world-renowned daredevil performs a stunt in baltimore. those stories and more straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. and we are going to begin this morning with a significant shift. after months of refusing to take a clear stand on the controversial issue of same-sex marriage, yesterday, president obama suddenly decided to come out in favor of it. it's a decision that could prove risky this election year. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, the president said his views are personal, but no doubt they'll have huge political impact. one day after north carolina became the 30th state to ban gay marriage and after two key members of his administration endorsed it, president obama went on record in an interview

with "good morning america's" robin roberts. >> i've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> reporter: he called it a personal decision, for years the president said his views were evolving. there's quick reaction from the gay community. >> i don't know it took too long, but i'm very glad he's actually taken the moment to step forward and show his leadership on this issue. >> reporter: the president's announcement is sure to have political impact. mitt romney quickly reaffirmed his position 12k3w4r689 my view is that marriage itself is a relationship between a man and a woman and that's my own preference. >> reporter: but is the president taking a political risk? >> there are important demographic groups for the president's re-election, that are not quite there yet. this is a potential big wedge issue within the african-american community and

working-class whites. >> reporter: and analysts say it could mobilize conservatives and evangelicals against him in november. catholic bishops called this decision deeply saddening. but the president said he still believes in the right of each state to make their own choice. last night on the "rachel maddow show" barney frank talked about it and told rachel that he doesn't think it will make much of a difference in the election. >> if you were against it, you were already against barack obama because of what he did on doma, if you were for it, you were for barack obama but it has an impact first of all, there will be some people who will be more emboldened to speak out now. you know, this is a society where people influence each other. and when the president says it, there will be people, probably won't make any difference in

manhattan, los angeles, cambridge, massachusetts. but in parts of the country where people are still feeling a little intimidated, morally and cultural culturally, having the president on their side will be very helpful. these things don't operate in a one-to-one fashion and it isn't necessarily just about marriage, i think it is, it is helpful. again, we're on, we're on the move. he's actually right about the generational issue. some generational issues, people think one way at 25nd they may think differently at 50. in this situation on ltbt rights, every indication we have is that people aren't prejudiced at 25, aren't going to become prejudiced later. "lean forward" on the "rachel maddow show." prosecutors are getting ready to wrap up the john edwards case. the most dramatic testimony yesterday involved edwards' late wife, elizabeth, when she found out about her husband's affair.

nbc's jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: prosecutors again called on members of the inner circle of john edwards' presidential campaign. speech writer wendy button continued her testimony, saying edwards knew donations from a wealthy supporter were being used to take care of his mistress, rielle hunter and their baby girl. >> she helps the prosecution because she has an admission from john edwards to her, that he knew about the money from fred baron. the prosecution's theory is that edwards made this cover-up and took this money to help him in the campaign. >> reporter: former edwards' aide and current white house deputy communications director, jennifer palmeri wept as she talked about elizabeth edwards death. elisabeth edwards confronting barpen about his friendship and financial support of edwards. >> palmeri testimony helps the

prosecution. it shows that edwards knew about the donations. >> reporter: prosecution near the end of their case, one key voice yet to be heard is the woman at the center of it all, rielle hunter. >> make no mistake, she'll take the stand, prosecution wants to end strong. if they think it won't be a good ending, she'll be called by the defense. >> reporter: one of the most anticipated witnesses in this controversial trial could testify by the end of the week. jay gray, nbc news, greensboro, north carolina. and here's your "first look" at other news going on around america today. in wisconsin, police had to use spike strips to end a high-speed chase involving five people who stole a van from a child day care center. after the pursuit went across three counties, the group finally surrendered. investigators say they grabbed the van after ditching another stolen vehicle. in florida, an alligator gave a fisherman quite a scare.

that's an understatement. he was out in his kayak when the gator swam up and made his presence known. the man said he was not only worried for himself, but for his dog, which was right next to him. well, fortunately both of them did make it out okay. well another gator story, how about that, this one in florida, it was right in the middle of the city, the alligator tried to make its way across a busy street in miami. it could have been hit by a car, but lucky wildlife crews captured the animal. and in baltimore, a tightrope walker made his way across a line 60 feet high above the city's inner harbor. he did have a close call -- but the seventh-generation wire walker, one of the famous flying walendas managed to avoid falling. now for a look at the national weather, let's check in with msnbc meteorologist bill karins

with the weather channel forecast. >> interesting. >> bill, they come from a long line of tightrope walkers, so -- >> so i guess they're good at it. >> they must be good, because they keep going. rainy weather once again, what else is new. it seems like the last two weeks in a row, it seems we've been dealing with rainy weather, the good news, it's moving quickly. the second half of the day could feature sunshine in areas now getting rain, including new york city, hartford, back up to albany. many mayors of vermont. the back edge of the rain is pushing through philadelphia. new york city, probably only another hour of this light rain. hartford, about the same for you. boston, it's going to take a little longer. the morning rush is going to be locked in with the rain. but the afternoon, you'll drive home in dry weather. other areas of concern, not being, it's a beautiful spring day in so many areas of the

