first up, breaking news, the worst may still be yet to come from a massive storm system that has spawned dozens of tornadoes in the last 24 hours. at this very hour, four states remain threatened by the tornadoes or severe weather as the storm system makes its way east. it's already being blamed for more than 16 deaths across central and southern united states. today 17 states are dealing with some level of destruction caused by 31 different tornadoes. >> all of a sudden got black and ended up on the other side of the highway. luckily -- >> bearing the brunt, arkansas, where state of emergency has been declared and the national guard has been activated. no town hit harder than m mayflower where they describe a sheer and utter state of devastation. >> devastating for people who lost property and more devastating for people who lost loved ones. we begin with jay gray. >> reporter: good afternoon. this is the kind of devastation, debris that so many are dealing with here in may flower, arkansas. perhaps the hardest hit. we know ten people are dead. the rescue and recovery mission continuing. this was an rv sales center and there were three people working at the time. let me show you how they survived. down here into the basement they took a cat with them as well and the cat survived. they walk out and this is what they find. this is all that's left, complete devastation here. look across the rot. there were 60 rvs or more out here. many have been taken and thrown and tossed on their sides. their vehicles here weren't here before the storm. they are trying to assess all of that. we're in the early stages of what's going to be a difficult cleanup and recovery. fema agents moving in as well, the work just beginning in earnest after what was a horrific storm here. >> that was nbc's jay gray in arkansas. breaking news today. on another subject, the nba will make an announcement tomorrow about l.a. clippers owners donald sterling. pressure has been building on the league to take action against sterling after the release of additional new racially charged recordings. two websites posted those recordings over the weekend. they identified them as arguments between sterling and his mistress at the time. take a listen. >> people call you and tell you that i have black people on my instagram and it bothers you. >> yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. how about your whole life every day you could do whatever you want. you can sleep with them, you can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. the little i ask you is not to promote it on that -- and not to bring them to my games. >> reaction to the recordings from nba players past present have been fast and furious. >> he shouldn't own a team anymore and he should stand up and say i don't want to own a teamany more. >> if somebody wants to be racist, that's already, that's their thing. when you're in a position of power and you can take jobs and economic opportunity from people, that's what crosses the line. >> we found a way to make this the greatest game in the world. and for comments like that, it taints our game and we can't have that. can't have it from a player, owner, from a fan, so on and so on. doesn't matter if you're black, white, hispanic, whatever the case may be. we can't have that as part of our game. >> sterling's remark even got the attention of president obama who said this during his asia tour. >> when ignorant folks want to advertise ignorance, you just let them talk. that's what happened here. >> clippers organization released a statement saying, quote, we have heard the tape on tmz. we do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered. players staged a silent protest turning shirts inside out before saturday's playoff game, a game they went on to lose. the los angeles naacp planned to give sterling an award, which they are now yanking because of the controversy. a new conference is under way at this very hour and we'll monitor that development. we'll tell you as things develop out of that. we need to point out here that nbc news has not yet been able to authenticate the voice on the tapes is donald sterling. we just learned that car max is ending his spon sponsorship and they were of course clippers sponsors and also state farm is another company taking, quote, a pause in their business relationship with the team. to discuss the fallout, william roden, author of "forty million dollar slaves." dave, i'll start with you. the league could fine sterling and forbes says he's worth $1.5 billion. what else can they do? you've seen the precedent on this. >> this is an unprecedented act that calls for an unprecedented response. as long as he's a partner of the 29 other owners his views in fact who they are and they must be made to feel the consequences of his conduct, his comments and conduct. sterling got it wrong when he said he feeds them and buys them homes. this is the first time in my memory that he's had a team relevant in the offseason -- postseason. consequently, his mediocrity, he lived off the lebron james and kobe bryant and magic johnson and patrick ewing throughout the league through revenue sharing. he's delusional. not only do they reflect vile ignorance he's delusional how he should make his money. they should find a way to force him to sell the team. until they do, not only should sterling feel the consequences but the 29 other owners must as well. >> strong words there. we'll see how feasible this turns out to be. i want to go to you to see how they it achieve all that. let's go to the naacp happening live right now. >> i honestly don't know. >> why go ahead and rescind this honor if it's still up in the air? >> well, the reason that we're doing it is because there is this things that happens, that you have to take immediate action. now, this is one of these times that we can't wait a week or two and especially given the fact that our freedom fund dinner is two weeks away, we have to make preparations, we're getting our journal together and make decisions. it was a decision that we would rather err on the side of caution than to do something with advance knowledge that it may be harmful to what we represent. >> hold up. we're going to allow everybody to ask a question. if you ask one question, you don't get a chance to ask a second one. >> what was the criteria used to nominate mr. sterling for this recognition? >> what we do, we look at the body of work he's done. and what