today," oil and water. the president announces a surprising new energy initiative to expand offshore drilling. flooding misery. shuts down a major northeast corridor. and drive-through thrashing. a new jersey man is wanted after assaulting a mcdonald's employee over a fillet-o-fish. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with an

about-face on oil. president barack obama threw open a stretch of waters for drilling yesterday upsetting his own environmental backers. obama says the move will sustain economic growth and produce jobs but the decision is receiving mixed reviews and looks to some more like mccain/palin than obama/biden. >> reporter: president obama changed his mind about ocean drilling. >> so today we're announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas expansion exploration. >> reporter: it looks like a flip-flop in the '08 campaign. with the gas prices rising john mccain supported offshore drilling. barack obama said no. >> to drill offshore here in florida and other places around the country would not provide families with any relief.

>> reporter: but for the past year, president obama's looked at how to develop wind and solar energy and nuclear power while being sure our economy recovers. >> we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel, even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable home-grown energy. >> reporter: the president is ok'ing drilling off the coast of virginia, south to florida, not further north, not in california. some new leases okayed in alaska. environmentalists are upset. >> there's not much oil and gas. it looks like a side show. it could ruin beaches and tourism. >> reporter: even though they demanded more drilling republicans are hailing a positive step. >> the good news is that virginia is ready to go. >> reporter: and barack obama now hopes to get republican votes in congress for his upcoming energy climate change bill. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news,

capitol hill. a federal judge ruled wednesday government investigators illegally wired telephone conversations without a search warrant. the lawsuit was the last act of case pending that challenged this so-called warrantless wiretapping program, which was ended in 2007. the wiretap involved a conversation between a foundation member and the two lawyers about a recent treasury department declaration that the group supported terrorism. legal experts say the judge's ruling focused narrowly on this specific case, touching only vaguely on the larger question of the program's legality. but that didn't stop defense attorneys from claiming the judge found the entire program unlawful. in the wake of days of record-setting rain, residents of rhode island are fighting flood levels they haven't seen in over 200 years. portions of interstate 95 that were completely under water were shut down wednesday and could stay closed through today. schools and businesses were also

closed in a state where people who have jobs can't afford to miss a day of work. residents have even been asked not to wash their clothes or flush their toilets. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. and now for a look at your a new jersey man crawled through a mcdonald's drive-through window after deciding his fillet-o-fish was taking too long to prepare. he assaulted the worker and took the sandwich. a classroom student took a stunt too far when he attached electrical clamps to his chest and shocked himself. the student's heart stopped a as result of the shock. he is expected to make a full recovery, and the incident is now under investigation. phoenix firefighters battled the blaze that consumed an industrial building housing wooden pal lets. it took nearly 100 firefighters

to battle the fire during 40-mile-per-hour winds. no injuries have been reported. and in colorado one man received quite a surprise for his 75th birthday. after hearing a strange noise the night before, the man awoke to find a 10-pound rock in a crater only feet from his door. the man believes it may be a meteorite and he's contacted local authorities and universities to examine the rock. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist todd santos with the weather channel forecast. >> yesterday there were fish falling out of the skiechlt there, meteorites. pretty cool stuff. today's the anniversary of the first infrared satellite picture taken. this picture is quite a bit better than what we had at that point, this fuzzy view of the northeastern u.s. over toward nova scotia even. notice you can see that troughing in the west, ridge in the east.

we're going to see temperatures warming up today all the way up the eastern seaboard, and if it doesn't get you up in boston, you're going to see the numbers in the upper 60s, even 70s toward the weekend, especially in new york city. here you can see some of the areas in brighter oranges and reds. in a few you're seeing isolated rain showers in the dakotas. those are the areas that are likely to be more active. as far as the rain is concerned into tonight or tomorrow, even a few thunderstorms spilling out into the plains, even out toward dallas. and, again, primarily on friday initially we're going to see temperatures cooling down and that's mainly because of the clouds in the region. here's a look back at wyoming, colorado. here in colorado, a foot of snowfall. meanwhile some meager rainfall totals. here fairly mild numbers from little rock, dallas coming in at

65 right now. 81 later today. those warm temperatures will spread east into the region. that's a look at the region. let's check out your local forecast. washington, d.c., getting in on some of those warm numbers today. 76 with fun sunshine. indianapolis 79 making an 80-tee degree run. nashville, also matching that number. so, lynn, a lot of beautiful places starting off april right with some decent temperatures. coming up we'll talk about what we can expect for the finish of the week. >> all right. i like the way it looks. thank you, todd. well, jobs fall, amazon inks, and google giggles. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, remember when one of tiger woods 'mistresses canceled a turnout? turns out she had 10 good reasons to do so. >> the mother of all foul balls. you're watching e "e.t."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. across the country americans have been sending in their census forms, including president, seen here filling out his questionnaire. today is census day, the day when everyone is supposed to have mailed in those forms. those who have failed to do so will be visited by a census bureau worker starting in may. each of those trips will cost taxpayers about $25. a chennen militant says he was behind the deadly attacks in moscow. he took credit in an internet message. the claim came just hours after two more suicide bombers struck in russia, killing a dozen people. according to this morning's ""washington post,"" the government may have to toss out 71 million unused doses of its

swine flu vaccine. decide last year's nationwide clay more for the vaccine, millions may have to be tossed if they're not used before they expire. the government estimates in the u.s. around 12,000 people have died from the virus. and tourists have been heading to southern iceland to check out the fantastic volcano a week ago. it started spewing after nearly 200 years. the dow opens at 10,856 after losing 50 points yesterday. the s&p shed 3 points. the nasdaq fell 12 points. and taking a look at overseas trading that morning, in tokyo the nikkei climbed 154 points while in hong kong the hang seng went up 297 points. stocks slid yesterday on signs the job market is still struggling to recover. investors anxious to see growth paid more than the usual attention to a private sector

