at least not yet. not with this big night tonight for rick santorum. our msnbc coverage of the republican presidential primaries continues now. have a great night. primaries continues. have a great night. republican shakeup. rick santorum emerges as an unlikely victor on the first day of multi state voting in the gop race. raging road hazard. an overturned tanker truck explodes in flames on a south carolina highway. and what a view. nasa releases stunning video of last month's northern lights display. good morning, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and we're going to begin with a santorum sweep.

republican presidential hopeful rick santorum is looking to build on momentum from a string of stunning victories last night. the former pennsylvania senator won missouri's nonbinding primary as well as the gop minnesota caucuses. he was also the apparent winner of the colorado caucuses which mitt romney won four years ago and was expected to take without much effort this year. nbc's brian mohr joins us from washington with the details. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. santorum had been hoping for a good night. he got a lot better. gop presidential hopeful rick santorum had hoped to win in minnesota and missouri, but his apparent victory in colorado is nothing short of an upset. perhaps even a game changer. >> i don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama. >> reporter: it was a gut shot for newt gingrich.

who's collecting delegates and has all but given up on outright wins. santorum is now claiming four, including the iowa caucuses. mitt romney is still the front-runner, though, and he is the man to beat. >> this was a good night for rick santorum. i want to congratulate senator santorum, wish him the very best. we will keep on campaigning down the road, but i expect to become our nominee with your help. >> reporter: ron paul isn't giving up. >> we did very well tonight and have a very, very strong second place and it's going to continue! >> reporter: but it was a huge night for rick santorum. if it didn't turn around his campaign, it certainly turned heads. if nothing else, santorum's win is yet another reminder that romney is still having trouble connecting with conservatives. lynn? >> brian in washington, thanks. the white house is defending itself in a controversial over contraception and religion. white house spokesman jay carney

says the administration wants to reassure hospitals and others connected to the catholic church about a new requirement for them to provide birth control coverage to employees, regardless of religious beliefs. while carney stressed president obama wants women employees to have the contraceptive health care plan and option, he also seemed to indicate possible flexibility on how that requirement might be met, while respecting religious views. republican presidential candidates have recently jumped on the issue, criticizing the policy as an attack on religion. a senior vice president is stepping down from the breast cancer charity susan g. komen for the cure. karen handel resigned as the charity's senior vice president for public policy and chief lobbyist after the group reversed its decision to stop funding planned parenthood. handel is a republican who once ran for governor of georgia on a plat porm calling for the defending of planned parenthood.

the komen group sparked controversy last week by cutting funding to planned parenthood for breast cancer screening for low income women. a court ruling in california has knocked down the state's ban on same-sex marriages. at least for now. protesters gathered outside the courthouse in san francisco to hear the federal appeals court decision that the proposition 8 ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. the court also said that there was no evidence that former chief u.s. judge von walker was biased and should have disclosed that he was gay before overturning proposition 8. lawyers for the group that sponsor the ban will appeal and the supreme court may make the final decision. there was a strong reaction to the court's decision striking down the anti-same-sex marriage prop 8. republican ed olson former solicitor general of the united states helped lead the challenge against proposition 8 and last night on "the rachel maddow

show" he said it was basic freedoms for all. >> people are understanding these are american citizens, our brothers and sisters, we have got to treat them right, decently and give them the same freedom and justice we give to other people. more and more people in america are understanding that. i'm pleased to say more republicans are understanding that. i'm sad to say, it makes me sad to say, that republicans haven't fully understood it. >> you won't want to miss rachel's unique take on politics and the day's top stories, "the rachel maddow show" week nights at 9:00 eastern on msnbc. the place for politics. here is a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. in florida, a sheriff's deputy has been fired for using unnecessary force after video showed a suspect being stunned with taser in the back of a deputy's patrol car because he was yelling. the deputy denied using the

taser in a report, but the video and an inspection of the taser proved otherwise. this is unbelievable. a tanker truck blew up on a south carolina highway after the driver lost control and crashed. power lines fell on the tanker, setting thousands of gallons of fuel ablaze. the driver who was hospitalized and treated will be cited for speeding. all along cape cod, wildlife workers are racing to save an increasing number of dolphins stranded off the coast. they're using stretchers to try to rush to help the mammals. scientists aren't really sure why so many are beaching themselves. more than 100 have done so this year alone. finally, students at one nebraska school are finding that going green isn't just good for the earth, it can make class more fun. it looks like it. the kids are now having story time read to them inside a giant igloo made of plastic milk jugs. a librarian had the students

collect and glue together 700 jug. now for a look at your national weather. we turn to meteorologist todd santos. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning. that sounds fun. >> we just did macaroni necklaces. they're kicking it up a notch there. >> if they only did 700 that raises the bar for other schools. a lot of kids school wise would love to see a huge snowfall on the map, not finding that. the parents usually on the other side of the argument. the system making its way across the ohio valley, a mid and upper level system, meaning it's not a big low pressure system down at the surface so it's moving very quickly with swift winds aloft allowing the system to keep it in motion and despite some of the snowfall we're dealing with here, not talking big time amounts. one to three inch storm, a few areas through eastern, west virginia, northern virginia may squeak out about four inches. two to four once you get in some of those areas. also a few other areas on the maps showing a few showers

