this morning on "early today," and the oscar goes to -- the big winners and losers at last night's academy awards. watch your step. a washington, d.c. area escalator malfunctions causing a scary pileup. and fiery flare-up. a monster explosion on the sun sends out a spectacular wave of plasma. captions paid for by nbc-universal television very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with the king of the night. at last night's academy awards, the highest ranking members of

hollywood's royalty looking on, a film about the struggles of royal family stole the show. stephanie stanton has the latest from hollywood. >> reporter: there were no major surprises this year. of the ten films for best picture, critics say it all came down to two, the king of social networking versus the king of england. >> "the king's speech." >> reporter: a film about a stammering monarch earned a place among hollywood royalty sunday night. it won four academy awards including best picture. >> to have been part of a film that touched and moved people has been a huge privilege. >> reporter: colin firth earned best act orror. >> i have a feeling my career has just peaked. >> reporter: "the king's speech" also took best original screen play and best director for tom hooper who saluted his lead actors. >> i'm only here because of you guys. >> natalie portman. >> reporter: there was no

surprise in the best actress category. natalie portman completed a near sweep of award season honors for her performance in "black swan." >> i truly sincerely wish that the prize tonight was to get to work with my fellow nominees. i'm so in awe of you. >> reporter: and melissa leo accepted best supporting actress honors for the fighter. and accidentally let a four letter word slip during her acceptance speech. meanwhile christian bale won supporting actor honors. >> what a room full of talented inspirational people.ç what the helm i doing here? >> reporter: the night's other winners included toy story 3 which won best animated feature. the sci-fi epic inception took home four awards and the drama about the origins of facebook, "the social network," scored three awards, including best adapted screen play. after the show, it was time to celebrate, the nominees headed

to some of the post-oscar after parties, including the governor's ball and the ever popular vanity fair party. in hollywood, i'm stephanie stanton. >> all right, thank you so much. on capitol hill, the clock is ticking for lawmakers to come to terms on the nation's budget before it expires. meanwhile president obama is encouraging the nation's governors to work together as the standoff over union rights and budget cuts in wisconsin enters a third week. tracie potts joins us from washington with more. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. those profesters spent another night at the state capitol in wisconsin after threatening they would be kicked out. they are still there as democrats hide out across state lines preventing a vote on the tough budget cuts. the republican governor wants to make that there. he says without them the state will lose $155 million by tomorrow and 1,500 jobs could be threatened. it really is just one very public example of what's going

on in states all over the country and the federal government as well because here we are facing a government shut down as of fret friday if democrats and republicans on capitol hill cannot figure out what to do about the current year's budget, which they've extended a number of times now. they are mou looking at another two-week extension that would include $4 billion in budget cuts. all of the state's governors are here many washington. they had a lavish event at the white house last night. today they sit down with president obama to talk about what to do about these budgets. veronica. >> tracie potts in washington. thank you so much. now here's a look at some other stories making muse early today in america. many massachusetts workers inside a coffee shop received quite a jolt when a minivan came crashing through the front entrance. fortunately, business was slow at the timeç of the crash and one was injured. the driver of the toyota said her gas pedal became stuck. her claim possibly makes this another accident caused by toyota accelerator problems.

in washington d.c. a malfunctioning escalator led to a dangerous dom mow effect. dozens of people tumbled over each other after the subway escalator suddenly sped up. several people were injured. investigators believe brake system failure is the cause. in georgia it was the end of an era. 150 pounds of explosives brought down a building that was once a part of franklin elmore roosevelt's public housing policy. hundreds watched as a building that stood for 70 years was reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds. low income housing will be built in its place. and, finally, in ohio, shirtless men and bikini clad women brave frigid conditions all for a good cause. more than 500 people ran and dove into lake erie to fundraise for the special olympics. organizers expect to raise more than $90,000, more than $90,000 than they took in last year. now here is bill karims with

the weather channel forecast. i know that you are just chomping at the bit to go out there and do something just like that. >> never. no. you'll find me jumping in the water in miami. that's about it. let's talk about what happened over the weekend. we saw snow in san francisco. we had snow at very low elevations outside of tucson, arizona, and it was a very cold weekend. temperatures this morning still chilly. 39 in vegas. the red carpet didn't look too bad last night. it was whoil, though. we're at 43, though, in l.a. we have a mu storm system to talk about. the cold air is beginning to leave, but winter storm warnings that continue up through the cascades and also many areas of the northern rockies. another storm system has rolled on shore and with it a lot of heavy rain and even some low elevation snow with this one too. especially in washington state. we've had a lot of rain overnight. in the white it's a lot of heavy snow. portland seems to be getting the brunt of it currently. it will turn more showery throughout the day, but we talk about one to two feet at least in the cascades.

