We should note were spending today with our families, actually, so weve taped this show so we can also start the new year with all of you. Yes. Yeah, we do have a packed morning ahead, including a guide to the year ahead in politics, your money and your health. And then the movies, the music and tv shows were all looking forward to in 2018. But let us begin with a check of the mornings top stories. Nbcs Peter Alexander is in washington this morning with them. Hi, peter, good morning. Reporter hey, savannah, good morning to you. Sadly, we begin today with a deadly plane crash in costa rica. Ten americans were on board a small private plane that went down shortly after takeoff. Nbcs Tammy Lightner has the latest. Reporter aviation officials will be back at the crash site to determine what happened. All of this comes as the first victims are being identified. Burning debris from the wreckage was discovered soon after the single engine plane went down in an area near costa ricas pacific coast, popular with international tourists. On board, two local crew members and ten americans. Local Officials Say all of them died in the crash. Among the victims, a family of five from scarsdale, new york. Bruce and Irene Steinberg and their sons, matthew, william and zachary. Authorities say the plane belonging to nature air took off from punta eastly to airport shortly after noon on sunday, heading to san jose, the capital city, when something went terribly wrong. According to witnesses, the plane suddenly flipped in the air, before slamming into a mountain near the airport. In september, a plane from the same company also crashed into a river in costa rica. Two people died. One of them was an american. Peter . All right, tammy, thank you very much for that. To colorado now, where a sheriffs deputy was killed and several others were injured during a shootout while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Nbcs Steve Patterson is in littleton, colorado. Steve, good morning. Reporter peter, the sheriff here is calling this an ambush, saying his deputies were responding to that disturbance call, and walked instead into a hail of gunfire. Deputies in colorado unexpectedly coming under fire. We have one deputy down inside the apartment. All of us have been hit at least once. Reporter sunday morning, Sheriff Deputies responding to a disturbance call in an apartment complex in suburban denver. Within minutes, the suspect opening fire. Police say the gunman, 37yearold matthew reel, a former soldier and lawyer, used a long gun to fire more than 100 rounds. All of them were shot very, very quickly. Reporter reel was killed by responding officers, but not before shooting seven and killing 29yearold Deputy Zachary parish. Among the wounded authorities, deputy jeff pelley. This is a tragic day well be feeling for a long time. Reporter the Community Coming together to honor the officer lost in the line of duty. Harris leaves behind a wife and two small daughters. Investigators are trying to piece together a motive here, saying the shooter was growing more and more unhinged, posting angry rants against police online. Peter . Steve patterson in colorado today. Steve, thank you. A quick check now on the weather. Most of the country still in a deep freeze. You can look out the window in most places and see for yourselves. Record lows expected in the northeast. It should be just a little bit warmer tomorrow and wednesday. Lakeeffect snow will bring another 2 to 4 inches for parts of the great lakes and upstate new york. Expect more rain showers for florida for much of the day today and tomorrow. Should be decent weathortbl gam expected in florida over the course of this day. We will get your loca volunteer at neighborhoodofgood. Com. State farm. Thats a look at todays top stories. Savannah, lets send it back to you in new york. At the start of the year, we like to pull out our crystal ball and look ahead to the big topics well be talking about in the months ahead. And obviously, politics is right at the top of the list. Who better to talk about the issues that are going to dominate the conversation than chuck todd and nicolle wallace. Guys, good morning. Happy new year. Happy new year. So lets talk about the president , the white house, the agenda. This is a year in office now hamost had. Everybody says the Office Changes you. Has it changed him, or has he changed the office . Oh, hes changed the office. He is in this war to see who is going to change who. I think he is among he might be the firstve that has changed the office more than the office has changed him, at least in my lifetime. And listen, to be blunt, hee presidency, not shrink the presidency. But i think by monitoring his twitter feed alone, he has used it for his smallness and his pettiness in a way that even his own staff wishes he wouldnt. What are the agenda items . Obviously, there were some big legislative tickets, some were successful, some werent in 2017. I think 2018 is about survival. I mean, i think the agenda item is about survival. If youre a republican incumbent in congress, what does it take to just give me something to campaign on . It may be trying to fix the holes that will be inevitable in the tax bill. But it really is more about political survival. This is an election year, right . Now that were in the even number, everybody in washington is thinking about their own political survival. So youre not going to get a lot done. Its more going to be trying to i think hes going to try to do infrastructure. Hes going to try to do some things. But this is about political survival. Speaking of political survival, the russia investigation looming large over everything. Where do you think mueller goes from here . I know the areny told him that perhaps it would actually be a quick wrapup. But doesnt really seem that way. So the three things that donald trump cant control are the Mueller Investigation and where it heads, the me too movement thats now knocking at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, and the political destiny of people who arent trump but run on trumpism. His best hope is to focus on the things he can