and good thursday morning. coming up on "early today," ft. hood shooting. four dead, including a the shooter. many asking why the facility sees yet another mass shooting again. powerful after shocks. a 7.6 magnitude quake, chile hit by another massive tremor. severe weather from massive hail to tornadoes and heavy snow, bill karins one busy weather guy today. plus, an emotional outpouring to honor the country's bravest. and bill clinton reflects on being the first black president. it is thursday, april 3rd. "early today" starts right now. good morning to you.

i'm richard lui. it happened again. a mass shooting at ft. hood, texas. four service members are dead and including the gunman. 16 others were injured. it comes four and a half years after 13 people died in a shooting rampage at the same base. nbc's charles hadlock joins us from ft. hood today. good morning to you, charles. we know the shooter is an iraq war veteran being treated for anxiety and depression at the time. what else have you learned? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, richard. authorities, the fbi and the army are trying to figure out why this soldier opened fire on three of his colleagues, killing them and wounding 16 other soldiers yesterday here at ft. hood before committing suicide. authorities say they don't have a motive, but they don't believe it is terrorism. and that's a big relief to the ft. hood community here, which, as you mentioned, four and a half years ago endured the wrath of major nidal hasan who opened fire killing 13 soldiers and wounding 32 others.

he was inspired by an islamic cleric. he was sentenced to death by an army panel last summer. that verdict is being appealed. but authorities don't know what this motive was of this soldier. we do know that he lived here in town for about three weeks. he just moved here with his family. a wife and a 3-year-old daughter. neighbors at the apartment complex where they lived told nbc news last night they were shocked to learn that this neighbor who they saw smiling and waving during his brief time here could have done something like this. richard? >> charles, so that's the question about motive. as they look at that, there is also the ticktock. what happened yesterday? >> reporter: well, this soldier was assigned to the transportation unit here at ft. hood. he was in a medical facility in a waiting area, building, waiting area, went in with a gun and apparently got into an argument according to sources at the pentagon who tell nbc news he opened fire in that building.

then left the building, got into a vehicle and was driving across ft. hood shooting as he went. he went into a second building, fired more shots there, killed or wounded an unknown number of people, came back outside and was confronted by a u.s. military police officer. at that point, the man reached into his jacket, pulled a gun to his head, and pulled the trigger ending the rampage here at ft. hood. richard, back to you. >> nbc's charles hadlock, thank you so much for that. now to another massive quake that has shaken chile. the u.s. geological survey says a powerful 7.6 aftershock robbiro rocking the country's northern coast, they were rocked by an 8.2 quake. buildings swayed after this one, but no reports of major damage. a tsunami alert along the coast and neighboring peru has been called off. new amateur video from tuesday's 8.2 quake that i was talking about shows the panic inside a restaurant, lights swaying,

furniture shaking as people run for cover. as least six deaths are blamed on tuesday's tremor. tension between the united states and russia about ukraine is affecting our space agency now. nasa is suspending its work with russia. the only contact between nasa and russian officials will pertain to operations on the international space station. nasa employees not allowed to travel to russia. workers are barred from e-mailing or calling the russian counterparts as well. president obama will meet with top lawmakers about ukraine today. toronto mayor rob ford blames a sore back for two controversial votes. the crack smoking mayor voted against congratulating olympic and paralympic athletes yesterday. and also voted against naming a street after nelson mandela. he said he was simply stretching and hit the wrong button, twice.

mayor ford said he asked for a revote on both motions a half hour later but was denied on that. he says he -- that everybody makes mistakes. ford's brother, doug, a city council member, came to his defense and said, quote, no one in this city supports the black community more than rob ford. no one, bottom line. zing. done. and no one supports the olympic athletes more than rob ford. end quote. mayor ford, by the way, seeking re-election this year. former president bill clinton ran the gamut of topics on late night. when asked about being the, quote, first black president, this is what he said. >> do you miss being the first african-american president? i feel like that -- i feel like you were cheated out of that, that was taken from you. >> yeah, well -- let me say this, i consider it -- i was incredibly fortunate that i was

born in a little town of arkansas and raised by my grandparents largely and my great uncle and aunt when my widowed mother went off to become a nurse, and my grandparents were poor, white southerners who, as a class, were among the most racially prejudiced people in the south. and they weren't. my granddad ran a country store and the vast majority of his customers were african-american. so i was raised in a different way. i was at home in the churches, at home in the culture, at home -- and it was such a gift to me that i grew up free of that and i deserve no credit for it whatsoever. it was the way i was raised. and so i love being called first black president. but -- >> there he was. a severe thunderstorm in kansas sending people running for cover. the super cell dumping golf ball sized hail on a casino parking lot. there it is. it smashed windows, dented cars, also prompted a tornado watch

