hey, "jimmy fallon" is coming this morning on "early today," memory lapse. texas governor rick perry's big stumble at last night's republican presidential debate. penn state sacking. legendary football coach joe paterno is fired in the wake of a child sex scandal. and laid to rest. now you can own a creepy piece and laid to rest. now you can own a creepy piece of michael jackson's history. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning, i'm lynn berry. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific

time zone. and today we begin with one for the record books. last night in michigan, republican presidential hopefuls squared off on the economy and what wasn't shaping up to be a very memorable debate until what may be a game-changing gaffe by texas governor rick perry. perry took to twitter after the debate saying he, "stepped in it." nbc's steve handelsman has more. [ applause ] >> reporter: for the cnbc debate on the economy, the republican candidates came to a state with 11% unemployment. on a day when u.s. stocks dived and the italian debt crisis got so bad it threatened our recovery. what should we do? herman cain? >> we must grow this economy. we are the biggest economy in the world. >> reporter: mitt romney -- no u.s. bailouts. >> no, no, no. we do not need to step in to bail out banks either in europe or banks in the u.s. that may have italian debts. >> reporter: rick perry, no bail bailouts at home either even though the chrysler and g.m.

bailouts saved this detroit community. >> if you are too big to fail, are you too big. >> reporter: when moderator maria bartiromo asked cain about sexual harassment, the audience protested. cain claimed his supporters are hanging in. >> they don't care about the character assassination, they care about leadership and getting this economy growing and all the other problems we face. [ applause ] >> reporter: a big problem is housing. prices down, foreclosures up. >> you want the housing market to come back? the economy has to come back. >> let markets work, help people get back to work. let them buy homes. >> reporter: rick perry looked sharp until he tried to kick off three government agencies he would kill. >> commerce, education, and the -- let's see. i can't -- >> reporter: the cringe moment. the perry disaster. as the gop candidates competed to lead america back to prosperity.

i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, rochester, michigan. in a massive shakeup at penn state university, legendary football coach joe paterno was fired last night. the university president was let go amid a widening scandal over how the school handled allegations of sexual child abuse by a former assistant coach. penn state students flooded the streets last night in protest. at least two were reportedly arrested. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: the turmoil at penn state poured to the streets overnight. as word quickly spread of a late decision by the university board of trustees that legendary coach joe paterno and university president graham spanier would be relieved of their duties immediately. >> i think we reached a point where change was necessary. we thought it was in the best long-term interest of the university. >> reporter: thousands of students gathered on campus and

outside paterno's home to support the man who has been a part of penn state football for more than six decades. with his wife at his side, paterno spoke briefly, thanking the crowd. >> look, get a good night's sleep, all right? study, all right? we still got things to do. all right. i'm out of it. a phone call put me out of it. good night, everybody. one thing, thanks, and pray a little bit for those victims. >> reporter: a ninth potential victim has come forward now claiming he was sexually assaulted by jerry sandusky. the former defensive coordinator has denied the growing list of charges against him as police continue what they've labeled a "rigorous investigation" here. jay gray, nbc news, state college, pennsylvania. elsewhere, students frustrated with steep tuition hikes and state budget cuts at u.c. berkeley brought the occupy wall street movement to their campus yesterday. campus police in riot gear stood guard while some thousand

students protested into the night. at least six students and one associate professor were arrested earlier in the day when police used force to tear down tents, put up in deiance of university orders. this appears to be the first campus-based occupy protest. and now here's a look at some other stories making news. "early today in america," video of a horrific collision last september has surfaced out of oregon. a police officer en route to an emergency call crashed into a car, then barrelled through the front wall of a nearby home. both drivers and one passenger suffered injuries while a man inside the home was unharmed. a collision between two tankers on an arizona highway produced a fiery wreck killing one of the drivers. the explosive fire occurred after a milk tanker rear-ended another carrying over 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel. thick smoke and raging flames forced officials to evacuate

homes, businesses, and hotels within a mile radius until firefighters were able to get that blaze under control. and finally, mother nature pulled out her winter blanket in wisconsin, covering parts of the state with two to six inches of snowfall. the winter-like conditions smacked the areas with downed power lines leaving close to 15,000 people in the dark last night. here is your national and regional weather with meteorologist bill karins. good morning to you, bill. not such a great morning in alaska. they had that epic storm. >> there's pretty snow like that, that's nice. there's snow like i have to stay indoors and i hope it's spring soon. here is what it looks like in nome. some wind gusts 70 to 80 miles an hour. all of western alaska had wind gusts 80 to 90 miles an hour. we haven't had a lot of extreme damage reports. there's not a lot of infrastructure in alaska.

