this morning on "early today," tick tok. lawmakers delay their recess suddenly rushing to avoid a government shutdown while president obama turns up the heat on republicans. education nation, nbc news week begins a week-long spirited debate about the state of our schools. and leap of faith. a winged stuntman performs a and leap of faith. a winged stuntman performs a death-defying jump in china. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm veronica de la cruz.

welcome to our viewers across the nation. including viewers in the pacific time zone. today we begin with running out of time. disaster victims depending on government aid may be left high and dry if lawmakers don't work settle their differences over a funding bill. today, the senate, which was supposed to be off this week, will vote on a measure to fund the government through november. tracie potts joins us live from washington with the details. good morning to you. >> veronica, good morning. what's at risk here is cash and things handed out immediately after disasters. fema only has $175 million left in that fund for all of the disasters its managing and that money could run out as early as tomorrow but it's tied to a big spending bill where there are big disagreements. one version was passed that provides money but does so by cutting clean energy programs

that democrats say we need to keep. the senate has decided to extend its break. they were both supposed to be out with the looming government shut down on friday. but the senate is extended and expected to take a vote this afternoon. if it doesn't match exactly with what the house passed last week they could be back at square one. how about how the republicans are looking at all of this? over the weekend president obama said that the republican's vision could fundamentally cripple america. more on that in coming weeks especially on the campaign trail. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. after two long years in an iranian prison, hikers shane bauer and josh fattal are back home again on american soil. the men arrived yesterday. with sarah shroud at their side, they talked about their captivity. the men, who were convicted of spying say they would held in solitary confinement and they

of ten heard the screams of other prisoners being beaten. the pair believe they were detained because of their nationality, not because they may have crossed the border from iraq. here at nbc, the second annual education summit is under way. the week-long summit is being held to discuss education in the united states. michelle franzen is outside of studios where the summit is being held. good morning. >> good morning, veronica. >> the summit brings together the nation's top educators and business leaders and policymakers here to 30 rock to debate the key issues affecting education and also find ways to improve how children learn. teachers, educators and innovators from around the country came together at the start of the summit. >> a great teacher in the classroom is fundamental and it's what changes the trajectory of the students. >> reporter: voicing their concerns. >> when i know passionate excellent teachers who have left the classroom, it's not because

of lack of dollars, it's lack of voice. >> reporter: and looking for solutions when only one-third of u.s. students are proficient in studies like math and reading. >> it's our job as educators to make sure we're keeping the same standards for all students. >> reporter: from the debate over standardized testing to teacher evaluation and teacher pay. >> if we want to keep the best teachers in the classroom, we have to pay them commensurate with the passion that they inspire in our students. >> reporter: the mix of opinions and expertise here can go a long way. >> we can take what we do here and the format here, the different voices and the time that they're given to be respected, we can certainly bring that to the classroom. >> one of the biggest challenges facing communities, the economy. school budgets are suffering cutbacks and many teachers are being forced to take a second job to make ends meet. >> if teachers aren't being compensated well enough to be able to take care of their families and they're having to

take second jobs, they can't be at their best when they walk into the classroom. >> teachers impacted by the economy, policies and at times, frustration. but still determined to give students their best. >> and a lot of issues to tackle in the next few days. now, while there has been a lot of progress and a lot of issues still need to be dealt with, there has been some key progress in the past year. the overall graduation rate in public schools has risen to 72%, the highest in two decades. >> some good news. michelle franzen, thank you. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in san diego friday night, some people who watch closely enough may have gotten a glimpse of debris from nasa's satellite before it crashed down to earth. unconfirmed video shows what looks like a tiny dot zipping across the night sky. according to nasa, the defunct six-ton upper atmosphere research satellite splashed down somewhere in the pacific early saturday morning. in wisconsin, folks near lake michigan had a rare

sighting of their own this weekend. time lapsed video shows a waterspout spinning over the surface of the lake near milwaukee. fortunately, the only tornados spotted were the ones that form over water. finally, a sight that could put your stomach in a tailspin this weekend. the seventh annual world tamale eating championship was held in texas. the defending champ reclaimed its title by scarfing down a nauseating 67 tamales in just 12 minutes. oh, the feat earned him $1,500. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist todd santos with the weather channel forecast. >> thanks. it would have to add a fewore zeros. let's check out the forecast for a few areas in the southwest. we might start to talk about tropical moisture getting into the forecast. hurricane hillary a pretty

