very good morning to you. coming up on "early today," baltimore celebrates a super bowl victory complete with a power outage. a powerful halftime show, and some super-sized ads and one heck of a game, all straight ahead. plus, president obama takes his gun control message to the twin cities today as michael bloomberg sticks to the nra with a powerful ad. plus, the 5-year-old hostage held hostage in alabama heads into the fifth day. leon panetta said his catholic religion had an impact on his life and death decisions. and rumors of muhammad ali's death are premature. we'll explain. death are premature. we'll explain. "early today" starts right now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

very good monday morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. we begin with a developing tragedy in southern california. a bus carrying a tour group from tijuana collided with two other vehicles on the highway west of los angeles killing eight and injuring more. authorities say the driver reported brake problems as the bus came down the mountain. it rear-ended a car before flipping and hitting a pickup truck that was hauling a trailer. passengers described the scene. >> starts to move so fast, and the people start screaming. >> two or three minutes swerving in and out? >> yeah. >> everybody was scared. everybody was screaming. >> the bus was reportedly returning from a ski outing to big bear. well, today president obama will travel to minneapolis to push his proposal for broader gun control measures in the wake of the deadly school shooting in newtown, connecticut. tracie potts is live in washington with more on that.

and a new photo of the president that's been raising some eyebrows, tracie? >> reporter: absolutely. he's traveling to minnesota because that's a state that's made a big push to curb gun violence, especially in minneapolis. that's the setting, the backdrop behind president obama pushing federal proposals. take a look at this picture. it is the president, gun in hand, skeet shooting at camp david. over the weekend, the white house released the photo. critics are saying it's an obvious effort, as they put it, to pander to conservatives, making the point that the president supports the second amendment while pushing for gun-control measures. one measure that does seem to be gaining some momentum on capitol hill are universal background checks. it was yesterday, you may have seen it during the super bowl game, when the mayors for illegal guns, mayor bloomberg's group, ran this after columbine accusing the nra of a flip-flop,

supporting background checks now against it. the ceo of the nra says there's no discrepancy here. they did not support universal background checks back then or now. they were only talking about gun shows. all of this as the debate continues, and we wait, continues and we wait, veronica, to see if anything will materialize on capitol hill, legislation that looks like it could actually get passed. >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. a 25-year-old man is being held today on charges of killing a former navy s.e.a.l. eddie ray routh is facing capital murder charges in the shooting death of chris kyle, a u.s. sniper who starred in the reality series "stars earn stripes." kyle and a friend were gunned down at a north texas shooting range. >> in an interview with the "today" show last year, kyle said he had no regrets about his actions in combat. >> every person i killed, i have a clear conscience of because they were actively trying to harm americans, allies, or civilians. >> routh was a military veteran, but his motives are still unclear.

he's being held on $3 million bond. we are entering the seventh day of the hostage standoff in alabama. a 5-year-old boy is still being held in an underground bunker by jim lee dykes. police say dykes shot and killed a school bus driver last tuesday and abducted the child. police continue to negotiate with dykes who has received medicine for the boy and is believed to be making the boy as comfortable as possible. the funeral for the bus driver was held sunday. as hundreds turned out to pay tribute to charles poland who was hailed as a hero for protecting the other children on the school bus before he was shot. defense secretary leon panetta is defending the government's controversial drone program and reveals that as a catholic he grapples with making life and death decisions. secretary panetta tells abc's "meet the press" that decisions to target suspected terrorists with drone strikes don't come lightly and that u.s. officials make sure they are focused on somebody who is a direct threat to the united states while trying to limit collateral damage. you can watch chuck todd's full interview with the defense secretary on line.

that's at meetthepressnbc.com. this morning the baltimore ravens are the super bowl champions after defeating the san francisco 49ers 34-31 in a game that went down to the wire but not without a hitch. nbc's jay gray reports on all the festivities from the big easy. >> reporter: after a week of preparations and parties -- ♪ [ cheers ] >> reporter: the action moved inside. ♪ >> reporter: a poignant start. ♪ spacious skies >> reporter: students from sandy hook elementary singing "america the beautiful," and then -- ♪ o say >> reporter: a powerful rendition of the national anthem by alicia keys followed by the game. baltimore took a commanding lead early, and at halftime -- ♪ >> reporter: beyonce commanded

the stage. ♪ all the single ladies >> reporter: joined in a surprise reunion by destiny's child. the second half began with an electric kickoff return by the ravens' jacoby jones. then the electricity went out. a loss of power left half the stadium in the dark and caused a 34-minute delay in the game. >> let's go. >> reporter: when the game ended, it was the niners who had all the energy, mounting a huge comeback. in the end, the baltimore ravens hold on for an exciting win. the end of the super bowl, but the party continues in new orleans. mardi gras resumes. jay gray, nbc news, new orleans. the family of muhammad ali is trying to knock out rumors that the boxing legend is on his deathbed. they released photos of the 71-year-old at his arizona home watching the super bowl in ravens' gear. the rumors were started by "the sun," quoting ali's brother as