really building up that snow pack over the last couple of days. that's a look at your monday 59, and only 52 with sunshine in prescott. mother storm, veronica, heading into the west tuesday might and wednesday. details coming up. >> not good news. all right, bill. thank you. what to look for on wall street this week. the oracle speaks and what bugs americans about cell phones. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, more headlines from charlie sheen and a speak peek at his exclusive interview coming up later this morning on "the today show". >> coming up. some great finishes m mba. baseball loses a legend, and a cheerleader takes the game into his own hands. you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. pressure is mounting on gadhafi's faltering regime. opposition groups are expanding their control of key cities mere the country's capital. meanwhile, the key prosecutor of the international criminal court at the hague said reports of attacks against civilians by forces loyal to qadhafi could be calls due to crimes against humanity. the top prosecutor there has banned ousted president hosni mubarak and his family from leaving the country. the prosecutor ordered their funds "impounded." meanwhile, unrest sweeping lou the arab world has now spread to theç gulf nation of omam where riot police clashed with demonstrators yesterday. 64 were killed as security forces pird tear gas and rubber bullets.

america's last sur vooifg veteran of world war i has died. the family spokesman says frank passed away peacefully at his virginia home yesterday. he had turned 110 years old earlier this month. and newly released footage from nasa shows a powerful eruption on the sun that lasted for an hour and a half kicking up a large wave of magnetic plasma. scientists say the blast was directed away from the earth and is not expected to affect our satellites or electronic systems. and now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,130 after adding 61 points friday. the s&p rose 13 points. the nasdaq was up 43. and taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei gained 97 points while in hong kong, the hang seng surged 325. well, stocks roared back friday giving investors hope the backward slide may be over, but

there is one major wild card. oil. will it continue to drop as it did at the end of last week? overnight in asian trade, oil was up flirting with $100 a barrel. along with oil, traders will be on the lookout for friday's february payroll report for signs the job market recovery remains on track. meanwhile, comments tuesday from ben bernanke will be listened to keenly for clues about when and if the fed's quantitative easing program will end. traders may get a boost from confident comments from warren buffett this weekend saying he is bullish on the economy and that berkshire hathaway will engage many reported capital spending this year. today new restrictions on short selling go into effect with a so-called circuit breaker kicking in after a 10% price decline from the previous day's close. elsewhere, the new york "post" reported toys "r" us is looking to raise around $800 million in an april ipo. and finally, is cell phone etiquette an oxymoron?

three-quarters of americans say cell phone manners have gotten worse over the past year. the most annoying, talking while driving, followed by talking loudly in public. one in five check their cell phone before getting out of bed every morning. i am definitely guilty of that. the suns burn the pacers. college basketball almost has a cheerleader gate, and baseball says good-bye to the duke. plus, could the new star duo of the new york knicks keep up with the league's number one alley-oop combo? your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather severe thunderstorms are rolling wards the east coast and a new storm is bringing rain and snow to the west. your monday forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, while most eyes were on the oscar telecast, there was an intriguing match-up of the miami heat versus the new morning knicks. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good monday morning. the now look knicks got their first real test, and they passed with flying colors against the heat. pick it up late many the fourth. knicks down two. it wasn't amar'e or carmelo who got the ball, but billups. nailed the three and gave them the lead. spike was loving it.

miami had two shots for the win. lebron james drove, but the knicks defense came up big. stoudemire with the rejection. seconds lafs it was lebron again. this time from beyond the ark. month good. the knicks won it 91-86. tie game. final seconds of overtime. channing try for the win.ç nothing but net. suns won in dramatic fashion 110-108. sad news from baseball. duke snyder passed away yesterday. the face of the brooklyn dodgers for nearly a decade, snyder led brooklyn to their only world series title in 1955 to win another as a dodger in 1959. duke snyder was 84 years old. crazy finish to the pitt/louisville game. card malz took a five-point lead with less than a second to play in o.t. watch the cheerleader who picked up the ball and tossed it into the air. the ref called a technical. pitt made both free-throws. now down three. panthers had a chance to tie. thankfully for the cheerleader the shot was off the mark and louisville won it 62-59. the moral of the story, if you're a cheerleader, keep your

