this morning on "early today," cold case, 33 years later a new jersey man confesses to the murder of 6-year-old etan patz. conduct unbecoming, police video captures a florida doctor's violent rage during a dui arrest. and chaos in kiev, why were punches thrown during a parliament session? captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for friday, may 25th, 2012. hello and good morning i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a shocking revelation. in a potential breakthrough in one of the nation's most baffling missing children cases, a new jersey man is under arrest

in connection with the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old etan patz. police say the former convenience store worker confessed to killing the boy. here are details. >> reporter: it has been 33 years since 6-year-old etan patz disappeared while walking to catch a school bus. now a break in the case. >> the new york city police department is announcing the arrest of pedro hernandez. >> reporter: according to police, hernandez shown here in a photo, spoke to detectives more than three hours and confessed to killing the child. >> hernandez described to the detectives how he lured young etan from the school bus stop. >> reporter: investigators say a tip led police to the hernandez home. >> hernandez told a family member and others he had "done a bad thing and killed a child in new york." >> reporter: back in april, police spent several days searching a basement along the route the child walked to catch

the bus. >> i believe it was the focus that was given this case in april that sort of brought forth the knowledge that this person had about the statements that hernandez had made in the past. >> reporter: the disappearance ushered in an era of missing children across the country. with an arrest and perhaps a chance to solve a 33-year-old mystery. the executive responsible for 2010's now infamous spending free at a general services administration convention in las vegas is no longer with the agency. jeffrey neely planned the lavish conference that cost the government more than $800,000. he has been on leave since april, after report found rampant waste at the event. a statement from gsa makes it unclear whether neely was fired or resigned.

the scandal also led to the resignation of the head of gsa, the firing of two top aides, and nine others being placed on administrative leave. after five days of deliberations, the jury in north carolina's john edwards trial will be back today, to try to reach a verdict before the start of the holiday weekend. thursday the jury asked for more exhibits. to reexamine and the judge ultimately sent them all 503 pieces of trial evidence so they have everything they might need to look at. edwards faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of using campaign donations to hide an extra marital affair. while the jury was deliberating the former senator and presidential candidate and his daughter walked a few blocks to watch a baseball game. summer is technically weeks away but the official start to the summer travel season is here. it could be a busy one. according to triple a's annual

survey, more than 34 million people will travel 50 miles or more this memorial day weekend. it could be due to falling gas prices. airline ticket prices are expected to be 7% lower than last year. now here's a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. in florida police say a physician went berzerk in the back of a squad car. he repeatedly banged his head, kick and scream and spat blood at a police officer. after that doctor was arrested for drunk driving. he also had more than $50,000 in cash sitting next to him, though he kept claiming police stole it. the doctor has been suspended from his hospital. in georgia, scary moments for a driver who crashed in a community swimming pool after suffering a seizure. three men dove in and pushed the car to the shallow end so they could free the victim, who was unconscious, but later revived.

in colorado, a bear fell out of a tree, but it's doing okay right there. the animal wandered in a neighborhood and was tranquilized while up in the tree. a firefighter had just attached a rope to the big guy hoping to lower him down but the rope snapped. fortunately crews were holding a tarp to break the bear's rough landing. it's doing just fine. finally until florida they were having a ball, lots of balls. a new theme part set a guinness world record for the most beach balls tossed in the air at one time. they easily shattered the old record of 400. the new unofficial number to beat? 1355. you can get on that this memorial day weekend. now for a look at the national and regional weather here is bill karins with the all important memorial weekend forecast. >> we're going to get there with a smile, i think. many areas. you're not happy with the

weather lately up around this neck of the woods. we're watching area of rain drying up. thunderstorms, strong thunderstorms rolling through areas of wisconsin. a little fearful how bad the winds would be yesterday afternoon and evening. there was some damage, overall wasn't as widespread as expected, 33 wind damage reports and some of those snuck down north of the quad cities, near kansas city a couple hail reports and two tornadoes that were reported didn't do too much in the way of damage. we're watching closely what will happen off the southeast coastline, area of low pressure swarming right now sliding away, will stall and stop because high pressure is not going do allow to it move further off the coast, may try to sneak back. don't cancel your plans, but be aware of the possibility that storm coming back at you sunday and monday. here is the weather pattern, cool air, going do snow in the mountains of montana, that hot air will spread across the country, what has been so steamy in texas will spread to little rock and memphis and ohio

