Get the company to hack into the iphone of this San Bernardino shooter. The epic battle over principle, privacy and protecting america. And speaking out. Why the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson is furious about the new o. J. Simpson mini series and one star in particular. Today is thursday, february 18, 2016. From nbc news this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1 a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today. Im Savannah Guthrie. We have willie in for matt this week. A lot of people are talking about the new poll. And if it holds up it is a real shift in the race. A lot of eyebrows raised. 28 for ted cruz moving into first place over donald trump. What is told by many other National Polls where trump had a big lead. We have a new poll for South Carolina to talk about. Our top story, president obama plans to travel to cuba next month. Ron allen is on white house duty this morning. Good morning to you. Reporter the white house is expected to announce the president s trip to cuba sometime later today. It has been just over a year since mr. Obama said he would begin normalizing relations. Many critics are saying it is much too soon to reward the castro regime. A Senior Administration official telling nbc news that president obama will visit cuba in march marking the first time in 88 years a sitting president will visit cuba. These 50 years have shown isolation has not worked. It is time for a new approach. Began after facetoface meetings. The pair announcing in late 2014 that they would begin normalizing ties. Over time it is possible for us to turn the page and develop a new relationship between our countries. Reporter last august the American Embassy was open. Since then secretary of state john kerry travelled to the island and this week signed a deal to resume air traffic. Still there are hurdles. Tourists cannot visit the island and trade cannot resume until an embargo is lifted. Ted cruz and marco rubio were quick to pounce on the announcement. Rubio saying he would not go if he were president. The problem is they are not just communist dictatorship but i am saddened to hear i wasnt surprised. Reporter mr. Obama said he wouldnt go to cuba unless there was progress on human rights. Unclear whether that will happen but the number of dissidents arrested in jail by the cuban regime is increasing. Thank you. You heard some republican candidates talking about cuba. Our new poll shows ted cruz leading nationally. We have the complete coverage of that race beginning with nbc National Correspondent peter alexander. Reporter donald trump is holding on to a commanding lead here in north carolina. Nationally the race reached a new turning point. The wall street journal poll shows ted cruz leading donald trump. Here in South Carolina ted cruz the sounds you are hearing is washington, d. C. Reporter with the gop lineup shrinking after the New Hampshire primary the wall street journal poll shows dramatic shift from last month. Trump dropping seven. I think somebody at wall street journal doesnt like me. And yet he tells fibs, lies. Reporter the trump cruz feud escalating. I am pro choice. We cannot trust donald trump with these serious decisions. Reporter trumps lawyers call it defamatory insisting he opposes abortion. I have had Great Success in business, Great Success with things we do. I dont know if we will have a lawsuit but we want to keep somebody honest. Reporter trump still dominates with cruz behind. Marco rubio is picking up speed and another critical endorsement from governor nikki haley. We say that every day is a gate great day in South Carolina. Ladies and gentlemen, if we elect marco rubio every day will be a great day in america. Reporter not a great day for jeb bush who 24 hours earlier told nbc news haleys endorsement would be the most powerful in the state. Its all been decided apparently. The pundits have made it all decided. We dont have to vote it is all finished. I should stop campaigning maybe. Its all done. Thats not how democracy works. You dont see every rly. Jeb bush chest bumping his brother back stage after w. s endorsement part of a new campaign video. Jeb heard saying thanks, i love you. I dont think the president was ready for that chest bump. Hillary clinton and Bernie Sanders working overtime to Court Minority voters ahead of saturdays nevada caucus. Tonight they faceoff in las vegas at a town hall event. Andrea mitchell is already in position. Good morning. Reporter with reports that clintons top donors have complained about a grass roots effort Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders facing off in nevada, a state she needs to win after losing to sanders in New Hampshire. Hillary clinton and Bernie Sanders will be appealing to nevada voters during a with just two days before the caucuses clintons lead has disappeared. A new poll has her just one point over sanders. Nationally things could be getting worse. Once holding a commanding lead among women