Former olympian Oscar Pistorius back in court this morning and there are new details emerging on the murder case against him. The track star arrived just hours ago for a bail hearing in the South African capital. Prosecutors say pistorius fired four shots at girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp during her bath door last week, the 29yearold model was hit three times and the bathroom door later broken open. Pistorius was arrested thursday and charged with premeditated murder. A sentence capable of carrying a life sentence. Defense lawyers say the killing was nut murder. Meanwhile, Funeral Service being held in port elizabeth. It capped six days of dramatic fall from grace for the man known as south africa golden boy. Today, major sponsors like oakley and nike are cutting ties with pistorius say they go will no longer use him in future ads. Turning now to gas prices. And the surprising pace which theyve been climbing. Regular gas has gone up for the last 32 days, 43 cents in a month. Nbcs tom costello tells us whats behind this recent rise. Reporter at gas stations across the country, customers are asking same question, what could possibly send gas prices up 43 cents in a month. Thats an extra 8. 60 on a 20gallon car. In chicago, up 70 cents a month to 4. 22 a gallon. At this station, 4. 29. For taxi driver ray hubert, thats real money. It digs into my own pockets. I pay for my own gas. Nobody else pays for it. Reporter in los angeles, the 50 cents a month to 4. 28. It just makes sense, we went to las vegas, gas prices were 1. 50 less. Reporter from coast to coast, gas prices have ridge every day. The gasoline prices are extraordinary for this time of year. Usually see this happen as we go into the summer driving season. Reporter whats going on . Analysts say the reasons are many. International sanctions are reducing the amount of uranium oil on the world market while here at home, refineries are shutting down for maintenance as they prepare to switch to a summer blend. Then market speculation and a weaker dollar play a role. We have to work. So we keep coming to work every day. But you have to put gas in your car to come to work. Reporter 43 cents in a month. That was nbcs tom costello. After the long Holiday Weekend you the president and congressional staffers will be back at work this morning but with only ten days to prevent 85 billion in automatic spending cuts. One group will be noticeably absent in washington this week. Nbcs danielle lee has the details. Good morning. Reporter mara, good morning. Strategists on both sides say staffers will be here negotiating to come up with at any of savings. And president obama is back after a weekend away golf golfing in florida. But congress, theyre on recess all week, and when they get back, theyll have just four days to reach a deal. Now lawmakers are not entirely on vacation, many are back highlighting the cuts. The speaker will back to kreins the costs. In san diego, 30,000 million tear jobs would be in jeopardy. Now many voters here around the capitol have told me thats not good enough. They say lawmakers should be here talking it out in person. Confidence that he will reach a deal is dwindling. Congress had cutbacks in 2011, think it would force them to come up with a better alternative. The white house wants to balance cuts with new revenue. Reporting live from capitol hill, im danielle leigh. Back to you. One and done, first term republican senator mike johanns said he wont return again. The 62yearold former governor and secretary of agriculture added after 32 years in Public Service its time to go. He denied hes leaving washington because of partisan politics. Passengers aboard the illfated Carnival Cruise for days are beginning to get answers. U. S. Coast guard said diesel fuel leaked ton to a hot surface sparking a fire that knocked out the system. Coast guard estimates that a full investigation will take about six months. Well, its time now for the weather. Bill karins joins us here. Hows it going . Its so easy to forget the reason they were stranded was fire which is scary enough. Right. It could be a lot worse. Yes. Good morning, everyone we have an active system across the country. For the next ten days. The current storm is moving up through the great lakes and the weather changing quickly across the ohio valley and deep south with the warm air showers and colder air moving behind it. Thats going to be the case on the eastern seaboard. Starting out youll be fine but then the rain pushing in and much colder tomorrow. That cold blast now appears in the northern plains. You notice the green is rain, from flint, detroit, to cleveland. All the way from kentucky, the back side, a little snow in green bay. And some snow showers coming across wisconsin. The southern end of this system had thunderstorms that rolled pretty good through arkansas and most of louisiana. About to head to new orleans and also the gulf coast. Looks like steadier rains from birmingham