today," a wave of frustration. anger mounts on the gusher. royal scandal a. england's dutchess of art trying to sell access to former husband prince andrew. and force of nature. a massive tornado tears through south dakota. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. great to have you with us. today we begin with a plate of make it stop. frustrations are riding high where the state's governor is calling for the federal government to step in and take over. waves of toxic water are now

soaking louisiana's marshlands and coating its precious wildlife, meanwhile more failure as a sted stream continues pouring into the gulf. kristen is live with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. this could be a key week in bp's efforts to stop this leak. it's now siphoned about half a million of gallons of oil but it admitted this weekend that the rate has slowed there, so that as they have now pushed back the plans for the top kill, shooting that mud and cement down into the leak until wednesday. meantime, oil is pushing ashore into 12 miles of louisiana's marshes. two major pelican nesting grounds have now been covered. the governor says the state has its own plans to begin building berms. they are still waiting for federal approval to start dredging sand to help with those. and the obama administration continues to defend its efforts in this.

interior secretary ken salazar admitted, though, that he is not completely confident that bp knows what it is doing. he says if they're not doing what they are supposed to, the government will push them out of the way. thomas? >> kristen dal grant live for us in louisiana. thank you. englant gland's dutchess of york is apologizing for her, quote, serious lapse in judgment after she was trying to sell access to her ex-husband prince andrew in exchange for nearly three quarters of a million dollars. it shows sara ferguson accepting a downpayment as she promises to introduce him to the prince. >> 500,000 pounds when you come -- can to me, opens doors. >> after that video was revealed she posted regret and also admits that her finances are,

quote, under stress. prince andrew, second son, she herself is heard of the tape saying, andrew, quote, never does accept a penny for anything. after a sound defeat, the republicans were quick to claim they had regained momentum after winning a special congressional election on friday. he won where president obama grew up with 39% of the voed. he will be the first republican to represent hawaii in nearly two decades and only the third since statehood 51 years ago. democrats played down the result blaming local election rules for splitting the democratic vote. with tensions rising over north korea's deadly attack on a south kariya in march, his country will stop all trade and most investment with north

korea. speaking on national television, south korean president lee myung-bak also agreed to bring it before united nations while behind the scenes they're reportedly planning to resume psychological ware broadcasts. meanwhile during the break today with high-level talks with chinese officials secretary of state clinton told reporters, quote, we're working hard to avoid an escalation. since china has traditionally been alive with north cory ya, beijing is seen as crucial, targeting pyongyang with the singing. >> here's other news making news early today in america. in south dakota storm chasers caught a picture of a wedge tornado. look at this. the storm was estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 feet wide and destroyed half a dozen buildings. no injuries have been reported. in southern california,

winter isn't over just yet. the late spring storm brought a few flakes to big bear ski resort. while little accumulation is expected the high winds blowing in could cause dangerous road conditions. and also in california, would you like that to go? police are searching for three thieves on security camera stealing a bob's big boy statue. look at them. this is hours after the owner put it on display. the statue weighs about 300 pounds and costs $60,000. finally in california local basketball players got a chance to show off their a-game. they were justed by the power and creativity of their dunking skills. they get to participate in a slam dunk showdown at the all-star nba next year. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. hey, bill, good to see you. >> hope you had a good wecht.

we had record highs in minnesota and also in through st. louis yesterday. look at the temperatures this morning. 70s through the middle of the country. i mean it's unusually warm in the middle of the nation. it's going to be that way today. when you get these weather patterns where it's cold out west and very warm in the middle of the country, this time of year you can almost guarantee they're going to get strong thunderstorms. we've also got showery and kind of cool weather right along the mid-atlantic coast. as far as what we're dealing with in the weather pattern, very unusual. big dip in the jet stream making it very unseasonably cool through the rockies with rain and snow in some cases, and we do have severe thunderstorms this morning racing up through the dakotas. fargo's about to get hit by storms and there's strong storms near rapid city. they're headed due north up toward the canadian border. the forecast for today, watch out for the early morning storms in the northern plains. once the storms are gone, it

