i'm jim cramer. see you tomorrow. this morning on "early today," low and slow. isaac delivers a deluge of devastation to the gulf coast. on the attack. paul ryan slams president obama as he accepts the republican nomination for vice president. and on-air scare. a bat makes its tv debut, causing chaos in a canadian a bat makes its tv debut, causing chaos in a canadian newsroom. 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 disaster area.

danielle lee has the latest on new orleans. good morning. >> reporter: between morning. after more than 24 hours of relentless rain, we're finally getting a small break in the storm. a downed street light, blown out windows and damaged signs here, but that's not the case for other parts of the city. rooftops are all that are seen in some parts of the city. hundreds are stauing in shelters. isaac i may not have had the strength of hurricane scene narks b scene nark ykatrina, but it's l thousands in can despair. the national guard had to rescue dozens stranded in top floors of their homes after a waufl water

toppled over the 18 mile local levee. despite isaac's determination, the federal levees prepared following katrina have done their job, sparing much of new orleans significant flooding. >> we have for reason to believe that that system will be compromised. >> reporter: still, metro new orleans is littered by downed street lights, fallen trees and debris from buildings. isaac left at least 60 respect about of the city without power. tired but holding ons as the storm continues it assault. many of the stores here hope to reopen later today. luckily i'm standing in one of the few areas that did not lose power. and because this area relies heavily on tourism, they would like to not miss out on that labor day weekend travel if possible p. in new orleans, danielle lee. back to you. well, in tampa, it was paul

ryan's return to criticize president obama and rev up the republican national convention. tracie potts joins us with that story. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning, everyone. you'll see, maybe hear some of the construction going on behind me. that is a brand new stage being wilt f built for mitt romney's speech. this morning the stage is literally being set for mitt romney's arrival tonight. but last night as romney watched from indiana, his running mate was the star of this republican show. >> i accept the duty to help lead our nation out of a jobs crisis and back to prosperity. >> reporter: paul ryan jumped right into one of the most controversial issues, a big one for florida seniors, his plan to have them buy their own health insurance under medicare. >> medicare is a promise and we will honor it. mitt romney and i know the difference between protecting a program and raiding it. >> reporter: on foreign policy, there was sharp criticism of

president obama. >> the president has discouraged our friends and emboldened our enemies. >> reporter: and a strong especially drsme endorsement from a former secretary of state. >> our military ability and technological advances will be safe in mitt romney's hands. >> reporter: next romney tonight. analyst wills say the middle class will be listening. >> it's not about likability, it's about jobs, about how i'm going to pay my bills, it's about addressing the problems right now. >> reporter: substance over style, that's what analysts say voters will be looking for here tonight. >> thanks so much. well, now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in los angeles, surveillance video shows police knocking a woman who was handcuffed down to the ground, and they did it twice. the woman had been pulled over for using a cell phone while driving. well, the officers have been taken off the street during the investigation, and their supervisor has been stripped of his command for not doing more to respond to the incident. well, in florida, they are calling him the ninja bandit.

investigators say a masked man has robbed at least a dozen gas stations and mini marts. he puts a gun to the back of his victims' heads, and police say he's acting more dangerously with every robbery. in florida, nasa launched a pair of satellites this morning. the $686 million mission will study how the sun affects the earth's radiation belt. and, finally, in kentucky, halloween came more than a month early as louisville held its annual zombie attack. crowds young and old did their best impression of the undead as they roamed the streets, capping it off with a screening of what else, "return of the living dead." now let's get a check of your national and regional weather with bill karins where you are continuing to keep an eye down there on the gulf coast states. >> 36 hours after landfall, still a tropical storm, still causing a lot of water issues.

rainfall and still surge issues as the winds are coming out of the south and piling the water up there in the north shore of lake pofshlg traintchartraipont. flash flood emergency for the city of slidell. they have pumps there but a one pumping station has been overwhelmed and water is now going into the city. they're expecting two to four feet of water. so a lot of homes there in the south and central portions of that city, 27,000 people live there and a lot of them are evacuating right now. here's a picture of the storm heading just outside of bat ton rou rouge. we've had a good wide area here pick up a good 6 to 10 inches of rain. heard one report of a location that picked up 16 incheses. that was the highest. and the strong winds are still coming out of the south. the water falling over the land tries to rush down into the