also up to montgomery. As far as the forecast, the worst of it, the northern plains. Serious cold arctic air. Windchills minus 38. That was the lowest i could find in the country there. Langdon. Chicagos windchills dipping down to 5. The windchills will be brutal across the midwest and thats heading to the great lakes. As far as your forecast for today, east coast, you start out dry, showers and light rain this afternoon but much warmer than what we saw yesterday. Again, very cold. Look at minneapolis, with that windchill in the negative number, a high of 8 degrees. Thats a look at your national forecast. Now heres a look at the weather outside your window. Today, areas like new york city, chance of showers, it will be afternoon. That cold front will go through later on tonight. Charlotte, north carolina, that snow over the weekend, a distant memory, temperatures today in the low 50s with showers. Into an active weather pattern, still looks like wednesday and thursday big storm in the middle of the country. Thanks so much, bill. Just ahead, First Lady Michelle Obama talks about what reaching middle age made her do. Plus, details on a whopper of a hacking as burger kings twitter account gets targeted. Early today returns in two minutes. Welcome back. To early today. Here are some other stories making news this morning. Well, almost 150 years late, but mississippi has officially ratified the 15th amendment to abolish slavery. The move comes after the oscar nominated film lincoln. Law make ares in colorado have taken the First Step Towards enacting the gun control measures. The state house approved measures calling for universal background check et cetera and ban on the magazine clips of more than 15 rounds. No one supported any of the 15 bills in response to last years aurora shooting. Scientists are warning that future weather patterns could bring less snow but more blizzards. Few studies found Global Warming holding more moisture. Im sure youve seen Michelle Obamas new bangs. She said the new look was inspired by a midlife crisis. On an interview on rachael ray the first lady joked about her new do. This is my midlife crisis. I couldnt get a sports car. They wont let me bungee jump so i went for the bangs. So you went for the bangs . Youre the boss of your hair . I can do this, this is all mine. And that meteor that fell last week in russia is sparking a modernday gold rush. Popping up online for thousands of dollars. Some say its worth 22 million per gram. Thats more than 40 times the cost of gold. The dow opened at 13,981 after adding 8 points from the Holiday Weekend. The s p is down a point and the nasdaq lost 6. The nikkei fell 32 points while the hang seng dropped 238. Investors have turned from the holidays to another corporate marriage in the works. Office max and office deep poe are close to announcing a deal to join forces as early as this week. On the earnings front, Analysts Expect lower profits after the bell today, however bad news could be far for advocates of a looming buyout between microdell. A 75yearold indiana farmer and agri giant. He is suing over soybeans he purchased. Somebody hacked burger kings dwiter account posting profane messages. No word on who hacked the account. Later in the day tweeting interesting day here at burger king but were back. Welcome to our new followers. This afternoon, boeings engineers expected to reject an offer from the new management. The plane maker is already under the gun to resolve battery problems that grounded its new dreamliner fleet. And its that time of year again, the girl scouts annual assault on your new years diet resolutions is in full force. And now the group is making it even easier to get your thin mint fix with the newest cookie app. Thanks a lot, girl scouts. Coming up, whale watchers in Southern California are tuned to a rare sight and saying goodbye to a l. A. Lakers legend. Plus, seeing is believing when nine golfers pull off an amazing trick shot. Sports straight ahead. The extended computer models stwhog snowstorms, wednesday thursday for the middle of the week and possibly for the third week in a row. Your forecast is coming up. Youre watching early today. Welcome back. Now to some other stories that caught our eye this morning. We begin in florida where firefighters battled raging flames at a gas station. There were a few vehicles in close proximity when fire mysteriously erupted from two pumps. The Jacksonville Fire Department arrived on scene and doused the flames before anyone got hurt. Next to north dakota where a severe storm system produced blizzardlike weather shutting down crews in fargo. And keeping drivers off the stretchers freeways. Now to colorado where the ski patrol raced to save skiers swept up in an avalanche. A group of 15 skiers needed to be dug out after a 15foot wall of snow buried them. Each skier was accounted for and thankfully, none suffered major injuries. Finally, off the coast of san diego where a spectacular sight played