that and much more as we kick off a busy week ahead. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm dara brown. 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

>> this film gave a voice to survivors and this oscar amplifies that voice. >> reporter: best picture favorite ""the revenant"" still 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

>> reporter: mad max fur rose. six for technical. demonstrators blocked the way protesters lack of diversity. >> otherwise known as the white people's choice award. >> reporter: jikt also on host chris rock's mind when the spotlight was on the industry movie's best and the big winner last night may have actually been " the girl scouts. chris rock called out the girl scouts saying he missed cookie season. when they tallied it up, they had $65,243 in cookie sales. dara. >> thank you. that was a great moment to watch everybody in the audience eating cookies as the show was going on. this morning the candidates prepare to make their final pitches to voters before tomorrow's 12 races. over the weekend it was a

>> that a guy with the worst fake tan in america is accusing 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

trump's meg whitman telling nbc's news that chris christie's endorsement of dunld trump is an astonishing display. donald also nabbed his first senatorial backer. but his failure to strongly condemn a former ku klux klan 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. david duke 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 duke. >> the other candidates quickly pounced. >> we cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to

that. >> we don't have any white for white supremacists in the united states of america. it just doesn't make any sense to me. >> and trump was again on the defensive with nbc's chuck todd on a retreat telling, quote, italian leader muse lee know. he said he likes italian quotes. we'll find out how he feel does in tomorrow with a slew of can contests. the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows donald trump with a 17% lead. he also holds a healthy lead while rubio trails at 19%. in cruz's home state of texas. the senator manages to sflip the numbers at 39% to trump's 26%. if that turns into a surge of report. it remains to be seen in tomorrow's showdown. on the democratic side bernie sanders didn't mince words on saturday's south

>> yowl lost african-american voters 84/16, worse than any poll had shown. senator, what happened? >> well, we got decimated. that's what happened. among older african-americans, it was pathetic from our perspective. >> bernie sanders lost to clinton by a near 3/1 margin. adding urgency to tomorrow's super tuesday races for candidacy in colorado sanders tried out a new campaign last night. >> and you run on a platform calling for a full loaf, at worse you're going to get half a loaf. half a loaf, you're going get crumbs. american people today do not want, do not need crumbs.

>> clinton, meanwhile, looked past sanders during a speech in nashville. >> because ultimately we are all in this together, no matter what some people running for president might say as they insult one group of us or another group of us, i believe that america is great right now. what we need is to be whole. we need to be whole where all of us have a place. >> but she could face more questions as the state department plans to release a final batch of e-mails later today. despite his setback in south carolina, sanders vowed to continue fighting through super tuesday, picking up the support of former dnc vice chair who announced her separation from the committee. in tns the former secretary of state leads by 26 points and in texas clinton holds another

it was a horrific scene at a sunday church service in dayton, ohio. a pastor was allegedly killed by his brother in front of the congregation while the choir was singing. he just walked to the pulpit when the shooting happened. his brother, 68-year-old daniel schooler was in custody and there was likely a domestic injury. there was no word on a motive. no one else was injured. in virginia a man accused of killing two people including a rookie accomplish on her first days on the job is expected in court today. 32-year-old staff army sergeant assigned tothe pentagon is accused of killing one and injuring two others who were responding to a domestic disturbance. after he surrendered they found his wife dead in their home. >> i just want to be clear, do

shooting? >> we have three officers that have been shot. >> prince william county police department is in very deep mourning over the loss of officer ashley gwinden. >> last night a vigil was held for the 28-year-old officer who was sworn into the police force just this past friday. thank you anonymous shopping cart guy after an unidentified guy used a cart to stop a

the state of oklahoma are at risk for some of those severe storms. then late tonight into tomorrow we watch the storms intense ify over arkansas. by the time we wake up they're clear. by 5:00 p.m. that's where we see the storms over tennessee, alabama, and mississippi. those are some areas we're going to have to watch carefully. isolated tor doesn't look like it's going to be a ruin for any voters. >> that sounds good. thank you, bill. there are some leap day sales for consumers to tell you about. plus find out what one senator is doing to make your northwest flight a more comfortable experience.

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an off-duty nypd officer was killed in an early morning 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 car. another car accidentally struck him. that driver initially stopped but then fled the scene. they found the driver and are determining appropriate charges. chuck schumer is leading the fight in the increasingly shrinking airline seats. it's dropped from 35 inches in the '70s to 16 irns today and passengers are like sardines. he wants the faa to establish seatline guidelines and introduce an amendment. it was a race to the top this weekend, well, of the rock that is. yesterday was the eighth annual climb to the top where nearly

rockefeller center all 66 flights. the event raised nearly $99,000. now it's time for some business news. disney announced yesterday that the u.s. theme parks will adopt new seasonal ticket pricing. single day tickets will vary depending on whether it's value or peak time of year. prices will raise from 1g $05 to $104. head over to pizza hut. they're giving away free pizza to whoever has a february 29th birthday. just ahead, talk about a confident golfer. gary woodland loose his pants to

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this morning on "today" the new trick hackers are using to get into your computer. it involves pop-up ads and even natalie morales fell victim to it. now to sports and a pantsless gary woodland. the boxer briefs clad golfer offered a solid shot out of the water into the greenside bunker. woodland went on very confidently to par the hole but it was adam scott who took the tournament by a single shot over his good friend sergio garcia. next to atlanta motor

>> who didn't get a good restart of that. kevin harvick, he spun the tires when he went into third gear. >> look at the back straightaway. this will be the race. here they come. around to the line looking for the flag. four cars involved in the back. >> that's jimmie johnson's 76th career victory tying dale earnhardt and dale earnhardt jr. finished the race in second. and the seahawks taking on the number five musketeers. 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 second half. the pirates, 96-81. next, ohio state played iowa on a cold streak losing three of their last four to a close one on the final buzzer but they managed to hold off the

finally pittsburgh against duke. the blue devils fighting to catch the red home team but the panthers gave their ncaa tournament hopes a major duke by spanking duke, 76-62. well, just ahead, who wore it best at the oscars' red carpet. plus, we've got to the moments everybody has been talking about on hollywood's biggest night. od's bigges what backache? what sore wrist?

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moments. many of the ladies made daring fashion choices. among the more popular looks were bold colors, sequins, plenty of thigh-high splits. many viewers tweeted about appearance. dash. >> i cannot wait to help my people out. happy black history month. thank you. >> thank you. but enough about black people. >> dash later rew e responded explaining she was asked to show her int increased diversity in hollywood. one to go vie rat was kate winslet. she welled up looking at leo

and viewers loved finding out what charlize theron's favorite part of the ceremony is. >> what's your favorite part of still coming 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, with our strongest pro-v formula ever.

>> stand by. >> reporter: but while 16-year-old grace competes using a handgun, the law says 13-year-old emma isn't allowed. >> when i learned that i couldn't do it until i was 14, i was kind of a little irritated because i want to do it now. >> reporter: the family supported iowa lawmakers moving toward a new law that would allow children of all ages to handle handguns. >> this is not about giving our children the combo to the gun safe.

when her 2-year-old got ahold of her concealed handgun while they were shopping at wall mutt. most states don't specifically restrict handgun use by children. in iowa kids 14ur7bd are allowed to use rifles or shotguns and federal law still makes it illegal for minors to purchase guns, but for the brady campaign to prevent gun violence, this debate takes away from what they see as the more serious issues. >> it represents the gun lobby's

senior chief edwin byers jr. is the first to receive it since the vietnam war and in celebrating birthdays. rule turns 40. motivational speaker tony ron bins is 56. i'm dara brown. thanks for watching "early today."