good tuesday morning. coming up on "early today," an ohio miracle. three young women missing for years found alive after this 911 call. >> help me, i'm amanda berry! >> do you need police, fire or ambulance? >> i need police. >> and what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped and i've been missing for ten years, and i am here. i'm free now. >> the latest on how they're doing and the men who are in custody. conflicting accounts of what really happened the night this limo erupted killing five women. plus the pentagon directly blames the chinese military for cyber attacks against our military and government. a hole in one as the president works the greens with the senators. and the term boston strong took on new meaning following the marathon bombings. so is this toronto fan a bad

sport? "early today" starts now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for tuesday, may 7th. very good morning to you. i'm richard lui. we start with good news today. three ohio women found alive after missing for more than a decade. amanda berry and the two others appear to be in good health, but their journey back to civilization is just beginning. nbc's dan schenaman has more. >> reporter: the three women went missing at different times about ten years ago. monday they were found alive inside of a home not far from where they were last season. police say a neighbor heard screams coming from the house and found one of the women who used his phone to call police. >> i need police. help me, i'm amanda berry. >> do you need police, fire or ambulance? >> i need police. >> okay. and what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped, and i've been missing for ten years. and i'm here. i'm free now. >> we'll get there now as soon

as we get a car open. >> we heard this girl going nuts on the door. when i came out of the house and looked, i said, well, that don't look right. so i took her, i pried the door open so she could climb through there because how he has the door, you can't open the door completely. he had it locked some way. >> reporter: neighbors cheered as police carried the girls to safety. >> it's a great day. i mean, it is just -- i can't tell you, for the families, for these officers that have been working these cases for all these years, it was just amazing to see the emotion on these seasoned law enforcement officers when they went in there and saw amanda and gina and michelle. >> reporter: their friends say they never gave up hope. >> i knew she would come home. >> i never forgot about her, ever. >> reporter: all three women were taken to an area hospital where officials say they are in good condition. >> this is really good because this isn't the ending we usually

hear to these stories. so we're very happy. >> reporter: police say three brothers all in their 50s have been arrested but are not saying much else about the suspects. dan schenamman, nbc news. more now on the suspects. "the cleveland plain dealer" reporter who's been on the story from the start spoke with lawrence o'donnell last night. >> usually when you go to a crime scene, the people walk up to you have something negative to say about the person who's been arrested. that wasn't the case. it was mostly just shock. >> one woman was reportedly holding a child, but we have not confirmed that relationship. molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and firearms. that's what the fbi says they found in 24-year-old buford rogers' mobile home in western minnesota. they believe he was planning a terror attack. no details are available. as far as targets or motive. rogers is facing felony firearm charges and remains in federal custody. now, one of the survivors of the limousine fire that left

five women dead in san francisco is disputing the driver's version of the events. she says she yelled at him to stop when flames erupted. but he didn't want to listen. the limo driver says he thought the passengers wanted to smoke a cigarette. >> stop the car, stop the car. it took a while for him to stop the car. >> at that point, she said smoke, smoke, smoke, pull over. i'm looking. i finally kind of, you know, look back a couple times. and i see the grief on her face. >> the case is still under investigation. they are looking for the cause there. an air force chief in charge of sexual assault prevention faces charges of sexual battery. 41-year-old lieutenant colonel jeffrey kosinski was arrested after reports he drunkenly fondled a woman in a virginia parking lot. police say when the woman fought back, he simply tried to grab her again.

he has since been removed from his post and is being held on a $5,000 bond. well, you know, for the first time, the obama administration is accusing china's military of cyber attacks on u.s. government systems. a pentagon report says the motive could be to map our military capabilities so they can be exploited during a crisis. and also says china's primary goal is to steal industrial technology. although many cyber attacks focused on how u.s. lawmakers think. until now the administration has avoided directly accusing the chinese government, even though some reports indicate more than 9 # 0% of cyber espionage in the u.s. originates in china. nbc's bill karins is here with a look at your tuesday forecast. good morning to you. and we hope it's a little nicer. it's been good. what am i saying? >> in the northwest it was great. california wasn't quite as nice or our friends in nevada. temperatures, as i said it yesterday, seattle had a chance of being the hottest spot of any major city in the country. it was 87 in seattle. you smashed your record high

which was 79. unfortunately, your friends in phoenix wouldn't cooperate. and they decided to tie you at 87 degrees. still quite a feat there that it was about ten degrees warmer in seattle than even las vegas. here's a map of the united states. a little differing view. we call it an x-ray of the atmosphere. it shows you the amount of moisture in the air. we have three cutoff storms, one in atlanta, one over the plains and one over california. these are very slow moving. actually, the one over atlanta is the same one that produced the snow last week in the midwest. so the one over california still kind of a broad cutoff low. spinning right over coastal areas of california. there's moisture wrapping around it. we do have areas of very light rain. reno's picking up light rain currently. it looks like just south of fresno, we're getting a little rain in between fresno and bakersfield. not a lot, very light, but again, you may have a few showers hit and miss. typically with lows, there's a lot of cool air aloft. a possibility of thunderstorms

mall hail especially if you get sunshine this morning. and by the way, did you see yakima, washington, is 87 again today. >> you're getting all brainy on us with those vapor maps now. >> you know, i like to change it up a little bit. got to teach you something every now and then. chris christie has lap band stomach surgery to lose weight. and help is on the way for the bravest in fighting massive wildfires. plus the headlines. we're back in two.

