President ial pals. Bill clintons become a good good friend, yeah. I try. Some people would be surprised by that. I think they are, but hes a good man. A look inside an american political dynasty today, tuesday, november 11th, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Nice to have a big sign out on the plaza, veterans day. Thank you to the men and women of the armed forces this morning. No question. I love working in rockefeller plaza, especially on a day like today. You look at the flags, the american flags over by the rink. Beautiful. And those members of the military. Its a good day to remember, this isnt just a day off from school. Right. This is a time to think about the men and women who have served this country so bravely over the years. So true. And you see Service Members out there with their families and remember the sacrifices their families make so we can have what we have. Well talk more about that throughout the morning. Also, lets get to our top story. Its a nasty winter storm once again. Snow and accidents are piling up in wisconsin, michigan and minnesota, and temperatures are plunging. Dylan dreyer is bundled up in forest lake, minnesota. Hi, dylan, good morning. Reporter good morning, matt. Always bundled up. This is day two of the snow and ice here in forest lake, minnesota. The ice covering the roads is responsible for hundreds of accidents across the state, and sadly, is the cause of at least two deaths. Now, parts of the rockies and the upper midwest are now covered in a foot of snow, but its early november, so its all going to melt away quickly, right . Not quite. Belowfreezing temperatures are here to stay for a long, long time. Much of the nations midsection is already frozen with minnesota getting the worst of it monday. Now back. Straighten the wheels out a little bit. Reporter in the twin cities, vehicles stranded, a semi truck jackknifed off a highway, Police Reporting hundreds of accidents statewide. South of minneapolis, entire neighborhoods blanketed by snow. But despite blizzard conditions, some School Districts remained open. I just wanted to stay in bed. Reporter parts of wisconsin were slammed by up to 18 inches of snow monday. More expected today. In south dakota, snow plows ruled the roads as residents dusted off their shovels and scrapers. For me, its a little early, but theres not much we can do. Reporter as the storm moved east overnight, parts of michigan pummeled with heavy snow. More than a foot is expected before its over. With nonstop snow and talk of a prethanksgiving polar vortex, people across the country are wondering if this winter could be just as brutal as last years that saw recordlow temperatures and snowfall totals across the midwest. Already this year, more than a foot of snow has fallen in multiple cities six weeks before the official start of winter. Now, eventually, the snow will stop falling, but the temperatures wont. In fact, overnight lows will drop down into the Single Digits and beyond, and afternoon highs, especially around here, wont get above freezing for at least two weeks. And al, its not just here. The whole countrys going to get cold. Thats right, and its going to be stretching from the pacific northwest, dylan, all the way to the southeast. Show you exactly whats going on. Weve got snow right now making its way toward the u. P. Of michigan, milwaukee as well, going to be looking at some light snow and rain and then change over to snow as it turns colder. Snowfall amounts, were looking at another 12 to 15 inches of snow through the u. P. Of michigan and into parts of northern wisconsin. And then theres the cold plunge. Rapid city, it feels like 13 right now. Grand isle feels like 2 below. St. Louis is going to feel like 39 right now, kansas city. But ahead of the system, memphis, its 60. Its 66 in houston, but by wednesday, look at these temperatures. Feeling like 34 in san antonio, huntsville 33, 19 in chicago. It gets even worse as we get on into thursday. Kansas city, youll feel like 12, denver 4 below. And by friday, that chill stretches from boston, where it will feel like 31, down to atlanta, 21, houston feels like 36 degrees. And guys, this cold air will be in place and be reinforced for at least two weeks. All right, al. Thank you very much, we think. Well, the last ebola patient here in the u. S. Is heading home this morning after being declared free of the virus. Dr. Craig spencer became infected while in guinea, but his symptoms developed only after he returned to new york city. Nbc National Correspondent kate snow is at Bellevue Hospital this morning. Kate, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. For the first time in months, no one with ebola is being treated at an american hospital. Bellevue hospital here says 33yearold Craig Spencer is ebolafree. He heads home later this morning. [ sirens ] its been 19 days since an ambulance delivered dr. Craig spencer to the hospital, another example of american medical care beating this deadly disease with the help of blood donated by a survivor. Happy to give dr. Spencer plasma that he needs. Reporter today the hospital says dr. Spencer poses no Public Health risk, a stark contrast to the fear when he was first diagnosed. Should sit home, you know . Reporter spencer rode the subway, went bowling, ate at a meatball shop and took an uber car before coming down with a 100. 