im laughing so hard that im crying. It is. Exactly. But im being told it means youre devastating crying. Really . Okay. I dont know what october is. Swimming in december. I dont i dont know. I still use the colon and the close parenthesis. There is no science to that whatsoever. Its another bogus thing. Its fun though. Have fun with it. Fun to do. Youre going to do the weather, too . Youre double duty. Squeezing in as much as i can today. Everywhere, dylan. Letting me do it all on the last day of the year. We are focusing on some of the flooding going on through missouri and, eventually, the focus will shift to arkansas. It takes a while for all the rain we saw the past couple of days to filter through the smaller streams and make its way to the mississippi. Well see more of a flooding threat near arkansas through the there are now 43 locations with major flooding, and this is going to be an issue for a while. Not only do you hit the crest, but then you have to wait for all the water to recede. In the southeast, its the falling rain creating the flooding problems. We have moisture streaming in off the gulf of mexico. Could see flooding because of the heavier downpours, and that would lead to flash flooding. That will continue to shift down into northern florida as looking at a cloudy start but already breaks in the overcast. So the clouds are moving out some. A little sunshine for a change around here. Patchy fog north and west. Highs well into the 40s once again today and midnight hour chilly. About 40 degrees when the ball drops in times square. Tomorrow a bit cooler 43. Chilly but dry over the weekend. Low 40s saturday and sunday. Only 35 monday and 37 tuesday. Back to the 40s wednesday. Thats your latest forecast. Thank you. Back at the year that was. All the news events and celebrities that defined 2015. After these messages. Hey sweetie, its time. Eye of the tiger tv anncr good afternoon everyone. Tv anncr its the perfect day for a game of football. Tv anncr this team is having a fantastic season. Morning rituals are special. When you share what you love. With who you love. Kelloggs frosted flakes. Theyre grrreat now. You can win a Microsoft Surface 3. When you buy any speciallymarked kelloggs product. I am never getting married. Were never having kids. Mmmmmm. We are never moving to the suburbs. We are never having another kid. Im pregnant. I am never letting go. For all the nevers in life, state farm is there. Eucerin intensive repair doesnt just moisturize dry skin, with a unique triple action formula that exfoliates hydrates and fortifies skin. Leaving it looking healthy and radiant. With intensive repair, from eucerin. Only kraft natural cheese has a touch of philadelphia cream cheese, so whatever you make, glad forceflex. Now Even Stronger to avoid rips and tears. Be happy, its glad. Did we just, start looking for a house . Oh did you see that listing on zillow i sent you. You see that bathroom . Did we just decide to buy house . I think so. Yay find your way home. Zillow. Weight watchers has changed. Our allnew beyond the Scale Program puts the focus on you and not just the number on the scale. Lose weight while eating healthier, with all new smartpoints. And move more by including fitness in ways that work for you. With the new Weight Watchers beyond the Scale Program join for free now and lose 10 pounds on us. 2015 saw highs and lows, especially in a lot of the news stories that grabbed headlines. Here to help us reflect on the year that was, joe, contributing editor at Rolling Stone and host of incoming on spotify. Good morning. Good morning. Lets start with bill cosby. You were just talking about it moments ago. Here was a story we were talking about this time last year. Were talking about it today. Free on bail, charged with Second Degree assault in a pennsylvania courtroom. This is a story well probably be talking about this time next year, as well. Absolutely. All right. It was such a sad year, with all the shootings and the gun violence. Unfortunately, we had far too far, far too many. In charleston, south carolina, nine killed in a church. On live tv in virginia, a cameraman and a News Reporter killed. Just San Bernardino most recently. Of course, colorado springs, three killed there. The paris attacks, as well, both in january and then recently. Just this month. Sadly, it seems, its not going to end either. No. Moving over now to actually, a symbol of peace. The popes first visit to the united states. Uplifting moment. He stopped in washington, d. C. Where he described himself as the son of immigrants. He was here in new york, mass for 20,000 in times square. Then on to philadelphia where he talked about america as a land freedom. A moment we needed. Absolutely. Uplifted our year. A lot of politics. Shy man by the name of donald trump took headlines. He did take headlines. He announced his candidacy descending on his escalator. He didnt