do not dismiss this. do not take this lightly because it's a tropical storm and may get to category 1. >> gordon is racing toward the gulf coast with hurricane warnings, including life-threatening storm surge, heavy rainfall, and fierce winds. >> today begins the contentious hearings for mr. trump's supreme court nominee following a labor day tweet storm from the president targeting organized labor and his own attorney general. >> a new nike just do it campaignal quarterback colin kaepernick is getting a lot of push back this morning. >> then to the mom who dunked her son's head in a toilet, and the backlash that followed. >> plus the uconn men's basketball teams epic end of

summer slam fest. that is the way you do it. we'll show you more when "early today" continues -- starts right now. >> good morning. i'm marlie hall. >> and i'm phillip mena. after drenching the southern tip of florida, tropical storm gordon is now taking aim at the gulf coast. though it has already lashed south florida with fierce wind and heavy rain, the national hurricane center warns that tropical storm gordon will likely strengthen and become a full-blown hurricane by the time it makes its second landfall later today. >> as the tropical storm quickly travels through the eastern gulf of mexico, experts say the area stretching from southern louisiana to alabama may see rising water of 3 to 5 feet. louisiana governor has already declared a state of emergency and says 200 national guard troops will be deployed to the region. nbc's dan scheneman has more on what could become the first hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. this season. >> reporter: south florida hit

with a force of tropical storm gordon. >> i didn't expect it to end up like this. i thought it was just going to be outer bands, rain, not like this. >> reporter: heavy rains fell on part of the sunshine state. now gordon is moving on and expected to gain strength. forecasters say it could be a hurricane when it reaches the gulf coast. >> much of southeast louisiana can expect to see heavy rain of 4 to 6 inches, possibly 7 inches of rain in some areas. >> reporter: throughout the coast, residents are grabbing sand bags and shopping for some last-minute necessities. >> i'm stacking up on some stuff just in case. >> reporter: hurricanes are a fact of life along the gulf coast, but even long-time residents like erica garcia are concerned. >> it makes me a little nervous. yeah, last night i was pretty nervous. >> reporter: most people plan to ride out the storm, others have a different plan. >> when a storm come, i leave. >> reporter: dan scheneman, nbc news. >> meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking gordon. what can we expect in >> we are looking at a pretty

rough day. if you have any plans, you want to make plans now to protect your home, protect yourself. we are looking at gordon, tropical storm as of the latest advisory at 2:00 a.m., 65 mile per hour winds expected to increase throughout the day and could be a hurricane as it makes landfall later on tonight. currently located 200 miles east, southeast of the mississippi river. it is moving pretty quickly. that's good news. it will make landfall later tonight. here is the track moving east, southeast, east northeast, excuse me. tuesday 8:00 a.m., 65 mile per hour, tuesday 75 miles per hour. we need to watch this over the next 12 hours. we are looking at flooding rains, potentially life-threatening storm surges and that's where we're looking with the lightning. right now over the gulf which is good news, it's moved off land, but we'll see it moving to the east, northeast over the next 12 hours. >> we'll talk to you again in a bit, michelle. thank you. the stage is set for a contentious supreme court showdown on capitol hill today. the senate judiciary committee will kickoff several days of

hearings grilling nominee brett kavanagh about his views on everything from abortion to gun control. there's already plenty of controversy including the trump administration's decision to withhold thousands of documents from kavanagh's time in the bush white house. nbc's tracee pots joining us live from d.c. with a preview of that fight ahead. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: could be an interesting few days, phillip. good morning, everyone. they said they did release hundreds of thousands of documents including when he worked on the ken starr investigation of bill clinton. more documents, they say, than the last five nominees combined. but the 100,000 that they're holding back is one of the reasons that democrats are rallying, saying they need that bianca ground information, not to mention, as you noted, they're concerned about how judge kavanagh might vote on issues like gun control, reproductive rights, abortion. people who worked with him though on aiken star

investigation say he can take the heat. >> i never saw him lose his temper. he was very serious and very hard working, so i'll be very surprised if he's rattled in any way. i think he's ready for anything they will throw at him. >> reporter: now, supporters say kavanagh would recuse himself in ray conflict. one of the other concerns here, phillip, is how he might vote on the issues of a president being criminally prosecuted, being investigated. that, of course, can come to bear on the mueller/russia investigation. he has written not a decision, but he has written about that, saying that a president should not face criminal prosecution. this is expected to last four days. >> monumental days ahead for this country. tracie, thank you. >> president trump is taking on one of the nati's afl-cio saying the administration has done more to hurt workers than help. the president touted the strong economy and his rebutt. feud. >> reporter: on a day some mixe messages from the president for

