[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today," military seesaw. a federal appeals court backs the obama administration's request to reinstate don't ask, don't tell. wrong side of the tracks, newly released video shows a daring rescue at a virginia train station. and ancient history, astronomers say they've spotted the oldest and most distant astronomers say they've spotted the oldest and most distant galaxy ever. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone.

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a judicial tug of war. the military's don't ask, don't tell policy is essentially back in effect this morning after a federal appeals court in california suspended a judge's ruling that ordered the pentagon to allow openly gay troops to serve in the military. the three-judge panel sided with the obama administration and informed lawyers for gay rights activists that they have until monday to respond to last night's rulings. the judges will then decide whether to extend the temporary stay while it considers the government's appeal of a lower court ruling that found the controversial policy unconstitutional. still, it's not clear what affect this will have on the pentagon which has informed recruiters to allow openly gay service members. with the mid-term election clock ticking and with two weeks left to go, president obama and the democrats are fighting to hold on to congress. tracie potts is in washington

for us this morning with all the details. tracie, good morning. >> hi there, lynn. good morning to everyone. this is the president's longest campaign swing yet. five states, four days. he's trying to drum up support and money for democratic candidates. for democrats in tight races, every vote counts. in oregon, everyone votes by mail. >> let me just see a show of hands, who hasn't mailed in their ballots yet? fess up. >> reporter: today president obama is in california where they are walking a political tightro tightrope. next door in nevada, vice president biden keep to help harry reid who said it's an embarrassment. >> this is rooi why we can't trust rick scott. >> reporter: there were governor's debates last night in florida and illinois. >> we need a governor who will focus on the crisis at hand, jobs, creating jobs. >> he sponsored a legislation,

voted for it to allow employers to fire gay people from the job just because they're gay. >> reporter: the senate debate in pennsylvania turned emotional over 9/11. >> i want them brought to justice in washington, d.c. where they killed my friends. >> joe sestak is about all alone among any elected official i know of in pennsylvania who believes that even khalid shaikh mohammed, the admitted mastermind of 9/11, should be given a civilian trial. >> reporter: today the president continues his west coast campaign swing through california and washington state. and here on capitol hill, senate republicans smell victory. in fact, now, lynn, they're saying that they believe a republican congress and a democratic president like president obama can actually get a lot more done. >> tracie potts in washington, tracie, thanks so much. the national association for the advancement of colored people released a controversial report wednesday accusing some tea party members of racism. the study was written by the institute for research and education on human rights which

describes itself as dedicated of examining and mobilizing against racist, antisemetic and far right social movements. the study concluded that tea party groups have given platforms to racists and bigots. however, the report also includes a foreword by the naacp's president calling the vast majority of tea party supporters, quote, sincere principled people. critics say the timing of the report's release is an attempt to rally african-american voters ahead of midterm elections. and now here is a look at stories making news early today in america. a virginia man is fortunate to be alive after a seizure sent them tumbling over to train track. a former marine ran over two highly charged rails to help this man, hoisting him to safety. fortunately, neither of the men were injured. in florida, a teen suspect is in police custody after he attempted to rob a subshop.

the masked gunman soared over the camera toward the rear of the restaurant. the manager handed over the money but then he fought back, seizing the weapon and pistol whipping the teen. a bypasser helped hold down the man until police arrived. in new york, a two-stone, fancy, vivid blue and colorless diamond set in auction record going for an incredible $15.7 million. that's $700,000 more than expected. the clear diamond is just under ten karats while the blue is just under 11. the largest of its kind ever to be offered at auction. wow. and in pennsylvania, a group of pampered poodles ranging from 6 months to 4 years old put on a show for locals, dancing in a conga line. they even skateboarded and jumped some rope. known as the russian dog whisperer, their trainer has even helped her amateur circus act achieve star status. they appeared in a recent documentary.

look at that fur. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, good morning. >> i've seen that video a couple of times. >> it never gets old. >> the first time i noticed the.othdog was one of the ones doing the jump rope with its mouth. i was distracted by dog doing the jump rope. >> wheel try and find video for you every single morning to put that smile an your face. >> just to entertain me. >> what's that we do. we had this pesky storm the last couple of days. it's now finally on the move but ever so slowly. and just, by the way, our gorgeous weather up here in the pacific northwest, enjoy one more day there. this is the storm system. one, that's finally heading through arizona and new mexico with some areas of heavy rain. it's coming right up the highway from tucson to phoenix. it's rare that you have rain along that entire drive.