take it seriously then, waiting for it to end. Still ahead in the polls. A recent cnn poll of republicans puts him ahead of ted cruz. 39 to 18 for cruz. Well see what happens in february when we finally get to iowa and new hampshire. Who could have predicted this a year ago . Donald trump. I think hes probably the only one. Absolutely. Its going to be fabulous. Huge. Also, Hillary Clinton k looking pretty good, as shes putting her husband, former president bill clinton, on the campaign trail. Guess who had something to say about that . Donald trump. As weve heard here on our program. Hillary said recently that donald trump has a penchant for sexism. He insulted hillary. Donald trump has a, im rubber, hes saying, youre married to bill clinton. Im not sure what it means but lets look for it to heat up in 2016. Absolutely. Now to pop culture. Lighter moments. This is a huge year for girls. We love that. And women, i guess. Lets call them women. Lets call them powerful women on television, in the movies, in music. Were talking about Jamie Alexander on blindspot. Melissa on super girl. Henson in empire. Amy schumer jumped to the big screen with train wrecker. An unknown singer, adele, who made an impression this year, breaking records, shattering records. Took her three days to have the biggest selling record in 2015. Thats amazing. Its going to be her year in 2016 with her concerts, as well. It is indeed. One of the hottest tickets out there. Absolutely. A little movie called star wars. Ive seen it twice. Im obsessed with it. Youre part of the reason it became the fastest movie to earn 1 billion at the Global Box Office in 12 days. Awesome. Everyone loves this movie. Its girl power, too. It is. Its true. Daisy, i love her. Everyone loves this movie except for george lucas. Youre kidding me. He complained he saw star wars as a family soap opera and disney made it into a movie about spaceships. Im not sure exactly. I like it. I loved it. It was awesome. Quickly, we have to mention, caitlyn jenner. Of course, a big year for caitlyn jenner. On the cover of vanity fair, getting a courage award at the espys. At the espys, she said, a few months ago, i never met a trans person. She was giving that opportunity to a lot of america right then. It was a wonderful and amazing thing. Fascinating 2015. See what 2016 looks like. Itll be a good one. Thank you so much. Download so you can have an appy new year. Get it . First, these huh. Introducing centrum vitamints. A brand new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint. With a full spectrum of essential nutrients. Surprisingly smooth, refreshingly cool. I see you found the vitamints. New centrum vitamints. A delicious new way to get your multivitamins. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] for tim and richard smucker, giving a gift of their familys delicious jam always made the holidays we forgot to put our names on them richard, i think theyll know who its from. Thank you boys. Youre welcome. Youre welcome. [ male announcer ] happy holidays from our family to yours. I love christmas im jerry bell the second. And im jerry bell the third. Im like a big bear and hes my little cub. This little guy is nonstop. Hes always hanging out with his friends. Youve got to be prepared to sit at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. Theres no deep couch sitting. Definitely not good for my back. This is the part i really dont like right here. doorbell whats that . A package its a swiffer wetjet. It almost feels like its moving itself. This is kind of fun. That comes from my floor . Eww this is deep couch sitting. [jerry bell iii] deep couch sitting to the woman in the mid90s showstopper. Youre right. Its time to set this bird free. Hot blooded, check it and see. Feelin hungry . How bout a donut . Im hot blooded. Im hot blooded whether its 30years old or 30days old, carmax will appraise it in as little as 30 minutes. And then your only concern will be how to spend the cash. With 2016 just hours away, were all thinking hard about the changes that we want to make in the new year and whether its getting in shape, saving money, learning how to decress, all stress, all things i want to do, theres an app for that. Weve called in the founder of cool moms tech to narrow down the list and have an appy new year. Good morning. Hi, guys. Appy new year. Well use that as much as we can. Well say it over and over again. So many peoples resolution is to stay fit, be healthier. There is an app for that. Unless youre bob harper. What does he have on his list . Right. I love lark. The free app for ios and android. Whats different about it, it acts like your friend. The virtual companion. You can talk to it. Its texting you . I walked here to the stud owe io and its saying, good job. It uses the sensors. Look how much sleep i got. Ten hours. How is that possible . Amazing. All my activity. How does it monitor your sleep . When you put the phone down, its assuming youre sleeping or Binge Watching netflix. Same thing. Its supportive. Not nitty getty with the calorie counting. Finance, i need this app. Who doesnt love to save more, spend less . Weve done a lot of mother apps but whats different about level money is it taps into your spending. When you safely sync about your bank account, its going to show you exactly what youve been spending your money on. Im an amazon fan. If youve been spending hundreds of dollars on coffee every month, you might not have known that. Itll show you. It taps into all of your bank account and your bills and gives its kind of like a goal that you want to stay under, whether its daily, monthly or weekly. Level money. Download it now. One of my biggest problems is my email. I have signed up for so many emails, its like 20 off here, 30 off here. It fills up and i lose track of the good emails. My phone had 111,000 emails. I need unroll. Me. Its been around a while, but they Just Launched their iop app. It is fantastic. So you sync your email. I use our pod cast, and it brings up our news and email subscriptions. It lets you swipe left to unsubscribe unsubscribe. I love it. Kind of like a dating app for email. Amazing. Breaking up with you, bloomingdales. It lets you roll up, the button in the middle, gives you a daily digest of everything you want to keep. Great. We have time for one more . Real quick. It helps you destress. Its a medication app, stop, breathe, think. It gives you custom meditations based on how youre feeling. Amazing. Thank you so much. Happy new year. Coming up, automated voice to file a claim, please state your name. Carnie wilson. Thank you. Can you hold on . Hold on for one more day really . Hey, i know theres pain. Why do you lock yourself up in these chains . This would be so easy if you had progressive. Our mobile app would let you file a claim and help you find one of our Service Centers where we manage the entire repair process. Things will go your way if you hold on. [ sighs ] someday somebodys gonna make you wanna turn around and say goodbye. Say goodbye no, you just made it weird. After trying brookside chocolate, people talk about it online. Love at first taste. I would liquefy it and bathe in it. Curse you, brookside your nefarious plans have succeeded. Nefarious . Are we still talking about chocolate . Brookside. After trying brookside crunchy clusters, carlybeyar tweeted at this point, i should just be a brookside chocolate ambassador. Well, i am sorry, carly. It s something you earn. Brookside. Live this is news 4 new york now. Good morning. A live look at thecroft bronx expressway at 9 27 on this thursday, december 31. Im carrie barrett. Early this morning, arsonists targeted a queens strip club. Police say at about 5 30, two molotov cocktails were thrown through the window. No injuries reported. Yesterday morning, knicks forward klee anthony early was shot and robbed leave ago the same club. A check of weather today, the the clouds with a high of 48. Tonight chilly to ring in the new year. About 40 degrees at midnight with a windchill around freezing. Tomorrow it will be partly sunny and blustery. Coming up on the today show, viewers sharing their dramatic weight loss. Taking a look at the headlines. The ball has not even dropped yet for 2016, but the irs is already thinking about next years tax returns. The 2016 tax season will kick off on january 19th, when the irs will start accepting individual returns. It expects more than 4 out of 5 taxpayers to efile their returns. The filing deadline for most americans is april 18th. Microsoft says it will start warning email customers if it suspects a government has been trying to hack into their accounts. The policy change came after two former microsoft employees concluded china had been behind ago, and said the company decided not to tell more than 1,000 users whose accounts were hacked. It follows recent moves by facebook, twitter and yahoo at t plans to stop offering twoyear contracts early in the new year. Starting january 8th, at t customers will only be able to get new phones by paying the few price or paying in monthly installments. Verizon and sprint got rid of wireless contracts a few months ago. If youre counting calories tonight, why would you do that, but be mindful about what you eat and drink. Experts say it would take 35 minutes of rack quet racquetball to burn off the calories of one margarito. It would take 45 minutes of moderate intensity exercise to burn off a medium peppermint mocha. We still have several hours to go before we ring in the new year in the u. S. , but in other parts of the world, celebrations this is a scene in new zealand, one of the first countries to usher in the new year. In australia, the Party Started a little early. A special fireworks display held at sydney harbor at 9 00 p. M. Local time. Aimed at families that couldnt stay