in arizona. they have got very high temperatures, high winds, and a lot of fuel on the ground. and fires burning in remote inaccessible areas. that's why they have zero containment right now. it is very hard for the firefighters to get to the scene of those blazes. they have got about a dozen choppers dropping water on the largest fire, which is known as the wallow fire. that's approaching 200,000 acres burned. it was 190 some,000 la thousand night. we're expecting an update shortly. it is a situation -- it is a nasty situation for those communities along the arizona/new mexico border. a lot of people have been ordered to evacuate at this hour, richard. >> george, of course, as you're there, the concerns they have are humidity and smoke to be able to deploy what is an area, almost the size of new york city. how does it look for this coming day? >> reporter: well, it doesn't look good. we're looking at wind gusts going up to 50 miles an hour this afternoon. and a similar forecast for tomorrow and the next day.

and very low humidity and a lot of heat. combine that with all the dry fuel on the ground from years of drought out here in the west and you got a very bad situation for firefighters. >> george lewis, thank you for starting us off. now if we go from fire to floods, the army corps of engineers says a partial breach appeared on a levee along the missouri west in northwest missouri. a record flow of water surging right now from dams upstream and that's where nbc's miguel almaguer joins us from pier, south dakota. what are you seeing in terms of what is happening there, about this second breach. we're getting some reports about that. >> reporter: clearly the army corps of engineers is concerned about those breaches. there is two. one in iowa that seemed to be more of a minor breach, maybe a few inches wide, and then the one in missouri that is said to be up to 15 feet wide, that clearly is going to be an issue for the corps as they determine how to plug that hole. the reports are coming out of there, still relatively early at this point. we don't know how many homes, if any, have been damaged.

but we would assume that more people are being evacuated from low lying lands around that area. all of this is being compounded by water releases, record water releases from the dam which is just upriver from where we stand. behind me you'll see some homes in the background. those are just a few feet above this surging river right now. homeowners here over the last several days have built a higher levee. they're hoping that will hold. they put sandbags and plastic tarp down there to divert the water. it is unclear how effective that will be. e bottom line here is that the missouri river is simply surging and it is$tñ>ñ going to crest n weeks, possibly even as late as july. along the missouri river, some 20,000 people that have already been asked to evacuate their homes, are going to face serious flood threats for several weeks if not months. it is going to be a very long summer here along the missouri. >> that is the army corps of engineers faces some criticism from the governor. miguel almaguer watching that live for us. thank you so much. the extreme weather

continues with near record heat baking the south and midwest today. we start with fire, floods and now heat. the weather channel's nick walker joins us now. >> and, richard, it looks like the heat is going to actually fuel the fire, so to speak, as well as continue to cause the flood problems. record highs yesterday, over two dozen of them and many of them above 100. today, we'll be there again, around wichita, look at st. louis, 95 degrees. that will be close to a record. and then we're going to expand the heat, cross not only the midwest but also to the northeast in the coming days. chicago will be sweltering on into tomorrow. washington, d.c. up near 90. we'll exceed that here in philadelphia by wednesday and it looks like new york city will be there by the time we get into thursday. well above average. and near records all the way back into the southwest, where you couple that with the high wind conditions, the very, very dry conditions, drought stricken area here, as george mentioned. we're talking about more fire danger throughout utah, arizona, all the way into the central plains.

not as warm here around the northwest, and the plains. but, you know, it is warmer and that is melting a lot of that heavy snow pack up in the mountains. that coupled with heavy rain means a lot more flooding for this area. >> nick, thanks for rounding us out as we again look at a weather wallop in many parts of the country. we'll turn to politics now. tough to use, hope and change is a re-election strategy. if you're an incumbent president obama, not to mention an unemployment rate that you see right there that's gone up to 9.1% in most recent reports, but a senior campaign strategist david axelrod says it is too early to judge the president on the economy just yet. >> we have got 16 months before the election. and nobody really knows precisely where we'll be then. the question is will we make progress? will people sense that we're making progress on this problem? i think that they will. >> all right, that from today. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. kristen, how does the white

