this morning on "early today," concert tragedy. the death toll rises from this weekend's horrific stage collapse at the indiana state fair. pakistan betrayal. reports say pakistan granted china access to the wreckage of the top secret u.s. helicopter downed during the bin laden raid. and sunday surprise. an ohio woman wakes up to find a and sunday surprise. an ohio woman wakes up to find a deflate blimp in her backyard. 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 vinita nair. today we begin with a death trap. there are now at least five

people dead after saturday's tragic concert stage collapse at the indiana state fair. officials plan to reopen the fair today with a public memorial service. nbc is at the fairgrounds in indianapolis for us. good morning, wendy. >> reporter: good morning to you. it's a somber day here at the indiana state fair grounds. the pile of wreckage behind me is a sobering reminder of what happened here. as you mentioned a short service is scheduled here to remember those five people who lost their lives so unexpectedly. concert goers' worst nightmare turned to reality in just seconds. just minutes after the announcer warned that severe weather was p possible, a gust of wind, between 60 and 70 miles per hour sent the massive scaffolding crashing into the crowd. >> it just came down. i saw people running. the next thing you know, you look back and there's people underneath the stage trying to get up. >> oh, my gosh. i was scared.

>> reporter: chris lost sight of his son and wife in the kayous. >> then the gust of wind came. the stage blew over. and i took off down there to see what i could do to help. >> the individuals ran to the trouble, not from the trouble, by the hundreds, offering their -- in many cases their own professional skills. >> reporter: despite their heroic efforts, the help was too late for five people, includingu 29-year-old christina santiago, a community worker from chicago. >> her loss is a loss for our entire community. but her spirit was bigger than anything that could have ever happened to her. >> reporter: while the accident is under investigation, for many answers will do little to help ease their pain.[x the death toll could still rise out here. at least two people, including one child, are still in critical condition.

live in indianapolis, i'm wendy wofolk. vinita back to you. >> such chilling footage, wendy. thank you. it was a busy weekend for the field of republican presidential hopefuls with an iowa winner, a new candidate and a dropout. meanwhile later today the president kicks off what's being called on economic bus tour. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with more. good morning, brian. >> reporter: hi, vinita. just a couple of hours ago michele bachmann and rick perry appeared at the same event. they didn't even acknowledge each other. they aimed their attacks on washington and president obama. both perry and bachmann did quite well in saturday's straw polls. it helped propel them into that top tier along with mitt romney as the three candidates to beat, tim pawlenty, his hopes crushed, he has dropped out. the man they want to take the job away from, president obama, will be heading out on his own

midwestern messaging bus tour. three-state, three-day tour that will start on michele bachmann's home turf of minnesota and end on the president's home turf in illinois. here's a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. in ohio a 94-year-old woman was surprised when police knocked on her door sunday morning telling her a runaway blimp had landedd in her backyard. strong winds broke the blimp free of its moorings saturday and authorities were unable to track it. crews spent much of the day packing away the pieces. a minnesota woman is lucky to be alive after a violent emergency crews were stunned to find the woman buried under a pile of debris. airlifted to a nearby hospital, she's been upgraded from critical to fair condition. the explosion's cause, still under investigation. and a st. louis restaurant is hoping to land a guinness world record for the largest blt

sandwich. more than 100 people pile pyled 600 pounds of of tomatoes and 220 heads of lettuce into the massive 224-footd guinness is confiden they'll okay the new mark. here's bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> good morning. welcome, too. they need some white wonder bread. the blts. that's myí!sñ commercial for wo bread. >> the mayonnaise and the butter. >> that's what i had as a kid. good morning, everyone. whether bacon or however else you'll enjoy your morning, the weather won't be an issue for you. you can take your time at the breakfast table going to work or school, yes some people have already started school. rain and a lot of it. as much rain in new york city as some areas of the west get in an entire year. jfk airport picked up almost

eight inches of rain in one day alone. incredible stuff. new york city and central park six inch, philadelphia five inches. a sunday soaker inñi areas of t east. we'd love a little rain in the west. of course, you don't want it on the weekends. but a little monsoonal flow and showers popped up in arizona. also some headed to the salt lake city area. back up to washington state. a little front came through with some showers. that was about it. there was a little low off the coast. you can see it off the weather channel logo here. that little front kicks through. some clouds with it. temperatures keep cool. northern idaho and western montana have the most greatest coverage right now of showers. your forecast, as we go, 74 in seattle, showers in portland, but not a lot of wet weather. we're dry everywhere else and a little cool

