welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening right now. we have a developing story overnight. seven people are dead, seven others wounded in drive-by shootings in southern california. it happened near the ile vista university on the santa barbara campus. the motive of the shootings are unclear. it happened around 9:30 west coast time and be continued at 9 different crime scene locations. no shots though were fired on the university's campus. >> the deputies approached the crashed vehicle and determined that the suspect within that vehicle was dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the head. a handgun was recovered from within that vehicle. >> again, this area is called isla vista. it is known for its parties that will turn into a spring bash that turned into a confrontation between police and the people that live in the community last month. a rough start to holiday weather. this was the scene at charlotte, north carolina. hail appeared dropping golf ball size hale. in new york, flash floods. 1 to 2 inches of rain fell per hour and drivers were stranded in jersey city as a result there. in lower manhattan the same storm caused this lightning strike. dylan dreyer is here with the forecast. >> reporter: good morning, alex. it was a noisy night in the northeast and southeast. most of the activity is across the plains today. we are seeing scattered showers in the northeast. it will not be a washout in the northeast, but we will see a whole lot of clouds and scattered showers. nothing too heavy and severe. nothing like what we saw yesterday. we are going to see spotty showers and it is unsettled today. back through texas, that's where we have our heaviest rain and lots of lightning. we are looking at the chance of severe storms especially as we go a little bit later on into the morning and afternoon as well. the threat in yellow, what you'll see is where we could see some of our strongest storms from parts of albuquerque, new mexico. across the country as we go through the day today, we are looking at fairly warm temperatures. we should warm into the 80ed across most of the middle of the country. we are going to see the chance of some pop-up showers and storms especially back through kansas city, denver, billings. isolated thunderstorm possible in the middle east. sunday we are looking still some scattered showers. it starts to dry up in the northeast. 77 in new york city, 82 in washington and parts of the area on memorial day itself should start to warm up nicely. 88 in washington, d.c., and scattered showers and storms. nothing too severe through the middle of the country. alex. >> dylan dreyer, thank you for that. also in the news, now in arizona firefighters have a raging wild fire 5% contained. the fire has burned more than 7500 acres. it's near slide rock state park in northern arizona. officials are making some steady progress in containing the flames. crews prevented it from spreading towards populated areas. an area three miles long was evacuated but only as a precaution. an e-coli warning is having bottled water flying off the chef. the city has shut off all of its public fountains. as the nation gears up for a weekend of grilling, a massive beef recall is expanding. 11 people in four states have been hospitalized. here's part of a report by nbc's kevin tibbles. >> reporter: just under 2 million pounds of ground beef products traced to wolverine packing are being recalled in 12 states suspected of being tainted with e-coli bacteria. >> consumers are asked to discard it immediately. a second recall is underway for hum mel and dip. it was sold by target, giant eagle and trader joe's across the country. well, pope francis is in the middle east today. the pontiff just arrived in jordan kicking off his three-day visit to the holy land which will include stops in israel and the west bank. this is his first visit since becoming head of the roman catholic church. we are following the story. we're joined from jordan's capitol of aman. claudio, let's talk about how the pope is being received there today. >> reporter: well, alex, it was a bit of a low star -- low key start to a high level trip here. he landed in aman. he was received, as you may expect, by the guard of honor and then he had some tea as is customary in the middle east and jordan of course, and then he was whisked into his car which, once again, as he's done always on his trips abroad and especially also in brazil, his first international trip, is not a bullet proof or armored car, it's just a simple car which, of course, is making this trip even more difficult for the authorities as that may be a reason why you haven't seen many people line up the street and the route to the royal palace where he's right now where he's going to meet the king and queen and the heightened security might also be the reason why the pope will not be able to be in touch with his flock as he wants. they will probably be kept at an arm's length. he will have a number of opportunities where he will be meeting people in big groups while in a stadium like in the international aman stadium in two hours where he's holding his first mass, alex. >> claudio, may i ask, look, there are so many potential political and religious mine fields in this region, does the pope plan to address any of them on this trip? >> well, before leaving he said he was expecting this to be a strictly religious pilgrimage. we are talking about the holy land is a land where politics and religion are so entwined that it will really -- he needs to perform a miracle to keep it strictly religious, alex. of course there are so