house make the tough economic numbers work? we heard from david axelrod there. >> reporter: well, richard, one thing you're not going to hear is a mission accomplished speech. we expect the president to acknowledge that the economy is in a tough spot right now, to try to comfort americans. he will also likely reiterate one of the themes that we have heard from this administration which is that recovery takes time. he'll talk about the fact that 2 million jobs have been added over the past 15 months, but there is still a long way to go towards progress and towards t getting americans feeling like they're in a stable spot. on friday, he was touting one of the things he feels worked in the economy, namely the auto bailout. he was in toledo, ohio, at a chrysler plant there, saying the auto bailout has worked. it saved hundreds of thousands of jobs. the auto industry is productive once again. but having said all of this, republicans have wasted no time seizing on the issue of the economy. we heard mitt romney last week when he announced his bid for

presidency go straight to the issue of the economy. and again today when rick santorum announced that he was running for president. so this will be a critical issue in the 2012 race. but, again, we expect the president to acknowledge that it is his responsibility now, but also to talk about the fact that progress has been made. richard? >> kristen, we also know the president had a big meeting with his national security team this morning. no doubt afghanistan might be part of the conversation there. >> reporter: absolutely, richard. the president and vice president sat down with members of the national security team. they talked about afghanistan. this amidst reports that there are calls to actually hasten the troop withdrawal in afghanistan. now, one white house official tells me those reports are merely speculative. having said that, though, the pressure points might be coming from a number of places, in part, it is expensive, the war in afghanistan costing about $2 billion per week. also osama bin laden has been killed. and there has long been a push to see afghan president hamid karzai take the lead in this

region. we are expecting a briefing later on today. we hope to learn a little bit more about this. but, again, a lot of debate going on in terms of how that troop withdrawal will be carried out this summer. richard? >> kristen welker at the white house. thank you. not too far away from afghanistan we have breaking news out of baghdad. a rocket attack killing five u.s. troops there, iraqi officials saying the rockets hit a base in eastern baghdad this morning. the troops were staying on the base and the rockets hit near the living quarters. that attack marks the single largest loss of life among u.s. troops in iraq since 2009. nearly 4500 troops have reportedly been killed in iraq since 2003. there are reports today that one of al qaeda's most dangerous leaders is dead. just one month after the u.s. took out osama bin laden. evan coleman is an nbc news terrorism analyst and joins us now. the person we're talking about is ilyas kashmiri? >> he originally had his own

group, the 313 brigade. in about 2003, 2004, cashmekash started going farther and farther into the orbit of al qaeda and worked as an operational commander on their behalf and also as a conduit. it is important to understand this, that foreigners coming in there that wanted to give money and support to al qaeda, they couldn't meet with bin laden. they couldn't meet with ayman al zawahiri, but they could meet with kashmiri. he became a very important conduit between pakistanis and other foreigners with al qaeda. >> now, since he has been killed and taken out, what some have called a grizzled fighter here, what has been the chatter? i know you monitor that. >> these people are very disturbed. they're very upset. it is remarkable to see how demoralized they are by the killing of kashmiri, specifically pakistani militants who were supporters of the pakistani taliban, al qaeda. they have said this is a tremendous blow. and not only that, but we're seeing right now within the past 12 hours, there have been renewed missile strikes in the exact same area that kashmiri was killed, striking a house,

near south waziristan and a vehicle traveling from north to south waziristan. >> how have they reacted to this new efficacy, shall we say, of drone attacks as of late? >> one of the things we're seeing right now, it is not clear what is provoking this, but it looks like a lot of these militants are flooding in now from north waziristan, which is where most of them were based into south waziristan. maybe that is a reflection of the missile strikes that have taken place recently. maybe it is a reflection of their fear that the pakistanis are going to launch an operation there. but they're on the move. they are moving. and we're getting them right now on the missile strikes. >> we got to go, but did this come from the intelligence that was gleaned from the osama bin laden compound? >> it is impossible to know for sure. but i -- it is a month between those two strikes, it is a coincidence. it certainly would indicate you would have to look in that direction and we don't really know for sure, though. >> a question that wants to be answered. evan coleman, thank you very much. >> thank you very much. sarah palin is sticking to her guns about her version of paul revere's ride but is

apologizing for one thing. we'll tell you what that is. the dangers of the popular bounce homes, another one gets swept away by the winds with kids still inside. haven't we always wanted our own island? one without car horns or stoplights. but one filled with forts and uncharted paths carriage rides and bike rides. and games we play all day. where the sun can't wait to wake up. and adventure waits around every corner. nestled in the deep blue waters of lake huron our island is mackinac island. our island is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org.

