history, the stories of survival, healing and the plans to make the neighborhood stronger than it's ever been before. primary day across much of the nation. the recognizable names facing formidable challenges and the races that could have a larger impact on the elections in november. and the nba strikes back. new details on its plan to get donald sterling out of the owner's box and how many expect the billionaire to respond. this is "way too early" live from moore, oklahoma. hi, i'm thomas roberts. it is thursday, may 20th. welcome to "way too early." standing in front of plaza tower elementary school. this was one of the most hard-hit schools in the area. it lost seven children, but the devastating tornado that came through this area is one of the worst in american history. in all, 24 died. 400 were hurt and the town of

moore, oklahoma, leveled. but here we are, one year later and stand at ground zero as i mentioned of this storm where a sense of hope truly dominates the community as it rebuilds stronger. it comes back healed and more united than ever. >> it was pretty scary. everybody was rushing everybody and then i came out and i saw the cars and i saw the houses and i just started crying so hard. >> morning joe traveled to the scene just hours after the storm hit. the images were hard to comprehend. >> the scene behind us is like it's from a post apocalyptic movie. >> it's hard to wrap your mind around what you're seeing. >> what you're seeing is a neighborhood behind us here that is just no longer left standing. >> house, house, house and all that's left is foundations. i keep getting completely overwhelmed by these sights. this is a little girl's room, cds, a butterfly lamp and the

clothes still hanging. >> the tornado was a mile high at its base kicking up clouds of debris that stretched two miles wide. the area hospital built to help ease suffering became a symbolic image of the destruction throughout the neighborhood and it was the last day of class at the plaza towers elementary school. >> we had to sit like this and the tornado started knocking all the ceilings go up and down and a light went down and hit me in the head and all the other girls were screaming and they were crying. >> i had to hold on to the wall to keep myself safe because i didn't want to fly away in the tornado. >> it was coming. it was hitting and everybody said put your head down, but some people got hurt but we made it out alive. >> while the trauma is so clear in the voices of the children, the stories of survival went beyond the young. >> we had to pull a car out of

the front hallway off a teacher and she -- i don't know what that lady's name is but she had three little kids underneath her. good job, teach. you can see it ripped our house up. i saw a little girl buried there. >> it carved a 17-mile path on the ground for nearly ho minutes leaving thousands homeless. the wins were strong enough to rip the bark off trees and families did whatever they could to find shelter from the storm. >> we had the three girls in the tub and we had couch cushions behind them then my husband and i were knelt down in front laying over them with the mattress over us and we all had helmets on and we just hunkered together, you know, locked arms and just right there. >> can you believe that you guys survived? you rode this out in the family bathtub? >> no. only -- i think it's a miracle. i mean i don't know how i'm standing here. >> reporter: even president obama seemed emotional during his visit to the storm-ravaged community appearing to wipe away a tear while talking to a

victim. >> the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them beside them as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools to rebuild. businesses and hospitals to re-open, there are parents to console. first responders to comfort and, of course, frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms and classrooms and in time we're going to need to refill those spaces with love and laughter and community. >> it was last month that moore became the first city in the country to adopt rules specifically aimed at preventing extensive tornado damage with really tough new residential building codes. now going to require new homes to be built to withstand winds of up to 135 miles per hour. just to note this was an ef-5,

the classification of wind speeds that came through were over 200 miles per hour. we'll show you a lot more from moore, oklahoma, talk to local leaders and also governor marry fallon coming up on "morning joe" but other news we've budget following the buildup for weeks and in just a few hours voters will decide which candidates head to the general election in key battleground states. republican senator mitch mcconnell looks secure against matt bevin. but it's his likely opponent alice lundergan grimes who came out swinging at a rally in louisville. >> i am the kentucky woman who my republican colleagues have so generally referred to as an empty dress. that seeks to retire mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell fails to realize that it's labor that has lifted

millions out of poverty as he says no to collective bargaining, as he says no to prevailing wage, you will have someone in the united states senate who says right to work for less is just another name for union busting and i will have none of it. [ cheers and applause ] >> it's not just about keeping his seat in the senate. he's eyeing the role of majority leader should republicans take back control. >> there's only one thing we can do about it in 2014, in 2014 we can change the united states senate, make me the offensive coordinator instead of the defensive coordinator. >> all right. that would shift the balance of power gop candidates need to win six seats. mcconnell thinks that monica wehby may be one of them. >> i'm saying to you women in the room you'd love our candidate in oregon dominated today, tomorrow their primary is the same day as ours. she's a female pediatric neu neurosurgeon whose slogan is,

change your senator, not your doctor. [ cheers and applause ] >> wehby, however, has faced a bruises end to the campaign with some newly disclosed accusations she harassed her ex-husband during their divorce back in 2007 and he called the police and claimed she had pulled his hair, slapped him and threw items at him. on friday politico reported another man, this time a former boyfriend accused wehby of stalking him last year so if she wins today she'll go on to face democrat jeff merkley. supporters of marriage equality are hailing a federal judge's ruling that oregon's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional and issued licenses moments after it came down, they become the 18th state allowing for it. critics including the national organization of marriage are vowing to appeal. john kitzhaber tastes a ruling for freedom and same-sex couples

