>> reporter: witnesses say it sounded like thunder, the groundbreaking away, taking one home with it an leaving 33 others perched precariously on the cliff or isolated by the slide, after wiping out the single road used for access. no one was hurt, but one person had to be evacuated from the home knocked from its foundation. about a dozen others had to rush from their homes. >> this is all i have. it's paid for. >> reporter: the remote whidbey island is a popular vacation destination north of seattle. the slide extremely dangerous to reach. rescue crews are accessing the area by microsoft ceo. steve ballmer, his house is not for now in immediate danger. on scene for nbc affiliate king 5. >> we're down in the slide zone and we're watching the hillside crumble every three to five minutes. you see another big chunk of dirt just come tumbling down. >> reporter: one home is less than ten feet from the slide. the ground is unstable and there's nothing they can do to

prevent the slide from growing. after a late spring storm stalled over the area last week, dumping half a foot of snow and saturating the already-soaked ground, and the forecast is not good with more showers on the way, and several homes getting ever closer to the edge. >> the way the bank looks in the next rain i don't expect to see half of it here. >> reporter: kristen dahlgren, nbc news, los angeles. let's turn now to a big development in sports late last night. they had a good run, but the heat finally cooled off. miami has dominated the league this season as lebron james led the team to 27 straight victories. it was the second longest streak in the history of the nba, and all major american pro sports. but the hot streak ended as the chicago bulls held off a late surge and pulled off the 101-97 win. lebron james complained about being bumped around a lot during

the game, but said he felt fortunate to be part of the winning run. >> i'm very humbled and blessed to be a part of this team and be a part of a streak like that. you mow, it's one of the best that this league has ever seen. >> the heat's winning streak is second only to the 33 straight wins by the l.a. lakers in 1971-'72. at the supreme court wednesday justices appeared to be skeptical of the defensive marriage act. the law bars the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages and denies benefits for those couples even in states where the marriages are legal. here's nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: gay rights supporters as the court cheered the 83-year-old new york woman at the center of this case. edie windsor, when miss windsor's spouse thea spyer died four years ago, she left the estate she got an inheritance

tax bill for $363,000 because doma blocked the irs from considering them married. she says that tax bill was a shock. >> in the midst of my grief i realized the federal government was treating us as strangers and i paid a humongous estate tax. >> reporter: her lawyers claim her country has a different attitude about gay marriage. >> why are you so confident in that judgment? how many states permit gay couples to marry? >> today. nine, your honor. >> nine, and so, there's been this sea change between now and 1996? >> reporter: but the court's liberals sharply questioned doma saying the federal benefits denied legally married same-sex couples have a profound effect. >> they touch every aspect of your life. your partner is sick. and social security -- i mean, it's pervasive. the full marriage and then this sort of skim milk marriage. >> reporter: justice kennedy, potentially the pivotal vote, said the states, not congress,

traditionally define what it means to be married and eligible for federal benefits. >> you are at real risk of running in conflict with what has always been thought to be the essence of the state police power which is to regulate marriage, divorce, custody. >> reporter: several justice said congress was improperly discriminating when they passed law. >> i'll quote from the house report here. congress decided to reflect and honor a collective moral judgment until to express moral. arizona officials have released 3,000 pages of documents related to the 2011 tucson shooting that nearly killed former congresswoman gabrielle giffords. reports described how the shooter jared lee loughner acted before and after he opened fire in a supermarket parking lot killing six and wounding 12 others. loughner's parents told police they were worried about their son's erratic behavior but never had him evaluated.

for mental illness. loughner pled guilty in november and is serving life in prison without patrol. meanwhile, lawyers for aurora movie theater suspect james holmes may offered up a guilty plea for the death penalty that may be wiped from the table. holmes skilled 12 and injured 60 others during a midnight screening of "batman: the dark knight." bill karins is standing by. clearly, syracuse is playing tonight? >> as long as i'm not hanging out with an indiana person, i'm doing all right here. welcome to the show. >> thanks for having me. >> hasn't really rained all that much for that amazing landslide picture we showed you earlier. for the march totals, if you look at the map, you have the areas of brighter colors there the yellows, the oranges. two inches in the yellows, three

