going down horrendously, believe me, i would tell you, i thought it would be. i always like to say there is a bull market somewhere. i promise i will try to find it for you on "mad money." i'm jim cramer, i'll see you tomorrow. a bizarre twist. lawyers for the shooter in the trayvon martin case say they can't find him and are stepping aside. nature's fury, a monster earthquake in indonesia triggers a panic around the indian ocean basin. mammoth find. scientists unveil a largely intact 42,000-year-old animal. >> announcer: this is early today for wednesday april 11, 2012. hello and good morning.

welcome to viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a suspenseful wait. florida's special prosecutor in the trayvon martin case says within the next 72 hours, she will release new information from her investigation. it is her job to decide whether george zimmerman will face charges in the february shooting death of the unarmed black teenager. whatever happens zimmerman will be needing new lawyers. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: like so much in this case. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: the announcement was sudden and jarring. >> we've lost contact with him. up to this point, we've had contact every day. he's gone on his own. i'm not sure what he's doing or who he's talking to. at this point we're with drawing as counsel. >> reporter: the now former attorneys for george zimmerman say they don't know where he is, haven't talked to him in days

and are worried. >> not doing well emotionally. probably suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome. we're concerned for his emotional and physical safety. >> reporter: and concerned he reached out to special prosecutor. >> one thing every attorney tells his client, don't talk to the prosecutors, don't talk to the cops, don't talk to anybody. >> reporter: citing legal and ethical authorities she didn't talk to the monday at the center of the investigation. some are talking. >> we are surprised. >> reporter: and frustrated. >> today the killer of trayvon martin is unaccounted for. that is extremely troubling for th them. in fact, we're really concerned he's a flight risk. they said he's not in the state of florida. we're really concerned this he's ever going to be brought to

justice. >> reporter: a question that his parents andsupporters have been asking for more than a month now. jay gray. to politics, contenders for the republican nomination is a little smaller after republican senator rick santorum dropped out of the race yesterday. nbc's tracie potts has more for us from washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. in the announcement he said the race is over but i'm still fighting. mitt romney's reaction, he said, this is a good day for me. this removes his last major obstacle. newt gingrich and ron paul still out there, vowing to stay in the race through the republican convention. questions now about whether gingrich may get some of those conservative backers from santorum. he says he certainly hopes to get santorum's endorsement, would welcome it. mitt romney has already asked for a meeting with santorum.

meantime romney can focus more on the fall campaign and president obama, assuming he is to get that nomination. he's already started to do that to some degree. the president focusing on taxing millionaires. romney is one of them. indicating this may become an issue, romney's wealth, in the fall campaign. >> tracie potts in washington. tracie, thank you. here is a look at other news in america. in california there was a bear scare. a 400 pound black bear made its way out of the mountains and into a residential neighborhood. it crawled across cars and could even be seen attempting to climb a fence. fish and game wardens were able to finally tranquilize the bear, capturing it and setting it free back into the wild. in oregon, more than 20 people swarmed into a convenience store in a suspected flash mob robbery. they stockholder $100 worth of merchandise and there was little the clerk could do about it.

similar robberies nationwide have been organized through social media. in los angeles a freeway chase came to a violent end last night. officers shot the driver using balls loaded with pepper spray. after the man stumbled out of the vehicle, the suspect was arrested and taken to the hospital. finally in new york, if you can't get away from work to get to the gym, you don't have any excuse anymore. one office attached computers to a treadmill so you can work and work out at the same time. the advice from one employee, start out slow. you won't realize you're burning calories while earning a paycheck. >> for a look another your weather headlines, meteorologist bill karins. the story dominating the headlines is the earthquake in indonesia. >> ninth ever recorded on our planet. it's a big deal. a tiny sigh of relief. still early. this earthquake happened about two and a half hours ago two two hours off the coastline of banda