valley, even chicago today near 90. that is a look at the national forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. i mentioned it would be a steamy day, st. louis near 90, birmingham near 90. feeling like summertime. baltimore going to try to get you more sunshine than in days past, you're going to head up in the mid 80s with humidity. so i saved it for you. coming up later, full memorial weekend forecast. also coming up u.s. airways fli flies, is siri keeping private all the things you say to her? the early morning business headlines are straight ahead. time for the avengers to make way at the box office as a former number one franchise makes its return. number 450 for albert pujols, snoop dogg honors tim tebow, the heat is on, miami advances to the eastern conference finals. you're watching "early today."

. good morning welcome back to "early today" i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top headlines this morning. the senate rejected competing bills from democrats and republicans on how to pay for a program to keep interest rates on federal college loans from doubling on july 1st. if lawmakers don't agree, more than seven million students would have to pay the higher rate. in new zealand, a 4.7 earthquake shook the city of christchurch but caused no damage. in february of 2011 a quake destroyed christchurch and killed 185 people. a judge in california overturned a rape conviction that had set brian banks, a former high school football star, to prison moore than five years. the woman involved admitted she lied but did not want to return one-and-a-half million dollars awarded to her in a lawsuit

against the school. nasa's opportunity rover on mars snapped a photograph of its own shadow. the rover was perched on a rock on the rim of a massive crater. a brawl in the parliament in ukraine has a debate turned into fighting. they were arguing about a controversial bill to allow the official use of the russian language instead of ukranian in parts of the country. now here is an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,529 after adding 33 points yesterday. the s and p up a point, the nasdaq down ten. looking overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei added 17 points. while until hong kong the hang seng was up 47. for the second straight day the dow and s&p bounced back from earlier losses in the final hour of trade. but a key weak report tripped up the nasdaq. the tech heavy index was weighed

down by data storage company net app which sank 12% blamed on an uncertain global economy. investors welcomed news of cost cutting at hewlitt packard. jp morgan's hike on carriers sent u.s. airways soaring. internet radio site pan dora had big jumps in ad sales and subscriptions over last year. on the down side, tiffany and company tumbled 7% after slashing the 2012 outlook. as protesters rallied outside amazon's annual shareholders meet he'll in seattle the online retailer told investors it planned to improve conditions at the warehouses after employees were reportedly forced to work in temperatures above 100 degrees last summer. a federal judge says auto dealers who use consumers bad credit history to charge higher

interest on loans must now inform buyers about their negative credit data. starting this fall one of the nation's oldest newspapers, new orleans times piquenne will be the largest city paper to drop circulation. has ibm reached a new level in corporate paranoia? listen to this, big blue has banned employees from using the iphone's digital assistant on its networks because everything you say to siri is saved in a data center in north carolina. a rookie slams the braves, a major league milestone, hip hop icon busts a bold move in chicago. dwyane and lebron try to get past the pacers. the early morning sports are ahead. the holiday forecast looking warm and stem y, that is coming up, you're watching "early

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good morning if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports with injuries and suspensions leaving the heat teetering on the edge, the big two stepped up big time. here is nbc's mario solis with a look at sports headlines.

good morning to you, just a week ago we all wrote off the heat and cheered on the pacers, now miami is headed to the eastern conference finals. game six in indiana, second quarter, danny granger capping off a 10-0 run with a dunk, indy up two at the half. the heat had a run of their own finishing the third with nine straight points, mario chalmers knocks down the triple. lebron and dwyane wade weren't going to allow the pacers back in. wade the best game of his career, 41 points, 10 boards. head advances 105-93 win. who will they play in the eastern conference finals? we'll find out tomorrow. the game between celtics and sixers tipped off at 8:00 eastern saturday. baseball when you pitch a complete game you walk off with a win, right? justin verlander struck out seven over eight, but the tigers forgot the offense in detroit.

