this morning on "early today," wicked wind. a storm carves a path across the midwest. close enough. mitt romney ekes out a narrow win in michigan to clutch a double primary victory. california confrontation. a dispute between native american tribal members turns violent. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello. good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm richard lui. today we start with breaking news. a line of suspected tornados tearing through the midwest overnight. at least one death is being

reported. more than a dozen have been injured. this is video here we have for you from central kansas where the national weather service confirms a tornado touching down. the state's governor has declared a state of emergency. meanwhile, extensive damage is being reported in southwest missouri, including the tourist city of branson. bill karins will have much more coming up in weather. stick around for that. now to tuesday's republican presidential primary. two big wins for mitt romney restoring h momentum heading into super tuesday next week. in arizona, he beat rick santorum by 20 points and wins all 29g delegates. in michigan, they will each get some of the state's 30 delegates. nbc' steve handelsman has details from detroit. >> reporter: hi, richard. thanks. good morning from detroit. here in the state where he's from, mitt romney, last night, tried to hold his head high, but what he had accomplished was to

avoid disaster. mitt romney had to win michigan or face the collapse of his campaign and he did win. after losing the lead and then gaining it back. >> we didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough and that's all that counts. i'm going to deliver on more jobs, less debt, and smaller government. we have to hear that day in and day out. >> reporter: he went two for two. romney gets all 29 of arizona's delegates. arizona's primary was win or take all, not michigan's primary. so rick santorum wins delegates in michigan. he claimed he won more. >> a month ago, they didn't know who we are but they do now! >> reporter: santorum vows to fight on into super tuesday. that's when ron paul hopes to grab delegates. that's when newt gingrich makes his stand, next tuesday in georgia. a must-win for him, georgia is gingrich's home state. that's why romney, born and raised in michigan, had to win tonight. what is not clear is whether

romney is trailing santorum in this state and nationally before turning things around will leave romney stronger or more vulnerable in the tough week ahead. from detroit, i'm steve handelsman, nbc news. richard, back to you. >> steve, thank you. it was a somber mood in chardon, ohio, last night. family and friends held a candle light vigil for the students. yesterday, two more students died, bringing the total number of fatalities to three. jay gray reports from us from ohio. >> reporter: thousands gathered for a memorial at st. mary's church, mourners filling out of the sanctuary and into the parking lot just a few blocks from chardon high school but a day after the deadly attack, seemingly miles from what is supposed to be normal here. >> you just feel so bad for all of the families. it's a horrible, tragic thing to happen. >> reporter: as this grieving community struggles to work through its pain. >> there's a student with a gun. >> reporter: newly released 911 calls provided glimpse into the

chaos inside the school's cafeteria the morning the shots rang out. >> we got shots fired. gunshots. multiple gunshots. >> reporter: when the shooting stopped, five students had been hit. three young men fatally wounded. two more teens seriously injured. victims who prosecutors say were targeted randomly by alleged gunman tj lane. >> he went into a school cafeteria and shot ten rounds. he stated he did not know the students. >> reporter: mourners don't know why it had to happen here. >> we're not just any old place, chardon. this is every place. as you have seen in the past, this can happen anywhere. >> reporter: but it did happen here, and it's going to take a long time to heal. jay gray, nbc news, chardon, ohio. now to other stories making news early today in america. one person stabbed in a california brawl that broke out as factions of a native american

tribe feuded over election results. protesters are now asking for federal intervention from the bureau of indian affairs. it's not clear if that will happen. a deer slammed into an 11-year-old girl who suffered a concussion. surveillance video shows the deer running across the store aisles. police had to be called out. they had to put down the animal after it, too, was injured. finally, a new guinness world record has been put to bed with a single push. 850 people got together in new orleans to form human dominos. they were attached to mattresses and one by, they all came tumbling down. that wasn't the only thing to fall, by the way. their accomplishment shatters the old record for human dominos set in belgium last year. a lot of beds. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. tough weather to talk about today. >> tornados at night are never

good. people don't know they're coming. that's when you get a lot of fataliti fatalities. tornados went through southern illinois only an hour ago. this is our severe weather map from last night. one near the topeka area. one hit branson, missouri. a lot of damage to the entertainment district. this is the latest one down here. harrisburg, illinois, reporting a tornado with a lot of damage. possibly one fatality. we have our own storm to deal with here in the west. not severe weather. a lot of snow. it's a cold air mass in place. snow levels are very low in many areas, especially up in washington state. seattle and portland, we're not expecting a lot of accumulating snow for you. you'll probably see snow flakes. snow levels will be down to about 4 to 500 feet. we're going to get nailed here in the northern portions of california in the mountains. storm system, you can clearly see the upper level low just really well defined. little dry slot wrapping all the