a huge storm if it occurred on the west coast of the united states. we'd be talking about thousands if not millions of people without power. it happened in the rural area. it was the size of the storm is why it got media attention. half the country wide, west coast to oklahoma city. it's cold, windy, on and off onsnow and blowing snow in the area. the storm system the heart of it is over. interesting west coast. storm system off the coast. yesterday looking like it would move on shore more than today. now we're going to be watching a glancing blow. computers forecasting rainfall on the coast tomorrow. santa barbara is one of the areas that could get rain. not a guarantee we'll see a lot of rain in l.a. degrees.

areas in the northwest dry day today, chance of showers tomorrow. i'll have a little more update for the forecast on southern california later in the show. >> thanks. also coming up, wall street has the italian blues. toyota with another recall. and buying ads online to beat back a political scandal. the "early today" morning business headlines ahead. plus a stunning setback in what was supposed to be his big comeback. coming up the nba has another marathon meeting and one of the strangest plays you'll tod see on the ice.ly " ing "early today" today. t

good morning and welcome back to "today." i'm lynn berry and other are some of your headlines this morning. the "washington post" admits the mortuary at dover air force base

disposed of cremated body parts of the nation's war dead from 2003 to 2008 by dumping the ashes in a virginia landfill. officials say since that discovery they've been burying ashes at sea. this week the air force disciplined three mortuary officials for gross mismanagement. in eastern turkey, more than two dozen survivors have been pulled from the rubble of three buildings brought down by a 5.7 quake that's killed at least eight people. it happened in the same province with another quake killed 600 last month. alabama's jefferson county now holds the record for the largest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history. the county filed yesterday, years after being plunged into more than $4 billion of debt by a sewer project. and file this one under "creepy." the queen-size bed in which michael jackson died is being auctioned off next month along with other items from his rented l.a. mansion. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off

the day. the dow opens at 11,780 after plunging 389 points yesterday. the s&p sank 46 points. the nasdaq tumbled 105. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 254 points while in hong kong the hang seng lost a whopping 1,050. wall street opened lower wednesday on concerns italy's prime minister might not follow through on his promise to resign. things got worse from there. silvio berlusconi said he might want new elections instead of an interim government, potentially dragging out his departure and meaningful economic reform. later, italian bond yields soared to crisis levels. the same levels ireland, portugal, and greece needed bailouts for due to runaway financing costs. making matters worse, a deal on a national unity government in greece collapsed. more euro gloom.

general motors slid almost 11% on unexpected losses in europe. on euro anxiety, in one day wall street's so-called fear index jumped a staggering 31%. financials like morgan stanley, goldman sachs, and bank of america were hardest hit. in earnings after the bell, cisco rose on earnings that beat expectations. in late trade, green mountain coffee plunged after missing estimates. elsewhere, yet another toyota recall. this one more than half a million of various models worldwide. working with the government to get more u.s. homes connected to broadband, cable companies will offer internet service for just $9.95 a month to households with children eligible for free lunches. and finally, more evidence politics have gone digital. the hill reports herman cain's campaign anticipating internet searches on harassment allegations against him placed ads on google targeting likely words such as herman cain harassment or herman cain

scandal. and the ad at the top of the search results for caintruth.com. offseason tragedy strikes a major leaguer. a strange approach to offense on the ice. and more gyrations in the nba lockout. plus, if you're going through pro basketball withdrawal, we've got last night's college highlights. early morning headlines are straight ahead. while all the attention has been on the huge alaska storm, we have another storm system heading for the southwestern portion of the united states. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports for all you pro basketball fans hungry for nba action, it wasn't much but at least there was some movement yesterday in the owners lockout of the players. here's a look at all your sports headlines. >> reporter: good morning, the nba lockout at 132 days and counting. the commissioner's wednesday ultimatum has come and gone without a deal. two sides continue to talk into the wee hours of the night but remain deadlocked. the pros aren't playing yet but the kids are wrapping up for the season. number 17 almost stumbled against duquesne.

