[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" -- hitting the road. president obama fires back against his republican contenders on the first day of his campaign-style bus tour. manic monday -- a wild crash leads to a pushing and shoving match in nascar. and what is it? a mysteriou creature surfaces in the suburbs of the nation's a mysteriou creature surfaces in the suburbs of the nation's capital. 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 and today we begin with striking back. his re-election campaign may not

be officially under way yet, but that didn't stop president obama from lashing out at the gop and his potential 2012 rivals on the first day of his so-called economic bus tour. nbc's brian mooar is in washington with details. brian, good morning. >> reporter: the president is counting on a new economic recovery plan to help create jobs and to help save his own. the white house insists president obama's three-day bus tour through the midwest isn't a campaign swing. but it sure looked that way as he rolled into iowa and sent a message to congress. >> if they don't start paying attention, then they're not going to be in office. and we'll have a new congress in there that will start paying attention to what is going on all across america. >> reporter: he promised a new economic plan in september and promised congress will have to answer to voters if it's not passed. >> the choice will be very stark and will be very clear. >> reporter: texas governor, rick perry, still riding high on

his sixth-place finish in saturday's iowa straw poll is playing catch-up with the other gop presidential candidates. >> i know we're late getting in this process. but we're in and we're all in and we're going to campaign like our life depends on it. >> reporter: mitt romney is still the man to beat. >> any one of the people running for president on the republican side would be an improvement over what we have, in my view. >> reporter: the 2012 race for the white house. heating up, but there's still a long way to go. and talk about a marathon. election 2012 -- 448 days away. lynn? >> brian mooar in washington, thank you. well there's new evidence this morning, iran may be supplying goods to the terror group u.s. intelligence officials consider the most dangerous current threat to the united states -- al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. u.s. officials tell nbc news, a ship that departed iran several days ago carrying weapons, food and other supplies was intercepted by the indian navy

off the coast of mumbai over the weekend. the ship, which had a crew of several yemeni nationals and at least one somali, was headed to yemen. and officials believe it was bringing goods to the terror group. one official acknowledged there weren't many arms on board when the ship was stopped, but said it's common for crews to throw weapons overboard when military vessels approach. back at home, the nation continues to mourn the five victims of saturday's tragic stage collapse at the indiana state fair. at a memorial service on the state fairgrounds yesterday morning, hundreds gathered to remember friends and family who were lost. afterwards, the state fair did reopen, however, a fireworks display and scheduled concerts by janet jackson and lady antebellum were canceled, officials continue to investigate. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america.

surveillance cameras rolled a as group of teens looted shelves inside a maryland store. the flash mob robbery was carried out without any resistance from store employees, they watched as approximately three dozen teens snatched and stuffed items away. police have not made any arrests, but have identified some of the suspects. mother nature sparked a massive fire in southern idaho. fire crews have been stretched thin battling at least nine fires since sunday night. the largest blaze has charred approximately 40,000 acres. along with triggering fires, the storms in the area have also knocked out power. some fires there remain burning unchecked due to lack of resources. volunteers in indiana put their sunday best on. using 50 gallons of ice cream, 30 cans of whipped cream, and ten cans of chocolate syrup, the team of dessert decorators created 200 feet of ice cream heaven. and they also set a world record

for longest dessert. and it made bill and i hungry. in maryland, a mystery is brewing over what type of animal this is. it appears to be part deer, part dog, part kangaroo. with a long, rat-like tail. i know. sorry, guys. the hospital technician that caught and videotaped the creature thinks it may be the legendary chupucabra. he set it free, but plans to use the video to get expert opinion on the animal's species. good luck with that. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> if he wanted an expert opinion, he shouldn't have let it go. >> maybe he's saving it from testing he didn't want to put it through. run free, run free. >> it was cute until the tail. good morning, everyone, not much to talk about weatherwise in the west. i mean we've gone through much of this month dry and the trend is going to continue. around the country, we have wet

weather in new england and anyone traveling today in the storm system that we through the northwest pretty dry over the past weekend. is now making its way through the northern plains. now, cloud cover is not even a lot of that this morning. the ocean marine layer hasn't made it far inland. a little fog around santa barbara county, that's about it. we're watching a few showers in extreme southern portions of arizona, so really even south of the white mountains, even. high pressure in control over northern idaho, it will keep us dry and warm, too. we're locked into a hot and warm pattern. this is the rainfall totals and we really haven't had much all the wet weather han out here in the middle of the country. so we continue to be very dry out there. pretty much all summer long in the west. it's amazing the fire season hasn't been worst than it has been. 74 in seattle, 108 in vegas, that's a look 110, you get the

