the best since 1998 so far. i'd like to say there's always a bull market somewhere and i promise to try to find it just for you, right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer, see you tomorrow. this morning on early "today", tale of the tape. what george simmerman told police the night he shot and killed trayvon martin. hot ticket. mega millions skyrockets to a record shattering amount. seeing is believing. a frisbee trick shot artist does it again. hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation. i'm lynn berry.

we begin with the zimmerman video. when george zimmerman shot and killed trayvon martin in florida last month he told police martin had fought with him, breaking his nose and repeatedly slamming his head beagainst the ground. however security camera shows police officers leading zimmerman into the police station with handcuffs shows no blood or bruising or grass stains visible on his clothes. the parents of trayvon martin reacted last night to the video saying it shows zimmerman's claims of self-defense are false. but zimmerman's father said martin threatened his son as they struggled on the ground. >> in doing so his firearm was shown. trayvon martin said something to the effect of you're going to die now or you're going to die

tonight. >> in washington yesterday congressman bobby rush of illinois wore a hoodie during a speech in the house about trayvon martin's death and racial profiling. he was escorted out for violating a house rule on the wearing of hats. elsewhere a jetblue airways captain who had to be subdued by passengers mid-flight tuesday has now been charged with interfering with a flight crew. he faces up 20 years in prison if convicted. this morning we're learning more about his very bizarre behavior. brian mooar has that story. >> reporter: passengers became the last line of defense as an apparently unhinged pilot tried to retake control of his plane. >> came running down the aisle, screaming afghanistan, said there's a bomb. i got to get in the cockpit. he started banging on the cockpit door. >> reporter: a federal complaint saying clayton osbon was

behaving erratically. he was talking about religion and telling his co-pilot quote things just don't matter and we need to take a leap of faith. osbon left the cockpit and was up to passengers to keep him from getting back in. >> the co-pilot is the hero here. he was able to persuade the pilot out of the cockpit. that's what averted what could have been a tragedy yesterday. >> reporter: with the help of an off duty pilot who happened to be on board, the co-pilot diverted the plane to amarillo, texas. >> jetblue 191 emergency and we're going to need medical personnel. >> reporter: 13 hours after leaving, the passengers arrived in las vegas. >> i don't know. just happy to be on the ground. >> reporter: surviving a nightmare at 35,000 feet. brian mooar, nbc news. >> the republican presidential front-runner is picking up some

high-profile endorsements. mitt romney has won the support of florida senator mark rubio a tea party favorite. he says it's increasingly clear rom my will win the gop nomination and continuing the primary fight will only hurt the party's effort to defeat president obama. and former george h.w. bush is expected to give romney his endorsement. now here's a look at some other stories making news early "today" in america. a new york city police officer is under arrest after being seen on this video with another man punching someone at a nightclub. the victim was left in a coma and may have suffered brain-damage. in colorado one family video-taped their narrow escape from wildfires that has claimed two lives. listen as an older brother tries to keep his sister calm. >> we'll make it.

you'll be fine. >> where's mom? what your stopping for? >> right here. >> oh, my gosh. >> it's okay. we're out. >> and finally, all right, right across the border in quebec call it extreme frisbee. a master of a flying disk was able to fling one from the rafters right into a garbage can at center ice. i wonder what the prize was. that's a look at your national and regional weather. here's bill karins with your weather forecast. good morning. >> i believe it. >> do you? i don't believe you. i believe you're being diplomatic. >> how you going to fake that one? >> two cameras. >> fine. you're the skeptic. good morning. big storms rolling along, right along the washington coastline along with british columbia. this storm will orientate

itself. the worse of it is up in seattle. snow levels are starting to rise a little bit but last night they were pretty low. just one storm after another. no suns will be out there today and it's also going to be very windy with that jet stream just pouring into oregon, especially the coastal areas. here's a closeup radar of washington state, this is the seattle area. light rain. notice the white in the olympic showing the snow. it shrinks a little bit. snow levels are beginning to rise. the cascades we have snow too. down interstate 5 plenty of rain to go from olympic down to portland and salem. this is showing us estimates, possible of up to five inches of rain. so it's going to be a pretty prolific long event here over the next two days. we'll deal with some flooding concerns especially in northern

