♪ it's thursday, march 3rd. coming up on "early today," breaking overnight. an american hero returns. astronaut scott kelly is back on u.s. soil after a year in outer space. ben carson bows out of tonight's republican debate which puts the donald against his nemesis, megyn kelly. court room bomb shell. a key witness caught in public watching a naked video of erin andrews. plus a brazen snatch and grab. and a wanton felon takes off a police officer in tow. and then there's this. 17 labrador puppies to brighten your day. "early today" starts right now. good to be with you.

breaking news. astronaut scott kelly is back on the united states. he landed in houston at 2:30 this morning and greeted by his family, including his twin brother, former astronaut mark kelly. >> it was a very long trip. when i left here in february, i don't even know what day it was. i was 50 and now i'm 52. so -- but it feels great. it's great to be back in texas, in u.s. -- on u.s. soil. it's an unbelievable feeling to be back here on planet earth, back in our great country and back with my family and friends. i also want to say this was not my flight. they talked about my year in space. it's not my achievement, it's nasa's achievement and our country's achievement. >> he spent 340 days aboard the international space station. that's a record for an american astronaut. while he was there, he actually

grew two inches taller. he landed back on earth in kazakhstan tuesday night. super tuesday was not a good day for establishment republicans. ben carson pulled out of tonight's debate. he hasn't officially suspended his campaign. there are rumors he will drop out at the conservative convention cpac. that will leave just four republicans on the stage tonight and donald trump will face off with fox news's megyn kelly for the first time since the initial debate last august. trump blasted that debate as being very unfair, so much so he boycotted the second debate fox hosted. and many are wondering if there's any way to stop a juggernaut. and mitt romney will hold a press conference. we're told he won't be announcing anyone norah nounsing a bid but will talk about the state of the republican race where some say he's planning on slamming trump. you know trump was going to respond to that.

he did his usual tweet fest calling romney someone he endorsed four years ago, a failed candidate. now with all this insanity, jimmy fallon dusted off his golden wig to get some laughs about trump's tuesday speech using a life size poster of chris christie. >> this has been an amazing night. we've already won five states, looks like we could win six or seven or eight or nine. maybe a mill states by the time the night is over. i want to thank governor chris christie for his unblinking support. he's like my mini me except bigger. he's my megame. thank you, mega me, you can go home now, mega me. meanwhile hillary clinton was all smiles when she greeted people at radio city music hall. >> yesterday was a great day. people in every corner of the

country came out to support the future we're building together. >> and new york governor andrew cuomo couldn't help but take a shot at the gop front-runner. >> we build a wall, the big wall, a thousand mile wall, like the china wall. i'm going to build a wall. don't worry, the wall is a beautiful wall. >> the good news may not be for long. "the new york times" and the washington post are reporting that the e-mail controversy may be coming back to life. the washington post is saying that the feds granted immunity to the i.t. worker who set up the server. both papers report that the fbi investigation is now looking to see if a crime was committed with one official telling the post, quote, there was wrongdoing but was it criminal wrongdoing? both papers say the fbi could ask clip ton to be interviewed in the coming months. nbc news has reached out to the justice department to confirm that, but so far they haven't

responded. of course, this could boost bernie sanders who's way beyond clinton in the delegate count. he still says he's in it for the long haul. the fact is, after out raising chin be ton by $10 million in february, he has the war chest to keep the delegate battle going for several more months. aubrey mcclindon died yesterday in an awful car crash. happened the day after he was indicted by a federal grand jury for violating the sherman antitrust act by conspiring to suppress oil and natural gas prices. mcclendon who was 56 years old was facing ten years in prison and a $1 million fine. police haven't officially ruled on the cause of death but did say he was driving well over the speed limit and that he drove through a field before crashing into an overpass even though he had plenty of time to get back on the road. the car exploded and police say it was so badly burned they

couldn't tell if he was wearing his seat belt. now chick this oeck this ou. a gang of thieves made a pretty brave smash and grab. group of ten disguised burglars rode up to the store in the pickup truck, they then used the chains to pull the security bars off the building before they stormed into the store. in total the thieves got away with more than 50 weapons and seriously damaged the store. the atf says they've arrested some people in the case but several more are still out there. houston police are offering a $5,000 reward for help in making more arrests. now to a new twist in the $75 million lawsuit brought by sportscaster erin andrews. that's after a stalker secretly taped her naked in the hotel room. there are new allegations that the executive of the company that opened the hotel and just testified in the case was seen in public tuesday watching that stalker's video with friends while they all commented on it.

