it is monday, april 18th. coming up on "early today," the death toll rises as the devastating images of ecuador's massive 7.8 earthquake are emerging this morning. the candidates campaigning hard ahead of tomorrow's new york primary as george clooney raises what he calls an obscene amount of money for democrats. 26 states challenges president obama's immigration policy head to the supreme court today. plus, a stalled storm threatens millions with snow and heavy rain. and a very funny "saturday night live." "early today" starts right now. good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us today. i'm betty nguyen. the death toll is rising in ecuador. it is a race against time as rescuers search for survivors after a magnitude-7.8ar

right now at least 272 people are confirmed dead. more than 2,000 are injured. so far, there have been more than 200 aftershocks from the massive quake. nbc's miguel almaguer reports from ecuador. >> reporter: a hundred miles outside of the nation's capital of quito, the frantic search for survivors is growing even more desperate every hour. a crowd trying to save this driver of this car, only to realize later there was nothing they could do. ecuador's largest city is in ruins. bridges have collapsed, roads have crumbled, entire neighborhoods are flattened. this woman cries, my cousin is in the rubble. anguish and devastation are everywhere, and so is the plea for help. stephanie lives just a few hours from the quake's epicenter. >> please help us. my country needs everyone now. >> reporter: in regions hard hit, power is out, phones are down, and many are

the streets. >> that was nbc's miguel almaguer. now to decision 2016 and tomorrow's new york primary. hillary clinton is counting on a big night as she edges closer to the number needed for the nomination. while bernie sanders looks to continue on with his recent string of primary and caucus victories. sanders drew another massive crowd in new york this weekend. just over 28,000 people showed up at brooklyn's prospect park. there are 291 delegates up for grabs for the democrats tomorrow. and the latest polling shows clinton out in front by 10%. for the republicans, donald trump has a 33% lead on ted cruz. there are 95 delegates at stake for the republicans. over the weekend, cruz won all 14 delegates at the wyoming convention. he still trails trump by almost 200 delegates. and we have two reports for you now, starting with nbc's jacob rascon covering the republicans. >> reporter: on the home stretch in

ahead by the widest margin of the primary season, campaigning as if the race was neck and neck. 12 campaign stops in 12 days. >> we have to win by big numbers because we have a system that's absolutely rigged. it's rigged. >> reporter: determined not just to win but to mathematically wipe out rival ted cruz. >> when he gets wiped out in new york, which he will, he no longer has a road to the nomination. >> reporter: pivoting confidently past cleveland, the master of name calling -- >> poor jeb. little marco. lying ted cruz. >> reporter: trump now testing political death by nickname on the other front runner. >> crooked hillary. >> reporter: meanwhile, ted cruz betting on a contested convention, shutting out trump delegates again in wyoming, saying this is how elections are won in america. >> thank you and god bless you. >> reporter: but to trump, losing wyoming, where there was no voter primary, is a badge of honor. >> that's not democracy. you know, you're allow

people. >> reporter: trump voters buying his argument. >> it sounds like it's rigged. >> the person with the most delegates should win. >> reporter: or maybe the most merchandise. selling campaign souvenirs since 1992 -- >> whatever sells the most per that candidate, that candidate wins every time. >> reporter: the white house? >> the white house. >> reporter: every time? >> every time. >> reporter: their prediction, donald trump. his campaign counting on a knockout before july. jacob rascon, nbc news, poughkeepsie, new york. >> reporter: i'm kristen welker on staten island with secretary clinton. >> we have a big election on tuesday. the democratic primary. >> reporter: she and senator sanders making a final frenzied push ahead of tuesday's primary. >> this is a movement of people who are prepared to think big, not small. >> reporter: this as clinton is coming under fire after attending two california nd

amal clooney. the top tickets for saturday's event, $100,000, prompting some sanders supporters to throw dollar bills at clinton's car. today, the secretary on defense. >> i am raising money to elect other democrats. i'm a democrat, and i want to see us take back the senate. >> reporter: on "meet the press," clooney echoed that sentiment but also agreed with parts of sanders' argument. >> it's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. >> reporter: those words giving sanders an opening when asked if clooney is backing the wrong horse. >> well, i think he is, but he's honest enough to say that there's something wrong when few people who are able to contribute unbelievably large sums of money. >> reporter: still, clinton is leading by double digits in new york. sanders' aides acknowledge a loss here would make his tough odds even steeper, but sanders has the money to keep going. his strategy now, trying to win as many delegates as possible and then pivot to more winnable states like oregon and

