was given free reign to design this poop fairy product. to that employee, i salute you, your work is the best new thing in the world today. "first look" is up next. verge of collapse. new questions about the credibility of the accuser in the strauss-kahn sexual assault case. no deal, no break. the senate cancels its vacation plans with the country headed towards a potential debt default crisis. and what is wrong with this picture? chinese officials catch flack for releasing an obviously doctored photo. good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with a case in jeopardy. dominique strauss-kahn is set to appear in court today following sudden questions about the hotel maid who accused him of assault. >> reporter: defense lawyer as o will ask for dominique strauss-kahn to be released from house arrest, and prosecutors are expected to agree to some reduced bail conditions, that according to a source familiar with the case who say there are problems for prosecutors and the attempted rape case. the "new york times" reports the victim had contact with a suspected drug dealer and spoke to him about the dsk case, and she had allegedly accepted cash deposits in the past of over $100,000 and she had numerous cell phones.

the times said she was not honest with police about that past. the attorney for the maid did not return repeated calls for comment, but these details raise questions about her credibility and defense lawyers plan to ask the judge to release strauss-kahn on his own recognizance given these new questions of credibility. that was jonathan deitz reporting. it looks like some lawmakers will be canceling their vacation plans after the senate called off next week's recess after the stalemate on deficits and debt ceiling stocks. for more we go to tracie potts in washington. >> reporter: we hear this morning there may be at least a short-term deal in the works where congress would be able to work this out so the united states does not default on its bills come august 2nd. here is that short-term deal. a trillion dollars in spending cuts which would allow the u.s. to borrow $1 trillion and

prevent a default for at least seven months. another version of that, 2 trillion in cuts, 2 trillion in borrowing that would prevent a default until the end of next year. house speaker john boehner's office said they have not seen anything on the table yet. president obama wants to raise taxes in part to prevent problems with the deficit, but republicans are furious at him for suggesting this week that they have been taking too much time off as opposed to working on this very important issue. the tone here is, in fact, changing. one of the big concerns and senator harry reid brought this us up yesterday s if they don't come up with a deal soon, how might the markets react and how might that effect ordinary families? veronica? >> tracie, thank. last night on "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" lawrence asked bruce bartlett if his interpretation of the 14th amendment to the constitution which says that authorized u.s. debt incurred for payment of

pension shall not be called into question means that congressional is not actually required to raise the debt ceiling. >> i think a broad reading of that provision of the constitution is justified. especially the part about the pensions. because that implies a symmetry, to things such assess which one can argue is a debt that is owed to the people who pay the taxes and the expectation of getting a benefit. that would be true of medicare benefits, and, of course, a lot of what the government pays for is vendors who provide goods and services to the government, especially the department of defense. it seems to me all of those things can be legitimately considered debts that cannot be questioned. the term cannot be questioned is about the broadest, strongest constitutional language you can find in the constitution.

>> lean forward with the last word weeknights at 8:00 p.m. only on msnbc, the place for politics. a federal judge blocked a south dakota law for women who choose to have an abortion for a three-day wait. a preliminary injunction sought by planned parenthood was granted saying it would humiliate and degrade women, the judge said the law is probably unconstitutional and there is a public interest in protecting a woman's right to seek an abortion. under the measure, women face a 72-hour waiting period and would have to undergo counseling at pregnancy centers that discourage abortions. >> here is your "first look" at other news going on atoday. plumes of thick black smoke were sent into the air yesterday afternoon in arizona. a blast sent huge plumes of

smoke from the substation. 80,000 customers lost electricity during the heat of the day. no one was injured. in florida, a morning excursion turned deadly after a sail boat burst into flames. two men on board were rescued and rushed to a palm beach hospital. one man died as a result of severe burns to his body, the other man is in stable condition. in kentucky, officials are looking for a truck they believe caused a 15-car train derailment. sheriffs officials say the rail was offset after a dark green tractor trailer slammed into the track and then drove off. clean-up crews hope to have the area cleared by this afternoon. finally, a couple of california surfers have come up with a faster way to catch a wave, with a motorized surfboard. that's right. the remote controlled wave jet has an engine mounted on the bottom of the board, some

critics call it cheating, but the wave jet creators hope their board will encourage more surfers to dive right in. and now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. cheating for some. that's not cheating for me. >> does it attract or repel sharks? that would be -- that's why i don't surf. >> there you go. >> i don't swim with the sharks. one of my basic premises of life. good morning. everyone is packing up and maybe if you are already on the road or heading out, let me take you through the only travel trouble spot, that's up through the dakotas, interstate 94 and interstate 90, we have light rain this is about it. there's not a lot of bad weather out there. the airports look good. we will also be good on many of the roads. the hot conditions are probably the biggest story out there. heat warnings today from kansas city, wichita, arkansas. heat advisories around chicago, even st. louis this morning, all

