[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today," tea time? mainstream republicans feel the primary pinch from tea party candidates. elder care outrage, disturbing video shows a 91-year-old woman being abused by her caregiver. and coach crunch, controversial new airline seats aimed at putting a squeeze on passengers. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with a tea party takeover. across the country, the votes

are in from a string of primary races, providing a glimpse of what's to come in the midterm elections. now just seven weeks away. in a surprise twist last night, the gop establishment was once again upended by the tea party. tracie potts joins us now from capitol hill with more. tra an interesting evening. >> reporter: in new hampshire still counting votes in the republican senate primary there. as of now we und that kelly ayot is about 1,000 points ahead but the vote countying continues there. as you said, this is the year of the tea party. they seem to be upsetting some party favorites. >> don't ever underestimate the power of we the people. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: the tea party favorite who republicans said couldn't be elected dog catcher won the party's senate nomination in delaware, and in new york, political newcomer

paladino overcame the 40-point lead to become the republican candidate for governor. >> if we've learned anything tonight, it's that new yorkers are as mad as hell. >> reporter: he'll take on democrat andrew cuomo. also in new york, 40-year-old charlie rangel beat the democrat and a dozen ethics charges for his bid to stay in washington. >> no matter what they say, i go back to washington stronger than ever. >> reporter: in all, five states chose senate nominees and six more named candidates for governor. democrats are hoping to hold on to their majority. >> i'm not yielding one grain of sand. >> reporter: in d.c.'s mayor's race, the local council chair led by nearly lly 9,000 votes. >> tonight the people of the district sent a message loud and clear they want to bring integrity and leadership back to the mayor's office. >> reporter: that may be the final word.

there's no republican running against him this fall. speaking of sending a plefk so far this primary season, voterser sending a message. eight members of congress have already lost their seat. lynn? >> tracie potts there for us in washington. thank you. an american hiker, sarah shourd is free this morning after spending more than a year in an iranian prison. but the story is not over. two other american hikers still being held on espionage charges. andrea mitchell filed this report from tehran late last night. >> reporter: it was a happy ending tonight for sarah shourd, the 32-year-old american hiker, released from an iranian prison and flown immediately to oman, who put up the $500,000 that iran was demanding for her bail >> on behalf of myself and my family, if anything, i'm standing here today because of the efforts of many people and

many governments. >> reporter: she was reunited there with her mother, nora, who with the other two mothers had been lobbying and begging for the release of their children, saying that they had simply wandered across the border, an unmarked border in iran from iraq and that they were certainly not spies. but the prosecutor has announced that not only are there charges of espionage against the two men, the two male hikers, shane bauer and 28-year-old josh fattal, that these two men will charged with espionage ands forred to face trial. very bad news indeed tonight. back to you. >> now a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. shocking video from new jersey where a caregiver is behind bar after she was seen on tape allegedly abusing her 91-year-old patient.

the caregiver faces multiple charges, all of which she denies. in louisiana, new videotape was released of a hit and run driver whose offense was caught on walmart security camera. now, the driver approaches a crosswalk and mows down a 60-year-old woman who bravely pushes her daughter out of the way. seconds later the driver clips another shopper before driving away. officials found the vehicle abandoned but are still looking for the suspect. the woman is still in the hospital with severe head injuries. a california woman got a scare when a 3-feet snake coiled around a pole in the wall. bit him while he slept. the snake has been removed. it was the lost pet of previous tenants. in florida, a diver hauled

in a monster ois catch. a 9 pound 2 foot long lobster. the diver says he wrestle the colossal crustacean for about 40 minutes. he estimates there are about five pounds of meat in the tail alone. here's meteorologist bill karins with the weather forecast. good morning. >> good morning, lynn. fascinating scene out in the atlantic ocean with two monster hurricanes. rare event. we haven't had this happen in 11 years. two major hurricanes out in the atlantic basin. this is igor ap this is julia. both categories 4s to. impressive. thankfully neither making impact on land soon. the tropics, a tropical storm moving into mexico. tropical storm karl. the atlantic basin heating up. haven't had any storms in the pick lately. a regular storm, big one, in the gulf of alaska that will swing into british columbia and areas

