Extradited to los angeles for the murder of his friend . And the end of an era. You never say thank you. Thats what the money is for. Mad men preparing for the final episode. An exclusive sneak peek from the cast as they join us monday, moist 23, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning everyone. Welcome to today on a monday morning. It may only be two full days into spring but 596 days until election day. Did you have ted cruz unyour bracket . First one in. Hes going to set the stage for what happens. Its our top story. The first puzzle piece now falling into place for the 2016 president ial race. Texas republican senator ted cruz throwing his hat in the ring overnight with that tweet right there. Hes making it official and event in virginia this morning. Kelly odonnell is there. Kelly, its texas senator ted cruz. Why virginia . Reporter well, youre right, were a long way from his hometown of houston, even far from the early decisionmaking places like iowa or New Hampshire. But ted cruz has picked the home base to kick off his white house run. My story is like that of so Many American families. A cruz missile launched after midnight. In a video message tweeted to 350,000 followers, the texas senator announced his run for president. The divide that exist in our country isnt between political parties, its between washington and the rest of us. Reporter sunday not a casual cruz, with heidi and their daughters did a rehearsal on the stage here at liberty university. Choosing this evangelical headquarters cruz is sending a message. If you say you support life and you support marriage, show me where you stood up and fought. Reporter with his texas sized ambitions, today cruz bucks the establishment again, by skipping the preliminary steps and jumping into a full scale campaign. You love ted cruz or hate ted cruz. No matter what you know he is ideally pure. Reporter critics blamed cruz for leading a conservative revolt that led to the 2013 government shutdown. His talkathon veered into dr. Seusss lane. I do not like them sam i am. Reporter last week in New Hampshire a childs reaction to cruzs rhetoric put a 3yearold in the spotlight. The whole worlds on fire. The worlds on fire . Your world is on fire. But you know what, your mommys here and everyones here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better. Reporter this morning ted cruz released a biographical video to introduce himself, he is 44, only been on the National Scene for a couple of years and talking about this new generation as a way to try to separate himself, contrast himself from other candidates like jeb bush. Thank you so much. Lets talk more politics with mark halperin. First decision seems to be a shrewd one. Get in first and gobbling up all of the media energy. If youre in a race better to start before anybody else. Pretty basic. Other people are going to get in but ted cruz is trying to differentiate himself. He has support at the grass roots but he needs more to know him. This is a smart way. Ted cruz is that he is whip smart, a real conservative fire brand knows how to throw the rhetorical bombs that the base loves. Do you consider him a top tier candidate . I think second tier now but he captures part of what the Republican Party wanting, to go to washington and shake things up. They also want washington to work better. Ted cruz to say i can change things but i can manage things, i can make washington work. If this is the starting gun on the 2016 race, what a field. Eight, nine potential candidates. I think eight or nine who could be the nominee. Weve never seen a race like this. People in the early voting states they have seen the activity. Today is the start of this going national. The whole country is going to be on in this wild ride, which of these eight or nine, ten, 11, can win the republican nomination. The democratic side is as lonely as the republican is crowded. Where do you think Hillary Clinton comes down on announce announcing . The next weeks. The republicans in a field of 13 or 14. She is doing well in the polls but all of these questions about email, about whether she should face a nomination by means that democrats are worried, putting all of their chips on one horse, Hillary Clinton and if she ends up having problems now they say maybe she should be tested now by a democrat than risk sending her into a general without having had debates and the scrutiny you get when you have a contested fight. A lot in the next 596 days. Thank you. Now to a Disturbing Development in the fight against isis. That terror group posting a hit list of names, addresses and even photos of u. S. Service members. Lets bring in richard engel. Good morning. What can you tell us . Good morning. It has 100 names on it. Its an isis hit list, appears to be aspirational and in a statement the pentagon says the information wasnt hacked from any classified sources, but was likely culled from news reports and social media. The pentagon says its mostly a scare tactic, a call to murder by isis. The Group Released a list of u. S. Military personnel and asked loyalists in the United States to hunt them down. The list included american troops home addresses and contact information. Defense officials tell nbc news the list does include names of active duty service members, some deployed overseas, some combat pilots. The pentagon is encouraging any one on the list to exercise caution but at this time has apparently made no decision to pull them off duty or provide personal protection. Its insightment and propaganda, overseas isis is going much further. It already has affiliates from afghanistan to west africa and adding new countries, new areas where its militants operate. Isis said it launched the gunman who killed nearly 20 tourists last week. The gun men the group said trained next door in libya. And on friday, isis claimed responsibility for five suicide attacks in yemen killing more than 130 people at shiite mosques. Yemen