months went down, not up. we're going the wrong way. the private sector is not doing fine. nor is our country doing fine. >> reporter: but many campaign donors seem to be doing fine. hollywood movie mogul harvey weinstein threw a private a-list event for the president at his home in westport, connecticut, last night that took in $2.5 million. now mitt romney will be in illinois today to talk about reviving manufacturing jobs. he'll also attend two fund-raisers there. while obama stays close to home at the white house. he'll headline two fund-raisers later in the evening in washington. we're live in washington, i'm claire leka. lynn, back to you. >> all right, claire, thanks so much. also we are learning more about the man who carried out the mass shooting at a sikh temple outside of milwaukee on sunday. a 40-year-old army veteran was the lone gunman who shot and killed six people before being shot and killed by police. nbc's andy roesgen has the

latest from oak creek, wisconsin. >> his name is wade michael page. >> reporter: a known skinhead and member of a popular neo-nazi band, police say they are still working on a motive for sunday's attack. >> who he is. what he has done in the past. and the possibility of his being in other records of other law enforcement around the country are things we are still pursuing. >> reporter: the southern poverty law center, which tracks hate groups in the u.s., says page was a known name in the neo-nazi world. >> he was reportedly a member of the hammer skin racist skin half group which is an extremely violent skinhead group. >> reporter: despite page's known status within the skinhead group, the fbi says page was never specifically on their hate group radar as a posed threat. >> we had no reason to believe, as far as i know, no law enforcement agency had any reason to believe that he was planning or plotting or capability of such violence. >> reporter: president obama

said americans would stand up to the hate that may have led to the shooting. >> i think the american people immediately recoil against those kinds of attitudes. >> reporter: as for the 9 millimeter handgun page used the atf says he bought it legally. >> we know where it came from, we know how it purchased and we are satisfied we know how it end up in the hands of this killer. >> reporter: police say page used that gun in an ambush on the first officer to arrive at the tim am lieutenant brian murphy, shot eight or nine times. but still stayed heroically focused on his job. >> he'd been shot nine times, one of them very serious in the neck area, and he waved them off and told them to go in to the tim am to assist those in there. >> reporter: as lieutenant murphy recovers, the sikh community is still asking why. andy roesgen, oak creek, wisconsin, for nbc news. and last night on the rachel maddow show the son of one of the wisconsin shooting victims told rachel about what he calls soft attacks.

everyday low level harassment and intimidation against immigrants. >> there's a lot of soft attacks that happen on immigrants. and by soft i mean things that kind of go unnoticed or like a broken window or somebody slashes your tires. essentially these soft attacks, i thought it was just happening to me once in awhile. we had a congregation at our house of well over 200 people that came to pay their respects to my father. and the more stories i would hear from them of these soft attacks, where people thought oh, it's not something we should tell people, it's not something we should just let, you know, push it out there, they wouldn't even tell their friends and family. i didn't tell mine, until they started telling their stories and i started thinking to myself, oh, my god, how many soft attacks are actually happening out there. >> don't miss the rachel maddow show weeknights at 9:00 eastern on msnbc. the place for politics. a federal judge in arizona says a plea deal has been reached with the suspect in last year's deadly tucson shooting that wounded former congresswoman gabriel gafrd.

jared loughner is due in court today for a hearing to decide whether he's mentally competent to change his plea. nbc's jay gray has that story. >> reporter: it has been more than a year and a half since the storm of gunfire that ended six lives, injured 13, and forever changed this community. 19 months that included funerals, a one-year memorial, and a continuing struggle for the city and victims who survived, including former congresswoman gabriel giffords, the target of the attack. it's also been more than a year since we first saw this haunting grin of jared lee loughner, the man accused in the killing spree. time that the 23-year-old has spent in a federal mental hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial. initially, his court appearance later today was to consider treatment from doctors and psychologists and the use of psycho trophic drugs that made loughner stable enough to understand the murder and attempted murder charges against

him. but now there are indications loughner could plead guilty to those charges. >> this way, we almost know he'll be sentenced to life in prison without parole. or an institution without parole. >> reporter: at least one doctor is scheduled to testify, and newly released court documents show the judge in the high profile case will rule on loughner's competency during the hearing. and if he's mentally stable enough to understand the charges, the judge has indicated he will, quoting the court papers now, also consider whether to accept the defendant's proffered pleas. a potential guilty plea that could spare loughner the death penalty and allow many in this still injured community the opportunity to continue to heal. jay gray, nbc news, tucson. well, now for another look at the national weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. >> hello. >> hello. how are you? >> a little bit of ernesto, a little bit of drought. but nothing too bad. >> all right, good. you haven't had your coffee yet

