With the 17minute mon low log and music and dancing and, of course, the awards. And the oscar goes to argo. In a surprise appearance from the white house, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the winner for best picture. Ben affleck, not nominated for best director, expressed his gratitude for this win. It doesnt matter how you get knocked down in life, because thats going to happen, all that matters is you to get up. I love you. In the best actress category, a bit of a stumble. You guys are standing up because you feel bad that i fell. Thats really embarrassing. Thank you. Reporter Jennifer Lawrence winning for her role in Silver Linings playbook, later celebrating with her family at the governors ball. And the oscar goes to daniel daylewis. Threetime oscar winner meryl streep presented the award to Daniel Day Lewis for his role in lincoln. I had actually been committed to play margaret thatcher. In the directing category, ang lee won for life of pi. Thank you, movie god. Thank you. For django unchained, Christoph Waltz won for best supporting actor. While quentin tare ren tino won for screenplay. For best supporting actress, the oscar went to anne hathaway. It came true. Music was another of last nights big winners with a performance from the cast of les miserables. Memories a moving mem morium to Marvin Hamlisch from Barbra Streisand. And adele singing skyfall which went on to win best original song. Thank you. This is amazing. First time host Seth Macfarlane mixed humor. And the quest to make Tommy Lee Jones laugh begins now. Be our guest hollywood song and dance, for a big welcome. As the credits ran, the night ended with Kristen Chenoweth and the tribute to the evenings losers. No matter what the critics say about Seth Macfarlane, he decided days ago this will be one and only time he took on this job. Thats right. One and done. Smart guy. Back to you guys. We learned a lot. I wasnt all that familiar with him, mary dits and al, but this guy is a true triple threat, sings, dances, can tell jokes. I was very impressed by him. Yeah. Hes got a very wellreceived album of standards out. I mean hes a big band, sinatra. Hes amazing. If you ask any kid they know about him for sure. Absolutely. I thought he did a very good job. Meanwhile, do you realize you are standing next to a super star . Youre in very good company this morning. Yeah. No, its al. Please. Why . Because Jennifer Lawrence, when she hit the red carpet she was asked who was the person she was most looking forward to seeing, heres what she said. I want to see al roker. Al roker . I used to watch him every day before school. All the people you could possibly say, al roker . Means something to me personally. What does he mean to you . I love al roker. Other than whats happening in your neck of the woods. Actors are great, but i love al roker. I can be al roker. Here comes the weather. Hey, jennifer, heres whats happening in your neck of the woods. Hey. Okay. And the oscar for luckiest guy goes to go al. Geez. Im telling you. I got it meet her at the Golden Globes. She wasnt feeling well. But, you know, seems like a lovely young lady and somehow, mr. Morgan very upset. This is a guy whose name begins where a ship comes in to. Oh. Whats the problem . He needs to of all the people i can see why theyve got that petition to get him out of here. Al, youre definitely the it guy out there. Well have more on the oscars in a bit. Were following other big stories out of the vatican this morning, including the popes decision to change some rules used to select his replacement. Lets get to anne thompson. Good morning. Theres lots of breaking news here. First of all the pope has given the cardinals permission to move up the start date of conclave, which will choose his successor. Secondly, a cardinal whos been in the headlines for the last 24 hours for all the wrong reasons, he decides to resign and says hes not coming to the conclave. All of this is happening while the faithful celebrate the end of benedicts papacy, while scandal and intrigue engulf some of the men who will choose the next pope. Even in his final days as pope, scandal continues to dog benedicts papacy and the church. Italian newspapers headline rumors of blackmail and conspiracy that the vatican vehemently denies. American Cardinal Roger mahony has ignored calls to stay home from a conclthat chooses the next pope because of his role protecting abusive priests. Scottish Cardinal Keith obrien, who commented on mahonys situation last week. Someone has erred and we have anoth another. Reporter today Cardinal Obrien resigned after being accused by three priests and former priest of inappropriate behavior going back to the 1980s. Ugly headlines that one vatican watcher says will shape the deliberations of the conclave. Some of this is politics, but other parts of it are the long delayed, reckoning with problems that require facing and correcting in the church. Reporter the scandals have left many of the faithful weary. Im a true believer and i hope that catholics will get a better name these days. Reporter despite the controversy, st. Peters square still felt like a wellbehaved mosh pit. During Pope Benedicts final sunday blessing. 