this morning on "early today," republican shake-up. decision day. an american student awaits word on whether an italian court will set her free or keep her in prison. high anxiety, scary moment for an engineer inspecting earthquake damage on the washington monument. and wheel of misfortune, a small plane crashes into a carnival ride in eastern small plane crashes into a carnival ride in eastern australia. 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 second chance. there is a chance that amanda knox could gain her freedom today. she has addressed the court ahead of deciding the appeal and whether or not they will grant the appeal of her 26 year prison sentence. chapman bell has been following developments in italy. good morning. >> reporter: it has been an emotional day in the courtroom and the final acts we will see before the judge and jury come back with a verdict in the case. amanda knox gave an emotional plea. she had the opportunity to sit down to deliver it. she said she wants to go home. she did not commit this crime. she wants to seek the truth. she seeks the truth and wants to

find out what happened to her friend. also giving a declaration to the court today was her co-accused former boyfriend. it is interesting to note that during both of their declarations in the court, the judges and jury were very focused. some jury members having tears in their eyes. also with tears in their eyes are amanda's family. >> thank you so much. back here at home, the campaign of gop presidential hopeful rick perry is on the defensive over a report linking him to a hunting camp that used a racially charged name. the accusations have drawn criticisms from rival herman cain who spent the weekend celebrating a victory. tracie potts joins us with more from washington. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. herman cain has now won his second republican straw poll,

in kansas city after winning one in florida so it s the first one in florida and now given momentum to his campaign. talking about this controversy with perry, his family farm that had a racial slur painted on a rock just at the entrance. they say they bought the farm back in the 1980s. they painted over it but witnesses say it has been seen there more recently. pain has been seen saying that it was racially insensitive. not that it was there but how long they allowed it to stay before painting it over. this is not the only issue that perry is dealing with. trying to hold on to front runner status, slipping in the polls. he has got to decide pretty soon and when he does he will face the same types of scrutiny as some of the other candidates have. >> tracy, thank you.

anti-wall street protesters are promising to keep up their fight, despite the arrest of hundreds this weekend in new york. the movement, known as occupy wall street, has gained momentum, spawning similar demonstrations across the country. they stand for many concerns. wall street demonstrations have been staged in los angeles, chicago, and boston. and the group also marched in ohio. now for a look at some other stories making news. powerful winds temporarily shut down inspections of the washington monument yesterday. newly released video shows high wind gusts blowing one engineer 30 feet off the wall of the 550 foot structure friday. it's unclear when the crew will be able to return to work to complete their assessment. a 9-year-old learned the dangers of joy riding the hard

way after crashing hits parents' car in philadelphia. according to witnesses, the little boy is lucky to be alive after surviving a collision with a tree and flipping over twice. he's currently hospitalized with head injuries, listed in critical but stable condition. finally, the annual albuquerque international balloon fiesta kicked off over the weekend. organizers set the record for most balloons launched in an hour sending 345 hot air balloons toward the heavens. early highlights of the nine-day event include glowing balloon launches and fireworks. now for a look at your national and regional weather, we welcome back nbc meteorologist bill karins from his very special assignment. you are the only guy i know that can leave on paternity and come

back more rested. but look at what you got in return. this little beauty. >> she's a sleeper. sometimes you get lucky. last one? not so much sleep. this one is great. >> and she is a looker. >> i'm in trouble. she has got me wrapped around her finger already. we have a storm moving on shore in the pacific northwest that will cause windy and wet conditions. the cold front will come on shore tomorrow. this is really the first west coast storm we have had for a long time. it was a dry september and now we are getting towards our wet season. middle of the country is quiet. rockies are quiet. all of the energy is with the big storm. you can see the center of the storm here drifting and heading towards the north. it's just going to linger along the coast today. tomorrow is when the cold front will move on shore.

