so it can get a few more miles per tank than the car on the left. go a little farther with bp gasoline with invigorate. this morning on "early today," decision day. republican presidential hopefuls prepare to do battle in three dates states while one enjoys a new surge in the polls. under siege. more deadly violence in syria as the u.s. shuts down his em bassey and withdrawals its staff. a stroller rolls onto train tracks. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello. good morning. i'm lynn berry. despite back-to-back wins in

florida and nevada, new poll numbers have gop front-runner mitt romney suddenly taking rival rick santorum seriously ahead of primaries and caucuses today in minnesota, missouri. brian moore has more on this. >> reporter: rick santorum hoping to change the dynamics of this race in the single day and emerge as the conservative alternative. if this isn't judgment day for the santorum campaign it is close. he is running out of time and money. he is hoping for a strong showing, a breakout in minnesota and in missouri where there are no actual delegates at stake today he is going head-to-head with mitt romney and wants voters to know he can be a viable candidate. newt gingrich did not make the ballot in missouri. ron paul focusing on the caucus states. in colorado, romney hoping for another big win to cement his status as front-runner. for newt gingrich and ron paul,

this is a long slog for delegates who hope to get toward that nomination and a fight that is going to go on as long as they can make it. lynn? >> brian moore for us in washington, thanks so much. it appears that improving economic conditions have bolstered president obama's chances against the current top two presidential contenders. a new "the washington post"/abc news survey finds for the first time if the election were held now president obama would beat mitt romney 51% to 45%. his margin widens against newt gingrich as the gop candidate with 54% of those surveyed to picking the president to 43% in favor of the former speaker of the house. president obama's campaign is now asking wealthy democratic donors to contribute to super pacs is that support his re-election and a reversal of his long-held position on super

pac positions. while the president has raised the most money for the 2012 campaign he is facing a deep disadvantage in money raised by priorities usa action. as seen in this year's republican caucuses and primaries the so-called super pacs is spend unlimited amounts of cash and negative ads while shielding the candidates for direct responsibility. allies are trying to turn up the diplomatic president on the syrian government. the u.s. has closed its embassy. calling for the president to step down after the retowed saturday by russia. government troops opened fire with tanks and machine guns. the u.n. says more than 5400 syrians have died in the

uprising against president assad. here is a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. a worker was injured after a cherry picker toppled in philadelphia landing right on the street there. he was aboard the basket when it came crashing down breaking his femur. his crew was doing work on the rectory of the cathedral when it came crashing down. no one on the ground was hurt. in florida one of the last times you'll see a space shuttle on the move. shuttle "atlantis" being rolled to another building where the orbiter will be renovated and parts removed as it prepares to go on permanent display at the visitors center beginning next year. finally, zombies are invading georgia, at least they are while shooting a movie near savannah. locals are being used to play the undead and producers are

looking for more extras. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist todd san tows with a look at your forecast. >> i'm glad you mentioned that. otherwise, folks in savannah would have been curious. >> a little frightened? >> yeah, curious. strange name for a movie too. this morning, there are a few areas not so much in georgia but at least across, say, colorado, back down into western kansas where we are dealing with light snow and track that snow as you work your way into tomorrow because we will even get down towards the east coast or at least the mid-atlantic states. a look at it this morning. the snowfall you're dealing with in colorado is showing up green on this map. notice the west coast. you see that system pushing in? the showers down through the bay area and made their way into late last night and continue that early tomorrow morning and los angeles into the hills there and 6,000 feet and snow maybe in those areas. central u.s. back through

central kansas, western portions of i-70 in the state will see a little bit of light snow today. a general 1 to 3-inch setup and not big time snowfall amounts but enough to make for slick travel and i-80 in western portions of nebraska and light snow in the range by local standards. talking less than 3 inches. denver it's more about an inch or less. there is a look at the 22 degrees. cool temperatures there. wichita 43 and kansas city may see light snow making its way in towards late on this evening and overnight tonight see the snow spreading across the southern edge of the ohio valley to make slick road travel and not big-time snow and snow in the northeast that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. new york city beautiful day today. temperatures around 51 degrees. full sunshine. orlando hanging on to still the chance for showers. i mentioned kansas city. notice those temperatures in the upper 30s. those are day time highs today.

