good wednesday morning, everybody. right now on "first look," a city on edge. six officers baltimore residents want answers and the justice department is now involved. at this moment warships are stalking an iranian convoy off the coast of yemen. but it's the ship's cargo that has our interest. actress ben affleck is speaking out about his slave-owning ancestors. plus, one of the coolest concepts ever. a dicey night on the coast of maine and much more. good morning everybody. thanks for joining us on this earth day. outrage continues to grow in baltimore following the death of

a man who suffered a spinal injury while in police custody. hundreds of people poured into the streets tuesday demanding answers about what happened to freddie gray. as curt gregory explains, the feds are now getting involved in the case. >> the justice department announced tuesday it's conducting its own investigation into how freddie gray suffered a fatal spinal cord injury while in police custody. on monday, police released a timeline of the arrest. gray was taken into custody around 8:40 a.m. seen here in cell phone video provided by the family's attorney. sometime between this moment and paramedics being called less than an hour later, gray's spine was nearly severed. the 25-year-old succumbed to those injuries sunday. >> what we don't know and what we need to get to is how that injury occurred. >> in the days that have followed hundreds have taken to

the streets. peaceful but persistent in their search for answers. >> we're very, very concerned that this is a pattern. >> over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settled with baltimore over police brutality and civil rights violations. even more gathered tuesday. marching from the spot gray was arrested to a police station. >> i have a sign and i would never want this to happen to my son. >> tension is growing in baltimore. the latest city to come under the glare of the national spotlight. and harsh questions concerning their police. curt gregory, nbc news. the head of the drug enforcement administration is stepping down following a sex scandal within the agency. michelle leonhart has led the dea since 2007. last week, she testified before members of the house oversight and government reform committee. she was questioned about d.e.a. agents who admitted taking part in sex parties with prostitutes

paid for by colombian drug cartels. after the hearing, members released a bipartisan statement saying they had, quote no confidence in her. now to the high stakes high seas standoff right now playing out between the u.s. and yemen. warships are prepared to intercept a convoy that may be meeting rebels in yemen. is the white house prepared for this to possibly turn into an international situation? >> they're preparing for it. they certainly hope that's not the case. but given what's happening they have to prepare for that. right now they've moved eight warships into that region. now, they're not part of the blockade. the obama administration says for now, they are fought trying to stop the iranian cargo ships, but they are watching. >> this usair craft carrier is hovering in the waters off yemen this morning, not far from seven iranian cargo ships.

the u.s. fears they are there to deliver weapons to the rebels fighting yemen's government. >> that's the problem. and we're not sending them obscure messages. we send them very direct messages about it. >> providing weapons only exacerbates the instability in this region. >> there's an arab blockade to keep iran away. the u.s. not part of that. the state department says we're there to reassure our allyies and keep shipping lanes open. >> our partners in the middle east rely on these for a lot of commerce and economic values. >> if iran's goal was to scare saudi arabia it may have been worked because the saudis announced they're ending air strikes against the rebels and backing peace talks. but the saudis say they weren't scared off. in fact, quite the opposite. they say those air strikes that they launched were designed to hit the weapons cache that the rebels were using that it was

mission accomplished for that phase. now to another update this on ben affleck's ancestor history. he lobbied pbs to not include his slave ancestor in the genealogy show finding your roots. affleck says he regrets his actions. affleck took to facebook saying quote, i didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. i was embarrassed. the very thought left a bad taste in my mouth. he finished off by writing while i don't like that the guy is an ancestor, i am happy that aspect of our country's history is being talked about. the facebook post garnered over 7,000 likes. the new york daily news has revealed exclusive pictures of what the paper claims is bruce jenner in a dress. the photos reportedly show him wearing a striped dress outside his malibu home. since his divorce from reality

star kris jenner, there has been rumors about him transitioning to a woman. this friday he will have an interview with diane sawyer. many expect him to discuss his transition. the man beaten by san bernardino is shaif deputies after riding on a horse is getting a $650,000 settlement. the brutal arrest was captured by a camera crew. the 30-year-old led the deputies on a five-hour chase before being arrested. the six-figure settlement was approved by county supervisors in a closed meeting and they said it was solely to avoid the cost of litigation. in exchange, he agreed not to sue the county. san bernardino and the fbi are investigating. ten deputies have been placed on leave. six minutes past the hour, let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy.

