see you tomorrow! buh-bye! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," unbelievable weather. a series of rare and deadly tornados cause a path through massachusetts. trick or tweet? congressman anthony weiner speaks out about the controversy surrounding a lewd photo on his twitter account. and time-out, what's the buzz behind this bizarre speed and time-out, what's the buzz behind this bizarre speed at a brazilian soccer match? captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry.

today, we begin with northeast twisters. tornado devastation has become a familiar sight in the midwest this spring. but new england, of all places, is dealing with twister wreckage of its own. a line of storms triggered rare storms in massachusetts yesterday, killing at least four people. for more now, we go to nbc's kurt gregory. nature's power captured on camera again. this time, in springfield, massachusetts. the tower cam at the nbc affiliate shows what appears to be a towering funnel cloud whirling above the city. residents were stunned. >> we had a tornado come down and took out houses behind our building. >> reporter: several buildings in springfield were heavily damaged, large vehicles were flipped, heavy trees were toppled. thousands of customers are without power. massachusetts's governor declared a state of emergency. >> at least 19 communities have

been affected so much. we have an emergency on our hands. >> reporter: many residents plan to stay in emergency shelters. >> god's hand was over me. because i never seen them in my life. >> reporter: an evening of wild weather that many in the region won't soon forget. kurt gregory, nbc news. elsewhere in washington, the standoff continues between democrats and republicans at odds over raising the nation's debt ceiling. spending cuts and medicare reform remaining a sticking point between the two parties. according to house speaker john boehner, both sides can at least agree on one thing. the sooner a deal gets done, the better for everyone. nbc's tracie potts from washington joins us with more. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: hi, lynn, good morning. we know they sat down together, but it looks like little if any progress was made on this stalemate. republicans accusing president obama of not having a specific, of the major cuts needed to be made to bring down this deficit.

they are accusing him of playing politics with medicare. the white house said medicare does not need to be ended to save money. republicans say they aren't ending it, they are trying to save it. one thing they agree on, they want to wrap up these negotiations within the next month. in fact, speaker boehner said he's happy to personally negotiate with the president. vice president biden is now overseeing those negotiations. and who is going to deal with all of this after 2012, who is going to be the next president? the republicans have one more person on their ticket. after today mitt romney is making his formal announcement at a farm in new hampshire later today. lynn. >> tracie potts there for us in washington, thank you. almost a week after a lewd photo was sent from the twitter account of new york congressman anthony weiner, despite his best attempts, the photo scandal still has not blown over. last night while the lawmaker told msnbc's rachel maddow that he did not send the photo, he

also said he can't be sure the for the okay isn't of him. >> you can change a photograph, man it late a photograph. i can't say for sure. >> a look at other news making early today in america. a texas college student is recovering from a shark bite she suffered on memorial day. the 22-year-old was standing in waist deep water offer surf side beach when she felt a painful tug on her thigh. she exited the water and discovered more than a dozen bite marks above her knee. the doctor who treated her wounds suspects it was from a bull shark attack. a poolside lesson in physics at a florida high school proved to be a day in the fun for some students. hundreds competed in the 17th annual international milk jug raft race.

with 10% of their grade on the line, it was either sink or swim for participants hoping they had figured out the right number of plastic bottles to keep their vessels afloat. finally, june snowfall made parts of northern california look more like north pole. completely bizarre. the unspring-like weather blanketed the area, prompting officials to issue a winter weather advisory. yes, that's right. snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches is expected in areas located at higher elevations. now for a look at your national and regional weather, nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. northern california not just snow but a tornado. >> a tornado in northern california yesterday. it's been a wild spring with the tornadoes. we'd like to put them in the path. the one yesterday was incredible over the massachusetts river. it's not as rare as you think for massachusetts to see

tornadoes. they get a strong one like we saw yesterday every 10 to 15 years. in the 1950s they had one through wooster match match that killed about 50 people. not rare. also tornadoes in kansas where you expect them and one or two in areas of north central california. today we're not really going to be looking at tornado threat or that much in the way of severe weather. we're going to finally watch that storm system heading to the north. it's still going to remain cool in areas of the west. still watching the jet stream with the big old dip down the west coast. there's the wet weather to the north. this setup is now going to take the next storm coming down from alaska in the gulf there, slam to the south and stall off the coast. our forecast isn't going to improve any time soon. some showers in seattle. as the storm heads northwards, spokane will get a little rain. 40s and 50s

