see you tomorrow! this morning on "early today," political gamble? president obama becomes the first u.s. president to come out in support of same sex marriage. burning rubber, a ferrari stunt on an ancient historic site has chinese officials seeing red. and a fine line, a world renowned daredevil performs a death-defying stunt in renowned daredevil performs a death-defying stunt in baltimore. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including in the pacific time zone. today we begin with a significant shift.

after months of refusing to take a clear stand on the controversial issue of same-sex marriage, yesterday president obama suddenly decided to come out in favor of it. a decision that could prove to beies kiss this etracie potts has more. >> the president says thidea co political impact. president obama went on record on an interview with good morning america's robin roberts. >> i just concluded for me personally it's important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> he called it a personal decision. for years the president said his views are evolving.

there was quick reaction from the gay community. >> i don't know that it's taken too long, but he's taken the moment and stood on this issue. >> reporter: the president's announcement is sure to have a political impact, calling it a tender and sensitive topic. mitt romney quickly affirmed his position. >> my view is that marriage itself is a relationship between a man and a woman. that's my own preference. >> reporter: but is the president taking a political risk? >> are important demographic groups to the president's re-election that are not there yet. this is a big wedge issue within the african-american community and working class whites. >> reporter: and analysts says it could mobilize evangelical against him in november. the u.s. conference of catholic bishops called it deepening sadly, the president pointed out he feels this is very strongly that this is an issue that should be decided by each state. >> tracie potts, thank you.

>> reporter: at the tri at the trial of former presidential candidate john edwards, the prosecution is getting to wrap up its case. the most dramatic testimony yesterday involved edwards late wife elizabeth and when she found out about the affair. jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: prosecutors called on members of the inner circle of the john edwards presidential campaign. speechwriter wendy button continued her testimony, saying edwards knew donations from wealthy supporter were being used to take care of rielle hunter and their baby girl. >> she helps the prosecution because she has an admission from john edwards to her that he knew about the money from fred baron. the prosecution's theory is that edwards made this coverup and took this money to help him in the campaign. >> reporter: former edwards aide and current white house deputy communications director jennifer palmieri wept as she talked about elizabeth edwards death after a long battle with cancer. palmieri also told jurors about a meeting in an iowa hotel.

elizabeth confronting barron, a meeting that included her husband. >> palmieri's testimony helps the prosecution because it shows elizabeth edwards knew about the affair in october of 2007, so he couldn't have been covering up to protect his marriage. it was to protect his campaign. >> reporter: as testimony continues, and prosecutors near the end of their case, one key voice that is yet to be heard is the woman at center of it all, rielle hunter. >> make no mistake, she will take the stand. prosecution wants to end strong, if they think she would not be a good ending she will get called by the defense. >> reporter: which means one of the most anticipated witnesses in this controversial trial could testify by the end of the week. jay gray, nbc news, greensboro, north carolina. now here is a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in wisconsin police had to use spike strips to end a high speed chase involving five people who stole a van from a child daycare center. after the pursuit went across three counties the group

finally surrendered. investigators say they grabbed the van after ditching another stolen vehicle. in florida an alligator gave a fisherman quite a scare. he was out in his kayak when that gator swam up and made his presence known. the man said he was not only worried for himself but his dog, his dog was right next to him. fortunately, both made it out okay. also in florida more gator trouble, this time right in the middle of the city. an alligator tried to make its way across a busy street in miami, and it could have been hit by a car, but wildlife crews were able to eventually capture the animal. in baltimore, a tightrope walker made his way across the line 60 feet high and 600 feet long above the city's inner harbor. at least there was water down below. he had a close call, but the seventh generation wirewalker,

one of the flying wallenda, avoided falling. his next big adventure attempting to cross niagara falls. >> here is bill karins with your weather channel forecast. >> maybe practice over the harbor, do that before the falls. >> warm up. >> exactly. good morning. beautiful weather continues in the west. no issues in sight. we are enjoying gorgeous spring weather finally in many areas. now, it did cool off in the last two days in the northwest. high temperatures were only around 56 in seattle. 60 in portland. the desert areas heating up. yesterday, 95 in phoenix. a pretty good dust storm yesterday, too. tucson and phoenix both reported a dust storm late afternoon yesterday. jet stream took the dip here. instead of being warm, we will call it mild in the afternoon in the northwest. warm air down here to the south. high pressure protecting the northern rockies.