going to be warm. minneapolis, near 90, kansas city, 87. even in the southeast we're going to be very warm. the only cooler spots along the mid-atlantic coast including new york city with a little bit of shower activity. that's a look at your monday forecast. now here's a look outside your window. oklahoma could have a chance for showers or storms later on today. overall pretty warm and dry in many areas. chicago, 88 today. cleanland, ohio, warm, 84. tampa, near 90. but the clouds will linger in philadelphia. thomas, tropical season is only about a week away and we already have something to watch off the coast. thank you, bill. the u.s. talks global economy with china, the price at the pump falls, and how some diehard michael jackson fans plan to mark the anniversary of his death. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus shrek scares it up at the box office, but not as expected.

the lakers get cinched by solar flairs and lima time comes to an end. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm thomas roberts, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. jamaica declared a state of emergency after shooting and fire bomb attacks on police stations by suspected supporters of an allegeded drug lord who faces extradition to the u.s. at least one policeman was injured. streets leaded to the poor neighborhood were barricaded on sunday in defiance from a call from the government for the drug dealer to surrender. iran is signaling it wants a prisoner swap for the release of three u.s. citizens arrested last july while hiking near the iraqi border. he says he has no doubt that the three are spies. last week a state department

spokesman said washington was not contemplating a prisoner exchange. the space shuttle atlanta is beginning its journey to earth. it undocked from the space station. it's due to return on wednesday morning. religion extended an olive branch. nicholas copernicus once condemned by the roman catholic church for his scientific theory was reburied by polish priests in a lavish ceremony. and now here's an early look at how wall street is going to be kicking off the dow. the dow opened at 10, 193 after gaining 125 points on friday. the s&p rose 16 and the nasdaq rose 25 points. as we take a look at overseas, in tokyo the nikkei gained 26 points and while in hong kong the hang seng gain 121 points jo volatility is the name of the game on wall street these days.

china's stocks jumpeded to a three-month high on the possibility that country is ready to rein in some of its oefrts. china's president stressed the need to prop up the global economy during the start of bilateral talks. it's long ben pegged to the dollar's value as opposed to a broader basket of currency. meanwhile oil prices snap add three-day slide trading nearly $17 a barrel today. crude prices have fallen in the last 11 of the 15 trading days to a high of $87 may 4 to a low of $64 last thursday. what does that mean for prices at the pump? according to the latest survey, last week the price of a gallon of regular gas fell more than nine cents to $2.82. tough week on the horizon for british airways.

12,000 b.a. employees kicked off a strike today protests cutbacks in staff and pay. and keep an eye on builders and construction stocks. this week a fresh round of housing data including existing home sales will be out today followed by new home sales on wednesday. finally how would you like to spend the first anniversary of michael jack's death sleeping on a floor amongst his possessions. the japanese promoter of the world's only michael jackson exhibit plans to offer randomly selected fans that chance. the cost, 1,000 bucks a person. the suns burst the lakers, lima time is over and inshut. plus the chicago blackhawks are getting a chance to do something they haven't done since 1961, actually win the stanley cup. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. summer-like heat continues in the middle of the country and an interesting feature off the southeast coast. your regional forecast is coming up.

you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night the phoenix suns showed they're not ready to set yet in their nba match-up with the l.a. lakers. here's nbc's bill seward with an

early look at all of your sports headlines. hi, there, everybody. game three in phoenix where amar'e stoudemire was a beast. one on one with pau gasol got the tough layup to fall. that's amare. tying a playoff career high with 42 points, 29 of them in the second half. suns in total control up 102-96. moments later, steve nash with the dagger. phoenix wins, 118-109, and will try to even the series tomorrow night in game four. national hockey league, blackhawks and sharks, down 2-0. dave bullen, tying it with a second goal in as many games. blackhawks grab momentum and in the third they take the lead. dustin byfuglien camped out in front. chicago sweeps san jose with a 4-2 win. heads back to the stanley cup finals for the first time since 1992. sad news out of los angeles.

