this morning on "early today," campaign ka-ching. president obama raises big bucks in hollywood. his presumed rival's past comes back to haunt him. demolition derby, why cars are intentionally being totaled at a texas speedway. and you can rest easy, archeologist discovered new evidence that debunks the 2012 dooms day theory. this is "early today" for friday, may 11th, 2012. hello and good morning, i'm lynn berry. today we begin with star power, president obama took in a record haul last night at george clooney's star-studded hollywood

fund-raiser, today back to reality when the president heads to nevada to talk about the economy. tracie pots joins with us more on that and high school drama dogging mitt romney. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. today the president moves to nevada to talk about the economy after those three fund-raisers on the west coast last night including the really big one in california. president obama's $40,000 a plate dinner at george clooney's house last night may be the biggest single fund-raiser ever. more than mitt romney raised in a month. democrats say donations are pouring in since the president announced his support for same sex marriage. >> making sure that everybody regardless of sexual orientation, is treated fairly. >> reporter: vice president biden apoll jiszed for forcing the president's hand by announcing his support days earlier. republicans will use this as a key difference between mr. obama and romney but for now, romney's

apologizing after washington post report says he bullied a gay student in high school pinning him down and cutting his hair. romney says he doesn't remember. >> i did some stupid things when i was in high school, and obviously if i hurt anyone by virtue of that, i would be very sorry for it and apologize for it. >> reporter: voters had mixed reaction. >> kind of guy who is bully back then, probably a bully now. >> i don't think voters or american people should look at somebody that did something 45 years ago. >> reporter: will it have an impact in november? >> not much different than somebody during their youth getting drunk or smoking marijuana. that said, i think mitt romney didn't handle it particularly well. >> reporter: despite all that it looks like the economy, the economy is still the number one issue, a new associated press poll finds two-thirds and that is a record, don't like how the president is handling gas prices but 53%, lynn, still think he's doing a good job overall. >> tracie potts for us in washington thanks. the search is over for

america's most wanted fugitive accused of murder and kidnapping. the two young girls he abducted are safe as police in mississippi acted on a tip and closed in on the suspect, he took his own life. nbc's kirk gregory has the story. >> reporter: a day after adam mayes was added to the fbi's ten most wanted list, the man accused of kidnapping four members of a tennessee family and murdering two, is dead. >> preliminary reports indicate he shot himself in the head later pronounced dead at an area hospital. >> reporter: the two girls police feared he was holding captive, 12-year-old alexandria bain and her 8-year-old sister kyliyah are safe. >> the girls were found alive and appear unharm. >> reporter: has been two weeks since their mother and older sister disappeared from their home in whitesville, tennessee. since then, police have found the bodies of jo ann and adrienne bain buried in the

backyard of mayes home in al pine, mississippi. on wednesday, mayes ex-wife was charged with two counts of first degree murder after she told police she knew mayes killed bain and her eldest daughter and helped him transport the bodies back to mississippi. an end to the search for the kidnapped girls and their captor. but just the beginning in the search by investigators, friends and family, as to why. kirk gregory, nbc news. now here's a look at other stories making news. "early today" in america. in philadelphia a man attacked a donut shop clerk with a cup of hot coffee. it happened after the man argued with the woman behind the counter over whether or not he paid for a sandwich. when the woman handed him the coffee, he grabbed her arm, then hurled the scalding coffee back at her. the clerk has returned to work but says she is in a lot of pain. police are now searching for the

customer. in texas, no dummies, but a whole lot of crash testing going on. engineers, scientists and accident investigators got together at a speedway to watch vehicles slam in each other to learn more how to reconstruct what happens during collisions. in new jersey, part of atlantic city's boardwalk collapsed thursday afternoon. two people injured when the section gave way. strong waves are believed to have caused a rock to break away from a jetty and slam in one of the concrete pillars holding up the boardwalk. and begin houston, a man rig a unicycle was arrested not because he wasn't wearing a helmet, he wasn't wearing anything. he was pedaling across the bridge in the buff when police got the call. he swears he wasn't intoxicated. i want to know what his excuse is, facing indecent exposure charges. now for a look at national and regional weather here is nbc