up. And a second show went off at midnight. Beautiful display, as always. Lets move over to dylan for a check of the plenty of clouds to start the day. Some breaks of sunshine anticipated. More sunny intervals today. Upper 40s, close to 50 in some spots. Breezy in the afternoon during the evening hours. Tonight partly cloudy to clear sky. 35 in the city. Around midnight, it will be close to the 40 degree mark and windchills in the low 30s. Tomorrow lower 40s. Dry over the weekend. Low 40s. Sharply colder monday, tuesday, highs in the 30s. Back to the 40s wednesday. Tonight is the big night. Planning your new Years Eve Party, no need to panic. Theres more time. Justin, host of food and wines mad genius tips is back with quick and easy recipes to pop the cork on a night of fun. Welcome back. Fun, indeed. Thank you for having me. I love this idea. Beautiful cotton candy and champagne, im already drinking. Two amazing things. Well combine them into something extraordinary. Its going to be a champagne cocktail cocktail. Youre going to take some of the cotton candy, the delicious, sweet cotton candy, lay it in the glass. Okay. All the way in. Then were going to pour champagne on top. Is it going to dissolve . Itll dissolve. I feel like you want to pour that in front of people. Its a magic trick. You can even garnish the glass like you see here. It adds this pink hue. Sweet. Cheers. Weve been waiting all day for champagne. You can also present youre serving rosette because it it adds a nice sweetness. Next, we have a neat way of shaking a cocktail. A lot of people dont have shakers. I dont have a shaker. Add this in here, lemon juice, and ice, of course. Pop the top on, make sure its tight. Any portable bottle could work. Anything with a lid that has a tight seal. I like the tin because you get the sound. The same effect. Clearly, not enough in here for me. It was a weak drink. Well work on it. Definitely. This was a fantastic idea. You were telling me you were making sangria. A lot of people think its more of a summer drink, but you can do it in the winter, as well. Exactly. Youll freeze the fruit . Were doing a winter one. The reason were able to do that is because citric is in season in the winter. We slice it or cut it into sheet, freeze it until firm. Were use going to add grape juice, tangerine juice, whatever you want. Simple syrup. You see this frozen fruit. Its going to keep it cool all throughout the night. It even works as a beautiful garnish. Love that. Pop it in there. Great idea. Keeping with the frozen garnish theme, martinis, so often, it takes a long time to drink a good martini. Its a sipper. You freeze the garnishes. Exactly. Right on these skewers. Pop them on a plate. Put them in the freezer until frozen, like the fruit. Check these beautiful frozen cocktails. I dont want to lose a tooth, bite into it. Itll keep it cold. Thank you so much. Happy new year to you. Thank you so much. Coming up next, the features get going. Miss. Transformations. They reshaped their bodies for 2016. Right after these my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis made a simple trip to the Grocery Store anything but simple. So finally, i had an important conversation with my dermatologist he explained that humira to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. In clinical trials, most adults saw 75 skin clearance. And the majority were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Ask your dermatologist about humira. Because with humira clearer skin is possible. Jane didn t like restrictions. Not in life. And not when it came to watching her calories. Why settle on taste . Jane thought. That s why jane loves light fit greek nonfat yogurt. Bursting with rich creamy awesomeness and 12 grams of protein. All for 80 calories. No settling here. What else does jane love . That you could win a fitbit flex from light fit. Marked packs. Light fit. Only kraft natural cheese has a touch of philadelphia cream cheese, so whatever you make, to feel this special. You need to eat this special. I love it kelloggs special k. Made with whole grains and fiber. To help a body thrive. I love it folic acid and vitamin d. To make a body feel this good. Start your day with 150 nourishing calories. In a bowl of special k. I love it eat special, feel special. Discover more ways to eat special. With special k. Many people clean their dentures with toothpaste or plain water. And even though their dentures look clean, in reality theyre not. If a denture were to be put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture, and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. Thats why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. Polidents unique works in just 3 minutes, killing 99. 