manager in washington, d.c. we need somebody to pull up government by the roots and throw it out in case the to puy its roots and throw it out. "first look" is up next. clear cut victory -- nittmi romney moves closer to the presidential nomination with a resounding win in illinois. an ounce of prevention -- new research shows one of the oldest and cheapest drugs could fight cancer. and art historians say a painting long thought to be the work of an anonymous artist is anything but. i'm veronica della cruz, this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we begin with a decisive win. mitt romney sailed to victory in the republican presidential primary in illinois last night. with 47% of the vote, romney's double-digit victory over rick santorum further justified his claim to be the presumptive nominee, landing romney the majority of that state's 69 delegates. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the latest. >> good morning. illinois was a proving ground for mitt romney after michigan and ohio. the question was, could he do better than a narrow victory in midwestern state. last night, he did. >> we thank the people of illinois for their vote and for this extraordinary victory. thank you so much. >> illinois, mitt romney's first big victory in the midwest. he outspent rick santorum 7-1 and won with 47% of the vote. a crucial step romney says, in defeating president obama. >> it's time to say these words -- this word -- enough.

we've had enough. >> exit polls show superconservatives broke for santorum, four out of ten identified themselves as evangelical, or born again. but those most concerned about the economy and defeating president obama, voted for romney. >> he says we need to do something about our economy, because so many people are unemployed. >> santorum awe plauded his second place finish. >> we're happy about the delegates we're going to get, too. >> santorum is banking on romney being forced to give up some of his delegates if florida and arizona are forced to split their, today he's focused on the next contest. >> we're feeling very, very good about winning louisiana on saturday, i might add. >> the latest poll shows santorum up by 1 points in louisiana. after louisiana, there's a ten-day break until maryland, wisconsin and the nation's

capital. rick santorum is not on the ballot here. veronica? >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. a new republican election year budget proposal unveiled yesterday drew immediate criticism for proposing to cut deeply into medicaid and programs for the poor, while sharply lowering tax rates. congressman paul ryan detailed the proposal which would reshape medicare and calls for turning over to the states responsibility for major federal programs for the poor, including medicaid and food stamps and calls for slashing personal and corporate tax rates. democrats, vowing to protect the elderly and the poor point out the senate has no plans to even consider the gop proposal. nbc news has learned that president obama plans to speed up the process of building the southern part of the controversial keystone pipeline. on thursday in oklahoma, the president will announce his decision to expedite the permit process for the pipeline from oklahoma to the gulf of mexico. in january, the president denied a permit for the other part of

the pipeline from canada to the gulf coast, saying there wasn't time to conduct an environmental review. the uproar over the shooting death of an unarmed florida teen continued at a town hall meeting outside of orlando yesterday, a line of angry protesters flowed outside the door of the allen chapel church in florida, as a crowd of 350 gathered to voice outrage over the shooting of 17-year-old trayvon martin by a neighborhood watch captain. a grand jury will meet to review the evidence in the case and a federal probe has been launched. civil rights groups are demanding that the man who shot and killed trayvon martin be arrested, despite his claim of self-defense. >> we met with the mayor of sanford and the city manager and the justice department for over

an hour. and i got the feeling that we are moving in the right direction. it was very important to get the justice department involved along with state and local, because basically i don't feel up to this point, that everything has been handled the way it should have been handled. it is just very dangerous, very endangered species of black male walking on the sidewalk. now this is america and we're better than this. and we've got to do better. and this is not acceptable. clearly he was profiled. and how this case has been handled has got to be a teaching moment for us. we've got to learn from this and we've got to put procedures in place that we're all comfortable that this is not going to happen again. >> lean forward with the last word with lawrence o'donnell, on

msnbc, the place for politics. now here's your "first look" at other news going on around america today. frightening moments at a miami beach gas station, after a car crashed into a pump. customers hurried to get away, fearing a disaster. a quick-thinking clerk shut off the pumps. in california, a man was rescued from a grain silo. he had been cleaning what was supposed to be an empty grain bin, but instead it filled up. trapping him all the way to his chest. rescuers had to dig over and over again. in kentucky, fire swept through a home and nearly led to a deadly tragedy. but a 10-year-old boy who escaped the flames looked back and saw his 6-year-old sister trapped inside. he ran back in and rescued her. finally the family of a middle school student in delaware is seeing red over

their daughter being punished for having pink hair. they claim the school kicked her out because of it. they claimed she could get her hair colored if she improved her grades, she did, even getting on the honor roll. the school says her pink hair violates the dress code. now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc bill karins. she can have pink hair, she's not bothering anyone. >> i wanted to get pink hair for a long time, but the dress code here will not allow me to do it. it's not april fool's day yet. certainly the temperatures have to stop, and unfortunately the rain has to stop, too, in areas of louisiana. the two big stories that have gone on this march have been the severe weather that we've had, the tornadoes and also the incredible heat that we've been dealing with across the country. last night we did have some more severe weather, but the big story was the flash flooding in

