we are not going to be here next week because of nbc sports coverage of auto racing, formula one. but we will be back on june 1st. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." good monday morning. right now on "first look," on alert. the first report of mers right here in the u.s. after exposure to an infected patient. the cdc is scrambling. pfizer rejected while at&t pushes forward. a lot to tell you about. michael jackson, the king of pop rules at the billboard music awards. plus the monster debut weekend. a fancy way to get around, but will it be reality. and is california chrome done before he can go for the triple crown? a very good morning for you. i'm richard lui. the first time it's ever happened in the united states. a mid steer yoysterious virus h

from one person to another. an illinois man met and shook hands with a health care worker who traveled to saudi arabia for business. nbc's melissa mollet is in washington for us. how much concern is there about this spreading even further? >> well, there is a lot of worry about the spreading both here state side and overseas. of course, a lot of people very, very nervous as we talk a bit more about this and really keeping an eye out for the symptoms. >> reporter: the contact in this case came state side during a business meeting just 40 minutes and a brief handshake between an infected man from india who had been working in saudi arabia and an illinois picked it up. >> it looks like this will be the first case in the u.s. of contraction of mers. >> reporter: the illinois man only showed symptoms through a mild cold. he's no longer sick and was

asked to isolate himself. the man who had been in the middle east spent several weeks in the hospital and is better. the case is raising new questions about how the virus is transmitted. >> we have to be very careful about just giving people this false security but at the same time we have to state that the problem is largely limited to the middle east. >> reporter: warnings now in airports for those traveling overseas. the virus is tricky and symptoms range from none to a severe cold and respiratory problems. >> about two years ago persons having close contact with camels, either in caring for the camels or in particular consuming camel products, began to develop this infection. >> reporter: the virus started in saudi arabia back in 2012. there is no vaccine or cure and only symptoms can be treated. now at this point, richard, we know that the virus has spread to 15 countries. about 600 people have been sickened. 1/3 of them have actually died.

>> nbc's melissa mollet, thank you. 5,000 family and friends did not get to celebrate the graduation they planned to. two bomb threats stalled them and the 425 quinnipiac students at the ceremony. 22-year-old danielle shea told police she phoned in the threats. shea said she did not want her parents to realize her name was not going to be called at graduation. >> they got us up here and they got the graduation going. we were all happen bring once we started the ceremony. >> shea told police her mother paid her thousands of dollars for her education but she did not attend any classes the last school year. the country's biggest satellite provider is being bought for $48 million. at&t will buy directv becoming the nation's second largest provider of television services. it allows at&t to expand its

mobile, video and broadband services. this includes some 26 million video subscribers plus a broadband network that could would ever 70 million customer locations. this move is seen as an attempt to compete against comcast and time warner cable. if this goes through it will be the largest paid tv provider. republican national committee chairman rice prevus sauce questions about hillary clinton's age is valid. his recent comments suggested hillary had a brain injury. >> i think that health and age is fair game. it was fair game for ronald regan. i'm not a doctor. the issue will come up for any person running for president. >> priebus said hillary might rethink a possible run if, as she puts it, she has another run

like she just had. california chrome is one race away from winning the triple crown but there may be a new obstacle in the way. in his last six victories california chrome has worn a nasal strip. new york stap is a rare exception. this means the colt may not be allowed to wear one during the belmont stakes. racing officials will not allow i'll have another to wear them during the 2012 race. like california chrome, that horse had already won the first two legs of the triple crown. audiences were stunned at last night's billboard music awards when the king of pop made this appearance. he performed an elaborate routine. the crowd went wild at the high tech spectacle. some were even moved to tears. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> francis rivera joins us. did you look at this? >> i can't get over that. it looked like he was there. >> it took us back ten years. >> let's get started with sports on "first look." we tip off with the nba's latest rivalry. lebron james has an alley-oop. from there it is all indiana. six pacers scoring double digits. paul george led the way with 24 points as indiana wins 107-96. winning saturday's preakness states made california chrome the most popular day of the day.

he shared with ray lewis and swimmer michael phelps. mike tyson and tom brady. look what they did? of course when all these slebs get together. >> is that francis back there on the right? >> with the hat? >> yeah. is that you? >> when i called in sick from work? >> don't tell. >> on the baseball diamond colorado turns the historic play, he was initially ruled safe but he's called out after a san diego runner, you see it? 1905 if you want to see it. that's not all. >> this ball is to center field. this is going to be caught. at the track. jumping up and it leaves the ballpark. >> so that's the end of that. game over. walk-off two-run homer in the tenth inning wins it, 8-6. >> this texas rangers fan

appears to score some coolness points. she thinks he gave her the foul ball. she gets a dud. he keeps the real souvenere. >> suave. >> he was ready for that. >> that's a plan in the making right there. >> all right. watch this. a scary moment on a georgia racetrack. drag racer andra brown slams into a wall erupting into a fireball. here's brown. walks away from the fiery wreck unscathed. he thinks he's won. no. no. that's a little bit unfortunate for the spaniard. clearly doesn't understand english. the commentator saying, no, no, no. >> premature celebration. it was costly. with one lap to go he quickly catches up pushing him back to a 56 link finish in that california race. >> pretty easy to understand there. >> when you say, no, no, no, that kind of translates.

