this morning on "early today" -- a gathering storm. tropical storm debby with treacherous wind and waves along florida's gulf coast. historic results. cheers erupt in tahrir square after the results are announced in egypt's first democratic election. friend or foe. a pair go paw to paw on a front friend or foe. a pair go paw to paw on a front lawn. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> announcer: this is "early today" for monday, june 25, 2012. hello and very good morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with a storm warning.

heavy rain and winds are lashing forward as west coast as tropical storm debby churns in the gulf of mexico. the slow moving storm has already been blamed for at least one death. nbc's jay gray joins us from pensacola, florida. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning from the gulf. tropical storm debby is stationary, churning in the waters but the surf and the wind definitely building here as is krng along the coast right now. tropical storm debby continues to gather strength in the warm water of the gulf, the fourth named storm of this young season well offshore but already delivering a stern warning of what's to come. waves, strong winds and driving rain, the surf already pouring over roads and under beach houses in dolphin island, alabama. forecast models aren't clear when or where debby could make landfall but it has the potential for hurricane category 1 when it does strike. and fema is urging those on the gulf coast to be prepared. >> water and battery and flashlights.

that's about it. just canned food maybe. >> reporter: the system has spawned several tornadoes and is being blamed for at least one death in southwest florida where twisters have already split trees and damaged homes. damage that many worry that it could be an early warning of what debby has in store for the gulf coast. many worry it's also a sign this is going to be a rough hurricane season. debby is the fourth named storm already this year. the first time ever that's happened, four named stormed before the 1st of july. live in pensacola, i'm jay gray. back to you. nbc meteorologist bill karins has been tracking debby for us. and a heat wave coming to the west. first, residents out west dealing with another emergency. more than 20 major wild fires burning in colorado springs. a fast-moving fire forced the

evacuation of 11,000 tourists on wednesday. billowing smoke and flames surrounded homes outside of colorado springs. hundreds of firefighters battled the wild fire that scorched more than 2,000 acres and is getting into homes and parks. it's one of eight wild fires burning in colorado. the worst fire season in a decade. >> this isn't something we haven't seen before but it is unusual to see a fire with this potential. >> reporter: the biggest, the high park fire outside of fort collins, has been burning for two weeks. charred more than 81,000 acres, destroyed more than 200 homes and displaced hundreds of residents. >> it's really one of those days where if we have nothing really lost and we've gained acres, it's darn good. >> reporter: in utah near salt lake city firefighters are starting to get a handle on the

so-called dump fire possibly sparked by shooters. with the fire season getting started, they know they have a long summer ahead. michelle franzen, nbc news. overseas now, egypt's first freely elected president is expected to meet today which last week took away most of the major powers of the president's office. islamist candidate mohamed morsi won with more than 51% of a vote. he carried the message of unity and pledged international accords including those with neighboring israel. his supporters are vowing to stay in tahrir square. president obama called morsi to congratulate him on his win. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in florida, people were doing a double take after seeing a pair of bears fighting. they got into a wrestling match right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. even wildlife officials who

watched the video say they've rarely seen anything like that. after their brawl the bears eventually just wandered off. in south dakota storm chasers captured an unusual tornado on video. the massive white funnel cloud rained hail as it made its way outside of a farm in ardmore. a few outbuildings were destroyed. no one was hurt. in indianapolis you could say they like the sun so much they put a ring on it. actually, the ring was a halo effect created when sunlight passes at a certain angle through cirrus clouds creating that circular rainbow effect. dogs weren't trying to stay cool, they were making a big splash. they competed to see how far they could make it from jumping from a dock to a pool. they cleared 24 feet before getting soaked. very nice. now for a look at your national and regional weather,

here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. dog days of summer are here. >> that water was boiling. it evaporated. >> the heat rise. >> yeah, exactly. it's been incredibly extreme if you want to call it that across the west. in the northwest it's been cool, cloudy, damp. we've got record heat in the middle of the country and now we've got a tropical storm in the gulf of mexico. this one really caused a lot of problems in florida. thankfully it won't be all that intense as we go throughout the next couple of days but it will linger in this area. people that took vacation time with the kids for the summer break, this storm will linger here and send bands of rain to the theme parks and everywhere else. i mentioned the heat in the extremes in the west. little unbelievable that salt lake city was 100 degrees. you go not too far away, boise was only 86. 67 in seattle. big temperature difference just depends where you are right now the way the winds are coming from. you can see a little cutoff low. this has lingered for about four

