Business of electing a new pope. Reporter for the voting cardinals, it was their last contact with the general public until after they elect a new pope. An open mass celebrated in latin that drew thousands into the basilica. Later today, the 115 princes of the Catholic Church will offer more prayers in a private setting before filing into the Sistine Chapel. There will be no more than one vote held this afternoon or early evening. Vatican experts say to look for black smoke from the chapels chimney, an indication that the cardinals have not yet reached a decision. There is zero chance at electing a pope on one hour. Reporter on monday, they held their last formal meeting to size up the stage of the church and to some extent size up each other. In choosing a leader of the Catholic Church, they are also choosing their own bus. New Yorks Cardinal Timothy Dolan said on sirius xm radio, hes ready to get on with the process. Even today we began to get into the qualities wed like to see in the new holy father. Im kind of happy theyre over because we came here to elect a pope. Reporter part of the process included swearing in 90 Staff Members from medical to cleaning personnel who will attend to the cardinals during the conclave to an oath of secrecy. If a pope is not chosen today, the cardinals will take two votes wednesday morning and two in the afternoon. Then each day through friday with the pause on saturday. Only the color of smoke from an otherwise unremarkable chimney pipe will tell us when the work of the cardinals is done. Then, only from this papal balcony will we learn his name. Reporter the american cardinals got a rousing sendoff, an ovation as they left the north American College in route to this mornings mass. They were all smiles and appeared relaxed as they got down to business voting for a new pope. And we should note, if there was a vote today we would expect to see smoke if its going to happen roughly around 3 00 eastern time. Lester holt at the vatican for us this morning, thank you very much. Father robert baron is an nbc news analyst. Both joining us this morning from vatican city. Good morning to both of you. Good morning, matt. Good morning, matt. Claudio, let me start with you, articles have talked about the fact there may be a split in factions among these cardinals as they head into the Sistine Chapel. One describing it as the romans versus the reformers. Why dont i begin with you and why dont you break down the romans for me. Well, the romans, matt, are made of those who support the roman quarter, its ran by the italian cardinals and the italians make up 28 cardinals out of 115, and thats the biggest contingency by nation. The next one after that will be the american cardinals. From the United States and there are 11 cardinals. Now, they have different views. The italians want to keep things as they are even though many cardinals have criticized the way the vatican has been run by the roman. You may think of it as the government. The italians are known as the old guard, lets call them while the opposite faction is the reformers. Led by the americans. Those who want to internationalize the vatican. And want to just push forward the mission of evaevangelation. Who are the front runners, one is on the italians while the other ones, the reformers are led by none other than two american cardinals. Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Cardinal Sean omalley. Father baron, it seems counterintuitive as the romans, this largely European Group might actually be backing a brazilian cardinal. Yeah, we heard that early on, they were getting behind him as sort of a front or face for their movement. The word here is that has that balloon has burst. He probably is not going to get the support he require. Something i find fascinating, there are some italians and europeans very much backing the reform party. Then you hear looking to americans for a variety of reasons. Americans can get things done. And also that american Cardinal Sean omalley comes to mind, have been dealing with the sex abuse crisis for a long time. They have that know how. Two weeks ago you asked me about an american candidate, i said chances slim to none. Now were talking about not one but two who are very serious candidates. If sean omalley comes out behind me in a few days as the new pope, he can address that crowd effortlessly in a variety of languages. That struck a number of people here, ive heard. Because americans are known as the people that just know one language. They just know language. Sean omalley got up at the congregations, spoke in perfect italian, very much impressed a lot of the europeans. Well see, thats the most, to me, Fascinating Development in this whole thing. Claudio, to end with you, george weigo said theres zero chance to be elected on the first ballot. What are the people predicting in terms of the length of this conclave . Well, matt, if you think of this as a political election, then this will be todays voting will be the primaries. Well, the cardinals will be figuring out how many votes the front runners will have. We dont even know whether the ones we mentioned are the front runners. So that will bring down the numbers of possible candidates from 115, of course, all the cardinals to 3 or 4 who have the backing of the majority. So in a way, its very its rare and almost impossible that if they vote this afternoon