are celebrating. more than 1,000 marriages performed last year before an emergency stay by the supreme court must be recognized. all right, overseas there are some new concerns about tensions between the u.s. and china after a first of its kind indictment. five chinese nationals are now facing charges of allegedly hacking into computers of six u.s. companies and stealing trade secrets. the justice department says the companies included westinghouse, alcoa and u.s. steel. prosecutors allege the suspects are part of a military unit that uses e-mails to install malware on the company's computers. officials say the u.s. economy is the victim. >> cybertheft impacts real people in real and painful ways. the lifeblood of any organization is the people who work, strive and sweat for it. when these cyberintrusions occur, production slows. plants close, workers get laid

off and lose their homes. >> china's rejecting the allegations and accusing the u.s. of spying. the country's also pulling out of an agreement for the two to hold talks on cybersecurity. china has summoned u.s. ambassador max baucus demanding he have these charges eliminated. to nba news now. it is officially moving forward with its plans to strip donald sterling of his ownership of the clippers. sterling has been charged with conduct that has damaged and continues to damage the nba including hurting the league's relationship with its fans and advertisers. the disgraced owner has until may 27th to respond. his lawyers requested a three-month delay which is unlikely to happen. sterling will have the opportunity to make his case to fellow owners at a hearing coming up on june the 3rd. now, if three-fourths of the owners uphold the charges he will be forced to sell the clippers. moving on to business headlines today after ang up and

down day of trading they were able to finish in positive territory. the nasdaq in particular was boosted by a strong performance from internet stocks. cnbc's geoff cutmore is live in london to talk about what to expect. >> in a rather rebound, where a lot of the pain has been, that index up around 8%. worth pointing out the air is is thin. one of the lightest volumes that we've seen and the early indications are that we're going to have a weak start to the u.s. session. moving on, credit suisse has agreed to pay $2.6 billion for helping u.s. citizens to avoid taxes. this fine will be broken down. some goes to the new york regulator, the state department for financial services. the rest largely goes to the doj here but credit suisse interestingly the shares are rallying in europe at the moment because the market has decided,

well, hey, it could have been worse. back to you. >> and, geoff, i know we've been following the latest but pfizer once again struck out trying to take over british drugmaker. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean this bid has gone up to $119 billion but pfizer still rejected astrazeneca, the uk business saying this is still not enough but ian reid, the ceo at pfizer said that is the final offer so looks 90% certain now that pfizer will walk away and this deal in the sector will not get done. back to you. >> cnbc's geoff cutmore. thank you. ahead on "way too early," game one of the western conference times and thunder relying on their big two to get the upper hand. did westbrook and durant provide enough firepower to take out the spurs? we'll show you. schools at risk. the push to bring shelters to school as cross tornado alley

and the explanation as to why it can't happen right now. a lot of parents are scratching their head over this. why can't we take our schools more secure? that when "way too early" comes back live from moore, oklahoma. >> former teacher mary kay le turn another is marrying the student she was convicted of raping in washington state. letourneau was 34 when she had intimate relations with vili fill law, then a sixth grader. [ male announcer ] people all over the world know us,

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kevin durant makes it a two-point game with that three but san antonio buckles down taking advantage of the thunder's missing defensive presence without the injured serge ibaka. the spurs would win this series 1 2-105. tonight miami looks to get even in game two of the western conference finals against indiana. let's give you an update on the triple crown. california chrome's hopes are alive and breathing. the winner of the kentucky derby and preakness stakes are allowed to wear nasal strips at the bell .stakes. no horse has won the triple crown since 1978 and california chrome is one to watch. all right, we take you to the ice for the stanley cup playoffs. rangers and canadiens tied at one at the end of the first period. >> dropping on and settled down and over to kreider, score! nash.

>> rick nash, next the go-ahead goal for new york and rangers had one more and win gathe game and two win as way from playing in the stanley cup playoff. tonight the western conference finals. baseball news. tigers and indians tied in the bottom of the tenth. and we show you cleveland's michael brantley at bat with a full count, two outs. >> ready with the 3-2 to brantley. brantley with a drive deep into right field line. gone and the indians win it! >> it's a beautiful thing, right? the solo homer gets the cleveland the 5-4 win walkoff style. sends the crowd into a frenzy. a check on your weather. we say good morning to bill karins who is back in new york. hey, bill. >> hey, i was just bringing back all the memories with you out there in that area a year ago and what an unbelievable event. you witnessed it twice now and the aftermath.

