i always say you got to listen to conoco. i always like to say there is a bull market somewhere. i promise to try to find it just for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. see you tomorrow. >> sta>> roger goodeltoday," sk? an important endorsement for mitt romney is overshadowed and rivalries seize on a major gaffe of one of his aids. breaking ranks. an outspoken marine end up in hot water for criticizing the commander-in-chief. pecking order. a reporter from anbc station is attacked while shooting a story. this is "early today" for thursday, march 22nd, 2012. hello, everybody. good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with damage control.

instead of celebrating a solid win in illinois, mitt romney's camp is backpedaling this morning after a top aide admitted his conservative pitch would change once he's the nominee. steve handelsman has details. >> reporter: mitt romney's 12-point illinois win impressed big name republicans and won him the endorsement of jeb bush, popular former governor of florida who said now is the time for republicans to unite behind governor romney. rick santorum tried spin. >> all of the endorsers, the establishment, you know, who is comfortable with the status quo go with mitt romney. >> reporter: shifting to maryland. >> i want to get america right again. >> reporter: romney got undercut by one of his aides who said once nominated he plans to erase his conservative focus. like shaking an each-a-sketch. rick santorum showed up with one. >> he said, you just turn it over and shake it and then you start all over.

>> reporter: mocking romney as a fake conservative, which he rushed to deny. >> the issues i'm running on will be exactly the same. i run against a conservative republican. >> reporter: newt gingrich joined the attack. >> here's governor romney's staff. they don't even have the decency to wait until they get the nomination to explain to us how they'll sell us out. >> reporter: santorum has a wing man who helped him try to shoot romney down. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news washington. city commissioners in sanford, florida, have voted no confidence in their police chief over his investigation into the controversial shooting death of a black teenager. three of five commissioners voted against the chief with one demanding he resign in the wake of the killing of an unarmed 17-year-old, trayvon martin, by a neighborhood watch guard in february. the town city manager who has the actual authority to fire the chief said he would take the vote into consideration. in new york city, hundreds marched to demand justice with martin's father telling the crowd his son did not deserve to

die. be nbc news has yet to confirm several reports within the last hour that the suspect in the killing of seven people there including three children and a rabbi is dead. gunfire explosions were heard as police officers stormed a house where the suspect held them off into a second day. >> reporter: during the day of negotiations and stalling, a profile of the suspect emerged. 24-year-old muhammad marah from toulouse is a french algerian extract. he trained with al qaeda in pakistan's tribal territories and he returned to france to commit jihad. he's admitted to carrying out the killings. he said he killed the three french protesters and killed the three children and adult at a jewish school earlier this week in revenge for, quote, children killed in palestine.

a man claiming to be the toulouse shooter called in to a french network before the siege started. >> he said he wasn't scared and he said the only thing that could stop him was either prison or death and he would welcome both. >> reporter: a prosecutor said marah had planned more attacks and an end to the situation will come as a relief to the residents of toulouse. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. security camera captured a home invasion in philadelphia. at least six gunmen attacked a couple as they were pulling into their driveway. one of the victims can be seen crawling on the pavement. the robbers took cash and jewelry. a big scare for an ohio family after a 25-foot long boulder rolled down a hillside and crashed into their home smashing two cars along with t. fortunately the family was in a different part of the home when it happened. elsewhere in ohio, a vacant

house blew up wednesday afternoon possibly due to a buildup of natural gas. the blast ripped off the entire front of the house. luckily, no one was injured. a new jersey neighborhood has become home to dozens of pigs. 26 in all. and they are living inside an rv. many of the humans living on the street aren't exactly hog wild about it, but police and animal control say there is no evidence the pigs are being mistreated. finally, a reporter for our nbc affiliate in rhode island ran afoul of a rooster who apparently is no fan of the media. >> reporter: you can still see the tire tracks here where the cattle rustler pulled up to this entrance -- oh. my goodness. that is the first time that i have been attacked by a rooster at work. >> the fearless news woman said the angry bird actually pecked her three or four times despite being the smallest rooster in

the coop. now for a look at national and regional weather, here's bill karins. did you see him sneaking up behind her? >> it wasn't a cattle rustler it was a rooster. her reaction was priceless. you're looking spring-like. in oregon, heading outside you'll have winter boots and winter coat on. that's where, unfortunately, it looks like this. aerial shot. we knew it was very cold. good chance of snow. unusual late winter storm. seven inches of snow officially. numerous power outages because it was a very heavy wet snow and that snow was still going to have to be doing some cleaning up today. just about ended in all areas. portland got into the mix. got cold enough for a couple of hours of snow. some reports one to two inches on the brassy surfaces.

