welcome back to "morning joe." time to talk about what we learned today. >> i have a new favorite brzezinski. ian brzezinski. >> i have a question. how many more brzezinskis are there floating around who we don't know about? >> matthew, my cousin. he's an expert on russia. my mom and dad, too. love you, too. kristen welker is up next with "the daily rundown." >> where's chuck? >> in the philippines. high alert. dozens of tornadoes tear through the heart of the country, killing 18 and leaving a path of destruction. and the threat isn't over for some states this morning. meantime, shocking racial comments allegedly by an nba owner shake the entire league and even prompt a response from president obama on the other side of the world. >> and pope francis sends two of

his predecessors into sainthood. we'll get the very latest on the ground outside the vatican. and a very good morning to you from washington. it's monday, april 28, 2014. this is "the daily rundown." i'm kristen welker in for chuck todd, who is still traveling with the president and will join us from manila. but we start with the worst tornado outbreaks this year. 18 people have been killed and more storms are threatening communities in tennessee and mississippi at this very hour. this is what's left in the wake of one of the 31 tornadoes reported yesterday to the national weather service. arkansas was hit hardest with 16 people killed in towns near little rock. the national guard is helping people. firefighters and volunteers look for survivors. separate twisters killed two more people, one in oklahoma and another in iowa. smaller tornadoes were spotted in nebraska, illinois and mississippi. but that arkansas storm cut the widest path of destruction. this is aerial footage of the

damage in mayflower. the storm stretched almost a mile wide and damaged neighborhoods for miles. president obama had this message from the victims. >> i want everyone affected by this tragedy to know that fema and the federal government is on the ground and will help our fellow americans in need, working with state and local officials and i want everybody to know that your country will be there to help you recover and rebuild as long as it takes. >> and the tornado threat is not over this morning. another suspected tornado touched down early this morning in northwest louisiana. let's bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins with the very latest. what are we expecting today? >> that was a large violent, long track tornado for two hours that was bouncing off up and down along the his of arkansas. this morning we haven't had a lot of nasty tornadoes. we have had some really strong

thunderstorms with hail and gust e gusty winds. this is the memphis area all clear for now, drifting toward i-40 in nashville, tennessee. we had 31 preliminary reports of tornadoes from nebraska to iowa. this was the one that did all of the huge damage right through central and northern arkansas. again for about two and a half hours it was producing tornadoes. within of this many was a large wedge tornadoes. when we hear the word "wedge," picture a wedge down into the ground, half mile wide, three quarters of a mile wide, winds violent, 150 miles an hour, steam rolling everything in its path. that's what happened with this storm. as we go through the day today, 28 million people at risk of severe weather from louisville to bowling green. this area of red is the greatest risk of tornado today.

northern alabama and central tennessee are the focus areas. but as we learned yesterday, it only takes one. >> thank you, bill karins. we will bring you updates throughout the day. >> president obama is wrapping up a state dinner in the philippines, his last stop on a four-nation asia trip. the president confirmed that the u.s. will impose new targeted sanctions on russian individuals today. here's what he had to say. take a listen. >> we are going to be moving forward with an expanded list of individuals and companies that will be affected by sanctions. they remain targeted. we will also focus on some areas of high tech defense exports to russia. the goal here is not to go after mr. putin personally. the goal is to change his

calculus and to encourage him to actually walk the walk and not just talk the talk. >> but the president has been reluctant to get ahead of european allies who are slow walking more punishing actions that would do more damage to russia's economy. the european union is expected to sanction 15 individuals today, but it has resisted sanctions on russia's banking or energy sectors. >> we don't yet know whether it's going to work. and that's why the next phase, if in fact we saw further russian aggression towards ukraine could be sectoral sanctions. >> russian president vladimir putin has already responded warning the end of russian imports would be a disaster to ukraine. today pro-russian armed rebels seized a police headquarters and municipal building in the donetsk region. on sunday a militia paraded

eight unarmed military monitors. one was released and the others are still being held. the president took on his foreign policy critics who argued his response to crisis around the world would be weak. >> why is it everybody's so eager to use military force? we shouldn't be putting troops in the critics will say. that's not what we mean. well, what are you saying? well, we should be arming ukrainians more. do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into ukraine could potentially deter the russian army? many who were proponents of what i consider to be a disastrous decision to go into iraq haven't

