"jimmy fallon" happening right this morning on "early today" -- remembering a visionary. people around the world mourn the loss of apple co-founder steve jobs. havoc in houston. a train and a dump truck collide sending passengers flying. and autumn blast. old man winter begins to rear its ugly head in parts of the nation. 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 the loss of steve jobs. it was news many people learned on the very devices he will be remembered for that changed the way we communicate. the tech visionary died yesterday at the age of 56, surrounded by his family. apple fans paid tribute to its iconic co-founder outside the company's headquarters in california last night as similar memorials popped up outside apple stores across the country. nbc's george lewis looks back on his life and legacy. >> reporter: he was the father of the iphone, the ipad, the apple mac computer turning gadgets into desire. >> i think you should go after more. >> as he was fond of saying, wait, there's more. >> today apple is going to be reinvent the phone. >> reporter: and people did wait. in long lines for the first

iphones in 2007. and then three years later they lined up for the ipad. changing the way people consume media. >> design plus function equals the right lifestyle. and that's what he filled. >> reporter: in 1976 jobs co-founded apple computer and within a few years was worth $100 million. in 1984 he was showing off his new pride and joy, the macintosh. >> it has turned out insanely great. >> reporter: as critics hailed the mac, jobs was on the losing end of a power struggle at his company and left apple a year later. he went into computer animation acquiring pixar studios and coming out with hit movies, starting with "toy story." >> to infinity and beyond! >> reporter: jobs came back to apple in 1996 and began reinventing the mac, dressing it up in a variety of colors. >> they looked so good you kind of want to lick them. >> reporter: concerns about the health of steve jobs began in

2004 when he underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer. in april 2009 he underwent a liver transplant. five months later back on the job at apple, he expressed his gratitude. >> i now have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs. and i wouldn't be here without such generosity. >> reporter: but then in early 2011 he announced he was taking an indefinite leave of absence for medical reasons. back in 2005 he offered this bit of advice to stanford grads. >> your time is limited. so don't waste it living someone else's life. don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. >> reporter: steve jobs, a man whose own inner voice led him to create some of the most visionary products of the internet era. jobs leaves behind a wife and four children. george lewis, nbc news, los

angeles. elsewhere this morning, sarah palin has ended months of speculation about her presidential aspirations, at least for now. in a statement issued yesterday, palin said she will not make a run for the white house in 2012. nbc's tracie potts has more from washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. the statement and video on her website talking about the fact that it was really her family when she decided not to run the impact of a national campaign on them. as she put it, i don't need a title to make a difference. so now the question, who will court the tea party vote, or who will the tea party throw support toward. her popularity had been sinking in the poles polls. she had not laid the groundwork for a national campaign, so will it help romney, perry, her main cain, who has been moving up in the polls? at the same time time, we learned that marco rubio, the florida senator, decided he will

not be a vice presidential candidate. asked about that at a forum yesterday, rubio initially said i'm not going to be the nominee. then he said, probably would turn down the opportunity and then he said he would definitely turn it down. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. it was a rough way to start the morning for houston light rail commuters. a metro train crashed into a dump truck causing passengers to be thrown from their seats. over a dozen riders and the truck driver were treated at area hospitals. a marine towing company came to the rescue of a boater in the waters off miami. the man sent out a distress call after high surf caused his vessel to begin sinking. the man was pulled to safety and his boat towed to a nearby marina. it has been half a century since the world fell in love

with brt breakfast at tiffany's and fans showed up to mark the milestone. a cold weather front in northern california unloaded as much as a foot of snow in the sierra region. wednesday's snowfall is an unusually early start to the snow season. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist, bill karins, he has a look at your weather channel forecast. those up there at mammoth are cheering, thank you. >> yes, they got a foot there. a nice video of the snow on the ski chairs. it is early with a lot of the resorts not opening up yet, but it will be a fall like last year. we saw a lot of significant snow early in the season, so maybe thanksgiving snow will be a good thing in many areas. as far as the storm system moving through the inner mountain west, overnight it really pushed quickly into utah, the wasatch range was hit pretty hard with snow in the higher

