♪ this morning on "early today," republican shake-up. rick santorum emerges as an unlikely victor on the first day of multistate voting in the gop race. raging road hazard. an overturned tanker truck explodes in flames on a south carolina highway. and what a view. nasa releases stunning new video of last month's northern lights display. r captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across

today, we begin with a santorum sweep. rick santorum looking to build on momentum from a string of stunning victories last night. the former pennsylvania senator won missouri's nonbinding primary and the minnesota caucuses and he is the apparent winner of the colorado caucuses, which mitt romney won four years ago and was expected to take without much effort this year. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the details. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. santorum had been hoping for a good night. he got better. gop presidential hopeful rick santorum had hoped to win in minnesota and missouri, but his apparent victory in colorado is nothing short of an upset. perhaps even a game changer. >> i don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama.

>> reporter: it was a gut shot for newt gingrich. he is collecting delegates and has all been given up on outright win. santorum is now claiming four, including the iowa caucuses. mitt romney is still the front-runner, though, and he is the man to beat. >> this was a good night for rick santorum. i want to congratulate senator santorum, wish him the very best. we will keep on campaigning down the road, but i expect to become our nominee with your help. >> reporter: ron paul isn't giving up. >> we did very well tonight and have a very, very strong second place and it's going to continue! >> reporter: but it was a huge night for rick santorum. if it didn't turn around his campaign, it certainly turned heads. this shows in stark terms that romney is still struggling to connect with conservatives. lynn. >> brian, thank you. the white house is defending

itself in a controversy over contraception and religion. white house spokesman jay carney says the administration wants to reassure hospitals and others connected to the catholic church about a new requirement for them to provide birth control coverage to employees, regardless of religious beliefs. while carney stressed president obama wants women employees to have the contraceptive health care option, he also seemed to indicate possible flexibility on how the requirement might be met while respecting religious views. republican presidential candidates have recently jumped on the issue, criticizing the policy as an attack on religion. a senior vice president is stepping down from the breast cancer charity susan g. komen for the cure. karen handle resigned after the group reversed its decision to stop funding planned parenthood. handle is a republican who once ran for governor of georgia on a platform calling for the defunding of planned parenthood. the komen group sparked

controversy last week by cutting funding to planned parenthood for breast cancer screenings for low-income women. a court ruling in california has knocked down the state's ban on same-sex marriages. at least for now. protesters gathered outside the courthouse in san francisco to hear the federal appeals court decision that the proposition 8 ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. the court also said that there was no evidence that former chief u.s. judge von walker was biased and should have disclosed that he was gay before overturning proposition 8. lawmakers for the group that sponsored the ban will appeal, and the supreme court may make the final decision. here is a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. in florida, a sheriff's deputy has been fired for using unnecessary force after video showed a suspect being stunned with taser in the back of a deputy's patrol car because he was yelling. the deputy denied using the taser in a report, but the video

and an inspection of the taser proved otherwise. a tanker truck blew up on a south carolina highway after the driver lost control and crashed. power lines fell on the tanker, setting thousands of gallons of fuel ablaze. the driver who was hospitalized and treated will be cited for speeding. all along cape cod, wildlife workers are racing to save an increasing number of dolphins stranded off the coast. they're using stretchers to try and rush help to the mammals. scientists aren't really sure why so many are beaching themselves. more than 100 have done so this year. finally, students at one nebraska school are finding that going green isn't just good for the earth, it can make class more fun too. the kids are now having stories read to them inside a giant igloo made of plastic milk jugs. librarian inspired by a school recycling project had the students collect and glue 700

jugs together. that looks like a fun project. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist todd santos with your weather channel forecast. good morning to you, todd. >> good morning. that looks fun. >> it does. when i was a kid, i used to make a fort with all the sheets together. that's the ultimate fort. >> it is. only 700 milk jugs. meanwhile, at least a few areas that would take quite a bit of cool air to keep an igloo in place. picking up a few snow showers through the ohio valley tracking eastward. some of that will get into d.c. over the next few hours. maybe some isolated potential airline delays. across the west, yesterday at this time we had that large batch of rain pushing towards the coastline. now it's kind of broken apart. some of that pushing off towards the knot -- north. for the most part, mostly quiet around l.a. today. some of the moisture has made

