have a great night. hope to see you tomorrow! good night! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," gop shake-up. one republican presidential candidate bows out while another gets slammed by charges from his ex-wife. reno inferno. a massive wind-driven wildfire sends thousands of nevada residents fleeing for their lives. d telltale sign. a long-running edgar allen poe tribute is never more. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the

pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with a wild republican ride. a series of shake-ups made for a memorable day on the gop campaign trail thursday. we learned mitt romney did not win the iowa caucuses. rick perry dropped out and endorsed newt gingrich. and gingrich's ex-wife gave a scathing tell-all interview. tracie potts joins us with more. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. of the four candidates on the stage, the one person not there seemed to have the most impact on how this debate started. newt gingrich's wife of 18 years told abc he cheated on her while publicly promoting family values. >> he was asking to have an open marriage, and i refused. >> reporter: gingrich admits being unfaithful but chided cnn for making it question number one. >> to take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a

significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. let me be quite clear. the story is false. >> reporter: this just hours after rick perry dropped out and endorsed gingrich. rick santorum questions whether gingrich's past could cost republicans the election. >> i love him, but at times he's just got that sort of, you know, worrisome moment that something's going to pop and we can't afford that. >> reporter: mitt romney still says he'll wait until april to release his tax returns. >> i obviously pay all full taxes. i'm honest in my dealings with people. people understand that. >> reporter: ron paul says he has no intention of releasing his. >> nobody's challenging me because i have no conflict of interest. i don't even talk to lobbyists. >> reporter: cnn's latest poll shows romney still leading with gingrich ten points behind, but gingrich is gaining support and romney is slipping. now, there are some newer polls that show gingrich leading if

only by a few points. plus, we've seen his tax returns. turns out gingrich earned just over $3 million and paid almost $1 million in taxs last year. >> all right. tracie, thank you. u.s. officials tell nbc news that six u.s. marines were killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan thushz. the troops died when their nato chopper went down in helmand province. officials say there were no signs of enemy activity athe t time of the crash, which is still under investigation. it was the deadliest i crash in afghanistan since august when 30 american troops died after a chinook helicopter was apparently shot down. we have confirmation this morning that a senior al qaeda leader was killed in a recent u.s. drone strike in pakistan. the unmanned drone strike on january 10th hit a compound in northern waziristan near the border with afghanistan. the target of the attack was an

operations planner. a senior u.s. official says, quote, his death reduces al qaeda's thinning bench of another operative devoted to plotting the death of innocent civilians. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. firefighters in reno, nevada, have started to take control of a massive wildfire, but not before it destroyed more than 20 homes and forced 10,000 people to leave the area. vice president joe biden was forced to abruptly end an appearance at a local high school, interrupting his remarks upon hearing flames were heading toward the campus. the fire may be to blame for one death. a new jersey man says it is a miracle he is still alive. there you can see why. he was driving by a construction site when a steel beam smashed into his van, ripping the roof right off of it. it was being lifted by a crane when it accidently swung into traffic. the victim walked away with just a broken thumb.

unreal. in southern california, another case of delivery people behaving badly. this time a man watched as his surveillance camera caught a u.s. postal service worker carelessly tossing a package over the fence. inside, an antique coo coo clock. it was seriously damaged. the postal service is investigating. at one school in northern california, you won't have to call another country troy get tech support. the school is turning to its own students to fix ageing computers. teachers say the kids often know more about the equipment than they do. i can relate to that. now for a look at your national and regional weather, let's check in with bill karins. not easy to be a weather forecaster in the seattle area. >> yesterday, freezing rain all day. unexpected. hundreds of thousands of people without power. it just hasn't been a fun couple of days to deal with the weather in that region.