snow heading up to central portions of washington state. cold air is in place. the moisture source is shifting inland so at least the heavier, steadier precipitation is now over with as this storm system will cock on the north today. as far as the temperatures, it's cold. that snow will not melt any time soon. 34 right now in portland, only 36 in seattle. even there you could mix in some snow showers this morning before you warm it up. vegas to phoenix you have a taste of the warm stuff. that's a look in the mid-40s for highs. that was it as far as winter is concerned in any areas of the northwest. we'll turn the corner this weekend. >> maybe it's all in your head.

that's what the guy on the bike is thinking. it's march. it's not snowing. >> a strange new business name and owning elvis's blue suede shoes. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. one thing to be a tough businessman does it pay to be mean in show business? coming up a birthday wish comes true, unprecedented suspension by the nfl and tebow mania hits the big apple. you're watching "early today."

hey there. good morning. welcome back to "early today." here are some of your top headlines this morning. president obama is in oklahoma today to talk about his energy policy and speeding up the building of the southern part of the keystone pipeline. over the weekend the president will be in south korea and will visit the demilitarized zone between north and south.

in northwest africa soldiers in mali went on state tv to announce they had seized power from the government for failure to end a rebellion. the military said a curfew is in effect but they intend to return power to a new democratically elected government. the marine corps has told sergeant gary stein that he's violating pentagon policy and that he faces dismissal. stein started a facebook page called armed forces tea party to encourage other service members to exercise their free speech rights and said that he wouldn't follow what he called unlawful orders of the president. and former illinois governor rob blagojevich's infamous hair may quickly go gray in prison. his barber confessed blagojevich has dyed his hair for years. he started a 14 year prison sentence last week where hair dye is not allowed. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,124 after losing 45 points yesterday.

the s&p was down two points. the nasdaq was up one. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei gained 40 points. the hang seng added 44. markets were mostly flat yesterday but a warning out of china could spark some concerns on wall street today. a preliminary report shows china's manufacturing may contract for a fifth straight month in march. that could fill fears about oil and materials demand. yesterday investors got mixed reports on the housing market. sales of existing homes dipped last month but overall winter sales were the best in five years. hp was the biggest drag on the dow thanks to a merger of its struggling printer and pc divisions. baker hughesawayed down the s&p with a profit morning. green mountain perked up on word starbucks will make coffee packs for its single pack brewing system. lions gate rose on anticipation "the hunger games" will be a big box office hit. general mills quarterly earnings

were up. safe way, food lion and super value have agreed to stop selling beef with the pink slime. this morning australia promised general motors $300 million to guarantee it will continue making cars in that country for another decade. ahead of a previously announced split, kraft's name for its snack brand is getting mixed reviews. the company will be called mondolese a name crafted from the suggestion of two employees meaning delicious world. finally, time is running out if you want to get your hands on a few pieces of history. a white chiffon gown worn by princess di and elvis presley's blue suede shoes are both up for sale on line. all right. the nfl comes down hard on the saints. the knicks stay perfect under their new coach and the hawks win in overtime. plus kobe bryant and the lakers get fancy dousing the defending champion mavericks.

your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> warm weather continues to be the big story across the country. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

a very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the unlikely story of nfl quarterback tim tebow to get

another surprise twist yesterday with a self-described conservative christian ending up in, of all places, new york city. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. we're in the middle of march madness. the nba and nhl playoff races are heating up. yet, everybody is talking about football. we'll start with tim tebow. took an entire day to work out the deal. tebow is a member of the new york jets. broncos get a couple of draft picks. he'll back up mark sanchez. likely to be used in a wildcat type offense. huge news out of new orleans. nfl commissioner roger goodell dropped the hammer on the saints. suspended head coach sean payton for the entire season and greg williams indefinitely for impleamenting a bounty system in 2009. the crush for cash program targeted key opposing players. the league talked to the saints about three years ago and the team denied everything and tried to cover it up. gm mickey loomis and assistant coach joe vitt were also suspended multiple games.