elevations. now it is moving into the higher elevations of colorado, especially near teluride. as far as idaho goes, just northern idaho dealing with rain, a little bit of snow. another little impulse is coming ashore in california, this is the end of the storm system. you can see the spin off the coast here. from eureka spreading inland there are areas of rain, and it is cold enough to see snow at the highest levels up there in northern california, too. as far as temperatures go, it is a chilly morning. 40 in salt lake city, 52 in vegas, 54 in l.a. l.a. got a quarter to half inch of rain yesterday. very windy conditions knocking down a lot of trees, and we still have power outages we are dealing with. san francisco today, showers, but everyone elseafternoon, 66

degrees. so cooler temperatures is the rule in the west. the friday forecast and a peek on your weekend is coming up. >> thank you, bill. asian markets rally, yahoo! surges and remembering a true american innovator. your business headlines straight ahead. and actress jennifer aniston puts those pesky pregnancy rumors to rest. coming up, last night's winners, a snake, a bird and a squirrel. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. u.s. labor unions have joined thousands of demonstrators in the occupy wall street protest in new york city. police say some protesters were pepper sprayed yesterday for charging at officers.

gop presidential candidate herman cain blasted the activists, calling them un-american. researchers in new york say for the very first time, they've used cloning techniques to create human embryos and produce viable stem cells. the breakthrough could be a step toward the long-sought goal of creating stem cells used to treat major diseases because they wouldn't be rejected by patients' immune systems. nasa says its kepler space telescope has found a three-planet system floating around a star similar to our sun. one of the planets is being described as a super earth that's twice the size of our own planet. and one of europe's wealthiest aristocrats, spain's 85-year-old duchess of alba married a civil servant 25 years her junior. the twice widow duchess had to win her children's approval by dividing her $4.6 billion fortune among them.

that would do it. now here's an earl i look at how wall street will start the day. the dow opens 10939 after rising 131 points yesterday. the s&p grew 20 points. the nasdaq climbed 55. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, the nikkei added 139 points while in hong kong the hang seng went up 922. as europe struggles to contain its widening debt crisis, stocks are likely to continue their wild swings. but for now, the sentiment on the street is hopeful. overnight markets across asia rallied on the heels of wall street's second straight day of gains. investors around the world are betting europe's leaders will step up their efforts to stabilize the union's ailing economies. back at home, encouraging news on service sector growth gave stocks an added boost. meanwhile, payroll processor adp said private companies added

91,000 jobs last month, driving some optimism ahead of friday's monthly jobs report. on the street energy and materials companies led the broader market higher while an analyst upgrade drove walt disney to the top of the dow's leaderboard. monsanto shot up thanks to better than expected earnings. yahoo! shares jumped 10% after reuters reported microsoft could make a play to buy the struggling search engine. blackberry maker research in motion also rose 10% on speculation it could soon come up for sale. finally, as the world mourns the loss of apple's legendary leader steve jobs, you can e-mail your personal thoughts and condolences to rememberingsteve@apple.com. the inbox will surely be filled up pretty quickly. coming up, we have some on court action for you, despite the nba lockout. plus, deja vu?

another squirrel tries to get in on the postseason in st. louis. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. hide the peanuts! the forecast in the rockies, snow at the high elevations and windy conditions. that's the worst of it. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning.

if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, it's a neck and neck fight in the national league division series with a pair of deciding games now in the lineup. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. the national league playoffs are as even as they get. the diamondbacks and cardinals both won last night to force decisive game fives. diamondbacks won both games in arizona. roberts started with a bang. he ripped a grand slam to left. d'backs up 4-1. chris young also took randy wolf deep, a solo shot. before the fans were settled in their seats, the diamondbacks were up 5-1 after one. from that point it was a seesaw battle. milwaukee scored a couple. arizona would answer. rbi single, that was it for wolf. arizona up 7-3. chris young, finishing touches, second home run of the game. diamondbacks have found their stride, forced a winner take all game five with a 10-6 win. for the second straight game a squirrel was on the loose in st. louis. dotted across home plate after

