good monday morning, everybody. violent storms from over a foot of snow in colorado to tornadoes across several states. more severe weather is in store for today. donald sterling begs for forgiveness as his estranged wife begs to keep the clippers. ukraine votes. sovereignty is overwhelmingly favored. plus barbara walters on "saturday night live." incredible images of twins born holding hands. and the washington monument finally opens today after earthquake repairs. thank you for joining us on this monday. we want to begin with severe

weather. multiple tornadoes were rt reported in the midwest and the threat does continue. there's serious damage in several towns in nebraska and heroing stories emerging pr the wreckage. >> the winds really picked up. as i looked south, you could just see a wall of water coming down the street. >> i'm up two blocks from here. i took the warning and got in the basement. >> the storm is packing winds upwards of 80 miles per hour, knocking downpour lines and leaving thousands in the dark. these striking images were taken jut south of omaha on a flight that managed to take off during the storm. snow blanketed colorado and wyoming. yes, snow in may. some people posting photos saying they were staying inside with the kids while others made snowmen outside. the storm is dropping more than

a foot of snow in some places and more than 24 inches have fallen in wyoming. we'll have more in a few minutes. another region of ukraine has voted to succeed. more than 90% of voters want independence. but the figures are impossible to verify. the votes were cast in chaos with large crowds and men keeping watch. national guardsmen fired shots into a crowd killing one person. we have not been able to verify that video. while insurgents are declaring victory, the united states will not recognize the results. they call it an attempt to create further division and disorder. vladimir putin distanced himself from the referendums last week

saying they should be delayed. the military has not moved away from the ukraine border. two weeks after being banned for life from the nba, donald sterling is papologizing. he says the comments he made were a mistake. he says, "i'm not a racist. i made a terrible mistake. i'm here with you today to ask for forgiveness for all the people i have hurt." shelley sterling sat down with an exclusive interview with barbara walters saying she plans to divorce donald and at one point suggested he's suffering from dementia. she believes that could explain the offensive comments he made. sterling said she's going to fight to keep her share of the clippers. the nba has responded to all of that saying if the interest is terminated by a three-fourths

vote, all other team owners interest owners are terminated as well. rallies are being staged across the world pr the hundreds of schoolgirls captured in nigeria. the government says troops are moving north to the same region where boko haram kidnapped the girls. more experts are expected to head to nigeria to help rescue the girls. at least one of the teens who actually escaped from the extremists say it was too terrifying for words and now she is scared to go back to school. we're going to shift gears and get the latest in sports from craig melvin. good morning. >> good monday to you. on the heels of michael sam's historic nfl 2014 draft, our first suspension for insensitive remarks. he kissed his companion when he

got the call. sam becomes the first openly gay athlete to be drafted. but miami dolphins don jones wasted no time. omg and horrible after sam's kiss hit air waves. those tweets led to a fine and a temporary suspension. to the nba playoffs, down by 17 at the half, indiana claws back. the pacers go up by three late in the fourth. they hold on 95-92. indiana now leads that series 3-1. the clippers tied their series at 2-2 with an epic comeback of their own. they showed oklahoma city into the final 90 seconds. they closed the gap with defense and three pointers like that as well. the thunder go for the win at the buzzer, no go.

doesn't happen. can't close the deal. clippers win 101-99. watch this. oops. >> oh, my. >> if you think that was bad, hang on. >> harder to get in the air. >> oops. come on. rhode island ya richard lee makes the cut for the first time, but that gaffe ruined what had been a great run. martin kaymer sinks that putt on the way to winning the tournament. and finally close to 12,000 people competed in what's billed as the world's largest obstacle course scattered over 13 miles of german terrain. competitors race through 34 obstacles as they battle. the two winners finished in one hour and 44 minutes.

>> that's hard to believe. all those people and it looked dirty. >> to say the least. you can only imagine what's in that mud. >> they are probably still cleaning off. bill karins has more on the severe weather and what's in store today. >> what a day yesterday. all the moor moms trying to do plans and you're ducking storms and tornadoes. especially nebraska and kansas were hit the hardest. we had some really big tornadoes on the ground yesterday late afternoon, early evening. all the red triangles were tornado reports. especially the one through southern nebraska. it did miss a lot of cities. it mostly stayed over rural sections. we were fortunate that didn't hit big towns. chicago had a a pretty good thunderstorm complex go through. we have one severe thunderstorm watch left. so just wait for those storms to pass over the next half hour.