was supposed to be the model for how washington would fight islamic radicals. The president spoke during his super bowl interview. Weve beenp able to maintain pressure on al qaeda in that region. Can you do that without a government thats a partner . We feel confident we can maintain that pressure. Reporter instead yemen is in a state of collapse. The u. S. Backed government there, which used to help washington fight extremists, was driven out of the capitol in february by rebels who are still on the march. Over the weekend the government lost another city t thirds largest, taiz, to the rebels. This war that is playing out, this struggle for power between the government and the rebels, is creating enormous opportunity for groups like al qaeda and in particular like isis. Because you have a struggle for power, with the government battling the rebels trying to regain control of the country, and in this chaos isis is trying to really establish itself. Which they seem to be good at filling vacuums. Richard, thank you very much. Closer to home robert durst is head back to court in new orleans at a key hearing tied to the weapons charges filed after his arrest for murder. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk is following developments for us this morning. Good morning to you. Reporter hey, good morning. So robert durls faces what is basically a standard hearing on weapons charges but on friday his lawyer submitted in a bold move a motion arguing that the original arrest warrant for murder was actually illegal. He says that its based on the hbo documentary and not on probable cause. When robert durst appears at a bail hearing this morning on weapons charges, his attorneys will demand an immediate preliminary hearing. Those charges were filed after Police Arrested durst at this marriott for the murder of his friend susan berman 15 years ago. In Court Documents his attorney argues that the california arrest warrant was issued without probable cause, to coincide with the final episode of the hbo drama the jinx. Durst was arrested the night before the final episode aired. Evidence found in the new Orleans Hotel led police to the home of a long time friend in new york state where investigators seized 60 boxes of durst personal possessions. Again, hours before the final episode. I think that anybody would be a fool to think it wasnt a connection between the final episode of the series and the arrest of mr. Durst. Reporter dursts lawyer is concerned what happened once his client was in custody saying a los angeles prosecutor spent three hours with him before the houston attorney could fly to new orleans. Long time new orleans lawyer says durst may be tried in louisiana first, because the d. A. May feel he has a slam dunk case on the lesser weapons charges visits a harder to prove murder charge in california. If the robert durst is sentenced to 20 years, 15, even 10, and his physical and mental condition and his age its essentially a life sentence. Reporter equates the case to the al capone case. Ended up pinning him on tax evasion. In the end thats what these Weapon Charges basically amount to. But on dursts part says hes not guilty. Thank you so much. Natalie on assignment. Were going to check in with her in a while. Sheinelle is here with other stories. Including a frightening scene in florida. A Helicopter Crashed into an orlando home killing the pilot ng the pilot but no one on the ground was hurt. Faa and ntsb officials will be on site this morning to try to figure out what went wrong. The impact was a solid boom, and then dead sigh lens. The terrifying sound of a Helicopter Crashing into a house jolted a peaceful upscale neighborhood in orlando sunday afternoon. The pilot is presumed dead but no one else was injured. A spokesperson with the faa says the chopper took off from the Executive Airport around 2 30 and flew about two miles. The helicopter is reported that the pilot is still inside. Orlando copy. Neighbor don carr says that as war veteran he immediately recognized the sound of a helicopter in trouble. This is a very slow whop, whop, whop. Followed with a boom and then everything went dark. Police say the helicopter hit a twostory garage apartment, the guest house of the property which was empty at the time. Unknown number of residents were in the main part of the house. We dont know what caused the accident. We know that the helicopter didgo inside the guest house. The destination of the helicopters flight and the identity were not released. Its unclear if the any one else was on board at the time. Today police will release the results of an investigation into an alleged Sexual Assault at the university of virginia reported in Rolling Stone magazine last fall. Gabe gutierrez is in charlottesville with the latest. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Police have remained tightlipped about this investigation. These allegations rocked the uva campus in november. Thats when Rolling Stone magazine published a lengthy article about a woman the writer called jackie, she claimed she was gang raped by seven men at a Fraternity House here on campus. The university suspended all fraternity activities at the time. And the incident sparked protests at uva and also a National Conversation about Sexual Assault on college campuses. Within weeks, several major details of the story were discredited, the magazine admitted it never contacted the man who allegedly orchestrated the attack. The magazine apologized to readers, promised a full investigation and said that part of its trust in jackie had been misplaced. Questions persisted how much of that story was true and today police are expected to shed light on that. Gabe, thank you. Federal regular laters investigate complaints this morning that two nissan recalls didnt fix a problem with front seat air bag sensors. The recalls involved nearly a million vehicles. They were initiated because of problems with computer software, air