After Anderson and Kathy and Megyn and Bill signed off last night, the Senate came to a deal — by a vote of 89 to 8 — to avert a full dive over the fiscal cliff. The House meets this afternoon with a vote coming possibly today, or tomorrow before the new Congress convenes on Thursday. Voting began after 1:45amET with the Senate adjourning at 2:31am.

CNN International was covering the vote when at 1:50amET CNN/U.S. broke into a re-air of the Anderson Cooper Kathy Griffin New Year’s Eve special taking the feed anchored by John Vause with CNN Radio’s Lisa Desjardins on the phone from Capitol Hill. At 1:51am, Mara Schiavocampo broke into MSNBC’s coverage as the vote was going on with Mike Viqueira reporting from the Hill by phone. (Schiavocampo is back on the air anchoring the 10am hour). Patti Ann Browne broke into a re-air of FNC’s Megyn Kelly and Bill Hemmer New Year’s Eve special at 2:08am after the vote occurred. Correspondents Doug Mckelway and Chad Pergram reported from Washington.

NBC White House producer/correspondent Mike Viqueira is returning to Capitol Hill. He will still be covering politics on The Hill (and occasionally at the White House), but will also contribute to general assignment coverage. With Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker not going anywhere, and Peter Alexander joining the White House team, the beat became a bit crowded.

Viqueira had been covering politics the Obama administration for nearly four years, and before that was a Congressional producer.

After almost 4 years at the WH, its back to the Hill for me starting next week. But not before 1 last spot with Lester and @nbcnightlynews

— michael viqueira (@mikeviqueira) December 9, 2012

The cable news networks carried an event in the Rose Garden this morning during which Pres. Obama announced his nominee for the World Bank. But Obama also took the opportunity to discuss the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin when asked about it by NBC’s Mike Viqueira.

“When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. And I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. And they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness that it deserves.”

White House correspondents Mike Viqueira (NBC), Ed Henry (FOX), Norah O'Donnell (CBS) and Jake Tapper (ABC) ahead of Pres. Obama news conference, March 6, 2012.

Pres. Obama began his first news conference of the year acknowledging that this not just any Tuesday, it’s Super Tuesday. “I understand there are some political contests going on tonight,” said Obama, bBut I thought I’d start the day off by taking a few questions which I’m sure will not be political in nature.”

After an opening statement on a new housing program, Obama began taking questions from:

1. Mike Viqueira, NBC News – Syria, Iran

2. Jake Tapper, ABC News – Israel/Iran

3. Jackie Calmes, New York Times – Iran

4. Ed Henry, Fox News – Israel/Iran, Gas prices. Obama: “Ed, just from a political perspective, do you think the president of the United States going into re-election, wants gas prices to go up higher? Is there anybody here who thinks that makes a lot of sense?”

5. Aamer Madhani, USA Today – Limbaugh apology: “I don’t know what’s in Rush Limbaugh’s heart so I’m not going to comment on his apology.”

6. Jessica Yellin, CNN – Limbaugh/Fluke, Women voters

7. Lori Montenegro, Telemundo – Latino voters

8. Norah O’Donnell, CBS News – Super Tuesday, Romney criticisms

9. Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times – G8 Summit moving from Chicago to Camp David

10. Unidentified – Nato Summit, Koran Burning

Updated: With the unexpected announcement that President Obama would be making a statement late Sunday night, the cable news channels scrambled to get their top anchors on-air.

Fox News was first to confirm the news that Osama Bin Laden was dead at 10:40 PM ET. Geraldo Rivera was at the desk at the time, and responded to the news by saying:

“Happy days, happy days. This is the greatest — give me a wide shot of the general. This is the greatest night of my career. The bum is dead. I am so blessed and privileged to be at this desk at this moment.”

CNN confirmed the news at 10:42 Pm ET, and NBC News (and MSNBC) confirmed the news at 10:45 PM ET. All three networks engaged in speculation as to what the news was about from around 10 PM until their confirmed it, and all three raised Bin Laden as a possibility.

