personal foul. i brawl involving parents breaks at a florida football game goodness gracious, sell brapts at an annual ritual firing flaming balls at each other. i'm berry.

this is first look on ms nbc. we begin this morning with fresh recession fears. pressure is mounting on president obama as the government releases its august jobs report later this morning. that data will come on the heels of a new white house projection that does not point to much improvement in the unemployment rate any time. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. tracie, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. good morning everyone. that new white house projection says the unemployment rate in the nation will probably hover around 9, 9.1% all of this year and next year as well. later this morning, we'll see if that was the case last month as the new unemployment rate comes out for august.

analysts don't expect to see much change even though the weekly jobless figures are down. that's good news. all of this comes less than a week before president obama is expected to roll out his new jobs plan. he is increasingly under pressure even from democrats who say he's been compromising too much. what they want to see is a fresh new plan that the president thinks will work, a vision as they put it to distinguish himself from the republican party. so far we believe his plan will include infrastructure projects to create more construction jobs and payroll cuts, tax cuts, we saw them this year. more for next year and an extension of unemployment insurance. it looks like the speech will not conflict with nfl season opener. he's going to speak about an hour before. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington. thanks. looking ahead to 2012. the nation's economy will undoubtedly factor into the president's campaign strike that yes along with another factor. the strength of his opponents.

last night on the last word with lawrence o'donnell, lawrence asked time magazine's -- if he thinks the obama camp is banking on a weak gop contender. >> you cannot talk to a democrat in this town or in chicago about this election about them volunteering information about what a lousy candidate they think mitt romney is going to be or rick perry is going to be. how that comparison they will be able to make especially the republican positions right now on things lieb the ryan budget will help them. they point to polling for the republican party. generally republicans in congress is very low right now. i'm not sure a lot of independent observers are convinced that it's going to be that easy. polling for the republican party was extremely low. polling was extremely low. at the end of 2010 when the republicans took the house. the american public right is in

the habit of turning the bums out of office because they've been angry for three cycles. there's a real ris thak that could happen again next year. >> don't want to miss lawrence o'donnell's last word on the compelling stories of the day. the last word airs weeknights at 8:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc, the place for politics. the economic woes may be the reason the nation's highways won't be as crowded as in years past. most of the cause is for folks spending the day at home start with a dollar sign. chris clackum reports. >> starting at the gas pump with a gallon costing a dollar more than last labor day and with airfares up as much as 13% means americans won't be traveling that much or that far this last long weekend of the summer. travel will be down about 2.5% this labor day over the last one. >> it makes sense that over this

weekend in particular people are thinking about a quick trip as opposed to a longer vacation. >> but industry experts say the reduced travel is actually resulting in reduced travel cost. >> the particularly good time, for example, to go to europe when the weather is still good, prices are about 20, 30% less than in the summer months. >> starting next week, cruise prices drop to less than $100 per person per night. and they expect hotel prices to do the same after the labor day holiday monday. chris clackum, nbc news. >> elsewhere this morning, ousted libyan leader moammar gadhafi is showing no signs of giving up even as rebel forces extended a guideline for the hometown to surrender from hiding, gadhafi vowed to keep fighting. nbc's stephanie gosk has more. >> i'm in misrata, a city that suffered the most under

gadhafi's forces. there is growing concern that the fighting is not over. gadhafi in a phone interview with arabic television told his loyal forces not to back down, not to surrender. the national transitional council extended an ultimatum to surrender. they were told they had to surrender this this saturday. now they have an additional week to surrender. gadhafi told his forces to rise up and fight back. that makes people in misrata nervous. nearly 1,000 people were killed in an extended battle in this city. they don't want to see any more bloodshed. stephanie gosk, nbc news, misrata. here's a first look at other news going on. fists were flying at a youth football game in florida last weekend. an argument for a referee's calls erupted into an all-out brawl. at least one player and a couple of parent coaches roughed up the referee before the melee ended. no arrests were made after the

incident but charges against some of the adult attackers are expected soon. in kansas, a couple of wichita officers braved suffocating smoke and raging flames to pull an elderly driver from his burning car. the officers sprang into action after the 65-year-old's car ignited following a crash into two vehicles and a guardrail. the officers and driver luckily did not suffer serious injuries. finally, at the nebraska state fair, we have liftoff. a group of dogs got plenty of air time showing off their leaping skills at the dock dog competition. with a little coaxing owners did their best to get their dogs to take flight. the dogs with the longest jumps will compete for the championship on monday. now for a look at national weather, we turn to meteorologist todd sanchez. he has your weather forecast. very busy weekend ahead. >> yes. very busy holiday weekend. a lot of people heading to the