across 12 counties. there are no reports of injuries. today is looking like it might be more of the same, bill karins, and just telling me, kicking off a tornado season, right? >> this will be a big tornado, probably our first outbreak. in the st. louis area, they had the tornado sirens going off half an hour ago. 5:30 a.m. local time in st. louis. everyone heard the tornado sirens, woken up in the middle of the night, went to the storm shelters. reports of some damage on the north side of town, but don't know that was straight-line wind damage or tornado. that's the kind of scene we're dealing with already this morning. thousands of lightning strikes across areas of the midwest and ohio valley. later on this afternoon, it will be round two. it looks to be about 4:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., little rock, memphis, springfield, st. louis areas, all under the threat of possible strong tornadoes late today. by the way, this is the storm that dumped about an inch of rain on san francisco in the last two days and about a quarter of an inch in l.a. storm hit the west first and now heading into the middle of the country with severe weather and almost a foot of snow possible northern wisconsin to near

minneapolis. as far as southern portion of the west goes, we're just fine today. little chilly behind this storm. albuquerque at 39 degrees. the rest of the west is okay. we have a little weak storm in the pacific northwest. that's not going to be a lot of rain. possibly a few showers. temperatures not bad, pretty uniform across much of the west, 50s or 60s for most people, 73 this time of year in phoenix, a little cooler than normal. that's your national forecast. and throughout the country, we haven't had had a tornado death since december. we're hoping to keep that trend going. >> let's keep that going. of course, that will affect some flights in some areas, right? are political campaigns about to run amok?

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and welcome back this morning. a divided supreme court removed restrictions on the amount of money one person can contribute to federal candidates. wednesday's decision was 5-4 in the court's dissent, stephen breyer saying the ruling eviscerates our nation's campaign finance laws and that the voices of the people will not be heard. a massive fire spread through a shantytown in brazil wednesday, destroying almost all of the neighborhood's 400 shacks. no injuries were reported. thousands of firefighters from across the country gathered in boston wednesday.

they were honoring two firefighters killed in a nine-alarm inferno last week. lieutenant edward walsh was laid to west on wednesday. services for his colleague michael kennedy are today. the u.s. this week contributed a ping locating device in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. an autonomous underwater vehicle was also provided. over $3.3 million has already been spent. another $3.6 million now allocated from the naval sea systems command budget. a date has been set for the vote that may change college athletics forever. on april 25th, northwestern football players will vote on authorizing a union. the union would represent them for collective bargaining with the school. time to get down to business for you. gm chief executive mary barra testifying for a second day on capitol hill this time before the senate and some very serious senators.

>> i think it is likely inappropriate that gm will face prosecution based on this evidence. >> i don't see this as anything but criminal. >> someone at general motors had switched out the unsafe ignition switches in several car models and covered it up by using the same part number for the same switch. >> barra remained apologetic and contrite but to little solis to the crash victims' families. hobby lobby is one of the companies challenging obamacare's requirement that approves forms of birth control be available to employees. well, a report by mother jones found that hobby lobby's 401(k) plans include mutual funds that invest in companies that produce abortion, contraceptive and other birth control products. amazon's new streaming and gaming service called fire tv could cause quite a surprise for some folks. the name fire tv also happens to

share the name of a porn site that spells fire fyre. to avoid the x-rated site, go to amazon.com and search for fire with an i, tv. just ahead, derek jeter's retirement party has officially started. and augusta tiger is causing ticket prices to plummet. sports is next. you have time to shop for car insurance today? yeah. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive. to get a smoky eye look just right. that is until i discovered this... almay's intense i color collection

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this morning on "today," nbc's kerry sanders visits carol, the ringling brothers' elephant, who survived a gunshot last year in tupelo, mississippi. now she's recovered, but the search is still on for her shooter. that story later on "today." sports now, the derek jeter year long retirement party continues. houston and former teammate roger clemens and andy pettitte honoring him. they gave him a hat, custom made boots and golf clubs. thanks but no thanks is what he thought after. houston hand the the yanks their second loss 3-1. >> here is the 1-1. left center field. that ball is going to get down. and we have another walk-off win. >> that walk-off hit made it a 2-1 win over kansas city, the first time that detroit won two in a row with a hit in the final inning. the mets daniel murphy had his first child, so decided to take a few days off for the birth.

he's not the first to do this. but now he's taking a beating from new york media. >> one day i understand, and in the old days they didn't do that. one day, go seat baby be born and comeback. you're a major league baseball player. you can hire a nurse. >> one fan criticized that sportscaster asking, quote, does he realize mrs. murphy gave birth in florida? she obviously couldn't fly home to new york for this, end quote. the mets supports murphy's decision to take that time. nfl scouts werele s were over clowny at his predraft workout. he weighed in right on expectations, 266, all solid muscle, moving quickly. critics still question his work ethic, though. the most say the defensive end will be the draft's number one pick. congrats to the ironman referee, dick bovetta. the new york, brooklyn game, was

his 2,633rd consecutive game. he's officiated that many in a row. his streak is one game longer than cal ripken's consecutive game streak. he's 74 years young. no tiger, no good, when it comes to ticket prices at the masters in augusta. tickets dropped to around 900 bucks right now, this after tiger woods withdrew because of back problems. like mother, like son. tennessee's legendary coach pat summitt won eight national titles. now her son is head coach of louisiana tech women's basketball team. tyler is just 23. mama summitt was 22 when she coached her first game. all righty. we'll have a little bit more later. just ahead for you, who really is the real other woman as the stars come out to celebrate. the female revenge movie of the year. ♪ ♪ new hershey's spreads. bring the delicious taste of hershey's chocolate