because they may decide not to, we will get black smoke simply because they need 77 votes out of the 115. And theyre not going to get it tonight. All right. At the vatican for us this morning, both of you, thank you very much. And well bring you the latest developments from the vatican as they occur. But for now, heres savannah. Thanks. A Major Investigation underway this morning to find out how the personal information of u. S. Politicians and highprofile celebrities ended up online. Pete williams is nbcs justice correspondent. Pete, good morning. Whats the latest . Savannah, good morning to you. Those targeted include first Lady Michelle obama, Vice President biden, the fbi director and attorney general. The police chief of los angeles. And several celebrities including mel gibson, Ashton Kutcher and jayz. A website using a domain name from the Old Soviet Union have posted their Social Security numbers and other personal identifying information. Also what appear to be their credit reports. Some of the information is out of date. The website shows the fbi director living in San Francisco, for example. But other information appears to be accurate and all of it is the kind of data that can be bought online from commercially available websites. Once someones Social Security number and date of birth are known. Among other victims are former Alaska Governor sarah palin and former secretary of state hillary clinton. Other celebrities targeted include beyonce, Kim Kardashian and paris hilton. Because so many of the celebrities live in l. A. As does the police chief, the lapd is investigating so are the fbi and the secret service. The existence of the website was first revealed on monday and as of this morning, its still in operation, but we are not disclosing the website address. Theres no indication that any of the information was obtained by computer hacking. Instead, those on the site now join the millions of other americans who are victims of identity theft, though theres no sign so far anyone has tried to use this information posted on the site to pose as any of those targeted. Pete williams, we showed some of the website images, not revealing the website address as you mentioned. Thanks for the report. New yorks mayor Michael Bloomberg is vowing to appeal a state Supreme Court ruling that strikes down a ban on large sugary drinks. Its a controversial plan he favored that was set to take effect this morning. More on that story. Good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. Starting today, supersized sweet drinks like this one were supposed to be a nono in new york city. There was a lot of resistance to that ban from regular new yorkers to businesses like starbucks that didnt want to comply. Well, now a judge says they dont have to. A sour turn for new york citys crusade against sweet drinks. If we are serious about fighting obesity, we have to be honest about what causes it. Reporter monday, a new york state Supreme Court judge blocked the citys ban on large sugary drinks. The restrictions wouldve prohibited restaurants, Movie Theaters and other food establishments from selling sweet drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces in an effort to combat obesity. People should be able to put into their body whatever they want. Probably possible to educate the public about making healthier choices without actually changing the law. In his ruling, the judge said the ban was quote arbitrary and capricious that the city exceeded its authority and the fact that refills were not restricted would, quote, defeat the purpose of the rule. The judge said this is just riddled with too many loopholes, too confusing, therefore arbitrary and capricious. Reporter the Beverage Industry says the new law wouldve cost them tens of millions of dollars. Small Restaurant Owners also worried about their bottom line from lost sales and the potential for hefty fines. I think its an outrageous law, it makes absolutely no sense. You can go across the street, we have a liquor store, you can buy as much liquor as you want. Reporter the law is one of mayor bloombergs Controversial Health initiatives. Hes made headlines for his in your Face Campaign against obesity, smoking this is what this decision cost me. Reporter and most recently teen pregnancy. Now it seems his next battle may be against the court. We believe that the judges decision was clearly an error and that we will prevail on appeal. Reporter now the mayor had hoped the law would be one final legacy of his last term, but despite his enthusiasm for the measure, it wasnt exactly a popular one. 60 of new yorkers thought it was a bad idea in a poll. All right. Mara, thanks very much. Lets get to Natalie Morales with the other top stories of the morning. Good morning to you. Good morning, savannah, matt, and al. Good morning, everyone. The man accused of killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others in a colorado Movie Theater appears in court today. 