including south texas. not going to be seeing that getting towards houston. want to take a look towards indy over the last couple hours, have had some reports of some light snow, a few areas towards fort knox reports that where you see the lighter blue color, that's some of the slightly more moderate snowfall. not picking up heavy snow from any of this. this is only a three hour loop. you can see good progress forwards the east, places like d.c., question mark, we actually get snow in there today. you're talking less than an inch but late this morning and early this afternoon, we'll get a little bit of that going on. look at temperatures, very borderline. even along some of the areas we're dealing with some of the snow now it's more of a kind of slushy wet snow sort of mix. it may be at least an issue on the roadways. talk about at least a few spots. this is the way to understand it's a mild event when talking a few areas on the map with winter weather advisories a few of those areas do overlap major interstates including 76 through southern pa. a lot of areas here in white, could see up to one to three inches.

i did mention a few pockets upwards of four. once you get towards baltimore just over an inch. much of this will fall during the middle of the daytime today. we'll continue to fall throughout the day. looking at southern florida, improvement there, especially over the last couple days, actually had a daily rainfall record in miami yesterday. coming up we'll talk more about what we can expect for this afternoon and going ahead into tomorrow. >> all right. todd, thanks so much. coming up, job openings, open up, big ben says he'll try and what's seen as the latest western threat by iran, your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, historic night for paul pierce. the kentucky wild cats prove why they're number one. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here's some of the top stories

making news this morning. arizona state supreme court has removed a candidate from the ballot in a city council race. affirming a ruling she does not speak english well enough to hold the office. almost 99% of the residents of san louis are latino. sad news out of england. the last known surviving veteran of world war i has survived. -- has died. 110-year-old florence green served as a member of the women's royal air force working in a mess hall on an air base. england's prince charles cut a birthday cake yesterday to celebrate charles dickens 200th birth. the prince and his wife camilla duchess of cornwall toured the dickens museum and attended a service of thanksgiving at westminster abbey while prince charles laid a wreath to mark the occasion. some really cool newly released nasa video, shows off a spectacular view of last month's northern lights from the international space station when a blast of electrically charged particles from the sun lit up the earth's atmosphere.

new here is your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. dow opens at 12,878 after gaining 33 points. the s&p up two points and the nasdaq was also up two. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in noek, the nikkei -- in tokyo the nikkei climbed 98 points while in hong kong the hang seng jumped 319. investors watching more earnings reports today and keeping an eye on talks of greek debt. the rising wall street stocks tuesday took the dow to its highest level since may of 2008. job openings reached the highest level in almost three years with 3.4 million jobs waiting to be filled at the end of december. consumer borrowing jumped in november and december pushing consumer credit up at its fastest pace in a decade. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke told congress he is holding to his pledge to keep borrowing costs close to zero at least late through 2014.

australia's qantas airways has grounded a 380 aircraft for up to a week after engineers found dozens of cracks in its wings. nissan this morning reported a 3.2% increase in third-quarter profits. toyota reported a stronger than expected quarterly operating profit. and raised its annual forecast for 2012. disney reported earnings of 80 cents per share, higher than analysts estimated on upbeat results are from its theme parks. the chairman of yahoo! and three board members are stepping down after shareholders blamed them for the internet company's falling stock price and revenues. shares go on sale today for the ipo for casino operator caesar's entertainment. the company hopes to raise $16 million at $9 per share. finally, iran has banned "the simpsons" toy dolls saying they promote western culture. despite sanctions, toys like "the simpsons" are widely sold

in iran but the government says they are corroding the morals of iranian youth. coming up the wild cats over the gators, buckeyes past the boil makers and another player reaches a milestone in the nba. plus big blue takes a ride through the big apple. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize. improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy hair every day, try new pure renewal hair care, with balancing seaweed extract. only from aveeno. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. tells the neighbors all about her son, the lawyer. someday, but not today mr. intern. today, your boss needs her caffeine. the boss that calls you nick. your name is nate. but you'll do whatever it takes to impress. you'll bring her the all-natural sugar in the raw and the all natural, zero calorie sweetener stevia in the raw. now run along and learn lots. like how she doesn't drink coffee, just tea. it's only natural.

over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. at legalzoom we'll help you incorporate your business, file a patent, make a will and more. you can complete our online questions in minutes. then we'll prepare your legal documents and deliver them directly to you. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. welcome back to "first look" ap i'm lynn berry. in sports, the number one

ranked college basketball team in the country, kentucky, passed a major test last night. here is nbc's fred roggin. good morning. march madness around the corner. if there is any question who the number one seed in the tournament should be the kentucky wild cats have the answer. they simply throttled seventh ranked florida and jumped out to an early lead and kept it going the entire game. anthony davis had 16. the wildcats picked up their 49 straight win at home 78-58. much closer game in columbus. perdue gave ohio state a run for its money. buckeyes pulled away in the final minutes. buford with a career high 29. ohio state won it. 87-84. nba, big night for paul pierce in boston. knocked down a three to move past larry byrd into second place on the celts all-time scoring list. then like byrd did so many times before him, pierce led the celts to a win. the dish to kevin garnett for the bucket, celts over the bobcats 94-84. now to oakland. ellis put on a show. 30 points by halftime and finished with 48.

