finity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪ therefore it's what matters. there's always a bull market somewhere, i'm jim cramer and i will see you tomorrow! this morning on earth "early today," new numbers show president obama and mitt romney in a close race. decision day. attorneys for george zimmerman ask a florida judge to set him free. mission museum, nasa's space shuttle discovery is welcomed home at the smithsonian. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for friday, april 20th, 2012. hello, good morning, i'm lynn berry. today we begin with poll positions. the latest polls find that the point president obama is ahead of presumptive republican candidate mitt romney in a head-to-head match-up.

romney is in a strong enough position to make it a close election. nbc news political director chuck todd reports. >> reporter: thanks to large leads among women, hispanics and in thes, the president begins with a 49-43 advantage over mitt romney. but it's the six point margin that is by no means in sure mountable. the good news for mr. obama is how his standing today compares with other incumbent presidents seeking reelection. 49-46 job rating is identical to where george w. bush was. a tad lower than clinton. much better than george hw bush in 1992. the president is more likeable than romney and candidate more in touch with the middle class. this gap is something romney is so aware of he's mentioning it in speeches. >> even if you like barack obama, we can't afford barack obama it's time to get someone

that will get this economy going and put the american people back to work with good jobs and rising incomes. >> reporter: there is a reason romney wants to focus on obama's policies and not personality. by 40 to 34 margin, romney is seen to have good ideas on how to improve the economy. also viewed more likely to change business as usual in washington. the big debate in the campaign will be on economic philosophy and we tested without at try but shun the main arguments most candidates have been making. >> i said it before and i'll say it again there has to be some balance. all of us have to do our fair share. >> reporter: 76% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate advocating that. >> i want to restore to america the values of economic freedom and opportunity and small government that have made this nation the leader it is. >> reporter: 64% said that message would make them more likely to support that candidate. chuck todd, nbc news,

washington. more secret service employees could lose their jobs because of the prostitution scandal. this according to members of congress. following the incident, at a hotel in colombia, two of the three people who left the agency have been identified as greg stokes and david chaney, both hired a lawyer who says that stokes will challenge his dismissal. chaney posted photographs of himself protecting former republican vice president shall candidate sarah palin saying "i was really checking her out." palin calls it government run amuck. a bond scheduled hearing for george zimmerman charged with the death of trayvon martin. nbc's jay gray has the details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, lynn. a few hours away we expect to see george zimmerman and his legal team move in a courtroom

here in sanford, hopefully on their side to walk out of that courtroom and out of the seminal county justice center today. he has been behind bars over a week after being charged with second degree murder in the case today, a hearing could mark the first time zimmerman and trayvon martin's parents are in the same room together since the shooting. they are expected to be part of the hearing, requested to be there by the special prosecutor who is in charge of this case. they could testify in this hearing. we also expect to hear from zimmerman's family, though they won't be in the courtroom for safety concerns. his attorney has argued and won they can testify during this hearing by phone, so it should be interesting to see this thing play out. still, emotions very high here in florida and around the country as they continue to watch this high profile case. that is the latest from florida, jay gray, lynn, back to you now. jay, thanks so much. now here is a look at other stories making news "early today," disturbing and graphic images, comes to us from

philadelphia where a robber shot three people at a take-out restaurant. after ordering, the men to go outside the store, the gunman looks around opens fire and takes off. another view shows two of the victims as they were hit. as they ran for cover, the shooter returned and started firing again. hitting a third man. who is now in the hospital. police released the video they are looking for the shooter and the first two victims. a scare in the skies over new york, a delta airlines passenger recorded video of a burn strike in one of the jet's engines. the kind of incident that caused the "miracle on the hudson" this time the pilot safely returned to kennedy airport. finally, in california, a goose is wandering around with an arrow impaled through the mid-section. folks have been trying to catch the bird to help it out but the goose moves around too quickly,

