it's friday, april 15th. coming up on "early today" -- the brooklyn brawl ahead of tuesday's new york primary while the republicans were in black tie mode and a big endorsement for the donald. a deadly earthquake rocks japan with aftershocks rocking communities but an 8-year-old is pulled from as collapsed hous a debate about corporal punishment rages as a mom videos her own son paddled in school. and a two-hour chase of an escape of a chimpanzee, and caring less during a bar heist and the bubble man complete with shark repellent. "early today" starts right now. good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. the sparks were flying as the democrats battled in brooklyn in what was perhaps the most

contentious debate yet. hillary clinton and bernie sanders traded jabs on topicing ranging from weapons to wall street and questioned who has the right judgment to be president. nbc's steve handelsman breaks it all down. >> reporter: it was a brawl. bernie sanders needing a knockout tuesday in the primary and hillary clinton defending her big national lead in delegates attacking one other's credibility. >> i do question her judgment. >> even his core issue, breaking up the banks, when asked, he could not explain how that would be done. >> reporter: but she gave speeches to big banks for six-figure fees. >> do we really feel confident about a candidate saying that she's going to bring change in america when she is so dependent on big money interests. i don't think so. >> this is a phony attack. >> clinton denied the banks bought her influence. >> i called them out on their mortgage behavior. >> oh, my goodness.

they must have been really crushed by that. >> issue number two was gun deaths. >> well what about the greed and recklessness of the gun manufacturers and dealers in america? >> reporter: sanders opposes sandy hook parents suing the makers of the assault rifle used to kill their kids, that a judge allowed. >> this is a serious difference between us, and -- >> i've got a d-minus voting record from the nra. >> a debate full of passion and personal attacks i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, brooklyn. so who had the better night? if twit sir any indication, clinton held a slight advantage. despite the huge crowd sanders has drawn this week the latest poll shows hillary clinton with substantial 17-point lead. sanders is on his way to the vatican. it is unclear if the senator

will meet directly with pope francis. and donald trump holds a commanding lead in his home state and has the endorsement's hometown tabloid the "new york post" writing -- last night the candidates spoke at the new york republican gala. trump gave an impassioned defense of his new york values and taking a subtle shot at a former candidate. >> you say, what are new york values? number one, honesty and straight talking. it's a work ethic. hard-working people. it's about family. new york, believe it, is about family. so important. it's the energy to get things done. big energy. if jeb bush came here, i'm telling you, he'd have much more energy than he has right now. telling you. >> ted cruz on the other hand

was less well-received. check this out. during his speech, the audience almost completely ignores him while they're eating, talking amongst themselves, they were standing and taking selfies and some even left altogether. >> we want our team to stand as one, to stand united, and let you know, the way -- [ inaudible ] look at national polls. >> yikes. right? from his remarks a confident john kasich appears to have enjoyed his time in the empire state. >> i think i've eaten ply way across the entire state of new york and eaten every bit of food there is. i maintain i'm going to leave cleveland at the nominee. werther you believe it nort it's going to happen. >> and officially announces corey lewendowski will not get indicted. prosecutors say the evidence is not strong enough to criminally

prosecute saying a secret service order to not ender an area and prosecutors argue lewendowski was justified for protecting trump. he was thankful to trump during this difficult time and doesn't remember the incident because it wasn't "memorable." isn't a statement, the trump campaign says the matter is concluded. at least nine people killed after a powerful earthquake struck southwestern japan. the quake hit at 9:26 local time while many people were at home. it was followed by a second strong tremor. japanese officials say there was no rick of tsunami. images show collapsed buildings, homes and buckled streets. rescue crews are searching for victims. an 8-month-old baby was pulled from rubble relatively unscathed some six hours after the quake.

a massive relief effort is under way. now to a story sparking debate online centering around young children and corporal punishment. >> i'm only going to do it one time, unless you wiggle around. all right. one time. >> trying to hit on his schoolmate. the principal decided to paddle him. corporal punishment is legal in georgia. in a same time, the school only uses it with parental consent. she opted out but told she's not aloud the paddling her son would be suspended. she worried her bond would be revoked taking her to miss work, she recorded it then toasted it to facebook sparking a hot debate. so far the video has over a million and a half views and the school's superintendent scheduled a conference with the