through iowa, the quad cities, minneapolis. this is where temperatures will be almost in the dangerous category. when we start worrying about the elderly, especially people without air conditioning. if you have those neighbors, check on them today. 97 in chicago. heat index 100, 105. everywhere in red is in the 90s. i'd say about half the country today will be in the 90s. the exceptions, the great lakes, new england will be cooler. enjoy one more beautiful day for you. now we finally cool things off in montana. even phoenix today, 113. let me take you through your fourth of july forecast. today, the green shows with youer you where we will be dealing with rain. most areas will be dry today. by the time we get to saturday, not a lot of showers or storms. i don't think anyone will get washed out of their weekend plans, that includes in the northern plains with afternoon storms. maybe isolated storms on sunday, especially in massachusetts and connecticut. down in the southeast and

florida, a chance of storms. the day we'll see the greatest concentration of storms, unfortunately, is the fourth of july, on monday. that's where, especially tennessee and northern portions of georgia we could see good, large thunderstorms. so, mother nature with some of her own fireworks come monday evening. usually the fireworks displays are later. hopefully we'll get them in. good weather for the fourth, come on, bill. stocks surge and the ultimate cage of atm envy. your first look at the business headlines are straight ahead. coming up, another walkoff between the cubs and the giants. phils lose one of their aces and we are getting closer to football ending their lockout. now no basketball. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. 

well, welcome back to "first

look". here are some of your top headlines this morning. firefighters in new mexico say they are confident they've stopped the 96,000 acre wildfire from advancing towards the los alamos nuclear lab. nearby residents evacuated earlier this week won't be allowed back home until sunday at the earliest. the defense rested its case in the murder trial of casey anthony on thursday without the 25-year-old defendant taking the stand. she's accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. during a farewell tribute to defense secretary robert gates, president obama surprised him with a medal of freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. gates is being replaced by cia chief leon pinetta. prince william and his new wife katherine arrived in canada for their first official trip abroad. the newlyweds arrived in ottawa to cheering crowds before attending an informal barbecue and a reception.

and check this out. officials in china szechuan province have apologized for releasing a blatantly doctored photo of three men inspecting a highway project so poorly photo shopped, it appears the men are levitating. the photographer admits to combining photos because he felt his originals weren't impressive enough. now here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,414 after gaining 152 points yesterday. the s&p was up 13. and the nasdaq rose 33. and taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei added 51 points, while the hang seng climbed 336. stocks closed a rough month and a quarter thursday with their biggest four-day rally since fall last year. that lifted the dow slightly into the black for the second quarter and left the s&p 500 and the nasdaq with only fractional losses. end of quarter buying by fund managers who typically sell losers and buy winners to sweeten up portfolios helped fuel the rally. also helping midwest business activity showed

surprising strength this month. investors shrugged off a slightly disappointing weekly employment report. greece's parliament approved budget cuts and asset sales, further measures necessary for new bailouts. metals manufacturer worthington jumped nearly 10% after raising its quarterly dividend and announcing a big stock buyback. ebay rose more than 4% on upgrades in the wake of a fed decision favorable to the paypal service. this spring farmers planted the second largest corn crop in 70 years. good for consumers. it should bring down food prices, but bad for farmers who probably will lose income. as a result, fertilizer maker cf industries fell more than 5%. a mixed trade commission verdict in eastman kodak's internation international dispute with the

makers of iphones and blackberrys sent kodak tumbling. lockheed martin cut about 1,500 job, anticipating reduced defense spending. a customer using a bank machine in long island's swanky east hampton village found the previous user left behind their savings account bank receipt showing a balance of $99 million. if you are thinking of staying close to home for the fourth of july to save money on gas, it looks like you may take a hit in the pocketbook. >> reporter: not even the july 4th barbecue is immune from the dreaded economic forces of nature. the national retail federation says the cost of the cookout is up, 12%, from $54 last year to $61 this year. all the cookout staples are higher, even the charcoal, lighter fluid, and propane to fire up the grill. yes, even the beer. >> you have these raw materials that have to get shipped to the

factories to make the beer. >> reporter: from the brewery to the distributor to the retailer and finally to the backyard after guzzling a lot of gas to get there. but there's another reason -- bad weather in germany has called a worldwide shortage of hops. >> we're talking about one-third of the word's supply of the key ingredient for beer is suddenly unavailable or available in lesser quantities. >> reporter: prices on fire works have gone up, too. so much that dozens of cities have cut back or canceled displays of the rockets red glare. still this july 4th is expected to offer a lot of pop. another sports lockout a seesaw battle between the giants and the cubs and who is making noise at wimbledon? and talk about coming right into your living room? oh, my goodness. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ork of possibilities.

