good thursday morning. here's what's coming up on "early today." billionaire new york mayor michael bloomberg said ricin-laced letters will not deter him from pushing his gun control measure. the heat is rising on attorney general eric holder as the news media balks at an off the record meeting over leaks. donations are pouring into oklahoma's hardest hit areas. investing like warren buffett. where he's putting his money now. flooding continues to be a problem in many parts of the country. and one bear's frightening encounter with a motorist. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, may 30th. good morning to you. the fbi and nypd have launched an investigation into a pair of letters that tested positive for

the poison ricin. one was sent to new york mayor michael bloomberg. the other to the director of his gun control group. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington now with more on this investigation. do they know where the letters came from? >> reporter: they know from loo louisiana. they don't know from who. that's part of the investigation. it looks like so far no one was hurt. the latest letter landed here at mayors against illegal guns. the head of the group opened that letter. he's fine, and so are the people who came in contact with it. the other letter was sent to mayor bloomberg in new york. again, no one was injured. both made anonymous threats against the push for gun control. preliminary tests now confirm both letters contained traces of

the deadly poison ricin. >> the letter obviously refers to our anti-gun effort, and we're not going to walk away from those efforts. >> reporter: president obama talked about it at a fundraiser last night. >> 90% of gun owners agree with us. why aren't we getting that done? >> reporter: the fbi and new york police are investigating the letters. both were mailed from shreveport, louisiana. they come after a similar came a month ago, ricin-laced letters sent to it the president, a mississippi senator, and a mississippi judge. a 41-year-old martial arts instructor was arrested on suspicion of sending those earlier letters. as of this morning, we don't know if the letters are links. richard? >> tracie potts in washington with the latest. thank you. attorney general eric holder already under fire from republicans is now facing a new round of criticism. this time from the news media. the "new york times" is refusing

to attend a scheduled meeting with the attorney general. editors say they won't go because the meet is off the record. the associated press says it will also pull out of the discussions unless the doj agrees to go on the record. reporter and lawmakers have been critical of the justice department's seizure of ap phone records as part of a leak investigation. holder testified before congress earlier this month where he denied any wrongdoing and cited national security as the reason for that search. a possible game changer in pakistani taliban leadership and influence. intelligence officials say a u.s. drone strike killed the number two leader. the white house will not confirm these reports. but press secretary jay carney says if true the death would be a strong blow to a group responsible for horrific attacks against america and pakistan. >> it's worth noting his demise would deprive the ttp to reach pakistan of its second command. >> the reports come less than a week after president obama outlined new guidelines for drone strikes.

the state department had previously offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his location. a spokesman for the pakistan taliban group denies these reports. the bush era republican who decried wiretapping and other contentious tactics may be on his way to the fbi's top spot. sources tell nbc news president obama plans to nominate james comey as the next fbi director. comey will take over after current director of 12 years robert mueller steps down in september. comey's potential nomination comes at a time that the white house is facing a trio of controversies. but comey is no stranger to controversy himself. in 2006 comey said some interrogation practices were wrong and would damage the justice department's reputation. there is a new quinnipiac survey showing the president's approval rating has flipped in

just a span of one month. 45% of americans approve of his job handling while 49% do not. that approval rating is down three points from may 1st. meanwhile, the administration's recent controversies are also starting to gain some traction with americans. 76% now say they want a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the irs. it's all having an effect on mr. obama's trustworthiness as well. that number's seen a drop of nearly ten points since fall of 2011. now to mexico where an american mother of seven is sitting behind bars accused of trying to smuggle drugs into the united states. mexican authorities say they found about 12 pound of marijuana under 42-year-old yanira maldonado's bus seat last week. the devout mormon and her husband were in northern mexico for a relative's funeral when they decided to travel back to arizona by bus. she says she's innocent and family members say they believe

she was framed. her attorney says he's confident that she will be released by friday. carl sandberg college in central illinois is one of many places affected by the flooding happening all over the midwest. classes at the university have been cancelled until friday due due to flooding. this was caught on one of the campus' building security cameras on tuesday. bill karins, nbc meteorologist, you see stuff like that just charging through the doors like that. >> that's a perfect example of a flash flood. that's what you'd see in a canyon, like in arizona or las vegas or somewhere. >> and the power of the water right there just bringing down the doors. >> looks like a levee must have broken loose. well, we have an unsettled forecast for one more day in the northwest. then your reward weather goes all the way out through the weekend. first, yesterday we did have more severe weather. we had 23 tornadoes. thankfully, didn't have any injuries and didn't have any fatalities. none of them hit any big population centers. that was fantastic. a lot of cleanup from the damaging winds.

