i'm jim cramer. i'll see you tomorrow! this morning on "early today," scott free. the john edwards case ends in a mistrial as the jury deadlocks on most charges. bump in the road. horrifying moments in china as a car slams into a motorcycle carrying five passengers. and top dog, a california restaurant cooks up the world's most expensive weiner. restaurant cooks up the world's most expensive weiner. hot dog. 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. we begin with edwards walking. the judge in the john edwards campaign fraud trial declared a mistrial yesterday after deadlocked jurors were able to return a verdict on only one of six counts against him.

nbc's chris clacken reports from greensboro, north carolina. >> reporter: the stunning fall from grace of two-time presidential candidate john edwards was cushioned thursday when a jury acquitted him on one of six campaign finance fraud charges. and deadlocked on the other five. >> thank goodness we live in a country that has the kind of system that we have and i think those jurors were an exemplar for what juries are supposed to do. >> reporter: the decision comes after nine days of deliberations and results in judge catherine eagles declaring a mistrial on the remaining charges, charges that almost $1 million provided by fred barron and rachel bunny mellon to head edwards' pregnant mistress, rielle hunter, while he ran for president amounted to ill legal campaign contributions. edwards' attorneys argued the money was a gift and on one count the jury agreed. for that, edwards was contrite. >> while i do not believe i did

anything illegal, or ever thought i was doing anything illegal, i did an awful, awful lot that was wrong. and there is no one else responsible for my sins. >> reporter: the justice department can still choose to retry edwards but given how this turned out, legal experts say it's not likely. >> the government had to show he had criminal intent, they got all the rulings in their favor but couldn't get at conviction. >> reporter: edwards says he plans to return now caring for his children to include the now 4-year-old daughter he had with hunter. chris clackum, nbc news, greensboro, north carolina. gop presidential nominee mitt romney has won the endorsement of former first lady nancy reagan. romney and his wife visited the 90-year-old at her home thursday. she has been recovering from a march fall outside her home that left her with fractured ribs. mrs. reagan said her husband ronald, would have liked romney's "strong principles."

meanwhile, president obama met yesterday with other former white house residents. nbc's steve handelsman explains. >> reporter: a picture of bipartisanship. president obama hosted both presidents bush, 41 and 43 and their wives at the white house. for the unveiling of george w. bush's portrait. >> behave yourselves. >> he paid tribute to his dad. >> i am honored to be hanging near a man who gave me the greatest gift possible, unconditional love. that would be number 41. >> reporter: president obama paid tribute to his predecessor. >> president bush understood that rescuing our economy was not just a democratic or republican issue. >> reporter: but the president's campaign team opened a new attack on the republican running to be president. mitt romney charges the new obama video failed as massachusetts governor. >> governor romney's plan for

america right now is the same plan that he sold to the people of massachusetts in 2002. >> reporter: top obama adviser david axelrod went to romney's home turf, boston. >> romney's economics didn't work then and won't work now. >> reporter: mitt romney made his own partisan play in california. showing up at solyndra, the solar energy firm that went bankrupt after investors contributed to the obama campaign and got a half billion in obama stimulus funds. >> free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends. >> reporter: romney said when he left office in massachusetts, unemployment was 4.7%. >> i think 4.7% is a pretty good number. >> reporter: back to the battle, so much for warm, bipartisan nostalgia, steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. now here is an early look at other stories we're following today in america. in california a black bear got loose and had to be stunned

with a taser inside the hallway of an apartment complex in bakersfield. that was after the bear wandered across the playground of an elementary school while graduation ceremonies were being held on campus. students were rushed inside, animal control officers were finally able to round up the bear who will be set free back into the wild. in wisconsin, a suspected drunk driver was caught riding his lawn mower, that's right, right in the middle of traffic. the man was arrested after his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. he said he didn't know you couldn't ride a lawn mower on the street. he has his bigger problems, this is his fourth dui charge. honestly. in california, it is the dog that will cost you more than a few dollars, the world's most expensive has been served up with ingredients including moose cheese from sweden, white truffle butter and beef shipped all the way from chicago for the occasion and looking like he's enjoying it. the bill, $145.49.

