of impropriety taint warren buffett and berkshire? erika miller reports. >> reporter: there's court, and then there's the court of public opinion. both matter in determining whether david sokol did something wrong. law professor jack coffee says criminal charges are highly unlikely. >> i think he may have done something that was morally wrong, reckless, even self- destructive. but i don't think he has violated the insider trading obligation, because he wasn't an insider of the company he was investing in. >> reporter: but to many, it appears that sokol violated berkshire hathaway's code of conduct. in it is warren buffet's rule of thumb: >> "i want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper." also at issue is whether sokol's personal trading will tarnish warren buffett's golden reputation. brand expert kelly o'keefe says the answer is unclear. >> if you have an issue in your company where somebody is found doing something that looks self-

berkshire stock, buy, sell or hold? >> i hold berkshire. i held it when it went down as a result of the first release here. i hold it with the belief that it still remains a firm within which a properly motivated people will do things for the benefit of owners. that's a very interesting link at berkshire that's missing so many other public companies. i think the culture remains very strong. i think this is a wakeup call, as they go through transition towards succession at berkshire, that the conduct has to be enforced. >> susie: let's talk about the conduct, because warren buffet is famous for running a decentralized loosey goosey kind of company. does he have to have tougher rulewhat his c.e.o. dos and don't do and what employee dos about stock ownership? >> sounds like from the audit committee's letter today that those rules exist, that the procedure is if you're interested party, if you're a principal and if you're privileged, that you sudden seek approval by todd it committee before you trade personally. that seems

i'm heading to omaha this weekend for the berkshire hathaway meeting. i'll interview warren buffett and get his take on the david sokol situation, as well as buffett's outlook for berkshire and the economy. my report airs right here on monday night, and i'll be tweeting throughout the shareholders' meeting. you can catch my personal feed, @sgharibnbr. >> tom: the biggest nuclear power plant operator wants to get bigger. electric utility exelon has offered $7.9 billion for constellation energy. the combined utility would have 22 reactors. we'll have more on this power but it shows the global appetite for power continues growing, and nuclear likely will continue to be one source. that's the subject of a story in "bloomberg markets magazine" that is on newsstands now. we spoke with senior writer john lippert about smaller nuclear reactors, beginning with how they use passive safety features instead of the current designs using active safety like water pumps and generators. >> it's important to remember, after the tsunami, what failed is the back-up systems

it was also somebody who looked at acquisition candidates for berkshire hathaway now as the facts are coming out it appears that he was new meeting with citi group bankers on december thirteenth and the next day he bought shares in a country called oversaw in a company called lubrizol now the day before the citi group bankers understood that they were talking to david so call in his capacity as an officer of berkshire hathaway in a capacity of an officer who evaluates potential acquisition candidates for berkshire hathaway that seemed to be their clear understanding and in that meeting david sokol asked for a meeting with the president of lubrizol his so he sought that meeting and on december seventeenth we now find out through bloomberg news that on december seventh seventeen the city group bankers feedback to david so call that the president of lubrizol you know was going to bring berkshire hathaway's interest forward to the board of directors at lubrizol so it's pretty clear that he had information that the public didn't have that this was a potential acquisition candidate for berk

and sokol had pitched the acquisition to berkshire's board. in a statement, buffett said neither dave nor i feel his lubrizal purchases are in any way unlawful. he told me they were not a factor in his decision to resign. >>> a strong first quarter, encouraging news on jobs. the markets shrugging off higher oil and commodity prices. where do we go from here and what is next? joining me now to talk about is nariman behravesh. he is chief economist at ihs. great to have you on the program. welcome back. >> thank you, maria. >> let's talk about the jobs numbers to start off. the economy creating 216,000 jobs in the last month. the unemployment rate moving lower to 8.8%. that's a two-year low. encouraging news. it is enough? >> indeed. and in fact as you well know, the private sector created even more jobs, 230. but it was the government that was sort of pulling things down a little bit. this is really good news. and what we have seen over the last two quarters is actually an acceleration of jobs creation. so we're on a very good momentum here in

both the "a" and "b" shares of berkshire fell 2%. the former executive at the center of the controversy is the biggest shareholder of middleburg financial, and he said he's interested in starting his own investment company. middleburg stock jumped almost 18% and that's tonight's "market focus." >> suzanne: look for higher prices from toyota. the auto maker plans a 2% increase on models sold in the u.s. the price hike is expected to start in may, but it is not related to the recent supply and production disruptions caused by the earthquake and tsunami in japan. instead, the company says the move is to counter japanese yen gains on the u.s. dollar. >> tom: one of the hottest technology buzz pheas tesseco days is "cloud computing." amazon.com rolled out "cloud drive" this week.se it lets use serto cretain computer files in the "cloud," meaning on the internet instead of on their own computer. lanham napier is the c.e.o. of rackspace hosting, a leader in cloud computing. he is with us from the nasdaq, welcome to nightly business report.

