this morning on "early today" -- home free. amanda knox prepares to return to america after an italian appeals court overturns her murder conviction. where there's smoke, hundreds are evacuated after a massive fire breaks out at a texas chemical plant. and raising the undead. zombie protesters invade wall and raising the undead. zombie protesters invade wall street. 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 free to go. amanda knox is expected to leave italy today after a court's stunning decision yesterday to overturn her murder conviction, the murder, of course, of her roommate. although the case is not just closed yet, the ruling gives knox a chance to restart her life after spending four years behind bars. nbc's keith miller reports from italy. >> reporter: an extraordinary end to an ordeal called a nightmare by the knox family. once the judge ruled that she was free to go, the entire family broke down into tears. amanda knox was literally sobbing and had to be helped from the courtroom after the verdict was read. you could see she was absolutely overjoyed but the relief so great on her. she was found guilty of one charge, slander against a character who she fingered in an original interrogation, which she claims was a coerce by the police. nonetheless, that was a

three-year sentence, time served already four years. >> they just bust into tears, smiling, hugging each other. they couldn't approach amanda because she was surrounded by the prison guards. but they just burst into tears. >> reporter: the plan on the part of amanda knox and her family is to make their way back to seattle, washington. we're told the prosecution in this case will consider making an appeal. they have a few days to make that decision. we don't know yet what their plans are. but when they do that, they'll have to, of course, make a lot of filing of papers. so amanda knox basically is heading back homeward bound to the states and free after a four-year ordeal here in perugia. keith miller, nbc news, perugia. back at home on the campaign trail, a new washington post/abc news poll finds texas governor rick perry's rapid rise in the race to 2012 has lost it's steam with the same poll showing an equally impressive jump from herman cain. tracie potts joins us with more from washington. good morning. >> expressed some frustration with the case.

>> a decision was so certain two years ago has been overturned now. we are not sure what happened. >> lyle went on to say the support that his family has received from around the world. and rick perry's rapid rise in the race for 2012 has lost its steam with the same poll showing an equally impressive jump from herman cain. tracie potts joins us with more from washington. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. cain is now in second place, second with rick perry who had been the front runner before cain won in florida and missouri.

mitt romney now has a 27 percent lead. on the other side, president obama calling himself an underdog. he realizes that it will be tough to win reelection but he is banking on americans seeing a vision for the u.s. he admits that americans are not better off than they were four years ago. his jobs bill is in jeopardy. the 4$447 billion package will not pass. >> tracie, thank you as always.

here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. plumes of smoke blackened the skies over one texas town forcing officials to clear out schools and neighborhoods. the evacuation orders came after a chemical plant fire erupted monday morning. the raging inferno produced several explosions during the hour it took for firefighters to contain it. a surveillance camera was rolling when a group of milwaukee vandals destroyed a bar owner's minibus. the trio escaped capture after causing severe damage but not for long. the alleged culprits were taken into police custody after they were spotted near the scene of the crime. the national park service is sharing unique views of the nation's capital from one wall of the washington monument. the breathtaking footage was captured by a helmet cam worn by an engineer inspecting the 550-foot structure. the crew got back to work after operations were suspended over the weekend due to high wind. finally, the city of indianapolis recognized breast cancer awareness month, in extraordinary fashion. officials turned a downtown canal pink, and the white house with pink lights illuminated the

white house in observance of the month. continuing a tradition started three years ago. now for a look at your national and regional weather, bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning. >> good morning. do you think we will see snow in california? high elevations? >> no. >> yes, it's time of the year. the ski resorts will get the first white stuff of the season. we had one storm come in yesterday and a much bigger storm just coming on to the map. it's the next storm that will have a lot more punch to it. the winds are very strong. this one is the real deal. we have a dry season, the end of

it extremely dry especially august and september. some areas this will be the first rain we have seen in a month or two. we have weather advisories for some of the higher elevations. so, going to be quite the little storm system as it heads on shore. that's a lne showers. we will have more coming up. stocks slip on greece. airline shares dive and what's apple got in store for us next. your early morning business headlines are out next.

a report madonna will soon be performing on one of the world's biggest stages. coming up. the colts continue to struggle and the yankees are pushed to the brink. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. protesters speaking out against corporate greed dressed up as zombies in new york as part of the ongoing occupy wall street demonstrations. the movement has triggered protests in front of federal reserve buildings across the country, including los angeles and boston. a canadian-born scientist was awarded the noble prize for medicine yesterday, three days after dying of pancreatic cancer. ralph steinman never knew he was about to be honored for his research on the immune system, research he used to prolong his own life.

doctors testifying at the trial of michael jackson's physician say the pop star was clinically dead when he arrived at the hospital. they also said dr. conrad murray never told them that jackson had been given the powerful anesthetic propofol. a new study in africa finds women who use hormonal by the way control are roughly twice as likely to become infected with hiv or pass on the aids virus to their partner. the study suggests there's something about hormone use that might alter a woman's tissue in a way that makes hiv transmission more likely. and an embarrassment for england's "daily mail" after it wrongly published online that amanda knox's conviction was not overturned yesterday. the story, which included reactions from prosecutors who said, we were delighted with the news, was quickly taken down

from its website. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,655 after sinking 258 points yesterday. the s&p tumbled 32 points. the nasdaq fell a whopping 79. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dipped 89 points while in hong kong the hang seng shot down 571. well, stocks opened the fourth quarter with a thud monday and fallout continued this morning. in seoul the kospi tumbled 5% after the open forcing the korean exchange to suspend trading for a full five minutes to limit losses. here at home, the nation's biggest banks were hit hard yesterday as growing fears over greek debt drove u.s. markets dangerously close to bear territory. the point when markets have lost 20% for the year. as of yesterday, the s&p is down 19.4. airlines were the biggest losers. american airlines' parent amr plunged 33% on bankruptcy fears.

