this morning on "early today," political gamble? president obama becomes the first u.s. president to come out in support of same sex marriage. burning rubber, a ferrari stunt on ancient historic site has officials seeing red. and a fine line, a world renowned daredevil performs a death-defying stunt in baltimore. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for thursday, may 10th, 2012. hello, and good morning i'm lynn berry. today we begin with significant shift. after months of refusing to take a clear stand on the

controversial issue of same sex marriage, yesterday president obama decided to come out in favor of it. a decision that could prove to be risky. steve handelsman reports from washington. >> reporter: on a bbc, barack obama became the first sitting president to back gay marriage. he came to realize that wasn't enough for same sex couples that he and his family know. >> members of my own staff who are incredibly committed, monogomous relationships, same sex relationships, raising kids together. malia and sasha have friends whose parents are same sex couples. >> reporter: gay activists are applauding. >> great deal of hope and inspiration to same sex couples across the country who genuinely struggle. >> reporter: gay marriage is an emotional issue and not necessarily a winning one for

obama-biden. >> this is potential big wedge issue in the african american community, works class whites. this is an issue that will mobilize the evangelical and conservative vote. >> reporter: voters in the swing state of north carolina overwhelmingly passed a measure to ban gay marriage and civil unions. mitt romney said his position has not changed. >> i pointed out i'm in favor of traditional marriage between a man and woman and don't favor civil union or gay marriage. >> reporter: president obama sales he favors vote. i'm steve handelsman. at the trial of john edwards, prosecutors are getting ready to wrap-up their case. the most dramatic testimony yesterday involved edwards late wife he lelizabeth and when she found out about the affair. jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: prosecutors called on members of the inner circle of the campaign, speech writer wendy button continued her

testimony saying edwards knew donations from wealthy supporter were being used to take care of rielle hunter and their baby girl. >> she helps the prosecution because she has an admission from john edwards to her that he knew about the money from fred baron. the theory edward made the cover up and took the money to help him in the campaign. >> reporter: former edwards aide and white house deputy communications director wept as she talked about elizabeth edwards death after a long battle with cancer. she told jurors about a meeting in an iowa hotel. elizabeth confronting barron, a meeting that included her husband. palmieri's testimony shows elizabeth edwards knew about the affair in october of 2007, so he couldn't have been covering up to protect his marriage. it was to protect his campaign. >> reporter: as testimony continues, and prosecutors near the end of their case, one key

voice that is yet to be heard is the woman at center of it all, rielle hunter. >> make no mistake she will take the stand. prosecution wants to end strong, if they think she would not be a good ending she will get called by the defense. >> reporter: one of the most anticipated witnesses in the controversial trial could testify by the end of the week. jay gray, nbc news, greensboro, north carolina. now here is a look at other stories making news. "early today" in america. in wisconsin police had to use spike strips to end a high speed chase involving five people who stole a van from a child daycare center. after the pursuit went across three counties the group surrendered. investigators say they grabbed the van after ditching another stolen vehicle. in florida an alligator gave a fisherman a scare, he was in the kayak when gator swam up and made his presence known. that is an under statement. the man said he was not only worried for himself but his dog who was in the lake next to him.

fortunately, both made it out okay. also in florida more gator trouble, this time right in the middle of the city. an alligator tried to make its way across a busy street in miami, may have been hit bay car but wildlife crews were able to capture the animal. in baltimore, a tight rope walker made his way across the line 60 feet high and 600 feet long above the city's inner harbor. he had a close call, but thesenth generation one of the flying wallendas avoided falling. his next big adventure attempting to cross niagara falls. for a look at national weather, here is bill karins, well aware of my fear of heights. >> no close calls. >> apparently for the wallenda family there are. >> you want offspring, no close