hathaway and in the past the stock prices of acquisition candidates of berkshire hathaway have popped up so after all of this go around david sokol is buying shares in lucas all saying that he had an interest in it for his personal account before he met with the city group bankers none of this sounds plausible but what is really harmful diversion hathaway is the attitude taken by charlie monger and warren buffett who have always said that we hold ourselves to the highest standard of corporate governance and we wouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior and the press release looks an awful lot like covering up an excusing insider trading in their press release warren buffett said that it is neither david sokol nor i believe that he did anything unlawful here's a problem with that i actually believe he did something unlawful now that's my opinion but it's also the opinion of a lot of other professionals now i don't speak for them i'm speaking solely for myself so the problem is that the press has gotten on to this for a couple of reasons one of the reasons is that within that memo uncharac

if i was a shareholder of berkshire hathaway-- and i'm not-- i would be asking, "how far does this go?" >> reporter: many public relations executives give buffett high marks for getting out in front of the story and crafting his own press release. the next step, they say, is for buffett to personally call for an internal investigation. >> he shouldn't wait for the press to do that. he shouldn't wait for the investors to demand it. he should say "i'm taking responsibility. we're going to look at whether there's any more of this, and if so, we are going to stamp it out." >> reporter: the oracle of omaha is considered one of the greatest investors of all time. but some say he may not be keeping close enough tabs on his employees. >> i think this is very poor corporate governance. i think many companies want their senior executives to clear

just a reminder, susie gharib is at the berkshire hathaway shareholders meeting. she'll be tweeting about it all weekend @sgharibnbr. that's "nightly business report" for friday, april 29. i'm tom hudson. goodnight, everyone. we hope to see all of you again next week. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org 

our correspondent is in the bride's home vlagen berkshire . >> the buckle very girl has made it to buckingham pale. >> it is good news for us and the nation. >> i a very excited. miners are going in litt bit >> theilla butcher is one of the loca whoaveeen invited to the abbey f t wedding. he h kno the bri's and she waa little girl. i he still seen her, despe what she has taken on. e wi still wav when shes in the are >> fo the 1500 villagers wh have not been invited,here wi be big pty her with a giant wedding cake >> we are using 160 eggs and 40 kiloams of fruit. >> thearis church is 50 miles from westmiter abbey, buthey arstildetermined to be heard here on wedding day. >> shis ge. >> the composed a speal fr our p. -- four-houreal, an some o t raidersave cancelleholiys to make sure they are here on t day. >> she was a delightful chil extremelhapp ieel nored to benvito ri. >> it is a quietriva place. someegreall the intention-- all e attenti, anare looking forward to turd. b they also know this community now has a unique pace in british rol hiory. >> there ilots more on e big y on the b news we

we saw kate middleton leaving her home in berkshire yesterday. she was driving with a bodyguard in the car. we also saw her arriving here at westminster abbey for what we believe will be their final and a private rehearsal. they were here about 1 1/2 hours. she will be staying at the very luxurious, very posh goring hotel not far from buckingham palace in the royal suite which has just undergone a huge renovation. he will have a private family dinner tonight before their very big wedding on tomorrow. lynn? >> all right, tracie potts there for us in london. thanks. for all of you at home a reminder nbc news live coverage of the royal wedding begins tomorrow 4:00 a.m. eastern, 1:00 a.m. pacific time right here on your local nbc station. >>> now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. it was bad business for a couple of stores in a houston strip mall after a car crashed through them. the vehicles barreled through a yogurt shop wiping out everything in its path before coming to a stop inside an adjacent store. no injur

. >>> berkshire hathaway's class b shares fell more than 2%, a day after the resignation of david sokol, widely viewed as the likely successor to warren buffett. sokol resigned after buffet revealed he bought shares in a chemical company before pushing buffet to buy it. sokol told our sister network cnbc he did nothing wrong in buying the shares. >>> the royal trade organization ruled boeing received $5.5 billion in illegal government subsidies to develop and build new planes. >>> finally, what house slump? a russian millionaire bought a lavish 25,500 square foot single family mansion in silicone valley for $100 million. one of the largest home sales in u.s. history. wow. >>> the crack of the bat, the flash of the spikes and the smell of the hot dogs on baseball's opening day, including curtis granderson settling the yankees opening tilt against the tigers. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> after a very active start to our april, the weekend forecast actually looks pretty nice. that's coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just wa