really learned the lesson of the last decade. and they keep on just playing the same note over and over again. >> chuck todd is live in manila where he's traveling with the president. chuck, we're learning a little bit more about the sanctions. they'll apparently target seven russian officials. what more do you know? what's the very latest there? >> it's seven russian officials close with putin, 17 different companies who will now have some -- get direct sanctions against them. and then additional companies that the commerce department -- most of these sanctions are coming from treasury, that the commerce department is trying to make exporting and importing -- you heard the president hinting at that. the bigger picture here is the united states was ready to do

sectoral sanctions, if europe was ready to do sectoral sanctions. the president made the case if the u.s. went alone on sectoral sanctions, two things would happen in his mind. number one, it gives putin the opportunity to make this just about the united states and that's a political feather in putin's cap, as least as far as the president is concerned. and the second reason he believes it a mistake is he thinks the europeans would not follow suit and would back fill and take an economic hit for the united states and companies in the united states without having the intended consequences on the russians. the decision is to go with the europeans and the europeans clearly are not ready to go very far. i want to unpack two other parts of this very quickly. one is what's going on here in the philippines. over the last three years, this asia pivot and we've mostly focused on expanding economic

times with southeast asia. the other part has been expanding the u.s. military footprint. we had a basing agreement in australia a couple years ago and now we have a new basing agreement here in the philippines and the president, while he said this is not about checking china, at the same time having these troops here is about having them a lot quicker and to help out when necessary, when there are territorial disputes in the east and south china sea. and finally, his response on his foreign policy critics, the president has been venting about this privately and now he let it go publicly a little bit and he really is upset most of the criticism he believes he gets comes from people who were very supportive of the iraq war and he thinks that their judgment should be more questioned than his judgment, which of course he almost went there very directly in the comments that he made publicly today. but this is something he's been privately seething about for some time. >> the first time we've heard him weigh in on that in light of this recent crisis in ukraine.

chuck, thanks so much for that reporting. i'm going to ask you to stay right there. we're going to bring you back in just a minute. we want to turn now to the controversy over racially charged remarks allegedly made by a major pro sports franchise owner. the nba is promising an investigation after tmz posted what it says is an audio recording of a conversation between los angeles clippers owner donald sterl aing and his then girl friend. according to tmz, he was upset that his girl friend posted this photo with magic johnson on his instagram account. this is what he said. >> yeah, it bothers me that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. >> in a statement the clippers president says, quote, we do not know if it is legitimate or if it has been altered.

mr. sterling is emphatic is not consistent with nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. clippers players protested silently before their game sunday, dropping their warmups on center court to reveal shirts turned inside out to reveal the clippers logo. the naacp was set to honor sterling with a lifetime achievement award but interim president lorraine miller said sunday on "meet the press" that that is no longer going to lap. and president obama weighed in on the controversy all the way from malaysia, answering a question from chuck. >> when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk. and that's what happened here. i have confidence that the nba commissioner, adam silver, a good man, will address this.

obviously the nba is a league that is beloved by fans all across the country. it's got an awful lot of african-american players. it's steeped in african-american culture. and i suspect that the nba is going to be deeply concerned in resolving this. >> chuck todd is still with us from the philippines. chuck, thanks for sticking around. and "sports illustrated"'s phil taylor joins us. phil, i want to start with you. if it is confirmed that this is in fact sterling, what kind of action should be taken and how much of a test is there for the new nba commissioner adam silver? >> it's a huge test for the new commissioner opinion t commissioner. the feeling is if this is true and proven to be sterling on the

audio tapes that he should be fined and stripped of his franchise. whether that can happen legally, it's a big question but it's certainly something the commissioner, i'm told, is exploring, the possibility of forcing sterling out of the league. >> chuck, let me turn to you now. do you anticipate that's something that we might see, see him forced out of the league? i also want to get your reaction to that really fiery response from president obama to your question. >> let me just focus on the preds president's interest in this story a little bit. you don't know if the president wants to weigh in. he's weighed in on these issues in the past. it was literally a care to comment. but he definitely wanted to weigh in on this. the other issue on his mutual fund when he was giving that answer about donald sterling were those racially motivated comments that came from that

