good thursday morning to you. coming up on "early today," breaking news out of colorado. flash flooding, mudslides, evacuations, and one person reportedly dead from the rushing water and ensuing damage. a new report the cia has begun delivery of weapons to syrian rebels. secretary kerry begins talks geneva with the russians, and russian president vladimir putin speaks to americans in "the new york times." and north korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor, capable of producing plutonium. and the rare sighting of a smoke-nado. and a single night in this suite will cost you a cool $45,000. "early today" starts right

now. good morning, i'm richard lui. we start with breaking news out of colorado. parts of boulder county are being hit hard by devastating floods after three days of heavy rain. the national weather service has issued a flash flood emergency for boulder and jefferson counties. there's at least one confirmed death and reports of collapsed homes, mudslides, and stranded drivers, but also a report of a dam collapse in larimer county. hundreds of students at boulder have been evacuated and the emergency office is telling residents to move to higher grounds. bill karins will be here with details and what's going on there. russian president vladimir putin is issuing a plea for caution for the u.s. in a "the new york times" editorial. more on that in a moment. first, a report in the morning's "washington post" saying the cia started delivering weapons to

syrian rebels. this as secretary of state john kerry is set to meet with sergei lavrov his russian counterpart. lavrov is said to be a master negotiator. kerry and his team plan to test the seriousness of russia's proposal to put syrian chemical weapons under international control. meanwhile, syrian rebels are apparently disappointed with president obama's decision to forego a military strike in favor of diplomacy. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. tracie, what do we know about what secretary kerry will be doing and saying? >> reporter: a senior department official is telling us that the secretary's goal is to share assessment of where the chemical weapons are and how many -- what the capacity is with russia. and then to come up with a plan and to see if the russian plan will actually work. monitoring and verifying those weapons. they need to talk about security in terms of bringing down the

stash of chemical weapons in syria, and timelines. they won't be talking about any sort of u.n. resolution, we're told, and it he could be there through saturday, so they could take actually about three days. you mentioned sergei lavrov, the foreign minister for russia, who will be sitting down with secretary of state kerry. in an interview prior to that meeting, he says one big ground rule for sitting down with the u.s. was that we would hold off any sort of military strike. richard? >> tracie potts, thank you for the very latest on that. now to the op ed by russia's president, president putin. it was published in "the new york times." he warns a u.s. strike in syria could unleash a new wave of terrorism and further destabilize the region. he wrote, quote, there are few champions of democracy in syria. but there are more than enough qaeda fielters and extremists of all stripes battling the

government. he warns examerican conceptu conceptualism, a concept that the president addressed tuesday night. he said it's extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. in response, a senior administration official telling nbc news, quote, president putin has invested his credibility in transferring assad's chemical weapons to international control and ultimately destroying them. the world will note whether russia can follow through on that commitment. a recent satellite image appears to show that north korea is restarting a plutonium reactor. the image looks similar to this one from last year. it shows white steam rising from a building next to the facility. the u.s. korea institute at johns hopkins university says this may warrant international alarm over north koreans' nuclear weapons program. the institute says it's difficult to be certain without access to the secret facility directly.

the five megawatt reactor was shut down in 2007, but north korea announced plans in april to restart it amid threats to the u.s. and south korea. an impastor has been arrest. terry jones was stopped before lighting 3,000 qurans on wednesday. jones first gained notoriety, as you might remember, three years ago for a similar protest. that one was called off. but his congregation did burn copies of the quran in 2011. law enforcement says he was picked up while driving to a demonstration yesterday. 3,000 qurans were found in his truck, all soaked in kerosene. he and associate pastor are charged withen lawful conveyance of fuel. wednesday marked 12 years since the 9/11 attacks. family members and first responders of the nearly 3,000 killed came to reflect on those lost, but not forgotten. moments of silence were held at

the national september 11th memorial in lower manhattan. they also took place at the pentagon. and at the field in shanksville, pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked airlines crashed. at the white house, president and mrs. obama were joined by vice president biden and his wife for a memorial. they stood quietly at 8:46 a.m. that marked the exact time the first plane struck the north tower of the world trade center. afterwards, the silence was pierced by a single trumpeteer playing "taps." ♪ gun-control advocates took another hit wednesday as chicago city council voted to end a mandatory gun registry. the council reluctantly voted to abolish the 45-year-old registry so the city would comply with the state concealed carry law. that law was passed in july. it gives complete control of gun regulations to the state of illinois. mayor rahm emanuel was upset about that vote.