louisiana, over 12 hours. you can look at the area here in eastern louisiana. it just hasn't stopped raining and a lot of these were thunderstorms, too. that's why we have pretty extreme flash flooding concerns. everywhere twh in the maroon colors, here's flash flood warnings, through the heart of arkansas and eastern louisiana, we've gotten about six to ten inches of rain in the last 24 hours here. right along the border of louisiana and texas. port arthur, around four, you get the idea here and we've had extreme flooding in a lot of small towns and parishes. temperatures have been off the charts. i can't categorize how significant this early warm period has been, we've never seen it in recorded history from chicago through the great lakes. now some areas here in northern new england haven't seen weather this warm, this early in the spring season. it was 85 in chicago. seven days in a row of record highs. that's unbelievable. each and every day we've broken

the record high, detroit, the 82 was the warmest you've ever recorded in the month of march, we're still very warm this morning. we're going to do it again today in chicago, if we get enough sunshine once again you'll be up there in the mid 80s. along the east coast, there are more clouds, we'll keep you in the mid 70s. in northern new england today. you have a chance of another 80-degree day. it was all the way in caribou, maine, it was 70 degrees yesterday and they still had six inches of snow on the ground, crazy to think, maybe slush now. >> so, bill, if you get the forecast wrong, will you dye your hair pink. >> i'm guaranteed it get it right in at least one part of the country, so probably not. >> all right. data on china rattles the streets, tiffany sparkles and the ultimate in intrusive technology. coming up, peyton is introduced, the penguins are flying high and britney greiner slams the gators. ♪

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here are some of the top stories making news this morning. a powerful earthquake hit southern mexico yesterday, damaging many buildings. the 7.4-magnitude quake caused disruptions of electricity, air travel and cell phones, but thankfully, no fatalities. police in france exchanged gunfire with a gunman suspected of killing four people at a jewish school. the suspect claims connections to al qaeda and may have trained in pakistan. syrian troops are battling rebel forces in several cities and two suburbs in damascus are under tank bombardment today. and russia says it's ready to support a new u.n. effort to force president assad to stop his crackdown on the opposition. and a painting done by an anonymous artist was actually

done by vincent van gogh. here's yours first look at wall street. the dow opens at 13,170. the s&p lost four points, and the nasdaq was down four. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo, the nikkei fell 55 pint, while in hong kong, the hang seng was down 31. worries about china's growth had investors on edge tuesday. a widespread drop in china's home prices and warnings of a slowdown in demand of iron ore sparked an early selloff, the s&p's energy index was hardest hit, along with industrial and commodity stocks. the housing sector got a much-needed dose of optimism on news that requests for home building permits hit a 3 1/2-year high on wednesday. and amazon is pouring me ining

into its warehouse systems. tiffany is higher and oracle is higher after the software company rebounded from a rare earnings miss last quarter. nissan has plans to resurrect its datsun brand. hewett packard is reportedly merging its pc and printing divisions into one to help cut costs and improve efficiency. "consumer reports" revealed apple's new ipad runs 12 degrees hotter than its predecessor during gaming. but the watchdog says it doesn't appear to be a serious problem. next month, "the new york times" will cut in half the number of free articles on its website from 20 per month to 10. fine lish, finnish phone maker nokia has taken steps to insure that you never miss another call or text message, the company has

filed for a patent of a tattoo that would vibrate when someone was trying to reach you by phone. in health news, new studies say people who took an aspirin every day were 36 less likely to be diagnosed with cancer. a daily aspirin reduced the chance that cancer would spread to other organs by 50%. many doctors advise caution for some patients because taking an aspirin a day can increase the risk of bleeding and stroke. for more information, head to the web and check out the health page online at msnbc.com. well, the heat rally past the suns, the rockets stun lakers and peyton manning is officially a bronco. plus for just the second time ever in the ncaa tournament, a woman goes up for the dunk. your first look at sports is straight ahead, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] say goodbye to "ho-hum,"

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welcome back to "first look," in sports, last night for the fourth straight game since their head coach resigned, the new york knicks were winners. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning, if you think it's hard to figure out the knicks, you're not alone. after dropping six in a row, new york is a perfect 4-0 under new head coach mike woodson. another night of balanced scoring. they played some defense. knicks are rolling once again, beat the raptors 106-87. in miami the suns cruising in the fourth quarter when the heat decided to show up. exploded for a 17-0 run.

