falcons. the original "star wars" gang is reuniting for a reboot. will you will leah slay you with her hair? this is "way too early." come on, we all remember the buns. she's going to slay you with her hair this time around. hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts, wednesday march 19th. welcome to "way too early." the show that completely understands everything chewbacca has ever said. speaking of hair, one of my fraternity brothers, his nickname in college was chewbacca. that was when we were 19 so imagine his back now at 41. i'm just sayin'. so we move on to our top stories this morning. very serious because we now know whoever changed the flight plan on board the missing jet in asia had extensive knowledge about the plane's computer and tracking equipment. what we don't know is who did it and why. also, where that flight is today. sources telling nbc news the

plane's altered course was programmed at least 12 minutes before the co pilot signed off with the words, all right, good night. still, the u-turn could reflect the pilot's alternate route in the case of an emergency. and it doesn't mean something more sinister was at play. with a search area of 2 million nautical miles they're leaning on other countries to control the international operation. a huge portion is in the southern indian ocean southwest of australia where they're combing the rough waters. the area is too big for possible use of underwater sonar. officials say nothing suspicious was turned up in the homes of either of the men. now to the ongoing situation in ukraine. russian president vladimir putin wasted no time in taking a victory lap following crimea's annexation to russia. speaking in red square and moscow, putin made a speech. he called crimea an integral

part of russia. with the sanctions put together by president obama the day before didn't show in the attitude of the russian leader. meanwhile, in a show of solidarity, vice president biden made a whirlwind trip visiting estonia and latvia. and poland. when they mentioned the increase in their military biden offered this assurance. >> while others may not have stood up to their responsibilities, the united states has more than stood up to its responsibilities. we have a budget larger than the next ten nations in the world combined so don't worry about where we are. >> in crimea, new signs of text. gunman dressed in men tear ri uniform. in response to the incident ukraine's defense minister authorized soldiers to use live

ammunition in self-defense in crimea. elsewhere, according to disturbing video posted online, far right members can be seen storming a state-run tv station. assaulting the ceo and forcing him to resign. the men accused the ceo of using the station to campaign for moscow. nbc has not confirmed the authenticity of that video. we move our attention to business and stocks, they're looking to continue their two-day winning streak. yesterday all three major indices saw healthy gains on some upbeat economic data and some new data coming from the fed today. cnbc's jeff cutmore is live. we saw janet yellen starting her two-day conference. obviously that helped goose the markets. >> yeah, interesting because there is this view and expectation that janet yellen in her first press conference in one of these rate setting meetings is going to come out and say that she wants to change the unemployment threshold on

this story, thomas, so the expectation is that we will get some sort of change in the language from the federal reserve but they will continue with the tapering program. back to you. >> so real quickly though, follow-up with what we have coming from car makers. we've talked about gm and the recall. shift focus. we have toyota making headlines now. >> yeah. this is a story that gm will no doubt be paying close attention to. we know gm is in a world of pain over this recall. you remember 2009 toyota started a massive recall program and it all had to do with the unintended acceleration that was being reported in some of their vehicles. well, that's cost them $1 billion already in terms of the economic impact on toyota. now it looks like they have a settlement with the justice department for another billion dollars. that will be a fine to be paid to the justice department acc d

according to reports, but it would finally settle this four-year-old issue that has seen massive recall of vehicles. back to you. >> jeff, appreciate it. thanks so much. the washington post has a news story with more of the nsa's eavesdropping capabilities. they have a program to listen in to 100% of the foreign phone calls. it's called mystic. they can rewind the calls up to a month after they're initially recorded. this allows the nsa to revisit calls they didn't deem important at the time around. they limit it to a tame machine. >> for someone staying low key about the potential of a run, jeb bush has a packed political schedule. listen to this. he'll be crisscrossing the country. he kicks things off today and tomorrow in tennessee for events with governor haslam and senator

alexander, both of whom are up for re-election. then it's on to texas and a conference of education, one of his key issues. he's going to touch down in new mexico to help raise money for the governor, suzanne na martine neds and then off to meet with brian sandoval. mr. bush also set to meet with members of the republican jewish coalition. that is happening at a con seen know owned by sheldon adelson. he said he will decide about a possible run for the white house by the end of the year. the politics of equal pay for women continues to be a headache for republicans in the state of texas. it was yesterday the executive droektor of the texas republican party looked to clarify her party's stance on that issue saying in part, quote, men are better negotiators. i would encourage women instead of pursuing the courts to become better negotiators.

this comes after the head of red state women. that's a republican suresenubli. if you look at it, women are extremely busy. we lead busy lives whether we're working professionally, whether we're working from home. and times are extremely, extremely busy. it's a busy cycle for women and we have a lot to juggle and so when we look at this issue we think, what's practical? we want more access to jobs. we want to be able to get a higher education degree at the same time we're raising a family. that's common sense. we believe that real world solution is a more practical way to campaign for women.