>> good morning. chipotle says removing pork from its restaurants will hurt the chains this year. chipotle doesn't expect supply toes be fully restored until this fall. they plan to raise steak prices to offset higher pork costs. and google could launch its wireless service to allow people to pay for only the amount of data they use. it's initially only available on nexus 6 phones. and gm unveiled the prototype for its self-driving car at the shanghai auto show this week. it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. the car uses eye recognition as a starting mechanism. how cool is that? >> that is the coolest car i have seen to date. thank you so much. in sports action triple o.t. thriller in the blackhawks/predators game. the goalie manages to lose the

puck in his pads. he and the ref spent nearly three minutes looking for that puck. double o.t. was scoreless, so it went to triple overtime. the puck zipped by him hawks win it at 2:16 a.m. eastern this morning. they take a commanding 3-1 lead on the series. champion's week at the white house continues. nascar sprint cup champion kevin harvick was honored by the president. >> kevin had a new team a new crew chief to adjust to. it usually takes a little time forea driver and a crew chief to find their groove, but kevin and rodney seemed to figure out each other in a hurry. sort of like when joe biden joined my team. so they had instant chemistry and as kevin can tell you, when you have a trusted partner shouting world class advice into your ear at every turn you can't lose. now to california, the carson city council unanimously approved a stadium for the san

diego chargers and the oakland raiders. the $1.6 billion plan will transform a municipal landfill into a state of the art 72,000 feet stadium. and check out jack carter. he threw out the first pitch. he was born with one hand that did not fully form and only had use of his thumb. yesterday he received a prosthetic that, look like his favorite super hero, that being ironman, of course. so at the death penalty phase of the baltimore maryland bombing, a shocking message from the bomber himself. we are going to show that to you, next. they've got a lot more to give. do the environment a favor and recycle them. their parts can be reused to make some new devices which means your trash really could become someone else's treasure. the more you know.

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short time. it was restored, though, as we went throughout the morning hours. pretty impressive stuff. let's see what we're going to have to watch for on this earth day. a little bit of shower cold weather through the great lakes. this is more nuisance type of stuff with that light rain through the ohio valley. troublesome weather comes later on today. two areas of severe storms. one isolated severe. new york, d.c. philly atlanta raleigh, that's later today. but the real big story is going to be the severe weather outbreak that's possible here in through areas of texas louisiana and maybe even an area of really enhanced risk from north texas right into just almost the dallas metroplex complex just to the north of there for the most part. isolated tornados are possible and damaging winds will be widespread within that area. hopefully it will stay just north of the dallas area. as we go through tomorrow, we do it all over again. same areas of texas, louisiana, new orleans all the way back up to shreveport with severe storms. today's forecast, again, isolated severe storms possible from new york to d.c.

look at how chilly it is betty. we were in the 40s from detroit up through michigan wisconsin, it is ugly. >> spring has not been kind to a lot of us. >> not to the great lakes. >> thank you. the penalty phase of the boston marathon bombing trial began with gut wrenching testimony. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams was in the courtroom, but first we want to give you this warning. this report contains disturbing and offensive images that the prosecution says are central to its case. >> some jurors wiped away tears as victims who were seriously injured recounted the terror, the chaos and the excruciating pain. les corcoran said it hurt so much she thought she might die and at one point hoped she would. a somber courtroom heard for the first time the noises captured after the bombing.

>> unless you were there unless you saw those pictures i don't think anybody can begin to imagine. i can't begin to imagine the horror of that day. >> her husband, kevin, said last week during a court recess that dzhokhar tsarnaev should get the death penalty. this phase of prosecution ended with the prosecution saying the jury should recommend death. tsarnaev might have been radicalized by his older brother, but all that matters is what he believes and what he did. and the jury was shown a photo of tsarnaev taken in a holding cell making an offensive gesture three months after the bombing. nadine peligrini said his gesture shows he was uncaring, unrepentant and untouched by the grief he caused. it was, she said, his message to america. >> that was pete williams reporting. from the "new york times,"

mta must run bus ad from pro-israel group. the metropolitan transaction authority must display an ad from the american freedom initiative initiative. it shows a man with a scarf on his face with the quote killing jews brings us closer to god. the world claimed free speech violations. the judge in the case noted that a similar ad ran in chicago and san francisco in 2013 with no incidents. nine people were indicted after a theft of $100,000 of bourbon. this included a barrel of eagle rare up to $12,000. authorities discover anabolic steroids with those barrels. speaker boehner puckered up big time. and a vote for attorney general, scrambled politics is next. of it.

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19 minutes past the hour. time for your hump day edition of scrambled politics. after months of waiting, the senate has finally cleared the way to vote on a confirmation of loretta lynch as attorney general. the vote will take place this thursday. republicans have been holding off on the vote until an unrelated human trafficking bill was resolved. scott walker is looking at skepticism of legal immigration. during an interview on glenn beck's radio show this week he

called for new restrictions on legal immigration. some fellow republicans fear walker's comments could drag the party further to the right. last night kate snow introduced the first report in a series of transgender children for nbc nightly news. the story got attention from california congressman mike honda who tweeted, quote i was moved by the nightly news story life as a transgender 5-year-old. we need stories like this. in february representative honda tweeted this picture of him with his traps gender grandchild calling himself a proud grandpa. john boehner planted a kiss on nancy pelosi in the rose garden. it happened while lawmakers were celebrating the passage of a bill on medicare. former toronto mayor rob ford may have made some extra cash. he reportedly sold the nfl logo

