somewhere. i promise to find it for you on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. i'll see you tomorrow! this morning on "early today," mercury rising. a large swath of the u.s. enters another day of relentless heat, but is there a light at the end of the tunnel? exit wound. shocking new video shows the moment leading up to a huge pileup on a dallas off ramp. and out with a bang. a technical glitch causes all of san diego's july 4th fireworks a technical glitch causes all of san diego's july 4th fireworks to go off at once. 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 going to extremes. now relief could be in sight for millions of americans who have endured nearly a week of

record-breaking heat, but the dangerous heat wave forecast to break this weekend in many parts of the country is still not over yet. nbc's dan sheneman has the story. >> reporter: 92 degrees before 9:00 a.m. another hot day just beginning in chicago. the temperature eventually soared to 103. a new record. two degrees shy of the city's all-time record. this is blamed for the buckling pavement. >> it's happening across the country, wisconsin to the east. >> reporter: no relief. chicago public schools cancel all summer school classes. it's the same for the rest of the nation from 102 in south carolina to 1 0e p in milwaukee. to make matters worse, hundreds of millions of americans are in their sixth day. they're still waiting for relief from the heat and their frustration. >> when they told me july 8th this morning, i cried. i couldn't believe it. i actually had broken at that

point. >> reporter: forecasters say that relief may come soon. >> by the end of this weekend and by the end of next week it will feel much more comfortable, especially for the middle of the country. >> reporter: cooler temperatures without rain will do little to help the dry conditions affecting 2/3 of the country, about 200 million people. >> by now this corn should be 8 feet technical. >> reporter: his farm hasn't had rain since april 15th. >> we're considering this a total loss. >> reporter: the government reports the nation's corn crop is in the worst shape and prices are up 35% in five weeks. elsewhere, president obama has hit the road on a two-day re-election bus tour. he started off in ohio seen as a key state in his campaign against republican mitt romney and it's probably no coincidence that ohio's economic recovery has been one of the strongest in the nation. nbc's steve hand dels men has more. >> reporter: kicking off his bus trip to the battle grounds of

ohio and pennsylvania, president obama went near toledo ohio and detroit. it's blue collar carnegie country. he claims he saved a million auto industry jobs. >> governor romney said we should just let detroit go bankrupt. >> that's what he said. >> i refused to turn my back on communities like this one. and three years later the american auto industry is coming roaring back. >> reporter: unemployment in ohio and pennsylvania is now almost a point below the national average. mitt romney knows no republican has won the white house without winning ohio. as romney took time off to go boating, two men said to be under consideration as romney running mates, tim pawlenty and bobby ginzel went to ohio to counter the obama trip. >> half of our graduates will be unemployment or under employed coming out of college. >> with obamacare he promised health care costs would go down

and no one would lose their health insurance and they could keep t. now all the credible studies show that health care costs are going up. >> reporter: but the president figures the popularity of his health care plan is going up since the supreme court ruled it constitutional. >> i'll work with anybody who wants to work with me to continue to improve our health care system and our health care laws, but the law i passed is here to stay. >> reporter: a fight over health care and jobs in a battleground state. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news. in florida a $1 million bail has been set for george zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed 17-year-old trayvon martin. his original $150,000 bond was revoked after the judge ruled he and his wife weren't honest about their finances. yesterday the judge said the higher amount was necessary to ensure that zimmerman would show up for his trial on second degree murder charges. zimmerman's attorneys say he

can't make the bail and are making a plea for online donations. well, now here is a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in dallas, newly released video shows the moment of impact when a small commuter bus slammed into four cars on a highway off ramp. you can see there the force of the chain reaction crash which injured two people. it also appears to show the driver of the bus not hitting the brakes until it was too late. police investigators say that the driver was not paying attention. in tennessee, a pent at that costal church pastor has no plans to stop using live snakes. he does so in violation of a state law forbidding the possession of ven ne mouse snakes. the pastor admits he's been bitten four times. church members are allowed to come up and handle the serpents. the pastor says you don't pick up a snake unless the spirit moves you. and finally in st. louis, it

has belly ache written all over it. a two foot long hot dog is being rolled out at busch stadium and it's being called the giant slugger appropriately. it's larger than five jumbo hot dogs and weighs a pound. that is before you add the chilly and other toppings. it's going to cost pretty big bucks too. $26 for a hot dog. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> i'm guessing you're more afraid of that hot dog than you are the snake? >> no. >> no? >> absolutely not. i'm not that bad, bill. >> okay. good morning, everyone. whose opinion here? >> yeah. >> here's what we're dealing with out there across the country. the heat wave of course is the big story. some of the heat, not all of it, not the peak of it, a little piece of it is going to build in the west. and the ridge will build in the west along with some of the hottest temperatures of the summer. so far we've seen nine days in a row now of 100 degree plus heat.