welcome back to "early today." new this morning, chris christie undergoing lap band surgery earlier this year in an effort to slim down. he broke the story saying he wanted to be around for his wife

and four children. the republican turns 51 in september and is up for re-election in november. some $28 million in public donations will begin make being its way to victims of the boston bombings next month. the administrator of one fund boston says families should have their payouts by the end of june. meanwhile, one of the three friends of suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev arrested last week is now under house arrest. he was charged last week with lying to investigators about getting rid of potential evidence in the case. it was ammonium nitrate that caused last month's deadly explosion at a texas fertilizer plant. officials are still looking into what exactly touched off that chemical. the six teachers and administrators killed in the sandy hook shooting were posthumously awarded the presidential medal on monday. it is the highest civilian honor for valor. nbc military analyst retired colonel jack jacobs helped present those awards. and you can't blame them for tying. tim tebow fans started a

petition on the white house website to get president obama to order the jacksonville jaguars to sign the quarterback. well, it's since been removed from the site for violating the terms of service. however, it's not all bad for tebow. he was just named the nation's most influential athlete by "forbes" magazine. don't be so quick to ditch that 5:00 shadow, guys. there's a recent study out of the university of new south wales claiming women are most attracted to a healthy beard. volunteers were presented with pictures of men with varying stages of stubble. and the men with a ten-day beard were chosen as the most attractive. "early today health" is brought to you by vagisil. bring yourself back. now for a first look at business. we turn to cnbc's seema mody. >> the senate passes the internet sales tax bill which lets states to collect taxes all online purchases. best buy complained about

consumers who browse in stores and then buy online for less. it faces opposition from republicans who see it as a tax increase. microsoft is retooling windows 8 which has been blamed for the slump in pv taelz. the company will release an updated version later this year making it easier to use which has been the biggest complaint by consumers. and disney believes the fourth is strong with electronics arts teaming up to make new "star wars" video games. the move comes weeks after disney shut its lucasarts division. raging wildfires prompt massive spending. the u.s. forest service will dish out nearly $160 million within the next five years for a bigger and faster fleet to fight the flames. this year's fortune 500 list is out. at the top with more than $469 billion in revee, walmart, which took back the crown from

exxon mobil, followed by chev n chevron, phillips 66, berkshire hathaway, apple and facebook at 482. general motors is recalling hybrids including the chevy malibu eco, buick lacrosse. the u.s. treasury will sell the remaining gm stock on hold from the auto bailout. the department expects to sell all of its gm investments within the next 12 months. they are out of the auto business. straight ahead, the top trending stories of the day. plus congress will hear from a state department official who has conflicting evidence from hillary clinton over what really happened the night four americans were killed in benghazi, next.

republicans in congress are gearing up for a new set of hearings this week on the benghazi consulate attack. that claimed four u.s. lives. they say new state department witnesses will undercut hillary clinton's explanation of what went wrong. nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell, has that story for us. >> reporter: the attack on the benghazi mission started around 9:40 p.m. by 3:00 in the morning ambassador chris stevens and information officer sean smith were dead. two other americans former navy s.e.a.l.s working as security contractors did not die until a

second full assault at 5:15 a.m. on a cia annex several miles away. six special forces commandos flew in from tripoli but couldn't stop the onslaught. house republicans released an interview with gregory hicks the deputy chief of mission at the time and said he called for military help from four more special forces operatives in tripoli but was overruled. hicks a diplomat not a military officer said, i believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter or aircraft or two over benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced there would not have been a mortar attack on the annex in the morning because i believe the libyans would have split. the pentagon said commandos had to stay and defend the embassy and were not prepared for a combat assault mission. as for buzzing the benghazi consulate with fighter jets to scatter the attackers, the closest f-16s were in italy or at least five hours away. for months republicans charged cover-up. last january hillary clinton took the blame but pushed back. >> what difference at this point

does it make? it is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator. >> reporter: house republicans say they have state department witnesses who can prove clinton covered up. >> it's damaging because it happened on her watch. i think the important thing is that hillary clinton is no longer secretary of state, but there are many people still at the state department who were involved in this at the highest levels who continue to keep their job. >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. now to sports. a surprise upset in the nba playoffs starting with a loose ball. nate robinson, lebron james scramble here. james rolls over robinson whose face hits the floor. blood results. in the final minutes robinson scored nine of chicago's final 12 points in a stunning 93-86 win in game one. overtime in san antonio, the spurs manu ginobili hitting a

