extreme winds force some dramatic plane landings in spain. and prickly pooch. a happy ending for a puppy that got stuck in a cactus. very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with secret service secrets. the white house is looking into new reports of yet another incident of misconduct, allegations concerning a presidential trip last year to elle valve dor. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more. >> reporter: these new allegations come from a seattle tv station that traveled to el salvador, interviewed a foreign contractor who worked with agents there and a strip club owner who said, while protecting

president obama in el salvador in march 2011, those agents were at his club three nights in a row, that they paid for vip access to women there and said that this was something they did all the time. the chair of the homeland security department, committee here on capitol hill, peter king says there's no indications from records of that trip there'sing inxanything wrong. but the state department is looking to see if any of their employees may have been involved. all of this after homeland security secretary janet napolitano came to the hill this week aend told lawmakers that this appeared to be an isolated insz dent in el salvador other agencies are also named, among them the dea, drug enforcement administration. they've now issued a statement saying that they're unaware that anything went wrong on that trip. but they will investigate whether or not cheethese claimd are credible. yesterday was a tense day at

the trial of john edwards, defense attorneys continue their assault on the prosecution's lead witness, a former aide to the one-time senator and presidential kacandidate. nbc's jay gray reports from green borough, north carolina. >> the main goal of questioning andrew young for the defense is to show he's not credible. >> reporter: the focus continues to be an inconsistencies between young's testimony and tell-ale book he's written. though times the line of questioning is scattered. >> certainly at times the defense even confused the judge. >> reporter: there was no confusion of the image of young painted by the defense. >> make him out to be the scam artist, the person who intentionally and on his own essentially tried to defraud the heiress bunny melon, take her money, put it in his own pocket instead of passing it on to rielle hunter. >> reporter: initially he said the plan to solicit money from

edwards' wealthy friends was to cover up rielle's pregnancy. >> what the defense tried to hammer home today was, at the time andrew young was soliciting money from bunny melon, he didn't know. he couldn't know that rielle was pregnant. >> reporter: it strikes to the core of this case, who knew what and when, and if any of it was illegal. jay gray, nbc news, greens borrow, north carolina. george zimmerman, the man accused of murder in the death of an unarmed florida teenager has raised more than $200,000 for his defense fund. zimmerman's lawyer told cnn donors had contributed the money through a web site which has since been shut down. he plans to inform the judge overseeing the case at a hearing today. zimmerman, who was released this week on bail, is now in hiding, due to concern for his safety. two out of every three guns recovered by mexican authorities are a crime there. it came from the united states. 68,000 weapons over the past

five years, including many used by vie lenlt drug cartels were traced back to the u.s. mexico says the u.s. needs to do more to stop the flood of assault weapons and other guns that have killed more than 47,000 people south of the border. one of the most controversial issues in the 2012 election campaign is the role being played by super-funded super pacs. last night on "hardball" john tester told chris matthews what he thinks he and other democrats need to do to win their races, despite being so overwhelmed financially by the largely republican leaning super pacs. >> we've got to work hard and we've got to have enough money to get our message out. we're not going to be able to outspend these guys. they have more money than we can even come close to raising. by the same token, i've got a great record if we can get people understanding what we've done in the last 5 it 1/2 years. i feel confident in this election. i think the key is our ads have

to be better than theirs, but more importantly we need to let people know about the secret corporate money being dumped into these races. back in 1916, montana voters, 1916, almost 100 years ago, they said, enough of this, when anna cop pa copper ran the stailts of mon, they said no more corporation volv am. i think if they understand where this money is coming from, and it's tough because there's no transparency, if we have people understand it's corporate outside money, maybe not even from this country, which is totally illegal, funding the race and ads against me, i think they'll act accordingly. >> watch "hardball" weekdays 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. eastern only on msnbc. and tomorrow night, don't miss msnbc's live coverage of one of the year's favorite political events, the annual white house correspondents dinner hosted by funnyman jimmy kimmel beginning at 10:00 p.m.

eastern. here is your first look at other news going around america today. in florida, a pair of elderly sisters about to board a bus were attacked by a purse snatcher. you can see one victim had her wheelchair knocked over during the assault. after the horrific images were made public, the teenager believed to be involved was turned into police by his own father. in texas, another heartless crime. somebody swiped a donation jar from the front counter of a restaurant. it was there to raise money for cancer victims. the thief made off with about $250 and remains on the loose. the university of rhode island was invaded by zombies. but unlike those in the movies these zombies were helping to save lives. students were testing a way to give out medication quickly in case of an infectious disease outbreak. so they decided to have a little fun. they made up a disease. finally, in arizona, one puppy ended up looking more like