we're not going to see a lot of wet weather. temperatures on the cool side. next system coming down will bring wet weather for the weekend. weekend forecast does not look the best on the west coast. they are stuck in a rut here and not getting better any time soon. >> they are stuck in a rut. thanks. up next jobs fall, wine consumps up. straight ahead. plus justin timberlake opens up and talks about his former girlfriends. a frantic finish in game one of the stanley cup finales and shaq packs it in. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning.

in libya, a blast rocked a benghazi hotel yesterday while today in tripoli there has been fresh nato air strikes. this comes as the u.n. fact-finding mission concluded moammar gadhafi forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. the investigators found evidence that rebels carried out some acts which would constitute war crimes. yemene is being pushed to brink of civil war after nearly four months of protests against the country's president. yesterday, at least 41 people died in battles with armed tribesmen. he's generating buzz as a possibly presidential contender, but new jersey governor chris christy is coming under fire for using the helicopter to fly to his son's baseball game. then afterwards to a political

meeting. the trip by christie, who has cultivated an image as a cost cutter said the flight didn't cost anything because the pilots need the flight time, anyway. the doctor who treated the octomom, helped her have 14 children has been stripped of his license. it was necessary to protect the public. and quite the buzz over a game in brazil. players duck for cover as they were attacked by bees. the insects were such a menace, the game had to be put off. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,290 after tumbling 279 points yesterday. the s&p fell 30 points. the nasdaq sank 66. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 164 points while in hong kong the hang seng lost 372. the hits just keep on coming for the nation's struggling economy.

yesterday markets notched their biggest decline since last august after learning employers added far fewer private sector jobs last month than experts had hoped. that prompted several economists to slash their estimates ahead of tomorrow's monthly jobs report from the government. more bad news, slow growth and higher energy costs led to fewer orders at u.s. factories last month. driving manufacturing, the sector which had been leading the recovery, to a 19-month low. late day word that moody's cut greece's debt rating yet again added to the widespread fallout. by the end of the day, u.s. treasuries had soared and every single dow component finished in the red. jp morgan chase and bank of america dragged the s&p financial sector down 3.5% as financials took the hardest hit. the u.s. auto industry suffered its first setback in more than a year and a half. ford sales were flat and gm fell.

chrysler managed to rise 10% as supply shortages in japan weighed heavily on toyota and honda. japan's loss, however, was south korea's gain. sales for the hyundai kia group sailed 6%. they recalled prius hybrids for a steering nut that may come loose. google says it prevented hackers in china from breaking into hundreds of gmail accounts of u.s. officials, chinese activists and journalists. finally, here is something to raise your glass to. last year for the first time ever, the united states consumed more wine as a country than france. cheers to that. walking off after the replay. an oriole flashes the leather, and shaq won't be back. plus, it all comes down in the final seconds in the first game for lord stanley's cup. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather, the southern half of the country continues to bake in the june heat and more severe storms. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the stanley cup finals opened last night with a classic nail biter. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines.

good morning. game one of the stanley cup finals appeared to be heading into overtime until the canucks pulled off last-second heroics to vancouver. bodies flying all over the place. this game had a little bit of everything except for scoring. but it wasn't for lack of trying. the bruins' tim thomas stood on his head time after time. he was there to make a big stop. the game scoreless until the final minute when the canucks finally broke through. he answered, connected with raffi torres, 18 seconds left, the only goal of the game. canucks pulled out the dramatic win, 1-0. big news out of the nba, literally big news. after 19 years in the league, shaquille o'neal announced his retirement. >> nineteen years, baby. thank you very much. that's why i'm telling you first, i'm about to retire. love you. talk to you soon. >> the smile that could light up an arena and more nicknames than