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sarah palin is not apologizing for what she said about paul revere's midnight ride. take a listen. >> he who warned the british that they weren't going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure as he is riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free. >> that's what she said at the bakery. and then she refused to admit she made a mistake as history says it, revere rode to warn samuel adams and john hancock

the british were coming to arrest them. >> i didn't mess up about paul revere. he did warn the british. and in a shoutout, gotcha type of question that was asked of me, i answered candidly and i know my american history. >> well, joining me now, msnbc political analyst and former dnc communications director karen finney as well as d.c. bureau chief for the comcast network robert trainer. they're both smiling. you're both avid historians. robert, we'll start with you. history, as i was saying, does not seem to agree with what she is saying. what do you make of this? >> i think she was probably saying the british are coming, the british are coming, the media are coming, the media are coming. sarah palin obviously has her own interpretation of what happened. we know what the facts are based on our history books. we also know what the facts are just based on -- just simply knowing all of our american history. sarah palin has a right to think whatever she thinks. she's not a candidate for president yet.

she has a right to say whatever she wants. but she should be held accountable for that and that's what we're doing even as we speak. i'll leave it at that. it is obvious she made a mistake. >> childrekaren, keep it down o there. there is also an issue with wikipedia, trying to change the paul revere entry to make it to support her story and all of this here, karen. >> yeah. you know, i just got to say, robert, that was an admirable attempt to try to put the best spin from a spinner, let me tell you. look, here is the -- we did see that some of her supporters were trying to change the wikipedia entry to help give her a little help there. at the end of the day, though, i think there is a couple of things. number one, she was wrong about paul revere. so what? clearly whether or not she knows her american history is less relevant certainly to me than what her ideas would be or what she would do for the country. and if she's -- only if she's really running for president. i think the biggest joke about all of this is that she got so much attention at the same time,

we don't even really yet know if she's running for president. i think we ought to be holding her accountable for that and worried less about whether or not she understood that paul revere was actually warning the americans that the british were coming after them, but, you know, i'll leave it at that. >> savvy or smarts to both of you, i'll play this little bit of sound and i'll get your reaction. >> i apologize if i stepped on any of that pr that mitt romney needed or wanted that day. i do sincerely apologize. we didn't mean to step on anybody's toes. >> so, robert, what palin is talking about there is that bus stop you're familiar with. she had a very close to mitt romney's announcement which happened on friday. she said she didn't mean to upstage him. do you buy that? >> no, i don't it is a bunch of baloney. look, sarah palin is a lost things. she's actually pretty smart when it comes to common sense and she has smart people around her from a political standpoint. they know what mitt romney was up to. they know he was there to announce his intentions for the presidency, for karen's point to

talk about people living through the living paycheck to paycheck, this was a shot across the belt. frankly for the attention, so to speak, to move from romney to sarah palin. i think sarah palin is crazy like a fox and knew exactly what she was doing. >> karen, i have some sound for you and i want to get your reaction. >> okay. >> do i think it is possible that sarah palin can win? absolutely. she represents an extreme fringe of the republican party but extreme fringes do have a huge amount of influence in the primary. >> so, karen, let's treat her as though she's a candidate, hold her to that fire or that light, if you will. speaking this weekend, she seems to be saying her bus tour is helping her warm up to making a run. and it seems like howard dean is saying, hey, she might be able to beat obama. >> yeah, you know, a couple of points on that. the other thing about her bus trip, there is a lot of questions as i wrote for the hill about who is really paying for it. but to governor dean's point, first, i, you know, kind of rolled my eyes in disagreement, and then realized i actually do