report that showed a surprising number of jobs were cut last month. a separate finding that business activity in the midwest is lagging, added to the cautious tone. still, despite the day's losses, the current so-called tortoise rally pushed markets across the first-quarter finish line with gains across the board. rising oil prices and a court ruling in chevron's favor sent its shares higher yesterday. meanwhile, president obama's move to shed the offshore drilling. >> overseas asian markets shrugged off wall street's worries, trading higher that manufacturing in china the rising at a stoeady clip. back at home "the wall street journal" reports that amazon has ink deals over pricing for its kindle e reader. meanwhile borders shares took off spike 30g% after it paid off a $42 million loan to give its

stores a much needed upgrade. keep an eye on research in motion today. shares in blackberry maker fell 7% after its earnings came in just short of analysts' expectations. how much would you pay for a piece of history? folks at sutherbies are hoping that a rare first edition of the u.s. census will bring in about $50,000 to $70,000. the 56-page document signed by thomas jefferson goes on the auction block later this month. finally you can't say google doesn't have a sense of humor. today in honor of the mayor of topeka, the website on april fool's day has changed its name to topeka. google it. it's true. the lakers fall, the thunder roll, and a foul ball against all odds. plus, soccer is a sport played in the winter but this is a bit much. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

and welcome april. we'll tell you where you can find some snowfall as well as some nice warm temperatures. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night in atlanta the hawks handed the nba

champion, l.a. lakers their second defeat. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. what has happened with the l.a. lakers. the defending champs have sputtered, stalled, and basically shut down with seven games left in the season. to atlanta, all hawks, third quarter. joe johnson with five three-pointers. johnson had 25. the hawks' bench was the story, outscoring l.a. by 26. off the sticks, joe teague got the dunk. 109-92. to boston, kevin garnett tried to win his first growing title. the jumper put it up one in the founcht jeff greene scored two three-pointers. thunder won it 109-104. his calves were hosting the bucks. tied game under 30 seconds to play. james with a tough layup. it fell, and they had the lead.

james had 23. last chance for milwaukee, but lebron picked off the pass. the buck stops here. to dallas, no stranger to scoring he got it done against the grizzlies. knnowitzki got it tied at the game. the fade-away for the games. mavs won it 106-102. wild game in salt lake. amy scored the game-winner and there's only one way to celebrate in the winter wonderland. snow angels. usa won it 1-0. finally twins and yankees, denard span lined a foul ball in the crowd and hit somebody. hoe headed for the stands and it hit someone. it turns out he hit his own mother. fortunately she was oklahoma and was able to walk up the aisle under her own power. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. well, heidi and spencer add

more names to the list of folks who are answer ggry at them. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, what could be better for a hometown home coming for a gold medal olympian. you're watching "early today."

a very good morning to you once against jacksonville, you finally broke the streak, 105 days without temperatures riding

the 80-degree mark. beautiful through kansas city. notice the clouds increasing through much of the area will limit temperatures. back here in childress, texas, we had a record 97 degrees. back around '86. a little bit of snow possible in billings. late tonight early tomorrow morning we'll see thunderstorms spill out of the plains and we'll see it continue on friday. if you're watching us on akrk news in little rock, arkansas, get a look at the creepy crawlers at the bug zoo. that's your early event. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. tiger woods is paying it at home for his adult affairs wu also his bank accounts. while he paid some hundreds of thousands and others nothing he reached a settlement with rachel

uchitel. rapper l.l. cool jai and toby keith were blindsided by a fox news special. they never met host sarah palin and it turns out fox was using old interviews. after l.l. complains, they pulled his intervunld wished him luck in his, quote, fledgling acting career. remember we told you yesterday high dimon tag and spencer pratt gave themselves indian names, white wolf and running bear to become more spiritual? well a tribe has lashed out saying, quote, continued stereotyping such as this by people ignorant of our ways is very disrespectful. >> okay. i'll have to agree with that. it was a bad idea from the start. >> i know we were shocked by that too. >> well, i mean, what do they really want? everyone to start calling them by those names? >> thank you, todd. thank you.

this coming to us from kusa 9 news in denver where in nearby vale fans came out to hail olympian lindsey vonn. this is her first trip since winning the gold and the bronze at the vancouver games. she posed for pictures and signed autographs. she said it meant all the world to her and she found out she's getting a guest role in the season fi naly of her favorite show, "law and order." >> even better she's got a trail named after her called lindsey's. >> i don't blame her. she's a golden girl. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

>> a very good thursday morning and we welcome to month of april today and we welcome it in nice style. we're going to be up in the mid 70's today. 181 potential on saturday. let's look at our current temperatures. already 53 downtown last night. that's indicative how mild we already are. we actually ended yesterday at 71. sunny skies. light winds. it is going to be a gorgeous one and i think you're going to like the weekend forecast as well. more on that coming up in our

full hour. >> i saw snowflakes on the way to work this morning. >> yeah, right. >> april fool. 48 degrees on tv hill. here is a look ahead to 11 news today. >> the president's decision to allow offshore drilling has caused concern. >> today the white house announces new gas mileage rirets for u.s. cars become final. what will it mean for the air, the oil and for you, coming up? >> so far so good. nice conditions around the area. roads to go along with the nicee

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] >> good morning. thanks for joining us. >> sandra shaw has a look at