it's wednesday, september 30, coming up on "early today." the deluge has already begun. tropical storm joaquin continues to intensify and could turn into a major hurricane. and georgia executes its first and only death row inmate in 70 years. and the on both sides of the issue, the head of planned parenthood faced a tough republican congress. >> the outrageous accusations leveled against planned parenthood based on heavily doctored videos are offensive and categorically untrue. >> "early today" starts rights now.

>> i'm meteorologist, bill karins and the joaquin is going to be the story. it's now near hurricane strength. hurricane warnings now for the central bahamas. and the forecast is going to be a close call for areas of the eastern north carolina, virginia and possibly the delmarva, chesapeake bay. and the major cities from new york city, to philadelphia to d.c. to norfolk. this doesn't look like it is a hundred percent to make land fall in the u.s. there is a chance it completely missesed. i'll explain shortly. >> now for breaking news overnight. if for first time in 70 years the state of georgia has executed a female prisoner. kelly gissendaner was executed.

not even a letter from pope francis could stop it. >> the kelly gissendaner was killedly lethal injection. the first woman to be executed in the state in 70 years. a mother of three, she was found guilty of conspiring the murder of her husband douglas at the hands of her boyfriend. denied clemency despite pleas from her oldest child, as well as the catholic church. >> every life is sacred. every human being being is endowed with an inalienable dignity. >> just last week the pope met with prisoners in the u.s. and called for death penalty to be i established. her sentence was harsher than greg owens the man who carried out the murder. >> but the court said she gave her husband no rights.

his life was not hers to take. >> it was an explosive day on capitol hill with arguments over one of this country's politically divisive program, planned parenthood. it went before the committee. nbc's kelly o'donnell reports. >> reporter: the president of planned parenthood faced five hours of tense -- >> will the gentlemen yield? >> no i won't. >> sometimes -- >> you can't tell me how much you actually make from abortions. >> i -- >> you can't tell me how much you actually make from a i abortions. >> planned parenthood is under fire. stoked by controversial undercover videos made by an anti abortion activist. >> in this is all untrue why did you apologize. >> congressman, first i think

everyone's agreed they were heavily edited. >> my question was why did you apologize? >> planned parenthood provides service s services to 2 million each year. most mostly. $530 million of taxpayer help a year. much of that through medicaid. for services like health screens, birth control and breast exams. >> we like other medicaid providers, we are reimbursed directly for services provided. >> democrats defended planned parenthood's work. >> if if we don't continue this life-saving service, women will be denied healthcare across this great nation. >> and its leader who seemed unfazed by tough questions. >> the disrespect, the misogyny rampant here today tells us what is really going on here.

>> surely you don't expect us to be easier on you because you are a woman. >> absolutely not. that is not how my mama raised me. >> that was kelly o'donnell. and last night cecile richards appeared on the rachel maddow show. she addressed the debate in congress and whether it is about all scoring political points. >> i do think it is something they may find effective in their caucus or republican primary but i think it is a terrible move in the broader public. folks love planned parenthood not because of our brand. because they come to us for help. most people know someone who's come to planned parenthood. i think ultimately this is a really losing battle. >> some republicans originally threatened to shut down the government but a stoop gap bill is likely to go through.

and gop lead erls now say they hope to negotiate with president obama on a two year budget deal. now to the race for the white house. hillary clinton is calling on congress to repeal part of the affordable care act. the so called cadillac tax effects high cost insurer provided plans. the cadillac tax provides key funding for obamacare. clinton's top rival, senator bernie sanders introduced last week to repeal the tax. meanwhile sanders who are has never run a negative political ad hinted yesterday he might change course. sanders said he still hopes to never run a negative ad but said quote, we'll see. on the gop side trump made a reappearance on fox news after saying last week that he would boycott the network. >> so you're back. how does it feel?