country. this little spin down here near texas is going to be trouble. we'll see a lot of rainfall in the next couple of days from west texas spedding across the middle of the state and the southern portion of the state. but texas is still in drought conditions and they need it. as far as the gorgeous stuff, denver will be in the mid 80s, beautiful, low humidity, kansas city, st. louis, through the southeast down to atlanta and jacksonville, you'll enjoy a beautiful thursday. so here's how we're looking as far as the rain goes. midland, texas watching thunderstorms, this will be slow moving over the next 48 hours. here's the estimated rainfall totals in a lot of selected cities in texas. you notice it's pretty widespread. the possibility of two to four inches through central texas. if you get hit with the thunderstorms, you could get more. at least an inch from corpus christi to houston. this is what we need out there in the state of texas. it looks like it should clear out in time for the mother's day weekend. your forecast, d.c. looks nice, even new york city is going to have a great afternoon. temperature near 70 degrees, the

southeast is perfect, big thunderstorms yesterday, there's the thunderstorms in san antonio. anyone joining us on the west coast once again, banner perfect, chamber of commerce weather is what they call it, lynn, perfect conditions. thanks so much. coming up, traders watch europe and a reprieve for many post offices and a latest "what will they think of next" in automobiles. coming up, the knicks couldn't stand the heat. the cops force a game seven and you've got to see what josh hamilton did for an encore. you're watching "first look."

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welcome back to "first look." here's some top stories making news this morning. an investigation is under way to determine who leaked the story about a c.i.a. informant revealing the terror plot to use a new underwear bomb on a jet headed for the u.s. officials had intended to keep the entire story secret. a republican-led house

committee is backing a nearly $5 billion project to build a missile defense site on the u.s.'s east coast. despite the pentagon saying it's not needed and democrats saying it's a waste of money. a new russian-made passenger plane, the first since the days of the soviet union, crashed into indonesia with 45 people on board during a demonstration flight for potential buyers. search teams have found no signs of survivors. celebrity hair stylist, vidal sassoon who liberated women with his wear-and-wear cuts in the 1980s, died at the age of 84 of natural causes. ferrari is apologizing for lifting a sports car on top of a historic gate to perform some driving stunts. well chinese officials are criticizing ferrari and have ordered workers to try clean up all the tire marks left on top

of the gate. which is a gate built during the ming dynasty. here's your "first look" at wall street. the dow opens at 12,835 after dropping 97 points yesterday. the s&p fell nine points. the nasdaq was down 11. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei lost 35 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng fell 103. investors will be watching the troubles in europe in the latest u.s. jobs data today. stocks were down yesterday, mainly due to uncertainty about the european debt crisis. although greece will get a payment of more than $5 million euros from the region's bailout fund. this despite threats from newly elected officials there. china reported weak trade data of less than 5% growth in april. increasing fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. the u.s. labor department will report on unemployment claims for last week with a slight increase expected over last week. a new forecast from zillo

predicts that home values will bottom out and start back up during the final three months of 2012. the u.s. postal service is dropping plans to close thousands of post offices. instead they'll reduce hours at a third of post offices to deal with its multibillion-dollar deficit. cisco reports a jump in profits, shares down 8% after hours. toyota reported quarterly profits quadrupled and issued an upbeat forecast for the next 12 months. japan's sony, which was not long ago what apple is today. announced a record annual loss in its fourth straight year of red ink. and finally a new calf navigation system -- car navigation system uses laser beams to display information in front of the driver's eyes. almost transparent plastic sheets, located under the visor allows drivers to receive information while keeping their

eyes on the road with minimum distraction. it looks like a lot of distraction. the heat dismiss the knicks, the grizzlies claw the clippers and the caps rebound against the rangers. plus the texas rangers slip and slide their way through a rain delay. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. i've still got hours of battery life. it's an ultrabook. you bring great shame upon this coffee hut. with a long-lasting ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned. ultrabook. inspired by intel.

