because lime-a-way is specially formulated to conquer hard water stains. for lime, calcium and rust... lime-a-way is a must. this morning on "early today," primary pounce. republican presidential candidate mitt romney sweeps contests in five northeastern states. sicilian spectacle. mound etna sends lafr va in the night sky. french jam, a confused driver makes a wrong turn in paris. captions paid for by nbc-universal television blooip. this is early today for april 25th, dwfl. today we begin with the romney route. mitt romney made a big move toward winning the republican nomination last night notching five primary victories.

brian mooar reports. >> reporter: if there were any doubts mitt romney was going to be the republican nominee, he erased them tuesday night with a clean sweep this connecticut, delaware, new york, pennsylvania and rhode island. >> i can say with confidence and gratitude that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility. and together, we are going to win on november 6th. rick santorum who dropped out earlier this month, stopped just short of endorsing romney on cnn. >> it's very clear he will be the republican nominee and i'll be for the republican nominee. >> newt gingrich didn't drop out, but tipped his hat to romney. >> a night he has worked hard for, for six years. and that if he does end up as the nominee, i think every conservative in this country has to be committed to defeating barack obama. >> romney and obama are battling each other for the younger voters who could swing the elections. at campuses in north carolina

and colorado the president focused on student loans. >> we only finished paying off students loans eight years ago. i'm the president of the united states. >> reporter: he also got laughs on nbc's "late night with jimmy fallon." >> do you know mitt romney? >> i met him but we're not friends. >> reporter: that is an under statement as the two candidates get ready to go head-to-head. the second day of the john edwards trial brought more testimony from the prosecution's star witness, an aide to the former senator. accused of illegally using campaign funds to cover up an affair in 2008. jay gray has more now from north carolina. >> reporter: as john edwards returned to the federal courthouse in greens bror, andrew young, returned to the witness stand. >> this case is no longer about the united states versus john edwards, it's clear from the opening statements this case is

about john edwards versus andrew young. >> reporter: young outlined a complex system was created by edwards to collect money from rich friends including multi-million near bunny melon to hide his pregnant mistress, rielle hunter. edwards told him to give her a monthly allowance in may of 2007 after she threatened to exposed their affair. >> andrew young described john edwards role as the director of the entire operation. that it was john edwards' idea to go to bunny melon to ask for funds that could wind up supporting rielle hunter that edwards knew and gave guy ans how the money flow should take place to cover the tracks. >> reporter: when discussing plan that funneled through the bank account young said "it was crazy we were all scared to death and felt extremely uneasy about it." he talked about confronts

edwards. he called young crazy, harsh words analysts could come back to haunt the defense if jurors believe edwards spoke that way about the mother of his child. jay gray, nbc news, greensboro, north carolina. the secret service is done with the probe in the colombian prostitution scandal. there are signs of more trouble ahead. three more secret service employees lost their jobs with two resigning and a third losing his national security clearance. this morning's "washington post" reports several secret service employees who resigned last week are considering fighting to keep their job may detail how senior managers tolerated similar behavior on previous official trips. defense secretary leon panetta announced tuesday three marines and an embassy staffer in brazil have been punished for allegedly pushing a prostitute out of a car late last year after a dispute over pavement.

cameras captured a dramatic armed robbery at a deli full of customers. the gunman pushed several items to the ground including the cash register. the clerk can be seen grabbing whatever money he could and handing it over. police have identified at least one person of interest. in louisiana, a powerful memorial for those killed by drivers while working in road construction zones. each one of these cones represents one of the 576 people who died across the country in 2010 while trying to make our highways safer. 15 killed in louisiana alone. finally, the last place you would expect any cow to voluntarily go. workers at mcdonald's snapped a photo of a cow named dar see hanging out in the drive through lane poking her head through the window. the animal wandered off a farm a half mile away. the owner says she is normally a good cow but likes to break out

