for the big moment today, friday, june 18th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to a special edition of "today" on a friday morning. i'm matt lauer in new york. ann curry and al roker have made their way to universal orlando resort. guys, anything big happening there this morning? you know what, matt, as you can tell, people are very excited. have we mentioned the wizarding world of harry potter actually opens today? >> i heard something about that. >> i know. we're surrounded by these classes we picked months ago. if they can even hear me we have the bill roberts school from de denver, colorado. we have the school out of it tulsa, oklahoma. we've got the centreville elementary school out of virginia. and we have the elementary school out of san antonio. they won because of their efforts to raise money for the children of haiti. we're here because harry potter is such a global phenomenon, earnings of more than $5 billion at the box office, the high ees grossing movies ever in history. >> that's right. >> we've got this magic we're launching today. >> in fact, it's taken five years, $265 million to transform 20 acres into the world of harry potter. we're going to take you throughout hogsmeade over the next few hours and really show you how you're going to get immersed into this magical world. >> and we're going to take you not only on a roller coaster ride but introduce you once again to the stars of the movies including daniel radcliff, matt. >> you and i learned some magic tricks. >> that's right. we're going to be made guinea pigs on that, i have a feeling. anyway, we look forward to hearing more from you in orlando. we'll check back with you in a little while and get a check of the weather as well, al. tony hayward, the ceo of bp, received his grilling on capitol hill on thursday. but it is the controversial apology that was made to him by a congressman from texas that has ignited a bit of a firestorm on capitol hill. we'll have the latest on that. and then a little later in the show two music legends on one stage. james taylor and carole king will put on a live concert out on our plaza in our 8:30 half hour. but we begin on a friday morning with those deadly tornadoes in minnesota. the weather channel's mike seidel is in the hard hit town in minnesota. mike, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. we're with three hours north-northwest of minneapolis-st. paul. this was the school bus garage until a twister ravaged this part of the town. look at the steel beams twisted like match sticks thrown against this bus. back here more damage. a concrete block building completely destroyed. one of 60 twisters that skipped through five states yesterday killing two in minnesota and injuring dozens. this is near the iowa line. a huge wedge tornado fortunately out in an open field. the nearby town of albert lea was fine. more twister video. now this one thunderstorm super cell reportedly spun up a dozen tornadoes about an hour and a half to two hours south of minneapolis-st. paul. here in wadena widespread damage. the high school lost its roof. the town virtually destroyed. the mayor of wadena saying early warning, the sirens going off 36 minutes in advance helped to save lives. there were 20 injuries. only three remain in the hospital this morning. matt, the early report, 35 twisters in the state of minnesota. if that holds, that would mean yesterday was the most this state has seen -- the most tornadoes minnesota has seen in one day on record. back to you. >> all right, mike. our thoughts with the people out there. mike seidel from the weather channel, thank you very much. moving on the first execution by firing squad in the united states in 14 years was carried out overnight in utah. it's a method that was chosen by convicted killer ronnie lee gardner. george, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. for decades condemned prisoners in utah could choose their method of execution until 2004 when the legislature mandated lethal injection. but gardner was convicted under the old law so he chose to die by firing squad. he did that, according to his brother, because he had gunned down his victims and figured death by firing squad was appropriate. it was shortly after midnight here when gardner was led into this execution chamber, strapped to this chair, and asked if he had any final words. to which mr. gardner replied, i do not. following the statement a hood was placed over mr. guard mer's head. >> reporter: five sharpshooters took aim at his heart and fired. >> mr. gardner was pronounced dead at 12:17 this morning. >> the lights. >> reporter: in the hours leading up to the execution, groups opposing the death penalty demonstrated outside the prison grounds and at the utah state capitol in salt lake city. gardner's death sentence was a result of a courthouse shooting spree 25 years ago. in a botched escape attempt, he killed a lawyer and seriously wounded the