this morning on "early today," suicide mission. intelligence agencies foil a plot to bomb an airliner. armed and dangerous. surveillance video captures tense moments as a woman and her young daughter are robbed at gunpoint. wild about harr england's prince comes to the nation's capital to receive a special honor. >> this is "early today" for tuesday, may 8, 2012. hello and good morning i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a new terror plot thwarted. the cia uncovered an al qaeda operation involving an updated

underwear bomb from yemen. it was meant to target an airliner headed for the u.s. with a device to make it pass security. >> reporter: u.s. officials say no passengers or u.s. bound airliners were ever in danger. they say they foiled the plot before a suicide bomber could buy his ticket. and officials say the fbi has the bomb from yemen in its labs for testing. they say it's the next generation of the underwear bomb that fizzled, burning confessed be al qaeda operative umar farouk abdulmutallab on a flight into detroit on climb day. the bomb was nonmetallic, designed to pass through undetected, proof that al qaeda is still targeting air travel and yemen is home to al qaeds most active organization. >> this country has to don't remain vigilante against those that it would seek to attack

this country. and we will do everything necessary to keep america safe. >> reporter: on sunday u.s. officials say an american drone like this one killed al qaeda's top commander in yemen. fahd al quso, they say had intimate knowledge of the new bomb plot. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news washington. after weeks of negotiation including an hour long face to face meeting last week, mitt romney has finally received the endorsement of his former top rival rick santorum. tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that and all the latest from the campaign trail. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. final word from rick santorum, i'm backing mitt romney. we were expecting this to come sometime soon. it came in a late night e-mail to his supporters saying he thinks they all should back romney as the party nominee. the two met last week before

this endorsement. all of this after santorum called romney the worse republican in the country. romney is taking credit for the recent success for the auto industry. president obama has two members saying or suggesting that they back gay marriage. first joe biden and now arne duncan who says he supports same sex marriage. is this president obama shift, aides say no. north carolina votes today on a referendum on same sex marriage that's drawn national attention. the constitution all amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman has drawn protests from both those

for and against. it would ban gay marriage in the state. north carolina is the only former confederate state without such an amendment. it's expected to pass. now here's a look at some other stories making news. "early today" in america in massachusetts very frightening moments as a mom was robbed at knife point after a man threaten her 4-year-old daughter. at one point the mother was stabbed in the collar bone before the robber took her purse and ran off. the woman is expected to recover. in california one coffee house just might have the freshest honey in ton thanks to a new beehive on its roof. the coffee shop sits near down down oakland and bees produce more honey in the city than out in the country because they have additional sources of pollen and nectar. in michigan another sweet idea a high school student made her own

prom dress out of wrappers of starburst candies. it took her more than a year and a half to collect the 18,000 wrappers but just in case you're wondering she did not eat all of those candies herself. she also made a purse, you know, a couple of thing. she had her friends helping her with the snack. some dentists are is going to have some good work. now a look at your weather here's bill karins. >> i won't buy them any more. i pawn off the lemon. good morning, everyone. around the country a nice quiet morning for your but we do have rainy weather out there and that's mostly in new england and texas. we're finally getting a break from our incredibly warm spring. temperatures yesterday were 72 in kansas city, beautiful day. cooler in chicago. look at denver, you were at 47

yesterday. a lot of the heat moved to the west coast. seasonably cool up in new england yesterday. we're getting a break from our summer like pattern. the reason why we have a split jet stream. this is the northerly jet stream the one that dominants in the winter time and this is the southern jet stream. over spring, far to the north allowing the warm air. now it's suppressed to the south keeping the warm air down in the gulf and texas. that's why we're mild in the middle. i mentioned some rain in new england and central new england. definitely an umbrella day. cool rain from buffalo to sir ruse to burlington and new hampshire and maine. up through ohio valley, ohio to pittsburgh looks like a damp wet day for you also. once again in texas scattered showers and thunderstorms. right now nothing too dangerous or concentrated. definitely umbrellas in new england and texas. beautiful in the middle of the country. typical afternoon storms in the southeast. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather

outside your window. slight chance of a shower or storm late in the day in areas like philadelphia and washington, d.c. we won't see much in the way of heavy rain. very scattered. beautiful weather, oklahoma city, 71 and sunny. hardly any severe storms are expected today. no tornadoes. a great thing. coming up, bailout profit for uncle sam. no government deficit in april. and lady gaga's tea cup worth more than it's weight in gold. your early morning headlines ahead. and the legal tug-of-war between a supermodel and billionaire is now over. coming up a clean sweep for the spurs. the coyotes make history. and a home run that will have you seeing double. you're chg "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. in a stunning move, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu brokered a deal for a new coalition with a party in parliament cancelling the elections set for september and guaranteeing the survival of his government. more testimony in the trial of john edwards on corruption charges. one witness said that edwards asked heiress bunny mellon for another $3 million just weeks before his indictment. the army didn't determine what killed captain bruce clark while talking to his wife. she saw what looked like a bullet hole behind him but investigators found no bullet wouldn't on his body. prince harry has accepted an award for his charitable activities on behalf of wounded service men and women.