unfortunately that does not come with a side of antacid. you may need it. for a look at your national weather we turn to meteorologist todd santos he has your weather channel forecast. >> i'm also ready for breakfast, something like that. >> something like that. let's stick with eggs and bacon, please. >> easier pork product there. want to talk about what's going on across the west as you maybe enjoy breakfast. dealing with chances for showers across the pacific northwest, at least on the national picture, traveling today you see that big blob of green there on the radar, at least headed in through portions of the ohio valley. we'll see the chance for some severe thunderstorms increasing around d.c. flying in that direction today keep that in mind. may have some flight disruptions on the east coast. florida dealing with showers and the central plains a few thunderstorms. you do see that kind of fetch of moisture pushing towards the pacific northwest. some of the heavier showers into british columbia but as the day goes on we'll see rain getting down towards portland, potentially a few light showers

towards spokane. southwest, fairly quiet scenario and seeing some improvement as far as the fire weather is concerned, mainly the relative humidity climbing a little bit. the rain you may contend with over the short term in the southwest. portland, some of the beaches with sh of the showers. want to mention the excessive heat warnings through areas, phoenix to the northwest, purple areas could see afternoon highs topping up as high as 114. stay saf tucson in the other area of orange i showed on the map, heat watch. so a number of areas dealing with the heat, other spots showers but a lot of great spots in between we'll' talk more about the weekend, it's friday, that's the important point. >> absolutely. also coming up, the markets wobble, investors wait on job numbers, and uncle sam makes a whopper of a mistake.

your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. fueling the feud, madonna takes aim at lady gaga. another day, another home run for the rockies carlos gonzalez, home sweet home for the thunder, and a marathon at the french open. you're watching "early today."

good morning, welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some top headlines this morning. a federal appeals court in boston has ruled the defense of marriage act unconstitutional for denying federal benefits to married same-sex couples. the 1996 law says the federal government cannot recognize same-sex marriage even in states where it's legal. the issue now appears to be headed for the u.s. supreme court. secretary of state hillary clinton is putting new pressure on russia to support international action in syria.

during a visit to denmark she says russia's continuing support of president ba shash al assad even after last week's syrian massacre is contributing to a civil war. two new man-made elements on the periodic table now have names. element 114 is now flerovium, named for the russian lab it was created while element 116 is livermorium after its first location in california. travel and leisure readers have voted anchorage, alaska the nation's worst dressed city. ouch. salt lake city came in second followed by baltimore. in china, unbelievable video, a car crashed in a motorcycle that ran a red light, sending its five passengers flying. fortunately, and unbelievably they all escaped with non-life threatening injuries. here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. dow opens at 12,393 after falling 26 points yesterday. the s&p down 2.

nasdaq lost 10. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei tumbled 102 points while in hong kong the hang seng dipped 71. investors are waiting for today's big report on employment. wall street yesterday closed out the worst month since september for the s&p 500. the dow and nasdaq had the largest monthly declines in two years. the government releases the may jobs report today with economists expecting that employers added roughly 150,000 jobs with the unemployment rate unchanged at 8.1%. during the first quarter homes in some stage of foreclosure accounted for more than one in four home sales with short sales before foreclosure hitting a three-year high. the latest report on manufacturing in china showed a 3% drop as the world's number two economy slowed more in may. microsoft is almost done with it s much anticipated

overhaul of the windows operating system releasing the final test version of windows 8. exxon mobile will build a multibillion dollar chemical plant in texas which would take advantage of cheap natural gas from north american shale gas drilling. college student loan debt is piling up with a 3% increase in the first quarter of the year to more than $900 billion. a waitress in cleveland got a big surprise when her income tax refund arrived. instead of the $750 she expected, she got a check for more than $434,000. well, she did return it to the i.r.s., but will have to wait more than six weeks for her correct refund check. sounds like no-fair. coming up the tigers avoid a sweep, the rockies slug the astros and endurance grind in the french open tennis. plus, the oklahoma city thunder slam back at home, the early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

speaking of thunder we'll talk more about the storm chances for this afternoon as well as a look ahead into your weekend. you're watching "early today."

good morning if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night in the nba's western finals the thunder snapped san antonio's winning

streak blowing out the spurs. in game three. here is nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning to you. so much for the spurs 20 game winning streak, the thunder have made it a series. game 3 in okc, the thunder come out flying. opened things up with 8-0 runs. spurs don't know what hit them. san antonio rallies but never really gets back into it. james hardin from downtown, oklahoma city up 13 at the break. they blow the game open in the second half, thabo sefolosha a difference maker knocking down four three-pointers and finishes with 19 points. thunder roll 102-82, handing the spurs their first loss of the playoffs. hockey, a four time stanley cup champion seven-time norris winner and now hanging up the skates. after 20 seasons red wings nicklas lidstrom is calling it a career. the 43-year-old will go down as one of the best defenseman to ever play the game.