fish and game officials say they are now going to get involved but the little guy is doing okay, it's just hard to watch there. now for the look at national and regional weather, bill karins. >> canadian geese, one through an engine, another with an arrow through the mid-section. a tough day. tough day. interesting forecast, the east coast and sunday night into monday for new england, the storm system is getting together now, producing thunderstorms around oklahoma city, late in the evening, produced large hail. in between oklahoma city and wichita falls. this morning some of the showers are heading through springfield, joplin, fort smith, north side of dallas good size thunderstorms popping up with lightning strikes, not severe or tornado or anything, this is how it plays out. west really warms up, big dip in the jet stream and this is where the storm will be focusing. initially, it will dip down in the gulf of mexico, only

providing rain for north florida and florida itself. cold front going through the east on saturday afternoon will spark showers and storms, that will be hit and miss. won't be a wash-out of a saturday. by the time we get to sunday the storm begins to strengthen along the georgia-south carolina coastline, all that moisture should be moving up a stalled out frontal system along the north carolina coast. looks like late in the day sunday is when the rain makes it up to the big cities of i-95, sunday night into monday, a nor'easter near new york city, nasty conditions monday morning up in new england. we'll follow that as the weekend progresses. that is a look at your national forecast, here is the weather outside your window. showers and thunderstorms along the front today possible, in areas like ohio late this afternoon. going to be a rainy cool day in the great lakes, down through areas like memphis and nashville chaf a chance of showers and storms. warmer and beautiful in salt lake city. recap the weekend forecast coming up, east coast, 50-50.

bill, thanks so much. coming up, iphone sales slip, microsoft drives and starbuck debugs the menu. early morning business headlines are straight ahead. have movie goers had their fill of "the hunger games"? a thriller between the blackhawks and coyotes. dwight howard is done for the year and the only hat trick wasn't done on the ice. you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today" i'm lynn berry here is top headlines this morning. new york police and fbi are digging up a basement as they investigate the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old etan patz. the case helped spark the missing childrens movement including new legislation and their photos on milk cartons.

in southwest afghanistan, a u.s. army helicopter crashed during a night time mission in bad weather with four u.s. soldiers on board. a u.s. official says there were no survivors. rocker levon helm, the drummer of "the band" died at age 71. during a visit to the henry ford museum in michigan, president obama was photographed sitting on the bus in which rosa parks made her 1955 protest against segregation by refusing to move to the back. the space shuttle discovery is now at the smithsonian national air and space museum. enterprise will leave the smithsonian next week for display at the intrepid museum. the world's oldest living man, he just celebrated his 115th birthday in japan yesterday. he looks great. the father of seven children, he has 14 grandchildren, 25

great-grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren. he says eating small portions of food is his secret to longevity. now here is an early look how wall street will kick off. the dow opened at 12,964 after losing 68 points yesterday. s&p lost 8 points. nasdaq fell 23. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei was down 27 points, but in hong kong the hang seng was up 15. despite a slew of reports, fear factors spooked investors in selling thursday. rising spanish bond yields and rumors of a downgrade to france's credit rating added to economic woes in the u.s. including disappointing dip in weekly jobless claims and less than stellar reports on housing and manufacturing. apple was a drag on the nasdaq, dropping 3% on news verizon's iphone sales were 25% lower than the previous quarter.

microsoft could spark a text bounce thanks to a surge in windows and office software for businesses. banks were a bright spot with morgan stanley and bank of america both beating the earnings estimates. elsewhere, high end luggage maker tumi soared 50% on the first day of public trade. on the eve of the second anniversary of the gulf oil spill, the justice department ordered bp to pay more than $64 million to some 7300 victims. the government ruled their initial claims were either short-changed or wrongfully denied. and finally, squeamish starbucks customers have spoken and by the end of june, the company will replace a red dye used in drinks and menu items made from crushed beetles. with a vegan friendly food coloring made from tomatoes. who knew it was an issue. the heat burn the bulls, and the coyotes top the blackhawks

in overtime. plus, it is three at-bats and three home runs for one yankees slugger. the sports headlines are straight ahead. the weekend forecast is all about the heat in the west and soaker up the east coast. the forecast is coming up you're watching "early today."

