this morning on "early today," war of words. president obama and his presumptive rivalries, mitt romney, clash over jobs and taxes. wild ride. astonished pedestrian holds on for dear life after getting in the way of af suspected shop lifter. on air assault. things turn ugly on live television during a greek political debate. this is "early today" for friday, june 8th, 2012. hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry, and today we begin with fiscal fever. a deal on expiring bush era tax

cuts is looking increasingly unlikely as the growing divide between democrats and republicans over how to prevent the economy from falling off a so-called fiscal cliff plays out on the campaign trail. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: mitt romney went to missouri to blame president obama for letting down american families. >> it is a moral failure of tragic proportion where there are over 23 million americans who are under employed or stopping looking for johns. >> if they had taken all the steps i had pushed for, we could have put more americans back to work. >> reporter: his new ad pushes one step to put employees to work. >> it's paid for by asking the wealthiest americans to pay a little 340r. congress refuse toss ask. >> reporter: hiking taxes on millionaires, but for everyone else, renewing the bush tax cut rates that expire in december is the obama plan.

congress won't act because republicans want all the brackets to stay the same for another year. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke warned if there's no deal by year's end and everyone's taxes go up, the economy could go off a cliff. >> the potential expiration of the so-called bush tax cuts, 2001, 2003 tax cuts is the single biggest item in the fiscal cliff. >> reporter: meanwhile, the race for the white house took a turn. team romney raised 76.8 million in may surging ahead of barack obama. it will be more than 2 billion by november. a lot of it to be spent in the fight over taxes. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news washington. former president bill clinton is apologizing for some comments that he made that appeared to undermine the

president. in an interview on cnn yesterday the former president repeatedly expressed, quote, regret for telling cnbc earlier in the week that he would temporarily extend all bush era tax cuts. republicans ran with the comments which directly contradicted president obama's position. clinton claims he misunderstood the timing of when the issue had to be decided by. oversees now where diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed in syria are failing according to the united nations. u.n. observers themselves were attacked yesterday as they tried to reach the sight of the latest reported massacre in syria. we're following the story from cairo. >> reporter: lying for the world to see. the victims of what amateur video shows as a massacre in the city of kobair. among the dead, women and children, even entire families were killed. we reached a human rights

activist in syria in contact with eye witnesses. they blamed the military and government militia. a similar attack occurred three weeks ago. u.n. observers on the ground tried to visit the area of the most recent mass is a care. they came under attack. >> the regime ran into violence. it's simply unconscionable. >> reporter: for more than a year the assad regime has suppressed an up rising against his rule. many fear this country is descending into civil war as opposition forces become more militarized and brazen in their attacks against government forces. kofi annan, who brokered a u.n. peace plan aimed at ending the violence, said what many on the ground already know. >> i must be frank and confirm that the plan is not being implemented. >> reporter: complicating diplomatic efforts even more is that the u.n.'s assessment if the conflict in syria drags on,

not only will it implode and worsen the situation inside the country but it will explode across the entire region. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. newly released video from the pittsburgh police department show a gunman nearly killing three people inside a vehicle, one of them a 1-year-old infant. the 19-year-old suspect fired multiple times causing the fleeing victims to crash right into parked vehicles before they could escape. police are still looking for the teen gunman. a tragic turn of events in texas. six children watched their mother die after she was accidentally hit by her daughter with the family car. and the mother instructed her 12-year-old to pull the vehicle into the driveway of a home they were looking to buy. the daughter mistakenly hit the accelerator instead of the brake and it caused her to drive over her mother and into the house. golf ball size hail and

heavy rain combined to turn roads in colorado springs into icy rivers. look at that. the hazardous conditions not only forced emergency crews to make rescues but also created massive cleanup projects for home and business owners. finally, a northern california man is being investigated after attempting to sell two very adorable bear cubs. now the man claims he was only trying to find a home for the two orphan cubs after he was forced to kill their mother in self-defense. wildlife officials now have custody of the animals. bill seems very skeptical about this one. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's bill karins who i think almost threw his clicker on the ground in protest. >> i was good up until you mentioned the part about bambi's mom being killed. >> i'm sorry. could i be more depressing this morning. >> i have some good video to show you from tornadoes that didn't do significant damage.

they're in wyoming. these storm chasers were out on the plains. they were whipping around close to where they were filming. you can see on the sky and the surface, the spinning. there was multiple vortexes on this tornado. this one didn't do a lot of significant damage. there was one in plat county, wyoming, that did damage five homes, turn over a car and derailed a train. we did haveen tornado reports. colorado, we looked at those in wyoming. today we'll see additional strong storms but not going to be as bad as what we dealt with yesterday. northern new england's going to get hit possibly and also we could see some strong storms there up in northern minnesota. this morning we have two areas of thunderstorms outside of houston, up towards brian, texas, gallon ves stop, and outside of denver we have stormy weather. as far as the forecast, florida is still looking cloudy and unsettled. storm system lingering there. that will trigger some showers and storms orlando to miami.

