or close second there, he did not get it. five states, five wins tonight for mitt romney. . primary pounce. republican presidential candidate, mitt romney sweeps the contests in five northeastern states. this spectacle. mount aetna sees red and sends hot lava spewing into the night sky. and french jam. a confused driver makes a wrong turn in paris. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and we're going to begin this morning with a romney

round. mitt romney made a big move toward winning the republican presidential nomination last night notching five primary wins. nbc's brian moore reports. >> reporter: if there were any doubts mitt romney was going to be the republican nominee, he erased them tuesday night with a clean sweep in connecticut, delaware, new york, pennsylvania, and rhode island. >> i can say with confidence and gratitude that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility. and together we are going to win on november 6th. >> reporter: rick santorum, who dropped out earlier this month, stopped just short of endorsing romney on cnn. >> so it's very clear that he's going to be the republican nominee and i'm going to be for the republican nominee. >> reporter: newt gingrich didn't drop out but tipped his hat to romney. >> it's a night that he has worked hard for for six years and if he does end up as the nominee, i think every conservative in this country has to be committed to defeating

barack obama. >> reporter: romney and obama are battling each other for the younger voters who can swing this election. campuses in north carolina and colorado, the president focused on student loans. >> we only finished hanging up our student loans eight years ago. think about that. i'm the president of the united states. >> reporter: he also got some laughs on nbc's late night with jimmy fallon. >> do you know mitt romney? >> i have meat him though we're not friends. >> reporter: that is an understatement as the two candidates get ready to go head to head. brian moore, nbc, washington. the second day of the john edwards trial brought more testimony from the prosecution's star witness, an aide to the former senator. edwards is accused of illegally using campaign funds while running for president in 2008 to cover up an affair. nbc's jay gray has more now from north carolina. >> reporter: as john edwards returned to the federal court house in greensboro, andrew

young, his former aide and close friend, returned to the witness stand. >> this case is no longer about the united states against john edwards. it's clear that this case is about john edwards versus andrew young. >> reporter: young outlined the complex system that was helping to hide his impregnant mistress. young testified that he testified that he needed to give edwards a monthly stipend. >> he described john edwards role as the director of this entire operation. it was idea to go to bonnie melon to ask her for funds that could wind up supporting real hunter. edwards knew about and had -- gave guidance on how the money flow should take place in order to cover the tracks. >> reporter: when discussing the irch try kate plan that funneled money through he and his wife's personal bank accounts, young told the do you remember, quote,

it was crazy. we were all scared to death and felt extremely uneasy about it. in an explosion sieve moment he talked about con fronting edwards about the news that hunter was pregnant. he responded by causing hunter crazy and using an expletive. harsh words that could come back to haunt the defense if the jurors believe that he spoke that way about the mother of his child. the secret service is done looking into the probe of the colombia prostitute scandal. three more secret service agents lost their job and a third lost his scleerns. several secret service employees who resigned last week are now considering to fight to keep their jobs. they may detail how senior managers tolerated similar behavior on previous official trips. meanwhile, defense secretary leon panetta announced three

marines and an embassy staff member are punished for allegedly pushing a prostitute out of a car after a dispute over payment. here's another look at news around the country. in new york there was a dramatic armed robbery. the gunman pushed several items to the ground, including the cash register. you can see there the clerk is grabbing whatever money he could and just hands it over. police one person of interest. in louisiana a powerful memorial to those killed by drivers while working in a road construction zone. each one of these cones represents one of the 576 people who died across the country in 2010 while trying to make a highway safer. 15 were killed in louisiana alone. and finally it is the last place you'd expect to see any cow voluntarily going. workers at a mcdonald's snapped a photo of a cow named darcy

hanging out in the drive through lane. just poking her head in the window asking for a super size fry probably. the animal wandered from a farm about a half mile away. the owners say normally darcy is a pretty good cow. she likes to break out of her pen when she gets bored. that's what the locks are for. now for a look at your national weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> confront your enemies, an maybe she was zblsh what have you got to say for yourself. >> i like darcy. good morning, everyone. record heat throughout the west. this has been an amazing spring. in the last couple of days we've had over 500 record highs set throughout areas of the west. from the four corner region, salt lake city, denver, all the way up into montana at the same time we've had a cool stretch for the fir time in months throughout areas of the east with below average temperatures.

