we can see it in the seriousness and the effectiveness of the federal, state and local government responses. but learning short-term lessons from katrina is not enough. six years later, the longer-term lessons about public policy, mutual investment, are what we as a people are still refusing to learn. and that does it for us tonight. i'm melissa harris perry in for rachel mad do you. we'll see you tomorrow tonight. an overwhelming cleanup, east coast residents deal with the misery left behind by hurricane irene as the death toll from the storm climbs. cy sillian shakeup, mt. etna shoots off fresh births of lava and ash. and what would you do? fresh bills shoot out of a truck

in new orleans. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with irene's widening wake. she may not have been the damaging hurricane that many had feared but with the death toll that's risen to at least 40 and record-breaking floods not seen in nearly 100 years irene's impact will surely be remembered for years to come. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: the cleanup continues. and so does the water. after ripping a path through the outer banks and north carolina coast the legacy of hurricane irene may be historic flooding. >> we have seen record flooding in vermont, record flooding in new york. we still have rivers that have yet to crest. the extent of the impacts we

still won't know. >> reporter: rivers hundreds of miles from the coast turned into rapids. roads rushed away. these firefighters in new jersey spent the day trying to salvage what they could from their fire station. millions without power, thousands unable to return to their homes. >> it's not done yet but scary, a lot of people don't have power, and the water is still coming up. >> reporter: early estimates put irene's wrath at $7 billion in damages but it's the human toll that thousands are now forced to deal with. >> we've got a lot of people who have been really just impacted by this tragedy, so it's disheartening to watch. >> reporter: an impact that will last far longer than the storm. jay gray, nbc news, fairfield, connecticut. >> sure seems that way, and those estimated billions in hurricane relief funds made for a hot topic on the premiere of

"politics nation" with reverend al sharpton last night. the reverend asked texas republican joe barden if he agrees with eric cantor's stance that the government should only provide emergency funding for victims of hurricane irene if it can be paid for by other spending cuts. >> my assumption is that some point in time you headed a congregation and you passed a collection plate around and then you as a reverend for your congregation spent that money and what was best for the congregation but if there's no money in the collection plate you have to make decisions what needs to be paid and what doesn't and nobody on the republican side is saying we shouldn't help the east coast recover from the hurricane, recover from the earthquake, but we need to begin to come up with a process that we get the budget balanced so that there is a special fund or funds and enough

money that as these things occur not just now but in the future we can handle them without having just borrowing more money and that's a good thing for everybody, regardless of your political affiliation, regardless of where you live in america. >> every night the reverend al sharpton promises to feature a lively debate of the day's top headlines. don't miss the brand new "politics nation" weeknights at 6:00 eastern on in the nbc, the place for politics. there are new developments in the ongoing battle for libya. the wife and three children of hunted libyan leader moammar gadhafi have fled to neighboring algeria. the exit of the family is the latest and surest sign the embattled leader has lost control of the country. spokesman for libyan rebels says they consider algeria's harboring of gadhafi's family an "act of aggression" vowing to pursue their extradition. rebel forces have closed in on

gadhafi's hometown of sirte and claim gadhafi's son khamis was killed in battle over the weekend. the location and condition of gadhafi himself are unknown. after last week's crash of a russian soyuz rocket nasa officials say flights to the station are on hold. we have more from the kennedy space center. >> if we don't have soyuz flying by the middle of november 16th or so, the normal landing time for the last crew, then we would have to de-man iss at that point. >> reporter: wednesday a soyuz rocket blasted off with supplies. after the rocket went out of site its third stage engines failed and it crashed and burned several hundred miles away. here is the problem, this is the

same kind of rocket that takes people to the space station and when there's a problem with a rocket, they can't fly another one until they figured out what went wrong and made sure it can't happen again. that means there's no way to get to the space straight right now. the space shuttles are retired and the russian soyuz ships are grounded. now that the replacement crew cannot be launched a return will be delayed but can't be delayed long. all six crew members have to be home by mid-november because the batteries in their return capsules won't last beyond that time so the magnificent $100 billion station could soon become temporarily a collection of temporarily unused labs and we'd be at greatest risk of losing it completely with no astronauts on board to fix any problems. >> there's a greater risk losing

