this morning on "early today," till appeal do us part. opponents try to block a judge's decision on same-sex marriage in california. ruckus on the radar. summer storms barrel through communities in several states. and what's cooking? what one chef in iowa did to get and what's cooking? what one chef in iowa did to get him slammed with a health fine. captions paid for by nbc-universal television well, hello to you and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with to have and to hold. a federal judge has extended a temporary hold on same-sex marriages in california until next week. supporters of the state's controversial ban known as proposition 8 wasted no time filing a federal appeal to block the ban's removal before next

wednesday's deadline. still, residents fighting for equal rights call it a reason to celebrate. nbc's noelle walker has more. >> reporter: another victory for prop 8 opponents. they are celebrating baby steps. the judge lifted the stay that's keeping same-sex couples from saying "i do," but they don't have the right to marry just yet. >> we're hopeful that we will be able to get married and we'll be able to announce wedding plans as soon as possible. >> reporter: last week judge vaughn walker ruled the voter-passed proposition 8 unconstitutional, then granted prop 8 supporters a temporary stay of his decision. that silenced any wedding bells. thursday judge walker lifted that stay but said prop 8 supporters have a week to appeal. there is measured enthusiasm in san francisco's castro district. >> i want to marry my boyfriend as soon as they make it legal. >> reporter: the hot cookie is a castro staple, a mix of saucy and sweets. if same-sex couples can marry again, it could be the icing on their proverbial cake.

>> we've done lots of anniversaries, bachelorettes, birthdays. i don't think we've done a wedding cookie. >> reporter: the soonest any same-sex wedding bells will ring is next wednesday, august 18th, at 5:00, after the court of appeals decides whether the stay should still be lifted. if the line for marriage licenses at san francisco city hall is any indication, there are lots of couples eager to say "i do." noelle walker, nbc news, san francisco. this morning there's relief in flint, michigan, just one of several communities believed to have been terrorized by a suspected serial killer now in custody. elias abuelazam has been charged with just one of the 18 attacks in michigan, virginia, and ohio, but more charges are expected in the stabbing spree that killed five people over a three-month period. the israeli citizen was arrested at atlanta's airport wednesday while trying to board a flight for israel. as far as a motive, michigan police declined to speculate. but investigators in virginia believe it had to do with race. all but three of the victims were black males.

residents in iowa and maryland are cleaning up after a wave of violent weather. in iowa, several nights of heavy rain and thunderstorms caused widespread flooding across the state. officials say the rising waters forced hundreds of people out of their homes and left a 16-year-old girl dead. and in the washington, d.c., area, unusually severe thunderstorms knocked down trees and knocked out power to thousands of customers. at one point, a 100-foot tree fell into an apartment building, slicing the top of the structure in half. four residents were hurt, but fortunately none of the injuries were life-threatening. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in iowa, this chef is in hot water after video of him licking a toad surfaced on the internet. the health department caught wind of the footage and fined the restaurant over $300 for unsanitary conditions. the chef says the incident was only meant as a prank but now admits he did go a little bit too far. in california police are

looking for a suspect captured on video ransacking a family home. fortunately no one was home at the time. unfortunately for the suspect, the home was wired with at least nine hidden cameras. police are hoping the video will help them find the man. in illinois it's that time of the year when hundreds of people flock to the state fair to get a look at this. the giant butter cow. over 1,000 pounds of butter was used to sculpt this cow displayed in a refrigerated glass case. the butter sculpture is a mainstay at the annual fair, but the artist always keeps the crowd guessing as to what scenery will surround the cow. and powerful forces are colliding in orlando at the world's largest "star wars" convention. storm troopers, jeddi, even r2d2 were there along with thousands of fans to celebrate the 30th anniversary of "the empire strikes back." the event, which runs through sunday, will feature "star wars" creator george lucas. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc's meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning to you, bill. i saw you watching that video, r

2 d 2. i know you go every year. >> i don't go every year. i've never been. but i do love the movies. i'm a sucker, when they put them on on the weekends, they do a trilogy, all three, i find myself five hours later still needing to do the laundry. yesterday we saw hot conditions in the middle of the country. things are going to change this weekend of the heat that's been in the middle of the nation is going to begin to expand to the west. we saw that yesterday in phoenix where it was 110. we're going to see pretty extreme heat even by phoenix standards by the upcoming weekend. it was 103 in vegas. we started getting warmer. sacramento 89, downtown l.a. 78. the heat is going to expand to all locations except the immediate california coast, especially next week. maybe monday, tuesday, wednesday before they begin to cool it off on thursday and friday. here is how we're looking. little storm systems kicking up through montana. warm in the pacific northwest.

