fight was coming, this fight has been put to rest with the oil industry' announcement that they think everything's fine. this is going to be a big one. safer and everything is fine. this is going to be a big one. "first look" is up next. good, friday morning, everybody. wicked softball sized hail and damaging winds. >> i don't think i was ever more scared in my life. i was shaking with my face covered. >> will mother nature cooperate with millions hitting the road this memorial day weekend? 11 square miles burning and counting. this slide fire could face tough resistance today. plus billionaire's mark cuban's take on race and he apologizes to trayvon martin's participan parents. hello, everybody. thanks for starting your friday with us. the unofficial start of summer

is getting underway. with memorial day around the corner, aaa estimates nearly 20 million will be traveling this weekend. how will the weather affect those travel plans? well, thankfully we have bill kairns with us. >> are you going to drive. >> i'm taking a flight to texas. there may be rain in the forecast, it looks like. >> they want it there but you probably don't. as far as the forecast goes, on texas into amarillo and new mexico and spots in colorado and kansas, you'll have wet weather to deal with. it won't delay your commute too much. as far as the bad, e the worst of it is on i-95 this evening through southern north carolina. we will see strong thunderstorms. large hail will be a problem. be aware of that. that includes charlotte to fayetteville. as far as the airports go with those strong storms near charlotte, that's the best

chance of any significant delays. we could have minor delays in new york and boston. but i don't expect widespread airport delays. not like yesterday afternoon in the northeast. so the forecast looks like this as we go throughout today. a few showers and storms from the northeast. of course we'll watch that area in north carolina. then if you have beach plans, florida looks very warm. new england is not going to be the best saturday, but that even improves sunday and into memorial day itself. could be as warm as mid-80s in the mid-atlantic. >> that is perfect. >> monday looks to be warm. >> not bad, bill. in the meantime, fire crews in arizona have been working overnight in the hopes of getting a fast-moving wildfire under control. what's being called the slide fire has already burned through more than 5,000 acres in northern arizona.

we should learn whether there is any containment. one fire crew says they have making progress. residents are under pre-evacuation notice. >> basically we're just loading up the sentimental stuff that can't be replaced. >> so far no structures have been lost and no jurs reported. we'll stay on top of this for you. cleanup is underway this morning after hail the size of golf balls fell in some areas. i want you to check out this video. that hail shattered several skylights in pennsylvania. many shoppers went running for cover. >> it was crazy. sounded like thor was coming in. all of a sudden he lights started going out, glass was breaking, people running everywhere. we were trying to get people in the store so they wouldn't get injured. >> sounded like thor was coming

in is what he said. the hail also pummelled several cars and homes. luckily no injuries were reported. damage control. both congress and the white house are taking steps to deal with the growing white house scandal. president obama sent his deputy chief of staff rob nabors to the phoenix va hospital. tracie potts is in washington for us. what's the latest on these efforts to find out what happened there? >> reporter: now the president gets a briefing on what happened in phoenix. he had a productive day out in phoenix. that's where we first learned of everything starting, but turns out we're now getting reports of allegations of misconduct throughout the system. allegations of misconduct are cropping up at va hospitals all over the country now.

in new mexico, a whistle blower claims vets were assigned to doctors who didn't even work there. >> those are doctors who are either in administration or gone. >> no longer working there. >> right. >> but they are still listed as having patients. >> yes. >> reporter: in st. louis, a former head of psychiatry claims they were seeing less than half of the patients reported. >> the focus becomes these numbers. >> reporter: veterans waiting weeks for surgery. >> that request is on paperwork sitting on somebody's desk. >> to get into your primary care is like pulling teeth without anesthetic. and it hurts just about as bad. >> we've not just let them down, we let them die. >> reporter: on capitol hill, a new aide promises they'll fix it. eric shinseki still has support here. >> just changing people at the

top may appear to represent change, but it's the culture, it's the system. >> is anybody here from va? >> reporter: a house committee is giving officials a chance next week to turn over paperwork or they'll be palined. they've been accusing of a request for the documents. they are pulling it together and will turn it over in a rolling fashion as they get it together. lawmakers here say it's not good enough. they want all of the documents as soon as possible. >> yeah. there's a lot to be uncovered here. thank you for that live report. the house overwhelmingly passed a bill thursday to curb domestic spying. the usa freedom act restrains the nsa bulk phone records collection program. under the bill the nsa may seek metadata from phone companies but only with a court order.

