physics or something. >> at 13, they thought he was over the hill and a little weak on german-daysed words, but arvind mahankali would quiet the doubters. no celebration fors for eri holder, he says the department will change the way it investigates a leak. and the gift that keeps on giving. allegations of crack use, politics, the mayor of toronto talks, and of course we listen. it's "way too early" on a friday. good morning. i'm brian schactman. it is may 31st, it is a friday. i love how the young man is retiring at the age of 13 on top. we'll have more from the spelling bee including reaction from the people who did not win, which is always interesting to watch. we don't want to make light of

these was kids at all. we want to begin with breaking news overnight on the arizona mother held in a mexican jail. this morning yanira maldonado is a free woman after being accused of trying to smuggle 12 pounds of marijuana into the u.s. under her bus seat. miguel has been following the story and joins us from arizona w how did this happen and why overnight? >> reporter: apparently mexican authorities after hearing compelling evidence from the maldonado attorney, the judge reviewed that evidence, it was videotape evidence that showed yanira and her husband walking on to the bus. it showed she had two water bottles in her hand and possibly two small blankets. the point made by their lawyer is that there was no way for her to carry on 12 pounds of marijuana. apparently after reviewing that tape, the judge, the magistrate

ruled that there was not enough evidence to hold her and released her. literally in the middle of the night, maldonado was released from a woman's jail b , about 2 miles outside the city of nogales. i can see her now, she's about 25 feet away from me with her husband. she said she was thrilled that the nightmare was over, she could put this chapter in her life behind her and go back and see her family. she's the mother of seven children and excited to see those children. >> miguel, appreciate you getting up overnight for us. switching to politics, where attorney general eric holder may be bowing to pressure over the justice department leak scandal. the justice department is looking for a complete overhaul of the doj investigations and

guidelines. yesterday the attorney general me met with reporters. holder said he will protect journalists rights and acknowledged the need for change. however john harris of politico said the message wasn't that clear. "i didn't come away with a precise understanding of how those guidelines might be changed, and i didn't get a sense that they were settled in their own mind." the "new york times," associated press and nbc news boycotted the meeting. holder has until july 12th to complete his internal review and make recommendations to president obama. the fbi intercepted another suspicious letter to the president, believed to contain the poisonous substance ricin. the secret service says the letter is similar to the letters sent to new york city mayor michael bloomberg earlier this week. one of those letters reportedly

stated "what's in this letter is nothing compared to what i got planned for you." authorities are questioning a man in texas, we're told to see if he has information related to the letters, but we want to point out he's not considered a suspect. turning to news overseas, in syria, u.s. officials are investigating a report that a 33-year-old american woman from michigan was killed there while fighting with the rebels. the woman's family said the fbi informed them of her death but did not say how she died. president bashar al assad said he will retaliate from any future attacks from israel. now to news north of the border. toronto mayor rob ford is refusing to back down following multiple reports that he was filmed smoking crack cocaine.

yesterday ford addressed the local media, days after two of his top communication aides resigned. ford reiterated that things were going great. which they were until he finished his prepared remarks and the reporters started asking questions. >> have you done any illegal drugs since you have been mayor? >> anything else? >> have you tried to obtain the video? >> i'm not stepping aside. i'm running in the next election. and if the great people of the city want to go in a different direction, that's what their prerogative is. i guarantee my name will be on the ballot. >> ford is up for re-election next year. interesting case out of california, a murder case in l.a. raising questions about the responsibility of pet owners. authorities charged alex jackson with murder after four of his dogs reportedly attacked and killed a female jogger earlier this month. 62-year-old pamela marie devitt died as a result of bloodoss

from gruesome injuries including nearly 200 puncture wounds. the district attorney said jackson was aware of the danger his dogs posed. according to authority there's have been at least three other reports of jackson's dogs attacking people since january. the reason why i bring the story up, murder charges related to dog attacks are rare. if convicted jackson could face life in prison. it take a lot to impress the graduating class at harvard university, oprah winfrey was up to the task yesterday in massachusetts. the media mogul touched on a variety of topics, including gun control and immigration. her main objective was to inspirement. >> i've done over 35,000 interviews in my career. and as soon as that camera shuts off, everyone always turns to me and inevitably in their own way

asks this question -- was that okay? i heard it from president bush. i heard it from president obama. i've heard it from heroes and from housewives. i've heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. i even heard it from beyonce and all of her beyonceness. she finishes performing, hands me the microphone and says was that okay? they all want to know one thing -- was that okay? did you hear me? do you see me? did what i say mean anything to you? >> oprah also said the class of 2013 is "armed with more tools of empowerment than any generation in history" referring social media and its potential for mobilizing humanitarian efforts. now to the world of business. the endless drought in the midwest has driven the cost of