america's workers. just days after announcing a freeze on federal employee wages, president trump tweeting the american worker is doing better than ever before. and attacking the head of the afl-cio who disagrees. >> unfortunately to date, the things that he's done to hurt workers outpaced what he's done to help workers. >> reporter: on sunday richard told fox news that despite unemployment rates, workers are suffering. >> wages have been down since the first of the year. gas prices have been up since the first of the year. so overall workers aren't doing as well. >> reporter: at labor day events around the country, some workers also voiced concern over the president's policies. >> manufacturers aren't ready to be able to go out and produce products. our members aren't going to work. >> reporter: president trump who calls this the strongest economy in histo federal workers. >> people don't want to give them an increase, they haven't had one in a long time. i said stu'm that over the weekend. it's a good time to study it,

labor day. let's see how they do next week. but a lot of people were against it. i'm going to take a good hard look over the weekend. >> reporter: congress can still add those wage increases into the budget on its own. nikky carvajal, nbc news, washington. >> just hours after announcing former trump strategist steve bannon would headline the new yorker festival, the magazine said he's been dropped. bannon was scheduled to be interviewed on stage by david remnick at next month's ival. but backlash against bannon was swift with other guests threatening to drop out. movie director judd tweeting, i will not take part in an event that normalizes hate. actor jim carrey saying bannon and me on the same program? could never happen. some new yorker staff writers also saying they were appalled by the decision to include bannon. remnick later issuing a lengthy statement saying he changed his mind after listening to concerns. he writes, in part, there is a

better way to do this if the opportunity presents itself. i'll interview him in a more traditional journalistic setting. bannon slammed the news telling cnbc in what i would call a defining moment, david remnick showed he was gut less when confronted by the howling mob. >> monica lewinsky sat down for an interview but walked off the stage aftquestion. the interviewer from channel 2 news asked lewinsky whether she still expects an apology from president clinton. lewinsky said, i'm sorry, i'm not going to be able to do this and left the stage. she later explained on twitter saying she agreed to the interview with the understanding the clinton question was off limits. she added, it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control the narrative. according to the jerusalem post, channel 2 news thanked lewinsky in a statement saying we respect her sensitivity and wish her luck. >> a flood disaster is unfolding

in the midwest as powerful storms pound the region with heavy rain, leaving some roads under water. in cedar falls iowa, the downpour left roads virtually impassable and businesses there scrambling to put down sand bags to prevent flood waters from rushing in. it's not over yet. meteorologists say widespread thunderstorms are expected to continue today and those areas hit hardest could experience flash flooding. >> heavy showers dumped nearly 9 inches of rain in kansas to or banks. riley police rescued 150 people from the flood zone along with four pets according to west star energy, more than 170 remain without power due to the flooding. >> moving over to chicago, torrential rain caused hundreds of flightsands of delays at o'h international airport. crews worked to clean up leaks inside the terminals as rainwater ran down the walls and pooled onto the floor. and in galveston, texas, the

heavy rain did not let up. leaving the city drenched and roads there also submerged. >> and michelle is back with the forecast. what's the latest there? >> yeah, we are drenched once again today. we had such a wet august. we're going to see another drenching round of rains today. this is what we'll look like throughout the day. a slow moving front will move to the east. we are moving through humid air. that will drop a lot of rain once begin. flooding is not going to take a lot to flood these areas and then by wednesday, even further off to the east, b anywhere from 1 to all right, yeah, we're looking good at least in the southwest. that's the good part, the northwest. everywhere else a busy weather day. >> a long day ahead. all right, michelle, thank you. >> sure. >> iowa police say a 10 foot

long board went flying through the windshield of this car. it stopped short of hitting a child hitting in the front 76-seat. according to officials, the 63-year-old driver suffered from a medical condition that caused this accident. thankfully another young passenger that was there was spared of any injuries. >> wow, close call. just ahead, nike's new ad campaign is create ag quite a buzz with quarterback colin kaepernick front and center. if you have psoriasis, ...

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the #boycott nike and just burn it quickly began trending on twitter with users posting images like these of nike products they burned or destroyed. but there is also plenty of support, too. serena williams who is also part of this campaign saying, especially proud to be part of the nike family today. former cia director and nbc news contributor john brennan saying, well done, colin, well done. >> a joke taken too far? a florida mother is under fire this morning after a video of her dunking her toddler's head wt viral. the mom says they were just having fun, but police and state authorities aren't laughing. she's now facing an investigation. from our nbc affiliate in orlando, michelle meredith has the story. >> it was just a joke. >> reporter: caitlyn wolf said she had no idea this video sticking her son's head in the toilet would get the reaction it did. oh, but it did.

