heartache in the heartland. dozens of tornadoes carve a path of death and destruction across the midwest. worthy of trust? an embarrassing sex scandal threatens the reputation of the u.s. secret service. and final ride. nasa's space shuttle "discovery" goes out on top of a jumbo jet. very good morning to you, i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and much more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with deadly twisters. people across the midwest are dealing with the aftermath of dozens of tornadoes this weekend. one town which got the warning of the approaching disaster had five people killed, including three young girls. nbc's jay gray reports from oklahoma. >> we got debris. >> reporter: they wered images and sounds so many had feared. >> you could hear some people screaming, and down the road there, and you could hear stuff crashing and breaking, and just sounded horrible. >> reporter: tornadoes, nearly00 of them, tearing across the midwest saturday and into sunday. at one time two funnels dropping from the clouds in bounce junction, oklahoma. the violent system blasted through nebraska, iowa and kansas, tearing away anything in its path. >> everything is gone. it's just gone. everything we had worked for all our lives. >> reporter: in wichita it took only seconds to dismantle a part of this manufacturing plant. >> this was a monster system. >> reporter: it was even worse in woodward, oklahoma.

joel and his daughter frantically searched for somewhere to ride out the ef-3 tornado. >> we crawled up underneath here. and we stayed there, and debris was hitting our legs and stuff. >> reporter: but they were the lucky ones. five people were killed in this small town. three when a twister ripped through this mobile home park. the loss has overwhelmed this tight-knit community. adding to their grief, the knowledge that warning signs in the city were apparently damaged during another storm early saturday and did not sound as the deadly twister moved in. >> i thought about that ever since i found out that we lost five people. so, i would think it would have helped, yes. >> reporter: it's help the heartland now needs, as the cleanup begins. jay gray, nbc news, woodward, oklahoma. president obama back in washington this morning, is calling for an investigation

into allegations 11 secret service agents and 5 military personnel hired prostitutes while in colombia for the summit of the americas. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington with details. tracie, good morning. >> veronica, good morning. after this initially broke the military said that some of their service members may be involved, as well. they've been confined to their quarters in colombia while the u.s. tries to sort out what happened. colombian police say an advanced team of secret service agents brought local prostitutes back to their hotel after preparing for president obama's arrival at the summit of the americas last thursday. eleven agents, including two supervisors, were sent home and placed on leave as the military announced five service members may have participated. president obama said he's reserving judgment, for now. >> if it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then, of course, i'll be angry. >> reporter: in a statement, the secret service said it, quote,

demands more from its employees, and these expectations are met and exceeded every day by the vast majority of our workforce. congress will also investigate. >> my chitty will be looking for all the details of what happened here to see whether this will be changes in procedure to see whether or not something should have been noticed before. >> the question is, is the whole organization in need of some soul searching, some changes, or, in fact -- before the president, the vice president, members of the cabinet are in danger. >> reporter: there's concern whether these agents may have left themselves open to blackmail while protecting the president. now the so-called wheels up parties reportedly are not uncommon among secret service agents. but as the name indicates, they typically after happen the president has left town. >> hmm. tracie potts in washington. tracie, thank you. here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. in california, a student driver was at the wheel of a car that plowed into a restaurant.

it had just collided with another vehicle and the force of the impact sent the car smashing through the front of the eatery. four people, the driver, two customers and a waitress were injured. at least one critically. in hawaii, massive bolders came tumbling down from a mountain right into houses. at least two homes were seriously damaged and nine families have been told to stay away or re-enter at their own risk. one of the boulders weighs 10 tons. there is no word yet why the giant rocks came loose from the hillside but experts warn more boulders could come rolling down. finally this year's crazy weather meant the reopening of a southern california ski resort. as much as 20 inches of snow fell in the past week, giving skiers, snowboarders, one more chance for a very late season trip to the slopes. but after today, the resort says it really is going to close for the year. so that's it, hopefully. now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc

meteorologist bill karins with the weather. it's always like 100 degrees out there in the desert in california. >> california. >> endio. it was 60 degrees and raining or something like that on opening day. >> all because of that same storm. the storm that produced the tornadoes was the same one that produced the snow there and that storm's going to be responsible for the 90 degree heat that's potential today in areas of new england. so first things first. let's just recap this amazing tornado outbreak on saturday. a couple reasons that it's amazing to me. we had 126 tornadoes. if you told me we had 126 tornadoes in the midwest i'd probably tell you we'd have more than five fatalitiefatalities. we were fortunate in some ways because most of these tornadoes were weak. the lower end of the intensity scale. and there were a lot of them in rural areas. of mostly central kansas, northern oklahoma, wichita got spared. that's the one big city that was kind of in the mix of all the tornado symbols. but they got spared. and oklahoma city, most of those tornadoes were well to your

north and to your west. even in nebraska and areas of iowa, they were mostly rural. that's why it wasn't worse. five deaths bad enough. we didn't have any towns that are large like joplin or tuscaloosa get taken out. yesterday we had about 10 of them located in nebraska and minnesota. begun down here the border of oklahoma and arkansas. none of those did any significant damage either. it's hit and miss with tornadoes. some years like last year they can hit big cities. so far this year, knock on wood, we've been spared at least that devastation. now as far as what we're looking at today, that same storm system that we were just talking about is still lingering here near wisconsin. it's actually causing temperatures to plunge in minnesota, and believe it or not, it is snowing in northern minnesota. i'll show you that radar in a second. heavy rain continues on the southern end of the front. no tornadoes. it looks like that threat is over with. just some strong winds today with any thunderstorms around pittsburgh, detroit, also down there in to buffalo and syracuse. as i mentioned, this white is snow. it's snowing in northern

minnesota, and the middle of april. international falls, now it looks like it's starting to turn over to snow in duluth. as far as the southern end goes, heavy rain from victoria, corpus christi to houston back into baton rouge, alexandria, new orleans, you all can expect to get periods of very heavy rain over the next two or three days. and the temperatures ahead of the storm, this is a powerful storm, so it's just pumping the warm air up the east coast. it's in the mid 60s right now from new york city to boston, also there in to washington, d.c. and today is going to be like summerlike heat, middle of august. now, humidity will be low. so it's not going to feel all that oppressive. but it's going to be very warm today. and veronica, in boston today, patriots today, the boston marathon, 88 degrees and running 26.2 miles, not for the faint of heart. it's going to be very difficult. >> so strange, bill. snow in minnesota and then it's summer in new york. hmm. wall street watches earnings, tech titans go to court, and where to ease the pain of paying uncle sam.

your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. a rock 'em, sock 'em game three between the flyers and penguins. a triple play, and the lakers take the champs to overtime. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] what's the beat that moves your heart?

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welcome back to "first look" i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. the trial of anders began in norway. he confessed to killing 77 people in a shooting massacre in a bombing last today but july pleaded not guilty to criminal charges and said he did not recognize the authority of the court. more taliban explosions and heavy gunfire in the afghan capital today, as three afghan soldiers were killed. this follows yesterday's coordinated attacks in kabul. the largest in the eleven years of the afghan war. off the coast of california, three crew members were rescued after they were swept off a

sailboat during a race near san francisco. one sailor died and the search has been called off for four missing crew members. on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the "titanic" an original ticket for the voyage sold at auction in new york for more than $56,000. a dinner menu brought in over $31,000. and the space shuttle "discovery" is being prepared for its last flight tomorrow. the retired orbiter is mounted on a jumbo jet to be flown to virginia before being delivered to the smithsonian national air and space museum. and now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,849 after dipping 136 points friday. the s&p tumbled 17. the lass dropped 44. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei sank 167 points while in hong kong the hang seng was

down 90. for a roller coaster ride that dealt markets their worst two weeks of the year we'll see how wall street fares this week with a close eye on earnings. quarterly reports from nearly a fifth of the s&p 500 are on deck, including ibm, microsoft and coca-cola. on the heels of friday's better than expected results from wells fargo and jpmorgan chase, more of the nation's biggest banks will be weighing in, including citigroup, goldman sachs and bank of america. investors will also be watching for march retail sales figures which aren't expected to be strong. overseas this morning, asian stock markets sank as worries about spain and italy's struggling economies renew eed fears of europe's debt crisis. jury selection begins in oracle's lawsuit against google. oracle says google violated intellectual property patents related to its java software. shares of private equity firm carlyle group will be priced between $23 and $25 apiece when the company goes public in may.