nevada rancher late last week. that's why the president himself said there still is a small group of people where ignorance reigns, essentially, on these issues. the larger issue culturally is that it's a reminder that there is no more -- about 10 or 15 years ago there would be an excuse as to why somebody made racially charged comments. maybe they were culturally uneducated, they come from a different generation. it seems that you see now that there is completely zero tolerance for this. but i want a question to phil because my expertise is not on these nba bylaws. major league baseball does have the power to force owners to sell. they just did it with the los angeles dodgers about two years ago. ironically magic johnson is now the owner there since he's at the center of this. does the nba have that same

power? i know baseball's power over its franchises is much greater than any other league. how much power does the nba have to do that with sterling? >> it's not clear whether the nba has that much power. it's confidential. i'm told their only mechanisms for removing an owner or forcing him to sell is if he's having financial troubles. there's no precedent as baseball did with marge schott over outside issues or something they said. that's something that will be explored over the next week or two weeks, to figure out whether or not adam silver does have that power. my sense is that they will find a way, even if they can't actually strip sterling of the franchise, to convince him that it's in his best interest and in the league's best interest to sell. i don't think that there's much

chance you'll see donald sterling as an owner in the nba long term. >> let me ask you one quick follow up. sterling has an issue of making racially charged comments. he has been legally sanctioned for it so why hasn't the nba taken action sooner? why did it take this for all of this to come to light and for it to be a question about whether or not he should step down? >> that's the question that the players are asking. i think that's really the reason they are so outraged, not just at what sterling has said recently but the fact that he does have this long history of racial comments, attitudes and practices. the feeling is that the league, although they certainly feel as though sterling has been a thorn in their side for a long time, these stories never really gained much traction in the past. even the settlement that he paid in the housing discrimination lawsuit. they've only been small, kind of temporary dents in the league's reputation and the league has been willing to live with it.

this one they won't be able to live with. this time i think it's finally blown up in their faces. >> thank you for your insights. we'll be right back with more "daily rundown." stay with us. [ female announcer ] the sun powers life. ♪ and now it powers our latest innovation.

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people crowded into vatican city to watch the first-ever canonization of two hopes at one time. pope emeritus benedict joined pope francis in recognizing john paul ii and john xxiii as saints. this was the largest crowd ever to gather for a canonization. the catholic church recognizes more than 10,000 saints. only 83 popes have now been canonized. george joins us live from just

outside the vatican with more on this historic day. george, you were there. tell us what it was like to be there and also give as you sense of what the broader message is for the catholic church moving forward. >> as you can see behind me, the celebration that began here in the early, before-dawn hours yesterday morning with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims streaming into the square has continued today. there are still pilgrims from all over the world in rome in rome celebrating these two extraordinary lives. and in a day unlike any other in history, there was an extraordinary density of modern catholicism being lived out here in st. peters square yesterday. two of the most consequential popes of the 20th century canonized. pope francis, who has caught the

imagination of the world leading the celebration. pope emeritus benedict witnessing the canonization of the man, john paul ii, whose closest collaborator he was for almost 25 years. i think what this doubleheader, as some have called it, means in the mind of pope francis is that these two popes are the two book ends of the second vatican council, the most important event in catholicism since the 16th century. john xxiii initiated the council in 1962 and courageously saw it through a difficult first period. john paul ii over the more than 26 years of his pontificate gave the council and authoritative interpretation. >> george weigel, thank you so much for your insights and sharing with us what it was like to be there. we appreciate it. time for the day's first number in today's data bank.

two. that's the number of years the fbi has been reportedly investigating new york congressman michael grimm. the republican turned himself into the fbi this morning. the charges are allegedly connected to a business deal made before he was elected to congress. grimm made headlines in january, you'll recall, after he threatened to throw a reporter over a balcony. there's some of the video. and as can you see on "the planner", he's expected to be arraigned this afternoon and a lot more today. very busy day. we'll be right back with chairman ed royce, who just got back from ukraine. we'll have the latest there. stay with us.

