good wednesday morning. coming up, trigger man, police records point to former patriot aaron hernandez, but he maintains he is not guilty. billions in aid, two saudi nations use foreign aid to further their own agenda in egypt. the profanities fly in the whitey bulger racketeering ce as his once loyal apprentice calls him a rat. plus, car thieves' top ten targets are all american cars. asiana pilots relied on auto controls before landing and here comes chantal. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for wednesday, july 10th. good morning. i'm richard lui. a slew of just released documents paint former nfl start aaron hernandez as the trigger man in the murder case he's now

embroiled in. the records are the most damming evidence yet against the former patriots tight end charged with first degree murder in the june killing of odin lloyd. hernandez has pleaded not guilty. prosecutors say he orchestrated the murder, but haven't said who they believe fired the fatal shot. two other men, ernest wallace and carlos ortiz, have been also charge in connection. both have entered not guilty pleas. ortiz reportedly told investigators wallace said hernandez admitted to shooting odin lloyd. that's according to affidavits which also say hernandez slammed the door on investigators the first time they showed up at his home. the account said hernandez asked, quote, what's with all the questions? now, the latest on the crash of asiana flight 214. investigators say the pilots were usinh the auto throttle feature during landing instead of controlling the plane manually. the captain reportedly didn't realize until 200 feet out that they were coming in too slow and

too low. the ntsb also says the pirate in charge of the flight was on his first trip as an instructor. another new detail, two flight attendants were flown from the back of the jumbo jet upon landing. but they survived that. this morning, dozens remain hospitalized including some in critical condition. today, house republicans are trying to craft a path forward on the nation's immigrant laws and speaker john boehner says there's a lot of crafting to be done. tracie potts joins us from washington and this is the first day of the discussion. >> reporter: it is just the beginning, richard, but it's going to give us an important clue as to how it may progress. we have a bill that passed the senate with republican support. but on the house side they say they're not even going to deal with that. they want to start from scratch and the big question is, are they going to deal with a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented workers already in this country, so behind closed doors today republicans begin to hash that

out. and while they're meeting outside some 500 of the so-called dreamers are going to be rallying. these are children who were brought into this country illegally and say they deserve to stay. so we'll wait to see whether or not that issue is going to be dealt with. also today, former president george w. bush weighs in. he's going to be at his new library down in texas at a naturallization ceremony talking about immigration. he has said the system is broken and that it needs to be fixed. richard? >> tracie potts a lot going on, thank you so much. egypt's muslim brotherhood rejected the president's new timetable for constitution amendments and new elections by early next year while on tuesday a new prime was named. nbc's atia abawi is live in cairo. atia, good morning to you. are these developments seen as progress overall? >> reporter: good morning, it's

considered progress, the camp that helps and supported the military's overthrow of mohamed morsi. it's not progress when you see the millions that support morsi and want him back in power and reinstated as the legitimate leader of egypt but you know what, the coalition government, the temporary government that's in place for the transition period has gone on with appointing new leaders and appointed a new prime minister. it's a former finance minister as well as co-founder of the social democratic party here in egypt. they also appoint ed mohamed elbaradei at the iaea as a vice president for foreign relations hoping that he can use his popularity overseas to help the outside world believe that egypt is on the right track with this transitional government. richard? >> the very latest for us. atia abawi, thank you so much live in cairo for us. tropical storm chantal is turning near haiti in the dominican republic this morning.

nbc's bill karins has the latest on chantal and how are the effects being felt? >> they went through martinique, st. lucia, gusty winds and it weakened flying to flare back up. the red is the cold cloud tops of the thunderstorms. right now south of the dominican republic. going to bring heavy rains and the flash flooding threat to haiti in the mountainous areas of the dominican republic. forecast does it it up to florida. if this was a month from now or september it would be scary but this storm is very weak, the odds are it will remain weak. the only potential for damage will be from rainfall and flash flooding in the southeast. yesterday was extremely hot in boise and also salt lake city, vegas once again 109. even medford was 101. we'll continue that and look at the morning lows. this is what makes it difficult. in vegas, temperatures still haven't dropped out of the 90s. still 92 degrees as we start our early morning hours there and do

have added moisture in arizona so it's a little more humid than normal. there has been a few showers down there in the area of tucson. a different map. today's highs compared to how they normally should be. ten degrees above average today, boise, salt lake city only 4 degrees above average in vegas and we're close to average in beautiful weather there in the pacific northwest. enjoy it. that'sl warm if not areas that e hot? central california. not used to that, hardly any humidity in arizona and add a little, people notice it. >> so interesting you would say they got rain. it's cooler than today. 99. in tucson. interesting stuff as always. thank you. major updates in the george zimmerman murder trial. what are the top five states to do business in?

