today we begin with gaining momentum. libyan rebels continue to push back forces loyal to moammar gadhafi. this morning an opposition spokesman claimed that rebels captured sirte. if that is ruis true, it would significant vehicle story for the movement. those developments come as nato has agreed to take over command and control of the entire libya operation including ground attacks. president obama will speak to the nation tonight to sprain what role the u.s. will play in the mission in libya. now that nato has stepped in. the frommed is also expected to address concerned by both parties. tracie potts joins us live from washington with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. the president has a lot of questions to answer when he addresses the nation tonight. lawmakers here want to know should we even be involved in libya or should we be doing more to take down libya's leader. >> the president's going to address the nation monday night. a lot of these questions will be answered. >> reporter: questions like whether we'll handguns to rebels. >> no decision has been made about that. >> reporter: and how much the u.s. will be involved after nato takes over. >> within the next week or so, we will begin to diminish the commitment of resources. >> reporter: tonight president obama is supposed to layout the plan. hes has said gadhafi immediates to go, but nato has made it clear that's not their mission. tomorrow secretary of state hillary clinton meets in london with countries that want to ease him out. >> now is your time to go out. >> the only acceptable way for this to end in libya is for gadhafi to go. >> we should be doing whatever we can to not have brutal dictators remain in power. >> the people of libya can remove their dictator, but we're not going to be the ones to remove him. >> reporter: congress also concerned about the price tag now believed to be near 1ed billion. and another question, how long could this no-fly zone last? gates said no one knows for sure. >> nbc news will have live coverage of the president's address beginning at 7:30 eastern right here on your nbc station. and coming up tuesday on "nbc nightly news," brian williams interviews president obama about his use of force in libya. there are new radiation concerns in japan this morning as the country's nuclear crisis stretches in to its third week. officials said today that highly radioactive iodine seeping from the fukushima complex may be making its way into sea water farther north of the plant than previously thought. in addition, mounting obstacles like in-adequate storage tanks for huge amounts of contaminated water have hindered efforts to bring the facility back from the edge of disaster. meanwhile, radiation from japan appears to have reached as far as the u.s. east coast. one sample of massachusetts rainwater registered very low con accept stragss of radiation, but officials say it does not pose a health risk. >> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in utah, rescuers pulled seven skiers off an isolated mountain after an ofavalanche buried the. a 26-year-old man who rescuers reached last died in the hospital on sunday afternoon. scary moments in pennsylvania yesterday morning when a car crashed into the front of a church. police say the 76-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle before plowing into one of the building's pillars. several people inside were hit with flying glass. fortunately no one was seriously injured. some folks in maine looked it up this weekend putting together what they claim was the world's largest whoopi pie. it tipped the scales at a whooping 1062 pounds. and check this out, an even more staggering 2 million calories. the creators are pushing for the chocolate and cream concoction to become the state's official treat. and in the nation's capital, frigid temperatures and a dusting of that white stuff didn't keep crowds away from the national cherry blossom festival. the famed pink and white petals will still be at their prime this week despite the short lived layer of snow. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, it is not supposed to snow this week for the cherry blos p on blossoms. >> i'm starting to complain myself, that's how bad it's been. this weekend was frigid. many areas have seen temperatures more like february instead of the end of march. we're almost at april now. and here's the setup. this is a polar vortex. a big area of low pressure in the canadian maritime and the wind flow around that is allowing all of the cold air to drain down from the arctic. and it won't change until we get to next weekend. so much of this week, below average temperatures covering the entire northern half of the country. look at the windchill. it's 28 in d.c., 19 in boston. windchill in chicago, 17. so it's not isolated either. it spreads all the way across the country. even denver has a windchill of 22. so we like to get to a nice warm-up, but it won't happen because this polar vortex will sit here spinning. the southern stream is a little active, we do have active weather today, florida for one, you haven't had a lot of rain this spring, you'll get dredged today. and through georgia and into the carolinas, we have rain moving your way. savannah had some showers and stores earlier. now we're watching the line of storms from atlanta heading up to greenville, and areas of rain from birmingham northwards. but in florida, heavy rain, a lot of lightning reported near sarasota and tampa. so anywhere south of orlando and tampa, you'll probably get a good one to two inches of rain today. other areas of the country, you're dry, but definitely going to be chilly especially this morning. that's a look at your monday forecast. now a look at the weather outside your window. so we talked about the tampa area. the heavy rain possibilities with the thunderstorms really on and off all day today. memphis, tennessee, not bad. clouds should be clearing out. 60 for you. one of the warmest spots in the country, phoenix, arizona. i always say it's really not until the middle of april that we can put away the heavy coats and gloves. >> wasn't the first official day of spring the 21st? >> we should just change it. >> okay. a bankruptcy filing looms along with a supreme court battle for a mega retailer. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus a bullied teen delivers quite a punch at the weekend box office. coming up, the final four is set, but not before another shocking upset in the mcaa tournament. you're watching "early today." good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." the syrian government has deployed security forces after a weekend of violence which left 12 dead and more than 150 wounded. this comes in response to a wave of unrest that has brought kreens of anarchy. >> the israeli military has rolled out a new anti-rocket missile defense system. military officials say yesterday's deployment of the so-called iron dome was celebrated because of fears of an all-out confrontation. california rescuers are investigating what caused a sailboat to cap size killing two and sending eight to the hospital. the victims were on board a 32-foot sailboat that suddenly flipped over in good weather yesterday. dumping the passengers into the water. and in new york, a poisonous cobra remains on the loose after slithering out of its enclose zur friday. zoo officials insist there is no risk to the public and they're confident the reptile has not gone