[ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," firing line. a vicious wildfire advances perilously close to the los alamos lab. terrifying tumble. a massachusetts teen plunges 20 feet off the side of a mall escalator. and close encounter. a piece of space debris sends the crew of the international a piece of space debris sends the crew of the international space station scrambling. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to ours viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry.

today we begin with too close for comfort. this morning the nation's premier nuclear laboratory is under siege. fire crews in new mexico are scrambling to drive back a wildfire that's now reached within just 50 feet of the los alamos national lab. nbc's kurt gregory reports. >> reporter: a fierce wildfire continues to grow in los alamos very close to the national laboratory. firefighters are working day and night to clear brush and extinguish spot fires near the sprawling nuclear research facility. >> we have not lost any structures at the laboratory or in the town site, and we don't plan on losing any structures. >> reporter: the secretive los alamos laboratory is made up of 2,000 buildingsed a nearly four dozen sites. it's home to the nation's largest supply of nuclear weapons. >> our facilities and nuclear materials are protected and safe. >> reporter: another concern. the possible release of

radioactive and harmful materials. thousands of 55-gallon drums containing plutonium-contaminated waste are stored above ground at los alamos. >> release of radioactive and hazardous materials, there hasn't been any. let me say that again. there hasn't been any. >> reporter: and there's no rest in sight for weary fire crews. the wildfire has already scorched more than 93 square miles in less than two days. curt gregory, nbc news. while budget talks have become stagnant on capitol hill, two senators have unveiled a proposal sure to raise the blood pressure of many. raising the age of medicare eligibility to 67 while increasing monthly premiums for millions of current beneficiaries. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that, and a new trade deal. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. those premiums would go up for

seniors 15 to $20 a month initially, then more over the course of five years. what's interesting about this proposal, it comes from two senators on opposite sides of the aisle. tom coburn, who also is a doctor, and joe lieberman, who typically votes with democrats. in giving this proposal they realize that it's a plan that nobody is going to like. democrats are pouncing on it. there is agreement on free trade. the white house and capitol hill have worked out agreements on colombia, panama and south korea that includes aid for american workers that are displaced when companies go overseas. we'll hear more about that and medicare when those all-important deficit talks when president obama gives a news conference later this morning. >> tracie potts, thank you very much. in afghanistan, the taliban is planning responsibility for a rare nighttime attack in the

capital of kabul. a four-hour standoff between militants and police saw at least 11 afghan victims killed, mostly hotel workers, along with eight attackers. nato helicopters brought the siege to an end by firing rockets at gunmen on the roof of the intercontinental hotel. here is a look at other stories making news early today in america. surveillance video in massachusetts show that alcohol and elevators do not mix after a teen plunged 20 feet to the ground. the teen had been drinking before he decided to horse around on the handrail. but luckily his fall left him with just a fractured elbow. a cleveland nursing home was the site of a very disturbing ordeal. and this is tough to watch. a hidden camera set up by the family of a 78-year-old alzheimer's patient confirmed their worst suspicions. footage shows the being tossed and mistreated on more than one

occasion. police have made one arrest, two other staffers were fired. a snapshot of a seattle police officer snafu has caused a huge embarrassment to the city's police department. the officer unknowingly left a semiautomatic rifle on top of his trunk unattended in the downtown area. officials will not confirm if the weapon was loaded, but they are investigating. and finally in florida, a fishy trip turned into a jaw dropping experience for three men when they discovered sea monsters do exist. while, kind of. they spotted a dead giant squid floating in the water, and they pulled it on to their boat. wildlife officials who measured it at 23 feet long have yet to determine its cause of death. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's bill karins, he has your weather channel forecast. you don't see that tefr day when you're out fishing. >> no, you need a giant whale to

come up next to it. >> then we'll have a storybook ending. >> that squid was probably swimming around the west coast with the storm system we had yesterday. unbelievable. this is what happens in june. june is typically the dry season. in san francisco, our monthly total is now up to 1 1/2 inches of rain. that's historic. usually only get a couple drops in the bucket at most. seattle that's a little more common. an inch, inch and a half. but the desert southwest, this is what we get in june. the dry season in l.a. only get an inch. you can see how unusual the storm has been. that's where we continue to watch it spinning, the upper level low. cooler air has moved into many locations. the rain is kind of drying up agent bit. n this cold front will not make it too much further. that heat ridge is really dominating the desert southwest. don't call for temperatures to be that much cooler around vegas or phoenix.