inches for the orange. as we go towards the olympics, the coast, we haven't had that many big storms to cause a landslide like it. i'm sure they'll be investigating the causes of it and if there will be any more. and rolling into the puget sound, doesn't look like too bad of a forecast. at slow-moving weather pattern in many areas of the west. there's a couple storms just off the coast that will affect us towards the tail end of easter weekend. overall, kind of murky out there. no high pressure or low pressure. just clouds. temperatures already. not we had the big snowstorm before, that will be melting. as we go to colorado and the rocky mountains, just clouds to

deal with. >> all right. >> overall, not too bad of a forecast. just murky in the west. i'll call it that. not perfect. >> spring's coming, slowly. an attack on the internet is slowing the web worldwide. >> the president's new comments about immigration reform. plus, investigators around the united states and around the world are watching cyprus right now. we'll tell you about that in two minutes. "early today" will be right back.

good thursday, welcome back to "early today." stories making news this morning. president obama talked about his hopes for immigration reform during an interview with spanish language network telemundo. he said he's optimistic to have a law signed into law by this summer. >> i think we've seen enormous progress over the last month and a half. i think both sides, democrats and republicans, have been very are serious about the negotiations. i'm actually have been

optimistic that when they return in early april, that we'll see a bill ready to move through the process. >> but, the president cautioned that a divide between business and labor on wages for new low scale workers could kill that legislation. nbc news exclusive. cate edwards is speaking out for the first time since her father's acquittal on campaign fraud and the affair that ended his political career. in an interview set to air tomorrow on "today" show in rock center with brian williams, cate said she was, quote, both devastated and disappointed with her father. stealth bombers carried out their drills over the korean peninsula. the military deployed two planes on a long duration round trip training mission. in a demonstration of the country's defense of south korea. and take a look at this. fresh pictures from the european space agency showing newly discovered bright moon stars in the avella constellation. they are 1500 light years away and estimated to be between 25 and 30 million years old.

scientists say their blue color because they are extremely hot. turning to business now. investors are keeping a close eye on a tiny nation. mediterranean nation. we'll tell you about that in just a moment. but first a massive cyber attack is lightning down the internet all around the globe. a site has been hit by huge attack from groups that have been black-listed by the site. this is one of the largest publicly disclosed attacks in the history of the internet. revenue from mobile ads on social media juggernaut twitter is projected to reach almost $2 billion by 2014. the world's largest airline, a bankruptcy judge has approved the merger between us airways and american, the combined airline will fly some 6700 flights daily. now, to cyprus, where the stock exchange is closed again today but bank, open for the

first time since march 16th, amid increased security as everyone waits to see if restrictions on customers from draining their accounts will hold and prevent a run on the banks. and a new survey appearing in "the wall street journal" shows that in 42% of companies low-performing employees are often the happiest and most engaged. they end up with the easiest jobs while the most dedicated workers end up staying late and conferring for the low-performers. straight ahead, when robberies go terribly wrong and the sweet 16 tips off. next. you're watching "early today."

now, to some other storys it that caught our eye this morning. in detroit, michigan, the morning commute turned into a giant mess for a few drivers. a tv news camera captured an explosion of metals as one vehicle barreled into a couple of cars waiting to change lanes. thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. meanwhile, a california burglary suspect botched his own robbery. it was all caught on tape. check this out. the would-be robber not only shows his face but stumbled and ate some concrete after the store -- right there. after the store's alarm scares him off. police are still looking for the guy. in san francisco at the san francisco zoo they released new

video of the sumatran tiger cub. the animal was born last month and received a clean bill of health. for now the zoo plans to limit public viewing to a few hours each week. to sports, the chicago bulls were the team that finally ended miami's winning streak. the heat won 27 games in a row but chicago got the better of lebron james and his teammates for a 101-97 victory. the heat record is the second longest in the history of american major pro sports behind only the 33 straight by the lakers, 1971 to 1972. a judge in south africa says paralympic run arer oscar pistorius can leave the country to compete in track meets but with conditions. pistorius is charged with killing his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. the stadium in rio de janeiro is closed for safety reasons. engineers found structural

damage in some parts of the six-year-old stadium. in college basketball the ncaa tournament resumes today with the sweet 16. in the east region number one seed indiana taking on number four seed syracuse, miami will play marquette. in the west, ohio state takes on arizona and wichita state will face la salle, and four more games friday. including florida gulf coast eagles taking on florida. one district jockey who is a huge fan of fgcu got a tattoo on his arm. and he files for divorce without telling her on "real housewives of atlanta." that's a recall show. just ahead. mad men actor john hamm weighs in on his unmentionables. the material girl joins a very elite club.