99 of odor causing bacteria. For a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture every day. For the last 16 weeks, we followed three today show viewers on their journey to fitness to 2016. How far have they come . Today. Theyre going to ring in a happier, healthier new year, thanks to their lovely coach, joy bauer. Good morning. Good morning. Theyve been a remarkable dream team. Get ready. You wont believe it. Transformation is amazing. Lets start off with mary jean. 16 weeks ago, 196. 5 pounds, starting weight. That was her before picture. Mary jean is now down to 159. 5 a total loss of 37 pounds. Mary jean, come on out, girl [ applause ] incredible. Wow. Look at that waist, right . By the way look at that dress. Shes lost 20 inches from head to toe. Walk the carpet, mary jean. Look at your waist. Incredible. Next up, we have rochelle who, in the beginning of this whole thing, weighed in at 173 pounds. Just 16 weeks ago. Now, shes down to 143 pounds. Total loss of 30 pounds. Rochelle incredible. Come on out 16 weeks. Wow [ applause ] oh, my goodness. By the way, rochelle also has lost 22 inches from head to toe off her body. Look at you. Look at the muscles. Wow. Finally, ken started out at 221 pounds in the beginning of the journey. He lost a total of 31. 5 pounds. Ken, lets see how youre looking. Come on out. [ applause ] look at that. Handsome. He has trimmed 28 inches off of his entire body. Oh, my gosh. Highfive whole new suit for you. Unbelievable. By the way, you hear a lot of cheering and clapping. Their families are here. Big support system. Wow. Clearly, it comes to good coaching, as well. Joy, what was the secret to this incredible success . I think, first off, they were psychologically ready. 50 of it is really a cando attitude, and they had that. Secondly, you all trusted me. I told you what to do, and you followed through. I think that you can validate to everybody that you dont have to exercise five hours a day. They were eating Delicious Food but learned how to prepare it in better for you ways. They were sneaking in exercise they lost significant amounts of weight and dramatically enhanced their health. Im so proud of you. Mary jean, you seem emotional. I am. Its been an emotional journey. Long and hard, but so rewarding for you, right . Very rewarding. Im thrilled. I cant believe that its here, today is here, and that weve all been so successful. Yeah. Youre going to continue on the path . Definitely. Good health. More to go. What were some of the challenges that are you surprised you passed through them and have gotten to this point . I think the important thing for me was, and i mentioned this to joy, we all think we know what we know, and i confessed i didnt know anything. The moment i completely trusted joy, this happened. Amazing. Joy making us all cry. Ken, what was it for you that worked, and what do you think would help viewers at home, struggling with their weight, too . For me, it was consistency. It, day in and day out. Resolving to do this. I was ready to make the change. Consistent. All your families. 2016, what better time to inspire people . Everybody watching can do this. With all the weight you guys have lost, the today show promised to donate food to families in need, and we are now going to donate more than 17,000 meals. Because of you. Because of you. To feeding america. [ applause ] whew a little warning would be nice, guys. Well done. Happy new year congratulations. Happy new year. You all look amazing. I have to give you all hugs. Final look back at the fun we had, including with these guys. Wonderful. You did it thank you, joy. [ applause ] i dont have like a pair of jeans im trying to get into; ive been down that road honey or some big red carpet thing i have to do. Im really just looking at 2016, as the year of my best body; lets let 2016 be the year of the flu virus. Its a really big deal. And with fever, aches, and chills, mom knows it needs a big solution an antiviral. Dont kid around with the flu, call your doctor within the first 48 hours of symptoms and ask about prescription tamiflu. Attack the flu virus at its source with tamiflu, an antiviral that helps stop r it from spreading in the body. R tamiflu in liquid form is fda approved p 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. If you develop an allergic reaction, 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 and vomiting. Antiflu . Go antiviral with tamiflu. Oh, here comes nancy. Wow, shes sure making a splash in that designer dress and with a thicker, more fabulous formula, shes not splashing. You can wear anything and pour bleach. And her whiter whites, just dazzling. Clorox splashless bleach. Also try new crystals and packs. What if the sweet stevia leaf was discovered. Before the sugarcane. All our favorite sugary foods would be our favorite truviay foods. Truvia. Life with less sugar is just as sweet. Olay regenerist plumping surface cells for a dramatic transformation without the need for fillers your concert tee might show your age. Your skin never will. Olay regenerist. Olay. Ageless. New years eve