this morning on "early today," end of an era. space shuttle "atlantis" makes its final journey home. taking heat as the death toll rises as an to pressive dome of heat grips more than half the nation. and seeing is believing. dramatic video shows a car being lifted by flash floodwaters in canada. 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 historic

homecoming. the teledecade-old space shuttle program has come to a close with the landing of the shuttle "atlantised." earlier atlantis touched down at the kennedy space center 42 years and a day after astronaut neil armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon before four americans onboard guided "atlantis" to a safe and final landing. a landing that may also end an era of u.s. dominance in human space exploration. that's because as the shuttle program retires a second great space race begins. "atlantis's" astronauts left a flag on the international space station that flew on the first space shuttle launch in 1981. a private american company says it plans to retrieve that flag in just three years. well, across the nation over 100 million people are under a heat alert due to what's called

a heat dome, which has brought triple-digit temperatures to many parts of the country. warnings have been issued across the eastern half of the country from kansas to massachusetts. the national weather service says about two dozen deaths in recent days are potentially heat-related. extraordinary temperatures are expected in the east through the weekend with cooler weather by then for the midwest. of course, nbc meteorologist bill karins will have much more on the heat wave coming up in just a few minutes. first now to the rapidly-approaching deadline over the nation's debt ceiling. yesterday president obama held more meetings on the issue as the push intensifies for lawmakers to come up with a deal before its too late. for more we go to brian mooar in washington. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. the president is going to have to give a little to get what he wants. he's going to have to do something he said he wouldn't

do, which is possibly sign off on an extension on raising the nation's debt ceiling. well, the white house says it will be willing to sign an extension for just a couple of days as the so-called gang of six, a bipartisan group of six senators, works out a plan. there is an august 2nd deadline, but it is going to take some time to get together some legislation and get it ready for a vote. certainly to sell it, especially to tea party republicans. so the white house says if it has to wait a little, sign an extension on the debt ceiling, it will do it but just briefly. >> brian mooar for us in washington, thank you. here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a police chase in arizona ended with two suspects receiving quite a jolt. the brother and sister duo suffering shocking repercussions after refusing commands to surrender following a 30-mile-per-hour suit. the police tased both of them and arrested them without

further incident. texas police are working around the clock to catch an armed bank robber dubbed the handsome guy bandit. police say the suspect has robbed six banks wearing a life-like facial mask made of latex. investigators have gathered surveillance of the bandit but still have not been able to identify him. just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, for one florida family it was anything but. a four-foot gator got in a few laps before an animal control officer removed him from the family's pool. the animal came from a canal located across the street. finally, in minnesota soaring temperatures have created a cause for concern, but they have also created a new way of cooking up some treats. a minneapolis news producer transformed one car into an oven on wheels making the interior hot enough to bake a batch of cookies and to provide a sugar fix in the sweltering heat. now for a look at your

national and regional weather, here's nbc's meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast. >> in arizona they don't use ovens there, they just use their windshields. >> it is outside. >> yes, outside. they are improving on the frying the egg. good morning, everyone. the heat wave grips much of the country but not our friends in much of the western seaboard. as far as what we are dealing with, the excessive heat warnings in orange, the advisories in yellows. a lot of areas typically don't get this heat like new england are going to get it today. 100-degree heat in nation's capital. as far as what we dealt with yesterday, it was warm from phoenix to vegas. not bad san francisco to l.a. with the temperature near 80 degrees. here in california it was in the 90s, but the cooler weather remains from portland up to seattle. do you believe in seattle? we have only had three 80-degree days this year. i mean, that's an incredible stat. the warmest was 84, and that was only for one day.

here's what we are dealing with today. we need the jet stream to go north of the pacific northwest up into canada. then we'll get the warmer air to flow your way. as long as the flow continues from the north or northwest, we are going to see the cool summer stick with us. also a good deal of sunshine out there in central california today. in bellingham, the only area i found to have rain, and that continues at this hour. and today we have a slight chance of showers for seattle and portland as it stays cloudy and cool. that's a lookrosa, right around. tucson, a slight chance for a late-day storm. the good news is the pacific northwest will be sunny so they won't be the warmest this weekend. >> all right. >> it is sunny, though. >> they'll take that.