a pitch from roy oswalt. oswalt wanted the pitch back, but the squirrel just wanted a tree to climb it. from squirrels to birds, the cards got the win they needed. david freese drove in two with a double in the fourth. st. louis was up 4-2. then he scored another pair with a home run in the sixth. freese looked like pujols. four rbi and a home run. cards won 5-3. game five tomorrow in philadelphia. yankees and tigers wrap up their series tonight. ivan nova and doug fister are probables. the winner will face the rangers in the alcs. first pitch from the bronx, 8:00 p.m. eastern. how about much wnba. game two between the lynx and atlanta dream. time warning down, drilled the running three-pointer. she finished with 38. atlanta up eight at the half. no lead is safe when playing the best team in the league. the chance of mvp, samona augusta took over with 36. lynx won 101-95. they can win their first wnba

title tomorrow night. that's your first look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. who tops forbes' list of highest paid women in entertainment? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, you thought a night at the museum was exciting? try spending an entire month. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this thursday. a big storm that went through

yesterday with the gusty winds and rain is now pulling into the inner mountain west. salt lake city, it is a raw, cool day for you. snow in the higher elevations of utah. vegas could still see a shower or storm later this afternoon. san francisco, most areas will be a lot dryer today, and definitely on the cooler side. a peek at the friday forecast, we get the sun to return to much of california. still on the cool side, but we have a return of some damp weather in portland and seattle will be more showery weather, nothing too bad. if you are watching us on khl news now in honolulu, hawaii, see how a movement through photography and water with christie lee rogers at the academy art center. that's your pacific event of the day. now here's an early look at the morning's headlines in entertainment. when it comes to getting pregnant, actor jennifer aniston says there's no rush. the 42-year-old tells "elle" magazine, quote, if it's meant

to be, it's meant to be. but if it doesn't happen, no sweat. aniston has been plagued by pregnancy rumors. watch out, oprah, there's a pop star and reality star nipping at your financial heels. forbes estimates the former queen of syndicated talk earned $290 million over the past year, maintaining her place at the top of their list of entertainment's most highest earning women. but the little monsters helped propel lady gaga into second place with $90 million. former real housewife star bethenny frankel who launched her own diet and lifestyle brand came in third with $55 million. it's that extra viewership bill gives her, it is amazing. finally, there's a new muppet in town. meet lily, a 7-year-old who comes from a family that leavgg houto struggles to have enough food. this is a part of "sesame street" debuting a special on

hunger in america. you know, sesame street always does a phenomenal job highlighting issues going on. this comes to us from wmaq nbc 5 in chicago, illinois, where one man has won the right to call the museum of science and industry home sweet home. on october 19th. the welcome mat will be laid out for kevin burn, winner of the annual museum for a month contest. he beat out hundreds of people for the unique opportunity to explore the museum and all of its exhibits while living inside. burn, who works as a digital media artist, says he's excited about the prospect of living and breathing science 24/7. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. en

sometimes history is right under your nose. deep below the surface in bulgaria, archaeologists have unearthed a mosaic dating back to the third century. the depiction of a man and two women could be the region's first illustration of dionysus inside what might are been a shrine to the greek god. the design is so complex it suggests the work was created by a master. a few showers aren't such a bad thing especially when this is the result. heavy rainfall in eastern china created a spectacular cloud scape floating atop the peaks of the mountains.

tourists who have seen it call it a sea of clouds. the area is known for beautiful scenery, especially during this time of year when periods of heavy rain are quite common. so, if you're going to jump off a building, why not make a splash? an expert base jumper showed off his skills doing a flip off the tallest building in mexico, making my palms sweat, for this retired air force parachute jumper who has a record of almost 2500 jumps, the fall from the 600-foot tall building looks like just another day at the office. you know, hey, why not throw in the flip there? >> all the viewers missed when you said, make my palms sweat, you started shaking your hand. that helps with sweaty palms? >> yeah. >> if you're at a job interview, you should go like this to try to -- >> calm my nerves? exactly. it's time for an early look at some stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. congresswoman gabrielle giffords will attend a retirement ceremony for her husband, mark

kelly, hosted by joe biden at the white house. afterwards she'll return to houston where she's recovering from a gunshot wound to the head. occupy wall street protests continue across the country with marches planned in philadelphia, seattle and las vegas. the protest began with a few dozen demonstrators in new york city last month. and tonight the 2011-2012 national hockey league session kicks off with three games. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on nbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news". finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. nbc's tom brokaw and an apple co-founder reflect on the legacy of steve jobs. and the latest on the michael jackson murder trial against dr. conrad murray, including some chilly new audiotapes played in court. 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 a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com