country. go away. don't go away mad. just go away. campaign ka-ching. president obama raises big bucks in hollywood while his presumed and resumed republican rival's past comes back to haunt him. demolition derby. why cars are intentionally being totalled at texas speedway. and we can all rest easy. archaeologists say they've discovered new evidence that debunks the 2012 doomsday theory. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we're going to begin this morning with star power. president obama took in a record haul last night at george clooney's star-studded hollywood fund-raiser. but today it is back to reality. when the president heads to nevada to talk about the economy, nbc's tracie potts joins us with more on that, and the high school drama dogging mitt romney. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. today the president moves on to nevada to talk about the economy, after those three fund-raisers on the west coast last night. including that really big one in california. president obama's $40,000 a plate dinner at george clooney's house last night appears to be the single biggest fund raiser ever, more than mitt romney raised in an entire month. democrats say donations are pouring in since the president announced his support for same-sex marriage. >> making sure that everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, is treated fairly. >> reporter: vice president biden is now apologized for forcing the president's hand by

announcing his support days earlier. republicans say they'll use this as a key difference between mr. obama and romney. but for now, romney's apologizing after "washington post" report says he bullied a gay student in high school. pinning him down and cutting his hair. romney says he doesn't remember. >> i did some stupid things when i was in high school, and obviously if i hurt anyone by virtue of that i would be very sorry for it and apologize for it. >> reporter: voters had mixed reaction. >> it's the kind of guy who bullied back then is probably going to be a bully now. >> i don't think voters or american people should look at somebody that did something 45 years ago. >> reporter: will it have an impact in november? >> not much different than somebody during their youth getting drunk or smoking marijuana. that said, i think mitt romney didn't handle it particularly well. >> reporter: but despite all that it looks like the economy, the economy is still the number one issue. a new associated press-gfk poll finds two thirds, and that's a

record, don't like how the president's handling gas prices but 53% still think he's doing a good job overall. >> tracie, thanks so much. among the reactions thursday to president obama coming out in favor of same-sex marriage, last night on the ed show single and activist clay aiken told host ed schultz that he thinks the president's endorsement will make a big difference in the lesbian, guy and gay and transsexual gender community. well for the search is over for america's most wanted fugitive. accused of murder and kidnapping. the two young girls abducted are safe, as police in mississippi acted on a tip and closed in on the suspect. he took his own life. nbc's kurt gregory has that story. >> reporter: a day after adam mayes was added to the fbi's ten most wanted list, the man accused of kidnapping four members of a tennessee family and murdering two is dead. >> preliminary reports indicate mayes shot himself in the head

and was later pronounced dead at an area hospital. >> reporter: the two girls police feared he was holding captive, 12-year-old alexandria bain, and her 8-year-old sister kyliyah, are safe with authorities. >> the girls were found alive and appear to be unharmed. >> reporter: it's been almost two weeks since the girls, their mother jo ann, and older sister adrienne, disappeared from their home in whitesville, tennessee. since then, police have found the bodies of jo ann and adrienne bain buried in the backyard of mayes' home in alpine, mississippi. on wednesday, mayes' ex-wife teresa was charged with two counts of first degree murder after she told police she knew mayes had killed bain and her eldest daughter near the family's tennessee home. and that she had helped him transport the bodies back to pistepy. an end to the search for the kidnapped girls and their captor. but just the beginning in the search by investigators, friends and family as to why.