is a sober time to reflect on what it is we hope to accomplish. Our goals, aspirations, dreams for the future. It can be sober. Or to look back at a bunch of the ridiculous things you did this past year. I had a great time in 2015 with al, tamron, willie and, of course, dylan. She filled in often. Heres a look at some of the laughs we shared. Driving birthday. Wow. Des i felt it. Hold on. We made it. Looks like weve made it there was a lot of fun. Chaos. Sweet, wonderful chaos. Uncertainty was the buzzword. Oh, no every day, something epic happened. Holy moly. I have my two sisters. Tamron and natalie. And my brother al. This year, we got our groove on. Where do we begin . Tamron likes to think that shes a good dancer. We call this the choo choo train. As does natalie. Willie and i both know were not good dancers, and we dont pretend to be. We love to dance. You have to be willing to laugh at yourself, make fun of yourself. Shes good at the salsa. Then this other dancing comes out, and youre like, what is going on there . Wow me week with three cool haled the gas. Yeah my voice drops down sub James Earl Jones darth vader. That is unbelievable. It was as though i were out of my own body. If you watch the clip, i generally scare myself. You need to howl at the moon. Hows the weather . I want to you imagine and believe its possible to take the dents out of the can. Tap on it. Its resealed. No way. Oh, come on amazing. That is crazy. Im a sucker for a magic trick. Clearly, the viewers saw it that way. I swam with sharks. Sort of. From behind a wall. They swam and i watched. The rokerthon this year was daunting. 50 states in a weeks time. It was as exhausting as it was exhilarating. Every place we went people had goats. Like, really . Got a little chill in the air. Only one thing to do, and that is have an ice dancing competition. How does that happen . Whoa baby youre mean. There you go. For the first time in my life, i see the love. Willie goes urban. We did a little audition for john cena, what it takes to be a wwe star. Looking at the headlines, youre all about to be in a world of pain, because dark natalie is coming for you. I was born to brawl, im the belle of the ball, i got the guts. The forecast for today, pain. I feel a cold front coming in from the east. Ill take it, drive it to the canvas, get on the top for the splashdown to finish it. I cant get down. Help me. Im sorry you had to see this. Spinning image. We were scary. Wow. Wawa wawa. I love my life the today show has evolved. You cant do the same show we do from 7 00 to 9 00. At 9 00, its a more conversational program. Put my weather to the test. Good times. Ill tell you whats going on. What usually happens at the end of an hour is you get something delicious. Willie, get this. They win, they got it and something thats hopefully fun, hopefully youll learn a little something. The majority of our job is to report the news. If we can smile and laugh together, it means a lot. The one person oh im waving our todays take flag. What ive learned, as i think better when we Work Together as a team. The take team. And thats just 2015. Wait until next year. Wait until 2016. Its going to be huge. Back in a moment. We want to ring in the new year with traditions. Did you bring pickled ed d herring . On january 1st, you have to have it. Why . Its disgusting. You are allowed to hold your nose and swallow. What kind of friend are you . Its supposed to bring good luck. Disgusting. Awful. Drink. Drink. That was awful. Have some grapes. 12 grapes in a minute. Live, this is news 4 new york now. Good morning. A live look at at belt parkway. Its 50 degrees outside on this thursday, december 31st. It is new years eve. Cure the is tight in times square. The ball and clock are tested and ready to go. 6,000 officers will be on the ground. Everybody will be screened twice as they go in and will not be able to return if they leave. Coney island will be hosting a party. Light rings will light up the parachute jump at midnight, that was done for the first time last year. Weather today, the sun breaks through the clouds with a high of 48. Tonight clear, breezy chilly to ring in the new year. Midnight 40 degrees with a windchill around freezing. Tomorrow partly sunny and blustery. Coming up on the today show with kathie lee and hoda, tv and star Bernadette Peters talking about season 2 of that mozart in the jungle. Listen up new york. Theres a new drug out there. And its trying to destroy our generation. Its called synthetics. So, some guy thought it might be a good idea to spray poison on some herbs, and then sell it to you. No, its not marijuana. It goes by names like k2, spice, rocks. Causes hallucinations, rapid heartbeat. Vomiting, seizures. And it can kill you the first time you smoke it. We gotta have each others backs. This is our future. And the future of new york is saying no to synthetics go to oasas. Ny. Gov, or call or