way around. very impressive storm system. one of the bigger ones we've seen. we've had the high surf on the coast, the high winds. that continues. you can see it spinning off the coast right now. just bands of rain and snow heading inland over in many areas, especially in the mountains. the snow levels are very low. in portland, only 37 degrees. we'll continue to watch the snow levels pretty much remaining as they are. rain right now in san francisco and sacramento. bu the mountains. good to build up that snow pack. it's not often we get two big storms. one on the west coast and one in the middle of the country. >> quite busy today. thanks, bill. banks get generous, blue

chips have a breakthrough, and new technology to solve your senior moments. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, one of hollywood's most recognizable faces shows up on what could be the worst fake i.d. in history. coming up, the capitals rally, the celtics get back on track, and the nets' brook lopez single handedly takes down the mavericks. 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. a grim pentagon report saying partial remains of some 9/11 victims, which could not be identified, were incinerated and sent to a landfill. those victims were among 184 people killed when a hijacked airplane smashed into the pentagon, and 40 who died in a plane from pennsylvania. the virginia legislation has passed a bill requiring women seeking borkss to undergo

noninvasive ultrasounds. syria's president could be classified as a war criminal according to secretary of state hillary clinton. at least 25 people died in syria on tuesday. the u.n. says more than 7,500 civilians have been killed in syria's revolt so far. republican senator olivia snowe of maine will not run for a fourth term. this jeopardizes republican chances of winning control of the senate. snowe said she is tired of the, quote, my way or the highway atmosphere in washington. debris from last year's tsunami in japan could soon start washing ashore near hawaii. the government says lumber, boats, and other debris have covered about 3,000 miles of the north pacific. now here is an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. a new study warns about the danger of sleeping pills. researchers find the death rate for people who take the prescription sleep aids are four times greater than those who do not.

even those who take low doses, as few as 18 pills a year, have a greater mortality risk. researchers say it's due to possible mixed drug overdoses, alcohol, depression, and anxiety. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. >> announcer: "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil cream. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, the dow will open five points above the 13,000 mark, after adding 23 yesterday. the s&p was up 4 and the nasdaq gained 20. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei adding a fraction of a point while in hong kong, the hang seng was up 111. tuesday's close above the key 13,000 level has investors looking ahead with optimism.

yesterday, the dow road a surge of confidence in the economy to cross a threshold not seen since before the great recession. fueling yesterday's rally? a swell of consumer confidence in february driven by improving job prospects and upbeat overall attitude about the nation's economy. johnson & johnson adding 5 1/2 points to the crucial rise. microsoft had the biggest percentage gain among the 30 stocks that make up the dow, adding nearly 2%. tech shares got a boost from intel's decision to buy chips from micron technology, sending the semiconductor index higher as a whole. on the downside, dreamworks tumbled in trade after a weak earnings report and forecast after the bell. new york based cable vision saw its stocks slide 10% after reporting an increase in capital expenses last quarter. in a healthy sign for economic

growth, lending has picked up at u.s. banks with financial institutions, posting their biggest quartererly lending increase in four years. finally, tired of hunting around for your keys or your glasses in the morning? no problem for you. this little red and white robot will find them for you. that's right. thanks to a wealth of artificial intelligence and two on-board cameras, the mobile robot can identify objects, guide you to them and even recognize human faces. a little scary for some, perhaps. the bucks slip past the wizards and the nets stun the mavericks. plus the celtics snap a five-game skid in cleveland. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather i'll have an update on the major winter storm bringing severe weather to many areas of the country and a winter storm through the northern half. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." take you to sports. nba teams took to the court again after a pause for the all-star break. here is fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines. good morning. the second half of the nba season started with a full flight of action last night. we'll get right to it and start in cleveland. celts snapped a five-game skid with a win over the cavs. ray allen with a team high 22. this came down to the final shot. anthony parker with a three to force overtime but off the iron and the celts held on 86-83. bucks and wizards down to the wire as well.

