. >>> i'm craig melvin for thomas roberts. the agenda next hour.pect accused of killing etan patz is on suicide watch. his family says he has a history of mental illness. does this turn the case upside down, 33 years to the day etan disappeared. >>> illinois anti-bullying measures because lawmaker thought it was too "homosexual." >> this may be the strangest campaign ad, south dakota candidate will join me live on the ad that is lighting up the twitter sphere and is mitt romney trying to woo african american voters? all that and more straight ahead, chris? >>> thank you, craig. >>> parliament brawl, aliens versus avengers, opera house collapses. >>> what happened if u.s. political differences were worked out like this. a brawl broke out in the ukraine parliament session. whether russian would be adopted as the official language. >> men in black 3 is hoping dethrown the "the avengers" the sequel comes 15 years after the original. the "the avengers" has been number one for three weeks bringing in more than a billion dollars world-wide. >>> game on fo

i'm craig melvin in today for chris jansing. rick santorum is finally on board the mitt romney express endorsing his former rival late last night. santorum pledged his support last night. it wasn't the most enthusiastic endorsement with the actual endorsement coming way down in paragraph 13. santorum writing, quote, governor romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this, the most critical election of our lifetime. joining me now, molly ball and ezra klein. good morning to you both. molly, is this as tepid as you can get? >> i think it is. he managed to wedge the word "endorsement" in there. but if you blinked, you might have missed it. it was very clear this was kind of the opposite of getting up there on stage with him and giving him the full-throated attaboy. this was almost obligatory, here it is, i'm doing it. >> why not a major production to announce the endorsement or at least an in-person endorsement? >> because mitt romney didn't give him anything. there's an argument out there that rick s

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i'm craig melvin. alex is off today.y have enough uranium for five nuclear bombs. united nations weapons inspectors in iran say they found traces of radioactivity at an underground bunker at one of the nuclear facility there is. and now a think tank says that iran's stepped up its uranium enrichment. joining me to talk about is p.j. crowley. welcome, mr. crowley. >> hello, craig. >> do you believe that report, five bombs? >> well, there's no question that iran is getting close to the point at which it could build a weapon if it chooses. it has the technical know-how and the uranium necessary. the intelligence community doesn't think it's made the strategic decision to actually build a weapon but obviously the trend is very worrying. >> wicks world powers held talks with iran in baghdad earlier this week. did they do anything beyond arranging for more talks in moscow next month? >> i'm not surprised there wasn't a breakthrough. i don't know that there will be a breakthrough throughout 2012. there are geopolitical, substan

nbc's craig melvin has this story. good morning to you, craig. >> reporter: good morning to you.ooking tree lined neighborhood just outside st. paul, it may look picture perfect, but according to the hoffman family behind me, the reality has been far from peaceful. the home videos tell the tale of what kim and greg hoffman say is the ultimate nightmare of a neighbor. >> she is definitely the neighbor from hell. >> reporter: they moved here 15 years ago, a perfect place to raise their family. they thought. but over the years, the hoffmans have become prisoners in their own backyard as they try to avoid their neighbor directly across the street from their front yard. >> started with the obscenities. just really went crazy and started calling me names, swearing at me, very loud. a lot of people in the neighborhood could hear it. >> many people say we have a neighbor just like that. i say no, you don't. this is different. >> reporter: this month prosecutors filed court documents listing more claims of alleged harassment including verbal tirades aimed at the hoffman's children. >> she

nbc's craig melvin has details. >> reporter: the home videos tell the tale of what kim and greg hoffmanthe ultimate nightmare of a neighbor. >> she is the neighbor from hell. >> definitely the neighbor from hell. >> reporter: they moved here 15 years ago. a perk place to raise their family. they thought. but over the years, the hoffmans say they've become prisoners in their own backyard as they tried to avoid laurie christianson, their neighbor, directly across the street from their front yard. >> started with the obscenities, just really went crazy and started calling me names, swearing at me. >> many people say we've got a neighbor just like that. and i've said, no, you don't. this is different. >> reporter: this week prosecutors filed court documents with more claims against her including verbal tirades aimed at their children. she pled guilty and served more than a month in jail for a felony violation over a restraining order obtained by the hoffmans. the prosecutors say in tweb, she also pled guilty to two misdemeanors. much of the alleged harassment has been aimed at kim hoffman w

i'm craig melvin. alex is off today. here's what's happening right now, a big developing story in parts of the east coast this hour. tropical storm watches and warnings in at least three states. subtropical storm barrow could wash away memorial day weekend the very latest. good morning. >> craig, good morning to you. we have subtropical beryl. tropical or subtropical, we are still getting the same effects. now this is actually going to move westbound as we head over time. so into the weekend, we are going to see that rain coming in to florida, georgia, also into south carolina, but this is exactly where we need it. this section of the u.s. has the worst drought for the entire country. so the rain is going to come in. as you can see over the next 48 hours, it doesn't like it will be too bad. heading into the saturday forecast for the rest of the country, showers and storms through the northern tier. some could be severe throughout portions of the plains and midwest. sunday, it is going to be hot. we could see records fall