of her pen when she is bored. now a look at national and regional weather, here is bill karins he has the weather channel forecast. turn on the fries. >> eat more chicken, please. >> there you go. >> that is a slogan, too. good morning, everyone. amazing ex-strems this spring. in some spots in the east, unbelievably, will be warmer in march than it will be for this april and that includes areas like atlanta, just incredible that after that very warm period in march we had an average april. shows you how crazy march was. all the heat has shifted to the west. all of the hot conditions over the last couple days even the last week have been all the way from the desert southwest to the northern plains. numerous record highs once again yesterday, denver we had a record high of 88 yesterday. salt lake city record high of 86. that is three days in a row of record highs in salt like city. that is rare for a place to have that many days in a row with record heat. this morning, not a lot has

changed, a little bit of a weak system heading diving down through kentucky in areas of the south carolina and showers in minnesota. rain heading toward charlotte, north carolina, sprinkles out there today in the carolinas, maybe light rain at worst, not a lot of wet weather. east coast looks dry. later this afternoon, we'll have a chance of a few showers and thunderstorms minneapolis and chicago, but won't rain all day. that is a look at national forecast, here is a look at the weather outside your window. new york city today, sunny start, cloudy finish, cool air aloft will continue to have afternoon clouds, should be dry. charlotte, north carolina,chances of sprinkles. orlando, florida, new orleans, gorgeous along with heat. colorado continues to be the hot spot on the map today once again, near record highs. bill, thanks so much. coming up, apple shines, housing prices improve, and the pe

pizza way, way over the stop. that may be an under statement. business headlines are straight ahead. rosie sets her sights on troubled star let lindsay lohan. coming up a birthday bash for chipper jones, the nba suspends metta world peace and devils force game seven. you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some top headlines. the justice department has filed the first criminal charges in the bp oil spill against a former engineer they say destroyed hundreds of text mess angs indicating the blown out well was spewing more crude than the company was telling the public at the time. u.s. officials tell nbc news they are certain north korea will conduct an underground nuclear test within the next two weeks. they reveal north korea may have already have up to several dozen

nuclear warheads. pakistan test fired a nuclear capable ballistic missile. this comes just days after india launched the first intercontinental ballistic missile. another spectacular show from italy's mount etna, volcano its erupting for the seventh tie this year. quite a surprise in paris, the drivers miss took the stairs in a metra station for an underground parking garage. no one was hurt, the car was undamaged. now here is an early look at one of the top health lines. a dangerous new trend among teenagers, drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk. it sent some teens to the emergency room with alcohol poisoning. in some cases teens disstilled the hand sanitizer products using salt to sprait the alcohol to make a drink more potent than

vodka or at the quill la. for more information on this and other stories check out the health pain at msnbc.com. now here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,001 after adding 74 points yesterday. the s & p up 5 points. nasdaq down eight. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei gained 92 points. but in hong kong the hang seng down 30. healthy earnings pushed the dow higher, the most valuable company today is rebounding. after the closing bell apple reportedly sold 35 million iphones in the first quarter of the year, almost twice as many as last year. earnings were way above forecasts. earlier at&t reported better than expected profits. propelling the dow. 3m boosted the dow with

impressive quarterly earnings. a new case of mad cow disease was found in one dairy cow at an an i mail disposeal facility in california but the animal was not bound for the food supply, and the agriculture department says there is no danger. the federal reserve ends the two-day meeting today and is widely expected to take no action on interest rates. the nation's housing market is actually improving, the federal housing financial agency reporting prices up in february, the first increase in their index since the credit crunch five years ago. the long-await the facebook ipo may be delayed by a week because of the company's purchase of patents from microsoft and acquisition of instagram. finally, there are no words for this. in the middle east, pizza hut is selling the new crown crust burger pizza. a pizza surrounded by a crust of mini cheese burgers, topped with

