And the end of an era. You never say thank you thats what the money is for the hit series mad men preparing for its final episodes, and were getting an exclusive sneak peek from the cast as they join us live in studio 1a today, monday, march 23, 2015. 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. By the way, did you have ted cruz in your bracket . Got it. First one in. Perfect. And hes going to set the stage for what happens after this. It is 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 at an event in virginia this morning. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is there. Kelly, its texas senator ted cruz. Why virginia . Reporter well, youre right, matt. We are a long way from his hometown of houston. Were even far from the early decisionmaking places like iowa or new hampshire. But ted cruz has picked the home base of young evangelical conservatives to kick off his white house run. A Cruise Missile launched after midnight. And im ready to stand with you to lead the fight. Reporter in a video message tweeted to 350,000 followers, the texas senator announced his run for president. Its going to take a new generation of courageous conservatives to help make America Great again. Reporter sunday night, a casual cruz wife heidi and their two daughters did a brief rehearsal on the stage 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 texassized ambitions, today cruz bucked the establishment again, by skipping the preliminary steps and jumping into a fullscale campaign. Either you love ted cruz or you hate ted cruz. But no matter what you know he is id logically clear. Reporter critics say he led to the 2013 government shutdown. His 21hour talkathon even veered into dr. Seuss lane. I would not eat green eggs and ham, 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 world is on fire. The whole world is on fire . Your world is on fire. But you know what your mommy is here and everyone is here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better. Reporter also new this morning, ted cruz has released a biographical video to introduce himself. Hes 44 only been on the National Scene for a couple of years, and hes talking about this new generation as a way to try to separate himself, contrast himself, from other candidates like jeb bush. Savannah . All right, Kelly Odonnell, thank you so much. Lets talk more politics with Mark Halperin managing editor of bloomberg politics. Good morning to you. Good morning, savannah. Reporter first decision get in first, and hes gobbling up all the media energy in the first 24 hours. If youre in a race better to start before anybody else right . Pretty basic. Other people are going to get in the coming weeks. Ted cruz is trying to differentiate himself. Hes not very wellknown. Hes got populist support at the grass roots level but needs more people to know him faster. Smart way to do. Reporter the book on senator ted cruz is he is whip smart, a conservative fire brand, knows how to throw rhetorical bombs. Do you consider him a top tier candidate . I think hes a second tier candidate. He captures part of what the Republican Party wants. They want someone to go to washington and shake things up. You hear it again and again from voters. But they also want washington to work better and ted cruzs challenge is to continue to say i can change things but also make washington work. Republicans want that too. If this is the starting gun on the 2016 race boy, what a republican field. Eight, nine, potential candidates . I think theres eight or nine who could be the nominee, eight or nine more who could run. People in the early voting states like iowa and new hampshire, they have seen the activity. Today is the start of this thing going national. The whole country is going to be on in this wild ride to say which of these 8 or 9, 12 13, 14 people can win the republican nomination. Meanwhile, the democratic side is as lonely as the republican is crowded. Where do you think Hillary Clinton comes down on announcing her run . The next couple weeks. Republicans are running in a field of 13 or 14. Right now she is running in a field against herself and kind of losing. All these questions about her emails, whether she should face a nomination fight means democrats are worried, putting all their chips on one horse, Hillary Clinton. And if she ends up having problems theyre making maybe she should be tested by a democrat rather than risk sending her into a general election without having debates and the kind of scrutiny you get when you have a contestant fight. Well see you lots in the next 596 days. Thank you so much. 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, nbcs chief foreign correspondent. Richard, good morning. What can you tell us . Good morning. It has 100 names on it. Its an isis hit list. It appears to be aspirational. And in a statement, the pentagon says the information wasnt hacked from any classified sources but mostly 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 anyone 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 propaganda is going further. From afghanistan to west africa and adding new countries to its portfolio, new areas where militants operate. Isis says it launched the gunmen who killed nearly 20 tourists in a museum in tunisia last week. The gunmen. 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 to Savannah Guthrie about yemen during his super bowl interview. We have continually been able to maintain pressure on al qaeda in that region. Can you do that with a government thats not a partner. We can maintain pressure. Reporter the u. S. Backed government which used to help washington fight extremists was driven out of the capital in february by rebels who are still on the march. Over the weekend, the government lost another city the countrys thirdlargest, taiz to the rebels. This war that is playing out in yemen, this struggle for power, between the government and the rebels is creating an enormous opportunity for groups like al qaeda, and in particular isis. Because you have a struggle for power with the government battling the rebels and theyre 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. Exactly. Richard engel, thank you very much. Closer to home accused killer robert durst is heading back to court in new orleans this morning. Its a key hearing tied to weapons charges filed after his arrest for murder. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk is following developments in the courthouse for us this morning. Steph, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, savannah. It was a fairly standard bond hearing on those weapons charges. But late friday dursts lawyer in a bold move filed a motion saying he wants to argue that the original arrest warrant for murder isnt actually legal. He says it faced more on that hbo documentary than on probable cause. When robert durst appears this morning on weapons charges, his attorneys will demand an immediate preliminary hearing. Those charges were filed after Police Arrested durst at this new Orleans Marriott for the murder of his friend susan berman 15 years ago in los angeles. In court documents, dursts attorney argues the california arrest warrant was issued without probable cause, to coincide with the final episode of the hbo docudrama the jinx. Durst was arrested the night before the final episode aired. Evidence led police to the longtime friend in new york state, where investigators seized 60 boxes of dursts personal possessions. Again, just hours before the final episode. I think that anybody would be a fool to think there wasnt a connection between the final episode of the series and the arrest of mr. Durst. Reporter dursts lawyer is also concerned about 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. Longtime new orleans lawyer says he may be tried in new orleans first, because he feels he has a slam dunk case on the lesser weapons charges. Dursts harder to prove murder charge in california. If robert durst is sentenced to 20 years, clearly 15 years, even 10 years in his physical and mental condition and age, it is essentially a life sentence. Reporter the lawyer compares this case to the al capone case. Youll remember that authorities went africa pony for years for murder but ended up sending him to jail on tax evasion. That would be the case with these weapons charges. Durst for his part denies being involved in Susan Bermans murder. Guys back to you. Stephanie gosk thank you so much. Natalie is on assignment this morning. Well check in with her in a little while. Chanel is here with a story on frightening scenes in florida. A Helicopter Crashed in an orlando home sunday killing the pilot. But incredibly no one on the ground was hurt. Faa and ntsb officials will be onsite this morning to try to figure out what went wrong. The impact was a very solid boom and dead silent. Reporter 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 miraculously no one else was injured. A spokesperson with the faa says the chopper took off from the Orlando Executive Airport around 2 30 and flew about two miles before it crashed. It is a helicopter that has crashed into a residence. Its being reported the pilot is still inside. Orlando copies. Rescue is on the scene. Reporter neighbor don car says as a vietnam war veteran, he immediately recognized the sound of a helicopter in trouble. This was a very slow. Whop whop whop followed with a boom and everything went dark. Reporter police say the helicopter hit a twostory garage apartment, the guest house of the property empty at the time. An unknown number of residents were inside the main part of the house. We dont know what caused the accident. We just know that the helicopter did go inside the guest house. Reporter the origin and destination of the helicopters flight and the pilots identity were not immediately released. It is unclear if anyone 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 that was reported in Rolling Stone magazine last fall. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is in charlottesville with the latest. Good morning. Chanel, good morning. Police have remained tightlipped about this investigation. These allegations rocked this campus back in november. Thats when Rolling Stone published a lengthy article about a woman the writer called jackie who claimed she had been gang raped by seven men at a Fraternity House on campus. The university suspended all fraternity activities and there were protests on campus and it all sparked a National Conversation about Sexual Assault on college campuses. But within weeks, several major details of jackies story were discredited. The magazine admitted it had never contacted the man who allegedly orchestrated the attack. It apologized to its readers and said its trust in jackie had been misplaced. But now were awaiting the details of this investigation. Many here on campus many questions have persisted about how much of jackie may have been true. Later today, Charlottesville Police are expected to shed some light on that. Thank you. Federal regulators are investigating complaints this morning that two nissan recalls didnt actually fix a problem with front seat air bag seat sensors. The recalls involved nearly 1 million vehicles in 2013 and 2014. They were initiated because of problems with computer software. Air bags wont inflate if the software doesnt register an adult in the seat. The government reports 124 complaints from people who say the problem still exists. Nissan insists the proper repairs were made. And a special delivery for pope francis this weekend. It happened in naples italy, as the pope mobile and motorcade maid its way through town. Look at this. Atop the security fence and handdelivered a pizza to the pope who gladly accepted. The special pie was in the colors of the vat karngs white and yellow and made with yellow cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. He mentioned previously he wanted a day where he could go to a pizzeria and not be recognized and have some pizza. So he had one placed in his hands. And the owner lived up to his promise of getting it to him within 30 minutes. There you go. Thanks chanel. How is the forecast looking . Well if youre in chicago, not so good unfortunately. Were looking at a clipper coming across. A very efficient system producing a lot of snow with not a lot of moisture from madison, rockford. Chicago now, snow coming down really heavily. Keith carson my come patriot from the Weather Channel is standing by i294. And that road behind him was completely clear. And now, keith, it looks like Road Conditions have deteriorated. Reporter yeah al. Things have definitely deteriorated quickly here. The snow came down at a good enough clip to cover the roads. Early this morning, as al mentioned, we had snow on the shoulder but the friction of the cars was keeping it from hitting the ground and actually sticking on the highway. Youll notice two things. One is the highway is covered with snow. The other is people are still going about 60 Miles Per Hour in most cases. So you do have to remember of course chicago with a decent amount of snow 40 inches so far this season. But at this snowfall rate the thundersleet reported to our south, we could have problems later on in the commute. And al, this is the kicker of all of this. One week ago in chicago, the High Temperature was 73 degrees. Crazy. And then wednesday we may be looking at thunderstorms and severe weather. Keith carson from the Weather Channel, thank you so much my friend. Winter weather advisories in effect until 12 00 central time. Airport travel delays a problem as you watch this move through. Were going to watch it push on through. Continue to move through by the afternoon. Its done its a quickmover, but the damage will be done. 1 to 2 inches. Some areas so far already picked up 7 to 9 inches of snow in southern minnesota. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up good morning, im meteorologist bill henley. It feels like winter outside, bundle up heading out the door. Dont forget the sunglasses. Breezy and chilly too. Upper 30s to lower 40s. About 15 degrees colder than normal this time of the year. Chillier tomorrow morning, not that much warmer tomorrow afternoon. The warm up comes with wet weather later wednesday and thursday. Well be closer to 70 degrees then. A slight chance of thunderstorms on thursday and drying out heading to the weekend. Have a great day. And thats your latest weather, guys. All right. Thank you so much. A 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 explo