reactivateor for when people are too negative. had a very good run today. i'm jim cramer, see you tomorrow! i p north kor>>y launches their rocket. like a rock. ppolice recover police rr> customp customer customer dealership in moscow? this is "early today" for april 13th, 2012. good morning i'm lynn berry. failure to launch. north korea's long range rocket

for the government, officials have not made any kind of comment at all, they have assembled journalists about 100 reporters brought in to north korea, we were expecting to see a live video feed of the launch, instead we were told by officials in washington and reports from south korea, and japan, that not only had the launch taken place but it had failed. this object flew for one minute before seemingly fell in the yellow sea. we are told we will get some sort of comment from the north korean government but officials we have been talking to seemed

to know as little as we do. we informed the government minders who we are with that the launch had taken place. he shrugged his shoulders, ran out of the room, so how north korea explains this away, what it tells its own people will be critical in the historic narrative of the country. but a major embarrassment and this is something that north korea is now going to have to tell its people that it was a failure. richard engel, nbc news, pyongyang. according to a new poew poln it comes to the shooting of trayvon martin, americans are divided by race. 91% of african americans say martin was unjustly killed. only 35% of whites thought so. george zimmerman appeared publicly for the first time in a florida courtroom. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: in handcuffs and jailhouse jump suit,

george zimmerman stood before the judge for less than three minutes, showing no emotion. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: only responding as the judge outlined the second-degree murder charge and rights in the case. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: the hearing amounted to a legal formality but provided a bit of insight in the prosecution's case. a probable cause affidavit shows that state investigators believe trayvon martin, a 17-year-old african american, was profiled by george zimmerman and that zimmerman confronted martin and the struggle ensued. court document also outlines a meeting between martin's mother and investigators where she listened to the 911 recording to the night her son was killed. >> so you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> identified the voice crying for help as trayvon martin's voice. >> all the evidence we have, but some of the evidence will establish pr. >> not guilty plea was entered. we have arraignment on the 29 the. >> reporter: after pushing for zimmerman's arrest, an effort that sparked a national

firestorm, parents are relieved it will play out in the courtroom and not rallies and protests that to this point have defined the case. >> we just want to -- him to be held accountable for what he has done. >> the next step in the process, formal arraignment hearing set for the end of may. the wife of ann romney had an unlikely defender speaking up for her yesterday, president obama. the president said a democratic consultant said the wrong thing when she suggested ann romney isn't qualified to give advice on the economy because she "hasn't worked a day in her life." mr. obama said that was not something he agrees with and the president added "it's the toughest job than being a mom." here is look at other stories, "early todaer"early to left areas buried under four to

five feet of ice pellets. caused flooding, shut down highways and forced officials to clear roads. no injuries have been reported. phones rang off the hook over what could have been a meteor shower over the midwest. witnesses in wisconsin reported seeing a bright greenish object streak across the sky. also reported in iowa, illinois, michigan and indiana. researchers in wisconsin have a fish tale folks will be talking about years to come. they were conducting a survey on wolf river when they hauled in a monsterous sturgeon. it's over 87.5 inches long and weighs about 240 pounds. it's believed to be 125 years old. it was tagged and returned back to the river. finally, a day at the races

for spaulding university students. the school held the running of the rodents. this year, was a blow out, it was viva rat vegas, taking the crown, get it? that is our look -- it looks like our commute on the subway system -- >> those are pretty white rats. >> dirty brown rats running around. >> getting excited about the weekend forecast? >> i am, thank you for being here to deliver it. >> the east coast is very excited, dangerous in the middle of the country. let me explain. first off notice there is no white, no clouds in the east. a chilly morning, beautiful afternoon. middle of the country, we have rain in nebraska northward. one storm system heading north, another one out here in california, and that is the one that will be trouble as we go throughout the weekend. here is the storm system bringing the rain this morning, maybe isolated severe weather,

but the storm system that is now out in the west, that will take its course right through the four corner region in the central portions of the plains. that storm is trouble because it looked like severe weather if not tornado outbreak is likely over the weekend. not what you want to have to worry about. slight risk of severe storms, oklahoma city, wichita, isolated tornado, wind damage and hail will be the problem. toward the weekend, we have a high risk of severe weather including tornadoes from about topeka to manhattan, kansas, to oklahoma city, a few strong tornadoes. that is a look at the national forecast, here is the weather outside your window. sunshine today in pittsburgh, 64 degrees, raleigh at 68, there is beautiful weather in the east. salt lake city, showers, maybe a rumble of thunder, same for

minneapolis. >> beautiful weekend for everyone, but typical tornado outbreak over the weekend. google grabs attention, a court rules on lunch time and a break-up in the world of candy? "early today" business headlines are straight ahead. the biggest winner at the box office this weekend will be a movie you can't even see. we'll explain. the heat and bulls need ot, there were three overtime games in the stanley cup playoffs. you're watching "early today."