that's slowly going change in the days ahead. we do have more rain in the forecast. we'll show you the record highs. 88 in denver, 86 in salt lake city. that was your third day in the row of record heat. we'll see another warm day. we have more clouds in the forecast. that should keep temperatures away from the record highs. not a lot of rain out there. the showers and pesky storms that brought the heavy rain to the east coast, that storm is still lingering up here in southern canada. very slow moving weather pattern. that's also going to change. right now the next storm system is gearing up bringing some light rain to minneapolis. heavy rains will move parallel to interstate 90. if you're in wisconsin, bring the umbrella. chicago and all of illinois. this mess will move your way during the day today and areas of eastern iowa. your forecast today, northeast looking okay. we will see a few showers late in the afternoon we're already seeing a warmup. d.c. with a high around 70. 67 in philadelphia.

the really cool aerially is only from about albany to buffalo up to northern new england. everyone else should have a sunny morning with clouds during the afternoon. the southeast, you're also going to see a wall. you have a couple cool days in atlanta. now you're going up to 78. beautiful from new orleans to orlando. enjoy the warm humidity while it lasts. there's showers and storms today, minneapolis to chicago. this will be a low system. tonight some thunderstorms over illinois. that will head to the east coast. looks like a rainy thursday from areas from new york city, philadelphia, boston. another little shot of rain which is good for the drought. >> bill, thanks so much. coming up, apple shines, housing prices improve, and the pizza that is way, way, way over the top. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a birthday bash for chipper jones. the nba suspends world peace and the devils need overtime to

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. the justice department has filed the first criminal charges in the b.p. oil spill against a former b.p. engineer who they say destroyed hundreds of text messages indicating the blown out well was spewing far more krooud th crude than the company was telling. >> the u.s. is certain north korea may conduct an underground test. they fear they may have up to several dozen nuclear warheads. pakistan has test fired a nuclear capable intermediate ballistic missile. this came after india launched its intercontinent missile. it was another spectacular look at italy's mount aetna.

quite a surprise for commuters in paris when a driver mistook the stairs of a metro station for an underground parking garage. never like that when that happens. no one was hurt. the car was undamaged. now here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off. the dow opens at 13,001. the s&p was up five points. the nasdaq was down eight. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei gained nine points. in hongs congress, the hang seng was down 30. healthy earnings pushed the dow. today's the company's rebounding. apple sold 30 million iphones. that's almost twice as many as last year. earnings were way above forecast. earlier at&t announced expected better than expected

profits. elsewhere, a new case of mad could you disease was found in one dairy cow in an animal disposal facility in california, but the animal was not bound for the food supply and the agriculture department says there is no danger. the federal reserve ends its two-day meeting today and it's widely expected to take no action on interest rates. the nation's housing market is actually improving with the federal housing finance agency announcing prices were up in february. the first increase in their index since the credit crunch five years ago. the long awaited facebook ipo may be delayed by about a week because of the companies purchase of patents from microsoft and the acquisition of instagram. finally, gross or delicious? you decide. in the middle east pizza hut is selling the new crown crustburg ger pizza. it's a pizza surrounded by a crust of mini cheeseburgers

topped with lettuce, cheese, onions, tomatoes, pieces of beef, and some kind of unidentified special sauce. depends on whether you're coming home from the bars tonight. well, the hawks claw the clippers. the cubs down the cards, and a small suspension for the big elbow. plus the devils win in overtime forcing a game seven against the panthers. your "first look" at sports is coming up. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. lucky for me, your friends showed up with this awesome bone. hey! you guys are great. and if you got your home insurance where you got your cut rate car insurance, it might not replace all this. [ electricity crackling ] [ gasping ] so get allstate. you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere.

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♪ but we started using miracle-gro garden soil. you just mix it with your backyard soil... and it feeds your plants for up to 3 months. my plants grew bigger... more beautiful... with more flowers and vegetables. guaranteed. everything changed with miracle-gro. for you are these flowers, like soap is for showers. everyone grows with miracle-gro. everyone grows for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. welcome back to "first

look." i'm lynn berry. in sports the new jersey devils avoided elimination in hockey's stanley cup playoffs. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. how close have the stanley cup playoffs been in the eastern conference? there will be three game sevens in the first round. let's go to new jersey. the devils had to win to stay alive and that's exactly what they did. got it done in overtime against the panthers. could he have develop chuck to zajac, that's the game winner. they avoid a game six loss. . world peace has been suspended for his vicious elbow to the head. world peace claimed the contact was part of an over zealous celebration. he will miss the final game. speaking of the lakers, they lock down third game in the west without playing. the hawks beat the clippers thus so he liddi phiing their playoff