that's the case today. even the rain heading up here to the rim. temperatures are cold enough in the four corner region we are watching a little bit of rain mixing in with snow in the san juan mountains. for the most part in new mexico, in with clouds during the day fresno and ukiah. seattle, dry for one more day. friday forecast coming up, lynn. >> bill, thank you. also coming up, the dollar drops, stocks rise, and who is more generous, men or women? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, what's next for johnny depp after he's through being a pirate? a walk-off between the giants and phillies. yankees live to play another day, and one of the wildest high school football plays you'll ever see. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here's some of your top headlines this morning. toyota announced this morning the company is recalling just under 300,000 vehicles in the u.s., including lexus, avalon and other models for brake fluid and fuel pump problems. the world's biggest automaker has recalled more than 10 million cars and trucks worldwide over the last year for a variety of problems, including sticky gas pedals. in america's biggest arms deal ever, the obama administration confirms it plans to sell up to $60 billion worth of arms, helicopters, and jets to saudi arabia partly to help counter iran. some details of the proposed sale have been known for months, but the inclusion of up to 1,000 guided bombs was included in notification to congress yesterday. and this is unbelievable.

a female college student is the new police chief of one of mexico's most dangerous drug war towns on the u.s. border. the 20-year-old mother who is being hailed by some as the bravest woman in mexico took charge of a 13-agent police force just days before hitmen shot and killed a local official. and astronomers say they've spotted the oldest, most distant galaxy ever. one born just 600 million years after the big bang. the galaxy hidden in the hubble space photo, is believed to be 13.1 billion light years away. hard to grasp. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,107 after climbing 129 points yesterday. the s&p rose 12. the nasdaq gained 20. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, in tokyo the nikkei fell five points. but in hong kong, the hang seng added 92. wall street rebounded

yesterday with a weaker dollar, jump starting industrial and commodity stocks while another strong crop of earnings added to the gains. a decline in the dollar dropping to a 15-year low against the yen helped fuel the rebound which nearly erased tuesday's big sell-off brought on by fears of a slowdown in china. commodities were the big winners with free mort-mcmorran, copper and gold gaining almost 3%. eaton was among major industrials raising profit forecast for the rest of the year sending its shares up over 4%. boeing gave the dow its biggest boost, up more than 3% after reporting a quarterly profit that beat expectations and raising its full year forecast helped by a recovery in the commercial airplane market. the airlines themselves scored an impressive recovery in the summer travel season, leading to strong profits and revenues, sending the sector shares soaring on optimism for the rest of the year. delta led, surging almost 11%. us airways jumped more than 7%.

earnings from financials were mixed. wells fargo reported higher earnings, rising more than 4%. but morgan stanley reported a surprise loss, falling slightly. expectations the fed will act soon to bolster the economy were strengthened by its beige book report, which said the economy grew sluggishly in recent weeks and that employers are still hesitant to hire or invest. today, watch netflix and ebay. after the bell, the techies reported stronger than expected revenues, sending shares of both sharply higher. and finally, when it comes to giving, women win it hands down. according to a new study, women across nearly every income level gave significantly more to charity than men. in some cases, nearly twice as much. the yankees stave off elimination. and even on the high school gridiron, it's not over until it's over. plus, san francisco's third baseman known as kung fu panda bears down in a pivotal game five against philadelphia.

your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. it looks like our warm, fall air is going to continue right into the weekend. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today."

in sports, the san francisco giants have never won a world series since moving to the bay area, but after last night, they're just one win away from getting another chance. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. can you believe this? the giants are one game away from the world series after a thrilling walk-off win against the phils. phils up one. a double into the gap. two runs came in to score and the giants took the lead, 5-4. phillies, tied in the eighth. jason worth, a shot down the line. stayed fair by a couple of inches. ryan howard trotted home to tie it at 5-5. to the ninth, man on third. a fly ball into the outfield. he did exactly that. aubrey hough tagged to score the winning run. giants win it, 6-5. they lead the series, three games to one. san francisco could advance to the world series with a victory tonight. yankees staved off elimination in the bronx. jorge posada got things going. rbi single to left. play at the plate.

alex rodriguez was there, and the yanks up, 1-0. new york busted it wide open in the third. nick swisher, a lead-off to left. his second of the playoffs. next batter was robinson cano. he follows suit with a home run of his own. back to back jacks, yanks up, 5-0. texas outhit new york. but couldn't string anything together. yankees win it, 7-2. game six is tomorrow. classic ending in high school football game in louisville. butler and white trailed rich park by seven. here is a series of laterals used to score as time expired. remember the famous call, the band is on the field? well, this time the team is on the field. the rich park players ran on to the field thinking they had won the game. we sped it up for the sake of time, but after butler scored with no time left, they did one better than the cal finish. you see, they decided to go for two and the win and they got it. butler beat park ridge 42-41 in one of the craziest finishes you will ever see in high school football. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin.

