good wednesday morning. coming up on "early today," the most famous congressional texter admits sexting even after leaving capitol hill. his wife speaks out. there he is, the yet to be named prince with his very proud mom and dad now settling in at home in kensington. unconfirmed reports of a potential baseball death sentence for a-rod. plus, pope francis readies to wow the masses. jennifer lawrence breathless over jeff bridges. and a leisurely balloon ride takes a tumble. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for wednesday, july 24th. good morning, i'm richard lui. anthony weiener caught in a sexting situation again. a stark admission from the new york city mayoral candidate. he says he sent a woman sexually

explicit photos and messages a year ago. in a news conference he apologized. his wife by his side, he vowed to stay in the race. >> while some of the things that have been posted today are true and some are not, there is no question what i did was wrong, the behavior that i did was problematic, to say the least, destructive to say the most, caused many stresses and strains in my marriage, but i'm pleased and blessed that she has given me a second chance. >> it took a lot of work. and a whole lot of therapy to get to a place where i could forgive anthony. it was not an easy choice in any way. but i made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage.

>> now, that was just hours after a gossip website published raunchy texts and ex-police photos allegedly between weiner and i 22-year-old woman last year. there are some calls for him to bow out of the race. bill de blasio among them. another, in the meantime, the mr. weiner should take his marital woes out of the race. it's just 48 days away. now, to a firestorm after a iowa congressman claims that most undocumented immigrants are involved in the drug trade. >> for everyone who is a valedictorian there's another hundred out there, they weigh 130 pounds, and they have calves the size of cantaloupes because they're

marijuana across the desert. >> fellow republicans were quick to criticize that house majority leader eric cantor is working on legislation to offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the u.s. as children. or so-called dreamers. and he says, "i strongly disagree with his characterization of the children of immigrants and find the comments inexcusable". house speaker boehner calls the language wrong and hateful. federal investigators have launched a full investigation to try to figure out what caused the landing gear to fail on a southwest flight earlier this week in new york. meanwhile, we are hearing more about those terrifying moments inside the plane. nbc's katy tur has the story for us. >> cleared to land. >> reporter: the 737 approached laguardia's runway 4 with no indication anything was wrong. but moments later, passengers felt the jolt as the plane's nose slammed to the ground, flames shooting from the fuselage. brian foster captured it all on

camera from his window seat. >> it knocked the camera out of my hand we hit so hard. and it flipped up and you can see me looking around and i'm like, what is the world has happened? >> flight attendants have warned passengers to stay in their seats. >> i don't think we're going anywhere because the engine is on the ground. >> reporter: air traffic controllers urgently sent help. >> proceed to runway 4. >> reporter: flight 345's emergency doors still shut, the cabin quickly filled with smoke as minutes passed before all 150 on board were evacuated. >> when the smoke started filling the cabin, that was the scariest part. because everyone saw smoke. when you see smoke there's a fire. >> reporter: passengers on a nearby plane saw the whole thing unfold. >> there was just this fireball going down the runway. it was unbelievable. >> reporter: the plane's so-called black boxes have arrived at the ntsb in washington. investigators want to know when things went wrong, before or during landing.

the plane, a boeing 737 700 delivered to southwest in 1999 is not considered old by industry standards. >> katy tur, thank you very much for that report. queen elizabeth is getting her first look at her great grandson. after a long day of privacy in the hospital we got our myers look. jim maceda, good morning to you. has the commotion there calmed down at all? >> reporter: hi, richard. it's the normal sights and sounds at buckingham palace. waiting for the changing of the guard. there are lots of tourists waiting for it, as well but the royal baby's birth certificate and easel are gone and, of course, as you say the world has now seen the royal baby himself who made his first appearance with parents kate and william outside the very famed london hospital where william was borned and, of course, where he posed with his own parents, diana and charles some 31 years

ago and despite the hundreds of camera and screaming well wishers yesterday, both looked very relaxed, even exchanging pleasantries with reporters. >> he's a big boy. he's quite heavy. and we're still working on a name. we'll get that to you as soon as we can. so having a perfect chance to catch up. >> very touching. >> reporter: the new royal family spent its first night together at their home in kensington palace where they received a visit today from the queen wanting no doubt to see her third great grandchild and heir to the throne. now it'll be all about bonding with their still unnamed baby boy. the prince of cambridge, his next appearance probably in an official family photo possibly weeks from now. >> so too begins the lack of sleep in the coming days and

weeks and months, no doubt. thank you very much, jim. clouds hovering over the midwest caused people to look up. these bizarre cloud formations are call ed mammatus clouds. meteorologist bill karins, we look at these -- >> pretty cool. >> they look like bacteria to me. >> yeah. >> they're so odd looking. >> so different than anything you'd see in the sky. usually with strong thunderstorms. the base of the cloud is where you see them. they can be backlit like this. sometimes they can appear to be green in shading if there's hail within the storm so a lot of great pictures on line if you google mammatus clouds. what's happening out in the west, not a lot different than yesterday. the pesky upper level low we showed you over california is now moving and it will be heading over the inner mountain west that will wrap up our rain chances in many arias of california.