beef to report heights just in time for summer grilling season. let's check in with jeff cuttimore. do you guys grill over there? >> yeah. you know what, brian? we're back to that language thing again. we call it barbecue, my friend. we do barbecue here, but not that often given how rotten the weather is over in the uk most of the time. every now and again we put our aprons on and we get out there and we try to pretend we are real men with a beer and generally we burn the burgers, the sausages and everything else we cook. we're not good at it. but at $4.81 a pound, we will not be sticking a lot of beef o. feed costs are having an impact on beef prices leading to this all-time high. another story, the picture is becoming clearer at the "chicago sun times." they have laid off as many as 30

people in the photographic team there. so that's a whole department that is gone. the paper saying it is down to shifts in what people want to consume and they say more people want to go digital. they want to go online, and they want video which is why they let these people go. rounding off with one story here, would have thought with the markets going up there would be a feel-good back in the u.s. consumer's step. unfortunately, according to the st. louis fed, nearly half of american households have not managed to regain the wealth lost from the global financial crisis. a lot of that is down to the fact that house prices are struggling to come back here. meanwhile, anybody who is into stocks who has equity, has done okay. so if you look at the broader measure for certain households, about 91% of their wealth is back. if you're in stocks, good. if you're in housing, it ain't been so good.

>> a lot of people sold at the lows and never bought again. looks like the woolly mammoth may be making a comeback. russian researchers say they have recovered blood samples from a 10,000-year-old female woolly mammoth. the carcass was found in siberia, and the condition may be good enough to clone it scientists say they may be able to clone it within five years. american scientists, a little skeptical about that particular claim. we'll see. we thought why not? let's run with it. if the russians can clone a woolly mammoth, what or who would you bring back to life if you could? that's our silly friday question for you. #waytoojurassic. tweet me @bschactman, we'll read your responses later in the

show. tensions running high in the playoffs. these guys don't seem to be happy with each other. we'll have highlights later in sports. you might want to break out your terminator 6 script or 7. killer robots and why the nice united nations doesn't like them. deep throat t turns out, was mark felt. back then the number two official in the fbi. he's now 91 years old and going public because of his family's deep belief that what he did was heroic. ♪

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it's the most powerful thing on the planet. love holds us in the beginning. comforts us as we grow old. love is the reason you care. for all the things in your life... that make life worth living. ♪ ♪ sweet love of mine time for sports. nba playoffs, miami hosting the pacers. >> i'm so rooting for indiana.

>> let's show a little shove. game five, chris anderson and tyler hansbrough, not happy with each other. had to be restrained. who won the tattoo battle? >> i don't know. i would not mess with birdman. lebron outscored the entire pacers game 16-13 in the third. he had 30 points to finish it. the heat took a 3-2 series lead. more than 80% of winners of game five take the series. >> lance stephenson kind of edged a bit and why you are making lebron mad? to baseball, yankees trying to avoid the sweep against the mets. >> i love it. the mets marlon byrd sends a shot to left. mets starter, dillon gee looked like an all-star. the mets complete the four game

subway series sweep. congratulations, mets fans, you passed milwaukee as the third worst team in the league. >> a big night for jacoby ellsbury. >> the sox. >> 9-2 is the win. jacoby ellsbury has some hop. five stolen bases on the night. that's a red sox team record. does that surprise you? >> they had no speed in the '80s, very few base stealers, he's amazing and in a contract year. >> build up the stats, get some money. >> former red sox carl crawford, look at this one. >> pulled down the left field line. has a chance to be fair. >> for a guy who has been hurt a lot, to lay outgoing near that wall, that takes guts. an amazing catch. >> how long is he on the dl for? >> i'm sure it hurt a lot. we'll find out tomorrow that he's probably hurt.

>> to chicago, the starting pitcher travis wood. boom. that's a bases loaded home run for the pitcher. >> love it. >> he goes on to win the game. drinks on him. >> pirates/tigers, bottom of the 11th. score tied at 1. bases loaded. russell martin. that's a walk-off. no bother even to try. yanks could use him about now, huh? >> is he with the pirates? >> the pirates are 14 games over .500. no one is paying attention. pirates are the feel-good story. >> wow. i have to say they did the same thing last year and petered out. >> i know. >> they haven't finished above .500 since i was in, like, college. the weather, yesterday another volatile day. >> great sunrises all week. >> that's how it is. when the nasty weather is in the middle of the country, the east coast is great. that's how it's been. it won't change until possibly sunday.

that's when the west coast will get some rain. the east coast will deal with some rain. in kansas city, waking up to severe thunderstorms with large hail. it's rolling on i-70 from topeka, heading over the top of kansas city n about a half hour to 45 minutes from now. keep that in mind. severe weather likely today. the areas of yellow, once again, the same spots. we've been doing day after day from chicago, st. louis, iowa, down through areas of missouri. this area of red once again, unfortunately for the fourth day in a row we're targeting oklahoma, including oklahoma city, tulsa. including areas up 44 towards springfield and joplin. today looks more favorable than yesterday for the potential of strong tornadoes. of course we will probably have those live pictures for you this afternoon when the helicopters are chasing them. hopefully they'll be over rural areas. today, gorgeous sunrise. heat is on. ac on full blast, but we do cool it off a bit on saturday.