100,000 people came to say thank you to the 85yearold pontiff, speaking from his window for the last time. The pope said he is not abandoning the church, but following gods call to more prayer and meditation. Now also this morning, the pope met with the three cardinals who prepared the secret dossier thats been talked about so much here, regarding the vatileaks incident. And the pope said that only he has read that report and he will share it with the next pope. Savannah . All right. Anne thompson at the vatican for us this morning. I will be live at the vatican wednesday and thursday for the popes final public audience and last day as the leader of the church. Matt . Savannah, thanks. There are new calls for improved safety at nascar events this morning, after that dramatic crash over the weekend. An accident that cast a big shadow over sundays daytona 500. Nbcs janet sham lee ann is in daytona beach. Janet, good morning to you. Reporter hi, matt. Yeah, this was a horrible crash that happened during a nascar race on saturday. More than two dozen people were hurt and these werent drivers. They were fans hit by flying debris while sitting in the grandstand. A weekend of history and tragedy at the daytona 500. Starting on the pole, Danica Patrick reporter the first woman ever to start in the front position at daytona. And contact reporter saturdays nightmarish wreck was still fresh on everyones mind. And a terrible crash coming to the finish. Reporter on the last lap of the race, one of the cars crashed into the fence and split apart, sending chunks of metal and a tire high in the grandstand. 28 fans were hurt. 12 admitted to local hospitals. Some seated as far from the track as 40 rows up. Heather huntington saw it up close. We were really shook up. Reporter and some questioned whether the 22foot high catch fence is high enough. Threetime indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti called for an alternative, tweeting, there has to be a better solution. Race officials said they will look at ways to make improvements. I think thats the key we learn from this and figure out what else to do. Reporter its been the ability to almost reach out and touch the car thats always been part of nascars culture. How do you stop Something Like this from happening . Its a tough situation nascar is in. Theres always that possibility. Reporter but on sunday, the race went on. Nascars super bowl starting much as it has for half a century. Only this time with a twist. Drivers, and danica, start your engines reporter when it was over, Jimmie Johnson had won his second daytona 500. Danica patrick finished eighth, the best finish ever for a woman at daytona. Much of it was overshadowed by the crash on saturday. As you would expect. Janet shamlian, thank you very much. Heres savannah. Thanks. Now to washington where the sweeping automatic budget cuts set to take effect in just four days unless lawmakers reach a deal. Nbcs White House CorrespondentPeter Alexander takes a look at how it will affect everything from air travel to the food we eat. Peter, good morning to you. Reporter yeah, savannah, thats all true this morning the white house is picking up the pace of its pr offensive, rolling out reports for each of the country states and how they will be affected by these automatic budget cuts. Later today the president will speaks to the governors here in washington for their winter meetings. Republicans also dont like these cuts, but they accuse the president of failing to lead and ultimately its you who could be affected. At the shipyard in norfolk, virginia, 1,600 letters with warnings much possible pink slips are already in the mail, while workers wait for washington to act. They take this away, a lot of people will be hurt. Reporter still, with the clock ticking down, no signs of progress, but plenty of dire warnings from the administration about the potential impact of the socalled sequester. Fewer fbi agents on the job. Kids kicked out of child care programs. Even meat shortages that could jack up prices with fewer inspectors working. If we dont have inspection, were not going to be working so i dont need the employees here. Reporter air travel could be crippled. Fewer tsa agents would mean longer security lines, fewer air traffic controllers, meaning more time on the tarmac. States will be hard hit too. The white house releasing these new figures overnight. In california, 9,600 lowincome students could lose their College Financial aid, in florida, nearly 4 million could be slashed to provide meals for needy seniors and in texas, nearly 10,000 fewer children will receive vaccines for diseases like whooping cough and the flu. Just in time for spring, National Parks like yosemite will see their services cut, the pentagon planning to force more than 700,000 Defense Department workers to take one day off a week, a 20 pay cut. Near Quantico Marine base in northern virginia, the anticipation is already breeding anxiety. People are hunkered down, really afraid to spend any kind of money. Reporter there is bipartisan agreement for one thing, both sides seem to agree that these cuts will go into affect at the end of this week. Theres also at least some good news. Most of the layoffs and furloughs wont actually take place until a month from now. Maybe they will sort it out at some point. Peter alexander at the white house, thank you very much. Lets get a check of the top stories of the morning. Natalie is here with those. Good morning to you. Good morning. Welcome back. Thank you. Good morning, savannah. In the news this morning, john kerry is in london this morning as he kicks off his First Official overseas trip as secretary of state. Nbcs foreign chief correspondent Andrea Mitchell is traveling with him. Good morning. Reporter good morning, natalie. Secretary clinton could not resolve syria and secretary kerry is facing his debut on the world stage, trying to deal with the same problem. He met today with the Prime Minister at downing street, david cameron, as the allies are trying to scramble, trying to salvage a key meeting with Syrian Opposition leaders scheduled later this week in rome. Syrian rebels do not want to go to the meeting because