nbc's morgan radford has the details. >> reporter: erin andrews arriving in the courthouse with her parents for day six of testimony. but there would be a delay and a bombshell. >> do you have any comment? >> it is incorrect. >> reporter: the executive with west end hotel partners which owned the hotel where erin andrews was secretly filmed by stalker michael barrett. peskin had testified on monday. >> so the owner was the franchisee? >> correct. >> reporter: peskin and two friends were at a nashville restaurant where her naked viral video was played openly. a waitress told nbc that peskin and friends were making fun of the body. he said if it was going to cost him millions he was going to watch it and show everyone. >> any comments? we heard your statement. >> reporter: in a statement peskin said his friends started viewing the video. i asked them to stop, and while they did so, it was not as quickly as i had hoped. i would never disrespect

misandrews. i sincerely apologize for what happened. exposure like this is what andrews has emotionally emphasized all week. >> it's always there on the internet t. will always be there. there will always be a reminder every single day. remember her worst nightmare roaring back to life. stormy weather is headed for the west. nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with the details. good morning. >> good morning. this will last into the weekend. is that will be the biggest storm saturday night into sunday. this is a huge one out in the open pacific. that will send a couple little waves into the west and some rain. one yesterday, another one today into the pacific northwest today. the pacific moisture is back and it's back in a pretty big way out there. the timing of the worst of it over the weekend, most of it saturday night. here's the forecast for the weekend. rain will pick up in intensity. here's the clock for saturday afternoon. notice the big slug of rain coming into san francisco

saturday night. then it will start to head further to the south and get down towards los angeles more or less towards sunday morning. as far as the rainfall totals, the next five days, this is great. this is what we want. we had a pretty dry period of february. this looks like a very wet march. the central portions of the sierras could pick up five to seven inches of rain. that's a good deal of rain. we'll fill some of the reservoirs with that. snow levels are going to be pretty high. we are going to look for a chance here. this pingish shading is anywhere from two to three feet of snow. great for the snow. great for the reservoirs. we'll get some showers and some small hail with them especially in the northwest. so the stormy forecast this weekend. it's good but it's bad if you had plans. >> they say they needed it.

>> they're going to get it. >> and the people who want to enjoy the sun and relax -- >> just wait your turn. >> -- can take care of themselves. a horse on the loose in new york city's busy times square. plus, caught on dash cam, a wanton felon speeds off from a traffic stop with a sheriff's deputy in tow. we'll have the details in two minutes. ter for your skin than wearing no makeup at all? neutrogena® cosmetics. powders, concealers and foundations in new shades for more skin tones. with vitamins and antioxidants. your skin will look beautiful when you wear it and even after you take it off. neutrogena® cosmetics see what's possible. or if you're young or old.are if you run everyday, no matter who you are a heart attack can happen without warning. if you've had a heart attack, a bayer aspirin regimen

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you can help prevent blindness in undernourished children all over the world. when you get your vitamins at walgreens, you help give life-changing vitamins to kids across the globe. get vitamins here. change lives everywhere. walgreens. at the corner of happy and healthy. there may be a new lead in the case of the malaysian airlines that disappeared nearly two years ago. a clue came off the coast of east africa. >> holding a piece of airplane debris that i found on february 27th. >> blaine gibson, an american traveller who has been obsessively biolologging about missing plane said he found it by surprised. they tweeted that there's a high

possibility that the debris belongs to a boeing 777 but he urged people to avoid undue speculation as they continue to speculate. after tossing off his officer and scaring visitors, gunny has been captured but not before damaging a few things in travels including knocking off that side mirror of the car. check out this police dash cam video of a felon wanted in new mexico riding off with a sheriff's deputy in tow. the deputy was trying to pull rob rivera garcia out of the car when he hit the gas. he only drove about 500 feet and finally stopped. that's when the deputy started hitting him with a flashlight. garcia was booked on a $10,000 bond. now let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, landon. >> hi, daniel. good morning to you. more than 3 million businesses are actively advertising on facebook with most based outside of the u.s. to celebrate, the official

network says your official business story. meanwhile, verizon is teaming up with hurst to court millennials. it's a go 90 service including aol. there will be two channels this spring, a news and entertainment aimed at middle america and a comedy channel. and americans, jetblue and other big u.s. air lines are vying for approval to start flying to cuba. they filed applications with the government to win the covenant round. last month the u.s. and cuba agreed to restore u.s. commercial air service with 20 flights to havana and 10 to other airports in havana. >> there's so much controversy but i would love to see them. just ahead, a million dollar find of a lifetime in a crumpled up paper bag. plus, a buzzer beating on the college court. you're watching "early today." mini-wheats®... 8 layers of wheat... and one that's sweet.