days. this is what's responsible for keeping the cool flow. as we go throughout this week it will slowly begin to improve. it will still remain pretty cool in the northwest even through the next six to ten days while the heat doesn't show any signs of breaking for the inner mountain west and heading into the plains. today, another day near 100 in salt lake city. denver will have its fourth 100 degree day. phoenix, 107. pretty typical this time of year for you. with the upper level low, there will be a chance of showers and storms but it won't be an all around oregon. if you get breaks of sunshine, don't be surprised if you get a rumble of thunder or two this afternoon. tuesday forecast coming up. >> good stuff?

>> leave it at that. >> stay tuned. health care hangs in the balance. a belgian brewer goes south of the border and which summer dip is your best barbecue deal? plus, one new release hits the box office while another gets staked. red sox trade kevin youkilis and you're going to the olympics. this is "early today."

very good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. turkey is still searching for the pilot of a plane shot down by syria in the mediterranean friday and called for an emergency nato meeting over the incident. tensions are high as syria's military yesterday continued to attack areas held by opposition forces. in oklahoma, three railroad workers are still missing after a collision between two freight trains. two engineers and a conductor are unaccounted for.

in canada, search teams hope to resume looking for people trapped in the rubble after a roof collapsed at a mall on saturday. one is feared dead and the other trapped inside but the structure is too unstable for rescuers to go in. alex trebek is expected to fully recover from a mild heart attack saturday in los angeles. the 71-year-old is expected to return for another "jeopardy!" season starting in july. and the iconic giant tortoise known as lonesome george died sunday at the galapagos park off the coast of ecuador. he was the last of his subspecies of tortoise and was believed to be about 100 years old. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12640 after adding 67 points friday. the s&p gained 9. the nasdaq gained 3.

the nasdaq climbed 33. taking a look at overseas trading, tokyo's nikkei dipped 63 and in hong kong the hang seng fell 97. nation's highest court wraps up its current term this week. a landmark ruling on health care could be a big market mover. wall street is waiting on the supreme court's decision on whether the president's health care bill is constitutional. overseas this morning, asian markets drifted lower as doubts grow about a major breakthrough at euro summit. they convened trying to find common ground over the region's ongoing debt crisis. earnings front, results on deck from nike, general mills and research in motion, which according to the london sunday times is considering splitting in two. we also get new home sales data and prices. the average price of a gallon of gas has dropped 15 cents over the past two weeks.

it's now down to $3.48 a gallon. and anheuser-busch could be expanding its brewer. they're reported in talks to take over corona for $12 billion. your summer cookout could cost you a little more. hot dog prices are up only a penny but the leanest ground beef will run you about 5% more than last year, while wholesale chicken is up about 10%. but feel free to pile on the gauc because avocado prices are down this year. gotta love the guac. one oakland a's rookie hits his first big league homer and makes it count. plus, the white sox rob a home run and all-star infielder. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. tropical storm debby will continue to drench the southeast and the heat in the middle of the country is ridiculous. your forecast coming up. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night major league baseball's only knuckleball was no match for the yankees who held on to beat the mets in the subway series' rubber game. here's nbc's mario solis with a look at all your sports

headlines. >> hi, good morning. yankees and mets slugged it out last night. in the end, the reining home run derby champ. delivered the knockout punch. robinson cano steps in and out, solo shot to straightaway center. that's the difference. yanks win 6-5. boston, cody ross was a one-man wrecking crew, hit a home run in the fifth. hammering this one over the green monster. ross had five rbi. kevin youkilis had been a subject of trade rumors. rips an rbi triple into the gap. would that be his last member as a member of the red sox? yes, he was traded to the white sox after the game. boston beat atlanta 9-4. call it call it coincidence, fate, but red sox wore striped jerseys and corey hart is robbed of a home run. scoreless until the tenth. two or for escobar and he we

