♪ this morning on "early today," high stakes debate. the gop race heats up as presidential hopefuls prepare to conveyor off in arizona. lucky 13,000? the dow breaks a key barrier for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. and flying high. thrill seekers in utah take rope swinging to stunni new heights. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello. good morning. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with another candidates' debate. less than a week before the arizona and michigan primaries, the remaining republican candidates will square off tonight.

rick santorum, who has surged in the polls, may get a lot of attention. nbc's tracy potts joins us from washington with those details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. he is likely to get a lot of scrutiny because of that surge in the polls. this is the first debate that we have seen between these candidates in almost a month. let's take a look at mitt romney first who is fighting to win his home state but actually up by by four points in arizona where that debate is being held tonight. four points is within the margin of error so technically you can call that a tie and looks like he is taking a page from the santorum campaign. now focusing on social issues referring to president obama's secular agenda at a town hall last night. in the meantime, rick santorum who has surged nationally and surging in michigan as well, although by not as much, seems very confident saying last night that i always have and i will win the states that matter in this election.

michigan is certainly one of them. and to confirm his front runner stats there, ron paul has an attack ad out against rick santorum, one of the most memorable lines from that ad "is this dude serious?" ron paul seems to be honing in on one issue that really hits voters in the pocket. gas prices. lynn. >> tracy potts there in washington, thank you so much. president obama follows up on his state of the union speech today to propose cutting the corporate tax rate to help businesses in the u.s. now, the president's plan would reduce taxes on companies from 35% to 28%. it would lower the effective tax rate for manufacturers to only 25%. but corporations would lose dozens of loopholes and subsidies to make it more fair. corporations with overseas

operations would face a minimum tax on their foreign earnings. the plan faces an uncertain future in congress. on wall street, the dow saw its biggest day since before the market plunged in 2008. for the first time in nearly four years, dow jones industrials average traded above the important 13,000 mark yesterday. we will have much more on what triggered the blue chips rally and why it didn't hold on to those gains and coming up in a few minutes in business. first, we want to get you a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. a bridge connected ohio and virginia blown up tuesday morning. crews demolished the bridge over the ohio river in just seconds. it was closed three years ago after cracks were found. that's pretty cool. mountain lions aren't known for being afraid but one spent the morning 40 feet up in a tree after a german shepherd chased and apparently spooked the

animal. the cat spent hours hanging out above a california neighborhood and officials decided to let the lion come down on its own and eventually it did. in connecticut they put the fat into fat tuesday since the annual punch key eating contest. it's a race to see who can chow down on the most doughnuts in a minute. in the end a long time winner was able to fend off its hungry competition once again. delicious. finally a group of climbers turned dare devils in utah. built what they are calling the -- this is cool. online video of their high flying act has received more than 5 million hits in just one week. swingers say they took numerous steps to make the ropes safer and because they were outside national park boundaries, it was perfectly legal. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist bill karins with a look at the forecast.

>> i want to punch it. i've never had a polish doughnut before. >> neither have i. it looked delicious. >> me and an intern need to make a late night run. >> it's fabulous to do a late night run, isn't it? >> good morning, every. the big story the warmth across the country. we're looking today for temperatures that are going to be in the 50s, 60s, and even a few spots in the 70s, especially down along the southern half of the country. i mean, look at what we are going to do today in dallas at 76. the only area a little bit cooler and dealing with wintry weather is the northern portions of the plains through the great lakes. up around, say, minneapolis north wards. even there we warm it up and not much issues with accumulating snow. in the northwest continue to deal with problems with warm weather and a lot of rain and melting snow in the mountains it's almost like an april

weather pattern out there today. we should be up in the 60s today in virginia to washington, d.c. up into new england and not a lot changes. even as we go into tomorrow, we are going to still see very warm conditions and could get to the 70s in areas of the mid atlanta. boston a chance at 50 degrees here as we go through the last week of february. what is interesting tomorrow is the big temperature contrast in the middle of the country. 80s down here in texas and also looking at 30s to the north. any time you get that much of a contrast you probably will see a decent storm in the middle and what we will deal with. a chance of thunderstorms the next two days actually in areas of mississippi, tennessee and north that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. we will see a chance of some rain today especially late in the day and also that threat of thunderstorms possibly even a few severe thunderstorms. really northern alabama right along the border of tennessee and thunderstorms in areas of arkansas.

