what they mean is, it's french's french fried onions in my green bean casserole. french's french fried onions. available in the french's stay-fresh can. this morning on "early today," primary battle. republican presidential hopeful vie for victory in two states and the district of columbia. norwegian nose dive. terrifying moments as two trucks slide off a snow-covered cliff. and the old college try, kentucky topples kansas to claim its 8th ncaa championship title. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning, i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a triple threat. republican front-runner mitt romney is hoping to win big in wisconsin, maryland and the nation's capital.

but romney's rivals say even a clean sweep won't knock him out of the presidential race. tracie potts has more from washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. good morning, everyone. newt gingrich and rick santorum say they are hanging in there even though their numbers don't look good in these primaries today. gingrich is $1.5 million in debt and sort of joked about that yesterday when asked saying he'd be glad for anyone spo tourt him to get him out of debt to live the american dream. rick santorum who has been the closest competitor to mitt romney has continually and again yesterday brought up the fact that he is facing, as he calls it, a money machine but he claims that his campaign is getting stronger the longer he's able to hang in there. mitt romney is a clear favorite, at least going into these primaries today, big 25-point lead on average in maryland. no competition from santorum in d.c. wisconsin where the focus has been, he's averaging about a

seven-point lead in the latest polls. his focus now has turned from his republican challengers to president obama. lynn? >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you. a controversial supreme court decision authorizing strip searches for anyone placed under arrest has critics crying foul. justice anthony kennedy sided with the high courts conservatives in a 5-4 ruling against a new jersey man who was strip searched twice after being arrested for a fine he had already paid. critics call strip searching for offenses as minor as unpaid parking tickets or illegal u-turns, unacceptable violation of privacy. president obama took a swing at the supreme court over its historic consideration of a nation's new health care law. the speaking yesterday, the president ramped up his rhetoric issuing a rare direct challenge to the high court to upheld what many consider to be the

signature achievement of his administration, referring to a public perception of judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint on the bench, the president expressed confidence the unelected group of nine would not overturn a, quote, constitutional law passed by a democratically elected congress. seven people are dead after a former student with a handgun went on a shooting rampage yesterday at a small christian university in oakland, california, the 43-year-old suspect randomly opened fire on students at oikos university, setting off mayhem on campus and prompting an intins manhunt by authorities. about an hour after the shootings, the suspect calmly walked into a grocery store, five miles away, and just employees, i just shot some people. the san francisco chronicle reports the former nursing student was involved in some kind of dispute with campus officials. shifting gears a bit, march

madness came to a conclusion last night inside the superdome in new orleans with the wildcats of kentucky laying claim to the 2012 ncaa national basketball championship. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> reporter: good morning. they were the number one seed in the tournament and now the kentucky wildcats are national champs. let's go to new orleans. kansas and kentucky, wildcats set the tone early on with defense. anthony davis did everything but score. earned mvp honors of 16 boards and 6 blocks. lamm carried the offense, knocked down a pair of big threes in the second half. the score, 67-59, their first title since 1998. much more on national title game coming up in sports. for now, back to you, lynn. >> thanks so much. overnight, on and around lexington kentucky kansas, more than 50 people were arrested, most on charges of intoxication

and disorderly conduct and several vehicles were set on fire. here's a look at other stories making news "early today" in florida. a small plane crashed into a supermarket monday evening with shoppers inside. five people, including two aboard the plane, were hurt. a customer said the building shook badly and the ceiling collapsed. witnesses heard the plane's engine in distress, just before the accident. in kentucky, surveillance video shows a driver who may have had a grudge with a diesel pump, driving right into it and then just taking off. but minutes later, the driver returned and aimed straight for the same pump. this time after hitting it, the truck backed up and then took off. no word on who did it or why. bizarre. finally in new york, ice cream, you scream. but some parents are screaming against ice cream carts. yes, that's right. parents s is in a brooklyn

neighborhood again complaining they don't want the treat being offered at a local playground. it means fighting with their kids who naturally want the sweets. no word if the cold feelings will lead to freezing out the vendors. for a look at the national and regional weather, who happens to be a resident of that commune in the brooklyn. they are notorious for being particular. >> it's a little much. >> about certain things and they started a blog about it. it's very interesting, let's put it that way. >> ice cream isn't going away. i'm the number one customer. here's what we're dealing with around the country, the heat in the middle of the nation hasn't stopped. yesterday, sioux city, iowa, 92 degrees. record high temperatures. it's the third day in a row. you were at 90 degrees. most other areas in the 80s.

you get the picture. still holding on to a little bit of that warmth. the storm system is bringing rain and thunderstorms and more cloud cover. i don't think we'll get the record highs in sioux city. wind damage along the gulf coast and louisiana. now we're dealing with thunderstorms in areas of oklahoma, wichita falls, north of texas and a strong line of storms. a lot of lightning, too. i'm sure that's waking people up and sending those storms slowly toward oklahoma city. it's april, once again we'll deal with strong thunderstorms. this area in yellow, oklahoma city, dallas, waco, another area here will see strong storms in the ohio valley. you're the ones that have to watch out for damaging wind, large hail, too. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. partly cloudy skies will be the rule in many areas for the east, beautiful day after a chilly start in new england, same forecast for the mid-atlantic. salt lake city, beautiful.