. >>> i'm craig melvin in for tamron hall on this friday.ney campaign releases its first ad of the general election. >> what would a romney presidency be like? day one. president romney immediately approves the keystone pipeline creating thousands of jobs that obama blocked. president romney introduces tax cuts and reforms that award job creators. >> there's a piece of the ad. romney's campaign still trying to find the strategy to go after

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i'm craig melvin in for chris jansing today.resident obama and mitt romney. with just over five months to go until election day. here's the broader picture. our nbc/"wall street journal" poll just out shows president obama with a four-point lead over romney. but that lead has gotten smaller. the president had a six-point lead last month. in the important battleground state of florida, better news for romney, who now has a six-point lead over the president. a new quinnipiac poll out, the president was leading romney by seven in the sunshine state. when it comes to key group, the president has a commanding lead among hispanic, women and young voters. but when it comes to the economy, the approvallating has slipped to its lowest rate since december. joined by major garrett and mr. perry. what's your take away from these poll numbers, major? >> this race is close. and president obama's numbers are static or slightly declining. that's not a good posture for the president. a third of the country says the country is on the right track,

i'm craig melvin in today for chris jansing.board the mitt romney express endorsing his former rival late last night. santorum pledged his support last night. it wasn't the most enthusiastic endorsement with the actual endorsement coming way down in paragraph 13. santorum writing, quote, governor romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this, the most critical election of our lifetime.

i'm craig melvin. alex is off. here are some of the first five stories trending this hour.rested. gas prices and politics. space history made again. and beyonce is among the top stories trending. we'll explain why in just a few minutes. >>> developing now within the hour, the latest advisory on subtropical storm beryl off the coast. jennifer carfagno has the latest. >> as beryl continues to move towards the southwest, we'll show you what it looks like. winds at 45 miles per hour. and it's fairly far offshore. it's about 230 miles off the coast. as we track it for it and show

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i'm craig melvin in for chris jansing today. thomas roberts is up next.a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. because we want to show them something new. you guys ready? yea! let's go go go! walmart can now convert your favorite dvds from disc to digital. no kidding. cool. ♪ now you can watch them on your laptop, tablet, phone... any time, anywhere. like here. or here. or here! psshew! watch movies anywhere! the best part is it's only two bucks per disc. cool. that's the walmart entertainment disc to digital service. see for yourself. bring in your favorite dvds to your local walmart photo center to get started. more than 50 t

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. >>> good monday morning i'm craig melvin in today for chris jansing.ney in a virtual tie right after the weekend's official obama campaign kickoff. but it's what vice president joe biden is saying about gay marriage that has everyone talking. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties, and, quite frankly, i don't see much of a distinction beyond that. >> i want to bring in "the washington post" opinion writer dana milbank. good morning to both of you. i've got to play part two of this

. >>> good monday morning i'm craig melvin in today for chris jansing.ney in a virtual tie right after the weekend's official obama campaign kickoff. but it's what vice president joe biden is saying about gay marriage that has everyone talking. >> i am absolutely comfortable with

>> all right, craig melvin this morning. craig, thank you.nts, deborah bradley and jeremy irwin are now joining us exclusively along with their attorney. good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> we can see you have a photograph, a button of lisa on you that -- that you're wearing. during that tape that we were just watching, you couldn't stop crying. >> no. >> what do you want to say about where you are now, seven months after she's disappeared. >> i am a mess. i am frustrated. it has been almost eight months, and we're not getting any answers. we understand that the fbi and the kcpd have a job to do, but we need answers. we need lisa. and it's unacceptable the answer to us, we are looking at it, it's unacceptable. >> when you say that you're frustrated, are you saying that you see that they're not doing enough? or that you're just unhappy with what they're telling you? do you think -- >> i'm unhappy with what they're telling me. and it's been too long. and with this -- this development they've had for a long time and we still haven't