chris bosh led with a game-high 29. miami took the lead late and never looked back, winning it 99-95. lakers used to be able to take over a game in a blink of an eye, but this year is different. l.a. was up 17 and collapsed in houston. the rockets fed off the crowd and rallied to win, 107-104. hockey, who says penguins can't fly? over the last few weeks the penguins have flown to the top of the eastern conference standings. hat rick for james neal, sidney crosby for assists, the kid has nine points in four games since coming back from a concussion, the pens won big, 8-4. "dancing with the stars" champ hines ward announced his retirement, he won two super bowls and played his entire 14-year career in pittsburgh. peyton manning introduced as the new quarterback of the broncos, finalizing the five-year, $96 million deal. denver's odds to win the super

bowl to 75-1, to 8-1 overnight. britney greiner throwing it down became the second woman to dunk in an ncaa tournament game. one-handed jam came in a blowout win in florida. that's your first look at sports, i'm fred roggin. awesome. for another look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist with the weather channel forecast. everybody is saying if you get the forecast wrong, you must dye your hair pink. so pay close attention. >> it wouldn't be that exciting. it's not that long. >> you with pink hair would be very exciting. >> we'll see. yesterday incredible around buffalo, buffalo being 80 degrees, in the middle to end of march is just unheard of. and that's what you were yesterday. pittsburgh for you, too, we even got up to 78 in philadelphia. hartford was at 79 degrees. it's another very mild morning. you don't even need the coat this morning in some spots, because the temperatures are in

the upper 50s to low 60s from the mid-atlantic up into new england. today we're going to do it again in the big cities, another gorngous day. i think we'll hit 80 possibly in the hartford area. it will feel like summer out there. it will continue tomorrow, too. all the weather that's going to be trouble is definitely in louisiana. by far the worst weather in the entire country is down there right now. many reports of flooding in the parishes, we'll see some of the rain trying to slide into areas like st. louis during the day and arkansas is not the prettiest spot, either. and tomorrow, more rain will continue, chicago finally cools off. but then we're going to do it again on the eastern seaboard and all our friends on the west coast who were chilly, even they're warming up now. so it's an incredible historical warm march. many of us will go down as the warmest all-time. >> 80 degrees in hartford? wow. thanks, bill. don't forget what i said -- pink. why ninja turtle fans are up in arms, which supermodel is having a baby and guess who is

turning 50. the muppets get a star on hollywood's walk of fame. your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. oh. let's go. from the crack, off the backboard. [ laughs ] dad!

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a bakery in california has a new atm that dispenses fresh cupcakes, answering a question, what is the saddest possible way to celebrate your birthday. "the view" co-host sherry shepherd is denying that she cheated on "dancing with the stars" by taking dance classes before the show started.

yeah. it's raising a lot of questions like who gives a crap. that's one of the questions, who cares? just last week a tourist in puerto rico took a picture of rick santorum shirtless on the beach. they did. i don't want to say he looked chubby, but his new secret service code name is newt gingrich. and tonight, jimmy welcomes "hunger games" actress, jennifer lawrence and comedian wendy lieberman. 12:35 tonight on your local nbc station. it is time for your "first look" at entertainment news, not often an actor trash as film that helped make him famous. but it looks like that's exactly what richard gere has gone and done, the 62-year-old told an australian magazine, that he thinks "pretty woman" was a silly romantic comedy. that glorified greedy wall street men. and gere said "pretty women"

made those guys seem dashing, which was wrong. elsewhere, 30-year-old brazilian supermodel adriana lima is expecting her second child. and teenaged mutant turtles director is in hot water that the pizza-loving crime fighters will come from an alien race. and everyone knows it was a mysterious radioactive ooze that created the turtles. >> i didn't know that. >> i had no idea. today ferris buehler turns 50. and long overdue, the muppets got their star on hollywood's walk of fame. joining the successful cast of -- ♪ it's time to get things started on the muppet show tonight ♪ >> long overdue. >> and the movie did pretty well last year, too. >> we love the muppets. i'm veronica dela cruz, stay

tuned, because "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. tonight we thank the people of illinois for their vote and for this extraordinary victory. >> mitt romney wins illinois by double digits and his campaign suggests it would be a good idea for rick santorum to pack it in and hand romney the nomination. the question is -- will a couple of winnable states ahead and cash in his pocket. why would santorum stop now? we'll talk live to mike allen. with the top u.s. commander in afghanistan testifying on capitol hill, the attorney for accused shooter, robert bales, says he will put the war on trial in the defense of the staff sergeant. the question is, can you blame one man's alleged mass murder on a war. and the denver broncos make it official -- introducing peyton manning as their new quarterback and saying thanks