good morning. here's what's coming up on "early today." developing overnight, tragedy at atlanta's turner field as a baseball fan falls from an upper deck. teenage kidnapping victim hannah anderson safe at home. her father speaks out for the first time. >> the healing process will be slow. she has been through a tremendous, horrific ordeal. i am very proud of her, and i love her very much. now that he's convicted, what sentence reputed mobster james "whitey" bulger could get. plus, a new york judge rules on stop and frisk. lady gaga's newest song leaked out early. and is this transportation of the future or just a pipe dream?

"early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for tuesday, august 13th. good morning. i'm richard lui. we begin with a deadly fall at the braves/phillies game in atlanta last night. it happened during a rain delay before the start of the game. a fan fell from the upper deck of turner field. the man was taken to the hospital where he died of his injuries. atlanta police are still investigating. >> at this time, the fall appears accidental. it appears the male fell approximately 65 feet. there's no indication of foul play. >> officials say they don't know if wet conditions were a factor in the accident. the man's name has not yet been released pending family notification. 16-year-old hannah anderson is back in her southern california home after being taken against her will and held for a week. for the first time, her father is speaking out on a man he thought was his friend but turned out to be a suspected kidnapper and killer. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: his wife and 8-year-old son are gone.

>> i am very proud of her, and i love her very much. >> reporter: brett anderson said his daughter hannah is beginning a long and difficult recovery. >> the healing process will be slow. she has been through a tremendous, horrific ordeal. >> reporter: after being held captive for a week by james lee dimaggio -- >> she is a victim in every sense of the word. >> reporter: investigators now say hannah did not know her mom and little brother had been killed as dimaggio took her from california into the rugged mountains of idaho where a group of horseback riders spotted the pair and called police. >> for without you, who knows how long this would have gone on. >> reporter: it lasted until late saturday when fbi recovery teams located their campsite and moved in, killing dimaggio during the rescue. >> she revealed that dimaggio had a rifle and that he fired at least one round prior to being shot and killed. >> reporter: one of several ongoing investigations, though

answers may be hard to come by. >> when you get a completely irrational act like we've seen here with two murders and the kidnapping, sometimes you're not going to be able to come up with a rational explanation of what happened. >> reporter: understanding. >> now it's time for us to grieve and move on to the healing process. >> reporter: that may be most difficult for those closest to the tragedy. jay gray, nbc news. a federal judge threw out part of a lawsuit against paula deen. this suit from one of her former restaurant managers claimed deen and her brother promoted a racist work environment. because that manager is white, the judge said she had no standing to sue on the basis of race. a spokeswoman for deen said they were pleased with the ruling, adding, quote, as ms. deen has stated before, she is confident that those who truly know how she lives her life know that she believes in equal opportunity, kindness and fairness for everyone. he had a decades long reign of terror followed by 16 years on the run as one of america's most wanted.

now mob boss james "whitey" bulger has been convicted. >> reporter: after more than 32 hours of deliberations, jurors returned to a packed courtroom announcing the fate of whitey bulger, one of boston's most notorious reputed mobsters. the jury found him guilty of dozens of crimes, including conspiracy, racketeering and playing a role in 11 murders. >> this day of reckoning for bulger has been a long time in coming. >> reporter: tom donahue whose father was killed more than three decades ago was among the family members of the victims present throughout the trial. >> whitey bulger pretty much almost destroyed my family in every category. >> reporter: jurors decided the evidence showed bulger was involved in 11 of 19 murders. found him not involved in 7 and couldn't agree on one. the death of 26-year-old deb la davis. >> my family has to live every day, and the rest of the families have to live every day with the fact that they lost a loved one. >> reporter: the 83-year-old

defendant showed no reaction. a stark contrast to the seven-week trial filled with explosive profanity laced exchanges, dramatic testimony from bulger's longtime associates, including steven "the rifleman" flenney. even an outburst from the defendant himself who called the proceedings a sham. >> mr. bulger knew as soon as he was arrested that he was going to die behind the walls of a prison. >> bulger went on the lam in 1994 evading law enforcement for 16 years. and ultimately landing a place on the fbi's most wanted list. authorities finally caught up with him two years ago outside a santa monica apartment where they also discovered weapons and more than $800,000 in cash. >> i think boston knows james bulger was that gangster who finally saw justice. i think some families are waiting for a little bit more, though. >> 83-year-old bulger could get life in prison when he's sentenced in november. his lawyer saying he's planning to appeal that.

also, planning an appeal, new york mayor michael bloomberg. this after a federal judge struck down the city's stop and frisk policy. the judge likened the controversial practice to indirect racial profiling with a blatant disregard for civil liberties. new york city police commissioner ray kelly immediately dismissed any notion people are stopped based solely on skin color. mayor bloomberg says new yorkers will not see a revised procedure overnight. an independent monitor has been appointed to oversee major changes. >> new york city mayoral candidate anthony weiner suggests his wife would work on hillary clinton's 2016 campaign. in the interview with buzzfeed he would not say what her role mighting. but he did admit his sexting scandals hurt his wife's career. >> it's hurt her professionally. it's hurt her personally. she's gotten roughed up and it's been completely unfair in my view. >> reporter: weiner says he still sees a therapist.

