[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today," high stakes battle. senate republicans vow to put up a fight over president obama's tax plan. great ball of fire, new video surfaces of the gas explosion that leveled a california neighborhood. and eye of the storm. nasa provides an incredible bird's-eye view of hurricane igor. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers particularly the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry.

today we begin with the battle over taxes. senate republicans vowed to block president obama's plan to cut middle class taxes yesterday unless bush era reductions for the wealthy are also preserved. this economic debate has been heating up for months now. and on this final primary day before november's midterm elections, it could reach a boiling point. nbc's tracie potts joins us live now from capitol hill. good morning. >> reporter: it is clear the battle lines are drawn despite what we saw yesterday may have been a hint of compromise between republicans and the democratic party. republican john boehner hinting he might support president obama's plan to extend tax cuts only forethose who make up to $250,000. not for people who make more than that. but the republican party, other member, came back and made it very clear that they want these bush tax cuts extended for everyone, including the so-called wealthy, because they say those are the job creators in our society. jobs that right now are so

desperately needed. interestingly, it's not a completely partisan fight, because at least three democrats agree that these cuts should be extended for everyone until the economy is on better footing. so we're looking at two deadlines coming up. first of all, the cuts expiring by the end of the year and, also, the effect of this election coming up in just a few weeks in november. lynn? >> absolutely. tracie potts in washington. thank you. and across the country, american voters will be back at the polls today in a last major lineup of primaries before november's midterm elections. there are eight races with the most of the focus on the gop and the battle between party regulators and newcomers from the tea party. among the hot matchups, delaware senate race. mainstream republicans there looking to avoid another tea party win, and they're making a big push for nine term representative mike castle. until recently, he was favored over christine o'donnell, but now she's got the backing of former vice presidential

candidate sarah palin as well as the tea party. delaware party regulars hope to avoid a replay of the stunning alaska victory contest. another race to watch, that's new hampshire's senate primary. ovide lamontagne is in a battle with kelly ayotte. ayotte once had the clear advantage. but now she appears to be facing some stiff competition from lamontagne. although ayotte has the blessing of palin. and for the democrats, new york representative charles rangel certainly has his work cut out for him. he is not only been plagued by a cloud of house ethic charges, today he faces five challengers, although, he does have the advantage of a large campaign purse. in other news -- with investigators still trying to figure out why a gas pipeline exploded in san bruno, california, last week, industry watchdogs are raising

the alarm that there are literally thousands of pipelines, just like the one that exploded nationwide. aging piping is the problem. the one that exploded in san bruno, killing four and leaving four others missing was more than 50 years old. critics say utilities aren't willing to spend the money necessarily to avoid disasters like the one in san bruno. the cost to replace lengthy stretches of pipe can exceed $30 million. meanwhile, the owner of the pipeline, pacific gas and electric, has set aside up to $100 million to help victims recover. residents should be getting $50,000 checks with the week. and now here is a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. a texas bar manager posted surveillance video on facebook of him braking up a robbery to help police catch the burglary suspects. the bar manager, who was in his office, fired a single shot,

sending the would-be robbers fleeing, dropping everything on the way, including the keys to their van with the loot. in ohio, two people are recovering from injuries suffered when a truck struck a power pole near a bus stop causing a brilliant flash of light and sparks to fly. witnesses reacted, quickly rescuing the victims, whose conditions are still unknown. the driver of the truck was taken into custody. in wisconsin, authorities are investigating what caused a freight train carrying various acids to derail sending cars down an embankment with some cars heading into a pet food processing plant and others hitting a bridge overpass. fortunately, there were no injuries. damage to the plant was minimal and there were no leaks. and in texas, 300 galveston residents celebrated the city's recovery from hurricane ike with a synchronized dance.