bailiff. he was in court because of a previous murder charge. as his execution date approached, gardner tried to get his sentence commuted to life, arguing to the parole board that his 25 years in prison had made him a changed man. >> i can do a lot of good. i really believe that i can -- first of all, i'm a good example. there's no better example in this state of what not to do. >> reporter: but the parole board didn't agree. >> the board denies gardner's petition for commutation. >> reporter: and, after gardner was executed, the relatives of some of his victims spoke to reporters. >> he's gone now. and we don't have to worry about him escaping and killing some other innocent person. >> we all, i think, felt the same. just kind of relief that it was over with now. >> reporter: gardner's family stood vigil outside the prison releasing balloons at the time of his execution. >> it's sad that he's gone but he's free now. >> you know, i just don't agree with with the death penalty. i think they committed a murder just like he did. two wrongs don't make a right. >> reporter: a violent end to a violent man. this may not put an end to firing squad executions in utah. there are others on death row who have the same choice that gardner had. matt? >> george lewis in utah for us this morning. george, thank you very much. now to the disaster in the gulf. tony hayward, bp's embattled chief executive, tried to distance himself from the crisis during his testimony before congress on thursday. it was a hearing filled with heated exchanges and one controversial apology from an unexpected source. nbc's kelly o'donnell is on capitol hill with details on that. kelly, good morning to you. >> reporter: morning, matt. the biggest surprise, the oddest thing, had nothing to do with tony hayward's comments himself. but hayward did draw a lot of frustration out of lawmakers because he runs bp. he has a ph.d. in geology, but he had really very few answers. he would not draw conclusions about what happened, saying it's still too early in the investigation. for all his wealth and power as chief of bp, tony hayward made clear what he's not. >> i'm not the drilling engineer so i'm not actually qualified to make those judgments. i'm not a cement engineer, i'm afraid. i simply was not involved in the decision making process. >> reporter: and that was not acceptable to frustrated and angry lawmakers. >> i think you're insulting our intelligence and i really resent it. >> we know you're not an engineer, and we know that you were not on the deepwater horizon, but your answer 65 times that you don't know to questions that were reasonably posed to you on both sides of the aisle erodes confidence. >> with all due respect, mr. hayward, i think you're copping o out. you're the captain of the ship. >> with respect, sir, we drill hundreds of wells a year all i know, that's what's scaring me right now. >> reporter: in the days ahead, a quieter question and answer may actually stand out even more about what bp cannot do to stop the gushing oil. >> have you abandoned any other efforts to kill this well? >> there are no other options to kill this well other than from a well at the base of the reservoir so we have to rely on the relief wells. >> reporter: the prediction is those relief wells won't be dug until august. >> we are continuing to contain as much of the oil as we can can. >> reporter: that is after nearly two months of fixes that failed with lives and livelihoods lost. >> do you expect to be ceo of bp much longer? >> at the moment, i'm focused on the response. >> has anyone in bp been fired because of this incident? anybody? yes or no? >> no so far. >> reporter: but in a very strange political subplot texas republican joe barden nearly lost his prime committee position. >> but i'm ashamed what happened in the white house, what i would characterize as a shakedown. >> reporter: barton who has received campaign money from big oil, apologized to hayward claiming it was illegal for the administration to demand $20 billion from bp while also investigating the company. >> what can i say? >> reporter: it was like a siren went off. stunned outrage from the administration. his own republican leaders demanded barton retract it or lose his committee spot. >> if anything i've said this morning has been misconstrued to opposite effect, i want to apologize for that misconstruction. >> reporter: that drama over, what mattered far more were hayward's regrets. >> i'm very, very sorry that this accident owe can kurd. very sorry. >> reporter: and new promises. >> and if there is any points evidenced to suggest people put costs ahead of safety, then i will take action. >> reporter: and hayward described himself as devastated and said that he understands what the people on the gulf coast are going through and hopes the $20 billion fund will show them that bp will keep its word about paying for costs and sticking with it. and he was asked about those comments