agree because his point is, it is not so much about sarah palin as it is about the point that as democrats, we cannot afford to take anything for granted. it is not going to be a cakewalk. it is going to be a tough election. and we need to treat it that way and not make the mistake, for example, that we made when scott brown, you know, won pretty handily in massachusetts. i think that's the point the governor was making, because if she were to become the nominee, which i don't think she would, but let's pretend, the point is that, you know, you have an incredible gop machine that would come in behind her and as we know, just about anybody, i'm going to say george bush, can get elected president with that kind of machine. >> here is the unfortunate truth, richard, very quickly. >> sure, go ahead. >> 9.1 unemployment rate. barack obama, the president could be running against john smith from, you know, aiden, pennsylvania. and if 9.1%, which is an unfortunate high, if in fact that's the case come november 2012, it will be very, very hard for the president to win re-election. i think the governor dean's point, if, in fact, sarah palin does become the republican

nominee, which, you know, maybe, maybe not, we'll see, if in fact she does become the republican nominee, there is a very good chance she could win against the president on one issue, and one issue alone, the economy. >> robert, karen, thank you, both, very much. way too much fun at the top of the segment. back to work now. appreciate your time. >> okay. rick santorum says he's in it to win it for 2012. the former republican senator made the official announcement in his home state of pennsylvania about an hour ago. >> i'm ready to do what has to be done for the next generation. with the courage to fight for freedom, with the courage to fight for america, that's why i'm announcing today that i'm running for president of the united states. >> the social conservative took a couple of strong shots at president obama, but he still is seen as a long shot in this race. the former head of the imf was back in court today, pleading not guilty to sexual assault charges. lots of people had something to say about that. plus, you know how the song goes, i fought the law and the

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the battle over abortion moves to an indiana courtroom today. lawyers there for planned parenthood are seeking an injunction against the state over a new law that bars the organization from receiving federal funds. the legal showdown could cost indiana an estimated $4.3 billion. also in court, former illinois governor rod blagojevich who is back on the stand today for a second round of cross examination. prosecutors got off to a combative start last friday and today they're expected to grill blagojevich on his past testimony. legal experts say the questioning could be decisive for the case. and bounce houses are supposed to be fun and safe for kids, but not this weekend. at least a dozen people were hurt when wind gusts blew away

three inflatable bounce houses on long island, new york, with children inside of them. authorities say most of the injuries were minor, but fire officials say one woman was critically injured there. nbc's john yang has the details for us. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: it was a terrifying sight caught on cell phone video. three inflated bounce houses or moon walks picked up by the wind at a long island soccer tournament and tossed into the air with kids playing inside. >> stay here. >> where's my daughter? >> i couldn't believe, it was like something out of a movie. kids were being knocked over and they were just kids lying everywhere. >> reporter: lara was waiting in line to go in when she got tangled in a rope that was supposed to anchor the houses. she had rope burns on her neck. >> the rope got caught on my neck and it dragged me over. >> reporter: one bounce house cartwheeled along the ground. >> everyone ran over and jumped up on top of it, probably 100 people on each one holding it down. >> i tried to grab on to it and it just knocked me down. >> reporter: police said 13 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

it is not the first time something like this has happened. the tucson, arizona, area, three separate incidents since february alone. the most recent caught on cell phone video, parents and teachers evacuated the bounce house before wind whipped it around a lightpole. six kids were slightly injured by debris. in february, at a birthday party, two sisters were in a wind blown bounce house. >> i closed my eyes and i just felt myself bumping and being tossed around. >> reporter: her sister alisa ended up on a roof two houses away. >> she was crying. she was full of blood. you know, her head, her face. >> reporter: she had a concussion and required staples to close a cut on her scalp. in april, strong winds blew a bounce house away in rockland county, new york. four children had minor injuries. the federal consumer products safety commission estimated that from 2005 to 2007, all types of bounce house accidents sent an average of 6,000 people a year to emergency rooms.

most of them aged 5 to 14. the most frequent injury? broken bones. they warn operators to anchor them properly, but not all states regulate their use, which concerns parents. >> never in my mind did i think the thing would take off and fly. >> reporter: a popular attraction with an unexpected danger. john yang, nbc news, new york. just ahead, the one thing that kept john edwards from accepting a plea deal, even though he would have been able to keep his law license. plus, apparently even a criminal trial is not enough to put an end to an italian prime minister. silvio berlusconi's so-called bunga bunga parties. first, a look at what's hot on the web for you. first off for you, another gaming company was hacked, nintendo this time, but they say no customer information was compromised and the hacker who claimed that they're behind the breach tweeted they meant no harm. they're the same group that hacked sony, exposing personal information for more than a million users. robert pattinson's steamy kiss with his co-star is lighting up the internet today.