saying "the greatest of all time" was near death. for monday's weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather center forecast. so did your team win? >> i was rooting for the 49ers. i had no -- >> i didn't either. >> it was entertaining. then the power outage, i had to stay up even later to see how that was going to end. >> you had to? >> yes. there will be grumpy people at work. the game ended late for people on the east coast. let's look at the forecast and get you out the door on this monday. we're going to continue with the weather pattern of beautiful weather in the west, beautiful weather in the deep south, and then we'll still have cold blasts coming down all the way from the north. and we're going to have snow showers on and off, light snow coming down near chicago. that's going to head for west virginia as we go throughout the afternoon. that snow now, you see it -- the white is where it's snowing, the blue is where it's more intense snow bands, almost over the top of downtown chicago. if you look out the window near chicago and rockford, you're probably seeing it coming down. it's cold enough that it's going to be a fluffy, quick

accumulation. a couple inches, nothing bad. maybe one or two inches out there from areas from green bay southwards to ft. wayne. eventually during the day, this is all going to push into areas of northern ohio. so cleveland to pittsburgh for your evening rush home. you could have to deal with snow. later on tonight, the mountains of west virginia and central p.a. it's also cold back behind this clipper. windchills still well below zero much of minnesota. the rest of the forecast looks nice for your monday from the southeast to texas and everywhere else. enjoy it. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. so in areas like cincinnati, you'll see light snow late in the day today. more or less toward this evening hours if you're in pennsylvania or west virginia. again, this is one of the clipper lows, usually the snow is light and fluffy. it only produces at most an inch or two. maybe friday east coast could have a chance of a big storm. i'll have more details. >> i thought you were going to say sunshine, then you say storm. thanks. >> we haven't had any big ones for a long time. >> thanks.

fidel castro's first public appearance in years. bill clinton bids farewell to a friend. and madam tusand melts down lance armstrong's image. watching your money on a monday and more on the super bowl. back in two minutes. amts.

welcome back. here are some stories making news this morning. officials in turkey are questioning 15 people in a death of a new york city mother whose body was found saturday in istanbul. she'd been vacationing in turkey. police say she was killed by an injury to the head. in cuba, the public people got a closeup look at retired leader fidel castro. their first since 2010 as castry voted at a -- castro voted at a polling place in havana. john kerry had a busy weekend talking to the leaders of israel, turkey, and japan. the funeral of ed koch will

be held today. he died at age 88. a star in the all-american girls professional baseball league in the 1940s has died at the age of 88. she was an inspiration for the movie "a league of their own," and model played by the character played by geena davis. the biggest tv spectacle of the year had all the drama of a great halftime show, brother versus brother, and super ads. did the 34-minute power outage hurt in the ratings? the audience numbers will be out later. a story worth keeping an eye on. one company that took advantage of the power outage was nabisco. their oreo cookie tweeam tweete "power out? no problem, you can still dunk in the dark." it received almost 14,000 re-tweets, almost 5,000 favorites. just in time for lent, mcdonald's will be offering its first new happy meal entree in ten years -- fish mcbites.

the seven-piece fish made from fried alaskan cod will be available this week and right up until easter. watch for news today from england's finance minister who will warn british bank that don't guard against risky investments may risk being dismant dismantled. the federal government wants to make wi-fi yorks available across the nation so users can surf the net without paying a monthly phone bill. google and microsoft support the plan, but cell phone companies are firmly against it since wireless is a $178 billion-a-year industry. to leave with news that will make investors feel good, stocks are up almost 7% this year. and a whopping 114% since the bear market low in march, 2009, as the dow's 14,000 peak -- will the bulls keep running? baltimore explodes in celebration as the final seconds tick off the clock. ravens' fans spilled into the streets from bars and restaurants creating this

massive street party you're looking at. we'll have game highlights next.