beautiful weather from colorado nor northwards. the next system is not expected to cause problems when it comes on shore in the northwest. today possibly near 100 in vegas. the heat is continuing to build. mild in denver, 84. boise at 62. more clouds early in the morning along the california coast what inland, 65 degrees. arizona looking cool today. thunderstorms in new mexico. friday forecast coming up, looking good. >> traders watching europe, reprieve from many post offices and what they will think of next

in automobiles. plus has she been black listed by one of the fashion world's titans? coming up, the knicks can't stand the heat, the caps force a game seven, you have to see what josh hamilton did for an encore.

good morning welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. >> here are top headlines this morning. an investigation is reportedly underway to determine who leaked the story about the cia informant revealing the terror plot to use a new underwear bomb on a jet headed for the u.s. officials intended to keep the story secret. a republican-led house committee is backing a nearly $5 billion project to build a missile defense site on the east coast despite the pentagon saying it's not needed and democrats saying it's a waste of money. a new russian-made passenger

plane, the first since the days of the soviet union, crashed in indonesia with 45 people on board during a demonstration flight for potential buyers. search teams have found no signs of survivors. celebrity hair stylist vidal sassoon, who revolutionized hair style and liberated women with wash and wear haircuts in the '60s died at age 84. sassoon had leukemia, but died of natural causes. in china, ferrari is apologizing for lifting a sports car on top of a historic gate to perform driving stunts. chinese officials criticized ferrari and ordered workers to clean up the tire marks left on top of the gate which was built during the ming dynasty. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,835 after dropping 97 points yesterday. he s&p fell 9 points, nasdaq

was down 11. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei lost 35 points. in hong kong the hang seng fell 103. investors will be watching the troubles in europe and the latest u.s. jobs data today. stocks were down due to uncertainty about the european debt crisis. greece will get a payment of more than $5 million euros from the region's bailout fund despite threats from elected officials there. china reported weak trade data of less than 5% growth in april, increasing fears of a slow down in the world's second largest economy. the u.s. labor department will report on unemployment claims for last week with a slight increase expected over last week. a new forecast from zillow predicts home values will bottom out and start back up during the final three months of 2012. the u.s. postal service is dropping a plan to close thousands of post offices. instead will reduce hours at more than a third of post offices to deal with the multi billion dollar deficit.

>> cisco reports a jump in profits, but a weaker than expected forecast sent shares down. toyota reported profits quadrupled an issued upbeat forecast for the next 12 months. sony is what was apple is today in the tech world, announced a record annual loss today, the fourth straight year of red ink. finally, a new car navigation system developed by japan's pioneer, uses laser beams to display information in front of driver's eyes. an almost transparent plastic sheet located under the visor allows drivers to receive information while keeping their eyes on the road with minimum distraction. coming up the heat dismiss the knicks, the grizzlies claw the clippers, caps rebound against the rangers. the texas rangers slip and slide their way through a rain delay. that looks like fun. early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

i know it seems like a month since we have seen the sun, but i promise you will see it in the days ahead in new england, the forecast coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. you are watching the ceremonial lighting of the olympic flame this morning at the ancient home

of the game, greece. that flame will make its way to the site of this summer's games in london. elsewhere in sports, last night in the nba playoffs, the miami heat finished off the knicks season. here is nbc's fred roggin with a look at all the sports headlines. good morning, as the series wore on, the question wasn't if the heat could eliminate the knicks but when. the heat were in total control from the beginning. four-point lead after one. up 11 at the break. carmelo anthony scored 35, but unfortunately that was not enough. the heat are in a different level than the knicks. lebron finished with 29. miami plays indiana with 106-94 win. the knicks haven't won a playoff series in 12 years. now we go to the west. the grizzlies blew a 27-point lead in game one. they were not about to blow a 24-point lead last night. marcus holmes, zach randolph had the best series. blake griffin injured his left knee.

