see you next time, folks. it is e friday, march 18th. coming up on "early today," is old man winter go having another massive winter? and a mounting effort to stop donald trump in the race for the white house. plus, soon every car in the land will have this special safety measure. march madness is in full swing, plus a whole lot more as we head into the weekend.

things got heated fast during a congressional hearing over who's to blame over the toxic water crisis. and the calling for heads to roll, nbc's stephanie gausk reports. >> reporter: with the children of flint still unable to drink the water. on the hill. >> if you want to do the curages thing, then you two should resign. >> people who put dollars over the fundamental safety of the people do not belong in government and you need to resign too, governor snyder. >> the head of the epa and governor of michigan were hammered over the led in flint's waiter. >> you need to take responsibility because you screwed up and messed up 100,000 people's lives.

flint was exposed to dangerous levels of led while officials insisted it was safe. but the democrat from pennsylvania hit back hard. >> you not in a medically induced coma for a year. and i've had about enough of your false contrigz and your phoney apologies. epa head mccarthy. >> i wish we had yelled from the tree tops but there is no way my agency created this problem. >> reporter: more than 150 residents from flint bused in overnight for the hearing. >> we can't brush our teeth. we can't just use the faucet like we are do here in washington. >> reporter: for some it still lingers after they were so badly letdown letdown. we are hear for the first time from the first known isis fighter known to surrender on

virginia native is an american-born son captured this week in iraq. he said he made a quote bad decision to faulto a young woman from turkey to syria and then mosul iraq. and they have released a vid quo eo of his confession. >> i was with a lot of foreigners and people from the surrounding area. i didn't really support their ideology and that's at hat point, that's when i decided i needed to escape. i wanted to go back to america. my message to the american people is the life in mosul it's really, really bad. >> it is unclear if wesz is returning to the u.s. or will be prosecuted.

pizzeria owner who admitted he tried to recruit for isis has been sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison. previously pled guilty to providing material support to isis. he was the first man captured and convicted of supporting isis in the u.s. and iraqi born palestinian has been indicted on trying to support isis. this comes two months after he was arrested and accused of lying about traveling to syria. he faces a total of 15 years in prison. it is a flight 55 passengers and crew won't soon forget. it was struck by lightning and had to make an emergency landing at nearby jfk. it was circling when it hit turbulence and it left passengers stunned. >> it was just such a loud bang, it was like a if i recollect,

-- firework, like right there. so happy we all landed safely. and we were saying to each other, we made it. >> yes, they did. the plane landed safely and no one was hurt, the faa is investigating. and to the increased support of a stop trump movement among conservatives. >> reporter: two blocks from the white house a secret huddle on how to stop donald trump from moving in. a frustrated group led by inflew influential contrv servative looking ahead to a contested convention. they're reassessing how to slow him down. two road blocks slowing them down. first, trump could still lock up the nomination before the convention and he more than doubled his delegate lead this week.

conversations with donors. >> reporter: anti-trump activists to convince delegates to fight the frontrunner at done contested convention. it's people who built this party have been here longer than the newcomers threatening to burn the whole thing down. and calling for unity without specifying who they should unify behind, john kasich and ted cruz. marco rubio praising cruz as con conservative and senator lindsey gram saying he would raise money. >> if you killed ted cruz on the floor of the senate and the trial was in the senate, nobody could convict you. >> reporter: the unlikeliest of pairings, one the stop trump movement never saw coming. bernie sanders has

primary to hillary clinton. nbc news said clinton was the aparent winner on tuesday after leading by roughly 1500 votes. he said even though he's behind in total delegates by a wide margin, don't expect him to drop out. >> we think if we come into the convention in july in philadelphia having won a whole lot of delegates, a whole lot of momentum behind us and most importantly perhaps, being the candidate who is most likely to defeat donald trump. we think some of these superdelegates who have now supported hillary clinton can now come over to us. all eyes turn to next tuesday's contest. utah and idaho as wells american sumowau. it's interesting to note that utah will be offering online voting for their republican caucuses for the first time.