61 degrees. minneapolis, still a nice april day for you. i am not banning the ice cream so we can be on the record. >> are you trying to save your reputation. >> yes. >> i will continuously try to bring it down. coming up, manufacturing churns. who's calling for avon and a ball l ballot for buffett. you won't believe what daniel craig has planned live for the london olympics. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcop welcome back to "ear" ii'm lynn berry and here's som r of yop of your top he morning. the head of the u.s. general services administration has resigned and two of her top deputies have been fired in the wake of a report that says a 2010 training

conference at a las vegas resort cost taxpayers a staggering $822,000. among the lavish expenses, $3,200 to hire a mind reader and 75,000 for a team building exercise to construct a bicycle. immigration and customs officials say they've rounded up more than 3,100 criminal and fugitive immigrants for deportation during a six-day nationwide sweep. colombia's main rebel group freed ten military and police captives, some held for as many as 14 years. the country's president called the gesture insufficient to merit peace talks. video captured a tow truck and a tractor-trailer sliding off an icy mountain road in western norway. the tow truck driver managed to jump out in time and big-rig driver survived a 200 foot fall

with multiple fractures. and a businessman said he bought a sketch for 5 bucs only to discover it's an andy warhol original worth more than $2 million. now here's an early look at wall street. the dow opens at 13,264. the s&p was up 10 points, the nasdaq gained 28. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei lost 59 points but in hong kong, the hang seng climbed 268. the best first quarter for stocks in more than a decade got a little better on monday. news of a strong quarterly rise in u.s. manufacturing and hiring in that sector. that overshadowed earlier worries over weak global economic reports. the s&p closed at its highest level since may 2008 and the dow closed at its highest level since january '07. however, some of that enthusiasm

was offset by home building activity fell. cody was retoughed by avon after offering to buy the cosmetics company for $10 billion, avon shot up 17%. express scripts rose 2% after completing a $29.1 billion acquisition of medco health. this morning's "wall street journal" reports that the securities and exchange commission is looking into accounting practices at groupon. global payments says it won't know for weeks how much the cybertheft of 1.5 million credit card holders will damage its bottom line. the world bank of canada has been charged by u.s. regulators for hundreds of millions of dollars in allegedly illegals futures trades. ground beef processor afa foods filed for bankruptcy,

citing a nationwide uproar over an ammonia treated meat filler dubbed pink slime by critics. warren buffett, former paper boy and current owner of "the world herald" said i'm only a paper boy to the tune of "it's only a paper moon." jack of all trades there. can you hear the guy bragging about winning the office pool? more on the kentucky wildcats victory. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> like lynn won herself. uh-huh. the forecast all about severe weather, your forecast is coming up, you're watching "early today." save them.

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good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports as we mentioned earlier, the kentucky wildcats are college basketball's national champions. here's nbc's fred roggin back with more. >> reporter: hello again as i mentioned earlier, if you picked the number one seed in the tournament to win it all, you are feeling pretty good about your offensive pool right now. national title game, things got off to a spirited start in new orleans. michael kidd-gilchrist went down

hard. time and time again, ken can't's defense got points on the other end. anthony davis held scoreless in the first half but was filling up the score sheet with rebounds. kansas hung around in the second. robinson with the charge and the dunk got them to within ten. kansas wasn't going away without a fight. they made one final run in the final minutes. elijah johnson stopped and popped from beyond the arc. that got them within seven. that's as close as they would get. it's the school's eighth title. anthony davis becomes just the fourth freshman to win mvp. >> it was a joy to win a national championship, especially as freshman with this team that we have. we had a great team. we all go out there and play hard. when the buzzer went off and we had more points, it was just a

great moment. >> what a lesson for these young people, that if you share, give up some of yourself for everyone around you, care more about the teammates than yourself, it's amazing what you can accomplish and it doesn't matter your age. that's the lesson in this. even though they were young, it didn't matter how young you are, it's how you play together. >> that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. "early today" sports is brought to you by just for men mustache and beard, keep your edge. who's getting married, who has a new baby and who's getting back together for a sequel? your early morning entertainment headlines are coming up. and the excuses why you can't, coming up, the end to all excuses. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." we are watching a threat of thunderstorms. we have strong storms this morning near wichita falls, texas. later today we expand that to the dallas-ft. worth area, san antonio and back up through the ohio valley tomorrow it shifts to the southeast. pay attention near atlanta through the deep south. if you're watching us on lax 18 lexington, kentucky, i imagine people were up late last night. the pavilion was home to two dynasties at from within

emperor's garden. here's an early look at this morning's headlines and entertainment. alec baldwin is giving marriage another shot. the "30 rock" star who went through a bitle battle in his divorce with kim basinger popped the question last year to his 28-year-old yoga instructor. 57-year-old bruj willis welcomed a fourth child over the weekend, mable rey willis, his first with his wife of three years, emma. after 19 years, a sequel to "dumb and dumber." i can't believe it's been 19 years. neil patrick harris is fast becoming mr. tony. he will return to host june 2012's tony awards. "the hunger games" achieved a rare trifecta, number one film, aim bum and book all at the same time. england and sun reports the

queen personally invited daniel craig inside buckingham palace to shoot a special film for the opening ceremonies of the london olympics. this comes to us from wsav news 3 on your side, in savannah, georgia where in nearby hilton head, south carolina, proof you've officially run out of excuses not to exercise. uncle frank is 102 years old. he hits the gym on average 5 to 6 timdays a week, 2 hours a day. next month he turns 103. let's all go to the gym. 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 have mostly clear skies overnight. it is pretty mild right now in the downtown area. 48 degrees. we're seeing temperatures in the 30's outside the city. 35 in parkton. there could be some frost out there north and west of the city if you park outside. as we head into the afternoon, we're expecting temperatures into the upper 60's with plenty of sunshine. even warmer into tomorrow's

forecast. >> 37 degrees on tv hill. >> a major controversy surrounding the-millions winner. -- mega millions winner. >> a battle for the badger state. >> accounts meant wants to get rid of the police chief -- a councilman wants to get rid of the police chief. >> we will update

[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 am lisa robinson. >> i am stan stamp. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> a cold start to the morning. >> dress