picture -- more of the same. no wet weather in sight, temperatures continue to warm up. >> all right, bill, thanks so much. well, google jump-starts the week on wall street. your early morning business headlines straight ahead. plus, we'll tell you who is the highest-earning teen in hollywood. and who's been crowned the king of hip hop. coming up, jim thome joins an exclusive club. the dodgers find a new way to speed up their season and push comes to shove on the racetrack. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today," i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. libyan rebels are pushing to isolate the capital of tripoli. blocking key supply routes and cutting oil pipelines.

u.s. defense officials say moammar gadhafi's forces fired a scud missile for the first time in the conflict. but it landed in the desert, causing no casualties. royal dutch shell has revealed one of its oil platforms off the coast of scotland has spilled more than 1300 barrels of oil into the north sea since a ruptured pipe began leaking last week. the spill, which has now been largely contained, is being called the region's worst in a decade. and in kentucky, the fbi has arrested a man wanted in australia for allegedly strapping a fake bomb to the neck of an 18-year-old girl. authorities say the august 3rd attack was part of an alleged extortion attempt. divers searching for a female japanese exchange student who fell into deadly waters of niagara falls sunday, have located an unidentified male body instead. police say the 19-year-old woman lost her balance while climbing

over a railing and is presumed dead. and tragically, according to the "associated press," the united nations world food program has been investigating food theft in the famine-stricken nation of somalia for the past two months. an a.p. investigation found donated food meant for starving somalis is being stolen and sold in markets. hard to believe there. well now early look at how wall street will kick off the day, the dow opens at 11,482 after growing 213 points. the s&p gained 25 points, the nasdaq rose 47. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei added 21 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng lost 48. well merger monday opened a new week on wall street. with a bang, leaving last week's steep losses just a painful memory. for now. the main drive of trade, google in its biggest deal ever, buying

wireless phone maker, motorola mobility holdings for $12.5 billion. and then mmh skyrocketed 51%. google ended down 5%. research in motion jumped up 15%. with monday's gains, last week's losses were wiped out. volume calmed to roughly half of last week's. the dow's three-day win streak is its first in six weeks. banks were big winners, thanks largely to bank of america, up 8% on plans to sell its canadian credit card business. lowe's rose slightly, despite reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly sales. walmart and home depot report today. more deals monday, the world's number one drilling contractor, transocean buying aker drilling for almost $1.5 billion. time warner paying $3 billion

cash for insight communications. and cargill buying dutch animal nutrition company, proveny for over $2 billion. elsewhere, france and germany's leaders meet in paris, trying to get a grip on euro debt. reportedly, they will not be discussing a common euro bond, something struggling neighbors are calling for. gas fell seven cents last week to $3.60 a gallon, the second consecutive drop this month. and finally, cautious credit card users have driven late payments down to their lowest level in 17 years. well coming up, a triple play in milwaukee, preseason football in texas, and things get ugly in nascar. plus, the twins' jim thome does something only eight people have ever accomplished in baseball history. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather, the next storm that we're tracking is now in the northern plains, we'll watch it head to the eastern seaboard over the next two days. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning, if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, jim thome smacked his 600th career home run last night. reaching the number faster than anyone else, except babe ruth. here's nbc's fred roggin with more.

>> the phrase, it couldn't happen to nicer guy, is widely overused, but not when you're talking about the minnesota twins jim thome. chasing 600 home runs, thome belted number 599 in the sixth inning against the tigers, it gave the twins the lead. an inning later, there it is, number 600. the crowd in detroit gave him a standing ovation and why not. he's just the eighth player in major league baseball history to reach the milestone, next stop, cooperstown, jim thome and the twins beat the tigers, 9-6. the brewers pulled you have off a triple play, got it going a nice flip to second, toss to first, prince fielder gunned down matt kemp at the plate, 4-6-3-2 if you're scoring at home. the no going right for the dodgers, the brewers won it. former heisman winner, matt leinart, throwing a touchdown. houston won their preseason opener, 20-16. got a nascar question for you -- what's more rare than a monday race? your answer? an australian winning it.

