thanks for watching. have a great night. hope to see you tomorrow. bye-bye. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," a school day turns deadly when an ohio teen opens fire on his classmates. double trouble. mitt romney and rick santorum battle for votes in a republican primary double header. and wild ride. an out of control car causing a fiery delay at the daytona 500. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm richard lui. today we begin with an unspeakable tragedy. residents of chardon, ohio, are in shock this morning after a teenager walked into his high school lunchroom yesterday and

opened fire, killing two classmates and wounding three others. the 17-year-old shooter was later captured and is now in custody. this morning, students and families are still searching for answers. jay gray reports from ohio. >> reporter: chardon high is still on lockdown this morning, a full day after a deadly shooting rampage in the school's cafeteria. >> we have an active shooter at the high school. >> reporter: investigators say that shooter was 17-year-old t.j. lane. >> he had no emotion on his face. he was just shooting. >> reporter: quietly, deliberately gunning down students before chased from the building by teachers and surrendering without incident a few blocks away. overnight, hundreds gathered at several vigils across this tight-knit town, searching for some kind of relief or strength by being together. >> it's shocking to the community. one thing i can say they are so amazed how they are surrounding the kids and loving on them. >> reporter: classes have been canceled today as investigators continue in a search for clues about how and why it all

happened. though, they admit there are still more questions than answers here. but in this small town, one thing does seem very clear. >> i hope every parent, if you haven't hugged or kissed your kid in the last couple of days, you take that time. >> reporter: because they are now painfully aware of how warning that time can be ripped away. jay gray, nbc news, chardon, ohio. we turn now to politics and today's all-important primaries in michigan and arizona. polls showing mitt romney way ahead in arizona, but the very close race in michigan is critical. a loss in his home state would be a devastating blow for the romney campaign. nbc's steve handelsman reports for us from detroit. >> reporter: rick santorum claimed tonight he is closing strong in michigan. >> i think we are going to surprise a few people tomorrow night. >> reporter: but santorum lost his lead in this recession ravaged state when he talked

less about jobs and, like today, more about his religious conservatism and what he opposes. >> separation of church and state which, by the way, does not appear in the constitution. >> reporter: he has warned universities breed liberals. >> president obama once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. >> reporter: he slammed the obama birth control policy. >> santorum talking about social issues again. no, i'm talking about freedom! >> reporter: outside of detroit, some voters love that. >> the reason i'm voting for him is because of his moral values. >> reporter: others are turned off. >> i think santorum is too extreme, so i will probably vote for romney. >> my commitment to getting america working again will be second to none. for that reason, i'm going to win in michigan, and i'm going to win across the country. >> reporter: but romney's veered off message, reminding voters he is so rich, his wife has two

cadillacs. and at the daytona 500, not as much a friend as team owners. michigan's kid rock closed the last event before another native son gets the verdict of michigan voters. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, detroit. here is a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. a home security camera showing dramatic video of a cab smashing through a fence and into the front of a house in brooklyn, new york. the car hit with such force, it knocked a second vehicle down the street. the driver was seriously injured but is expected to recover there. for the second time in a week, an suv has slammed into a convenience market in massachusetts. this time, the front of a ford explorer landing on the counter of the store. one person was treated for minor injuries. there's no word on what caused the driver to lose control. and flames rip through an oklahoma city flea market monday afternoon. three firefighters were hurt when the floor collapsed after the rear portion of the building gave way. authorities have not said what

they think might have caused that fire. the market was closed at the time. then, finally, too many cars parked too close together made a frozen lake in wisconsin not so frozen. the ice gave way and 36 cars went straight through the cracks on lake winnebago. fortunately, no one was inside any of them at the time. the drivers had parked there for an ice fishing competition. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. what's the lesson there? don't park on ice, i guess. >> this isn't the winter to be driving on the lakes. >> this is not the winter. you're right. >> some folks do it normally. other winters it's fine. they do racing. it's pretty crazy. but we have a big winter storm coming, richard. we're going to watch that moving across the country. yesterday, that storm was moving through california. we got some snow in some areas of california that don't typically get it. low elevations saw some of it. in pine valley, california, one

of those spots that picked up 3 to 4 inches of snow. wasn't a big snow event, but just enough for the kids to have some fun. so where is that storm this morning? for the most part, it's over arizona. it will be moving out of there as we go throughout the day today. the four-corner region is getting the worst of it today. eventually, this heads into the plains. we already have a lot of moisture. it's going to be showery and cloudy cloudy. we have some freezing drizzle in iowa and light snow in minnesota. this is going to be quite the storm, one of the bigger ones we've had this winter. this is the predicted snowfall map for the entire country. a fulsnow storm for the plains. northern michigan and towards new england towards wednesday and thursday morning, you're going to get significant snow. ski areas getting snow there. the worst of it, blizzard warning in effect for the dakotas. warnings around minneapolis.