70-degree temperatures possible in areas like washington, d.c. tomorrow. >> it is so crazy! >> it is. >> it doesn't get old. i like it. bill, thanks so much. coming up, the dow soars and netflix has arrival and the consumer watch dog has your back. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, after publicly blasting his sitcom successor, charlie sheen has a rare stroke of conscience. coming up a pair of big upsets in college basketball but was kentucky one of them and was the spurs hit with a 40-point loss? you're watching "early today." charlie sheen has a rare stroke

good morning. welcome back. i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. the u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan, is on lockdown as hundreds have taken to the streets again to protest the u.s. burning of a caron. the u.s. has apologized for the

burning. the carons were burned from a detention center after they were found to be marked with extremist language. u.n. nuclear inspectors satisfy they were blocked from inspecting a site to a visit to iran this week and comes as iranian general warns his country a preemptive strike against his nation would be a threat. people were killed in homs, syria yesterday in a shelling. 20 people have been shot and killed and warned of food and water are running out. one of the woverled's best known works of art, the scream, is going up for auction in may, one of only four original versions. it could fetch $80 million. unreal. finally, it could be a real life water world. scientists say they have discovered a new planet more than twice the size of earth with more water and less rock than we have. but it's also a bit too hot for any of us to live on with a temperature on the surface of

446 degrees. now here is an "early" look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. researchers find doctors are overly confident about their patients' ability to lose weight. in the study, doctors predicted 55% of their patients would be likely to follow recommendations for losing weight. but after three months, only about half, 28%, lost at least two pounds and only 16% of those predicted to lose weight actually did. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,965, after adding 15 points yesterday. s&p up a fraction but the nasdaq lost three. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei rose 90 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng gained 70.

i mentioned earlier a wave of optimism pushed the dow into prerecession territory tu. two hours into trading, the dow probing the 13,000 mark for the first time since may of 2008. a green light for greece's second bailout helped fuel the early morning surge but lingering worries about that country's financial stability and some mixed corporate reports here at home dragged stocks lower late in the day. encouraging earnings from retail heavyweights home depot and macy's aed to the blue chip of momentum but disappointing results from walmart dragged that stock 4% lower and weighed heavily on the dow. meanwhile, kraft reported fourth quarter earnings in line with analysts estimates and barnes & noble fell 4%. after the bell, dell shares dipped on disappointing earnings. thanks to dwindling pc demand and competition from apple. comcast, majority owner of this network, is giving netflix a run

for its money with the launch of an online streaming video service to its cable subscribers this week. johnson & johnson has tapped an insider to replace its out going ceo. the consumer financial protection bureau is launching a probe into overdraft fees charged by big banks. and engineers at northrop grumman got back to the basics. one egg survived the four-story fall. coming up, the wildcats claw the tigers. seton hall shocks georgetown. and the spurs' streak is snapped. plus, a late game surge hands the miami heat a seventh consecutive win. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. much of the country is going to enjoy a very mild middle of

the week. but this weekend things get a little cooler. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, kentucky saves off an upset from mississippi state. here is fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines.