marcus ambrose became the first aussie to win a sprint cup event. but it's what happened after the race that overshadowed the victory. boris said ran into the back of greg biffle teammate's greg reagan. thankfully, everybody was okay. after the race, biffle took a swing at said. boris went after biffle, who was protected by his crew, never got to him, but i have a feeling he will. >> he's the most unprofessional little scaredy-cat i've ever seen in my life. he won't even fight me like a man after, so if somebody texts me his address, i'll go see him wednesday at his house and show him what he really needs. he needs a friging whipping and i'll going to give it to him. it's not right to wreck cars but he'll show up at a race with a black eye one of these days, i'll see him somewhere. >> enough said, that's an early look at sports on "early today," i'm fred roggin. >> "early today" sports is brought to you by just for men moustache and beard. the end of a long-running

realty tv show and billy crystal wants another crack at hosting the oscars. they're cute, cuddly and in jail? we'll explain, you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday morning. more of the same, we're really watching a dry weather pattern, extremely quiet august.

it's getting warm, too. temperatures are starting to jump up a little bit. 93 in boise, 93, salt lake city, much of the intermountain west will be getting up. 105, 110. l.a., 86, but you're in the 90s away from the coast. tomorrow more of the same. seattle and portland, your forecast doesn't change at all. medford, about 93. if you're watching us on king 5 television in seattle, washington, in nearby silverdale, see scandinavian dances performed by the leikarringen dancers in the traditional dress. at the silverdale library and that's your pacific event of the day. >> we did rock, paper, scissors to see who had to read that. an early look at entertainment. the reality show forced to change its name after the messy divorce of its stars has now been canceled. tlc announced "kate plus eight" once known as jon and kate plus eight" will end after this

season. kate gosselin tweeted she was looking at the positive side and future challenges. jon gosselin told radar online he's relieved to get his children away from the prying eyes of the camera. wishes kate well and hopes now she can spend more time with the kids. "rolling stone" has crowned eminem the king of hip hop. lil wayne ranked second and drake finished third. daily "times" reports eight-time oscar host billy crystal said last year's oscar cameo made him itchy to host once again or two more times. and "people" reports the richest teen in hollywood is justin bieber. with an estimated annual take of $53 million, coming in a close second was miley cyrus, with $48 million. and bieber's girlfriend, selena gomez weighed in with just $5 million. >> i think i famously said bieber would have his 15 minutes of fame and that was like $53 million of fame.

>> i famously corrected you. and once again, i am right. >> we'll see. >> you'll never learn, bill. >> we'll see what happens next year. i'm not changing my stance. this comes to us from knop tv in north platte, nebraska, where two new inmates at a local jail are bringing out the softer side of their cell mates. for nemo and sarge, life behind bars couldn't get any better. the stray cats were adopted to help inmates reduce stress and tension. the formerly caged cats have quickly made a connection. roaming freely around the facility. randomly visiting cells, which for the inmates, helps the days of doing hard time pass by a little easier. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station.

cheese lovers got a special treat this past weekend in france. connoisseurs and amateurs gathered to get an authentic sampling of the region's various types of cheese. from the first step of milking the cow, to the molding of the cheese by hand, to whipping up a popular dish in a cast-iron skillet, visitors get a taste of an age-old tradition. a teen in new england is getting the helping hand he's always dreamed of. after being born without a left hand, matthew's family couldn't afford a $40,000 prosthetic. so he teamed up with a racing team. that uses the same technology for their cars, who helped make the bionic limb possible. with the new limb comes extra

chores, which the teen is happy to help. six astronauts broke the record for longest space mission without leaving earth. it's spent 488 days in a wares did house in moscow for what is the first simulation of a manned flight to mars. inside the 1700 square-foot module, the team is being closely monitored. despite the record, they still have a ways to go, they aren't scheduled to "land" in november. >> i could not live in close quarters with four or five other men for a year and a half. >> i could not eat the food, if you notice, they are -- eating those little packets? not for me. time for an early look at some stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. voters in two wisconsin state senate districts will go to the polls for the final round of recall elections. republicans are looking to unseat two democrats in an effort to add to the gop's narrow, one-seat majority. vice president joe biden

heads to asia, where he'll make stops in china, mongolia and japan this coming week. the vice president is expected to meet with china's top leaders to discuss a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues. and elvis presley fans are already descending on his graceland estate this morning. to commemorate the 34th anniversary of his death. 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." here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today show," with president obama on the road to address voters angry about the economy, a campaign adviser reveals his strategy for success. and he's getting rave reviews for his first music album. jeff bridges performs live in studio. and 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 your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station, have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com