"early today" sports brought to you by just for men hair color. live forward. which tv star smashed her car up in hollywood last night? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, a budding journalist in new jersey rises above all challenges. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this thursday morning. the weather pattern on much of the west coast has been relatively tranquil. do you kn down in the deep south, it has been. the desert southwest is heading over areas of arizona this morning. new mexico, later on today. the pacific northwest, the rain should hold off until tonight and into friday. then we start a gloomy weather pattern here. it's flip-flopped because then the desert southwest is the area that's going to be nicer. you're watching us on ksnv minus 3 in las vegas, nevada, explore the water street district through music, shopping, dance and food. head to the art and cultural affair to enjoy a family-friendly evening of fun. that's your pacific event of the day, lynn. yes, vegas and family can go together. >> a lot of families go there. bill, thank you. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment.

with a few notable exceptions, when blogs and tabloids are filled with rumors about someone, it's probably best to ask mom for the truth. she knows everything, right? and in an interview scheduled to air today, beyonce's mom, tina nowell tells ellen degeneres the rampant rumors of her daughter's pregnancy are simply not true. tmz reports eva langoria had a two-car smashup on hollywood boulevard. there were minor injuries and the accident is under investigation. katy perry arrived in india yesterday, ahead of her saturday wedding to russell brand. she was sporting a gold chain from nose to ear which is traditional indian wedding jewelry. johnny depp, after finishing his fourth "pirates of the caribbean movie" will do a film remake on "the thin man." finally, reports say john mayer and kim kardashian were out in new york recently to see how they would hit it off as a couple.

most of those reports included the same joke, which one would you warn about the other. not my joke. i don't think that's very nice. >> interesting, the thing that kim is most known for is the very same thing that john's ex-girlfriends say about him. >> can't say it on network television. and this comes to us from wmgm in atlantic city, new jersey. in nearby pleasantville, the sky is the limit for one elementary school student. nicole has been blind since birth, but that hasn't stopped the fourth grader from working toward her goal of becoming a broadcaster. she inspires her peers to work up to their own potential. by working harder and adjusting to life's obstacles. teachers say she has a bright future. who knows, some day she could be sitting here on "early today." i sure would be watching. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

the patches on their eyes make them look like bandits. one zoo in chile shows they're actually really sweet. four lemurs, a small ring-tailed primate made popular in the film "madagascar" are adapting to their new home in the zoo. they're considered endangered by the destruction of their natural habitat where 90% of the ecological system has been destroyed. a group of clowns in mexico are doing what they do best, laughing. at a week-long convention, 700 clowns successfully broke a national laughing record wearing colorful costumes and face paints. the clowns hysterically laughed for 15 minutes.

though it looks like a bunch of clownen around the participants are serious about gaining support and respect for their art. if diamonds are a girl's best friend, victoria's secret may be on to something. their annual bejeweled undergarment known as the fantry bra was on display in new york and literally stopping traffic. it featured 60 karats of white diamonds, 82 karats of is that sapphires and topazes and can be yours for the recess-friendly price of $2 billion. that's actually a whooping $3 million less than the 2008 edition. so on sale now. >> and it looks like we had add an extra c to cleavage. >> yes, you probably can. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. we'll get results throughout the day from our sister network cnbc's annual survey on how americans feel about the nation's political and economic climate. among the results, how americans feel about wall street and which income group surprisingly is in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy.

the national oceanic graphic association of america will release this year's so-called arctic report card. the group's update is expected to show continued warming throughout the region. and the world's heaviest pumpkin weighing in at a whooping 1,810 pounds will go on display at the new york botanical gardens. 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. the latest on president obama's four-day campaign swing and hear from the candidates in pennsylvania's tight senate race. and meet the inventor of the segway and host of the new show "dean of invention." 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. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

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