our friends in oregon yesterday hadeorribl flooding, especially by the salem area. this was more expected, the very heavy rain. the cold air has held on a lot longer than anyone thought up around the seattle area and lower elevations. we have some freezing drizzle at this hour being reported between olympia and seattle. we need these temperatures to go above freezing. we've gotten up to 32 at the seattle-tacoma airport. throughout the morning t will finally improve ever so slightly. we think later today temperatures will jump up into the 40s. that will quickly improve the roads and allow the power crews to get things back online. as we say that, heavy rain is on the way once again. this is a very active weather pattern. a storm today and another one for sunday in the west. this is a much warmer scenario than the last one. we're going to expect heavy rains in northern california. the northern sierra is going to deal with heavy rain. higher elevations will get the snow. eventually, once the warm front clears, we will get that warm

air into seattle and things will dramatically improve late today. this morning, still be very careful. i know school is cancelled in get rid of the ice on the trees and power lines. a lot of my weather colleagues are, you know, have had a rough go over the last couple days up there. >> it happens. >> it does. it's been one of the toughest places in the country to forecast. >> tough one, indeed. all right, bill. thanks so much. google falls short. big blue stands tall. and there's no shortage of volunteers for one quality test in florida. the early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, will kate beckinsale's return to the big screen as a gun-toting vampire earn the top five at the box office this

weekend? coming up, the bruins score in bunches. the heat burn the lakers, and penn state has reason to smile. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here's some of your top headlines this morning. france is suspending all training operations with afghan troops and threatening to pull out all 4,000 of its troops from afghanistan after an afghan soldier shot and killed four french soldiers today. french president nicolas sarkozy complained, quote, the french army is not in afghanistan so that avenue can soldiers can shoot at them. another ship is in danger of sinking this morning. a cargo ship. this one off the coast of turkey. the 282-foot long container

vessel is tilting on its right side. fbi agents have shut down the popular file sharing site me megaupload and made several arrests for piracy laws. the hacker group anonymous claims they attacked the justice department. scientists say they need more time to decide about time. they'll do three more years of study on whether to stop adding a second to world clocks to match the earth's movement. and a 60-year-old tradition may be over. since 1949, the mystery man had left a half empty bottle of cognac and three red roses as a birthday tribute at the baltimore grave of edgar allen poe. for the third year in a row, the so-called poe-toaster did not show up. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens the 12,623 after adding 45 points yesterday.

the s&p was up six points. the nasdaq gained 18. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei rose 126 points while in hong kong, the hang seng nudged up 167. this morning we'll find out how a mixed bag of late-day earnings impact markets today. after the bell earnings from online giant google fell well short of market expectations on both net income and net revenue. at one point after hours, google shares plunged 10%. on the upside, ibm easily beat earnings estimates. big blue also promised 10% growth in 2012. elsewhere in late trade, tech titans intel and microsoft both delivered decent reports sending both stocks higher. a 12% rise in profit at american express helped it surpass earnings estimates. overseas, swedish retailer ikea reported a healthy jump in profit and revenue. earlier in the day, stocks were

steadied thanks in part to the biggest drop in weekly unemployment claims since 2008. investors also welcomed upbeat earnings from bank of america as it rebuilds its core businesses. meanwhile, morgan stanley shares climbed after reporting it lost less than expected last quarter. quarterly profit at southwest airlines also topped estimates despite higher fuel costs. general motors is once again the world's top selling automaker overtaking toyota by selling 9 million vehicles last year. rupert murdoch's media empire will pay millions in damages. actor jude law, his ex-wife, and his assistant are among those receiving settlements. and finally, the florida department of law enforcement is raising eyebrows for shelling out $300 on jim beam mixers and doritos to get employees tipsy to test with a breathalyzer.

>> sounds like us. >> we do that with extra strong coffee. coming up, a tragedy in skiing. a shootout in hockey you have to see to believe. plus, lebron and the heat break away from the outmatched l.a. lakers. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> the weekend forecast is highlighted by snow for new england. that's coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, on paper last night's matchup between the lakers and the heat promised to be a great one. in reality, it couldn't have been more one sided. here's fred roggin with an early look at your sports headlines. good morning. it was the marquee game of the night. lakers and heat. unfortunately, the heat were the only team that showed up. maybe it was traveling across country. maybe it was the time difference. the lakers simply didn't have it. lebron james and company took advantage. at one point, they were up by as many as 24. james had a game high 31. heat won it 98-87. now to houston. hornets and rockets. kevin martin came out of the gates firing. 27 points in the first half. finished with 32. this one went to o.t. martin on the break, missed the layup.