we specifically looked at. we looked at all of the sport franchises in la, the dodgers, the lakers. even in the angels, the red wings and the ducks and we look at how involved are all of these organizations are in the community. mr. sterling's organization has on a consistent basis brought in numerous minorities and inner city kids to games. every game there is a section where there are young people there. he also has over the years we looked at, contributed to a lot of minority charities, including the naacp. so we looked at comparing that with all of the other l.a. franchises, his organization gave more money to the community, to the minority community than others. >> has anyone from your organization -- >> hold up. >> so when he approached you, when these -- this money started to come in -- >> what money? >> the contributions to the naacp, to the community, this talk of donald sterling, when does someone like mr. sterling's reputation suggest he is -- when does that sort of become so disrep putable -- >> we don't deal in rumors. if you've got specific facts we're willing to listen to them. rumors about someone's character is not something we deal with. we deal with the actual character of the person as we see it and as displayed. fz there's rumors or stuff, that's not a factor -- >> just overall not only talking about the community here in l.a. but nationwide, how would you explain how detrimental. >> that was leon jenkins, president of the l.a. naacp, fielding a lot of questions and scrutiny about the donations that group took from this controversial figure, sterling. bill, you obviously are a columnist and see a lot of power of money in sports. do you think they should give back the contributions? >> probably never should have taken them. this is the whole problem. when you're dealing with people who are racist, you're taking their hush money and all of a sudden it blows up in your face. know everybody has explaining to do. why did you take the money in first place? this is going to be the second time. sean he's talked about rumors. there's no rumor. i mean he settled out of court. he would not rent to black people and mexican-americans. >> let's talk about that. in light of the fact this wasn't first time he showed sign of this kind of zrims discrimination do you think the league turn a blind eye to him? >> i think a lot of institutions turn a blind eye to racism when money is involved. this is a prime example. i mean, it's no secret that this guy had these kind of racial issues and again we have to finds out if this is in fact his voice and all of that. we have to follow the truth where it leads. but it's just a number. now all of a sudden the players are caught in sort of the middle because all of the state farm is playing out, this guy is pulling out. that indirectly affects their money. i think -- >> by the way we have fresh evidence of that trite now coming down the wires. we have a statement from virgin america, one of the sponsors of the team. while we continue to support the fans and players, virgin america made the decision to end its sponsorship of the l.a. clippers. big economic impact for everybody involved. >> this is going to be the thing. dave was exactly right. the commissioner has got to -- he cannot let this fester any longer, this is startsing to hurt everybody's business. starting to hurt the other owners. they've got to essentially assassinate this guy, not that he's the only one who -- >> i was going to ask about that, bill, do you think this is an ab whoation or something that just scratches the surface? >> this is sort of like an old school hanging curveball. 81-year-old guy makes blatant racial statements. racism has become so insid uous and so subtle. this is like hanging fastball that everybody is jumping on. if you think that he's the only person that thinks like this, again, you are delusional. i think now the issue is, the moral imperative falls on fans on the consumers. how will you react? the players are under contract but the fans aren't under contract. you don't have to go -- you don't have to attend these games. >> david, what about the role that the nba players can play? >> i think that kevin johnson has spoken on behalf of the players indicating essentially five objectives which boil down to the real focus of players being involved in the decision-making and kept abreast of what the commissioner intends to do. let me tell you this, if donald sterling is an owner next year, players should make all of the nba feel the consequences, not just donald sterling. i think when the hawks play the magic, the magic shouldn't show up. when the bucks play the nets, the nets shouldn't show up. they should do periodic strikes, don't have to be sanctioned by the union and make everybody feel the pain as long as this guy is a partner. it doesn't mat every if others may hold these views, they haven't said anything. we're not outraged at donald sterling being a fool. that's his right. what we're outraged is if his foolishness isn't -- if he's not held accountable for his foolishness and given the nature of what he said and the majority of the players being black in this league who feed him, not the other way around, he needs to be out. >> we'll see if that results in strikes but certainly already resulting in condemnation, kobe bryant tweeted, i couldn't play for him. last question, bill, it seems over the last week we've had an abundant set of reminders this isn't just sports. we've had the clivein bundy comments. there pervasive racism everywhere? >> it is, this whole joke about post racial is a joke. this thing brings it home to maybe a younger generation who thought there was a myth of post generation. if you sit in any meeting and see no african-americans on a staff or any production meeting and partner in a law firm and there are no african-americans, people are saying the same things without saying, what bundy said or what sterling said. the comment is still the same. we don't want you, we're not going to hire you. we don't want nothing to do with you. this is another sobering learning moment for all of us. what we want to do is when the stuff comes up we want so suffocate it and knock it out. >> that is the only saving grace fully open display today. the amount and swiftness of condemnation but too often goes uncondemned. thank you both of you. >> thank you. >> just ahead, european monitors are being taken hostage. a mayor fights for his life and things in ukraine go from very bad to much worse. we have all of the latest next. