this morning on "early today," down to the wire. without a budget deal in place today, time is almost out to avoid a government shutdown. last resort, japan begins dumping millions of gallons of contaminated water from its damaged nuclear plant into the pacific ocean. and top dogs, the uconn huskies dominate the butler bulldogs to win the ncaa huskies dominate the butler bulldogs to win the ncaa championship. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning.

welcome to our radioer viewers across the nation. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with breaking the deadlock. president obama will meet with top congressional leaders at the white house today to try and help broker a deal to balance the nation's budget and prevent a government shutdown. for more now, we go to nbc's tracie potts in washington. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. the shut down deadline is friday, but the deadline to get something on paper is tonight. president obama trying to bring together these both sides to get it done. right now it appears they are in a stalemate. the number $33 billion had been bandyed about in terms of how much democrats and republicans agree to cut. however, republican leader john boehner says it there is no agreement there. republicans had not agreed to that. it's half of what they wanted and not enough. reportedly there is still an $8

billion to $10 billion gap. harry reid said the other side is not being reasonable, democrats are concerned that any deeper cuts could really affect the poor and working families in this country. things like college loans and children's health insurance programs. president obama bringing the leaders to the white house hoping to hammer out a solution in what the white house says is not a line item discussion but a discussion about leadership. if they can't get it done, republicans are already suggesting another one week extension with $12 billion in cuts. >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you. well, the federal aviation administration is ordering all airlines to inspect older boeing 737s similar to the southwest plane that ripped open in mid flight last week. jets covered under the emergency order include those with more than 30,000 takeoffs and landings, 9,000 less than the one that developed a hole on friday, forcing its crew to make an emergency landing in arizona. about 80 such planes are

registered in the u.s. with southwest owning most of them. that means virtually all of the affected aircraft have already been checked since southwest canceled nearly 700 flights nationwide to complete inspections. in japan, millions of gallons of contaminated water from the country's damaged nuclear plant are now being pumped directly into the pacific ocean. the step is being taken to make room in storage space for water that's even more highly radioactive. although the water that's being funneled into the sea is up to 500 times the legal limit for radiation, its radioactivity is quickly diluted in the ocean and government officials claim it should not affect the safety of seafood in the area. meanwhile, the japanese government is asking russia for a ship used to dispose of nuclear liquid waste. last night, college basketball's annual championship tournament commonly known as march madness finally came to a close with connecticut's huskies finishing on top. and what turned out to be a game to forget for butler.

nbc's fred roggin has more. >> good morning. butler went historically cold and uconn rode the hot handed freshman to the second half. lamb scored every one of his 12 in the second half. huskies up by as many as 14. the unfortunate story, the anemic shooting of butler, they couldn't buy a bucket. lowest field goal percentage in a title game. uconn won the national title, 53-41. we'll have much more plus postgame reaction coming up later in sports. for now, back to you. now a look at other stories making news. in tennessee, a storm system reeked havoc on the city. a storm lashed through memphis with high winds and pounding rain. reports of uprooted trees, wind damage and power outages surfaced throughout the city. officials will assess the damage in the coming days. weather pummeled parts of

iowa. golf-ball-sized hail made some areas look like a driving range. some of the homeowners are reporting structural damage following a barrage of calls to insurance company. finally, in wisconsin, the sausage mascots for the milwaukee brewers took part in the ninth annual opening day brat relay race. the five sausages, brat wurst, polish and italian sausage usually race inside the ballpark, but for opening day, the group raced through the city to the ballpark to mark the beginning of baseball season. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. we saw that video from tennessee. lots of areas in the south, what a wicked day. >> we're now calling this the worst severe weather outbreak since 2006.

