our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet. this morning on "early today," dangerous expectations. fears grow of an all out civil war. texas terror. police dash cam video shows a toddler being thrown from a rolled over suv during a high-speed chase. panic in very it is, italy, as a rare twister tears across the island city. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with confronting russia. this morning the u.s. is

challenging russia, questioning that nation over sending attack helicopters. secretary of state hillary clinton says sending the helicopters will escalate the conflict quite rapidly. she wants russian president vladimir putin to stop the helicopter shipment. amateur video shows shelling. meanwhile in moscow tens of thousands of russians took to the streets to protest against president putin for the first time since he retook that office last month. they denounced the government for rounding up many opposition leaders on monday. well, back here at home, wildfires are still raging out of control in parts of the west as tireless crews face stubborn winds and parched terrains. in just a few days, the high

parks fire has escalated and killed one person and engulfed more than 100 structures. officials say it's only 5% contained. meanwhile a state of emergency has been declared in southern new mexico where the little bear fire has damaged or destroyed upwards of 200 homes. day two of testimony in the child sex abuse trial of former penn state football coach jer ya sandusky was marked by tears and more disturbing testimony. nbc's briechb moore reports from bellefonte, pennsylvania. >> reporter: day two of the jerry sandusky sex abuse trial wrapped up with bombshell testimony from one-time graduate student mike mick mcqueacqueary. he told the judge and jury he caught sandusky with a boy. he said he heard a skin on skin slapping sund caught sandusky

and a preteen boy for only a second or two. instead of going to authorities he told his father and later penn state coach joe paterno. >> he's very convincing. very clear, very sharp, very confident. >> reporter: mcqueary was bard from telling the jury what paterno said because he died and his statements are now legal hearsay. the day began with a distraught 18-year-old known as vick item number one describing what he said was his first sexual encounter with sandusky. i froze, he said. mind was telling me to move, but i couldn't do it. i couldn't move. he wasn't yet 13 and testified that sandusky's seemingly ino sent touching escalated into sexual contact. >> when you add it together you start to get a whole package and each victim reinforces the other. >> reporter: under persist tint questioning the witness broke

down again admitting he didn't tell the truth because he was ashamed. a social worker verified the account saying sandusky admitted to having various forms of physical contact but said there wasn't any sexual intent. like the previous accuser, this second witness acknowledged he has a civil lawyer but denied he once said the case was going to make the case. brian mooar, nbc news, be bellefon bellefonte, pennsylvania. the survivor of the arizona shooting rampage has won a special election to fill her seat in congress. democrat ron barber who was wounded in the tucson shiling that killed six people in 2010 had been expected to win in yesterday's special vote. during the run-up giffords campaigned for her former district director. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. this is shocking dash cam video. it shows the amazing survival of

an 18 month old little girl. ty okay pants robbed a woman at gunpoint. police arrested four teens. cameras inside a kentucky courtroom rose into a scuffle. an attorney and additional officers immediately rushed in to help. it took three men to hold down the 260-pound inmate before he was shackled and then taken back to jail. california sanitation workers showed that they're tired of cleaning up one bank's mess. the group tussled with security when they attempted to dump trash bags in the lobby of the bank's headquarters. they accuse the bank of ignoring an ordinance requiring maintenance of foreclosed homes. and finally tall ships from around the world ended their stay in norfolk. the visiting fleet of vessels

were a part of the op sail 2012. a tribute to the u.s. maritime history. the ships were scheduled to arrive in baltimore this morning. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your rainy weather channel forecast for parts of the country. >> i did that when i was in new york. i went on two of those boats, one from mexico and one from japan. >> we know you're special. >> good morning, everyone. we have rainy weather moving out of new england. new york city just clear out. looks like the rain just cleared out. the steadier rains out on long i larjd all three connecticut and up through central massachusetts. and that rain's going to be pushing through rhode island, boston, the cape as we go throughout your morning drive. that's the rainy kind of dreary weather. more stormy weather back in texas. strong thunderstorms have rolled out of amarillo, now heading over the top of wichita falls. just torrential downpours with this.

this is kind of heading in the general direction of dallas and the fort wokt area. it could be bull's eye over the top of dallas and ft. worth. hope flit it will weaken by the time it gets there. as far as the forecast goes today, there's a lot of great weather too. we're talking picture perfect springtime conditions in the great lakes. beautiful yesterday in chicago, detroit, cleveland, all through the ohio valley and that continues today. enjoy it. not bad in the southeast. enjoy it this afternoon. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a laook outside your window. cincinnati, near 80 degrees. a lot of people are saving air conditioning bills throughout new england and mid and great lakes. utah hot though. 90 near salt lake city. nice quiet weather paper through the rest of the day into father's day. i think we're going to like it. >> did you say something about

fare e father's day. coming up, stimulus buzz stimulate stocks. a wall street big wig takes the hot seat. and does a new dessert sound terrific or gross? we're going to let you decide. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, lindsey low hachb found a new role but it might not be the best to improve her public image. alex rodriguez joins baseball royalty. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. shelly zimmerman, the wife of george zimmerman, has been charged with allegedly lying a judge about how much money she and her husband had available at a bail hearing. the man who shot trayvon martin had been released on a $150,000 bond but the couple actually had thousands of dollars available

