this morning on "early toda today", one year later president obama praises grads in joplin, missouri for their remarkable rebulling spirit. new frontier for the very first time a commercially built rocket heads to the international space station. and double take. an iconic beatle photo takes a and double take. an iconic beatle photo takes a new direction at auction. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, good morning. i'm lynn berry. it has been one year since one of the deadliest tornadoes in u.s. history forever scattered

the community of joplin lirngs missouri, 161 people were killed, more than 900 injured and some 7,000 homes completely swept away. president obama was in joplin last night to mark the anniversary. >> the president of the united states of america, barack obama. >> reporter: speaking to thousands gathered for the joplin high school graduation, president obama said it was the people of joplin who deserved applause. >> as i look out at this class and across the city, what's clear is that you're the source of inspiration today. >> reporter: it was shortly after the same graduation ceremony last year that an ef-5 strength tornado tore through joplin taking 161 lives and shredding nearly 10,000 homes and buildings. surveillance cameras captured joplin high school getting ripped apart. one year later the school is

still a pile of rubble while students study at a converted department store nearby. >> we can choose to carry on, we can choose to make a difference in the world. >> reporter: $2.8 billion in damage joplin is the costliest single tornado in u.s. history. fourth generation resident says her community will never be the same. but it's made her appreciate what she still has. >> i'm thankful for every day. i feel so blessed every thing we've gone through has taught us thing, made us appreciate life even more including this tornado. earlier in the day president obama found himself defending his campaign focus on mitt romney's record at bain capital. during a news conference wrapping up the nato sum it in chicago. pots has mo

tracie potts has more on this. >> reporter: the nato summit was successful for president obama, the 28 nations agreed to wrap up the war in afghanistan by the end of 2014 as promised but there's still questions as addressed at that summit about whether or not the taliban may take over yet again and whether the afghan forces are strong enough to resist them but meantime at that press conference as you mentioned president obama found himself defending those ads attacking bain capital, the investment firm set up and run by mitt romney. romney has been running on his job record at bain capital. the president said for that reason it's fair game to examine how many jobs were won and lost. meantime cory booker the mayor of newark, new jersey who was a supporter of president obama said yesterday on "meet the press" that he actually felt uncomfortable with these attacks in talking about some of the back and forth. he called it nauseating.

he later retracked saying he stood with the president but the romney team was very quick to put out a web ad highlighting booker's comments. >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. for the second time was a charm for spacex rocket lifting off from cape canaveral this morning. a beautiful liftoff. saturday's launch was halted at the last second due to a faulty valve. it could become the first commercially owned rocket to bring supplies to the international space station. in washington state an incredible rescue. a 13-year-old boy, you can see him right there on the right, he was saved after nearly plunging down a waterfall about 250 feet high. the boy had been hiking with his father and friends when he slipped and fell into a rushing river. he was able to swim out of the current but then got stuck on the rocks very close to the edge

of waterfall. a small plane crashed into a residential neighborhood last night in california. the pilot only suffered minor injuries. he tried to make to it arraignment after engine trouble. ine south carolina a group of kids playing soccer found someone else wanting to play. an alligator. he managed to sink his teeth into the game ball after it landed in a nearby lagoon. it took two days to get the ball back but it was recovered with some bite marks. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather forecast. >> i would have said keep the ball. >> good morning. yesterday was a horrible morning commute in and around new york city and now we're watching rain right through that same region. we expanded it into southern new england too. this isn't a lot of heavy downpours just a lot of drizzle and light rain, all the way from

cape cod now through providence, new port through rhode island moving up over long island into connecticut. the light blue shows more or less drizzle, the green shows steadier rain. heavier stuff off the coast is going to move up here into connecticut and over long island. probably during the rush hour. so not going to be pretty from i-95 from philadelphia through new jersey all the way through southern new england. we are watching some thunderstorms action in areas of mississippi and alabama during the day today too along the stationary front. in the northern plains a storm in montana bringing heavy rape, strong storms to the dakotas later today. as far as severe weather in the southeast we're watching from charlotte to columbia, atlanta almost all of georgia is under a slight risk of severe storms later this afternoon, large hail and damaging winds the primary concern. here's a look at the weather outside your window. areas of southern new england mostly watching a chance for light rain this morning. later this afternoon the

humidity levels are so high we'll pop off a few showers and heavier downpours. the worst of it is definitely this morning. eastern seaboard is humid and kind of gross right now and until we get rid of this air mass chance of rain every day. apple regains, facebook falls face first, and the woman who claims she was fired for being too hot. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus speaking hot who finished first on the maxim top 100 list. >> the devils get even. lightning strikes twice for one lucky fan. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some

of your top headlines. a suicide bombing in yemen killed 100 people, most of them soldiers. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has claimed responsibility. >> roman catholic church and schools is suing the obama administration over a health care mandate that most employers provide birth control coverage. former rutgers university student ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years in probation for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate who later committed suicide. the prosecutor plans to appeal joined by gay advocates in complaining the sentence is too light. the supreme court has ruled a child conreceived by in vitro fertilization is not entitled to

social security benefits. the iconic album of "abby road" will be auctioned today. they are walking in the opposite direction and mccartney is wearing sandals. the photo could bring more than $30,000. now here's an early look at your top health headlines. a panel of medical experts says men should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer using the psa test. they said the risk of population wide screening outweigh the benefits due to the danger of false positive results. opponents however say the controversial decision could affect men who have the test starting at age 50. for more check out the health page on msnbc.com. here's a look at how wall street kicks off the day. the dow closed at 12,504. the s&p was up 20 points.