many issues. the trip became political from the start. he hasn't even left rome and he said, for instance, tomorrow he's going to visit the state of palestine. something that has enraged the israelis. yes, probably he will be dealing with politics starting from today talking about the christian exodus from the middle east. >> thank you very much, claudio. let's go back to politics in the united states. john kerry is agreeing to appear before the legislature. the hearing is set for june 12th. at the same time a state department spokesperson suggests kerry's appearance would eliminate the need for him to testify separately before the new select house committee. joining me now, washington bureau she have and chicago sun times lynn sweet and political reporter colby ikowicz. lynn, i'll begin with you. secretary of state kerry was not the secretary of state when the attack occurred in 2012. what does chairman issa expect to get to him since he wasn't even in the cabinet at the time? >> oh, i think he expects to get from him basically his due, to show how in depth this panel is doing to have even more questions. they always have more questions. if i sound a little skeptical, it's because the -- i think the -- what darrell issa really tried to do is to show he's leaving no stone unturned and to beat to the punch the rival republican select committee that will be starting up its hearings soon. and just in case they had an idea of calling secretary of state kerry, he wanted to be the one to get there first. >> okay. colby, also this week as you know the house democrats, five of them, agreed to participate in that special committee investigating benghazi. why do you think the democrats decided to participate? you know there was talk of them boycotting altogether. what's the calculation here? >> i think with the mid terms coming up, the whole reason why they're bringing up benghazi again is to excite the base. there was a pew research pole that showed 70% of the republicans don't think the republican administration has been honest about benghazi. i think it allows them to be on the record ahead of the mid terms to not seem like they're not taking it seriously. as much as it ignites the republican base, it also ignites the liberals who think -- and the democrats who think it's ridiculous we're litigating benghazi. >> switching gears, the comments by jay rock can he feel ler this we -- jay rockefeller's comments this week. he brought up barack obama's race. here's what they both said. >> it's very important to take a long view at what's going on here and i'll be able to dig up some e-mails that make part of the affordable care act that doesn't look goods, especially from people who have made up their mind that they don't want it to work because they don't like the president. maybe he's the wrong color, something of that sort. i've seen a lot of that and i know a lot of that to be true. it's not something you're meant to talk about in public but it's something that i'm talking p in public because it's true. >> it was regrettable and offensive since i'm the only one talking about opposition that you would play the race card, that you would say opposition to obama care must stream from inherent racism. very offensive. >> lynn, what do you think is behind senator rockefeller's remarks? keep in mind this is a man who's in the senate for 30 years. he knows exactly what he's doing. what do you think the fallout will be? >> he knows what he's doing. alex, he's retiring so i think he wanted to get it off his chest. this is not something he wanted to walk away from. he repeated it later. he was talking about a notion that people usually -- you know, have -- have in the back of their minds up on capitol hill when people talk off the record why there may be opposition he have strong against the president's agenda. my guess is he thought as he winds down a senate career he is going to say what is on his mind. >> okay. i want to ask you, colby, about the battle of the u.s. senate in the state of kentucky. mitch mcconnell and allyson lun der gren grimes. they both won on tuesday. here's grimes after her win. >> well, i'm here to tell you tonight, my fellow kentuckyians, i am not an empty dress, i am not a rubber stamp and i am not a cheerleader. i am a strong kentucky woman who is an independent thinker. >> how worried do you think senator mcconnell should be, colby? >> oh, i think he should be very worried. if you look at polls, they are neck in neck. they are not even -- i mean, it's one or two points. she is young, she's vibrant, she comes across as strong and she's going to paint him as out of touch as he's been there too long and that she's, you know, someone who's been in kentucky and can go to washington and really speak for the people of kentucky. she's going to try to paint the minority leader as someone who has just -- is just a washington insider. >> this leader, lynn, who had some pretty choice words for his democratic opponent at his victory rally, let's take a listen to that. >> barack obama's candidates preach independence but they practice loyalty above all out. tonight i'm confident of this. kentuc kentuckyans are not going to be deceived. >> if that's his only strategy, to tie grimes to the president, is that a winning one, lynn? >> well, it has to be calculated that it will turn off more people than turn on. in the mid term election it's about turning out your base. those words have the potential to back fire, allyson, because all it may do is help the democrats organize, mobilize and register to get out to vote. all that grimes has to do is talk about something other than obama. she is distancing herself from him. i'm sure the white house would rather have a democratic senator from kentucky so they will take that in stride. >> nice to see you both. thank you so much. >> thank you. more evidence that the accused boston bombers may not have acted alone. are there others out there ? under pressure. hear the new turn in the donald sterling scandal and a live look at the boardwalk this saturday morning. a live look from ocean city on this, the start of the holiday weekend. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 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right, they're all closed now for the morning. we're expecting them to open up in a short time. last night big crowds were out here and at other shore points for the unofficial start to the summer season. we've been talking with the business owners. they tell us this weekend really sets up the rest of the season. some tell us they expected more people last night. it is still early yet. plenty more time to enjoy the summer. of course, we cannot forget the true reason for this lolly day weekend. memorial day, of course, lots of events on the beach this weekend including one later on this morning. we just saw a boy scout troop come up on the beach. we're talking about the weather as well. a lot of people come out to enjoy the beach weather. it's a little bit chilly and breezy. you see the flags whipping in the wind. overalthough not too bad. it's the second summer season, of course, since superstorm sandy came through the jersey area. this area wasn't affected too much. governor chris christie is planning a stop later on this afternoon. looking at the beach, not too many people out there right now. it is early of course. the crowds will be coming a few minutes from now we hope. that's the latest live in ocean city, alex. back to you. >> it does look beautiful. not quite bikini weather is what you're telling me? i'm seeing the flags whipping in the wind. most people have pants on instead of shorts. >> yeah. >> it's chilly. i'm going to feel better about you being there and me not being there with you just because it's chilly. that's all, matt delucia. thank you very much. we'll see you again. back to washington and president obama shuffling his cabinet by making key replacements. one is julian castro. he's selected the san antonio mayor to be the next housing secretary. shaun donovan will run the white house budget office. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. kristen, with a good saturday morning to you, what does this cabinet shuffle suggest? >> reporter: hey, alex. good morning. with this nomination president obama is doing a couple of things. he's elevating a rising star and giving a nod to the latino community when they are pressuring him to get more done to get immigration reform done. latinos are a crucial voting block as democrats fight to hold on. they say castro was a good choice because of his success in revitalizing san antonio. he rose to national promise when he delivered the keynote speech to the democratic national convention in 2012. we've continued to see his star power rise. there's buzz that he may be a potential vice presidential pick. this certainly helps him get there if that is his goal. still, others argue that the position of hud secretary is not one of incredibly high prominence. shaun donovan will go to omb to replace sylvia bureau and she will replace kathleen sebelius. both castro and donovan are expected to be confirmed. >> we will confirm that with you when it happens, too. >> indeed. >> thanks, 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join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ in today's big money headlines, rentd or buy, traveling time and the best brands. regina lewis is here to break it down. good holiday weekend to you. thanks for joining me on this saturday. let's start with the rent and buying and the latest home reports, rather, on the sales. how's it coming out? >> real estate, very interesting. mortgage rates at 4.1%, but i don't think that's the big driver, alex. you don't look at mortgage rates and say, today is the day. what it does do is it allows you to get more home, approved for a larger loan. you see the new construction over $275,000. for existing homes, over 200,000. the rent versus buy scenario comes into play in particularly hot markets. silicon anything. valley, alley, beach, new york, parts of new england where people are saying, boy, i feel like i've seen this movie before and it was 2006. i dare say if you went back to 2006 and bought at the height of the market as a lot of people learned the really hard way, they wish they had rented because imagine being able to buy in 2009? i'm sure you heard it as well, alex. people that earned homes that appreciated, boy, we should have gotten out. people are weighing the decision, i can't afford for this to potentially go down and they're gets out. it's not a given anymore to just buy, buy, buy. >> yeah, absolutely. let's get to travel in time and what that means which i presume is plenty of spending, right? >> it does. memorial day is an interesting holiday. it's not a gift giving holiday. 40 million people expected to travel 50 miles or more. of course, we just saw the beaches. you need not have gone on too many family road trips to know that that's an economic event in and of itself. here we see the macro numbers. being even a little more confident in your personal finances plays out like this, $20 extra dollars in food, extra beverages, get the extra bottle water, sun tan lotion, beach chair, sweatshirt because it'