>> we'll bring you your forecast for tuesday coming right up. >> east coasters can expect an umbrella for the next couple of days. >> all the wet weather will be in new england. >> we're sick of it, so they can have it. what can make or break stocks as a fresh week dawns on wall street? your early mor&b-# business headlines are straight ahead. plus, was "the help" able to help itself to the top of the box office this weekend? fat albert puts his stamp on busch stadium. two freak injuries on the diamonds, and a dramatic comeback at the pga championship. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today," i'm vinita nair and here are some of the top headlines this morning. the "financial times" reports pakistan has likely allowed china to examine the wreckage of a top-secret u.s. stealth helicopter that crashed during the operation to kill osama bin laden. according to the "times," u.s. officials say they believe chinese engineers were allowed to take photos and samples of the chopper's special skin that allows it to evade radar. bomb blasts tore through more than a dozen iraqi cities this morning killing at least 56 people. parked car bombs, roadside bombs and a suicide bomber who ran the vehicle into a police station. in afghanistan, six suicide bombers attacked a governor's security meeting in one of the country's most secure provinces, killing 22 people. the governor managed to survive the attack. this morning ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak made his second appearance in a courtroom. he's charged with the killing of protesters during the uprising against his rule. the aling 83-year-old who has

been detained in a cairo hospital since his first court appearance watched the proceedings from a stretcher in the defendant's cage. in syria, government forces are reportedly firing on residents of a coastal city from both air and sea, using gunboats for the first time in the regime's bloody crackdown. activists say 25 people have been killed. now here's an early lookñia one of your top health headlines on nbc.com.,0 a new study suggests that siblings of kids with autism have a higher risk of being diagnosed with the disorder than previously believed. they found one in five had an autism spectrum disorder which includes asperger's syndrome and similar conditions. other stories, check out the health page at nbc.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 day. the dow opens at 11269 after rising 21 points friday. the s&p gains t[xs points and t nasdaq grew 15. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei rose 122 points. after a week that saw wall street go through its wildest gyrations ever, news and data, the point of the health orxd th weakness of the economy will drive trade over the course of this week. data on manufacturing and empire state index. the phil index report is out wednesday. july housing starts followed by construction permits and sales of previously owned homes will all hint as to whether housing and construction are still struggling. weekly unemployment numbers aren't normally closely watched but last week's report helped pull the market out of the nose dive. this week's numbers will get special attention. reports from top retailers

are due this week including walmart tomorrow, target reports wednesday. friday's government data showing july's retail sales posting the biggest gains in four months pushed stocks higher. among tech companies to report include dell and hl. traders will watch the euro debt meeting between nicolas sarkozy and angela merkel. keep an eye on time warner today. bloomberg news reports it's in talks to buy the carlisle group's communications for $3 billion. and america's largest oil field equipment maker filed a deal to buy a brazilian company. this year's last major in golf, the longest st. louis home run ever and strange injuries on the diamond. plus a great play in field puts an end to this year's longest hitting streak in the majors. your sports headlines are

straight ahead. i don't want to forget tropical storm gert is heading through bermuda.

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today."ñ in sports, american golfers hav taken a back seat to the rest of the world in major tournaments

since phil mickelson won the 2010 masters. well, that has finally ended. it ended yesterday. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> hi there, good morning. if you didn't know who keegan bradley was, you're not alone. in his first-ever major bradley not only competed, he won. pga championship in atlanta, after a triple bogey on 15, keegan bounces back on 17 from 35 feet out. drills the long birdie. pulls within one shot of the leader jason dufner. as bradley rallied dufner collapses. set up a playoff between the two. they continue to struggle. bogeyed the second hole of the playoff, and then the rookie pulls off a shot that even seasoned veterans wouldn't attempt. instead of laying it up on the final hole he goes for the kill, nails the approach over the water, 18 feet from the hole. that seals it. he would two-putt for the wanamaker trophy. keegan bradley wins the pga nascar had to postpone the race at willow glen because of