at least a few areas with a chance for snow showers and nothing too wildly but talk more about where it's headed tomorrow coming up. coming up, more greek foot dragging. time runs out on a celebrated squatter. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. frustrated postgame comments in support of her husband send this super model to the dog house with his teammates. eli manning visits mickey at the magic kingdom and kobe finds yet another way to top shaq. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back. i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. iran is now facing tough new u.s. sanctions against its economy. the measures give american banks new powers to freeze assets,

linked to the iranian government and encourage israel to give sanctions more time before any potential military action against iran's nuclear program. two rival factions have agreed on a new government. netanyahu could have peace with israel or hamas but not both. janet wilson barger has been nominated by president obama to become the service's first woman four-star general. the senate will have to confirm her promotion. just how cold was it in russia's far eastern region monday? if you can believe it, temperatures fell to minus 58 degrees fahrenheit as snow and cold kept people indoors as much as possible. it did warm up to minus 54 degrees by the middle of the day. surveillance camera video in

melbourne shows a baby carriage rolling off the platform right onto the tracks at a train station. luckily, the mother jumped on to the tracks to rescue the baby unharmed before the next train arrived. send chills down your spine just seeing it. now here is another look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. new study found thatbook can be tough on your mental hematoma. adding friends can be good but some people use status updates to boast about their achievements. whilothers compare themselves with friends and then get the press. researchers suggest being careful about your online social life just as most people are about friends in the real world. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,845 after

losing 12 thois yesterday. s&p was down a fraction. the nasdaq lost three. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei fell 11 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng was down 10. stocks took a breather monday, as debt talks dragged on in greece. protesters stood in the rain as negotiations over a fresh cost-cutting package were postponed yesterday. german chancellor angel merkel and french president nicolas sarkozy insist cuts must be made by february 15th, before allowing another loan. overseas this morning, toyota reported a stronger than expected quarterly profit and raised its annual forecast. mining company xstrata and glencore agreed on an equal valued $90 billion. yesterday, boeing fell 7%.

netflix was surprisingly hire despite news red box and coin star will launch a rival video streaming service. humana dropped 5% after weaker than expected earnings. yum brands positive sales at pizza hut chains but taco bell had another struggling quarter. disney weighs in with earnings later today as speculation swirls about a positive deal with univision to create an english speaking cable news channel for latinos. mcdonald's has apologized and pulled a radio ad that said eating its new chicken mcbites was less risky than petting a stray pit bull. finally, after eight rent-free months in a texas home, kevin robinson's luck has ran out. his website bragged about

playing 1 fee. but bank of america was the new owner yesterday. coming up in sports. the clippers win in overtime and the knicks finally win together and guess who just took a trip to disney world. kobe bryant passes an old teammate and rival. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and we will talk about where you can track showers. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, big win by the vastly improved philadelphia 76ers. overshadowed a big milestone for kobe bryant last night. here is mario solis with an early look at all of your sports headlines. hi there. good morning. kobe bryant leaped over shaquille o'neal on the all-time scoring list but even that wasn't enough to knock off the sixers. kobe started the game just 24 points behind the big diesel, only fitting to reach the mark in his hometown of philadelphia. the black ma ma comes out firing. 14 points in the first quarter. then in the second, kobe makes history, drains a jumper to move past shaq and into fifth place on the all-time scoring list. he finished with 28. however, lou williams spoils kobe's big night and scoring 14

of his 24 down the stretch. the 76ers take the lead and beat the lakers 95-90. chris paul in orlando showing everyone why he is an all-star. 29 points and seven dimes. this one goes to overtime and when cp-iii ends the magic show and stops and pops for two. clippers rally from 15 down to win in o. . the knicks without amar'e stoudemi stoudemire. who would pick up the slack against the jazz? how about jeremy lynn? that is right paep the second-year player out of harvard had a career high 28 points in his first-ever start. knicks pull out all of the stops and win 99-88. the nation's still buzzesing over the giants come-from-behind win in super bowl xlvi. while the team awaits a victory parade in new york city, eli had a parade of his own on the happiest place on earth.

