channeling his inner coach. tim walz accepted the vice president nomination with a pep talk, packed with viral moments.

we're live in chicago with his message to democrats, as they set the stage for vice president kamala harris to close out the dnc tonight. former president trump goes on offense at his first outdoor rally since the assassination attempt. plus rfk jr. reportedly ready to throw another curveball into the race for the white house. taylor swift ready to speak now. the pop super star breaks her silence for the first time about canceling her shows in vienna after a foiled terror plot. and breaking overnight, slamming the brakes on rail freight in canada. why the labor dispute to the north could send shock waves through the u.s. economy. and moooove over netflix. here comes chik-flicks. it's thursday, august 22nd. "early today" starts right now. good to be with you this morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin with another emotional

night of celebration in chicago. minnesota governor tim walz formally accepting his nomination for vice president. tens of thousands of people cheering him on, but nobody was cheering harder than his son gus. governor walz tapped into his role of coach to energize voters. >> it's the future quarter! we're down a field goal. but we're on offense, and we've got the ball. our job for everyone watching is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling. >> democrats showed off their star power with a speech from mindy kaling and performances from stevie wonder and john legend and a speech from the one and only oprah. >> let's choose truth. let us choose honor. and let us choose joy! >> nbc's alice bar is there in

chicago. this was an important chance for governor walz to let the country know who he is. >> reporter: good morning, frances. this was the biggest stage in his political career, and this was a night forgetting to know governor tim walz, with a focus on his small town roots. before he ever took the stage we saw about a dozen former football players, all part of a team that governor walz helped coach to a state championship. walz highlighted his experiences as a coach, a teacher, a veteran and a gun owner. he talked about his ability to work across the aisle without compromising his values. the official theme of the night was a fight for our freedoms. >> when republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor's office. corporations free to pollute your air and water. and banks free to take advantage of customers.

but, when we democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love. freedom to make your own health care decisions. and, yeah, your kids' freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall. >> reporter: we also heard from another former president last night, bill clinton, making his 12th consecutive dnc speaking appearance, celebrating harris as a president of joy. and he had this to say about his own age. >> two days ago, i turned 78. the oldest man in my family of four generations. and the only personal vanity i want to assert is i'm still younger than donald trump.

>> reporter: tonight, the spotlight will be squarely on vice president kamala harris as she formally accepts her party's historic nomination for president. frances? >> alice, thank you. former president trump spent the day in battleground north carolina where he held his first outdoor campaign event since surviving the assassination attempt. speaking from behind bulletproof glass. the theme of the event was national security. but the former president also laid the ground work to potentially question the election results. >> and our primary focus is not to get out to vote. it's to make sure they don't cheat. because we have all the votes you need. you can see it. every house along the way has signs, trump, trump, trump, trump fans. every american was safer under president trump. in fact, the entire world was safer when i sat behind that beautiful resolute desk in the oval office. >> mr. trump could soon get a boost from robert f. kennedy jr.

the independent candidate is planning to drop out and endorse donald trump. he had hold an event friday to address his path forward. more than 2,000 pro-palestinian protesters marched wednesday. the chicago area has one of the largest palestinian communities in the country, and organizers brought people in on buses from suburban mosques. the president spoke with benjamin netanyahu on the phone. according to a readout of the call, mr. biden stressed the urgency of bringing the hostage deal and cease-fire deal to a closure. more than 100 israeli hostages remain in gaza. lester holt sat down with the father of one of them. here's lester's report. >> reporter: every day you affix a piece of tape to your shirt with a number. today it's 320. 320 days. what is it like to put that number on each day and watch it continue to go upward?

>> it was day 26 that my wife rachael said, i'm tired of people asking me what day it is. i'm just going to wear it. and there is something incredibly emotional about not just putting on a pin, but every day, deliberately pulling offer the tape, writing that number out, feeling the emotion of it being one more day. >> reporter: john says his attendance at the democratic national convention should only be read one way. it's a fine dance, though, trying to avoid being political or perceived as political, as you appeal to leaders? >> all hostage families, all of us, have the one job of doing everything we can to bring home our shoved ones. our sons, our daughters, our mothers, our fathers, grand parents. that's what we focus on. and our job is not to be politicians. it's to bring home our loved ones. and unfortunately, on day 320, i feel like we have all failed.

>> reporter: at the same time, is it hard to be non-political when you see how the various parties approach the hostage issue? >> one of the things that's been really encouraging for us is the extent to which we've so far been able to mostly keep it out of political divisions. but it is hard. ae everything is politicized there in the middle east. but, at the end of the day, we're all humans. we're sensitive to suffering on all sides. we're fighting for our loved one and 108 other hostages. but we want all the suffering to come to end. >> and our thanks to lester holt for that. taylor swift finally breaking her silence after the foiled terror plot that canceled three shows in austria this month. she opened up on instagram, calling the cancellations devastating and saying, quote, the reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear and tremendous amount of

guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. i was also so grateful to the authorities, because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. swift also noted she remained silent until now out of safety concerns. the post comes as swift closed out the european leg of her show with five shows in london. recovery crews in sicily have now found the bodies of five of the missing after the luxury yacht sank in a storm. they include mike lynch and his teenaged daughter and jonathan bloomer and his wife judy. it sank in what experts call a once in a lifetime storm, so severe and unexpected that it offered little warning. breaking news out of canada where a labor dispute brought rail freight to a stand still overnight. the country's two largest rail companies failed to strike a new contract with thousands of workers. the shutdown could cause serious supply chain disruptions in the

u.s. and wreak havoc on canada's economy. the detroit judge who had a teenager handcuffed for falling asleep in court has been sued by the family. judge kenneth king singled out the student on august 13 when she was on a field trip. after the incident, king was removed from courtroom duties until he completes training, which hasn't started yet. the suit seeks more than $75,000 for emotional distress. "the associated press" said a request for comment from king's lawyer was not returned. the triple digit heat still isn't letting up in the south. angie lassman is tracking that, plus a chance for weekend rain. >> we've got the heat alerts to prove that it is just feeling like summer across the south. texas, specifically, from abilene to austin, you guys are dealing with heat warnings. these going to last likely for the next couple days. we really don't have a whole lot in the way of relief coming your

way. 99 degrees in dallas. not quite a record, but san angelo will likely break a record as well as del rio. new mexico, you're going to see potential record-breaking highs. we are concerned about the heat risk here into the next couple days well into the weekend. you can see the areas where that purple shading is. that's that extreme risk. we'll talk a long-term duration event. we'll be watching for this into the weekend. upper 80s to low 90s in st. louis. the heat is going to expand into parts of the northern plains. we'll see thatst hain lasting t the weekend. and the great lakes, we've seen refreshing temperatures, anapoli.

mostly sunny skies for green bay, and 77 for the high in india minneapolis today. back to you, frances. >> thank you. police are searching for a woman caught on camera, teasing a tiger at a new jersey zoo. officers say the unidentified woman jumped over a barrier at the tiger enclosure and tried to pet the animal. you can see the tiger nearly bit her. she finally turned around and walked off. "early today" is back in a minute with why ford is pumping the brakes on plans for an all-electric future. get ready to pit peacock versushien cck. chick-fil-a picks up a plan to enter the streaming wars. it's m. with the scrubbing power of magic eraser and the cleaning power of dawn. watch it make soap scum here... disappear... and watch how sprays can leave grime like that with up to 10 times the cleaning power, foamy melts it on contact. magic.

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plan to create its own original shows. cnbc's sylvia ama row joins us. >> chick-fil-a in talks with several companies looking to produce a family-friendly show. we know chick-fil-a is not the only company outside the entertainment world trying to produce its own content list as well as airbnb. now big news as well overnight from ford. the car maker has announced that it's scrapping all its plans to produce electric suvs. the company says the reason why it's doing so is that drivers have shown a preference for hybrid cars. they're also saying that mainstream consumers are reluctant, basically, to pay for expensive evs as well. and on top of that, we know that

there's a lot of competition in this space, and that ford in particular has also struggled to be profitable in this space. now analysts are saying that this decision actually makes sense from a business perspective. however, there is criticism about how perhaps the company was a bit slow to announce such moves. >> okay, sylvia amoh row, thank you. 661 baby food products failed to meet the world health organization's guidelines. 70% didn't meet guidelines on protein. 44% exceeded sugar guidelines. a first of its kind study has found that the symptoms of long covid can be different in kids compared to adults. researchers found kids ages 6 to 11 struggled with symptoms like headaches, memory or focus

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and, as luck would have it, duck boat operators were train nearby and sprang into action to lend a hand. from nbc boston, eli rosenberg has the story. >> reporter: a charles river rescue. a father holding onto his young son after the boy fell into the river. >> i heard somebody screaming. and so i looked over across the river. and there was a guy jumping into the water. >> reporter: and now shocking new video showing the moments leading up to this rescue. the young boy apparently slipping through the railing, according to state police. the father going in after him. dominick demossi taking these photos. >> i thought it was a dog that might have fallen into the water, but then to see this guy pick up a baby out of the water, you know, it was pretty astonished. >> reporter: the father and son hanging on, but it turns out help was nearby. the crew on this duck boat was in the area, actually practicing

man overboard scenarios and raced over to help the dad in distress. working together, they were able to pull the two onto the boat. >> we instantly jumped into action like training taught us. went right over to the father, kevin proceeded to get the life ring, the hook, throw the life ring out to the dad and maneuver the boat close enough to the back end where the ladder is at, and kefre . >> reporter: they wrapped the father and son in a blanket to stay warm. happy to help and glad the training kicked in when it mattered most. >> the adrenaline is now ticking down when we realize we rescued somebody. and they're going to be alive for another day. >> they know a whole lot about boston history and now about saving lives, too. now to new york, where 800 pounds of butter has been transform flood art. the new york state fair butter sculpture has been revealed.

the theme is sustainability. it shows a family having a picnic by a river and a farmer planting a tree. it will be recycled to create enewable energy. we go behind the scenes with the baltimore ravens. and, here's al roker with a look at what else is ahead. >> this morning on the third hour of "today", sharing my great conversation with living legend tony shalube. and back to school science fun with kate the chemist. all that and more coming up this morning on the third hour of "today." thanks for starting your morning with "early today." i'm frances rivera. see yoearly friday mni.u

tim walz