from congressman joe barton and he said he does not believe the $20 billion fund was some kind of a shakedown. matt? >> kelly o'donnell on capitol hill this morning. kelly, thanks very much. david gregory is the moderator of "meet the press." hi, david. good morning to you. >> good morning, matt. >> we'll talk about mr. barton in just a second. did we learn anything yesterday? we see hearings like this in the senate and the house and a lot of venting, a lot of posturing for the constituents back home. did we learn anything? >> i don't think we learned a whole lot more beyond that except that tony hayward is still not in a position to say, as one congressman pointed out, yes, i am the captain of this ship. i am responsible. heads will roll at the appropriate time. i think the view is he still lacks a commanding presence, the kind of contrition that a lot of americans want to see, certainly members of congress want to see. having said that, probably nothing is enough at a point where both ends of pennsylvania avenue they want to really flog bp as much as they can. >> i guess the irony here is that after mr. hayward spends several hours on the stand, we're all talking about something that a congressman actually said and that is joe barton of texas. he's a republican. he called that $20 billion escrow account set up by bp some kind of a shakedown. how quickly did you hear from the republican leadership? >> very quickly. when you have the republican leader in the house saying this is wrong and this is not how we feel and he is sent back out in front of cameras to sheepishly apologize, you know this was a public relations disaster. for a republican congressman with ties to the oil industry to come out and say this was a shakedown is simply beyond the pale and even made joe biden, the vice president, speechless for a time. bp agreed to this fund. they are going to be sued six ways from sunday. they know that even beyond the $20 billion fund. they want to do business in america in the future. they know they have to pay out claims when they were clearly negligent on a lot of levels. that's why they agreed to do this and, yes, the administration applied a lot of pressure. i don't think anybody believes it was a shakedown. >> the latest polling numbers we have showed that about 52% of the american people disapprove of the way the president is handling this oil spill crisis. that's up from 33% from a month ago. but i want to point out this polling was done before the president's latest trip to the gulf which was a two-day trip, before his oval office address to the nation, before that $20 billion fund was set up. take me inside the white house. do they think they had a good week? >> well, they do. the feeling initially was that this was going to be some kind of turning point and i don't think they believe they've turned this thing around. the president likes to use the big ocean liner analogy at times saying it's very difficult to make a quick turn in that circumstance, and they don't necessarily think they've done that. but there's three important things -- establishing that command and control out of the white house that they feel the president did. two, talking about a deadline here, the end of june when they might be able to siphon off 90% of the oil and, most importantly, that deliverable, that $20 billion fund. ultimately, as you know and as the president told you in your interview recently. it's about really sticking it to bp at this point, being that consumer advocate, looking out for people on the gulf coast. i think the president went a long way in being able to do that by beginning to secure the money for those people who need it most. >> dave, what do you have lined up for sunday on "meet the press"? >> you can imagine we're going to talk more about the summer of oil. we'll devote it to the containment of the spill, containing and plugging the hole. also drilling in the gulf in the future, the future of energy policy. we'll have all sides of it covered. >> all right, david, thanks very much. good seng you. >> thanks, matt. let's get a check of the other top stories from natalie who is in while ann is down in orlando. natalie, good morning to you. and good morning to you, matt. good morning, everyone. the suspect in the attempted bombing of times square is facing life in prison after being indicted thursday on ten terrorism and weapons charges. they include conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. according to the indictment faisal shahzad received $12,000 in two separate payments from the pakistani taliban to carry out the attack. president obama heads to columbus, ohio, today to tout the jobs created by a $25 billion road project there that was launched under his economic recovery act. meantime, european markets edged higher this morning. cnbc's melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange. what are we focusing on today? >> reporter: part of what fueled the