control, which is to grow some affinity for governing, because bob mueller has shown so far he is undeterred by the attacks from the right wing media, and he is focused like a laser on his charge, which is investigating potential collusion with russia. Well, theres a legal issue. Thats muellers brief. Thats what hes got to do. Hes investigating, going to determine whether or not any charges are warranted and what there are. Obviously, hes had some indictments. Then theres the picmifications legal investigation. Does russia matter to voters . Are they tuning it out . Look, theyre tuning out the incremental. But they tune in for the big moments. The mike flynn indictment and the flip, we just noticed it that was a moment everybody paid attention to. Pleaded guilty, cooperating with prosecutors. Okay. So its sort of they Pay Attention in chunks. I think the most the biggest unknown that im curious about, like a year from now, what im going to be wondering is, did the russia probe morph into a referendum on impeachment . Did it start that conversation . And did it sort of become i think its possible, the idea of impeaching the president or not impeaching the president becomes one of the two or three most important issues of the campaign in 2018. And so thats how to me russia morphs into this question. And, of course, that all rises and falls on how republicans in Congress View their own political fortunes, whether they stick with donald trump or decide its too politically perilous for them any more. Where do you think its going to play out . I mean, weve got the 2018 mid terms upon us. Listen, republicans have been terrified of the trump base, with good reason. The trump base loves donald trump on substance and on style. But that love doesnt transfer to republicans. So i think republicans should make the calculation that World Leaders have made. The uk. Some of the arab leaders have said, we will work with donald trump, when our interests are aligned. But when theyre not, well distance ourselves. So far, very few republicans have taken that approach. But i think to survive 2018, they might need to consider it. It would be quite something if the balance of power were to shift and the democrats were to regain the house or the senate. Is it in the realm of possibility . Oh, its very much in the realm. I think 2017, we saw the wave was a consistent build, it wasnt just something that happened. Oh, alabama happened or virginia happened. It was a consistent build. And you saw the president s outrage firing up democrats. It almost cost him house races in april and almost cost him in june. And then the fall comes and its accumulating. And democrats are more fired up. So the 2017 success means better candidates in 2018, more money for democrat. I think now its an upset if republicans dont lose control. Chuck and nicole, well have a lot to talk about around this table. Happy new year. Happy new year. And hoda, over to you. Savannah, thank you. Now to your bottom line. The economic picture in 2018. Jim cramer, the host of cnbcs mad money, is here. Jim, happy new year. Happy new year to you all right. Its been a very, very good year with the dow up 20 , the 18 . I mean, would you call this in jim cramer words, a good year, great year, alltime year . One of the best . One of the best. A lot of people did well, because it was broadbased. It wasnt just a group of small stocks like just facebook and amazon. A lot of stocks went up. And if you had your retirement money in the market, wow, youre going to have a better, longer, better time. So what we are watching it go like this. Is it going to keep going like this or level off . How about we go a little bit more like this . Okay. We still go up but dont have that fantastic arc. Corporations make money, yay, yay. But what about will this trickle down, do you think, to people who work in these corporations who are making more dough . I think in selected industries. But i do believe a lot of the excess capital is still going to return to shareholders. We all hope that what happens is that people start opening factories. But i do think that incrementally well get some hiring, and thats a positive. All right. So the Unemployment Rate is at 4 . I mean, and that seems like a low number to me. Is that as low as it can go . We can go a little bit lower, and theyll continue to be hiring. But at a certain point, we are at full employment. Its a good time when it comes to looking for a job. Okay. I like that you talk about good things. You seem like thats what youre about. What are you excited about for the next year . Okay. I think that this is a year where america is actually going to regain its kind of psyche about how were good again. We make things better. We make things cheaper. Were going to stop thinking that were secondrate versus other countries. And thats because we have great natural resources. Weve got low interest rates. And weve got ceos who are actually doing a good job. We should stop putting hate on g to realize that coming up in 2018. Its finally ten years after the darn great recession. It took that long for grandparents, parents, whatever, the millennials, great, great grandparents. You know what i mean. I dont want to bring you down, but what are you pessimistic about, concerned about in 2018 . I fear that the federal reserve, the keeper of low interest rates, will hear everything i just said and say, weve got to take rates up higher. There are people who are way too excited. And that shouldnt be the case. Lets why dont we just have a good time where we let people get hired . All right. Finally, you end on one big, bold prediction for 2018. What do you have for me, jim . Okay. We are going to be in a space race to go to mars, to put a man on mars. And were going to yes and were going to find out by the end of this fabulous year thatoeinis going to beat elon musk. Thats my prediction. Boeing is going to beat elon musk . Yes, you can beat elon musk at one thing. Were going to cue that sound bite if it happens. Savannah, over to you. On several hot spots across the globe on this new years day. And for that we turn to nbcs chief Foreign Affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell. Good morning. No shortage of crises for you to cover and for all of us to watch in 2018. But north korea has to be at the top of the list. Absolutely. The top of the seeing now is for the first time, rex tillerson, the secretary of state, who has been kind of an endangered species in washington, but seeming to drill down and say, we want to meet with them, we will meet with them to talk about the weather. There are no preconditions. They dont have to get rid of their nuclear programs. And saying that the president is on board with this. This, after the president had back in october completely undercut his diplomacy by saying, dont waste your time, rex, in a tweet. Like both kim jongun and President Trump were walking up to the rhetorical brink. Do you think that changes this year . I think that general mattis, the secretary of defense, really wants to pull it back from the brink. So the question now is, will the north koreans stop firing off missiles . If they do stop firing off missiles, there is a chance for real diplomacy. There is backchannel diplomacy. Thats what weve learned. Whether it is fruitful depends both on this unpredictable north korean dictator and unpredictable american president. Yeah. Is he going to lose his temper again and call him rocket man and give a speech like he gave to the United Nations or talk about fire and fury or is he going to let diplomacy work . Well find out about that. And, of course, the olympics in south korea, very close by. Exactly. Lets talk about russia. You know, weve already talked about the Russian Investigation with chuck and nicole a few minutes ago. Lets talk about russia and what putin is doing on the world stage, and whether putin feels emboldened. Totally emboldened. This is the First American president , democratic or republican, in generations ever that in my memory, because of the cold war and everything that came after the cold war, who has been praising the russian leader. Never criticizing him. And that raises a lot of suspicions, as youve already discussed. So now he feels so emboldened, he doesnt feel pressure on ukraine. He doesnt feel pressure on syria. To the contrary, he now thinks hes ruling the roost. Hes running middle east policy, hes running syrian policy, and theres no effective pushback from the United States. Well see what happens this year with that. And you mentioned the middle east. Big change at the end of the year when President Trump said that the u. S. Would recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. And, i mean, that is already having ramifications. How do you see it playing out . Well, i dont think i dont see it playing out well. Because, first of all, it means delaying for months, if not even longer any kind of middle east initiative. It would have been different if they had put on the table their middle east proposal and said, and heres the big, you know, prize. Jerusalem, netanyahu, make some concessions. They basically gave away the biggest prize by the author supposedly of art of the deal without anything in return. It has isolated the United States. We had before the end of the year the entire United Nations security council, 141, lined up against nikki haley and the brits and the french and everyone else saying, this is isolating the United States. It is a terrible posture to take. You are rejecting u. N. Resolutions. And the u. S. Has nothing to say in response. We live in momentous times around the globe. Andrea, glad you are with us this year, as always. Have a peaceful new year. And a happy new year. Happy new year to you. Hoda, over to you. Savannah, thanks. Now to your health, from pain to fitness, there are all kinds of new breakthroughs on the horizon for 2018. So why dont we turn to our nbc medical correspondent, dr. John torres for more. Hello. How are you doing . 2018 is hopeful. There are a lot of changes that are ahead. And one of the big categories thats been capturing a lot of headlines, especially this year, is how people are managing their pain. And that you think things are going to be different . You can see a huge change because of the opioid epidemic. One of the things youll notice is opioids last is the new mantra. When you go to the emergency room in the past, we kneejerk react and had said let me give you percocet or vicodin. Now thats the last thing well do. Well try Everything Else first. So are doctors all on board with that . Or is it something thats going to take time to work its way into the system . Doctors are on board with it. Patients, not yet. And so its going to take time, because theyre going to be asking for it. On top of that, you might notice also that you get a pain contract, whether you go to the emergency room or you go to your doctor. And youre going to sign a contract thats going to say essentially, i understand if i get opioids, percocet or vicodin, im only going to take what i get, only get it from you as my doctor. Im not going to ask for refills unless i need them and might undergo urine drug screening. So youve got to be an honest broker. Exactly. So another thing were looking forward to is a new kind of modern health membership. So youre not talking about just going to the gym. Exactly. No, youre not talking about that. So instead of going to a health clinic, youre going to be a health member. And this means youre going to have something to do with your own health care itself. So these new offices ford is a big one on the west coast. What you do is, when you go in there, there is a lot of technology that gives you all of the results on the spot. And the doctor can plan with you what you do going forward. Plus, you can take wearables home, can detect your Blood Pressure, glucose levels, get that information back to the doctor realtime, and they can go ahead and adjust what they need to. You think its about time for that. Often one doc doesnt know what the other is doing. Takes two weeks to get your lab tests back. Give us cuttingedge things well see in 2018. Cryotherapy is going to be a big one. Basically a nitrogen mist. Subzero temperatures. It brings your body temperature down a