i'm paige hopkins. the defense in the trial of george zimmerman rested its case late yesterday. judge deborah nelson says she anticipates closing arguments starting today with deliberations beginning friday afternoon. nbc's sarah dallof is live for us outside the courthouse in sanford, florida. sarah, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, paige. a lot of big developments yesterday, but the main headline, george zimmerman will not testify. >> the defense would call robert zimmerman sr., your honor. >> after four days of testimony, attorneys for george zimmerman who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder wrapped up their case with zimmerman's father. one last witness testifying the screams on the 911 call. >> i told them absolutely it's my son, george. >> i am asking your client questions. please, mr. west. >> reporter: it was a day sprinkled with heated exchanges between the defense and judge deborah nelson, specifically when the judge asked zimmerman if he would be taking the stand. >> i object to the court inquiring to mr. zimmerman about his decision whether to testify

i'm paige hopkins. thanks for watching "early today." have a great weekend. >>> thank god that so many people's lives were saved. we mourn those who were lost and pray for those who are injured. >>> bay area congresswoman visits the wreckage of asiana flight 214 as crews begin moving the plane piece by piece and repairing the runway at sfo. >>> also the grandfather of a missing toddler in oakland wants to keep the focus on finding her separate charges. where the investigation is heading, we'll let you know this morning. >>> arrested for crimes he's supposed to be fighting. the charges against a san jose police officer and how his colleagues are reacting. >>> right now a live look outside, an early morning shot of your bay bridge out there.

. >>> time now to get the latest in sports from paige hopkins. >> good morning.star scottie pippen is being sued for $4 million over an altercation with an autograph seeker last month. pippen was questioned by police, but no charges were filed. >>> an nhl star walks away from $77 million. that's right. >> get out of here. walked away? >> sure did. new jersey devils forward i'lya kovalchuk walked away to retire because he wants to spend more time with his family. >>> and derek jeter returned to it the majors and hit a slow roller to third base for his first hit. he left early with tightness in his leg muscle. >>> and team usa went on an early lead in the women's world cup in softball. go, girls. >>> at the tour de france, about 20 riders were involved in a crash just behind the race leaders. there were some serious injuries, including one broken shoulder. >>> and nfl hall of famer began a 213-mile trek from buffalo bills stadium to canton, ohio, home of the hall of fame. it's all to benefit people who need prosthetic legs and other expensive treatments. good for h

. >>> i'm paige hopkins. here's what's happening.many as 50 are announced dead after a train derails in spain. several of the derailed cars toppled over. at least 70 are reportedly injured. the high speed train was headed to madrid. can be seen caring for the injured still inside those passenger cars. the cause of the derailment is not known at this time. but authorities have ruled out an attack. now we're going to take you back to "hardball." ♪ >>> with this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and foe any scandals, washington's taken its eye off the ball. and i'm here to say this needs to stop. and as washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes for our middle class and everybody fighting to get into the middle class could not be higher. a good education, a home to call your own. affordable health care when you get sick, a secure retirement even if you're not rich. reducing poverty, reducing inequality, growing opportunity. that's what we need. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was a hell of a