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he would never give up on any of us. [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ this is zales. the diamond store. well welcome back to "first look." in sports a lot of attention was paid this season to the new york

knicks. last night in the playoffs, the miami heat finished off the knicks' season with ease, here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning, as the series wore on, the question wasn't if the heat could eliminate the knicks, but when. last night we got our answer. the heat were in total control from the beginning. a four-point lead after one. up 11 at the break. carmelo anthony did score five, but unfortunately that wasn't enough. lebron finished with 29. miami moves on to play indiana with a 106-94 win. the knicks haven't won a playoff series in 12 years. in the west, the grizzlies blew a 27-point lead in game one. they weren't about to blow a lead last night. the news got worse for the clippers, blake griffin went down hard, injured his left knee. stayed in the game, but was scoreless in the fourth. chris paul also strained his groin and set out the final minutes. the grizzlies won it 92-80. hockey game six, caps and

rangers, washington drew first blood in more ways than one, alex ovechkin did what he does best, unleashed a rocket in the opening minutes, 1-0 caps and the verizon center was rocking. move to late in the third, rangers down 2-1, marion gaborik with a blast from the point. some how it found the way to the back of the net. new york down one with a minute to play. caps held on to win 2-1. zizive game seven saturday on the nbc sports network. finally josh hamilton hit four home runs on tuesday, what will he do for an encore? how about a little slip and slide. the game in baltimore rained out. that didn't stop hamilton from making a big splash, took to the field with his teammates, sprinted towards the tarp and defense head-first and just like that the rangers player was all washed up. this is about the only thing that can cool him off. that's your "first look" at sports, i'm fred roggin. now for another look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> got something interesting to show you. i think even you will think this

would be interesting. ouch. yesterday this picture was taken by the coast guard down on mobile bay, not one, but four waterspouts all at one time. it's pretty much just a tornado over water that one labeled under number four, that was a petty powerful one. what a sight down in mobile bay. no damage was reported with any of that. most of it was harmlessly off the coast. so here's what we're dealing with this morning. that storm system that was yesterday down in the southeast with the thunderstorms, is now pushed up the east coast. heavy rain overnight around d.c. and philadelphia is now over with your morning commute will be dry. new york city, given it another hour and you'll be dry, too. hartford and boston, it's going to take a little longer. boston, you'll be locked into the rain through your morning commute by lunch hour, you'll be dry, too. everyone will come home with dry roads and a good deal of sunshine. rapidly improving weather throughout this region and d.c.

and philly should have a beautiful day, temperatures heading up near 70 degrees, cooler in the great lakes, tomorrow, nice day on the eastern seaboard, texas will be the problem area with heavy rain. coming up, rihanna in the raw? britney is a go, and sophia is single. plus, has she been blacklisted by one of the fashion world's titans? your first look at entertainment straight ahead. you're watching "first look." ♪ if loving you is wrong

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check this out, this week a woman in canada gave birth inside the bathroom of a coffee shop. of course it was -- it was

started when the baby started to breastfeed and the baby said, actually, i said soy milk, so, sorry, yeah. i kind of said it out loud? so more political news yesterday, new jersey governor chris christie said he's not sure if he's going to run for re-election next year. he's like i'll collapse that bridge when i get to it. nestle is releasing new chocolate bars and nestle ceo is having his workers pressure their family into buying them. always a sucker for that tonight jimmy welcomes former "snl" cast member will ferrell and musical guest, awol nation. weeknights at 12:35 on your local nbc station. all right bill, wake up, time for some entertainment

news. john travolta's legal team may be scoffing at two lawsuits charging unwanted sexual advances. but more trouble may be on the way. >> more? >> the lawyer bringing those suits claims that more men have come forward and there could be more accusations soon. stand by. hugh hefner offered rihanna more than $1 million to pose without clothes in "playboy." and britney spears as a judge on the "x factor" is a done deal, $15 million a season. sophia vergara, bill, gets your cell phone out, she split up with her wealthy boyfriend of two years. >> she's not my type, she's too pretty. >> kim kardashian missed monday night's met gala. the oscars of fashion, reportedly because "vogue" editor, anna wintour thinks she's tasteless and tacky and had her banned from the event.

her ex, kris humphries is furious over her counting of the wedding gifts, she recently donated $200,000 to charity, claiming that's double what they received in presents, he wants to know why she's not counting the $325,000 given by a malai malaysian businessman. >> i'll wine and dine him for a ferrari. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. the evolution is complete -- president obama declares that he personally supports the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry. the question is, how long has the president been holding that secret and when would he have announced it. mitt romney states again that he believes marriage is

meant to be between a man and a woman, the question is how will the now clear-cut distinction between the two candidates on this issue impact the vote in november? we'll talk live in a minute to mark halperin. and we won't see the new york knicks again until around election day as the miami heat make all that linsanity a distant memory by ending the knicks' season. the question is who in the nba is going to beat the heat with the way they'r playing. it's "way too early" for this. good morning, i'm willie geist, this is the show that reminds you joe biden's name check of "will and grace" on "meet the press," set all this in motion. i'm glad you're up with us this morning, watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius radio. shoot me an email or tweet me, @williegeist 1. or do what will and