good tuesday morning. coming up on "early today," anger and frustration, the families of the missing 239 passengers want answers as the search grows for the missing boeing 777 aircraft. plus, late breaking details on the stolen passport passengers. climate talk-a-thon. senate democrats are doing a dawn to dusk full court press on the need for action on climate change. marijuana millions. colorado's tax revenue is rocky mountain high as the first full month of reefer revenue is in. plus, burger king baby seeks birth mom on facebook. a bitter bieber bluster before the law. and one heck of a sucker punch on the hard court. it is tuesday, march 11th. "early today" starts right now.

good morning to you. i'm frances rivera. breaking news overnight on the vanished malaysian airlines jet. just this past hour, interpol released an image two of iranians who were traveling with stolen passports on a missing jetliner. the image shows the two iranian men boarding the plane at the same time. authorities say the two men traveled from malaysia on their iranian passports, then switched to their stolen austrian and italian documents. earlier, police said one of the passengers was seeking asylum in europe. authorities add they do not believe he has ties to a terrorist group and are in touch with his family. the search is expanding now four days later with 239 people still missing. the plane's last known location is in the south china sea, about 100 miles northeast of the malaysian port city of bachok. tom costello has the latest. >> reporter: off the coach of

malaysia, the search for flight 370 has entered its fourth day. dozens of ships, helicopters and planes running grid-like searches in the waters between malaysia and vietnam. so far, nothing. an oil sheen and debris spotted over the weekend ended up being false leads. now sea conditions are expected to worsen. on board the uss blue ridge, commander william marks. >> that will make search conditions more challenging. but i can tell you that our radars are very advanced and they can actually negate a lot of that surface clutter. but it does present a challenge for the international effort. >> reporter: the last reported location for the boeing 777 was over the water, halfway between malaysia and vietnam. but with malaysian military radar suggesting the plane may have started to turn back, the search zone is expanding to include malaysia's mainland and now the waters to the northwest. >> our aim to find aircraft will be -- >> reporter: among the questions, why would the plane

turn back and why didn't the crew radio air traffic controllers? a former senior ntsb investigator says a sudden loss of cabin pressure could have incapacitated the crew and passengers within seconds. while the plane continued flying. >> you really have to start looking at a trajectory path at a speed and altitude that they were at, how far could this airplane go? well, of course, it had 7 1/2 hours of fuel on it, but you have to be realistic. you to come up with at least a rate of descent. >> reporter: if the plane went down on land, an emergency transmitter beacon should be sending a signal. but if the plane went down in the sea, underwater pingers attached to the black boxes should be sending up homing signals. >> these devices are designed to activate in the water. once active, they produce a brief pulse once a second for 30 days at a depth of up to 20,000 feet.

>> that was nbc's tom costello reporting. and now to a senate talk-a-thon. here is a live look at the senate floor. more than two dozen senators are holding an all night session to bring attention to climate change. the 28 democrats and two independents called themselves the climate change task force. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington. tracie, they're still at it. >> reporter: they're still at it. they have been talking all night long since about 6:30 last night. looks like they have two more hours to go based on the schedule they gave us. 100,000 signatures on petitions. that is what got this task force talking. and take a look. they're talking about things like superstorm sandy that destroyed so much of the coast, things that they believe are related to global warming. climate change has been on the back burner at capitol hill for a few years now. democrats still really believe we need to get some sort of comprehensive legislation and that's why they have been talking all night. >> carbon pollution is real. the damage is real.

and it is time this chamber take action. >> we're here because if we fail to act, our planet will be destroyed. >> insurgence of this climate problem is not lost on our average american. >> reporter: back live now, we want to show you some of the democrats who did not participate in this interestingly. they are also democrats who are facing very tough re-election campaigns later this year. now, will climate change legislation really happen this year? democratic leaders have given no indication they have something serious to bring to the floor and republicans say this is just 30 hours of excuses. frances? >> tracie potts, thank you very much. the battle over recent gun legislation seems to be heating up in california. the national rifle association has asked supreme court justice anthony kennedy to block a ban on gun magazines with a capacity of more than ten bullets. the city ordinance went into

effect last week in sunnyvale, california, and was approved by 66% of voters in november. the nra tried blocking the ban but was denied by a federal appeals court. gun owners will have to either sell the high capacity magazines out of state or opt to have police dispose of them. colorado seeing lots of green in more ways than one. marijuana brought the state more than $3.5 million in taxes and fees in january. more than $2 million coming from recreational pot. the rest from medical marijuana. 59 businesses found a check for recreational pot by the end of january. in january, colorado became the first state to legalize the recreational sale of pot. and customers bought more than $14 million worth in last month alone. now to news on another drug, one getting a major crackdown from the justice department. attorney general eric holder is speaking out on heroin, calling it an urgent and growing health crisis. government data shows abuse of the drug rose 79% between 2007

