this morning on "early today," deal or no deal. is washington any closer to reaching a compromise on the nation's debt limit? final liftoff. "atlantis" gets ready for its last launch, but will weather delay the mission? and they're off. bulls on the loose again in the and they're off. bulls on the loose again in the streets of mplona, spain. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and very good morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with hard bargaining. that's what president obama has

in mind for a special sunday session with congressional leaders. while the president called yesterday's talks at the white house constructive, it's clear there's still a lot of hard work ahead before any deal gets done. nbc's michelle franzen has the latest. >> reporter: raising the stakes. but still no deal on raising the nation's debt ceiling following president obama's meeting with house and senate leaders. the president said republicans and democrats will work through the weekend. >> everybody acknowledged that there's going to be pain involved politically on all sides, but our biggest obligation is to make sure that we're doing the right thing by the american people. >> reporter: lawmakers have until august 2nd to keep the government from defaulting on loans. before the meeting house speaker john boehner once again said raising taxes is not an option. but for the first time he opened the door to tax credits and closing some loopholes.

>> we agree that it would make america more competitive, help create jobs in our country and it's something that is under discussion. >> reporter: there are reports the president may be open to medicare, medicaid and social security reform. a move that put him in the hot seat with progressive democrats. meanwhile, obama says the ongoing talks are just that until a deal is done. michelle franzen, nbc news, washington. at florida's kennedy space center severe weather is threatening to delay the final launch of nasa's historic space shuttle program. jay gray joins us from cape canaveral. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, veronica. sunrise here at kennedy space center and still clouds hanging over pad 39-a. still the launch team continues to work through final preparations at the pad hoping that maybe we get a break in those clouds and we can see the launch of "atlantis" this morning. 11:26 eastern time is the scheduled launch period.

right now weather officers heater nasa aren't holding out much hope. they say it's a 70% chance still of no go for launch this morning. they are working with mission managers. if that is the case, if we have a scrub of the launch here, the best opportunity it looks like it would be sunday or monday morning. right now we have close to a million people that have poured into the space coast hoping to get one final glimpse at history as "atlantis" goes into orbit. many of them say, look, we will continue to wait this thing out. we understand it's a shuttle launch and maybe we'll have to wait a couple of days. again because of the crowds and because the team needs to get back home and get some rest and there's concern they could get through that clutter and congestion and get the necessary rest, they'll probably go on a 48-hour hold if we scrub here and again resume with a try on sunday and pushing to open up a window on monday as well. that's the very latest as we continue to watch the weather here at kennedy space center. i'm jay gray. veronica, back to you. >> jay gray, thank you so much.

in a florida courtroom yesterday casey anthony was sentenced to four years behind bars for lying to investigators. the maximum punishment for the four charges she was convicted of. she looked relaxed as she sat with her legal team and remains stoic after learning she wasn't going home just yet. factoring in time off for good behavior, initial calculations are a release date of next wednesday. prison officials later pushed that date whaback to july 17th. in texas tragedy struck when a fan took a fatal fall over the railing while trying to catch a baseball. fred roggin has the details. fred? >> thank you, veronica. in an eerie coincidence almost a year to the day that man fell out of the stands in arlington and suffered a fractured skull, it has happened again only this time the fan died. josh hamilton throwing the ball to the fans. if that man was trying to catch it. he tum beld over the railing and

fell 20 feet. a witness said he was conscious when paramedics arrived. the team announced afterwards that he had died at a local hospital. the team was heavy hearted about this. hamilton, who threw the ball, was distraught. our prayers go out to the friends and family. >> now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. approximately 200 pounds of dynamite sent one pennsylvania bridge out with a bang. hundreds watched as the bridge that stood for the last 111 years came crashing down. the bridge was determined to be structurally deficient. a new bridge has been built just a few feet south of the old one. in utah, a pair of conjoined robins are reaping the benefits of being in the right place at the right time. fortunately the birds were discovered by an experienced animal rescuer. the birds are connected at the wings and unable to fly, so they're bound to become easy prey. the rescuers are hoping they can