washington up one. ten seconds to play. brandon jennings couldn't get the runner to fall but the rebound tipped in for the lead. the wiz with a chances at the buzzer but roger mason traveled. wizards can't seem to do anything right. bucks win it 118-119. going bald? don't worry. have a mascot spray silly string all over your head. nothing silly about kyle lowery's game. game high 26. rockets beat the raptors. brooks lopez has missed the season so far. lopez made a pair of clutch free throws in the end for the lead. brooks did it all. they win it 93-92. college hoops. the big 10 might be the best conference in the nation. five teams in the top 25. michigan state is ranked fifth, but they got more than they could handle from number 20 indiana. cody zeller led the hoosiers with 18. indiana won easily 70-55. finally, great finish in washington, if you're a capitals fan.

against the islanders. troy brouwer scored a pair of goals in the final three minutes and tied the game with just 25 seconds left to force overtime. alex ovechkin did the rest, unleashed a rocket from the top of the circle. capitals rally to win it 3-2 in o.t. that is your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> thanks, fred. a bitter hollywood custody battle comes to an agreeable end. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, a latin dance inspired craze that could be coming to your local preschool. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this wednesday. we have the big storm in the middle of the country still producing tornados in areas of illinois and now into indiana. we'll continue to monitor that situation during the morning. as far as the west goes, big storm. snow levels are very low. there's a very cold air mass in place. that's why we're seeing some areas getting snow that don't typically get snow. that will continue on and off today. the heavy precipitation will continue tomorrow. really, no big warmup in sight. if you're watching on kntv in the bay area, celebrate leap day in style on a taste tour filled with great food and wine at the leap day culinary crawl in downtown napa. that's your pacific event of the day. probably not a sober event. >> not very sober.

normally not if you're going to be there. but the wine is fantastic. thanks a lot, bill. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. there are reports that whitney houston's death will likely be ruled accidental. a likely source tells e! news investigators found nothing suspicious that would connect anyone else to the singer's death. jennifer garner and ben affleck welcomed their third child into the world. it's a boy. he joins two big sisters. no word yet on the baby's name. court documents obtained by tmz says kelsey grammer and ex-wife camille have settled their child custody dispute, agreeing to joint custody of their young daughter mason and son jude. a 41-year-old brazilian man was arrested and charged for allegedly using a fake i.d. with jack nicholson's photo while opening up a bank account. police say he was carrying several other fake cards at the

time, but the one with nicholson set off alarms. i heard he didn't look anything like jack nicholson. this comes to us from ktiv news 4 in sioux city, iowa, where in nearby bronson, it's apparently never too young to learn how to salsa. that's just one of the moves being taught in a zumba class for preschoolers. they are using $500 in grant money to teach kids what they hope is a fun way to exercise. there's a lot of moves though. i'm richard lui. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

take you to london. a sign that the 2012 summer games are getting close. the iconic olympic rings floating down the river thames marking 150 days until the opening ceremony. the lighted sculpture stands more than three stories tall. the networks of nbc universal will have exclusive u.s. coverage of the games beginning july 27th with the opening ceremony here on this nbc station. greeks will not let the debt crisis spoil their fun. they ended the carnival with a flour war. donning goggles, face masks, plastic suits, and cow bells, revelers doused each other with plumes of colored flour. the ritual dates back more than 200 years when villages defined

their occupiers to celebrate the forbidden festival with flour, i guess. one bear in russia is about to give you a run for your money. swinging a wooden stick from side-to-side and around his neck. the 7-year-old white claw bear appears to be a real kung fu master. is this really doing this? it almost doesn't look real here, bill. >> that was pretty -- >> yeah, pretty talented. jack black being channeled there, i guess. >> i mean, next thing you know, take out the nunchucks. now it's time for a look at the stories we will follow throughout the day on nbc. house and senate leaders will meet with the president for the first time in months. the meeting is billed for a chance for the leaders to find common ground on legislation that will create jobs and strengthen the u.s. economy. in massachusetts, lady gaga will kick off her new foundation born this way at harvard.

the non-profit will tackle issues such as self-confidence and anti-bullying through research and development. members of congress team up with georgetown faculty for the 25th annual charity basketball game for the university's legal homeless clinic. all day long, stay on top of the very latest developments on those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at what is coming up later this morning on the "today" show. the latest on that deadly ohio school shooting rampage as the parents of one of the victims speak out in a live interview. then a "today" exclusive, lindsay lohan sits down with matt lauer to talk about her career and her return to "snl" this weekend. now, keep it on this channel for the continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm richard lui. thank you 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