iss if it were unmanned than manned. here is your first look at some of the other news around america today. a spectacular water show took center stage off miami beach monday morning. the waterspout stretched from the cloudy skies down to the atlantic. no injuries or damage reported. boaters' followed official instructions to stay away from the area. a student pilot's monday afternoon solo flied ended badly. he lost control and crashed into a cinder block wall. witnesses say the cessna came in at high spied, clipping trees before crashing into the wall. the pilot was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. in upstate new york, one squirrel threatened to take over a woman's professional soccer championship game, the animal's impromptu performance delayed the game for eight minutes. it actually led to a twitter account in his honor, and now he

has at least 400 followers. the game eventually did continue after officials escorted the animal off the field in a cardboard box. and now for a look at your national weather, wcau meteorologist michelle grossman is here to give us the weather channel forecast. you're so lucky you're in for bill. he is so against twitter, every time we do a story about it he is so against it. >> he is on facebook. >> we know bill, that's what he's leak. let's look at the maps. we're looking at dries conditions in the northeast, kind of a quiet story, bull is thankful for this, he was working hard with the past up canal of days with the northeast. lots of people struggling as we head throughout today, river flooding in streams and creeks but we're seeing sunshine in the northeast and that is the good

news. we have moisture in the central parts of the nation, this is all advancing to the east but heavy downpours with some showers and thunderstorms. another spot wet today would be the southwest especially in florida where we are looking at heavy downpours. the forecast for today, looking at showers and thunderstorms in kansas city, 84. 80 degrees in minneapolis, looking wonderful in the northeast, lots of sunshine, 82 in new york. southeast in florida drenching downpours, 90 in miami. 105 in dallas, 102 in san antonio. they'll see a break midweek. by tomorrow's forecast, 81 in chicago. 86 degrees in new york city. toward the southeast, showers and thunderstorms, could see some drenching downpours once again but we'll dry out in the south central states by kansas city, 95. wall street whips up big gains, bank of america wheels

and deals and an italian village says forget about it. you're first look at this morning's business headlines is ahead. michael vick strikes it rich, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. i'm good about washing my face.

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welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. an alaskan woman convicted of punishing her adopted russian son by squirting hot sauce into his mouth and sending a tape of the incident into the dr. phil show was sentenced to three years' probation. she received a jail sentence and fine but both were suspended. prosecutors said the woman did it to get on the show. in china 22 coal miners trapped underground for a week were rescued today. three others were pulled from

the mine over the weekend. one miner did not survive. in sicily, mt. etna is at it once again, just over a week after the latest eruption yesterday, etna began spewing up explosions of ash and lava. no reports of injuries. money was falling from the skies in the netherlands after it apparently fell out of the back of a vehicle transporting cash. so naturally people started scooping it up from the roadway, but those who took the money are being asked to return it. now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,539, after jumping 254 points yesterday. the s&p hiked up 33 points. the nasdaq soared 82. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei gained 102 points while in hong kong the hang seng rose 339.

monday many wall street traders stayed home but those who made it into work were optimistic buyers, the dow down more than 7% for the year just three weeks ago is now virtually even for 2011 after monday's broad rally. only five s&p 500 stocks ended down and wall street's so-called fear index fell a whopping 9%. fueling investor optimism, july's consumer spending recorded its largest increase in five months. also home sales while july contracts fell, the drop matched forecast and topped last year's levels. financials were wall street's top gainer after two major greek banks merged creating new help for one of the euro debt crisis' battered country. bank of america jumped over 8% on news it's selling half of its stake in china construction bank for $8 billion in its

latest effort to boost capital. insurers rose sharply with irene's property damage less than feared. hartford financial services spiked 15%, all-state more than 8, travelers more than 5. ldk solar shines rose 15%. a lowe's management shake-up, larger rival home depot has beaten out lowe's in same-store sales for nine straight quarters. and a small town in italy being forced to merge with a nearby village to save some money has instead declared itself an independent principality and printing its own money, put their mayor's picture on the cash. the home run derby heats up, the jets warm up for the regular season and michael vick cashes in. plus look at this shot, if you think this shot on the first day of the u.s. open is impressive, imagine what the

rest of the tournament is going to be like. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. (announcer) everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military