they'll take that. bill, thanks so much. well, wall street worries, an airline goes on a shopping spree, and the end of a long successful partnership. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, speaking of business, jennifer lopez takes care of hers as a wedding singer. coming up, a pair of black eyes for the white sox, the mets stand their ground and quite possibly the worst first pitch ever. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. five democratic congress women are calling on republican congressman alan west to apologize for an e-mail tirade against a fellow florida lawmaker. west called democrat debbie wasserman-schultz despicable and cowardly after she criticized his stance on medicare. texas has executed a man

convicted of killing two men and wounding a third as part of a shooting spree he said was meant to target muslims in the wake of 9/11. mark stroman died by lethal injection. georgia delayed the execution of a convicted murderer by 24 hours giving no reason. the move came shortly after the supreme court denied andrew deyoung's appeal. it will be the first videotaped execution in nearly two decades. new york city is warning swimmers and kayakers to stay out of the hudson river after a fire at a waste water treatment plant forced officials to pump raw sewage into the river. officials say it will take at least 48 hours of continuous dumping before there's any significant impact on the area's beaches. and in montreal the rear-end of a car was hurled right up in the air after floodwaters blew open a manhole. parts of the city received nearly a foot of rain in less than an hour.

now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. in the latest opinion in the hot debate over when breast cancer screening should start, the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists say doctors should offer all women in their 40s annual mammograms. the debate has raged since 2009 when a federal panel discouraged the screening until 50 saying the benefits was small outweighing the risks. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. early today health is brought to you by vagisil cream. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opened at 12,571 after losing 15 points yesterday. the s&p was down a fraction. the nasdaq fell 12. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei added four points, but in hong kong the hang seng

dipped 16. wall street was slightly lower wednesday as pressure builds for washington to seal a debt deal. a day after posting stellar numbers and on the same day it rolled out new macs, apple hit another all-time high attracting a host of brokerage upgrades, but overall investors sat on the sidelines, nervous about the debt ceiling impact. that, plus euro debt concerns, had traders stuck in the mud. there's an emergency summit on greek debt in brussels this morning. aside from apple, techs fell wednesday led by yahoo tumbling over 7.5%. microsoft also dropped ahead of its quarterly report later today. real estate website zillow jumped 49% on its first day of trades. and deal news, commercial aviation's biggest ever order will transform americans fleet from one of the oldest to the youngest. the airline will buy 460 new

aircraft over the next decade from both airbus and boeing. however, the undisclosed but no doubt huge price left industry analysts concerned. cleaning and pest controller ecolab is buying nalco for $5.4 billion. in extended trade intel dropped after trimming its personal computer sales forecast. also after the bell, american express nudged up on better than expected profits. a recent acquisition that cut profits clouded ebay in after hours results. finally, the end of a very successful business partnership. saying it's time for a change after 12 years, tiger woods fired caddie steve williams. williams says after working through woods' scandal, he is shocked and disappointed. well, the mets make the call, wild walk-off winners, and a home run that made a real splash. plus, throwing out the

ceremonial first ball turns into a wild pitch. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in many areas today the peak of the heat wave was 100 degree heat in the middle of the country to the east coast. your forecasts are coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you are just waking up, this

is "early today," and in sports all-star shortstop jose reyes is a potential free agent having the best year of his career, and that leaves the new york mets with a big decision to make. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. if you are a mets fan and you like jose reyes, you probably woke up with a pretty big smile on your face. despite being out of the playoff hunt, the team says they will not deal their all-star shortstop in the trade deadline in two weeks. the same couldn't be said for carlos beltran. he'll likely be dealt, and the ray with a two-run game-tying blast against the cards. in the tenth a walk-off solo shot. the mets are keeping reyes and keeping things interesting with a 6-5 win. the astros and nationals tied in the 11th. pinch hitter michael singleton the game winner. houston walked off with a 3-2 win. former cubs outfielder doug blandoff threw out the first

