. good wednesday morning. coming up on "early today," a massive weather system sweeping across parts of the u.s. has now claimed 35 lives and the threat is not over yet. the l.a. clippers after donald sterling gets banned for life, now faces a legal battle that could be long lasting. we're six months away from november's midterm elections. a new poll shows democrats could have a tough season ahead. plus, a new list with surprising world's deadliest animals. why we won't see another royal wedding any time soon. and the new "star wars" cast is officially announced with some familiar names. it's wednesday, april 30th. "early today" starts right now.

good morning. i'm richard lui. tornado alerts covering four states were issued early today. the deadly slow-moving storm bringing more extreme weather to the south. a resulting tornado outbreak left a path of destruction from iowa to the carolinas, killing at least 35 people. in the hard-hit community of tupelo, mississippi, the mayor is calling it a miracle that only one person died. here's nbc's jay gray. >> reporter: for the third the straight day, violent storms continues to rip apart communities from the deep south through the carolinas, splintering homes, businesses and lives. >> man, he was a good boy, guys. i wish you knew him. >> daniel wassom sr. searches for anything he can find, including answers in what's left of the home where his son died. the 31-year-old iraqi veteran was shielding his wife and two young daughters from debris when he was killed. >> what a great son he was, you know? you couldn't ask for a better son.

>> as survivors mourn those lost and begin the overwhelming task of cleaning up and coming back, there is a growing concern over the next round of severe weather with the potential strike zone from louisiana through michigan and a warning for those in the path of the system from those who have already felt the wrath of the storms. >> you need to get in a shelter or get underground and take it seriously. don't take for granted that oh, there may be a tornado warning coming. you need to fight for your life and get where you need to be. >> reporter: as they continue their fight -- >> we will rebuild and we'll come back stronger. >> reporter: -- though most here now understand, nothing about that recovery will be quick or easy. jay gray, nbc news, tupelo, mississippi. >> and the weather channel's kevin ross saying today should be the last day the severe weather system. we'll have more a little later

with bill karins. it could be a legal battle the nba has not been before as clippers owner donald sterling for life and fined him $2.5 million. the court could be his next best friend, or not. as sterling considers his legal options, potential buyers hover, nbc's joe fryer with more. >> reporter: nba commissioner adam silver, on the job for only three months, did not mince words. >> effective immediately, i am banning mr. sterling for life from any association with the clippers organization or the nba. >> reporter: no games, no practices, no ability to make any decisions about the team. plus a $2.5 million fine. the maximum allowed after the nba's investigation. >> mr. sterling acknowledged it was his voice on the tape and he has not expressed to me directly any other views. we stand together in condemning mr. sterling's views. they simply have no place in the

nba. >> on twitter, nba legend magic johnson said commissioner silver showed greater leadership, and the miami heat's lebron james wrote, "thank you for protecting our beautiful and powerful league." >> we all started clapping because he hammed it the right way. i'm so happy that he did that. >> there will be zero tolerance for institutional racism, no matter how rich or powerful. >> i felt the pressure on my players, you know? everyone was waiting for them to give a response. and i kept thinking, they didn't do anything, you know? yet they have to respond. and so adam responded. >> reporter: across los angeles, the announcement was watched intently by fans who considered boycotting the team. >> yeah, i will go to a clippers game now. they did something about it. he's not going to be around. >> sterling is accused of making racist comments on audio

recordings posted on tmz sports and deadspin.com. >> yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to promo broadcast that you're associating with black people. do you have to? >> reporter: commissioner silver is now urging nba owners to force a sale saying sterling could be removed as owner with a three-quarters vote. >> i think it is an agreement that he made that if he acts in this type of a way, his fellow owners can remove him from this club. >> that was nbc's joe fryer. at the clippers game last night, that was empty. and in the wake of the nba's announcement, the clippers revamped their website to see a simple, yet very large statement, "we are one." more in sports. despite increased support for the president and obamacare, democrats will have a challenge when thinking about making gains in congress with the 2014 midterms six months away, a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finds 45% of republicans

prefer a republican-controlled congress. when it comes to the u.s. role on the world stage, 47% of americans want to pull back while only 19% want the u.s. to be more active. the desire for a less active role is the highest when compared to similar polls going back to 1995. this might surprise you here. mosquitos are number one, mostly due to malaria. according to the world health organization. billionaire bill gates released a list of deadly creatures on his blog saying mosquitoes deserve their own version of shark week. rounding out the top five, humans, followed by snakes and dogs and the tsetse fly. assassin bug and freshwater snails. i was looking here, bill, to understand how freshwater snails might be related to a high-death count, if you will. could be diseases, could be a bunch of things, i don't know. you're kind of deadly.