and 2012. and heroin related deaths are up 400% in some places. the doj is beginning to target violent traffickers in an effort to rein in use. >> we should keep illicit drugs off the streets and to bring violent traffickers to justice. the dea is our lead agency. they have adopted a strategy to attack all level of the supply chain. >> the move is first major effort since the death of actor philip seymour hoffman. he died last month from an overdose of heroin and other drugs. an american astronaut and two russian cosmonauts are back on tara firma this morning after spending nearly six months on the international space station. the russian soyuz capsule landed safely in kazakhstan late last night. it also had to be postponed due to strong winds. they were reported to be doing well and are in good spirits. weather is wreaking havoc in parts of the northern pacific,

as melting snow and ongoing heavy rains caused extreme flooding. the governor of montana declared a flood emergency. hundreds of people have been cut off in rural areas because of overflowing roads. dozens have been evacuated. in washington state, water logged farms, some race to save chickens from drowning in coops surrounded in the waist deep water. whether chickens in the flooding or the snow, a little piece of everything. >> this is the same storm in the northwest yesterday, will bring a big snowstorm across the country. in the northwest, the rainfall for this march, if we kept up on this pace, it would be epic. so far, six inches of rain in the first ten days of march. that's pretty incredible stuff. doesn't look like we'll get a break until friday in the northwest. and, again, still haven't seen as much as we would like, san francisco to l.a. there goes the big storm through the rockies and the middle of the country. looking at pretty nice weather. how does the next five days look as far as potential for rainfall, doesn't look very good

for much of california, nevada, arizona. we will see what it looks like friday to the weekend, rain chances from portland, northward. those are the areas that don't need the rain. doesn't look like we'll get any anytime soon. the temperatures out there a little bit cool from boise to salt lake city to medford. and it does look like we'll see another very warm day today. even san francisco getting up to 66 and sunny, pretty nice. 76 in l.a. a little cooler than the 80s. winds will be a little bit lighter. we're coming to the end of our rainy season and many areas of the west and we would like maybe one or two more storms, especially further south. >> yeah, good drenching would be good. bill, thank you very much. college student s s arreste

for a dog keg stand. and a recall that you need to hear. and oscar pistorius vomits in court over the testimony in the death of reeva steenkamp. details next. but thanks to hotwire's incredibly low travel prices, i can afford to cross more things off my list. this year alone, we went to the top of the statue of liberty... and still saved enough to go to texas-- to a real dude ranch! hotwire checks the competition's rates every day... so they can guarantee their low prices. so we got our 4-star hotels for half price. next up, hollywood! ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e ♪ hotwire.com book with our app for an additional... $25.00 off your next hotel. mommwanna see what's in it? ou. yeah! (gasps) you put it in here? yeah. and then you wanna take this... are you making them for the easter bunny? no, you. ahhhhh. this easter... ...bring a tradition... ...out of its shell. (cheers)

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with even more of what you love in every bottle. ♪ because more of what you love is a beautiful thing. the new tide plus collection. what's your tide? welcome back. 97-0 vote monday approving a bill that would toughen procedures for military sexual assault prosecutions. the bill would eliminate the good soldier defense which allows the accused to use their good military record as evidence of their innocence. new sanksz against russia are being considered by the united states and other world powers including travel bans and asset freezes. the u.s. and the eu are considering crimecrimea's refer vote illegal with david cameron call ing it unconstitutional. and the most dramatic moments yet in the oscar pistorius murder trial came monday when a pathologist described the post mortem ex

examination on reeva steenkamp. he vomited and caused the judge to briefly halt the proceedings. a new york college student charged with torturing an animal after this photo surfaced on twitter. it appears to show the dog being held in a keg stand position. the student who posted the photo has also been arrested. the dog is said to be in excellent health. time to get down to business with cnbc's sima moody. good morning, how are you? >> frances, the house, energy and commerce committee will reportedly launch a probe and hold hearings on gm's recall of nearly 1.6 million vehicles that have been linked to 13 deaths. the wall street journal says lawmakers want to examine the slow response of gm and safety regulators. the job outlook is a bit brighter. survey by staffing firm manpower finds 19% of employers plan to add workers this spring. the strongest hiring intentions

in six years. they say engineering and tech are the hottest sectors. microsoft releasing titan fall, the highly anticipated sci-fi combat game for the xbox one today. microsoft is hoping it will shed new light into xbox sales which had been lagging behind sony playstation's 4. sports ahead including an nhl health scare on the ice. and details on this sucker punch on the basketball court next. good job!

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. this morning on "today," pbs correspondent miles o'brien is live in studio less than a month after losing his left arm in a freak accident while on assignment. hear his story later on "today." and now to sports, a frightening moment at the national hockey league. medical personnel rushed to treat dallas stars forward rich peverley after he collapsed from a heart ailment on his team bench. peverley has a history of an irregular heart beat and just six months ago had undergone a procedure to regulate his heart beat. he was immediately treated at americanairlines arena with a defibrillator, oxygen and iv. he quickly regained consciousness and asked how much time was left in the first period. the rest of the game was postponed. now to the nba where miami's big three made sure the bleeding stopped against the wizards. lebron, d-wade and boss led miami to a 99-90 win over

washington, snapping a three-game losing streak. next to college hoops, three college teams locked up their post season on monday night. delaware, manhattan and wofford punched their tickets to the men's ncaa tournament with conference tournament wins. a finnish women's basketball player is on the unemployment line after this, laying out an opposing player. the punch was allegedly retaliation for a previous bout. check out, not a game of musical chairs at i a u.s. rode. "early today" sports is brought to you by just for men autostop, the foolproof way to get rid of gray. just ahead, an agitated and annoyed justin bieber lashes out during a legal deposition, next. [ male announcer ] let the rich robust flavor