glimpse of the prince as he spent a quiet easter with his bride to be in her hometown of bucklebury berkshiree are plenty of people milling about. by friday, an estimated 600,000 tourists will be on hand. think mother nature is excited about the wedding. this weather the perfect. there may be more people than that. how about that, rob and mike? >> that's dynamite. rob is especially excited. you have inside scoop on the wedding reception. what is the queen doing the adom come date this happy couple? >> reporter: the queen and prince phillip are going to take leave of the palace after the wedding because she wants to let will and kate and 300 of their closest friends do their things. kate is a big abba fan. i expect they'll be playing "dancing queen" a lot. they love it like you do, rob. >> you know me so well. live in london with wedding fever. have a great time out there. and, of course, you can imagine our team is in place. we begin our reporting this morning on "good morning america." robin roberts will kick off that coverage. on friday, tune in at 4:00 a.m. eastern time. lit begin our cove

berkshire hathway's class b shares fell more than 2% a day after the resignation of david sokol, likelyt to be the likely successor to warren buffett. sokol revealed he bought shares in a company before pushing buffett to buy it. the world trade organization revealed boeing received at least $5.3 billion in illegal government subsidies to develop and build new planes. >>> finally, what housing slump? a russian millionaire bought a lavish 25,500 square foot single family mansion in silicon valley for $100 million. one of the largest home sales in u.s. history. wow. >>> in health news, prostate cancer testing provides evidence that getting screened doesn't cut the chances of dying from the disease. the study found no difference in the rate of death between the men who were periodically screened with a physical exam and a psa blood test an those who weren't. for more information on this and other health stories, you can also always head to the web at msnbc.com. >>> the crack of the bat, the flash of the spikes and the smell of the hot dogs on baseball's opening day, including curtis grande

. >> the bunting is already up in this part of berkshire, in honor of the girl who has made it to buckingham palace. >> it's good news for the nation, isn't it? >> i'm very excited. the nerves are getting closer and closer. the village butcher is one of the locals who have been invited to the abbey for the wedding. he's known the bride since she was a little girl. >> we still see a lot of kate, despite what she's taken on. maybe not so often. but she'll always put her hand up, wave when she's passing or when she's in the area. give us a smile. >> for the 1,500villers who haven't been ined, there will be a big party here with a giant wedding cake. >> we're using 160 eggs, 40 kilograms of fruit, and a huge showcase as well. >> the church is 50 miles from westminster abbey, but they're still determined to be heard here on wedding day. >> she's gone. >> they composed a special four-hour day, and many have called for holiday to make sure they're there on the day. >> she was a delightful child. got on with everybody. extremely happy. i feel very honored to be invited to ring. >> buckleberry is a q

billion dollars laundered through our cobia which of course now is owned by warren buffett's company berkshire hathaway. and of course you never talk about that either and it's a huge part of the mexican g.d.p. thing and the bank paid a far well it's three hundred seventy billion in money laundering through the cost can be zero and they paid one hundred ten million dollars fine or less than two percent of one year's profits from markovian what cobia is now owned by wells fargo warren buffett and six point five percent of it but from this article there's a very interesting point that i want to note that relates to this whole financial catastrophe first of our well yes started really getting involved in these costs can be zero in two thousand and four just went to the violence really started getting extreme and the mexican drug wars in april and may of two thousand and seven three years later we're cobia as a result of increasing interest and pressure from the u.s. attorney general's office began to close its relationship with some of the costs as they can be zero and then in july of two thousan

and kate's story, from commoner to princess, from her hometown of berkshire, to here, to buckingham palacet "pride and prejudice" for the 23rd century. catherine middleton is jane austin's crowd commoner. and prince william, is the upper-crust mr. darcie. right down to the mother, with designs of marrying her daughters off and moving up the social ladder. of course, the modern version has no pride to keep these two apart. but when it comes to kate's middle-class background, there is a touch of prejudice. >> kate is a commoner. she's cinderella who managed to get to the ball. >> reporter: kate was born in the rural county of berkshire, about 20 minutes away from london, and a world away from william's posh lifestyle. michael and carole middleton, earning a decent living at u.s. airways. the middletons will not be to the manor born. but kate grew up with privilege. their home, up for sale for $1 million. >> they're friendly. >> reporter: but kate's life became more posh, when her parents launched a successful, party-planning business. they moved to the upscale town of buckleby, when she was

kate grew up in tiny buckleberry berkshire, the eldest child of a pilot father and flight attendant mother. kate graduated from st. andrew's with a degree in art history and a very famous boyfriend. she reportedly caught will's eye walking the runway in a school fashion show. since then, she has worked in the fashion industry. more recently for her parent party supply business. will and kate dated for eight years before announcing their engagement. so far, they seem to be taking everything in stride. even the inevitable wedding jitters. >> i was telling them today and my niece was tapping nervously. >> abc7 will bring you the royal wedding live during a special edition of "good morning america" from 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. next friday april 29. we'll also have a special edition of "20/20" from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. the royal wedding, modern fairy tale. how about that? >>> 5:17 now. look outside and see what is going on with the weather. >> still got showers out there to contend with this morning. afternoon commute ought to be easier. look outside and show what is going on. as we look at downto