>> well it feels good. you have always been fair to me, bill. i've never had a problem with you. you have always treated me with respect and fairley. and i've always appreciated that. you know that. >> all right. well that's going to change tonight. >> at one point the danish foreign minister got a few laughs when addressed mr. pieden. >> mr. president -- vice president, sorry. well could have been. can be. who knows. if you something new to tell us here. please let us know. >> it seems like an honest mistake there. world leaders figuring how to tackle the growing isis threat. president obama talked strategy yesterday. but despite the air attacks isis members keep growing. 5,000 have western passport,

including 250 americans. 50 will now back in the u.s. and they have taken advantage of the civil war in syria 1k now an alarming ultimateem on that front. and this morning, new numbers are shedding light on syria's carnage dorg according to a british medical journal. researchers found a quarter of the victims were women and children. an intense man hunt is under way in louisiana after a killer was mistakenly set free. 32-year-old ben johnson was released last wednesday due to a clerical error. he was serving a 40 year sentence for manslaughter and illegal possession of the firearm. it wasn't discovered until

monday, giving him a five day head start. nbc meteorologist bill karins is back with the latest onjoaquin. >> we have a chance to see in our country one of the most devastating storms of the year. of course the honor if you want to call it that goes to the blizzard that hit boston back in february. this storm has the potential to be like that but hopefully it misses off the coast. it has the track parallel to the east coast, maybe clipping the outer banks and up towards the mid atlantic. now the reason to the shift to the west was because our computer models have shifted dramatically to the west. almost all the squiggly lines here now take it to the richmond area of the virginia beach norfolk or outer banks. and that's a pretty good consensus. the american computer model, this is the latest one. takes it as the formidable category two, possibly category one hurricane towards the outer

banks and norfolk. heaviest rainfall would be again, possibly flooding, virginia and north carolina. but the european model, statistically. our best long range computer forecast. takes us to bermuda. and if this one shifts west then we almost know we are certain we're going to have to keel with the in the desert southwest and temperature temperatures kind of typical for california. so we'll know more in the days ahead. we still have four days until this potentially even hits land. we have a ways to watch it. >> and you'll be trackic it. thanks so much. so who did the pope meet with secretly while in the u.s.? plus target taking steps that will leave someoff you money. phil mickelson, pro golfe. my psoriatic arthritis caused joint pain.

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welcome back. the lawyers for kentucky county clerk kim davis claims she practically met with pope francis while he was in washington d.c. last week. davis was in jail for six days. the pope gave her two rosaries and encouraged her to stay strong. nbc cannot confirm that meeting took place. the. and a van pulled over for running a stop sign. the driver and passengers bolted out to a nearby field. authorities are still searching for the third suspect. and. edward snowden joined twitter yesterday. his first tweet was simply "can you hear me now?" people heard him already. he's got 8,000 followers already. and the only twitter he's following is the nsa.

and have you ever wondered what it's like to dive into the great hall from the movies? you can enter a two course dinner and tour for about $300 a person. and a surfer caught more than a wave when he captured this close encounter with a gray whale on tuesday. and let's get down to business with landon dowdy. good morning. >> hey dara. tesla hands over the keys to its newest vehicle. the premium version at $132,000 has falcon wing rear doors. seats about 7 and can go about 250 miles on a single charge. elon musk estimates 25,000 customers have preordered. target will match online prices with more than two dozen competitors on thursday. customers will have 14 days to get a price adjustment.

and twitter is tossing the idea around of ditching the 140 character limit on messages. re/code reports the project is being spear head by i the interim ceo. some are in favor of raising the limit by ten or so characters. back to you. and just ahead, if at first you don't succeed, try again. and again. and again. sports is up next.