plus, buildings crumble as powerful floods strike southwest china. we'll have details on that too.

welcome back. stories in the news this morning for you. canadian authorities have officially opened a criminal investigation into the explosive train derailment in quebec. while investigators have ruled out terrorism, they say criminal negligence is a real possibility. curse words filled the courtroom on tuesday during the whitey bulger racketeering trial. one of bulger's former associates called him a rat from the stand. the two started to yell and curse at each other until the judge calmed them down. it was a tearful day in prescott, arizona, as thousands attended a memorial service for the 19 firefighters who died in the line of duty last week. the victim's families were presented with american flags and vice president joe biden spoke about the importance of heros like the hot shots.

stunning video in china. home and bridges swept away from floods in the heavy rains and this video, a man struggles to find safeties as buildings come down around him. defense attorneys in the trial of george zimmerman could wrap up their case as early as today. this followed a marathon 13-hour court session that went late into the night. following all that nbc's sara dallof. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. yesterday, the defense put what some are calling their star witness on the stand, a forensic pathologist who kept the jury's attention. legal analysts say it was also effective. >> thank you very much. call your next witness. >> reporter: a shift in court yesterday from testimony centered around 911 calls to technical testimony from forensic expert dr. dimaio.

as jurors took notes, the doctor laid out his findings that george zimmerman suffered six impact injuries to his face and head. and that while the gun was against trayvon martin's sweatshirt when the trigger was pulled, the sweatshirt was 2 to 4 inches away from his body, consistent with someone leaning over another person, as zimmerman described to investigators. >> the medical evidence, the gunshot wound, is consistent with his opinion -- with his statement as to that. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: during cross-examination dimaio agreed that martin could have been pulling away when he was shot and that bruises from a fight could take days to appear or not appear at all. >> in other words, george zimmerman could have hit trayvon martin and not left any bruising on his knuckles. >> that's correct, sir. >> legal analysts say the doctor was a strong witness for the

defense. >> dr. dimaio was most effective in his cross-examination. he was calm, he understood the questions. he didn't give an inch when questions seemed to implicate a different answer. >> reporter: it was key testimony in the trial of george zimmerman who says he acted in self-defense and has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder. rulings on the admissibility of text messages on trayvon martin's phone and 3d animation are expected to be made this morning. arguments about these grew heated last night. back to you. >> sara, thank you so much. they killing it off in a couple of hours. turning now to business, stocks are mixed and keep an eye on oil which rose a buck late yesterday to close at 105 a barrel. apple's five years in the app store business have wielded in an app for just about everything. there are currently about 900,000 available apps. apple has clocked in with 50

billion downloaded apps in just that short amount of time. south dakota is the top state for business. it tops cnbc's annual list. rounding out the top five, texas, north dakota, nebraska is fourth with utah and virginia tying for fifth. ford and gm are favorites among thieves. the ford f-250 super duty crew cab has an astonishing 7 insurance claims for every 11,000 vehicles. the average number is 1.2 per thousand. general motors as a whole has eight of the top ten most stolen vehicles. the nba has raised their salary cap for the upcoming season a mere $700,000 to $58.7 million. with harsher penalties for teams that exceed that tax level. all right. the soon to be most famous person on the planet, we'll have all those details next. plus, all your sports highlights. stay with us.

now to the fevered pitch in london where britain's royal baby is due any day now. we've learned the baby's title will be the prince or princess of cambridge. martin fletcher joins us live now from outside st. mary's hospital in london where duchess kate will give birth. martin, good morning to you. this baby is about to be the most famous newborn in the world.

>> reporter: that's right. richard. this is a once in a generation event, the birth of a new mon mark. the when the duchess goes into labor. this is where she'll come the private lindo wing and 31 years ago this is where prince william was born to his mother princess diana who would be a grandmother today if she were alive. two main questions, firstly, will her husband prince william get here in time? he's 300 miles away in north wales at the royal air force base where he's a pilot. it's believed that the helicopter will be waiting there to bring him here to be at his wife's side to join the birth. the second question, of course, is it a boy or a girl? william and kate did not want to know what the gender of their child but either way this will be -- this baby will be the future monarch whether is a boy or a girl. the law changed in britain saying that the girl child would not have to give way to any boy

in the family but that won't happen for another two-thirds of a generation first prince charles, then his son and then the new baby. >> martin, thanks. appreciate it. alex and 20 others will face possible suspensions for banned substances. a-rod is expected to meet with mlb officials. subject his alleged connection with the biogen cyst clinic miami as a pipeline for banned substances. braun among ten players meeting but declining to answer questions in the investigation. rios did in what night what takes most players weeks, tied the american league record, six hits in six at bats and white sox win 11-4 over tigers. please.

