i'm jim cramer, and i will see you tomorrow! this morning on "early today," cold case, 33 years later a new jersey man confesses to the murder of 6-year-old etan patz. conduct unbecoming, police video captures a florida doctor's violent rage during a dui arrest. and chaos in kiev, why were punches thrown durg a and chaos in kiev, why were punches thrown durg a ukrainian parliament session? 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 a shocking revelation. in a potential breakthrough in one of the nation's most baffling missing children cases, a new jersey man is under arrest in connection with the 1979

disappearance of 6-year-old etan patz. police say the former convenience store worker confessed to killing the boy. nbc's dan shenman has details. >> reporter: it has been 33 years since 6-year-old etan patz disappeared while walking to catch a school bus. now a break in the case. >> the new york city police department is announcing the arrest of pedro hernandez. >> reporter: according to police, hernandez shown here in a photo ob sands by "inside edition," spoke to detectives more than three hours and confessed to killing the child. >> hernandez described to the detectives how he lured young etan from the school bus stop. >> reporter: investigators say a tip led police to the hernandez home. >> hernandez told a family member and others he had "done a bad thing and killed a child in new york." >> reporter: back in april, police spent several days searching a basement along the route the child would have walked to catch his business.

>> i believe it was the focus that was given this case in april that sort of brought forth the knowledge that this person had about the statements that hernandez had made in the past. >> reporter: the disappearance of etan patz ushered in an era of awareness of missing children across the country. with an arrest and perhaps a chance to solve a 33-year-old mystery. dan shenman, nbc news. the executive responsible for 2010's now infamous spending spree at a general services administration convention in las vegas is no longer with the agency. jeffrey neely planned the lavish employee conference that cost the government more than $800,000. he has been on leave since april after a report found rampant waste at the event. a statement from gsa makes it unclear whether neely was fired or resigned. the scandal also led to the resignation of the head of gsa,

the firing of two top aides, and nine others being placed on administrative leave. after five days of deliberations, the jury in north carolina's john edwards trial will be back today, to try to reach a verdict before the start of the holiday weekend. thursday the jury asked for more exhibits to reexamine and the judge ultimately sent them all 503 pieces of trial evidence so they have everything they might need to look at. edwards faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of using campaign donations to hide an extramarital affair. while the jury was deliberating the former senator and presidential candidate and his daughter cate walked a few blocks from the courthouse to take in a few innings of the north carolina college baseball game. summer is technically weeks away but the official start to summer travel season is definitely here and it could be a busy one. according to aaa's annual survey, more than 34 million people will travel 50 miles or

more this memorial day weekend. that's up more than 1% over last year. the increase could be do to falling gas prices. aaa says airline ticket prices are expected to be 7% lower than last year. now here's a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in florida police say a physician went berzerk in the back of a squad car. he repeatedly banged his head, kicked and screamed and spat blood at a police officer after that doctor was arrested for drunk driving. he also had more than $50,000 in cash sitting next to him, though he kept claiming police stole it. the doctor has been suspended from his hospital. in georgia, scary moments for a driver who crashed in a community swimming pool after suffering a seizure. three men dove in and pushed the car to the shallow end so they could free the victim, who was unconscious, but later revived.

in colorado, a bear fell out of a tree, but it's doing okay and just fine. the animal wandered into a neighborhood and was tranquilized while up in the tree. a firefighter had just attached a rope to the big guy hoping to lower him down but the rope snapped. fortunately crews were holding a tarp to break the bear's rough landing. finally to florida where they are having a ball, lots of balls. a new theme part set a guinness world record for the most beach balls tossed in the air at one time. they easily shattered the old record of 400. the new unofficial number to beat? 1355. they took it one step further. for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> good morning. hurricane bud -- >> doesn't sound too intimidating but it could be dangerous. >> like frogs saying "bud." they're not laughing about the

storm in southwest mexico because it's a hurricane heading their way and it will be making, moving onshore later on tonight it appears and should be somewhere between puerto val yar ta and manzo. had a defined eye. hurricane hunters have been out and said it was a major hurricane with winds of 110 knots and as far as it's a little bit weaker, lost the eye going over cooler water. where it is at 5:00 a.m. and as it continues to go up towards the north here this is where it's going to be making landfall this evening, the right side will be the stronger side. if we're going to get any significant damage near the manzanillo area. really no significant winds. back home, want to talk about winds, high wind warnings over much of the desert southwest, the four corner region and wind advisories in many areas, blowing dust and the smoke be, it's going to be a mess from albuquerque to phoenix. winds at 39 there in vegas. not worried about too much rain