he's expected to take a position with detroit's front office. one other hockey note, game two of the stanley cup final between the devils and kings is tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern. on nbc. baseball, match up of two under achieving teams. boston jumps out to an early 2-0 lead. after that it's all detroit. delmon young hits a couple rbis, tigers win this one 7-3. after hitting three home runs on wednesday, carlo gonzalez back at it again yesterday, a three-run bomb to left, he has hit a homer in four straight at-bats the new team record. rockies beat the astros 11-5. a tough french open for the americans. andy roddick, venus and serena williams have all been eliminated. now john isner is done. paul-henri mathieu pushed him to the limit in a 5 hour, 41 minute marathon. you may recall, john isner was in the longest tennis match at wimbledon and won. he wasn't as fortunate yesterday. >> that's your look at sports on "early today," i'm mario solis.

"early today" sports is brought to you by ice blue aqua velva, men get it. who is favored this weekend at the box office and anger over a celebrity son's college scholarship. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. these kids put us to shame. coming up, the national spelling bee winner, you're watching "early today." welcome back to

"early today." a few hot spots, yuma valley reporting 89 degrees. vegas getting to the triple digits. those are areas coming into portland around 60 degrees, 73 this afternoon with the showers getting up to your area, 107 in vegas, 112 in phoenix. pretend it's the middle of the summer, the temperatures outside of the average for this time of year. a look into saturday showers towards seattle, though the heat easing in the southwest. if you're watching us on kdw in portland, oregon, forest grove, enjoy local actors in a who done it based on a masterpiece at the 39 steps at theater in the grove. that is your pacific event of the day. >> all right. thanks so much. an early look at headlines in entertainment, at the box office this weekend, a new film is sure to grab the top spot. not surprisingly the fairy tale epic "snoets white and the huntsmen" is registering well with women, but chris hemsworth

and the war story could pay off for the guys. it should win with at least $40 million, maybe more, while "men in black iii" and "the avengers" battle for second. tmz reports justin bieber suffered a concussion in paris he ran into a glass wall during a concert. always hate when that happens. kicking off the world tour in tel aviv, madonna took a shot at lady gaga. finishing up her song "express yourself" which many allege gaga copied with "born this way" madonna shouted she's not me. and finally outrage is spreading cash-strapped california over sean "diddy" combs' son justin being given a scholarship to play football at ucla. combs by the way has an estimated worth close to half a billion dollars. minor detail there. this comes to us from maryland. yesterday we showed you the

6-year-old little girl brave but unsuccessful performance at the scripps national spelling bee. now we have a winner. >> guetapens. >> guetapens. guetape-u-e-t-a-p-e-n-s. impressive the 14-year-old from san diego spelled the french word, it means ambush, she beat out nearly 300 others. she won $30,000 and a scholarship. impressive. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station.

one zoo in china welcomed four new members to the feline family. officials introduced the one month old liter of siberian tigers. the zoo keeper knew a couple of the cubs were on the way, four was a welcome surprise, especially since it's an endangered species under state protection. so far the siblings are healthy and they're doing well. one royal family fanatic could be england's most devout. the 67-year-old collector's home is decked out in some 10,000 pieces of royal memorabilia. crammed with pictures, dolls, china plates, cups, all featuring the queen and other members of the royal family the enthusiast wants to share her collection, will open her home as a bed and breakfast. in finland one camera crew

entered the wrong bird's territory. the group was covering a story when it came across an angry male bird. not interested in entertaining the visitors, the bird attacked the car, pecking at the tires, chasing it as the team drove off. the crew was able to shoot the video but the segment will be shorter than expected there. pretty smart they could figure out they could pop the tires. this is why we stay in studio. >> it gets dangerous out there when you start trying to film on location. you never know when birds attack. >> always a problem. >> time for early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. the united nations human rights council will hold an emergency session in geneva on the deteriorating situation on syria and last week's massacre of over 100 villagers. it is the fourth session on syria within the last year, they are expected to pass a resolution condemning the killings. swimsuit season or no swimsuit season, head to the local donut shop to celebrate

the 75th annual national donut day. as part of the industry sponsored gimmick holiday shops all over the country are offering free treats and sweet deals. and morgan freeman turns 75. all day long, 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." here is a look at what is coming up later this morning on the "today" show. three jurors from the john edwards trial open up in an exclusive live interview. the latest country music craze, the band perry perform 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" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.