formidable system out there. it is a tight woven major hurricane. category 3 storm. i mention it because of what may happen by midweek. not affecting anybody as a major storm but we may see a system that weakens to a depression but it has churned up the tropical moisture that is likely to get into the forecast especially in the four corners. that system is poking into the frame. the area of low pressure really affecting chicago with some of the heavier showers and flooding rainfall. starting to bring some of the heavier showers on shower. it will bring in big time winds especially in towards the beacho e for showers in spokane.

so a lot of things we are watching. want to take a closer look in the next couple of days. wall street licks its wounds, gas prices tumble and boeing's dream finally comes true. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, all these years later, does "the lion king" have the legs to make it two in a row? coming up, the steelers and colts down go to the wire, and another first for cam newton and michael vick is hurt again. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. gunfire erupted overnight at a hotel in the afghan capital that

houses a u.s. embassy an ex used by the cia. one u.s. citizen was killed and several afghans were wounded before one lone gunman was shot dead. vowing to pressure for reform, saudi arabia's king has announced women will be granted the right to vote for the first time beginning in 2015. saudi women, however, are still not allowed to drive or travel abroad without permission from a male guardian. after more than 40 hours in the water, 62-year-old endurance swimmer diana nyad has abandon her latest attempt to make the journey from cuba to florida without a shark cage. nyad's face and body swelled from painful jellyfish stains and medics advised more stings could be life threatening. the end of an era in spain where the final bullfight was held sunday. the local parliament outlawed the century's old traditional last year after a citizen's petition clashed between fans

and bullfighters broke out after the event. in china, an amazing feat by american wing suit stuntman jeb corlette. take a look at that. jumping through a helicopter, he managed to dive through a hole in a cliff at a speed of 75 miles per hour before landing safely. absolutely incredible. and now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow owns at 10,731 after adding 10 points on friday. the s&p was up 6. the nasdaq rose 27. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 186 points. in hong kong, the hang seng dropped 261. simply put, wall street opens for business today after suffering its worst week since the death of the financial crisis three years ago. the dow finished down 6.4%. largest weekly loss since september 2008. the s&p 500 fell 6.6%. the nasdaq tumbled 5.3% for the week. analysts expect significantly

fewer healthy earnings and outlooks moving forward, which would make data all the more important. reports to watch for this week include new home sales due for august today. the consumer confidence index comes out tomorrow. we'll get an idea if factories are picking up steam from durable goods orders on wednesday. on friday, we'll get august personal income and spending data. elsewhere, the national average for regular unleaded gas is $3.51 a gallon, down 47 cents from its high in early may. for the fist time in months, prices have fallen below $3 a gallon in places includes parts of michigan, missouri and texas. finally, boeing's long awaited dream machine finally became a commercial reality sunday, three years behind schedule, when the 787 was formally delivered to japan's al nippon airways. michael vick knocked ott of

another game, the red sox try to win another game and jimmie johnson fades in the chase. plus, the mighty tom brady and the patriots get a rude reception from their host, the no-names of buffalo. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. as far as the forecast is concerned, we'll check in on the travel trouble spots and get you set for your monday. you're watching "early today."

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good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, we may only be three weeks into the nfl season, but it's definitely not too early to say the buffalo bills are an entirely different new team. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. if we learned anything about the nfl yesterday, it's that the patriots tom brady is human and the buffalo bills are for real. they rallied from 21 down to beat the patriots. buffalo picked brady off four times. to put that into perspective, brady threw four interceptions all of last season. this pick six tied it late in the fourth. ryan lyndell had a game-winning field goal as time expired. the bills were a perfect 3-0 after an impressive 34-31 win. giants, another game, another injury for michael vick. took a hit and broke his nonthrowing hand. left in the third, returned

