it keeps getting better. no wonder more people choose xfinity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪ this morning on "early today" bizarre twist, lawyers for the shooter in the trayvon martin case say they can't find him, and they are stepping aside. and of the trail, the republican presidential field narrows as rick santorum ends his bid for the white house. and ma'am oth find, scientists unveil a largely intact 42,000-year-old animal. this is "early today" for wednesday, april 11th, 2012. hello, good morning i'm lynn berry. today we begin with suspenseful wait, florida special prosecutor in the trayvon martin case says within the next 72 hours she

will release new information from her investigation. it's her job to decide whether george zimmerman will face charges in the february shooting death of the unarmed black teenager. whatever happens, zimmerman will be needing new lawyers. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: like so much in the case. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: the announcement was sudden and jarring. >> we've lost contact with him, up to this point we had contact every day, he has gone on his own, i am not sure what he's doing or who he's talking to. but at this point we are withdrawing has counsel. >> reporter: the now former-attorneys aren't sure where he is, haven't talked to him in days and they are worried. >> george zimmerman in our opinion and information made available to us is not doing well emotionally, probably suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. we're concerned for his safety. >> reporter: and concerned he reached out to special

prosecutor angela corey. >> one of the things every defense attorney says don't talk to the prosecutorors cops or anybody. >> reporter: citing legal and ethical boundaries, corey refused to talk to the man. representatives of the martin family are talking tonight. >> we're very surprised. >> and frustrated. martin's parents concerned about the latest twist in the case. >> today the killer of trayvon martin is unaccounted for. that is extremely troubling for them. in fact we are really concerned whether or not he is a flight risk. they said he was not in the state of florida and so we are really concerned if he's ever going to be brought to justice. >> a question that his parents. >> no justice, no spaes. >> reporter: and supporters asking for a month now. jay gray, nbc news, sanford, florida. the field of contenders

vying for the republican presidential nomination is a little smaller this morning after former pennsylvania senator rick santorum dropped out of the race yesterday. nbc's tracie pots has more from washington. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. santorum says he's not done fighting but now done seeking the nomination. leaves it open for mitt romney to capture. romney's reaction? this has been a good day for me, he says, he's now able to focus forward to the fall campaign with president obama, assuming he gets that nomination. newt gingrich says, though, "i'm still here, still campaigning, not dropping out" neither is ron paul. but neither nomination. president obama is focusing not on romney specifically but on his wealth and that of millionaires who he says should pay a larger chunk of their income in taxes. the president spent the day in

florida talking about that indicating that romney's wealth could become a big issue in the fall campaign. >> tracie, thank you. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america, in california, a scare. 400 pound black bear made its way out of the mountains right in a residential neighborhood. it crawled across cars and could be seen attempting to climb a fence. fish and game wardens were able to use a tranquilizer dart on the bear, capturing it and set it back in the wild. in oregon, more than 20 people swarmed in a convenience store in suspect fed flash mob robbery. similar robberies nation-wide may have been organized through social media. a freeway chase came to a violent end. balls with pepper spray were

shot at the man after the man stumbled out of the vehicle. it shut down a highway in both directions. in new york, if you can't get away from working out at the gym, that is no excuse. one office installed computers attached to treadmills, you can work and work out at the same time. no escaping it. one employee started out slow and says you don't realize you're burning calories while you're earning your paycheck. now for a look at national and regional weather, a skeptical meterologist bill karins, you don't think that will work? >> it would be interesting. >> i'm not sure we could do that. be distracting. >> i have like five computers, it would be quite the set-up. good morning, everyone. this morning a cold morning, another dry morning, we certainly need the rainfall in the eastern half of the country. getting in a dangerous

situation, our droughts are increasing. usually springtime we have the snow melt, we didn't have the snow and now haven't had the rain. the cold dry air is filtering down. freeze warnings, minneapolis, chicago, ohio valley. here is the freeze line through dakotas, through iowa and just south of chicago, in indianapol indianapolis. a shot of cold air, growing season well underway in these areas, some of the magnolia trees can get damaged. as far as the northeast, more showers this afternoon, also still have a little bit of wet weather, we didn't have too much severe storms yesterday with you still showers and downpours, north of oklahoma city near tulsa, fort smith, little rock area. if you're in those locations bring the umbrella with you we could see scattered storms, dry and chilly in the northern planes and warm and moist in texas. everyone else, very quiet. that is a look at the national forecast, here is weather outside your window. in denver, we will see a

chance of afternoon storms, most of the day dry, some of the storms in the front range could be on the strong side, temperatures warm there, too, getting in the mid 70s. beautiful weather in atlanta after a chilly start, nice afternoon. the big story, no rain. we haven't had a lot of rain on the eastern seaboard this spring. bill, thanks so much. >> alcoa kicks off earnings, as if filing taxes wasn't enough, what you need to know about tax day. the business headlines are straight ahead. everyone knows the simpsons live in springfield, now we know which springfield. >> ozzie guillen apologized, the boys in blue celebrate dodger stadium in style, you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today" i am lynn berry. north korea is loading fuel they mplan to launch in orbit. the u.s. is urging the mission be cancelled because of the ban on tests. a south korean airliner made an emergency landing in canada under escort from two american fighter jets. the flight to seoul was diverted after takeover from vancouver after a telephone bomb threat. syrian troops continue attacks on opposition forces but kofi annan insists syria will respect a cease fire starting tomorrow. u.s. secretary of state, hillary clinton, says syria is now becoming a regional security issue. the maryland winners of part of the giant mega millions jackpot came forward to accept their big checks, $218 million. but they kept their faces hidden

