today's chart epiphany, in way too much of our world money trumps politics. not this year. in wisconsin. chart imitates life. it imitates life. >> diplomatic flip-flop. the chinese activist who decided to leave the u.s. embassy now says he fears for his life. burning issue. a new jersey woman answers charges after allegedly taking her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth. and shock value. an original version of "the scream" smashes art sale records. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

>> we're going to be in this morning switching gears. dissident ch dissident chen has changed his mind and is appealing to the u.s. to step in and save his family. >> reporter: chen was brought to the embass si by gary lock and said he left for six days preferring to stay in china after assurances about his safety. they said he never once asked for asylum. chinese authorities assured chen he wouldn't be mistreated and his allegation of abuse would be investigated, promised a new home and university job. hours later with u.s. officials gone, chen apparently had a dramatic change of heart. in an emotional telephone

interview with nbc news said he only left the embassy because of threats to his family and asked the u.s. for concrete steps to guarantee his safety and now wanted to leave china. hillary clinton in china said earlier the deal reflected chen's choices and american values and hoped to prevent the issue from overshadowing high level talks thursday which it now surely will. u.s. officials promise to closely monitor chen's treatment for years if necessary but no longer under diplomatic protection. china's angry and embarrassed and even demanded an apology and for now, leaving the country now may no longer be an option. >> meanwhile, secretary of state hillary clinton pointedly called on china to protect human rights in talks in beijing. clinton said the u.s. believes quote no state can legitimately deny the universal rights that belong to every human being or

punish those who exercise them. quoting president obama, clinton promises a china tat protects its citizens rights will be a stronger role for the u.s. front-runner mitt romney is expecting more good news today with an anticipated endorsement from former rival, michele bachmann. bri brian mooar has those details from washington. >> now, mitt romney has nailed down the republican nomination has to nail down support from his follow republicans. >> americans are tired of being tired of this economy and this president and want real change. >> reporter: today, he is expected to pick in the endorsement of former candidate, michele bachmann and appearing with one of the reported short

list vice-presidential candidates, virginia governor, bob mcdonnell. just a day earlier, newt gingrich suspended his campaign and declared romney conservative enough. >> this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftist president in american history. >> reporter: while gingrich is campaign is stopped, he's already given food to other attacks on the way. >> are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> reporter: sure to echo into the fall election. as the race for the white house gets under way. >> reporter: he not only has to shore up support but build up a campaign chest to compete with president obama. an emotional trial. a friend of his late wife,

elizabeth, testified about the anguish she suffered learning of her husband's affair. we get the details now. lisa myers. >> reporter: cate edwards was at her father's side as they arrived for court. she's been her dad's most stalwart supporter, always seated right behind him in the courtroom. for the first time, the emotional stress of this very personal family drama burst into public view. as christina reynolds, former campaign staffer and close friend of elizabeth edwards began to testify about elizabeth's knowledge of her husband's affair. john edwards turned to his daughter. i don't know what's coming. do you want to leave, edwards was heard asking kate. kate broke down in tears and hurried out of the courtroom as her father called her name. >> it was a very emotional moment, very touching, very real, very human, when kacate edwards left the courtroom crying. >> reporter: christina reynolds testified in the summer of 2007,

elizabeth told me mr. edwards had an affair and she believed it might still be going on. reynolds also recounted a dramatic confrontation between the edwards near a raleigh airport hangar the day after the nation nation"national enquirer"'s fir story about the affair. mrs. edwards was very upset and fairly vocal. she stormed off and collapsed into a ball on the ground. reynolds testified a few minutes later, she confronted her husband again, yelling to him, you don't see me anymore and angrily tearing off her blouse and bra. >> there's no question the jury has to be moved hearing about the pain to elizabeth edwards caused by her husband, john edwards. >> kate returned to the courtroom only a few minutes later and shed a few more tears when the witness testify iing f the defense saying she saw john edwards attending to elizabeth a

few moments before she died. here is a first look at some other news going on around america today. an arkansas police officer was killed in the line of duty after nearly being shot during a traffic stop. he returned fire but the suspect escaped. it came to an end when the gunman killed himself when officers surrounded him. the officer is recovering. a phoenix helicopter crashed through the roof. no one was injured but two men were treated at a nearby trauma center and investigators still looking into the cause. an imagine woman pleaded not guilty to an incident suffering from alleged tanning burns from her 5-year-old daughter. the bronze tanned mother admits to tanning 20 times a month doesn't allow her daughter to tan. she said normal sun burn caused

her injury and she's free on $2500 bond. one homeowner said he is turning his home into a landmark with polka dots. they probably love that. they called it an eyesore. he did it after a deal to the scity to sell his home fell through and now wants 150,000 dollars to sell the home. now to your regional weather. we can't make this stuff up. >> i actually have a neighbor in a dispute, painted their house bright pink, the whole house. >> in brooklyn. that stands out so the houses are like this. you don't want to miss it. >> you don't want to be the one across the street looking out your front window at that. >> good morning, everybody, in new york city and philadelphia, we had thunder at 2:00 a.m. i imagine millions of people woke up to that thunder. it will be a few hours before it

gets going in ernest. you can see the trend offshore, some hanging off philadelphia, kind of slowed down, pushed to the south. here's washington d.c., the beltway to baltimore. we are seeing heavy downpours, maybe a little lightning as it heads to the chesapeake and towards delaware. that's only the bad weather in the east. northern michigan is getting drenched with heavy rain and lightning. we did have a pretty good thunderstorm and tail end of minneapolis clipping the eastside of the city heading through northern wisconsin. the final stop heading to iowa, southern portions of nebraska, lincoln south interstate 29 heading for st. joseph and maryville and missouri and des moines and a lot of lightning. we were up to 6,000 lightning

strikes in the last hour, weakened now, now 2,000 lightning strikes and heading to fort dodge and ames may have a punch to. i we have these storms dying off and new storp. kansas city, north of st. louis, illinois, iowa, washington, the third day for thunderstorms in that region and some could push to detroit and buffalo today. in the southeast, okay, texas looks fine. a lot of areas to the great lakes, almost summer-like weeks we are having thunderstorms every day. all right. coming up. stocks something on jobs and coffee crumbles and the latest airline feat, it is a doozy. straight ahead. coming up a tragic ending for an nfl legend. you're watching first look on msnbc.