you're looking at a wintry mess. snow to sleet and freezing rain. then it looks like back to snow on the backside. a messy, icy storm for you. as far as the snow totals go, the highest totals definitely to the north in minneapolis. the south side of town getting a lot less, more icy. we could see as much as a foot there between fargo and minneapolis. also near bismarck. that's where you'll see the amazing pictures of the snow blowing all over the place. east coast, you're okay today. just showers around atlanta. that's a look at your national isolated tornado or two. it's interesting. we haven't had many big winter storms. this one is on the northern half of the country, but will be high impact. >> affecting some folks voting

in michigan. >> they'll be okay during the daylight areas. arizona, a little in the morning. >> good stuff. no excuse. get out there and vote in michigan. appreciate it. home sales surge and a new study giving rich folks a bad wrap. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. angelina jolie is used to turning heads, but this time it's one of her high profile limbs that has everybody buzzing. coming up, the sacramento kings get a new home, and without a doubt, the strangest crash you will ever see in the daytona 500. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm richard lui. here are some of your top headlines this morning. in syria, more than 130 people killed on monday and many in homs. the syrian government says a draft constitution was approved sunday with nearly 90% approval

from citizens, despite opposition groups boycotting the vote. israel says it will not warn the u.s. if it attacks iran's nuclear facilities. according to the associated press, israel telling american officials that would decrease the chance that the u.s. would be held responsible for failing to stop the attack. >> a commercial plane made an emergency landing last night after the landing gear failed to come down. no one was hurt aboard that plane. a problem with another italian cruise ship. it is being towed after a fire in the engine room left it adrift in this the indian ocean with more than 1,000 people on board that. it's a sister ship to the costa concordia that ran aground off the coast of italy. scientists are watching a big ast troid -- asteroid that may pose an impact 28 years from now. it was discovered last year and they are calling on ways to

deflect it. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opening at 12,981 after losing a point yesterday. the s&p was up a point. the nasdaq added two. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei gained 88. in hong kong, the hang seng surged 350. good news on the housing market gave investors at least one reason for optimism on monday. contracts for home sales shot up 2% in january to the highest level in nearly two years. stoking enough confidence to drive the s&p to close at its highest level since mid 2008. then overseas for you. germany's parliament approving a second bailout package to greece to the tune of $173 billion. oil prices dipped below 108 a barrel in asia this morning, after settling down more than a dollar yesterday. earnings from lowe's echoed last week's report from rival home depot with higher than expected

sales due to a mild northeast winter. de -- dendreon for its pricey prostate cancer treatment. yahoo! is threatening to sue facebook if it does not pay up for using what the search engine claims as patented technology to power its privacy controls, news feed, and mszages service. apple is facing a bigger battle over the rights to the ipad name. taiwan based proview claimed trademark rights only in mainland china and wants apple to drop the name worldwide. new regulations requiring automakers to put rearview cameras in all vehicles by 2014. does money make you a menace to society? a new study by uc berkeley does not paint a pretty picture of the upper class. researchers found that wealthy

people were likely to cheat, break the rules while driving, and endorse unethical behavior at work and take candy from children. sacramento reaches an arena deal and georgetown hands notre dame a second straight loss. plus, another delay in daytona after a freak accident. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. a winter storm is on the move today in the rockies. tonight and tomorrow. heading for the northern portions of the u.s. 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 you today, rain and fire made for the most bizarre race in daytona history. here is nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines. good morning. last night's daytona 500 had about everything. the rain postponed from early sunday night. an early crash knocked out two of the favorites. there was a bizarre wreck involving a service truck. what way to kick off the season. here we go. push came to shove on the second lap. sandler bumped johnson from behind. johnson hit the wall, which caused a chain reaction. danica patrick was in the middle of it. johnson's night is over. danica headed to the pits and returned and finished 38th. a bizarre action while under caution. watch closely. juan pablo montoya lost his car

and hit a jet drier. a jet drier is a truck that cleans the track. it blows a huge jet engine with air. the truck immediately burst into flames. thankfully montoya and the driver of the truck were okay. who would have thought the biggest wreck of the night would have been a service truck? that delayed the race for over two hours as they fixed the track. now to the end of the race. tony stewart got loose four laps remaining. seven cars involved in that pileup. brought out the tenth caution. that set up a green white to checkered for all of the marbles. matt kenseth held off dale earnhardt jr., and it took about six hours, but in the end matt kenseth wins the daytona 500. no nba games last night. the kings will be kept in sacramento for the long term. that arena expected to be ready in 2015. georgetown made quick work of notre dame.