spot. joe johnson knocked down six threes. atlanta won it 109-102. miami sent their big three in without them. they scored 66. boston won by 12. with the loss the bulls are guaranteed first place in the west. jazz are headed to the playoffs. the suns never recovered. utah won it 100-88. in baseball for the second night in the row the cubs beat the cards. two on for alfonso soriano. tyler green couldn't handle it. cubs did it again, 3-2 in ten. you can call this a birthday bash. chipper joan ripped a solo home run. with a name like chipper it's hard to believe that jones is now 40. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm fred roggin. now for another look at the weather here once again is nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your forecast. what's the smile? >> chipper would be a great

weather name. chipper bell. >> i'll try and think of something for you. >> it wouldn't be chipper. >> no. >> good morning, everyone. cold temperatures yesterday morning. the wind chills were a factor. today it's a little bit warmer out there. you still need the coat in many areas of the great lakes, mid atlantic, northeast. 37 in albany. 38 in buffalo. we've already melted a lot of that snow that fell two days ago that fell out here in western pa. today we'll get up to 70s in the dc and carolinas. now we're getting back to 60s and 50s in new england. we're slowly returning to where we should be. it will be on the cool side. later today, thunderstorms. if you're from st. louis to chicago, especially central illinois, indianapolis, louisville, lexington. it will formulate this afternoon near iowa city. it will sweep through iowa as we go throughout the late afternoon and in the evening hours.

indianapolis to louisville, lexington. not too many tornadoes. i'm more concerned with a lot of damaging winds from those storms. also, not really many concerns in the southeast. anyone traveling through the west coast. even los angeles going to deal with rain. >> white knuckles on the steering wheel. they don't know what to do. they freak out a little bit. coming up, mel gibson is wanted and so are the kardashians. your "first look" at entertainment. plus, more on the president's visit on "late night" as he slow jams the news with jimmie fallon. it's hilarious. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] what can you do with plain white rice?

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i'm president barack obama and i, too, want to slow jam the news. on july 1st of this year the interest rates on stafford student loans, the same loans that many of you use to help pay for college, are set to double. that means some hard working students will be paying about $1,000 extra just to get their education. so i've called on congress to prevent this from happening. what we said is simple. now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young people. >> oh, yeah. >> now there's some in congress who disagree. they say keeping the interest rate low isn't the way to help our students. they say we should be doing everything we can to pay down the national debt. well, so long as it doesn't include taxing billionaires.

students just have to make this rate increase work. frankly, i don't buy it. >> mmmm. the barackness monster ain't buying it. we know we're tossing and trng late into the night. still republicans disagree. they can filly buster but if they do the president says they're going to feel it, buster. >> the reason it's so important to keep down costs is so we keep college affordable. >> and the president knows his stuff, y'all. that's why they call him the podest, which means person on top -- what is it? >> potes stands for president of the united states. >> he's the potes with the

mostest. make it yours. ♪ >> that is how we slow jam the news. >> oh, yeah. watch out. >> he has the lines all right. >> well, tonight jimmy welcomes the cast of "30 rock" ahead of their live episode and nbc's own reverend al sharpton. that's at 12:35. >> your crush on jimmie is so huge. >> stop it. 11:35. way to call me out, bill. even on camera keep his mic closed. time now for some entear tanment news. despite his most recent meltdown caught on tape, apparently mel gibson still isn't done in

hollywood. director robert rodriguez wants gibson to join his cast of the sequel 2010 machete. are you sick of the kardashians? >> no way. more. >> good news for you. >> i want their own network. >> three seasons more. keeping up with the kardashians has been renewed. on the "today show" yesterday rose si o'donnell made it clear she is against lints si lohan playing liz tailor in the upcoming movie. o'donnell made it clear she doesn't think much of lohan's acting abilities saying, quote, i don't think she's capable of doing at this point what's needed for that character. that's not that mean. you've said worse things. >> what? >> later lindsey's estranged dad told tmz, who's here to judge anyone especially since lindsey is more talented than rose si. >> way to be there for her, dad. first time ever.

>> i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. after 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days, and more than a few long nights, i can say with confidence and gratitude that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility and together we are going to win on november 6th. mitt romney sweeps five more primaries telling americans afterwards to hang on until november because help is on the way. with romney's nomination well in hand, the question now is what will happen over the next six months to swing this tight vote either to romney or to president obama. meanwhile, apple goes through the roof again with quarterly profits rising 94%.