he said the court's interpretation of the conceal carry law is flat-out wrong. gun rights advocating say the registry was a way to harass law-abiding gun owners. let's go to bill karins. we're watching a lot of heavy weather in colorado. you and i were talking about it this morning, it's like a big bowl, now full of water. >> yeah, all of the sets in the country, boulder is considered the most vulnerable to flash flooding. they're at the base of boulder creek. and boulder canyon. and as far as last night, i mean, about as bad as it's ever been in the city's history. a little over 7 inches of rain reported in 12-hour period. it's still raining, but not the torrential rains like last night. it's been raining like this for the past three, four days. one dam failure and three others are overtopped because they're so full. a dangerous situation. a lot of roads got washed out. rescue crews are having a hard time getting to people who are stranded and needing the help. as far as the rest of the west, nothing like this, thankfully. we do have wet weather, still

some showers here and there. but the hot weather conditions as of yesterday, it had to be one of the hottest days we'll see for a while. record heat in seattle at 93 degrees. it will still be a warm day. 93 yesterday. 102 in medford. >> wow. >> today is a little cooler. 84 in seattle. we're dry in most cases. it looks like even there in the intermountain west, it won't be as bad as last night in boulder. that's your the cooldown is on the way. details coming up. >> thanks a lot. a little bit of a last gasp of summer. new details regarding the testosterone and sex drive coming up. but first, check out pope frances' new used car. it's a 1984 renault with a

manual transmission. looks cool, right? and outside of the new engine, the vatican says the pope plans to drive the car himself. headlines of business, by the way, are next.

welcome back. some other stories. a big announcement from across the pond. prince william is leaving the british military. the second in line to the throne completed his final shift as a royal air force search and rescue pilot on tuesday. kensington palace says he'll now focus on his royal duties, charity work, and, of course, yaep, being a new dad. a northern california wildfire has claimed the life of one man and injured at least four others. the clover fire which has destroyed nearly 8,000 homes is expected to be fully contained by sunday. a school bus carrying senior citizens with disabilities collided with six other cars wednesday in new jersey. t at least eight people are in the hospital, two of them with what authorities are saying are life threatening injuries.

prince harry attended an awards ceremony to honor seriously ill children and their professionals on tuesday. he called them all truly inspirational. taking you to health news now. classic signs of male midlife woes, a potbelly appears and you start to lose the sex drive. decreasing testosterone levels have long been to blame there. now scientists point the finger at a surprising new culprit. estrogen. a study finds falling levels of the female hormones in men's bodies play a big role in loss of libido and contribute to expanding waistlines, just as they do in women. experts say the research could change the way doctors prescribe hormones for men. "early today health" is brought to you by vagisil. let's talk business. the dow rose 135 wednesday. best buy's ceo says buh-bye to over $10 million worth of

company stock. he was forced to sell over 350,000 shares to help cover the costs for a recent divorce. chipotle rolls the dice on a new ad. the mexican food chain will release an animated video that mocks big food, but the downloadable video and interactive game is missing an important thing -- the chipotle name and logo are virtually nowhere to be seen, so it's unclear how effective the venture will be for the restaurant. baggage fees, upgrades to roomier seats and other extra fees charged by airlines have reaped a tiny sum for the airlines to the tune of over $27.1 billion in 2012. united, american, delta were the biggest benefactors of the extra fees. christmas in september. kmart is running the ads like this one to promote their free -- the free layaway, even though the big day isn't for another 104 days. and if you've got money to burn,

you can check out new york city's most expensive hotel suite. the four seasons offers the tie warner penthouse for $45,000 a night, which includes a 360-degree view of the city and oh, so much more. it better. straight ahead, the most and least expensive beers of the ballpark. plus, the yanks' derek jeter called it a season after just 17 games. and much more in sports, next.

now to the latest in sports for you. yahoo! sports says five s.e.c. college football players received impermissible benefits. the alleged benefits, including $45,000 and other items, would violate ncaa rules. players named there, former alabama lineman d.j. fluker, tennessee and mississippi state's cox and bumphis. alabama coach nick saban saying they do whatever they need to do to handle this situation. after no questions on saturday's game versus texas a&m, he gets up and he leaves. is it over for the yankees' derek jeter, and is it the season or his career? all because of his injured ankle. jeter, 39, only played 17 games this season, hitting a .190. he's had better years, certainly.

in the game itself, in tninh inning, a home run for a 5-4 win there for the yankees. they're one game back in the wild card race. se fernandez hit his first home run in the biggs. he is happy about that. he said, i'm going to stare at it and spit when i round third. atlanta players say, oh, no, you don't, no showboating here. amazingly, no punches thrown. which nfl team has the priciest beer of all? the detroit lions at 67 cents per ounce. dallas is second at 53. the cheapest in all of the land, carolina at only 27 cents an ounce. tie his feet, get singed up in an orange sack, jump in a lake in macedonia. what else do you do? swim like a dolphin for a mile. you get for that a world record. this guy is only 59 years old, too. he makes it safely. oh, yeah! how about this one, though he? a new jersey teenager with an unbelievable soccer throw. randy gordon did a front

handspring, throws the ball toward the goal. as you see here, the opposing goalie touches it but can't stop it. he gets a goal. randy gordon. happy about that. a first at the miss america pageant. that's up next. the contestant showing off the tattoos. big deal? or much ado about nothing? next.