in the west. just a lot of wind. snowflakes g snow in the mountains of idaho and montana. so while much of the country will be very hot this weekend, not the northern rockies. >> unfortunately, for them. thanks so much. coming up u.s. airways flies, pandora pings and is siri keeping private all the things you say to her? your early morning business headlines straight ahead. time for "the avengers" to make way at the box office as former number one franchise "men in black" makes its return. number 450 for albert pujols, snoop dogg honors tim tebow and miami advances to the eastern conference finals. you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today" i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top headlines this morning. the senate has rejected competing bills from democrats and republicans on how to pay for a program to keep interest rates on federal college loans from doubling on july 1st. if lawmakers don't agree, more than 477 -- 7 million students would have to pay the higher rate. in new zealand, a 4.7 earthquake shook the city of christchurch but caused no damage or injuries. in february of 2011 a quake destroyed most of downtown christchurch and killed 185 people. a judge in california overturned a rape conviction that had sent brian banks, a former high school football star to prison more than five years. the woman involved admitted she lied but did not want to return

$1.5 million awarded to her in a lawsuit against the school. nasa's opportunity rover on the planet mars playfully snapped a photograph of its own shadow. the rover was perched on a rock outcrop on the rim of a massive crater. a brawl in the parliament in ukraine has a debate turned into fighting. they were arguing about a controversial bill to allow the official use of the russian language instead of ukranian in parts of the country. now here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,529 after adding 33 points yesterday. the s&p was up a point, the nasdaq was down 10. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei added 17 points. while until hong kong the hang seng was up 47. for the second straight day the dow and s&p bounced back from earlier losses in the final hour of trade. but a key weak report tripped up the nasdaq.

the tech heavy index was weighed down by data storage company net app which sank 12% blamed on an weak earnings forecast it blamed on an uncertain global economy. investors welcomed news of a massive cost-cutting layoff at hewlett-packard. jp morgan's hike on carriers sent u.s. airways soaring. and delta and southwest higher. internet radio site pandora surged 12% on ad sales and subscriptions over last year. on the downside, tiffany and company tumbled 7% after slashing its 2012 outlook. as protesters rallied outside amazon's annual shareholders meeting in seattle the online retailer told investors it planned to improve conditions at its warehouses after employees were reportedly forced to work in temperatures above 100 degrees last summer. a federal judge says auto dealers who use consumers bad

credit history to charge higher interest on loans must now inform buyers about their negative credit data. starting this fall one of the nation's oldest newspapers, new orleans times piquiene will begin printing just three editions a week making its nation's largest city paper to drop daily circulation. has ibm reached a new level in corporate paranoia? listen to this, big blue has banned employees from using the iphone's digital assistant on its networks because everything you say to siri is saved in a data center in north carolina. a rookie slams the braves, a major league milestone, hip hop icon busts a bold move in chicago. dewane and lebron bust a few moves of their own trying to get past the pacers. the early morning sports are ahead. your holiday forecast is

looking a little warm and steamy. that's coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports with injuries and suspensions leaving the miami heat season teetering on the edge, the big two stepped up big time. here is nbc's mario solis with a look at all your sports

headlines. good morning to you, just a week ago we all wrote off the heat and cheered on the pacers, now miami is headed to the eastern conference finals. game six in indiana, second quarter, danny granger, capping off a 10-0 run with a dunk, indy up two at the half. the heat follow that run with a run of their own finishing the third with nine straight points, mario chalmers knocking down the triple. lebron and dwyane wade weren't going to allow the pacers back in. bron bron 28 points, wade, a no show in game three, had arguably the best playoff game of his career, 41 points, plus 10 boards. heat advances wait 105-93 win. who will they play in the eastern conference finals? we shall find out tomorrow, game seven between the boston celtics and philadelphia 76ers tips off at 8:00 eastern on saturday. baseball when you pitch a complete game you walk off with a win, right? wrong. justin verlander allowed two runs, striking out seven over

eight, but the tigers forgot the offense in detroit. jim leland can't be happy about that. indians sweep the tigers with a 2-1 win. albert pujols is starting to heat up, after playing the first 27 games without a home run, he belted his fourth in the last nine games last night. he's the fourth youngest player to hit 450 homers. angels beat the mariners 3-0. from 450 to 1, a rookie with the first career grand slam, that's the difference, reds double up the braves 6-3. finally who let the dog out? that is snoop dogg throwing out the first pitch in chicago. so did snoop get it over the plate? for shizle. watch him as he walks off the field. a tribute to the fastest man alive, usain bolt, and most talked about man alive, tim tebow. snoop dogg bringing tebow mania to chi-town. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. >> early today sports is brought to you by touch of gray, get rid of some gray, never all.