calls. got to keep the family genes going. good morning, everyone. rain is exiting up through new england, going to be gone by the time we get to the afternoon hours. definite lay soggy, soggy drive this morning on i-95 through massachusetts and rhode island, maine will be locked in the rain for good majority of the morning. good news from philadelphia down to d.c., most of the rain is over with, the morning commute should be okay. so will be heading out during the day, try to get sunshine in the northeast later this afternoon. other things of interest, down here in texas, the worst drought in the country, in georgia it's bad and west texas. we're going take a big dent out of that with the storm system, just now starting to rain. this will be be a two or three-day event coming across the state, right now all that rain is throughout toward el paso, but during the day today the rain will spread and over the next 48 hours a big bull's eye in the middle of the state picking up two to three inches

of rain, maybe four inches in some cases. from san antonio south of dallas, to houston, corpus christi, everyone has a chance of getting a good soaking with rain and embedded thunderstorms. the forecast for today, slowly clear out up there in new england. southeast looking great. south texas thunderstorms for you, a beautiful spring weather pattern continues all through the middle of the country. that is a look at the national forecast. here is a look at the weather outside your window. beautiful weather in atlanta, after a cloudy, rainy day yesterday, big thunderstorms rolled through the southeast. today, clearing it out behind the front, less humid air moved in place and 72 in nashville will feel nice, also. friday forecast coming up. bill thanks so much. also traders watch europe, reprieve for many post offices and the latest what will they think of next in automobiles. the early morning headlines are straight ahead. plus has she been black listed by one of the fashion world's

titans? coming up the knicks can't stand the heat, caps force game seven you have to see what josh hamilton did for anch encore, you're watching "early today."

good morning welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. >> here are top headlines this morning. an investigation is reportedly underway to determine who leaked the story about the cia informant revealing the terror plot to use a new underwear bomb on a jet headed for the u.s. officials intended to keep the story secret. a republican-led house committee is backing a $5 billion project to build a missile defense site on the east coast. despite the pentagon saying it's not needed and democrats saying it's a waste of money. a new russian-made passenger plane, first since the days of the soviet union, crashed in indonesia with 45 people on

board during a demonstration flight for potential buyers. search teams have found no signs of survivors. celebrity hair stylist vidal sassoon, who revolutionized hair style and liberated women with wash and wear haircuts in the 60s died at age 84. sassoon had leukemia, but died of natural causes. in china, ferrari is apologizing for lifting a sports car on top of a historic gate to perform driving stunts. chinese officials ordered workers to clean up the tire marks left on top of the gate which was built during the ming dynasty. an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,835 after dropping 97 points yesterday. s&p fell 9 points, nasdaq down 11. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei lost 35 points. in hong kong the hang seng fell

103. investors will be watching the troubles in europe and the latest u.s. jobs data today. stocks were down due to uncertainty about the european debt crisis. greece will get a payment of more than $5 million euros despite threats from elected officials there. china reported weak trade data, increasing fears of a slow down in the world's second largest economy. the u.s. labor department will report on unemployment claims for last week with a slight increase expected over last week. a new forecast from zillow predicts home value will start back up during the final three months of 2012. u.s. postal service is dropping a plan to close thousands of post offices instead will reduce hours at more than a third of post offices to deal with the multi billion dollar deficit. >> cisco shares went down after

hours. toyota reported profits quadrup quadrupled, issued upbeat forecast. sony is what was apple is today in the tech world, announced a record annual loss today, the fourth straight year of red ink. finally, a new car navigation system developed by japan's pioneer, uses laser beams to display information in front of driver's eyes. almost transparent plastic sheet located under the visor allows drivers to receive information while keeping their eyes on the road with minimum distraction. coming up the heat dismiss the knicks, grizzlies claw the clippers, caps rebound against the rangers. the texas rangers slip and slide their way through a rain delay. that looks like fun. early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. i know it seems like a month since we have seen the sun i promise you will see it in the days ahead in new england, the

forecast coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports a lot of attention paid this season to the new york knicks. last night in the playoffs, the miami heat finished off the knicks season with ease.