whitington run to perfection. joyas up ten at the half. he is a terrific threat from beyond the arc. the freshman had a game high 15 and georgetown won easley, 59-41. that is your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> announcer: early today sports is brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray, never all. justin bieber is not happy with joustin bieber. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. the length kids will go to get in their college of choice. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." we are watching a big winter storm coming through areas of california. today it's near arizona. tomorrow it will be out here into the plains. we're going to watch the storm developing during the day. the worst of it will be late this evening in areas of minnesota, south dakota, and north dakota. eventually, that system will move through the great lakes with a wintry mess. even new england will get significant snow wednesday and thursday. keep that in mind. if you're watching us on wmc-tv in memphis, tennessee, explore the life of soul music legend otis redding at i've got dreams. that's your early event of the day. >> all right. thanks a lot, bill. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment.

a legal battle involving justin bieber has taken an unexpected turn here. a few weeks back, justin bieber's lawyers sent a letter to sue joustin bieber but now fired back with a lawsuit claiming the game is a parody and has the right to sell it whether bieber likes it or not. 41-year-old actress uma thurman is expecting her third child. michael douglas, who played a greedy executive in "wall street" might be the most famous turncoat. he's starring in a new public service announcement meant to discourage insider trading. finally, angelina jolie's leg has spawned its own twitter account and it's an instant hit. the twitter feed dubbed "angie's right leg" has more than 24,000 followers. she really is making a show here as you can tell, bill. that leg is right there. sample tweets include, i'm a

leg, and, look at the leg. you may recall she showed off her famous stem at the oscars while presenting an award on sunday. that is kind of funny there. this comes to us from wcau, in philadelphia, where in nearby lower marion, a high school senior is making an online music deal to her favorite ivy league university. jackie milestone posted a youtube video in which she sings and begs yale to accept her after she was turned down for early admission. the song features jackie, her dog, and a massive collection of yale clothing and got thousands of hits, but no word yet from yale whether her ability to carry a tune will get a second look there. she is prime and innovative. i'm richard lui. this is "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

conjoined turtles are causing some double takes among zookeepers in ukraine. six paws and two heads and one shell the zoo welcomed the newest edition to their family. looks pretty weird. >> they don't know where they're going. >> they have different tastes, evidently. one turtle will only eat greens, and the other will only have colorful foods such as peppers and carrots. at least they are healthy there. cigar fanatics are lining up in cuba. thousands have descended on cuba

to take part in the cigar festival. people pay thousands to make the trip and enjoy the finest smokes. the porta-potty is living up to its name. for 1 12 years, they've been gathering for a unique sport, port-a-potty racing. >> don't tip! >> divided into two teams. they push the metal boxes 500 feet across a frozen pond struggling to keep them upright. when all is done the victors receive a trophy of a metal garbage bin. trying to figure out what they are doing. kind of like they got the runs? i'm sorry! after al that work, i would be a little flush. >> just keep on going. >> i could. it comes out horrible humor and sorry to put you through that, bill. time for a look at the stories we will follow today on nbc. in a major test of human rights law, the supreme court will decide if corporations will be treated like people when sued for aiding foreign regimes that

kill or torture people. royal dutch petroleum and shell subsidiary in the u.s. accused of aiding a foreign nigeria regime brutal of the brutal crimes there. the house judiciary committee hold a meeting on the obama administration's contraceptive mandate. the panel will include at least one woman. on this day in 1953, scientists announced their discovery of the double helix structure of dna. all day long, stay on top of the latest developments on 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. in "today" exclusive, a dugger family relative sets the record straight on an alleged blackmail plot meant to bring down the reality tv show, 19 kids and counting. and survivors of yesterday's deadly school shooting in ohio speak out in a live interview. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and more.

i'm richard lui. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.