very good monday morning. the great kate wait is over. the princess is in the hospital with prince william at her side as she goes through what might be the world's most anticipated labor. it's news the world has been waiting nine months for. palace officials announcing kate middleton has been admitted to st. mary's hospital and is in the early stages of labor. a royal baby is on the way. and we have it all coved for you right here. we're going to begin with annbelle roberts in london. >> reporter: richard, kate middleton went into hospital about six hours ago. she went with her husband prince william. they drove to the hospital and entered via a back entrance, thus afraiding the scrum of photographers out front. who can blame them for that. so far little update apart from

a brief statement from kensington palace saying labor is progressing normally. and that's all we can expect to hear now until the baby is born. the next thing we will know is when a member of the palace staff comes through the front door of the lindo ring at st. mary's hospital brandishing an envelope. he or she will get into a car with that envelope and will be driven here to buckingham palace. inside that envelope is essentially a birth certificate, a medical bulletin with the time of birth, the gender of the baby, maybe the color of eyes. maybe a comment about the baby's behavior and that will be put up on an easel in the courtyard at buckingham palace and that will be the first time we get that information. now, of course, remember that whether this is a boy or a girl, this baby will be crowned ruler of this country and will be third in line to the throne knocking prince harry off down to fourth. back to you, richard. >> annabel roberts, thank you.

now let's bring in neil, our royal watcher in london. what we're watching right now is that clock. we're wondering how long she will be in labor. everything has been talked about. everything has been gamed. any discussion about how long she'll be in labor? >> morning, richard. don't you feel sorry for this young lady? my goodness. what a very public birth, you know? every detail. what kind of impressed me actually was the fact that we spent the last couple of weeks outside the front entrance of the lindo wing and kate and william got the side street. what you have to ceremony this is a hospital that dates back to the victorian period. it's very easy. so many nooks and crannies and underground car parks and none of us thought, we'll just check the other entrance. she's kind of pulled a good fast one there. but so far the only thing we've got is the fact that things are going to plan. i think what ladies would like to know is the fact that she's already picked out the outfit

that she will be wearing when she emerges with baby in hand. >> any word on what that is? we don't have the details yet, right? >> now here's the gossip because, like every sort of busy young mom she can't decide what to wear. so there are six design dresses. but they're not designer dresses. they are actually just high street as we call, you know, normal shopping mall dresses. i think she's very clever in sort of making sure that in these austerity times it's not seen that she's spending a lot of money, even though apparently they spent close to a million doing the nursery up at kensington palace. >> many will say she will look good in a potato sack. any word when we'll learn the name? we'll get that petition going to buckingham palace but then when does the name come out? >> then again, the name, that -- first of all, there has nob four names. that's the protocol of what happens. my gut feeling is that it will

be quite quick because this is a modernized royal birth. you have kind of got, you know, prince william in the room for the very first time. a royal. although royals were in the room normally in victorian period. in the last sort of decades. it's interesting. he said he wanted to be there. namewise, i'm predicting there's bound to be a victoria if it's a girl. i really think they'll go back to that period. if it's a boy, look out for george because apparently it's one of kate's favorite names. there's some wild bets over here. even the dog got a look in as a name check. >> i heard kong as in king kong was part of it. 1 in 500. we just enjoy doing this stuff. neil shawn, our royal watcher in london. i'm sure we'll be talking again soon. some dramatic rescues after strong thunderstorms flooded parts of the southwest. heavy rains washing out a number of major roadways in the phoenix area, including this one. the fast-moving water sweeping away cars like boats forcing

motorists to cling to whatever they could find. at one point, the rain was so heavy that u.s. 60 which runs through the heart of downtown phoenix closed in both directions. drier conditions are expected today. while those storms wreaked havoc in arizona, the heavy rain was a mixed blessing for firefighters in california. so he-called mountain fire near palm springs is 65% contained. it's burned 42 square miles destroying at least seven homes and forcing thousands to flee. on friday, the governor's office declared a state of emergency. >> the last 24 hours, it's been great for the crews on the ground. we've been able to make significant progress along the fire's edge. gain that containment. >> nearly 2,000 firefighters remain on the scene. a manhunt is under way in washington state for a convicted felon suspected of shooting and killing a 4-year-old boy. 25-year-old trevor bray miller is considered armed and dangerous. they believe he shot his

girlfriend's 4-year-old son saturday morning in northern washington. to cleveland. charges are expected in connection with the grisly discovery. three women whose bodies were discovered wrapped in garbage bags. 35-year-old michael madison, a registered sex offender, was arrested friday. a weekend search for more victims ended late sunday after crews did not find any more bodies. it's the second time in less than four years that cleveland has been rocked by a discovery just like this. east cleveland's mayor saying the suspect told detectives he might have been influenced by cleveland serial killer anthony sowell. he was convicted and sentenced to death in that case, by the way in 2011 for murdering 11 women. protests continue more than a week after george zimmerman's acquittal. large and vocal groups gathering in new york, raleigh, north carolina and houston on sunday, including supporters of zimmerman. this came on the heels of saturday's justice for trayvon