britney bails and the former president in the photo that has everybody talking. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. images to keep in mind this weekend amid the sun, fun and celebration. you're watching "early today."

time for your weekend forecast. welcome back. today obviously very windy. we have high danger of fire

concerns out there. blowing dust all through the desert areas. now as we go into saturday still going to be windy but not quite as bad. that storm system will begin to move to wyoming, storms in idaho and montana. the west coast we're okay. chance of showers on sunday, but especially monday in the pacific northwest. temperatures are going to be pretty much typical for this time of year, pretty average. we're going to warm it up slowly after a cool period that we're going through right now. overall not bad once we get past the wind of today. if you're watching us on king 5 news in seattle, washington, nearby sequim in a garden over 1,000 blooming buds, join in a celebration of beauty and fragrance, you're not allowed to interrupt me i can do it to you all the time, peonies on parade at the peony farms. that's the way it goes. >> that was really aggressive, bill. okay. note taken. >> they don't have to worry about the consequences -- >> that's true. i'll be like ice cold to you the rest of the show. here's an early look at some of

the headlines in entertainment. this weekend "the avengers" will move aside at the weekend box office as a new blockbuster takes center stage. "men in black" is expected to take over the top spot with around $80 million over the weekend. despite being a decade since the last "men in black" and four years since will smith's last film, experts say it's drawing wide interest, both young and old, that is good news for the studios, since the budget to make this one blew up way over $200 million. >> are you going to see it? >> i think i may. i'm going to try to squeeze that in if it's raining. don't cry for "the avengers," it should take in nearly $40 million this weekend. currently the fourth highest grossing film of all time. elsewhere, what do you think hillary had to say about this? >> nothing good. >> probably not. >> porn star brooklyn lee tweeted this from an event in monaco, posing with former president clinton and fellow porn actress tasha rain. >> what was the hashtag. >> okay.

>> finally, tmz reports britney spears walked out on the first as a judge on "the x-factor" after a contestant mangled one of her songs. sensitive there. this comes from virginia, the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform will never be forgotten. soldiers at arlington national cemetery carried out the solemn task of planting more than 220,000 u.s. flags. one for every tombstone, every service member, who gave their lives for this country. they will stand watch over those flags throughout this memorial day weekend. i'm lynn berry. hope you have a great memorial day weekend. this is early "today," your first stop of the day, on your nbc station.

an artist in chile makes extreme moves to send a message. he's created an exhibit that he calls a public prison. locking himself inside with only bare necessities for three days and two nights. the goal is to make a statement on the country's plight of inmates. inside his 20 by 20 foot cell is just a bed, blanket and sink, while two guards stand outside. furry felines are the newest star attractions at a zoo in hungary. three female siberian cubs found their way to the private zoo after their mother got ill and could no longer feed them. look how cute they are. now six months old, visitors flock for a chance to hold and pet them just for a moment. who wouldn't want to do that. >> let's go. >> exactly. the owner plans to bring in a male tiger in hopes of breeding.

finally, one dog in china is smarter than the average pup. the two-year-old learned how to ride a three-wheeled scooter in less than three months. taken in as a stray she takes a daily ride through the neighborhood impressing passers by. her owner said she can scoot back and forth around 20 times but hasn't had the endurance since giving birth to a litter of puppies. pretty impressive. wish we could train you. >> to do what? >> to listen to me! i have been trying for two years now. >> what do you think i'm doing? do you think i'm sleeping during the rest of the show? >> no. >> whenever news is on. >> time for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. in washington, d.c. operation rolling thunder, an organization largely made up of veterans and motorcycle riders dedicated to a full accountability of prisoners of war, and those missing in action from all wars, will kick off their memorial weekend activities with a wreath presentation at the

historic congressional cemetery. later tonight, they will hold a candlelight vigil at the vietnam veterans memorial. in a first, by private aero space company, spacex dragon vehicle will dock with the international space station delivering half a ton of cargo. happy birthday to mike myers who turns 49. all day long stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. in its "today" exclusive the former high school football star we told you about who was wrongfully convicted in a rape and kidnapping case. rapper pitbull performs live on the plaza. keep on it this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today" your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. have a great weekend.