[ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," campaign gaffe. republican candidate mitt romney does damage control after making a controversial comment about the poor. the far side. a nasa orbiter beams back the part of the moon that we never get to see. and high school hail mary. an alabama basketball team scores not one but two buzzer beaters in the same game. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello. good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. we begin with next stop nevada.

gop presidential hopefuls are taking their campaigns out west where caucuses will be held in nevada on saturday and in minnesota and colorado next tuesday. meanwhile, it was not all smooth sailing for front-runner mitt romney who instead of basking in his florida victory spent the day defending a comment he made about the poor. nbc's brian moore joins us from washington with more on this. brian, good morning. >> reporter: this coming from the candidate who made a $10,000 bet and said he likes to fire people, it is another potentially costly error. >> the success of some does not make the rest of us poorer. >> reporter: beginning today gop presidential candidate mitt romney has the official protection of the u.s. secret service. but not before he got glitter bombed by a gay rights activist and he hurt himself while talking to cnn about protecting the middle class. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. if it needs repair i'll fix it. i'm not concerned about the

rich, they are doing just fine. i'm concerned about the very heart of america. >> reporter: instead of favoring his florida primary win, romney was playing defense. >> no, no, no. no, no. you got to take the whole -- >> reporter: the obama campaign pounced. but romney was taking fire from both sides. and he wasn't spared on the campaign trail. >> let me shock governor romney. the founding fathers met the very poor who they called americans. >> reporter: today newt gingrich is reportedly picking up the endorsement of donald trump. rick santorum says if trump cares about jobs, he's endorsing the wrong guy. >> he should be endorsing me, not newt gingrich. >> reporter: the gop candidate, a war of words and a misfire from the front-runner. >> thank you! >> reporter: trump's endorsement may or may not sway votes but it will get people talking as we are right now, lynn. >> brian mooar in washington, thank you. the u.s. combat role in afghanistan will end next year. defense secretary leon panetta

says american and other international forces in afghanistan expect to end their combat role in 2013 but continue training and advising afghan forces. on his way to a nato defense ministers meeting in europe, he says the goal is to have the afghans take the lead role in fighting the taliban. panetta says the reduced role for combat troops will then be followed by a withdrawal of american troops through 2014. at least 74 people died last night in a politically-motivated soccer violence. fans rushed the field after the home team topped the top club from cairo. fans of the losing team began taunting the home crowd accusing them of not supporting last year's populous revolution. players were swarmed and attacked but none of them were killed. government riot police stood in line doing seemingly nothing as the fans ran wild, hundreds were

injured. here is a look at some of the other stories making news "early today" in america. a meteor streaked across the sky of central texas last night. the government confirmed it was real. you can see the dot flying across the horizon as it was captured by a police car's dashboard camera. so far there is no indication that it hit the earth. this video shows a large american flag being stolen. officials say it's the same flag later burned by activists on the city hall steps. investigators are hoping to identify those seen in the video. 400 people were arrested during the chaos. ten people were injured after an amtrak train derailed just south of lapsing, michigan. it happened when a train hit a semi truck that got stuck on the tracks. 73 people were on board the

train heading from pontiac to chicago. none of the injuries are considered life-threatening, though. and finally some incredible shooting by a high school basketball team. watch this. one player gets nothing but net from 90 feet away. very impressive. later, a teammate scored at the halftime buzzer from mid-court. they can't even believe it. the other team came back to win. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist bill karins with a look at the forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> good morning. happy groundhog day. >> happy groundhog day to you. we are going to do our own scientific -- yeah. >> he's about to sneak his head out to tell us if winter is going to end soon, but a lot of people think it already has. the festivities are well underway, we are getting down to go time. officially if he sees his shadow, six more weeks of

winter, if not, four more weeks. people in alaska will care about that forecast because they are the only ones dealing with winter. and by alaskan standards, we have a bit of a heat wave near anchorage, 37 degrees. fairbanks, nine us in 9. minus 9. that's an improvement. the warmer air has surged in from the south and with it some snow and rain will be found in these areas. temperatures getting to above zero for the first time in fairbanks in a long while. that pattern change is also affecting areas of the west, too. a big high pressure ridge is now moving into place. we have a big storm system going through the four-corner region with a big snowstorm later tonight into areas of colorado, but because of this jet stream, it is just a big huge dip. this ridge is built in and will mean the storms can't approach the west coast for a couple days. they have to go north up into areas of alaska or northern british columbia. that will keep us dry and sunny after we burn off the morning