out for whale watchers. House to of dolphins. Thousands, swam alongside giving tourists an amazing show. Some biologists believe the mammals swim in areas where theres an abundance of food. Number 25 notre dame got 13 points from jack cooley. And came back to knock off number 20 pittsburgh 6152. Jerry buss has died at the age of 80. Buss put together a team of superstars that won ten championships. Daquan bowers was arrested after laechgdly trying to board a plane in new york with a loaded handgun in his carryon. And the mascot for the Washington Nationals visited mt. Rushmore and the giant carvings of president s. Drag racer antron brown got a lot of excitement at the winternationals when his engine exploded and sent the vehicles exploding. Luckily, no injuries. And in canada, nine seniors lined up and sank nine putts one right after another. An amazing hole in one. Early today sports, a touch of gray. Just ahead, the new york post. And the hollywood baby boom continues. Plus, well have your daily dose of adorable baby animals. You can never get enough of those. Youre watching early today. Welcome back on this terse morning. This is a 48hour snowfall forecast. This will pretty much take us out as we go throughout your tuesday into wednesday night period. Again, this is the upcoming storm system. It looks like the heaviest snows are going to be as we go throughout your wednesday evening into thursday morning. Time for an expanse here as we go into thursday farther north. Thats going to be a big storm in the middle of the country and could even be Severe Weather moving through texas, too, as we go through the next 48 hours. Todays forecast, rain showers for the east coast. And much colder in the northern plains. Highs today, 21 in chicago. All day long, youll be close down zero. And you really dont get much improvement on wednesday. That sets the stage, mara, the cold air is in place for the middle of the country pop. The saga of alec baldwins problems continued. New hampshire post accused of assaulting. While walking the a dog, baldwin reportedly grabbed her by the arm and said i hope you choke to death. And then the photographer, who is africanamerican, allegedly calling him a crack head, baldwin claims none of this is true. Fergie announced shes expecting her first child. She tweeted the news with the hash tag, my lovely baby bump. And access hollywood asked the question, do you ever buy a bottle . Surprisingly, 32 of respondents said yes. But the price of the wine may change a bit. If its not two buck chuck, i dont want it. And finally, Paul Mccartney always said how his grandkids beat him at the beatles game. Thats the trump card, right . Thats fun, right . Yeah. Its one of those games thats about you. And it would be fun to play with the person who that is modeled after. A little intimidating, apparently, theyre not hard to beat. There would be pressure having him as your grandpa. They probably dont even know. The next one comes from kbeo news center in brownsville, texas. Officials are hoping the change of address can save the life of a baby gorilla. Little cindy is is heading to ohio. The 17day gorilla has been kept alive by volunteers after being rejected by her mother. Shes being moved to an ohio zoo. I only want an update on that story if theres a happy ending. Shell probably go in and nurse off a tiger. You know how that always goes . Well play another one. Im mara schiavocampo, and this is early today, just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. Clouds are building across the region this morning. And a light breeze will change to strong wind. A rainy day for the vast majority of us. When and how much are just ahead. Good morning, im aaron gilchrist. Im eun yang. Welcome to news4 today for this tuesday, february 19, 2013. 60 people are out of their homes from a twoalarm Apartment Fire that broke out last night in manassas. This is cell phone video from a viewer. The fire started in a third floor apartment and firefighters quickly had to pull out of the building after part of the roof collapsed. Two people were taken to the hospital for observation but are expected to be okay. A resident was also hospitalized for smoke inhalation. The cause is under investigation. Firefighters believe it caused about 400,000 worth of damage. In the day ahead, grief counselors will be at suitland high school. A student was murdered in broad daylight. A 15yearold was found on the ground on 28th avenue in hillcrest heights. Emergency crews rushed him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The High School Student might have been killed for his shoes. This area is known for little boys getting jacked for their shoes. They have tried before. Little boys see them with shoes and try to chase them. Stuff happens around here. This is the fifth Prince Georges County student to be killed this year. They have leads on the case but they dont want to release any information on a possible motive or suspect just yet. Maryland