clintons favorability is shrinking just six points ahead compared to her double digit lead a couple weeks ago. Both candidates are reaching out to africanamerican and latino voters. Clinton on the south side of chicago focussing on racial barriers and the problem of Police Violence against minorities. She also accused sanders of wavering support for president obama in 2012. Even tried to have someone run against him. Reporter sanders looking ahead to South Carolina. We have a real good shot in nevada and i believe we are reporter hoping to pull off an upset and show he can win in states with more minorities than predominantly white New Hampshire. I think on election day people will be surprised about how well we do. Reporter with the race heading to the south and west clinton is releasing a new ad aimed at nevadas hispanic voters taking on the issue of deportation. And just a few hours ago clinton stopped along the strip to greet workers on the overnight shift at her hotel. Whoever wins saturday in nevada will have a lot of momentum Going Forward in South Carolina and beyond to super tuesday, what is clearly a prolonged primary battle. Lets turn to mark halpern. Lets talk polls. Here is what we see, 36 donald trump far and away the leader and this tight race for second or third. Is South Carolina poised to be the state that winnowathize field . Donald trump is way ahead in our poll and other poll. The real match between marco rubio and jeb bush. The former protege. The two of them before i thought maybe both make it out. Whoever is ahead here in South Carolina on saturday is probably going to get to go on into the finals. Whoever is behind can get out quite quickly. We have the new nbc wall street journal poll showing donald trump not leading two points behind ted cruz with marco rubio at 17. Showed trump with a lead from 15 to 20 points. What do you read into the number in terms of ted cruz at least . Reporter the nbc wall street journal poll is a good poll normally but it can be off. It doesnt reflect the fact that trump does have the lead. Ted cruz being hit by donald trump and marco rubio has moved up. He has consolidated a lot of support in the conservative wing of the party. I think no doubt ted cruz while still behind trump probably. Lets talk about the democrats saturday a caucus in nevada. We have seen polling suggesting it is a dead heat there. How do you think Hillary Clinton has changed her message in the wake of what happened in New Hampshire . She has honed in on the message that andrea talked about that Bernie Sanders is not practical. Obama and people shouldnt vote for him because his idea cant be made into law and reality. That is a very practical message. Does it appeal to peoples hopes and dreams . That is still an open question. Andrea is quite right that saturdays caucuses are very important for momentum into South Carolina and into march we see a very long protracted clintb saners Clint ClintonClinton Sanders battle. Thank you. Now to a desperate hunt for dangerous Radioactive Material missing in iraq. Officials fearing it could be used as a weapon by terrorists. Reporter Iraqi Security forces have been searching day and night for months for this case the size of a laptop holding potentially deadly Radioactive Material. Matter of hours. The iraqis are worried it could fall into the wrong hands. Its a nightmare scenario, making a socalled dirty bomb. An Iraqi Government document confirms a highly dangerous Radioactive Material was stolen from a Storage Facility linked to Weatherford Oil company in november. Weatherford oil said we do not own, operate or control sources or the bunker and that a Different Company held the material. Nbc has not been able to reach them for comment. We have not seen indication of material been acquired by any obviously, we continue to take these reports very seriously. Reporter the state Department Said there was no evidence that isis pulled off the theft. At this point the iraqis dont know who did. Security sources told reuters it looked like an inside job. Apple is getting support in its industry in a fight against a court order to hack into a phone used by a San Bernardino shooter, a request that apple opposes and is fighting. Miguel almaguer has the latest. An iphone like this one that locks after a set period of time and requires a four digit code to open it. This is what the fbi cant get past. Apple says if it helps create a dangerous precedent for everyone who owns one of these. Two months after the terror attack that left 14 dead in bernanke San Bernardino the iphone is setting security. I see the fbis point, but you can see apples point of view. Reporter with fbi investigators unable to unlock the federal judge ordered apple to create new software to unlock the iphone so it can be scoured for evidence. Justice has to be served. Peoples lives were lost y. Feel that is the moral thing to do. Reporter apple says they have been assisting the fbi with plans to fight the judges order. In an