notice from fresno north up to the mountains in reno and lake tahoe. also showers still in the northwest coast of california. today's forecast, showers will be plentiful. thunderstorms in the mountainous areas. still hot in vegas. 102. weather will slowly improve as the storm system weakens in the days ahead. all right, bill, thank so much. which state is the best to do business in? and which airline is saying no to babies? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. shia labeouf reveals a little too much information in

his latest interview. coming up, a grand performance by the mets. the in, caa crowns a clamp. and the oddest excuse for losing you'll ever hear.

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. before and after images from space showed the extent of flooding in minot, north dakota. the dark blue shows just how swollen the souris river was, nearly four feet higher than the all-time high set in 1881. cuban television showed images of venezuelan president hugo chavez talking with former cuban president fidel castro. more than two weeks after chavez underwent surgery there. chavez's recent silence has fueled speculation he was seriously ill. but officials say the operation was for a pelvic abscess. a piece of space debris narrowly missed the

international space station forcing the crew to scramble into their rescue craft. nasa says it was probably the closest object ever to pass by the orbiting outpost coming within about 1,000 feet. another rare sight. this one on earth. the pope on twitter. pope benedict used an ipad to tweet about the launch of the vatican's new information portal. and the latest "newsweek" cover is generating a lot of buzz. it shows a computer-generated digitally aged princess diana walking with the daughter-in-law she never know catherine, duchess of cambridge. the controversial cover marks what would have been the late princess' 50th birthday this friday. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,188 after gaining 145 points yesterday. the s&p was up 16 points. the nasdaq rose 41. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei grew 148 points,

while in hong kong the hang seng was up a fraction. stocks surged higher tuesday on optimism that greek leaders will pass an unpopular austerity plan needed to keep the country afloat. in athens yesterday police fired tear gas on angry protesters demanding the government vote down the harsh measure designed to show its european lenders greece is serious about getting its finances in order. parliament is expected to pass the drastic cuts today. strong earnings from nike added to the day's optimism, while signs of strength in the housing market boosted home depot. bank of america rose after it made a tentative agreement to settle $8.5 billion in claims against countrywide financial, the company it took over during the mortgage meltdown. french finance minister christine lagarde has been named the first female head of the international monetary fund. news corp is reportedly looking to unload the struggling

social network myspace. meanwhile, google has launched its own social network google plus. so far only a select group of google users have been invited to join. this morning's "wall street journal" reports some surgeons who receive tens of mills of dollars from medtronic failed to report serious complications in their clinical research of the company's bone growth protein infused. medtronic's ceo stands by the research. johnson & johnson is recalling 60,000 bottles of tylenol extra strength caplets for a musty, moldy odor. our sister network cnbc has named virginia america's top state for business. finally, parents flying on malaysia airlines may need a sitter. the carrier has reportedly banned babies from first class cabins. coming up, the mets slam the tigers. lee shuts down the sox, and america's world cup women in action.

plus the orioles luke scott commits home run robbery against the cardinals. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. the fourth of july holiday weekend slowly approaches and right on cue the heat is going to get worse. the forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you are just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night the opening game of a matchup many call a potential world series preview was no contest. here's nbc's fred roggin with all your early morning sports headline psp. >> if you don't know by now, the phillies cliff lee is good. he's real good. he was up to his old tricks against the red sox. tossed a two-hitter for the third straight complete game shutout. getting to be ridiculous how dominant he is. domonic brown gave him the support he needed. a two-run bomb. many thought this would be a world series preview. if so give the phils a title right now. they won it 5-0. ninth inning dramatics between the reds and rays. a solo shot to the deepest part of the park. bottom of the ninth, evan longoria, anything you can do? take a look at this. that's your ball game. rays walked off with a 4-3 win. mets feeling it in detroit. jason bay at the plate.