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almay's intense i color collection for my hazel eyes. almay intense i-color in four color collections. so simple. so me. you have to try it for yourself. welcome back. i was mentioning that little weak area of rain that is going to be trying to move on shore. here it is popping up on the radar. in the seattle area, looks like after the noon hour, throughout the afternoon is your best chance of seeing some of the showers coming through. the same goes for portland. not a lot of rain is expected with this feature. so that's why we have the showers in the forecast here. california, that storm is going to take it to the middle of the country with the tornado outbreak later on today. behind it is cool air mass, kind of refreshing, not bad, temperatures in the 60s. not many sunny and 73 degree

days left in phoenix as we head toward the warm months. i guess enjoy the nice almost spring air while it lasts. that front will bring showers to california by friday. not a lot of rain. >> one thing, bill, our friends up in the northwest, one thing about rain in that part of the country, it actually is beautiful up in that space. other spaces, i don't want any rain. >> i love rainy days. not ten in a row, but -- >> anywhere, though? >> not ten in a row, i agree that. shark nadeau 2 hits the small screen this july. nbc's matt lauer, al roker getting in on the cam row. >> we're back live. >> thank you for watching the "today" show. we now resume our regularly scheduled programming. >> they don't like green pillows. actually, wh is probably going to happen -- >> i like the extras in the background. >> running by, right. >> one on the couch, see the one on the couch, like -- >> no, i missed that. >> laying down. >> they save the rest of the

cast. >> yeah. >> that green pillow is you and i both know probably will appear as a shark in the finished product. kate upton making the jump from model to actress in the new movie "the other woman." she joined cameron diaz and leslie mann at the film's premiere. not a bad looking trio. david lederman got bill murray and lady gaga together for a selfie. dave, though, his number of rts, about 800 or something like that. >> who stole the show on that photo? >> i have to say lady gaga. is there someone else in the background? >> david letterman. >> yeah, yeah, but he's supposed to be in it. you think that's a photo bomb. >> a little bit. >> all right. >> ellen, 3 million, her rts. i'm richard lui. this is "early today." we hope it is first stop of the day here on nbc. keep on rt'ing, by the way.

leading the news on nbc news.com, student dies in colorado fall after eating pot cookie. denver police say they're still investigating the 19-year-old's death, but the autopsy lists the cause as multiple injuries due to a fall from height. and says marijuana intoxication is a significant contributing factor. and in time, teen who sued her parents gets $56,000 college scholarship. rachel canning posted on her facebook that she would be attending western new england university in springfield, massachusetts, in the fall. other stories that we're watching for you, the official death toll from the washington mudslide has risen to 29. 22 of those have been identified. according to the medical examiner, more than a dozen people are still missing after the march 22nd collapse of a

hillside in oso, washington. funerals are set to begin saturday. 75% of americans say marijuana will be legal for recreational use whether they support it or not. that's according to a new pew poll and found the number of people in fafrd vor of legalizi pot continues to grow. our congratulations to "today" show legend, willard scott. he married his long time companion paris keena in florida on tuesday. scott still stops by today to celebrate the birthdays of centenarians. also a funingly s ingllittle se from slips and falls to pain associated with old age, canine rehab makes life more comfortable for dogs of all stripes. like humans, therapy gives dogs reduced pain, faster recovery and -- i like the pictures, though. they seem to enjoy it, too. cat owners, felines won't get near the aquatic treadmill. most won't at least. time for a look ahead and a

look back. queen elizabeth will have a private audience with pope francis at the vatican. moments ago, the queen was greeted by italy's president. today's papal audience is the fifth time the queen met with a pontiff since she took throne in 1951. on this day in 1996, the home of suspected unabomber ted kaczynski was searched and he was eventually arrested as reported by nbc news. >> federal officials tell nbc news they put the man under surveillance after family members found some of his old writings they considered suspicious. the man's brother called a lawyer who called the fbi, putting agents on his trail. federal law enforcement officials tell nbc news the man is 53-year-old theodore j. kaczynski. amanda bynes, 28. eddie murphy, 53. tony orlando, 70. keep it right here for more news, weather and sports. i'm richard lui with bill karins to my left here, along with the entire "early today" team, have a great day, have a great thursday.

good morning to you. 4:30. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm peggy bunker. laura garcia-cannon is off this morning. let's check in on the forecast with christina loren. >> good morning to you peggy, scott, everybody at home. temperatures are chilly to start. we have a nice finish to the day. we'll see clouds increase, a little rain on the way, then we warm you up. lots to go over but first let's say good morning to mike inouye. >> good morning. we'll take you to the san mateo bridge. eastbound coming toward us we had a break in traffic but no traffic break. we're looking toward the maps, the san mateo side of the bridge on the peninsula moves smoothly. we look at the maps we see the speed sensors