3degree fever. Ebola is very difficult to contract. Being on the same subway car or living near a person with ebola does not in itself put someone at risk. Reporter local officials scrambled to reassure new yorkers no one would get sick, and so far, no one has, but those fears also led to new york and new jersey imposing mandatory quarantines for Health Care Workers returning from west africa, and that, of course, led to a nurse, first seen in a tent, who went on to wage a fight against quarantines that had everybody talking. My job is not to represent her, its to represent the people of new jersey. For halloween, i handed out about 1,000 loose m ms with my bare hands. Reporter late last night, the 21day monitoring period for kaci hickox ended. She and her boyfriend plan to visit boston, baltimore, and maybe new york, before settling in a new place in southern maine. Its unclear where dr. Spencer will head from here. His fiancee has been at their apartment. She, too, has been under quarantine, and the Health Care Workers who have been treating him here, theyll now be in that 21day monitoring period. That will extend into december. Savannah . All right, kate snow. Thank you very much. Matt . Savannah, thank you very much. Lets turn to politics now. Its been one week since the midterm elections, but the race for 2016 is already heating up. Former president george w. Bush told savannah that his brother, jeb, knows he can do the job. This as president obama deals with an array of challenges during his trip to asia, including a facetoface with russian president Vladimir Putin. Chuck todd is moderator of meet the press and author of the stranger barack obama in the white house. Hey, chuck, good morning. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. Lets talk about the president s. Its nice to get a change of scenery after a big whooping. Yes. Hes in asia after the apec summit, wants to project an air of strength for the United States, but hes coming off a big loss. He is, but in many ways, getting out of the country is the easiest thing to do. He did a similar thing after the last midterm shellacking, so in some ways, hes thrown himself into Foreign Policy. But look, Foreign Policy aint going so hot for him these days, whether its the facetoface showdowns with putin, where there was that uncomfortable moment earlier today, or yesterday, or whats going on, of course, with isis. And so, weve got one president licking his wounds in barack obama. Does that force Vladimir Putin to lick his chops a little bit . Does he sense weakness . I think hes always thought he has sensed weakness in him, but i think at the same time, the president has tried very hard not to play into that stereotype too much, because he knows that putin sort of almost loves the theatrics so much so the way barack obama hates theatrics. Lets talk about 2016. George w. Bush told savannah here on the show yesterday that he knows, his brother knows he can do the job, but a lot of people are asking the question, can jeb bush win primaries in conservative states . What are you hearing in washington . From what i understand is, if he runs, the people around him and even he is on this idea that he wouldnt even try to be winning some of these more conservative primaries, that if he got into the race, it would be a very general election campaign. Think of the way Rudy Giuliani promised to do that. Wait a second, that brings up a bad memory, because he didnt do so well. No, he didnt, but they believe they cant win in places like iowa or the very conservative, where theres going to be a whole bunch of other conservatives. Hes got two issues that are so unpopular, his stance on immigration, his stance on education. It is just like pouring gasoline on a fire with conservatives. Do you think hes going to run . My gut still says no. Lets talk about barack obama. Your new book is called the stranger, and you analyze what his legacy might be. And you write that in the foreseeable future he will be a president whose potential wasnt realized. He came to washington promising to bridge the political divide, change the discourse. Has that been his biggest failure . I think when you look at it, that was the great promise of barack obama. The guy in 2004 showed up at the convention, he was the one that was going to break this polarization. When he leaves the white house, were going to have 24 straight years of this red versus blue. I think he will admit some day thats his greatest disappointment, and thats what this books about, sort of the struggles he had to change washingt washington. Did he go washington more than he changed it. He ran as a stranger six years ago and now that word stranger is seen as a negative for him. I think thats right. Chuck todd, thank you very much. Congratulations again on the book. Lets go to natalie and the other top stories of the morning. Good morning to you, matt and chuck. We begin with the fight against isis and the syrian town at the center of the battle is kobani. Nbcs chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, has seen the fighting there firsthand and he joins us now from the turkish border. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, natalie. Kobani has become a symbol in the war against isis. The militants are determined to take the city, yet, its Still Holding on, and we finally managed to get into kobani. The center of kobani is no more. A ghostly testament to the price this syrian town is paying for standing up to isis. But the town isnt abandoned. Its kurdish people, men and women, have taken up arms and have been holding out for two months. They run through intersections to avoid enemy snipers or stay off the dangerous streets by tunneling through walls. Osi ma, 34 years old, is one of the top field commanders. Many of the frontline fighters here are women. They say the islamic fanatics from isis are afraid to be killed by a woman. A dishonor the militants believe could cost them a spot in paradise. Osi ma doesnt believe that. They are afraid because of our conviction and our strength, she says. Our female comrades arent scare of isis. She took us to kobanis city hall, now a frontline position. She says there were about 40 isis fighters just in these rooms here. So, its not that theyre fighting between buildings and across streets, but room to room. The people of kobani have shown that they will fight to the last man and woman. So many other towns have collapsed as soon as isis militants arrived. Not kobani. Natalie . Richard engel, great reporting there along the turkish border. The former navy s. E. A. L. Who says he fired the shots that killed Osama Bin Laden believes u. S. Military leaders did not want the al qaeda leader taken alive, but robert oneil also didnt think he would come home alive after their 2011 raid in pakistan. The more we trained on it, the more we realized, this