and the best new thing in the world today. that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow night. until then, you can check out my work at wonkblog.com at "the washington post." now it is time for "the last day four -- the prosecution in jerry sandusky's swift-moving child sex abuse trial winds down its case. in the hot seat -- seven-time cycling champ, lance armstrong faces fresh doping charges. and return to sender -- the basketball washed away in last year's tsunami makes a miraculous journey home. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more are straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. and we're going to begin

with accusations and denials. former penn state football coach, jerry sandusky could take the stand as early as next week as the prosecution begins to wrap up its case. yesterday, one of ten alleged victims told the jury sandusky threatened he would never see his family again, if he told anyone about the alleged sexual abuse. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: the jerry sandusky sex abuse trial is moving so quickly, the judge announced the prosecution's case could wrap up as early as friday. once the defense begins, sandusky is expected to testify. and it may be a critical chance to undo any damage done yesterday when jurors heard this interview with nbc's bob costas. >> are you sexually attracted to young boys to underage boys? >> am i sexually attracted to underage boys? >> yes. >> sexually attracted? no, i enjoy young people. i -- i love to be around them.

i -- but no, i'm not sexually attracted to young boys. >> also on day three, a janitor at penn state testified a co-worker, now suffering from dementia caught sandusky in an athletic facility shower with a young boy. three alleged victims also told stories that echoed each other and previous accusers. >> there is that thread that runs through all of these victims. >> reporter: one wept as he recalled an encounter in a penn state sauna. another said sandusky threatened him when he tried to avoid the older man's advances. a third said sandusky fondled and groped him repeatedly. under defense questioning, he admitted he told a grand jury there was no abuse, but said it was so dramatic, he had blocked it out. back on the campaign trail, it's all about the economy. president obama and mitt romney are in the battleground state of ohio, where they're both trying to convince voters that they have the right economic plan.

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with details. >> reporter: good morning, let's start with mitt romney, who was actually here talking to the d.c. business council yesterday. in the nation's capital. had pretty pointed criticism for the president, saying that americans are tired of politicians making excuses instead of taking responsibility. he predicted today in ohio the president will speak eloquently, but that words are cheap. as you said, they're both in ohio today, on opposite sides of the state that the president won by 4.5% four years ago. romney is in cincinnati, talking with a business group. the president in cleveland at a campaign event. the latest two polls show romney with a slight edge. however we've got a new abc/"washington post" poll that shows americans, especially independents not satisfied with either candidate's economic plan. 54% against the obama plan. 47% not thrilled with the romney

plan, either. lynn? >> tracie, thanks. new charges have been filed against lance armstrong. he won seven tour de france cycling titles, but he could be stripped of those victories by the u.s. anti-doping agency. it said it collected blood samples from armstrong in 2009 and 2010 that were consistent with blood manipulations and transfusions, armstrong has never tested positive for drugs and denies the charges. he's been barred from ironman triathlons which he's been doing since last year. here's the "first look" at news around america. a severe weather system gave dallas a pounding and left widespread damage in its wake. golf ball-sized hail pelted the region, shattered windshields. the 30-minute storm toppled power lines and trees. but didn't cause any injuries, thankfully. unlike their neighbors in the north, showers in corpus

christi were more of an isolated incident. a 30-foot geyser erupted from a residential street after a water main rupture. the break in the valve caused flooding and took four hours to shut off. this is great, we love these, the celebration of father's day came a few days early for one upstate new york girl and her military dad. watch this, the naval officer surprised her daughter at field day, with an early return from the middle east. she later said she missed him quote, 100%. i bet she did now for look at the national weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill kar s karins, he has your weather channel forecast. >> field day means it's the end of school, she gets to spend all summer now home with her dad. a bonus bonus. it's one of the quietest weather mornings i've seen in a long time. not a lot going on that will impede your morning commute and give you any trouble. i want to take a look at what's

happened so far this june. something has been missing in chicago -- rain. this is off to one of the driest starts ever for the month of june. we've only had .01 of an inch. it's been dry over iowa, wisconsin, illinois and indiana and that's going to change. a lot of wet weather we've seen this june, you know it in new england, you've gotten soaked from boston new york. in the southeast, the drought has take an good chunk out of it. they've gotten rain over two inches in atlanta. now things are going to change. east coast is going to dry out over the next couple of days. next week or two, and it looks like all the wet weather is going to be in the northern plains this morning we have showers and storms rolling through areas from north dakota into northern minnesota. it looks like minneapolis will get missed by this batch of storms. but later this afternoon you could deal with strong storms. the reason the weather pattern is switching is that the cold front brought us a dry, beautiful air mass through almost all of the eastern half of the country. and now that that's pushed off

the coast, everyone with the exception of florida is going to be dry and looking at just a picture-perfect, beautiful day today. now then central plains is where all the stormy weather is going to turn to. we could see a few tornadoes near minneapolis st. paul area, and minnesota, a little severe weather outbreak late this afternoon towards this evening. even omaha could see a strong storm. the bottom line for thursday, gorgeous from new england down through the southeast. that's where we're going to be watching the storms is in the northern plains. i know we've been waiting for a dry, sunny day in new england and today's your day. well greek drama builds, a big bank chief apologizes and historic changes in store for the internet. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a perfect game, president carter and a jet pack. not anywhere else will you find those three together. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is genco services --