it is the first legislative response to edward snowden's leaks. billionaire dallas mavericks owner mark cuban. he has apologized to the family of trayvon martin for what some are calling racially insensitive comments he made in an interview with ink magazine. >> i know i'm prejudice. i know i'm bigoted in a lot of different ways. i've said this before. if i see a black kid in a hoodie at night on the other side of the street, you know -- on the same side of the street, i'm probably going to walk to the other side. if i see a why guy with a shaved head and lots of tattoos, i'm probably going to the other side. chances are there's part of me that takes in account race, gender, and age. i'm prejudice. other than safety issues, i try to always recognize and be self-aware that, you know, my

stream of thought is never perfect. and i've got to be careful. >> he's taking heat for that. good morning, richard lui. >> all right. good to see you. we made it to friday. going to start with the nhl playoff. what a game this was. rangers/canadiens. no score. then former ranger guy brandon prust lowers his shoulders at the line. stephen down for a few minutes and it leads to that. players throwing some elbows. fast forward to the third period. watch. >> rebound pushes in white! they score! it's briere at the side of the net! and it's 2-1 in favor of montreal. >> raucous crowd there. rangers down one goal. under a minute left in the third period. and then this. >> along by girardi. half a minute to go. score!

>> snuck that one in. two minutes into overtime, the canadiens get the winning goal there. rangers lead the series two games to one. they next meet on sunday. can't wait to see that one. 50 u.s. senators urging roger goodell to force the washington redskins to change their name. they claim it is a racial slur. they say the nfl should following the nba's lead on cracking down on racial injustice. mark burley winning here his major league leading eighth game. he got help from melky cabrera and batista. the jas take the red sox 7-2. so uconn's men's head coach here kevin ollie kind of popular, right? just inking big ink, a five-year

$15 million contract. >> expensive ink. >> a lot to clap about there. ollie has a record of 52-18 in just his first two years. >> that's why. . >> that's right. and the country's highest profile soccer player was cut from the world cup team. landon donovan was cut. the coach had questioned whether the leading scorer in u.s. soccer history lost a bit of his desire because, betty, he took some time off. he had been playing one game seven or eight days for years and years. just wanted some time. >> that's surprising. okay. thank you. straight ahead, nbc's brian williams reveals a big exclusive. plus the driver of this car avoids death by a split second. and this rookie may have gotten the fattest contract ever.

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you ready to get down to business on this three-day weekend? stocks were up on thursday ahead

of what's expected to be a quiet trading day. a private buyer has purchased norman rockwell's the rookie for almost $23 million at christie's. it shows ted williams and other veterans as a new player arrives for spring training. the irs is owed $3.3 billion of back taxes from 318,000 federal workers. surprising there. some top stories for you, there is new video of a woman barely escaping her car seconds before it is smashed by a train. look at that right there. you can see the conductor scrumabling before the impact. the driver was hit by debris, but not seriously hurt. and it is the catch of a lifetime. dramatic video out of china. a 1-year-old plummets from a second story window. thankfully these good samaritans were ready to help.

good job. brian williams was delivering the commencement address at a high school. he offered words of advice to hill high and went on to mention his most recent project. >> you'll need grit. you'll need character. a lot of good educators have worked really hard for four years to make sure character is part of your learning here. exactly 32 hours ago there was a knock on my hotel room door in moscow. i opened the door and in front of me stood the instantly recognizable, most-wanted man in the world today edward snowden. >> and you can see brian williams' exclusive interview with edward snowden wednesday night at 9:00/10:00 eastern on nbc. president obama did something no other president had

ever done. plus a good old fashioned duel. scrambled politics is next. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i ea 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. but they don't yet know we're a family. we're right where you need us. at the next job, next adventure or at the next exit helping you explore super destinations and do everything under the sun. 12 brands. more hotels than anyone else in the world. so wherever you want to be, whatever you want to do, chances are we're already there. save up to 25% and earn bonus points

when you book at wyndhamrewards.com. save up to 25% and earn bonus points i missed you, too.ou. hi buddy. mom! awesome! dad!! i missed you. ♪ oh... daddy. chevrolet and its dealers proudly support military appreciation month. with the industry's best military purchase program, for all that have served. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge.

♪ there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place my mom works at ge. 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 now here's your friday first look at scrambled politics. later today president obama will nominate san antonio mayor julian castro as the new secretary of housing and urban development. secretary shawn donovan who currently holds the position will be named the new director of the office of management and

budget. congressman steve king is challenging senator chuck schumer to a duel on immigration reform. after comments that accused king of being xeno phobic. >> let's do it face-to-face. let's do it eye-to-eye. let's have this duel. let's do this with microphone's within arm's reach. maybe we could get to the bottom of this and see how a the phobia. president obama went to cooperstown and became the first sitting president to visit the baseball hall of fame. >> at the hall's request, i contributed something on my own which was the jacket i wore when i threw out the first pitch at the 2009 all star game. i hear with all the media attention about it, there was also some interest in the jeans i wore that night.

