this morning on "early today," memory lapse. texas governor rick perry's big stumble at last night's republican presidential debate. penn state sacking. legendary football coach joe paterno is fired in the wake of a child sex scandal. and laid to rest. now you can own a creepy piece and laid to rest. now you can own a creepy piece of michael jackson's history. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning, i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with one for the record books. last night in michigan, republican presidential hopefuls squared off on the economy and what wasn't shaping up to be a very memorable debate until what may be a game-changing gaffe by texas governor rick perry. perry took to twitter after the debate saying he, "stepped in

it." nbc's steve handelsman has more. [ applause ] >> reporter: for the cnbc debate on the economy, the republican candidates came to a state with 11% unemployment. on a day when u.s. stocks dived and the italian debt crisis got so bad it threatened our recovery. what should we do? herman cain? >> we must grow in economy. we are the biggest economy in the world. >> reporter: mitt romney -- no u.s. bailouts. >> no, no, no. we do not need to step in to bail out banks in europe or banks in the u.s. that may have italian debts. >> reporter: rick perry, no bail bailouts at home either even though the chrysler and g.m. bailouts saved this detroit community. >> if you are too big to fail, are you too big. >> reporter: when moderator maria batter role oh asked cain about sexual harassment, the audience protested. cain claimed his supporters are hanging in. >> they don't care about the

character assassination, they care about leadership and all the other problems we face. [ applause ] >> reporter: a big problem is housing. prices down, foreclosures up. >> you want the housing market to come back? the economy has to come back. >> let markets work, help people get back to work. let them buy homes. >> reporter: rick perry looked sharp until he tried to kick off three government agencies he would kill. >> commerce, education, and the -- let's see. i can't -- >> reporter: the cringe mome momemoment -- the perry disaster. as the gop candidates competed to lead america back to prosperity. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, rochester, michigan. in a massive shakeup at penn state university, legendary football coach joe paterno was fired last night. the university president was let go amid a widening scandal over how the school handled

allegations of sexual child abuse by a former assistant coach. penn state students flooded the streets last night in protest. at least two were reportedly arrested. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: the turmoil at penn state poured to the streets overnight. [ chanting ] >> reporter: as word quickly spread of a late decision by the university board of trustees that legendary coach joe paterno and university president graham spanier would be relieved of their duties immediately. >> i think we reached a point where change was necessary. we thought it was in the best long-term interest of the university. >> reporter: thousands of students gathered on campus and outside paterno's home to support the man who has been a part of penn state football for more than six decades. with his wife at his side, paterno spoke briefly, thanking the crowd. >> look, get a good night's sleep, all right? study, all right? we still got thing to do.

all right, i'm -- put me ahead of it. good night, everybody. one thing, thanks, and pray a little bit for those victims. >> reporter: a ninth potential victim has come forward now claiming he was sexually assaulted by jerry sandusky. the former defensive coordinator has denied the growing list of charges against him as police continue what they've labeled a "rigorous investigation" here. jay gray, nbc news, state college, pennsylvania. elsewhere, students frustrated with steep tuition hikes and state budget cuts at u.c. berkeley brought the occupy wall street movement to their campus yesterday. campus police in riot gear stood guard while some thousand students protested into the night. at least six students and one associate professor were arrested earlier in the day when police used force to tear down tents, put up in defiance of university orders. this appears to be the first campus-based occupy protest.

and now here's a look at some other stories making news. "early today in america," video of a horrific collision last september has surfaced out of oregon. a police officer en route to an emergency call crashed into a car, then barrelled through the front wall of a nearby home. both drivers and one passenger suffered injuries while a man inside the home was unharmed. a collision between two tankers on an arizona highway produced a fiery wreck killing one of the drivers. the explosive fire occurred after a mix tanker rear-ended another carrying over 7,000 gall gallons of diesel fuel. thick smoke and raging flames forced officials to vaktd homes, businesses, and hotels within a mile radius until firefighters were able to get the blaze under control. and finally, mother nature pulled out her winter blanket in wisconsin, covering parts of the state with two to six inches of snowfall. the winter-like conditions smacked the area with downed