aceh. it scared a lot of people. a lot of people suffered through the miserable 2001 earthquake, .1 magnitude. that killed thousands and thousands of people with a devastating tsunami. what we've been watching in this area, a lot of people getting away from the coastlines and going to higher ground but we haven't heard reports of any large tsunami. maybe a one foot tsunami, compared to the big one in 2004, that was estimated 20, 30 feet. so far, so good. this is where it was located. magnitude 8.6 is very impressive. we don't g many of those recorded ever. as far as what we're dealing with in the west, rain in the los angeles area, a slow commute. looks like the peak of the rush hour, looks like rain moving east. santa barbara, looks like rain will tip a few hours. central valley looks like rain. heaviest is off i-5, starting to move into the mountains we have snow there, around yosemite. showers and rain late this

afternoon, could be instability thunderstorms out there. it's not going to be severe type weather. at worst small hail. it's a damp coming in, which has more significant rainfall as we go throughout thursday into thursday night. rainy weather in los angeles is always very interesting at rush hour. >> a lot of white knuckles on the steering wheels. thanks so much. coming up alcoa kicks off earnings caterpillar crawls backwards. as if filing taxes isn't bad enough, what you need to know about tax day. early business headlines straight ahead. everyone knows simpsons live in springfield, now we finally know which springfield. arkansas drops the hammer

azzie guillen apologizes sz and they celebrate in style. you're watching "early today." 't

good morning and welcome to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines. a powerful earthquake, one of the strongest recorded, has struck southwest of banda aceh, a city devastated by an earthquake triggered tsunami in 2004 that killed over 160,000 people. the united states geological survey measured the quake at 8.6. a tsunami watch was in effect for the entire indian ocean area and initially residents throughout the region fled to higher ground. it now appears there will be no major tsunami. north korea is loading fuel into the long range rocket which they plan to launch in the next few days to put a satellite into

orbit. the u.s. again is urging it be canceled because of a ban on missile tests. the winners of the maryland jackpot came forward to accept their check for $218 million. they kept their faces hidden and wore gloves. the try, a, a man and two women in the school system call themselves the three amigos and say they will keep working. a 42,000-year-old baby wooly mammoth is going on display in asia. the animal was frozen in sibera during the ice age. while she lost most of her hair, she is the best preserved mammoth ever found. here is an early look at one of the your top headlines. a new study finds frequent dental x-rays could double the risk for a common brain tumor. the risk is increased if x-rays were done before the age of 10.

fortunately the tumors involved are usually not malignant. researchers say they shouldn't stop going to the dentist but should discuss exposure to r radiation. for more on this, go to the health page. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,715 after tumbling 213 points yesterday. s&p dropped 23 pounds and nasdaq sunk 55. taking a look at overseas training, in tokyo the nikkei fell 79 points while in hang seng dropped 215. earnings from alcoa could bring cheer to investors. after the market closed it was the first blue chip out of the earnings gate. they ordered much better quarterly earnings than expected

hoping for an end to the five-day losing streak. yesterday wall street suffered its worst loss of the year. investors are worried about debt and spain. meanwhile tech heavy nasdaq finished below 3,000 for the first time in a month. best buy took a big hit after its ceo resigned unexpectedly amid a company investigation into his, quote, personal conduct. caterpillar led industrials lower after march sales in china plunged nearly 50%. and death and taxes may be among life's few certainties, come on, people, let's try and prevent a double whammy. according to new research traffic accident deaths have risen on 6% on tax day for each of the last 30 years. if this is true, please let's all chill out, get some sleep, not worry about this as we hit the road on april 17th. coming up the braves get a boost, celtics beat the heat.

no rose, no problem for chicago bulls. plus a game winning homer by birthday boy on dodger stadiums 50th anniversary. early morning sports headlines straight ahead. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this

is "early today." in sports, scandal has claimed the job of yet another major college football coach. here is nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> hi there, good morning. we'll start with big news from college football. the university of arkansas has fired head coach bobby petrino. this coming after he lied about his relationship with a 25-year-old co-worker and her involvement with his recent motorcycle accident. the married father of four also intentionally misled the school when arkansas hired his mistress as student athlete development coordinator. 21 and 5 the last two years at arkansas. not only the anniversary but this had an ending out of a hollywood strip. his 30th birthday, andre unwraps a present for los angeles, the dodgers beat pirates 2-1. needing an extra inning when the

