this morning on "early today," campaign kaching. president obama raises big bucks in tinseltown, while his rival's past comes to haunt him. demolition derby why cars are intentionally being totaled at a texas speedway. and don't worry you can rest easy archeologists discovered new evidence that debunks the 2012 doomsday they are re. furn

today we begin with star power, the president took in a record haul at george clooney's fund-raiser, but back to reality when he heads to nevada to talk about the economy. tracie pott joins us with more on that and the high school drama dogging mitt romney, trey sooe, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. the president moves on to nevada to talk about the economy after the 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 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: the vice presence dent apologized for forcing the president's hands. they 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. >> there is no question but that 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 a bully back then probably be a bully now. >> i don't think voters or the 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: but despite all that it looks like the economy, the economy is still the number one issue a new associated 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, thank you so much. the search is over for akmaer's most wanted fugitive accused of murdering and kidnapping. the two girls he abducted are safe. police in mississippi acted on a tip and closed in on the suspect. he took his own life. 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 mayes shot himself in the head later pronounced dead at an area hospital. >> reporter: the two girls police feared he was holding captive,st-year-old ald andrea bain and her sister ka leah, are safe with authorities. they were found alive, appear to be unharmed. >> reporter: it has been almost two weeks since the girls, their mother jo ann and older sister adrienne disappeared from their

homes in whitesville, tennessee. since then police found the bodies of jo ann and adrienne in the backyard of mayes home. on wednesday his ex-wife was charged with two counts of first degree murder after she told police she knew mayes killed bain and her eld defendant during a near the family home and helped him transport the bd des back to mississippi. an end to the search for the kidnapped girls and their captor. 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 in early. a man attacked a donut clerk with a cup of hot coffee it happened after the man arthded with woman 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 is in a lot of pain. police are searching for the customer. in texas, no dummies, but a lot of crash testing going on. engineers, scientists and accident investigators got together at the speeded way 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 were injured when the section gave way. strong waves are believed to have caused a rock to break away from a nearby jetty and slam in a pillar holding up the board walk. you don't see this every day. in houston a man riding a unicycle not because he wasn't wearing a helmet but wasn't wearing anything. the naked uni cyclist was pedaling in the buff when police got a phone call. he swears he was not intoxicated he is facing indecent exposure

charges. now for a look at the national and regional weather, fully clothed, bill karins has -- >> not sure about the intoxicated part. >> it's early. >> it was better if he was intoxicated then he would have an excuse. >> i would feel a little bit better about it. >> good morning, everyone, we'll keep all our attention in texas, a beautiful day for so many of us on this friday, but texas is not one of those locations. yesterday we had 12 tornado reports, a little bit of minor damage, large hail reports and most of the activity was in south texas, from san antonio to houston southward, around corpus christi area. we're dealing with strong storms in the region, the lightning strikes are incredible. this is off the coastline now but the lightning strike up to 18,000, 17,000 in the last hour. what a light show if you're on an oil platform. the houston area galveston, you're getting the heavy rain, a

lot of lightning strikes heading for beaumont, port arthur area. a lot of people haven't got any good night's sleep. dallas, light rain, the worst of the storms is around houston and off the coast. we'll do additional round of thunderstorms during the day today, maybe sunshine, strong storms with heavy rain, possibility in north texas down to houston another one to three inches, maybe a thunderstorm, as i mentioned a gorgeous day, so many other spots all the east coast, to the midwest. enjoy it. that is the national forecast, now here is a look at weather outside your window. washington, d.c., that is a perfect day for you, sunshine, temperature in the 70s. indianapolis, ohio valley looks great today. milwaukee looks nice. a chance of some showers in areas of the northern plains, cold front going through. we'll track heavy rain threat as we go through the weekend. bill thanks so much. a gigantic goof at jp morgan

chase. sony hits new lows. diamonds for charities. both the dark and funny sides of johnny depp. debut at the box office this weekend. coming up the hawks co-owner had choice words for kevin garnett, he responds in a big way. more historical runs in baltimore. you're watching "early today."

good bhorj oh a fda panel has recommended approval for a drug that has been shown to be more than 90% effective at preventing hiv prevention. the fda could approve it as early as next month. the justice department filed suit against joe arpaio over

discriminatory practices against latinos and pattern of unlawful conduct by maricopa deputies. controversy growing over the latest "time" magazine cover. highlighting a story on attachment parenting by showing a mother breast feeding her three-year-old son. from questions of appropria appropriateness, the cover may be sensored on 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. in guatemala, mayan writings have shown calendars go to the year that is 3500, almost 1500 years farther in the future than others. so much for the predictions of the end of the world in december

of 2012, never mind you have more time for the bucket list not to worry. an early look how wall street will kick off the day. dow opens at the 12,855 after adding 19 points yesterday. the s and p up 3 points, but the nasdaq down 1. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei lost 56 points, while in hong kong the hang seng dropped 262. this morning we'll see how markets react to last night's revelation of loss from the wealthiest bank. in last minute after market conference call, jp morgan chase, ceo disclosed a $2 billion loss due, called the losses e agree just self-in dplingted mistake. shares tumbled after hours along with several banks. earlier the gains were capped by disappointing outlook from cisco. corp got a 5% boost.