threaten to do what to you? >> threatened to kill me, murtd me, shoot me, shove my head in the toilet, bury me halfway alive, cut my head off. >> reporter: it started last week when caitlyn says as a prank she gave her 3-year-old son what she calls a swirly, toilet flushing, head in the video lgs out. but caitlyn says he's not screaming, he's laughing. >> it was just a joke. and i mean, everybody is like, oh, his face didn't go in -- it's not a dirty toilet. it was clean, you know. he wasn't being tortured in any way. >> reporter: but the leesburg police department and the state of florida rare not lorenzo-veraing. both have launched investigations. caitlyn says her 10-year-old son shot this video. caitlyn said she sent the video to a former friend, that former friend sent the video to another woman, and that woman posted it

on facebook. >> i would never do it again because i would never have this kind of explosion of hate. >> reporter: and explosion of hate, investigations and the debate on where a joke ends and abuse begins. >> that is a debate for sure. that was michelle meredith reporting. >> notice she said she won't do it again because of all the backlash she got, not because she didn't believe in what she did. coming up, eating champion joey chestnut wins again by just winging it. and a young woman with down syndrome on cloud 9 after a flight crew makes her biggest dream come true. t have to worryt that, do i? actually, you do. harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. crest gum detoxify works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. and, now there's new crest gum & enamel repair. it gives you clinically proven healthier gums and helps repair and strengthen weakened enamel. gum detoxify and gum & enamel repair, from crest.

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ain't no thing but a chicken wing. for the second year in a row, joey chestnut took first place at the neatio of the most popul of the summer, chestnut gobed 1 fascinating. we need a documentary on this guy. a woman in california set her sigs high i got her chance on a southwest flight from sacramento to seattle. it all started when tracy who has down syndrome befriended vicky heath. she helped tracy get a uniform and of course those wings to be a flight attendant for the day.

when the plane landed, tracy got a big round of applause. i have to say that's tough to do. she's standing in front of hundreds ever people public speaking like that. >> a well deserved round of applause. she did a great job. the end of summer means back to school and back to that early morning coffee. starbucks sampled the orders of its college-age customers and found that no surprise, they love espresso. by region, students in the southeast go for a double shot espresso on ice. the northeast prefers a white mocha photogra mo dolce latte, in the southwest the ice the latte is the favorite. the most popular among college students is, you guessed it, t . a lot of caffeinated college students. >> bottom line, starbucks has this whole country on lock. just ahead, the uconn men's basketball team shows off serious dunking skills.

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storms in the southern and central plains. of course watching tropical storm gordon all throughout the day and watching some pretty high heat in the northeast. some sizzling heat. temperatures in the 90s. feeling more like 100 degrees in many spots. we'll be right back. what might seem like a small cough

can be a big bad problem for your grandchildren. babies too young to be vaccinated against whooping cough are the most at risk for severe illness. lk to your doctor or pharmacist today babies too young to be vaccinated against whooping cough about getting vaccinated against whooping cough. growing outrage this morning over a jail house tragedy. a 27-year-old woman dying behind bars after she was arrested for traffic tickets. the d.a. found no wrongdoing, but a new report faults jailers for miss takes including failure to call for medical help. now her family is demanding >> speeding and jailed for

outstanding traffic tickets, these are the final hours of kelly coal train's life. a report by state investigators findingf's deputies in mineral county nevada appeared to violate policy when denying the 27-year-old's request for medical care after she informed them she was dependent on drugs and suffered seizures during withdrawal. >> the jail had an obligation to safeguard her safety. they knew about it. they ignored it. they were deliberately indifferent. >> reporter: in jail, coal train barely ate. on day three she could be seen trembling and vomiting. jailers asking her to clean up her mess. hours later a deputy finding her unresponsive. but the report says no one called for medical help or tried to resuscitate her. she laid in her cell until the next morning. ada da fr a district attorney from another county recommended filing no charges against deputies.

a lawyer representins miner small and rural, but strives to provide everyone with effective reasonable law enforcement, also hiring an outsidegency to couc family is filing suit, asking how this outgoing 27-year-old couldafr a for a doctor. miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> protesters angry over the massive fire at brazil's national museum gathered outside the gates of the now gutted building. clashing with police and railing against conditions at the historic institution that led to its loss, sunday night towering flames scorched the night skies in rio de janeiro damaging tens of millions of artifacts, nearly burning that museum to the ground as it celebrated its 200th anniversary. >> the uconn men's basketball team is already making it rain in their season. hasn't even started yet.

during a labor day pool husz ki showing hang time video. the moment was captured by a grad assistant and head coach's dan hurley's backyard. talk about building chemistry off the court. it captured ball movement. selflessness. execution. this is uconn. we have a new version of the splash brothers right there. >> that was pretty good. i'm marlie hall. >> and i'm phillip mena. have a great tuesday.ad lib livy

bridge. good morning and thank you for joining us. i )m kris sanchez -- in for laua garcia. good morn to go you. it is tuesday. some of those folks were saying maybe i shouldn't have stayed out so late. >> so good morning. a lot of people getting up and ready to go. >> it will be a nice day, another one.

we are also going to have some spots getting a little hot and the drifts of smoke coming in. here is a look outside in san francisco. mist and drizzle. we will see improvements. it's going from unhealthy to moderate now.