kurt gregory, nbc news. here's your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. in philadelphia a man attacked a doughnut shot clerk with a hot cup of coffee. it happened after the man argued with the woman behind the counter over whether or not he paid for a sandwich. when the woman handed him the coffee, he grabbed her arm, then hurled the scalding coffee back at her. the clerk has returned to work but of pain. police are searching for the customer. in texas, no dummies but a whole lot of crash testing going on. engineers, scientists and dense investigators got together at a speedway to watch vehicles slam right into each other so they can learn more about how to reconstruct what happens during collisions. in new jersey, part of atlantic city's famed boardwalk collapsed thursday afternoon. two people were injured when the section gave way. strong waves are believed to have caused a rock to break away from a nearby jetty and slam into one of the concrete pillars

holding up the boardwalk. and finally, thankfully you don't see this every day. near houston a man was riding a unicycle and he was arrested. but not because he wasn't wearing a helmet. but because he wasn't wearing anything. yeah, that will do it. the naked unicyclist was pedaling across a bridge in the buff when police got a phone call. he swears he wasn't intoxicated, although it would be a little comforting if maybe he was. he did get arrested for indecent exposure charges. and now for a look at your national weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins who like myself is a little bit of a 12-year-old giggling over the picture. it is kind of funny. you can't script that kind of thing. >> good morning, everyone. today is going to be a fantastically beautiful day in so many areas of the country. the exception, texas. yesterday we had bad weather in texas. this is a slow-moving storm. we're going to have another round of strong storms and possible severe weather.

yesterday, 13 tornadoes, one even -- one tornado even derailed a train. shows you how strong those winds can be. we didn't have any injuries or fatalities. the worst of it was down here north of corpus christi. this morning we're continuing to watch a lot of heavy rain. the lightning strikes have been amazing. all of these thunderstorms, as they roll over the northern gulf from houston to galveston and beaumont and port arthur, thousands of lightning strikes, and about 13,000 plus. so that's going to head for the coastline of louisiana as we go throughout the morning commute. be prepared there, down areas of coastal louisiana. the storm itself is still lingering here in northern portions of texas. it's going to take until saturday for the storm to get somewhere near new orleans. anywhere in between, you have a chance of some very heavy rain, including our friends there in shreveport. dallas-ft. worth you'll get a band of heavy rain later this afternoon. possible thunderstorms. our computer estimating anywhere between two to three inches of rain is possible with those storms later today. now for the good news.

everyone from the great lakes, ohio valley, all along the eastern seaboard, it is going to be a beautiful day. it's a little cool this morning. huge area of high pressure protecting us from any bad weather. even northern new england is going to clear out and see a decent afternoon. forecastwise, gorgeous today, new york city near 70. philadelphia to d.c., 70 to 75, with low humidity. atlanta looks great. florida looks dry. chicago looks nice, too. and we're not really seeing many areas of the country with troublesome weather. even our friends on the west coast are going to enjoy a picture perfect spring friday. >> all right, bill, thanks so much. coming up, a gigantic goof at jpmorgan chase. sony hits new lows and diamonds rubies and sapphires all for charity. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up the hawks' co-owner has choice words for kevin garnett and he responds in a big way. and more historic home runs in gatt more. ♪

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welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. a food and drug administration panel recommended approval for a drug that has been shown to be more than 90% effective at preventing hiv infection. the fda could approve it as early as next month. the justice department has filed suit against arizona sheriff joe arpaio, who calls himself america's toughest sheriff, over discriminatory practices against latinos, and pattern of unlawful conduct by maricopa county deputies. controversy growing over the latest "time" magazine cover highlighting a story on so-called attachment parenting by showing a mother breast feeding her 3-year-old son. from questions of its appropriateness to concern for the child pictured, the controversial cover will likely see the magazine censored on some newsstands. a very rare calico lobster caught in maine is being donated

to a science center, experts say the odds of an orange and yellow spotted crustacean could be 1 in 30 million. and in guatemala, mayan wall writings have been discovered that show calendars going to the year 3500. now that's almost 1500 years farther into the future than others. so much for all the predictions of the end of the world in december, 2012. never mind, scratch that, they're going to have to think of a new movie. here's your first look at how wall street is going to kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,855 after adding 19 points yesterday. the s&p was up 3 points, but the nasdaq down 1. >> taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei lost 56 points, in hong kong the hang seng dropped 262. this morning we will see how markets react to last night's stunning revelation of loss from the nation's wealthiest bank. in a last minute after market