beach. especially in the gulf coast. we have a tropical depression in the gulf that could become a tropical storm in the veneer term. it's a very slow-moving system. that has a number of concerns, especially across louisiana,especially southern louisiana, southern mississippi, flood concerns. we are talking the potential especially in the weekend. some of the rainfall totals could be upwards of a foot to even beyond that. flooding certainly a potential. also, with a system like this in the gulf, you're dealing with a situation for gusty winds. even the on-shore conditions there, center of circulation, closer toward the latest burst of convex. a lot of the system off the coastline. it's going to be a slow mover. that's why the gulf will be a mess as far as this weekend is concerned. rip current across pretty much the entire gulf as far as the potential is concerned. some of the better areas especially through the central and northern gulf coast. we're talking about a stationary system. maxed sustained wind at -- the rest of today, saturday, into sunday, maybe not making

landfall until potentially monday. you watch it beyond that. tropical storm strength, that whole time frame, this whole track through wednesday still having effects there across the northern gulf coast. that will, again, be one of the bigger concerns. zoom out further into the atlantic. tropical storm katia, was a hurricane. back to tropical storm. could become a hurricane later today. expected to track north of the caribbean. reintensifying and notice through monday and tuesday, especially into wednesday, we're talking potentially another major hurricane south of bermuda. initial at least ideas in the model pointing to a trough helping to sweep that off the coastline. still too far to exactly tell beyond that time frame. that's one to watch as far as next week is concerned. talking about today, notice a few of the showers and thunderstorms heading towards minneapolis. there's a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 11 central for areas north of des moines, south of minneapolis into western edge of wisconsin there. temperaturewise, warm already in places like chicago, later on

today talking about temperatures toward 95 degrees. may get showers and thunderstorms later tonight. oklahoma city, where we're dealing with the fires, lynn, we'll be starting to see the wind shift to the north especially into sunday. >> todd, thanks so much. coming up, big banks in big trouble over bad mortgages. auto sales zoom and say goodbye to something familiar on your street corner. your first look at the business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, the college football season kicks off. the titans chris johnson hits the jackpot and law and order: milwaukee. 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. here are the top stories. it was a milestone in iraq. august marked the first month since the start of the u.s.-led invasion that no u.s. forces died. the federal election commission has agreed that gabrielle giffords, the congresswoman wounded in the shooting could

use $2200 in campaign donation toss pay for security upgrades to her home. the panel made this exception due to violence and threats stemming from her work. england's telegraph reports king arthur's legendary roundtable, the place he gathered his knights may have been found beneath king's knot. a geometric landmark at sterling castle. they have linked the scottish site to the king. in el salvador, men hurled balls of fire at each other in a tradition marking a volcanic eruption in 1922. amazingly, over the years there have been very few serious injuries at at festival. here's a first look at wall street. the dow opens at 11,439 after falling 119 points yesterday. the s&p lost 14 points, the nasdaq sank 33. taking a look at oversooe seas trading. the nikkei skid 110 points. the hang seng slipped 372.

wall street's four-day rally ground to a halt on thursday. it was all thanks to jitters ahead of today's august jobs report. a mild increase of about 75,000 jobs is expected despite weekly jobless claims falling thursday. other down data had investors had gloomy about the day's numbers, such as a drop in factory employment. overall, activity came in only above growth levels. construction spending fell unexpectedly in july. public outlays dropped to their lowest level in five years. thursday, the white house cut economic growth outlook for the next two years. goldman sachs fell 3.5% on scrutiny from the fed over past mortgage and foreclosure practices. the new york times reports the agency overseeing fannie may and freddie mac will sue more than a dozen banks for billions at the height of the housing bubble. the times named bank of america,

j.p. morgan chase and deutsche bank. on the plus side, august auto sales rose 7.5%. way better than expected. august's same store retail sales were slightly below expectations but macy's and costco rose on strong sales. ceiena posted the first profit in three years. it would stop streaming its content on the service. and finally, chock it up to another casualty to the digital age. the blue corner mailbox, the postal service removed more than 60% of the familiar neighborhood mail drops. be hanging out in a dark place with pay phones and thank you notes. coming up, the yankee red sox rubber game. the heisman trophy winner throws a pro touchdown. the brewers show their major

league sense of humor. the opening game of the college football season. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching first look on msnbc. welcome back to fgs first.

i'm lynn berry. it's a classic look at baseball. a struggle between the red sox and the yankees. here's nfred roggin.