gulf, it can't because all the winds are still piling up the water on the coast. that's why the water issues continue to get worst. in the sacramento in the mid-90s, too. so it will feel like middle summer. we'll have an update on isaac and talk about your friday forecast coming up. also coming up, the economy grows. oil falls. and the place you really feed to worry about computer privacpriv. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus back in the usa following a controversial world tour, madonna is sounding quite the patriot. yankees are free falling, dodgers get a lift from an

unexpected source, plus lance armstrong stands up for himself. 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. the president of egypt, mohamed morsi, is in iran today for the summit meeting of the 120-nation non-align movement. it is the first iran visit by an egyptian leader in decades. in florida, an appeals court has agreed to have a new judge for george zimmerman's trial because the previous judge went too far with some negative remarks. zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of black teenager trayvon martin. in los angeles, 11 people were injured, including 9 children when a car backed into a sidewalk. the 100-year-old driver said he was sorry, blaming brake failure. he was not arrested. the worst drivers in the u.s. are in washington, d.c.,

according to an annual survey by allstate insurance, which say drivers there go only 4.7 years between accidents. meanwhile the safest drivers are in sioux falls, south dakota, where the average driver has a crash only once every 13.8 years. and glad this wasn't us. in canada a bat made a guest appearance flying through a studio during a tv newscast in ottawa. a young woman, a brave young woman who works in the newsroom eventually helped escort the bat out a side door. all right. and now here's an early look at how wall street's going to kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,107 after adding 4 points yesterday. the s&p was up a point. the nasdaq gained 4. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei skidded 86 points, while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 235. well, better economic growth and stronger housing sales nudged stocks higher wednesday. thanks to rising consumer spending in exports, the economy

grew at a 1.7% annual rate from april through june, higher than the initial government estimate. separately the fed's beige book survey showed the economy expanded gradually in july and early august with improvement in housing and retail sales. also sales of previously owned homes jumped over 2% in july to its highest level since 2010. still, despite all that good news, gains were only modest as traders continue to wait for tomorrow's speech by fed chief ben bernanke and any hints of another round of central bank stimulus. the past four sessions have been the slowest in trade all year. the market's volatility index sticks at a five-year low. oil fell after an unexpected rise in stockpiles and the passing of hurricane isaac. insurer wellpoint rose 8% after its ceo resigned. food packager sealed air jumped 12% on news a former dow

chemical exec will take over when its current ceo retires. yelp zoomed up 23% as investors held onto the stock despite it being the first day ipo buyers could sell. clothing chain joseph a. banks soared 14% after posting strong sales in revenue. jewelry retailer zales gained over 5% after forecasting a return to profitability. and, finally, while many worry about facebook privacy and home computer security, perhaps we should all be more concerned about work. a 2011 survey found over half of u.s. employers are monitoring their employees' computer use. so time to stop using that solitaire, everyone. well, coming up, a grand slam, replacement refs remain, and words from a fallen champion. plus, the washington nationals' cocky rookie shows why he has a right to be. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. starting on friday isaac will bring beneficial rains to the drought areas. i'll tell you who coming up.

you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports unable to notch consecutive wins since mid-august, the yankees continue to lose their grip on first place yesterday with a loss to the toronto blue jays.

here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. last month the yankees appeared to be running away with the a.l. east. now it's more of a slow crawl. the bronx bombers have been free-falling, losing seven of their last ten. the blue jays' yunel escobar had a field day in new york, a home run and driving in five. toronto wins 8-5. orioles missed a golden opportunity to inch closer to the yanks. the white sox hit the ground running in baltimore. four runs in the first and go on to win, 8-1. tampa's hot on baltimore's tail. evan longoria hit a pair of home runs in texas. rays win, 8-4. they're a half game in back of the o's. the nats' bryce harper added another accomplishment to his impressive rookie resume. two homers last night against the marlins. it's his first multi-homer game. the nationals stamp a five-game skid with an 8-4 win. with all the offensive firepower with the dodgers, you wouldn't expect a.j. ellis to drive in four runs.