bags wont inflate if the software doesnt register an adult in the seat. 124 complaints from people who say the problem exists. Nissan insists the proper repairs were made. A special delivery for pope francis. It happened in italy as the pope mobile and the motorcade made its way through town. A hand delivered pizza to the pope who accepted. The special pie was in the colors of the vatican, white and yellow, and made with yellow cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. You remember he mentioned previously he wanted a day he could go to a pizzeria and not be recognized. He had one placed in his hands. The owner lived up to the promise getting it to him within 30 minutes. There you go. Thanks. Hows the forecast looking . Well, if youre in chicago not so good. Unfortunately, were looking at a clipper coming across, an efficient system producing a lot of snow with not a lot of moisture, madison, rockford, chicago now. Snows coming down. Keith carson from the Weather Channel is standing by i294. I saw keith on wake up with al that road was clear and now, keith, it looks like Road Conditions deteriorated. Yeah, al, things have deterickly at 294. The snow coming down at a good enough clip to cover the roads. Earlier we had snow on the shoulder but the friction of the cars was keeping it from hitting the ground and sticking on the highway. You notice two things. One is the highway is covered with snow, the other is people are still going about 60 miles an hour. So we do have to remember chicago deals with snow, had about 40 inches this season. But at this snowfall rate with thunder sleet to the south, we could have problems later on in the commute. Al, this is a kicker. One week ago in chicago the High Temperature was 73 degrees. Crazy. Then wednesday we may look at thunderstorms and severe weather. Keith carson, thanks so much. We show you whats happening this morning. Winter weather advisories until 12 00 central time. Travel delays a problem. Were going to watch it push through, continue to move through by the afternoon it is done. Its a quick mover but the damage will be 1. 1 to 2 inch, 2 to 5, some areas so far have already picked up 7 to 9 inches of snow in southern minnesota. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. 7 17. Happy monday to you. Im meteorologist Christina Loren. Slick conditions out there this morning. Most of the shower activity is starting to subside. Weve got an overcast sky thats going to be the weather story of the day, with very light activity whirling through the bay area heavier stuff is moving through san leandro. Temperatures are mild for today, mid60s. 65 degrees on the peninsula. 67 degrees from the tri valley today. As we get into the next couple of days the temperatures are going to crank up. 76 degrees by wednesday into the mid 80s in the south bay thursday into friday. Lot of people spent the weekend in front of a tv. Ncaas going strong. It is going strong. How are your brackets doing . Youre doing pretty good. Really . Hanging in there. First day was brutal. 11. 57 million brackets submitted to espns website. How many accurately predicted the sweet 16 right now . No idea. 11. 5 million. 1,000. 14. What . 14 brackets still intact. Thats because of the upsets over the weekend. Sheinelle jones, wichita state. Thats going to be the big game. Lets go into the orange room. That was the big upset. Of course nc state, they took down number one seed villanova. Lets get right to it guys. Four seconds of this cutaway this young lady in the nova van, this is all it took for me to go crazy online. She is fighting back the tears. Theyre losing but she is still going to play her pick alow. Bring on the tears. There is jk simmons here. Not my tempo John Travolta leaned in for an awkward kiss. She is lovely. Her name is roxanne. And she wros writes through the smile and tears. Savannah 48. And me al and willie at the bottom of the barrel. What do i win if i win our competition . I dont know. Our undying a hearty handshake. Thank you, carson. Coming up the manhunt for a driver who shot a woman in the head in an apparent case of road rage. The victims husband speaks out as she is released from the hospital. Then why are popular Sporting GoodsStores Selling explosives powerful enough to level a house . First, this is today on nbc. Coming up, how is introducing preferred rewards from bank of america the new banking rewards program that rewards our customers, every day. Youll get things like rewards bonuses on credit cards. Extra interest on a savings account. Preferred pricing on merrill edge online trades and more. Across your banking and investing get used to getting more. Thats the power of more rewarding connections. Thats preferred rewards from bank of america. Why are all these people so asleep yet im so awake . Did you know your brain has two systems . One helps keep you awake the other helps you sleep. Science suggests when you have insomnia, the wake system in your brain may be too strong and your neurotransmitters remain too active as you try to sleep, which could be leading to your insomnia. Ohh. Maybe thats whats preventing me from getting the sleep i need talk to your doctor about ways to manage your insomnia. Heres your vacation in a word. Wow. Royal caribbeans wow sale is going on now. Get up to 200 to spend onboard. Plus a 50 reduced deposit. And its now combinable with our buy one get one offer. Call 1800royalcaribbean today. You forgot the milk thats lactaid®. Right. 100 real milk just without the lactose. So, no discomfort . Exactly. Try some. Mmm, it is real milk. Lactaid®. 100 real milk. No discomfort. Caress presents a fine fragrance breakthrough. The worlds first body wash with fragrance release pearls. Touch your skin to release fragrance up to 12 hours. New caress love forever. For an unforgettable fragrance up to 12 hours. I want regularity. Of course i do, its a big part of Good Digestive Health. Cant i just have regularity wit