we did have a couple of stray showers yesterday. even a couple sprinkles out there right now. overall, though, the weather pattern is relatively unchanged. the big "h" is a large area of what we call high pressure. a big ridge in the atmosphere. just a big hot dome of air that continues over the inner mountain west and the rockies. a cool flow in the california coastline why our temperatures have been much cooler there than if you drive 50 to 100 miles inland. 84 in vegas already. 91 in phoenix. how hot this afternoon? 105 in the desert. look at the coastal yeahs of california, still cool all the way even into downtown l.a. that's asco right around 100 to. the great weather continues in the northwest. >> yes. for how long?

>> that's right. for those going there for the weekend, define the odds. you'll have to tell us later. whitey bulger called a pedophile in court. and nasty and personal political exchange. plus, we'll take you to rio where the pope is preparing for a very big day. >> "early today" is brought to you by centrum.

it is day three of pope francis' visit to brazil. today he makes stops at a real hospital and the country's most important roman catholic shrine. nbc's claudio lavanga is live in rio de janeiro with more on the pope's trip. any change in security? >> reporter: no, following that discovery of a small pipe bomb where the pope is still flying out there by helicopter to say mass in one of the biggest shrines in the world with hundreds of policemen were deployed to look after him and the pilgrims, but what is going

to be interesting to see is whether the brazilian authorities and security can learn anying from what happened on monday when an overexcited crowd almost mobbed the pope while he was driving into downtown rio. well, we'll see whether they will still allow the crowd to get so close to him even though the pope himself said he enjoyed that kind of latin-american welcome. richard? >> all right. he's latin-american himself. thank you so much, claudio lavanga. some stories making news -- a vote is expected today on congressional efforts to cut off u.s. aid for both syria and egypt. the house will be debating this as part of a $598 billion defense spending bill. reputed mob boss, whitey bulger was accused of pedophilia in court yesterday. this accusation came yesterday during the cost of steven "the rifleman" flemmi who claims bulger also strangled two young woman. a second woman has come

forward to file charges against bob filner. in that six flags roller coaster death, according to the county medical examiner, about one minute into the ride, rosy esparza fell 75 feet and struck a support beam before landing on a roof. the ride remains closed until investigators determine what happened. and cbs sports is reporting yankees third baseman alex rodriguez could be facing a lifetime ban from major league baseball. apparently now that the brewers ryan braun is out of the way, investigators are turning their main focus to rodriguez. dramatic footage of this hot balloon ride. 11 in the basket and two were brought to a local hospital for minor injuries after that. stocks overseas this morning, they are trading lower on news of a slowdown of chinese manufacturing. apple reporting 31.2 million iphones sold in their third quarter, which is better than

expected and the company announced a stock buyback as well. apple is facing stiffer competition and lower than expected sales in china. nascar returning to nbc in 2015. they will have the final 20 sprint cup races of the season and the final 19 nationwide series events. nbc and nbc sports network has rights to nascar, indy car and formula one racing. and starbucks is getting in on the $6 billion action when it comes to the yogurt business. it's including a greek parfait as part of its expanding health food group. keep an eye on the price of energy as an out of control natural gas well 55 miles off the coast of louisiana is still burning after it caught fire late tuesday. 44 workers evacuated from the hercules 265 rig. there have been no reported injuries. and the florida mansion where fashion designer gianni versace was shot and killed in 1997, it is up for sale. the versace family no longer owns the 23,000 square foot home. but the current sellers are

auctioning the opulent south beach mansion off at a minimum of $25 million. straight ahead, all your sports highlights. stick around for that.

now, the latest in sports for you. one question last night, would the red sox fall out of first

place after 58 days straight? oh, no, you don't. boston stopped a surging tampa bay. a two-run single in the eighth inning gives boston a 6-2 win. gunning for that same top spot, the orioles wanted to upgrade their late inning pitching. trading for rodriguez. he had ten saves this season with the milwaukee brewers and 304 in the 12-year career. i went to the white house, i went to the white house. yep, that's what the louisville cardinals were humming. the team gave the president a personalized jersey. interesting, the president picked them to lose. and i kind of agree. blue and maize would have been better there. volunteering at a food bank, massachusetts governor bevalue patrick was paying off a stanley cup bet. the boston bruins lost to the chicago blackhawks. patrick, by the way, is a chicago native. t-ball. 7-year-old, nathan lewis, ball on a foul ball. yeah, he got it. love that guy. just ahead, the biggest

jimmy fallen news since he got the "tonight show." jennifer lawrence gets giddy and tongue tied. next.