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A lot of notable tvnewsers will be at Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar in Washington, DC next month, all to help out CNN cameraman Jerry Thompson and his family: Wolf Blitzer, John King, Dana Milbank, Candy Crowley, Major Garrett, Dana Bash, Mike Viqueira, Jill Dougherty, Claire Shipman, Jamie McIntyre, Chris Plante, Ed Henry, Lisa Sylvester, and Brett Baier are just a fraction of the names set to be at the event.

The 25-year TV veteran was diagnosed with brain cancer and lost his job at CNN when his medical leave expired. The event will raise money for Thompson and his three children. Celebrity bartenders from CNN, Fox News, NBC, ABC, The Washington Post and National Journal, and entertainment from, Suspicious Package, the Washington all-journalist band. Tickets for the event, which will be held November 17 from 7-10pm can be purchased through Eventbrite.

More information about the event is after the jump…

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NBC producer Mike Viqueira was in Maine over the weekend, covering the first family’s vacation in the Pine Tree State.

Apparently, there isn’t much for a reporter to do there, as Viqueira was busted by MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell changing his outfit four times in less than three hours, as the screengrab to the right shows.

It gets better, as the cameraman pulls back to show that for his final report for O’Donnell, he has ditched the jacket for the untucked shirt with flowered swim-trunks look.

“That is where I am heading after this live shot,” he tells O’Donnell.

Video of O’Donnell calling out Viqeira is after the jump.

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Just before NoonET, the cable networks began reporting the news that Pres. Obama had landed in Kabul, Afghanistan for a brief, but previously unannounced trip. Fox News anchor Jamie Colby reported the news at 11:51am, as did NBC White House correspondent Mike Viqueira on MSNBC. CNN’s Candy Crowley, who was part of the “Sound of Sunday” segment at the end of “Reliable Sources” reported the news at 11:53amET. ABC News produced a special report 12:03pmET anchored by Bianna Golodryga.

Press Secy. Robert Gibbs Tweeted the news at 11:51:

The President just landed in Afghanistan to see out troops and meet with President Karzai and his Cabinet

It’s snowing again in the northeast and that means more frozen newscasters. This morning, Sam Champion was out in Time Square for ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Dave Price was in Philadelphia for CBS’ “Early Show,” and Tom Costello was in D.C. for NBC’s “Today” show.

Overnight, ABC’s Jeremy Hubbard co-anchored from Central Park when the snow started falling for “World News Now.”

NBC News’ Mike Viqueira nearly got blown away during a segment outside the White House for “The Daily Rundown.”

The worst is supposed to come to New York later in the day, so get ready for more blizzard reporting.

Related: Molly Sims was warm and inside on “Fox & Friends” this morning when the hosts surprised her with a phone call from her parents in Florida who are big fans of the show.

And here are some the early details of how Sen. Kennedy’s funeral mass in Boston and burial service in Arlington National Cemetery will be covered by the broadcast networks tomorrow:

	Saturday morning, Kate Snow will anchor “GMA” from the JFK Library in Boston. At approximately 10:30amET (Update: now 10amET) ABC News will broadcast live coverage of the funeral Mass anchored by Charlie Gibson. At approximately 5:30pmET, Gibson will anchor coverage of the burial service. Throughout the coverage, George Stephanopoulos, Terry Moran, Snow, John Berman, and Susan Milligan will be joining Gibson. Jim Sciutto will anchor “World News” in the evening.
	CBS News will cover the memorial live Saturday morning starting at 10amET with Harry Smith anchoring from New York.
	Starting at 10amET, Brian Williams will anchor NBC News coverage of the funeral Mass. At 5:30pmET, NBC News coverage will resume for the burial service. NBC News’ coverage will be supplemented by reporting from Andrea Mitchell, Anne Thompson, Kelly O’Donnell, Lester Holt, Mike Taibbi, Mike Viqueira, Norah O’Donnell, and Savannah Guthrie.

TVNewser will post any additional details as we receive them.