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. today president obama noupsed a new round of sanctions against russia, trying to increase pressure as pro-russian forces defy international demands to stand down. seven government russian officials and seven companies now face penalties. >> the goal here is not to go after mr. putin personally. the goal is to change his calculus with respect to how the current actions he's engaging in in ukraine could have an adverse impact on the russian economy over the long haul. >> this as events grow increasingly ugly. the mayor of an eastern ukraine city was shot in the back and fighting for his life. one of the cities where pro russian gunman seized buildings. today they called for the release of seven european military observers still being held hostage by pro-russian forces after being accused of spying for nato. one was released jed for health reasons but their cap tors refuse to discuss when the others might go free. president obama addressed the ukraine crisis from the philippines. the big news out of that tour, a new 10-year military agreement just signed with the philippines, expanding america's military presence in the region in what the white house called a historic commitment to the pacific. this on the heels of commitments that the u.s. would defend japan, south korea and other countries in their territorial disputes with china. all confronting a rising and increasingly tense chinese super power. do we risk a new cold war? and can we manage two frosty relationships with super powers? for that i turn to an expert on u.s./china relationships jeff dire and nicholas christoph. president obama hasn't gone all out and gone for the sectorwide crackdowns he threatened at times. why is he holding back? >> he wants to have something in reserve if russia does indeed send troops across the border into eastern ukraine, he has something -- a real threat. what was announced was the mild end of what was plausible. i wish they would signal a little more clearly that the banking sector will be devastated if russia does take the next step. i'm not sure they signaled as clear as they could have. >> he's blamed part of this on europe, we're going to be in a stronger position to deter mr. putin when he sees the world is unified, say we're not going to allow certain arms sales but every european defense contractor back fills what we do. can we expect europe to take the lead given the economic constraints they are under and how close they are to russia? >> i think that leadership is going to come from us. and europe is very divided. you have countries like poland that would like much tougher stances and germany which is completely in bed with russia and given that dysfunction and disagreement, we can provide more leadership there. >> and seems to suggest something that's an unrealistic outcome, that they'll leap first. you've argued that china has benefited from the periods of frosty relations between the u.s. and russia since it does forge a tighter bond between china and its neighbor. do you think that's what's happening here? >> that's definitely one of possibilities. russia, if it becomes more isolated from europe as the crisis unfolds and nationally it's going to be clopushed clos to china. a gas deal almost a decade now and there's a possibility it might be signed because they have an opportunity. the chinese are awkward about the situation and don't like the idea of countries, one country invading and encouraging separatists but by sitting back they are -- in the long run. >> president obama denied charges that this is about containing china. we're not interesting in containing china. doesn't he have to expect that's how the trip will be read given the strong position he's taking in the territorial disputes? >> there will always be people in china whatever the u.s. does in the western pacific, they will say the u.s. is out to contain it. containment is what the u.s. is trying to put in place with russia, trying to isolate it from international community and economy. with china, it's about deterring certain types of chinese behavior and putting in place a defensive network making it harder for china to push for any military domestic nation. it's a different kind of policy. >> you had very interesting reporting on exactly the type of potential plan to counteract china that the pentagon has put in place. nick, you know the chinese authorities very well. do you think there's a harsher reaction still to come from china? they've been pretty subdued? >> i think we miscalculated by having president obama step forward and saying we will use military force if necessary to back up japan over the sen kak cue island dispute. >> you think that was a step too far? >> we've gone from assistant secretaries of defense making that point to cabinet members and now this is the first time that a president of the united states has said that the united states/japan security treaty applies to these uninhabited islands and we don't take a position on who has sovereignty but willing to risk a nuclear war with china over these islands. >> where do you think that comes from? he did have to pars this careful stance, we're not taking a side but if china goes too far we'll engage in a military confrontation. >> there's been a mistaken view that we need to back japan up to show that we stand by our allies and that this will indeed intimidate china and make it a void, but we tried that and in fact the result has been that japan overreached and that triggered more violent reaction from china. i think this policy essentially failed. >> and it does seem to the extent this is personality driven to come at a time when president obama is getting flak for the trips not being substantive enough, saying there's nothing to this trip and what has come out, implying for better or worse, you've described this confrontation with the defining geopolitical context of the history. can you describe that? xbr the sorts of things you've seen outlined while the president has been in asia. you've seen this deal with the philippines. you saw the discussions with japan about military cooperation. you're seeing the pentagon slowly putting in a network of much of -- not quite alliances or bases but facilities that is available to use across the western pacific and allow it to expand its presence. the u.s. has done a