leland can't be happy. indians sweep the tigers. albert pujols is starting to heat up, after playing the first 27 games without a home run, he belted his fourth in the last nine games last night. the fourth youngest player to hit 450 homers. angels win 3-1. from 450 to 1, a rookie with the first career grand slam, that is the difference reds double up the braves, 6-3. finally who let the dog out? that is snoop dogg throwing out the first pitch in chicago. did he get it over the plate? for shizzle. watch him as he walks off the field. a tribute to the fastest man alive, bolt, and talked about man alive, tim tebow. that is a look at sports on "early today" i'm mario solis. "early today" sports is brought to you by touch of gray, get rid of some gray, never all.

britney bails and the former president in the photo that has everybody talking. the entertainment headlines are straight ahead. images to keep in mind this weekend amid the sun, fun and celebration. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. time for the weekend holiday forecast. let me take you through the three days. big concern is what is going to happen to the storm off the

southeast coastline, also from montana through north dakota, dodging showers and storms right in saturday. we'll be shoveling snow in areas of the northern rockies. cruel near yellowstone. hot conditions will spread by sunday into the ohio valley, indianapolis 500 will be baking in the sun in the 90s. could see isolated storms on both sunday and monday in new england, passing storms but the stronger storms coming down on a cold front from the northern plains. near st. louis or chicago during the late afternoon on monday. keep that in mind for your plans. if you're watching us on wval, baltimore, maryland, in wheaton, ice skating during scheteam skate night. a look at entertainment, the "the avengers" will move aside at the box office. >> about time. >> as a new blockbuster takes center stage.

"men in black 3" will take top spot over the weekend. despite being a decade since the last men in black and four years since will smith's last film, experts say drawing wide interest, both young and old, that is good news for the studios, since the budget to make this one blew up way over $200 million. >> have you been on the ride at universal? >> i saw them shooting the movie though. don't cry for the "the avengers," should take in $40 million this weekend the fourth highest grossing film of all time. what do you think hillary had to say about this? brooklyn lee tweeted this from an event in monaco, posing with former president clinton and fellow porn actress tasha rain. >> i'm sure he didn't know. >> tmz reports britney spears walked out on the first as a judge on the x factor after a contestant mangled one of her songs. getting a little testy early in

the game. >> she can go. ♪ 17 million ♪ ♪ that is her song. >> i'm happy bill was forced to sing. from virginia the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform will never be forgotten. soldiers at arlicemetery carrie task of planting more than 220,000 u.s. flags. one for every tombstone, every service member, who gave their lives for this country. the soldiers placed their boot in front of the head stone to insure each flag is in the proper position. they will stand watch over the flags throughout this memorial day weekend. quite a sight there. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

4:28. warm, humid air greeting you. the holiday weekend is set to be a scorcher. good morning, everyone. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for in friday, may 25, 2012. new this morning, fairfax county police are investigating a bizarre incident at the courthouse. a man showed up at the building before midnight with a gunshot wound. the victim told police he was shot in chantilly. he was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. police are trying to figure out if the shooting is connected to a stabbing that happened around the same time in chantilly. also new, an elderly man is

in the hospital after being burned in a kitchen fire. this happened before 10:00 last night at a home on old meadow road in mclean, virginia. the 91-year-old suffered third-degree burns. he was taken to the hospital with life threatening injuries. the cause of the fire is under investigation. another aide to mayor vincent gray is facing prison time for admitting he lied to the fbi during an investigation into the mayor's 2010 campaign. howard appropriations committee pled guilty in court yesterday. he admits he paid suleman brown. brown was a minor candidate who claims gray's campaign paid him to attack then-mayor adrian fenty. according to court documents, brooks and two other aides funneled at least $2,800 to brown. brooks faces up to six months in prison. today the world's first private supply ship will make a historic rendezvous with the international space station. the spacex dragon capsule passed within a mile of the iss for a series of s.