he is hopeful. he insists he is the candidate. >> part of what i'm trying to demonstrate with this campaign is what type of a mayor i'll be. i'm going to fight. i'm going to stand up strong. there are things i believe, and i'm going to fight for them. >> he also discussed policy concerns from stop and frisk to health care. bill karins joins us. taking a look at the weather in the west and across the country. >> los angeles has gone 16 days in a row without hitting 80 degrees. in the middle of the summer. one of the longest streaks they've ahad in july and august. on the flip side of that, it's been warmer over this period in seattle than it has been in l.a. now yesterday l.a. did -- this is the downtown read, did edge out seattle by one degree. you can see the heat is there. it's in phoenix and vegas. but it just hasn't been moving into l.a. the winds have been pushing it the wrong direction. more of an onshore flow. temperatures this morning, still

pretty nice and mild in many of the spots hot yesterday. salt lake city at 70. boise at 71. not a lot of highlights throughout. most of the pop-up afternoon showers and storms yesterday were in the mountains of idaho, utah and colorado. high pressure dominates the west along with some hot air. it looks like the northwest is going to cool down a little bit as we go throughout the middle of the week. and areas of california, including l.a., should return to the mid-80s by the end of this week. even today up around 81. typical summer weather. enjoy it in the northwest. i don't know how many more of these 80-degree days you have left here as we go into the middle and end of august. 84 in portland. it's a great stretch. it's been a great summer. looks like it will continue for a little while longer. that's your natyear. 106 in yuma.

so it's been an anomaly. >> yeah, i was just in southern california in the southland five days ago. i had to wear long sleeves. it's like upside down. warmer in seattle than los angeles. how about that? thank you, bill karins. just ahead, florida's massive sinkhole is swallowing more of a resort. plus, back-to-school. we'll tell you which days to avoid the stores.

welcome back. pat mccrory has signed into law one of the most restrictive voter i.d. laws. the new rules require voters to show government-issued i.d.s, shortens early voting by a week and eliminates same-day voter registration. two extremely destructive wildfires are causing massive evacuations in central idaho. these fires were caused by lightning strikes and have already consumed more than 300 square miles. it appears the dust has settled at the florida resort that partially collapsed into a

100-foot sinkhole early monday. all 105 guests are accounted for and the red cross is on that scene there handing out food and clothing. the international olympic committee is reportedly upset with russian leadership over its controversial law banning gay propaganda. ioc leaders say the human rights of the competing athletes in sochi next year must be respected as written in the olympic charter. russia's interior ministry says concerns of discrimination are, quote, completely unfounded. and the man behind tesla motors and spacex unveiling his concept for a new rapid transit system on monday. elon musk's hyperloop as it's called would use electromagnetic acceleration to send commuters from los angeles to san francisco in just 30 minutes. and one-tenth of the cost of the current plan out there. for business we turn to cnbc's seema mody. >> richard, stocks ended mixed on monday. light trading volume and little market moving news.

look for data today on retail sales, import prices and business inventories. americans are getting better about not racking up too much credit card debt. credit reporting agency transunion says the rate of late payments or those at least 90 days overdue fell this spring to the lowest level since 1994. and facebook could help you book that dinner reservation. they have teamed up with open table to let users get seats at their favorite restaurants through facebook's mobile app. richard, back over to you. >> thank you, seema. long gone are the days of the so-called crackberry. now blackberry is considering selling itself after its new phones failed to turn around that struggling company. blackberry was the dominant smartphone until the iphone debuted in 2007. it's back-to-school season. you know what that means. shopping crowds. lots of them. but social network foursquare has a solution based on check november tracking. they say avoid august 18th, 25th

and september 2nd. they are the most crowded days. the best time to shop apparently is in the morning. nobody is awake then. from the worst times to shop to the best places to live, the top five according to "money" magazine. sharon, massachusetts, louisville, colorado, vienna, virginia, chanhassen, minnesota and sherwood, oregon. going where no stock has gone before, priceline expected to become the s&p 500's first ever $1,000 stock. much of that success is attributed to that guy, william shatner, who stars in priceline commercials like this one. shares are up more than 70% since the company brought its star back to life after briefly killing him off. when we come back, he may be 50 years old, but he is still air jordan. that and more next in sports.

