this is an out of the way place. but just like 150 years ago it is one of immense strategic importance, not just symbolic, but strategic importance. good friday morning. right now on "first look," a state of emergency in the golden state as fires near yosemite national forest triple in size. at least 17 women have said this man sexually harassed them. so is today san diego mayor bob filner's last day in office, or is there an allred in the ointment? the billionaire batman franchise has a new cape crusader. wait until you find out who will play bruce wayne? plus, trayvon martin's killer, george zimmerman, reportedly visits a gun manufacturer. katy perry does something she's never done before. and jimmy buffett caught himself a new friend. good morning, everybody. i'm betty nguyen. while many of us are preparing for the weekend, firefighters in northern california are battling

a rapidly growing wildfire near yosemite national park. it is called the rim fire, and it grew overnight covering about 64,000 acres up from 16,000 just 24 hours earlier. the park remains open and mostly smoke-free. on thursday, governor jerry brown issued a state of emergency. the declaration frees up money and resources for the 1800 firefighters on the ground. so far, nine structures have been damaged, 2,500 remain threatened. let's take to you syria where more horrific images are servicing from what syrian rebels are calling a mass chemical attack but the claims are still not verified. >> if these reports are true, it would be an outrageous and flag grant escalation of use of chemical weapons by the regime,

so our source is on nailing down the facts. >> more than 100,000 are dead and nearly 2 million refugees from that. nbc's yousef gamal el-din is in cairo. yousef, what's the latest there? >> reporter: the betty, the numbers are shocking the community and there's certainly a lack of clarity that prevails in this situation. the white house is moving on that asking intelligence agencies to investigate the attack in response to the latest developments, but an administration official adds, that there's no clear time line to where the investigation will be completed but given the escalation in the violence there is a sense of urgency to get it done but the u.n. security council remains divided about what should be done in the future in syria. what is clear, as well, on the ground that the u.n. inspectors have not had access to the site yet and that the footage that we have seen, which remains to be

verified in many cases does show casualties with symptoms that are consistent with a chemical weapons attack. the other story, betty, that we're following is, of course, the possible protests across egypt. the muslim brotherhood plans a friday of marchers to call for the reinstatement of ousted president mohamed morsi. at this point it's still fairly quiet but tends to heat up after friday prayers but will keep a close eye on this. >> yousef gamal el-din, thank you for that. back here in the u.s., san diego mayor bob filner has reached a tentative agreement and will reportedly resigned though that is not confirmed until a closed door city council meeting this afternoon. it was brought by a former aid. at least 17 women have come forward to accuse the mayor of inappropriate contact. filner has admitted to disrespecting and at times intimidating women. he recently finished a two-week

stint in therapy. all right. holy cape crusaders. there is a new batman. have you heard. just one year after christian bail finished his role as the superhero, a new actor has been cast in the part. guess who it is? it is none other than that man, ben affleck. can you believe it? he's been chosen to play the man of steel. it's not the first time, though, that affleck will be putting on a superhero pair of tights and starred in the 2003 bomb "daredevil" and played superman in the 2006 on film "hollywoodwoodla "hollywoodwoodlapd". holder said this represents the department's latest action to protect voting rights but it will not be our last. former secretary of state colin powell blasted north carolina's new voter i.d. law. powell said i want to see

policies that encourage every american to vote, not make it more difficult to vote. while speaking at syracuse university president obama was heckled by a young woman calling for freedom for bradley now chelsea manning. >> can i say as hecklers go, that young lady was polite. she was and she brought up an issue of importance and that's part of what america's is all about. >> well, speaking of polite women, antoinette tuff, did you hear what she did, she's the woman who calmed down a gunman in an atlanta elementary school. got a call from president obama to thank her for her action. >> i appreciate you too but i learn from the best, the best president in the world. no, that's me. you can't get better when you have a great leader in front of you. >> not only calm, failed a hero.

barbara bush was at a children's hospital where she read a book to the kids. cory booker met the cute pomeranian named, of course, cory booker and last night david letterman joked about the fingerprint security on the iphone and faplayed a fake commercial. >> introducing the scanner, the most secure way to protect your password, apps and most importantly your texting history. >> that's not your finger, anthony. >> you knew that was coming. i knew it would happen and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." all right, now here's a look at the national weather. we turn, of course, to meteorologist bill karins. you got to follow that act. >> i need a story in between. >> to buffer it. >> yes, that was pretty funny. >> don't text me, all right? >> a beautiful weekend for so many people. millions of people in the great lakes, ohio valley, northeast, humidity will be low, cool,

crisp nights but yesterday wasn't the case, interesting weather taking place. especially the colorado area was very interesting. this is hail, not snow, they literally had to have a snowplow to clear the ice out of the road so the guide could get his car. >> that is so wild. >> once the hail got collected in the rain it all collected and got that deep, this was a guy's backyard. >> looks like snow. >> looks like a snow picture. pretty impressive with the hail. not a lot of bad weather. the worst in west virginia with heavy rain coming through. as far as the forecast, a few showers and storms around d.c., especially the carolinas and southeast but i mentioned over the weekend great weather from the great lakes to the ohio valley, hot in the middle of the country. one spot hotter than we like, down along the gulf coast but i don't think anyone will get washed out. >> good sign. it is friday looking forward to the weekend. it has been 50 years since

dr. martin luther king jr. delivered his "i have a dream" speech, yet americans remain deeply divided over just how color blind our country is today. we'll have those details, next. [ male announcer ] running out of steam? ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed.

