mitt romney does damage control after making a controversial comment about the poor. the far side. a nasa orbiter video of a part of the moon we never get to see. high school hail mary. an alabama basketball team scores not one but two buzzer beaters in the same game. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

hello. good morning. ii'm lynn berry. r we begip we begin we. gtgorgop gop presidentigop takitaking their campaigns out aand minnesota and colorado ne tuesday. meanwhipmeanwhile not all sg fp ffor front-runner meanwhipmeanwhile not all sg fp ffor front-runne mitt ro r p is basking in his victop victory spevictory a commep a comment a comm poor. nbcp nbc's brinbc's brian m washingtp washington wiwash. >> reporter: the from the candidacandidate whpcandane made a costly error. mitt romney has the official protection of the u.s. secret service. but not before he got glitter bombed by a gay rights activist and he hurt himself while talking to cnn about protecting

the middle class. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. i'm not concerned about the rich, they are doing very fine. >> reporter: romney was playing defense. >> no, no, no. no, no. you got to take the whole -- >> reporter: the obama campaign pounced. but romney was taking fire from both sides. and he wasn't spared on the campaign trail. >> let me shock governor romney. the founding fathers met the very poor. >> reporter: rick santorum says if trump cares about jobs he is endorsing the wrong guy. >> he should be endorsing me, not newt gingrich. >> reporter: the gop candidate, a war of words and a misfire from the front-runner. >> thank you! >> reporter: donald trump's endorsement may or may not sway votes but at least it's going to make haems aeadlines and it has talking about it.

defense secretary leon panetta says american and other international forces in afghanistan expect to end their combat in 2014 but continue to train and advising afghan forces. on the way to a meeting in europe he says it is to have the afghans take the lead role. it will then be followed by a withdrawal of american troops through 2014. soccer fans rushed the field after an upset victory by the home team over egypt's top club from cairo. fans of the losing team allegedly began taunting the home crowd accusing them of not supporting last year's populous revolution. the two sides threw six rocks and other weapons. players from the visiting team were swarmed and attacked but none of them were killed.

government riot police stood in line doing seemingly nothing as the fans ran wild, hundreds were injured. here is a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. a meteor streaked across the skies in central texas. the government confirmed it was real. can you see the dot flying across the horizon as it was captured by a police car's camera. there is indication that it hit the earth. a video shows a large american flag being stolen. officials say it's the same flag later burned by activists on the city hall steps. investigators are hoping to identify those seen in the video. 400 people were arrested during the chaos. ten people were injured

after an amtrak train derailed south of lansing, michigan. it happened when a train hit a semi truck that got stuck on the track. 73 people were on board the train heading from pontiac to chicago. none of the injuries are considered live threatening. incredible shooting by a high school basketball team. hopefully, the scouts are watching. one player gets nothing but net from 90 feet away. later, a teammate scored at the halftime buzzer from midcourt. they can't even believe it. either can we. a great show but not good enough. the other team came back to win. >> you ruined it! >> sorry. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist bill karins with a look at the forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> good morning. happy groundhog day. >> what is he going to say? it shouldn't be 60 degrees in the middle of february? >> yeah. i mean, it's not like the drama like we have been dealing with this brutal went and we can't wait for it to end. yesterday, we had high

temperatures in washington, d.c., 72 degrees! it was 62 in new york city. we were still in the 60s in kansas city. dallas was in the 70s. so not like many of us have been suffering from this brutal winter. but, for the most part, it's going to be pretty cloud yy day out there. as far as the winter storm goes this is the talk of went. not much of wipts in colorado, kansas, or nebraska. winter storm watches from sterling to north platte and north of omaha and up into iowa nailed by this storm. our computers are estimating it looks like someone has a chance of getting 1 to 2 feet of snow and these areas from north platte to sterling and interstate 80 a mess friday into saturday morning and denver a chance of getting a foot of snow out of this. stay tune to your local nbc stations and they will give you specific updates on local areas around your area. colorado springs will pick up significant snow too. that is a snowstorm here and developing late today and all day tomorrow. areas of the east, a little bit of wet weather from d.c. down

through virginia and also the carolinas. pushing off the coast. at the same time, more moisture will be returning. some rainfall in texas and also near san antonio. overall, i know we have general lee in the south and punxsutawney phil in the north and many groundhogs across the country and many will not see their shadow and that means an early spring for the east. that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. partly cloudy skies out there in many areas. we should see a lot of fog out there too. we have many areas that have foggy problems from the minneapolis area all the way down through wisconsin and even areas of texas today dealing with the fog too. just listen to some of the fraccers out near denver. they think blizzard warnings could come later. >> they could use it. skiers will like to hear that. >> but not the travelers. >> thanks, bill. data looks strong. car sales war.

in an australia we wish would move to the united states. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. say it ain't so. reese witherspoon takes a shot at the beeb. justin bieber, that is. push comes to shove between the pacers and t'wolves and magic back on track and lebron james scores 40 but was it enough? you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back. i'm lynn berry. here are your top headlines this morning. more than a hundred people are still missing after a ferry boat sank off papua new guinea. more than 200 of the 350 people aboard have been rescued. indiana is the 23rd right to work state in the u.s. and the first state to change its law in over a decade.