a swiss newspaper is reporting credit suisse bank could soon slash up to 5,000 investment banking jobs when it reports earnings this month. beginning today, walmart is launching a disc to digital service to help people convert their old dvds into an online movie library. and hopefully, you've heard by now, that your taxes are due on april 17th this year. which is tomorrow. so now to the sting of filing. a number of companies are offering tax day freebies, including arby's, cinnabon and maggie moo's ice cream. many companies do require that you logon to their facebook page first. probably give them a like. a dodgers triple play, the nba heats up and the lakers beat the defending champs in overtime. plus a big hit in the stanley cup playoffs, as the kings near a knockout punch. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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how'd you do it? eating right -- whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multi-grain cheerios -- 5 whole grains, 110 calories. creamy, dreamy peanut butter taste in a tempting new cereal. mmm! [ female announcer ] new multi-grain cheerios peanut butter. welcome back to "first look" i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports game three of the stanley cup series between philadelphia and pittsburgh quickly turned into a grudge match. here's nbc's mario solis. >> hi there, good morning. the penguins began the playoffs as one of the favorites to win the stanley cup. now they're a single loss away from playing golf. game three was a throwback to the days of the broad street bullies, penguins were physical, trying to push the flyers around. and the flyers pushing right back. when the dust settled after a wild first period there were 72 minutes in penalties and philly

was up 4-2. every time pittsburgh got the momentum the flyers would add some on the other end. they won 8-4, and will try to eliminate the pens wednesday night. the top seed in the west has also been pushed to the brink. dustin brown with a huge night flattens sevin. then pops in the rebound or the only goal of the game. kings win it 1-0. they can knock out the canucks on wednesday. red wings hadded best regular season record at home but you can throw out out the window come playoff time. predators led from start to finish in motown. nashville wins 3-2. nba carmelo anthony had to carry the knicks once again. however this time it wasn't enough. he scored 42 against the heat but this game was back and forth until the end. lebron james put the finishing touches on a miami win. the heat claimed the southeast title. lakers and mavericks, kobe sitting out with a shin injury. that's no problem with shots like this. dialing long-distance from the corner lakers beat the champs

112-108 in o.t. and finally to the diamond, padres and dodgered tied at two in the ninth. guzman lays down a bunt. he's sure it's foul. ellis knows it's not, picks it up to third for one, to second for another, then to first for a triple play. that's an efficient way to get out of an inning. gordon ends the game in the bottom of the ninth. a walkoff rbi single break up the dodgers. at 9-1 they have the best record in baseball. that's your first look at sports. i'm mario solis. now for another look at the weather. here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. it's going to be a scorcher today across the east coast. >> not going to be a fun day to be a fireman in new england or the mid-atlantic. because brushfires. they're popping up every single day. and these warm, windy days get dangerous out there. the drought conditions just continue to grow throughout new england, and the mid-atlantic. typically our springs are soggy, you know, and last year it was incredibly wet. just amazing the difference. this year we're already seven inches behind for 2012 as far as

rainfall totals compared to average. in most of southern new england, between 5 to 7 inches behind, too. along with our friends in d.c. so really, it's i-95 corridor northward where the drought conditions are getting worse and worse. no rain in sight this week, either. today is going to be very warm. not going to be humid, either. so very dry conditions. that's why the fire danger is going to be high once again this afternoon. we're already in the 60s. wear the summer clothes today. temperature could hit 90 possibly in hartford today. 88 in boston. we're going to be 85 to 88 right up the busy corridor from bat more to d.c., philly to new york. a little cooler back by buffalo and pittsburgh. that front will bring you some showers. it's going to be very warm in the southeast today, too. areas like tampa have a chance of getting very warm. and just kind of a been a crazy weather pattern ever since we ended march unbelievably warm, now just won't rain on the east coast. it's just unusual. >> i can't believe that we're going to be warmer than miami and dallas. it just doesn't -- >> doesn't happen often. >> all right. all right. thanks, bill.