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heading into the 50th anniversary of martin luther king jr.'s "i have a dream" speech, people have been around the country examining the state of race in america. according to a recent nbc news and "wall street journal" poll, the majority of white americans believe we've become a color-blind society. but only 20% of african-americans say we're color-blind. rehema reports on the impact of dr. king's legacy and what it means to the young people today. >> reporter: at this city pool in cincinnati, ohio, these kids will tell you they're living part of dr. king's dream. >> we can all play together, drink the same water, go to the same water fountain. >> without him, we would never be able to do that. >> he really hoped that one day that everybody can just be treated equally and fairly and no discrimination. >> reporter: you three are?

on a hot summer day, we got nine young students, age 12 to 16 years old, to talk about a way of life in america that they've never known, a time when hundreds of thousands marched on washington for jobs and freedom and martin luther king jr. rallied the nation to change peacefully. >> we must ever conduct our struggle on the high plain of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. >> reporter: 50 years later, dr. king's "i have a dream" speech resonates with these kids, and it forms the bulk of what they know about it. even though none of them have heard the whole speech or studied his life in depth, they sill have strong opinions about the man and his legacy. on restraint -- >> he was a nonviolent leader and that took a lot out of him. to be physically hit and touched and not to react in a way, and i don't think i would be able to do that.

>> i would want to know how he could take all that punishment and all the anger people took out on him and how he could keep going. >> reporter: on why dr. king is important. >> i never experienced a racial incident. i've never been through that. >> he made it possible for me to go to a privileged school. >> reporter: on equality, do you think everybody is equal and treated the same? >> sometimes and sometimes not. it depends on where they are. >> reporter: if dr. king were here today, what would you say to him? >> i would just say thank you because i appreciate all the things he has done for us. >> i would say thank you, as well, because one of my best friends is an african-american and without his help, it wouldn't have been possible. >> i would just love to hear him speak. >> free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, we are free at last. >> love to see him in action and participate in what he's doing and to support that. >> reporter: a new century of

dreamers living what dr. king hoped that 1963 would not be an end, but a beginning. rehema ellis, nbc news, cincinnati. >> a legacy that lives on 50 years later. some stories making news early this morning, nbc news has confirmed that george zimmerman visited a gun manufacturer on thursday. zimmerman reportedly the ofts of cal tech assembly plant right there. cal tech is the manufacturer of the gun he used to kill trayvon martin last year. thursday morning, bradley manning announced he wants to live as a woman, known as chelsea manning. he intends on beginning hormone therapy while in prison. that may be a difficult task. a spokesperson for the military prison says the army does not provide hormone therapy. two people arrested after beating up and pistol whipping a dunkin' donuts employee. why? because he got the order wrong. can you believe that? fortunately, other customers were able to jump in and break up that fight.

katy perry is scoring her biggest digital song debut of her career with her new song "roar." she will perform of sunday's mtv video music awards. jimmy buffett didn't let the big one get away. he reeled in a 350-pound, 74-inch tuna while fishing off the waters near nantucket. fitting for buffett since he producing the broadway musical "big fish." now for your look at business. we turn to cnbc's courtney reagan. good morning. >> hi, good morning to you. the s.e.c.'s chairman plans to meet with the heads of the u.s. stock exchanges in the wake of the trading glitch that shut down trading at the nasdaq on thursday. nasdaq ceo tells "the wall street journal" markets need to be held to a higher standards, the latest glitch that undermined confidence. football season hasn't started yet unfortunately but we're thinking about the super bowl. fox sold 85% of the ads for the game. reports say 30-second spots are

going for more than $4 million. and treasury secretary jack lew is urging congress to raise the debt ceiling. lawmakers can't afford to wait until the last minute. the u.s. is expected to hit the borrowing limit this fall. betty, back to you. >> borrowing limit. if you pay 4 million bucks for a 30-second ad. okay, courtney, thank you. trastraight ahead, friday sports highlights are next. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

time now to get the latest

in sports from my colleague. paige hopkins. good morning on this friday, page hopkins. >> good morning to you. how about thursday night football? the new england patriots get an old-fashioned beating by the detroit lions. first time tom brady passes and he fumbles. detroit snatches the ball close to the 5. in the second quarter, brady throws a pick straight to chris houston. lions win, 40-9. yikes. to the ravens and panthers. check out this incredible punt return for a 54-yard touchdown. ravens quarterback joe flacco throws. oops, interception for a touchdown. panthers win, 34-27. and you see that shirt rg3 is wearing? well, it's costing him 10 grand. griffin was fined for wearing this during warm-ups for an apparel violation. >> that's an expensive shirt. >> the league requires players to wear approved apparel for their respective teams. and in baseball, milwaukee brewers' ryan braun released a