wrapped the grand slammer around the left field foul pole. carlos belt ran he went deep. they blew out the tigers 14-3. grand slams to a home run robbing grab. matt holiday thought he hit the homer of the night but luke scott wasn't having it. lost his hate but not the ball. not enough. cards beat the os 6-2. abby wamb aurks ugh. they'll play colombia next. his team lost because several players were struck by lightning while training three weeks ago. i thought he cleared that up. i thought the reason he lost was because one of his players was swallowed by a whale. plenty of celebration for the south carolina gamecocks. they won their second straight college series. the flyout, he'll keep that ball for the rest of his life. what? he threw it into the crowd.

i guess when he got the trophy, who needs a ball? that's your early look at sports. i'm fred roggin. who got married, who is separating and who is getting divorced. plus if you got a nose for sensing animals that will make good pets, you won't want to miss this story.

welcome back. good wednesday morning to you. forecast wise, agent calmer than yesterday with all the rain in california. still have showers possibly around san francisco, but the heavy rain is over with. that's moved on. thunderstorms will be widespread, though, late this afternoon from boise to salt lake city. that's where the hot air is meeting that new storm system. showers from seattle to portland. maybe even a stray thunderstorm from tucson to arizona. tomorrow looks a little calmer. if you're watching us on khq right now in spokane, washington, see models rafted by the renaissance. leonardo da vinci, man, inventor, genius. that's what they call me. >> are you sure you got that right? bill, thanks so much. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment where relationship news both good and bad take center stage. america ferrera married the boyfriend she's been seeing since college monday evening in a private ceremony.

david duchovy and tea leoni have separated for the second time since the two married in 1997. a judge ordered warner brothers to send $55,000 a month of any money due to charlie sheen to former wife brooke mueller for support. mel gibson and longtime wife robin have settled their long fight over property dispute which should lead to their divorce becoming official by august. finally, in a kiss and tell interview in "details" magazine, shia labeouf dishes about his relationship with megan fox. yes, he did, bill. only problem at the time she was engaged to now husband brian austin green. scandal ensues. well, talking about dating other famous women he called his night out with hilary duff, quote, probably the worst date either of us have ever had. this just tells me if i lived in

hollywood, i would just join a convent, between divorces, separations, marriages. >> austin green has a size advantage over shia labeouf. >> career wise? ooh, i went there. sorry. >> those "90210" reruns are great. this comes to us from news channel 8 in tampa, florida, where in hudson one couple has given over their home to most people's worst nightmare. while most run from the -- for the cover at the sight of a skunk, brenda and don have rolled out the welcome mat. they've taken in several abandoned skunks hoping to find them new homes. the creditors have been descented and house trained. so hopefully potential owners can see them and not smell them for the friendly furry pets they apparently can be. who knew? i'm lynn berry. this is "early today."

one baby koala is melting hearts in australia. the koala made its first public appearance at a popular wildlife park. the newborn and its mother have been attached at the hip ever since. according to veterinarians, that family bond is very important for the development of the baby. only about 43,000 koalas live in the wild today. one unique chicken has been drawing attention and sparking some debate in jerusalem. the bird was born with four legs and has been attracting crowds of curious onlookers since it hatched. butchers are stumped and have turned to local rabbis to decide whether or not the animal is kosher.

if not, they may simply sell the chicken to the highest bidder. poor chicken. one dog in england might be small, but she has big ambition. weighing only 2 1/2 pounds, nancy, the chihuahua is able to herd sheep more than six times her size. she was brought to an animal shelter two years ago with a skin disease and had to be nursed back to health. now fully recovered, the little pooch is turning heads with her surprising talents. i don't know what's more surprising. that she can do that or that her name is nancy. why nancy? >> that's not used too much any more, is it. nancy drew kind of ruined it for anyone. >> poor chihuahua. well, time for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. the federal reserve is expected to finalize new rules on debit card swipe fees. limiting what banks can charge for processing transactions. a new rate will aim to restore reasonable levels of fees charged to customers. fees that exceeded $16 billion

in 2009. in washington senator chris coons will host a news conference to unveil a new it gets better video. it's targeted at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities as part of an ongoing peer support project to counteract bullying. lindsay lohan is set to complete her period of house arrest three days before her 25th birthday. all day long you can stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. watch a live report from the frontlines of the fight against wildfires threatening the los alamos national lab. two-time oscar winner tom hanks is live in studio talking about his new romantic comedy "larry crowne." 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. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com