knocking down a pair of threes, he had 19. wildcats held on to win it 67-59. number 20 a&m against liberty. the block, the steal, the bucket on the other end. aggies up 23 at the half and kept it going in the second. off the fast break, the alley-oop to turner. he had a career high 20. a&m cruised 81-59. good to see steve lavenback on the sidelines. the st. johns coach missed about a month after undergoing prostrate cancer surgery. he decided to return just hours before st. johns hosted lehigh and responded. game high 21, and it's no surprise he was from the field. st. john's won 78-73. troubling news out of venezuela. washington nationals catcher wilson ramos abducted from his home by four armed men. the 24-year-old taken away in an suv. there have been no reports of a ransom demand. he was expected to be washington's starting catcher next season and was playing

winter ball. the flyers didn't like what they saw defensively and stood in their own zone with the puck. they didn't move and waited for the lightning to blink. i've never seen anything like that before. eventually the referee whistled the play dead. not a lot of offense when you're playing like that. and that game needed overtime. dominic moore drove to the net like a fullback. bret connelly chipped in the rebound. a weird game. the lightning will take the game 2-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. another award for country's princess. and another award for a legendary actor. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it is never too late to recognize a good deed. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this thursday morning. a pretty simple forecast. areas to the west pretty cool for the start. afternoon looks fine. even seattle jump up to 50, portland 55. low 60s, mid at most. the question is what's going to happen with the ocean storm tomorrow. still looks like coastal areas san francisco to l.a. wet weather. it's not etched in stone how much. stay tuned to your local station for details. if you're watching kmri 6 in california, see an art installation that shows ransom at the palm strings art museum.

that's your pacific event of the day. >> bill, thanks so much. now an early morning look at headlines in entertainment. she sold more than 20 million albums, so who know what taylor swift might accomplish. swift was named the entertainer of the year. she becomes only the second woman to win the award twice, joining country legend barbara mandrell. elsewhere, piers morgan announced he's leaving "america's got talent" to concentrate on his struggling cnn show. oscar winner morgan freeman will soon pick up more hardware. a lifetime achievement award at the next golden globes. and finally, speaking of the oscars, on the day after his friend director bret ratner resigned as producer of next year's telecast, eddie murphy has dropped out as host. after the soft opening of "tower heist" last weekend and now quitting as oscar host, bloggers are speculating whether or not his days as mega star are over.

are you speculating this? >> no, he's still a mega star. he's backing his friend but his friend got kicked out for some awful -- three strikes. >> that was horrible. we'll see who fills that place. that was curious. this comes from wvlt first coast news in florida where one man's historic wild ride tore peace is recognized. in 1946 bill received a pat on the back for gunnes world officials after driving his airboat from jacksonville to new york city. >> congratulations. >> at the time of his 1100 mile trip did not fit any of their categories. fast forward a quarter of a century and guinness decided to honor bill's feat in the 2012 edition. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today" today, just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

diamonds are a girl's best friend, but this diamond just might be her soulmate. sotheby's is auctioning off the largest pear-shaped fancy vivid yellow diamond next week in switzerland. the rare gem appropriately named sundrop is expected to sell for an estimated $11 million to $15 million. at over 110 carats, auctioneers expect no difficulties finding a buyer. at a museum in paris pac-man can be see under the same roof as picasso. an exhibit focuses video games as an art form paying tribute to vintage classics and its influence on cultures around the world.

the collection traces the development of video games to the '70s. everything from pong to playstation. and finally, a pair of penguins at a zoo in canada have developed quite the friendship. a bromance if you will. pedro and buddy are part of an endangered species brought in to encourage mating, but they are not cooperating. in fact, the two are inseparable. zoo officials are stepping in to split the pair up in order to meet some suitable ladies. fear not, they will be reunited once again. zookeepers say, "we just need them to do their thing." >> you can't force men into those situations. we like to wine and dine and take our time. >> yeah, and i have a feeling there's like a man cave over there, they're watching football or something. i don't buy it. time for an early look at some the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. the national archives will release documents from the watergate scandal including a transcript of president richard nixon's grand jury testimony less than a year after he resigned from office.

it's thought to have covered the infamous 18 1/2-minute gap in the oval office tape recording between nixon and his chief of staff. in new york, peter gabriel will host a focus for change benefit dinner and concert for witness, a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of video and technology to preserve human rights. david crosby and graham nash will perform. and "30 rock's" tracy morgan turns 43. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." and coming up on the "today" show, anne speaks with governor rick perry following his gaffe at last night's presidential debate. an exclusive interview with dr. conrad murray, criticed of involuntary manslaughter in michael jackson's death. and matt lawyer's globe trotting adventure continues. and 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.