go-ahead run, 5-4 in 12. tipper jones returning from the dl in style. had a hit in his first at-bat. the second, this happens. two-run bomb, he's back and so are the braves getting their first w with a 6-4 win. one final baseball note the marlins have spended manager ozzie guillen for comments he made about his feelings toward fidel castro. he apologized calling it the worst day of his life. the bulls getting another win. hard to believe chicago might be better without the mvp. the bulls avenging sunday's loss over the knicks. with everyone talking about the bulls, knicks and heat, you can't overlook the celtics, almost an afterthought in the east, moving up the standings giving miami more than they could handle. despite 36 points from lebron james boston wins 115-107.

that's a look at sports today. i'm mario solis. kristen wiig talks about leaving snl. plus they say the more likely you need an alarm clock, the more likely it is not to wake you up. one inventor thinks he has the answer. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." i want to give an update. we had the very powerful 8.2 magnitude earthquake last night. in the last half hour we got reports of an aftershock of 8.2. imagine that, 8.2, that's powerful itself. new tsunami warnings issued in case the aftershock triggers a tsunami. it was about a two foot wave, not really any damage. no word yet whether the large aftershock produced damage in the area or will produce it, i should say. we're going to keep an eye out. we've seen numerous other aftershocks, 5.0 range. an aftershock of 8.2 makes you shake your head, shows how powerful the first one was. so far no tsunami. looks like the damage from the earthquake itself, original one, was minimal. the aftershock has people heading to the hills again. >> extremely important, coming from the experience in 2004 where they saw a much different

outcome. we're hopeful it's going to go the way it's looking like right now. bill, thank you so much. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. for years the viewers of the simpson have wondered which springfield did the simpson live in. now we finally know. people on the west coast will love this. series creator told the magazine it's named after springfield, oregon, near portland where he grew up. he also loved on a street named evergreen terrace. english boy band one direction is being sued by an american group which claims it filed for a trademark on the name first. they want simon crowl's group to change its name and they are suing the record company and sony music for a million dollars in damages. finally kristen wiig has spoken out about leaving "saturday night live." asked about it on alec baldwin's podcast she mysteriously answered everyone has to leave. she added when she does it's not

because she's sick of it or got something better but because it's time. this from hoboken, new jersey, where the battle of sleep, the alarm clock finally wins out. all right. that sound drives you nuts, that's the point. the alarm clark is rigged so you can't turn it off until you get out of bed, head to the bathroom and type in a code. if that's not bad enough the code actually changes every day so you're going to have to stop and think about it every single time. it is not foolproof, though. if you change your mind about wanting it, the inventor said it might not survive it if you smash it. there's a solution for you. i'm lynn berry, this is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

one added note from a north pole race we reported on yesterday. moments after the icy finish, the participant took part in a cold proposal. the cold couldn't keep these two apart. she looks excited. eventually catching her breath from exhaustion and excitement she happily accepted. one man in china enlisted serious horsepower to bring home his new bride. decorated with colorful balloons, red flowers and ribbons, a fleet of tractors became the post wedding chariot for a pair of newlyweds.

the groom, a tractor driver, said it was a testament to agriculture in their prosperity. finally in japan one company is ready to take pampering to the next level. this week a barber shot will test a robot that shampoos the customers. the machine scans the head to get its shape then wets and washes the scalp. with fingers, there's not a human that can compete with the robo assistant which could make its debut in nursing homs in a year. one of those we want chair massages, a common theme. >> an invention, hair massage. what if your hair got caught in the machine. it could be ugly. >> only you could find the downed side. today on "early today." charles manson will face his 12th parole hearing. manson was convicted of the '69

murders of actress sharon tate and six others carried out by his cult followers. he's not expected to attend. on this day in 1970, apollo blasted off. the crew managed to return safely despite an explosion that damaged the command module. in new york city, giant replica of the trophy will be there mark k the beginning of the playoffs today. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally here is a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. in a "today" exclusive, octomom nadya suleman returns to the studio after having received a death threat at her california home. comedian ricky gervais will be live in stod studio to preview the upcoming season of hbo animated series. now keep it on this channel

for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.