power lines leaving karins with weather forecast. >> not pretty in alaska, the worst of it is now over with. the winds gusted at times to 90 miles per hour in what was an epic blizzard in some areas. nome did have a storm surge of ten feet. they had a little minor damage. but it look like they were making it through. some areas still have power, too. that's also great news. as far as what the storm looks like, you can see it here on satellite. it continues to move up to the north. there it goes. then a little storm actually followed in right behind it. so this was just a huge storm. at one point yesterday, i measured it 1,500 miles across, the clouds from that storm system. that's roughly over halfway across the united states. that's how large of an envelope the cloud shield was. now as far as the lower 48 goes, high pressure, cool weather in the middle of the country. the storm system that brought that snow that lynn showed you

up through wisconsin is leaving. now with the front it's going to drag through areas of the east. we'll see sprinkles and showers in the mid-atlantic. but it looks like we'll get a little more rain, especially eastern new england. we're going to tap into a little tropical moisture off the coast. looks like hartford to boston to maine is who could get downpours later today. maybe showers around new york. everybody epps is pretty much dry and a little bit cool. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. in cleveland, ohio, can't rule out snow flurries. yesterday was officially the first day with snow. in chicago, didn't amount to anything. we did see the first snowflakes of the season. tampa, florida, we're beautiful, 80 degrees before the front comes through. pretty quiet weather for tomorrow's forecast, the veterans day forecast coming up. >> thanks. also coming up, wall street has the italian blues. toyota with another recall. and beating a political scandal.

the early headlines are ahead. plus, the latest stunning setback in what was supposed to be his big comeback. >> reporter: coming up, the nba has another marathon meeting, and one of the strangest plays you'll ever see on the ice. you're watching "early today."

back to "early today," i'm lynn berry, and here's some of your top headlines this morning. the "washington post" admits the mortuary at dover air force base disposed of cremated body parts of the nation's war dead from 2003 to 2008 by dumping the ashes in a virginia landfill. officials say since that discovery they've been burying ashes at sea. this week the air force disciplined three mortuary officials for gross mismanagement. in eastern turkey, more than two dozen survivors have been pulled from the rubble of three buildings brought down by a 5.7 quake that's killed at least seven people. it happened in the same province

with another quake killed 600 last month. alabama's jefferson county now holds the record for the largest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history. the county filed yesterday, years after being plunged into more than $4 billion of debt by a sewer project. and file this one under "creepy." very creepy. the queen-size bed in which michael jackson died is being auctioned off next month along with other items from his rented l.a. mansion. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,780 after plunged 389 points yesterday. the s&p sank 46 points. the nasdaq tumbled 105. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 254 points while in hong kong the hang seng dropped a whopping 1,050. wall street opened lower

wednesday on concerns italy's prime minister might not follow through on his promise to resign. things got worse from there. silvio berlusconi said he might want new elections instead of an interim government, potentially dragging out his departure and meaningful economic reform. later, italian bond yields soared to crisis levels. the same levels ireland, portugal, and greece needed bailouts for due to runaway financing costs. making matters worse, a deal on a national unity government in greece collapsed. more euro gloom. -- anxiety the fear index jumped 31%. goldman sachs, morgan stanley and bank of america were hardest hit. in earnings after the bell, cisco rose on earnings that beat expectations. in late trade, green mountain coffee plunged after missing estimates. elsewhere, yet another toyota recall.

this one more than half a million of various models worldwide. working with the government to get more u.s. homes connected to broadband, cable companies will offer internet service for just $9.95 a month to households with children eligible for free lunches. and finally, more evidence politics have gone digital. the hill reports herman cain's campaign anticipating internet searches on harassment allegations against him placed ads on google targeting likely words such as herman cain harassment or herman cain scandal. and the ad at the top of the search results for caintruth.com. offseason tragedy strikes a major leaguer. a strange approach to offense on the ice. and more gyrations in the nba lockout. plus, if you're going through pro basketball withdraw, the highlights. early morning headlines are

straight ahead. while all the attention has been on the huge alaska storm, we have another storm system heading for the southwestern portion of the united states. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today."