rain. they'll restart their engines today at 10:00 a.m. eastern. baseball, the cardinals albert pujols has done ajq lo things in his career but he's never done this. eet against the rockies. that is the longest home run ever at the new busch stadium. cards win 6-2. scary moment before the game. third base coach rick dowel was running a double play drill at first when he in the head by an errant throw. luckily he only suffered a broken nose. but it could have been much worse. from scary to strange, the comebacker off jason marquis' leg. he appears to be okay. he stays in the game. an inning later he goes down again. apparently the comebacker actually fractured his shin bone. diamondbacks lost the pitcher but won the game 5-3. finally dallas' hit streak was snapped at 33 games but it took an incredible catch by the cubs darwin barney to do it. ugh la was stunned. that should have been a hit. darwin barney playing the role

of spoiler in atlanta. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. celebrity babies are everywhere. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus surfers may be known for marching to a different beat but you still won't believe how they express their sense of humor this weekend in california. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday

morning. forecast wise just a few showers and sprinkles in the pacific northwest. we were very warm in the interior west this weekend. we cooled off a bit. boise 98 yesterday. should be low 90s, upper 80s. salt lake city still warm at 91. you had showers go by yesterday. vegas, phoenix, tippic at for you at 106. as far as tomorrow looks, we're still looking at clouds in the northwest. but pretty quiet weather pattern overall. if you're watching us in sacramento. see sculptures at the center of the first floor rotunda at the california state capitol museum. that's your pacific event of the day. those west coast temperatures have me jealous. >> it's been that way for a long time. they haven't been extreme, just very quiet. >> they've got it good.e? now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. the challenger put up a great

fight but the champ defended the crown at the box office. "rise of the planet of the apes" managed to hold on to its top spot at the box office taking in $27.5 million. today, it should cross the $100 million mark overall. not far behind was "the help" most expected with a surprisingly close 25.5 million for the film based on the best-seller, to take the second spot. elsewhere, what's with all the babies? hilary duff and her hockey playing husband mike comrie celebrated more than just their first anniversary this weekend. she announced on her facebook page they have a baby on the way. a rep for "30 rock" star tina fey told people she gave birth last week to her second daughter penelope athena.q(a and finally, it's another girl for jessica alba and cash warren. the actors gave birth to the couple's second daughter haven garner warren. i haven't heard that name before. >> haven? at least it's short. >> she obviously likes the

>> the cardiff by the sea, not the first time the cardiff kook has been vandalized but the most creative. a prehistoric diorama around this bronze statue of a novice surfer. a pterodactyl appears to swoop down to lift the surfer off its board. the statue has been criticized since the local surf community since itsxd unveiling in 2007. i'm vinita nair.

yesterday, a record 85,000 people took part in the world's biggest combined road race in australia. the 41st city to surf race featured more runners than new york and london's marathons combined. it rain about 8 1/2 miles, stretching from sydney to bondi beach. moe run for charity. it's estimated over $3 million was raised. 35,000 computer experts from around the globe took to germany's great outdoors. but not for your average summer adventure. it's a hacker festival. held on a former soviet air strip. organizers provided more than nine miles of fiber-optic cable and three miles of internet cable. the theme, hackers in space,

shows the group's plans to send one into orbit by 2034. one man is out to set a world record and raise money for good causes along the way. he's attempting to paddle board the entire mississippi river, standing up. he began july 1st, and has 800 miles left, planning to make it to the gulf of mexico in three weeks. he aims to raise over $1 million, completing 25 different journeys around the world. brave guy. >> have you ever tried paddle boarding? >> it's impossible. >> it's not easy. i mean, especially all the way down the mississippi, all the little towns. he's going to have some good stories to tell. >> he says, as he goes down the water, people stop and give him  >> cute. >> well, it is time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll be following throughout the day here on nbc. three siblings captured in pueblo, colorado, last week after an alleged cross-country crime spree are scheduled to make their first appearance in court. the woman accused of sjx breaking into the hotel room of jeopardy host alex trebek is set to appear in a san francisco courtroom for a preliminary hearing. 56-year-old lucinda moyers claims it's a case of mistaken identity.

and japan is marking the 66th anniversary of its surrender in world war ii with somber remembrances across the country, including a memorial in tokyo led by the emperor whose father in 1944 announced on the radio that the war could not be won. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in 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. ann curry is live from somalia, reporting on what the u.n. calls the world's most severe çó humanitarian crisis, with millions facing starvation. and now, safe at home with his family, a 12-year-old boy scout explains how he survived a frigid night alone in the wilderness. now, keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm vinita nair, 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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