he ends it with a walk-off single. white sox win 1-0 in ten. battle of the bay. giant and a's. derek norris picked a perfect time to hit his first major league home run. end with a three-run bomb in the ninth. a's walk off with a 4-2 win. nascar, clint bowyer held off tony stewart to take the checkered flag. kurt busch finished third. high drama at the olympic trials. women's 100 meter final. keep an eye at the top of your screen. felix and tarmo finished in a dead heat for third place. only the top three get a trip to london. yesterday race officials decided the final spot will be determined by either a runoff or a simple coin toss. i don't know about you, but i would prefer rock, paper, scissors. that's a look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. family films continue their box office domination this weekend. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, mirror, mirror on the

wall, who is the ugliest of them all? you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." hope you had a wonderful weekend. the hot weather continues all through the inner mountain west. montana, billings, 101 degrees. cooler around boise. salt lake city. utah and nevada, very hot. cooler on the coast line of san

francisco. we're still looking at showers and even straight thunderstorms especially this afternoon in the northwest. tomorrow it looks like medford dries out. you'll get warmer. we're still lingering with showers because of that upper level low. they cool it off in salt lake city too. little bit of hope. if you're watching us on kftr news source 16 in eugene, oregon, encounter different animals and ecosystems. you travel through underwater walkways at past sajsf that's your pacific event of the day. if i was there, i would go. i love a care yums. >> me too. you can't go wrong with them. >> sting ray is my favorite. >> mine too. we have something in common. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment news. you could say things got highly animated at the box office over the weekend. pixar's "brave" pulled in a whopping 6 6 $66.6 million.

the fairytale film about a scottish princess skewed female but did well with the men/boys. the two-week champ "madagascar 3" took in $20 million in the third weekend to land in second place and "abraham lincoln" came in third. it had a soft $16.5 million. considering the $68 million price tag, fox executives hope this movie will have legs in the coming weeks. finally, the number ten spot "seeking a friend for the end of the world" with steve carell and keira knightley, that crashed and burned with $3.8 million. was that on your go see list? >> not anymore. i think the verdict is out. >> i know. is there anything on your go see list? madagascar 3? >> spiderman. i want to go the first weekend. >> oh, wow. big fan. this now comes to us from kntv nbc news. the theory that all dogs are

cute, you can say it's been put to the test. this year's winner of the world's ugliest dog contest is an 8-year-old chinese crested is mugly as in ugly. he came from england to show off his less than perfect looks after winning a similar contest years ago. they took home $1,000 and a year supply of dog cookies. every year it's a chinese crested. >> yeah. the hairless dogs just creep people out. >> why? >> they just -- >> they're so sweet. >> like the hairless cat. >> i love dogs. >> no, they're fine. he is cute. you know, he's got a great outfit. >> very sweet. that's as nice as i'll say. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in france, visitors to versailles were treated to a light show like no other. at a music festival celebrating the works of handel fire works were launched in time with the most amazing pieces. dancers performed fetes on floating boats that floated down the grand canal. the show was one even marie antoinette may have approved of. in france one competition has competitors going to great heights. elite divers competed in the first of several meets in the 2012 cliff diving world series. athletes bounded from a 0 foot flat form executing somersaults, flips and twists before diving into the water before. the winner performed an amazing back triple somersault with three twists.

one, two -- maybe that wasn't the winner. finally if you're headed to finland you may want to pack sunscreen, a couple of sleeping masks because in the northern part of the country the sun doesn't set for 60 days during the summer. the phenomenon occurs in latitudes north of the arctics, south of the antarctic circle. residents celebrate by relaxing in hot tubs, bonfires. i have relatives in sweden and they called me at midnight once and they were at the beach. >> i can't relate to it. i know our friends in alaska and they deal with it. i lived in maine and the sunday set at 3:30. >> time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow on nbc. time now for an early look at some stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. as we mentioned earlier, the u.s. supreme court could hand down decisions on the constitutionality of president obama's health care law. as well as arizona's controversial immigration law as

early as today. in florida, the miami heat will take part in a victory parade to celebrate the team's championship win over the oklahoma city thunder. today marks one month until the opening competition of the summer olympics in london women's soccer matches will be held two days before the opening ceremony. you can watch exclusive coverage of the games on networks of nbc universal. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. 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. the 68-year-old bus monitor who was captured on video being bullied by students speaks out. the cast of the amazing "spider-man" swings by to preview their upcoming movie. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, sports and more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you 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 terrific monday.

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