be successfully separated. finally a couple of milwaukee teens involved in this mob of vandals and thieves have been arrested thanks to their mom. mother recognized her 13-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son when she watched a news report on the store robbery. saying she didn't raise them to act that way, the mom ratted out her own kids to teach them a lesson. hmm. now for a look at your national and rnlal weather, here's bill karins with a region channel forecast. can you imagine sitting at home and watching the news and there's little -- >> no. >> -- john and joann. >> a day she won't forget, right? let's show you this forecast. we talked about "atlantis." that's the big deal out there. again, we're hoping to get "atlantis" off the ground, but right now look at the radar over florida. all the green is the rain. this is where the shuttle will be launching from, cape canaveral. all the rain should encompass

this area later today. it will only increase in its coverage. right now a 70% chance that we do not watch "atlantis" lifting off. temperatures fine, winds not too bad. it will really just be all the clouds and rain that will delay the launch later today. who knows? maybe they'll get lucky. conditions are still hot down in arizona. 109 in phoenix. we'll be watching showers and storms in the colorado rockies. we're watching beautiful weather from san francisco to medford. much of the west today going to enjoy a real weekend forecast going up a little later. >> always gorgeous in los angeles. they have the best weather. retail sales rise, jobs jump

and a trashy#mk tabloid bites dust. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. can a comedy about mean bosses beat out the raging bo r -- robots at the box office? a grand performance by the indians and twof to prettiest goals you'll ever see.

good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. in texas a mexican national died by lethal injection for the 1994 rape and murder of a teenager. in a rare move, the white house lobbied the supreme court to delay the execution over concerns it would violate an international treaty. the court refused. before his death, the man apologized, then shouted viva mexico. in michigan, authorities say a man suspected of killing seven

people including his daughter in a horrific rampage took his own life, ending a standoff involving random hostages. the hostages were released unharmed. among the dead were two children. prince william and wife catherine were in calgary yesterday. they visited a hospital where william tried some life-saving techniques. today the royals head to los angeles. finally in pamplona, spain, daredevils were at it again taking their chances in the running of the bulls. day two of the annual scramble. today an australian man was gored in the leg and three others were injured. pretty brave. now, here's an early look at one of you're top health headlines on msnbc.com. no state had an obesity rate above 25%, today all the states do except for colorado which stands at 19.8%. mississippi is the heaviest state with an adult obesity rate

of 34.4%. four years ago only one state had an adult obesity rate above 30%. then today a dozen states top that 30% mark. for more information on this and other health stories, head to the web. check out the health page online at msnbc.com. early today health is brought to you by vagisil wash with odor block, the confident clean. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off. the dow at 12719 after rising 93 yesterday. the s&p was up 14, the nasdaq gained 38. taking a look at overseas trading now, in tokyo, the nikkei added 66 points while in hong kong, the hang seng grew 196. the rally returned thursday as a big rebound in retail sales and jobs reports pushed stocks near annual highs. the nasdaq notched eight days of gains and briefly traded at its high for the year. the dow and the s&p 500 both

stand close to their highs for 2011. retailers had their best june in years as deep discounts lured shoppers. kohl's, target and urban outfitters gained 6%. jobless claims dropped to a low. a new report showed fewer companies a huge jump from the previous month. all that boosted optimism for today's all-important government reports on unemployment for june. yesterday deutsche bank raised their forecast for the month's job creation by a whopping 75,000. there was some bad news. oil rose over $2 a barrel, as speculators gambled global demand will rise. and gas prices are up about a nickel since just the end of last week. in a stunning response to the scandal involving his media empire rupert murdoch shut down "news of the world" for good.

the paper lost advertisers after it allegedly hacked the e-mails from england's war dead. the scandal has marred his attempt to take over a hugely profitable pay cable channel. it is now thought that he'd run the sun on thursdays. the red sox, the cleveland clinchers and the comeback cubs plus the latest on derek jeter's march toward 3,000 hits. in weather as we approach this hot week, we're also seeing numerous areas dodging thunderstorms. your forecast is coming up.