first career grand slam. dodgers beat the rockies, 10-8. it's official. the nfl will open the regular season with replacement officials. negotiations are at a standstill with the league and the nfl referee association. of course, the regular season kicks off next wednesday with the cowboys and giants on nbc. and, finally, less than a week after he said he would not challenge doping charges against him, lance armstrong spoke at a cancer summit in montreal where he felt the need to reintroduce himself. >> my name is lance armstrong. i am a cancer survivor. i've been asked to come up here and talk about my story of survivorship. i'm a father of five, and, yes, i won the tour de france seven times. >> of course, the u.s. anti-doping agency has stripped armstrong of those seven titles, but armstrong says he knows in his heart he won them all and they can't be taken away. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. well, why lindsay lohan was banned from her favorite hotel

and why ryan gosling is not just another pretty face. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, here you expect to see signs, buttons, and lots of goofy hats, but love? you're watching "early today."

continuing to watch isaac. still a very large storm. bands of rain off the gulf all

the way from florida to louisiana. arkansas will be getting some of that heavy rain. no flooding concerns there. we need to fill up the lakes and rivers. as far as the western forecast goes, slight chance of a few storms, vegas up to salt lake city and utah. as we look at your friday forecast, pretty similar to today. what you see is what you get over the next two days. if you're watching us news source 16, in new porport, see photography at beauty and the birds. that's at the oregon coast aquarium. >> bill, thanks so much. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. well, lindsay lohan's problems just keep piling up. yesterday lohan was banned by her favorite hollywood hotel, the chateau marmont, for allegedly failing to pay a $46,000 bill. tmz reports lohan thought the

producers of her liz taylor lifetime movie were covering the bill. meanwhile the bill itself shows some interesting charges. $686 for cigarettes, and over $3,000 for the mini bar. all right. after a ten-episode summer run, fx has ordered another 90 episodes of charlie sheen's comedy "anger management." well, kicking off the first leg of her summer tour in philadelphia after talking about the recent arrest of three russian punk rockers, madonna told the crowd tuesday night they should, quote, never forget how lucky you are to live where you live and to have the freedom that you have. and, finally, add writing and directing to ryan gosling's already impressive resume. he'll direct christina hendricks in the fantasy film "how to catch a monster," which he also wrote. and this comes to us from tampa where at the republican national convention, mitt romney and paul ryan weren't the only pair grabbing attention.

a convention manager proposed to his girlfriend right on the main stage using video screens to help pop the question. nicely done. along with the showbiz flair, he also got down on one knee, as it should be, and he popped the big question the traditional way. and much like the candidates, the bride-to-be accepted the nomination. so of course they were asked if romney would be invited to the wedding. the bride said is he going to pay for the wedding? no pressure. never heard where you have to pay to attend. but it would work. all right. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

well, two giant pandas in china have their bags packed. they're ready to go. veterinarians performed final health checks as they prepare for their new life in singapore. china has been sending pandas to different countries since the 1950s in what has become known as panda diplomacy. the pair is being sent to singapore for ten years with the hopes that they will eventually breed. in india, the king of pop is being remembered in sand. students created a sand memorial of the late pop icon michael jackson who would have turned 54 yesterday. the sculpture required 90 pounds of sand and includes some of jackson's trademarks like his hat and, of course, the white gloves. the entertainer is responsible for the best-selling album of all time, "thriller." of course, he died in 2009. and, finally, one festival in spain will have you seeing red. 40,000 people pelted each other

with almost 265,000 pounds of tomatoes in what's billed as the world's largest tomato fight. the event turns the small town into a red sea of mush every year. local legend claims it all started when a group of youngsters waged a food fight in the town square during the mid-1940s. this gives me an idea. normally we do pillow fights here at "early today." >> we do? >> so we're going to switch to tomato fights. go with it, bill. go with it. >> what would you rather do? run with the bulls or tomato fights? >> tomato fights because you're not going to get killed in a tomato fight. >> i'm running with the bulls. >> of course, you are. it's time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. former university of virginia lacrosse player george huguely will be sentenced for the 2010 killing yeardley love, a member of the women's lacrosse team he had been dating. jurors recommended huguely be given 26 years in prison after convicting him of second-degree murder and grand larceny. globe-trotting secretary of

state hillary clinton will pass up next week's democratic convention, departing on an 11-day trip with an itinerary that will include the cook islands, indonesia, china, brunei, and russia. and happy birthday to actress cameron diaz who turns 40. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and more 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. a woman in her 50s is set to deliver her own grandchild after medical issues prevented her daughter from carrying her own baby. this morning the family shares their story. and england's cher lloyd invades the u.s. and the plaza singing her summer hit "want you back" live. 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. the day, today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com