today," in the bag, today mitt romney looks to lock up his position as the republican presidential nominee. making it rain. debris falls from the sky as an air canada jet makes an emergency landing in toronto. burger heaven. which city fizzles when it comes to arica's favorite meals. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we make it official possibly. mitt romney is expected to lock up his party's nomination in today's texas gop primary. later he'll team up with donald

trump to raise funds in las vegas. yesterday president obama and romney spent the day on the campaign trail. tracie potts joins us with more. >> reporter: today is pre-official for mitt romney if he's able to get those delegate from texas he can go into the republican convention three months from now confident he'll take on president obama in the fall. >> offered an opportunity -- >> reporter: texas is expected to put mitt romney over the top today giving him the delegates he'll need to win the republican nomination. he'll make his case from battleground colorado today then las vegas at a fundraiser with donald trump. romney brushed off concerns about associating with trump who is still questioning president obama's birth certificate. >> i hope to get 51% or more and appreciate the help of a lot of

good people. >> reporter: romney spent memorial day with john mccain while problem paid tribute at allergy cemetery and vietnam memorial in washington. >> you are true heroes. and you'll never be forgotten but let us never use patriotism as a political sword. patriots can support a war, patriots can oppose a war and whatever our view let us always stand united in support of our troops. >> reporter: veterans make up 13% of the vote. with polls tightening both candidates are pushing hard for their support. especially today in texas, texas has 152 delegates at stake in today's primary. >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you. elsewhere violence flared in egypt monday in the wake of the

country's first the election. an angry mob set fire to the campaign headquarters of hosni mubarak last prime minister. several thousand protesters took to the streets across egypt to demonstrate, some to protest the election winners while others protested against their candidates losing. yesterday in canada drivers near toronto suddenly experienced pieces of debris falling from the sky. the debris apparently came from an air canada jet after it had one engine fail on takeoff for a flight to japan. police say the chunks of metal broke windows and caused small damage to some cars because no injuries on the ground and none to passengers on the plane. the jet with more than 300 people aboard circled back around and made a safe landing on lie one engine. now here's a look at some other stories making news.

in texas, a man who was barricaded for hours in the cab of a crane hovering above southern methodist university is now out. the man reportedly either fell or jumped. no word yet on his condition. carjacking suspect spent all afternoon and evening holed up 150 feet in the air claiming he had a gun. in california, heart stopping video has gone viral. it showed this 80-year-old woman near fatal blung after a skydiving accident. she slipped from the harness connecting her to the parachute instructor. her partner was able to hang on to her. almost difficult to watch. later this morning she will sit down with nbc matt lauer for an exclusive live interview on "today" right here on this nbc station. unbelievable. also in steve lyons, humans weren't the only one whose had a chance to relax this holiday weekend. a bear made its way into a los angeles area swimming pool just to chill out.

i would too. those at home had the presence of mind to stay inside and grab video camera. finally in utah a family of kittens was found alive after being trapped for nearly two weeks in cement. construction workers had poured the foundation for a garage floor while the building of a new house. they started to hear meows but didn't know where it was coming from. they started ripping walls out. finally they cracked open the pavement and they saved the kittens. the end. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's todd santos. i don't know which is more unbelievable they lasted that long or were heard in the cement. >> i love the story. let's see if we can do the same thing as far as travel weather. the latest with tropical depression beryl. that system, the circulation remaining over the southeast so

the rain will remain one of the bigger issues. winds at 30 miles per hour and started to make that turn and now moving northwest at 5 mile-per-hour and as we go through the next couple of days it will still be the rain potential. notice those oranges showing up on the satellite picture. that's the stronger thunderstorm activity. you see that over portions of 75 in florida, some get up into southeast georgia. onshore the winds will be a big issue across coastal south carolina, coastal georgia and a few areas there. tracking this system follow this off towards the northeast may become a tropical storm as it exits the outer banks into wednesday evening. central u.s., especially southern and central missouri and southern illinois this morning thunderstorms producing hail and we'll take a close look at that in a bit. let's check out your local forecast. boston chance for thunderstorms. better chance in the evening

hours. late afternoon may see a few of those pop up. pittsburgh, pennsylvania, similar timing scenario. minneapolis coming in mostly cloudy, 61. we get back to the beginning of the week we'll be dealing with thunderstorms travel wise. >> all right thanks so much. also coming up euro fear drives on pap big law firm goes belly up. and the creepiest elvis auction ever to be held. those headlines are straight ahead. plus after what it took to get back on stage after giving birth. guess what beyonce wants more than anything else? >> a strikeout sale for a white sox lefty, the celtics get closer to retirement in miami and a special memorial day in a moment. you're watching "early today".

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here's some of your top headlines this morning. russia is calling for a full

investigation of the syrian government's role in the recent massacre of more than 100 people in the village of hula. kofi annan said he was horrified by the killing and will talk with sir ran president assad about it today. scandal is spreading at the vatican as the pope's butler who was arrested for allegedly having confidential documents in his possession. it could lead to an investigation into the higher ups of the vatican church. and tuna carrying contamination have arrived on the shores of the united states. the levels of radioactive cesium were ten times higher than the amount measured in tuna off the california coast in previous years. researchers have captured a stunning image of a newly

creat created molecule. it resembles the olympic symbol. and "travel and leisure" magazine has a new survey of cities in the u.s. with the best burgers. the number one city is providence, rhode island. philadelphia was ranked second. chicago came in third. now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines. a new study finds the rate of kidney stone in the u.s. has almo doubled in the last 16 years. in 1994 one in 20 people had kidney stones. between 2007 and 2010 the rate jumped to one in 11. researchers say kidney stones are more likely for people with obesity, diabetes or gout but can be prevented by eating a healthy balanced diet. for more information check out the health page at msnbc.com. now here's an early look at