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whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. the new york yankees may have been down some major star power last night but that gave others the chance to step up. here's fred roggin. >> good morning, after missing six weeks with a knee injury, alex rodriguez back on the shelf. with a sprained thumb,

thankfully their $197 million roster is more than enough to pick up the slack. derek jeter has a bruised knee so he sat out. nick swisher belted a two-run home run shot. home run in the ninth, blue jays jose bautista, 38th homer of the year, ties him with curtis granderson for the most in the bigs. phils and reds, shane victorino. football michael vick fresh out of jail and a third string quarterback looking for playing time. he signed a six year $100 million deal with the philadelphia eagles $40 million guaranteed. jets and giants, mark sanchez

split the defenders, found holmes in the end zone. jets have preseason bragging rights for the 17-3 win. u.s. open, already two shots that have the buzz. mardy fish with the straight set win. if you don't know who sergei starkovski is, you do know. no look behind the back win that dropped for the cross-court winner, he lost the match but left the u.s. open with the shot of the furnish amount. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. >> for another quick look at the weather wcau michelle grossman has another look at the weather. >> lots of people in the northeast struggling from the flooding that occurred from the weekend. this is the forecast, lots of sunshine from d.c. to boston, comfortable conditions, sunshine, low dew points, low

temperatures, really good for the end of august, albany 78 degrees. pittsburgh looking at 79. as we look at the national forecast we're looking at some showers and storms in minneapolis, down to kansas city, 84 degrees, another spot where we could see heavy downpours, in the southeast, 93 in orlando, hot in miami. texas has been baking all summer long, 100 degrees in san antonio tomorrow, 104 in dallas. it looks like the south central states dry out tomorrow and we will keep it dry in the northeast, boston coming in at 79, 86 in new york city. let's look at the west. we are looking at 68 in seattle, pretty low for this time of year, not expecting showers, as we head down to san francisco, 70 degrees with a little bit more cloud cover. lynn? >> michelle thanks so much. what is the most watched show ever for viewers aged 12 to 34? plus tv's "dancing with the

stars" reveals this season's interesting cast members. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. it was created with the power of verizon 4g lte. introducing the lightning-fast, 10-inch samsung galaxy tab. stay up to date, entertain yourself, and enrich your knowledge like you've never imagined. only at verizon. built so you can rule the air.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. last night on late night with jimmy fallon he assessed the damage caused by hurricane irene. >> it's estimated that hurricane irene cost $7 billion in damages. mainly to the bodies of people who ate a week's worth of food supplies in one night. it's like the klondikes are

going to melt we have to eat all of them. the weathermen haven't seen something they hain years, view. dick cheney said he'll have heads exploding in d.c. especially if you read it while on a hunting trip with dick cheney. "i thought it was a duck. it was just you reading the book." >> on tonight will forte, actress amy cederas and musical act steven maltmas and the jicks, "late night with jimmy fallon" at 12:35, 11:35 central time. first it was music videos, then reality shows, of course "jersey shore" mtv's all-time

ratings comes from an awards show, sunday night's advise yo music awards scored the biggest audience in mtv history, 12.4 million people, perhaps more surprising 8.5 million were 12 to 34-year-olds. elsewhere tmz reports "lost" star matthew fox was handcuffed and briefly detained after alleged allegedly punching the female driver of the bus. fox was not for malmally arrest. "dancing with the stars"

cast has been announced. nancy grace, ron artest, chaz bono. >> we could talk for hours about that. >> i have a feeling nancy grace will be the most interesting. >> probably. >> she'll with one-liners, the zingers. i'm lynn berry. stay tuned. "way too early" starts right now. vermont facing the worst flooding in nearly a century in the wake of hurricane irene. with bridges gone and roads washed away, what will happen to that state's landscape once the floodwaters recede? president obama will unveil his new jobs plan coming up, already added a new member to his economic circle with an expertise in employment. does he have what it takes to put americans back to work? the latest round of actors,