of the pacific northwest, cool and showery during the day. also watching more of though coastal clouds from san francisco to all the way down by point conception in los angeles, even san diego. a couple more clouds and the last couple of days. one area that won't cool off is phoenix. hot the last couple of days today's we'll call it about 104. that's a look at and 77. if you want sunshine, definitely california and arizona. we'll talk about thursday's forecasts coming up. >> bill, thank you. stocks stumble. japan propped up the yen. and you won't believe who's going green. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, lady gaga, the lobbyist. flexing the power of twitter. reggie bush makes the biggest return of his career and

the yanks and rays need extra innings, again. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." here's are your headlines for today -- france is one step closer to banning women from wearing a burka in public. after the senate overwhelmingly approved yesterday. it will go into effect next spring setting a range of fines for women including tourists who wear the full facial veil. one of 33 miners trapped half a mile underground in chile has reason to celebrate this morning. his wife gave birth dwroed a baby girl named esperanza. a spanish word meaning "hope." and chuck e. cheese rings

recalled over concerns young children might swallow the batteries inside the toys. the keeper safety commission says the plastic on the toys can break and expose the small button type batteries inside. and if you thought airplane seats couldn't get more uncomfortable, apamptly they can. this week, an italian can the company unveiled a seat with as much surface area as a bar stool. they're designed to allow more passengers to fit in coach. some call it "akin to riding horseback." looks extremely uncomfortable. and here's how wall street kicked off the day -- the dow opens at 10,526 after dropping 17 points yesterday. the s&p was down a fraction and the nasdaq edged up 4. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikka added 217 points while in hong kong, the hang seng gained 29. stocks gave up their gains

just before the closing bell yesterday as skittish investors worried about the health of the global economy. fresh reports of waning confidence among german investors coupled with stalled industrial production in some european countries weighed on investors' minds. that made so-called safe bets, like gold, a hot commodity. the precious metal traded at a record high above $1,276 an ounce. overseas, japanese officials stepped in to stabilize the country's volatile currency for the first time in six years to help keep its export-driven economy in check. so far, the move has pushed the yen sharply lower and stocks sharply higher. back on wall street yesterday, news that retail sales picked up at their fastest pace in five months. it buoyed stocks most of the day. macy's added 3% while jcpenney added 7%. meanwhile, best buy raised its

full year forecast and blew past earnings estimates thanks to strong mobile phone sales. good news for owners of cisco stock. the number one network gearmaker says it will start paying out a 1% to 2% dividend to shareholders by july of next year. millions of jp morgan chase customers weren't able to access their accounts online or on the go yesterday. however, the bank fixed what it called a technical issue and restored service early this morning. finally, one sure sign going green is here to stay. italian officials seized mafia linked assets worth $1.9 billion on tuesday, the biggest mob haul ever. according to authorities, the record windfall came from the crime group's newest scheme, laundering money through alternative energy companies. apparently not always good to go green. reggie returns a trophy. the angels get gophered and

cluckhouse humor hits the field. plus, defense takes center stage as the yankees and rays battle it out for first place. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. today's travel trouble spot is kansas city to minneapolis with heavy rain. 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 -- former university of southern california running back reggie bush has become the first person ever to forfeit the most prestigious trophy in all of college sports. here's nbc fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. after a week of rumors that the heisman trophy might strip reggie bush of his heisman trophy, reggie beat them to the punch. he gave back the trophy. before they could take it away. reggie bush calls the decision heartbreaking. the heisman trust has yesterday yet to decide if they'll give the trophy to vince young or leave the 2005 heisman vacant. down in the fifth. willy aybar changed that with a home run. staged that way until curtis granderson on his horse,

terrific grabbing dive in the ninth and kept it tied at seven. like monday, this one needed extra innings. jorge posada gave the yanks the lead. an 8-7 win. indian duncan hit not one but two home runs against the angels. indians won it 4-3. great play in the astros/brewers game. a shot up the middle. knock down with his foot and made the play at first. astros won it 3-2. another nice defensive play, ryan howard, a line drive to right. uglis threw out howard before he collided with sanchez. luckily, they were both okay. phils won it, 3-2. finely, funny moment in baltimore. stumbled and fell while running out of the dugout. that's embarrassing. the teammates had some fun with it, made an outline where he took the spill. someone's watching a little too much "law & order."