welcome back on this wednesday morning. an important job for to you do. pay attention to what the weather is from the morning right through the evening where your location is because there's a good chance it's going to be the same exact thing the next five days in a row. preparing for your whole week ahead, so here's how we're looking, 82 in seattle. we will have a few showers and

storms from salt lake city to denver. that's really about it. almost everyone is going to be dry. notice thursday looks the same and i wasn't kidding. here's how seattle's forecast looks. upper 80s to mid-70s. pretty much dry there. l.a. looks similar day in and day out. maybe a couple more clouds over the weekend from in the morning hours but you get the picture. a slow weather week in the west. >> hey, that's a great rerun to be watching. >> where i feel like one of the weather dogs in the west it's good to have a dog with you. i want one of those. >> we'll have to invest in one. in entertainment news, amanda bynes is continuing her downward spiral. the former teen idol being detained in a psychiatric facility foramen tall health evaluation after sparking a fire outside a california home. she could be held there for 72 hours. lady gaga's $80 million in earnings between june 2012 and 2013 put her atop of for's forbes richest celebrities under 30.

music royalty rounds out the top five. she is followed by justin bieber, taylor swift, calvin harris and rihanna. very wealthy bunch. she may have an oscar but she still gets starstruck. the actress could barely hide her jitters when she recently met jeff bridges at comic-con. listen. >> you know -- >> i met him, yeah. >> have you seen his latest movie "out of the furnace"? >> no. >> wait till you see. it's great. it's really terrific. >> okay. >> great to see you. >> so good to see you. that is so funny. frozen. let's talk spike lee. he's seeking donations to fund a $1.25 million film. >> he doesn't have that. opm. other people's money. he probably has the cash in the bank. he describes it as funny, sexy and blood y steven soderbergh's $10,000 pledge helped him generate over $100,000.

a boston radio station says integrity rules after canceling its tyler swift fan contest. the decision was made after an internet campaign swayed voting that led to a 39-year-old male admirer winning a meeting with the singer. okay. we'll move on. finally, late night tv host jimmy fallon and his wife nancy welded a new baby girl into their family. congratulations. both are first-time parents and we congratulate them. >> we're going to hear some funny dad jokes. >> yeah, funny dad jokes and great to have the kid on set too. >> get the royal baby together and have a play date. i'm richard lui. this is rrl rrl. we hope it's just your first stop of the day today on nbc.

leading the news in "the chicago sun-times" this morning, obama's speech on wednesday would focus on the economy. the president traveling to illinois for a series of speeches as he attempts to turn the national conversation back to the economy. and in "the new york times," 12 die in clashes in egypt. as new leaders find security elusive. experts say the clashes offer furthering proof that the country's warring forces were content to let their feud play out in the street. topping our news today, another scandal and admission from now new york city mayoral candidate anthony weiner. he says he sent a woman sexually explicit photos and messages a year ago. that's more than a year after he resigned from congress for the

same behavior. in a news conference, weiner apologized, but vowed to stay in the race. san diego, another scandal there. a second woman comes forward to accuse bob filner of sexual harassment. he's already being sued by his former spokesman. just how did the pope feel when a mob rushed his vehicle? the vatican says he was not afraid at all when it happened despite serious security concerns. today marks the pontiff's third day in the country. some amazing basketball trick shots are a youtube sensation. a group of young men in wisconsin produced videos of shooting hoops long distance like from high atop a giant slide in a water park. do you believe that one? >> it's possible. >> maybe after a thousand tries. >> anyway, in the park, pretty impressive stuff. down the slide. bam. >> i guess that's possible. >> these are all possible like how many takes. >> yeah.

>> you seen the out-takes. >> some are not true. >> absolutely impossible sometimes. but, of course, that's you, bill karins. time for a look ahead. the senate will vote on college student loan rates. lawmakers are considering a bipartisan compromise to lower interest rates for the next few years after the rates doubled on july 1st. aaron hernandez is scheduled to be back in court today. the are the former nfl player faces a probable cause hearing on charges of murdering semi pro player oden lloyd back in june. we want to say happy birthday to jennifer lopez. barry bonds turns 49 and michael richards, seinfeld's cramer, he is 64 today. later on the "today" show, natalie morales is up with a look at what's next for the new prince. oscar winning director, ron howard's new film "rush." it's about formula one auto racing. thanks for watching "early today." you have a very good wednesday. i'm richard lui here with bill karins.

new this morning, a live look at the bay bridge. a nationwide crackdown on i-80. we'll tell you about the challenge law enforcement nationwide is taking part in this week. >> and new plans for a bikini bar in downtown san jose. >> we'll take a look from the south bay, looking over san jose, spanning the city on this wednesday, july 24th. this is "today in the bay." it's the middle of the week, that means it's getting