definitely hot through southern nevada through the deserts of arizona. much of california is going to be warm, too. the exception, as i said, we've got the morning clouds lingering on the coast with that marine layer. in los angeles, call it 80, 68 in san francisco. look at the pacific northwest. it's going to be one of the warmest stretches we've seen so far this summer. 97 in medford, 92 in portland. all areas in washington state and oregon state should have an abundant amount of sunshine today. grab the sunglasses and enjoy. it will be hot from vegas to phoenix p city. that's where the temperature is very cool. otherwise, nice forecast, astoria, oregon, 85 degrees. enjoy. we're going to talk about the

warm-up. temperatures will get very warm in seattle. may even have to turn the air conditioner on. shocking news. >> 103 for las vegas. can you do something about that? i'm heading in that direction. >> i'd like to recommend a trip during the winter. >> thanks, bill. cisco sinks stocks, and a judge comes down hard on a woman for stealing. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, lindsay lohan may finally be getting some good news in rehab. tiger is in the hunt, mets' spend clos a and a philly fan puts a hex on the dodgers. you're watching "early today." e

well, good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. engineers will know by today if earlier efforts to create a temporary plug on bp's busted well may have had the unintended effect of actually creating a permanent seal. officials are running tests to determine if they need to go

ahead with drilling relief wells known as the bottom kill. that would involve shooting mud and cement into the well from the bottom. wikileaks says it's getting ready to release the rest of the secret afghan war documents it has on file. just recently it published some 76,000 war documents, a move that infuriated obama officials. the pentagon warned that another release would be more damaging to security and risk additional lives. after a dozen days, still no verdict in the corruption case of former illinois governor rod blagojevich. jurors told the judge they've only been able to agree on two of 24 counts. the judge told them to keep trying. blagojevich is facing 24 counts, including attempting to profit from his ability to appoint a successor to president obama's vacated senate seat. a crate of scotch whiskey trapped in ice below the arctic for half a century has been opened. the bottles inside, said to be in remarkable condition, will

probably never be tested. master blenders will take samples and try to replicate the brew. here's an early look, poultry is the leading cause of food outbreaks accounting for 17% of the illness, second and third place beef and leafy vegetables. for more information on this and other headlines, check out our page at msnbc.com. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,319 after losing 58 points yesterday. the s&p dipped 5, and the nasdaq fell 18. taking a look at oversees trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei gained 40 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng lost 34. proceed with caution. that seems to be the go-to phrase on the street this week as corporate and economic data warn investors of a rough road ahead. cisco continues its downward slide, dropping nearly 10% and weighing down tech stocks across the board in the wake of its dismal forecast.

new claims for jobless benefits came close to a six-month high last week, further dampening investor sentiment about the stalled economy. today's data is all about consumers. retails sales numbers should tick slightly higher, followed by consumer inflation data and a fresh read on consumer sentiment later this morning. oracle has filed suit against google for copyright infringement of its newly acquired java software. oracle claims google, quote, knowingly, directly, and repeatedly violated intellectual property rights in developing its android smartphone software. india has set a deadline of august 31st for blackberry maker research in motion to hand over access to corporate e-mail accounts as part of a security crackdown. research in motion says it will not compromise its services with, quote, special deals for any country. as expected, general motors posted its biggest quarterly profit in six years on the same day ceo ed whittaker announced his retirement. and here are some stocks to keep an eye on today. chipmaker nvidia weighed in with upbeat earnings after the bell, sending its shares up 6%, but

late reports from retailers weren't so rosy. nordstrom shares fell 4% after reporting its quarterly results. in the meantime, bargain chain kohl's slid nearly 3% after lowering its sales outlook for the rest of the year. finally, an unusual sentence for a woman in pennsylvania convicted of embezzling nearly half a million dollars from her former employer. instead of serving time in the big house, the 40-year-old woman has been sentenced to 21 years of house arrest while she works to pay back the stolen cash. johan santana boosts the mets back to .500, and a little procrastinating from the blue jays. plus, don't mess around with this kid. a young fan comes through for the phillies. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. well, many areas of the country are going to enjoy much cooler temperatures this weekend and just in time. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

well, good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, last night the phillies rallied from a seven-run deficit late in the game to stun the l.a. dodgers. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. hi, there. good morning. when the phillies look back on their dramatic win against the dodgers, they're going to want to thank one little fan. let's go to phillies. this young fan putting the hex

on the dodgers in the ninth. of course, it wouldn't work, right? well, think again. down 9-6, ben francisco's routine grounder goes right between casey blake's legs. two-run score. phillies down one. the mini magician casting another spell on closer jonathan broxton. winning run at first, and you guessed it. carlos ruiz ripping a shot off the wall. that scores another two. game over. the little guy is stunned, and so are the dodgers. phillies score eight in the final two innings and win, 10-9. giants and cubs. pat burrell with a grand slam off the foul pole for the second homer of the game. giants up, 7-3. chicago comes back to tie it, but in the ninth, andres torres says enough is enough. a walk-off single. burrell hits a pair, but torres is the hero. giants win, 8-7. the mets, johan santana pitching a gem against the rockies. ryan spilborghs, take a seat. santana, ten strikeouts, and pitching a complete game. good thing too. mets' suspended closer francisco