not the face. twins arcia chases a fly ball. yep, he lost it in the air there. the ball hits him in the face. he seems okay after. the 4-1 loss to the rays, by the way. makes it 54 for the season for minnesota. that's a slap in the face. four nhl hall of famers were announced, including chris chelios, scott niedermayer and brendan shanahan plus only the third woman in history, geraldine heaney. the u.s. soccer team gets the "w" against belize. chris wondolowski had three goals in the 6-1 jersey there. look at that. they'll spell his name right by subtracts one of those "w"s. and the rivalry between ohio state and michigan, helping 12-year-old grand reed. the young fan hab completed chemotherapy for cancer. his progress looks good. his motivation, a bit of a competitive thing.

grant named his tumor michigan. that way the buckeye fan can see can say he beat michigan. entertainment is just ahead, including the loss of a trusted store clerk. plus a government waste story that everyone will be talking about next.

welcome back. it's a very warm morning in the desert area. temperatures haven't cooled off that much. it will go up to 108 in vegas.

a couple more clouds are making the temperature there a little lower. l.a. looks like. medford cooler than yesterday. 95. yesterday was about 101. still very warm and i'm getting close to record highs in areas like salt lake city and boise, inner mountain west continues to roast. even as we go into thursday, richard. just a little bit cooler. but not much. big numbers on the board there. >> the inner mountain west, you know, we're lucky we haven't gotten more big fires. the twit ewitterverse has l one of its brightest stars. lady gaga recently shut down her twitter account abandoning more than 40 billion followers. rumor is she's leaving it because it might be a publicity stunt. only justin bieber and katy perry bill karins have more followers.

"dumb & dumber 2," and jeff daniels says universal studios plans to green light the sequel on "late night with jimmy fallon." >> i've seen the script. it's hysterical. we're middle-ged. we're not pretending we aren't. we're middle-aged and we're still that stupid. >> i love that. elisabeth hasselbeck is leaving "the view" for a co-host duty of "fox and friends." news of her departure broke on the same day her former co-worker and "today" show special correspondent meredith vieira announced her deal for a new syndicated talk show on nbc. both starts in september. beyonce continues to shed her good girl image for the cover of "flaunt" magazine. a lot of eyes open after that. i'm richard lui. this is "early today."

leading the news in "the washington post," a brand-new u.s. military headquarters in afghanistan and no one to use it. it was at camp leather neck but given ongoing withdrawal they don't plan to move in. in "the hollywood reporter." "walton" actor joe connelly died. he appeared on dozens of other shows including "green acres" and "mr. ed." topping our news this morning, vice president joe biden among thousands paying tribute to the 19 fallen firefighters on tuesday. and silence from edward snowden.

a lawmakers tweeted that he refused it but deleted it a few hours later. a majority of americans, 55% consider snowden a whistle-blower as opposed to a traitor. 45% say the government's anti-terrorism efforts go too far in restricting civil liberties. frj . one 7-year-old boil, a british boy, may get to one day live his dream of going to mars. after sending a letter to nasa and posting it to readit, dexter walters got a response. he wrote at 7 he knows he is too young to go to space, but the space program helped him envision the future by sending him pictures and a personal letter encouraging him to pursue his dream. he might have tweeted that he wanted to become president of the united states too. good pr story out of nasa. time for a look ahead.

. boston marathon bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev makes his first court appearance today. it killed three and wounded more than 260. final passage is expected today on a controversial abortion bill in the texas house of representatives. the bill would restrict abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. happy birthday to singer and actress jessica simpson, who is 33, actress sophia ver gary is 41 and andre dawson is 59. coming up on the "today" show, gizmo guru james dyson will unveil his latest product and comedian bill cosby talks about his latest project that you can be a part of and that is which sweater is better. now, keep it right here for more news, weather and sports. i'm richard lui along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." you have a very good one.

>> we saw a big jolt in the plane, shocked. >> around. my first immediate reaction, something hit the plane. >> a new scare, sfo overnight, plane evacuated at gate before take-off. passengers on edge, daze after flight 214 crashed on the runway. good morning. it's 4:30. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm jon kelley. good morning. we'll be hearing from one of the passengers on that plane in a few moments. first, that scare coming into the wreckage of the asiana plane remains on sfo runway 28-l. the ntbs continues to release new information as investigates what led up to the crash. while most of the injured passengers have been treated, nearly two dozen still in the hospital this morning. >>