what's left of those thunderstorms is now raining hard over areas of kansas and into missouri. i'll tell you what, one of the biggest rivers in the world, definitely the biggest in our country, the mississippi river is going to see a major flood as we go throughout the next week and a half. maybe a top five all-time flood for areas there just north of st. louis. that's going to be a big deal and a big story. again, that's the middle of next week. as far as the west goes, we've cleared out in most areas. still another little trough to deal with. an area of low pressure coming on shore. more rain showers for coastal washington. that will increase the chance of showers is later today. should be a little better in portland today than yesterday. still have a couple showers in your forecast. temperatures still a little on the cool side. today is definitely the worst day of the next four or five. that's a look at your natatchy .

watch offshore, high seas. looks like the nice, beautiful weather pattern for this upcoming weekend in the west. just what the doctor ordered. >> what's your thought about the storms? want to see this all summer? >> in the midwest? we're in a stormy pattern. looks like it's going to hold true for the next couple weeks. >> looks tough for them right noup. thanks, bill karins. coming up, unusual jobs that pay in the six figures, and the unusual battle between kate upton and victoria's secret. you're watching "early today."

stories making news this morning. a u.s. soldier is expected to plead guilty next week for killing 16 afghan civilians last march. the ap says the plea will allow staff sergeant robert bale to avoid the death penalty. a 22-year-old man appeared in a london court this morning after being formally charged in last week's gruesome and public murder of a british soldier. he's one of two people arrested

after a confrontation with police in the may 22nd attack. new this morning from "the washington post," a friend of boston suspect tamerlan tsarnaev who was killed during questioning was reportedly unarmed. law enforcement originally told reporters ibragim todashev went crazy and stabbed an fbi agent with a knife. police are looking for a motive after arresting a disneyland worker who they say caused a small explosion at the california park. christian barnes is being held on $1 million bail after setting off a so-called dry ice bomb. take a look at this video from russia. a driver's heading down the road when suddenly there's a black bear darting across the street. smack s right into the car. thankfully the bear gets up, scurries off. able to get up and scamper away. >> time for a look at today's business headlines. for that we turn to cnbc's bertha coombs. >> good morning. markets could see red arrows

today after the dow suffered its worst day in about a month on worries about the global slowing. meantime, motorola is launching a high-end smart phone later this year called the moto-x what makes it special? it's going to be made at a plant outside dallas, which will employ 2,000 people. and a palace is putting a portion of its famed wine seller on the auction block for the first time ever today. bidders will be able to get their hands on modestly priced bottles. some of the high-end estimates are over $3,000 a bottle. how could this $3,000 wine taste, i wonder? back to you. >> i wonder as well. i'll stick with the $20. thank you. also in business, warren buffett is on a spending spree again. this time his berkshire hathaway's energy unit is buying up an energy company for $5.6 billion. a chinese holding company snatching up the largest hog

producer, america's smithfield foods for $4.7 billion. elan musk plans to triple super charging stations by the end of the year. the goal is to let drivers go from coast to coast. the world's top 8% of earners are taking in 50% of the planet's income. jcpenney eliminated all signs of the tea kettle billboard that reminded some of hitler. now that $40 teapot is reportedly sold out at penney's and going for $199 on ebay. forbes out with a list of unusual jobs that pay surprisingly well. average salaries among them include hot dog vendor, $30,000 to $100,000. that's a lot of hot dogs. personal shopper $25,000 to $100,000. ice cream taster, $56,000. funeral service manager, $80,000. and a live mannequin or human statue, can earn up to $100 an

hour. i'm going to stay here, do nothing. coming up, we'll tell you what's leading the news. and weather across the midwest is causing tornadoes and flooding across parts of the country.

take you to sports now. we're going to start with a game seven thriller in the nhl playoffs. late in the third here, blackhawks and red wings tied at

1-1. a detroit goal there? no. disallowed on penalties in overtime they go and seabrook seals the win. >> right back ahead comes seabrook with a shot. he scores! >> yeah, chicago wins and faces the defending champs, los angeles kings, in the western conference. that starts on saturday. boxing champ floyd mayweather will fight mexican boxer on september the 14th. this is part of a six-fight $200 million showtime contract. on costas tonight, the attorney for penn state's late football coach joe paterno saying they are filing a lawsuit against the ncaa. it seeks damages for the freeh report on the former assistant coach jerry sandusky. summer job hunting? lebron james wants applications for his website internship. qualifications, you have to work well on the team, speak spanish and live in ohio, south florida, or new york.

forget match.com. that's what quincy pon dexter is saying. he starts "who won miss tennessee this year"? lawson tweets back, hi, heard you were looking for me. he says, totally single? she said, you got it. an audience waiting after all that. 20 minutes pass in this struggle. the field gets sowet they postpoen that game. then the french open. his dad says, why don't you help me out? here's a bag here. almost bigger than he is. that didn't stop him from giving some john hancocks on the way out. >> announcer: "early today" is brought to by just for men. keep your edge.

just ahead, kate upton fires back at victoria's secret and david beckham shows his softer side. plus, it's something hundreds of million of us do every day. but actor patrick stewart just did it for the first time ever, next.