on your mark, get set, mow! check this out. england, the lawn mowers are apparently more than just a tool to cut grass. the makeshift motor sport is a 12-hour endurance race that lasts until dawn. they are modified to go as fast as 50 miles per hour. the winner completed 406 laps of the almost one mile circuit. the name of the team, kicked

grass. that's what they said. now espn saying texas a&m quarterback johnny manziel got paid $7,500 to sign 1500 items. the ncaa is investigating if johnny football violated rules. yu darvish dominates in texas, a no-hitter through seven innings. but then houston's carlos corporan gets a home run. for the second time since april, houston spoiling a darvish perfect game. he still gets the win with 15 strikeouts. texas, 2-1, there. oakland's last-minute trade for alberto colapso. the a's down one and then hits in two runs. they pull the fat out of the fire. oakland over toronto. hey, you know, i'm a four-time mvp, two-time champion, gold medalist. why not president of the nba players association? miami's lebron james was

considering that but decided no because he can't give 100%, he says. i heard james is now considering the job of king of the world. take you to flight school now. clear the wood. old man on deck. jeans on. who is that? 50-year-old michael jordan with the dunk. what do you think? comeback? i'm a big niners fan but would i do this? probably not. look at this lawn here. a washington fan so rabid he turns his lawn into a huge redskins logo made of colored stones. and he cares about it a lot. you see that yellow caution tape in front. stay away. coming up, the latest response to oprah's handbaggate. plus a dog that's seriously raising the bar for all canine skaters.

welcome back. the dry end of summer weather continues in just about all areas of the west. really start to get to the late summer months we look ford the wet season upcoming. 104 in vegas. typical for this time of the year. warmer than we should be in the northwest. that's not going to last that much longer. enjoy the last couple of warm days we'll have. san francisco, areas down to the south, we'll try to get you a little warmer weather in the days ahead. we're going to inch it up here. tomorrow 83 and l.a., more typical where we should be. >> like you were saying that long run with the under 80 weather. entertainment news now. an historic launch for the final run of amc's "breaking bad." the critically acclaimed drama drew 5.9 million viewers, making

it the highest rated opening episode in the show's history. jimmy fallon tweeted his transformation into the main character. he plans to parody it with "joking bad." the sales person who allegedly refused to show oprah winfrey an expensive handbag inside a swiss boutique is fighting back in a newspaper interview. the unidentified woman is calling the media mogul's racism claim a lie saying if it had all taken place as she claimed, why has she not complained the next day at the wedding of tina turner with trudie goetz, my boss. lady gaga, a leak forced gaga to release the track on monday. fans rallied in support by reporting illegal download sites. finally, baby prince george could be getting his close-up on twitter. reports from british tabloids, will and kate are set to debut

photos on the social media site as soon as next week. and, bill, everything, of course, has to come through twitter or facebook. >> they seem to be handling this way too well for new parents. >> down to earth. >> which is exactly what they said they wanted to do. >> i want to see the baby dressed up with like a crown, the red robe. >> i think a lot of people would like that. but we've learned to absolutely love the royal family. and they have -- >> they are handling it well. >> very well. they have a lot of people wanting to follow them. i'm richard lu i. this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc.

in "the washington post," al qaeda expands in syria via islamic state. it says the islamic state is expanding and carving out the kind of sanctuaries that the u.s. military spent more than a decade to prevent in iraq and afghanistan. on msn news, 59 inmates escaped from brazil youth facility. it shows the inmates climbing down a tree and rung off after a jail riot broke out. really, that easy? >> i think somebody should have chopped the tree down about five years ago. >> yeah. especially near a detention facility. an autopsy is planned today on the man who tragically died in a stadium fall. and we now know his name. just getting it in to nbc news. officials saying 29-year-old ronald homer fell more than 60

feet from an upper level platform at atlanta's turner field on monday. it happened during a rain delay before the braves/phillies game started. officials saying there's no indication of foul play. a guilty verdict for reputed boston mob boss james "whitey" bulger. a jury found him guilty of 11 murders and other crimes. the 83-year-old stood silently showing no reaction to the verdict. he could get life in prison when sentenced in november. new revelations from anthony weiner in a wide-ranging interview with buzzfeed. the new york city mayoral candidate suggests his wife huma would work on hillary clinton's 2016 campaign, but he would not say what her role might be. weiner admitted his sexting scandals have hurt his wife's career. the dog trainer behind the adorable jack russell in "the artist" is at it again with his younger brother dash. dash skateboarding skills rivaling many teenagers.

bill, did you skateboard as a kid? >> i tried. i never could. >> he's doing a 360 flip. evidently he can do pretty cool tricks. oogie is set to retire. dash may be ready to take his place. >> he loves it. happy as could be. >> i want to see him do an ollie. can he? >> no. >> what's an ollie? >> where you go like this. bring up the front. >> who knew you had the -- >> i don't know what i'm -- >> tony hawk skateboarding. secretary napolitano will welcome 338 new americans in a naturalization ceremony. 16 new millionaires to tell their stories today. the co-workers who are sharing part of the $448 million new jersey powerball jackpot speak for the first time since their win last week. entourage actress debbie mazar is 49. danny bonaduce of the partridge family turns 54 and fidel castro turns 82. keep it here for more news, sports and more.

thank you for staying with us today.

on the right side of his face from his forehead to his eye, across his ear was basically removed. >> a mother's heroing tale, her son attacked by a pit bull right in front of her. what she's telling us from the hospital next. south bay hospital is told to be on the lookout for a woman pretending to be a nurse. despite her arrest, she's back on the street. what one bay area school district is thinking of doing after it was flagged by the state for possible cheating during starr testing. >> that is your bay bridge, a little traffic starting to flow. a good day ahead. get ready