but not the co-star you think. for the third year in a row, pattinson and kristen stewart won best kiss at the mtv movie awards and this year fans thought they might actually see the real life couple smooch. but, no, he kissed another co-star instead, taylor lautner. the movie won five awards. there you go. if you're inviting your friends to a party by posting it on facebook, make sure to check your privacy settings first. evidently a teenage girl in germany forgot and more than 1500 people showed up for her sweet 16 party. about 100 police officers were needed to keep the crowd under control. 11 people were temporarily detained. one cop was injured and a dozen girls there wearing flip-flops cut their feet on broken glass. talk about a super sweet 16. [ man ] i'm some guy you just met. you listed this midlife crisis on the internet. and three emails later, you trusted me with a test drive...

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i'm richard lui in for contessa brewer. bean sprouts are not the culprit behind the e. coli outbreak. more tests are pending in this. at least 22 people were killed. 2300 sickened. produce in the u.s. is not affected. three more people have died from injuries sustained during last month's massive tornado in joplin, missouri. the death toll now stands at 141. outgoing defense secretary robert gates says it is still too soon to wind down the war in afghanistan. he's there now to say a final farewell to u.s. troops. italian prime minister silvio berlusconi is so-called still hosting bunga bunga parties but not at his home, a few miles away instead. that information was discovered through wiretaps. drama at a new york city courthouse this morning as dominique strauss-kahn pled not guilty to charges he sexually assaulted a hotel maid. the former imf chief was greeted at the courthouse by crowds of hotel workers shouting, shame on you. nbc's jeff rossen witnessed all

of that and joins me live right now. jeff, tell us about the drama outside the courtroom. >> reporter: yeah, i talked to a lost the hotel maids here from new york city and i said why did you come here today? and they said to support the alleged victim, who, of course, was also a hotel maid at the sofitel luxury hotel in midtown manhattan, steps from times square, where this incident with dominique strauss-kahn, police say, happened. and many of them say, look, it is a dangerous job now that they think about it. they walk into rooms, they say they never know who is in there and they want to send a very clear message that they want more protection from their employers. in fact, it has been batted around since the dsk arrest may be giving hotel maids and hotel employees who do this kind of work a panic button. that's what happened outside of court. inside of court, the hearing lasted only about -- less than ten minutes. he entered a not guilty plea as expected. the alleged victim's attorney made it very clear that any attempts to smear the alleged

victim by the defense, by dsk's lawyers is ridiculous and that this was consensual sex by some accounts is ridiculous and they say the victim here is prepared to take the stand during trial to tell her story. next court date, richard, in about six weeks from now, on july 18th, no clue when the trial could happen. also unclear if this will ever go to trial, if there is ever a plea arrangement. but no word on any of that right now. >> do you understand -- as we continue to watch the story, i'm sure we'll get more understanding of what the defense as well as the prosecution will be doing. thank you so much, jeff rossen, for the latest on that. prosecutors are expected to present more of their scientific csi type evidence today as the third week of the casey anthony trial begins. prosecutors have called a witness to testify about the so-called stench of death, what they say is the odor of caylee anthony's decomposed body in the trunk of her mother's car. nbc's lilia luciano has the latest developments live in orlando. lilia?

>> reporter: well, today we heard from this witness as you said, dr. vas of the oak ridge national laboratory, known as the body farm. this is a person who deals with decomposed bodies all the time on a daily basis. and three highlights worth mentioning now is that he said they found shockingly high levels of chloroform in the trunk of casey anthony's car. he also mentioned -- he also described the moment when he opened that canister with a sample from the lining of the trunk, he said he jumped back at the very enormous and overwhelming smell or stench of human decomposition. and finally, most importantly, he testified to finding chemicals in the trunk of the car that are consistent with human decomposition, richard. >> lilia, how does this fit in with what has been said by the defense and the prosecution? >> reporter: well, definitely sits with what the prosecution is stating. unfortunately for the defense, not to their case. unless the defense comes back, while they're placing their case