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry, here are some top stories making news this morning. massive wildfires continue to rage in the west. a wildfire in new mexico has burned more than 37,000 acres, and destroyed at least 224 homes. a fire in colorado has destroyed about 100 buildings and burned 73 square miles. john edwards will not face another trial on charges of using campaign donations to cover up his pregnant mistress. the justice department dropped all charges against edwards after his corruption trial last month ended in a deadlocked jury. a texas man has been convicted of murder after a houston jury rejected his stand your ground defense. raoul rodriguez shot and killed his unarmed neighbor in a dispute over a noisy birthday party in 2010. and a basketball washed away by the 2011 japanese tsunami has been returned to a junior high school there. it was shipped back to japan from an island in alaska where

it had washed ashore. the japanese students called it a miracle. sure is. well now here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. politico reports first lady, michelle obama has joined the popular social networking site, pinterest. it allows users to post or pin photos to a page. the obama campaign will handle day-to-day posts, but pins that come directly from the first lady will be signed with her officials. the first lady already has more followers that an romney. pitching her new book earlier this week on the "tonight show" with jay leno, megan mccain came out in favor of legalizing marijuana. saying researching the potential benefits and legalization won her over. she also admitted to having once smoked a joint. "huffington post" says that

manny pacquiao's recent loss in the ring is creating rare bipartisanship in the senate. harry reid was outraged by the decision and is using the controversy to try to revive stalled legislation to establish a national boxing commission. republican senator, john mccain tweeted his support for reid's view of the fight. calling the decision, a disgrace to boxing. reid tweeted back, thanking his friend, mccain, who worked with him on the boxing legislation for the support. and yesterday, former secretary of state, colin powell saying that carly rae jepsen song, "call me maybe" sang it. there's a new video on youtube, obama boy that focuses on obama support of same-sex marriage. and that's this morning's dish of scrambled politics. and now here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,496 after

dropping 77 points yesterday. the s&p was down 9, the nasdaq fell 24. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei sank 18, and in hong kong, the hang seng lost 218. uncertainty over europe's debt crisis resurfaced on wednesday and kept overseas investors on edge this morning. asian stocks sputtered today after moody's slashed spain's credit ratding to the edge of junk status. an italian debt auction added to investors' anxiety ahead of sunday's elections in greece. those greek worries set in here at home wednesday, as investors came off the sidelines to sell off risky bets. a fresh round of gloomy economic news didn't help. ironically, falling gas prices took a chunk out of retail sales. which were down the past two months. u.s. foreclosure starts

rose. and shares of jpmorgan ticked up 1.5% as chief jamie dimon apologized to congress for his first's multibillion-dollar trading loss that raised fresh questions about wall street oversight. jetblue ranked first among low-cost air carriers, among new customer satisfaction survey. the study found travelers were least satisfied with carriers that charge an additional fee for baggage. according to the department of education, the average tuition at a four-year public university increased by 15% between 2008-2010. and finally, are you bored with dot-com? well give it about a year. as part of a major upcoming expansion, the internet address powers that be, i want to meet those guys, are sifting through nearly 2,000 proposed new domain extensions, including dot-pizza, dot-love and dot-apple. last night on "hardball," massachusetts senate candidate

elizabeth warren talked about jamie dimon's testimony to congress. she told host that in her view after the financial crisis and recession, it's still business as usual on wall street. >> they blew up a big bubble. they took on the risks, they sucked out the profits. and then when the whole thing came crashing down, it was american families right there, who took it right on the chin. then that same group on wall street fought against any kind of financial reform. when they lost that, barely by a hair. they started a guerilla war to make sure no serious rules would be put in place. this is the fight right now for the heart and soul of our country. >> each night, chris matthews delivers your daily dose in-depth political analysis and fiery debate from the nation's capital. you don't want miss "hardball" with chris matthews only on msnbc, the place for politics. in health news, a study of a new insomnia drug, all of you at home may need that, finds it

made people fall asleep 40% faster and sleep 40% longer than a placebo. it affects the area of the brain that induces sleep. the new sleeping pill appears to be safe. it will go under some testing with the food and drug administration for a possible approval within months. so for more information on this and other health stories, you can check out the health page at msnbc.com. coming up the cards blank the white sox, the brewers walk off in extras and the mets' one-hit wonder and the giants outfielder sacrificed his body to preserve a pitching masterpiece. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

