seeking justice -- thousands rally in florida, outraged in the shooting death of unarmed teen, trayvon martin. cause of death -- after weeks of speculation, we know what killed singer whitney houston. and special delivery -- a nasa spacecraft beams back special images of the moon chosen by fourth graders. those stories and more straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin with a call for action -- thousands gathered in sanford, florida, last night to demand the arrest of a neighborhood watch captain who

admits to shooting aun unarmed black teen, trayvon martin. sanford's chief of police has temporarily stepped aside. nbc's jay gray has details. >> reporter: the cries for justice grew a bit louder in sanford, florida. >> i stand before you today, not knowing how i'm walking right now. because my heart hurts for my son. >> reporter: a growing pain and anger pushing thousands to rally for a young man who couldn't be there. >> trayvon is my son. trayvon is your son. >> reporter: 17-year-old trayvon martin carrying only a bag of candy and iced tea was shot and killed in this community by neighborhood watch volunteer, george zimmerman. but it's been almost a month since the shooting and still no arrest, despite growing questions about zimmerman's claims about self-defense, adding to the pain of martin's

grieving parents. >> i pledge i will not let my son die in vain. >> reporter: florida governor rick scott assigned a new task force to the incident. with the tensions growing, sanford police chief bill lee announced he would temporarily step aside. >> i do this in the hopes of restoring some semblance of calm. >> reporter: for those gathered, it was not enough. >> the chief said he did a temporary leave. we not permanent justice. >> reporter: as the department of justice and the fbi continue ongoing investigations. while the patience of this community continues to wear thin. jay gray, nbc news, sanford, florida. republican presidential candidates are campaigning in louisiana today, ahead of saturday's primary. mitt romney is hoping to finally win a victory in the south. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington with details. >> reporter: the south has been

a challenge for mitt romney, he's a tough time winning over his conservatives. run of his rivals said if he wins the nomination, maybe the party should consider turning its back on its nominee. four more years of president obama is better than mitt romney. >> stay with what we have, instead of taking a risk with what may be the etch-a-sketch candidate for the future. >> reporter: newt gingrich disagrees, if romney is the nominee, all republicans should back him. >> there is no doubt in my mind, that if the choice is governor romney or barack obama, we would have no choice. this guy is a disaster. he's both radical and incompetent.

the combination is almost unimaginable. >> reporter: romney's advisers are he's behind santorum by double digits one day before louisiana's primary. but instead of playing catch-up there, on thursday, romfy was courting lawmakers on capitol hill. outside that event, this. >> shake it all you want, we'll remember in november. >> reporter: demonstrators against romney's plan to end planned parenthood. there are 20 delegates at stake in tomorrow's primary. nbc news has learned that army staff sergeant robert bales is scheduled to be charged for the killing of afghan civilians. bales will be charged with 17 counts of murder, as well as 16

counts of assault. a report from washington state shows that sergeant bales was investigated for violence in 2008. groping a woman and beating her boyfriend, but no charges were filed against him. speculation is over about what killed whitney houston in february. the official autopsy report details lab tests which explain exactly how she died. nbc's stephanie stanton has details. >> reporter: troubled pop star whitney houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub, the l.a. coroner released the autopsy findings on thursday, ending weeks of speculation as to ha killed the 48 -year-old singer. >> we know when she slipped under the water, she was still alive. we have evidence of drowning. there was water in the lungs. >> reporter: houston's body was found submerged in a bathtub by one of her staff in the beverly

hilton hotel. >> they found her unresponsive. >> reporter: the coroner's report found no evidence of foul play, but did indicate results skinsant with cocaine use. marijuana, xanax, flexeril. houston had planned to a tend clive davis' pre-grammy party. she leaves behind a musical legacy that will forever be remembered. >> reporter: here's your first look at other news going on around america today. in texas, police raided what they say were two active moonshine stills at a home making bootleg booze that goes for $100 a pint. neighbors are also accused of helping cook the 190-proof

alcohol. police say the stills could have caused an explosion. a neighborhood is under siege from a pack of wild chihuahuas. a man kept the dogs until he b vanished last week. neighbors say the dogs are killing cats in the area. happy hour is hitting the road, the bar cycle. a human powered rolling watering hole. before you crack open a cold one while peddling, be warned, in most cases there is no drinking a i loued on public streets, only private property. it's only the replica of a giant snake, but it's a life-sized copy of a massive prehistoric snake. it's said to have roamed the earth 60 million years ago. on display in new york.

