[ cheers and applause ] they're the greatest. stay tuned for "carson daly." thanks for watching. hope to see you tomorrow. bye-bye. good night. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," matched out. bump in the night. one commercial airline clips another on a new york city run way. and video apertucaptures a smas grab at a hawaii jewelry store. >> this is "early today" for tuesday, april 12th, 2011. >> hello and good morning. welcome to viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. >> today we begin with from bad

to worse. a month into the nuclear disaster in japan and they are in cruising te iniesing the alert there. nbc's dan shenman reports. >> reporter: japan's nuclear safety agency decided to raise the crisis level from 5 to 7, the highest on the international scale. the news following reports of a small fire at the reactor plant. the company spokesman said japan's self defense forces were called into battle the flames. >> the self defense force firefighters unit has been deployed to put it out. at the moment, smoke and flames cannot be seen. the plant has been plagued with problems since the march 11th

tsunami and earthquake knocked out generators. nbc news. >> in washington, lawmakers await a speech by president tomorrow in which he will lay out his plans for taming the nation's deficit. white house officials say differ from a republican proposal. for more, woe go to tracy pots in washington. >> reporter: the white house not giving out a lot of detail before the president speaks tomorrow. but they do say this bumg dge d deficit speech was planned before the latest show down. they say they will get these budget s under control. they say the president has shown control the cut the budget. they will be asking congress to raise the dest debt limit.

>> the consequences will be terrible in terms of the economy on the impact on interest rates and in terms of job creation and growth would be devastating. >> republicans say they will not raise the debt ceiling without more cuts. major ones, trillions of dollars not billions. we got new details on the cuts to keep budget cuts coming. new cuts now the president faces yet another battle. >> thank you. >> spring has so far packed quite a punch in large portions of the country. the national weather service confirming that it struck texas. several homes were damaged. in north dakota, too much water has been a problem for residents by the river. flooding has closed more than 60

miles of roads. bill carons will have more on the weather coming up. firefighters in wisconsin battled the fiery aftermath of a collision of two semi trucks over the weekends. the fire led to the shut down of interstate 94 that lasted several hours. officials are not clear on what caused the accident. attempted jewelry heist in w hawaii was anything but a success. the men left empty-handed after they couldn't break the display cases. but no arrests have been made yet. the arizona diamond backs had the baseball world buzzing. i bee's nest was spotted.

stadium officials took the sting out of the next. sutherbees in new york had rare diamonds. some of the works belonged to a russian princess and could sell for a much as $16 million. now for a look at your national and regional weather. here is bill with the weather channel forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> good morning to you dara. we'll are talking severe weather. we are talking about flooding in the midwest and the tornados. we had a lot of wind damage and 114 wind damaged reports. almost all of those were lockatd in the southeast. that storm system is leaving. a couple of weak systems in the northern rockies and plains. we have rain and snow showers along the salt lake city area.

the west coast you are on the cool said and in california average. now, we had a descent day today but the next storm system will move on shore. doesn't look like a nice wednesday or thursday. it is kind of cool, temperatures are in the 30s to start the m n morning. you need your jackets. in southern california, not warm, we are 55 in la and today we are in 68. we had a couple of weeks of the 80s. descent day in san francisco. pretty nice in sacramento today. dry in the west tomorrow, the rain returns. that is a look at your tuesday forecast.

mo monteray, california 56. >> i'll be back with the wednesday forecast there and it is an umbrella forecast. >> i'll have mine out. thank you, bill. >> a deal is a deal and putting a price on love. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. plus a stolen collect able is found by authorities. >> coming up, another day and the red sox loss. and the cava and pistons are fighting mad. you are watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back. wild video from the airport as

the world's biggest commercial passenger jet clipped the tail of another plane. the plane was preparing for take off when it hit the smaller aircraft just in from boston. no one was injured. after a four month stand off on the coast. following the capture, he refused to step down after clusing in the november election. the president called for peace and a full investigation into the crimes of his followers. explosion killed at least 12 people. no claim over responsibility. countries president believes it was a terrorist attractiackttac. school is under fire for banning lunches brought from home.

