this morning on "early today", moving forward a new development in the case involving the shooting death of florida teen trayvon martin. hailed as heroes, two seventh graders leap into action after a school bus driver loses consciousness. >> planetary pachyderms. a familiar image on the planet mars. >> this is ""early today"" for tuesday, april 10, 2012. >> hello. good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a strategic move. a special prosecutor

investigating the killing of trayvon martin has decided not to use a grand jury to decide whether george zimmerman will face criminal charges. that decision will now be in her hands alone. jay gray has the details. >> reporter: a handful of protesters, most of them students marched to the sanford police department, blocking the front doors and for a short time actually closing the office down. as the protest over the trayvon martin shooting continues, special prosecutor angela corey announced she alone would filed charges in the controversial case. she spoke briefly by phone with the protesters. >> she didn't give us much details but hinted that something would be coming very shortly so we're very excited by that. >> reporter: in a brief written statement corey said she would not present evidence to a grand

jury but the investigation would con. the family attorney released this statement. we're not surprised by this announcement and in fact are hopeful that a decision will be reached very soon to arrest george zimmerman and give trayvon martin's family the simple justice they have been seeking all along. on a day when george zimmerman went online with his new official website and message to supporters, corey's announcement could signal an important turning point. >> there's an indication she is close to the end of her investigation. and i think it's an indication she will make a decision based on the law and the evidence. >> reporter: so many follow this highway profile case wait to hear for much more. jay gray, nbc news, sanford, florida. >> the two men arrested in a shooting death of three black men in tulsa, oklahoma have confessed, according to court documents. 19-year-old jake england and

32-year-old alvin watts were arraigned by teleconference from the county jail yesterday. england confessed to shooting three people friday. watts confessed to shooting two. but the affidavit does not make clear which man shot which victim. they say first degree murder charges and are being held on $9 million bond. police say they believe there's a link between the shooting and killing of england's father by a black man. elsewhere, u.s. is urging north korea not to launch a satellite or conduct a newark test calling them provocative actions. north korea says the launch preparation will be complete today. nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel has more inside north korea. >> reporter: this rocket is poised for launch, north korea says, to carry a satellite into orbit. but u.s. officials worry it could easily be converted into a

intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the united states. the standoff comes as this isolated country allowed outsiders, journalists in for a closer look. in pyongyang we saw up to 100,000 people express devotion to kim jong-il as the giant mural of the departed leader was unveiled. the control of this society was immediately apparent. people stood in rows at attention. applauded on cue. and waved poms-poms. north korea's vision of patriotic utopia. this is the first time journalists have been allowed into north korea since kim

jong-un came to power. >> in washington state students are being called heroes after their school driver suffered a medical condition. a seventh grader grabs the wheel, steers the bus to the shoulder, turning off the ignition and even did chest compressions on the driver while they were still moving. another student jumped in to help while other kids called 911. the driver is now recupperating. arose the northeast high winds and low humidity led to several wildfires. in connecticut flames burned alongside railroad tracks that caused the suspension of some amtrak and commuter service. in new york city a fire on staten island could be seen from mid-town manhattan making for a smokey unhealthy area. in long island two homes and a commercial building burned. on a much lighter note in new york city, it's become the new hang out for a goat.

you don't see that every day. her owner says cocoa is much happier spending time in the big apple than on farm. even like a commuter she's hopping on to the subway. and finally in oklahoma it was a hail storm that sound more like a shooting spree. grapefruit size hail smashed into one neighborhood. listen to that. at least two tornadoes were also reported. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's meteorologist bill karins. we hear of golf ball size hail but grapefruit size hail? >> baseball and softball goes through windshields, it does a lot of damage. nothing more impressive falling into a river. we were wondering about severe weather yesterday and how bad it would be. overall we didn't see too much damage and that was good. we had two tornadoes reported but they were on the ground for a very short period of time. may have been the same tornado reported by different storm

spotters. a lot of that large hail was in areas of northern oklahoma and also right along the border of oklahoma into areas of texas. we didn't see much around oklahoma city or dallas so that was good. wichita falls not too much stormy weather. thunderstorm near you to the west side of town this morning. that's it. not much left. all the thunderstorms out here by tonight on interstate 20 have dissipated. those amazing winds in the northeast and huge storm system up here in northern maine still bringing some rain showers up there to northern new england but that's about it. today will not be as windy as yesterday but until breezy. we're fine in southeast and some storms in texas. here's a look at the weather outside your window. chicago today will be a cold start and with that cold air filtering down and northerly northwesterly winds highs in the upper 40s. chicago was much warmer in march than it has been so far in april.

not too bad as far as, this is middle of severe weather season we'll take days like yesterday. >> coming up, facebook buys a potential rival. new way to discourage phone theft and proof that the "hunger games" have hit the big time. plus an alleged soccer is no laughing matter for alec baldwin. mets remain perfect. yankees get in the win column. you're watching ""early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today". i'm lynn berry. syrian government forces fired

across the borders of turkey and lebanon killing several people. 125 people have been killed over the past two days as a cease-fire was scheduled to gin today. books of the "hunger games" triolgy have been placed on the most challenged list of the american library association. some parents and educators are questioning whether the books should be on library shelves because of violence, language and sex. england's prince harry rode through snowy roads in romania. prince charles owns a mansion in a nearby village. released images from marches that shows a dried lava flow that looks a lot like the forehead, trunk and eye of an elephant. it was taken by a camera in orbit around the red planet. here's a look at how wall street will kick off the day.