have you bill karins? >> oh, no. yeah, a little late on the caffeine. good morning, everyone. ernesto continues to be the big weather story across the atlantic. it did flare up a little bit yesterday. almost a hurricane out there. and the winds did batter jamaica just a little bit as we went through sunday night and into monday. winds really didn't do too much damage. just some squally type weather. jamaica's weather will be dramatically improving during the day today. new advisory from the hurricane center, winds are now at 65 miles per hour. so it's actually close to hurricane strength headed to the west/northwest at 13. probably wouldn't be the best of days to be around cancun. probably late today, and then tomorrow. you could see the storm, actually a rather large storm but just not a very well defined inner core. there's no signs of any eye forming or anything like that. probably going to remain a strong tropical storm or a low land hurricane. southern portions of mexico on the yucatan. then it's going to slide into the extreme southern portions

here of the gulf of mexico and be dissipating as we go into friday. no concerns whatsoever for texas. the only concerns we continue to have in the deep south is the heat. 104 in dallas yesterday. 101 in wichita. and today is going to be just another very hot and dry day, all through the midwest into areas of indiana and ohio. but, lynn, the great lakes and the northeast bottle up today. i'll tell you what the forecast looks like. it's about as good as it gets for this time of year. >> all right, bill, thanks so much. coming up, hope for europe stops. apple and google at odds and big ben wants you happy. first look at business headlines is straight ahead. >> a career night for the tigers justin verlander and push comes to shove at the jets training camp. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues

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welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning.

the prime minister of syria has defected to jordan according to rebels. he is the most senior official to quit the government of president bashar al assad during the 17-month uprising. in northern california, residents of two cities are staying in their homes due to a fire at a chevron refinery, which has been largely contained. nevertheless, firefighters are still battling flames and thick, black smoke. there have been no serious injuries. in texas, despite his being diagnosed with mild mental retardation, martin wilson will be executed by lethal injection this evening for the 1992 murder of a police informant. using a strict and limited definition of mental illness, texas continues to execute convicts such as wilson, despite a supreme court ban on executing mentally ill offenders. and nasa has released a photo of the curiosity mars rover with its parachute deployed as it descended to mars sunday night. pretty cool. the picture was taken by nasa's mars reconnaissance orbiter

which was circling the red planet above curiosity. now here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. republican mitt romney criticizes president obama about government spending. so when romney ran the 2002 winter olympics the huffington post reports in 2001 romney said, quote, we simply could not host games in salt lake if it were not for the enormous spending and services of the federal government. after these olympics romney is expected to pick a running mate with speculation centering on tim pawlenty and rob portman. he could do it friday before the start of the weekend bus trip, or next week in ohio. political wire reports we might get a tip on the vp choice by watching wikipedia. in 2008 sarah palin's wikipedia page was edited 68 times the day before john mccain announced her selection. so far none of the potential vp candidates have had a surge of wikipedia edits.

politico reports ohio congressional candidate agana is defending a tweet she sent putting president obama in the company of adolf hitler, josef stalin, and mao zedong. she says the president's position on abortion makes it proper to include him with quote, leaders who have either committed or supported genocide. the democratic party of tennessee has disavowed mark clayton, who won the party's nomination for u.s. senate. the party's statement said clayton is associated with public advocate of the united states which they called a known hate group and urged democrats to write in a candidate of their choice in november. and president obama praised actress anne@way at a connecticut fund-raiser last night. he said he saw the new batman movie and quote, she was the best thing in it. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. and now here's your first look at how wall street is going to kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,117 after adding 21 points yesterday. the s&p was up three.

the nasdaq gained 22. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei rose 77 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng nudged up 73. well, last week's rally continued on wall street monday. stocks closed at a three-month high. investors were hopeful more action against europe's debt crisis is coming. meanwhile the new york stock exchange says it's talking to a securities and exchange commission to settle allegations it broke the rules. some complaints may have been given private data a split second faster than public. an english bank is accused of using its american offices to launder $250 billion for iran. regulators claim standard chartered bank left the u.s. open to financial terrorism. the bank denies it. as expected, knight capital cheated death monday getting a $400 million infusion. its ceo tells cnbc he doesn't know how last week's crippling

software glitch happened. the founder of best buy wants to buy it himself offering more than $8 million to take the chain private. when the iphone first came out one of the hot features was that built in app for youtube videos. now apple says the app will no longer be a standard feature on iphones and ipads. kv pharmaceutical filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy after struggling to hold on to its share of profits from a drug that helps prevent premature babies. green mountain coffee is being blamed for lower earnings at another company, caribou coffee took the unusual step of singling out green mountain, which sells caribou in small cups. and if you're not happy, ben bernanke wants to know. the fed chairman says people's happiness can be just as important a yardstick of economic progress as inflation or unemployment. i'm sure people have something to say about that. a tiger stymies the bombers, twin blasts for a twin, and a controversial wide receiver returns to the nfl.