the flash mob, which even included the mayor, gathered in the historic strand district to shake a leg. and though they've still got a long way to go, organizers say it is important to celebrate the successes along the way. looks like a fun way of doing it! now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is bill with a look at your forecast. bill, good morning. >> good morning to you, lynn. two hurricanes now to talk about. we are deal wig our eye named store igor out in the atlantic. newly formed hurricane julia. neither storm will hit the u.s. or really any island areas in the next five days. we're looking just fine. two impressive storms out there to track. now, igor, we've got a fascinating view from the international space station. flies a little lower altitude than, say, the satellites that track our storms normally. it's a little different perspective. you can clearly see the storm, kind of an upside down view from the international space station. the west coast, things are calm. not a lot of bad weather actually around the united states, except for a thunderstorm dplaex went through

kansas city last night during the football game. watching showers passing through areas of the northern rockies for the most part, idaho and montana. not a lot of wet weather with that. the next storm system is off the coffee. a day or so before it moves onshore. meantime, warm conditions. yesterday 106 in phoenix. today's going to be 104. 99 in vegas. mild in most of california with the exception of the coast today. should be in the 80s. that's a look at san diego today, 70 degrees and sunny. we'll bring you your wednesday forecast coming up, lynn. >> bill, thank you. stocks rise again. soothing worlds from the oracle of omaha, and bling for a good cause. your early morning business

headlines are straight ahead -- plus -- oprah opens up her final season with a bang. a walk-off winner, rafael nadal joins an exclusive club and a football doubleheader that had just about everything. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- secretary of state hillary clinton is in egypt this morning to lead a second round of middle east peace talks with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian president mahmoud abbas. a hint of flexibility, although israel would not renew a partial building freeze in the west bank, it would not step up construction, either. the u.s. government says it will not pay the prison bail for american hiker sarah shourd, who iran says it will release on

health grounds in exchange for $500,000. earlier yesterday, shourd's family asked to have the bail reduced saying they couldn't afford it. the cuban government says it's planning to lay off at least 500,000 state workers in the next six months to help the communist kint's struggling economy. cuba plans to allow more jobs. the biggest private sector shift since the 1959 revolution. health officials are calling it a new global threat, a so-called super bug, thought to be resistant to nearly every known antibiotic. three people who recently traveled to india, patients in massachusetts, indiana and illinois have been affected. rescue workers in thailand are assessing the damage after overnight flash floods caused a major road to collapse. several bystanders were seen run

running to safety seconds before the road buckle and just washed away. now here is an early look at how wall street will open the day. the dow opens at 10,544 after adding 81 points yesterday. the s&p gained 12 points and the nasdaq climbed 43. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 22 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng rose 37. a little reassurance about the global economy shot stocks up to their highest level in five weeks monday. markets rallied thanks in part to a deal by global regulators to boost bank reserves over the next several years to help prevent another worldwide financial crisis. fresh figures showing china's economy is still booming also added to investors' optimism. pc maker hewlett-packard is adding to its ever-expanding arsenal of services buying cyber security firm arcsight. arcsight shares soared 25%.

elsewhere in corporate deal making, dollar thrifty accepted a bigger buyout offer from rival hertz. shares of both companies shot up, as did rival avis, which stands to profit from one less competitor in the car rental market. more optimism on the economy yesterday came from warren buffett, speaking at an economic summit in montana yesterday. the so-called oracle of omaha predicted "we are not going to have a double dip recession." prices at the pump are up sharply in the midwest thanks to a pipeline leak in the chicago area. the average price of unleaded gas there shot up 10 cents a gallon since last week. and finally, anne hathaway's ex-boyfriend turned out to be a fraud, but the jewelry he gave her was the real deal, and now it's for sale. beginning today, you can bid online for any of a dozen pricey gifts she received from the real estate scammer with proceeds going to his victims. nadal slams the open, the

rays walk-off against the yankees. and a charger rally comes up short. plus, the loud talking jets take some hard knocks from the ravens. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. summer-like conditions continue for the southern half of the country. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, the nfl opened monday night football with a double dose last night with the first game providing a dazzling display of defense. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines. good morning. it was a monday night football header that started with a defensive struggle and ended with a monday night shoot-out. first play for baltimore, joe flacco simply crushed, sandwiched and fumbled the ball. jets recovered and would get a field goal out of it. the ravens got things going in the second. willis mcgahee punched it in from a yard out. 7-6, baltimore at the half. to the fourth, jets down one. did i mention this was a physical game? justin keller, meet ray lewis. two hits down the middle.