unfortunately the warriors needed three more. ellis missed the game tying three in the final seconds. the thunder held on to win it 119-116. hockey. what did lightning give steven stamkos for his birthday? how about a pie in the face? good to see the team splurge for his gift. he returned the favor against the kings and scored league leading 35th goal of the year to tie the game. l.a. came right back. rob scuderi with a hail mary type pass to kyle clifford. kings beat the lightning 3-1. the city of new york threw a giant party for the super bowl champs yesterday. giants treated to a tickertape parade in manhattan. hundreds of thousands lined the streets for the parade. mvp eli manning and justin tuck joined mayor bloomberg on the parade route. certainly a big day in the big apple. i hate to be the one who has to pick up all of that confetti. >> that is your early look at sports. i'm fred roggin. for another look at the weather here is meteorologist

todd santos. he has your forecast. >> good morning. a few people excited to see some snow flakes but to the south a few showers. this is south texas, you can see the rain over the last six hours has made some progress north and kind of hit a wall there. high pressure to the north. san antonio towards houston, a dry, beautiful day there today. it's mainly south texas dealing with some of the showers. across the west coast we have a system that made its way yesterday, you can see a little spin there, that's going to be pushing down into northern portions of mexico today. a few light sprinkles through southern california. the other piece of the system triggering some showers towards seattle. temperature wise, you can start to see the cooler air. we will have the cool air locked into the northeast in time for this weekend. for some of us just cool enough to produce snow through the ohio valley, d.c. late this morning, early this afternoon, a little bit of that snow flying around, mixing with light rain, kind of slushy as far as any accumulation, back towards new york city, again maybe a few flakes mixing in this evening.

a look into thursday that system out of here. sunshine returning to many of those areas. there will be a few thunderstorms towards miami. lynn? >> thanks so much. coming up a major fashion designer puts his foot in it. plus, ellen degeneres has a few things she's celebrating and sharing. your "first look" at entertainment straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ mom ] i think it's fine. it's the new element from at&t so it's w-a-t-e-r proof. cool. what else does it d-o? it's fast. it's 4g lte. what's l-t-e spell? nothing. w-h-y? hey, can we stop spell talking now? ok. a-y. [ male announcer ] buy a waterproof pantech element for $249.99 and get a 4g burst smartphone free. only from at&t. [ sighs ] i can't wait till morning. wait! it's morning in china! ♪ [ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty...

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welcome back to "first look." last night on "late night with jimmy fallon" first lady michele obama challenged jimmy to a fitness challenge at the white house. >> are you ready for a little competition? >> i was born ready. ♪

♪ rising up back on the streets ♪ ♪ and he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger ♪ >> we're all tied up. potato sack race for all the marbles. >> good luck. you're gonna need it. ♪ [ applause ] ♪ >> amazing. all right. tonight jimmy welcomes actress vanessa hujens and musical guest

of montreal. that's "late night with jimmy fallon" at 12:30 on your local nbc station. time for entertainment news. normally, ellen degeneres pays no attention to her what she calls haters. yesterday, she couldn't resist. on her show, she hailed the court decision finding california's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional and she then thanked jc penney and her fans for standing by her against a conservative anti-gay campaign to have the retailer drop her as a spokes person. simon cowell told reports he offered beyonce $500 million to be a judge on the "x factor" were, quote, completely nonsense. we all saw that coming, right? 78-year-old fashion guru karl lagerfeld is known for speaking his mind and this morning the blog sphere is ripping him for it. in a french newspaper interview he judged singer lana del ray's

looks, quote, not bad at all but questioned whether she had undergone plastic surgery asking about, quote, all his implants. this is worse, lagerfeld caused a stir when despite calling the english singer adele's face beautiful and her voice divine, he called her, quote, a little too fat. it's disturbing. he said controversial things before, the thing that's great is adele has said over and over again, she doesn't care what people say about her. she's happy with the way she is. she's stunning and beautiful and she doesn't care what people like karl lagerfeld thinks. take ha. >> i had never heard of that guy until this morning. maybe that says something. not that he's nobody, because i've never heard of him, but is he the model of perfection. >> if you don't know them he is nobody. come on give yourself a little credit. >> i'm lin berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now.

break out the brooms, it's a sweep for rick santorum in minnesota, colorado and missouri. and mitt romney fails to capitalize in the momentum from his win in nevada. the question is, can the latest non-romney to jump in the polls ride the momentum to the convention or will he fade like all the rest? we'll break it down with our senior political analyst mark halperi halperin. new fallout from the susan g. komen's decision to pull funding to planned parenthood. not without a few words about her former organization. the question is, will the organization be able to put this behind them and get back to doing what it does best, helping women? and first