in life margaret thatcher never shied away from controversy or criticism. she was polarizing on purpose. it was margaret thatcher who said i'm not a consensus politician, i'm a conviction politician, and she was for good and for ill. let the record show it in all honesty. "first look" is up next. good tuesday morning. right now on "first look," they're celebrating in louisville after the cardinals hold off the michigan wolverines in a nail biter. in the far east, anything but celebratory as belligerent north korea warns foreigners to take evacuation measures and japan deploys missile interceptors in the case of a ballistic missile launch there. a laser that could knock drones out of the sky. the worldwide impact of margaret thatcher. air travel will get a lot bumpier and most costly, and string storms could wreak havoc across the country.

good morning again, i'm richard lui. there are new college basketball champs. louisville taking home the title, beating michigan 82-76, all game long the teams kept trading the lead, but the cardinals peyton siva dropped it in and put the cardinals up by five. luke hancock was the leading scorer for louisville and couldn't sink the last-chance shot. louisville's win makes rick pitino, the only coach ever to win two national titles with two different teams and he'll follow through on a promise he made to his players. >> all these guys, if they say hello, they get a tattoo. they said if you win the national championship, coach, you're getting a tattoo. >> where will it be and what will it be? after the game, the backboard was lowered so kevin ware who broke his leg in their win over duke could cut down the basketball net as a token of the team's victory.

what a game that was. this morning north korea is warning foreigners in south korea to leave the peninsula as tensions continue to escalate there. countries across asia are preparing for a possible missile test launch. nbc's news chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the latest. >> reporter: defenses across asia are at the ready. japan with anti-missile batteries now in place says it will shoot down any north korean missile that threatens its territory. the u.s. with two american warships and a land-based missile interceptor now in the region would be able to track a missile seconds after launch and could destroy it in flight. south koreans remain calm, but are increasingly asking, what if? this city of 1 million is just a few miles from the north korean border and now city official os here are telling residents to be prepared for nuclear, chemical or biological attack.

stockpiling food and medicine and knowing how to quickly reach shelter underground. workers distribute thousands of pamphlets. what to do if you see a mushroom cloud or if all the birds and fish suddenly die or if radioactive fallout rains from the sky. the notices are going up in every apartment building. >> this is a map of the shelters? >> yeah. >> reporter: north korea may be bluffing, but pyongyang may not know how far it will push without going over the edge. >> nbc's richard engle with that report. to washington now where the centerpiece of president obama's gun control bill faces an increasingly uncertain fate in the senate. despite threats on the filibuster on the issue of background checks the president is not going down without a fight here. families of newtown massacre victims are in washington lobbying for gun control today and they traveled there in presidential style.

tra tracie potts has the details. >> reporter: these families deplaning from air force one, they came back from connecticut with president obama yesterday to lobby congress, to expand background checks. here they are getting off the plane after president obama made a speech at the university of hartford yesterday where he urged congress, especially the senate, to give him an up or down vote on his proposal, including universal background checks. there are at least a dozen senators who have promised to filibuster that effort, not even allowing it to come up for a vote. pressure from within and from without. the group mayors against illegal guns headed by mayor bloomberg has an ad out now trying to pressure pennsylvania's pat toomey, who is a republican working on a compromise, they're trying to pressure him to do something to come up with a plan that his

republican colleagues will at least vote on and not try to put off in a filibuster. we'll find out more today as those family as begin their lobbying effort here. >> we'll be following that, thank you very much, tracie potts in washington. this morning, world leaders and dignitaries continue sharing their memories of margaret thatcher. she died monday at the age of 87. the queen of england has offered plains for thatcher to receive a royal funeral. yesterday former first lady nancy reagan told andrea mitchell with her relationship with thatcher. >> i think people thought she and i didn't have a relationship. nothing could be further from the truth. we had a very special relationship. and, of course, i loved it that she and ronnie were as close as they were. >> actress meryl streep who won an oscar playing thatcher in 2011's "the iron lady" called the former prime minister a figure of awe for her personal strength and grit. closer to home, beloved

mouseketeer and '60s actress, annette funicello has died at the age of 70. she was part of the "mickey mouse club" in the 1950s, she later went on to star in a series of beach party movies. according to the walt disney company she died in california following complications from multiple sclerosis, a disease she battled since 1987, which she called a slow progression. funicello is survived by her husband and three children. the u.s. navy says its latest weapon represents the future of warfare. the laser canon capable of shooting down drones will be placed on various naval ships. this canon is called a laser weapon system or l.a.w.s., and costs less than $1 per shot, since it runs simply on electricity. while the laser is so far has only been used in testing areas, it is already thought of as the newest way to transform modern

