listen to conoco. i always like to say there is a bull market somewhere. i promise to try to find it just for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. see you tomorrow. >> staynected to kramer on madmoney@cnbc.com. >> in this morning on "early today requests. overshadowed as rivals seize on a major gap by one of his aides. breaking ranks, an out spoken u.s. marine ends up in hot water for criticizing the commander in chief. and pecking order. a reporter from an nbc station is attacked while shooting a story. >> announcer: this is early today for thursday, march 22nd, >> announcer: this is early today for thursday, march 22nd, 2012 captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> today, we begin with damage control. instead of celebrating a solid

win in illinois and a hay jar new republican endorsement, mitt romney's camp is back pedaling. nbc has details. >> reporter: mitt romney's 12 point illinois win impressed big-named republicans, one in the endorsement of jeb bush who said now is the time for republicans to unite behind governor romney. rick santorum tried to spin. >> the establishment was comfortable with the status quo. go with mitt romney. >> i want to get america right again. >> reporter: romney got undercut by one of his top aides who said once nominated, he plans to erase his focus. rick santorum showed up with an etch-a-scotch. >> he said you just take, turn

it over and shake it and then you start all over. >> mocking romney as a fake conservative which he rushed to deny. >> the issues will be exactly the same. i'm running against a conservative republican. >> so here's governor romney's staff. they don't even have the decency to wait until they get the nomination to explain to us how they'll sell us us. . >> reporter: santorum has a wing man. nbc narcs, washington. >> voted no confidence in their police chief over his investigation to the controversial shooting death of a black teenager. three to five commissioners voted against the chief in the wake of a killing in the unarmed killing of trayvon. the town city manager who had the act to fire the chief would take the vote into consideration. hundreds marched to demand

justice of martin's father telling the crowd that his son did not deserve to die. the suspect in the killing of seven people in france including three children and a rabbi is holding up french police into a second day. more than 300 police officers have surrounded a house. nbc has more. >> during the day of negotiations and stalling, a profile of the suspect emerged. 24-year-old muhammad marah is a french algerian extract. he said he trained with alquida and returned to france. he's admitted to carrying out the recent killings in the area. he says he killed the three french soldiers to protest western intervention in afghanistan and killed the three children and adult at a jewish school earlier this week in

revenge for children killed in palestine. the man called into a french network. >> he said he wasn't scared. and he said the only thing that would stop him would be the prison or death. and he would welcome both. >> a prosecutor says he had planned more attacks and an end to the situation will come as a relief for the rhes debits. >> now, here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. security camera captured a home invasion in philadelphia. at least six gunmen attacked a couple as they're pulling into their driveway. one of the victims can be seen crawling on the pavement. the robbers took cash and jewelry. a big scare for an ohio family after 25 foot long boulder rolls down a hillside and crashed into their home smashing two cars along with it. the family was in a different part of the home when it happened. elsewhere in ohio, a vacant

house blew up possibly due to a build up of natural gas. a blast ripped off the entire front of the house. no one was injured. a new jersey neighborhood has become home to dozens of pigs. 26 in all. they're living inside an r.v. many of the humans living on the street aren't exactly hog wild about it. police and animal control say there is no evidence the pigs are being mistreated. finally, a reporter for our nbc affiliate in rhode island ran a fowl of a rooster who apparently is no fan of the media. >> cattle rustler pulled up to this entrance -- >> oh, oh. >> the angry bird actually pecked her three or four times despite being the smallest rooster in the coop. now, for a look at your national

and regional weather, here's the weather forecast. i'm sorry, she's asking for it. she's invading his territory. >> her reaction was what made it? she was cute. that was funny. well, yesterday was an unbelievably warm day, once again around the country. and it's not often that chicago is one of the hottest spots in the country. but that's what happened. 87 degrees in the middle to end of march in chicago. that was only one degree away from the warmest temperature ever recorded in chicago in march, which is 88 degrees. and it was mild just about everywhere from chicago east ward. areas around d.c., philly, baltimore, the clouds held in there keeping it on the coop cooler side. you notice we're cool back on the rockies today. our pesky storm system brought some tornadoes yesterday and the flooding rains to louisiana has only now pushed the rain a little further towards the east. it's a very slow-moving system. it's kind of stalled out. we'll let you go through this afternoon and tomorrow. we've still got a lot of

thunderstorm activity in and around baton rouge, new orleans and central mississippi, including jackson. we'll watch that for you. you can see where all the thunderstorms are potentially in the east coast. enjoy another taste of summer. that's a look at your national forecast. now, here's a look at the weather where you live. >> a good chance of afternoon storms today in areas like georgia, definitely as we already talked about in alabama and mississippi. doesn't look like too many severe weather today, maybe some gusty winds or small hail would be the worst of it. >> as i said, slowly that storm system will head east towards the weekend. >> i still can't believe how warm it is. i am wearing something very spring-like to celebrate. >> a new business name with elvis' blue suede shoes. plus, it is one thing to be a tough businessman, but does it pay to be mean in showbiz?