isolated storm north of new york city. in the middle of the country we're starting to warm things up. that's a look at the national forecast. here's a look at the weather outside of your window. cincinnati, ohio, you've enjoyed a great stretch low humidity. temperatures getting toot mid 80s. we are going to be warm. look at minneapolis, up near 90. i think a lot of people will be happy with the weekend forecast. >> that's coming up, right? good tease. another tease for you, big ben says nothing on stimulus. best buy may be in play. and the highest speed limit in america. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus who takes number one this weekend at the box office? the cute family cartoon or the dark, scary science fiction thriller? coming up, a pair of walk-offs and lebron james with a performance for the ages. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. american troops are committing suicide at a record rate of almost one per day. with 154 suicides in the first 155 days of this year, up 17% from last year. and the pentagon statistics show suicides run about 50% higher than those killed in combat in afghanistan. a "new york times" cbs poll shows only 44% approve of the job being done by the supreme court and 3/4 say the justices decisions are sometimes influenced by their personal or political views. a study found for the first time teenagers are now smoking more pot than cigarettes. 23% of high school students smoke marijuana and 18% smoke cigarettes. in scotland a man bumped by a car hung on to the hood as a

woman tried to escape from a shopping center security officer. the woman has been sentenced to over four years in prison for using her car as a weapon. fortunately the man was not seriously hurt. and on live greek television a spokesman for the neonazi golden dawn party threw a glass of water into a woman's face and slapped another woman during a live tv debate. a warrant for the man's arrest has been issued. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,460 after adding 46 points yesterday but the s&p was down a fraction and the nasdaq fell 13. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei tumbled 180 points. in hong kong the hang seng dropped 175. investors banking on speculation of futures stimulus,

it dropped. bernanke stopped short of outlining any specific steps or time line for monetary stimulus. underscoring bernanke's comments fich ratings downgraded their credit to triple b. two notches from junk status. that turned out to be good news for u.s. government debt crisis which snapped a three day loss. and a half have i star posted a second quarter loss. health insurer molina tumbled 31% after recalling its 2012 earnings guidance. on the nasdaq invidia dropped 40%. best buy's founder and chairman resigned saying he's exploring options for his 20% ownership stake raising the possibility of a future takeover. consumer borrowing increased more slowly in april suggesting americans may be wary about the

credit card spending in the wake of soft spring hiring. >> finally, the texas department of transportation announced this week the speed limit on part of a toll road being built between austin and san antonio will be 85 miles per hour. that would not only make it the highest posted speed limit in the u.s. but the second highest in the world. coming up, the brewers club the cubs. the white sox walk off. the first for one cincinnati pitcher. plus, lebron james turns up the heat on the celtics. your early morning headlines are ahead. the heat is returning to the middle of the country. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night miami's fire remained lit as the heat beat the celtics. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the celts had a chance to knock out the heat and advance to the nba finals. lebron james wasn't going to have that. game six all lebron. a one man wrecking crew. just about everything he threw up found the net. playoff record time 30 in the

first half. miami up 13 at the break. boston never in it because lebron would not let them. he simply overwhelmed the celtics. finished off the playoff master piece, 45 points, 15 boards and 5 assists. love or hate him, he stepped up and carried his team when they needed him the most. they're going into game 7 tomorrow night. 98-79. i'll have another will try to become the first horse since 1978 to win the triple crown. the belmont stakes begins at 5:00 eastern on nbc. a handful of great finishes around the baseball start. cincinnati, reds down one in the ninth. ryan lud wig a towering shot. tied it at 4. the celebration short lived. one on for michael mchenry. lined one into the gap. clint hustling from second to score the go ahead run. pirates won 5-4 in ten. off to chicago, white sox and

blue jays. white sox avoid the sweep 4-3. up interstate 94 to milwaukee. he was a three time batting champ in japan. he's making a name for himself in the united states. second was a walk off in the tenlth. who needs prince fielder. he powered the brewers to a 4-3 win in 10. experts predict a slug fest at the box office this weekend. your early morning today headlines are up next. she's notoriously healthy and fit. every once in a while the first lady gives in to temptation as well. you're watching "early today."

today." here's what you need to know about today's forecast. northern new england could see some strong thunderstorms late this afternoon through this evening. keep that in mind for your plans. today, wet weather along the gulf coast. right along new orleans all the way through the panhandle. even through saturday that's where the bad weather is. toasty in the northern plains. then by sunday we'll continue to be pretty warm in this region. we could also see some strong thunderstorms sunday in the southeast. if you're watching us on wfla tv news channel 8, tampa florida. uncover 200 years of terror on american soil as spy, traders,

and sabateurs. go to the tampa bay history center. >> thank you for getting into character. here's an early look at headlines. for the very first time this summer season at the box office, hollywood isn't sure who will win. a ton of advance hype and promotion but weighed down with an r rate that go will limit its younger office, it's the sci-fi spooker prometheus. it's state of the art special effects. originally planned as the prequel from the "alien" series. it's its own film. it's expected to open at $50 million. far on the other side is "madagascar 3" europe's most wanted. it's supposed to be in the $50 million range. the advantages are it's a family

film. >> pro mooet yus wins. >> madagascar. >> breakfast monday. >> okay. this comes to us from virginia where the first lady briefly stepped down from her healthy eating platform to do something very sweet for the president and her family. so here's what she did. on her way home from a campaign rally, michelle obama made a quick stop at a pie shop with president obama's famous love for pies, she purchased two pies. one cherry and one sour apple. i will be killed if i don't come out of here with a pie. well done. this is "early today." just your first stop today on your nbc station.

up to 30 years. he will also be in court for a less serious campaign finance charge. it's a misdemeanor, and unrelated to the more serious fraud charge. mayor vincent gray tried to go

about business as usual yesterday but concedes it's difficult at times like this. >> not unexpected that had situations like this occur, they would dominate the headlines, dominate the news. for those who choose to go beyond that, i think they'll learn that the city is doing extremely well. >> brown is expected to make a statement after pleading guilty to the bank fraud charge. new this morning, a man is in the hospital after a stabbing in d.c. this happened in the 600 block of i street northeast. police say they made one arrest in the case. detectives are trying to determine what led up to the stabbing. also new overnight, a fire investigation at a sub shop in prince george's county. firefighters put out the fire at jersey mike's. it's on racetrack road in bowie. the shop was set to open later this morning. no word if damage from the fire will delay the opening. 14th street in northwest washington is back open after a building fire there. a cell phone camera captured