the dous opens at 12,929. the s&p fell 15 points. the nasdaq lost 33. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei was down eight points while in hong kong the hang seng dipped 236. not surprisingly stocks tumbled on investors first day back after a long holiday weekend. all ten industry groups on the s&p suffered with financials hit the hardest. broad selloff also dragged the dow to its first sub-13,000 finish in a month. facebook's purchase of instantgram grabbed a lot of attention as they ready it's upcoming ipo. instantgram was becoming a highly sought social rival. elsewhere in billion dollar deals shares of aol shot up 34% after the company agreed to sell

patents to microsoft for more than $1 billion. at&t announced its selling its majority stake in its yellow pages business to a capital management company for $950 million. avon slid 3% after appointing a former johnson & johnson exec as ceo. china had a trade surplus to reverse february's $31 billion deficit. here in the u.s. phone carers are teaming up with the government to crackdown on cell phone thefts. major carers and the sbc agreed to create a database of unique i.d. numbers to allow customers to disable their phone. >> "hunger games" franchise has hit another popularity milestone, a collector's barbie named for the heroine. cat dolls are already back

ordered until august 1st. coming up, the jazz snap the spurs win streak. the reds rally past the blujs and the yanks clip the orioles. the mets stay perfect celebrating a walkoff win in the ninth. your early morning sport headlines are straight ahead. >> looks like our spring trend will continue. cool and wet weather on the coast. your weather is coming up. you're watching "early today".

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today". in sports the texas rangers came out swinging after a rough start by their big free agent signing. here's nbc's mario solis with a look at your sports headlines. >> darvish made his debut. kyle seger hits a pair. before the fans settle in their seats mariners are up 4-0. rangers have nine innings to make up the difference and that's what they do. nelson cruz, josh hamilton hit homers. darvish picks up his first win in the bigs 11-5.

one of the reasons texas got darvish to fill the void of c.j. lewis. c.j. lewis struck five over seven innings. angels won. baltimore took four games but yankees finally got their first win. believe it or not derek jeter has the most hits in the 20 year history of camden yards. kept it going lasting night perfect 4-4. yankees won. blue jays rallied in the ninth. mcdonald hustling from second. the throw was there. gets away from the catcher. boston takes the lead and wins 4-1. how about a walkoff. mets tied it in the ninth. mets win 5-4. no better way to celebrate than a shaving cream pie to the face. they are 4-0. nba lamar odom will have plenty of time to work on his reality show.

mavericks placed him on the inactive win. the spurs went for their 12th win. jazz took advantage and won 90-84. the playoffs can't start soon enough for the ageing spurs. that's a look at your sports on "early today". i'm mario solis. broadway has a new king. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. the first family yesterday took time outat the white house for one last celebration of easter. you're watching "early today".

welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday. northern new england still cloudy and cool with some showers especially northern portions of new york. afternoon those were in texas. widespread, though. nice day in denver, 74 degrees. not bad in montana either. as we go towards tomorrow more of the same. not too much of a change in the weather pattern out there over the next couple of days. if you're watching us on wvit nbc connecticut in hartford, in greenwich, see 3-d image to see athletic performance at the games, the science of sports at the bruce museum. now here's an early look at this moaning's headlines in

entertainment. the latest celebrity dealing with a stalker. canadian woman appeared at alec baldwin's home on sunday. she was arrested on five count of harassment and stalking. last week she emailed baldwin a dozen times and friday night she showed up at a movie premier that he hosted. amanda's father said she didn't have a single drink friday night in los angeles and police charge she was under the influence when she crashed into the back of a stopped police car. he claims the officer involved caused the accident, pulling out in front of barnes as she turned into the intersection. the lion king has topped the center of broadway's highest grossing musical with $154 million. whitney houston's funeral

cost her home town police overtime. and a brief was argued was filed saying her ex's child support is not enough. president obama presided over the 134th annual easter egg roll on the south lawn and that was just part of the fun. first lady michelle obama and daughters joined the president in a reading of where the wild things are to kids. the president also joined the harlem globetrotters for a little basketball. some 30,000 people joined in on the post- holiday festivities. looks like fun there. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today". just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

breaking news at 4:28. a car has driven into the reflecting pool near the capitol. it happened near d street and louisiana. news4's tracee wilkins has the latest. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. police are still investigating exactly what happened here. let me show you this unbelievable sight. a vehicle in the reflecting pool here outside of the capitol building. this is what police say happened. they say that they tried to pull this car over for a routine traffic stop when the driver took off. they lost sight of the driver,

caught up with him, and found him here in the reflecting pool. there were two people in the car. they got out of the car and took off on foot. d.c. police were able to catch the two men, took them into custody. we also understand that a weapon was also received here or found here on the scene by d.c. police inside of that vehicle, and that they now have that, as well. so two people taken into custody, running from police and crashed their vehicle into the reflecting pool. the investigation is beginning into, again, what was going on with these guys and what they were doing with a weapon in their vehicle. reporting live from northwest, news4. >> thank you. a developing story in maryland this morning. lawmakers are calling for a special session after failing to pass two high-profile bills including one on gambling. they failed to reach agreement on bringing a sixth casino to the state