meterologist bill karins, you heard giggling. we're 12. both of us. >> that is advanced. the guy was in good shape. good morning, everyone. a lot of nasty weather rolled through texas yesterday, especially south texas, that is where we saw the worst of it. 13 reports of tornadoes. we had one train derailment, thankfully no injuries, didn't see too much damage. i know one high school had some football field and scoreboard knocked down. corpus christi, most intense storms, san antonio to houston you dealt with the storms. overall, we had 63 reports of severe weather. at far as what we're dealing with right now, we had a lot of big storms pushing off the texas coastline. houston, galveston, dealing with heavy rain, embedded areas with thunderstorms, trying to push toward beamont, port arthur, southern coast of louisiana that is the area of concern this morning. overall to the north, light rain right now along the red river,

back down to the dallas, fort worth area, another round of storms produced by the slow-moving storm later this afternoon. estimated rainfall the next 48 hours, the storm is slowly going to push into louisiana, possibility of one to three inches, maybe four inches if you're caught in the storms. here is a look at the weather outside your window. gorgeous day today in so many other areas, i mentioned how nasty it is in texas to louisiana, from the middle of the country through ohio valley, great lakes, northeast, southeast, a fantastic day today. low humidity and sunshine. weekend forecast will have to track the heavy rain threat through the southeast. >> good do know bill, thanks so much. coming up a goof at jp morgan chase. sony hits new lows, and diamonds, rub by bees and sapphires for charity. the business headlines are straight ahead. both the dark and funny side to johnny depp debuts together

this weekend at the box office. the hawks co-owner had choice words for kevin garnett. he responds in a big way. more historic home runs in baltimore. you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top headlines this morning. a food and drug administration panel recommended approval for a drug that has been shown to be more than 90% effective at preventing hiv infection. the fda could approve it as early as next month. the justice department has filed suit against arizona sheriff joe arpaio, who calls himself america's toughest sheriff, over discriminatory practices against latinos, and pattern of unlawful conduct by maricopa county deputies. controversy growing over the latest "time" magazine cover

highlighting a story on so-called attachment parenting by showing a mother breast feeding her three-year-old son. from questions of appropriateness to concern for the child's pictured, the cover we will likely be censored on some news stands. a very rare calico lobster caught in maine is being donated to a science center, experts say the odds of an orange and yellow spotted crustacean could be 1 in 30 million. and in guatemala, mayan wall writings show calendars go to the year 3500, almost 1500 years farther in the future than others. so much for all the predictions of the end of the world in december, 2012. never mind, you have more time for the bucket list. not to worry. here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,855 after adding 19 points yesterday.

the s&p was up 3 points, but the nasdaq down 1. >> taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei lost 56 points, in hong kong the hang seng dropped 262. this morning we will see how markets react to the stunning revelation of loss from the wealthiest bank. in a last minute after market conference call, jp morgan chase c echbo jamie dimon disclosed a $2 billion loss. he called the losses as a result of a egregious self-inflicted mistake. shares tumbled after hours along with several other banks. earlier the dow's gains were capped by disappointing outlook from cisco. newscorp had better than expected quarterly profit. labor department reported the number of people applying for unemployment benefits ticked down last week after a sharp drop the week before. upscale department chain

nordstrom fell on late trade thanks to quarterly results. arena pharmaceuticals nearly doubled after the bell advisors recommend a government regulators approve what could become the first prescription weight loss drug sold in the u.s. in more than a decade. overseas, sony tumbled to the lowest level in tokyo trade since 1980 after lackluster profit forecast. the new lead investigator at security and exchange commission's watchdog office has been placed on administrative leave after employees complained he talked about wanting to carry a concealed firearm at work. and finally, here is a mother's day gift that will break the bank. an estimated $20 million worth of jewels that belonged to the widow of a billionaire are being auctioned off in switzerland for charity. sorry, mom. not coming your way. the sixers school the bulls, celtics down the hawks, nug gets force game seven against the