gains is an announcement from the european central bank that it will be releasing the results of european bank stress tests all by the end of july. this move is meant to increase transparency and ease investor concern over the balance sheet of the banks there. remember the u.s. did similar tests to banks here and releasing the results of those tests actually sparked a rally, a multimonth rally, in both bank stocks and the u.s. stock market. natalie. >> melissa lee at the new york stock exchange, thank you. a big recall. campbell's is recalling 15 million pounds of spaghettios because of under processing t. affects the "a" to "z" and fun shapes with meatballs. and an icelandic court has ruled bobby fisher's body can be exhumed to determine whether he is the father of a 9-year-old gi girl. fisher died and was buried in iceland in 2008. he left no will and there are ongoing disputes over his estate. and i'm sure if you were up late, the lakers have clinched their 16th nba championship defeating the boston celtics last night 83-79 in game seven of the finals. and police actually had to restrain some of the thousands of fans who poured into the streets, some arrests were made there. second win in a rope for the lakers. it is 7:17. back over to matt. >> five for kobe bryant. 11 for the coach, phil jackson. 11 championships. anyway, natalie, thank you very much. appreciate it. let us head back now to al and ann at the wizarding world of harry potter at universal orlando resort. al's got a first check >> lots of sunshine, 63 at the airport, at 75% humidity. the wind is calm. lots of sunshine toda and that's your latest weather. matt? al, thank you so much. a new court appearance and a new look for american college student amanda knox who is currently serving 26 years in jail for the murder of her roommate. nbc's dawna friesen is in london with the latest on this story. dawna, good morning to you. >> reporter: amanda knox is facing another summer in an italian prison. she is appealing her conviction but is now fighting new charges as well and she's changed her look. seven months after her conviction for murder, 22-year-old amanda knox is in an italian courtroom again. this time fighting charges she slandered italian police. her once long hair is now short. she cut it two days after her conviction when she was sev sentenced to 26 years for the brutal murder of her former roommate, british student meredith kercher. her stepfather said she is holding up well. >> she does what she has to do to just kind of keep going. it's difficult for her definitely. but she'll make it through this. she's strong. >> reporter: at her trial knox claimed italian police slapped and yelled at her during an all-night interrogation. knox and her parents say italian police violated her human rights. >> they should have provided her with a lawyer and all of her conversations with them were supposed to be taped. you know, none of that happened. >> reporter: now knox, in addition to appealing her murder conviction, is fighting slander charges. >> she may want to argue the fact they're going after her again shows you just how vindictive these prosecutors are. >> reporter: knox's image has evolved in the 2 1/2 years since she was charged. then she was seen kissing and cuddling her boyfriend and co-accused a day after kercher's murder. she sometimes arrived in court with a big smile. her new look and serious demeanor are a departure. fresh hope for knox's appeal may come from a potential new witness, a mafia member now in prison himself claims his brother, antonio, killed kercher after breaking into the apartment but prosecutors have deemed his evidence unreliable. >> the main concern that we have is the fact the court would not even hear him. they are compelled by law to hear every single person who has witness testimony. >> reporter: knox's lawyers are pushing to have that convicted mafia member admitted as a witness when her appeal gets under way later this year, and if that appeal fails, knox faces spending most of her adult life behind bars. mat senate. >> dawna friesen in london. dawna, thank you very much. coming up, we'll shift gears. ann and al will take us on a tour of the brand-new wizarding world of harry potter. still ahead, the excitement is building because we're taking you on a tour of the wizarding world of harry potter. plus, harry potter himself is standing by. daniel radcliff and almost the entire cast of harry potter. >> all right, and here from new york, james taylor and carole king teaming up for a live concert in our 8:30 half hour. i didn't even think he read them. how many times did he try to get us to go fishing? [ both laugh ] so "daddy," right? that was when we were little-little. he kept them. ...all of them. [ male announcer ] give dad a card... it's the biggest little thing you can do. girls, we're just moving across town. for powering through our to-do list in record time. ♪ we're for higher rpms at lo