and say, yes, casey anthony or george anthony placed the body in the trunk of the car. all of this evidence is serving to the prosecution's case, not so much the defense. >> okay, lilia luciano, again, as we look forward to more weeks and hearing from the defense there. appreciate the very latest there. we're learning more about john edwards' indictment today as well. prosecutors offering a final plea deal on friday. but edwards turned it down because it included jail time. now it will be up to the justice department to prove that case. nbc news senior investigative correspondent lisa myers joins us from washington with more on that. hi, lisa. >> hey, richard. usually when a disgraced politician gets indicted there is widespread applause. but not this time. even some who find edwards' behavior despicable question the strength of this case. john edwards faced a media throng reminiscent of the high point of his political career. but this time he just had been charged with six felonies, booked and fingerprinted. >> i did not break the law.

>> reporter: edwards spent the weekend out of sight, at his estate, focused, the spokesman said, on getting daughter emma claire ready for camp. a friend of edwards' late wife elizabeth told nbc that despite john's betrayal, nobody wanted him to face criminal charges. they worry about the couple's young children, jack and emma claire. local reaction is less forgiving. >> i have no trust in someone that continually lies. >> john edwards has become a rather pathetic figure. >> reporter: edwards is charged with soliciting and covering up almost a million dollars, provided by two wealthy donors, and used to keep hunter and later their child hidden away in lavish homes and on private jets while he ran for president. >> thank you. thank you. >> reporter: though the payments did not go to edwards' campaign, the government alleges they amounted to unlawful campaign contributions because they were meant to keep his candidacy viable. edwards' lawyers say the money was a gift from friends, to hide

the affair from his wife. the indictment has triggered unusual criticism of the justice department. from conservatives -- >> i think he's reprehensible person, but not every scum or liar or reprehensible person is a criminal. and the federal government seems to be criminalizing bad behavior. >> reporter: and from campaign watchdogs. >> i think that john edwards is a lousy human being, but i think this is a really lousy and flimsy criminal case. >> reporter: a "washington post" editorial said it is troubling that the justice department would choose to devote its scarce resources to pursuing this questionable case. but others argue that prosecutors have more evidence than they reveal. and that these kind of campaign finance abuses need to be prosecuted. >> what the government says is there has to be a line. john edwards crossed that line. we believe it is criminal behavior. >> reporter: so far no comment on the indictment from the woman at the center of the scandal, rielle hunter.

hunter's publicist says they're raising their daughter, 3-year-old frances quinn, together and see each other quite often. a bit different account, richard, from the edwards camp. a friend of edwards says the senator and his parents are close to quinn and see her often. >> as always, lisa myers, thank you. steve jobs is about to make a big announcement in about 20 minutes. what is the next big thing coming from apple? and how a couple facing foreclosure turned the tables on the bank and foreclosed on the bank. first, though, a look at how the markets are doing after getting hit on friday in a very bad jobs number. still down a little bit today. 13 and change. we're keeping our eye on it.

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a difficult choice facing a growing number of homeowners across the country, walk away or stick it out. 20% of home owners nationwide owe more than their homes are

worth. no place is that more evident than in las vegas, considered the epicenter of the mortgage meltdown. nbc's tom llamas is in sin city with more. >> reporter: you think of gambling in las vegas, you immediately think of the las vegas strip, but it turns out some of the biggest bets in this area were done in the homes and neighborhoods that surround this strip. people invested in the real estate market here and they thought the value of their homes would double, it turns out it disappeared. in parts of las vegas, it is tough to get to know your neighbors when 80% of them are under water with their mortgages. >> one day they're there and then the next day it is like they're gone too? it's definitely very sad to think how many people it is affecting. >> reporter: back in 2005, when the real estate market was red hot, the pinkens had to win a lottery for a chance to win this home. >> doesn't seem like a lottery when it is worth half of what we paid for it now. >> reporter: they have one child in college, the other on the way, and like many americans they put their savings into real