open letter tim cook says encryption is something he says they donot have and something we consider too dangerous to create. Privacy advocates say building the master key to by Pass Security will be exploited and puts your privacy at risk. Google ceo also weighed in on the issue wednesday tweeting we give Law Enforcement access to database on valid legal orders but that is different from enabling hacking to devices and data. The fbi believes they will lose the phone data permanently after ten failed attempts to open it. For family members of the victims there is no debate. When you are dealing with National Security that should come first. Peoples lives matter. While the debate rages on and court legislators say law can be produced to prevent phone companies from protecting data in cases like this. We want to know what viewers think. Should apple help fbi unlock the shooters iphone . A big debate on that. A strange story out of los angeles where a hospital paid ransom to hackers that apparently were holding Computer Network hostage. It paid about 17,000 when it fell victim to ransom wear. Bit coin is online currency that is very hard to trade. Hospital ceo called it the most efficient way to end the problem. Neither Law Enforcement nor hospital gave indication of who might be behind the attack. A little strange. Lets turn to al roker. We have warmth coming up in the next several days. Today stretching from the plains upwards of 30 degrees above average. Look for records in denver. Stretching into el paso. Amarillo. And well see records in charleston, tallahassee, tampa, memphis and houston and that warmth spreading towards the east coast towards the end of the week. Temperatures climbing into the 80s throughout the southwest. As we head towards nashville, atlanta, jacksonville. Charlotte 66 and look at the northeast upwards of 40 to 50 degrees and 60s down into washington, d. C. By the end of were going to get upper 20s in the city. 30ish across long island. Lots of sunshine, a few patchy clouds early on. A bit on the breedsy side, upper 30s. Lawyer 20s tonight. Thats in the city. Well see teen its in suburbs. Maybe a round of snow showers tomorrow night. Saturday, 53, sunday, 50 and a shower. Watch a system tuesday and wednesday, looks mainly rain. Temperatures in the low 40s. Latest weather. 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Ahoy, mateys its full of things i love. And free of things i dont. Just like chex cereal. Its full of stuff we pirates need. No artificial flavors, and its glutenfree. Eat up, me hearties keep it down arrrr. All year long you worked hard to take care of business and take care of the people who matter most. So when your tax refund arrives, make it go a little further at walmart. From electronics, to home decor, even tires, get low prices on everything you need to get more fun out of your tax refund. Get 30 off every guest every ship in the caribbean but hurry, this offer wont last long come seek the Royal Caribbean book today at 1800royalcaribbean. Announcer this is breaking good morning, im darlene rodriguez. Its 7 26 on a thursday morning. Chopper 4 is over breaking news in new jersey. A pedestrian has been struck and killed on route 46. Kai simonsen has more details. Reporter darlene, good morning to you. We just got word from 6 30. Route 46 eastbound here in teterboro. Just on the north side of teterboro airport. This is where a pedestrian was struck and killed by an oncoming vehicle. You can see accident reconstruction is currently under way. Eastbound now closed between riser road. Traffic is starting to build. Lauren, whats the rest of the traffic looking like . Problems in new jersey. Garden state parkway after exit 135 shuts down two lanes. Delays in the southbound, northbound only back to the turnpike with rubber necking. Heading over to the lincoln tunnel, theres activity there you 45 minutes to get from the turnpike to the toll on the lincoln tunnel. Also the accident on the lower level of the queensboro bridge. And expect delays on a, c and d. Well take a quick break. Cloud, thinning out. Sunshine will prevail today. Youll see that on our day planner. Temperatures climbing to upper 30s. Look for a bit of a breeze 40 tomorrow, increasing clouds. Maybe or rain or snow shower overnight. Look at the afternoon temperature. 53. 50 on sunday. Could be another shower night. Then a coastal storm tuesday. Right now, looks like more rain than snow, darlene. Coming up on today show, five things you need to know about living longer and living better. Well have another update on the half hour. 7 30. Thursday morning, february 18, 2016. That is the view from the top of the rock. Ted cruz has inched ahead of donald trump nationally in our new nbc news wall street journal poll. Cruz first choice of 28 . Many candidates took part in town halls in South Carolina one topic of discussion, apples fight against court order by fbi to help unlock the iphone. I think security first. Anytime you are dealing with issu