it will slither down to washington, d.c. next. good riddance, i just don't like snakes and the thought of one that big -- i don't know, you know. >> the small ones are the ones that scare me. >> it's a good thing they're extinct. >> what a shock it's going to be, once the temperatures get back to where they should be this time of year. yesterday, just another incredible day. this is going on like two weeks now that we've been seeing temperatures like this. in detroit you were 86 degrees yesterday. you've never been that warm in the month of march before in recorded weather history. which goes back over 100 years. in the 80s from boston north to burlington vermont. we're cooling it off in a few spots. rain, clouds, but this morning we're still in the mid to upper 60s from new york city up to boston. so it's a very, very warm morning when you walk outside. it will be a mild afternoon. now the storm system is

lingering in the middle of the country. we've had a bunch of severe weather events over the last two days. from louisiana to mississippi. a lot of small towns down there. even this morning we're dealing with thunderstorms there. even a cool rain over wisconsin and northern minnesota. on the west coast, you're nice today, saturday into sunday, the storm system will kick down into southern california and bring you rain. as far as right now, the worst weather, a good thunderstorm complex north of biloxi and a strong thunderstorm heading towards greenville. portions of alabama. we'll watch the storms, isolated tornado possible early today. as far as the forecast, the storms will work towards atlanta if you're in georgia, carry the umbrella. same for chicago, indianapolis, st. louis, kansas city. a nice day in dallas. and look at new england, temperatures once again today, not quite as warm as yesterday. but still beautiful. from 80 to 70 degrees. veronica, it continues on, but

comes to a crash this weekend. i'm celebrating spring in the meantime. wherever is your spring outfit, bill? overseas job blues, your "first look" at business headlines is straight ahead. four teams have moved onto the elite ate and a number one seed will not be joining them.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm veronica dela cruz. a call girl is claiming former senator and presidential candidate, john edwards was a client when she worked for an alleged new york millionaire madam. edwards lawyers says he denies the allegation. syrian president bashar al assad's wife may be cut off by the european union, after she

reportedly spent lavishly on clothes and furniture. the state of mississippi executed william jerry mitchell last night by lethal injection for the brutal murder of a convenience store clerk in 1995. it was the third execution this year in mississippi, the 11th in the nation. calling it an invasion of privacy, connecticut's richard blumenthal said he's writing a bill to stop the practice of employers asking job applicants for their facebook passwords. and a nasa spacecraft orbit around the moon has sent back images with a view of the far side, with the earth a tiny image in the distance. the images were chosen by fourth graders in montana. the dow opens at 13,046 after losing 78 points yesterday. the s&p fell ten, the nasdaq

lost 12. overseas trading, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 115 points, in hong kong, the hang seng sank 232. signs of economic weakness in china and europe took a toll at markets at home. there may be a silver lining. some temporary relief at the pump could be on the way after worries about dwindling oil demand dragged the price of crude down 2%. those worries also overshadowed news of unemployment applications fell by 5,000, to a four-year low last week. fedex took a hit after its financial chief warned of slowing demand abroad. shares slipped 4%. diamond foods lost 7% after suspending dividend payments to stockholders. discover card rose 3 % after reporting increased spending by users. dollar general also picked up 3%, thanks to better-than-expected earnings.

and elsewhere, t-mobile is laying off 5% of workforce, and closing seven call centers to help fund a 4g network upgrade. in the wake of an industry-wide foreclosure scandal, bank of america has began a program offering some customers the option of renting their home from the bank to avoid foreclosure. on capitol hill, the senate gave approval to a scaled-down bill banning members of congress and thousands of workers from insider trading. president obama has vowed to sign it. after one of mitt romney's top aides compared his campaign strategy to an etch-a-sketch, the toy maker shares tripled thursday, as a thank you, the company sent etch-a-sketches to all of the presidential campaigns. well syracuse survives a scare, ohio state advances and the underdog gators prevail. plus, michigan state is the first number one seed to be slammed out of the ncaa tournament. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. [ female announcer ] there's a science