rodriguez, two games after he was charged with assaulting his father-in-law on wednesday. no closer, no problem. mets win, 4-0. to toronto, red sox up three in the ninth. jose batista with his league-leading 39th homer in the year. blue jays down, 5-3. they would tie it with an rbi double, which sets up the most exciting play in baseball. okay, maybe not. a sack fly, completing a three-run comeback. the sox collapse in the ninth. jays win it, 6-5. pga championship, tiger's starting to look like tiger again. birdies on three of his first four holes, struggling a bit on the back nine, but finishes a respectable 1 under. bubba watson and francisco molinari are your leaders after yesterday's opening round. and that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. actress julia roberts takes on a group of manly men at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, we'll tell you about a college student who's figuring out her career path one week at a time. you're watching "early today."

portland 92, excessive heat watch has been issued. 83 in the seattle area. very warm through the deserts. if you're on the coast, clouds

will keep you cool there in san diego. 90, medford to portland could be 95 to 100. in las vegas, we're going to warm you up significantly. sunday into monday, we could see some areas near 90 degrees. closer to the water, 80, in phoenix, 113. some of the hottest weather of the summer is heading to the west coast. if you're watching in kcr 3 in sacramento, california, bring your best baked good and celebrate all things banana, tropical music, art and dance at the banana festival. that's your pacific event of the day veronica. >> my goodness. banana, i'll be there with my best carmen miranda impression. come backs with two hollywood powerhouses.

sylvester stallone leads an all-star team of the mercenaries in the old-school action flick, "the expendables." the film directed by stallone also stars jason statham, mickey rourke, and dolph lundgren. it's supposed to be a hit with male movie-goers and is expected to fetch upwards of $30 million. "eat, pray, love" stars julia roberts as a career girl who travels the world in search of herself after a break-up. this ultimate chick flick is getting mixed reviews, but is still expected to bring in somewhere in the 20 millions. and then targeting the teen audience this weekend is "scott pilgrim versus the world." it stars michael cera who falls for a girl and has to defeat her seven evil exes in order to be with her. it should take somewhere in the teen millions. >> finally, radaronline is reporting lindsay lohan is likely to be released early from her 90-day court-ordered rehab. that's according to the prosecutor in the case. but there's no word how much earlier it's going to be. all right, bill. i've been teasing you all morning long about jumping out of the birthday cake. it's too late. it's right here. >> you did get a cake for your birthday. happy birthday. >> this is for you.

i saved you a piece. >> you didn't do anything to it. >> no. why would i do that? it's a little melted. >> exactly. it's ice cream cake even. >> yeah, it is. >> that's perfect this time of day. >> after the show. >> this comes from kxas in dallas-ft. worth, where one person's career path is taking a turn. this college junior is trying out a different job every week for the whole summer. so far she's worked for a bike shop, a coffee maker, and an online company and as a dental assistant and then a nature guide. now she's in retail and is hoping the adventure will help her choose her dream job. i'm veronica de la cruz, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

belgium's capital is rolling out the carpets of flowers. volunteers have created a carpet made of about 700,000 begonias. take a look at this. the colorful display covered 20,000 square feet in front of the city's central square. belgium is the number one exporter of the flowers. the biannual event has helped to promote the flower, which organizers say in some countries is perceived as old-fashioned. there are several men in london who definitely had no trouble keeping time on thursday. the men repelled over the side of this iconic big ben to check the landmark for damage. their task was to evaluate repairs on the fragile glass panels on the front of the clock. the process had to be repeated four times, one for each face of this giant timepiece. well,in this down economy, it might be tough to wrap your

head around a $100,000 bill, but that's what's on display at the world's fair of money in boston. the rare sheets of 100,000 gold certificates were released in 1934 and were used for official transactions between federal reserve banks. the bills are america's largest denomination currency and have an estimated value of $1.6 million. just one, bill karins. >> just one. that's all you need. that's all i need. what's the largest bill you've ever seen in person? >> goodness, gracious. a hundred. >> yeah, same with me. i've never seen anything larger. we ought to start hanging out with different people. >> seriously. $100,000. that's next. it's time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. president obama signed a $600 million dollar bill to beef up security along the u.s./mexican border. later he'll host a dinner marking the daily breaking of the ramadan fast. and facing reporters today, democratic representative maxine

waters, she's holding a news conference to discuss house ethics violations. finally, it is international left-handers day. today we give a hand to those who deal with the daily frustrations living in a world built for right-handed people. and all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." and here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. matt lauer sits down with dina lohan for her first exclusive live interview since her daughter lindsey was sentenced to jail. and 22-year-old pop star ke$ha rocks the plaza this morning with her summer concert debut. and this sunday on "meet the press," an exclusive interview with general david petraeus. and now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and much more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. the day, today on your nbc station. have a terrific weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com