that is not a two for one split. that is an actual horrible earnings report. i like to say there's always a bull market somewhere. this morning on "early today," the scandal thickens. the secret service investigates new allegations of misconduct on presidential trips. shaken and stirred, dramatic plane landings in spain. prickly pooch. a happy ending for a puppy that got stuck in a cactus. captions paid for by nbc-universal television "early today" for friday, april 27th, 2012. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with secret service secrets. the white house is looking into

new reports of another incident of misconduct, allegations concerning a presidential trip last year to el salvador. tracie potts joins us with details. good morning. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. the allegations come from a seattle tv station that traveled to el salvador, interviewed a foreign contractor who worked with agents and a trip club owner who said while protecting the president in march of 2011 the agents were at his club, three nights in a row, they paid for vip access to women there and said that this was something they did all the time. the chair of the homeland security department, committee on capitol hill, peter king, says there is no indication of records of the trip there was anything wrong but the state department now says they are looking to see if any of their employees may have been involved. all of this after homeland security secretary janet napolitano came to the hill and told lawmakers this appeared to be an isolated incident in el

salvador, other agencies are also named, among them the dea, drug enforcement administration, they issued a statement saying they are unaware that anything went wrong on that trip but will investigate whether or not these claims are credible. veroni veronica? tracie potts in washington thank you. yesterday was a tense day at the trial of john edwards as defense attorneys continued their assault on the lead witness, a former aide to the senator and presidential candidate. jay gray reports from greensb o greensboro, north carolina. >> reporter: andrew young returned to the federal courthouse and hot seat as the defense team continued their aggressive cross-examination. the state's star witness. >> the main goal of questioning andrew young for the defense is to show he's not credible. >> reporter: the focus continues to be on inconsistencies between young's testimony and the book he has written. at times the questioning was scattered. >> at times the defense confused the judge.

>> reporter: there was no confusing the image of young painted by the defense. >> to make him out to be a scam artist. the person who intentionally and on his own essentially tried to defraud the heiress bunny mellon, take her money and put it in his pocket instead of passing it to do rielle hunter. >> abby lowell pushed the point the first check came more than a month than young was aware that young was aware of the baby. >> at the time andrew young was soliciting money from bunny mellon he didn't know, couldn't know, rielle hunter was pregnant. >> reporter: strikes to the core of this case, who knew what and when and if anything was illegal. jay gray. george zimmerman the man accused of murder in the death of an unarmed florida teenager raised more than $200,000 for his defense fund, his lawyer

said donors contributed through a website and plans to inform the judge overseeing the case at a hearing today. zimmerman is now in hiding, due to concerns for his safety. two out of three guns recovered by mexican authorities after a crime there came from the united states. 68,000 weapons over the past five years including many used by violent drug cartels were traced back to the u.s. mentixico says they need to sto the flood of assault weapons and guns that killed more than 47,000 people south of the border. a look at other stories making news in america. in florida a pair of elderly sisters about to board a bus were attacked by a purse snatcher, you can see one victim had her wheelchair knocked over during the assault. after the horrific images were made public, the teenager believed to be involved was turned in to police by his own

father. in texas, another heartless crime to tell you about someone swiped a donation jar from the front counter of a restaurant. it was there to raise money for cancer victims. the thief made off with $250 and remains on the loose. the university of rhode island was invaded by zombies. but unlike those in the movies, these zombies were helping to save lives. students were testing to give out medication quickly in case of infectious disease outbreak they decided to have fun by making up a disease. in arizona one puppy ended up looking like a porcupine after a nasty run-in with a cactus. a good samaritan found the dog sunday and pulled enough needles off to fill most of a five-gallon bucket. the humane society nursed cactus