good morning, if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night the devils goalie saved his way in the nhl record books. here is nbc's agreed rogan with a look at the sports headlines. good morning it wasn't just another playoff game for the devils martin brodeur it was a crowning achievement. he made history, stopped everything that came his way, 26 saves, his 24th shutout of the postseason. that moved him in first place on the all time shutout list. the devils offense gave him support, ilya kovalchuk with his second of the playoffs. deja vu for the blacks and coyotes, every game went to overtime. third time chicago has forced ot in the final minutes. michael boedker scored the game

winner, they won 3-2 can eliminate chicago. alex ovech kin has to work the boards, lost his balance and fell on his wallet. he was all right and caps were better. semin gave washington the lead capitals beat the bruins 2-1. nba dwight howard done for the season. surgery on a herniated disincome his back and miss the entire postseason and olympics in july. match up of eastern powers in miami bulls with the chance to lock down the top seed, lebron wasn't having it. 15 points in the first quarter alone, then in the third, the circus was in town. the acrobatic shot fell, james had 27, the heat won it 83-72. finally the nhl playoffs are in full swing the only hat rick was on the diamond. yankee curtis grander son hit three home runs, matched career high fit hits. powered the yankees to 7-6 win. that is the early look at sports on "early today" i'm fred

roggin. another case of tmi, from a celebrity mom, early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. how a young boy managed to bring a major league game to a screeching halt. you're watching "early today."

>> great friday morning towel come back to "early today." update on the forecast.

through the weekend showers and storms in oklahoma and texas will move to the little rock in the evening. southeast, along the gulf coast from new orleans through florida. best chance for heavy rain through saturday. sunday afternoon and evening the heavy rain should move up the east coast especially in the carolinas sunday morning and new england sunday night. if you're watching us on channel 4 in nashville, learn about recycling and reducing trash at earth day celebration at macedonia recreation center that is "early today" event of the day. bill, thanks so much. an early look at headlines in entertainment. after 28 straight days at the top of the box office, it appears the "the hunger games" rein will come to an end this weekend. "think like a man" is about four men whose love lives are disrupted whether their partners begin using advice from a book written by steve harvey.

it's expected to take the top spot with $19 million. in close second, "the lucky one" stars zac efron as a marine trying to track down a female that he believed kept him out of harm's way. should pull in $16.5. >> painful. >> i'll warn you this is like squirm ish, hillary duff tells people magazine she celebrated her four week old son's biggest mile to date, his belly button falling off. she kept the momento, she has it stored in a freezer bag in the back of her make up drawer. okay. >> i mean -- >> is this -- >> the last question between the mom and baby. they don't want to let go. >> do a lot of moms do that? >> i say more than not. >> this is what everybody else at the office told me. i need to be brought up to speed i thought you would be the expert. i don't know why.

>> i don't know if i would. >> you only have two kids. >> this comes to us from chicago. where a little boy did something every little boy has probably dreamed up but should never do. he ran on the field during a major league baseball game. the child was quickly scooped up by a chicago white sox left fielder, but not before causing the entire game to be halted. the ball player handed the boy off to security, who took him back in the stands, his family was then tossed out because of mlb rules. that is rough. they couldn't have found him milk or something? i'm lynn berry this is "early today" your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

. . . >> we have rain into the forecast. show you the seven-day in just a few minutes. >> come on, man. there's no redos in tv. all right. 4:57, 48 degrees on tv hill. coming up on 11 news today -- >> the maryland state comptroller is calling for all school systems to start the next school year later than

normal. plus -- >> our county police believe that they have solved the cold murder case. i'm jennifer franciotti. details are next. >> two of the secret service agents accused in a colombian sex scandal identified. i'm tracie potts in washington. the story is next. >> and sarah caldwell taking a look at your more than commute. we have one accident already. it's in howard county on a major roadway there. we'll update that coming up.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] >> happy friday. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> we have a nice day to start the week? >> over the weekend, we're going to get rain, but i know it's the weekend. we really need it. we're almost in a drought situation. when you see the seven-day forecast, don't get too mad, but today is going to be nice. go outside and play today. take a look at the current