pitch. the wind-up and watch out. it sailed over the catcher and into the backstop. it only got worse for the cubs. jimmy rollins from both sides of the plate. one in the second, and another in the eighth. phils win big 9-1. boston's gentleman cobbi ellsbury also had a great day. >> beautiful day in san francisco. great day to break out the old kayak. make sure to watch out for flying baseballs. navarro got ahold of one in the second and splash shot into the cubby cove. man overboard. that was a souvenir worth swimming for. he got the ball. the dodgers got the win 1-0. finally, tough day for the white sox's ozzie guillen. a full ricochetted off the net. it nailed him right in the face. they say you're supposed to keep your eye on the ball. i don't think that is what they had in mind. he was all right and knowing guillen, this hurt even more. tied with the royals in the 11th. sergio santos. a wild pitch. in came the winning run. a pair of black eyes for the

white sox, they lost it 2-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. well, kanye west gets a handful of chances to show he has learned about good sportsmanship. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, they're known as new york's bravest. coming up, a tribute to the bravest of the brave. you're watching "early today."

well come back here on this thursday as we watch temperatures to continue to struggle in the northwest, but we are warm in the interior west. areas like salt lake city in the 90s. las vegas is into the 100s. l.a. today, 78. san francisco, cooler for you, but once you get inland it will be just fine. much of california away from the water will see a warm day today. showers today in the northwest. tomorrow we clear it out, but look how chilly it is. highs in the mid-60s. we still have to carry the jacket, ridiculous. if you are watching us on news 4 in reno, nevada, discover artists with the cells of the body and the expanse of the universe. that's biology and technology at the nevada museum of art. well, now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. when it comes to this year's mtv video music awards, so far a notorious poor loser is a winner. kanye west notched seven nominations, which means seven

chances for him to make news if he loses. katy perry snagged nine nominations to lead this year's field. reports in what could be her sixth time collaborating with johnny depp. helen abonhamme carter could possibly star in "the lone ranger." zach braff's official website was the target of a creative hacker who posted a coming out note claiming to be braff saying he was gay. as of this morning the note was replaced by a promotion of a play written by braff. finally, earlier this week just days after announcing the end of her seven-year marriage to marc anthony, jennifer lopez was reportedly paid $1 million to sing at the lavish wedding of a son of an uzbek oil tycoon. the wedding itself was said to cost $15 million.

>> are you crying over that amount of money? who is crying over that? do you have an answer? ryan reynolds. okay. well, this comes to us from wnbc 4 new york in new york city where a somer homecoming is a reminder of the brave sacrifices of september 11th. bagpipes blared as a new york city fire department truck was lowered into its final resting place. city officials, firefighters, and 9/11 families saluted as the flag draped truck from ladder company 3 made its descent into the september 11th memorial museum where it will provide a permanent reminder of the many who gave their lives. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

what does santa do in the offseason? look no further than denmark. that's where over 100 santas gathered for the annual summer santa congress. it's a chance for them to meet with their peers and compare notes. topics include standardizing the width of chimneys and weight issues. they cap off with a giant parade for all to enjoy christmas in july. well, while much of the country is suffering through a heat wave, a huge chunk of ice is making waves in canada. a floating island of ice is floating about 30 miles off of canada's coast, having drifted all the way from greenland. the whole thing is roughly the size of manhattan and weighs

several billion tons. experts are keeping an eye out, but they say it poses little threat. and finally, animators in taiwan have done it again. famous for recreating big news events, the wake of rupert murdoch is their latest inspiration. the animation depicts the dramatic scene when wendi murdoch leapt to the aid of her -year-old husband as an attacker tried to throw a shaving cream pie at him. of course, you will remember they did this with the tiger woods scandal, with the charlie sheen debacle. >> is there a tiger theme here? tiger's wife -- >> she's being dubbed the tiger wife for her quick acting skills. >> maybe it's the technique? >> no kidding. well, time for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. in washington a new unabomber exhibit will open at the museum of crime and punishment including some of the hand-made tools. the collection was purchased

during a recent government auction with proceeds going to some of the unabomber's victims. this year's comic-con kicks off in san diego with 130,000 comic and superhero lovers of all ages. they are expected to gather over the next four days. and here's a chilling fact during the nation's heat wave. on this day in 1983 the world's lowest temperature ever was recorded in antarctica. negative 128 degrees fahrenheit. >> sounds good. >> ouch. >> all day long we stay on top of the latest developments and those stories and others as they break on msnbc. 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. al roker on the deadly heat wave scorching much of the country with the worst temperatures still to come. and generation x couples are opting not to get divorced. learn why they're sticking to their vows when things get tough. 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.