we can analyze companies and buy the ones that are doing well. and sell the o nes that are aren't. i like to say there's always a bull market somewhere. i promise to find it for you. this morning on "early today," clear-cut victory. mitt romney moves closer with a resounding win in illinois. an ounce of prevention. new research finds one of the oldest and cheapest things out there could cut cancer. a painting long thought to be the work of an anonymous a painting long thought to be the work of an anonymous artist is anything but. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, welcome to our viewers across the nation. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with a decisive

win. mitt romney had a victory in the presidential primary in illinois last night with 47% of the vote, romney's double-digit vote further justified his claim to be the presumptive nominee landing romney the majority of that state's 69 delegates. tracie potts with details. >> reporter: narrow victories he eked out in michigan and ohio, the question seems to be can he do better than that in the midwest and last night, he did. >> we thanked the people of illinois for their vote and for this extraordinary victory. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> reporter: illinois, mitt romney's big victory outspending rick santorum 7-1 and won with 47% of the vote. a crucial step, romney says, defeating president obama. it's time to say these words. this word, enough.

we've had enough. >> reporter: exit polls show superconservatives both for santorum have identified themselves as evangelical or born again. >> if we get romney we're getting obama all over again report those most concerned about it voted for romney. >> we need something to do about the economy. so many are unemployed. >> reporter: santorum applauded his second place have been. >> we won the areas and we're happy about that and happy about the delegates we'll get too. >> reporter: he's banking on romney being forced to give up some of his delegates if florida and arizona are forced to split theirs. today, he's focused on the next contest. >> we're feeling very, very good about winning louisiana on saturday, i might add. >> reporter: it shows him up by 13 points in louisiana. now, after louisiana, we've got a ten-day break. after that wisconsin, another

midwest battleground state, maryland and we've got the primary right here in the district of columbia where rick santorum is not on the ballot. veronica. >> so a long way to go. tracie potts in washington, thanks. drew immediate criticism for proposing to cut deeply into medicaid and programs for the poor while sharply lowering tax rates. paul ryan chairman of the house budget committee detailed a proposal which would reshape medicare and called for furnishing over to the states major programs including medicaid and food stamps and calls for slashing corporate and personal tax rates. democrats vowing to protect the elderly and poor point out the senate has no plans to consider the gop proposal. nbc news has learned president obama plans to speed up the process of building the southern part of the controversial keystone pipeline. on thursday in oklahoma the president will announce his decision to expedite the current

process for the pipeline from oklahoma to the gulf of mexico. in january, the president denied a permit for the other part of the pipeline from canada to the gulf coast saying is there wasn't time to conduct an environmental review. the uproar over the shooting death of an unarmed florida teen continued at a town hall meeting yesterday. a line of angry protesters flowed out the door of the chapel in florida as a crowd of some 350 gathered to voice their outrage over the shooting of 17-year-old trayvon martin by a neighborhood watch captain. a state attorney says a grand jury will meet to review the invested. a federal probe has been launched. his parents speak out at 7:00 right here on this nbc station. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. frightening moments at a miami beach gas station after the driver of an suv slammed into

one of the pumps causing it to start a fire. customers hurried to get away fearing a disaster. a quick thinking clerk shut off the pumps. in california a man was rescued from a grain silo cleaning what was supposed to be an empty grain bed. it filled up trapping the man all the way to his chest. rescuers had to dig over and over again because grain kept pouring down on top of them. in kentucky fire swept through a home and nearly led to a deadly tragedy but a 10-year-old boy who escaped the flames looked back and saw his sister trapped inside and ran back in and rescued her and said he simply felt the need to protect her since he is her big brother. finally the middle school student is seeing red being punished for having pink hair and claimed she was kicked out

of class because of it. her father promised she could get her hair color fundamental she improved her grades even making it on to the honor roll. the school district denies she was banned but says her pink hair violates the dress code. and now here's a look at your national region weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. i'm just laughing because i know we've been betting all morning. if bill gets the weather wrong then he has to dye his air pink. >> what about you? what would you have to do? >> i get to watch you dye your hair. >> yeah, you do it, i'll do it. good morning, everyone. as far as the forecast goes on the wet, the northwest saw the storm system move onshore and it's now situated right over the top. all coastal areas of oregon, the cascades, snow levels have been dropping as the cold front went through and snow out there and even some rain at the coast, windy conditions, apparently low went in there. another little one circulating behind it and cool air is blowing in, so in the seattle