80s, possibly 09 in washington, d.c. on sunday, the midwest dries out. midwest, cooler, all the stormy weather will head to the eastern seaboard. saturday is your outdoor day, sunday you may have to dodge thunderstorms. coming up on "morning joe," eric holder's off the record meeting with the press. what he said and what it could mean for how the department of justice handles future investigations. when we come back, we'll huddle around the cooler with lewis. and when it comes to the national spelling bee, it's a big deal, but we like to see how the whiz's deal with the pressure. we'll have all the highlights.

have hail damage to both their cars. ted ted is trying to get a hold of his insurance agent. maxwell is not. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company. maxwell is not and just confirmed a 5:30 time for tuesday. ted, is still waiting. yes! maxwell is out and about... with ted's now ex-girlfriend. wheeeee! whoo! later ted! online claims appointments. just a click away on geico.com. the blisters were oozing, and painful to touch. i woke up to a blistering on my shoulder. i spent 23 years as a deputy united states marshal. we'd get up early and, and stay up late. there was a lot of running, a lot of fighting. i've been pretty well banged up

but the worst pain i've experienced was when i had shingles. i was going through some extremely difficult training, and i couldn't do it. when we were going through pursuit driving, i couldn't put a seat belt on because the pain that would have been caused by the seat belt rubbing against the shingles would have been excruciating. when i went to the clinic, the nurse told me that it was the result of having had chickenpox. i had never heard of shingles prior to that point and i had always been relatively healthy. the rash, the itching, the burning that i experienced on the side of my neck and my shoulder, i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

all of us up here are doing something to do our little piece in this amazing, amazing family that we call boston, massachusetts! >> donnie wahlberg pumping up the crowd. a succession of stars from aerosmith, jimmy buffet rocked a packed house last night as a fund-raiser for the victims of last month's marathon bombing.

the proceeds will be donated to the one fund to compensate victims of the april 18th bombing. new kids on the block. that's a big deal. she is prancercizin carroll king was there. >> reporter: a bunch of people, including comedian dan cook. >> no place like boston. that city has done a great job of rallying around all the victims. >> it's a small city, a lot of people are close. >> what do we have today in the cooler? we have to congratulate a talented young man today. we will congratulate arvind mahankali, the winner of the spelling bee. the 13-year-old from bayside hills was stunned as he was crowned the winner. no reaction there. >> such poise. >> such nsh knaidel.

>> knaidel was the final word, yiddish for a dumpling. arvind is an aspirie inine inin. the best moments from these things are usually with the people that don't win. let's look at what we have here. c-a -- >> may i have the entomology? frnlg>> raboni. the word i would use to describe mist is swag. s- s-w-a-g. >> may i have the that is right of speech, please? >> b-o-t -- >> oh, gosh.

>> no. >> sorry. >> he slaughtered that word, didn't he? good job. >> here for the third time. >> minnelied. >> that is correct. >> oh, yeah. >> look at that. >> i love the espn announcers there. he slaughtered that word, didn't he? >> he slaughtered that word. >> the parents are like the gymnastics in the olympics, they get -- >> a little intense. spell parents are touch. check this guy on the left side of your monitor. there pulling out the binocs. probably highly caffeinated, cheering. >> tell him to do some signals. he's a proud pa pachpa. if you're a parent, you pick your poison, spelling bees, little league -- >> tee ball is a little less

stressful, though when my kid misses four pitches in a row and he wants to take out the tee -- please hit this one. how about the robots? >> the united nations wants to stop killer robots. never thought we would be here. a u.n. official is urging temporary freeze on developing robots that can function autonomously. the u.n. says killer robots increases detachment between humans and the decision to kill. if we don't stop them now, it could make it easier for places and countries to go to war and more difficult to hold people accountable. >> great clips there. >> great clips there. what robot do you -- would you fashion yourself as? >> someone called me c3po. >> definitely not a t-1,000. i feel like i'm an optimus

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so the russians say in five years they'll be able to clone a woolly mammoth. we want to know who or what you would clone if you could. >> robert writes, our forefathers, so they could kick the blank of all the current office holders. >>holders. paul writes elvis and andre says let the cold war begin. >> my favorite is let's reanimate mike barnicle! sorry, guys. mike is not here today so i can take that shot. "morning joe." have a great weekend, guys. it begins right now. ♪ ♪ the city streets are empty now the lights don't shine no more ♪ >> you are known well there. >> good morning. it's friday, may 31st. with us on the set msnbc political analyst and visiting professor to nyu, former congressman harold