he accepted the award from colin powell who joked there's a record number of young single women attending the event. now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. a new study forecasts by 2030, 42% of americans will object bees. about 10% increase over today. the already obese are getting fatter. severe obesity will double by to 30 when they will be over 100 pounds overweight or more. the problem could add $550 billion to the nation's health spending. for more information on this and other health stories check out the health page at msnbc.com. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,008 after

losing 29 points yesterday. the s&p added a fraction the nasdaq was up one. taking a look at other trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei gained 62 points while in hong kong the hang seng was down 51. european the election results rattled global markets monday but by afternoon wall street investors were looking on the bright side. financial stocks got a boost from signs of a potential bailout from spain's troubled bank. pepsico added 1% on an analyst upgrade. on the earnings front higher beef and chicken prices helped tyson foods develop healthy increase in profits. frontier lost. after the bell electronic arts the nation's number two video game publisher report ad weak quarterly forecast. a san francisco jury decided google did infringe on some of

oracle's copyrights when developing its android software. jurors could not agree whether google's actions were protected under fair use. yahoo!'s ceo apologized for a resume inaccuracy but won't bow to calls for his resignation. taxpayers could see a $15 billion return on the government's massive bailout of insurer aig. the congressional budget office estimates increased tax collection and lower government spending helped the federal government snap a four year deficit streak in april resulting in a $58 billion surplus. and finally how much is lady gaga's used china worth? quite a lot. a tea cup gaga used at a press conference in japan last year just sold for $75,000 at auction. that just makes you shake your head. coming up the spurs sweep the jazz, the coyotes move on and

the nhl suspends the flyers leading scorer. plus an amazing home run catch in minor league baseball. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. beautiful weather in the middle of the country and the west coast. for the east coast we have to wait until the weekend. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night in a stanley cup playoff thriller the new york rangers stunned the washington capitals, breathing life back into the game with seconds on the clock. here's fred roggin with a look at your sports headlines. >> timely in the stanley cup can change the game and series. game five between the rangers and caps. new york down one with under 30 seconds to play. joel ward a high stick to carl's face. double minor. four minute penalty and rangers made the capitals pay. richards scored with seven scores left. first two minutes of the penalty expired ward served the next two in overtime and mark entered the game. another power play goal. the rangers snatch victory. win it 3-2 in overtime and can

close out the caps tomorrow. coyotes are headed to their first western finals in team history. they eliminated the predators. up next the l.a. kings. the flyers will try to avoid elimination tonight without their best player. claude giroux suspended because of this head shot. game five tonight on the nbc sports network. basketball, spurs had the best regular season record. first team to move on the second round of the playoffs. pulled off a clean sweep in utah. held on 87-81. los angeles clippers and grizzlies needed overtime and chris paul went 8 of his 27 in the extra period. he grabbed a 3-1 series lead. finally to the diamond for an amazing lay from a minor league game in texas. the left fielder and center-fielder went up and over the wall to make the home run saving grab.

double your pleasure, double your fun. austin need grab. a great effort but ironically his team lost the game by a home run. that's your early look at sports on "early today." who is in trouble, who got married, and who would you choose to play jimi hendrix? your early morning entertainment headlines are ahead. before they were madmen there was hef. his most important tool when it came to keeping track of his women. you're watching "early today."

. welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday. rainy day for much of texas and new england. chilly up there in northern new england. scattered storms in the southeast especially in the afternoon hours down there in florida. beautiful period of weather for the middle of the country, very warm this spring. kansas city, st. louis, denver, chicago looks like you'll enjoy today. tomorrow the great weather continues from the rockies into the central plains. if you're watching us in raleigh, north carolina, join a park ranger for a peaceful hour of fishing. you'll learn the basics. fishing fun at the william b.umstead park. ever put a worm on the hook? >> i leave that to everybody else. but i do everything else. i wonder why. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. new york state's biggest ever

child support case has come to a conclusion. former supermodel linda evangelista and salma hayek's french billionaire husband settled their battle on monday. linda evangelista was seeking $46,000 a month. john travolta is being sued by a masseur who says he tried to have sex with him. >> matthew fox was arrested last week. saturday jake owen and a few friends celebrating cinco de mayo were detained by police but he managed to straighten things out in time for a monday sunrise wedding ceremony. australian brothers are sure fire 2012 box office champs after appearing in "the

avengers" and the "hunger games." in chicago a throw back to an era when bachelors didn't have cell phones to store the numbers of their prospective girlfriends. the little back book kept by playboy founder hugh hefner is now on display. it's got both real names and pseudonyms for all of hefner's ladies and he had code words in there. he kept the book when he launched playboy in 1963. i'm lynn weary. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

puck in -- the goal! >> yesterday's hero is today's goat for caps fans. a critical mistake by joel ward cost his team a big win in their playoff series with the rangers. uh -- just killing me here. it was a sad, sad day. a sad day for caps fans. good morning to you, i'm eun yang. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. welcome to "news4 today" on this tuesday, may 8. today two montgomery county school employees facing sex charges will be in court. aaron lamer is accused of

inappropriate contact with two students and possessing child pornography. he recently resigned from his job at northwood high school in silver spring. parents there are upset. >> i believe it's terrible. i never see this man before. not familiar to me. but it's terrible. >> a staff member at neelsville middle school in germantown also facing charges. cuyler cornell is accused of having inappropriate contact with a student. he's been onneda minutesstrative leave since february. a fairfax county woman is behind bars in connection with a deadly road rage case. gloria mcmillan hit and killed 21-year-old shalinda airington with her suv last friday. it happened after an altercation along harrison lane. mcmillan had been on the run until last night. this morning a woman is recovering from a dog bite. a rottweiler bit off the woman's lips when she stopped