now, i'm not making this up. this is a called a smoke-nado. not a tornado.

this is actually formed from a bunch of farmers burning stuff in their fields. a warm, hot air rising quickly. there's no flames there, so it's not a fire-nado like you get in the wildfires, but it actually looks like a tornado crossing the road. >> are we getting a movie? >> not quite sharknado. we could get a movie. a smoke-nado. we'll produce it. as far as the forecast today, actually a dry day. not quite as hot in the northwest. and the cooldown is beginning. after the 90s yesterday, about 81 in seattle. 87 in portland. as we go through the weekend, we do start to see still a little bit cooler, still beautiful. and then look what's on the way. highs in the 60s maybe next week. so this is the end of summer. >> all right. they're having a heat-nado? all right. i'll stop. >> now you're pushing it. >> i know. thank you. now for entertainment news. hanging out with kristin stewart comes with a heavy price tag. the actress agreed to sit down with an unidentified middle eastern prince in exchange for a

$500,000 donation to a hurricane sandy relief fund. good stuff. after 26 years, michael j. fox is back on the cover of "rolling stone" magazine. the actor recalls people asking are you sure you can take it on? are you sure you can deal with it? i said no. i'm not sure i can but i want to have the opportunity to. ms. kansas walks the walk and talks the talk. when it comes to promoting her anti-stereotype platform. she became the first contestant in history to hit the stage with a visible tattoo. unfortunately, she lost the swimsuit competition to miss mississippi. and a reporter made a major gaffe interviewing keanu reeves. >> is bill's voice going to come back naturally? is it hard -- >> i played ted. >> oh, my god.

>> you just lost all of your cred, dude. you -- that's right. that's what you should do right now. because you just lost all of your bill & ted cred. >> bill and ted cred, so important, fred. finally, chris humphries is not holding onto the pass. the boston celtics forward is accepting bids for his ex-wife kim kardashian's engagement ring worth about $2 million. the bling is expected to go on the auction block at christy's in new york city next month. you want to talk about the ring? you want to talk about bill and ted? >> i'm trying to think if i'd have known. >> you were preparing for the interview -- >> that's different. off the top of my head, i don't think i would have remembered. >> you are always prepared, bill. i do not doubt you. >> would you remember? >> yes. >> who was wish? >> i did, kinda. that's "early today." we hope it's your first stop today on nbc.

making the news in "the new york times," facebook privacy changes the subject of ftc investigation. the federal trade commission is looking into whether the new privacy politics violated an agreement with regulators. under that, facebook is required to get consent from users before exposing private information to new audiences. and in the christian science monitor, delaware-sized lake discovered beneath kenyan desert. scientists say the aquifer says it may fulfill the needs indefinitely. the response to the u.s. response in syria could hinge on a crucial meeting today. secretary of state john kerry has landed in switzerland to meet with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. kerry and his team plan to test the seriousness of russia's

proposal to put syrian chemical weapons under international control, and as part of that story, an op ed from putin in "the new york times." the headline, a plea for caution from russia. he warns a strike in syria could unleash a new wave of terrorism and further destabilize the region. it looks like a nasa rocket took a little friend up in the air. with it -- it took it when it launched on friday. do you see the shadow of the frog there? >> is that real? >> why is the frog even there? you know, i don't know. it's a picture. that's because the launch pad at the wallops midatlantic regional spaceport has a pool for a water system. unfortunately, we can't confirm the little critter's condition, or that of the -- an interesting picture. look at this beast of a gator caught in florida. coming in at 13 1/2 feet long, it barely missed being the state's biggest one ever caught. bill is our gator expert. >> yeah. >> the biggest one in the country -- >> comes from florida, about 1,200. >> ben williams said it took him

about 30 minutes to haul the reptile onto the dock and another 30 minutes to get the gator on the boat. he said he plans to sell the gator's meat -- >> we need a bigger boat. >> look at that thing. it would probably sink the boat. look at that thing. gargantuan. any other gator facts that you got? >> uh, no. i think they were going for record length for this one. >> huge. time for a look ahead. immigration demonstration in washington. 100 women plan to protest outside of offices. the first lady wants us to drink more water. michelle obama is continuing her efforts to get children and families to eat and drink better with an event in wisconsin. happy birthday to indianapolis colts quarterback andrew luck, who is 23. jennifer hudson turns 32. and "dallas" star linda gray, a classic. keep it here. i'm richard lieuy along with bill karins. have a very good thursday.

new this morning secretary of state john kerry now is in geneva meeting with russian leaders hashing out a plan over syria. we'll have the latest developments. >> keeping things calm, what the seahawks are telling their fans as seattle gears up for the big game this weekend taking on the 49ers. >> video in of a big rig crash, the fuel spill that tied up traffic for hours. >> we head north to another bridge, that one of course being the bay bridge. giving your day starts, we're close to the weekend. it's thursday, september 12th, this is "today in the bay."