rallies in more than 100 cities. many protesters are calling for a change in the stand your ground laws. some lawmakers like john mccain joined president obama's views on this. >> i can also see that stand your ground law may be something that needs to be reviewed by -- >> in arizona? >> by the florida legislature or any other legislature that has passed such legislation. >> mccain called the law controversial and said arizona should review its own similar law. officials from a german roller coaster manufacturer traveling to texas to inspect the ride where a woman fell to her death on friday. according to witnesses, the woman said the roller coaster safety bar was not completely engaged before the ride began. however, a spokesman for the roller coaster manufacturer told the "dallas morning news" he's sure there's no safety bar that is broken, end quote. the ride will remain closed until it is inspected and certified safe. let's switch to monday's weather. for some folks across the

country, they have less heat but maybe not true across the entire country. >> on those roller coasters if you don't hear that bar click, i'm jumping off. >> i'm saying stop that roller coaster. >> horrible story. >> as far as the weather goes, more of the same. amazing pictures out of the phoenix area. that's been a little different, this monsoonal moisture moving up through arizona. did drop significant amounts of rain. and desert areas. even yuma got some rain. these are locations that only had about 3 to 4 inches for the entire year up to this point. about an inch yesterday. some of this moisture made its way through california overnight. some very light showers. we still have some exiting areas south of santa maria. the los angeles area, still cloudy. look at some of those sprinkles exiting to the northwest side of town. toward the afternoon, we'll have a chance of additional showers. temperatures still very warm in the intermountain west. salt lake city and boise will be flirt with 100 degrees. with the clouds we'll be kept cooler in the desert southwest.

talk about beautiful weeks. it is going to be absolutely gorgeous all week in the pacific northwest. 78 to 80 today. looks like mid-80s throughout the rest of this week. salt lake city, 104. that's a look california cooler with the clouds, including sacramento. so as we go throughout this week, the northwest, i mean, this is like, they call it chamber of commerce weather. best thing possible for tourists. kate is in labor inside st. mary's hospital. and pope francis is getting ready for a major international trip today. details in two minutes as "early today" continues.

welcome back.

here are some other stories making news for you. pope francis is headed to rio later today marking his first international trip. over 2 million people expected to greet him, the pope will be guarded by more than 23,000 different military and security personnel, although the popemobile is not part of that. all of this security is bringing the cost of the trip to an estimated $150 million with about a third covered by brazil. a new york woman has been charged with defrauding a boston bombing fund of $480,000. the 26-year-old claimed a brain injury by the bombing and was given the money by a nonprofit organization. after receiving a tip the claim was false, the massachusetts attorney general investigated and turned up the fraud. a woman's car was hit by a tractor trailer and plunged 40 feet into the chesapeake bay. luckily the woman escaped and swam to the nearby shore. she was released from the hospital this weekend. disturbing new figures for parents about a danger lurking in your home. a new study finds a child is sent to the emergency room every 30 minutes due to falling televisions. the report shows in 2011 falling

tvs accounted for 17,000 injuries among children under the age of 18, up a whopping 126% since 1990. experts recommend anchoring tvs and tv stands to walls. >> announcer: "early today" health brought to you by vagisil ph balanced wash. taking you now to business. we turn to mary thompson. good morning. >> richard, the markets are coming off a fourth straight week of gains. earnings are in focus this week as nearly one-third of the companies in the s&p 500 are set to report including mcdonald's, apple, boeing and caterpillar. get set for more pain at the pump this summer. aaa says retail gas prices rose 12 cents in the past week to a national average of $3.67 a gallon. gas prices are likely to go even higher in the coming weeks. the help wanted signs may be going out. the new survey finds companies are more confident about the economy and are hiring.

nearly one-third say their firms added workers this spring, the highest percentage in two years. richard, back to you. straight ahead, a huge day for lefty. all your sports highlights coming up.

now let's get the latest in sports. this is a come-from-behind for the ages. phil mickelson starts the day 5

strokes behind the leader. but the last six holes he charges back with four birdie putts like that. lefty's emotional win was his first at the british open in 20 tries. keep those hands up in the sky. finished with a 66, the best final round in a major since 2000. the quarterfinals in the soccer gold cup. team usa on a scoring roar on home turf in baltimore. but the crowd here, interestingly, here favored opponent el salvador. that did not faze usa. they won, 5-1. next a semifinals and honduras. the game still on u.s. home turf. imagine 2,100 miles on a bicycle. 83 hours, 56 minutes. britain's chris froome did that to win the tour de france. was the first nighttime finish in a century. boy, does the arc look beautiful. red eye red sox/yankees game. just finished at 1:00 a.m. this morning. red sox mike napoli the hero in

this game. bottom of the 11th with a home run. a lot of people happy there. they win, 8-7. fly balls can get lost in the sun. this happens to a lot of folks. how about the sky diver at a college baseball pregame stunt. the shortstop there, that got hit, he did not move. he just stands there as he gets clotheslined by that diver. a scrape over his right eye. it is probably that this shortstop stays in the infield. the auction of kobe bryant memorabilia brought some big bucks. these two high school uniforms of his, 92 large. two nba championship rings fetched almost 300,000 gs. and they are duplicates. $62,000 is being donated to the bully project from the auction, something kobe bryant suggests. check out this shuttlecock fight. two former olympic badminton partners from thailand. did you see that launch? midmatch the angry players exchanged heated words and then engaged in this fist fight. one player needed several

stitches. wow. that is not what you normally see at badminton games. america needed a good scare this weekend. and jennifer lawrence goes big in previews for "catching fire."