area just scattered showers for you but the heaviest of it definitely further to the south talking from the portland area southward and now snow levels are dropping almost to the valley floor from salem to eugene. be careful out there. could be problems on the roads you wouldn't expect them to be this time of year. as far as snowfall totals, the highest totals in between portland and ee jean in the cascades. just fine in areas of southern california and warming up nicely from vegas to phoenix. that's a loo slowly warm it up and melt the snow. and looks like we'll stay damp in the northwest but this is by far the worst of it over the weekend a little better. >> so bizarre, warmer on the east coast than it is on the west. i'm looking at temperatures -- >> crazy march.

>> absolutely. data on the streets. the ultimate in intrusive technology. your "early morning" business headlines are next. kermit thinks it's his. miss piggy thinks it's his. either way they get a star on hollywood's walk of fame. the penguins are flying high and brittney griner slams the gator. you're watching "early today."

good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. a powerful earthquake hit southern mexico damaging many buildings. the 7.4 magnitude quake caused disruptions of electricity, air travel and cell phones. but thankfully no fatalities. police in french exchanged gunman with a person suspected of killing four at a jewish

school. he may have trained in pakistan. troops are battling rebel forces in several cities and two suburbs in dwa mass cuss are under tank bombardment and russia says it's ready to support a new u.n. effort to force president assad to halt his crackdown on the opposition. a painting credited for years to an anonymous artist was actually done by vincent van gogh. researchers used x-ray techniques to work called "still life with meadow flowers and roses" was painted by van gogh on top of another work of his. now here's ann early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. new people who took an aspirin every day were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with cancer. a daily aspirin reduced the chance it would spread to other organis by 50%. doctors advise caution for some patients because taking aspirin

can increase bleeding and stroke. check out the health page online at msnbc.com. "early today health "brought to you by vagisil. the dow open as the 13,170. the s&p lost 4 points. the nasdaq was down 4 and taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei fell 55 while in hong kong the hang seng was down 31. worries about china's growth had investors on edge tuesday. a widespread drop in china's home prices and warnings of a slowdown in demand of iron ore sparked a sell-off. it was hardest hit along with commodity stocks. the housing sector got a much needed dose of optimism from news, request for home building permits hit a 3 1/2-year high in

february. good news came from amazon's deal to pour $750,000 into viva systems. tiffany & company surged on its annual high forecast. a rare earnings miss last quarter for oracle. nissan announced plans to bring back datsun. it is hoping new models will hit the road overseas in 2014. hugh little packard is reportedly merging pc and printing divisions into one to help cut costs and improve efficiency. consumer reports apple's new ipad runs 12 degrees hotter than its predecessor during gaming but the watchdog says it doesn't appear to be a serious problem. beginning next month, "the new york times" will cut in half the number of free articles on its website from 20 per month to 10 and finally, folk yeah has taken -- that you never miss

another call or text message. it applied for a tattoo that would vibrate when someone tries to reach you on your phone. talk about letting technology get under your skin. well, the rockets and lakers and peyton manning is officially a bronco. plus, for just the second time ever in the ncaa tournament a woman goes up for the dunk. your early morning sports headlines straight ahead. not as impressive as the record high temperatures that have been stringing day after day across the great lakes coming to an end. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning to you if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night for the fourth state game since their head coach resigned the new york knicks were winners. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. if you think it's hard to figure out the knicks you're not alone after dropping six in a row, new york is now a perfect 4-0 under new head coach mike woodson. another night of balanced score scoring, they played defense. knicks are rolling once again and beat the raptors 106-87. now to miami the suns cruising along in the fourth quarter when the heat decided to show up. exploded for a 17-0 run. chris bosh ledded way with 29.