briefly, but finished the game on the sidelines. eli manning had his way with the eagle defense threw four touchdowns, a pair of victor cruise. giants won it, 29-16 in philly. in oakland, the raiders pulled out all the stops to beat the jets. michael busch handed off to moore and he was gone. took the reverse, 23 yards up the middle for the score, raiders won it, 34-24. no one thought the colts/steelers game was going to be close, but it was. joseph addai tied it in the final minutes. it came down to the last possession. pittsburgh hit the game-winning field goal with four seconds left and the steelers escaped indy with a 23-20 win. where is noah's ark when you need it? monsoon-like conditions in carolina for the panthers and jaguars game. it got so bad, the fans had to bail water out of the stands just to sit in their seats. cam newton for the rain and his first nfl win. tossed the go ahead touchdown late in the fourth. carolina won it, 16-10. nascar tony stewart won his second straight race, took the

checkered flag in new hampshire, now leads the chase for the cup standings. finally, the red sox needed a win and it took them 14 innings to get it. jacoby ellsbury with the go-ahead home run. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. did brad pitt hit a homer or strike out at the box office? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, a world war ii veteran from a historic pioneering outfit steps back in time. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." a cool start for your morning. we will be looking at a cool down. that is the trend. the reason being, of course, some of the showers that are starting to filter in, especially up towards seattle. phoenix coming in below triple digits. 65 in san francisco. tomorrow, a similar scenario. if you are watching us on kntv in california's bay area, see a colony of flightless sea birds that can swim up to 15 miles an hour. that is your pacific event of the day. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. something old with something new

was a winning theme once again at the box office this weekend. "the lion king" in 3-d clawed its way to the top taking in just over $22 million. knowing a good thing when it sees it, disney now plans to leave the updated classic in theaters longer than the two-week run initially planned. brad pitt's "money ball" opened in the second spot, in line with expectations at just over $20.5 million. debuting behind in third, cracking $20 million, was the star-packed family film "dolphin tail." after those films, there wasn't much left for "abduction" which opened in fourth with just over $11 million. and another action thriller, "killer elite." it managed to open in fifth with $9.5 million. i have to say, i heard nothing about that film. >> i didn't, either.

i didn't hear about anyone going to see the dolphin film, but that won over over de niro. maybe it needed to be more family friendly? >> it had a couple things going for it. this comes to us from portland, maine, where an army veteran took the ride of a lifetime. retired staff sergeant james shepherd knows his way around an airplane. from 1942 to 1945, he was a crew chief with the tuskegee airmen, the army's first all black core unit. this weekend, he got a chance to enjoy the view from inside a p-51 mustang, just like the planes he kept flying all those years ago when we needed them most. i'm veronica de la cruz, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in vietnam, it seems like one is a laughing matter. one group of fitness lovers gather every morning and burst out laughing. the yoga enthusiasts wave their arms, they chuckle and make funny gestures for 45 minutes as a way to destress and relax. the combination of laughing and yoga breathing is thought to stretch muscles and trigger endorphins. in one race, a trophy isn't the only award. the grass gets cut, too. 34 teams competed in england's 33rd annual lawn mower endurance race in front of a crowd of over 21,000. nearly 11 of the 12-hour race

takes place under the cover of nightfall. the winning team completed its 362nd lap shortly after sunrise. from one eccentric situation to a wild competition, shanghai's wild animal park is holding animal olympics. opening the games, a bear on a bicycle passed the official torch to an elephant who passed it to a chimp lighting a cannon. monkeys leaped over monkey bars and one elephant did a 360 and these are just the preliminaries. finals, those start next month. i don't know what to say about those. >> i had to, like, do one of these. if you didn't have video for that, i would not believe that was even real. >> isn't that crazy? nuts, i know. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. engineers will provide updates on damages sustained by the washington monument after last month's quake. a spokesman said winterization

will be especially important this year to protect the structure from cracks that could fill with snow and water. in california, an arraignment is scheduled for a man accused of throwing his 7-year-old special needs son overboard while on a harbor cruise last month. he's charged with child abuse and could face six years in prison. on this day in 1960, the first ever televised presidential debate took place between john f. kennedy and richard nixon. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and 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. businessmen herman cain speaks out in live interview after scoring a surprising upset in this weekend's gop florida straw poll. and inside a special relationship as prince william gets personal about his grandmother, the queen. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific monday. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com