well, welcome back on this thursday. we are watching a few showers in the west mixed with some clouds. it's not going to rain all day. we're not going to get a lot of heavy rain. but there are areas of heavy rain. 67 in portland. at least the temperatures are warm compared to the rest of the country. even the intermountain west west. as we look to your forecast a little bit like today i think we'll take most of the showers out of the forecast. enjoy what should be a decent

holiday travel day. madonna has officially joined the billionaire's club. between her recent tour, merchandise sales and some really wise investments madonna might as well be printing money. nike's latest ad features a tiger woods quote winning takes care of everything. some are calling it dismissive of tiger's extramarital affair. nike has responded to complaints saying the ad is simply a salute to his athletic performance. how about this one, jon hamm finally weighed in on that whole underpants controversy from the set of "mad men." he said, quote, they're called privates for a reason. >> cover them up. finally, the rolling stones

will be taking the stage at the music festival. one of new york's biggest music events. >> i need to do that. a music festival. >> in britain, nonetheless. >> that would be a blast. >> i'm craig melvin, this is "early today," just for first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

this morning's lead story in the be "chicago tribune," bulls end heat's 27 game winning streak saying quote we can beat

anybody. on nbcnews.com, hollywood ending, ashley judd passes on kentucky's senate run. the actress has decided not to challenge minority leader mitch mcconnell. saying she wants to focus on her family. if you're in the market for a unique gift this easter holiday, christie's of london has what you're looking for. the world's biggest egg laid by the now extinct giant elephant bird is expected to bring about $45,000 at auction. larger than a dinosaur, this egg is 12 inches by 8 inches and completely fossilized. a newborn boy is turning a lot of heads in the united kingdom. little george king is really not all that little. weighing 15 pounds 7 ounces at birth george is twice the size of a normal baby boy, apparently. his parents are auld buying 3 to 6 month sizes for their infant.

a mini macgyver was captured. kyle has been dubbed the bedtime bandit by his own parents after some clever breaking and enter. check out this video, the precocious toddler was caught sneaking out of his bedroom, picking the lock of his older sister's door with nail clippers. sneaking in and may going off with her prized stuffed animal. >> oh, i like him. sister's got troubles. >> parents going to have some trouble, too. if that's what he's doing at 2. time for an early look at some of the stories that we'll be following throughout the day here on nbc. pope francis visiting a juvenile detention center in italy, continuing a papal tradition. previous popes visited prison inmates around easter and christmas but pope francis will once again be breaking with tradition by washing inmates feet.

a partial reactor at the three mile island plant in pennsylvania caused the release of a small act of radioactive gas. and happy birthday to gaga who turns 27. here's a look of what's coming up on the "today" show. would you let your friends decide who you date or what you wear. this morning, one man explains his decision to sell stock of himself. and the women's basketball game. don't forget to keep it on this game for continuing news, sports and more. i'm craig melvin. thanks so much for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a fantast

. . new this morning, the same agency that is suing you and we

mean everyone. >> plus, i was scared, i was shaking. it was really scary. nothing happened like that. >> we talked to a young girl shot by that arrow while on a school field trip. how a pop star helped her get through the pain. plus, the boys are back in town. the world series champion giants return to at&t park for the first time since winning the title. we take you live outside to san francisco. the bay bridge all lit up on this thursday, for your morning commute, march 28th. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. it is 4:30. i'm marla tallez. jon kelley is off today i'm laura garcia cannon. lots to get to. let's check the forecast with meteorologist, christina loren. >> good morning, laura and marla. good morning to everybody at home. we have an active pattern, a little about the more active today than yesterday.

basically, the same deal. you see the light showers along the sierra nevada. we are going to see light sprinkles. throughout the next couple of days, things are going to get more and more interesting through easter sunday when we are expecting the potential for strong thunderstorms in the bay area. you want to grab something to protect the hair, umbrella, hoodie, whatever it takes. we have a chance for showers. i'm going to time it out at your doorstep. coming up on my next report, let's check your drive. 4:31 on a friday eve. gentlemen, predict the hair product. san jose, smooth drive, easy, light drive for north 101. a couple of spots to watch. north 101 coming down through mountainview past moffett, your typical construction. south of here toward sunnyvale. construction, 880