fog. look at the forecast today. seattle, 50 degrees. san francisco, l.a., vegas, everyone, a lot of sunshine today and mild. that's a look ae next couple ofe weekend where we look really nice. i guess not a lot of drama where the groundhog because it has not felt like winter anyways. >> that's true. thank you so much. data looks strong. car sales war. and a boss in australia we all wish would move to the states. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, say it ain't so. reese witherspoon takes a shot at the bieb, justin bieber, that is. push comes to shove between

the pacers and t'wolves and magic back on track and lebron james scores 40 but was it enough? you're wating "early today." w

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. more than a hundred people are still missing after a ferry boat sank off papua new guinea. more than 200 of the 350 people aboard have been rescued. indiana is the 23rd right to work state in the u.s. and the first state to change its law in over a decade. the state legislature passed and the governor signed the controversial bill saying that workers do not have to pay union fees. the senate in washington state passed a bill last night to legalize same-sex marriage. the statehouse is expected to pass it and the governor will sign it. that would make washington the seventh state in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

in france, a presidential candidate was showered with flour wednesday. he was shocked. but did resume his speech on the french housing crisis still covered in the flour. and nasa's spacecraft has beamed home the first far side of the moon. a view that we never see because the moon is locked with the earth. the moon cam video shot last month shows a moon scape full of dozens craters left behind after dozens of collisions with asteroids. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,716 after gaining 83 points yesterday. the s&p up 11 points. the nasdaq jumped 34. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei added 67 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng surged 406. facebook took its first step toward being a publicly trading company yesterday and on track

to becoming the largest internet ipo ever. in its filing facebook was seeking to raise $5 billion but word on the street is the company is aiming toward an evaluation nearly $100 billion. no word yet on which exchange will carry the ticker symbol. investors welcomed news that u.s. manufacturing picked up speed last month. more upbeat data showed construction spending hit an 18-month high in december. bank of america and both citigroup got a boost on news that greece could be one formal step away from avoiding default. automakers reported january sales not seen since 2009's cash for clunkers incentive. chrysler saw an 81% increase of sales in its most popular sedan. an l.a. court awarded one nearly

$100,000 for her suit saying that the car didn't live up to its advertised mileage. and american airlines company is planning to eliminate 13,000 jobs. pension plans and retiree health benefits are also on the chopping block. on the earnings front, whirlpool surged 13% on its optimistic 2012 outlook. and, finally, workers at one australian bus line say they have the most generous boss. after he unexpectedly shared millions of dollars in bonuses after he sold the company. some decades long employees took home more than $100,000. hopefully, bosses are taking notes there. coming up, the spurs rally. the magic win one. and the 76ers pull off a big upset. plus kevin durant shows dallas why oklahoma city are called the thunder. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. if there are any groundhogs out there from colorado to nebraska, you'll need a

snowplow. your 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 latest installment of the nba's battle of the great plains went all oklahoma city's way. here is mario solis with an early look at all of your sports headlines.

hi, there, good morning. last time we saw the oklahoma city thunder they were on the wrong end of a black griffin highlight reel. last night they took out their frustration on the reigning champs by dunking the mavericks. to dallas. nowitzki held to eight points as kevin durant and russell westbrooke scored a combined 56 between them. this sums it up for the mavs. westbrook with the easy dunk. and keep an eye on the ball that rolls over to rick carlyle. he boots it into the crowd. he was ejected. the thunder win 95-86. the reigning east conference champs didn't fare much better. lebron james did his part scoring 40 points. unfortunately, he didn't have much help. brandon jennings simply went off in the fourth hitting a trio of three-pointers down the stretch. bucks beat the heat for the second time this season 105-97. grab your partner for a texas two-step. first dancing over the rockets in san antonio, rallying from 19

points down in the second half, tim duncan finishing with 25. the red rocket ices it in the final minute. matt bonner from downtown earns texas bragging rights. the sixers the surprise team of the season doing everything right against the bulls. philly knocks off the best team in the east, 98-82. the pacers are another team that are on the rise. danny granger was a man among boys in minnesota scoring 29 of his 36 in the second half and gets into it with kevin love, a little pushing and shoving but nothing more than that. indy win their third straight 109-99. on the other end of the spectrum you've got the magic playing some of the worst basketball of the season, but there is one sure shot way to fix that. play the lowly wizards. anderson and howard both had 23 points. orlando end their misery of a losing streak with a 109-103 win. that is your early look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis.