merrick garland is making the rounds on capital hill. he met with harry reed and the top democratic. senate republicans are standing by their vow not to even con consider his nomination until the next president is elected. eight senators have said they would be open to at least meet with garland. this may change your mind about spring. extreme weather brought lightning, powerful wind and golf-ball size hail to north texas thursday, leaving a lot of broken windows in its wake. it killed eight exotic birds at a zoo in fort worth. and a late winter storm in parts of the colorado rockies over the last two days. that's more than the town of months. as you've seen, old man winter, well, it is sticking around, it

let's hope not for long though. your most important point we're going to make is computer models are not forecast. they just give us a little piece of the puzzle. this was the european computer model showing a significant snow storm through all of new england. and now we have the new one in about two hours ago and everything shifted for umthe european model about 100 miles to the east. took the heavy band of snow and now into the coastal areas. that's why these are not the official forecasts. this is just a glimpse. now the american model so also has a more nuisance type of event and doesn't have that much snow in southern new england. as of now, the trend is a little bit off the coast. again, we're still 60 hours away

but as of now, we're looking at a minor event, showers and storms along the gulf coast. and on sunday, we'll be watching where the storm is off the midatlantic coast. now a closer look at your day ahead. so, showers and storms plentiful this morning. we're watching them in north florida and another lie in portions of alabama and mississippi. and a little chillier as we go further up towards the north. so, how did you do? you ready for your quiz? >> yeah. i don't like the way it sounds either way. >> a little wintry but the odds of a huge major storm are a little less today than yesterday. >> we'll take that. well, seaworld's major de decision over the future of killer whales. and the situation in brazil is getting dicier by the moment. ier by the moment. no, no, no, no, people are both soft and

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it was another night of unrest in the brazilian capital. police fired tear gas outside congress during a mass demonstration. they're protesting da silva being appointed to chief of staff. after years of criticism, seaworld says it's ending its breeding program of killer whales immediately. they have 24 whales in three parks. they're the last generation that seaworld will display. >> if you look at people's general comfort level of orcas under human care, i've seen a real shift in society. >> we're pushing for them to release these orcas to sanctuaries so they can live out a semblance of a normal life in their last days.

of nearly $100 million in revenue. and rob ford underwent chemotherapy last year for an aggressive form of soft tissue cancer. he became an international punch line after admitting to smoking crack but refused to resign. surveillance video captured a car slamming through the front of a southern florida pizzeria. a couple was dining inside when the car crashed right into them. >> the car coming past me and just him being slammed against the wall. >> all i remember is being pinned up against the counter in between the counter and the car and the people trying to drag me out. >> they received stitches at the hospital and were released. the 70-year-old driver simply lost control. look at that. new york city nearly 200,000

to celebrate the 255 st. patrick's day parade. and check out this time lapse video of an annual tradition in chicago, dyeing the river green for st. paddy's day. time to get down to business, shall we. back in black. the dow has elysse rased losses as the prices of oil and gas at the pumps has also risen. and they will make automatic emergency braking standard in all cars. safety experts believe the technology will save 12,000 lives each year. just ahead, own a piece of shirley temple for just $25 million, that's all. and march magic upset for you. we're going to show you those bracket busters next.

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all right, let's get right to the madness, shall we? making its first appearance in the ncaa tournament in 54 years, yale showed they belong by upsetting the best offensive rebound team in baylor. check out the post game frustration with this

