congregating around the apple ipads. and bingo. i come in and a dividend. these companies have really seen the light. they want investors. i hope you're listening. i like to say there's always a . this morning on "early today" -- eye on the prize. illinois is up for grabs, and the results could shake up the republican presidential race. rapid melt. time-lapse video captures the spring thaw of a lake in minnesota. and center stage. one of the most high-profile women in the world makes her big one of the most high-profile women in the world makes her big debut. 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 loin berry. today, we gibegin with a swing state.

all eyes are on illinois. voters headed to the polls in that state's primary today where a convincing victory for front-runner mitt romney could make it very difficult for his rivals to keep running. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more. >> especially rick santorum. he has an uphill battle today in the state of illinois. but mitt romney, even though he's leading the polls there, isn't taking the land of lincoln for granted. >> these pancakes are something else, i'll tell you. >> reporter: mitt romney in his third day campaigning in illinois, the land of reagan and obama. >> i'm looking for the nod here in illinois. >> reporter: romney's up by nine points in the latest poll. santorum is the underdog, ineligible for ten of today's 54 delegates because he filed paperwork too late. on monday, santorum tried to redefine the key issue in this race. >> i don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. doesn't matter to me. my campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates. >> "do care about the unemployment rate.

it does bother me. i want to get people back to work. >> reporter: then santorum clarified. >> of course i care about the unemployment rate. i want it to go down. i'm saying my candidacy doesn't hinge on whether it goes up or down. >> reporter: but it's today's numbers, the illinois vote, that romney's team will hope will solidify him as a front-runner. analysts say he needs a win. a big one. >> a loss in illinois or even a narrow win by romney will certainly seed a lot of doubts about the strength of his candidacy. >> reporter: but right now it looks like romney is going into this one with an advantage by our count, the official nbc count of delegates, romney has 443 to santorum's 184. lynn? >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you. nbc news has obtained the republican party's proposed new budget which will be unveiled later today. in it, the gop will propose massive tax reform by consolidating the six current tax brackets into just two, 10% and 25%.

the plan would also repeal the alternate mix tax and reduce the corporate tax rate to 25%. the budget promises to decrease loopholes and tax subsidies, but it does not specify who would qualify for which much the two tax brackets. the justice department and the fbi have opened an investigation into the shooting of a black teenager in florida last month. unarmed 17-year-old trayvon martin was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captain george zimmerman, who has not been charged. on a 911 tape, zimmerman was told specifically by police not to pursue martin, who was walking home at the time. on another tape, martin can be heard begging for his had life before being shot by zimmerman, who claimed self-defense. more than 435,000 people have signed an online petition calling for zimmerman's arrest. now here is a look at some other stories making news early today it in america.

several boats went up in flames at a yacht club in zaib last night. at least three vessels were zroid and a fourth damaged. it haned ppened in mission bay, close to seaworld. no word yet on the cause of the fire. surveillance video shows a thief smashing his way into cases in an indiana jewelry store last month. though the higher end items were locked up and secure, he and two other burglars managed to ghirt hands on less expensive watches and jewels using a bin to collect the stolen goods. police are hoping blood drops left at the scene will help them find the suspects. and finally take a look at this time-lapse video of an ice-out, as another day of warm weather finally melts a minneapolis lake for the season. it happened monday, which fittingly was the last full day of winter. at least on the calendar. it took about 90 minutes for the ice to disappear. hundreds of records for high temperatures have been shattered this year in and around the twin

cities. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins, a lot to get to in your weather forecast. >> going to be 85 in chicago today, flooding rains in texas. and everyone on the west coast is, like, okay, bring the warmth. l let's get winter over with. if you love spring skiing, the place to be is the in the cascades. more snow heading your way, already falling in some areas. a pretty big storm system is heading once again up to british columbia. look under the "e" in the enhanced satellite, you see the highlighted areas coming onshore. we're talking about a powerful storm. it's cranked itself up as it moves unland, dragging a warm front into the northwest, a cold front focusing on heavy rain on areas of the oerg oerg coastline. rain at the lower elevation, cold enough temperatures for significant snow. we'll get one to two feet of

snow out of this, watch out never the mountain passes, even the mountains of northern idaho will pick up considerable snow out of this. here's the snow forecast. again, this is the spine of the cascades, at olympics getting a little bit out of this, at most 3 to 6 inches. one 0 two feet and even 6 to 12 inches northern portions of idaho. pretty significant storm system coming onshore. good news for the desert southwest, your temperatures are finally going to warm up after another cold across the front. arizona into southern california, still chilly. warmer air heading your way soon. looks good. nice warm-up for the southwest, but washington state and oregon -- >> not so much. >> -- not so pretty to start spring. apple keeps shining. oil keeps climbing.