not often you get to look at your own chalk outline. orioles shot down the blue jays, 7-3. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. another pop star is leaded to jail for bad driving behavi r behavior. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. kids returning to school. you're watching "early today." welcomes back on this

wednesday morning. the pacific north whaeft been dry and today our storm system brushes along the coastal areas bringing wet weather to seattle and coastal washington especially and showers even in oregon's we'll be hot in the desert area. 70 in san francisco. about 77 in los angeles. that's where we'll keep the clouds in especially in the morning hours. on the california coast today and tomorrow. notice the storm system shouldn't bring too much rain on thursday to the pacific northwest. we're dry almost everywhere an beautiful around salt lake city at 85 and sunny. if you're watching us on kget, that's tv-17, bakersfield, california, if you're thinking about attending the next grace novel, tweaking writing skills, writer's group, lancaster regional library. that's your pick event of the day, lynn. i could use that. >> don't even mention that,

bill. >> no, i do. >> thank you. and driving under the influence of marijuana, crashed his range rover in july. the judge made it clear jail was inevitable following a similar conviction in 1996. slapped with a driving fine. penelope cruz's agent announced she is 4 1/2 months pregnant. and lady gaga, 6 million devoted fans on twitter tweeted yesterday for her fans to get in touch with senator harry reid.

why? to schedule a vote to repeal the military's don't ask, don't tell. reid responded via twitter that a vote had already been scheduled for next week. welcome to 2010, everyone. this comes to us from philadelphia. for one group of kids going back to school was made even more deciding by a pep talk from high up. president obama spoke to students at philadelphia's masterman school receiving a rock star's welcome with a stand are ovation and deafening screams the president shared comical and inspiring personal stories from his own high school years, encouraging his attentive audience to develop drive and determination and value a good education. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

supporting your village can be a heavy undertaking. in india, residents drag a huge bolder up a mountain three miles an the ceremony believed to make their village rock solid. the annual tradition is led by the village elder along with men who remain on a strict diet for a year. in france, fairytale weddings can be a dream come true, at least for couples with a cinderella carriage ride under the eiffel tower in england. it will cost you. the tour will set you back $1,500. cliff diving is not only

extreme, it's apparently an extreme sport. who knew. at the world championships in hawaii, a dozen daredevils took the sport to new heights by showing off some pretty impressive stunts off a 90-foot cliff. the moves take precision scores from judges and also for safety because these guys are hitting the water at speeds over 50 miles per hour. where do i even begin with what i have? >> kids going off the high dive the first time ever. only like 15 meters, something like that. >> a kid and three feet tall, it seems probably a lot worse. i don't know if you would go this far even now as an adult. would you? >> ah, i would. >> wow. >> i think i would. >> well. time for an early look at the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. a craigslist executive is due for a hearing on sex trafficking of minors. the hearing comes following this month's decision by craigslist

to shut down its adult ad section. actor denzel washington joins the boys & girls clubs of america to tackle high school dropouts. every 25 seconds, another teen drops out of high school. today marks the anniversary of the collapse of lehman brothers. two years ago, lehman filed for bankruptcy triggering a tsunami of global financial credit. tonight, be sure to watch brian williams on nbc "nightly news." finally a look what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. tea party candidate christine o'donnell talks to matt lauer about her big win in delaware, an after more than a year in jail, one of three american hikers detained in iran is finally freed. keep it on this channel fon 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.

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