25yearold james holmes is expected to enter a plea some eight months after that mass shooting. A not guilty plea by reason of insanity is widely expected and could be the only way he could avoid a life sentence or the death penalty. More tension this morning on the Korean Peninsula where kim jongun visited north koreas front line troops urging them to be on high alert for possible war. Pyongyang is threatening to cancel the agreement that ended the war. Whether or not they are capable of launching an attack, the u. S. Is vowing to protect the regional allies. Three crew members aboard a u. S. Navy plane are dead after a crash near spokane, washington. The military plane was on a Training Mission monday when it crashed into a field. An Iowa Police Officer is a hero this morning after pulling an unconscious teen from his burning car. The 18yearold had become trapped after crashing into the side of a church. Police say hed been doing donuts in the snow. He will be charged with reckless driving once hes released from the hospital. And a little oopsy for a ball girl at spring training down in florida. Check out what happens when this hooters girl gets a little too proactive with her job. And that is a fair ball right over the bag. Still in play, of course. She realized her mistake soon enough even covered her face there with hermit. The announcer said it is the second time thats happened this spring, but at least shes made one very young fan very happy with that ball. Not to mention some of the players im sure not too bothered by her being there on the sideline either. Probably not for her knowledge of baseball. I dont think so. Thank you very much. Yeah, i know. Go ahead. Plead the fifth. All right. Thank you very much. Weve got a frontal system thats making its way from florida all the way up the eastern seaboard. Bringing heavy rain with it. In fact, weve got flash flood watches in effect for northern new england, Northern New York state because of the heavy rain, up to 3 inches of rain plus snow melt. And out in the Pacific Northwest weve got a big storm system coming onshore. This is even going to be worse. With this warm front, we are talking about tons of rain. We are looking at anywhere in the next 48 hours 5 to 7 inches of rain in the puget sound area. Well get to your local forecast in a moment. But first this message. Well get to your local forecast, but first this message. Fly like youve never been grounded. Scream like youve never been shushed. Let go like you have nothing to lose. And hold on to what matters most. Its your vacation. Dont just take it. Mean it. Universal orlando. Vacation like you mean it. 7 16 on a tuesday morning. A live look at a beautiful start of the day over san bruno. We have low clouds. Your valleys, some are filled with those low clouds like pea soup. The thickest fog is up in the north bay. It should burn off by 9 00 a. M. A warmer day shaping up. 80 on the way to fairfield. 78 in livermore. Well peak tomorrow and cool you down just in time for the weekend. A courtmartial this spring. Now a recording is being released by an antisecrecy group that wants to portray manning as a whistleblower. Heres michael isikoff. Im the type of person who likes to know how things work, and as an a analyst i always want to figure out the truth. Reporter thats the voice of Bradley Manning being heard for the first time explaining his disenchantment with the u. S. Military while serving in iraq. We became obsessed with capturing and killing human targets on lists. Reporter in military Court Manning admitted he illegally gave wikileaks hundreds of thousands of government documents as well as this 2007 video of a helicopter attack in iraq that mistakenly killed innocent civilians. Come on, fire. They dehumanized the individuals they were engages and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as dead. Reporter today there is a recording of mannings courtroom statement provided to the group and made in violation of court rules. In an era where government secrecy is at an alltime high, Bradley Manning should be commended rather than condemned. Reporter one former state Department Officials say mannings actions were indefensible. Its nonsense to call Bradley Manning a political prisoner. Hes a member of the military. He was serving in an active war zone. He took it upon himself to compromise hundreds of thousands of documents. Reporter mannings case provoked controversy. Free Bradley Manning reporter hes been accused of aiding the enemy which could bring a life sentence. The government is trying to scare the daylights out of other people so they dont engage in the same conduct. Reporter for today, michael isikoff, nbc news, washington. Missouri senator clare mchaskill is getting attention for tweeting about her experience with tsa screeners. She said, quote, today in my airport Screening Test on my hands was positive. Got private, more aggressive pat down. Omg or oh, my god. Hashta very uncomfortable. We dont know what airport it was. But they use the detection claw. We have all had it happen. Her test on her hands came back positive. She was taken to the next level. Myself having had the secondary pat down, i second h her emotion. Very uncomfortable . It is uncomfortable. I dont think there is anything wrong with it. But its comprehensive. I try to get the secondary. You ask for it every time. Shes not insinuating anything was done improperly but it is an uncomfortable feeling. Coming up, harvard officials apologizing for secretly looking at the emails of employees of the university. But were they well within their rights . And more with Valerie Harper as she talks about her cancer prognosis and her most famous and beloved character rhoda. First, this is today on nbc. 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