he stayed in the game but was scoreless in the fourth. chris paul also strained his groin and sat out the final minutes. grizzlies won it 92-80. hockey game six, caps and rangers. washington drew first blood in more ways than one. alex ovechkin unleased a rocket in the opening minutes. 1-0 caps. the verizon center was rocking. late in the third, rangers down 2-1, gaborick with a blast from the point. it found the back of the net, new york down one. a minute to play. it was too little too late. caps win 2-1. divisive game seven on saturday on the nbc sports network. josh hamilton hit four home runs tuesday, what would he do for an encore? a little slip and slide. the game in baltimore rained out, that didn't stop hamilton from making a big splash. took to the field with teammates, sprinted toward the tarp, dove head-first and like that, the rangers slugger was all washed up. as hot as he has been at plate, this is the only thing to cool him off.

that's your "early look" at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. rihanna in the raw, britney is a go, and sophia is single. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, she is sharp as a tack and serving her state, at 92 years young. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." the good news continues as far as the weather forecast for areas of the west. 63 in portland. 60 in seattle. sunny and very hot in vegas down to phoenix and palm springs. continuing near 100 degree heat tomorrow on your friday in phoenix. the northwest warms up, 74 in portland, 83 in medford. so, it looks like we're heading in the right direction. if you're watching us on kttu tv channel 2 in alaska, explore e water water everywhere at the class museum of history. >> bill. thank you very much. here's an early look at headlines in entertainment. john travolta's legal team may be scoffing at two lawsuits charging unlawful sexual advances but more trouble may be on the way. the lawyer bringing the suits claims many more men have come forward and there could be more

accusations soon. stay tuned. hugh hefner offered rihanna more than a million dollars to pose without clothes in "playboy." britney spears as a judge is a done deal on the "x-factor" is done for $15 million. sophia vergara split up with her boyfriend of two years. kim kardashian missed the monday night met gala, basically the oscars of fashion, bill, reportedly because vogue editor anna wintour thinks she's tastily and tacky. >> that's her? >> that's anna wintour, you're the only person who doesn't know that, and she was banned from it the event. kardashian's ex-kris humphries is furious over her accounting of the wedding gifts. >> you're mean. >> he's getting petty now. she donated $200,000 to charity

claiming that is double what they received in presents, he wants to know why she is not counting a $325,000 ferrari sent to them by a malaysian businessman. i know, how is that for the table where all gifts are? and that from kcra 3 reports in sacramento, california, where one woman never heard of the word retirement. mae is 92 years old and happily works for the state of california in the same agency since 1943. she has served under ten governors. she has no plans to quit and while she relies on a walker to get around the office her mind is as sharp as ever, as one co-worker put it, mae was the computer here before there were computers. i'm lynn berry this is "early today," your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

in eastern europe furry friends have stolen the spotlight. four white tigers made their world debut today. the cubs are in good health. the zoo will hold a contest for winners to choose names. one design near japan unveiled new gear to beat the heat this summer. in hopes to raise awareness about the country's energy crisis, one luingeriemaker has

introduced the super cool bra. the bra is made of refrigerated cooling gel pads and includes a number of summer necessities like portable fans, cool minutes and small bamboo ladle to splash water on yourself. finally a story that definitely requires a do not try this at home warning. in india, a large crowd gathered for a baby throwing ritual. children as young as three months old are tossed from a roof of a temple on a blanket held by a group below. some find the practice dangerous, can't imagine why. devotees say it's important to make the babies stronger. how about some milk? how about just milk? let's not throw them from buildings. >> that's like a tradition. >> it is a tradition. >> you don't break tradition, lynn berry. >> but it's a baby. time for early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. in washington a house resolution will be introduced for condemnation of the new york police department for ethnic and religious profiling in the surveillance of muslim american communities. in los angeles, several major individuals, studios and networks including those of nbc universal will unite to launch

the "got your six campaign," the initiative named for military lingo i've got your back, well create opportunities for veterans to use leadership skills for civilian roles in society. and singer bono turns 52. all day long, stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." here is a look at what is coming up late this morning on "the today show,." rachel maddow weighs in on president obama's historic endorsement of same sex marriage. and howard stern will be live in studio previewing his new "america's got talent" gig, which premieres monday on this nbc station. keep on it 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. have a good one.