st. louis, louisville, chicago working on four days in a row. this was yesterday's high temperature. 100 degree heat from kansas all the way to virginia. today we have heat warnings all of the same areas. today we'll probably peak out in areas like chicago. cooler weather expected there over the weekend. 103 in chicago. 107 in st. louis. the west is starting to warm up. 93 in boise. now the heat will expand because the ridge will build. there's no storm. pretty much free of any clouds. the only cloud cover is right along the immediate coastal beaches. that will be cooler. look at this, 96 boise. portland, up to the mid 80s. enjoy the start of a along the coast. coastal cities like san diego, no big warmup for you. we could see triple digits in

some areas that haven't seen it this summer in the northwest. >> unfortunately for them. all right, bill. thanks so much. coming up, wall street waits on june job. the retailer that sold well when others didn't and the world's most expensive divorce settlement. your early morning business headlines straight ahead. an a list cast, original story and why does this film have no chance at the box office this weekend? the knicks signed a future hall-of-famer and serena muscles her way into the final at wimbledon. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some top stories this morning. the u.s. and its allies are threatening bashar al-assad's government with global sanctions. a syrian general from assad's inner circle has reportedly defected.

a new parliamentary report in japan has found that the fukushima nuclear crisis was a disaster it resulted from the a collusion from the plant operator and the government. a new satellite view shows the scorched earth left by the waldo canyon fire surrounded by the red false color image of trees and plants. firefighters are getting some relief today. help from heavy rains. and, oops, in san diego where the big fireworks display was really big on the fourth of july. the entire evening's fireworks exploded all at once due to a technical glitch. england's prince william has been given scotland's highest honor. queen elizabeth, prince philip and william's wife kate attended the ceremony, the order of thistle second only to the order

of garter. here's an early look. the dow opens at 12,896 after losing 47 points. the s&p was down 6. the nasdaq added a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading. in tokyo, the nikkei dipped 49 points while in hong kong the hang seng fell 8. stocks edged lower thursday on jiters over job numbers coming out later today. june's government employment data is expected to show the economy added an anemic 90,000 jobs with worry over european debt keeping hiring down. that will likely increase concerns the recovery here is losing steam. light post holiday volume along with the job worries put an end to the s&p 500's strongest three run. jpmorgan chase fell over 4%. bank of america was up 3. ahead of today's broader job numbers, thursday's data showing stronger private hiring drew little attention.

investors were also unmoved by chinese, european and english moves to lower rates which set the euro lower against the dollar. the service sector slowing to a 2.5 years low in june. they're convinced that european debt is strangling growth here and abroad. meanwhile, spain's ten year borrowing cost rose despite the euro's latest emergency blan. costco's, mace si's, coles and target were a among the lower disappointing sales. t,x bucked that trend jumping on a boost. orasure zoomed 10% over news the food & drug administration approved its home hiv test which starts selling in october. with all of that talk about tom cruise and katie homes divorci divorcing, cnbc remientsds us

rupert murdock and anna, he paid her $1.7 billion after their 1999 split. what could be worse? coming up, the nats sweep. youkilis gets more comfortable in white sox and record aces at wimbledon. plus, the mets improbable ninth inning comeback against the phil lease closer. your early morning sports coming up ahead. no one wants this weekend to end. we want this heat wave to end. that will happen. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, dashed in their attempts to sign point guard steve nash, the nba's new york knicks settled for a sure fire future hall-of-famer. here's mario solis with an early look at your sports headlines. good morning. another day. another big signing in the nba. jason kidd is leaving dallas and heading to the big apple. has a verbal agreement to sign a three-year, $9 million deal with the knicks. new york gets an aging hall-of-famer and they may lose a budding perennial all-star. according to reports the rockets have offered jeremy lin, a 4 year, $30 million contract. the knicks have until july 14th to match it. another quick note, the clippers have pulled out of the