tie he was wearing when he confessed to smoking crack in 2013. that tie fetched backside 1,500 online. from "the daily beast" meet the hookers for hillary. why prostitutes want hillary clinton for president. the moonlite bunny ranch has launched a campaign supporting hillary clinton. they emphasized health care reform. >> very pleased to announce today, the best day of the year i will be running for president. >> and then what we can only assume is a satiral video for "rolling stone" magazine, atlanta rapper and marijuana enthusiast waka flocka flame is running for politics. apparently everybody is getting in the race. i'm joined now by jonathan allen. good morning to you. >> good morning. hookers and pot.

interesting. >> we have it all here. and we do want to talk about this. this is really a story that is gaining a lot of intrigue, a lot of attention. the president told chris matthews yesterday that if iran delivers weapons to yemen that can be quote, a problem. not the strongest of languages but then again sending warships to the region is a very strong message. how tricky is this situation? >> i think it's very tricky. obviously, the president has had a bad experience in the past with drawing red lines or lines in the sand with other countries and saying that if they do x, we'll do y. i think the president very much wants to try to get a deal with iran to reduce its nuclear capacity. but if iran and saudi arabia end up in a proxy war over yemen, that makes that goal very very difficult. >> absolutely. so is there any possible way, though looking at the scenario playing out at this minute, any possible way with the blockade that's taking place that iran could deliver weapons if they

are on board those ships? >> i think it's obviously a lot more difficult with the naval blockade. but, you know, ships have been known to run blockades from any century. so is it possible that iran could deliver some weapons to the shiite group in yemen? it's certainly possible. i think it's difficult to do it on a broad scale with that blockade in place. >> so the standoff on the high seas linked to a major international event. if so what kind of options does the u.s. have? >> i think the u.s. is trying as hard as it can to influence the situation, but it doesn't have very much levers for that. we were -- the u.s. was able to get the saudis to agree to stop bombing. i think there are other partners involved in that, as well, who are trying to pressure that because there were so many civilian ens involved in the bombings. >> it is a high stakes thing being carried out right now on the high seas. jonathan allen, thanks so much for joining us.

>> take care. just ahead, the uk gripped by royal baby fever. we go live to london for an update on kate middleton and the diehards gathering outside the hospital. >>who... is this?! >>hi, i am heinz new mustard. hi na na na na >>she's just jealous because you have better taste. whatever. >>hey. keep your chin up. for years, heinz ketchup has been with the wrong mustard. well, not anymore. introducing heinz new better tasting yellow mustard. mmm! introducing the citi ® double cash card. it earns you cash back now and cash back later. with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay with two ways to earn on puchases, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided.

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all right. so the clock is ticking to royal baby bonanza round two. there is a crowd gathering outside the hospital where kate and william's second child is expected to be born any day now. annabel, those clouds that are gathered are pretty excited fans. >> they are. expectation is mounting now. we know prince william is by kate's side where london

resident residence is just a short distance from here. he's completed a stage of helicopter pilot training he was doing in the east of england. so they are standing by. becky, we are standing by and the royal fans outside the hospital, i tell you, they are absolutely ready. >> i just can't wait. we just can't wait to see it. we'll be on this bench. >> i have been here weeks on the bench waiting. in fact, i felt at times i was having a baby waiting. >> i hope it's a little girl for william william's sake. his mom always wanted a little girl. ♪ congratulations and celebration la, la, la la, la ♪ ♪ it's a boy! it's a boy ♪ >> they are excited. it didn't happen yesterday on queen elizabeth's birthday.

the next key date, if you like, is kate and william's wedding anniversary, that is april 29th. a whole week away. i don't think frankly any of us want to wait that long, least of all kate, i would imagine. >> get this baby here. thank you so much, annabel. this is first look on ms nbc. way too early starts right now. ♪ a good morning to you. it is wednesday april 22nd. welcome to way too early on this thursday. i'm craig melvin. we start overseas shiite rebels linked to iran have reportedly taken control of a military brigade in central yemen. all of this comes just one day after saudi arabia announced it is stealing back air strikes and switching to a more limited

military effort. president obama, in an exclusive interview with hard ball's chris matthews warned that the united states will do whatever necessary to prevent iranian weapons from reaching the rebels. >> mr. president we're all watching what's going on with the iranian navy. how do we -- it seems like the old cuban missile crisis where we're trying to send signals back and forth. what signal are you sending as commander in chief to the iranians? >> we've been very straightforward with them. right now, their ships are in international waters. there's a reason why we keep some of our ships in the persian gulf waters. if there are weapons delivered to factions within yemen that could threaten navigation that's a problem. and we're not sending them obscure messages. we send them very direct messages about it. >> let's go now to jim at the pent done with more on the