>> the campaign for wendy davis is making that an issue. she currently trails abbott 42% to 49%. other republicans are weighing in on the equal pay debate. andrea keifer says, quote, we are losing the respect that we so dearly want in the workplace by bringing up all these special bills for women and almost making us look like whiners. minnesota house majority leader aaron murphy said, quote, too often women are branded as whiners. the reality is that women in minnesota and throughout our country face unique economic barriers and everyone deserves a fair chance at success. according to the institute for women's policy research in 2012, female full-time workers made only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. it was a frightening scene in seattle yesterday. a tv news helicopter crashing into the street exploding into

flam flames. this all happened in the street. two people were killed in that crash and a third individual was transported to the local hospital in critical condition suffering from extensive burns. president obama has recognized the sacrifice of 24 veterans, the largest group of medal of honor recipients since 2002. three are still alive. many recipients were initially passed up for this. a pentagon review said 19 men did not receive awards because of their racial or ethnic backgrounds. >> this ceremony reminds us of one of the ep during qualities that makes america great, that makes us exceptional. no nation is perfect, but here in america we confront our imperfections and face the sometimes painful past, including the truth that some of these soldiers fought and died for a country that did not

always see them as equal. >> send our congratulations to all of them. we lighten things up and turn our attention to the twitter question. kevin trudeau is facing ten years in prison for bliking consumers. that's right. he was bilking you. what's your favorite infomercials. this show has a theme today. tweet us your most creative answers using #waytooearly. still ahead on "way too early," all the president's picks. the four teams the president thinks will be playing for a title. you might be surprised, or maybe not. one contestant on "dancing with the stars" caught jimmy fallon's attention. we'll show you the best moves that that cat had and a check on the weather when "way too early" comes back. get your hair. ♪ ♪

i tr ied depend last weekend. i tr

ied it really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise. unlike the bargain brand, depend gives you new fit-flex®, our best protection. it's a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. get your free sample at depend.com. [ mom ] when we're having this much fun, why quit? and new bounty has no quit in it either. watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. new bounty. the no-quit picker-upper. [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you? oh hey, neill, how are you? how was the trip? [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... [ shirley ] he's right here. hold on one sec. [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪

two sports where two teams have already advanced in the ncaa tournament. nc state qualifying for the first round of 64 by beating xavier last night in the first round. it was a pretty tight game. nc state pulled away to take the 74-59 win. they'll match up with st. louis come thursday. earlier in the evening albany taking on mount st. mary's. this one would go down to the wire with albany's peter houle giving them a three-point lead. the last chance down three. less than 25 seconds to play. julian norfleet with a chance to tie hits the back iron. yeah, albany gets its first ncaa tournament win, 71-64. up next for the great danes, the top seeded florida gators on thursday afternoon. that will be a tough one. the president has a lot on his plate but that does not mean he doesn't have time to fill out

his brackets? who's in the commander in chief's top four. not too many surprises. in the south he has the top seed florida. in the east, trendy michigan state squad. out west, number one seed arizona. finally in the midwest, the president has louisville filling out his final four. espn is going to reveal the best and rest of his brackets coming up today. i'll bet he has -- what do you think, barnacle? i'll bet he has florida against arizona. >> no, michigan state against louisville. >> completely opposing forces here. okay. all right. obviously we're not wearing the same shirt today. golf fans are beginning to worry if tiger woods will be well enough to play. he pulled out of the arnold palmer tournament. and he pulled out of another tournament a week before that. it's too early to make any decisions on the first major of the year.

he has four masters titles. he hasn't won a green jacket since 2005. let's check out some mma action for what may be the quickest fight ever. don't blink. sam herron versus mike garrett. big, huge kick ends the fight instantly. wow! >> karate kid him right off the top coming out like this. anyway -- look at that. poor guy. all right. so mike garrick catches sam herron with a quick kick to the face. total time of this fight, two seconds. we also hope he kept the celebration dance. the little jig. yeah, that was very special. like a karate kick. so to soccer where this goal out of the jordan premier league may be one of the craziest we've seen.

>> oooohhhh! >> so the ball went flying over his head. the defenders and the keeper who was caught off his line and then back into the net. pretty amazing, right? let's take you down to tampa where the yankees and the red sox had a common opponent in their spring training match-up, bees. that's right, the left field wall and fence were overrun with them. a fearless member of the grounds crew came to the rescue with cans of insect spray. mark teixeira offered up some honey. no one is really sure why, but it fits in with the bee theme. yeah, some bees down in tampa. that's kind of a mess for them. let's get a check on your weather, nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. >> hey, you know, karate kid is 30 years old. >> ralph maccio. they tweeted a picture, al roker and stephanie abrams. he looks young. >> he has the baby face. >> sleep in formaldehyde every

night. that's the trick. >> good stuff. we are looking at more snow. it has to end today, right? not so much. it will move up across northern new england. it is bringing snow across northern wisconsin. they have some winter weather advisories in effect but it will lighten up throughout the morning. they have 5 to 7 inches on the ground there. we are looking at another 1 to 3 inches with lighter snow showers. then it moves into central and northern new england. we are still seeing the ski resorts open. they are getting another 3 to 6 inches of snow in northern new england. it's not going to melt anytime soon because temperatures will plunge back into the 30s for most of next week, even 20s in the higher elevations. let's take a look at the weather today. the groans and the moans from the cold weather. >> if he's not blowing his nose then he's moaning and growing. >> in a hanky. >> alex, right sfwh. >> it's not a kleenex.