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here's top news this morning. a college student is suing for $20 million after he spent four days in jail without food, water or toilet facilities. the dea has apologized saying they forgot about him. 13 people are facing hazing charges with the death of a florida university drum major beaten by fellow members of the marching band. georgia governor rick scott has rejected the gun ban request at the convention in august. he said they have co-existed since the nation's birth and would continue to do so. >> federal agents raided office

s yesterday in medicare scams that cost more than 4$450 million. the painting "the scream" sold at a record price at an auction in new york city yesterday. it brought in more than 119 million bucks from an anonymous buyer. amateur video captured an incredible video with a toddler. a toddler in a striped jacket caught the attention of a female lioness who appeared to be taking swipes at him from behind the glass. he was largely unphased. maybe the tiger thought he was the zebra or something. >> the dow opens at 13,268 after losing two points yesterday. the nasdaq was up nine. taking a look at overseas trading tokyo, nikkei added 21

points but in hong kong, the hang seng lost 59. >> rearing their ugly head yesterday, news from the private sector added far fewer jobs than expected last month took a toll on stocks and put down investors hopes for the government number. chesapeake energy plunged 15% on its quarterly earnings and news its soon to be replaced ceo was running a $2 million hedge fund on the side that traded in the same commodities chesapeake produces. after the bell, green mountain coffee crashed 40%. the company slashed its sales forecast for k cup coffee retails. american outfitters went up 6% after adjusting its profit

forecast. and energy went up with the sail of shavers. and a company found rupert murdo murdoch unfit to run the company but the board backed him. beginning this fall, spirit airlines customers who decided to put a carry-on in the overhead at the gate will pay a whopping $100 each way. sometimes doing that is even more expensive than the flight itself. that's hard to believe. coming up, angels no hit the twins and win triple overtime. a dark day for the nfl and clippers slam grizzlies in the nba playoff matchup. you're watching first look on msnbc.

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win. bulls shooting nearly 58% against the jazz. seven players scored in double digits. san antonio had their worst playoff loss in history, 114-83. building a 29 point lead, magic went on to win it 94-74. not one but three overtime carries in washington. after playing 115 minutes, marian gaborik ended it. rangers won a marathon in triple ot. >> they throw octopie in one city and what too they throw? it worked. enough to beat the coyotes with catfish. junior seau died with a

self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest. he played 20 years. and started with the san diego chargers. he played with intensity and swagger that made him one of the greatest linebackers to ever play the game. he was 43 years old. fallout from the bounty scandal. the team suspended four players and one player will miss the entire season. unhittable against the twins. got garcia to fly out to right. a no hitter for jered weaver. angels won it 9-0. that's your first look at sports, i'm fred roggin. for another look at the weather. bill care rinse with your forecast. good morning. >> i'd ask you if thunderstorms woke you up last night -- >> you are going to rub that in a little bit. >> you were already up. no problem.

storms pushing to the south of delaware and baltimore, where the heaviest rains condition. it has weakened considerably but looks like they may try to skirt your area south northwest of town up 95. your forecast an amaze set-up, temperature of 51 for a high in boston and washington d.c. will be 87 degrees with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. a 40 degree temperature difference between boston and d.c. today. in between is where all the thunderstorm action will be, especially late this afternoon into early this evening. looks like a more traditional day. dry during the day and warm it up a little bit and afternoon storms in central new york. as far as other areas, we're seeing from kansas city to chicago to minneapolis, additional strong thunderstorms this afternoon. then tomorrow, we may even get a few strong thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds from new york city down to d.c. instead of garden variety

storms, maybe storms that could do damage friday afternoon. cholesterolly sheen worried about his reputation? plus, the story behind the styling job that left cameron diaz in tears. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watch iing first look on msnbc. power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions,

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. would you let a friend cut your hair? cameron diaz told jay leno when

she got her latest haircut dow an understanding she burst into tears and later comforted a friend. >> she looks cute with short hair. >> she does. maybe that's after the stylist fixed it. >> a bollywood producer looking for love in a fictitious dating site has been pulled after viewers called it racist. >> a photo bomb in the background. watch this guy. >> look at that! >> oh, man. >> david beckham, who turned 37 yesterday, kissed his wife, victoria, and some other guy watched. on the eve of the opener, johansson got a star. charlie sheen's lawyers got a cease and desist and told "e" news it's unfortunate these

parasites weren't ex-exterminated. >> i don't know if charlie went there himself to close it down. >> i'm sure he went there himself to take care of business. i'm lynn berry on "first look." "way too early" starts with willie guise right now. the case of the chinese dissident who sought house arrest and refuge at the chinese embassy in beijing and now says he fears for his safety and wants to come to america. the question is how is secretary of state hillary clinton handling chinese accusation the u.s. is meddling in chinese affairs. and riveting on "rock center" with brian williams that revealed what went into the president's decision to green light the navy seal mission that killed osama bin laden. the question is, which of his closest advisors did the president buck to