>> right. right. right. he had one more to go. thank you very much. >> sure thing. >> bill karins, can you believe that? >> that's wrong. >> he didn't realize no, no, no in many languages. >> the flood waters watching in serbia. big issue in the balkans. >> they need help. >> record flooding. they haven't seen it in 120 years. the floods triggering more than 3,000 landslides in bosnia and serbia. tens of thousands had to leave their homes as well as two dozen people have died so far. i'm hoping this will be a letup or that's it, right? >> they have three months worth of rain in two days. i mean, think about that. >> a lot of stuff. >> they're saying people that are 100 years old have never seen anything like this in the region. they need a lot of help. it's a big disaster. >> unbriefable pictures that we're looking at. >> it wasn't little rural towns. >> the markers from the war that we were talking about earlier on the break that marked where all the mines were washed away.

>> quiet as could be around here. no issues at all going on. we have the fires as we started the weekend in california. today's forecast just like it was over the weekend. very cool. ideal. still at 100% severe drought. exceptional. 25%. we still have huge drought problems. not going to rainy time soon in california. also drought pretty bad in north texas and oklahoma. all the rain is in the dakotas and heading through minnesota. in wisconsin, carry the umbrella for you. forecast for the rest of the country, just like it was this weekend. a beautiful weekend turns into a great monday for the eastern seaboard. a little chilly. richard, looks like a fantastic start. >> bill karins, thank you. the first for same-sex military benefits plus one of the coolest ways to get around. a traffic cop takes on a reckless driver head on. details in three as "first look" continues.

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let's get down to business with cnbc's sema moody. >> good morning. tech is a big headline for us this morning. facebook is report tedly developing its own video chat after snap chat. the app would allow users to send short video messages using a test screen. google is reportedly striking a deal to buy the gaming site twitch for more than $1 million. the all cash deal would be announced imminently. >> good news at the pump. the average price of a regular gall of gasoline has dropped 3.5 cents over the past two weeks. this according to the latest lundberg survey. >> sema moody. some other stories we're following, wild fire evacuations are lifted. california governor jerry brown warned a severe drought makes it seem like only a matter of time before the next battle begins. >> if washington can change the drought, i'd ask them, but we

live in a world where it's not just government or not just business. we're going to deal with nature as best we can. humanity is on a collision course with nature and in the meantime all we can do is fight all these damn fires. >> history for same-sex military couples. a gay widow of an army soldier killed in afghanistan will receive full benefits. and here is whatnot to do if you get pulled over for a ticket. you see there, this driver in china tries to speed away except the police officer latches himself onto the hood of the car. what? hangs on for half a mile sustaining no injuries. the driver was arrested for dangerous and reckless driving. >> 3, 2, 1. blastoff. for real. a man flying around washington, d.c.'s ronald regan building

using a hydrogen and nitrogen jet back. it was part of the second annual the future is here. it does appear the future is here with a very good landing. scrambled politics is up next. first, godzilla blew away expectations this weekend. the $93 million haul was the year's second biggest opening weekend. neighbors fell to second place with 26 mil. "the amazing spider-man" was just shy of 17 million. we'll be right back. master of d. who would have thought three cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds would go with a merging markets. it's a masterpiece. thanks. clearly you are type e. you made it phil. welcome home. now what's our strategy with the fondue? diversifying your portfolio? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*?

my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor. sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before surgery or a medical or dental procedure.

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hoor's your first look of scrambled politics. karl rove is saying sunday he has no regrets on his comments on hillary clinton's health. >> i'm not questioning her health, what i'm questioning is is whether or not it's a done deal that she's running, and she would not be human if she did not take this into consideration. she'll be 69 at the time of the 2016 election. if she gets elected and serves two terms, she'll be 77. >> senator dianne feinstein dismissed concerns about hillary clinton's health. >> in my view, she's in the prime of her political life. she's got the energy. she's articulate. she's got the background. she's got the smarts. she has all of the elements of a good leader. sunday former vice president dick cheney slammed president obama on foreign policy. he said the president has demonstrated he can be pushed around. >> there has developed over the years of the obama administration i think a sense

on the part of others that we have a weak government. >> while former treasury secretary timothy geithner praised the president saying he was excellent in crisis. >> my overwhelming experience was this is a man, very good at making decisions, unpopular decisions after looking at all the evidence who was willing at that time to put policy ahead of politics. >> watch arizona senator john mccain react to a home run sunday. it was the first of two home runs by paul goldschmidt. >> some sad news, miss beasley has died of cancer. former president bush released a statement in part saying, quote, she was a close companion to her blood relative barney. even though he received all the attention, beazley never got any attention. we'll miss her. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics.