california. cloudy in san francisco and sacramento. most of the heavy rain stays to north. southern california again some clouds but temperatures there are mild. the desert area should be just fine. just no use and concentrate up there on the coastal areas of washington for the whole winte season and more wet weather to come. a lot of people in the northwest looking forward to april. >> not too happy with their forecast lately. thanks so much. a dip in oil, a spike in one ceo's salary and raw data and how much we rely on apple. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus he's back. a big announcement from san diego's favorite fictional anchorman. >> coming up big night for kevin

love. the niners sign another ex-giant. you're watching early today.

good morning. welcome back to early today. i'm lynn berry. here are your top headlines. the lawyer representing army staff sergeant robert bales accused of killing 17 afghan villagers this month says he'll argue his client suffers from post traumaticic stress disorder including severe nightmares, flashbacks of war and persistent headaches. pope benedict wrapped up his three day visit to cuba. last night texas executed a convicted child sex offender for the 2001 fatal beating of a 10-month-old little boy. jesse joe hernandez was put to death by lethal injection hours

after the supreme court denied his last ditch appeal. blue glass legend earl scruggs died in nashville at the age of 88. he had collaborations with bill monroe. and the mega millions jackpot has now reached a half billion dollars. that makes at any time largest u.s. lottery in history. a friday winner would be eligible for a lump sum payment of $359 million bucks. now here's an early look at wall street. the dow opens at 13,126 after losing 71 points yesterday. the s&p was down six points, the nasdaq lost 15. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei fell 67 points while in hong kong the hang seng

dropped 276. today on wall street investors will be watching for important data on the economy in the fourth quarter and last week's unemployment numbers. the stock market reacted negatively yesterday to a weaker than expected report on durable good orders for cars and other products. oil is down to around $105 a barrel as france considers the release of emergency supplies to try to lower global oil and gas prices. bank of america gave its ceo a big hike as the stock lost more than half of its value the ceo earned $7.5 million. family dollar discount stores is reporting an increase of more than 10%. ipo shares of an chip's soared 89%. facebook is getting ready for its ipo in pay. the company is halting the sale of its private shares next week.

shipments of flat panel televisions are expected to decrease for the first time of this year with sales down about 5%. according to a cnbc survey half of all u.s. households own at least one apple product and 61% of homes with kids own an iphone, ipad, ipod or mac. yesterday on the "uss intrepid" nbc news and u.s. chamber of commerce teamed up for a hiring our heroes job fair in new york. the unemployment rate for veterans is more than 12%. over 400 such job fares are scheduled around the country this year aimed at getting 500,000 vets or their spouses in to the civilian workforce by the end of 2014. coming up, love games the bobcats. the niners nab a giant and the kings blank the flames. raptors slam the nuggets, snapping a nine game losing streak. in weather all eyes are on

the west coast. huge storm system coming on shore. your forecast is coming up. you're watching early today.

good morning if you're just waking up. this is "early today." in sports despite a long casualty list the new york

knicks pulled off a win. >> good morning. the knicks will be without amare stoudemire. if they keep playing like this, he can sit out the rest of the season. here we go to new york. no problem against the magic. trailed at the end of the first. after that, it was all the knicks. at one point they scored 21 straight. carmelo anthony 25 for most of the second half. this went over by the end of the third quarter. the knicks won big. 108-86. stoudemire is an all-star. kevin love is hands down the best forward in the league. added a three-pointer this year. the teams cannot figure out how to stop it. he had 40 points. t-wolves beat the bobcats. nfl, the 49ers didn't win the peyton manning sweepstakes. they signed wide receiver randy months. add brandon jacobs to the list.