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oh. let's go. from the crack, off the backboard. [ laughs ] dad! [ laughs ] whoo! oh! you're up! oh! oh! so close! now where were we? ok, this one's good for two. score! [ male announcer ] share what you love with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes. they're gr-r-eat! welcome back to "first look," i'm veronica dela cruz. in sports, four college basketball teams have moved onto the so-called elite eight as march madness marches on. good morning, grab a pen and check your brackets because the number one seed in the tournament is done. happened in the west bracket, louisville gave michigan state fits, the spartans couldn't get

anything going on the inside. louisville simply smothered the tournament's best-shooting team. defense led to offense on the other end. rick pitino never lost a sweet 16 game and he wasn't about to start there. syracuse survived, up six at the half. wisconsin rallied with a barrage of threes, hit 14 from beyond the arc. but when they needed it most, they came up short. down one, the badgers couldn't get anything to fall in the final seconds, syracuse won, 64-63. up next they play ohio state. they won a see-saw battle against cincinnati. the they were up 12, when the bearcats came roaring back. but a duo combined for 49 points. ohio state moves on, 81-66. florida and marquette, a lot of people had marquette winning, and a lot of people were wrong.

brandon bale scored a game-high 21. finally the beggest comeback of the night in the nba, pacers down 22 against the wizards when they started chipping away at the lead. paul george knocked down the three in the final minute and india was on top. last chance for the whiz, john wall the floater, didn't get it up in time, the pacers stun the wizards, 85-83. now for another look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. you are all about march madness, aren't you? >> a little too much. it was a late night last night, yes, a happy syracuse fan. lost a couple seconds of my life, it was so stressful. high temperatures will not be quite as warm as yesterday.

mid 80s in some areas of new england yesterday. overnight a cold front has dropped down from the north, not that cold, but the air mass is very dry, it will be breezy in new england. your temperatures will be about ten degrees cooler and the fire danger is pretty high. it hasn't rained in about a week and a half. so temperatures still warm from d.c. to new york. it's amazing i'm saying that 70s are cool. but compared to the 80s, it will be. all of a sudden we're starting to add some rain chances into pittsburgh. it won't be until late today, right now the rain is located out here by chicago, indianapolis, and down into mississippi. atlanta, you have a chance of rain late today. the storm over the weekend, finally heads to the east coast. in the middle of the country. a beautiful weekend. the problem spots, it looks like california will get rain saturday and sunday. and in the east coast, the storm is going to linger. it moves in saturday afternoon and sunday, it will be ugly from new york to boston. temperatures much cooler behind that storm into next week.

next week, the country returns to normal. >> we had a good run. >> seriously, all right. the film that is sure to break records this weekend and why, if you haven't heard about "the hunger games yet" you will before the weekend is over. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. [ male announcer ] if your kid can recognize your sneeze from a crowd... you're probably muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it.

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a recent survey found more doctors are asking out their patients on the internet dating websites. isn't that weird? it gets a little weird when they're like, i got the test results back on your heart and it looks like it needs love.

hey, check this out, "american idol" will start selling a new clothing line at kohl's. yeah, it will feature j. lo's outfits in the women's sections and the steven tyler's outfits in the old women's section. why! tonight jimmy welcomes actor christian slater, bravo reality star, bethany frankel. it is time for your "first look" at entertainment news. the need and greed for profit has made hollywood shy away from original screenplays in favor of sequels and bestsellers. this weekend we get one of hollywood's bigge "the hunger games" stars jennifer lawrence, josh husherson, liam hemsworth,

selected young regional contestants are forced to take part in a televised kill or be killed spectacle. hugely popular in book form, the reason the film will set records, is because unlike the "twilight" vampire series, this one will draw both young males and females. it will have an historic opening with as much as $150 million. we were talking about it earlier today. apparently people are lined up around the block. >> people have seen it at the midnight showings. we're way behind the curve on this one. >> we know nothing about it. >> we're like the worst people -- >> i'm interested. >> you're going to read all the books? >> i'll do the movie. >> holding you to that. >> you're going to have to give me a review. i'm veronica dela cruz, this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because willie geist is up next.

the police chief in the state prosecutor overseeing the trayvon martin case in florida both stepped down as thousands of protesters take to the streets calling for justice. the question is, 26 days after trayvon's death, why is the shooter still a free man? day two of this etch a sketch nonsense as rick santorum said he might prefer president obama to ritny, drawing gasps from the conservative peanut gallery. the question is, how long can mitt romney's rivals carry around a toy for children ages three and up before people stop taking them seriously? and syracuse and ohio state battle for the right to play in the elite ght. the question is, did michigan state bust your bracket? it's "way too early" for this.