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there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place expedia, find yours president obama is taking another shot at stopping moscow from mettling in ukraine but president putin shows no sign of buckling under pressure.

the sanctions will hit 17 officials linked to putin's inner circle. meanwhile, members of the e.u. have reached a preliminary agreement on their own new set of sanctions, but on the ground the rebellion against ukraine's government in kiev goes on. separatists seized buildings of a new city in the east and took control of the tv station in donetsk. and scuffles erupted over the weekend and we got word earlier that the mayor of the city was shot and wounded. congressm congressman, thank you so much for joining us. >> it's good to be with you. >> you just got back from ukraine meeting with top official there is. based on what you saw on the ground in ukraine, are the sanctions that were announced today by the obama administration enough? >> well, clearly it is helping in the sense that the stock

market is down 25% and the russian ruble is down. but at the same time, what you actually have happening and we traveled out to the east, the reports we got from the russian speaking population there was that russian special forces were actually leading the charge. they were the ones that had taken over some of these city halls and put up the russian flag, and they would find fringe candida candidate there is locally to do their bidding but the actual muscle was slide by russian agents and you've seen the photographs of russian operatives who had done the same thing in crimea and done the same thing in georgia and were now in assignment in eastern ukraine. i would say that's pretty problematic. >> president obama has said that he does not intend to move forward with sectoral sanctions at this point because he believes it's stronger to present a united front. do you agree with that

assessment or do you think the united states should move forward with tougher sanctions based on the comments you just made? >> here's the key determinant. the elections are may 25th. the united states is putting about 2,000 election observers in with our ngo groups and europe will put in another several thousand. this is to make sure that people in the east, as well as the west, can actually go to the polls and not be intimidated by the agents of russia there. i would say a lot is going to depend upon whether russian troops actually try to come over the bored are and prevent that election in the east. when we were in the east, we saw ngo groups, civil society groups, the local governor all preparing for that election. they felt the election was very important because it would give everybody the ability to go to the polls, including in the east, and elect a new government, a legitimate government. and, you know, we did not find

people even -- even among those who were concerned about some of these issues, who wanted to be part of russia. what we found were people looking forward to that election. >> congressman, over the weekend deputy national security adviser tony lincoln said on "meet the press," he doesn't think putin is going to invade. do you agree with that assessment? >> i don't think we know. because there's already russian special forces across the east operating there. and in addition, they have agents on the ground, they're taking over radio stations and forcing russian broadcasting. i think that what you've got here is a situation where it's very much in play. i would suggest if we threatened certain sectors of their economy, especially if we went after mining, financial services, energy, if the united states were to announce a major program to ship gas into ukraine

and break the russian monopoly in eastern europe, these types of steps would, i think, have an impact. right now i'm not certain that we've got an approach that is really sending the message to moscow that we're serious about dislodging their ability to have a gas monopoly over eastern europe. >> all right. congressman ed royce, i appreciate it. we'll have to leave it there. thank you. >> thanks very much. >> and time now for the next number in today's data bank. 44.9. that's the percentage of the vote afghanistan's former foreign minister received in the election last month. it's not enough for the candidate to avoid a runoff. he will likely face off against ashraf ghani. the results will be made final next month. >> next, we're digging up dirt

in the garden state, which brings us to today's trivia question. how many of the past four elected mayors of newark were indict indicted? no cheating. the first person to tweet the correct answer to @dailyrundown will get an on-air shout out. rir information safe & secure. century link. your link with what's next.

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and half the delegation. you might think the state should be more republican. most voters come from the suburbs and pretty wealthy ones that the. new jersey's median income is the second highest in the nation, just behind maryland, but on social issues, the state tends to be relatively moderate and 42 are minorities, and one in five new jersey residents are foreign born. new jersey constituents have a rocky relationship with their lawmakers and for good reasons. over the last decade and a half, more than 400 new jersey public officials, from senators to mayors, have been convicted of corruption. the mayor of trenton was convicted of extortion and bribery just two months ago. he'll go down in history

alongside his colleagues. >> how did we become such an unforgiving people? how did we become a society when people can build credibility your entire life to have it questioned? >> the state's trail of troubles goes on and on and sometimes it goes straight to the top. in the 13 years since governor christie todd whitman left office, there have been seven acting governors. when he tried to win the job outright, allegations about questionable business transactions forced him out of the race. jim mcgreevey won but didn't finish a full term, after pending sexual harassment suits, he resigned his office and made