lettuce, onions, tomato, pieces of beef, and unidentified special sauce. i just don't know what would you do with that. coming up the hawks claw the clippers, the cubs down the cards, and a small suspension for the big elbow. plus the devils win in overtime forcing game seven against the panthers. your early morning sports headlines are ahead. wet weather and you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night the devils avoided elimination in hockey's span lee cup playoffs. here is fred roggin with a look at the sports headlines. good morning how close have the stanley cups playoffs been in the eastern conference? three games seven pz in the first to new jersey devils had to win to stay alive, that is what they did, got it done in overtime against the panthers. ilya kovalchuk, that is the game winner. game seven tomorrow night. basketball, lakers metta world peace suspended seven games for his vicious elbow to the head of james harden.

that occurred sunday, world peace claimed the contact was part of an overzealous celebration. metta will miss the final game of the regular season and next simms games in the playoffs. lakers locked down third place without playing. hawks beat the clippers. joe johnson knocked down six 3 pz. heat andcelts, scored 66. the bulls guaranteed first place. jazz headed to the playoff. al jefferson scored eight straight in the fourth. 100-88. for the second night in a row the cubs beat the cards, two on for alfonso soriano, scorched one to second. 3-2 in 10. call this a birthday bash. chipper jones celebrated 40th

birthday by ripping a solo home run. with a name like chipper hard to believe that jones is now 40. that is the early look at sports on "early today" i'm fred roggin. coming up, mel gibson is wanted and so are the kardashians. the early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus the president moves in on territory normally reserved for nbc's brian williams. we'll explain. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." umbrellas need in virginia and upstate of south carolina, north carolina, shower activity heading through your region. this afternoon, chicago chance of showers, raining light fly minneapolis. warm air record highs possible today once again around kansas city, tomorrow cooling off with showers and thunderstorms from denver to kc. if you're watching us on wbebh, nbc 2, fort myers, florida, art in the gardens, snakes and lizards eded a ediso and forward estates. despite his most recent meltdown caught on tape, apparently mel gibson still isn't finished in hollywood. according to the hollywood

reporter robert rod ri grez wants him to join the sequel to machete. are you sick of the kardashians? >> no, more, i want more. >> keeping up kt kardashians will be renewed for another three seasons, rest easy. >> i want each girl to have their own show, oh wait, they do. on the 20002000 rosie o'donnell is against lindsay lohan playing liz taylor. she made it clear she doesn't think much of lohan's acting abilities saying "i don't think she is capable at this point of doing what is needed to proper tray that character." that is nicer than what you say. later lindsey has estranged dad michael told tmz who is rosie o'donnell to judge anyone especially lindsay who has more talent than rosie ever had. the belt. this comes to us from n

university of north carolina, jimmy fallon welcomed a special guest. sta talked about student loans republicans slow jamming the news. >> they have to make the rate increase work, frankly i don't buy it. >> mmm-mmm the barack-ness monster ain't buying it. >> the barack-ness monster. there were some of those. >> jimmy cheated on brian williams. i don't care if it was the president. >> brian seems to have a good sense of humor, he's okay with it. >> are you sure he's all right with it? >> i think so. on nightly, he did a tease and handed over the reins for a day. i'm lynn berry this is earthert the first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

>> good morning. things abate nice and quiet on this wednesday. we started out with temperatures in the 30's jessamy -- things will be nice and quiet on this wednesday. checking out in the 30's in the far western suburbs. 50 downtown. it will be a warmer day. temperatures will climb into the upper 60's this afternoon. a mixture of sun and clouds. we will check the seven-day forecast going all the way into the weekend. >> 4:57. 42 degrees on tv hill. >> the governor talks special session with several state

leaders. >> the investigation continues into the stabbing of a baby girl. details are next. >> >> sarah caldwell checking on your morning commute. some closures to report in the city. we will check on the major

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> a little different. i am stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> looks like a good day today. >> it is a little chilly right now. we will make it into