well, a gr good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports derek jeter continues grinding toward that baseball milestone of immortality, 3,000 hits. here's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. we begin with your daily derek jeter update. no, he has not hit number 3,000 yet, but he did get one step closer. he belted the first pitch he saw for a double. now he's two hits shy of 3,000. ben zobrist was one of the

finalists for the last all-star spot. lost out to paul konerko. a perfect 3 for 3 and a home run. rays beat the yanks 5-1. now to boston where the red sox were swinging for the fences. david ortiz, josh reddick and jarrod saltalamacchia hit back-to-back homers. they beat the o's 10-4. indians down 3 in the ninth to the blue jays. travis hafner delivers. walkoff grand slam. cleveland scored five in the inning to win it. if you like that comeback, you'll love this. cubs come from down 8 to beat the nationals. the cubs won it 10-9. the sports world has lost two legends. manager dick williams passed away at 82. he led the a's to back-to-back titles in materially '70s and football hall of famer john mackey has died at the age of 69.

soccer fans around the nation will be watching the women's world cup this weekend when the usa plays braz until the quarterfinals. last night kids turned in big time goals. mexico trailing 2-1. a chance to tie it with a corner kick. and they did just that. the ball untouched and into the net. one of the toughest goals to score in soccer. then in the 90th minute, mexico took the lead. julio gomez, a thing of beauty. a bicycle kick. injured his head earlier in the game. he's feeling good now. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. a television star plants prints at hollywood's famous theater. plus one last chance to see the potter stars walk the red carpet.

welcome back on this friday. forecast intv&7 the weekend rey no issues out there today at all. temperatures warm in the southwest as you'd expect this time of year. a slow warm-up from seattle to portland. tomorrow we go with temperatures similar to today, almost in the 70s. nice in medford. that's more like it, seattle and portland jumping up to upper 70s. if you're in sacramento enjoy hands-on demonstrations of how model trains work at the train show at the sacramento convention center.

that's your event of the day. >> sounds good, billy, thank you. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines and entertainment. the blockbuster "transformers: dark of the moon" will notch top spot but there will be strong showings by other debut films. "dark of the moon" broke the $200 million mark. it will earn $45 million give or take. "horrible bosses" boasting strong reviews and a big cast including jason bateman, jennifer aniston and colin farrell. it should take second. the not so well reviewed talking comedy "zoo keeper" should be good enough for third and a start at earning back the $80 million it cost to make. jennifer aniston imprinted her hands and feets outside hollywood's grauman's theater

joining the likes of liz taylor and marilyn monroe. congratulations to her. this now comes to us from london, england, where thousands gathered to pay farewell to their favorite wizard. fans from around the world camped out for days and braved soggy weather to be a part of the lavish premiere of "harry potter and the deathly hallows part two." it sent spectators into a frenzy. many called it a fitting send-off for the boy wizard they watched grow up. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today."

a newborn giraffe made a big debut. weighs 130 pounds which is small actually if you're a giraffe. one day the long necked animal may grow up to 18 feet tall. for now after 15 months inside mom, arusha is sticking by her side learning to eat leaves and hay. very cute. one course ames to show just how valuable life really is. in a country with one of the highest suicide rates, a professor in south korea developed a seminar to experience how it would feel to die. the idea is to show people all the reasons there are to keep living. 70 people took part donning

traditional funeral robes and lying inside caskets. first, the flash mob, now the latest global craze is yarn bombing. yes, i said yarn bombing. it hit calgary, canada. they turn things into knitted works of art that have been turned into decorative displace. a local store owner thinks she's met for culprits since they've asked for enough yarn to cover a statue. >> those crazy grandmas. >> i know. yarn bomb. all about it. stories we'll follow throughout the day -- plaxico burress who recently finished a 20-month prison sentence will partner with the brady center for a report on the impact of guns in sports. it focuses on athletes who have been affected by gun violence. on this day in 1947 a newspaper in roswell, new mexico, printed a story about a

recovered flying saucer. that soon spread across the country. the military quickly de bunked the story saying the crash was actually a weather balloon sparking the enduring ufo controversy. finally happy birthday to actor kevin bacon who turns 53 years old today. happy birthday. all day long you can stay on top of the latest developments and others as they break on msnbc. be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." here's a look alt what's coming up later on the "today" show. casey anthony on lying to authorities and why her prison release has been set back. and blake shelton rocks out for the summer concert series. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and much more. thank you so much for watching "early today" just your first thank you so much for watching "early today" just your first stop on your nbc station.

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