this morning on "early today," penn state shame. new developments in a sex abuse scandal plaguing one of the nation's largest universities. trail tribulation, republican hopeful herman cain lashes out after a week of questions about past sexual harassment accusations. and close encounter, scientists prepare for earth's near rendezvous with a massive scientists prepare for earth's near rendezvous with a massive asteroid. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning.

hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with stepping down. two of penn state's athletic officials are accused of covering up abuse. >> reporter: penn state football has always had a stellar reputation, but now scandal is threatening to scar one of the nation's most storied teens. >> we pride ourselves on being a clean program. >> reporter: former nittany lion's coordinator jerry sandusky is charged with sexually abusing eight boys between 1994 and 2009. the state attorney general called sandusky, quote, a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys. also, the school's athletic director and vice president were charged with lying about what they knew and are expected to

turn themselves into authorities on monday. famed penn state coach joe paterno has not been implicated in the scandal. the grand jury report concluded that when he learned of the allegations, he did report what he knew to his supervisor, tim curly. paterno made a statement saying he was shocked by the charges. lawyers all deny the charges and promise to fight them in court. francis, nbc news. elsewhere, herman cain appears to be losing patience as he try toes put allegations of sexual harassment behind him and get his campaign back on track. nbc's brian moore reports. >> reporter: at a republican mini debate in texas, herman cain asked what was most surprising about his presidential run.

>> the nitpickiness of the media. >> reporter: he is under intense secretmy for sexual harassment allegations dating back to the 1990s. at the debate, he vented. >> there are too many people in the media that are down right dishonest. >> reporter: afterward, he gave the media and earful. as he was leaving, cain nearly did what his advisers told him not to the. >> i will explain this one time. >> reporter: but then -- >> we are getting back on message. end of story. back on mess aenl. >> reporter: fellow republicans say that is easier said than done. >> legitimate questions have been raised and that information needs to come forward. >> people need to know what the facts are. and that's the challenge for him right now, to get those out at quickly as possible, get it behind him. >> cain says he's done exactly that and is moving on. brian moore, nbc news, washington. according to a troubling new

report in this morning's washington post, iran's government is on the verge of being able to create a nuclear weapon thanks to high tech help from several other countries. according to secret documents provided to the atomic international agency, a former soviet weapons scientist in north korea and pakistan provided them with the ability to advance its nuclear capabilities. the report, set to be released this week by the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog agency reinforces fears iran never really stopped its research. iran's foreign minister called the story 100% political. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a rare 576 earthquake rocked oklahoma over the weekend, causing destruction and catching many residents off guard. the strongest quake since 1952 hit the state hours after a 4.7

tremor shook things up saturday morning. more than 80 after shocks followed the quake leaving buckled roads and severe damage to some homes. an army of environmental activists marched to the white house to propose an oil pipeline which would run from canada through america and on to the gulf of mexico. once they arrived, protesters surrounded the president's home chanting yes, we can stop the pipeline. opponents fear america would be ripe for another oil disaster if the president does not kill the construction plan. finally, the world's largest snowmobilers provided that they -- they performed on a stage, even without snow. thousands watched from a parking lot outside chicago's rigby field as the free style snowmobilers soared into the saturday night sky performing acrobatic stunts with ramps made of dirt and wood chips. keeping it creative. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill

karins with the weather channel forecast. >> good morning. >> good morning, bill. >> dhuf a good weekend? >> i did. did you? >> the time change -- >> it's only an hour, but i fell right into it. enjoy that extra hour. >> my internal clock takes a little while to adjust. good morning, everyone. we had a decent weekend out there. nice weather. not too much areas got washed out. we are watching a rainey morning. it's appreciated in oklahoma. everyone has been talking about the drought in texas and oklahoma hasn't been much better. we'll take the weather while we can get it. when we get a big contrast like this in the middle of the country, usually you're going to get thunderstorms or possibly a snowstorm. we're going to get a little bit of both. we have a lot of rain that's coming up just outside of dallas, it's trying to sneak its way now into illinois and indiana. back mind it is where we have enough cold air that we watch snow is in the high country of new mexico and arizona.

as far as the rain goes this morning, we're tracking it pretty much just outside of oklahoma city. it's more or less out towards ft. smith and heading up into springfield back into st. louis. it's going to be a damp morning for you. behind that, it's going the be chilly with snow developing later today outside of colorado and kansas. east coast, by the way, you look great. that's a look at your national forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. so all the nice weather is on the eastern seaboard. baltimore, 62 and sunny. what a gorgeous day for you. in st. louis, it looks like a rainey day. periods of heavy rain at times. albuquerque, new mexico, a little rain today and snow showers tonight. that is the storm in the middle of the country, going to produce snow, even heavy snow tomorrow. details, coming up. also coming up, greece settles, but is italy next? and the million dollar mistake during a cleaning job. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, the latest shocking report in the ongoing legal saga

that is lindsay lohan. coming up, a thrilling finish in pittsburgh and a super bowl flashback. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. more than 500 people are now dead from thailand's worst floods in half a century. nearly half of bangkok has been evacuated as pools of polluted sewage water creep towards the city's subway. a report breaking finish at the new york city marathon sunday at geoffrey mutai shattered the course report. firehiwot dado won the women's race coming in in the home stretch. after missing several performs, singer andy william, most famous for "moon river" now