estate. >> we always thought that was going to pay for our kids' education somewhere down the road. and now six and a half years into it, it is virtually all gone. >> reporter: and yet they refuse to go into foreclosure. >> we signed those papers. and i don't want to walk away from it. i don't want to live with the conscience, my conscience. >> reporter: they're part of a shrinking group of homeowners thinking with their conscience and not their wallets. >> we're seeing a new base of homeowners. people who can actually afford their mortgage payments, but are electing to strategically default and let their house go into foreclosure because they're so far upside down. >> reporter: tiffany parks murphy feels walking away hurts her community and the country. you live on a street where two houses next to you are in foreclosure. what is that like? is that the new normal for you? >> yeah, unfortunately, it is. it is embarrassing for us when we have people over here. >> reporter: her home has it all. views, a coy pond, a great

kitchen and $200,000 in negative equity. >> my husband says he feels stupid and i get angry. and i don't know what the answer is. >> reporter: by not walking away, experts say families like the murphies and pinkens are keeping the real estate market from another free fall. >> if everyone who was under water defaulted on their mortgage, we would be in really serious trouble. >> reporter: but the same experts say those most underwater may not live to see their homes bounce back. >> people who did stick it out, i think there should be some sort reward at the end, some sort of star next to their name or something saying they did what was right, they paid their bills. >> reporter: we spoke to some credit counselors who say if your financial situation is so dire you need to walk away from your home or mortgage, there is two programs to look at. the first is called cash for keys where the bank or the lender will give you cash for your keys if you vacate the property. and the other one is called deed for lease where you transfer your lease to the lender so you basically lose your home, but

get to stay there and pay that lender rent. that's the latest from las vegas. i'm tom llamas. richard, back to you. >> thank you for that. now to florida where a couple homeowners and their attorney turned the tables on the bank and tried to foreclose on them. take you back to 2009, warren and maureen nyergers bought their how to for cash no mortgage there. then the bank filed foreclosure papers in february of 2010. it took months before the bank dropped that case. a judge ordered the bank to pay the couple's legal fees, but the bank never did that. so the couple and their attorney fought foreclosure fire with yet some more foreclosure fire of their own. homeowner warren nyergers and todd alan, a foreclosure attorney, joins with us the detail on that. warren, i'll start with you. tell us how this all started. you paid cash, right? you bought it from bank of america and what happened next? >> a few months after we purchased the home, we received a foreclosure notice from a process server at our front door. >> after you received that, what

did you do? >> i told him it was a mistake. he said, well, contact the court, which we did. we contacted the court. they said you better get an attorney to fight this. i contacted a number of law firms and was unable to find an attorney who would take on the case. my wife and i represented ourselves and fought the matter in court. >> then, todd, you got in the picture here to help out. why did the bank file a foreclosure on this house when it was paid in full? >> that's the million dollar question. any reasonable attorney would have done their due diligence and looked into the title history of this property and would have discovered that it wasn't encumbered by a mortgage, especially by a mortgage held by bank of america. >> so what happened next here, warren, is that you then filed to get repayment of the cost that todd had incurred as well as you incurred. and the judge agreed with you. >> the judge did agree with us. and todd filed a foreclosure on the bank.

>> now, the bank, what did it do when you filed that foreclosure on them? >> they just ignored it. they did not contact me. they did not contact my attorney, todd. and todd took it to the next level. >> so this must have been extremely frustrating for you now here, warren. you've gone through a couple of levels here. todd, you went for the money. you tried to get it from the bank. why were they not responding? do you have any idea here? >> that's a good question. i don't know why they weren't responding. we tried every avenue. we called their local council, and sent a certified letter to their general counsel trying to bring attention to this. and they just ignored our requests. >> you could have taken the property, is that what the process was? >> right. i filed for a writ of execution and the court granted that. and the writ of execution was to go in and levee any personal assets that the bank had on the premise. so we have gone after chairs, filing cabinets, copiers, teller

drawers. >> you were there at the door, right? >> what's that, richard? >> warren, you were that close, you went with them, you tried to gehl chairs, file cabinets and all the rest? >> that's correct. i was actually out of town. my wife maureen was there to handle the matter. >> let me ask you this. so we got a statement from bank of america. they say, quote, we apologize to mr. nyergers and there was a in receiving the funds. the original request went on to an outside attorney who is no longer in the business. you got the apology now from the bank. you went down there they ended up giving you a check for the over $2500 of your -- of the money that you had to spend with todd and other such things. do you now accept their apology as well as the payment they gave you, warren? >> well, richard, to be clear on it, the apology meant nothing. they couldn't even spell our name right in the apology. they stated that they had no idea this judgment was present. i, in fact, sent brian moynihan,