two plays later, keller made the grab, but didn't get the first down. made he heard footsteps after that hit by lewis. the ravens held on to win the opener, 10-9. that was the defense. second quarter, dexter took the punt, made one cut, hit the hole and was off to the races. 94 yards for the score. chiefs literally running away with it, up 21-7 at the half. chargers made it interesting in the third. phillip weber found an opening for the score. san diego down, 21-14. last chance for the chargers. under a minute to play. fourth and goal, rivers' pass fell incomplete. chiefs surprised everyone with a 21-14 win. baseball has a new team atop the a.l. east. thanks to the rays's homer. rays leapfrog the yanks for first place with a 1-0 win. u.s. open men's final, we know rafael nadal is good, but how good? first, he made novak djokovic do this. he took it out on his own feet. moments lake, djokovic decides it's not his feet, its the racket. he was frustrated, but battles to win the second set, nadal's only loss to the tournament.

however, rafael took over from there. djokovic's return is wide. rafael becomes the seventh man to win at least one title from each grand slam tournament. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> great match. coming up, woody allen shoots down rumors about the first lady of france. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, a hero on the field, he almost also died on it. now he's making comeback plans. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this tuesday morning. forecast looks nice. warm in many areas of the west. the deserts, by the way, hot. near record highness spots. 104 in phoenix. 99 in vegas. l.a. whos good. san diego looks like. by the time tomorrow comes around the next storm system comes in late in the day. seattle, 69, chance of showers tomorrow. if you're watching us on ksby 6, san obispo, california, taste baked goods and locally grown fruits at city park. that's yofk pacific event of the day, lynn. >> thanks. here is a look at this

morning's headlines in entertainment. a spokeswoman for john mayer says he pulled the plug but say because his tour is finished and he's headed back to the studio. next week, more than a year after his infamously uncomfortable appearance on the late show with david letterman, joaquin phoenix make as return visit. it took carla bruno sarkozy one scene for his new romantic comedy "midnight in paris." woody allen shoots down reports that she was a diva and that he hired another person to did on redo the scenes. oprah winfrey starts her final season on monday. she announced she would be taking her 300 audience members on a seven-day trip to australia in december. can you imagine what she's going to do for her last show?

this comes to us from kgw news channel 8 in portland, oregon, where one high school football player is celebrating his return to the gridiron. hayward loves football with all of his heart, but it was his heart that almost took it all away. after scoring a touchdown in a recent game, he had a heart attack that almost killed him. fortunately, a cardiac nurse was in the stands and brought him back to life right there on the field. he's set to have surgery soon, but doctors say he'll be back to playing football next year. can you believe that, bill? so dwroung have a heart attack in general -- >> it looks like there's a big crowd there. she's doing cpr on the field, people are just -- and then she saved hill. >> we wish him the best of luck. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," today on your nbc station.

one man in india took going green to a whole new level. what looks like any other bicycle from a distance is actually a bamboo bike. the frame is fully made from the plant, held together with hemp fiber and resin, but the green bike comes at a price. not in commercial production yet. it's three times more expensive than a conventional bike. even our furry friends need to learn portion control. as one pet orangutan in england proves, after years of bingeing eating on fast food, oshine really let herself go. enough was enough when she grew

to double her size. now trainers are working to slim her down. the classic solution, a diet based on fruits and veggies. along with regular exercise. in singapore, you can live in luxury even when you're not living. modeled after a six-star hotel, this burial site has all the bells and whistles. a final resting place that's high style and high tech with a $1.5 million light and sound system for ceremonies. but getting buried in style doesn't come cheap. a single spot runs $2,200. and, you know, if i'm not living in luxury when i'm alive, i'm sure as heck not doing it when i'm dead. >> the only thing that was missing was like the casino noise. you know? from the slot machines. >> ding, ding, ding, yeah, exactly. that the extra. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. >> with campaigns for november, midterm elections heading into the home stretch. americans are once again making their pick for who they want to run in key races. it is primary day in delaware,

maryland, massachusetts, new hampshire, rhode island, wisconsin and also washington, d.c. in new york, this 65th session of the united nations general assembly opens. already on the assembly's agenda for this month are crucial global issues, such as biodiversity and ending poverty. and congratulations to singer/songwriter amy winehouse. today she has reason to celebrate as it is her 27th birthday. 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, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. meet a reporter who was greeted by cat calls in the new york jets' locker room. and in a "today" exclusive, meet that teen who suffered a heart attack on the football field and the nurse who helped save him. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of

the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com