new york is now 15 games without rodriguez after beating the red sox. maybe they can sign golfer phil mikaele. he took swings in batting prook tis. russell martin got the lead. yanks held on to win it 4-it 2. they're a half game back. they were swept by the cards. albert pujols is not somebody you want to face. there it goes. cards won it 8-4. if you took a gamble and drafted chris johnson to your fantasy football team, that move paid off. he end the holdout with titans to a four-year 50 million dollar extension. 30 million guaranteed. he's expect today play against the jaguars. panthers and steelers -- this helped. his first career touchdown to shock i. but not enough. pittsburgh won it 33-17. nfl regular season begins next week and college football started last night. four touchdowns were scored.

wisconsin won easily, 51-17. poor buck i. badger did a pushup for every point scored. keep that up, he could be a linebacker by mid season. we showed you this trip around the bases while attempting an inside the park home run. his teammates had fun with it yesterday recreating the scene of the crime. there's the culprit. a speed bump on the line. he does a chalk outline. no stone was left unturned. if nbc wants to do law and order milwaukee, they need to look no further than the brewers dugout. that's your first look at sports. have a terrific labor day weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> i told you we would play that over and over again. for a quick look at the weather here's todd santos. he has your weather channel forecast. >> good morning, lynn. just at least want to update everybody as far as the picture for today. travelwise, not an issue across the east.

at least a few showers towards d.c., light sprinkle in harr harrisbu harrisburg. these are in the direction of minneapolis over a couple hours that may cause airlines delays. 11 a.m. central watch. in line of the fire for some thunderstorms. chicago on the dry. but at least hot side of things. easily with mid 90s. cooler temperatures in time fort gik of the weekend. gulf coast, if you're heading in that direction, next couple of days we'll be continuing to track tropical depression 13. if it mansion to reach storm strength, you'll be talking about tropical storm jose at that point. wet weather into chicago, some of that toward the mid-atlantic and northeast corridor in time for sunday. weekend plans i split weekend. saturday the pick of the two in new york city and towards d.c. by monday. many of the same areas clear out. lynn? thanks, todd. coming up, a reality tv star is

sued for animal abuse. plus, can a fictional account of a secret moon mission knock the champ out of the top spot at the box office. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching first look on msnbc. now, when you want powerful wifi, you've got it. with a verizon mobile hotspot, you can connect up to 5 wifi devices to the internet with lightning-fast verizon 4g lte speed. a gaming device. ereader. mp3 player. connect any 5 for wifi on the go. get the 4g lte mobile hotspot now for only $49.99.

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welcome back to first look. i'm lynn ber i have. last night on late night is jimmy fallon. he focused on a survey about people playing hookey in the workplace. >> a new survey found that half of american employees have faked a sick day. while the other half have just lied on a survey. [ laughter ] denny's is offering a new sandwich called the mac and cheese big daddy patty.

it's a burger melt stuffed with macaroni and cheese. i know what you're thinking, no bacon? that's right. denny's is selling mac and cheese patty melt that has 1,700 calories. which explains the new jingle [ beep ] check this out. president obama has declared that september is national childhood obesity awareness month. if looking for a way to celebrate, i recommend the mac and cheese big daddy patty from denny's. on jimmy tonight, snl's jason sa dak is and john rien man. that's week yiets at 12:35. it's time for a first look at entertainment news. this weekend three new films will chase a steady but not unstoppable box office champ.

the help hasn't been blockbuster, but at this time of year, its steady take has earn repeated top spots. it should finish with about 15 million. the competition, the sci-fi thriller, apollo 18 revolves around the unknown last apollo mission. one usually bad sign, the studio wouldn't screen it for krit is. it's expected to pat will for top spot. the newcomers, shark night 3d expected to earn earn 10 million and a spy drama featuring helen mirren. tmz reports one-time action star steven seagal, he's been accused of puppy fighting. shooting a real life raid on a suspected cockfighting farm with arizona cops for his reality show, a lawsuit by the suspect alleges seagal, among other things, killed his 11-month-old puppy. seagal says he is "outraged" by

the charge. even more shocking than steven seagal has a reality show. who approved that? >> that is probably a little more shocking. >> yeah. where has the guy been? >> he was never that scary to me. he never seemed like that much of a tough guy. schwarzenegger, yes. >> it was the long hair, right? you can't take a guy seriously when he's got a ponytail. sorry for all of you with ponytails. i'm lynn berry. this is first look on msnbc. stay tuned, way too early with willie geist starts right now. the latest economic forecast reveals a declining budget for the year ahead, as well as no improvement in the unemployment numbers and declining growth. the question is, will president obama be able to turn things around with his address next week? and that tea party sensation out of minnesota, michele bachmann comparing herself to another historic conservative standout, margaret thatcher.