there may be a review into the investigation of amy winehouse's death. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, normally he inhabits the stage, but coming up we'll show you jimmy flying high above one of the biggest stages of all. you're watching "early today."

welcome back onthis groundhog day. we are watching a beautiful day

today and another one tomorrow. it is almost like the movie with bill murray. nice conditions out there, so grab the sunglasses. the big storm system is moving through the inner mountain west. you'll deal with it in areas near denver and the central plains. as i mentioned, into tomorrow, it looks very familiar. just like today. many temperatures don't even budge. well if you're watching us on news channel 4 in portland, oregon, punxsutawney phil may hog most of today's attention, but folks in these parts say hedgehogs are the ones to watch. it is hedgehog day at the oregon zoo. that's your pacific event of day. >> they are trying to elbow their way into the market. >> there's a lot of others. >> they are jealous, it's fine. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. there may be another amy winehouse death investigation after the coroner who held the first suddenly resigned. because the veteran australian lawyer hasn't been registered in england for five years as the

results requires, they concluded an autopsy could be held against if her family requests it. elsewhere a source tells "us" magazine on the night demi moore was rushed to the hospital, everyone thought she was going to die when she went into convulsions after smoking an unknown substance. sources say in the wake of her breakup with ashton kutcher, she had been mixing pills with red bull and hitting on 24-year-old actor zac efron, a really bad combination. and reese witherspoon took a tiny shot and justin bieber. she was asked what she thought of him remaking a movie starring her and mark wahlberg. when asked would she be playing me or mark wahlberg?

come on. this comes to us from wthr, channel 13 in indianapolis where an nbc star made a high-flying appearance. late night host jimmy fallon on the left rode one of the zip lines set up as part of the super bowl village in bright yellow shoes. he's there to do four nights of his show in honor of the big game, which, of course, you can watch here on this nbc station this sunday. jimmy said afterward that going on the zip line is like having indianapolis quarterback peyton manning throw you 400 yards. >> that just proves that no one can look cool on a zip line. i don't care who you are. put a super model on a zip line. >> we are not going to test that out. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

the world's most famous painting may have a little competition. curators in spain unveiled an almost identical copy of the mona lisa. experts believe it may have been done by one of da vinci's assistants at the same time as the original. it appears to be a straightforward copy it's the techniques under the surface that led officials to their conclusion. in chile one man is prepared to share you wine that is out of this world. a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite gives this cabernet its special kick. they are combined with a rock

for a year to get the blend. there are plans to export overseas. they make movies about stories like this. a treasure hunter has claimed he has located the wreck of a british merchant ship that was torpedoed off cape cod during world war ii. he says the vessel holds a load of platinum bars now worth more than $3 billion. >> let's go. >> yeah. i've got our ticket. though, the british government is questioning the claim the hunter hopes to raise the treasure later this month. when i go to cape cod, i just fish. now i know i need to get scuba gear. >> when you walk the beach you hope to find a little something. can you imagine finding a ship? >> like a coin, just one. >> or a shark tooth. >> a $5 bill, i think. here's a look at the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. in light of the recent deaths of two asian americans serving in the military, a press conference addressing hazing will be held in washington. both servicemen are thought to

commit suicide after constant hazing by other members. the conference will center on the need for sufficient military policies and enforcement. also in washington, supreme court justice kagan will help judge a moot competition hosted by the george washington law school. law students will argue a fictional case written by a fellow student. and singer shakira turns 35. all day long, you can stay on top of developments of those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight, watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at what is coming up later this morning on the "today" show. mitt romney's post-florida victory blunder and donald trump's major announcement on the gop race. a full report coming up on "today." and lisa kudrow stops by to preview the new season of her hit show "who do you think you are?" keep it on this channel for continuing local news, sports

and more. i'm lynn berry. thank you for watching "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.