warfare. here is your first look at scrambled politics. former republican vice presidential nominee paul ryan raked in $600,000 since the beginning of the year for his campaign war chest. he will be up for re-election to the house next year, but many analysts tout him as a possible presidential candidate in 2016. new york mayor michael bloomberg's gun control advocacy group will begin giving lawmakers grades based on their voting. another clinton may soon be on the ballot. chelsea clinton, during an interview with "the today show" she leaves the door open to her own run some day for public office. >> right now i'm grateful to live in a city, a state and country where i strongly support my mayor, my governor, my president, my senators, my representative. if at some point that weren't true and i thought i could make a meaningful and measurably greater impact, i would have to

ask and answer that question. you can stop and smell the roses at the white house but you still can't go inside. annual public tours of the rose garden and south law will go on as planned this weekend, but tours of the executive mansion are still canceled because of the sequester. beyonce and jay-z's tour of cuba was cleared by the treasury department. some are looking into whether the music moguls violated federal law by visiting the island. newly released figures by m.i.t. show racial minorities wait longer to vote, with african-americans waiting an average of 23 minutes. latinos waited about 19 minutes. there are now only three sitting democratic senators still opposed to same sex marriage. louisiana's marry landrieu, west virginia's joe manchin and

arkansas's mark pryor. tim johnson announced his support for marriage equality on monday. less than three months after joining twitter, first lady michelle obama has been honored with a shorty award. these awards are given to the best in social media. mrs. obama was recognized for bringing awareness to her let's move campaign. she accepted via twitter from her official account. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. turning to weather, spring is about to deliver quite a wallop around the country. a weather system that whipped up powerful, damaging winds in parts of california and the southwest is bringing the threat of tornadoes, hail and heavy snow to the rockies and great plains. bill karins is here. lots of powerful stuff here. we're well into spring. >> that's what is surprising. usually we will get one of these events as march, but here we are in april. we're fortunate this is our first dangerous severe weather day we've had. you can see the setup.

look at the temperatures. 66 in kansas city. 69 in dallas. 19 and snowing hard in denver. that's the recipe for a spring storm and severe weather. the clash of the air masses, it's textbook case. the timing te ining of it is so won't ab widespread concern. if you're in the area of yellow, you have a chance of severe storms. the area of red there, that's where we are watching the moderate risk. we will have more widespread severe weather expected, including very large hail that could do damage and the chance of tornadoes. the best tornado threat will come about dinner time tonight, it will continue probably until midnight. we're watching areas from tulsa to oklahoma city, all the way down to wichita falls, over towards ardmore and ft. smith. that will be late tonight. the oklahoma city stuff will be earlier. the poor people from denver and northward to south dakota, up to

a foot of snow today. >> poor, but it is nice. >> it will melt fast in april. >> you're doing triple duty today? >> of course. sequester cuts could effect the fight against terror. a man is arrested carrying a bb gun near president obama, and a dramatic rescue of a driver in a big rig dangling from a bridge. "first look" is back in three. ♪ if loving you is wrong ♪ i don't wanna be right [ record scratch ] what?! it's not bad for you.

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now to some stories making news this morning. a connecticut man will appear in court today after being arrested for carrying a bb gun here president obama's motorcade. the president was at the university of hartford on monday to rally support for his gun control proposals. transatlantic flights getting bumpier thanks to global warming changes. that's according to the international energy agency, which also says carbon dioxide emissions will require longer flights and require more jet fuel by 2050. sequester budget cuts could

delay the federal terrorism trial of osama bin laden's son-in-law until next year. public defenders say they do not have the money or ability to properly defend him in that high-profile case. and in argentina, a businessman is successfully passing offer re ferrets on ste as poodles. local news says one duped customer took his pet to the vet only to find out it was only a giant weasel. >> now we will check your money. here is seema moody. boeing 787 dreamliner jets which have been grounded since january could be back flying the friendly skies. united put the 787 back on its

flight schedule since may. and amtrak says passenger numbers are up since september despite disruptions from hurricane sandy. >> thank you very much. now a business pop quiz, which retailer got his start in the jcpenney management training program? ray kroc of mcdonald's? jeff bezor, sam walton or george dayton? the numbers are in and ford's compact focus outsold all other vehicles in 2012 with more than 1 million sales. jetblue the first to fly airbus planes at mobile, alabama. >> speculation is swirling after fox and execs going off airwaves and on to cable. in response to streaming rival area. president obama has declared today, april 9th, national equal pay day. according to the white house women earn on average 23%

less than men do. bill gross is shelling out what could be $2 million worth of rare stamps for a charity action today. here's a fun fact, stamps were better than art, stocks, wine or jewelry over the past ten years. so the victor goes the spoils, according to "forbes" that's what 1.5 million bucks could mean for louisville. now the answer to that pop quiz it was walmart and sam's club founder sam walton who got his start in the jcpenney management trainee program in the '40s. today the nfl could find out if they're liable for concussion-related brain injuries. i've been going around the country asking people