students must eat food purchased in the cafeteria. the school's goal is to keep kids from unhealthy food choices. >> new study shows that judges are a lot like toddlers. study shows judges were most lenient first thing in the morning and right after lunch. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. here is a look at how wall street will kick off the day. looking over seas -- this morning we will see what

wall street makes up after the bell did with alchoa. rising first quarter profit was offset by higher edgy costs. stocks ran out of gas yesterday after monetary fund showed that higher fuel prices could slow the pace of the economy. after libya's leader appeared to accept a plan with forces. level three communications rose on plans to buy global crossings for nearly $2 billion sending shares up whopping 69%. health care accused communhealth of overbilling health care by admitting emergency room patients. community health soared and s b

stocking plunged by 40%. twins have been told that they cannot back out of a prior settlement. cameron and tyler claimed that 4 45 million worth of shares they were previously awarded were undervalued at the time of the deal. fi finally, what can a dollar a day buy you? a pretty impressive anniversary gift. a man presented his wife with a dollar bill, one for every day of their marriage. tempers flare as match ups match up. plaus leather with the sox. sports headlines are straight ahead. >> we are watching heavy rain heading for the east coast. the west coast remains on the cool side. you are watching early today. irisk for sudden cardiac death.

i was 23 years old, i wasn't overweight. i never dreamed this would happen to me. when the doctor told me i had three blocked arteries, i felt like i was punched in the gut. i found out that one in three women die from heart disease. how did i not know that? good morning. if you are just waking up this is "early today." in sports on the eve of the nba playoffs the match of the second season is taking shape. here is a look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. the nba conference playoff

picture is clear. the heat will finish in second place. they meet the pauhawks in atlan. they have the sixers in the first round. the celts gave it to the heat. by resting four of their starters and losing to the widt wizards. the celts will now phase the knicks. they came together. no punches were thrown. both were ejected. try to go after hollins who was walking to the rocklockerroom. cavs win it. they are in it in second place. extra frame. dallas won it, they have a half game lead for the lakers.

for the first overall pick in the draft. they declared for the nba draft. he is expected to go in the first round. they have the first records and ten fold, capped off the six run second. four for six in the second shot of the cycle. a shot to left and making the diving grab. the rays picked autop ued up th run of the year. there is your second look at sports on early today. >> once one of the richests couple in england, uncle sam may now be taking their home. you are watching "early today."

good tuesday morning to you. nothing too cold in the west. salt lake city chance of rain today. in the northwest, increasing clouds will be in the 50s today. at times we'll have a good deal of sunshine. the rainy weather will come tomorrow. you are dry but on the cooler side. wednesday look at this. the weather pattern gets active.

the moisture will be on sure and you get the idea. here in the southwest tomorrow could be an interesting weather day. >> if you are watching us on king 5 news in seattle. explore seattle's rich history. capturing change over time. now and then, at the museum of history pacific event of the day there. before make up and after makeup. before and after. >> okay, i'll go with that one there, bill. >> natalie portman has gone to vegetarian for the sake of her unborn baby. she said her body was telling her to have eggs and dose want to know what sex the baby is saying jewish superstition. >> witherspoon says quote

sometimes i will sit in my car and cry because i can't get out. once one of the richest couples in england, now ozzie and sharon osbourne oh the u.s. in back taxes and face losing one of their homes. comics stolen over a decade ago from nicholas cage, wants it back. but first claims goes to the insurance company that paid him off for that. >> can you imagine owning a $1 million economic bocomic book a having it stolen? >> i'm sure, i think of him more as owning cars not comic books but hey. >> i think maybe bad movies. >> and this coming to us from channel 2 in alaska where on

nearby spy island discovery of the new world stopped a mama and her cubs in her tracks. in between that time, workers arrived and transformed the area into an oil complex. they ended their stay and headed for a less crowded habitat. that is an amazing story. i cannot imagine having them go to sleep and wake up and then look an oil field. >> imagine the worker that was sitting then and then looked up and there was a polar bear. >> this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc stays.

you can get closer than ever to the object of their affection. every subtle brush stroke of the 600 year old frescos can be seen on the ceiling of the eye of the renaissance. adrenalin junkies are going for the bragging rights of the champion. mexico held the cliff diving world series this weekend.

and for a chance to compete in the world series. 27 runners from 12 countries competed at the north poll. challengeths were created and they were able to run through the night because this time of year it is day light around the clock. i cannot imagine living where it would be day light around the clock. >> i'm trying to adjust to the fact that the sun asseting at 8:00 at night. >> but it is still dark in the morning. i'm waiting for the changeis da >> well, i am witting for it. >> time now for a look at the stories we will follow throughout the day here on nbc. >> in washington, fiance for one of the victims of the tucson

shooting tragedy. nasa will hold the ceremony marking the anniversary of the first shuttle launch. inssti tutions 150th anniversary of the start of the civil war. forces opened fire on fort sumter. beginning a conflict that would claim the lives of soldiers. tonight be sure to watch brian williams on "nbc ly news". the latest on the hunt for a new york serial killer and shirley mcklain talks about the current state of hollywood and remembers her friend, elizabeth tailor.

thank you for watching "early today." just for first stop of the day, today on your nbc stays. have a good one.