the forecast improves from here in the northwest. today will be a little less rainy than yesterday. you still have to deal with hit-and-miss showers. temperatures are going to be very nice. very enjoyable day in central california today. we're going to turn the temperature up, get a little

hotter. i think saturday looks to be one of the warmer days. the desert areas this time of year, upper 90s if you have sunshine. the northwest is where the improvement takes place. we go from low 60s, clouds, and showers today. a pretty nice friday there in portland at 69 degrees. as we go through the upcoming weekend up there in seattle, very nice weather. we go from 69 on saturday. sunday in seattle gets 75. we continue that into monday and get a nice stretch of dry weather here. after, you know, we had great weather, then a week of unsettledness, and now back to nice. >> looking good. going to be beautiful up that way. now to entertainment. blake shelton welcoming several big-name artists for last night's healing the heartland benefit concert. performing to raise funds for the tornado ravaged community. then there's this here, bill. stock photos of model kate upton appearing in the newest victoria's secret catalog without her permission. not only is upton not contracted with the brand, but a booker

previously told "the new york times" they'd never use her because, quote, anyone with enough money could buy a face like hers. >> being a good journalist, i was forced to google kate upton just to make sure everything was fine. >> and you're reporting back to us everything is okay. >> i have nothing to report. >> good reporter, nevertheless. >> good assignment. >> we want to look up more of these pictures. let's talk ringo starr. he'll release never before seen photos of the beatles. president obama tweeting this picture, looking dapper at the white house with justin tim ber lame. >> who wore it better? >> caption, suits and ties. >> can he dance like him, though? >> no, justin timberlake is the man. in a recent interview, mick jagger joked r the only reason they were in l.a. was to make the lakers look a little bit younger. what's the average -- >> lakers are old. >> yeah, but experience. that's what they'd say. they're experienced. and "two and a half men" no

more. the void left behind is reportedly going to be filled with a mystery actress to play the long-lost love child of the late charlie harper. >> he asked for it. >> try not to gush at this adorable clip of david beckham and daughter harper hamming it up there for the kiss cam. that was tuesday night's l.a. kings game. she's a cutie. finally, sir patrick stewart tweeted this picture of him eating what he says is his first slice of pizza ever. the british actor even made sure to note the authentic new york fold. that's hard to believe, though. >> maybe if he had an allergy or some reason he couldn't eat it the, i would understand it. it makes no sense to me. >> it's impossible not to have a slice of pizza any time you spend time in the united states. i'm richard lui. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

leading the news this morning in the "the washington post," russia sends arms to syria as it tries reassert its role in the region. in march syria's army requested 20,000 assault rifles, 20 million rounds of ammunition, machine guns, grenade launchers and more from the russians to use against the rebels. in politico, michele bachmann no force in congress. bachmann's sudden fall exposes the reality of the tea party. quote, their power in congress is mostly a mirage. topping our news, a bush era republican who decried wiretapping and other contentious tactics may be on his way to the fbi's top spot. sources tell nbc news president obama plans to nominate former deputy attorney general james comey as fbi director.

he would take over after current director of 12 years robert mueller steps down in september. new this morning from ""the washington post,"" a friend of boston bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev killed during questioning was reportedly unarmed. law enforcement originally told reporters that ibragim todashev went crazy and stabbed an fbi agent with a knife. police are looking for a motive after arresting a disneyland worker who they say cause ad small explosion at its park. christian barnes is being held on $1 million bail after being charged with setting off a dry ice bomb. a loose ostrich in rush hour traffic didn't mix well. he ran towards on coming cars. can't read signs, i guess. >> he's going with traffic there. >> he decided to go with traffic, sometimes against it. he was hit by two vehicles. the bird just kept on running though and eventually caught up to it, at least the police did. get this, no one can figure out where the ostrich came from. he's just probably looking for a

place to bury his head. what do you think? >> possibly. the wing was looking a little injured there. >> a little injured, but he made it out in the end. here's what's coming up on the "today" show. we'll have that shortly, but i want to talk about this. i want to shout out to the rams at ccsf. i was there doing the commencement over the weekend. >> oh, you talked to the kids. >> i actually talked. i had them do the harlem shake. that's what i wanted to show you, bill. all 500-plus -- i don't know if you can hear it. nurses on the right there. i was not doing it, though. i was boring. >> you were the stiff guy up there giving the commencement speech. >> i can't do the harlem speech. >> what was the big advice you gave the kids? >> stand up. here's what's coming up on "the today" show. matt lauer talks to james lipton about his shocking past as a pimp in 1950s paris. the "today" anchors take on a tough mudder course. who will walk away victorious?

keep it here for your

behind bars, a former bay area high school football coach arrested for child molestation and there could be more victims. santa clara county leading the way in tuberculosis cases, why the county is top in the nation. and a major announcement expected from tesla this morning but it slipped out early. right now we take you live to san francisco looking at the bay bridge all sparkly as there are people on their way into san francisco at this hour on this thursday, may 30th. this is "today in the bay". are you awake? it's 4:30,