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.look." in sports, with strained labor relations already driving the nfl into lockout land, yesterday professional basketball joined the club. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning, first the nfl and now the nba. the league has locked out their players after a collective bargaining agreement ended at midnight.

that means all business officially put on hold, unless the two sides come to an agreement, they won't be playing basketball in the fall. there's always tennis, and no one is going to lock them out. maria sharapova won in straight sets to advance to her first level of final in seven years. the women's final is tomorrow on nbc. then there's baseball. cubs and giants. pablo sandoval. solo shot at the top of the 13th to give chicago the lead. chicago's giovanni soto stepped up and belted one in the bottom of the 13th. two games, two walk-offs for the cubs. they won it 5-2. phils have a great pitching staff, but they took a hit against the red sox. coal hamels took a line drive off his glove and bruised his right hand. jason varitek had to leave the yard twice. a pair of homers. boston finally got a win if in filly 5-2. if you have a 3d tv, this is for you. get your glove ready. a foul ball right into your living room. sabathia was only a brewer for a few months, but something tells

me he remembers something about his former team. sabathia struck out 13 for his 11th win of the year. mark hit a milestone. home run number 300. yanks beat the brewers 5-0. >> new york tried to shut down verlander. but they couldn't, tigers won it 5-2. finally, nothing going right on or off the field for the as. they lost to the rockies 5-4, and you know you're having a rough year when your fans have trouble spelling. that should say matsui land. they can't win, and their fans need a dictionary. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a very safe fourth of july weekend. i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather. don't you hate it when that happens? >> when you hold up the signs -- >> totally upside down. >> they're having a good time. hopefully you have your plans all set. i don't think the weather will wash anyone out this weekend. temperatures will be warm, the beach, the pool, anywhere your destinations will take you, the

weather will be nice. temperatures are in the 0s in much of new england this morning. but this afternoon is going to be nearly perfect. everyone is going to start off with a good deal of sunshine. there may be afternoon showers up there from hartford northwards, but they're not going to ruin your day. they'll be in and out in a hurry. look at the forecast around philly, new york. washington, d.c. getting a little hotter than we'd like. 90 today. could be 95 tomorrow. could be 93 right now is the forecast. saturday, chance of thunderstorm also arrive in buffalo and pittsburgh through the ohio valley. we're very dry, it looks nice. but sunday is probably the day we'll have the worst of the weather up in new england. be prepared for thunderstorms then. the southeast will be hot and steamy for your typical afternoon storms. look how hot. 98 in kansas city. chicago, 97. the heat still on in the middle of the country. >> toasty fourth of july weekend. >> but nobody will be washed out or ruined.

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time now for entertainment news. as often as it happens in summer movie season, this weekend's new blockbuster should be the box office champ, but will it be interesting to see if this champ has legs to make a long run. much awaited by its loyal fan base the $200 million almost two and a half hour long "transformers dark of the moon"

already notched the year's biggest opening day. almost $38 million on wednesday. it's also being watched as a big test for 3-d. as the largest 3-d release ever, prints of the film will be brighter to counter past complaints 3-d films are too dim. most experts expect this transformers to earn about $100 million this weekend. not too bad. older audiences not excited by giant robot fights will be drawn to the comedy "larry crown" with tom hanks and julia roberts. it should crack the top five with about $15 million. and finally, young teen and tween girls will fuel the pg-13 selena gomez comedy "monte carlo" to finish as high as $10 million. want to see a good film? >> yeah. >> i just saw one. "midnight in paris." >> okay. >> just slipped my mind for a few seconds. >> a smaller release-type film?

>> the latest woody allen. it's amazing. take your pick. that or "transformers." >> things blowing up or a script. >> this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because willie geist is up next. reports just this morning that the sexual assault case against former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn about to fall apart because of major questions on the accuser's credibility with even prosecutor now doubting her. the question is after all that could strauss-kahn be released from house arrest after a hearing in new york today? president obama and mitt romney both in the important electoral state of pennsylvania last night where the republican front-runner continues to push his the president is killing your job message. the question is how did the president hit back in his speech? and weeks after the end of a great nba finals, the league essentially shuts down, locking out the players. the question is with the