former all-star pitcher jose lima passed away yesterday morning over an apparent heart attack. he often referred to his outings as lima time and one of the most colorful characters in the game. he played 13 seasons with the tigers, astros, royals, dodgers, and mets. jose lima was just 37. in kansas city, the royals' jose guillen going deep against the rockies. dexter fowler climbs the wall but came down without the ball and without his glove glove. another look. he lost his glove over the wall. fortunately the ball wasn't in it. you can't play baseball without a glove so fowler hopped the nine foot wall to get it back. up and over. a minute later he re-emerges hchl e may have lost his leather but the rockies won the game, 11-7. that's your early look at sports on "e.t." i'm bill sue ward. the amicable arrangements tiger and elin were working on

are not so am mickable. plus without a care in a world. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday morning. very interesting feature off the southeast coast. right now just an upper-level low trying to develop into a surface low. it's a very messy situation. the bottom line is that the rip current threat is high along the

carolina coast, the georgia coast, the florida coast, over the next couple of days, and i is possible that this could try to develop into what we call a subtropical storm. if it does that it would get the name alex, we will watch that as it approaches the carolinas over the next two or three days. otherwise the forecast looks very warm in the middle of the country. we have thunderstorms racing through the dakotas. it's chilly through much of the rockies, but it will be pretty warm and nice today through the great lakes. very much summer-like. if you're watching us on wmc-tv news 5 in memphis, tennessee, hang out with the pink flamingos as they spend the day relaxes on the beach at the world of waterfowl exhibit at the memphis zoo. that's your "early today" event of the day, thomas. i wonder how they stand on one foot. well, now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. "shrek forever after" won at the

box office. the fourth and presumably final film in the series had the weakest debut of them all. just over $73 million. that's nothing to sneeze at but the major betting in hollywood was whether it would be over or under 100 million bucks. experts see shrek hanging around for the summer and earning easily over $200 million. the other, "tanked" with mcgruber opened in sixth place with under 4 million bucks. >> elsewhere the chicago sun times and others have reported that things have gone sour in the tiger woods divorce talks. wife elin now wants the dollar, no confidentality agreement and no child custody. and finally lindsay lohan's big day in an l.a. courtroom finally arrives. if she makes it, it is supposed to be there. there is connell fir nation she's back from cannes.

so she's on u.s. soil. >> no pressure on the judge and they allow cameras in the courtroom there so we will see it. >> we won't have to be a fly on the wall there. this comes from knsd 7/39 in san diego where on nearby imperial beach the surf was up for some cool canines. take a look. 65 fury contestants came out to hang ten in the fifth annual surf competition, getting a little help from their owners there. each dog had 10 minutes to catch their top two waves and they were judged on their ability to grip it and rip it there. proceeds benefitted the san diego police department's canine unit. pretty cool. i'm thomas roberts, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. .

good morning. the time is 4:27. look at those clouds above us. 56 degrees. feels like a summer day out there. i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to news 4, today is monday, may 24, 2010. anger spills as more oil spills in the gulf coast. residents are upset not just with bp but the government as well. >> reporter: louisiana's coast line a once rich and fertile wetland almost too much to bear. >> as you can see, beautiful.

>> reporter: crews wind past oil log boom and on to pelican breeding grounds covering birds and eggs. >> it's inconceivable that something like this happen and nothing happens about it. >> reporter: like the oil, the outrage is spreading. >> all i've heard for the last week is excuses. a list of them. boy, they got a list of them. >> reporter: one by one louisiana's parish presidents called out bp and the government, asking why they still haven't gotten approval to dredge barriers and why hundreds of trained captains are sitting idle when they could be laying boom. >> we've trained 200 fishermen who are not working. >> reporter: there are also frustrations with the top kill. bp's latest plan to stop the leak has been pushed back to wednesday.