>> coming up, a birth cay wish comes true. an unprecedented suspension by the nfl and tebow mania hits the big apple. you're watching early today.

good morning. and welcome back to "early today." here are some of your top headlines this morning. president obama is in oklahoma to talk about his energy policy and speeding up the building of the southern part of the keystone pipeline. over the weekend, the president will be in south korea and will visit the demilitarized zone between north and south. soldiers went on tv to say they have seized power from a rebellion. they intend to return power to a new democratically elected government. the marine corps has told

sergeant gary stine that he faces dismissal. stine started a face-book page called forces tea party and said that he wouldn't follow what he calls a lawful order to the president. and former illinois governor's infamous hair may quickly go gray in prison. his barber suggested he dyed his hair for years. he started a 14 year prison sentence last yack where hair dye is not allowed. the dow opens up at 13,124. the s&p was down two points, but the nasdaq was up one. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo, the nikkei gained 40 points. in hong kong, the hang seng gained 44. market mostly quiet

yesterday, but a warning out of china could spark some concerns on wall street. it could spell fear about oil and materials demand. yesterday, investors got reports on the housing market, fails of existing homes dipped last month but winter sales were the best in five years. h.p. was the biggest drag on the dow. meanwhile, baker hughs weighed down the s&p with a profit warning. green mountain perked up 10% on word starbucks will make coffee packs for a single-cup brewing system. the "hunter games" will be a big box office hit. safely, food lion and supervalue have agreed to stop selling ground beef made with so called pink slime. this morning, $300 million to

guarantee it will continue making car ins that country for another decade. ahead of a previous, kraft's new name. the company will be called monda lees, meaning delicious world. finally, time is running out if you want to get your hands on a few pieces of history. a white chiffon gown worn by princess di and elvis' presley's blue suede shoes are both up for sale. the knicks seem perfect under their new coach. plus, kobe bryant and the lakers get fancy. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> warm weather continues to be the big story across the country. you're watching "early today."

a very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the unlikely story of nfl quarterback tim tebow took another surprise twist yesterday with the christian ending up, of all places, new york city. here's a look at all of your sports headlines. >> good morning, we're in the middle of march madness. the nba playoffs are heating up

and everybody is talking about football. we're going to start with tim tebow. tebow is now a member of the new york jets. tebow will back up mark sanchez and will likely be used in a wild offense. nfl commissioner dropped the hammer on the saints. suspended head coach sean peyton for the entire season and the former defense of coordinator indefinitely. the quest for crash program targeted key opposing players. the team denied everything and tried to cover it up. gm and assistant coach were also suspended in multiple games. the organization was fined a half million bucks and will forfeit a second round pair of draft picks. it's been heard loud and clear. basketball in one week, the knicks are ice cold and now they're red hot. the knicks put it all together

at 82-79. joe johnson to force overtime, he got it at the buzzer. and in o.t., it was johnson again. not a buzzer-beater, but just as important. kobe bryant may be getting a little long in the tooth, but he can still make plays like that. the ally-ope reverse and a foul. lakers beat the mavs 109-93. finally, ranger's captain celebrated his birthday in style. it's his 27th goal of the year and it came on his 27th birthday. he gets his perbirthday wish an the rangers win it 2-1 in o.t. that's your early look at sports on "early today." >> another hollywood baby on the way. and who is hanging with ashton?

your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. the white house is praised with my distinguished guests, but yesterday, the secret service were on their hands and knees. you're watching "early today.

welcome back to "early today." here's what you need to know about your early forecast. umbrella weather pushing to

alabama and even atlanta. st. louis and chicago and minneapolis still very warm. as far as we're dealing with tomorrow, not a lot changes. right now, it's over the top oklahoma. tomorrow, it tries to push over the top of missouri. good chance they'll get it tomorrow, too. if you're watching us on nbc 5 in chicago illinois, see rare photos of how the chicago reversed its flow. that's your early today event of the day. >> notes there. >> okay, i think we've got it. >> all right, here is an early look at this morning's headlines and entertainment news now. good news for tinsel town on her birthday. reese witherspoon who turns 36 today is expecting her third child. he has a 12-year-old daughter

and an 8-year-old son with her x. rhianna played a late-night visit to ashton. donald trump has been feuding with rosie o'donnell for a while now. so he jumped in to kick her when she was down over her talk show being cancelled next week. he tweeted i'm so glad rosie got fired by oprah. rosie is a bully and it's always nice to see bullies go down. finally, the return of madmen after an 1-month hiatus in of all places, wall street. the new york stock exchange with the opening bell. and it's now comed to us from the white house where it is normally a very bad idea to try and get passed the fence without permission. unless, of course, you are a mother duck. the ducklings are outside 1600

pennsylvania avenue when mom decided to get a little closer to the executive branch. her babies didn't know what to do until the secret service came to the rescue trying a ramp and just lifting the ducklings on to the north lawn. they didn't get to see the president who was out for the day. darn. >> they tazed a partially of ducklings. >> what is it with the show today? roosters, ducks, 26 pigs. >> the pigs will be in arby. >> i'm veronica dela cruz. this is our first stop today on your nbc station.

. 4:28 is our time right now. we have 46 degrees. take a look at they'rery picture of the dome. new overnight developments between the police and the stand off. overnight police set off explosions around the apartment building in toulouse where mohammed mara refuses to come out. he prompted to surrender but did

not. in talks with negotiators, he admitted to killing a rabbi, three children and three military soldiers. police cut the electricity and natural gas to the area in hopes of pressuring the man to surrender. police want him out alive. we're monitoring the situation and will bring you any information throughout the morning. >> breaking news now locally. a pregnant woman is in the hospital after being stabbed. this happened around 2:30 this morning around ninth street in northeast washington. she should be okay. we're working to find out the baby's condition. so far no arrests were made. and the police are investigating another stabbing where three women were attacked. this happened around 9:00 near trinity university on rhode island avenue northeast. the paramedics found the victims on nearby franklin street. the names of the