delegate-rich california. >> cri meanwhile, "saturday night live" took full advantage of it all in the form of a mini "seinfeld" reunion. >> you've been pretty vague in the past, but how exactly are you going to break up the big banks? >> you mean the big bank breakup? >> yeah, big bank breakup. >> you break 'em up! >> how? how? >> once i'm elected president, i'll have a nice sweat in the white house gym. i'll go to the big banks, sit them down and yada, yada, yada, they'll be broken up. >> what? no, no. you can't yada-yada at a debate. also, you yada-yadaed over the best part. now to a growing political crisis to tell you about. this out of brazil. just as that country gets ready to host the 2016 summer olympic games, brazil's lower house voted sunday to start

president dilma rousseff. the measure now goes to the senate. rousseff is brazil's first female president, and she's accused of using accounting tricks to maintain federal spending and shore up support. last night thousands of pro-impeachment protesters took to the streets to celebrate the vote. the fight over immigration heads to the supreme court today. the obama administration's plan to protect roughly 4 million people from deportation is faced with a fight from 26 states. texas leads the way, arguing the president does not have the authority to do this. nbc's tracie potts joins me live from washington with details. tracie, how is this all expected to play out? >> reporter: well, we could finally be nearing an end, betty, to what's been a pretty long debate over the president's immigration plan. he announced it 18 months ago. since then, it's been blocked and tied up in the courts.

lots of people are already camped out in front of the u.s. supreme court. 4 million dreamers, these are children who were brought to the united states when they were under 16 years old, plus parents of legal u.s. citizens, all of them could be shielded from deportation if this plan goes into effect. the administration says they're putting them on the back burner in terms of deportations. they would allow them to get work permits and other benefits. the 26 states led by texas that argue against it say that, number one, president obama doesn't have the authority to do that, only congress does. they also argue that this is putting an undue burden on the states in terms of the money they would have to spend just to issue driver's licenses. so those arguments begin today, bet betty. then we'll see some sort of decisi

tracie, thank you. and the rocky mountains get a visit from old man winter this weekend. more than four feet of snow fell in parts of colorado. denver got about a foot of the white stuff. portions of interstate 70 and 80 had to be closed at times due to the heavy snowfall. sure is pretty though. more stormy weather is in the forecast for today. no, bill. >> it's all about texas. >> really? >> yeah, they had a ton of rain on the warm side of the same storm that produced the snow. a lot of flash flooding over the weekend. it continues. now it's a life-threatening situation just to the north of houston. this is a four-hour loop. this hasn't moved. this stuff is just sitting here north of i-10. it's not in houston proper itself, but in areas just to the north, about a half hour drive to the north. the water is piling up in a hurry. that water will head eventually downstream towards the gulf. we'll have to watch that during this morning. that's the dangerous stuff. lighter rainfall amounts around dallas, tooyler and shreveport. you notice all of the red here,

flash flood warnings with all the heavy rain occurring currently. also, del rio under a flash flood warning. flash flood watch continues for oklahoma, but it will be improving there during the day today. today the real big concern is from houston to victoria to corpus christie. this is where we could see an decisional 4 inches, isolated amounts up to 7. this is on top of the stuff i just showed you. that's the area of greatest concern. everyone east of the mississippi, enjoy an early taste of summer. that's your national weather. now here's a closer look at your day ahead. well, the concern obviously right now is just to the north of the houston area. during the day, those thunderstorms will drift further down to the south, maybe into the city of houston itself. still chilly in areas of colorado. that snow is not melting any time soon. that's some powder skiing. so you'll enjoy 80s today, be y betty. your friends in texas aren't happy. >> hey, we over here in new york and along the east coast will take this warm weather, absolutely. thank you. s

breathtaking encounter between a paddleboarder and a whale. on sunday, pennsylvania became the nation's 24th state to approve a medical marijuana program. governor tom wolf signed the bill into law, but it could take up to two years to set regulations and open retailers. you're watching "early today." wildlife rescue workers open up a lot of dawn. tough on grease...yet gentle. dawn helps open... something even bigger. go to facebook.com,