the state legislature passed and the governor signed the controversial bill saying that workers do not have to pay union fees. . the senate in washington state passed a bill last night to legalize same-sex marriage. the statehouse is expected to pass it and the governor will sign it. that would make washington the seventh state in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. in france, a presidential candidate was showered with flour wednesday. he was shocked. but did resume his speech on the french housing crisis still covered in the protester's flour. a first video of the far side of the moon. a view that we never see because the moon is locked with the earth. the moon cam video shot last month shows a moon scape full of dozens craters left behind after dozens of collisions with asteroids. now here is another look at

the dow opens at 12,716 after gaining 83 points yesterday. the s&p up 11 points. the nasdaq jumped 34. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei added 67 points, while in tongue song, the hang seng certifyinged 406. facebook took its first step toward being a publicly trading company yesterday and on track the largest ipo ever. in its filing facebook was seeking to raise $5 billion but word on the street the company is aiming toward a pop valuation nearly $100 billion. no word yet on which exchange will carry the ticker symbol. investors welcomed news that u.s. manufacturing picked up speed last month. more upbeat data showed construction spending hit an 18-month high in december. bank of america and both

citigroup got a boost on news that greece could be one formal stop away from avoiding default. automakers reported january sales not seen since december tween cash for clunkers incentive. chrysler 81% increase of sales in its most popular sedan. o an l.a. court awarded one nearly 100,000 for her suit that the car didn't live up to its advertised mileage. american airlines company is planning to eliminate 13,000 jobs. pension plans and retiree health benefits are also on the chopping block. whirlpool surged 13% on its optimistic 2012 outlook. and, finally, workers at one australian bus line say they have the most generous boss. after he unexpectedly shared millions of dollars in bonuses after he sold the company.

some decades long employees took home more than $100,000. hopefully, bosses are taking notes there! coming up, the spurs rally. the magic win one. the 76ers pull off a big upset. plus kevin durant shows dallas why oklahoma city are called the thunder. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. if any groundhogs out there from colorado to nebraska you'll need a snowplow. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

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try puffs plus lotion with the scent of vicks. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, last night's latest installment of the nba's battle of the great plains went all oklahoma city's way. here is mario solis with an early look at all of your sports headlines. last time we saw the oklahoma city thunder they were on the wrong end of a blake griffin highlight reel. last night they took out their frustration on the reigning champs by dunking the mavericks. to dallas. nowitzki held to eight points as durant and russell westbook 56 between them. the ball rolls over to rick

carlisle. he bumps it into the crowd. lebron james scored 40 against the bucs. unfortunately, he didn't have much help. brandon jennings simply went off in the fourth hitting a trio of three-pointers down the stretch. bucks beat the heat for the second time this season 105-97. dancing all over the rockets in san antonio, rally from 19 points down in the second half, tim duncan finishing with 25. the red rocket ices it in the final minute. matt bonner from downtown earns texas bragging rights. the sixers the surprise team of the season doing everything right against the bulls. philly knocks off the best team in the east. the pacers another team that is on the rise. danny granger was a man among boys in minnesota scoring 29 of his 36 in the second half and gets into it with kevin love, a little pushing and shoving but nothing more than that. indy win their third straight

109-99. or on the other end of the spectrum you got the magic playing some of the worst basketball of the season. but there is one sure shot way to fix that. play the lowly wizards. anderson and howard both had 23 points. orlando end their misery of a losing streak with a win. >> that is your early look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. there may be a review into the investigation of amy winehouse's death. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. coming up, we will show you jimmy flying high above one of the biggest stages of all. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this groundhog day. lots of clouds out throughout much of the country. not many shadows to be found. if you believe the prediction it means an early spring which hasn't been a bad winter. high impact winter storm in colorado and snow develops today and continues all day friday out here from nebraska into iowa. if you're watching on wavy tv in norfolk, new jersey. enjoy a visit from the virginia

living mutual groundhog night. that is your "early today" event of the today. bill, thanks so much. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. there may be another amy winehouse death investigation after the coroner who held the first one suddenly resigned. because the veteran australian lawyer hasn't been recgistered n england for five years as the rule requires. elsewhere a source tells "us" magazine on the night demi moore was rushed to the hospital, everyone thought she was going to die when she went into convulsions after smoking an unknown substance. sources say in the wake of her breakup with ashton kutcher, she had been drinking red bull and hitting on zac efron.

>> reese witherspoon asked what she thought he might star in the re-make, she answered that would be cool. would he be playing me or marc wahlberg? stand down, witherspoon! when his voice changes, he is going to prove everybody wrong, everybody. >> when? this comes to us from wthr, channel 13 in indianapolis where an nbc star made a high-flying appearance. late night host jimmy fallon on the left he rode one of the zip lines set up as part of the super bowl village. he's there to do four nights of his show in honor of the big game which, of course, you can watch on this station this sunday. in case you hadn't heard. jimmy said afterward that going on the zip line is like having indianapolis quarterback peyton manning throw you 400 yards. look at that bear hug. i love it. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your

first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. happy groundhog's day. temperatures are going to be cooler today than the last couple of days. this morning, a cold front is moving through and producing some light rain and it will change the temperatures. upper 30's near the pennsylvania line. 50 south of baltimore. everybody will cool off over the

next couple of hours. we have a chance for rain this morning. a wide range in high temperatures. low 50's down south. we will come back and check if forecast going into super bowl sunday. >> did you see your shatter this morning? -- did you see your shadow of this morning? >> it is starting to feel like groundhog's day with comes to declining property values. i am jennifer franciotti. >> mitt romney on the defensive. like controversy follows the front runner out west. >> you sought ge

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