three-point shot to beat the golden state warriors who led 16 just minutes before. golden state releasing beautiful new images of their proposed new arena in san francisco. fans would see the bay bridge from their seats. not bad. for their first home playoff game in nine years, a maple leaf fan held a sign reading "toronto stronger" for the face-off with boston, but the bruins got a 5-2 win there. the louisville slugger factory is making pink bats for major league baseball players to use on mother's day sunday on help support the mlb breast cancer charities. we have rare video of president obama playing golf monday with three senators on the south course at andrews air force base. when they played the par 3 11th hole, saxby chambliss hitting a hole in one which gave the republicans a win over the democrats that day. and a messy mud race in england starting as a bar bet a couple of decades ago. hundreds of competitors, many in costumes, ran, walked and

crawled through deep, smelly mud. not sure if i would want to lose that bet. miley strikes a pose and leaks a little too much information over maxim's hot 100. we have that next.

welcome back. i was mentioning the light rain in the reno area. here's the zoomed-in image. this is i-80, truckee, the reno area. it looks like you could possibly be getting snow at the highest elevations up there at the peaks. as far as 80 goes, just light

rain this morning as you're crossing the border. as far as what we're going to deal with out there today in the northwest, it's cooler definitely with more of an on-shore flow. 73 in seattle. if you go inland a little bit, still warm there, temperatures in the 80s. a chance of afternoon storms today. we're kind of stuck in this weather pattern. tomorrow i think we should be mostly dry in california at least. >> yeah, above the beltline in the west looks really good. miley cyrus may have spilled the beans a little bit early. in a tweet, the singer revealed she is number one on "maxim's" hot 100 list before even the magazine had a chance to announce it. miley also gave her followers a peek at what could be that cover photo. following this news, "access hollywood" asked readers, should miley cyrus be number one on "maxim's" hot 100 list? only 14% said yes. >> you said only. i can't believe 14% said yes. >> ouch! 52% of their opinion of reese witherspoon has changed after seeing that embarrassing

dash cam arrest video. anne hathaway rocked through blonde locks. madonna went full punk, black wig, studded jacket, no pants. tiger woods and lindsey vonn stepped out. and kimye made an appearance. >> the dress covers her hand. >> some went punk, and did not. and the voice of usher announced he's playing boxer sugar ray leonard in an upcoming film. he's been training for over a year, even tweeting off this pic showing off his boxing physique and six-pack. he's ready. i'm richard lui. you're watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

leading the news in the "new york times" the white house holds firm on cautious path in syria crisis. israeli air strikes and questions about the use of chemical weapons would not push the white house from its current approach. and in "usa today," report: four inexpensive products can save newborns. between 13 cents and $6 to save many babies even on their first day of life. here's what we're following here on nbc news. celebrations in cleveland as three young women missing for a decade are found. one managed to get to a phone to make a call for help. three men are in custody. a survivor of a horrific limo fire disputes the driver's version of events. she says she yelled at him to stop. the driver says he thought the passengers wanted to smoke a cigarette. the cause still under investigation.

get ready for a special sound you hear only once in 17 years. billions of cicadas will creep out of the ground any day now on the east coast. they're harmless. they'll just mate, make lots of noise, and then they'll die. it's not every day you see a bumblebee running hurdles. the british mascot grand national brought mascots of all shapes and sizes together for a 200-meter charity race. 27 runners from bulldogs to bunnies sprinted across the field. many stumbling along the way. and in the, a local building firm mascot barry berrotte crossed the finish line well ahead of the pack. i'd hate to have the mascot of the slug, right? >> have you ever been a mass kotd? >> no. >> you never did? >> no. you? >> i did. it was a red dragon. >> that's a good choice. better than a slug. a look ahead. a special election in south carolina. republican mark sanford facing

democrat elizabeth colbert busch. and there's a fiscal summit in washington, d.c., where bill clinton and bill gates will talk about new trends and ideas f s shaping the future. a "today" exclusive, the driver of the limousine that caught fire. what he remembers about that tragic night. and natalie is live in sweden about members of abba and the museum dedicated to the '70s super group. keep it here for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm richard lui along with bill karins, the biggest abba fan. thanks for watching "early today." have a good one.

. . . police finally catch the woman they have been looking for after a couple of armed robberies. all this time, ten years, nobody has figured nothing out about where she is at and then this has come to an ending and it is right here in see more. three missing women found alive ten years later. we have the new details we are learning this morning about how they are doing and the rescue that brought them finally to safety. i look back and you know she said smoking. >> this morning, we get answers to some troubling questions for