the ceo and president of bank of america a certified letter with a copy of the judgment. they got that copy. they said they had no idea it existed. lie. they were well aware of it. they're passing the buck on to the law firm of david j. stern, which, that's just wrong to do. and mr. stern was well aware that that judgment existed as well. >> what a story. todd, last one really quickly to you, how common is this? is this a real rarity here? we hope. >> it is not very common to go levee the bank's assets. i heard of it happening one other time. it is certainly not very common. one thing i wanted to comment on about their apology, it is disingenuous because they appealed the judgment, the judgment, the money judgment to a higher judge. they knew about it. it was clear that -- >> $2500, $2500 here. todd warren, thank you so much for your time and sharing that story with us. i hope all things work out well for both of you as you go

forward. >> thank you. >> you bet. we have new information about congressman anthony weiner. and it involves new pictures. we'll have that. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu.

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steve jobs is expected to appear at the company's annual developers conference. jobs has been on medical leave since january. he'll be previewing apple's new icloud online storage service, which helps various gadgets share the same materials. he supposedly will also talk about an operating system for the iphone. we have developing news about congressman anthony weiner and possibly some new pictures. let's get the very latest with nbc's mara schiavocampo. >> they have posted some photos and we had a conversation with andrew breitbart about more photos that could come. what he's telling us is that a woman reached out to him, and this information again is coming from andrew breitbart, a woman reached out to him and said she had been having a consensual

online relationship with representative anthony weiner and it was of a sexual nature. breitbart says at this point he's in possession of a series of photos and online communications that he was able to trace to representative weiner's facebook account and personal e-mail account. he's released two today, this morning, fairly innocuous, one shows representative weiner on the couch with some cats. one shows him with a little handwritten sign under his face that says me. and breitbart says he traced these to anthony weiner's blackberry. he says he plans to release at least one photo later today that is one of the least graphic that he's in possession of. here is what is interesting. >> least graphic. >> he would not confirm on the record whether he had more graphic images, but the fact he says he's posting one of the least graphic would suggest that there may be others that are a little more severe. >> did he describe to you what he meant by graphic? >> he did not want to talk about those things on the record. what he would say comfortably on

the record is that he plans to release at least one later today, which he described as being iconic. so he certainly wants to set the expectation as whatever it is, it will be something that will get people's attention. >> iconic. >> he would not speak on the record to the fact of whether or not he had other more graphic photos, what they may be of and if and how he traced them to representative weiner. >> what more did he tell you about the situation with the woman, the single mother? >> what he would say is that he -- this say woman who reached out to him, that she had come forward about this information, that she had this consensual and he did note that it was a consensual online relationship that they had with the two of them, that more information will be forth coming in the next 24 hours. what he says is within the next day we'll know more but he's not comfortable going on the record with a lot. >> and this all stems from the other picture that was out there, saying that without certitude he could say -- >> which is what a lot of people found fishy. he could say with certitude that he did not send the photo but he could not say with certitude if

it was not him. perhaps there were other photos he had taken of himself that will fall in the same kind of category. we should say none of this has been independently verified by nbc news. this is coming from andrew breitbart. we have reached out to anthony weiner's office for comment and they have not responded. >> thank you for that. i'm richard lui in for contessa brewer on this day. thanks for watching. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." >> thanks so much. we're following breaking developments out of baghdad. at least five americans have been killed in rocket attacks. plus, the foreign policy debate at the white house today amidst congressional pressure to withdraw from afghanistan at a more rapid pace. we'll talk strategy with former bush national security adviser steven hadly. all that and your 2012 roundup with former democratic chairman and pennsylvania governor ed rendell. "andrea mitchell reports" up next i have a thing about bugs in our house. we used to call an exterminator. ugh... now i go ortho. home defense max. i use it once inside to kill the bugs.

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