a very impressive upper level low. the storm above the surface up there towards where the jets fly has been moving across the country for about the last ten

days. that's now heading off the coast near los angeles. it's bringing monsoonal moisture with it. that's going to mean a chance of showers and storms as we go throughout many of the mountainous areas and southern california, including the vegas area. maybe even towards san francisco. the northwest today, tomorrow and right throughout this week looks fantastic. and i was mentioning seattle, portland also. about 82 today. and then just look at this. richard, that's it. >> hands in the air, my friend. i wish i was there. perfect. especially when you have that nice background picture you selected for us. let's talk entertainment news. the conjuring striking up widespread fear at movie theaters. the low cost horror film scared up $41.5 million at the box office. "despicable me 2" fell to second followed by "turbo" "grown ups 2" and "red 2." kanye west is the focus of a los angeles police investigation stemming from his alleged attack on a photographer. the probe was launched days after video showing the rapper

tust tustling with paparazzi surfaced. bruce lee honored on the 40th anniversary of his death. thousands gathered at the "enter the dragon" statue. comic book geeks dressed in wacky costumes and joined a-list celebs for the biggest celebration of superheroes and sci-fi known as comic-con. nerd alert basically. >> not anymore. >> you are right. we're seeing all of those stars. warner brothers plans to team up batman and superman in the "man of steel" sequel. not to be outdoon. marvel sent the festival into a frenzy when they brought out "avengers" bad guy during their panel discussion. cool stuff. oscar winner jennifer lawrence made a few jaws drop as well as comic-con. she revealed all the fun she had

peeing in her pants while filming swimming scenes in the hunger games sequel. here's a first look at that new trailer. >> remember who the real enemy is? >> she didn't have the look of peeing in -- >> i'm not believing that. i think she's just getting a rouse out of people. maybe she did. >> have you ever worn a wet suit and been out there surfing? she didn't have the look of that which would be -- >> she was trying to keep herself warm? are we going to go there? is that what we're doing this early? >> you went there. >> i'm just going to look at the pictures if she's like this. i'm richard lui. this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day here on nbc.

in the san jose mercury news, limo's driver's wife says they argued on phone shortly before deadly blaze on bridge. she claims the driver turned up the volume so the nine women riding in back could not hear them arguing. five women died in that may 4th limo blaze. bbc news is reporting dubai rape case, norwegian woman free to go. the 24-year-old reported being raped to police and was then sentenced to 16 months for having sex outside of marriage. she claims she was asked, are you sure you called the police because you just didn't like it? we're following breaking news in london. it is official. the royal baby is on its way. kensington palace telling us kate middleton has been admitted to st. mary's hospital in the early stages of labor. the duchess travelled by car from pals too the lindo wing of

the hospital early this morning. william and kate's child will be the third in line to the throne. stay tuned to nbc news throughout the day for continuing coverage on that, no doubt. switching gears to an earthquake in china where 75 people are reported dead and 400 injured as after a magnitude 5.9 earthquake there. pope francis is marking his first international trip by heading to rio for world youth day. security is tight there. more than 23,000 security personnel will guard him although he's leaving the popemobile at home. a festival in massachusetts used the warm weather to honor those in the boston marathon. at the tenth annual revere beach scand sculpting festival. it was the theme boston strong in mind there. with sand sculptures from around the world and over 300,000 viewers there, this was the festival's largest attendance. and, bill, i was reading the rules, and they are given ten

tons of sand. >> so they are given. it's special sand. >> you get a pile of ten tons. if i had to do that it would be like 10,000 buckets is what it would look like. >> the castle bucket. at least you can get the -- >> amazing stuff. work begins today at the martin luther king jr. memorial. a quote which rid was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness will be removed because when taken out of context it distorts dr. king's meaning. katherine jackson testifies today. she should be the final witness in her lawsuit against the company that promoted the pop icon's last concert. happy birthday to justin bieber and selena gomez. 21 both. jeopardy host alex trebek turns 73 and bob dole 90. keep it here for more news, weather and sports. i'm richard lu i along with bill karins. have a great day ahead for you.

new this morning, all eyes are on st. mary's hospital in london where kate middleton is in lab ofrmt royal baby on the way. the latest details next. a simple mistake could put the future of dozens of peninsula high school students in jeopardy. their ap test scores possibly negated for something they didn't do. the fight over san jose's pension reform heads to court. what the mayor is doing to clear the way for other cities. we take you live outside to fremont you can see old glory there sort of blowing in -- a little breeze, i suppose. we'll be checking the forecast with christina loren. it says rain is on the way this monday, july 22nd. this is