samuel dalembert there to clean up. sad news out of utah. world champion canadian freestyle skier sarah burke passed away yesterday. she sustained an irreversible brain injury while training last week. sarah burke, just 29 years old. hockey, the penguins have been struggling without sidney crosby, but they put it together zbens t against the first place rangers. penguins knocked off the rangers 4-1. bruins and devils tied in the third. in the blink of an eye, boston took over. two goals in 30 seconds. bruins scored four unanswered to beat the devils 4-1. in phoenix, the red wings put a personal spin on the shootout. a spinning backhand. no way to stop that. detroit won in a shootout 3-2. how about an upset? illinois and penn state tied at 52. tim frazier with the tear drop

that made happy valley cry tears of joy. it's been a rough year for penn state, but they're smiling now. they beat illinois 54-42. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. so who's america's favorite actor? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, he may be commander in chief, but can the president survive the audience at harlem's famed apollo theater? you're watching "early today."

good morning. all eyes continue to be on the pacific northwest. we're just waiting for the last of the cold air to leave the puget sound area. then we'll warm it up and can start to recover from this historic weather event between the snow and the ice. as far as the rain goes, a lot of heavy rain. more in oregon. more possibility of flooding there. as we go through the weekend, showers on saturday. another slug of moisture comes in late sunday. if you're watching us on khaq in spokane, washington, experience one of the most beloved and recognized art movements through story telling and imagery at the northwest museum of arts. >> thanks so much. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. the number one film will be about vampires at war.

"underworld awakening" marks kate beckinsale's return as a battling vampire after she skipped the third film. it should do well because of the 3-d and i-max prices taking in at least $20 million for the top spot. the world war ii drama "red tails" should earn about $15 million. the 9/11 drama "extremely loud and incredibly close" goes nationwide and will likely take in between 10 to $12 million. "haywire" starring gina carano isn't expected to hit the $1 million mark. a new survey shows johnny depp is america's favorite actor.

sandra bullock was the only woman in the top ten. all right. this comes to us from wnbc news 4 new york where in nearby harlem we heard president obama like we've never heard him before. ♪ i go [ cheers and applause ] >> way to put his hard into it. and he's great. yes, that was the leader of the free world offering his rendition of al green's "let's stay together." bill will be following up with that later in the show. the president was headlining a campaign fund raiser at the legendary apollo theater. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

three tiger cubs have been paired with an unlikely surrogate mother. a set of triplets, two white tigers and one rare stripeless white tiger, are being taken care of a dog in a wild life preserve in japan. the babies are a third pregnancy in 18 months for their tiger mother, who was deemed unfit to take care of them. in china, lights shone bright for the spring holiday festival. in preparation for the annual lantern fair, a rehearsal was held in shanghai celebrating the year of the dragon. a 65-yard lantern was built in

its honor. the festival is in its 18th year and begins on the first day of the first liunar month. finally, a school mascot could offend middle-aged women. that's right. apparently at one school in utah where board members overturned a school-wide vote which chose the cougar to be the new mascot. parents were afraid the name of the cat would provoke thoughts of that term used in pop culture. you know, a cougar, referring to older women seeking younger men. instead, they went with the chargers. one thing i never thought would happen. i mean -- >> the poor cougar. >> exactly. why hate on the cougar? it's the middle-aged womens' foug fault. come on. is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? >> no, but it's on the list. >> it's on the list. time now for an early look at the stories we'll follow. penn state's board of trustees holds its first meeting since november in the frantic first

week after child sex abuse charges were filed against jerry sandusky. san diego's jerry san diegoers will hold a washington news conference announcing mayors for freedom to marry, a campaign supporting same-sex marriage. at arlington national cemetery, a retired air force general part of the tuskegee airmen will be laid to rest. all day long, you can stay on top of the latest developments on those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight, be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." here's a look at what's coming up on the "today" show. will a controversial interview with newt gingrich's ex-wife matter to voters in south carolina? and dr. oz is live in studio to answer questions about sleep, which remedies to use and which to avoid. 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. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com