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this morning on today, the growing debate over youth in high school football. how concerns over players safety are causing towns and school districts to disband their teams. let's get your wednesday sports headlines from betty nguyen. good morning. >> knto the bronx, one fan tryi to impress his lady but he did everything but. and the yankees took a pounding. and the third straight national league west title with 8-0 victory. that and eliminated the giants

from playoffs contention. the ncaa dropped the hammer on smu and head coach larry brown. the team is banned from post season next year and brown is suspended nine games. there were multiple infractions tied to academic fraud. and in montclair, the funeral for yankee great yogi berra. a plethora of baseball legends attended, including joe joe tor torre. >> friends of mine contacted me when yogi for introducing them to him. he affe he effected so many people in a positive way. thanks so much. and just ahead, which hollywood heavy hitter had inside info

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welcome back. all the heavy rain has now moved through the mid atlanta sbiek the northeast. that was needed. there's bap drought situation. but now that we have the possible hurricane coming that is not what you want is

saturated soil. as far as the forecast goes it is still very warm. phoenix 107. very hot for them in september. 90 in l.a. and warmer inland. and the thursday, showers and possible storms by boise. overall not a lot of changes in the west. now to entertainment news. "the martian" director ridley scott says he knew about mars announcement two months ago. he was shown the data while working on the movie but it was too late to work the findings into the plot. hopefully the next -- and lady gaga will receive an awe award in december. being honored for his performances, tv role and philanthropic work. and according -- also in the

top ten, usher, jay-z, katy perry and amy schumer. >> jimmy white too. >> is jimmy fallon pitching the next fast and furious installment. >> vin diesel says he plans to end the fast and furious franchise, with three for movies. in the next one he spends two hours looking for a parking spot at costco. they are running out of ideas. >> i could go for three more fast and furious movies. i do like them. >> we're going to end it with three. most people are lucky to have one movie. literally another trilogy at the tail end. >> and it continues. i'm dara brown and this is "early today." coughing...sniffling... and wishing you could stay in bed all day.

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leading the news on nbc n s news.com. dad convicted of buying gun his son used to kill four at high school. illegally possessing six firearms. his son 15-year-old jalen used a pistol to kill four classmates and himself in october last year. and then in daily mail. the ultimate bad hair day. woman ends up in hospital after confusing builders foam with her hair mousse. >> don't you think they would be different sizes? >> as you can see she does not

look happy. president obama met with cuban president recall castro yesterday. and according to cuban officials castro recommended to obama --. he also said the u.s. should live economic sanctions on the island nation. castro said this is necessary for relations to continue to normalize between the two countries. the first trial involving the death of freddy gray while in police custody is set for november 30th. officer william porter will be the first to be tried. he's charged with failing to provide or request medical care for gray and for not properly securing him in the police van. a seven-year-old is being commended after turning over $8,000 in cash he found to police. the boy's uncle took the money to police who tracked down the owner. the boy was given a $100 reward. and a wedding in ohio over the weekend had a surprising twist.

the bride's father stopped the ceremony just before walking her down the aisle and instead grab the bride's step dad so the two could go down the aisle together. >> he said you worked for this as hard as i have. you deserve this as much as i do. help us walk our daughter down the aisle. >> very sweet. >> completely understanding and like -- i mean that is unusual. >> and you know weddings can get very contentious. when you have a family together it is all great. tonight's power ball jackpot is $391 million. it is the largest jackpot since february and the odds of winning 1/175 million. >> we have a chance. >> you do have a chance. and birthdays today. and holocaust survivor and nobel peace prize winner turns 87 today. i'm dara brown.

thanks for watching. hope you have a great wednesday. feeding the poorest californians

-- with fresh produce. a plan to expand food stamps at . feeding the poorest californians with fresh produce, a plan to expand food stands. beer, brawls and brute behavior. a safety plan at levi stadium to cut down on violence. plus a car ignites in flame spreading to a south bay house. now this morning a dozen people are displaced. "today in the bay" starts right now. good wednesday morning, thank you for joining us. i'm sam brock. >> and i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's get to the forecast with meteorologist tara hall. >> big changes in the forecast today as we track moisture that looks like it will be streaming into the bay area, especially for the south bay. you can see the cloudsnd