lakers. historic start to a major league game in an already historic series between the orioles and rangers. the early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. coming up in weather all the details you need to treat mom to a great day outdoors, the forecast coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night in the nba, the sixers ousted the battered top-seeded chicago bulls from the playoffs. here is nbc's fred roggin with an early look at the sports headlines. good morning. just when it looked like the bulls would force a game seven, the wheel fell off. here we go to philadelphia. chicago rallied from 12 points down but up 3 in the final seconds, the sixers made the shots and bulls did not. young got the off balance lay-up to fall. philly down one. omar asik fouled on the other end. he missed both free-throws. andre iguodala flew down the court, didn't get the lay-up but was fouled, 61% free-throw shooter, he was thinking about his son at the line and papa made junior proud, knocked down both free-throws for the lead. bulls a last gasp, half-court heave was off the iron.

sixers eliminated the bulls. next up for philly, boston, won over atlanta. a day after michael gearon called kevin garnett the dirtiest player in the league, he had his best game including the dagger. celts advance. kobe was sick to his stomach that was before he saw how bad the lakers played. the rout was on. ty lawson, denver forced game seven, 113-96 win. it has been a historic week in baltimore, josh hamilton hit four home runs tuesday. yesterday the orioles did something no other al team has done before three home runs in the first three at bats. ryan flaherty, jj hardy, nick markakis with the honors. the pitcher gave up five hits in seven innings, all home runs. orioles split the doubleheader, to cap off a wild series at camden yards. that is the early look at

sports on "early today" have a terrific weekend, i'm fred roggin. more travolta trouble, and the ultimate casting honor. the early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, who knows what political conventions will look like in 2040, but we do know one person who will be running for president. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" time for weekend forecast. let's get to mother's day. first things first, saturday, heavy rain from east texas through louisiana, southern mississippi. kind of confined down toward the southern portions of the gulf. then it opens up and expands on mother's day. we'll watch a good chance of showers and thunderstorms, mississippi, alabama, tennessee to kentucky, not going to rain all day, but you're almost guaranteed one portion of the day will have an hour or two of heavy rain. much of the rest of the country looks nice. watching us on wptv newschannel 5 west palm beach florida in delray beach celebrate pirates. ahoy maitz at the cornell museum of art and american culture. here is an early look at the headlines in entertainment. you know your film is doing good when you're looking at $100 million in the second weekend at

the box office. the avengers should follow up the record-breaking debut by becoming the first film to take in $100 billion in the second weekend thanks to older viewers who don't rush out right away and repeat fans coming back for another look. thanks to the avengers juggernaut, johnny depp won't have a number one film this weekend. "dark shadows" is expected to earn around $35 million. a third man has come forward with accusations against john travolta. a former cruise ship employee alleges travolta offered him $12,000 to have sex in may, 2009. finally, who would you cast as you? well, 80-year-old country music legend loretta lynn is taking her life story to broadway and chosen zoe deschanel to play herself. zoe says loretta is a hero of

her. >> you said she can sing? >> she can. did you ever see "elf"? >> no. >> you need to see it. hilarious and she can sing. king 5 news in seattle, washington, new face in politics has her eyes set on the white house, but you have to wait a while to get a chance to vote for her. 9-year-old rae lynn declared herself a candidate for president for the year 2040. she is taking donations, her campaign platform is simple, try to make the world a better place. love that. she has the next 28 years or seven presidential terms to build support. i'm lynn berry, this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. quiet weather expected today and through the weekend. there were some light rain showers moving off the delmarva peninsula. clear skies over maryland and as far as you can see it across the east. high pressure is building in. chilly today to start but warming up into the weekend. details when we come back. >> 49 degrees on tv hill. coming up -- >> police are looking into an unusual death at an ocean city

hotel. >> the biggest fundraiser ever. the president's west coast tour and new allegations that mitt romney was a prep school bully. >> sarah caldwell checking on your morning commute. reports of an accident on the we

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. happy friday. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> it was chilly outside this morning. >> we are looking forward to summer. we still face these mornings in 30's.0's and mare