we begin this morning with a campaign contribution. president obama has called on former president bill clinton to help him with fundraising and his re-election effort against republican challenger mitt romney. tracie potts joins us from washington with details. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. in northern virginia they had a private fundraiser. president obama in the 2008 campaign won virginia. he was the first democrat to do so in 44 years, but things there have gotten tougher since for democrats. he's also got president clinton in a new ad talking about the death of osama bin laden where the former president says he took the harder, more honorable path in going after him. the "time magazine" article says vice president biden didn't agree with the decision at the time. that ad is turning political itself. mitt romney and republicans are saying that it's not fair game, that the president's politicizing what was a national event, calling it a divisive attack. they're likely to get even sharper this week as newt gingrich drops out of the campaign. that's expected to happen on wednesday. veronica? >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. the obama administration appears to be moving quickly to settle potential diplomatic crisis in china. this man is reportedly under the protection of the u.s. embassy in beijing. curt campbell appeared unannounced sunday in beijing. legal activist had been under house arrest for sterile lieizations. both countries are said to be eager to reach an agreement on chen's fate before the talks begin with hillary clinton on thursday. police in new york city are trying to determine what caused a tragic crash on sunday. seven people, including three children, were killed when their van plunged off a highway and landed on the grounds of the bronx zoo. >> reporter: the dense wooded area of the bronx zoo hides the scene of one of the worst they have ever seen on a job. >> sometimes you come upon events that are horrific, and this was one of them. >> reporter: the deputy chief says when crews finally made it through a thick jet of trees, weeds, vines, they found a van upside down completely crushed. inside, seven people. the youngest, an infant, the oldest, 84. none of them made it out of this urban jungle allied. >> based upon the horrific injury, there was nothing we could do. >> reporter: that van was headed southbound on the bronx river park way. it hit the median and took a fatal plunge. >> it traveled a distance of 75, 80 feet before it came down and hit the ground. it fell 100 feet from the overpass. >> reporter: zoo officials say it landed in a remote area. at no point were staff, animals or visitors in harm's way. this has had lots of people wondering what went wrong. >> that was wnbc's jonathan vigliotti reporting. here is your first look at other news going on. colorado, chilling video of a store clerk shot in the arm. somehow the victim was able to remain calm even opening the cash register. the gunman fired even more shots panicking customers inside. the clerk is recovering. no arrests have been made. in southern california, a wayward dolphin has become stranded in a wetlands channel. it became disoriented and started swimming in circles. experts say if it can't figure its way out soon or high tide doesn't push it back out to sea, they'll have to use a harness to get the jump down. over the weekend in kentucky, churchill downs had to suspend racing as hail came in. the kentucky derby is still a few days off. two inches of hail fell causing power outages and damaging some cars. finally, talk about going green. a high school jr. used the tabs off cans of soda to create her dress for the prom. more than 5,000 tabs were used to assemble the aluminum gown and, no, she swears that she didn't drink all of those sodas all by herself. >> looks great. >> yeah. can you imagine how heavy and uncomfortable that dress must be? seriously? >> no. >> as long as she doesn't have to pass through a metal detector going into the prom, she's in good shape. >> i understand doing it but doing it and making it look good, hats's off. >> from the st. louis area to kentucky, we had a lot of thunderstorm activity. it continues this morning. we have numerous locations reporting flash flooding. interstate 35, north of oklahoma city, some reports of as much as 5 inches on the road. these thunderstorms are slow moving. it will move up interstate 4 had all the way through st. louis. they're north of st. louis and central illinois. this is our lightening counter. earl yes it was 16,000 lightening strikes. now we've had aboutle,000 strikes. the storms ever week janing. other problems out there. a lot of heavy rain in south florida in the storm system entering into the northwest. portland, seattle, spokane, eventually into montana. if you are yo' in the northeast, cold temperatures. we are watching temperatures that have dip down below freezing. here's a look at the radar out of south florida. miami yesterday, two to three inches of rain. still cloudy today. the keys have numerous areas of rain. this will continue today into tomorrow. if you chose this week to head down to south florida or the bahamas, unfortunately the weather is not cooperating. if you live in pittsburgh, toledo, cleveland, all the way through louisville, lexington, indianapolis, st. louis, a chance of additional strong storms this afternoon. i think the tornado threat is mostly going to be from lubbock, amarillo, oklahoma city to wichita, your biggest threat will be large hail. central plains and ohio valley, threat of strong storms today. no problems at all from d.c. to boston to new york. we're nice in the southeast and hot again. we're fine in the southwest. as we head into may, we expect a lot of severe weather and thunderstorms and it looks like we're going to have it. >> say it isn't so. bill, thank you. the economy sputters. airfares soar and do we really need another "titanic"? your first look at today's business headlines is straight ahead. an ejection, a remarkable comeback and a playoff performance for the record books. you're watching first look on msnbc. 