its way in towards the great basin. you're not talking big-time snowfall. maybe a few light rain showers. you can see that one burst of energy heading towards the northwest coastline. at least a few more chances of showers into the olympics. not a great chance for snow. there are a few areas, back towards steven's pass, temperatures around the upper 20s. there's a look at temperatures for the rest of us as we start cities. morning. lake tahoe topping off around 45 degrees. so i know a lot of folks, especially across the sierra, hoping for bigger snowfall. we'll look at what we can expect in the next couple days. >> all right, todd. thanks so much.

coming up, job openings open up, big ben says he'll try, and what's seen as the latest western threat by iran. your business headlines are straight ahead. plus, ellen degeneres has a few things she's celebrating and sharing. coming up, historic night for paul pierce. the kentucky wildcats prove why they're number one. and a giant parade for the super bowl champs. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. arizona state supreme court has removed a candidate from the ballot in a city council race. affirming a ruling she does not speak english well enough to hold the office. almost 99% of the residents of san louis are latino. sad news out of england. the last known surviving veteran of world war i has died.

110-year-old florence green served as a member of the women's royal air force working in the mess hall on an air base. england's prince charles cut a birthday cake yesterday to celebrate charles dickens' 200th birthday. the prince and his wife toured the dickens museum and attended a service of thanksgiving at westminster abbey while prince charles laid a wreath to mark the occasion. nasa shows off a spectacular view of last month's northern lights from the international space station when a blast of electrically charged particles from the sun lit up the earth's atmosphere. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. dow opens at 12,878 after gaining 33 points. the s&p up two points and the nasdaq also added two. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei climbed 98

points, while in hong kong, the hang seng jumped 319. investors watching more earnings reports today and keeping an eye on the talks on greek debt. the rising wall street stocks tuesday took the dow to its highest level since may of 2008. job openings reached the highest level in almost three years with 3.4 million jobs waiting to be filled at the end of december. consumer borrowing jumped in november and december pushing consumer credit up at its fastest pace in a decade. ben bernanke told congress he is holding to his pledge to keep borrowing costs close to zero at least late through 2014. airbus grounded up to a week after engineers found dozens of cracks in its wings. nissan reporting 3.2% increase in third quarter profits. toyota reported a stronger than expected quarterly operating profit and raised its annual

forecast for 2012. disney reported earnings of 80 cents per share, higher than analysts estimated on upbeat results from its theme parks. the chairman of yahoo! and three board members are stepping down after they were blamed for falling stock prices and revenues. shares go on sale today for the ipo for casino operator caesar's entertainment. the company hopes to raise $16 million at $9 per share. finally, iran has banned "the simpsons" toy dolls saying they promote western culture. despite sanctions, toys like "the simpsons" are widely sold in iran, but the government says they are corroding the morals of iranian youth. coming up, a wildcats romp over the gators. the buckeyes slip past the boilermakers. and another nba player reaches a milestone in the nba. plus big blue takes a ride through the big apple. your early morning sports

headlines are straight ahead. with snow in the forecast for some areas, we will take another look at travel weather coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the number one ranked college basketball team in the country, kentucky, passed a major test last night. here is fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines.

good morning. march madness around the corner. if there is any question who the number one team in the tournament should be the kentucky wildcats have the answer. they simply throttled seventh ranked florida and jumped out to an early lead and kept it going the entire game. anthony dafs -- davis had 16. the wildcats picked up their 49 straight win at home 78-58. closer game in columbus. purdue gave ohio state a run for its money. buckeyes pulled away in the final minutes. buford with a career high 29. ohio state won it. big night in boston for paul pierce. knocked down a three to move past larry bird on the celts all-time scoring list. celts over the bobcats 94-84. now to oakland. ellis put on a show. 30 points by halftime and finished with 48. unfortunately the warriors needed three more. ellis missed the game tying three in the final seconds.