we're not talking faytalities o tornadoes, just total number of reports of severe weather. but in the last 24 hours, all of these dots are severe weather reports. the red are the triangles, the green the hail, the blue the wind. and definitely over 500 wind damage reports in the southeast. so a big day of cleanup. and again about three fatalit s fatalities. today middle of the country is relatively quiet, but a storm system in the northwest. nothing too horrible, but a rainy day around areas like boise. so here is our storm system. a little cooler up here in the northwest, too. still very mild, temperature its refuse to go down in arizona. should be in the 90s in phoenix. california looks pretty nice. only rainy spot around boise and just a chance of showers in the pacific northwest. again, not a rainy all day event, just showers up and down

the west coast. but only 48 and chilly in 60s. flagstaff, beautiful, 68. wednesday forecast coming up. >> all right, bill, thank you. also coming up, wall street idles, and a scrub surface for your internet reputation. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus the showbiz world buzzes over rumors of a new heavy weight couple. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. libyan evacuees say pro gadhafi forces are staging a massacre in

the sieged city of misrata with the army using tanks and snipers against residents. that comes as a government spokesman says the regime is ready to discuss political reform. however, he insists colonel gadhafi, who waved to supporters outside his tripoli compound last night, has to stay. in a major policy reversal, the obama administration now says it will prosecute alleged 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed and four others before a military commission at guantanamo bay and not a civilian court. mexican officials say two men identified as american citizens were shot to death in their vehicle as they waited at a tijuana border crossing. a gunman approached a line of waiting cars and fired into the victims' pickup truck as they waited to enter the united states. and an american astronaut and two russian cosmonauts blasted off this morning in a

spacecraft named after the first man in space. today's mission comes just one week shy of the 50th anniversary of yuri gagarin's historic flight. >> and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. salmonella bacteria detected from an outbreak of turkey burgers may be resistant to a lot of drugs. at least a dozen people have been sickened by the frozen turkey burgers. the firm recalled thousands of pounds last week, but officials warn that there may still be some in grocery stores. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day.

the dow opens at 12,400 after adding 23 points on monday. both the s&p and the nasdaq closed flat. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 103 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng gained 348. wall street slipped into so-called wait and see mode yesterday before earnings season starts next week. oil prices climbed to a 30-month high of $108 a barrel which has some in a holding pattern, waiting to see just how hard corporate profits are hit by the rising price of gas. for now, fed chairman ben bernanke discussed the recent rise in inflation will be short lived. news that clip sales slipped in february pulled powerhouses nvidia lower. texas instruments has agreed to pay $6.5 billion for its former foe, national semi conductor.

in other deal news, pfizer shares got a boost on its plan to sell its capsule gel unit for $2.4 billion in cash. southwest airlines dipped 2% in the wake of its recent safety scare. however, the carrier faired well in industry rankings, coming in fifth in overall quality. ford got an analyst upgrade which helped its shares climb 2%. mcdonald's plans to add 50,000 workers as part of its first national hiring day on april 15th. keep an eye on apple. the nasdaq plans to announce a rare rebalancing today which will drastically reduce apple's current weight in the index from 20% down to 12%. finally, it seems online reputation managers are the new must-have accessories among the tech savvy set. they keep tabs on your virtual image by burying unfavorable search results or magically making embarrassing pictures

disappear. for some that may coming in handy. coming up, the butler bulldogs had a great run, but last night, cinderella was sent packing. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. severe weather exits the east coast and your regional weather forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, last night's ncaa championship game was hardly a classic, but the huskies of connecticut aren't complaining. once again, here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. truth be told, it wasn't pretty. then again, it didn't have to be. the uconn huskies took advantage of a butler poor shooting night to win the ncaa championship. walker gave uconn the early lead with the lay-up and the foul and the huskies were up by five. butler hung around and were actually up at the half. bulldogs entered the locker room with the lead. but everything changed after the break. alley-oop gave the huskies a nine-point lead.

butler couldn't get anything going on the other end. they were supposed to be the more experienced team, but in the biggest game of the year, they simply tanked. 12 for 64. that's a new record for a championship game. uconn's defense didn't help the cause. they stepped up down the stretch. lamb with the steal and the dunk. uconn pulled away to win a third championship and first since 2004, 53-41. >> this has taken me on one of the great special journeys better than anything i could possibly imagine. and when i needed maybe a little more of what i do, as a teacher/coach for 39 years, they gave me it ten-fold. >> big east tournament, came out strong, we got a lot of confidence from that tournament and we felt like it was right. we didn't stop.