a porcupine after a nasty run-in with a cactus. a good samaritan found the dog and tore enough needles off the dog to fill, get this, most of a five-gallon bucket. the humane society was able to nurse the dog named cactus jack back to health. cactus jack has been adopted. oh, happy ending. now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. what a bad day. >> you picture him trying to get them off. >> face-first into acactus. >> a lot of cacti. good morning, everyone. here is what we're looking at as far as weather. right now there's a storm system brewing in the middle of the country that's going to slide quickly east today and into saturday. it's going to bring some wet weather to areas of the ohio valley and nid atlantic. we had some showers and storms overnight in new england. that's starting to head off the coast. now that rain is mostly confined to cape cod and in the areas of

maine. all the bad weather is in the midwest. pretty powerful storms outside of denver this morning. as i mentioned, aulg of this and a halfy weather has to get funneled between these two areas of high pressure. it's going to go light through the middle of the country, the northern great lakes, new england will be dry this upcoming weekend, the southeast should be dry. if you're in the middle of the country, all the way from the midwest to of the east coast, you're the ones that will be dodging wet weather. this morning, i mentioned denver. you're on the cold side of this storm, actually snow in the mountains of colorado overnight. all those thunderstorms out here on interstate sni and rural plains, even a couple of tornado warnings early this morning. that rainfall, here's where we track it, this map shows us the next 48 hours, who's going to get wet. if you're covered if greenl, that means you have chances of rain. definitely dakotas and nebraska today, then tomorrow that slides through areas of indiana, ohio, through sections of new england. northeast looks like you're okay. here is kind of the dividing line. new york city not expecting hardly any rain saturday, but up to a half inch saturday

afternoon/e afternoon/evening, doc, baltimore, philadelphia. this narrow corridor is who will deal with the wet weather. keep that in mind saturday to sunday, d.c. to philly, sunday is your better of the two days, the day you can probably do things outdoors with the family or whatever you have to do. saturday looks like it will be cloudy and especially wet in the afternoon. so your friday forecast today, we're chilly and cold but dry in areas of new england and much of the east coast today. slight kans of an afternoon storm in atlanta and northern georgia. all the stormy weather today is in the dakotas and kansas city. veronica, i'll give you an update on the weekend forecast coming up later. >> soggy weekend. something to look forward to. housing improves. amazon zooms and something lincoln broughad the night he ds going on the auction block. the cleveland browns make a big move and game seven goes to the double overtime in the stanley cup playoffs. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to eye "first look." here are some of the top stories this morning. a nonpartisan research group saying as a result of president obama's health care law more than 3 million health insurance policy hoerlds and thousands of employees will share rebates in the billion dollars. 80% of premiums are required to be spent on medical care or quality improvement or return the difference. about 9,000 u.s. marines will be moved off the japanese island of okinawa in an agreement that will reduce the military footprint in japan and ease tensions with local reside residents. texas has executed a man convicted of a 2002 fatal shooting, robbery, abduction and rape. adams apologized before receiving lethal injection. 48 workers for philadelphia's transit agency has hit the jackpot in

wednesday's $172 million power ball drawing. they each stand to collect 2.5 million before taxes if they choose, that lump sum payout. and extremely high winds in northern spain sent planes swaying, testing the skills of pilots and frightening passengers. some pilots had to abort their landings while other flights were rerouted. now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,204 after gaining 113 yesterday. the s&p up 9, the nasdaq added 20. overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei lost 40 points while in hong kong the hang seng was down 68. wall street will focus on earnings reports and new data on the health of the economy today. the commerce department's first look at gross domestic product for the first quarter is expected to show a slight drop as the u.s. recovery sends more mixed signals. the number of new unemployment

claims rose to 388,000, a little worse than expected. but the latest housing numbers were better, with pending sales of previously owned houses up 4%, a two-year high. in earnings reports yesterday, amazon.com blew past expectations on higher digital project sales sparked by the kindle fire. south korea's samsung electronics posted a record quarterly profit on the strength of its galaxy smart phones which actually outsell the iphone. starbucks sales were up in the u.s. but short of expectations in europe and the middle east. spain's credit rating has been cut for the second time this year by standard & poor's. two notches with the outlook on thcountry's long-term rating now negative. the price of crude oil is back over $104 a barrel today as we approach the start of the summer driving season. and a part of american history is going on the auction block. the opera glasses used by president abraham lincoln the night he was assassinated will

be up for bid monday in los angeles. the binoculars may be the last object used by president lincoln before he was shot in april 1865. they are expected to bring in at least $500,000. turning now to some health news, a new report finds one in three u.s. workers don't get enough sleep. about 30% of employed adults get less than six hours asleep instead of the recommended seven to nine. even worse, 44% of people who work the night shift gets six hours sleep or less. sleep deprivation can cause accidents and is linked with obesity and heart disease. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page online at msnbc.com. something we can probably all relate to. well, the rangers oust the snatdors, the rays sting the ainge else and the first round of the nfl draft. plus, the devils keep their footing long enough to send home the panthers in double overtime. your first look at sports is straight ahead.