welcome back. now to some stories that caught our eye this morning. we begin in southern california where 300 pounds of dynamite leveled a massive power plant. the implosion completely demolished the san diego facility in a matter of seconds to make room for a 24-acre

public park and other projects. also in california, an out-of-control suv crashed into an apartment building. four people inside the vehicle were injured as it ripped through a first floor apartment, destroying everything in its path. no one inside was harmed. and now to an oregon bakery that refuses to sell wedding cakes to same-sex couples. >> i believe that marriage is a religious institution ordained by god. the book of genesis talks about that. for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleve to his wife. >> the owner says he's not homophobic but stands by his religion. the oregon department of justice is investigating. finally in missouri, a kansas city church is showing a sign of support for gay boy scouts. the church posted a gay pride banner, welcoming all members of the boy scouts of america. the youths organization is set to discuss lifting the ban on gays and lesbians this week. turning to sports, super bowl xlvii looked like a blowout. but turned out to be a thriller. in the first quarter, ravens'

quarterback joe flacco connected with antoine bolden for touchdown pass and early lead. in the second, baltimore scored two more touchdowns to make it look like a blowout. they went to halftime with the 21-3 lead. in the third, the ravens' jacoby jones had a record with a 109-yard kickoff return. the longest in super bowl history. and that made it 28-6, ravens over the 49ers. then the power goes out in the superdome. it took 34 minutes before the lights were back on and play was restarted. then momentum shifted quickly as san francisco scored two touchdowns in less than 2 1/2 minutes. in the fourth quarter, niners' quarterback colin kaepernick rolled left and kept going for a 15-yard run for a touchdown. san francisco had a last shot at the end zone, but there was contact between wide receiver michael crabtree and the ravens' jimmy smith. no penalty flag was thrown. baltimore gave up a two-point safety, and the game ended on a

ravens kickoff and 49ers' return as time ran out. the final score, ravens 34, 49ers 31. the two head coaches, brothers jim and john harbaugh met in the middle of the field as john told jim he loved him and jim completed john on the win. the ravens celebrated including ray lewis, retiring as a super bowl champ. congrats. and the wax figure of lance armstrong will remain in madam tussauds's. since his confession to doping they reworded the caption to say "disqualified seventime winner of the tour de france." 0time wi of the tour de france." -time wir of the tour de france." time win of the tour de france." time win of the tour de france." -time wi of the tour de france." the next breezy point, the polar bear plunge for a purpose. and which ad got more bang for their $4 million bucks for the super bowl? does your favorite rate?

welcome back to "early today." your travel trouble spot from areas of minnesota where it showed last night. southern wisconsin, madison, milwaukee, coating of snow on the sidewalk and roads. now it's snowing in chicago. all heading for northern indiana, southern michigan, and eventually the northern half of ohio during the day today. areas like cleveland and columbus, even ft. wayne, indiana, all expected to pick up at least one or two inches of snow. you're okay in the northeast. just showers in texas. and you know, these weak stor , storms,veronica, enough to make it troublesome as you head out

the door. >> not good news. thanks. 55 commercials from 40 advertisers aired during the super bowl, but only one could be crowned king. the clydesdale is back in anheuser-busch's story about the bond between a trainer and his horse. it topped "usa today's" super bowl ad meter, just narrowly beating tide's laundry detergent spot about a miracle salsa stain appeared on a san francisco fan's jersey only to be appearing on a san francisco fan's jersey only to be washed out by his wife who is a ravens' fan. lighthearted commercials beat out the more raunchy ones with the top five being rounded out by chrysler's farmers ad, doritos dress-up dad, and jeep's salute to the soldiers. godaddy.com's bar rafeali's smooch ad said it was an utter turnoff. thanks to the super bowl, the box office will be probably the slowest time of the year. the zombie flick got $20 million in the top spot followed by "hansel and gretel" which saw a whopping 53% last

week. and finally, fresh off of her halftime show bonanza, beyonce announced she will go off on a world tour kicking off in april and ending at the brooklyn barclay center in august. she does look great. this comes to us from wnbc 4 new york in new york city, where at nearby breezy point, dozens braved bone-chilling water to help victims from hurricane sandy. the courageous souls took part as part of the rockaway plunge. it raises money for cystic fibrosis. this year, organizers will also donate a portion of the proceeds to hurricane relief efforts. i'm veronica de la cruz, this is your first stop of the day on your nbc station. i'm ve this is your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good morning, everyone. a lot of people up late last night in the purple haze this morning. a lot of purple showing up on this map. 25 at the airport, 23 in parkton and 26 in eldon. lots of sunshine today but clouds, and this afternoon and we could get snow this evening and early tonight. we will talk about that in a few minutes. >> see you in a bid. 25 degrees at the airport. coming up -- a championship celebration. >> i just lot -- would like to

let my teammates know what this mobile will feel like. >> i think it is safe to say the entire team is enjoying the feeling, especially after sending ray lewis into retirement as a champion. >> my goodness. what should we not think? it was unbelievable. >> ray lewis -- when the does, you win super bowls. >> fans from new orleans to baltimore city wasted no time getting the super -- celebration underway. >> a lot of excitement in downtown baltimore. i will have more on that coming up next. >> looking very nice for your monday morning commute if you are heading out the door. you should not find