conference call jpmorgan chase ceo jamie damon disclosed a $2 million loss due to sloppy wagers in its chief investment office. dimon called the losses the result of a quote, egregious self-inflicted mistake. shares tumbled after hours along with several other banks. earlier the dow's gains were capped by disappointing outlook from cisco. but on the upside, news corp. got a 5% boost on better than expected quarterly profits. labor department reported the number of people applying for unemployment benefits ticked down last week after a sharp drop the week before. upscale department chain nordstrom fell on late trade thoongs thanks to disappointing quarterly results. arena pharmaceuticals nearly doubled after the bell advisors recommend a government regulators approve what could become the first prescription weight loss drug sold in the u.s. in more than a decade. overseas, sony tumbled to the lowest level in tokyo trade since 1980 after lackluster profit forecast. the new lead investigator at

security and exchange commission's watchdog office has been placed on administrative leave after employees complained he talked about wanting to carry a concealed firearm at work. and finally, here is a mother's day gift that will break the bank. an estimated $20 million worth of jewels that belonged to the widow of the late billionaire banker are being auctioned off in switzerland for charity. sorry, mom, we're going to go with the thought that sounts. coming up, in health news this morning, after one death and two severe injuries, 21,000 inflatable pool slides are being recalled. the consumer product safety committee determined the bonsai water slides for inground pools were defective. they can deflate suddenly causing a person using it to crash to the ground and consumers are being hold to return the slides for a full refund. for more information on this and other health stories you can check out the health page at msnbc.com. the sixers school the bulls,

celtics down the hawks, nuggets force game seven against the lakers. historic start to a major league game in an already historic series between the orioles and rangers. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. high schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores.

let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this.

welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. in sports, last night in the nba the sixers ousted the battered top seeded chicago bulls from the playoffs. here's nbc's fred roggin.

good morning. just when it looked like the bulls would force a game seven, the wheel fell off. here we go to philadelphia. chicago rallied from 12 points down but up 3 in the final seconds, the sixers made the shots and bulls did not. thaddeus young got the off-balance play off the fall. philly down one. omar asik fouled on the other end. could have iced it with two free throws but he missed both. andre iguodala flew down the court, didn't get the lay-up but was fouled, 61% free-throw shooter, he was thinking about his son at the line and papa made junior proud, knocked down both free-throws for the lead. bulls a last gasp, half-court heave was off the iron. sixers eliminated the bulls. next up for philly, boston, won over atlanta. a day after michael gearon called kevin garnett the dirtiest player in the league, garnett responded with his best game of the playoffs, 28 points and 14 boards including the

dagger in the final minute. celts advance. kobe was sick to his stomach that was before he saw how bad the lakers played. the nuggets came out running, jumped out to a 13-0 lead and the rout was on. ty lawson, denver forced game seven, 113-96 win. it has been a historic week in baltimore, josh hamilton hit four home runs tuesday. yesterday the orioles did something no other a.l. team has ever done before, hit three home runs in their first three at-bats. ryan flaherty, jj hardy, nick markakis with the honors. in fact ranger pitcher colby lewis gave up just five hits in seven innings and they were all home runs. orioles split the doubleheader, to cap off a wild series at camden yards. that's your "first look" at sports. have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. well, some tv viewers in europe got a royal surprise during the afternoon news. prince charles and his wife camilla popped by the bbc studios in scotland and tried their hand at presenting the