here are headlines this morning. a white house spokesman told syrian president bashar al-assad to stop playing your people. there is a -- the town's

police chief was shot and killed days away from his scheduled retirement after 26 years in law enforcement. the state of florida executed serial killer david allen gore by lethal injection after years on death row. he admitted to killing four women and two teenage girls in the 1980s. a stolen painting by paul cezanne was recovered in a vehicle in serbia. "the boy in the red vest" is worth more than $109 million. security camera shows a moment of outrage in a showroom of a russian doctor in moscow drove his loaner car in a nissan dealership, smashing all the cars on display. police say he snapped because he had to wait 20 minutes to pick up his car and now he faces up

to a five year prison sentence. not smart. here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,986 after zooming 181 points. nasdaq rose 39. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei is up 113 points. hong kong the hang seng jumped 373. investors are hoping for a streak. projections of a soft landing for china's economy sparked a rally that sent u.s. steel up 7.5%. copper and gold shot up 6. traders unexpected jump in new weekly unemployment claims. hewlitt packarkd had a jump in p c shipments. google blew past quarterly

expectations announced a two-for-one stock split. dow chemical rose after a healthy earnings report. red box owner shot up as much as 14% in late trade after doubling quarterly profit expectations. barnes and noble tum welled 6%. apple said charges it was a co-conspire ra store in the ebrook prize fixing scheme are not true. a personal conduct investigation in best buy's former chief centers around whether he misused company funds during an alleged relationship with a 29-year-old female employee. california's supreme court ruled thursday employers are not obligated to make workers take their legally-mandated lunch

breaks. say it ain't so, a divorce in candyland? mike and ike are calling it quits in a new ad campaign to draw in younger customers. coming up, chicago bulls beat the heat. boston breaks down the caps and the saints keep the head coaching job in-house. plus the broadway blues beat up on ottawa in game one of the stanley cup playoff match-up. your "early today" sports headlines are straight ahead. the weekend forecast is all about severe storms in the midwest, that is coming up you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're waking up this is "early today." in sports the player force eight nhl teams had to work overtime in the stanley cup playoffs. here is nbc's mario solis with an early look at the sports headlines. good morning to you, what's better than one overtime playoff game? how about three? let's begin with the defending champions, bruins hosting the caps. chris kelly ended, skates across the blue line, fires a rocket, shutout the capitals to win game one, 1-0 in ot. overtime in boston, double

ot in st. louis. second goal of the game is the difference. sharks take game one 3-2 in double overtime. phoenix-blackhawks down a goal. the puck comes to brent seabrook, scores the equalizer to force ot. the celebration is short-lived. hanzel tips in the shot from the point. coyotes win 3-2 in overtime. to new york, the rangers made quick work of the senators. ryan callahan gives the blue-shirts a lead in the first. calm, cool, collected waits for the goalie to go down and picks the spot. they win 4-2. the saints named joe vitt the interim coach while sean payton serves suspension. vitt is suspended for the first six games of the season. this coaching situation is giving me a headache.

not to be outdown by the nhl two of the best teams in the nba also go to overtime. bulls and heat. chicago down three in the final seconds. cj watson dials long distance, ties the game, forces ot. kyle corver from michigan avenue, got it. miami scores two points in ot, bulls win it 96-86. that is a look at sports on "early today" i'm mario solis. the "early today" headlines are straight ahead. plus coming up, proof that the sport of skate boarding has gone to the dogs. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this friday. the most important information i have to tell you about if you live in kansas or oklahoma, up to omaha, as we go throughout saturday afternoon and evening you have to pay attention to the skies and local nbc station. we'll be going through a tornado outbreak, under a high risk, very rare to do this far ahead, this area of white we could see strong tornadoes, could be a life-threatening situation saturday afternoon and evening. if you're watching on kprc local 2 in houston, texas, walk through a giant cell and see what happens in the human body at cells, the universe inside us

at the health museum. that is "early today" event of the day. here is an early look at headlines in entertainment. experts say no one will knock off the "the hunger games" at the box office. the horror entry "cabin in the woods" which sat on the shelf three years is getting great reviews. experts say it won't do better than $15 million. the three stooges may have worked better with originally names like sean penn and benicio dell toro, should earn 10 to 15 million. the space thriller "lock out" will only earn six to eight million. "the hunger games" will remain number one with 18 to 20 million. the biggest winner will be overseas. battleship, which opens here next month, is expected to post blockbuster numbers. remember president obama calling kanye west a jackass in 2009? after his on stage ambush of taylor swift at the mtv music

awards. when reminded in that in an interview in "the atlantic" he replied, he is a jackass but he's talented. i feel like i need to put a dollar in the swear jar. in salt lake city, utah, one dog is hitting the street to show off a cool trick, you got to see to believe. take a look at this, dex tur has been skateboarding since five months old, instead of plague fetch, his owner put him on a board and now he can't keep him off. all on his own, dexture turns the blacktop in his stage, it is quite the phenom. i'm lynn berry this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28 now on this friday the 3th day of -- the 13th day of april. looking at another day we're going to see temperatures -- why are you grinning like that? >> just happy to be here, aaron. >> tom kierein will have the forecast. i'm happy that you're here, too. >> are you happy to be here? >> absolutely. good morning. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today." if you ride metro, prepare to dig a little deeper into your pockets. fares are a step closer to going up as early as july. the metro systems finance committee approved a hike that will raise fares by 5%.

that means you could pay as much as $5.75 during peak hours. bus riders will see a ten-cent increase. you'll pay 25 cents more to park. the biggest change are for riders who use paper fare cards. they will pay a dollar surcharge. there's a $14 all-day tass and for -- pass and for the first time, a pass that will run $230. two teenagers in fairfax county may soon get to sleep in a little before class starts. want school board approved a resolution to push back the start of high school classes to 8:00 in the morning. right now classes start at 7:20, meaning some students have to get on the bus before 6:00 a.m. the county will look at how these changes would impact other school divisions before a final vote in june. meanwhile, the board also approved a plan to end this school year a few days early since they only used one of three weather days. classes will now end