he was hanging out with mickey mouse yesterday. eli was a grand marshal of a parade in disme world. the fifth player to make two trips to the kingdom after winning the super bowl. check out mickey. if the giants ever need a linebacker, he is ready to suit up. >> that is your early look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. >> jay-z. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. how friends forensics has invaded the act of walking your dog. you're watching "early today." . the act of walking your dog. you're watching "early today." .

welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday morning. still take a look at the showers across portions of florida and disturbance tracking off north and northeast and not a great chance it's a tropical storm but gusty winds across the keys and southeast florida and isolated thunderstorms today. not a great chance for organized severe weather. a look at the activity across the country. notice new york at 51 degrees. beautiful conditions. then you get into tomorrow. you see the cooler temperatures and a little bit of light snow late tomorrow night. if you're watching us on whdh 7 news in boston, massachusetts, in nearby say 'em explore the native american art and culture from 200 b.c. to the present. that is your "early today" event of the today. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. last night in new york,

jay-z added to his list of impressive career achievements. he performed on the famed stage of carnegie hall. the second hip-hop happen to perform there. the associated press reports chris brown will perform at this year's grammys. the same event where his career almost ended three years ago when he assaulted then girlfriend rihanna. "e" reports demi moore has joined brook mueller in rehab at a utah clinic. add randy travis to the mug shot gallery. a little bit of a grin there. he apologized for his public intox arrest on sunday after, quote, celebrating the super bowl. gisele bundchen in hot water for standing by her man new england quarterback tom brady. leaving the stadium on sunday night, she loudly complained to a friend about dropped passes saying, my husband can't throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time.

gisele, come on. brady teammates reportedly feel mrs. tom broke the rules about not publicly criticizing fellow players. serious code violation there. this comes to us from kdht news in sioux falls, south dakota. dog owners could be busted for not cleaning up after their pets. the owner of hundreds of local apartments will now require renters to submit doggie dna samples. that's right. if fido's waste matter is left behind anywhere in the complex, the landlord will send it to the lab. if there is a match the owner will have to fork over a hundred bucks. the owner says it's the only way to make sure the proper is clean and safe. do they do that on new york city streets on the sidewalks? they need to. 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. we're off to a quiet start on this tuesday. it will be another nice day today. 31 in parkton. 44 degrees in annapolis. mostly sunny skies today. highs will climb into the upper 40's and low 50's. we have some rain and snow in the seven-day forecast. >> 40 degrees on tv hill. >> people in baltimore city will

soon have a new way to report crimes. >> could today's contest tip the scales? what is at stake for mitt romney and rick santorum. and rick santorum. >> achoo! the seasons change, but we still may suffer from nasal allergy symptoms. they can hit you year round... indoors or out. achoo! oh to have relief. prescription nasonex is clinically proven to help relieve nasal allergy symptoms... including congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. [ female announcer ] side effects may include headache, viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds, and coughing. infections of the nose and throat and eye problems, including glaucoma or cataracts may occur. have regular eye exams. slow wound healing may occur, so do not use nasonex

until your nose has healed from any sore, surgery or injury. nasonex can increase your risk of getting infections. avoid contact with infections like chicken pox or measles while using nasonex. it does not come in generic form. ask your doctor if nasonex is right for you.

[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. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> yesterday was such a beautiful day. >> big change coming up tomorrow. get outside and enjoy it today. let's look the current conditions. 35 degrees at the airport. there is a system passing to the south of us. we will call mostly sunny with