miami took the lead late and never looked back winning it 99-95. lakers used to be able to take over a game in the blink of an eye but this year is different. l.a. was up 17 and collapsed in houston. the rockets fed off the crowd and rallied in the fourth. they won it 107-104. 15 of the lakers' 18 losses are on the road. who says pens can't fly? they have flown to the top of the standings. hat trick for james neal. sidney crosby, four assists. the kid has nine points in four games since coming back from a concussion. the pens won big, 8-4. steelers wide receiver and "dancing with the stars" champ hines ward announced his retirement yesterday. he won four super bowls and played his entire 14-year career in pittsburgh. peyton manning finalized the five-year $96 million deal. the move is making ways in vegas. denver's odds to win the super bowl jumped overnight. finally back to basketball.

baylor's brit nye greiner's became the second woman to dunk in an ncaa game. it came in a win against florida. one girl you don't want to play in a game of h.o.r.s.e. i'm fred roggin. why ninja turtle fans are up in arms. which supermodel is having a baby? guess who is turning 50. early entertainment headlines next. it's not for the faint of heart but it is for certain folks over 100 years old. you're watching "early today."

well, welcome back to "early today." as far as weather, bring the umbrella from portland to eugene to medford and salem. seattle, not that bad as yesterday. on and off scattered showers. drive from san francisco to bakersfield and l.a. looking nice. we need to keep it warmer over the next couple of days. vegas could get back up to the 80s. watching us on knbc in los angeles and po momeemomenaenmom check out the american museum of ceramic art. >> in pomona. >> beautiful pomona. moving on. another look at this morning's headlines in entertainment news.

not often an actor trashes a film that helped make him fame ow but that is exactly what richa richard gere has done. he said "pretty woman" was a "silly romantic comedy" that glorified greedy wall street men. gere said "pretty woman" made those guys seem dashing which was wrong. elsewhere, 30-year-old adrianna lima is expecting her second child. michael bay wants teenage mutant ninja turtles fans to "take a breath and chill." he is in hot water for announcing in his new turtle film the pizza loving crime fighters will come from an alien race and, of course, bill karins, everyone knows it was a mysterious radioactive ooze that created the turtles. >> i'm in the fang club. >> of course. believe it or not, today ferris bueller, also known as matthew broderick turns 50 years old. the big 5-0. finally, long overdue, the municipal mets got their star on

hollywood's walk of fame yesterday. definitely long overdue. this now comes to us from ksl-5 where in nearby ogden a 101-year-old woman has been declared the oldest tandem flier. back when she was born in what was then the territory of arizona they didn't keep birth records. the great grandmother was inspired by her son who took up the hobby at age 75. look at her go. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today." just your first up today on your nbc station.

well, fireworks filled the sky at the annual fire festival as it came to a close. valencia was ablaze with sparkles and bonfires as villagers welcomed in spring. traditionally it is fuelled with wood that went unused warming homes over the winter months. dating back 500 year, the final night of the celebration is known as the night of fire. that is beautiful. in romania there is one wedding dress truly like no other. floating over downtown bucharest in a hot air balloon a model showed off the world's longest bridal train. the nearly 2-mile-long ivory train took ten seamstresses 100 days to create.

the guinness book of world records recognized the mark which beat out the record held by a dump designer. well, in one italian town citizens have no choice. life must be eternal. the town's cemetery at capacity, the mayor made dying illegal. frustrated with citizens being buried in a neighboring town they are nuding with he figured the law would bring attention to their plight. despite knowing he can't actually forbid dying he is asking everyone to try not to. i think that would be a given, wouldn't you think kr. >> yes. >> just try not to. >> i wonder why they don't want to be buried in that town. go next door. the grass is greener. >> what the feud is, da, da, da. a look at other stories we'll follow on nbc. a bitter court battle over sweeteners begins in los angeles. sugar producers are claiming ads in which high fructose corn syrup is said to be equally as nutritious and healthy as sugar are false advertising and they

want the ads pulled. in washington, senator barbara mikulski will be recognized on the senate floor as the longest serving woman in the history of the u.s. congress. serving since she was elected to the house in 1976, she has been in office for over 36 years. and finally rosie o'donnell turns 50 years old today. happy birthday. all day long you can keep up with the latest developments on those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." everyone finally what's coming up late other on the "today" show. a 3-year-old girl born with a rare life-threatening condition who has a new lease on life thanks to a special dog. update on gwyneth paltrow. she's firing back on critics who say she didn't write her cookbook. keep it on the channel for continuing news. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you very much for watching "early today." your first stop of the day.

have a terrific one. see you back here tomorrow.