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 esidents 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. Reporter warming relations began after facetoface meetings. The pair announcing in late 2014 that they would begin 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 anan 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 antiamerican. I am saddened to hear i wasnt surprised. Reporter mr. Obama said he wouldnt go to cuba unless there unclear whether that will happen but the number of dissidents arrested in jail by the cuban regime is ineasing. 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 is favoring. The sounds you are hearing is the sound of screams coming from washingtgt, d. C. 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 strere 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 lawsuits, Great Success in things we do. I dont know if we will have a lawsuit but we want to keep 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 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. Reporter here is something you dont see every day. Jeb bush chest bumping his vegas at a town hall event. Andrea mitchell is already in position. Good morning. Reporter with reports that clintons top donors have complainedbout a grass roots effort Hillary Clint 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 democratic town hall on msnbc. Caucuses clintons lead has disappeared. A newpoll has her just one point over sanders. Nationally things could be getting worse. Once holding a commanding lead among women clintons favorability is shrinking jus 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 going to do a lot, lot better in south calina. An upset and show he can win in states with more minorities than hampshire. I think on election day people will be surprised about reporter with the race heading to the south and west clinton is releasing a new ad aimed at nevadas hispanic deportation. And just a few hours ago clinton stopped along the strtr 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. Andrea mitchell in las vegas. 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 havehe new nbc wall street journal poll showing dona trump not leading two points behind ted cruz with marco rubio at 17. We talk about difference that 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 cononlidated 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 ccus 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. He didnt support president for him because his idea cant be madad into law and reality. That is a very practical message. Does it appeal to people hopes and dreams . That is still an open question. Andrea is quite right that satutuays caucuses are very important for momentum into South Carolina and into march we see a very long protracted clintb sanersclint Clinton Clinton 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 h he been searching day and night for months for this case the size of a laptop holding potentially deadly Radioactive Material. Exposure can cause death in a 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 dioactive material was stolen from a Storage Facility linked to Weatherford Oil company in november. Weatherfd 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 terrorist groups in the region. These repor very seriously. Reporter the state Department Said there was no evidence that isis pulled offff the theft. At this point the iraqis dont know who did. Security sources t td 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 le 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 ininstigators do that it could everyone who owns one of these. Two months after the terror attack that left 14 dead in bernankeburnSan Bernardino the iphone is setting off a debate over privacy and security. I see the fbis point, but view. Reporte with fbi investigators unle to unlock the federal judge ordered apple to create new software to unlock 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 creating a back door to by pass they donot have and something we consider too dangerous t t create. Privacy advocates say building the mastete key to by Pass Security will be exploited and puts your privacy at risk. Google ceo also weighed in on the issue wednesday tweetin 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 theyill 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 apple prepares for appeal in 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 sty out of los angeles where a hospital paid ransom to hackers that apparently were holding Computer Network hostage. It paid about 17,000 wn 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. Right now record warm weather upwards of 30 degrees above average. Look for records in denver. Stretching into el paso. Amarillo. And well see records in charleston, tallassee, tampa, memphis and houston and that warmth spreading towards the east coast towards the end of the ek. 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 wee going to get good morning to you. Mostly clear skies. A beautiful start to our thursday momoing. Weve been able to dial temperatures back into the 50s. Beautiful conditions await you here with a lot of sunshine into the Fort Lauderdale area. Clouds offshore. Theyll slowly bend in towards the beaches as we approach breezy, too. But in the mean time, a cool start at 58. 59 in Fort Lauderdale. 61. Afternoon. Breezy on the beache thatt your latest weather. Coming up a new controversy over the people versus o. Family is blasting the actor David Schwimmer. The Powerball Jackpot first this is today on nbc. A florida teenager busted r allegeding to be a doctor. Im going to share a photo of my eggo waffle when it pops up. Thats so interesting honey because im going to share a photo of my eggo waffle when it pops up. Leggo my eggo leggo my eggo answering machine hey leave a memeage. Hi, i know yououe there, cause i can see you. Im calling you to tell you to leggo my eggo anncr some things are too delicious to share. Golden crispy, warm and fluffy eggo waffle leggo my eggo. Thats a win. But imagine earning it twice. You can with the citi double cash card. It lets you earn cash back twice. Once when yoyobuy and again as you pay. Its cash back then cash back again. And thats a cash back winwin. The citi double caca card. The only card that lets you earncash back twice on everypurchase with 1 when youuy and 1 as you pay. With two ways to earn, if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Isist it time to let the real you shine through . Introducing otezla, apremilast. 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All year long you worked hard to take care of business and take care of the people who matter most. So when your tax refd arrives, make it do 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 ththcaribbean but hurry, this offer wont last long come seek the royal ribbean book today at 1800royalcaribbean. Live, this is nbc 6 south florida, news now. Good morning to you, im sheli niz. And im eric harryman. A crime at a local gas station camera. It happened just west of knob hill road in plantation. You can see this thief duck underneath the counter catching that clerk off guard. If you recognize that man youre asked to call police. The teen who allegedly crashed his familys porsche killing his friend is going to be charged as an adult. Detectivesay isiah medina who is the son of a venezuelan diplomat to the United Nations tested positive for drugs right after the crash. Only on 6 this morning, cops nab two young men who they say got some sticky fingers. Police arrested wesley valdidia and Salvador Hidalgo for reportedly targeting unlocked cars. Clear and cool is the theme this morning. Meteorologist Ryan Phillips with your first allt forecast. Plenty of sunshine across the skies here in to miami. No matter where you look in to south florida weve got sunshine and cool readings, too. Lauderdale. 61 in miami. There will be a gradual warmup into the mid 70s today. Turning breezy on the beaches but a beautiful afternoon. First alert forecast high of 76. We keep it into the mid 70s through the upcoming weekend. Lets check traffic with kelly. Traffic in southwest 7th reopened. But expect some delays as youre exiting off because of that one lane is still blocked off. Side. Our map, we have a brandnew also aroken down car blocking the right line on the dolphin expressway, 107th avenue. Thanks kelly. Well continue to follow all of with another update. 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 inn town halls in south c colina last night ahead of saturdays one topic of discussion, apples fight against court order by fbi to help unlock theiphone. I think security first. Anytime you are dealing with issues of security and Civil Liberties you have to balance them both. I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time, protect ourselves from terrorists. Apples argument is that the order sets dangerous precedent. Another sign of the Foreign Relations between u. S. And cuba. President obama plans to travel there next month. This will be the first visit to the island by sitting president since 1928. Fresh controversy tied to the people versus o. J. Simpson as a member of the brown family speaks out about the show. The sister of nicole brown o. J. Mini series and wishathize producers and cast uld have reached out to her family before putting the show together and shes directing some comments at one star i particular. The people versus o. J. Simpson drawing huge ratings and critical praise but not everyone is a fan. Tonya brown is upset with David Schwimmer who plays robert kardashian. Being a good person and a loyal friend is more important than being famous. It Means Nothing at all without a virtuous heart. Reporter schwimmer reportedly consulted with krisis jenner saying i will say people should have included family just tired of disrespect in our country. Both fx and schwimmer had no comment. Some real life players see the show