and also the cascades. winter storm watches for the mountains of california. that's after the cold front goes through tuesday night into wednesday. could pick up significant snow. there is still leaves on the trees. here is a look at the radar. been a long time since we have seen this much rain. san francisco we do have a chance for showers. active weather out there out on the west coast. that's a look at your watching high of 46. cool temperatures also. for the first time in months, all the active weather is on the west coast. >> that is a first. we are happy to give them the break.

buyers, stocks in internet giants and a small chunk of new york city sold on the auction block. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, a new book written by martha stewart's daughter makes the happy homemaker sound like mommy dearest. coming up, cowboys cut down by the lions and a big playoff hit by albert pujols. you're watching "early today." good morning, and welcome back to "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. a a top yemeni official says al qaeda's chief bombmaker did not die in a u.s. drone strike late last week as was widely reported. the drone strike did kill anwar al awlaki, one of the world's most wanted terrorist. israel has formally accepted a proposal by the so-called

quartet of mid-east peacemakers. ahead of the visit to the region, defense secretary leon panetta stressed the need for negotiations, warning israel is becoming increasingly isolated in the mid-east. six members of the u.s. supreme court attended the annual red mass in washington, d.c. on sunday ahead of the start of today's new session. the high court will likely take up the constitutionality of president obama's health care law with a decision expected during next year's presidential campaign. an ultra light plane crashed into a ferris wheel trapping two children on the ride and two adults in the wreckage. amazingly, no one was seriously hurt. the pilot says he didn't see the ride. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day.

the dow opens at 10,913 after falling 240 points on friday. the s&p was down 28 points. the nasdaq dropped 65. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei sank 154 points while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 770. friday investors said good riddance to this year's painful third quarter. with that in the rearview mirror, there's not much ahead to look forward to. the third quarter was the s&p 500's worst since 2008, prompting many to slash forecasts for the rest of the year. the s&p dropped over 14%, losing roughly $1.7 trillion in value. that already has investors nervous about earnings season which begins next week. global economic troubles have many concerned. healthy earnings, the one continuous positive note for months may have come to an end. case in point, ingersoll-rand sank 12% friday after cutting its third quarter and full year

earnings forecast. another cause for concern, greece's finance ministry said sunday the country is missing a crucial deficit target set for its massive bailout package and called on the state and citizens to respond. in other words, make more cuts. greek bankruptcy could plunge the world into economic turmoil. data out this week includes manufacturing data later today. wednesday, we'll get the service sector index. and all week, wall street will brace for friday's september employment report. keep an eye on yahoo!. this weekend, jack moss, ceo of china's alibaba said he is interested in buying yahoo!. watch kodak, which plummeted 54% friday on bankruptcy rumors. finally, new york city's rat island is basically a pile of rocks that once housed typhoid patients. about 2.5 acres. nevertheless, rat island sold at auction friday for $160,000.

the jets crash, the packers fly, and albert caps a cardinal comeback. plus, a good friend does bad things to tony romo and his cowboys. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and we're off to a great start to october, middle of the country in the southeast. just new england, we need to get you some sunshine. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, remember all those preseason predictions about the new york jets going to the super bowl? well, last night the baltimore ravens took the wind out of those sails. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the last time rex ryan was in baltimore, he was the raven defensive coordinator. last night, the jets leader trying to stick it to his old team, but it didn't go too well for rex and the jets. third quarter, mark sanchez picked up by webb. he went 73 yards for the touchdown. jets turned it over four times. the ravens ripped the jets, 34-17. in dallas, the cowboys led, 27-3. detroit has the heart of a lion. bobby carpenter picked off romo in the third and ran back for the score. carpenter was a groomsman in romo's wedding this summer. the lions came back to win it, 34-30.