and a new number two in burgers. your "early morning" business headlines are straight ahead. plus, we'll tell you about ashton kutcher's new out-of-this-world plan. coming up, bad news for the north carolina tar heels. the devils and rangers duke it out. and peyton manning has traded out his colt for a bronco. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your headlines this morning. police in france are conducting a massive manhunt for the person who shot and killed three children and a teacher yesterday at a jewish school in southwest france. authorities say the same gun was also used in two other shootings. local police who normally don't carry weapons have been issued guns. the lawyer for sergeant robert bales says his client remembers very little about the

killing of 16 afghan civilians. bales' wife said in a statement that she, too, wants to know what happened. and it's reported that bales owes $1.5 million from a 2003 arbitration that found him guilty of securities fraud. kate middleton's made her had first public speech. she was warmly welcomed at a children's hospice. >> first of all, i'd like to say thank you. thank you for not only accepting me as a patron, thank you also for inviting me here today. >> kate said she was sorry that prince william, who's on military duty, could not be there. meanwhile, england's queen elizabeth ii is giving a special address to parliament this hour to mark her 60 years on the throne. she'll see an unveiling of a stained glass window in her honor, a gift from both houses. a gift from a sovereign who then

delivers a supply dates back to the 1500s. now is an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. doctors are warning about the dangers of unregulated synthetic marijuana made from plants and herbs. recent cases show emergency room visits of teens, about 11% of high school seniors report trying synthetic pot last year. poison control center handled about 7,000 calls about it. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. now is an "early" look at how wall street the kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,239 after adding 6 points yesterday. the s&p was up 5 points, the nasdaq gained 23. taking a look overseas trading, in tokyo, the nikkei added 12 points but in hong kong the hang

sang tumbled 227. apple investors got the long-awaited news that the world's most profitable company will soon begin sharing its wealth. in a departure from the days of steve jobs, successor tim cook revealed apple will begin paying a dividend of $2.65 a share later this year in addition to launching a $10 billion stock buyback program. apple hit another historic high, closing above $600 for the first time. meanwhile, an analyst downgrade sent sprint nextel spiraling with predictions that future iphone versions could cause a disconnect with sprint's network. elsewhere, a healthy analyst upgrade gave u.s. steel a 6% boost. the price of oil continued to climb, bubbling up more than $1 a barrel to settle above $108. on the economic front, news that u.s. homebuilder sentiment was unchanged in march failed to

trigger much market movement. u.p.s. climbed 3% on news of its deal to buy europe's second largest express mail company. elsewhere, amazon is buying robot maker kiva systems for $775 million. the new york mets owners and the trustee for bernard madoff's victims have settled out of court for $162 million though that figure will likely be reduced. the mets have been accused of knowingly profiting from madoff's ponzi scheme. on the fast food front, wendy's has dethroned burger king as the nation's number two burger chain for the first time ever. and what better way to welcome spring than a little free fried food? yes, that's right. outback steakhouse is giving away free blooming onions today to help you bloom into spring.

injury threatens the tar heels tournament a milestone night in chicago. plus, a battle royale from the opening face-off sparks the victory over the devils. your "early morning sports headlines are ahead. flash flood warnings are straight up. forecast right around the corner, you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the nfl's most coveted free agent ever, peyton manning, will make his new home in the mile high city. here's nbc's fred rogen. >> good morning. peyton manning is back on the horse. the former colts quarterback is negotiating a deal with the denver broncos. it's believed he'll sign for five years and nearly 95 million bucks. the move marks the end of tebow mania in denver. they're expected to trade him. in college hoops, north carolina's title hopes took a hi hit had. marshall broke a bone in his wrist and underwent surgery. the tar heels have not completely ruled him out from playing against ohio friday. to chicago where the bulls embarrass the magic. all this without the mvp derrick rose.