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welcome back to "first lo " look," in sports last night, giants pitcher matt cain became the 22nd player in major league history to throw a perfect game. here's nbc fred roggin. >> good morning, the san francisco giants jumped out to an early lead and then matt cain made history. let's go to san francisco. it's a bird, it's a plane -- no, it's just some guy with a jet pack flying around the cove. one way to beat the traffic. he wasn't the only thing flying through the air. giants with three home runs against the astros, they were up 10-0 after five and matt cain took over. struck out 14, a little help from his friends in the seventh, jordan schaeffer a shot deep to right, gregor blanco, a diving grab on the warning track, it kept the perfect game intact. to the ninth, pinch hitter jason

castro, a chance to break up pe next, a shot to third, a tough play, the throw to first and castro is out. 27 up, 27 down for matt cain. giants won it 10-0. cain just the 22nd pitcher in league history to pitch a fehr fekt game. tough to follow that up, decki became the first pitcher to give up ten games. dickie struck out 12 over 9, the mets won. an hour later, cards lance beltran, that's all lynn needed cards won it 1-. now to atlanta, president jimmy carter enjoying the game. i don't know how much he enjoyed this. curtis granderson a two-run shot that gave the yanks the lead and they sweep the braves 3-2. high drama in kansas city, royals down two. two outs in the ninth, everything riding on escobar, he delivered a triple into the gap. in came a pair, casey tied the

game and forced extra innings. in the 11th, the sacks full for matt mustakis, all he had to do was stand there, athe game ends with a walk-off walk. they rally to beat 4-. for another look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins, he has your weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. >> very, very, beautiful, nice, gorgeous -- unbelievably good day. >> yeah. >> yeah, many areas of the country looking fantastic today. the best areas over the next five days or so, could easily be anywhere up here in new england. this is the about the last week of spring we're going to go through, it's going to feel gorgeous. near 80 in albany. but low humidity, philadelphia to new york to boston. it will be a mix of sun and clouds, but it will be dry and better than yesterday. you want to talk about a gorgeous weekend, as we head through father's day, look at hartford, connecticut, 79 on saturday, sunday, 76 and sunny. the mid-atlantic is going to be very nice.

it will be a little warmer in the southeast with the sunshine this time of year. 87 in atlanta with low humidity. it will be warm in the afternoon, in the shade it will be nice. chicago is going to be entitle 90s this weekend so the heat will get turned up a notch for father's day. a new development in hollywood so-called most civilized divorce. plus the controversy continues, a second miss usa contestant is claiming the pageant was rigged. your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ pop goes the world ♪ it goes something like this ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪ [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with new tide pods... a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. just one removes more stains than the 6 next leading pacs combined.

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here's some political news, you guys, president obama is

apparently planning to skip a major environmental summit in south america. or as the secret service put it, oh man? big sports news, you guys last night, game one of the nba finals had its highest rating in ten years. [ applause ] even lebron james's hairline was like, dam, that's high. >> don't miss late night with jimmy fallon on your local nbc station. all right, time for some entertainment news. scandal ensues, fox news reports another miss usa contestant who spoke on the condition of anonymity is telling the exact same story as former miss pennsylvania, sheena monnin that the top five finishers were picked in advance. the contestant claims she heard all about it from miss florida. starting to sound like high school drama. pageant owner, donald trump has

denied monnin's charges and is suing her for defamation. she said she believes miss florida isn't talking because of afraid of retaliation. >> portia derossi has been cast to play lily munster in nbc's new reboot of "the munsters." courtney cox has made a similar filing, requesting joint custody and for "arquette" to be removed from her name. tmz makes no mention of a prenup. >> apparently it's not, that's where, yeah. stay with it, bill. finally, to happier news, the koofr of "people" shows the happy couple, matthew mcconaughey and his wife, camilla looking lovely.

>> well i'm lynn berry, and this is "first look" on msnbc. but stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. just a day after hillary clinton accused russia of arming the syrian government with helicopters, to attack its own people, the russians deny that charge and accuse the united states of hypocrisy. the question is -- will the u.s. strategy of calling out putin's russia in public change the dynamic in syria. and what about our relationship with russia? we'll get a live report from richard engel in a minute. dueling speeching in ohio where president obama and mitt romney both will lay out clearly their plans to turn around the sagging economy. the question is -- will the american people be willing to give the president four more years to complete his vision or have they seen enough? and perfection in major league baseball as the giants'