good morning, less than a month away until the ncaa tournament and last night, fans got an early taste of march madness. number one ranked kentucky trailed by as many as 13 to mississippi state on the road. wildcats proved why they are the most tlepted team in the nation. miller nailed the three. kentucky cut their deficit to one. late in the second half, gilchrist gave the wildcats first lead of the game and off the miss and the foul. kentucky up 63-62. miller who finished with 12 off the bench in the second half nailed the dagger from downtown. kentucky finished the game on a 20-4 run. survived winning 73-64 andi clenching the serk tit ining th. kansas beat number one missouri away from home. mcgrueddeeden kentucky. seatan hall improved its chances to make the tournament for the

first time since 2006. stunning number 9 georgetown shooting 61% for the game. jordan theodore 5 for 5 from downtown, career high 29. seton hall dominated ninth ranked georgetown. nba looks like gregg popovich didn't care about extending their seven-game winning streak. he said the veterans need add rest. portland took advantage and blew san antonio out. it snaps the spurs seven-winning streak. lebron james with an alley hoop. seems like he pulls one off every game. dwyane wade finished with 30. miami winning seventh straight. >> that is your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. dell lifts more than just trophies at last night's britain awards. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, just call him the

crooner in chief. coming up, president obama sings the blues. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this wednesday. warm air is the dominant feature on the weather map today. rain showers and thunderstorms in memphis here shortly and rain and snow showers in new england but not a lot of organized wet weather. temperatures are very mild. the only areas below freezing,

northern maine and also in the northern portion of the plains. everybody else is seeing temperatures above freezing which is very rare for this time of the year. today's high 60s from denver to kansas city. st. louis is going to be near 60. d.c. near 60 and even mid-50s as far north as boston today. if you're watching us on wch 6 in portland, maine. capture the personality of famous artist and actors of the mid 20th century at make is faces at the portland mutual of art and that is your early event day of today. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. is charlie sheen turning over a new leaf. on his website the self-proclaimed war lock apologized to ashton kutcher to mocking him. he called in live to rant about kutcher saying, quote, i'm tired of pretending the show doesn't suck. i'm tired of pretending ashton

doesn't suck. not cool. the newly engaged drew barrymore has punched pregnancy rumors. a rep for the 36-year-old actress only fueled speculation by refusing to confirm or deny the story. finally, fresh from her six grammy wins earlier this month, singer adele continued her winning streak at the brit awards on tuesday. unfortunately, her big night was soured when she flipped a middle finger on stage after her acceptance speech was cut short. adele later defended the angry gesture saying it went out to the suit behind the event. she wanted to make sure the fans knew it wasn't directed at them. >> i guess they were wrapping her up early and not giving her time to speak. this is adele. >> exactly. the guy who cut her off is terrified. >> i thought she was going for the light and fluffy thing. this comes to us from the white house where president obama doubled down on his

newfound love of public singing during a tribute to the blues. listen. ♪ baby don't you know come on baby don't you want to go ♪ ♪ ain't no place we know chicago ♪ sn ♪ >> the president can sing, that's for sure. he welcomed mick jagger and booker t. jones and other greats. it was in honor of black history month and will be broadcast on cbs. >> the first time, wow, he can sing. now he is just rubbing it in. for us that can't sing, yes. >> that's the point. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. ♪

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4:28. 46 degrees outside right now. good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this wednesday, february 22, 2012. today, a charlottesville jury will begin discussing the fate of a former university of virginia lacrosse player on trial for murder. jurors will decide if george huguely had the intent to kill his ex-girlfriend, yeardley love, or if her death was an accident. in closing arguments the prosecution argued that huguely broke down love's apartment door to beat her and urged a verdict of first-degree murder. huguely's defense team called

love's death a tragic accident and asked jurors to consider a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. the man arrested in a plot to bomb the u.s. capitol will be in court this afternoon for a bond hearing. amin el khalifi was arrested friday. agents gave him an inoperable bomb and gun. the 29-year-old was headed to the capitol thinking he would blow himself up inside. he's charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against federal property. if indicted and convicted, he could face life in prison. this morning, president obama will help kick off construction of the new national museum of african-american history and culture. he'll sfooek groundbreaking ceremony at 10:00. the museum will house artifacts from famous african-americans. it's scheduled to open in 2015 on the national mall at 14th and constitution avenue. and because of all that, it's going to be tough to get around the national mall. there will be street closures. the streets affected are adjacent