how wall street will kick off the day. the dow closed ahead of the holiday weekend on friday at 12,454. the s&p lost two, the nasdaq down one. taking a look at other trading this morning in tokyo the nikkei gained 63 points while in hong kong the hang seng rose to 254. after the long holiday weekend europe's ongoing debt saga will take center stage once again. fears spain can't afford to bail out its largest real estate lender weighed on asian markets this morning after sending spanish bonds to record highs monday. the price of copper slipped on fears europe's debt crisis may dampen the region's metal demand. greece handed $22 billion to its four biggest banks reinstating their access to european bank central funding. as greece hangs in the balance,

a majority of citizens say the euro has not been good for them they do not want to go back to their own currencies. in the wake of a phone hacking scandal that rocked rupert murdoch,. tony blair said murdoch wielded substantial power but denied cozying up to him. and investigators are looking into whether bp lied to congress how much i'm leaked in the 2010 disaster. and dewey and leboeuf filed for bankruptcy. and finally a chance for a lifetime for die-hard fans of king. elvis presley original crypt will go the highest bidder at auction next month. elvis was interred there for two months and reburied at his graceland home. the angels walk off.

the cubs snap back. smooth sailing against the rays. a memorial day surprise for one family at a big league game in atlanta. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. with memorial day in the books we'll take a look at your travel forecast for the middle of the week. you're watching "early today".

good morning.

if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night in the nba playoffs the miami heat went after the boston celtics. here's nbc bill seward with an early look at your sports headlines. game one of the eastern conference finals started with a healthy dose of lebron and ended in a blow-out. to miami, james hit the court running, flies past a pair of celtics for the lay-up. heat with an early lead. chalmers up top to lebron for the alley-oop. james with 11 of miami's 21 points in the first quarter. celtics made it to the game. paul pierce three ball corner pocket, boston rallies to tie the game at the half. but that's as close as they would get simply too much lebron for the ageing celtics. finished with a game high 32 and 13 boards. miami opens the series with a 93-79 win. game two is tomorrow.

baseball, yankees and angels tied in the ninth, a jumbo for trumbell. the wind blowing out of wrigley. four homers against the padres. snap a 12 game losing streak. cubs were hit about and the white sox chris sale was punching them out striking out 15 over seven and a third. he was the strikeout giant of a team record set all the way back in 1954. they beat the rays 2-1. finally yesterday was a memorial day that one family will never forget. the atlanta braves invited the family of master sergeant david sims to turner field. between innings they watched a recorded message from sims who was deployed in afghanistan. big set up. sims gave his family the shock of their lives by walking out of the stand. his wife and four kids immediately maul him.

the crowd gave the family a stand ovation. the capoff, memorial day weekend. that's your early look at sports "early today." i'm bill seward. >> doesn't get better than that. who is engaged, who got married and black is back in fashion at the box office. your entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus spent the holiday weekend reflecting on the single greatest loss of life at pearl harbor and the trama over its memorial. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." want to take a quick look at the radar from springfield, illinois to springfield, missouri. some thunder showers. indianapolis even back towards lexington, kentucky, thunderstorms early in the morning. better chance this afternoon. kansas city coming in at 80 degrees. if you're watching us on news channel 36 in charlotte, north carolina, nearby hickory walk around the dinosaurs at the catawba science center. it is official. the alien hunters has taken out the super heroes at the box office. men in black 3er anded $70 million over the four day holiday weekend. not white what was expected but still one the year's best openings. the avengers took second and is

very close to darking the dark knight rises out of the top place. elsewhere, three years after getting engaged at a same sex marriage rally, cynthia nixon got married. karen nightly is engaged. justin timberlake and jessica beal celebrated their engagement. they are planning a summer ceremony. beyonce has rewarded herself. saturday night at her atlantic city concert she told her audience how since giving birth she ran a treadmill, ate lettuce and eventually lost 60 pounds. she finished off promising tonight i'm going to get chocolate wasted. that sounds like a good plan. >> chocolate-covered lettuce? >> chocolate milkshake,

chocolate bar, anything once you've been 60 pounds. good for her. this comes to us from khnl, hawaii news in honolulu where a moving tribute to a ship that went down in 1941 at pearl harbor has reached a milestone. this memorial day weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the uss arizona memorial. it took years to raise the money to build the memorial erected above her hull. it claimed over 1100 officers and crewmen. criticized at first by some today it attracts 2 million visitors. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

at 4:28, you're waking up to more heat, more humidity, and more chances for storms in our region. and a little noise in our studio. your first forecast is coming up in a couple of minutes. first, good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> it's early. i'm eun yang, welcome to "news4 today" for this tuesday, may 29, 2012. we begin with breaking news. italy is rocked by a second earthquake in less than two weeks. a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit about 32 miles northeast parma about an hour ago. right now italian tv is reporting one person died and four others were hurt. we're also told some buildings have collapsed. earlier this month, a

6.0-magnitude quake hit the northern part of the country. hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed. seven people died. new this morning, prince george's county police investigating a deadly crash in clinton near the intersection of branch avenue and woodyard road. one person was killed in that single car crash around 11:00 last night. police are not releasing any information about the accident or the victim's name. this morning, the ntsb is trying to figure out why two planes collided in midair in northern virginia, killing two people. the planes crashed around 4:00 yesterday afternoon in fauquier county outside warrenton. the crash was so violent the two planes landed about a mile apart from one another. one of the planes caught fire when it hit the ground. the pilot and the passenger died. a news4 crew found the plane in a wooded area reduced to nothing but rubble near one man's back yard. >> that's relatively close. >> 40