seasons played, o'neal won three nba titles with the lakers and another with the heat. in his own words, father time has caught up to shaquille o'neal. baseball, angels and royals scoreless in the ninth when billy butler hit a walk-off home run. or did he? butler didn't know if it was out. the umpires had no idea. they went to the replay. about three minutes later, back on the field they came and made the call. that is a home run. it took some time, but they got it right. royals won it, 2-0. great grab in seattle. a shot to the center. adam jones tracked it down. spectacular over-the-shoulder grab before running into the wall. shades of willie mays. and oh, yeah, he also got the go ahead run in the eighth. baltimore won it, 2-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. how lady gaga went temporarily broke. and how art collector steve

martin got stung. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, they say they're a girl's best friend, but really, who doesn't like a diamond? you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this thursday. some amazing pictures coming out of the uma.

a beautiful thunderstorm. i say it was beautiful because it was in a rural area and didn't affect anyone. you can see the lowering of the cloud there. underneath that a tornado. even in california you can see the storms every now and then. as far as today, nothing like that is expected. we are seeing showers from medford, portland, seattle once again, upper-level low, showers plentiful in the afternoon. spokane could see a period of rain as the low moves north. continue to watch weather from vegas to phoenix. by your standards, temperatures cool in vegas, 87. showers continue on friday and even into saturday. the next storm comes in right behind this one. if you're watching us on tntv nbc bay area in san francisco, see how our culture has influenced art over the past 10 years. at the more things change at the san francisco museum of modern art. that's your pacific event of the day. we all know the end of that.

>> now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. mr. red hot of the moment, justin timberlake is spilling all to vanity fair. timber lake calls jessica beale, who he just broke up with, quote, the single handedly most significant person in my live. timberlake says he and another ex, britney spears, haven't spoken for about a decade and dismisses their young mickey mouse days saying there was nothing normal about our existence. elsewhere lady gaga told england's daily mail while her "monster's ball" tour made her hundreds of millions of dollars, she actually went bankrupt at the start because she spent so much on all those wild costumes and outfits. looks like it paid off. finally, steve martin is caught up in germany's biggest ever art forgery scandal. years ago, martin, a serious collector, apparently, bought what he thought was a 1915 painting by a german dutch modernist for $850,000. he later sold it for a significant loss. now police say, and they

believe, that the piece is from a forgery ring. it's unclear what liability martin may have for unwittingly selling a fake. this comes to us from the crater of diamond state park in arkansas where the finder's keepers policy turned one visitor's trip into a treasured experience. inside the park for about 30 minutes before making a sparkling discovery. a 1.9 karat oval raw diamond. once officials confirmed its authenticity, troy named it jamie's heart after the one person troy and his wife treasure most, their daughter. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

farmers in china got quite a shock with one new arrival. breeders were shocked when a mama deer gave birth to a fawn that was entirely white. it was almost entirely white. a genetic mutation is the cause for the rare color change. as is the case with white tigers, the white deer is seen as an auspicious sign in china. while some in china were seeing white, others were seeing red. more than 40 members of the endangered species red panda moved into their new home this week, a national park. not be surprising but one of the

red pandas was born with white fur. according to officials he's the only white furred red panda known today. finally, a charity in school spirit rarely looks like this. at ten colleges across the country, students are stripping down for a good cause. they take off their clothes and then take off on an undie run all over the campus. while it definitely turned heads of fellow classmates, the intent is innocent here. all clothes will go to the needy. we didn't learn that in college. >> no. there's a reason you do that in college. in college, you are typically in the best state of your life. i don't think that would go through most hr or businesses. >> i don't think we should try that at home or here. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. first lady michelle obama will join the agricultural secretary tomville to unveil a new food icon to remind consumers to make healthier choices. the new icon replaces the government's food pyramid image

as the government's primary food group symbol. the national spelling bee will conclude wrapping up the competition. 275 spellers began on tuesday's spelling bee. about a dozen spellers are expected to advance to the final round. and it is the 30th year anniversary of donkey kong. a series of games including the classic super mario. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. watch matt lauer and al roker report live from rome as matt gets an audience with pope benedict xvi. "idol" fever hits the plaza when "american idol" scotty mccreery and runner-up lauren alaina perform live at a special concert. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of

the day today on your nbc station. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com