in bessemer, alabama, i'm sarah dallof. back to you. >> thank you very much for that report. >>> 2:00 p.m. could be reckoning day for the owner of the nba's los angeles clippers donald sterling. the nba commissioner will make an announcement about its investigation of alleged audio of sterling. in it, sterling goes on a racially charged rant. sterling needs the commissioner on his side along with the other owners who using nba bylaws that are not public will decide his future. already, half the owners made public statements condemning sterling's alleged comments. here is nbc's joe fryer. >> reporter: in the midst of the playoffs, players and fans are calling for the nba to take swift action against donald sterling, the l.a. clippers owner accused of making racist remarks. >> they need to come out and erase donald sterling from the clippers. they need to say this man will not be part of this team. they need to suspend him immediately and indefinitely. >> reporter: but usc law professor jodie armor says it is a complex situat

let's go to sarah dallof. she has more on the deadly tornado. sarah? >> mika, good morning.he tornado warnings started about 8:00 p.m. about a 20-minute drive from here. and they went until about midnight. hotel guests being asked to stay away from glass windows to stay away from the damage. sweeping into downtown birmingham. luckily that tornado dissipated before it reached the downtown. we are seeing a lot of damage. earlier today when we were trying to drive to the live shot location, the roads were impassable. there were downed power lines everywhere, trees in the middle of the road, homeowners on the street trying to do some form of damage -- some form of cleanup in these early morning hours. right now behind me you have workers trying to fix a gas leak. you also have the emergency department on generator power. however, they are still accepting patients. thousands without power in this area as crews work to get those downed power lines back up and operating. people are in this for the long haul. they've got a lot of cleanup to do and a lot of time to wait. back to you.

as we continue our coverage, we have nbc sarah dallof at ft. ack jacobs and general barry mccaffrey. sarah, start with you, the mood there, was quite heavy. we saw a lot of people in tears. describe the mood as you felt it? >> very somber and very sad here this afternoon as we say good-bye to these three soldiers and pledge support to their families. the president speaking before the crowd of soldiers, their families and dignitaries saying even in your grief as your hearts break, we see in you that eternal truth, love never ends. these three soldiers were family men. they had wives, fiancees, children, people who loved and cared about them and who were frantically dialing their cell phones that horrible afternoon, just one week ago, waiting for them to pick up, willing for them to answer the phone and never ever getting that answer. it's an eerie remembrance of five years ago when the same thing happened, nadal hassan shooting 13, wounding more than 30 here in 2009 and now another tragedy, another rampage here among this tight knit military comm

. >> nbc's sarah dallof for us at fort hood, thank you. >>> the conversation about post-war treatmentf our troops will only intensify later this year when the remaining 33,000 u.s. forces return from afghanistan. many wonder whether our system can handle the mental and physical needs of every veteran that's returning. leo shane iii is a congressional reporter and dan nevens is with the wounded warrior project. good to see both of you on a saturday afternoon. thanks for being with me. >> thank you. >> we know that specialist lopez was suffering from a number of post-war issues. we do not know at this point if that's what led to the shooting. but it speaks to the ailments of our many veterans. is our system prepared for 30,000 more to come home? >> a lot of the veterans groups are concerned it might not be. the veterans department has done the best it can to hire new mental health specialists, to do more outrage and try and improve the system. but folks within the veterans advocacy groups are saying you've got so many folks coming in, you've got so many issues, it's tough to keep up. >>

nbc's sarah dallof in ft. hood, thank you very much. >>> and coming up, republicans just dealt a big health care loss are scrambling to find a winning issue. and you know what that means. back to the irs and benghazi yet again. >>> as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the land mark civil rights act, michael beschloss is here to talk mlk. everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. >>> another new and promising lead in the hunt for flight 370. two navy ships detected new pinging sounds in the southern indian ocean. the pings consistent with the plane's black boxes. the signals are weaker and briefer than the first heard over the weekend which suggest the batteries may be starting to fail. >>> turning now to capitol hill, where the easter recess is one day away and congres