it's monday, february 29th. coming up on "early today." leo wins, "spotlight" shierchs, and chris rocks on. >> well, i'm here at the academy awards otherwise known as the white people's choice awards. and the political insults and miscues as the candidates sprint for votes ahead of tomorrow's super tuesday with 12 states voting. >> plus a major assist from an anonymous shopping cart guy. that and much more as we kick off a busy week ahead. "early today" starts right now. good morning.

the award goes to -- last night the stars came out for the awards. "spotlight" won best picture wheel mad max, fur yore road and the revenant won big. it had plenty of controversy with the #oscarssowhite hanging over the festivities. jennifer jennifer jennifer jennifer is live. >> reporter: good morning. hollywood's biggest night did not disappoint, not with the glamour or the glitz or the controversy and with the ceremony there were some big surprises. >> spotlight. >> reporter: the title described the moment. spotlight gaggeret center of attention for best picture. >> this film gave a voice to survivors and this oscar amplifies that voice. >> reporter: best picture

won big. best for alejandro for the second year in a row and a first career oscar for leonardo dicaprio for best actor. >> i thank you all for this amazing award tonight. let us not take this planet for granted. >> reporter: best actress went to brie larson. >> thank you to the fans. thank you to the moviegoers. thank you for going to the theater and seeing our film. >> alicia for the danish girl while bridge of spies mark rye land pulled an upset for supporting actor beating out heavy favorite sylvester stallone. >> reporter: mad max fur rose. six for technical. demonstrators blocked the way protesters lack of diversity.

me of putting on makeup. >> you're a choke and a liaring. >> donald trump likes to sue people. he should do that to his face. >> it's rubio. >> have you seen his hands? they're like this. you know what they say about men with small hands. you can't trust them. >> ted cruz, meanwhile, attacks trump on his tax returns. >> there have been multiple media reports about donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reported. >> cruz has released a few returns and rubio released all returns dating back to 2010 over the weekend. trump's meg whitman telling nbc's

endorsement of dunld trump is an astonishing display. donald also nabbed his first senatorial backer. but his failure to strongly david duke on cnn may hurt the donald. while he did reduke him back in august trump seemed to stumble sunday morning. i didn't even know he endorsed me. all right. i disavow. give me a list of groups and i'll let you know. >> i'm just talking david duke and the ku klux klan. >> honestly, don't know david he other candidates quickly pounced. >> we cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacistse ku klux klan. we cannot be a party that does that. >> we don't have any white for white supremacists in the united

>> and trump was again on the defensive with nbc's chuck todd on a retreat quote, italian leader muse lee know. he said he likes italian quotes. we'll find out how he feelrow with a slew of can contests. the latest nbc news "wall street donald trump with a 17% lead. he also holds a healthy lead while rubio trails at 19%. in texas. the senator manages to sflip the numbers at 39% to trump's 26%. if that turns into a surge of it remains to be seen in tomorrow's showdown. on the democratic side bernie sanders didn't mince words on saturday's south carolina results. african-american voters 84/16, worse than any

senator, what >> well, we got decimated. that's what happened. among older african-americans, it was pathetic from our rspective. >> bernie sanders lost to clinton by a near 3/1 margin. adding urgency to super tuesday races for candidacy in colorado sanders tried out a new campaign last night. >> and you run on a platform for a full loaf, at worse you're going to get half alf a loaf, you're going get crumbs. american people today do not want, do not need crumbs. they need the whole>> clinton, meanwhile, looked past sanders during a speech in nashville. >> because ultimately we are all

some people running for president might say as they insult one group of us or another group of us, i believe that america right now. what we need is to be whole. we need to be whole where all of us have a place. e more questions as the state department plans to release a final batch of e-mails later today. despite his setback in southders vowed to continue fighting through super tuesday, picking up the support of former dnc vice chair whoannounced her separation from the committee. in tns the former secretary of state leads by 26 points and in texas clinton holds another point lead, 59-38. it was a horrific scene at a sunday church service in ohio.

his brother in front of the congregation while the choir was singing.walked to the pulpit when the shooting happened. his brother, 68-year-old daniel schooler was in custody and there was likely a domestic there was no word on a motive. no one else was injured. in virginia a man accused of killing two people including a n her first days on the job is expected in court today.taff army sergeant assigned tothe pentagon is accused of killing one and others who were responding to a domestic disturbance. after he surrendered they found his wife dead in their t want to be clear, do we have officers involved in a shooting? >> we have three officerseen shot. >> prince william county police

mourning over the loss of officer ashley ast night a vigil was held for the 28-year-old officer who was sworn into thejust this past friday. thank you anonymous shopping cart guy after an unidentified guy used a cart to stop a his track two weeks ago. officers were able to tackle cody lynn city after he crashed on the ground. he ran into the store to try away from police. he was wanted for jaywalking and was arrested for disorderly conduct and parole violation. can see the shopper picking up his things and just continued shopping. >> in southern india there was an elephant who went on a festival. you can see one pushing his trunk and throwing it in the air with ease as two rode on his

powerful pachyderm under control. no one was hurt which featured a parade of decorated >> nbc meteorologist bill karins has your weather. >> how strong is that elephant? that's incrediblethis week the big story is going to be what's going to happen on tuesday and then into wednesday. are we going to see a very veerast week? thankfully it does not look like that now. your leap day weather today, the only nasty stuff still winter. that's where it's cold. a little bit of snow in the graiks but the rest of the country looks pretty good. let's get into what's goingate tonight. storm system comes out of the central rockies, redevelops. hail threats over oklahoma city, area. about 3 million people mostly in the state of oklahoma are at risk for some of those severe storms. then late tonight we watch the storms intense ify