from a wed site. she has been sentenced to eight years in prison for helping him evade arrest for 16 years. she had pleaded guilty in march. legendary mobster henry hill has died at age 69. hill's life story was the basis for the movie "good fellows." hill reformed later in life and was a frequent guest on the howard stern show. and take a look at this. a tornado-like wind swirled through italy yesterday causinging damage and uprooting trees. winds were not fast enough to qualify as a twister and there were no injuries. >> you can bid on the copies of the cosubstitutioning. the 223-year-old document bound together in a book with washington's handwritten notes are expected to sell for 2 or $3 million. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,573 after

jumping 162 points. the s&p rose 15. the nasdaq climbed 33. taking a look at overseas trading this morn, in tokyo the nikkei added 51 points while in hong kong the hang seng gained 153. despite more signs of trouble out of europe, stocks gained high real iys. one official's comments here at home sparked a surge of optimism on the street. on wall street zynga jumped. michael kors jumped. dell rose after announcing its first ever shareholder dividend. on capitol hill jpmorgan's jamie dimon will apologize for what he called a poor strategy that led to a milt tie billion dollar

loss. dutch company ing has agreed to shell out money for illegally fuming money to cuba and iran. credit card processor global payments said more data may have been stolen than initially thought. yahoo! and msnbc.com have ed respective sites. and finally just in time for barbecue season, burger king is getting in on that salty sweet pairing trend, bacon sundae. the vanilla soft serve with fudge, carmel and bacon clocks in at 510 calories. i think i'll pass. coming up, the mets rock the rays, a yankee slams into the history book and the phils get robbed by a fan.

plus a clutch perform decides the nba finals. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. every morning we're tracking thunderstorms. i'll tell you whose turn it is tomorrow. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today."

and in sports last night in game one of the nba finals the oklahoma city thunder main taped their perfect season cooling off the miami heat. here's nbc's fred roggin with afternoon early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. kevin durant proved once again why he is the scoring champ. game one of the nba finals in oklahoma city. miami riding high over their victory against the celts and kept it goichk against the thunder. they were forcing turnovers. lebron james with two of his 30. miami up by as many as 13. thunder cut the lead down to seven at the break. durant over chris bosh. it was a sign of things the to come. he looked like a completely different team in the second half. russell westbrook. the thunder with their foul in the game. coast to coast with a jam. thunder ran away with game one. to 94. best team in baseball locked

down one of their players. now to atlanta, the braves cruising along when the yanks grabbed the lead with two big swings. alex rodriguez tied the game with a grand slam. it matched lou gehrig's all-time mark. a two-rum bomb gave new york the lead. the yanks gave the lead. davis capped off a seventh with a 3-1 blast to the right mets over the rays. enough of the home runs. how about defense. a's and rockies. cliff pennington hit one deep but not tough enough. rob pennington of an assured home run. unfortunately not enough. a's won it, 8-5. finally a catch of the night, not by player but a fan. mike fontenot was there but this kid wanted it more and he made the grab over font know. sign him up, the phils could have used that kind of a cash.

that's a look at your sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> announcer: early today sports is brought do you by aqua blue velva echlt men get it. a baby name who want as high school diploma and who's been offered a big role in the next "hunger games" movie. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. it's hard to believe that hope and beaut request were created from its ruins. but we'll show you. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this wednesday. if you're heading out the door, it's a soaker right now in southern new england through connecticut, massachusetts, rhode island, new york city is going to dry it out. could see some thunderstorms headed to dlallas-ft. worth eary this morning. from iowa to minneapolis, watch out for storms there. if you're watching us on wbbhfv 2, visit the only place in the southeast where you can see the famous fearless creatures, the aftertry can honey badgers from names. >> does that word make you giggle? it does just like it did. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment.

another day, another twist in the ongoing saga with lindsay lohan. now she's to star against a porn actor playing a straight role in the canyons. a sex crime thriller that starts filming in july unless legal struggle reese lated to her latest traffic incident -- >> one thing at a time. >> exactly. all right. mark wahlberg, a ninth grade dropout tells david letterman he's going online to get his high school diploma. can he still wear thehitey tidies. reports say phillip hoffman has been offered the first major role in the next "hunger games." can't wait for that. the "sun-times" reports that courteney cox and david arquette predicting their divorce which arquette filed for yesterday saying, quote, it will be one of the most civilized divorces in hollywood history. it nearly recognized the obvious.

they have both moved on. finally weird hollywood name of the day it goes to how i met your mother star holy hanigan who named her baby girl keva. this coming to us from austin texas where in near by bastrop the wreckage of a devastating fire is helping one community group healed. they teamed up with a texas nonprofit organization to transform ruins from last september's fire. an exhibit displays artwork reflecting a wide array of emotions and painful reminders. proceeds will go toward restoration efforts giving the town a much needed lift as it works to rise from the ashes. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28 is your time. 67 degrees. a nice, mild start to your wednesday morning. forecast in just a moment. first, good morning. i'm eun yang. police found a man with a gunshot wound to his leg around 2:30 this morning. right now police have no information on a possible suspect or motive to the shooting. also following some breaking news. four coordinated bomb attack as

in iraq killed 56 people. the attacks happened in baghdad and the city of haila. >> officials say the bombings targeted during an annual pilgrimage. republicans are counting on jornl allen to reclaim the senate seat. he won 65% of the vote, easily defeating a field of candidates that included bob marshal and former tea party leader jimmy ratzki. he is turning to the general election where he will face democrat tim kaine. >> do not governor the government takeover of health care a great achievement, as tim kaine calls it. we want obama care repealed.