jack back to health and he is now adopted. for a look at weather here is bill karins with the weather channel forecast, talk about having a bad day. >> that is like out of a cartoon. that was cute. >> so cute. >> cactus jack. can't beat that. good morning, everyone, we have interesting weather in colorado. possibility of a few tornadoes with strong thunderstorms. the weather pattern is going to remain locked in, kind of how it is right now is how it will be over the upcoming weekend. new england stays cool and chilly with the great lakes, very warm over the upcoming weekend along the gulf coast, all the stormy weather in the west will funnel right in the middle of the country, and there will be an area from the ohio valley mid-atlantic will be a cloudy on and off rainy type weekend. two areas of high pressure protecting the great lakes and northeast this weekend and southeast. this boundary in between, everything has to get funneled right through the middle of this

and that is where we see the wet weather. montana, dakotas, iowa, minnesota, colorado, kansas all the wet weather is now. denver is on the cool side of this storm system, kind of cranking up good now out here, we had a couple tornado warnings with the storms as they approach interstate 70, mostly rural areas in eastern colorado. the forecast today, you have rain early today up in new england, that will exit in maine, chilly windy day. i said the southeast looks nice, 87 in orlando. all the stormy weather and heavy rains, nebraska especially in south dakota. that is the national forecast, here is weather outside your window. charlotte, north carolina, beautiful day for you, you can tell the difference, though, areas in the carolinas compared to new england, you have the cool springtime air to the north and the warmer more humid air to areas of the south. weekend forecast once again, some of us going to be kind of

an indoor weekend. i'll give you details. >> great, thanks, bill. i love that. >> i didn't say who yet. >> i want to be in texas or florida today, nice weather there. housing improves, what lincoln brought to the theater the night he died is on the auction block. will romantic comedy about a couple that can't get down the aisle knock out the competition at the box office. the cleveland browns make a big room, game seven goes to overtime in the stanley cup playoffs, you're watching "early today."

very good morning towel come back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of the top headlines this morning. nonpartisan research group says as a result of president obama's health care law more than three million health insurance policy holders and

thousands of employers will share rebates totaling $1.3 billion. the law requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of premiums on medical care and quality improvement or return the difference. about 9,000 u.s. marines are being moved off okinawa in an agreement that will reduce the military footprint in japan and ease tensions with local residents. texas executed a man convicted of a 2002 fatal shooting robbery abduction and rape. bianca adams apologized before receiving a lethal injection. 48 workers for philadelphia's transit agency have hit the jackpot in wednesday's $172 million powerball drawing. they each stand to collect 2.5 million dollars before taxes, if they choose a lump sum payout. and extremely high winds in northern spain sent planes swaying, testing the skills of pilots and frightening

passengers. some pilots had to abort landings, others were rerouted. yikes the dow opens at 13,204. the s&p up 9, nasdaq added 20. overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei lost 40 points in the hang seng down 68. wall street will focus on more earnings report, new data on the health of the economy. the commerce department's first look at gross domestic product for the first quarter is expected to show a slight drop as the u.s. recovery sends more mixed signals. the number of new em employment claims was 388,000. but the latest housing numbers were better, pending sales up 4%, a two-year high. earnings reports yesterday amazon.com blew past expectations sparked by the

kindle fire. it rose in trade after the bell. south korea posted a record profit on the strength of galaxy smart phone which outsell the iphone. starbucks were up in you s. but felt short in the europe in and middle east. spain's credit rating was cut by standard & poor's with the outlook on the country's long term rating now negative. the price of crude oil is back over $104 a barrels a we approach the start of the summer driving season. and finally, a part of american history is going on the auction block. the opera glasses used by president abraham lincoln the night he was assassinated will be up for bid monday in los angeles. the binoculars may be the last object used by president lincoln before he was shot in april of 1865, they are expected to bring in at least half a million dollars. wow. the rangers oust the

senators, rays sting the angels, the first round of the nfl draft. the devils send home the panthers in double overtime. the weekend forecast is not the best, if you're in the mid-atlantic or ohio valley, i'll explain why. details are coming up. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports it was quite a night last night to end the first round of hockey's stanley cup playoffs with two deciding game seven match-ups. here is fred roggin with an early look at the sports headlines. good morning, the first round of the stanley cup playoffs were so good the panthers and devils didn't want it to end. game seven in florida, that is what i call a game face. panthers down two, clawed their way back. mrcel goc scored the equalizer. florida forced overtime. stayed that way through the firstot. double overtime, adam henrique, biggest goal of his career. devils win in double ot, they play the flyers. nobody expected the top seeded rangers to be in game seven, they made the most of it. second period, derek stepan to