mother this morning. defense secretary ash carter visited the aircraft carrier "uss john c. stennis," patrolling the disputed south china sea six countries laid claim to including china and the philippines. this will likely enflame tensions with china saying "they're militarizing the south china sea and endangering the area." and a chimpanzee tried to avoid capture and at one point the chimp swung from power lines. this drama went on for two hours. steve patterson gives us the play by play. >> reporter: the high-wire drama was carried on live japanese tv. the escaped chimpanzee named chacha showed no interest in going back to the zoo. the 24-year-old male perched above and swinging across electrical lines. reporters calling the

play-by-play live for nearly two hours. he just got hit, one yelled, after a tranquilizer stung the ape. the chimp is yelling. he's so angry. a zoo worker warns, it's dangerous. go away. don't be here. then the sedative starts to sink in. he's falling. he's trying to grab the cable. he's about a go down, they say, and then the spill. off the wires, and on to the ground, caught with a safety net, the ape is dazed, but isn't hurt. a happy ending for the zoo, but not for chacha. steve patterson, nbc news. >> not happy one bit. it gets weeder a'd weirder gross. caught on camera eating one of its own. a witness described this reptile as 11 to 12 feet long and spectators are hanging out close by rather uncomfortably. the gator doesn't seem to mind. it is lunch after all.

this cannibalistic may seem strange it's typical for male alligators to act this aggressively during mating season. what is it about mating season, bill karins? >> a lot more sophisticated than that, of course. >> i don't know. some guys -- i'm going to get in trouble. >> won't get into that. will we? good morning, everyone. windy conditions in southern california today. high-wind warnings especially at high elevations, open deserts, dusty. as far as temperatures go, they're going to soar, too, in the south. today, 79 in last, 69 in l.a. and the four corner regions, a storm, emerging in the plains, slight risk of severe storms and in eastern colorado. temperatures go up. 84 in l.a. saturday, some areas could get up near 90 especially the deserts as we go to salt lake city, 60s. seattle gorgeous. a great stretch of weather. bottom line this weekend, if the weather is nice it's going to stay nice. if it's bad, it's going to stay

bad. stagnant blocky weather pattern we call it. getting a snowstorm in colorado. famous for the april snowstorms. actually one of their snowiest months of the year, nofr and april. they'll pick up 8 to 12 inches of snow in denver saturday. sunday arrives, san francisco up to 79. beautiful. setle 77. l.a. at 86. a lot of warmth building on the west coast pap great weekend. santa rosa northwards through eureka. a lot of nice stuff in the west this weekend. >> i can't believe. 86 in l.a. is fantastic for the weekend. like bathing suit weather already. thank you. a charles manson disciple gets parole on her 20th attempt, plus, oblivious to an armed robbery, a canoodling couple without a care in the world. can you believe that? you're watching "early today."

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the youngest member of the murderous manson family is one step closer to freedom after 46 years in prison and 19 denied pleas for parole, leslie van houten was granted parole su suitability in california. 19 years old when she fell under the spell of charles manson and played a role in the killing of a wealthy grocer and his wife. the families of those killed in the sandy hook school shooting says she can file a lawsuit against the gunmaker and seller used in the massacre. gun companies tried to have it dismissed the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs looking to hold the companies accountable for the 20 children and 6 teachers killed. and celebrating a birthday with a missile launch that failed according to south korean

officials. xpeshts athe 104 anniversary is the latest attempt to reaffirm his legitimacy and power. now to montana. police are on the hunt for three suspects who rob add bar at gunpoint but won't be disturbing this couple who proved nothing, not even armed robbers, can stop true love, or at least one heck of a good kiss there. let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, landon. >> reporter: alex, happy friday. delta air lines is getting rid of a $25 fee for customers who want to speak with an actual human about a flight on the phone. also getting rid of a $35 fee to book a flight in person at the airport. united and jetblue still charge to speak with an actual human being to make renservations. and letting people text in movie theaters. this is according to ceo add an aaron explaining in a series of tweets, texting would only be

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this morning on "today," natalie morales goes one on one with dr. jill biden. find out how the second lady balances her own career while helping launch nationwide initiatives. in sports, the l.a. rams traded six draft choices to the titans for the overall number one pick. speculation is l.a. will pick either north dakota wentz or goff. we'll know on draft day, april 28th. and minus peyton manning and a few others, the defending super bowl broncos take on the carolina panthers in the opener. get ready for some girl power. >> select brianna stewart from the university of connecticut. [ cheers and applause ] >> select mariah jefferson. [ cheers and applause ]

connecticut's son select morgan -- >> the top three picks offed wnba draft all from powerhouse uconn huskies, won four consecutive championships. awesome. congrats. just ahead, big news from one of the world's most successful moviemakers and what has others fiercely divided. you're watching "early today." arly today." for people with heart f, tomorrow is not a given. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ ♪ i love ya, tomorrow in the largest heart failure study ever. entresto helped more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. can cause harm or death an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine,