you're never going to guess who is celebrating brangelina's engagement. plus, were the odds once again in favor of that movie "the hunger games" at the box office this weekend? your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. one golden crown. come on frank how long have we known each other? go to e-trade. they got killer tools man. they'll help you nail a retirement plan that's fierce. two golden crowns. you realize the odds of winning are the same as being mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day? frank! oh wow, you didn't win? i wanna show you something... it's my shocked face. [ gasps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works at e-trade. [ facilitator ] what do you smell? takes me outdoors. sort of a crisp, fresh feeling. [ facilitator ] go ahead and take your blindfold off. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh. breathe happy for 30 days, guaranteed.

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welcome back to "first look" i'm veronica de la cruz. as reported, this weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the "titanic." after it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage. relatives of survivors were among those on historic recreation cruises to honor those who died in the 1912 tragedy. robert moore of itn was there.

>> reporter: over 1,000 passengers aboard two cruise ships chartered for this moment stopped to remember. ♪ musicians played "nearer my god to thee," the hymn that the "titanic" band was never able to finish. >> do business in great waters they see the works of the lord. >> reporter: two miles above the wreck, descendents of those who died prayed and reflected on the great tragedy. on the blunders and the heroism of april 19 12rks and on so many lives lost. >> you know, i'm just so glad to be here. and it's a relief now, to me. i can leave. i can leave. i'm still going to look forward to seeing him on the other side. >> reporter: at 2:20 a.m., the

moment "titanic" slipped below the waves, two wreaths were thrown out onto the waves. this is the recreation of the moment when john phillips in "titanic's" radio room transmitted one of the most famous distress signals in history. cqd, he tapped for come quickly, danger. for many of those who joined these memorial cruises, this service fulfilled a lifelong desire to pay their respects at the very site of the sinking. robert moore, itv news in the north atlantic. it is time now for your first look at entertainment news. movie goers apparently still have a big appetite for "the hunger games." the blockbuster pulled in an estimated $21.5 million in its fourth weekend overshadowing several new releases. that raises the film's domestic total to a whopping $337 million. big numbers. huge. and then coming in seconds

bringing screen version of "the three stooges" which pulled in an unexpectedly strong $17.1 million thanks to a largely male audience that bill was not a part of? >> no. surprised it did that well. >> in third place the comedy "the cabin in the woods" managed to scare up $14.9 million due to strong word of mouth and critical reviews. and ninth place, the space thriller "lockout" which debuted with a weak $6.3 million. all right. so you may have heard the big news that after six kids, seven years, brad pitt and angelina jolie, they are finally engaged. yep. there are several reports saying brad's ex-wife jennifer aniston is also thrilled for them, especially now that she's found happiness with her boyfriend justin thorough. the big question is, when are they going to get married. >> oh. >> when is she going to have a baby? i feel like there are always reports that she's pregnant or getting married or -- >> i'm sure she's a little more sick of it than you are. >> i think you're probably right about that. bill karins. >> maybe wedding bells -- maybe

they'll do like a dual wedding. >> that would be really cute. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on nbc. "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. the taliban launches coordinated attacks across afghanistan that last some 18 hours, and target international diplomatic sites. the question is, what does this massive attack tell us about the security of the country the united states will be leaving in the not so distant future. we'll have a live report in a minute from kabul. former vice president dick cheney just three weeks after receiving a heart transplant appears in public to announce that the obama presidency has been a quote, unmitigated disaster. the question is, if a new heart won't mettle dick cheney, what will. and secretary of state hillary clinton cuts loose in colombia, dancing and pounding beers at the big summit of americas down there. the question is, was h