it's back in his pocket. >> warmer tomorrow but cold next week. hold on. i wanted to show this to everybody. i'm not killing you. the shot, this is what dylan was saying. raffle maccio. he looks fantastic. >> he could do a re-creation of the karate kid now. >> he looks good. >> mike's saying he's 40 something skbl he's 40 something. dylan, thank you. sorry. anything to get the karate kid in, right? all right. so coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," new details about when malaysia flight 370 changed its flight path. we'll talk to a couple of aviation experts about what this means to the investigation. really not helping them figure out the true course of what happened to that plane. when we come back here, we're going to huddle around the water cooler. this is very cool news. the next "star wars" installment is coming. we're going to tell you where the story is picking up and the

one star who has already signed up to return. excellent news. excellent, excellent, excellent. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ 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.® but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics.

like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. see how much you could save with allstate. are you in good hands?

so earlier in the show we talked about the 24 vets who were awarded the medal of honor. if you want to sound smart today tell all of your friends the

only president to receive the honor is teddy roosevelt who was granted that honor posthumously. only one female has received that. the youngest recipient of the award was only 11 years old. the child was recommended by president lincoln for his heroic role as a drummer boy during the civil war. pretty cool facts there. let's gather around the water cooler and check in with louis where water plays a huge part in our first story. >> that's right. do you remember the huge fish tank you see in restaurants. have you ever wondered what it would leak like if it sprung a leak. a giant tank at the t-rex restaurant cracked open. customers made a run for it from preventing themselves from getting their pants wet. workers were on a mission to save the fish. at one point one of them climbed into the tank although they were not sure why. the latest report says that all of the fish luckily survived but that is like a guys seyeser.

>> is that a disney resort? >> yeah. in orlando. it's like a disney themed -- >> chef mickey once poisoned me. my sister took me with her kids. we ate at a chef mick can i place, the salmon, don't recommend it. >> that's good info. now that earthquake that happened in l.a. got people worried about when the next big one is going to hit. jimmy kimmel knows the perfect way to turn fear into comedy. >> today we went out on to hollywood boulevard and we asked pedestrians if they heard about the big earthquake that's going to happen tomorrow morning. wouldn't be you know it, a lot of them had in tonight's special earthquake edition of lie witness news. >> where were you when you heard about the big earthquake coming tomorrow? >> actually, on my way here. >> you just heard about it? >> where were you when you heard the news that the big one is going to hit tomorrow morning? >> well, it was about 1:15. it was on facebook. >> you heard obviously that there's going to be a big

earthquake tomorrow morning. >> yes, i did. >> and how are you preparing for that? >> i'm not prepared but i would like to see a terrible earthquake, you know. >> push comes to shove, you could eat a pet? i guess i'll see when the time comes. yeah. >> dog or a cat first? >> a cat because i'm a dog lover. i could not eat a dog. >> it's so good, tom. people will say anything when a camera is in front of their face. >> to get on tv. >> i know you're a big "star wars" fan which means you're chomping at the bit for the next trilogy. the ceo dropped a major plot bomb. the new "star wars" will take place 30 years after the return of the jeddi. very familiar faces will return meaning it's likely you'll be seeing the likeness of luke, leah and hans solo. r 2 d 2 will be making an appearance which is a big thing for "star wars" fans.

>> c3po. >> yes. we're expected to be back in "star wars" universe. they're looking to cast three new leads in the film. now there's a lot of speculation over who will be cast, but abrams will have to make that decision soon. i wonder if we're going to, you know, have some other familiar faces that we've seen before. >> they're probably going to tap back in and re-establish. when i heard that they are going to go after the guy that's in "girls" adam dryer as a villain. him or you? >> either or. >> both have good hair. >> now speaking of "star wars", one cast member is making quite an impression on "dancing with the stars." >> my favorite last night, favorite dancer of the night is definitely from "star wars", actor billy d williams. buckle up for this one. this is a great one. check him oute williams. buckle up for this one. this is a great one. check him oute williams. buckle up for this one. this is a great one. check him out.

[ applause ] >> oh! that explains his new name, dancing next to the stars. we have a great show. >> give it a break. i thought he was doing a great job. he had the rhythm going. >> he did a nice job. >> i wonder if we'll see samuel jackson. >> are you? >> she is. >> mika is excited. >> incompetent don't think she knows anything about "star wars." "morning joe" is coming up. your infomercials, take a look. >> glh means great looking hair. spray glh on and it instantly covers your bald spot leaving you with great looking hair. the day we rescued riley was a truly amazing day.

he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin

at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor. sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before surgery or a medical or dental procedure. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding or have had a heart valve replaced. seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition or stomach ulcer, take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners... ...or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctors about all medicines you take. pradaxa side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you or someone you love has afib not caused by a heart valve problem... ...ask your doctor about reducing the risk of stroke with pradaxa.

we got a lot of great tweets about your favorite infomercials.