the nasdaq zoomed 68. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei rose 95 points while in hong kong the hang seng edged up 116. today investors will be looking for the market to rally even higher. nasdaq had a very good monday with its biggest one day percentage gain since 2011. that was thanks to apple which rose by 5%. that was tempered however by facebook falling 11%. some analysts now say friday's $38 ipo price was too ambitious. after losing ground lowe's fell after the home improvement chain lowered expectations. jpmorgan chase is suspending its share buy backs but maintaining its dividend after its loss with the senate holding a hearing later today on that bungle. a federal judge ruled pom wonderful used deceptive

advertising when it claimed its juice to prevent illnesses. april's existing home sales data will be released today, expected to show improvement. in the first-ever direct u.s. relationship with a foreign government, the treasury is now selling bonds directly to the people's bank of china. it is going to cost more to visit disneyland as ticket prices jump for the second time with regular one day tickets up to $87. a 29-year-old woman is suing a lingerie house saying she was fired from her temporary job because her form fitting clothes were quote too hot. the company native intimates had no comment. coming up, the devils torch the rangers, the sixers reach the brink and a scoreboard busting grand slam. plus one very lucky fan takes home two souvenirs.

your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> your forecast on the eastern seaboard remain damp and wet not just today but also tomorrow. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today". [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable

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"early today." in sports for the second night in a row a los angeles team was knocked out of the nba playoffs. here's fred roggin with an early look at all spouts headlines. >> good morning, the oklahoma city thunder are heading to the western conference finals, game five in okc. kobe bryant went down swinging. unfortunately for him nobody else had his back. kobe finished with a game high 42. thunder started the quarter on a 10-0 and the lakers never recovered. thunder won it 106-90. next up is san antonio spurs. now we go to boston the celtics have three future hall of famers and all-star point guard. game five belonged to bass, scored 18 of his career 27 in the third quarter. celtics had everybody going. they won it 101-85. they eliminate the sixers with another victory tomorrow. dwight howard wanted him out. van gunnedy is fired and the gm

is fired. hockey eastern conference finals are so intense. if you're going to talk the talk you got to walk the walk. devils did just that. with two goals and an assist, the devils evened the series with 4-1 over the rangers, game five tomorrow on the nbc sports network. marlins are breaking in a new stadium and carlos is flat out breaking things. ripped a grand slam off the left field scoreboard. broke some lights. this is why we can't have nice things. the marlins beat the rockies 7-4. finally maybe this guy was in the stands that score board would be work pap reds fan caught not one but two home run balls. two home runs, two catches. i guess that's why he's got two hands. the reds beat the braves 4-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today."

i'm fred roggin. who is splitting, whose dating and who tebow will not be seen with. your entertainment headlines are straight ahead. the latest boy band sensation from across the pond and you won't believe the length some fathers went to get their daughters tickets to one of their concerts. you're watching "early today".

welcome back to "early today." here's what you need to know as you step out the door. bring the umbrella in new jersey, rhode island, connecticut, new york city, boston and southern portions of new england. in the southeast not too much. later this afternoon some thunderstorms. atlanta to charlotte. miami will get some wet weather. some tropical moisture affecting you down around the keys into south florida. if you're watching us in burlington, vermont, see paintings, and artifacts that express the many meanings of smoke across cultures and time periods. up in smoke at the fleming museum. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> here's an early look at morning headlines in entertainment. some say beyonce is the world's most beautiful women but what do guys think. not you, bill. maxim magazine has a hot 100

list. this year's top spot goes to barb rafaele. beyonce not even on the list. how about that? speak being of katie perry she's back on the market weeks after taking her relationship with rob akroid public. the two have split over fears that busy schedules would make things too different. and finally just how image conscious is tim tebow. tmz reports an actress in the production of "rock of ages" was asked to remove a twitter photo with tim tebow that wasn't wearing enough clothing. >> you need to make sure your

twitter photos are all g-rated. i know you have that problem. >> yeah. >> i know. tough being bill karins. and we all laugh. this comes to us from wb imvic, connecticut where dads will do anything for their little girls. the dads dressed up in women's clothing and shoes ran around the track trying to win tickets for the all boy band for their daughters. five men competed. one dad won. hopefully the others won the respect of their daughters. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

heavy rain to blame for flash flooding in several county overnight. you're looking at the storm as it moved through the area. 4:28. good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" nature tuesday, may 22, 2012. there were a number of flash flood warnings issued overnight. tom kierein has been tracking the storms. what can people expect as they head out the door this morning? >> thankfully a lot of rain came down really hard over the last couple of hours has rapidly diminished. there are still a few moderate showers in the northern neck of virginia. they are drifting east across the tidal potomac way south of

washington. but as you look at the radar, going back the last couple of hours, it was really coming down hard in prince william county for several hours between midnight and about 3:00 a.m. when that happened, they got about three to four inches of rain in just a couple of hours as a result. there was significant flooding. prince william parkway was closed for a while. route 29 was closed for a while. still several of the small roads with creeks and streams are closed due to the residual flooding from the heavy downpours. now right along 95 up to washington, this is where it's raining lightly now thankfully. there were heavy downpours near fredericksburg to dumfries. to the east, this is the residual part of the activity drifting to