here is nbc's fred roggin with a look at all the sports headlines. good morning, as the series wore on the question wasn't if the heat could eliminate the heat but when. the heat were in total control from the beginning. four-point lead after one. up 11 at the break. carmelo anthony scored 35, but unfortunately that was not enough. the heat are in a different level than the knicks. lebron had 29. miami plays indiana with 106-94 win. the knicks haven't won a playoff ser knees 12 years. the grizzlies blew a 27 point lead in game one. marcus holmes, zach randolph had the best series. blake griffin injured his left knee. stayed in the game, scoreless in the fourth. chris paul also strained his groin and sat out the final minutes. grizzlies won it 92-80. caps and rangers, washington drew first blood in more ways

than one. alex ovechkin unleased a rocket in the opening minutes. the verizon center was rocking. late in the third, rangers down 2-1, a blast from the point. it found the back of the net, new york down one. a minute to play. it was too little too late. caps win 2-1, device i have game seven seven on the nbc sports network. josh hamilton hit four home runs tuesday, what would he do for an encore? a little slip and slide. the game in baltimore ranld out that didn't stop hamilton from making a big splash. took to the field with teammates sprinted toward the tarp, dove head-first and like that the rangers player was all washed up. as hot as he has been at plate this is the only thing to cool him off. that is the early look at sports on "early today" i'm fred roggin. rihanna in the raw, britney

is a go, sophia is single. early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, she is sharp as attack and serving her state, at 92 years young. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." i want to share with you an amazing photograph from the gulf. mobile bay, not one, not two, not three, four waterspouts at

one time. the coast guard said at most there was six at one time over the open water impressive stuff. one of those came on shore, a waterspout once it moves on land becomes a tornado. as far as today, rain exits the areas of new england. thunderstorms possible in florida, big story the next couple days heavy rain in south texas. that will continue as we go in friday. also looking at nice weather pattern much of the east coast friday in the weekend. about time enjoy it. if you're watching us on wis, news 10 columbia, south carolina, celebrate your mom with stories and make a special gift for her at laets ee hear it for your mama, st. andrews regional library, that is the "early today" event of the day. bill, thanks so much. an early look at headlines in entertainment. john travolta's legal team may be skofing at two lawsuits charging unlawful sexual advances more trouble may be on the way. the lawyer bringing the suits claims many more men have come forward and there could be more

accusations soon. hugh hefner offered rihanna more than a million dollars to pose without clothes in playboy. bright me speakers is a done deal on the x-factor for $15 million. sophia vergara split up with her boyfriend of two years. kim kardashian missed the met gal larks reportedly because vogue editor thinks she is tasteless and tack y. she had her banned from the event. kardashian's ex-kris humphries is furious over her accounting of the wedding gifts. she donated $200,000 to charity claiming that is double what they received in presents, he wants to know why she is not counting $325,000 ferrari sent by a businessman. i'm sick of this guy. he's like out there trying to play on every which way to sunday stories about the marriage. i'm done with it.

>> what side are you taking? >> not either side, i'm done with it. done with it. apparently she tweeted right before she was going to go to the met gala she was going and then she got word she is not invited. scandal ensues. kcra 3, one woman has never heard of the meaning "retirement" because mae is 92 years old and happily works for the state of california in the same agency since 1943. serving under ten governors. she has no plans to quit and while she relies on a walker to get around the office her mind is as sharp as ever, as one co-worker put it mae was the computer here before there were computers. good for her. i'm lynn berry this is "early today," your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

and don't count those caps out yet. stanley cup quest continues after dramatic win in front of the hometown fans. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to this thursday, may 10, 2012012. we begin with a historic announcement from president obama. >> i think same-sex comes should get married. i hesitated in part because i thought civil unions should be

sufficient and i was sensitive to the fact that a union of marriage evokes powerful unions and religious beliefs. >> yesterday he told abc news his opinion had changed after having several conversations with his wife and daughters. that announcement came three days after vice president joe biden told david gregory on nbc's "meet the press" that same-sex couples should be allowed to get married. gop candidate mitt romney said i should still be banned. >> i have the same view. i believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. >> while gay right advocates support president obama's announcement some say mitt romney's opposition to same-