that's why we're national champions. we're the best team in the country. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. miley cyrus is the latest star to try that i was misquoted backtrack. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. >> plus, whether snorkeling or scuba diving, we've all fantasized about finding treasurers. coming up, we'll show you a giant find. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. the forecast looks probably worse than it's going to be. not a lot of heavy rain, but scattered showers on and off. umbrellas needed from medford northwards. northern rocky, a little bit of snow at the higher elevations. boise, just dealing with rain. still nice overs next two days in much of southern california. arizona in the 90s. tomorrow you grow down in to the 80s. notice maybe a chance of thunderstorms in the northwest in to wednesday as a new storm system arrives. if you're watching us on news 8 in portland, view 200 pieces of local art at riches of a city at the portland art museum. and that's your pacific event of the day. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. as we know, hollywood loves blockbuster films, a good scandal and, of course, new couple speculation.

blogs are burning up that the new power duo may be justin timberlake and the also recently single olivia wild. reports say they spent saturday publicly and affectionately at a hollywood hot spot until early in the morning. elsewhere, chris brown has a new defender of his morning tv tantrum. the temper challenged rosie o'donnell. she told her radio audience racism played a role. the trauma of james franco's poorly reviewed oscar hosting has claimed another victim, his twitter account. despite avidly tweeting before the awards, franco now declared social media so yesterday. last week, miley cyrus slammed internet sensation rebecca black saying, quote, you shouldn't just be able to put a song on youtube and go out on tour. despite saying it on a radio

show, cyrus now claims she was misquoted and loves rebecca black. >> i haven't heard it yet,aeen just keeps going in your head. >> especially this early in the morning, it will stay with us. this comes to us from ksl 5 news in salt lake city, utah, where a sea exploration company went to great depths to make a whale of a discovery. the treasure hunters found what they're calling the oldest shipwreck in the caribbean. the deep sea discovery off the coast of the dominican republic produced a bevy of booty. divers brought up 16th century coins and artifacts. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

siberian tigers may be the biggest cats in the world, but this little one has a lot of growing to do. a baby tiger cub was born in the zoo last week. siberian tigers are a rare species and rarely born in captivity. zookeepers raised his mother, so he's being bottle fed, as well. this is a true love story about birds. storks mate for life and for the past eight years, one male returns annually to nest with his companion who can't migrate due to a gunshot wound. a man in croatia has taken care of her ever since. although the bird's tardiness

made a few nervous that he didn't show, the male did end up returning for the ninth year in a row to be with his one and only. how sweet. a warning for you, vikings may be coming to a restaurant near you. one blacksmith that's made viking armor for big hollywood productions is now going mainstream with his medieval gear. he's taken to the streets with it, literally, dawning helmets and swords. he and his buddies spending time showing up around the city not to do battle, usually just to grab a quick bite. they have a lot of time on their hands. but you know, a lot of people are asking, why do this? what's the deal? and he's like, just to get stares, just to be funny. i don't know. >> i've seen it before. don't get it. but they look shiny and happy. >> i know. you're like, seen it, done it, no. no thanks. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. in west virginia, there will be

a memorial in honor of the victims of last year's upper big branch mine disaster. a year ago, an explosion at the mine killed 29 workers. massey energy, the owner of the mine is idling production today and will hold a moment of silence to remember those who died. in washington, a packed agenda for the house armed services committee. it holds a hearing on libya and japan. and happy birthday to former secretary of state colin powell. today he turns 74. 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. jailed florida teen jennifer mee also known as hiccup girl speaks out about a robbery gone wrong that landed her behind bars charged with first degree murder. and actress ashley judd is live in studio to talk about her

new memoir. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.