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[ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 dusters extender can clean hard to reach places in less time. swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions. welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica did he la cruz. in nigeria, gunmen attack christian sun services killing 16 and wounding 22. meanwhile, an attack on a church chapel in another part of the country left five dead. an amazing tale of survival. she survived four days in a remote dessert. she credits both her outdoor and medical experience for her survival. she's expected to make a full recovery. and a spectacular nighttime launch in china as the country sends up a pair of navigation satellites. part of an independently built global navigation system. residents of an apartment building near london's olympic park says surface to air missiles could be put on their rooftop. if the mod deploys them, they would be the first ones since world war ii. >> reporter: this is the tower in a trendy east london apartment where high velocity missiles could be providing security for the olympic games. the ground base systems capable of shooting down helicopters and low flying aircraft. but the first residents hear of the plan to put missiles on their roof was when they were sent a leaf let. >> i was shocked. that's not an usual space. that will feel militarized. security will be racheted up. there will be security presence. that's not something i want to live with. >> reporter: up to ten soldiers will be based there for two months. there would be a heavy police presence around the gated community. residents in the quarter have been told that theirs is the only suitab ablable tall buildi the area. they have a perfect vantage point to watch over the entire olympic park, but the missiles would only be fired as a last resort in response to an extreme threat. >> these high velocity missile positions as we've just heard of will only be a very small part of a much greater dynamic in terms of the measures that will be deployed particularly against a potential airborne or 911 style attack. >> they will test out the location this week with an exercise using dummy missiles. no decision has been made. martha fairly, i tv news, east london. here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,228. the s&p was up 3, the nasdaq gained 18. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo. the nikkei was closed for a holiday. in hong kong, the hang seng jumped 352. stocks may get a bump today on speculation. weeker than expected growth may prompt the fed to act. overall government spending cuts slowed down the economy in the first quart fer, still, u. stmpt markets finished slightly higher. they returned to positive territory for the month of april. hong kong shares rose. with the hang seng poised and april in the black after a slide of over 5% in march. elsewhere, airfares are headed up this summer with domestic ticket prices about 3% higher than they were last year and international fares are 20% higher than two years ago. in spain, tows thousands protested yesterday against cuts to health and education services. no key a, once the world's biggest seller of mobile phones, is now falling farther behind apple and samsung. the basic phone sales are down 60% in the first quarter. 100 years after the sinking of the "titanic," there are plans to build a new 21 ths century version of the luxury version ocean liner by 2016. one of the richest men in australia said he will build titanic 2 in china. it will be more fuel efficient and safer. the clippers stun the grizzlies. the coyotes beat the predators and the boston celtic is ejected for bumping the referee. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. h. until i show them this. the new oral-b pro-health clinical brush. its pro-flex sides adjust to teeth and gums for a better clean. the new pro-health clinical brush from oral-b. 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[ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. a record breaking game for a los angeles laker. here's mario sole lis. the opening playoffs had just about everything. to los angeles where andrew bynum hosted a block party. nba record tying ten blocks. he was pulling down 13 boards rounding out the triple double with ten points. the lakers beat the nuggets in game one, 103-88. l.a.'s other team had to rally from 27 down. nick young sparked the comeback with a flurry of three-pointers. memphis down one. rudy guy for the one. clippers end the game on a remarkable 28 to 3 run. they stunned the grizzlies 99-98. to atlanta, the seceltics witho ray allen. frustration boiled over. rajon rondo bumps the ref. he's topped. spurs quietly doing their thing against the jazz. tony parker looking more like peter parker. acrobatic move fit for spider man. spurs turn down the jazz, 103-91. coyote tis and predators, keep your eye on number 11 in white. the pick goes in the air, he catches it throws it over the net and throws it to verbota. coyotes win 5-3. finally, how about some overtime redemption. devils and flyers tied at three. danny briere scores what appears to be the game winner. the puck goes off his skate. they say he kicked in a puck. that's a goal in soccer but not hockey. minutes later he unleashes a rocket from the point. that's a goal in any sport. briere can celebrate and so can the flyers. they win 4-3 in o.t. that's your first look at sports. i'm mario solis. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. what's your game, hockey, bainl? you like golf. >> baseball? >> baseball? you're a big golf fanatic? >> in the day. if i could still be playing baseball, i would. >> when you're awake. >> just didn't happen for me. good morning, everyone. cold morning up in new england once again. it was a beautiful weekend though in this region of the country. had the cold, crisp mornings, and beautiful, warm afternoons. no one was complaining. it's chilly in albany. this afternoon, another gorgeous day. sunny to partly cloudy skies. d.c. north wards, everyone is in the 60s and 50s. late in the day, pittsburgh could see some showers and storms. pittsburgh gets up to 78. they'll get into warmer air that's surging through the ohio valley. that warm air heads to d.c. today is the last day of the early spring-type air. d.c. will be in the mid 80s, maybe even upper 80s by thursday and friday. you'll go from almost an early spring to middle of the summer type weather in the mid atlantic as we go throughout this week. right now that clash of the warm and cold air is right through the middle of the country. we're dealing with slow moving thunderstorms from oklahoma city to tulsa. st. louis. a lot of heavy rain through central illinois. here's how we're looking as we go through the day. rain in south florida. pretty dry through almost all of the east coast north of florida. we are watching the storm from kansas city to st. louis. chicago, showers are possible. the next storm system is back here in the northwest bringing rain to seattle. that will move into the central plains tomorrow with additional showers and storms. we're kind of in a weather pattern right now where we're going to have numerous storms moving across the country. >> stormy. are we done with the snow? will it get cold? >> i said this a month ago but i got in trouble. i think we're done. >> we'll have to check back with you. a slew of new films challenge. did they cancel each other out? regardless, once again this weekend's blockbuster news will come from overseas. your "first look" at entertainment is coming up. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. splenda® essentials™. get this, health officials in california are warning that teenagers are trying to get drunk by drinking hand sanitizer. it's weird, i got so wasted last night. i must have had six squirts of purell. it was like, no way, man. i'm doing one more. i want to wish an 80th birthday to casey casem, america's top 40. when he got up this morning he was like, dropping one spot from 79 last year, here's number 80, me. i'm casey kasem. a delta flight was quarantined because they thought a passenger had monkey pox. the passenger was uncomfortable, achy, and sweaty which incidentally are also the symptoms of flying delta. tonight jimmy welcomes the avengers actor chris evans. girls actress allison williams. tom more rel low and ben harper. that's at 12:35 on your local nbc station. it is time now for the first look at entertainment news. win film beat the experts at the box office. despite expectations, think like a man got its second straight number one finish. in another upset, the animated film the pirates, ban of misfits, old with more than 11 million to take second. zak efron, the lucky one, did better than expected and took in over 11 million to finish third. you want to go see that, right? producer judd apatel klunked -- >> the name alone. >> not on your list? >> five year engagement? >> jason statham's safe underperformed opening with 7.7 as did john cue sac's raven debuting with $7.3 million. the biggest news coming from overseas. the avengers opening next friday. the opener earned $178 million. it notched the biggest opening weekend ever in 12 markets. so that's the -- the comic book, the avengers? is that what that is? >> it was supposed to be rivalries marvel. >> we have no life. >> this was in the '60s. >> you go see it and fill me in. >> i will. >> i'm veronica did he la cruz. this is first look on "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because willie geist is up next. osama bin laden takes center stage in the presidential campaign with the romney camp attacking the president for making the death of the world's most wanted man a year ago a political issue. the question is, could the obama team overplay its hand in what most everyone as grease was a victory for the president and the country. "the new york times" in a front page sunday story reports that anal is working the tax code to pay less than 10% on its massive profits. the question is is apple doing anything wrong or just taking advantage of a flawed system. and the celtics rajon rondo is tossed from boston's playoff game for bumping an official. the big story in the nba, the devastating loss