royalty goes to the highest bidder. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and we begin this morning with a presidential to-do list had. president obama is holding a rare meeting with top congressional leaders from both parties today. the president is pushing an ambitious election year agenda, including raising the debt ceiling by increasing the tax on the rich. brian mooar has the details. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. the president is hosting a bipartisan lunch at the white house with some items on the menu republicans will find hard to swallow. today president obama is it

issuing a to-do list for congress and holding a rare sit-down with top laud makers from both parties to get it done. one of the first orders of business, raising the debt ceiling so the gosvernment can pay its bills. john boehner is already drawing a hard line. >> when the time comes i will again insist, my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase. >> reporter: and that is setting the stage for yet another partisan showdown on capitol hill. >> american people have had enough of this brinksmanship. they want us to it get things done. >> reporter: on "the view" the president says he still wants to do what republicans won't, raising taxes on the rich. >> i think everyone sitting on this couch is going to pay more on taxes so we don't raise taxes for middle class families. >> reporter: and the president declined to give his economic policies a letter grade, saying he has a to-do list of his own. >> and this of course is an election year so there is a huge

difference between talking about things to doo s to do and getti done. the daughter of john edwards may testify today at her father's trial on charges of using campaign contributions to hide his extramarital affair. we don't know yet if edwards himself will take the stand. yesterday the defense called several key witnesses to testify about the money trail. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: the pace of the trial increased dramatically for the defense. >> it really was speed-defending, five witnesses in just the morning session. >> reporter: a group that included former fbi agent jim walsh who told jurors texas millionaire fred barren conti e continued to deposit tens of thousands of dollars into rielle's bank account long after edwards' campaign. also today, scott thomas took the stand. though his testimony was limited. outside the presence of the

jury, thomas had told the court, quote, this is a clear-cut case that the payments were not campaign contributions and that edwards had not violated the law. but judge katherine eagles rue those opinions were inadmissible. >> he was able to tell the jury how complex the elections laws are and in his 38 years it in his experience in private practice and in the commissions, he has never addressed the situation where a third party is asked to pay the debt of another third party. >> reporter: we also learned the defense is not likely to call the woman at the center of this soap opera. >> they have previewed to the judge the witnesses they intend to call between now and then. rielle hunter is not on that list. >> reporter: edwards' daughter cate, though, is on the list. >> the defense will be able to put some emotion back into the case, perhaps humanize john edwards a little bit as this drama unfolded. >> reporter: drama that plays out publicly in the federal

courthouse here. jay gray, nbc news, greensborough, north carolina. here's your "first look" at some of the other news in america today. in texas, last weekend's storms have now created a massive ditch that just keeps on growing. look at that. they call it the grand canyon. you can see why. though it could just as easily be mistaken for an earthquake fault. neighbors are worried it could eventually swallow up their homes. officials warn rushing water has ripped off the concrete from a national gas line returning alongside the gorge. in colorado, two overenthusiastic wildfires spectators had to be rescued after hiking up the side of a hill to get a better view of the flames. probably a bad idea. the men got stuck in crevice and sat there for hours. they used a trail that was closed due to the fire to get their better view. in kentucky, they are bridging the gap. time-lapse video shows cranes hoisting a 200-ton section of bridge into place after a cargo ship ran into the bridge four

months ago. it has been closed ever since. and, finally, in georgia it's a real cat's eye. that's right, researchers placed a small video on the cameras of outdoor house cats. the cats could be seen crawling through storn drains, hiding under cars, hanging out with chickens, possums and dragging smaller critter. one was even busted sneaking away from the family's home to go spend time with another family. wow, some serious investigative work going on there. now for a look at your national weather, let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. i want to know who was curious to know what the cats are doing to go to that trouble. >> anybody who has a cat, you're curious what they're doing when they go out the door and they come back eight hours later. >> would you hook up a chasm ra to find out? >> i don't know. well, good morning, everyone. we are tracking rain still along areas of new england, through the mid-atlantic. today is the last day of this humid air mass, then we have a

nice, beautiful reward for you as we head toward the weekend. first things first, as we look toward the rain, this is cape cod, extreme eastern cape cod, nantucket, martha's vineyard dealing with the rain. we've had showers and downpours from philadelphia to new york. that's looking a bit better, little scattered. philadelphia, you'll be dry for the morning rush hour, new york city, dense fog around the area and still showers heading up toward bridge port, connecticut and around new haven. additional thunderstorms are forming down here in north carolina. this is the raleigh area here. this is fayetteville, north carolina, right along i-95. back today greensborough and nashboro is where we're watching showers and thunderstorms this morning approaching interstate 73. there's still bad weather out there, but overall a lot better than yesterday morning at this time. we don't have any large areas of rain. and the reward is coming. cold front that has already gone through chicago, milwaukee, it's starting to head toward detroit, dry, beautiful canadian air mass

is moving in. this will make even new england and the mid-atlantic clear out by tomorrow. so the forecast, we've already had 48 hours of rain in the area. i don't think we'll have much more. many areas picked up a half inch to about an inch of rain. the rest of the nation looks fantastic. here's that reward. look at washington, d.c., the next five days. temperatures in the 80s and 70s, i think we have five dry days in a row, in what should be a beautiful weekend, low humidity with temperatures in the 80s. that's because the rest of the country is gorgeous, a summerlike weather pattern from the west to texas, the southeast even warming up and drying out, lynn. so many areas of the country you're just going to smile and love the forecast. >> smile and nod. bill, thanks so much. coming up, a ceo survives, gold tumbles and you may want to think about about that so-called sugar boost. your first look at business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, president obama takes a shot at david beckham,