hands on your pom-poms. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> narrator: "early today" sports is brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray, never all. an oscar recap and an upset at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, forget the oscars. 99.9% of americans love bacon. this weekend in iowa they celebrated bacon as food and an art form. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. we have another storm moving in. it's going to be an active week. one storm coming in now and another one wednesday into thursday. portland and seattle dealing with rain this morning and snow down at the pretty low elevations too, so it's chilly. as we go into tuesday, tomorrow, more or less showery type weather. the heavier stuff will come in tuesday night with strong winds on the coast, too. well, if are you watching us on kntv nbc 11 california bay area, you have a wide variety of animal species, including giraffes, gazelles, and even vultures at the african savannah at the oakland zoo. that's your pacific event of the day, veronica. >> very nice. i can't believe they got snow in l.a. >> yeah, it was very low

elevations. i know. >> all right. >> here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. here's a quick recap of the major oscars handed out last night. best supporting actress, the fighter's melissa leo who also managed to drop an f-bomb in her acceptance speech, and best supporting actor christian bale for the fighter. best actress went to natalie portman. and best actor, colin firth for "the king's speech." best picture, best director and best original screen play also went to "the king's speech." and now at the box office, a surprise winner. "gnomeo and juliet" with $14.2 million. the comedy "hall pass" finished a disappointing second with just $13.4 million. and nicolas cage bombed in "drive angry," finishing ninth with just $5 million. finally, the new york "post" reports this morning charlie sheen will file suit against cbs as early as today for $320 million claiming mental anguish. sheen appears later this morning

on nbc's "today" show in a one-on-one interview with jeff rossen. >> you're angry. >> i'm not angry, i'm passionate. everybody thinks i should be like begging for my job back and i'm just going to forewarn themç that it's everybody else that will be begging me for their job back. >> didn't cbs have a right to shut their show down? they're reading about you partying at all hours of the night, taking drugs, abusing alcohol. it's their show. >> epic, epic behavior. no. because after reading about that, then they observed a guy hitting every mark, nailing every line, every joke. with a full house screaming. >> don't miss jeff rossen's entire interview later this morning on "today" right here on this nbc station. so which oscar movies did you actually see this year? >> i think i watched about four

of them. i still need to see "the king's speech." >> you need on see the king's speech. >> you saw "social network." >> i did. >> i love that one. this now comes to us from who channel 13 news in des moines, iowa, where the hottest ticket in town had people salivating for a taste of sizzling satisfaction. hundreds of bacon lovers from all over showed up for the fourth annual blue ribbon bacon festival. the celebration of all things bacon featured a variety of treats ranging from blt pizza to bacon bourbon carmel corn. each year their greasy get-together moves closer to becoming global. you know, kind of like the oscars. cool. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one man in china is rolling in to retirement literally. the 72-year-old has been attracting crowds of onlookers roller skating at least twice a week proving to neighbors you are never too old to have fun. he even goes shopping wearing ç skates. he says skating and another favorite activity, rock and roll dancing, are his secrets to keeping fit in his twilight years. does look like a whole lot of fun. 75 in belgium looking to show disabled can accomplish extraordinary feats. they attempted to pull a 67-ton c-130 well over 300 feet. after getting over a third of the way to the record, bad weather left them unable to finish.

they were disappointed, but confident that they will make it next time. one parade in brazil has gone to the dogs. in preparation for one of the biggest parties of the year, carnavale, animal owners dressed up their loved ones for a pet parade. the celebration featuring dogs, cats and even roosters gives pet lovers to celebrate their furry friends before kick offing the world famous humor show on march 59. there's something that troubles me when i see a dog in a polka dotted dress or wearing booties. >> i have trouble seeing a human in a polka dotted dress, too. >> there you go. march 59. >> i can't wait for the real carnivale. that's when the real fun happens. >> absolutely. all right. time for an early look at some of the stories we'll be following throughout the day here on nbc. consumer reports unveils its closely watched list of 2011 top picks ranking the year's best offerings from manufacturers and automakers. two shuttle astronauts will

venture outside the international space station for the first of two scheduled spacewalks. on the to-do list, rigging up an electrical extension cable and repositioning a refrigerator-sized ammonia pump. and "saturday night live" creator loren michaels and tina fey will join a red carpet worthy list of stars in new york city for the museum of moving emages salute to actor alec baldwin. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. "today" takes you live to hollywood where meredith and al have a complete wrap-up of the oscars. and the "today" exclusive as charlie sheen speaks out for the first time since his hit sitcom áruá down. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of

the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific monday. one woman every minute.t dis we can chae the statistic by choosing to speak up for our hearts. take control of your heart health and encourage others to do the same. take the go red heart check up. find out your ten year risk for heart disease or stroke learn how to make small simple changes to reduce your risk and change your life. speak up to save lives. log on to goredforwomen.org find out how you can prevent heart disease.