this stunning announcement. >> at a point in every person's life one has to look deeply into the mirror of one as soul and decide one's unique truth in the world. and so my truth is that i am a gay american. >> after senate president dick cody held the seat as acting governor for two years, he made way for millionaire john corzine, so unpopular that voters launched a recall effort for the first time in state history. republican chris christie knocked out corzine in 2009 but as we know, he's had problems of his own lately. >> with me, professor, thank you for joining me. >> thanks for having me on.

>> how does the chris christie, use figt into the broader histoy of corruption in new jersey. >> one of the reasons is it fits all too well into the recent history. new jersey residents have a finely attuned sense of what is over the line and what is in the gray zone and it seems like a lot of what's been going on could have been over the line. and we've seen that time and time again in the last 15 years. >> professor murphy, the center for public integrity gives new jersey a c-minus when it comes to corruption. >> that good, huh? >> but we should point out seven states earned an "f." what do you think makes the state susceptible to corruption? you're not getting an "a" for example? >> i think a bunch of different things that go on in new jersey.

first of all, there are a tremendous number of municipalities. if you look at the number of municipalities new jersey has, plus county government, plus school boards, there are so many different small and medium-sized governments that voters would have to monitor that it becomes an almost impossible task to keep an eye on what all of them are doing. and remember, all of these different agencies and level of government write their own contracts, employ their own law firms, they employ many, many different kinds of employees. there are so many opportunities to make money in government in new jersey, it makes it irresistible for people to go on and do what they shouldn't do for not much money. people have been sent away to prison for getting things like a swimming pool or a bunch of suits, really small bore stuff. we're not talking million dollar

payouts, we're talking $5,000, someone sells their office. >> you have a republican governor. how do republicans continue to win some of those seats despite the fact that new jersey is fairly blue. is it because the republicans are more moderate? >> yes. the way you run for office sometimes is determined where you're born and where your district votes. if there's a marginal advantage for republicans, someone like chris christie, could have easily run as a democrat if he had been from somewhere else in the state. a lot it have is how the district is drowned how the parties fall. on social issues where the national republicans are ends up being fairly toxic for republicans in the state so they tend to avoid those issues.

>> professor brian murphy, thanks very much. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on. >> absolutely. >> 80% is the graduation rate in public high schools in new york. >> iowa has the highest graduation rate. the report, which will be released later today, projects a national graduation rate of t the -- of 90% by 2020. let's hope that happens. and yankee bean is the soup of the day at the diner in clifton, new jersey. we have activities. and i couldn't do any of that. any time anything brushed up against this rash it would seem like it would set it on fire again.

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iowa. winds were clocked at 150 miles per hour at the height of the storm. tens of thousands are still without power. and we just learned that school districts in northern alabama are sending students home early in anticipation of more servive storms. tennessee, mississippi and alabama are all at risk for storms this afternoon. we will have updates right here on msnbc, so stay with us. >> trivia time now. three of the last four of elected mayors of newark were indict indicted. the only person elected mayor and not indicted since the 1960s is cory booker, the current mayor. a lot of people tweeted me and got the right answer as well. we'll give you congratulations

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we are getting a preview of the we are getting a look at the caucuses of the five leading republicans aiming to take on bruce brayley and the senate conservatives fund, and mitt romney, and the former alaskan vice presidential candidate has weighed in. and there has been a record-breaking $1.6 million for ernst. over the weekend, sarah palin mentioned another guy that we might see in the future, former governor jeb bush, and she

needled him, and listen. >> do you think that jeb bush is a conservative and what did you think of the act of love comment? >> i think that anybody who breaks a law in america as their first action as putting the first foot on the homeland illegally, it may be an act of love, but it is called illegal for a reason. >> and hosting us is the take wade wilson who is a reporter for the beat plog, and casey who was there over the weekend. and casey, what were the ta takeaways on the weekend and the state of the race? >> well, there is something in the water in iowa, and there must be, because there are a lot of the sort of the off of the wall elements going on in the race. joannie ernst with this ad she ran talking about castrating the hogs on a farm, and i spoke with