those contain gusty winds. later today strong storms, large hail and isolated tornadoes again possible. the outbreak won't be as big as yesterday. we'll have isolated tornadoes possible in missouri and iowa. a lot of strong storms though. we have a chance of thunderstorms almost everywhere from the central u.s. right to the eastern sea board. it's very warm and humid and we mentioned, it's snowing in colorado. >> that's incredible. it's may and it's snowing. >> it's rough. >> it is. thank you. as barbara walters preparing for her final week on "the view", "snl" paid tribble. >> good evening and become. i'm barbara away wawa. >> we speculated about our nation's future, listened to some harry chapin and made sweet

love till the morning sun. >> thank you, for that tribute. any way what an honor it was to see my ground breaking career in journalism reduced to a cartoon character with a ridiculous voice. >> we're huge fans and you've always been a personal anchor to me as a news anchor. >> but i'm a real news anchor. i'm a serious person. i'm not like some fake anchor like you or colin. >> but you're a co-host on "the view." >> that's a fair point, yeah. >> yikes. i kind of think they both had point there is. the fda approves a new robotic arm. plus was it an act of god that stopped this boulder from

cru crushing this church. sdplnchts and born holding hands. the incredible story behind these twin girls. that is next.

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 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning business even more rewarding.

ink from chase. so you can.

let's get down to business. >> the futures higher this morning as the markets are coming off a mixed week. the dow notching its second record close of the year, but the nasdaq suffering its worst week in a month. look for reports on housing this week. expect a little more cash in your paycheck. a survey finds a majority of economists think wages will climb and that will fuel a more rapid recovery. wages have only risen 2% annually since 2009 but they are flat when adjusted for inflation. and the anti-oreo making a comeback. the cookies could be back in stores soon. it was discontinued in 2008.

america still has the sweet tooth. sales of packaged cookies expect to top $17 billion by 2017. >> wow. >> huge business. >> thank you. it's been almost three years since the washington monument had to close because of damage from an earthquake. today it will finally reopen. the white marble was cracked during a quake in 2011. all the damage has been repaired and tracie potts is on the national mall in washington. what took so long for this thing to be repaired? >> reporter: good morning. what you're seeing is not a completely rebuilt monument, but it's been significantly patch. that earthquake just over two years did some significant damage. there were chunks that fell on the inside, the outside, the elevator was damaged, that had to be repaired so people could go up to the top. and we're told that they used 2.7 miles worth of morter with

dozens and dozens of patches to try to repair what happened here. some of the cracks were so big you could see light going through. we were told by some of the experts that if you know what you're looking for, you might be able to see some of the patch work on ts inside. a lot of people coming here today. tickets are available for the tour this is afternoon. but people have already been going online and reserving tickets for the rest of the season. 16,000 tickets went in just 15 minutes. >> better get in line, thank you. some other stories making news this morning. iran has successfully copied a u.s. recon drone it captured in 2011. the aircraft will soon be ready for a test flight. american authorities did confirm it was being used to monitor iran's military and nuclear facilities. the fda has approved a new robotic arm. it's a major advancement over

the metal hook currently in use. it allows users to perform complex movements and they call it the luke arm after this scene from star wars where luke skywalker gets a robotic hand of his own. people are calling this next one divine intervention. look at how close this boulder got to a church in massachusetts. just inches. a construction blast sent the rock rolling toward the building and take a look at this amazing photo showing two newborn twins actually holding hands right out of the womb. the twins were born with a rare condition. they share the same am knee yachtic tack. that is truly u fascinating. hagel on transgender sold r soldie soldiers. and rubio is ready for his closeup. scrambled politics is next.

was . he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com (meowright on cue. it's more than just a meal, it's meow mix mealtime. with wholesome ingredients and irresistible taste, it's the only one cats ask for by name.

disturbing the pantry. ortho crime files. a house, under siege. say helto home defense max. kills bugs inside and prevents new ones for up to a year. ortho home defense max. get order. get ortho®. i use my citi thankyou card to get two times the points at the coffee shop. which will help me get to miami...and they'll be stuck at the cube farm. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn two times the points on dining out with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards.