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[ male announcer ] want your weeds to hit the road? hit 'em, with roundup extended control. one application kills weeds, and stops new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control. hey there. welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports, last night was quite the night with two deciding game seven matchups in the stanley cup playoffs. here's freg rogen. >> good morning. the first round of the stanley cup playoffs, the devils and panthers didn't want it to end. panthers down two, they scored

their way back. florida rattlied and forced overtime. it stayed that way through the first o.t. then in double overtime, adam henrik ended it, the rookie with the biggest goal of his career. the devils move on with a 3-2 win in double o.t. they will play the flyers. it new york, nobody expected the top-seeded rangers to be in a game seven. stefan at that stahl, new york led 1-0. four minutes later, they added to the lead. jir auld di, all alone, he wasn't going to miss that. 2-0 rangers. they held on to boat the senators 2-1. they have the capitals next. after months of anticipation, the indianapolis colts finally made it official. they selected stanford quarterback andrew luck first overall in the draft. he'll try to fill the void left by peyton manning. at number two, the washington redskins picked robert griffin iii. he was wearing the right socks.

number three, trent richardson. speaking of the draft, the charlotte bobcats are the odds-on favorite to win the nba lottery. they finished the san season with the worse pinning percentage in league history. finally, three weeks into the season, albert pujols has not hit a home run yet. brandon allen belted a walk-off in the ninth. nothing has gone right for the angels so far. the rays win 4-3. that's your first look at sports. have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. for another look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. you're telling us it's going to be a super soggy weekend? or just saturday. >> in a few spots. let me pinpoint that for you. good morning, everyone. overnight, we had a big storm system push off east coast. really dranking the wind, some rain up in maine. we'll see improvement through the day, gusts of wind 20 to 30

miles per hour, almost like a fall-type morning in new england, cold and chilly and also with the winds. as far as today's forecast goes, we're watching colder air moving in during the day. temperatures are going to struggle to budge throughout much of this region. high temperatures today are going to be in the 50s, typically this time of year we should be in the mid-60s. should be like an early spring day in this region. let me take you through the weekend forecast. as we look at today, the stormy weather is in nebraska and the dakotas, saturday we watch all the stormy weather up here, minneapolis, chicago, that rain during the afternoon will push through the ohio valley. looks like a rainy saturday for you in indianapolis, northern kentucky, southern iowa, west virginia and eventually afternoon areas like d.c. and philadelphia. new york city is on the northern edge of it, cloudy and chilly for you, new england dry. the good news for sunday is that that rain that's going to drop on saturday will exit the coast. i think everyone on the east coast gets a good sunday. we'll watch storms once again in the middle of the country, kansas city, oklahoma city,

possibly there into kansas. but much of the weekend looks really nice from new england to the great lakes through the northern plains. it's going to be chilly but dry and the warm, dry weather should had continue in the desert southwest through much of the south. the other spot with a rainy, wet weekend, miami. die kind of surprising. they desperately need the rain and they'll get it this weekend. >> i'm not feeling so bad now, thanks, bill. >> because you're not in d.c. getting the rain saturday. this weekends at the box office, will a new romantic comedy about a couple that can't seem to get down the aisle knock off all comers? your first look in entertainment is coming straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. 2 . 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna.

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especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love.

welcome back to "first look." time for entertainment news. several new movies should spice up this box office battle. "the five-year engagement" squarely targets females, will lose audience to last weekend's two date movies. but most experts see it finishing on top with $18 million to $20 million. last week's champ, "think like a man" is expected to take in about $15 million in second place. but then again the experts all underrated this one last weekend. zac efron romance "the lucky one" will likely struggle to pass $10 million this weekend. then "the pirates band of misfits" is an old-fashioned stop motion animation film from the studio that gave us wallace and grommet. without much family competition this weekend, it could climb above $10 million.

also debuting, and expected to fight for about $10 million, the thriller "the raven" starring john cusack as edgar allan poe. and j any of that look good to you? >> no. this is the worst time of year for the movies. i can't wait until the summer season. we get like the big box office hits. it's -- >> i went to go see "friends with kids" with my mom the other night. it was really cute. kristen wiig, maya rudolph. >> well, i know them. >> you should! i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" with willie geist starts reitz now. have a great weekend. quote, i promise you the president has a big stick. i promise you. >> vice president joe biden conjures the spirit of teddy

roosevelt in a foreign policy speech ensuring the american people their president indeed carries a big stick. the question is, could joe biden possibly deliver any more consistently? meantime, john boehner calls the president pathetic for traveling to college campuses in battleground states to demagogue the issue of student loans. the question is, how can the white house argue that these are not political trips? and an update on the couple who a couple nights ago at a texas rangers game held on to a ball tossed into the stands and kemt that ball, even as that sweet, sweet little boy sobbed next to them. the question is, would you believe it's the couple that now wants an apology? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm willie geist. this is "way too early," the show that goes to baseball games with a glove so it can