by the time we wake up they're clear. by 5:00 p.m. that's where we see tennessee, alabama, and mississippi. those are some areas we're going to have to watch carefully. isolated tornado at worst but not a big outbreak. that's your national here's a closer look at your day ahead. so in areas of texas, we could see an isolated shower or storm today from houston up toport but temperatures are looking very warm. i mentioned it still looks like winter in the north. look at a high of 14. the good news, the super tuesday doesn't look like it's going to be a ruin for any voters. >> that soundsyou, bill. there are some leap day sales for consumers to tell you about. plus find out what one make your northwest flight a more comfortable experience. you're watching "early today." you're watch lindness in undernourished children all

at walgreens,fe-changing vitamins to kids across the globe. get vitamins here.e. walgreens. at the corner of happy and healthy. our clothes can stretch ouever. protect your clothes from stretching, fading, and fuzz. ...with downy fabric conditioner... it helps protect clothes from the damage of the wash.thes stay your favorite clothes. downy fabric conditioner. wash in the wow. this storm promises to be the biggest of the decade. with total accumulation of up to three feet. roads will be shut down indefinitely. and schools are closed.oups go great with a cold and a nice red.

choose your match new revlon colorstay 2-in-1 compact. ation and concealer deliver a flawless, complete look that lasts. choose love 2-in-1 compact. (baseball on tv in background) with heart failure, danger is always on the rise.orsen because your heart isn't pumping well. (water filling room) (dog whimpering) within 5 years of getting diagnosed. but there's something you can do. tor about heart failure treatment options. because the more you know, the more likely you are...v (dog whimpering) to keep it pumping.

hit-and-run sunday. 25-year-old officer vincent harrison was standing on the shoulder of the new jersey turnpike after he was involved in a minor accident with another another car accidentally struck him. that driver initially stopped but then fled the scene. driver and are determining appropriate charges. chuck schumer is leading the fight in the increasingly shrinking airline seats. it'snches in the '70s to 16 irns today and passengers are like sardines. he wants the faa to establish s and introduce an amendment. it was a race to the top this weekend, well, of the rock that is. the eighth annual climb to the top where nearly 1,800 people raced up the rockefeller center all 66 flights. the eventy $99,000. now it's time for some

disney announced yesterday that the u.s. theme parks will adoptl ticket pricing. single day tickets will vary depending on whether it's value or peak time of year.ill raise from 1g $05 to $104. head over to pizza iving away free pizza to whoever has a february 29th birthday. just ahead, talk about a confident golfer.odland loose his pants to save par. sports is up next.

[music] strong... which is why our products are too. angel soft. me pain here. in my knees. machine and get my number which matches my dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts. om my foot pain. my knee pain. find a machine at drscholls.com one color. we don't stick to one fabric. or one shape. so why use traditional aerosols that are one-dimensional?m mist with life scents is a multi-layered fragrance, just like scents in real life. our homes are rich,santly surprising. and air wick room mist is, too. finally, a true-to-life

this morning on "today" the new trick hackers are using to get into your computer. it involves pop-up ads and evene morales fell victim to it. now to sports and a pantsless gary boxer briefs clad golfer offered a solid shot out of the water into the greenside bunker. woodland went on veryently to par the hole but it was adam scott who took the tournament by a single shot over his good friend sergio t to atlanta motor speedway. >> who didn't get a good restart of that. kevin harvick, he spun the tires when he went into thirdt the back straightaway.

here they come. around to the line looking for the flag. four cars involved in the >> that's jimmie johnson's 76th career victory tyingt and dale earnhardt jr. finished the race in second. and the seahawks taking on the number five the pirates got off to a fast start including 26 at the half. seton hall never let up even though xavier let up in the. the pirates, 96-81. next, ohio state played iowa on a of their last four to a close one on the final buzzer but they managed to hold off the68-64. finally pittsburgh against duke. the blue devils fighting to catch the red home team but the ir ncaa

spanking duke, 76-62. well, just ahead, who wore it best at the oscars' red plus, we've got to the moments everybody has been biggest night. bigges what backache? what sore wrist?che? what bad shoulder? advil makes pain a distant memory.ster stronger or longer than advil it' s the world' s #1 choice. what? advil. see me. see me.e.

see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. i won't stop. until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance.se if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infectionsility to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms... ...such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough.d a vaccine or plan to. if you have crohn's disease, tell your doctor as symptoms can worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. see me. see me on my way. find clear skin and a clearer path forward. for a different kind of medicine, ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. your match new revlon colorstay 2-in-1 compact. expertly-matched foundation and

deliver a flawless, complete look that lasts. choose love colorstay 2-in-1 compact. hould've taken a left at the river. tarzan know where tarzan go! tarzan does not know where tarzan go. hey, excuse me, do you know where the waterfall is? waterfall?arzan, king of jungle. why don't you want to just ask somebody? if you're a couple, you fight over directions. it's what you do.e fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. oh ohhhhh it's what you do. ohhhhhh! do you have to do thattright in my ear? joo now to as scars' red carpet moments. many of the ladies maden choices.

were bold colors, sequins, plenty of thigh-highmany viewers tweeted about dash's somewhat awkward appearance. >> please welcome miss stacey dash. >> i cannot wait to help my people out. black history month. thank you. >> thank about black people. >> dash later rew e responded explaining she was asked to show her int increased diversityllywood. one to go vie rat was kate winslet. she welled up looking at leo and viewers loved finding out what charlize theron's favorite

>> what's your favorite part ofcoming to the oscars, your fell low oscars or what is your favorite part? >> the hamburgers. >> the hamburgers. you wanna see something intense? new pantene expert gives you the most beautiful hair ever, o-v formula ever.