stocks got an early boost from an unexpectedly strong u.s. manufacturing report. but thanks to weak global production, that optimism was short lived. domestic automakers chrysler, gm and ford all reported healthy september sales jumps over the last year while toyota and honda struggled with the effects of this year's tsunami. a government watch dog finds mortgage giant fannie mae was tipped off about abusive foreclosure practices years before it launched an investigation. retailer best buy is saying good buy to napster, selling it to rap city for an undisclosed stake. yahoo! rose 2% on buyout interest from china's alibaba group. and apple is expected to unveil the long awaited update to the iphone today. as usual, the rumors are rampant. the latest in return for $20 billion investment, sprint has plunked down to carry the

coveted phone. they say the iphone 5 will be a sprint exclusive until some time early next year. the buccaneers slash the colts and the no comeback this time for the rays. plus, the detroit tigers' delmon young is not exactly a household name but he may be making himself one. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather we're continuing to warm things up after that cool shot of air. get ready on the east coast. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports for the second night in a row, the detroit tigers outlasted the yankees and in nose-to-nose playoff match-up leaving new york on the brink of elimination. fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. they may have had the best record in the league but the yankees are one loss away from being eliminated from the playoffs. game three in detroit, justin verlander didn't have his best

stuff but he was pretty good after allowing two runs in the first, he settled down and struck out 11. yankees trailed in the seventh when they got to verlander again. new york tied it 4-4. delmon young belted the first pitch he saw, solo shot to right. just like that tigers back on top, 5-4. two on for derek jeter. valverde had not blown a save all season and he wasn't about to blow one here. struck out jeter to end it. tigers can close out the tears tonight at 8:30 eastern. rays and rangers. texas down 1-0 in the seventh when mike napoli took david price deep. rangers up 2-1. hamilton added to the leave, drove in a pair with a single to right. texas scored four in the inning and led 4-1. jennings did all he could, hitting two home runs, second got the rays to within one. now to the ninth, tying run on board. kelly shoppach grounded into a game-ending double play. texas won it 4-3. national league playoffs continue tonight. cardinals host the phillies at 5 p.m. eastern. brewers and diamondbacks at 9:30 eastern. nfl, close between colts and bucs.

blunt took the handoff and he was gone. 35 yards to the house. that's the difference. tampa won 24-17. the colts are reeling. they're 0-4. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. a country music singer sticks his foot firmly into his mouth. early morning entertainment headlines are still ahead. plus, a marathon is a gruelling, physically exhausting competition. now imagine taking it on tied on to 61 other runners. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this tuesday morning. umbrellas needed for many people. a strong cold front comes on shore. we will watch the high winds. eventually this whole mess will move all through the west. most of the rain will be coming into oregon. as we look towards wednesday, maybe some thunderstorms mix in. if you are watching us in seattle, see pacific northwest artists reflecting the spirit of the pioneers. and now here's an early look

at this morning's headlines in entertain the. viewers of last night's monday night football may have noticed something absent. for the first time in more than two decades. the sports network pulled hank william jr.'s "are you ready for some football" song from the telecast after the country music singer compared president obama to hitler earlier in the day on fox news. espn says future usage of the tune depends on how contrite he is in the immediate future. in a statement monday, he said it was extreme but insists he was misunderstood. the sports website svnation reports madonna will perform during this year's halftime show in indianapolis. elizabeth hurley is engaged to a former australian cricket player. if she's anything like her character on "the office" you knew jenna fisher would give her baby a non-hollywood name,

weston lee. from tmj 4 in milwaukee, wisconsin, where a team effort for a good cause put one group of runners into the record books. 62 runners finished as one in sunday's lake-front marathon. literally, tethered together, they were running for jenny crane, hit by a car and severely injured while training for beijing olympics in 2007. accompanied by jenny past the finish line, they set a guinness world record. more importantly they raised over $100,000 for jenny's rehabilitation. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in chile, the capabilities of one project are astronomical. in a remote area, large antennas are gathering information about the cosmos. it's the most powerful eye on the universe. two decades in the makings the billion dollar project is a joint venture between north america, europe and east asia. the data may lead to clues about stars and the big bang theory. the modern day twist of a traditional ferris wheel is not for those with a weak stomach. the world's highest ferris wheel opened in china at 4,180 feet tall.

16 glass pods that take fearless passengers around the ledge of the tower's roof. the cars ride along an inclined horizontal track instead of being suspended so the structure can resist typhoons and earthquakes. a magician in china buried himself alive in a booth. it took nearly four tons of sand to cover all of him except the right hand, which he left free to communicate with the crowd. the goal, to endure 120 hours of the stunt. luckily, he has a very small tube that connects him to the outside for air and water. you know that right hand, it just -- it works well, doesn't it? no, i don't like that. >> that's five days at the beach. i could do that. >> it's not as easy. time for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. as part of advertising week in new york, performers portraying popular mascots including the

crash test dummies and smokey the bear will help induct the michelin man into the madison avenue advertising walk of fame. a summit on the future of music concludes in washington as musicians and policy makers examine current trends in the music industry. the most timely and controversial discussion involves copyrighting issue and their intersection with music, technology and the law. susan sarandon turns 6 5. 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 on the "today" show. amanda knox is free but are her legal troubles over? lester holt reports live from italy. ellen degeneres opens up to ann curry in a candid interview. keep it on this channel for 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.