they have a one-year deal with frank gore. hockey made a mad dash. the kings started the playoffs. beat the flames 3-0 in calgary. jonathan quick picked up his ninth shut-out of the year. the kings move to the seventh spot in the west with five games to play. score two goals against the oilers. he now has 35 on the year. dallas took over first place in the pacific and third in the west with a 3-1 win. it's a wild final week of the season in the west. >> finally back to basketball. the nuggets drove the length of the court and posted jose calderon. this is why denver picked up mcgee at the trade line. a single dunk doesn't win a game. the raptors won, 105-96. that's an early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. bieber may be getting sued. lindsay lohan headed back to

court and rihanna is not talking. the early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. how a company is going to great lengths to help a furry friend get back on his feet. you are watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." we're starting in portland, oregon. heavy rain is coming down. yellow shows the really heavy

stuff. portland area will pick up a couple of inches. it will be the coastal sections. it could pick up to 10 inches of rain. just a pretty prolific, prolonged event for coastal areas of northern california too. seattle area you're heaviest rainfall is occurring now and stay that way through your morning commute. dry in much of california and as we go through tomorrow nothing changes. same area will continue to get on and off rain. if you're watching us on news channel 8 in portland, oregon and nearby salem, bring the kids back 10,000 years exploring shells and bones at ice age discoveries. >> when it comes to ashton kutcher the singer will not answer. rihanna called the question disappointing. speaking of rihanna, clay

aiken said that he thinks the singer wouldn't have made it past the first-round on "idol." justin bieber may face lawsuits over a twitter prank. he posted call me right now along with a phone number that left out the last digit. at least two texas residents now want financial compensation for fielding thousands of unwanted calls. a lot worse than my prank calls. lindsay lohan is in court today where the judge is expected to take her off probation. "star" magazine says megan fox is expecting a baby. and last night on conan o'brien appearing as anchorman ron burgundy, will ferrell announced he's making a sequel to anchorman. >> do you think everyone else is excited about this as we are. >> like an insider baseball thing. it's a funny movie.

you can't go wrong with that one. >> great one liners. >> don't know if they can top it. it's like hang over. this comes to us from ksee in fresno california where in nearby a dog is back on its paws thanks to modern technology. he was missing a limb and couldn't walk. there were fears the. you would have to be put down. a company came up with an artificial leg for skip. >> i'm lynn berry. your first stop of the day today on your nbc stations.

many parts of the country skipped over winter. in jerusalem, you can't escape it. at the international ice festival, they take a chilly trip to see frozen displays that artists spent hours crafting. themes include fairy tales and biblical stories such as noah's ark. organizers hope the festival becomes an annual tradition. dancers in belgium have more talent in their fingers than most do in their body. ten fingers take the lead in a miniature ballet production. dancers must impersonate a range of motions using only their hands. >> like i always do. >> i don't know why this makes me laugh so much. a kitchen table for props and

techniques are used to set the scene. a film crew puts it on the big screen. young girls in hungary are starting the spring with a splash. keeping with an old tradition, they run from boys that pour ice cold water on them. it is a custom linked to the magic of fertility. in most places, it's been replaced with spritzing them with perfume. more lady like. this particular town likes to keep it authentic. this is their version of a wet t-shirt contest. i don't know. >> the opposite of fertility. >> running away from these guys. you would think. time for an early look at the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. in washington, the national geographic museum will open "titanic." 100 year obsession. it tells the ship's demise. and the aftermath of the tragedy. it showcases models and recreation of the radio room.

the chibt runs until early july. elsewhere in washington, the national air and space museum adds buzz light year. a canister made famous by "toy story." it orbited the earth on the international space station. elle mcpherson turns 49. all along stay on top of the late zwroechlts on those stories and others as they break on nbc. tonight, watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." finally, here is a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. george zimmerman's attorney speaks out about police video from the night trayvon martin was shot. charlie sheen opens up in a live interview one year after his public meltdown. keep it here for news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching early today, your first stop today on your nbc station. have a good one.