weather. they read reports in celebration of the station's 60th anniversary. though the weather forecast was grim, their performance wasn't, proving to be a natural on air. like bill karins has a little competition. now for a look at the weather, let's check in with bill. i'm just saying. >> the prince had a little bit of stage presence. he was kind of owning it. i like that. >> he leaned forward. good for him. you know. >> he was reaching out to his audience. well, good morning, everyone. let me take you through the weekend forecast. it's a cold start to the day up in new england. but unlike the last couple days that were rainy and gloomy in the morning, skies are clear. but it is chilly. we even got some windchills in the 30s in upstate new york. this afternoon with sunshine, finally a return to beautiful weather conditions. won't be windy like yesterday, either. 6os for new england, 70s from philly to d.c. looking perfect in the middle of the country. except for texas and louisiana, that's where we talked about the

heavy rain threat that will continue into the weekend. saturday's forecast, east coast, thumbs up, perfect 10, same for the great lakes. down around the gulf coast, the heavy rain threat. west coast you look perfect today. you looked great saturday. and even for mother's day, everyone on the west coast is very, very nice. let's talk about mother's day. if you have outdoor plans, we're going to see a period of heavy rain and thunderstorms from louisiana early in the morning heading through mississippi and alabama and eventually up to tennessee and through kentucky. it's not going to wash out your entire day but you will see a period of heavy rain. everywhere else, lynn, we're looking pretty nice for mother's day. so many people, especially on the east coast, are going to love the next three days. >> thanks so much. coming up, more travolta trouble, and the ultimate casting honor. plus both the dark and funny sides of johnny depp debut together this week at the box office. [ female announcer ] with swiffer dusters, a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags,

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welcome back to "first look." as we mentioned at the top 6 the show, singer and activist clay aiken appearedton the ed schultz show to talk about how the president's endorsement of same-sex marriage will affect the gay community. here's what he had to say. >> being a young, lgbt person who hears your president speak out for your rights is -- is very empowering. i mean, we talk a lot about role models, whether it be me or someone like ellen degeneres or ricky martin or neil patrick harris, lgbt individuals who are in the public eye who have some degree of impact for youth mo are struggling with bullying or feeling left out or ostracized.

but when the president of the country, when the person who is the most powerful person in the world, really, speaks out and, and steps on to the correct the right side of history and says, i support the right for everyone, the freedom for everyone, to marry and for every single individual to have -- have the rights that we all -- that many people take for granted, i think it makes a huge statement to -- to, especially to youth, who might feel left out. and -- and i'm thrilled that he did it. >> don't miss the ed show weeknights at 8:00 eastern on msnbc. the police for politics. time now for some entertainment news. you know your film is doing really good business when you're looking at $100 million in the second weekend at the box office. "the avengers" should follow up its record-breaking debut by becoming the first film to take in $100 billion in the second weekend thanks to older viewers who don't rush out right away and all those hard-core repeat fans that come back for another

look. thanks to the avengers juggernaut, johnny depp won't have a number one film this weekend. any other, and he surely would have for "dark shadows" the comedy takeoff of the '60s vampire soap opera is expected to earn around $35 million. a third man has come forward with accusations against john travolta. a former cruise ship employee alleges travolta offered him $12,000 to have sex in may, 2009. finally, who would you cast as you? well, 80-year-old country music legend loretta lynn is taking her life story to broadway and she has chosen someone who is very hoot right now, zooey deschanel. she's going to choose her to play herself, and that is sort of in the early stages, so they haven't really booked it yet, but they say it won't conflict with her new show which a lot of people love. >> which is? >> the new girl. >> oh. >> a lot of people are huge fans. >> have you seen it? >> no. i don't -- >> only our show, right? i'm lynn berry, this is "first

look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. one night, clooney becomes the second biggest star in hollywood as president obama rolls into town and takes a group of star-struck movie types for $15 million. the question is, does the first fund-raiser after the president's announcement on gay marriage prove mitt romney's point that it was kind of a cynical move to raise cash for the obama campaign? jpmorgan chase announces a stunning $2 billion trading loss, forcining ceo jamie dimono admit he has egg on his face on this one. does this give washington a new moment to push financial regulation? and the number one seed in the east playing most of the first round series without the nba's mvp derek rose is knocked out of the playoffs. thes