carlos boozer stepped up in his absence, a game-high 24. bulls ran all over the magic, 85-59. from a blowout to a nail-biter, under 20 seconds to play, hawks and celtics, atlanta down four when joe johnson down long distance cut the lead to one. last chance for the hawks, needing a three for the tie, teague not even close, ends the game with an air ball, that hurts. celtics win 79-76. in hockey, the red wings did everything they could to rattle ovechkin, a stick to the face, a hard hit at the blue line. that just got alex going, responded with a pair of goals, capitals got a much-needed win 5-3. finally, i've got a feeling the rangers and devils don't like each other. as soon as the puck hit the ice, so did the gloves. three separate fights in the first three seconds of the game. 40 minutes in penalties and this one was off to a rousing start. rangers drew first blood on the scoreboard as well, jumped out to an early lead, winning 4-2.

they're the first team in the east to clinch a playoff spot. that's your look at sports on "early today". an award winner. a record setter. and a big bomb on the silver screen. your entertainment headlines are strail ahead. kids can end p in courtrooms on school field trips, but it's not often they're actually asked to participate. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. a wet morning, radar showing rain on-and-off all the way northward from california. windy north of seattle in spots. in the mountains, you'll be picking up snow from the motts o mountains outside of spokane and the cascades. we're looking for temperatures to be cool in the northwest, finally starting to warm up slowly in the southwest. at least you don't need your umbrella areas south of san francisco. well, if you're watching us on king 5 news in seattle, washington. in nearby bellevue, explore the healing power of art at making mends at the bellevue arts must zeem. that's your pacific event of the day. >> bill, thanks so much. now here is an early look at this morning's entertainment headlines. disney announced yesterday what we all already knew, damage control, and bill called it

before the movie came out. "john carter" is an epic bomb. the studio took the unusual step of publicly detailing its total losses, including marketing 200 million bucks. how could it not win? oprah winfrey's struggling tv yet work is laying off a fifth of its workers and restructuring from officers with its partner discovery, taking over key jobs. last week rosie o'donnell was canceled. sean penn will receive an award from nobel peace prize winners for his relief work in haiti. charlie sheen's ex brooke mueller has pleaded guilty to a cocaine charge in a deal that will wipe her record clean, if she serves a year of probation trouble-free. james cameron plans to set a record riding his new submersible what he calls a torpedo seven miles into the western pacific. >> and finally, billionaire richard branson says he's booked his 500th customer to fly a future flight into space. that would be ashton kutcher.

he paid $200,000 to go into space. >> we're so fascinated by how the rich play. let me go into a subseven miles into the pacific or fly into space. just go to the beach. this comes to us from whdl seven news in boston. in yar mouth, one potential juror had an excuse to not do his civic duty. that's because jacob is 9 years old. that didn't stop him from getting a smons, his first reaction? what is jury duty? a census worker messed up jac jacob's birthday. jacob also got a summons when he was 2. oops. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

well, if you're afraid of heights, consider yourself lucky you don't play for the sydney sin fony orchestra. the trumpet section took to the top of the steel bridge to celebrate its birthday. at over 400 feet above the harbor, members held on tight as morning commuters zipped by underneath. they managed to still play tunes like "chariots of fire" and made it sound great. one fox in canada has nestled into an unlikely new home. instead of the typical underground fox den, the animal has taken to the trees, making a crow's nest its residence. nearby crows don't seem too fond

of the neighbor, reportingly l cawing. one beverage in china is it all the rage but may not be everyone's cup of tea. dubbed panda tea, the new organic blend is grown entirely from the excrement from giant pandas. it's debuting at over $3,000 a pound. it will be the world's most expensive tea out there. he's claiming this is like the real deal organic. >> so it's just fertilize other. >> it's not like the actual tea is the -- >> excrement, i like that word. >> it's just what they glow it with. you could live with that, right? >> i could. >> maybe not $3,000 a pound. in washington, the supreme court will hear arguments in the separate cases of two teenagers

sentenced to life without parole. the court will later decide if minors receiving those sentences violate's constitution's eighth amendment barring cruel and unusual punishment. in a decision that could have far-reaching immrikss for the future sentencing of juveniles. in california, the muppet gang will be honored with a star on the hollywood walk of fame. and happy birthday to director spike lee who turns 55. all day long, stay on top of the latest developments as they break on msnbc, tonight watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news". finally, here is a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show, a live report on the mistrial of nicollette cher i dan's lawsuit. and also kirk cameron regarding calling homosexuality unnatural. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of

the day today on your nbc station. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com