and they wore gloves. the trio, a man and two women who work in public schools, call themselves the three amigos and will keep working. good for them. and a 42,000-year-old baby wooly mammoth is going on display in asia. it was frozen in the ice age, while she lost most of her hair, otherwise she is the best-preserved wooly mammoth ever found. now here is an early look at one of the top health lines on msn msnbc.com. the risk of dental x-raies done before ten, can increase brain tumors. the tumors are usually not malignant. people should not stop going to the dentist but discuss minimizing exposure to radiation. for more information on this

and other stories check out msnbc.com. "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil screening kit. this is a look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opened at 12,715 after tumbling 213 yesterday. s & p dropped 23 points, nasdaq sank 55. in tokyo the nikkei fell 79 points, in hong kong the hang seng dipped 215. upbeat earnings after the bale from alcoa could bring cheer. after the market closed it was the first blue chip out of the earnings gate. the aluminum maker reported much better quarterly earnings than wall street expected hoping an end to the five day losing streak. yesterday, wall street suffered the worst loss of the year. investors are worried and brewing debt crisis in spain.

the dollar tresh rasuries and g as investors searched for safer bets. the nasdaq finish eed below 3,000 a month. apple hit $600 million tuesday before joining the downward trend. best buy took a hit after the ceo resigned and the company investigation into his "personal conduct." home builders lennar and pulte tumbled 6%. caterpillar led industrial lowers after march sales in china plunged 50%. nevis lost on news the fda will review a weight loss drug for three months. grocery chain super value jumped 15% on full year forecast. finally, death and taxes may be along life's few certainties, come on people let's try to

prevent a double whammy. traffic accident deaths have risen by 6% on tax day for each of the last 30 years. please, let's all chill out, get some sleep, and be sure not to hit the bottle before hitting the road on april 17th or any other day. coming up the braves get a boost, celtics beat the heat, no rose, no problem for the chicago bulls. plus a game-winning homer by a birthday boy on dodger stadium's 50th anniversary. the early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> another spring day, cool and rainy weather on the west coast, we need it on the east coast, your forecast coming up you're watching "early today."

good morning, if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports, scandal has claimed the job of yet another major college football coach, here is mario solis with an early look at the sports headlines. good morning. we'll start with big news from college football the university of arkansas fired head roach bobby petrino after lying about a relationship with a 25-year-old coworker and her involvement in a accident. the married father of four

mislead the school when arkansas hired his mistress as student athlete coordinator. baseball, it wasn't just another home opener for the dodger, the 50th anniversary. this one had an ending out of a script. andre ethier, hitting the game winner, on his 30th birthday. the dodgers beat the pirates 2-1. yankees and orioles, raul ibanez rallied to win in the 12th. >> chipper jones returning, hit in the first at-bat. in the second, ab, this happens, a two-run bomb, chipper is back and so are the braves getting the first w of the year with the 6-4 win over the stros. the marlins suspended ozzie guillen five games for commenting about his admiration about his leader of fidel castro. he apologized yesterday calling

it the worst mistake of his life. derrick rose sitting out another game and the bulls getting another win. hard to believe chicago might be better without the mvp. the bulls avenging the loss to the knicks with a win. with everyone talking about the bulls, knicks and heat you can't overlook the celtics. they are moving up the standings, giving miami more than they handle. boston wins 115-107. kristin wiig talks about leaving snl. they say the more likely you are to need an alarm clock the more likely it is not to wake you up. one inventor thinks he has the answer. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this wednesday. cold chilly morning, a few showers in new england, a few thunderstorms in the midwest. most areas will remain dry. not a lot of wet weather today. we slowly warm it up tomorrow in areas chilly this morning like chicago, up to minneapolis. if you're watching us on wxia, 11 live in atlanta, georgia learn stories told through artifacts. titanic the artifact exhibition.

for years the viewers of the simpsons have wondered whi eed live in? >> illinois. it's named after springfield, oregon. near portland. lived on a street named evergreen terrace. english boy band "one direction" is being sued by a group which filed for a trademark on the name first. they want the group to change their name and they are suing cowell's record label and sony music for a million dollars in damages. kristen wiig has spoken out about leaving saturday night live. she was asked about it on alec baldwin's podcast and says everyone has to leave. she added when she does, it

won't be because she is sick of it or because she has something better, it will be because it's time. >> she broke my heart. this comes to us from hoboken, new jersey, in the battle of sleep the alarm clock has won out. if that sound drives you crazy, that is the point. it's rigged so you can't turn it off until you get out of the bed, head to the bathroom and type in a code. that code changes daily you have to stop and think about it every time but not foolproof, it might not survive if you smash it. >> he shouldn't survive. >> it's self-inflicted. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today" the first stop of the day, today on nur nbc station. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

test, test, test. . . . . . test, test. .

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we're off to a quiet but chilly start on this wednesday morning. we have the possibility for some rain showers this afternoon. down to 34 in frederick. 39 at the airport. 44 degrees in the city. sunshine to start. 30% chance for rain shower. high temperature in the mid 50's. we will come back and check the forecast going into the weekend. >> 39 degrees on tv hill. >> who owns the winning ticket

in the mega millions jackpot. >> closing arguments today in the trial of the two brothers accused of setting a dog on fire. >> rick santorum suspenses presidential campaign. what it means for the gop race. >> so far so good on the major roadways. we have some

[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. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> hump day. >> today will be the chilliest day of the week. it will