is going to be a oneway mission. Were going to go and not come back. Were going to die when the house blows up, were going to die when he blows up, or were going to be there too long and were going to get arrested by the pakistanis and spend the rest of our short lives in a pakistan prison. Well, others have disagreed with oneills version of events. He tells his version in the man who killed Osama Bin Laden airing tonight at 10 00 on fox newschannel, and Robert Oneill will be our guest here on today this friday. A south korean court today found the captain of that capsized ferry guilty of negligence and sentenced him to 36 years in jail. Lee jun suk was on trial over the killing along with the chief engineer of homicide who was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison. More than 300 people died when that overloaded ferry capsized last april. A river of slowmoving lava has finally reached a rural town on hawaiis big island, consuming its first home. Plumes of smoke could be seen for miles. No one was hurt. At least 50 residents in the projected path have been urged to evacuate, but right now, Officials Say there are no other homes in imminent danger. And in our latest installment of crazy animal videos, something you dont see every day. Take a look at this deer in ohio. He got caught with his head in the candy jar, literally, after running around almost a week with that pumpkin on its head, the plastic pumpkin neighbo. Neighbors have been trying to help the poor deer for days, couldnt seem to catch up with it. On monday, with the help of volunteers armed with a jigiant net, they got the deer and removed the pumpkin head, and the poor deer ran into the woods, probably anxious to get a meal. And they got a couple uneaten kitkats. Whatevers at the bottom of the pumpkin. Makes me sad. I know, poor thing. Poor thing. Nice when you find candy under a buck. You just juxtaposed the punch line from another joke there, didnt you . Way to go. Not easy and the other joke you couldnt tell. Anyway, lets show you what weve got going on. Along the east coast, spectacular weather today ahead of this front. Wet weather, though, stretching from the great lakes all the way down into the gulf coast. The cooler air makes its way even into the pacific northwest. Seattle today windy and 43 degrees. 67 and cool in los angeles. Look for a high of only 23 degrees today in denver. Thats already probably reached, and its going to continue to drop during the day today. Were going to get to your local drop during the day today. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in th so right now if you get the 15 gig plan, well double the data and make it 30 gigs for the same price 30 gigs . Wow thats a lot. You dont have to do that for me. Its the same plan for everyone. Families. Businesses. Whoever. Riiiiight. yelling no celebrity treatment here yelling really isnt any celebrity treatment. Just a normal guy, getting a great deal. Were just saying it loudly for some reason. Get 30 gigs of data to share with family or your business. Switch to at t, buy a new smartphone and get a 150 dollar credit per line. Good morning, im meteorologist bill henley after a cloudy and foggy start, we will see skies turn partly sunny and a nice warm up on this veterans day. Into the 60s top. Few clouds tonight and wont be as cold tomorrow. Say goodbye to the 60s as the temperatures tumble. Early friday, see a few showers and cold start to the weekend saturday afternoon 44 degrees and a chance of rain later on sunday and the wet weather f continues into monday. Have a great day. Weather. Al, thank you. Now to a startling, new report revealing exactly what happened when comedienne joan rivers suffered a fatal complication during a medical procedure. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk has more on that. Steph, good morning. Good morning. This report lists what it calls multiple failures. Among the most alarming, when riverss vital signs started to drop, the medical team did not respond fast enough. Lawyers for Melissa Rivers say she is outraged. The report identifies a list of mistakes the day joan rivers walked in for a routine procedure. An ear, nose and throat doctor performing the procedure did not actually have privileges to work at the clinic, while another member of the team took cell phone photos of rivers after she was sedated. Levels of the drug propofol, used for sedation, were inconsistently recorded, and riverss weight, which could have been a guide for how much propofol to use, was never measured. The report conducted by the department of health and Human Services says doctors failed to react fast enough to a drop in vital signs. At least 15 minutes later, the comedienne went into cardiac arrest. There were two kind of conflicting reports about when she actually went into cardiopulmonary arrest. So, all of the details are a bit murky, and thats exactly what you dont want in a medical record. Reporter in a response, Yorkville Endoscopy said it immediately submitted and implemented a plan of correction that addressed all issues raised. The clinic remains open, while the physicians no longer practice there. As for Melissa Rivers, her lawyers say she will direct her efforts towards ensuring that what happened to her mother will not occur again with any other patient. Because of the mistakes listed in the report, yorkville lost its medicare and medicaid funding, but if the clinic passes a surprise inspection in the coming months, they will get that funding back. Savannah . A lot of disturbing details in that report. Stephanie, thank you so much. Look whos here. Tamron hall is in. Carson still working on the voice. And what are you talking about in the orange room . This is very interesting. So, listen, a lot of people woke up this morning and the name joseph smith was spiking on twitter. Whos that . The founder of the mormon church. Oh. So, hes, of course, died 170 years ago, but hes now trending as a result of an essay actually released by the mormon church. Now, the essay itself altered the fundamental belief that joseph smith wed one woman, when he actually w