too far. >> and now here's a look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12-220. the app was up 4, the nasz dak gained 6. taking a look at overseas trading, the nikkei lost 57 while in hong kong, the hang seng dropped 90. economic data is expected to steal back the street's attention. developments in japan and libya had subdued markets although by the close of business friday, some of those losses had been made up with a dow add building 3% for the week. the upward momentum could continue if the march employment report delivers on friday. economists expect it to show the economy adding about 200,000 new jobs. we could get a bankruptcy announcement today. the "wall street journal" is reporting that harry and caved, the mail order company known for its fruit baskets, is preparing to file for chapter 11. on tuesday, the supreme court takes up a gender discrimination lawsuit against walmart. the issue is whether hundreds of thousands of female workers have enough in common to join in a single suit. on banking, wells fargo is following the lead of chase and.ncht c in axing its debit rewards program. wells blames the change on banking regulation. and finally, the man behind super glue died this weekend. at the age of 94. harry wesley cooper stumble order to the idea when he was experiments with com bounds to develop clear plastic gun sights. the compounds stuck to everything. and it wasn't until several years later that he realized the potential for super glue, adhesive that to this today continues to help people out of sticky situations. a historic night for the miami heat and auz abouter beater. plus the vcu rounds out the dance their way past kansas for a spot in the final four. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and we'll end march with a big chill and wet weather especially in the southeast. you're watching "early today." good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the wild race to the final four gets another unexpected attorney this weekend with one of the biggest march upsets in years. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good monday morning. cinderella has officially crashed the big dance. virginia commonwealth has gone to the final four after a stunning win over kansas. they hit nine three-pointers in the first half. vcu was up 14 at the break. jayhawks cut the lead to two, but they could never get over the hump. rodriguez to burgess for the lay-in. and virginia common wealth advance to their first final four with a shocking 71-61 win over top seed kansas. they've got butler next. here we go to the east, kentucky and north carolina, the wildcats built an early lead and never let up. every time the tar heels got close, somebody in a blue jersey hit a big shot. brandon knight had a game high 22. under a minute to play, this three. kentucky won 76-69. next up is uconn. the guys who get paid to play, spurs and grizzlies, without tim duncan. down for a moment but stayed in the game and eventually pulled himself out. he's day to day. memphis took full advantage. the running hook for the lead. spurs drop three straight, 111-104. now for philly, 6ers down when he forced overtime. that put sacramento on top for good. kings won 114-111 in o.t. and finally the heat made a bit of history. lebron james, dwyane wade, chris bosh, all had 30 points and boards. first time in 50 years. heat win it. next up for miami, the cavs tomorrow night in cleveland. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> narrator: "early today" sports is brought to you by just for men hair color. live forward. find out which oscar winning actress said i do this weekend. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus how man is helping his best friend and how that best friend is giving right back. you're watching "early today." welcome back. here is a look at your monday forecast. after a chilly weekend, it continues this morning. you need the winter coat and gloves from d.c. up through new england, the great lakes, ohio valley, all through the midwest. a very cold start to your day and this afternoon won't be much better. a lot of heavy rain this morning, too, down in georgia and carolinas. carry the umbrella. all of florida immediate it iof. the active weather this week will be down in the southern half of the country. on tuesday, thunderstorms are possible down along the gulf. and this wet weather will continue to push into the atlanta area tuesday night into wednesday. so we're dry but cold the northern half of the country. southern half looks like you'll be warmer and on the wet side. if you're watching us on wrc fcht v nbc 4 in washington, d.c., launch into orbit, exmore space flight and envision what the future holds for humans in the gallon ox city at moving beyond earth at the national air and space museum. and that's your "early today" event of the day. >> is that something you want to do? >> i've never done it and it's really high on the list when i go to d.c. i've never been there. >> i thought you meant go up in space. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. a group of wimps delivered a knockout punch at the box office. the family comedy diary of a pimity kid roderick rules came out on top with an estimated $24.4 million thanks mostly to an under 18 audience. the sequel managed to beat all estimates and it ka in ahead of the original diary of a womenity kid. sucker punch oig had a soft debut. the film cost at least $75 million to produce. poor reviews may hurt it going forward. and slipping in to third, "limitless" with $15.2 million. in other news, reese witherspoon and her talent agent fiance jim todd tied the knot in southern california. and finally, actress amy adams has been tapped to play lois lane in the big screen remake of super man which is slated to be released at the end of the year. and, bill, correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't lois lane have brown hair? >> who knows. maybe she'll color it for -- or maybe they'll change it and revise it. >> i hope not, because she's gorgeous as a red head and she'd be a good -- >> i think amy adams is gorgeous no matter what color her hair is. this comes to us from knbc where one dog training program is giving struggling veterans a new leash on life. former service members are partnered up with dogs as are the part of the heros aun hounds program to help train pups who might otherwise be put to sleep. the program also helped vets who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or are having adjusting to civilian life. as a result, once unadoptable dogs find homes often with their new friends. i'm veronica dell that cruise and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. this is what is looks like on a monday morning, cold temperatures, 33 on this march 28th. good morning, i am joe krebs. we are following breaking news in prince george's county. police say a man was found in capital heights, it is unclear if the shooting occurred at a gas station. he was pronounced dead at the hospital. this happened in the 6800 block of seat pleasant. someone saw the domino's pizza delivery man shot from a gun shot wound. no suspect information has been released. fire fighters in maryland had to battle fires at two homes next to each other in the 300 block of market street in brookville. police believe it started in one home and spread to the other. one for sale. one firefighter fell fighting the fire and went to the hospital. he is expected to be okay.