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no, no, no, no, [music] people are both soft and strong... yey! which is why our products are too. angel soft. welcome back, even. search teams in southern japan continue to dig through rubble and debris. emergency crews continue looking for survivors after two major earthquakes struck the nation. over 40 people have died in those twin quakes. meanwhile in central chile, 4 million people are without clean drinking water this morning. heavy rains over the weekend triggered landslides that polluted rivers and caused them to breach their banks. johnny depp's wife, actress amber heard, has avoided jail time for illegally smuggling two dogs into australia. the actress pleaded guilty this morning to making a false statemenn

card. she brought the couple's dogs into the country without a permit. the hollywood a-listers publicly apologized in a video posted by the australian government. >> i am truly sorry that pistol and boo were not declared. protecting australia is important. >> declare everything when you enter australia. >> and there you have it. well, take a look at this magical moment. a whale breaching the waters right alongside a paddleboarder. it was a lucky meet and greet all caught on camera by a woman at a pier. wow, look at that. all right. time to get down to business, shall we? the price of oil has dropped more than 5% in early morning trading. it is now under $39 a barrel. this after the world's largest oil producing countries failed to reach a deal to freeze production levels. apple netted $40 million worth of gold last year thanks to its recycling program. about two-thirds of unwanted or broken products were made of reusable

steel, silver, and gold. apple users can join the recycling trend and receive an apple store gift card in return for going green. and this stunning blue diamond ring might set you back around $35 million. the 9.5-carat stone belonged to a young shirley temple. she was 12 years old when she received the ring as a gift from her father. it'll be up for auction on tuesday. all right. well, you got to see this. president obama schools steph curry on shooting hoops. yeah, right. and a cringe-worthy moment every male will understand. sports is next. ouch. hi dad. uh huh. yeah...sorry about that. ♪ think about it ♪ there must be higher love ♪ down in the heart what do you think? ♪ and in the stars above hi ted, glad you could join us,

these numbers. ♪ bring me a higher love ♪ i could rise above why does your tummy go ♪"grumbily, grumbily, grumbily"? no more questions for you! ooph, that milk in your cereal was messing with you, wasn't it? try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. good, right? mmm, yeah. lactaid. the milk that doesn't mess with you. it's easy to love your laxative when that lax loves your body back.

aturally, so you have peace of mind om start to finish. love your laxative. miralax. kids: he came here from rocky married 27 years. raised 6 kids. including 5 boys. he had grandpa move in with us. glenn: we loved having him as part of the family. it's what you do. kids: in congress, dad will protect president obama's legacy. he'll fight for jobs and protect social security and medicare. glenn ivey will never quit on you; and we should know, we're his kids. glenn: i'm glenn ivey and i approve this message. i'll take on the republicans for all of us. i don't believe that big money can buy votes -- not in our district. and i won't claim to have single handily passed just about every bill in annapolis. we can't settle for the same old politics, not when our basic rights are being threatened by trump and cruz. i'll stand up to their bigotry and be a passionate voice for maryland women and families. in tv and in business, i built relationships.

me to get things done. i'm kathleen mathews and i approve this message. here's some sports action on your monday. at the white house, president obama schooling nba mvp steph curry for the program my brother's keeper. the program looks at opportunities for young boys and men. the president even offered him some shooting tips. >> maybe i should shoot lefty. >> you should try. to the playoffs now and the hard court. the san antonio spurs made quick work of the memphis grizzlies 106-74. in cleveland, the

irving, kevin love, and lebron himself, but the home team struggled. the final there, 106-101. to the nhl. the st. louis blues scored two third-period goals for a 3-2 win. they take a 2-1 lead over the stanley cup defending blackhawks. and a cringe-worthy moment that every male watching can understand. breathe deeply now. a bad bunt from seattle hits the home plate umpire in the most sensitive place possible. you know what i'm talking about. after a few minutes, he recovered, regained his composure, and got back to baseball. breathe deeply. just ahead, which movie took home box office gold this weekend. plus, a protester attacks george