ray allen sweepstakes and say they came to terms with chauncey billups. alan met with miami yet. baseball now. thrilling ending between the phils and mets. new york down one with two outs in the ninth. sax full. he scrambles but can't make the play. everyone is safe. in comes a run. mets tie it at 5. david wright ends it on the very next pitch. gets the rbi bloop single to fall. mets get to pap pal bon. cheer up, philly fangs. ryan howard is expected to make his season debut tonight. similar situation between the nats and giants. adam laroche wins it. grounder to second. a double play but can't pull it off. in comes the winning run. nats rally to sweep the giants 6-5. not a bad week for kevin youkilis. walk off on the fourth of july and smacks his second home run as a member of the white sox yesterday. bomb to right gives chicago the lead. that was the difference. they beat the rangers 2-1.

finally, serena williams muscles her way into the women's final at wimbledon blasting the tournament record 24 aces against victoria azuranka. only fitting she ends the match with another ace. she'll try to win her fifth wimbledon title tomorrow. that's your look at sports on "early today." spider man weaves his web around the box office. plus, everyone loves new puppies, right? well, that theory is being put to a big test by one north carolina family. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." here's a look at your weekend forecast. we get to see if our air conditions work this weekend in areas of the northwest. 80 in seattle, 84 in portland. getting very warm from boise to salt lake city. as we go through the weekend, saturday, triple digit heat, boise. 97 medford. 87 in portland. by the time we get to sunday's forecast i think we could be up to 104 in boise. talking about serious heat for one of the first times in the summer in the northern rockies. if you're watching us on action news in california, in nearby monterey explore a world where jelly fish dance at the jellies experience. bill, thanks so much. here's an early look at this

morning's headlines in entertainment. the latest crime fighting super hero has taken all of the suspense out of the top film. the amazing spider-man has made its top office boon. it's taken in 60 million bucks. this weekend it will take in 60 million or more. it could easily finish number one. katy perry, "part of me" is a mix of interviews, backstage scenes and concert footage all of which will appeal to teen and pre-teen girls. being in 3-d will bring in more money. >> if it's in 3-d i'm going. >> it's expected to finish in the mid teen millions. you'll be in good company, bill. oliver stone's drug drama "savages" has an original story just like the type of hollywood movie that's not made enough of. >> yeah. >> tough to find one like that. with its opening schedule this weekend it will be challenged by

a comic book blockbuster. the "r" rating may keep it low at 10 million. this comes to us from witn news in north carolina. greenville they will need to bring in the dog food by the truckloads. a great dane named bella gave birth to 17 puppies. >> crazy. >> not surprisingly, her owners didn't expect bella to deliver that many. even when they thought she was done, she still had two more to go and now the owner is hoping to find new homes for the litter of puppies. they're pretty cute. hopefully that won't be too much of a problem. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in london, europe's tallest tower was unveiled in spectacular fashion. last night, the 1016 food shard tower was bathed in light by 12 lasers and 23 power full lights. >> can we rename it? >> to what? >> i don't know. >> it ended the inug gaur rags of a building which looks like a taper of glass which is why it's named shard. german designers came up with a unique and moving way to show off their latest fashions. as part of berlin fashion week, new collections were being presented inside a moving subway. the underground fashion show appropriately starred urban, punc, rock star models strutting their stuff along with tattoos

and piercings. finally, there's a concert underway in germany none of us will ever hear finish. it's billed as the world's longest concert. it started in 2001. it's not scheduled to finish until the year 2640. they're playing every note very slowly. the 12th note in the concert began yesterday. it will play constantly until october of next year. >> it's going to reverberate. >> yeah. >> for a very long time. >> that's going to be really annoying. it's time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. secretary of state hillary clinton is in paris meeting with the so-called friends of syria. representatives of more than 90 countries are coordinating western and arab efforts to stop syrian violence that has led to more than 10,000 deaths since last year. the department of education is set to announce wisconsin and washington will join 24 other states that have been granted wavers from some no child left

behind provisions. the federal law requires all children achieve proficient math and reading scores by 2015. tibetan spiritual leader the dalai lama turns 77. gentleman all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and more as they break on msnbc. tonight watch brian williams with ""nbc nightly news."" here's what's coming up on "the today show." a husband convicted of drowning his wife speaks out for the first time now that his conviction has been overturned. rapper, slow rider will perform live on the plaza. keep it on this channel for news, weather sports and more. i'm lynn berry. just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com