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but have you been on an airplane lately? [ man ] man, this thing's got a lot of onions. i really wouldn't survive it without this scarf. and i have tide plus febreze. it gets it fresher for longer. getting ripe in here, huh? [ female announcer ] tide plus febreze. that's my tide plus. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® welcome back. this is what you're asking for in the northwest. a nice, dry and mostly sunny if not completely sunny day. from medford northward, we get that today. you have until friday to bring the umbrellas back out. nice in california again. then as we look towards wednesday's forecast, look at this, lots of sunshine across the board. warming up to the 60s. that is just a beautiful, beautiful day.

63 and sunny. take that anywhere in the country. >> we certainly would. thank you, bill, so much. justin bieber was not in a cooperative mood during his latest court deposition. the pop star was being interviewed in connection with a lawsuit filed by paparazzo. bieber cursed at a court reporter. >> you know anyone by the name of usher? >> usher? that sounds familiar. >> is your answer yes? >> yes. >> would you mind speaking up? >> yes and no are pretty different. >> when the lawyer asked about his former girlfriend, selena gomez, bieber got really serious, tried to look serious. >> don't ask me about her again. >> sir -- have you ever -- >> don't ask me about her again. don't ask me about her again. have you ever -- >> don't ask me about her again.

>> the death of pop superstar whitney houston is at the center of a lawsuit against beverly hills police. a supervisor alleges he was demoted for reporting a fellow officer had disturbed the scene of the singer's death. . there is a big finale, a controversial season of the bachelor. it aired last night. juan pablo chose nicky farrell, but did not present her with a ring. no wedding bells. just a promise. and it was when he turned down runner-up claire crawley that things got awkward for them. >> i'll tell you what, i thought i knew what kind of man you were -- >> okay. >> what you made me go through, i would never want my children having a father like you. >> okay. i'm glad i didn't pick her.

>> at least we know there is not going to be -- there is usually a bachelor wedding and that airs. in this case -- >> full disclosure two episodes behind, but now i'm caught up, so thank you. if not -- >> spoiler alert. >> forced to watch that show with my wife and now that's over for me and now i have to sit through four hours -- >> i never watched a single episode of the bachelor. >> the question is do i pretend i know who won or not? >> bachelorette around the corner. i'm frances rivera. this is "early today." we hope it is your first stop of the day on nbc. pay my bill. phone: your account is already paid in full. oh, well in that case, back to vacation mode. ♪boots and pants and boots and pants♪

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leading the news in the new york times, titans in russia fear new front in ukraine crisis. vladimir putin returned to the russian presidency in 2012, he warned his political elite, many of them heads of bank and large corporations, that owing assets outside russia made them two vulnerable to move by foreign governments and it was time to bring their wealth home. and in the boston globe, police will double their presence for marathons. it has been nearly a year since two bombs exploded near the finish line of the boston marathon. this year there will be a massive security presence. and some stories you might have missed. joe mcginniss has died. he was best known for his book on richard nixon. it landed him on the best-seller list at just 26 years old.

mcginnis died of complications related to prostate cancer. he was 71 years old. 61% of young gop voters were in favor of same sex marriage compared with 70% of young independents and democrats. in the new pew poll, as age increases, support for gay marriage decreases. president obama honoring top college athletes from across the country monday. the president said at a white house ceremony that college sports are about more than winning. he said they're also about learning to be be in the spotlight, overcoming obstacles and giving back to your community. red bull is known to sponsor its fair share of strange events. this might be the most obscure one yet. welcome to the 2014 carpet flooding festival. teams that didn't make it to the bottom, they still crossed the finish line. an icy pond. competitors ditched the carpets for sleds to the chagrin of one

camera. what are the temperatures of that water? >> probably in the 20s. >> yeah. >> that's -- polar plunge is one thing. doing it like that, upping the ante. >> that will wake you up for sure. now, a look ahead and a look back. on this day in 2011, magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck japan and the resulting tsunami devastated the northeastern coast killing nearly 19,000 people and triggering a nuclear disaster. and today chelsea clinton is the keynote speaker at the south by southwest interactive festival in austin. the former first daughter and current vice chair of the clinton foundation will share insight on how to transform the world around you. and happy birthday to daredevil johnny knoxville, he turns 43. actor terrence howard is 45. and rupert murdoch turns 83. we want you to keep it right here for more news, weather and sports. i'm frances rivera. thank you for watching "early today."

have a good one.

new details released about the malaysian airline jet that disappeared four days ago. we'll have the latest developments in a live report. write. waublging on a campus. this is "today in the bay." >> good morning to you. happy tuesday. 4:30. i'm scott mcgrew.