>> i talk about it, unfortunately, deadly stuff. >> well, you do. you're deadly when it comes to accuracy, i shall say, weather. >> that's a better twist. >> he owes me $20, ladies and gentlemen. >> last night, the scene down in north florida has not been pretty. there's a lot of people struggling right now. there is hundreds of cars stranded on i-10 because there's a river flowing over the interstate. and the people can't go anywhere. they're literally trapped and sitting there waiting for the water to go down. and also, we've been dealing with extreme flooding in areas like pensacola there in mobile and destin, florida. in the last 24 hours, we've seen ten inches of rain. and one weather watcher is reporting as much as 24 inches of rain. he sent me a picture. this is his rain gauge, for the entire event which goes back about 25 hours, he's gotten over two feet of rain. no wonder why they're dealing with historic floods there. we didn't have a lot of tornadoes in mississippi and alabama yesterday. we actually got a break. but north carolina saw their fair share. eastern north carolina.

we should see minimal tornadoes today. out in the west, there's not a lot to talk about except sunshine and warmth. a little bit windy, too, in southern california today. and the fire danger, of course, getting pretty high with warm temperatures like this. 92 yesterday in l.a. how warm today? under full skies and the warm breeze out of the mountains, 95 is the expected high in l.a., easily topping vegas and phoenix. look at the northwest. portland today, 86. medford at 89. a very warm middle of the week throughout the entire west. that's your national forecast. now here's93. tucson, 85. there's no sign of getting any cooler any time soon. a little envious of those temps? that's says almost like early summer. >> yeah, it's kind of strange when vegas is one of the cooler

spots, isn't it? coming up, an ominous warning about the summer olympic games in rio in 2016. plus, a close call for a woman who reportedly had one too many. and if you're wild about harry, stick around for his latest relationship status.

welcome back. a federal judge struck down wisconsin's voter i.d. law ruling it unfairly affects poor and minority voters. the law required voters to show state-issued i.d. at the polls. opponents say lack of identification could increase voter fraud. the judge's decision notes more than 300,000 registered voters in the state do not have a state i.d. a botched lethal injection has oklahoma delaying executions. a convicted killer shook in pain for 40 minutes after being injected. prison officials say he eventually died of a heart attack. the governor wants a full review of the state's method before executions can resume. so we are two years away

from the olympic summer games in rio, and things are not looking good. the vice president of the international olympic committee called preparations there the worst he's ever experienced. the ioc says it will step up efforts to help. how did this happen? a drunken woman in china had to be rescued after she ended up stuck on a clothes hanger outside of her apartment. she almost fell while rescuers were putting a safety belt around her. but crews were able to pull her inside. there are better ways to, you know, dry your clothes, i think. and "people" magazine is reporting prince harry and long-time girlfriend cressida bonas are calling it quits. there are conflicting reports as to why. it's sad news for those of you wanting another royal wedding. good news for anyone still hoping to marry into the british royal family. get moving. time to get down to business now. cnbc's courtney reagan. good morning. >> being sos posted decent gains tuesday with the dow back in positive territory for the

month. the nasdaq trying to avoid its worst month since october 2012. private sector job growth and the first glance at q1 gdp which could show the economy slowed. amazon opens a page on its site dedicated to wearable devices such as fitness trackers and smart watches. shoppers can compare gadgets, find the latest news. walmart wants to be your one-stop shop for your car insurance needs. the retail giant is teaming up with autoinsurance.com to let people find and buy policies. the service is now available in eight states and will be nationwide later this year. richard, back to you. >> i guess the question is, what can't you get at walmart, right? just ahead, how the l.a. clippers did last night after owner donald sterling received that lifetime ban. it's a time-honored kentucky derby tradition. this and your sports highlights next.

this morning on "today," teens tackle body image for "today's" "love your selfie" series. three young filmmakers share their views on self-esteem and why it's important to love your body. that's later on "today." right now sports on this wednesday, no more donald sterling in the stands or owner's box as l.a. takes on golden state just hours after the nba banned him for racist remarks. clipper fans cheered and chanting "we are one." and they were.

l.a. led by five after three quarters and poured it on. clippers taking a 3-2 series lead with a 113-103 win over golden state. memphis and oklahoma, overtime to decide the game there. memphis leads with just over a minute left. is it the winner or not? well, refs say that is not. why? because time expired. 100-99, memphis takes a 3-2 series lead. chicago playing hard. but their playoff run is over. washington's 49-43 rebounding edge and free throws down the stretch here, they do it on this game. the wizards on to the next round with their win. the first time since 2005. an arizona baseball fan tries to catch this foul ball. he bungles it, splatters his date with beer. she scowls. the guy text to her taunts. nah, nah. look at him put up his arm here.