we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. dish of scrambled politics. secretary of defense chuck haake l says he's open to reviewing the ban on transgender individuals. >> i do think it continually should be reviewed. i'm open to that, by the way. i'm open to those assessments because, again, i go back to the bottom line. every qualified american who

wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it. marco rubio says he's ready to become the president of the united states. >> it seems obvious. you're moving closer to running to president. >> i've openly said it's something i will consider the end of this year. >> do you think you're ready to be president? >> i do, but i think that's true of multiple people. mike rogers says foreign policy decisions like those involving the kidnapped girls in nigeria should not be driven by what's happening online. >> you can't base your policy on what's trending on twitter. it has to be more than hash tags and selfies. a new cnn poll finds that 49% of people want congress to make some changes to obamacare. 20% want it repealed. and 18% want it repealed and replaced. and just 12% want it to stay as

is. on mother's day, an edition of "saturday night live," there were a few tense moments between first lady michelle obama and hillary clinton on the topic of healthcare. >> it's giving health care to 8 million americans. >> which is funny because i tried to give them that gift 16 years ago. so it's more like a regift. >> but we actually delivered it. >> that is your morning dish of scrambled politics. join iing me now from our d. bureau is "washington post" reporter david. hillary clinton has spent the last few months spring cleaning by airing elements of her political past like her husband's affair with monica lewinsky, her attempt to

overhaul the health care system, and the deadly attack in benghazi, libya. is this pretty much a political tactic, if you will. >> certainly you're seeing from the former secretary an attempt to define the terms of a potential candidacy and of her legacy. she has a book coming out next month which will talk about her state department legacy and may address benghazi and her potential role in that. but she's also going to have to deal with president obama's legacy on domestic policy if she intends to run and replace him. i think on something like monica lewinsky, i don't think the clintons knew she was going to have this essay come out, but they were aware this is going to come up again. you're going to see her start talking about this trying to define a potential candidacy and set the terms of the debate. >> on friday marco rubio of florida said democrats were likely to nominate someone who wants to take us to the past,

referring to hillary clinton. could the economic boom of the '90s also be a strong selling point for her? >> absolutely. she wants to talk about why she's ready to be president both from her time as a senator and at the state department, but also as someone who was right there in the clinton administration. obviously, part of the good story. republicans like marco rubio are going to try to tie her to the scandals, but she's going to stress the positive and the good feeling americans had about the growth of the economy and the experience she gained and her husband had doing that will be part of her resume. >> thank you for joining us this morning. >> thanks. coming up, bill karins will be here for first buzz. we're talking about foam armed atms. and a lucky break for ann curry. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪

she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ my mom works at ge. i tr ied my mom works at ge. depend last weekend. it really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise. unlike the bargain brand, depend gives you new fit-flex®, our best protection. it's a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. get your free sample at depend.com.

[ male announcer ] if you can clear a table [ sneezes ] without lifting a finger, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. ♪ zyrtec®. muddle no more™. [ female announcer ] and now introducing children's zyrtec® dissolve tabs for full 24 hour allergy relief.

time now for first buzz. i have with me bill and craig. we have some really good things on tap. let's start with you. follow the money. >> let me ask you guys. the list of billionaires per city. who was in the lead, what city? >> i say new york city. >> i would say new york might be up there. maybe moscow. >> he got it. london. wasn't the fact that london has 72. it was new york was passed by moscow. putin is a little proud. you hear about the sanctions done to the banks and rumor has it all the 48 billionaires will

be just fine. the reason new york is less, taxes. >> you were probably that close. >> i figured that. maybe next year. speaking of money, don't go trying to rob atms. here's an atm that will actually make you pay in more ways than one. it's one that spews foam. it does it because they have learned beetles spew acid to ward predators away. so scientists have done this with atms. it would eject hot foam on any would-be robber. i'm sure they are trying to break into it. >> if i put my wrong pin in, i don't want to get spewed. >> you're a bad robber. don't quit your day job. what do you have for us, craig? >> i always enjoy you. >> you're the only one. >> ann curry had to get rescued by a group of boy scouts.

she was on a hike and fell and broke her ankle. these boy scouts swoop in. she wrote a letter to every single scout that saved her. >> that's ann curry for you. "way too early" starts right now. >> always be prepared. as two of our country's first moms, we want to wish a happy mother's day to the moms around the nation. >> yep, both of us have been called so many things. but it's nice to have one day where the first thing that we're called is mom. >> my family has already started with the presents. look, i'm mother of the year. >> and i have not yet decided if i will run for mother of the year. >> "saturday night live" had fun about hillary's 2016 indecision. but it's marco rubio catching

attention at the expense of secretary clinton. ukraines vote for the future of their country. and the sterlings go on a p.r. blitz to save their ownership of the clippers. this is "way too early." hey, everybody, good morning, i'm thomas roberts. it's monday, may 21th. welcome to "way too early," the show that was not nominated for mom of the year but is not ruling out a run for next year. but wi send a big hug to moms out there. hope you had a great mother's day weekend. we start off with our top story. russian sec ratists are declaring victory over two areas in ukraine. in one region 90% of voters backed the single question on the