marc staal. dan girardi, 2-0 rangers, they beat the senators 2-1, they have the capitals next. after months of anticipation the colts made it official. they selected stanford quarterback andrew luck first overall in the draft. he will try to fill the void left by peyton manning. at two the redskins selected robert griffin the iii. he was dressed for the occasion. trent richardson, the browns traded up to select the running back from alabama. speaking of the draft, the bobcats are the odds on favorite to win the lottery, they finished with the 23rd straight loss and worst winning percentage in league history. the knicks put them out of the miss ser ri, 104-84. three weeks in the season. albert pujols has not hit a home run. perhaps he can learn from brandon allen, walk-off homer in the 9th, nothing going right for the angels.

rays won it 4-3. that is early look at sports on "early today" have a great weekend i'm fred roggin. can stronghold overs at the box office. >> these ivori frn seven are not going to be tickled, they are going to get hammered. you're watching "early today."

let me take you through the weekend forecast. today's concern in colorado with thunderstorms, eastern colorado will push up in south dakota, nebraska during the day with areas of heavy rain and thunderstorms. even kansas city late today has a chance of storms. we take all the rain and push it saturday through the ohio valley, chicago a chance of rain. even washington, d.c., that same area is going to be the funnel, as we go in sunday more rain possible back here in the midwest. interesting upcoming weekend. for many areas. if you're watching us in boston, relive boston's burlesque area through displays of costumes at vintage costumes of burlesque at the west end museum. >> that is some costume. all the feathers. there you go, something for halloween, bill. nice. an early look at headlines in entertainment news. several films should spice up the battle at the box office.

jason segel and emily blunt star "in the five year engagement "most experts see it finishing on top with 18 to 20 million. last weekend's champ "think like a man" is expected to take in 15 million in second. but the experts under rated it last weekend. >> the zac efron "the lucky one" will struggle to pass 10 million. band of misfits from the studio that gave us wallace and grom met, without much competition, it could climb above 10 million dollars. also debuting and expected to fight tore 10 million "the raven" staring john cusack as edgar allen poe. jason statham's latest effort, "safe."

this comes to us from boston, in cambridge a piano played the last note ending the life with a bang. mit students launched it off the roof of their dorm. yikes, watch it go. it crashed right on top of another piano six stories below. this is part of a tradition 40 years, the last day students can drop classes without having them show up on transcripts. don't feel bad for the instruments, only broken pianos are used for the big send off, but makes me feel uncomfortable i don't care if they are broken. >> wasn't as good as i thought it would be. i was hoping it would splinter and keys flying. >> a baby grand, parts. >> expect more from mit. i'm veronica de la cruz, this is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

the washington redskins select robert griffin iii. >> we all knew it was coming, but that is not dampening the excitement among redskins fans this morning now that rg3 is d.c. bound. all right. congratulations and welcome to d.c. good morning to you, i'm eun yang. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. welcome to "news4 today" on this friday, april 27. it is official, robert griffin it iii is a redskin. the skins picked him with the second overall pick in this year's nfl draft. they'll introduce him as the new

quarterback tomorrow afternoon at fedex field. it was no secret washington planned on picking him, but griffin says that didn't make last night any less special. >> yeah, i was excited. i was staring at the phone, waiting for the call. they called the other phone. so it was pretty cool. even though you know where you're going, you want to act as if you don't. you never know what can happen, as the rest of the draft has shown. i'm excited to be a redskin. >> a lot of surprises last night. round two and three are tonight. the redskins traded their second and third round picks with their '14 and '15 picks to move to rg3. >> the real deal. we're excited. to see the redskins fans are excited about his arrival would be a bit of an understatement. [ cheers ] >> there you have. it thousands celebrated griffin's selection at a draft party at fedex