the organization was fined a half million bucks and will forfeit a couple of draft picks. if roger goodell is trying to send a message, it's been heard loud and clear. basketball one week the knicks are ice cold, now they are red hot. they beat the sixers to win their fifth in a row. amar'e stoudemire. he had a game high 21. they put it together. 82-79. great finish between the hawks and cavs. final seconds, joe johnson to force overtime. he got it the a the buzzer. in o.t. it was johnson again. not a buzzer beater. just as important. a jumper for the league. hawks won 103-102 in o.t. kobe bryant may be getting old in the tooth, but he played like an mvp last night. the alley-oop and reverse. they beat the mavs. 109-93. rangers captain ryan callahan celebrated his birthday in style. he scored the game winning goal. it came on his 27th birthday, his 27th goal.

he gets his birthday wish and the rangers win it 2-1 in o.t. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. another hollywood baby on the way. who is hanging with ashton? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus the white house is often graced by many distinguished guests, but yesterday's visitors had the secret service on their hands and knees. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this thursday. the snow is ending in our oregon cities. the heavier stuff has moved out. it left its mark. late winter storm in the record book. today chilly, chance for afternoon showers with majority of the day be on the dry side. snow is moving through areas outside of spokane. friday looks much better, temperatures back up into the 50s. >> if you're watching us out in eugene, oregon. watch out in space back in time. now here's an early look at headlines and entertainment news. good news for titan of tinseltown on her birthday.

reese witherspoon who turns 36 today is expecting her third child. her first with her agent husband. the oscar winner already has a 12-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son with her ex, ryan phillippe. tmz reports rihanna paid a visit to ashton kutcher's bachelor pad and stayed until 4:00 in the morning. >> what were they doing? >> i don't know. doesn't sound right to me. >> donald trump, he is not known for his subtlety. he's been feuding with rosie o'donnell for a while now. he jumped into kick her down while she was down over her talk show on oprah's network being canceled last week. trump tweeted, quote, i'm so glad rosie got fired by oprah. rosie is a bully and it's always nice to see bullies go down. he's not nice. finally, the nonstop hype over the return of "madmen" after an 18 month hiatus reached

a fever pitch when the cast stopped by wall street to ring the opening bell. and this now comes to us from the white house where it is normally a very bad idea to try and get past that fence without permission. unless, of course, you're a mother duck. she and her ducklings were on a stroll outside 1600 pennsylvania avenue when mom decided to get a little closer to the executive branch. her babies didn't know what to do until the secret service came to the rescue trying a ramp and then just lifting the ducklings onto the north lawn one by one. he caught it. unfortunately, they didn't get to see the president though because he was out for the day. >> this is "early today" just your first stop on your nbc station.

one city in brazil is spotlighting recycling with a giant maze made up of 30 tons of garbage. the designer hopes people will learn not only about recycling, but also waste sorting and classification as they try to find their way out of the maze. he also hopes the combination of art and activity will teach children early on to reduce their so-called carbon footprint. change is ongoing in today's china. you've got to wonder what chairman mao would have said about this one. a cheerleading competition is underway which will select three top dancers to join the nba's miami heat dance team. the aim of the competition is to bring original american basketball culture and dance to china.

one indonesian boy has developed a really unfortunate addiction. he is 8 years old and smokes about two packs of cigarettes a day. his mother says he throws a tantrum whenever he's denied cigarettes and that because he's not allowed to smoke in class, he has stopped going to school. his family and child welfare officials blame lax indonesian smoking laws with no age restrictions. i spent some time in southeast asia. i have to say that everybody smokes. >> a lot, huh? >> a lot. >> wow. maybe the message hasn't quite caught on. maybe it's not as expensive either. >> yeah. it really is unfortunate though. moving on. time for a look at early stories that we'll follow on nbc. congresswoman caroline maloney along with many women's groups will mark the 40th anniversary of congress passing the equal rights amendment. the measure which was first introduced in 1923 was not ratified by enough states before

a deadline and expired. youtube will announce the winners of its space lab competition in which teens all over the world were challenged to design an experiment that could be performed in space. the two winning experiments will be conducted by astronauts aboard the international space station later this year. and happy birthday to captain kirk. william shatner who turns 81 years old today. happy birthday. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in 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's coming up later this morning on the "today show." with cell phone robberies on the rise, jeff rosin investigates what's being done to stop phone theft. a report on the recent baby boom among hollywood's biggest stars. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and much more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching "early today." have a terrific thursday. we'll see you back here

tomorrow.