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wind advisories and wind warnings that go into saturday. high-wind warnings the areasy darker brown. the wind advisories in lighter shades pup can see really the high terrain outside of are santa barbara near big bear lake and palm springs. the desert areas, 60 to 70 mile per hur gusts could cause dust. here's the pattern causing this. a big storm dipping through the west now. this gets stuck out here. that's also going to be a big producer of rain and severe weather in the days ahead in the middle of country. a little bit of everything. >> okay. did you see the movie "avatar" when it came out? >> of course. >> so, so good. >> game-changing. >> you'll love this news. in entertainment, "avatar" getting not one, two, but four sequels. james cameron made the announcement and arrive from 2018 through 2023. a deadpool sequel in the works grossing over $750 million

globally, the highest grossing film, all set to return. and ryan reynolds, speaking of other favorite people. he and his wife blakely expecting a second child, and ryan gosling as well. and "game of thrones" fans, the creators reveal the final two seasons are likely shorter than expected after the upcoming season, only 13 remaining episodes. new to theaters this weekend, disney's "the jungle book," a elastic title from 1967 has gotten a live action spin. kevin costner and again ryan reynolds star in the cia tlimer "criminal" and "the next cut" starring ice cube, the third installment of that series. and ted cruz stopped by "the

tonight show" to have a chat with the donald. >> while here in new york, let me give you advice. on the street walk fast. no one like as slow walker. are you writing this down? >> hold on. let me get my pen. >> ted? ted? you get your pen yet? ted, did you get -- did you get your pen? >> got it. >> what also was crazy, they showed on the show in high school ted cruz said what did you want to go, go to princeton, harvard and be in politics and be president. it's like, check, check -- check. >> in high school, there you go. i'm alex witt and this is "early today." ly today." this is 100% useful for a 100% fresh mouth.. what's it like to not feel 100% fresh?

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leading the news, in the independent, man accidentally deletes his entire company with one line of bad code. uh-oh. a man running a web-hosting service told his computer to at least everything from his server even backup, asking for help in an online forum. one user looked at the code and said, sorry to say your company is essentially dead. >> bad day at work. >> it is. in the "new york times" 69 years later philadelphia apologizes to jackie robinson. approving a resolution e earlier in the year officially apologizing to the icon and later today the phillies celebrate jackie robinson day at citizen's park honoring the life of the baseball legend. a man post add facebook chat picture holding a rifle threatening to shoot up an

indiana school and traced it toport saint lucie, he did this to upset people. >> now on bond. might be a little upset himself. a father of six awake in critical condition this morning after being shot several times in the back. he was working 0en a traffic stop when a gunman approached, fired six shots, then ran. the officer was wearing a bullet-proof vefrt and is expected to recover. police are trying to determine if he was specifically targeted and are talking to a person of interest now. norway's public broadcaster is throwing things down and airing 12 hours of the sea's ebb and flow on the 20th. music. experts in the area of geology but the water the big star. yeah. kind of a chill down may 20 there. think your mornings are tense? endures athlete, planning to run from florida to puerto rico in a bubble. >> a time machine. >> yep. a hydropod equipped with a life jacket, a water filter, gps

device, seasickness gum and shark repellent. saying he performs stunts like these to raise money for children in need. wondering how he pulls it off -- >> mine is power. 85%, anything can you do. >> i don't know. >> anything xeexcept for us. >> perhaps. nba owners immediating in new york city today to discuss withdrawing 2017 all-star team from charlotte over north carolina so-called bathroom law discriminating against the transgender community is the cause. and happy birthday to emma watson of "harry potter" fame, she is 26. pineapple express seth, 34 and emma thompson is 57. happy birthday to all. i'm alex witt. thanks so much for watching "early today." have yourselves a great weekend. see you right back here on monday morning, early.

nbc bay area news begins with breaking news. good morning thanks so much for joining us, i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. breaking news out of the east bay. a busy freeway shut down because of a big rig crash. >> bob redell live on the scene on 880 in hayward. it's a mess out there, bob. >> it is. good morning to you, sam and laura. southbound 880 where you can see a big rig that overturned. it shut down four lanes of southbound 880. within the past few moments chp was able to open the far right lane and that is the number five lane, your slow lanes. you'll still have a backup and on the northbound direction two