>> how does yale out rebound baylor? >> you go up and grab the ball off the rim when it comes off and you grab it with two hands and you come down with it and that's considered a rebound. so, they got more of those than we did. >> okay then. yikes. next to perdue against arkansas little rock and nails a game tying three-pointer. it went into double ot as number 12 advances with the 85-83 win. then seaten hall scoring machine isaiah white head gautd ice cold as gonzaga got away with this one. north carolina's roy williams got his 56th ncaa victory breaking a tie with his mentor, the late dean smith for most wins. the tar heels easily beat gulf

and utah took out colorado. another eight versus nine was close but butler managed to pull away for the win against texas tech. and the next round tips off at 12:15. just ahead, why a puerto rico beauty queen is losing her crown. plus a wacky looking apartment really exists. find out how you can spend the night there, night there, s already inside me to reach my goals. so i liked when my doctor told me i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating what' s within me. with once-weekly trulicity. trulicity is not insulin. it helps activate my body to do what it' s supposed to do release its own insulin. trulicity responds when my blood sugar rises. i take it once a week, and it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is a once-weekly

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now to entertainment news. the internet is buzzing over the news x men apocalypse trail er er. the movie comes out in may. and miss a universe did not feel like doing interviews and tends to shy away from cameras. officials said that was doing damage to the organization. >> i'm sorry to tell you this but you've been over exposed. >> over exposed? >> yes, you're everywhere. this instagram photo of you wearing a poncho, amy. >> what's it cure? >> go away for a while. >> amy schumer is sure busy. but she is coming back home to comedy central when the new season of "inside amy schumer"

and the unique japanese pad can be yours for $137 a night. a rare blue diamond ring will cost you a little bit more. it belonged to the late shirley temple-black. it's worth between 25 and $35 million. >> i'd be nervous to wear it. >> i'd love to wear it. and actress emma watson met up with "hamilton's" to do beat boxing on gender equality. >> we're like half, like women are half of the people on earth and they should have that means all day every day equal pay okay are we really okay? this beat box is fantastic. yo, i'm drastically changing the

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leading the news on nbcnews.com north korea launches ballistic missile and new show of force. the launch occurred about 5:00 p.m. eastern time and flew about 500 miles. this is the latest recent aggressive acts from the nation which has become typical around the time of south korea-u.s. military exercises. and in u.s.a. today, internet debate alert. how many girls are in this photo? this instagram post by a swiss photographer has divided the

are there two girls or four? bill says five. i want to say there's two. it's the latest obstacle illusion trending online. but i think it's two. who knows. here's what caught our eye in the animal world. a florida woman is fighting to keep her unusual house pet, a 6-foot long alligator. >> he sits on the couch, he knows how to work the remote. he's just a house gator. >> she got a license 11 years ago. >> heetz rr 's got a t-shirt, so he must be safe. >> they say she doesn't have enough space for the gator that can work the remote control. and officers got a chance to cuddle three real-life teddy bears on thursday. they were spotted in the

they tagged them to monitor them throughout the years. two treasured new editions this week, bengallal white tiger cubs. their birth two months ago. they'll be in public view at the zoo next week. sidney the dog may just be this mang 's best driver. what is going on? video of the dog has been making waves across the internet. how is this happening? he says he and his pup regularly ride together and it is considered normal in indonesia. that doesn't seem normal at all on any place on earth. president obama travelled to cuba on sunday. it's the first trip by a sitting u.s. president in nearly 90 years. and our special coverage includes lester holt anchoring

happy birthday to adam levine, 37. actress queen latifah, 46 and former miss america, vanessa williams, 53. i'm betty nguyen. thanks for watching today. have a great weekend. . new this morning, an

piece of mail sent to one of donald trump's children. a gun found in the new york city school, today there's a rally to call for something to be done. and a frightening flight. what passengers say happened when lightning hit a plane about to land in our area. "today in new york" starts now. good morning everyone. it's friday morning. it's march 18th. i'm darlene rodriguez. i'm michael gargiulo. let's check in with chris cimino here with the forecast. chris, a word about that lightning. one of the scariest phenomenons when you're in a plane. you don't want to experience that. >> it is scary. stick around a half hour and it changes to make things dramatically different. maybe scattered showers headed our way. walpack down to 30 in northwest new jersey. 41 in hopatcong. the city at 50. we're holding on to the heat in town. across long island, chillier, 30s hudson valley. westhampton down to 26 degrees.