statement apologizing for using banned substances. he admits taking performance-enhancing drugs during his 2011 national league mvp season. and, well, this is truly bizarre, bill cowher, the broadcaster and super bowl winning coach with the pittsburgh steelers is featured in his girlfriend, queen bee's, music video and it appears he's wearing some eye makeup and standing by her side during a heated chess match wearing tattered clothes. looking good, bill. >> you know it's love when a man will wear eye makeup for you. >> always. that will tell you he loves you. time now for our first look at politics. for that i'm joined by kevin. good morning. >> good morning. happy friday. >> happy friday. let's start with bradley manning who wants to be known as chelsea. so he plans to undergo hormone treatment to live his life as a woman. how exactly will that happen if the military prison where he's sentenced says the army does not provide hormone therapy. >> the military says that bradley manning or chelsea manning is entitled to

psychological counseling, but that they are not required to provide hormone therapy for him so i think we can expect a legal battle as his attorney says they intend to make sure he is able to get this hormone therapy. >> if there is a legal battle are you saying there could be a chance that taxpayers pay for that therapy? >> if it goes in their way but i think that the military has said that they are not required to do so. it's going to be an interesting fight. >> shift to politics. the clintons are busy vacationing in the hamptons. is it really r&r or research and development perhaps for a presidential run? >> i want to know do the clintons know how to vacation? >> define that for me. >> she is in her office with a beachfront view but working hard on that memoir of hers during -- of her time as secretary of state. and the former president is also -- they are meeting with

people from their foundation as well as some real estate investors from new york, but, you know, i think that any time, you know, you're at the country club, if you will, you'll run into people but i think everyone wants to know when that book is going to come out and what we might learn to see if she's going to run in 2016. >> hobnobbing, writing a book, i think of a vacation as sitting on a beach somewhere but that's just my definition. all right. thank you so much, kevin, we appreciate it. coming up, bill karins and major hopkins join me for "first buzz" and what caught our eyes today. that's next. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. little things anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. ensures support, a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like. sooner than you'd think.

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welcome back, everybody. time to talk first buzz, stories

that caught our eye today. page hopkins is here, as well as bill and i want to start with this story. i find it fascinating. archaeologists have uncovered a ring that is 600 years old but what's so special about this ring in particular is it's one that they believe politicians used to use back in the day in bulgaria. here's where they found it. deep in the earth and in the ring is a hole that is cut out which they're saying allowed politicians -- see that hole right there to put poison inside that ring so if they wanted to take out their opponent or something like that, they could slip some poison in the ring and dump it into their drink or something like that and that it would kill them. >> oh, wow. >> where is that ring today, right, with all the stuff that's going on in d.c., no, i'm kidding. we are not advocating killing politicians here but archaeologists do say it explains a lot of the un -- actually unaccounted for deaths back in those days of aristocrats. maybe this ring is part of it.

>> sneaky in an evil sort of way. >> i want to show you this picture that we got in yesterday from yuma, arizona, it's actually, you know, just one of those things that happens out in the west that a lot who don't live there have trouble understanding. time-lapse photography of this dust storm covering the whole city. it goes jet black. kind of windy out there and leaves behind just a very dark -- look, the heart of it right there. a dark grimy mess. >> hard to see. you almost expect with a dust storm like that you will see an animal walking by or something like that, like it's in egypt but it's not, it happened in yuma. >> pretty cool to look at and not be in. >> everybody really has to close and seal their homes and everything. >> stay inside. >> windows shut. >> talking about stay inside let me tell you coming to rockefeller center, might want to think twice bit. >> i have my one direction t-shirt. i am so excited. >> every tween in the vicinity is on the island of manhattan today. >> they absolutely are. >> these parent, midnight.

one direction is playing on the "today" show. i came in at 2:45. it was packed. i could not get to the door of nbc and here's what's interesting. it's mostly young girls so they were incredibly well behaved. >> hopefully their mothers or fathers -- >> of course they're combing their hair hoping to meet their future husbands. >> heard them screaming all morning long, started screaming at 3:00 a.m. >> i thought the craze was over. i am very wrong. >> no, no, they are huge. this will happen all day long. look at that wide shot one more time. doesn't that look like the holidays like the christmas tree lighting? >> and so everyone knows, everyone on the whole right side of the screen has zero chance of seeing them on the stage because the "today" show is the upper top. >> that's not the point. the point is to be just near. >> to say you were there. >> yes. >> one deep. >> you wouldn't catch me dead there. there's a funny youtube video

that shows all dads at one direction concerts checking their phones. >> bored out of their minds. all right, going to be exciting. i'm betty nguyen and this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because "way too early" starts right here, right now. ♪ if we find these reports are true, then we will feel that this has significantly expanded the escalation of the use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime. the president, the national security team, would certainly have decisions to make. >> now, there's the understatement of the week. live report on how to handle a disastrous situation in the middle east. also, getting closer to not having to talk about that guy anymore, the latest on san diego mayor bob filner who may step down as early as today. a huge surprise an. uproar to replace batman. he