green bay, big day for aaron rodgers against the broncos. four touchdowns and ran for two more. packered rotted denver, 49-23. now to arizona, eli man to go jake in the end zone, giants defense stopped the cards and 58 seconds later, manning at it again. giants came back to win, 31-27, they're 3-1. baseball playoffs in the bronx, tiger's cabrera, huge game against the yankees. tigers led, 4-0 at one point. yanks tried to rally late. the go-ahead at the plate. detroit won it, 5-3, the series tied at a game. in milwaukee, brewers and diamondbacks. brewers scored five in the inning. milwaukee won it, 5-4.

a base hit scored allen craig with the go-ahead run. cards won it, 5-4, that series tied at a game apiece. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. which film made a big splash this weekend at the box office? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it's october and the baseball playoffs have begun. but one particular series got off to an extra special heart warming start. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday morning. forecast a little interesting. big storm system along the coastline. big cold front is going to blow through tomorrow but today mostly light rain. not that bad, but we will see a lot of showers in many coastal areas. keep that in mind. not a lot changes tuesday. we may get some showers around la for the first time in a long time. if you are watching us in san diego, see art that activates the space around it. the museum of temporary art is your exhibit of the day. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. "the lion king" has been knocked

off his perch by a dolphin. "dolphin tale," last week's third-place finisher took in $42 million to leap into the top spot. brat pitt's "money ball" came in second place and "50/50" finished fourth with 8.85 million. "courageous" finished fifth. "dream house" finished sixth with 8.2 million. finally, a new book by martha stewart's daughter, alexis, makes growing up with the domestic diva sound like a nightmare. for christmas, they apparently had to wrap her own present. for halloween, no costumes. they turned off the lights and pretended they weren't home. did they put a bowl of candy out? i hope so. she said if i didn't do

something perfectly, i had to do it again. i grew up with a glue gun held to her head. still, there are no hard feelings and she dedicated the book to her mom. this comes to us from arlington, texas, where the texas rangers kicked off their series with an emotional pitch. cooper stone made a courageous return to the ballpark friday months after his firefighter father fell to his death reaching for a ball thrown by josh hamilton. cooper threw out the first pitch to hamilton with 50,000 fans on their feet, many of whom had tears in their eyes. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

less is more in australia and record breaking. hundreds of bikini-clad women strutted their stuff in the gulf coast over the weekend. the two-piece trek had ladies walking for a mile for a surfing club. they raised their profile and in the process, they broke a guinness world record for largest bikini parade with 357 participates. here is a new, thrilling way for couples to express their love for one another. in china, couples are expressing their love in a more dangerous

way. high atop a mountain, pairs take off side by side on what's called the couple's cableway. it only takes a minute to travel 1,000 feet and tourists say it's the perfect way to take in the picturesque area with someone special. this next stunt is enough to make your palms sweat. a daredevil in china performed a series of acrobatic tricks high up on a mountain without any safety nets. he started out simply doing hand stands, but then he tried his luck on top of a bike, then on top of three stacked chairs. finally, he moved off the ledge and on to a rope swing. he's laying there thinking, what am i doing? why am i doing this? >> the red unitard is the key to all of the stunts. >> it's like the super hero outfit. >> it helps suck everything in. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. nba owners and players meet again in new york after failing to reach an agreement weekend and the owners lockout.

time is running short to save the start of the season, which begins november 1st. former spider-man director julie taymore and the broadway show's producers begin arbitration proceedings. taymore claims she owns royalties and challenges the grounds for her dismissal. and 16 years ago today, a jury found o.j. simpson not guilty in the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend. 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. it's decision day for amanda knox. lester holt reports live from italy where the jailed american student will learn her fate. and dr. conrad murray's former assistant speaks out about the fateful day michael

jackson died. 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. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com yeah. sure. sure. what's the number-one killer of women ? well, you're still here, so that rules out crankiness. and track suits. heart disease. what, that's a joke ? no, it's an absolute fact, but the american heart association says you can save lives by passing it along to five women you love. awww. awww ! so i'm starting with three i tolerate. that's a joke ! find out more at goredforwomen.org.