the labor department reported the number of people applying for unemployment benefits ticked down last week after a sharp drop the weekend. upscale department chain nord fell thanks to quarterly results. arena pharmaceuticals nearly doubled after the bell. they recommended to approve 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 securities and exchange commission watchdog office was placed on administrative leave after employees complained he talked about wanting to carry a concealed firearm at work. a mother's day gift that will break the bank, $20 million worth of jewels that belonged to the widow of a billionaire is

being auctioned nov switzerland all for charity. sorry, mom. not coming your way. the sixers school the bulls. celtics down the hawks. nuggets force game seven against the lakers. historic start to major league game in an already historic series between the orioles and rangers. the "early today" morning 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, a wheel fell off. to philadelphia, chicago rallied from 12 points down. up three in the final second. sixers made their shots, the bulls did not. young got the off balance layoff to fall. philly down one. ashe could have iced with it two free-throws, andre iguodala didn't get the lay-up but was fouled, andre said he was thinking about his son while at

the line and papa made junior proud, knocked down both free-throws for the lead. bulls last gasp, half-court heave was off the iron sixers eliminated the bulls 79-78. next up boston, they gutted out a win over atlanta a day after michael gearon called kevin garnett the dirtiest player in the league. he had the dager in the final minutes. they win. kobe was sick to his stomach that was before he saw how bad the lakers played. the rout was on. ty lawson, 32, 113-96 win. it has been a historic week in baltimore. josh hamilton four home runs on tuesday. yesterday the orioles did something no other a.l. team has done before, hit three home runs in the first three at-bats. ryan flaherty, and two others,

the pitcher gave up five hits in seven innings, all home runs. orioles split a 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. who knows what political conventions will look like in 2040 but we know one person who will be running for president. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" here is the weekend forecast dedays. what you need to know. heavy rain in texas will be centered over louisiana as we go throughout the saturday, some showers back here to colorado as we go in mother's day, some of the rain is going to expand, mississippi, alabama, tennessee up in kentucky, that is the heaviest amounts of rain and best chance of wash out. a lot of other areas look great. watching us on newschannel 5 west palm beach florida, del ray beach, pirates through paintings by ahoy maitz at cornell museum of art and american culture, that is the early event of the

day. you know your film is doing good business when you are looking at $100 million in the second week at the box office. the avengers should be the first fill tom take in $100 million in the second weekend thanks to viewers who don't rush out to see film and repeat fans coming back for another look. thanks to the avenger, johnny depp won't have a number one film. any other weekend he surely would have with "dark shadows" the comedy takeoff on the 60s soap opera is expected to earn $35 million. a third man has come forward with accusations against john travolta, a former cruise ship employee alleges he offered him $12,000 to have sex in may of 2009. finally, who would you cast as you? country music legend loretta lynn is taking her life story to broadway and she has chosen zoe

deschanel to play herself. they performed a did yduet at td ol opry. we shall see. >> see you on broadway. this comes to us from king, in seattle, washington, in nearby town, has their eyes set on the white house. you have to wait a while to get a chance to vote four her, 9-year-old rae lynn caster is running for president in 2040. she is taking donations. her campaign platform? try to make the world a better place. sounds good. she will have the next 28 years or seven presidential terms to build support. we will be watching. i'm lynn berry this is "early today," just the first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28. 50 degrees. chilly start as we start your friday. good morning to you, i'm eun yang. >> good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. welcome to "news4 today" on this friday, may 11. mitt romney is apologizing for incidents that happened nearly a half century ago. the presumptive nominee says he's sorry for pranks he pulled back in high school. according to the "washington post," romney once led other classmates at his michigan prep school in pinning down another student against his will and cutting his hair. that student later came out as

gay. romney says he didn't know anything about his sexual or yeng ientation at the time. >> i don't remember that incident. i certainly don't believe that i -- i can't speak for others, of course -- but thought the fellow was homosexual. that was the furthest thing from my mind in the 1960s. but that was not the case. as to pranks played back them, i don't remember them all. again, high school days, i did stupid things like i'm afraid i got to say sorry for it. other former classmates of romney said they were shocked by the allegations. the president raised nearly $15 million during a dinner hosted by actor george clooney at his california home last night. that is the most money ever raised at a single event. guests paid about $4