want to go through it and tell you how rare of an event this was. the fact that moore, oklahoma, this city in the center of oklahoma was hit by two ef-5 tornados in 14 years, i mean the odds of that are off the charts and where thomas is located near the plaza towers elementary school is where it was classified as what we call an ef-5 tornado, the highest of classifications, literally where everything gets wiped off the face of the earth and that's what it looked like before it got destroyed. a well-built structure literally reduced pretty much just to a slab and, of course, with this tornado the winds were up to 200 miles per hour, the estimated on the ground for 17 miles, what was interesting it was earlier in the day than a lot of our tornadoes and that's why the kids were still in school and that's why caught off guard. today we won't see anything that bad. a slight risk of severe weather from chicago to ft. wayne to columbus with strong winds. eastern seaboard is looking quiet. one more nice day before the bad weather arrives. what's interesting about oklahoma, this severe weather

season. we've had very few tornadoes, knock on any wood around you and a quiet tornado season in oklahoma and hope to keep it that way. >> all right, bill, thank you, much appreciated. coming up on "morning joe" defending his wife. why bill de blasio was attacking the media for the portrayal of his wife. then when we come back we'll go inside the push to bring shelters to every school in tornado alley. why some say it's not the state government's responsibility to foot that bill. that and much more when we return live in moore, oklahoma. that will replace your car with a new one if it's totaled within the first two model years. and that parking near a street lamp deters thieves? the more you know,the better you can plan for what's ahead. talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum - bum♪

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welcome back, everybody. we are live this morning in moore, oklahoma, exactly one year after a massive ef-5 tornado devastated a truly tight-knit community and sadly it wasn't the first time as bill mentioned moments ago, it was 14 years earlier on may the 3rd, 1999 yet another ef-5 made landfill right here same path so how rare is such a thing with the weather channel says there are only ten documented instances of communities that's been struck by more than f-5 or ef-5 tornado. now, the sun has yet to fully light the sky this morning here in the center of town, again, coming to you live from plaza towers elementary school right behind me, you can see where they are still in the rebuilding efforts for this school which should open up in the fall. it is a place where seven

children perished in the storm but yesterday we got in town just in time before the sun set to check out the location of where we were broadcasting to you live from last year. it was one of the spots that was hit the hardest. it really defendant indelible memories during our coverage last year but it was amazing to see where they have come in just a year. that same spot where we were broadcasting from last year, this is the home of amber and her husband and daughter. they rode out the storm in their bathtubs and wearing helmets and pulled the mattress over the bath bathtub. their came out unscathed but their house was a complete wreck. now it's just a dirt pile. you'll also remember in the front yard there was a tree over here. it was surrounded by metal shrapnel. that tree is now gone then right behind it, that used to be the moore medical facility. it's completely leveled now. they've put down some new roads forgetting cars in and out but

they've done no reconstruction. what they have now is that area of tents for the moore emergency clinic that they've been able to serve patients that way and there you see down there the movie theater where they had some roof repairs. that remains pretty much unchanged. really is riveting to be back and to see where there has been progress and where there is still pentagon to be made on this first anniversary of the tornado a push to ensure that schools can provide a safe haven for students and teachers who could be in the path of destruction and while they are rebuilding right here at plaza towers, with a tornado shelter, there are still more than a thousand schools across the state without one. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: it was an ef-5 tornado, a mile and a half wide, 210-mile-per-hour winds, plaza towers elementary didn't stand a chance. >> it is like you see completely destroyed. >> reporter: 9-year-old christopher leg was among the

seven who died here when the building collapsed. a year later his parents watch every day as construction crews rush to get the new school up and running. >> this didn't have to happen. >> reporter: across oklahoma 1100 schools don't have tornado shelters. 500,000 students and teachers potentially at risk. now christopher's mother is on a crusade to put a shelter in every school. >> it's not a matter of if a tornado is going to come to oklahoma again, it's a matter of when it's going to happen. >> reporter: one oklahoma architect recommends using a gym for a safe room with 12-inch outer walls and reinforced steel rebar. a four-inch concrete roof over a reinforced layer of metal and steel doors with three-point anchors. the new school is being built with a safe room but retrofitting every school in oklahoma would cost nearly a billion dollars. money the state says it doesn't have. neither oklahoma nor the seven other states in the part of the country the government calls tornado alley requires storm

shelters in new schools. leaving millions of students exposed. >> the chances are we are going to have another f-5 tornado and are we going to be prepared? the answer is, no. >> reporter: the governor insists voters in local school districts should decide whether to build shelters and raise their property taxes to pay for them. >> with 500,000 kids potentially at risk, is this not a state priority? >> i think the better way to do it is allow once again the local control like we build our local schools right now because they know what is needed in the community itself. >> reporter: another elementary school in moore does have a tornado shelter. steel and kevlar door, reinforced concrete walls and ceilings. all built after the school was destroyed by a tornado 15 years ago. >> we can put pre-k through second grade here and the other go into another area. >> reporter: more than 60% of oklahoma schools go without playing the odds in tornado alley. >> our thanks to nbc's tom

costello for that. "morning joe" is moments away as we continue to report from oklahoma. you, my friend are a master of diversification. 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*?

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welcome back, everybody, to moore, oklahoma, as we come back to visit what it means for this town one year later after that devastating tornado where 24 people lost their lives as we drill down to talk people lost their lives. as we drill down the talk of some of the figures, nearly 175,000 tons of debris has been hauled away. as you see plaza towers behind me, this school is to reopen coming in the fall. the healing continues here in moore, oklahoma. that's it for "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ if we exceed the 14-day measure for scheduling appointments, he says, the front office gets upset. he outlined a way to get around it. when patients called for an appointment, they were not booked into the computer until an appointment came up 14 days after the day.