they are frustrated that the u. S. And europe have refused to provide arms and other aid and create a nofly zone. Secretary clinton had proposed that along with defense secretary leon panetta last year, at least proposed arming and training some rebel groups but the president rejected that plan last year. Tomorrow, of course, the biggest problem, the biggest obstacle that the new secretary of state, john kerry, will face to getting rid of the assad regime is russia. He will meet tomorrow in berlin with the Russian Foreign leader. Thats a very big challenge. As he continues what hes calling a listening tour, Nine Countries in 11 days. Natalie . Andrea mitchell, traveling with the secretary in london, this morning, thank you. More legal trouble for the more legal trouble for the pistorius family this morning as its revealed the socalled blade runners older brother is facing vehicular manslaughter charges for the death of a woman in a 2008 auto accident. Meantime Oscar Pistorius is free on bail as he awaits murder charges in the death of reeva steenka steenkamp. The era of castro leadership over cuba will come to an end in 2018. Raul began with what he says will be his final fiveyear term on sunday. Tapping his house deputy to assume the presidency in 2018. Raul succeeded his brother fidel castro who led the cuban revolution in 1989. Gas prices as the average cost per gallon has jumped 20 cents over the past two weeks according to the lumberg savage. Average drivers can expect to pay 3. 80 for a gallon of regular. Now lets head to wall street. Cnbcs Courtney Reagan is at the new york stock exchange. Good morning. Good morning, natalie. All eyes on italy as the european nation votes on new government leaders in the mist of economic crisis. Expect global stocks to fall if the new slate is viewed as at all unstage. The race for Prime Minister is wide open. Its a big week for retail earnings and they will look to see how the consumer is feeling and if higher payroll taxes and rising gas prices are impacting spending. Courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thanks. At 101 years old, hes hanging up his running shoes. The great, great grandfather is retiring from marathon running. Hes completed 9 of the 26 mile races since he started running at the age of 89 to overcome family tragedy. In 2011 he became the first centenarian on record to complete a marathon, the nickname the turban tornado. He brings a new meaning to the phrase no excuses. Fantastic for him. 7 17. He deserves to retire. 8 hours, 26 minutes, not bad. He started at 9. Exactly. Always time. Always do a marathon. Thanks. Well send it back to al in los angeles for a first check of the weather, including another major winter storm, can that be true . [ no audio ] big problems as they saw anywhere from one to two feet of snow in some areas. Were going to be looking at more of this making its way into the midsection of the country. Okay. Lets go to the maps and show you exactly what were talking about. You can see this what weve got basically, blizzard warnings, winter storm warnings from new mexico to illinois and the snowfall is really coming down. Look on the radar. You can see to the south and the east, theres a lot of showers and thunderstorms, but snow back from amarillo all into wichita. Were talking about anywhere from three to nine inches of snow, as much as a foot and a half in some sections. Then to the south, we have heavy rain, lots of thunderstorms. Check it out, show you exactly as far as the warnings are concerned and watches. We have flood watches, flash flood watches and flash flood warnings in effect. Rainfall amounts were talking anywhere from three to nine inches of rain, basically making its way through the area tonight. Thats whats going on, but first, your local forecast. Good monday morning to you. A live look over a hazy sky over oakland. Happy to report we dont have low cloud cover out there. In fact, most of the haze is going to clear out of here later on today. We have good looking wind to help clear out our atmosphere. 65 in santa theresa. We have high pollen levels. If you are sneezing, sniffling, thats probably why. That will be the case all week long. Getting into your thursday, the 70s return even warmer for friday. Matt . All right. Thanks. Coming up, well have a lot more on the oscars and the evens fashions, including one star who hit the red carpet in a dress from h m. And a Million Dollars in jewels. Not bad. Will she be ready for sochi . Our excluesive interview with lindsey vonn. Its her first since undergoing major surgery following that nasty crash. But first, this is today on nbc. Coming up, well have more on new developments in the Oscar Pistorius case as the last images of his girlfriend before her death emerge. And waves of the future or is this a bad idea . Why yahoo is going to ban working from home and a lot of its employees are not too happy about it. That story after your local news. I was living with pain all over. The intense ache made it hard to do the things that i wanted. My doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. I learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. So now, i can do more of the things i enjoy. Lyrica is not for everyone. It may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, or tired feeling. Common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, im feeling better with lyrica. Ask your doctor if lyrica is right for your fibromyalgia pain. It is 7 26. Good morning, everybody. Im jon kelley. That search intensifying for two adults and two children lost in the frigid waters about 65 miles off the coast of monterey. Right now a c130 and two coast guard cutters are search