in sports for all you pro basketball fans hungry for nba action, it wasn't much but at least there was some movement in the lockout of the players. here's a look at all your sports headlines. >> reporter: good morning, the nba lockout at 132 days and counting. the commissioner's wednesday ultimatum has come and gone without a deal. two sides continue to talk into the wee hours of the night but remain deadlocked. the pros aren't playing yet but the kids are wrapping up for the season. number 17 almost stumbled against duquesne. knocking down a pair of threes, he had 19. wildcats held on to win it 57-59. the block, the steal, the bucket on the other end. aggies up 23 at the half and kept it going in the second. off the fast break, the alley-oop to turner. he had a career high 20. a&m cruised 81-59. good to see steve lavenback on the sidelines. he missed a month after prostate

surgery. he returned as st. john's hosted lehigh and responded. game high 21, and it's no surprise he was from the field. st. john's won 78-73. troubling news out of venezuela. washington nationals catcher wilson ramos abducted from his home by four armed men. the 24-year-old taken away in an suv. there have been no reports of a ransom demand. he was expected to be washington's starter next season and was playing winter ball. the players didn't like what they saw defensively and stood in their own zone with the puck. they didn't move and waited for the lightning to blink. i've never seen anything like that before. eventually the referee whistled the play dead. not a lot of offense when you're playing like that. and that game needed overtime. dominic moore drove to the net like a fullback. bret connelly chipped in the rebound. a weird game. the lightning will take the game 2-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin.

another award for country's princess. and another award for a legendary actor. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it is never too late to recognize a good deed. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this thursday morning. we're all watching a cold front heading for the east. all that warm weather we've enjoyed will be coming to an end today. there will be a chance of

showers new york city northwards. not a lot of wet weather but especially boston to maine, we could see the heaviest rain. middle of the country is chilly, but we are sunny in most cases. we start to do the big warmup as we head through friday and veterans day. 62 in denver. 70 in dallas. should be very nice. if you're watching us on wxii 12 news, winston-salem, north carolina. community members in the show of b an orphan girl who run away to find a better life. bet you heard of it. "annie" hits the stage. the sun's going to come up. >> tomorrow. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. she sold more than 20 million albums, so who bloknow what tay swift might accomplish. swift was named the entertainer of the year. only the second woman to win the award twice, joining country legend barbara mandrell. elsewhere, piers morgan announced he's leaving

"america's got talent" to concentrate on his struggling cnn show. oscar winner morgan freeman will soon pick up more hardware. a lifetime achievement award at the next golden globes. and finally, speaking of the oscars, on the day after his friend director bret ratner resigned as producer of next year's telecast, eddie murphy has dropped out as host. after the soft opening of "tower heist" last weekend and now quitting as oscar host, bloggers are wonder figure his mega-star days are over. this was supposed to be his comeback. resurfaces as a loyal star. >> you got to respect the loyalty. his friend. as long as he plays the donky in "shrek," it's fine. >> there are rumors about who will replace him. we'll bring it to you first here on "early today." >> i'll be waiting. and this comes from wtlv, first coast news in jacksonville, florida, where one man's historic wild ride for

world peace is finally being recognized. in 1986, bill received what amounted to a pat on the back from "guinness world record" officials after driving his air boat from jacksonville to new york city. at the time, his 1,100-mile trip did not fit into any of theirv: categories. fast forward a quarter century. "guinness" decided to honor bill's feat, placing his fantastic voyage in his 2012 2 edition. congratulations to him. this is "early today." your first stop of the day on this nbc station. playing with your friends?

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our time right now is 4:28. we have 53 degrees outside right now. a little warmer than it has been the last couple of days. we'll find out whether that's going to continue. good morning, i'm joe krebs. >> we have breaking news right now. thousands of penn state students rioted in the streets of state college, pennsylvania, overnight demanding joe paterno be rehired. the winningest college coach in football history and president spanier were both fired.

>> i would hope everyone knows we're doing what we believe is in our best judgment, is in the best long-term interests which is much larger than an athletic program. >> sandusky has denied the claims. police have launched a formal investigation. the department of education is launching its own probe whether officials broke the law by failing to report the allegations. >> we'll go from here, okay? hey, good luck, everyone. one thing. thanks. >> penn state says defensive coordinator tom bradley will take over as interim head coach of the football team. we're following a developing story involving one of the washington nationals key players. ra