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we come back to "first look". i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories this morning. presumptive republican presidential nominee mitt romney it notched two predictable primary wins in oregon and nebraska yesterday. former nebraska senator and governor bob carrie won the democratic nomination to run for his old senate seat. in syria, an explosion yesterday hit in a convoy of cease-fire monitors. no one from the u.n. team was hurt. father thomas williams, a hi high-profile catholic priest is apologizing after admitting he fathered a child years ago. he is a tv commentator and author and dean in rome. one of the world's most famous diamonds, the beau sancy has sold at auction for $9.7

million, twice what was expected. the pear-shaped stone has been worn by the queen of france as well as other royal families over the last 400 years. here is your first look at wall street. the dow opens at 12,632, after falling 63 points yesterday. the s&p was down 7, the nasdaq lost 8. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dipped 99 points while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 634. well, he is still chairman and ceo of jpmorgan chase. but it's safe to say jamie dimon has been stripped of his status. as protesters gathered outside tuesday's stack holder meeting, dimon apologized again for a $2 billion trading loss that he said should have never happened. jpmorgan's stock climbed for the first time since last week's

revelation, but the drama is far from over. the fbi has opened an inquiry into the multibillion-dollar losses and the house financial services committee will begin its own hearings into the trading blunder. overnight asian stocks followed u.s. markets lower on fears greece could default on the country's andty bailout leftist leaders gain power in the next new election. that turmoil has investors seeking safety in the dollar. overnight, the precious metal gold plunged to a 4 1/2-month low. meanwhile, oil fell to fresh six-month lows below $93 a month. jcpenney tumbled a e etumbled. the same week facebook is going public, general motors is pulling its advertising on the social network, but it will keep its facebook page. >> and, finally, some food for thought for you before you reach for that sweet at your desk

today. little bit of a downer. a new study at ucla finds eating too much sugar can eat away your brain power based upon the observation of lab rats memories. last night on "the ed show," byron dorgan talked about final regulations in the wake of the jpmorgan chase scandal. he told ed he thinks wall street restrictions need to be tighter rather than looser, as mitt romney suggests. >> jamey dimon says, we'll take corrective action. really? wall street has been so strong and good, they have varnished those of us who believe in real collective action as being radical. let me tell you the three steps wall street considers radical. number one, restore the glass/steeg elle act. you can't do banking and securities and real estate all in the same pot. number two, ban naked credit default swaps. some other countries haven't, we have it.

it's flat-out gambling. number three, get rid of too big to fail. if you're too big, break them up. we did that with standard oil into 30 separate companies. if you're too big to fail, you're too big. the too big to fail companies are bigger than they were when they nearly collapsed our economy. maybe this is a makeup call, maybe the congress and the president will decide we need to push back. mitt romney says get rid of the regulation we did have? that is absurd, so dangerous to the country to hear that. >> be sure to watch "the ed show" weeknights at 8:00 eastern only on msnbc, the place for politics. well, to health news this morning, new studies are under way aimed at preventing alzheimer alzheimer's. one will test a drug that attacks a protein thought to be causing alzheimer's to those predisposed to develop it early. the second study will test the use of an insulin nasal spray that shows memory improvement in people with moderate alzheimer's. with more on health stories, you

can check out msnbc.com's health page. the spurs wear down the clippers, l.a. remains the king of the road and the major league soccer champs visit the white house. plus, things get heated in miami as the pacers flex their muscle. maybe it's time to recharge the human battery. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system from beautyrest... it's you, fully charged. they fly just a liiiiittle bit higher... [ man ] he hits it! [ morgan ] ...go just a liiiiittle bit further... [ woman ] a perfect 10! [ morgan ] they can even be perfect. and when we come together... to cheer...as one... [ chuckles ] ...we know what happens.

[ crowd cheering ] visa. proud sponsor of the olympic games for 25 years. join our global cheer. born to leap, born to stalk, and born to pounce. to understand why, we journeyed to africa, where their wild ancestor was born. there we discovered that cats, no matter where they are... are born to be cats. and shouldn't your cat be who he was born to be? discover your cat's true nature. purina one. sorry. sore knee. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. gives that instant cold sensation. that's chilly. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. and it lasts for hours.