now to the at&t merger with directv. a deal some analysts are saying could affect one in four households. 80 million people in the u.s. could have 25% fewer paid tv provider choices. joining me now david nakamura with the washington post. david, good morning to you. you're very aware of the move in dc as we look at two major deals being considered. this latest one the fcc and antitrust regulators have to check off on it. >> absolutely, richard. you're seeing the sort of buildup among internet and phone providers trying to get as big as possible. they can help the consumers through the greater internet speeds through mobile service. the truth is there's some skepticism here. i think you're seeing the companies do this to compete with each other. there's a lot of pressure on regulators to look at the narrowing of options the consumers have. this will likely raise costs in some cases and i think you see why at&t might like something like directv, bringing video to

their mobile phones. i think there will be fresh look at the comcast time warner deals as all the companies build up as big as they can. >> let's talk julian castro. rumors are he'll lead h.u.d. this could be a record three concurrent cabinet members that are latino. >> obama administration has looked at the mayor of san antonio for a while now. he's been reported as leading the transportation department but he turned that down to run for mayor and serve for mayor again. this time he's changed his mind. they look at a capable mayor and managing the department of housing right up his wheel house. he did well at the convention when he gave his speech in 2012. something for latinos who are concerned about immigration reform, this is something that can relieve some of that

pressure. he can speak to some of those issues. >> lots of folks watching julian castro. david nakamura from the washington post, thank you. >> thank you. >> bill karen is back on first buz including the best costume you'll ever seen. its unique formula penetrates buz including the best costume you'll ever seen. buz including you'll ever seen. ubuz includinge you'll ever seen. xbuz including costume you'll ever seen. buz ine you'll ever seen. zbuz including costume you'll ever seen. zbuz i costume you'll ever seen. "buz i costume you'll ever seen. inclue you'll ever seen. also try new listerine® naturals. the only mouthwash that combines the power of listerine® with naturally sourced ingredients.

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how about the hugs. pharrell there. >> they had a great party that went on in rock plaza until 5:00 a.m. >> he's the one with the cup next door. >> working the overnight shift. >> enviously, i said, i want to be in that party that i cannot be. they were having a great time. francis rivera, let's talk about what's buzzing for you. >> you see these street performers. you will never see anything like this unless you're in ann arbor michigan. all the kids are loving it. he's a transformer. he transforms. he moves around. >> how is he doing this? >> watch him come out of it. >> kids love it. look at that. >> how cool is that? he must be -- i don't know. >> he must be pretty physical

and strong. >> if he came to new york. >> times square, clean out. >> absolutely. >> tips. >> two or three actually. he got the maze right. he can do the blue car. >>hill low wean costume. put your kid on the back. >> this guy, if he's not the only one out there. >> rubik's cube. >> it's been well advertised the 40th. today is one of those days, a slow monday at your workplace, the google doodle will occupy a lot of your free time if you have it today. you can literally do the cube on the doodle yourself. >> did you actually try it? >> it is very interactive, very easy. i'm half which through it. i will continue to try to finish it. >> bill karins, you need the education. >> you've never completed a rubin's cube. >> we're not cheaters like you. you read the book. >> i did not cheat. >> you are a cheater. >> i got the book. i went through all the pages. i memorized it. >> you know what you do, you take it apart and put it back

together. >> that's no fun. >> it took me two minutes to finish it. how fast could you do it? >> i am so not made up of it. >> you're destroying it. he's cheating it. >> i'm richard lui, this is first look on msnbc. "way too early" with thomas roberts starts right now. general motors makes cars that america can be proud of, cars you could never describe as defective or catastrophically flawed. gruesome, potentially disfiguring. that's not our cars. we make sleek, nongrenade like antihindenburgs that are the opposite of kevorkianesque. why not tell your family you love them and test drive a gm car today. driving a gm car is so smooth, it's like butter and you're toast. general motors, why walk through the valley of the shadow of death when you can drive.

>> so it was a smoking gunman date from gm on banned words when talking about their car's litany of safety issues, so how does this impact the brand's bottom line? california chrome shines brightly at preakness but is there a chance the two jewel horse may not finish its triple crown run? m and hollow gram. how they resurrect the king of pop for an original performance. this is "way too early." hey there, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. hope you had a great weekend. it is monday, may 19th. welcome to "way too early." the show that does not use any ho holograms. wait until you see this michael jackson performance. some people are offended, some are intoxicated by it. a new pole showing