the thunder held on to win it 119-116. hockey. what did lightning give steven stamkos for his birthday? how about a pie in the face? good to see the team splur jed for his gift. he returned the favor against the kings and scored league leading 35th goal of the year to tie the game. l.a. came right back. a hail har mary pass. kings beat the lightning 3-1. the super bowl champs had a giant party with a ticker tape parade in manhattan yesterday. hundreds of thousands lined the streets for the parade. eli manning and justin tuck joined mayor bloomberg on the parade route. certainly a big day in the big apple. i hate to be the one who has to pick up all of that confetti. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. a major fashion designer puts his foot in it. your early morning entertainment

headlines are straight ahead. plus, the unlikeliest of odd couples in florida team up to become an overnight sensation online. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." at least across a few areas on the west coast, quieter conditions than yesterday. still look at high surf advisories toward the bay area.

get up towards seattle, seeing showers today. a slight chance for tomorrow. i mentioned the next wave coming up. it's really into friday evening you get that. mainly towards the cascades. that's where the next chance for snow showers will show up. meanwhile f you're watching on king 5 news in seattle, washington, in nearby bellevue, check out knitted, knotted, twisted, and twined. that's your pacific event of the day. >> thanks, todd. normally, ellen degeneres pays no attention to her so-called haters. yesterday, she couldn't resist. she hailed the court decision finding california's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional and then she thanked jcpenney and her fans for standing by her against a conservative anti-gay campaign to have the retailer drop her as a spokesperson. simon cowell told reporters he offered beyonce $500 million

to be a judge on the "x factor" were, quote, complete nonsense. karl lagerfeld is known for speaking his mind. he's done it again. this morning, he's being ripped for it. in a french newspaper, he judged singer lana del rey's looks, quote, not bad at all, but questioned whether she had undergone plastic surgery asking about, quote, all her implants. pretty tasteless. this is even more tasteless. he really caused a stir when despite calling the english singer adele's face beautiful and her notice divine, he also called her, quote, a little too fat, which is really just so disturbing that he would go that far in a public newspaper. she's gorgeous. she's publicly said that she doesn't care what people think. they can say whatever they want. it's not going to hurt her.

so good for her. >> good for her. who is it that gives him the stage to speak on? who cares? really? >> it's ridiculous. in jacksonville, in nearby keystone heights, a new four-legged singing sensation. ♪ that's a donkey on the left. it offers musical accompaniment to a farmer. the rancher posted the video on youtube. it's been watched more than 100,000 times online. you can bet that number is going to go up. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

it turned out to be a much bigger day for some expecting parents in china. weighing in at 15.5 pounds, baby boy chung chung arrived in the country's heaviest baby on record! look at that guy! mom sensed he would be larger based on her belly, but never expected this big of a surprise. the mother and her large son are both in good condition. this next story may have you saying simply ouch. a piercing festival in malaysia had devotees attaching religious offerings to their bodies. some pierced cheeks with spear-like needles. others have dozens of hooks

latched on to their back. even worse, look at that guy. he pulled a float by the hooks. ouch may be an understatement there. finally, in london, one museum had to go to great heights to switch things up. in order to replace their crystal encrusted minicooper for a hand-knit ferrari, they decided to move the vehicles by lifting them with a crane with the cooper valued at almost $2 million. there was no room for error in this daring effort. luckily, both cars survived the swap without a scratch. lucky for whoever was at the controls there who was sweating that job. >> right? you think car, you just roll it out. that's normally what you do with it. >> why not? >> maybe a knit ferrari is the tricky one? >> maybe get a little bit of attention. now here's a look at the stories we will follow through the day on nbc. janet napolitano together with the transportation security administration will announce the expansion of the

tsa's risk-based prescreening security initiative to additional airports. originally implemented at only seven airport, the concept aims to enhance security by focusing on prescreening individuals who volunteer to expedite the travel process. happy birthday to newscaster ted koppel, who turns 72. all day long, you can stay on the latest developments and 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. meredith vieira returns to the studio with a story of a former white house intern who claims that, as a teenager, she had an affair with president kennedy. actor denzel washington will be live in the studio to talk about his latest role as a cia operative in the movie "safe house." 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.