[ sigh of relief ] [ short breath ] [ longer breath ] [ short breath ] [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. last night in the nba playoffs with the miami heat down a major big man due to injury, the indiana pacers got physical. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. so much for the heat rolling

into the eastern conference finals. the pacers had other ideas. lebron james with two of had his game-high 28, but indy hung around and in the third took the lead. granger with a jumper, part of a 12-0 run. granger fouled lebron in the fourth. these two have a history, fortunately cooler heads prev l prevailed. late in the fourth, miami down three, eight seconds to play. the question has been, who will take the final shot? it wasn't lebron, wasn't wade. mario chalmers and it came up empty. the pacers earned a split in miami, 78-75. spurs had ten days off since their last game and the rest did them some good, came out firing against the clippers, knocked down 13 it three-pointers, tim duncan got it done in the inside. spurs win 108-92. one other nba note, the bulls' derrick rose recovering from successful surgery on his torn acl expected to miss 8 to

12 months. kings' jeff carter has been relatively quiet until now, score a goal in the first, another in the second, completed his hat trick in the third. now a perfect 7-0 on the road in the postseason, they win 4-0. finally, david beckham and l.a. galaxy honored at the white house for win willining the mls championship. >> i have to say i gave david a hard time. i said, half his teammates could be his kids. it's a rare man who can be that tough on the field and also have his own line of underwear. >> that's your "first look" at sports. i'm fred roggin. >> he's got a good point. now for a look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> it was a slow, rolling laugh. >> yes. >> it built.

good morning, everyone. we're watching rain still moving through areas of new england. if you're heading out the door in east mass, definitely have the umbrella, especially toward cape cod. showers around new york city heading for southern connecticut but a lot better than it was yesterday. in a lot of areas, there will be sun. we'll get up into the 80s, even mid-80s, in philadelphia today. it's going to be very warm. if it's this humid and we're this warm, we'll get an additional round of showers and storms this afternoon, including hartford, albany and especially up towards northern new york, vermont and new hampshire. this is a very slow weather pattern. not a lot going on 0 this morning. we haven't had a lot of severe weather outbreaks. looking at beautiful weather through the middle of the country and on the west coast. let me just give you an example of what i call the yawn forecast. as we look at philadelphia all the way throughout saturday and

sunday, 70s, ai 80s, low humidi atlanta, same. dallas, texas, near 90, feeling like summer, but you're look at quiet weather. this is each region of the country. denver looks perfect, too. lynn, i could go on and on. portland, oregon. >> you're like a casino over there, lucky 7s. >> it's the yawn forecast. >> i think it's great. >> it is nice. >> i'll handle that over here. coming up, recognizing someone who regularly makes us laugh. plus, it's breaking box office records, but how much are the major stars of "the avengers" making from the mega hit? [ female announcer ] removing facial hair can be irritating.

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listen to this. a man was arrested wit eed at j.

he had cocaine hidden in two things you can't bring through airport security! check this out, officials in london plan to use high-pitched and painful sounds to disperse large crowds at the olympics this summer. or as the cast of "the view" put it, looks like we're going to the olympics, you guys! this is exciting! get this, police in california just burned 34,000 marijuana plants that were growing in a state park. the police were very angry about finding all that weed until the wind changed directions. hey, man! we got a 420 in progress right now. tonight, jimmy welcomes battleship's tailor kich, veep's

tony hale and comedian joe mackie. that's 12:35 a.m./11:35 central on your local nbc station. time now for some entertainment news. with all that money rolling in from "the avengers," dow ever wonder how much the actors make from it? >> i hope they're getting a lot. >> the hollywood reporter learned "iron man" robert downey jr. will make at least 50 million bucks. this thanks to an amazing agent who signed him a deal that gets him a percentage of any film -- >> has to be the most by any actor. >> -- that he plays "iron man" in. samuel l. jackson and scarlett johansson who both will appear in other marvel films will earn $4 million to $6 million. superheroes sell. chris evans, chris hemsworth, mark rough alo earned $2 million to $3 million. as for lady gaga's june concert in jakarta, indonesia,

may be canceled. john travolta's sexual harassment lawsuit is dropped. speaking of ellen, ryan seacrest bought her nine-bedroom house for a whopping 37 million bucks, which is like the interest on his new contract. it's really nothing for him. >> ellen must have had a pretty big pad. >> they did. >> she's done well. syndication is where the money is. >> i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" is next. so we're doing this again. house speaker john boehner promises an election year fight over the federal debt ceiling. this is mitt romney warns of a prairie fire of debt consuming the country under president obama. the question is, will this

debate over the size of government be the core issue of this presidential election? meanwhile, the fbi launches an investigation into the accounting practices of jpmorgan chase after the announce. last week of a loss of $2 billion. what does it tell us now that the fbi is jumping in? and the se thing miami heat got a little less sure last night at home against the indiana pacers. the question is, with chris bosh hurt, could the faifrlt heat be in a little trouble? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm willie geist, and this is "way too early," the show being investigated by the fbi for early morning crimes against humanity. i'm glad you're up with us watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. e-mail me or tweet me, let me know what you're doing up. or