he's he's battling cancer. and tomorrow evening, an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier is expected to pass between the earth and moon some 220,000 miles away. it is the earth's closest encounter in 35 years. nasa scientists say they are 100% confident it is not a threat. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at is 11,983 after falling 6 is points on friday. the s&p dipped 7 points. the nasdaq lost 11. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei was down 34 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng stumbled 164. wall street opens to some good news this morning. an end seems to be near in the political crisis that left greece facing catastrophic default and the end of its european membership. embattled prime minister george papandreou and greece's main

opposition leader agreed to form an interim government that will endorse the country's new european debt deal. papandreou will not lead the interim government. still, wall street will continue to watch europe. this week, italy to be exact. t with italy now teetering on the brink of default, thoughts protested over the weekend to oust leader berlusconi. if italy defaults, there are worries it will take down the entire financial system with it. back here at home, thanks to a run of recent economic data and strong corporate earnings, investors feel on more solid grounds. that includes jobs. friday's numbers were weaker than expected, but employers added 102,000 more jobs than estimated for august and september. that cut unemployment to 9% after three straight months stuck at 9.1%. earnings this week will include macy's, gm and cisco wednesday.

thursday, media giants disney and viacom. keep an eye on groupon which closed 31% above its ipo price friday. many say this could encourage other cups to pursue their own ipos. finally, a cleaner at a german art museum who thought she was removing a stain has permanently damaged an abstract sculpture called when it starts dripping from the ceiling, valued at over $1 million. oops there. coming up, which tebow showed up yesterday and david beckham is poised to add an american championship to his trophy case. plus, big ben and the steelers came back, but could they hold it against the ravens? your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. once again, we're starting our workweek with active weather heading for the midwest. we have a lot of rain and maybe some snow. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, sunday was a day of thrilling finishes in the nfl, finishing up with the night game seen right here on nbc between the ravens and the steelers. here is nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines.

good morning. yesterday's game between the ravens and steelers could not have been closer. to pittsburgh we go after the steelers took the lead late in the fourth. the ravens marched 92 yards down the field. flacco to smith, the rookie with the game winner with 20 seconds left. ravens thrill the steelers with a 27-21 win. pat's up, 20-17. usually that would be enough. but thanks to a pass interference call, giants had a shot from the one yard line and capitalized. ee laymaning, super bowl season, giants rally to beat the pat's again, 21-20. packers, philip rivers, chargers needed to run tackling drills after this. charlie pepra shrugged off player after player on his way to the end zone. packers won in a shoot-out, 45-48. from hero to go to hero again.

tebow had the kind of performance that earned him a heisman while at florida. threw for 127 yards. broncos won it, 38-4. cardinals beat the rams in dramatic fashion. patrick peterson took the punt and went 99 yards the other way. the rookie won the game of the season with a fourth quarter run. he did it again yesterday. arizona snapped the skid with a 19-13 overtime win. tony stewart trails carl edwards by three points in the chase for the cup. the galaxy punched their tickets to the mls final. galaxy beat real salt lake 3-1. they play houston in three weeks for the mls cup. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. kim kardashian can keep the ring for a hefty price. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, the new york city marathon is made up of thousands

of runners with just as many stories. but we've got one story from yesterday's run that's hard to beat. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday morning. umbrella weather for people in the middle of the country. a lot of the big cities, too. chicago to st. louis, eventually to kansas city and most of missouri is going to get drenched. anywhere to the east of oklahoma

city has a chance for wet weather today, including areas like wichita falls and dallas. back behind, that's where the colder air is. later on tonight, we'll see rain going over to snow in many areas of caps cans, intshl out near interstate 70. if you're watching us on wtwc in tallahassee, florida, appreciate both beauty and oddity at an art show that exhibits both at cute and creepy at the florida museum of fine art. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> like me and you. bill, come on, you have to laugh at that. >> just trying to figure out which one is the creepy. >> ouch. could come back. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. it was a weekend to remember at the box office thanks to one film's drawing power and another film's lack of it. ""puss in boots" laughed up $33 million in its second weekend out with a 3% drop in its audience opening week. it was the smallest drop ever

for a nonholiday film. on the other hand, "the tower heist" earned a stunning $10 million less than expected, finishing second with a disappointing $25 million. the r-rated stoner comedy single a herald comedy christmas finished third with $13 million. elsewhere, tmz reports kim kardashian loved chris hum frkr humphrey's engagement ring so much that she had a clause in the prenuptial that loud her to buy the ring for $2 million. last night, lindsay lohan checked into jail to begin serving her 30-day sentence for probation violation. lohan was expected to be released within hours.

but for now, she's still in custody. we have at least a day where we won't have any lindsay lohan updates to bring you. >> i'm just glad she's safe. >> 24 hours. and in new york city, a couple of runners transformed this year's marathon into a one of a kind trip down the aisle. at mile 22, marianne raymond decided it was the perfect time to tie the knot. why not? the couple kept their pace while saying their i dos in the bizarre and adorable ceremony. the couple, who met while jogging, crossed the finish line with plans to get a running start on their new life together with a honeymoon trip to italy. that's fantastic. congratulations to you guys. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we are off to a nice quiet start on this monday. you may see some frost on your windshield. it will turn out to be a nice afternoon. 32 in parkton. 27 in frederick. we will make it into the low 60's today. lots of sunshine today. we will come back and check the

forecast for the rest of the week. >> thank you. 4:57. coming up, the latest on the search for a gunman responsible for a deadly shooting. >> a frostburg student is stabbed to death over the weekend. i am kim dacey with the details. >> as the herman cain controversy -- has the herman cain controversy hurt his standing as in the polls? >> if you did not step towards the end of the ravens game, you may regret it. >> we have one accident in >> we have one accident in

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> oh, baby, the