her over the weekend and she said it is a delicate procedure. and there is also bob kwaust is talking about taking a glock to certain body parts and businessman mark jacobs who is in an interview with us said that senators don't make that much money, and the campaign later clarified the comments, but it is pointing to being out of touch businessman. >> and you talked about the castrating hogs, and what do you think? >> well, we used to think that iowas were very friendly, but this. >> yes. >> and the link is that i am tough here, and i will go after washington and be tough, and i will go after the pork. she got a huge amount of attention with this ad and helped her in the race no doubt. >> reed, some say that is too

far. >> well, this is only republican if it sweeps a number of other sweeps into the republican column now sh, and this is the eighth or the ninth seat that republicans would pick up, but it is going tell the y-- going o tell you that the groups are starting to spend on behalf of their congressman bruce brayley, their candidate, and the fact that they have to spend money there, proves that they are doing better there than they have in last few years. >> and this year, sarah palin taking a shot at jeb bush, and his candidacy or potential candidacy becoming more and more of a focus of the tea the partiers. >> yes, and the immigration comments could pose a problem for the right wing in western ya iowa. that is home to steve king who has made over the years many aggressive comments about immigration and immigrants. as for hillary clinton, and i spoke with congressman bruce

brayley about her, and he did not go so far to say that he would support her if she got in, and he said that first she has to decide to run. >> and for the first time this weekend, she was interview and opening up publicly about the fai faith. >> well, in the last couple of weeks she has been talking more personally, and offering a window into the decision-making process of whether she wants to run in 2016, and people who say that they know whether or not she is going to run doesn't know the truth. at the end of the day, it is clear that she is thinking about it. i remember a month ago, one of the clinton advisers said that she may believe that she has a decision, by the train may be far away where the the station. >> and what about elizabeth warren, because she said that she is not running, but she is having a big impact on the 2016

race. >> yes, and you can see the difference of elizabeth warren and the hillary clinton in the whole way they approach things. elizabeth warren's book which is deeply personal, and populist in the message is a different approach than hillary clinton who is a much more cautious politici politician. what she did over the weekend was interesting, and wu of the problems in 2008 is could she connect with people in a personal way? open up and make people connect with her, and when she addressed the methodist group to do that. >> and thank you all. that it is for this edition of "the daily rundown." up next, betty nguyen is in for chris jansing with the severe weather forecast, and plus, sharon watts who took her gun battle straight into the nra

annual meeting over the weekend. have a great monday. i'm msnbc bill karins,meteol karins, and we are looking for the potential of another tornado outbreak in the afternoon and the evening hours, and we are focusing on alabama and southern tennessee, and that area there, and the strong storms rolling through areas like chicago. have a great day. (meow mix jingle)

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the clippers storm a silent prot protest from the players, deafening outrage from everyone else. if the clippers' owner donald sterling did make the racist remarks what can and should the nba do to punish him? >> action plan, president obama announces new sanctions targeting russia. as congress returns, we will talk to one lawmaker back from ukraine about how to handle a situation of danger that is spiraling out of control. and the palin power play. >> and she who is one who grew up castrating hogs will know how to make the big spending piggies there squeal. >> and mama grizzly roaring through the several senate races, but is her brand what the party needs to win the national elections. good morning, everyone. i'm betty nguyen in for chris jansing today. we want to start with a weather

alert. right now four states are under a tornado watch as a one-two punch barrels through the heartla heartland. it is one of 31 reported tornados to touch down yesterday, and more on the way at any moment. tornados are reported for 18 deaths across three states. 16 in arkansas, one in oklahoma, and one in iowa. the damage is unthinkable. check it out. this used to be a neighborhood, and now homes are just fl flattened. 19,000 people in arkansas don't have power. and this inkrcredible video tha you have to see it, and this is what the storm chaser sauce yesterday in mayflower, arkansas, and let's go the mike bet tus in baxter springs, arkansas, where at least 25 people were hurt there, and mike, what is the damg on the ground? we can see nothing but debris behind you. >> yes, it is extensive, betty. looking behind me, betty, this is what used to be a roller rink, and if you can