but michelle retired those jeans quite a while back. >> is he talking about mom jeans? that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. someone who doesn't wear mom jeans is kevin, reporter for the hill. >> good morning. happy friday. >> happy friday to you. federal employees owe $3.3 billion in back taxes and that includes 4.9% of all house employees and 3.2% of senate workers. what kind of message is washington sending to the american public with this kind of record? >> not a good message. and of course this is coming right during the height of continuing investigations into the irs scandal which republicans love to pounce on. and just last night, actually, irs officials saying they're going to be reworking a tax-exempt code that had drawn criticism from the left and the right. bottom line is outside of washington, people are going to look at this and it's just

another reason to be frustrated with our irs officials. >> yeah. people are going to look at this next story with an interesting eye, because yesterday we reported wyoming and utah want to bring backfiring squads due to the lethal injection problems. today we're hearing tennessee is opting for the electric chair. are states going backwards here? >> that's a great question. i think what really these three states have done is push this issue into the forefront of the conversation here. you know, governor bill haslam talking about bringing back the electric chair. there will be a resurgence of this issue. it's, one that's been quite politically divisive. >> especially with lethal injection in short supply. >> and in a midterm year.

>> that's true. have a great holiday weekend. >> enjoy the three-day weekend. have a good one. >> take care. looking ahead to this memorial day weekend, we want to honor america's bravest. find out how you can help next. ? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. two full servings of vegetables 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. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding or have had a heart valve replaced. seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition or stomach ulcer, take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners... ...or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctors about all medicines you take. pradaxa side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you or someone you love has afib not caused by a heart valve problem... ...ask your doctor about reducing the risk of stroke with pradaxa.

we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is.

take a look. there were sunny skies for a somber task on thursday. members of the army's old guard placed american flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones at arlington national cemetery. it's a tradition to honor the fallen. and as we remember those who gave their lives for us on them memorial day weekend, meet the military mother who is

supporting the troops with bracelets, scarves, and a little faith. here with me is the combat mom who started battle saint.com. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. it's a pleasure. >> i want to get this straight. your son, three nephews, two nieces are currently serving. were they kind of the inspiration behind what we see here today? >> they were. we had a family reunion and i listened to their stories of war and close calls and lost friends. i knew i wanted to do something to make a difference. so we came up with the battle saint bracelet. it provides different saints who protect the military. we also came up with the combat scarves. the same they wear in country. and now we have a whole new line. you've got these tags that the military use on their -- >> it has my name on there. >> that they use on their gear. you can use those on your luggage, briefcases, purses. custom embroidered all in the

u.s. we also have a key fob. >> do proceeds go to a charity that supports the troops? >> yes, the proceeds go to the intrepid fallen heroes fund. the intrepid is building spirit centers throughout the country. they are for people who have come back, soldiers with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress syndrome. one in ft. bragg and one in camp lejeune. and they're building others. so they're all going to be open soon. by making a donation, you can help these centers that are so needed be built. >> on top of this, it's called battle saints. and if you look on these bracelets, you decided to put a saint that helps troops on each one of these little pieces here. i want you to get to the story behind that. because i imagine that people that have worn this, the troops out on the battlefield have quite a story to tell about what

they've experienced. maybe perhaps a little divine intervention because of this? >> they do. we a get a lot of stories. we had an individual in an ied accident and thought he was paralyzed. he kept his bracelet in his pocket. he went in to the hospital and got his feeling back. he says it's divine intervention. we think it's power of prayer and his positive attitude obviously had a lot to do with it. but he said the saints bracelet made a huge difference in his life. so we get stories like that every day. >> it's kind of like a lucky charm. something that's going to protect them in a way as they head over. >> it provides a sense of connection, protection. when you wear it, you show your outward support. but they feel much more protected with that. >> how can people take part in this? >> this memorial day, do something to make a different. go to battlesaint.com.

help build the intrepid centers. >> thank you for what you do. and thank you to the troops. have a great memorial day weekend. we'll see you back here monday morning. "way too early" with thomas roberts starts right now. ♪ these veterans are suffering under obama's watch after he declared them a top prior to and his team had been alerted to misconduct. do you know what that means? it means we finally have a real scandal. a real scandal! drop 'em! whoo! whoo! whoo! >> balloons and everything. optics are everything. why didn't three va officials show up to a congressional hearing yesterday? their empty chairs only give credence to a growing investigation. new details about the boston marathon bombers and why

authorities thought the pair wasn't working alone. and fights are rare in playoff hockey but these players missed that memo. put in your mouth guard. this is "way too early." ♪ it's always great when jen says something nasty to me five seconds before air. good morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. it's friday, may 23rd. welcome to the show that's never willing to drop its gloves and brawl but we have no problem watching from the stands. we do consider ourselves a lover, not a fighter. yeah. yeah. all right. it's a friday edition of "way too early." let's get started. we start in tennessee where fresh off the heels of a botched execution opponents of the death penalty are challenging something