watch. all right. >> goal! >> there he is, voted the best player in the world for a reason. renaldo celebrating his 15th league-leading goal for a single season. the 29-year-old then later reached his 16th goal in real madrid's 4-0 win over bayern munich. houston university football coach played a little prank. he sits his kicker down. he acts like he has bad news. but instead, he's giving him a scholarship. >> i see you're going on scholarship very, very soon. really when i say very, very soon, i mean right now. congratulations. >> really? >> yeah, really. the 25th annual bed races

are real, too. they kicked off kentucky derby festivities. 40 teams wins this one. their driver, a 17-year-old nascar driver. the 140th kentucky derby airs here on nbc on saturday. and you lose the game, your opponent who has the game-winning run hurts her knee rounding first base, but no sore losers here. watch this. two florida southern players then carry their opponent, the winning hitter, around the bases. how about that for being very sportsmanlike. just ahead, familiar faces in the next "star wars" film. plus a new judge hits the spinning chairs on "the voice" next season. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. let's talk heat, sunscreen, sunglasses and in many cases air conditioning. 84 in san francisco today. that's toasty. 89 in medford. a little bit cooler but still beautiful from boise to salt lake city. phoenix, not bad. 89. 82 there in vegas. let's says take you through thursday because not a lot changes here. look at this. we could be 98 in los angeles. near 100 already. as we go into the first day of may. and then up in the northwest, still warm. why don't we just go to friday just to see if anything changes. maybe a couple degrees cooler here or there. yeah. >> so all those air-conditioning salesmen right now from the

northeast are flying over to the northwest. >> yes. do they have any in the northeast? >> they're not selling a doggone one. die-hard "star wars" fans, you'd better rejoice. director j.j. abrams announcing harrison ford and carrie fisher will reprise their roles due out in late 2015. brukz is under way. the film's facebook page posting this photo of the cast and crew getting acquainted and reacquainted in some cases. reps for "glee" actress say she has not been fired despite reports about an on-set feud with lea michele ending her termination. sources tell "e >> caller:"e!" that her character was written out of the finale. it's been a tough month for rivera. "mean girls" fans around the

world are wearing pink today to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the iconic film. for those of you who have seen the film, it's ten years later and fetch still is not happening. gwen stefani is joining "the voice." the grammy award winner will take the place of christina aguilera in the fall. she joins pharrell williams, blake shelton and adam levine. 81 years old, willie nelson shows no signs of slowing down. the country music legend kicked off the week by becoming a fifth-degree black belt in martial arts. >> amazing. >> 81. all right. i'm richard lui, and this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day right here on nbc.

leading the news, congressman accuses wife of bigamy. democrat allen greyson of florida claims his marriage of two decades was invalid because his wife had not yet divorced her previous husband. he's demanding an annulment. and in "the houston chronicle," russia suggests new way for u.s. to reach its space station. a trampoline. russian deputy prime minister there saying that u.s. sanctions against russia will boomerang, especially since nasa currently depends on russian rockets for transportation to the space station. some other stories we're watching. new documents reveal why an italian court decided to find amanda knox guilty for a second time over the 2007 death of her roommate. the court alleges knox and her

roommate fought over money the night of the murder, and the nature of the victim's wounds indicate multiple attackers. it was a big day for our nbc news colleagues in los angeles. our bureau officially part of the brokaw news center. it's dedicated to longtime nbc veteran tom brokaw who started in l.a. as a local anchor back in 1965. and a dead and rotting whale we show you here could soon explode. >> horrible. >> on a canadian island. why is it horrible? >> the poor whale. >> i know, that's true. it's one of nine, they believe, that were killed in an incident. the community is rushing to find a way to get rid of it before it actually does explode. right now they don't have enough money to move it. so they're asking the canadian government for help. i guess it's all that bacteria. >> yeah. >> won't smell nice. a davenport college grad flips out. here watch this one. graduation ceremonies typically speak of the success. >> oh. >> and that's a failure. to be had in the future. but no one thinks of the

immediate future. after receiving his diploma in front of family and friends, he was so thrilled, he attempted a back flip, he wiped out to let everyone know he was okay, he gave a thumbs up to the crowd at the end. it would be great to see the video here, bill, if all of a sudden you saw an arm go up. >> i'm okay. i'm okay. >> i'm all right. now a look ahead and a look back. iraqis are headed to the polls to elect a new parliament as the country slides deeper into violence. it's the first national vote since the 2011 troop withdrawal and being held amid tight security. on this day in 1939, nbc inaugurated its regularly scheduled television service here in new york city with the broadcast of president franklin d. roosevelt's opening day ceremonial address at the new york world's fair. it featured exhibits of how people might live in the future. happy birthday to kirsten dunst, 32, johnny galecki and cloris leachman, 88. i'm richard lui. for the entire "early today" team, have a great wednesday ahead.

to you. let's start things off this morning by taking a look outside. we could see temperatures in the 90s. let's check in with christina. good morning. >> we are going to see the hottest day of the year so far. part of the reason why is because of where we are starting out this morning. temperatures all over this morning. hopefully you got to