plus training camp mayhem as teammates spark an all-out brawl. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream

welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. and in sports, detroit's ace racked up a career high strikeout total last night against baseball's best team. here's nbc's mario solis. >> good morning, they have the bats, they have the arms, now the tigers just need to put it

all together. to motown where the tigers had it going against the yankees. prince fielder with the solo shot in the second inning. his 19th homer gives detroit a 1-0 lead. then it's miguel cabrera's turn. monster blast to deep center. tigers up 2-0 after four. so there's the offense. now how about some defense? justin verlander matches a career high with 14 ks, and he does it against one of the best teams in baseball, the tigers roll the yanks 7-2. the tigers are chasing the white sox in the a.l. central. chicago keeping pace with a win over kansas city. gordon beckman gives the sox the lead in the eighth. they hold ton to win 4-2. only three teams have done since the all-star break, they beat the reds. ramirez and hart hit back-to-back jacks in the sixth. milwaukee wins. justin morning u put a hit on the indians hitting two home runs, four rbis. the indians lose their tenth in a row by a football score of

14-3. speaking of football, terrell owens is heading back to the nfl. t.o. worked out with the seattle seahawks yesterday looked so good they signed the wide receiver to a one-year deal. owens hasn't played in the nfl since 2010. finally nfl camp is in full swing and the jets are in fight mode. running back joe mcknight throwing the first punch, make that the first football. pushed out of bounds and he's not having it. they wrestle each other to the ground then everyone gets involved. forget tebow mania, this is wrestle mania. we'll see if the jets have fight left in them friday night when they play the bengals. that's your first look at sports, i'm mario solis. >> now we check back in with meteorologist bill karins who says we're going to want to bottle -- is that like 68 supposed to be flipped the other way around? >> no, it's just some areas, the windows are opening this morning, ac is off for the first time in probably a month. the humidity is low after a crazy weekend. but not everyone.

unfortunately from philadelphia southwards, baltimore southwards you're still in the 70s and you still have the high humidity. but look at buffalo to albany, syracuse, hartford, areas in northern new england. it's almost like a hint of fall in the air this morning. it will warm up nice this afternoon from detroit to pittsburgh to buffalo. lots of sunshine, dry weather. but still a little hot and humid there around d.c., but still nothing compared to the heat that continues in areas like texas and oklahoma. but -- it will be that way until november. >> unfortunately. don't say that. all right bill, thanks so much. coming up, another alleged fender bender for actress amanda biens. and we have a new person to talk about. and let the trash talking begin. sir elton john lowers the boom on madonna. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. hole story? there's a lot more going on here. [ glass shatters ] who is he? [ dita ] it's aaron cross. he's the most valuable asset we've ever put in the field. he knows bourne. he knows treadstone.

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welcome back to "first look," it's time now for a little entertainment news. this is our new star of the entertainment section, amanda bynes. she was recently accused of sideswiping a police car, driving while intoxicated. while she strongly denies that she ever drinks, she never claimed she doesn't have an occasional traffic accident. tmz reports a los angeles woman has accused bynes of rear-ending her. she says after a brief conversation during which the actress insisted there was no real damage, bynes just drove away and refused to exchange information. elsewhere, los angeles police are looking into a series of death threats sent to actress ellen page from twitter. saying his son tripp is getting, quote, no real parenting and is on a downward spiral, levi johnson is attempting to gain full custody from former fiancee

bristol palin. and finally it's go time between elton john and madonna. here's your front row seat everyone. speaking on australian television, sir elton called madonna a nightmare, likened her to a fairground stripper. >> i've never seen a fairground stripper. >> said her tour has been a disaster and called her career over. that's really brave. he also said that madonna has been horrible to his son's god mother lady gaga. >> i'm going to have to start going to state fairs. >> i'm sure your wife is going to like that. >> fairground strippers. >> don't be creepy, bill. don't be creepy. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now.> antihate groups for the better part of the decade for his

involvement in the skin head music scene. could this have been prevented? after falling behind mitt romney in fundraising for the third month, president obama fights back on the campaign trail referring to his o opponent as romney hood. the question is is it more like the kevin costner version or romneyhood men in tights? and a heart stopping finish to the soccer game against canada as the neighbors from the north refuse to back down forcing extra time. it's "way too early" for this. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. this is "way too early," the show that is much more fun when i'm watching from my sofa at home. glad you're watching us.

let us know why you're awake. or tweet us. or you can do what alex morgan do and text the word "awake" followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. that was a go usa yell. before we get to the news, willie geist is in london to give us a preview of what to expect. willie, good morning. >> i couldn't agree more. the show looks so much better from a distance. especially five hours ahead. >> when i'm on my sofa watching you, it's a great show. >> not as great standing there at 5:30 being on tv. i have great olympic action. an incredible game. they are calling it one of the best soccer games ever. canada leads the loss to the u.s. one player saying the referee should have been wearing an american jersey because that's

who she was playing for. high lielgts from london a little later. >> it was a nail biter. a great one to watch. thank you. we'll talk to you soon. we are learning more about the suspected shooter who killed six people in wisconsin before he was gunned down by police. he's identified as 40-year-old army vet wade michael page. he walked into this temple on sunday morning, opened fire with a handgun. civil rights groups have been tracking him for a decade because of his ties to white supremacy groups. while in the military, records show page struggled with alcohol abuse. after six years of service he was discharged because of a drinking problem. police say he had an arrest record in four different states mostly for drunk driving. federal authorities say they believe he acted alone is and the shootings are being called a possible domestic