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yah! i promised my mom i'd stay off high fructose corn syrup. moms know best french's has high fructose corn syrup. tastes great! french's... only real ingredients. to show your roots. with root touch up from nice'n easy it blends with leading shades, even salon shades. in just 10 minutes. so pick your shade. and show the world your roots... ...with root touch-up. here we are in the middle of the night and some of the worst weather of the entire weekend is taking place right now. we have a flash flood emergency in northwest harris county. that's just outside of the houston area. there's even a tornado warning that's been issued too with that thunderstorm. there are crews out there in boats doing water rescues on some of the creeks in this area. they've had up to 7 inches of rain. these thunderstorms have not moved. very dangerous situation. just picture them out there

light thing and thunder trying to go in these boats and rescue people. that's what we're watching outside the houston area. theers a rest of the region loo be improving. but our thoughts are with the people of houston this morning. those rescuers in the middle of the night doing their thing. >> tough work. important thing though. thank you so much. now to entertainment news k. "the jungle book" earning over $103 million here at home and $136 million more overseas. "barbershop" came in second with more than 20 million. "the boss" took third, bringing in $10 million. pop culture power couple. john legend and chrissy teigen welcome daughter luna simone over the weekend. the social media savvy teigen took to instagram saying, luna, we're so in love with you and sleepy, very sleepy. good luck with that sleep. not going to happen for many

years. congratulations to the proud parents. on friday, george and amal clooney held a glitzy fundraiser for democrats. bernie sanders protesters were nearby. clooney tried to talk to a protester who hit him where it hurts. >> he said i was some corporate shil. he said, you know, you sucked at batman. i was like, well, you kind of got me on that one. then i walked away. that was basically it. >> he pulled the batman card? oh, that's a low blow. >> it's always rough. you can't have a hit every single movie you do. it's always the dig. >> batman will live on in infamy for clooney. >> of course. he knows it. >> we all know it. i'm betty nguyen, this is "early today." hey there, hi. why do people have eyebrows? why do people put milk on cereal? oh, are you reading why people put milk on cereal? why does your tummy go "grumbily, grumbily, grumbily"?

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now at 4:26, we are just a short time away from the search picking back up for a virginia woman who vanished in shenandoah national park. what we're learning about nicole mittendorff. nd at road work that could impact your drive into work take. and the quest for the cup continues as we get you ready for the caps third postseason game.

hope you had a nice weekend. >> chuck bell now more with what we can expect today. >> and expectations are that we can keep the weather this nice all the way through the week. and that is not going to be quite possible, but you'll be loving the 80s for today and for tomorrow. but just as much as you love the 80s, you will be hating the pollen. it remains very high. rain chances will be sneaking up a little later on in the week. we'll talk about that coming up. out the door for your job be here early this morning, 40s and 50s on your way out. we're headed into the 70s and 80s for highs today. talk about hometown highs in a little bit. for now, monday morning construction. northbound georgia avenue at colesville, we have road work still hanging around. left lane gets by the work zone

otherwise looking pretty good. outbound 4 at silver hill road, left lane again getting by that work zone, as well. taking a live look 270 at montrose, don't have any problems there. 270 at montrose, we'll take a trip in on 66 coming up. thanks, melissa. developing this morning, search teams will return to the shenandoah national park to look for a missing fairfax county firefighter and paramedic. nicole mittendorff disappeared last friday and her car was found at the park abandoned saturday morning. over the weekend, u.s. park police conducted both ground and air searches for mittendorff. she is married to a virginia state police officer. police say at this point there is nothing that points to foul play in her disappearance. our folks didn't do anything wrong. this was a typical check on the welfare type of call. >> that is prince george's county fire chief reacting for the first

devastates ldevastate devastat devastatess will of a fellow firefighter. and now the chief is talking about how he and the department are coping after a firefighter was shot and killed. the firefighter is 37-year-old john ulmschneider. 19-year-old volunteer kevin swain was also shot. he is recovering. on friday night, the two forced their way into a temple hills home at the why of the homeowner's brother. he was worried that the man was having a medical emergency. but when they got inside, the man started shooting. that homeowner was questioned and released with no charges filed telling police that he thought someone was breaking into his house and acted in self-defense. as far as possible charges, the homeowner -- against the homeowner, the chief supports any outcome. >> if there is justice to be had, that it's had. but i want the process to decide

that, not us in a court of public opinion. >> as the department continues to mourn this loss, they tell news 4 changes will be made internally to make sure a tragedy like this does not happen again. funeral plans for ulmschneider are set, visitation is being held tomorrow at st. john's parish in hollywood, maryland beginning at 5:00 pc.m. the funeral mass is at the same parish on wednesday. he leaves behind a wife and 2-year-old daughter. firefighters set up a you caring fund to help support his family. as for injured firefighter kevin swain, we're told he is showing signs of improvement. swain survived after being shot four times on friday night. the 19-year-old morning side volunteer is now out of intense of care at baltimore shock trauma. i'm kristin wright at the live desk. things have go