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it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. . two topics we're following this morning that are following political buzz. grading members of congress and chelsea clinton following in the family business. karen, welcome. >> thanks, richard. >> let's start with this, this grading system that michael bloomberg's advocacy group will be pushing forward, mimicking the nra, interesting. >> it is very interesting. it will give folks an opportunity to see where these

candidates, members, stand on these issues and provide a counterweight from the nra's grading system which has proven to be a powerful tool. >> when you look at that grading system, that is something that we are following today as we get more details from that group as they put out another advertisement. another topic that has been talked about over the last day is chelsea clinton. >> right. yes. she is kind of raising her profile a bit with her work with the foundation. obviously she does work for nbc news, and talking about issues she cares about and getting more involved in the foundation. and, you know, as she was asked the question, you know, sounds like perhaps, if the timing were right and the issues were right, maybe we should be watching another clinton in the political world. >> all right. a lot of buzz around that. karen finney, thank you very much. you'll be hosting an hour-long weekend show here on msnbc sh b

krshc soon. thanks. >> thank you, richard. in virginia a rescue team pulled a driver from her mangled tractor trailer as it dangled off a bridge. the out of control semi nearly plunged into the james river after crashing into a concrete guard rail. adding insult to her minor injuries, police arrested the woman for reckless driving. in california a company is using what looks like a solar powered surf boat. it's a super hi-tech computer that can track sea life and find oil. and finally a new york man is accused of being a real grouch. a times square performer dressed like a furry blue cookie monster got angry and pushed down a 2-year-old child after his family refused to pay $2 for a picture. >> why don't you like cookie monster? >> because cookie monster give me booboo. >> what's the world coming to? police arrested the character performer on assault and child endangerment charges. turning now to sports, the national college basketball

championship was a real battle. luke handcock of louisville was deadly from the three-point line. trey burke missed a desperation shot as time was running out, and rick pitino's team got the 82-76 victory. >> they are a great basketball team. we beat a great basketball team. probably because i had the 13 toughest guys i've ever coached. >> well, coach pitino celebrated the win with kevin ware who was there to celebrate despite his broken leg. on the women's side tonight, louisville plays connecticut for the title. louisville could become only the second school to win both men's and women's titles in the same season. earlier in the day, louisville's rick pitino was among the inductees going into the basketball hall of fame. other 2013 inductees included north carolina women's coach sylvia hatchell, gary tarkanian,

and players gary payton and bernard king. well, a lawsuit by 4,200 former nfl players accuse the league of concealing concussions and hits to the head. the league wants a philadelphia court to throw out that suit. some players suffer from dementia, alzheimer's disease, depression and other neurological problems. just ahead for you, when news of margaret thatcher's death spread around the world, some social media afithought ch had died. we'll explain. this might be the most flamboyant movie trailer ever released. but there are some things i've never seen before. this ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. suddenly, faraway places don't seem so...far away. ♪

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this is crazy.

today an anti-governor protesters confronted russian president vladimir putin and took off her shirt. look at this. look at how putin is dealing with this. we didn't doctor the photo. can we zoom in on his thumbs? that's the actual photo. >> all right. the trailer for hbo's liberachi bio pic is here. can we say it's fabulous? >> this must be fame. i have a great idea. why don't you come work for me? >> as what? >> stars michael douglas and matt damon the film shows us the glitz and glamour of the pianist lifestyle and his relationship with his young chauffeur. katy perry visited madagascar as part of her role as unicef ambassador. she met with young children,

played ping-pong and even attempted to jump rope. ill-informed cher fans were shocked, confused and upset monday when they saw the twitter hash tag now that cher is dead. if only they realized it read now thatcher's dead. i'm richard lui. "way too early" starts right now. as louisville -- >> they began the year as the number one ranked team in the nation, now the louisville cardinals are raising the trophy national champs. thanks for throwing that game on from 9:00 to midnight last night when none of us could watch it. i'm bill karins, this is "way too early." we have a lot of news to talk about on this tuesday, april 9th. the gun control debate heads back to washington today after another emotional day in newtown, connecticut. we'll hear what the president is saying about pushing new