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this morning on "today," jeff rossen take as look at the erin andrews case. seeing how many hotel front desks would let a stalker book the room next door to you. time to get caught up with the sports and my friend, and i mean that, frances rivera is here. >> hi, danielle.

good morning. we start sports with boston college/nc state. one second on the clock. you see it here. right there. >> boomer:. the wolfpack with an easy inbounds lay-up and a buzzer beater. nc state 73, boston college, 72. unranked rutgers gave number two michigan state a run early on. a big ten record hitting 11 three-pointers as state pulled away with an easy 97-66 rally of the scarlet knights. and how's this for a moment. iverson, it looks so good. it was beautiful, but epic fail. windmill dunk goes wrong. still, they beat minnesota, 62-49. in the nba the spurs wrapped up their 19th consecutive berth. san antonio beat detroit 97-81. the spurs joined golden state in clinching playoff spots. nba veteran and legend vince

carter proves he's still got game. there you go. beautiful high flying reversally oop. the grizzlies outclassed the kings 104-98. a real find here. great grandchildren rummaging through their relatives belongings found those, seven identical and very rare ty cobb baseball cards. they say they date back to 1909 and 1911 and their value in the seven figure range. all found in crumpled up paper. the shot of the day here, 11-year-old tee the off in front of who else, tiger himself. not only that, it happened at the tiger woods designed blue jack national park way golf course. nails it hole in one. crowd goes wild. tiger woods runs up and gives him a hug. danielle, back to you. >> frances, thank you. just ahead, the latest cast

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awards thing went so well, i got to thinking that maybe it's time. you know. maybe it's time for me to do my own thing. >> that's funny. the foo fighters released that gag video after rumors that they were breaking up. it started after dave performed solo at the oscars. >> i don't know if the world is ready for both of us. are you ready? >> rocking the hoff. >> there ain't no bay without the hoff. bay watch, get ready, world. >> you heard it from the hoff himself. david hasselhoff is joining the cast starring dwayne, the rock, johnson. >> he will be shirtless. >> dwayne? >> all of them. >> well, and i'm sure a lot of women, too. >> and the hoff.

>> zac efron, too. plus, ellen degeneres gave a trailer of "finding dori." last night on fallon, rachel maddow should have known better than to mess with the queen of night cheese. >> parmesan. >> gray air. >> telezio. >> drunken goat. >> chevre. >> chevre is goat. >> judges, is that true? chevre, is that the same thing as goat? we've got a winner! we broabout this new car. to get your honest opinion to keep things unbiased, we removed all the logos. feels like a bmw. reminds me a little bit of like an audi. so, this car supports apple carplay.

siri, open maps. she gets me. wow. it also has teen driver technology. it even mutes the radio until the seat belts are buckled. i'm very curious what it is. this is the 2016 chevy malibu. and it sells for? it starts at twenty-two five. what? oh wow. i mean with all this technology. that's a game changer. trustit powers...sher with cascade platinum. (politely) wait, wait, wait! you baked-on? dish issues?onna work. ...through... your toughestuck-on food. better than finish. cascade.

squleeding the news on nbcnews.com, trooper in sandra bland traffic stop formally fired. bland is the 28-year-old woman who died last summer in jail after she was arrested by texas trooper brian encinea. her death was ruled a suicide, but the case made national headlines and led to a federal investigation. the trooper was fired and is facing a perjury charge. if he's convicted he faces one year in jail and $4,000 fine. and u.s. military invites preapproved experts to hack the pentagon. vetted hackers delved into pentagon systems sunday to test the caliber of its cyber security. it's part of ways to identify security gaps in their network. if you were a smoker, how far would you go for a

butt? well, one man in new mexico needed a fix so badly he broke into a convenience store by kicking in the door. get this, he left behind $6. >> he paid for it. >> yes, holding it up to the security camera to prove he paid for the pack of cigarettes he took. it will cost him more than that. alex bautista was arrested and has to pay $800 for the busted door. >> forgot about that part. >> he got out on $4,000 bond. in north carolina a labrador retriever has broken the state record monday for the most puppies to be born. there's 17 in there. >> one chocolate, a bunch of -- >> two puppies short of the world record which is 19. and a family in florida found this unexpected guest taking a dip in their swimming pool on tuesday. a 9 foot long nearly 300 pound alligator. the homeowner noticed bubbles at the surface of the backyard pool and went to check it out. well, that's when he found that guy resting at the bottom. luckily no one was hurt.

the trespasser was taken away by a trapper. now to a look ahead. today is the 25th anniversary of the rodney king beating by lapd officers. here's how it was covered by nbc's don oliver. >> it happened in this middle class neighborhood of the san fernando valley early sunday morning. a blackman whose car had been stopped by los angeles police officers was in the street. an apartment dweller across the street took the videotape after hearing the fracas going on. it appeared to him the suspect was attempting to cooperate when the beating with night sticks began. >> one year later a jury acquitted -- one year later, again, the jury acquitted the four police officers sparking six days of riots, looting, and arson. now keep it right here for more news, weather and sports. i'm danielle sorino. thanks for watching. i hope you enjoy your thursday.

the cold before the sireies of storms headed our way. no rain yet in the south bay as we look live at san jose but get ready north bay because it is headed your way as we head into the weekend. what we expect for the radar to crank out. flying down the highway and lifting off the 680 freeway into a building. the outranls speeds deputies say that driver was going before hurling off the road and badly injuring the two people inside. she was hired off a popular babysitting website and now a livermore sitter stands accused of a very serious crime. "today in the bay" starts right now. good morning, thank you for joining us. i'm kris sanchez in for