i never go see productions of my play but i knew it was playing in the berkshires festival. people would say what a cookie play, how do you think of these ideas, it's whacky. but it was in the play and it's as if a very slender glass membrane shattered and the stage and the audience, we're all on the same side and the laughs were completely different. it was just the impossible has happened. and it just changed the tenor, it just changed the quality of the response of the play. when they did it in lincoln center in 1986. >> charlie: you played in it in 86. >> i played ryan in 86. >> charlie: your mother played bunny. >> i have a home movie in 1971, ben stiller age five in a little overcoat, a little suit, a little bow tie with a copy of the house of blue leaves ripping out pages demanding changes i want this i want this and i'm saying yes, mr. stiller little realizing that was our future. >> charlie: so how did you get involved with this? >> you know, the producer's got -- i was working on -- good lord, good lord, another producer i worked with. good man. the producer's -- i

he will be in his official residence in london, she will be in her family both in berkshire and at a hotel here in london where they will stay with the wedding party until the service. here at buckingham palace, lots of preparations. they're sprucing up the gardens, lots of visitors this morning. this is where the processional will end after the service. this is where we'll see a reception hosted by the queen for 600 people and this is where william and kate at 300 of their closest friends are expected to celebrate all night long on friday. marla. >> tracie potts live in london this morning. thank you. >>> so at 5:45, you're asking yourself where do you get a hat? well, mrs. dusen's hats are selling fancy hats for all of the watch parties. the most popular is called harold and hart, that is a brand out of england. they're the topper. >> mrs. dusen says it's hatitude. you have to carry the hat, don't let the hat carry you. >> san francisco's palace hotel can't pass on the royal event as well. guests will be able to relive the magic at a royal viewing party at breakfast on friday and t

. >> reporter: the bunting's already up in this part of berkshire in honor of the bucklebury girl who. >> it's really good news for bucklebury. it's good news for the nation, isn't it? >> i'm very excited. and nervous a little bit getting closer and closer. >> reporter: the village butcher is one of the locals. he's been invited up to the abbey for the wedding. he's known the bride since she was a little girl. >> still see a lot of kate. despite you know what she's taken on and everything. you know maybe not so often, but she'll always put her hand up, wave when she's passing or when she's in the area, give us a smile. >> for the 1,500 villagers who haven't been invited there will be a big party here with a giant wedding cake. >> 160 eggs, using 40 kilograms of fruit and then there will be a huge cake there on the day there as well. >> reporter: bucklebury parish church is 50 miles from westminster abbey but still determined to be heard here on wedding day. >> going, she's gone. >> reporter: they've composed a special four-hour peal and some ringers have canceled holidays to make sure

>> kate was at her parents' home in berkshire. and behold, william rolls up in time for easter lunch with the middleton family. his other family. and leaves about 4:00, leaves them to do all the washing up. >> didn't want to get his hands dirty. he really does have quite the connection with them. is it true he calls mr. middleton dad? >> well, apparently he does. he likes their sort of normalness. it couldn't be more different from william's own life. that they're normal people, and you know, it's just a sort of real tight-knit family. >> what do we know this monday morning, four days to go, about the dress, how kate will wear her hair, which tiara she's chosen? >> well, we've heard that kate's hairdresser actually went to st. james's palace to have lessons in putting a tiara on, from hugh, the king of tiaras, and camilla's personal hairdresser now. i'll guess she will wear a tiara. i suspect she'll square a tiara given to her by the queen. sort of lent for a lifetime. i think she would look wonderful in a tiara. and the dress, i

continue to deepen off the coast and the snow will continue in parts of upstate new york, through the berkshires, green and white mountains on into maine. the hardest hit area will be here in maine, well over a foot of snow and the shade of blue 3 to 6 inches but it will begin to wrap up later tonight. back to you. >> thank you very much. we'll get your local forecast in a moment. meanwhile, we're talking about the fallout here in the u.s. tied to japan's nuclear crisis. the epa says that traces of radiation have been found in milk samples from california and washington state. how concerned should you be? nbc's george lewis is here to put it in perspective. good morning to you. >> good morning, matt. california is the number one milk producing state in the country so any talk of radiation in the milk supply has people talking, even as the experts say there is no reason to worry. those tiny, barely measurable amounts of radiation were probably ingested by dairy cattle in california and washington state as the wind carried it in from japan. minor amounts of iodine 131 were found in milk from calif