-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com mother nature's wrath. a powerful weather system soaks the south and fans wildfires in texas. rare strike. a twister barrels through a state not used to tornado touchdowns. and a happy ending. a wayward penguin is sent back home after washing ashore. good morning.

happy labor day. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and today we begin with wet, miserable, holiday weather. after a drenching and in some areas a damaging landfall in the gulf coast this weekend, tropical storm lee has been downgraded to a tropical depression. however, as the still dangerous storm continues to crawl inland, forecasters are warning lee could stir up more damage for several days to come. frances coe has more. >> reporter: lee kicked up waves as the slow-moving system made landfall, and dumped as much as a foot of rain on the gulf coast. from alabama, and mississippi -- >> four to six inches in the house last time.

we need to put it at the back doors and stuff. >> reporter: to the bayous of louisiana, swamping parts of the small shrimping community of la fitte. >> the levees, and all the water is coming to us. >> reporter: as the storm passed overhead in new orleans the city's pump and levee systems held firm. >> the movement of rainwater it's been right up there with the hurricane. and that's been the challenge. >> reporter: a big sigh of relief for the big easy. but forecasters warn that tornadoes and flash flooding could spread across the tennessee valley, into the appalachians. lee, packing enough punch to bring heavy rain and winds across the entire southeast. frances coe, nbc news. elsewhere, water would have been welcome in drought-stricken texas this weekend. but instead it was lee's powerful winds that fueled wildfires burning across the state. over the weekend, crews battled parched conditions, and up to

40-mile-per-hour wind gusts from what was tropical storm lee. one of the fires killed a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter, trapped inside their home. officials say thousands have been evacuated, and an estimated 300 homes have been destroyed. president obama paid a visit to water-weary new jersey, yesterday. visiting parts of the state hit hard last week by hurricane irene's devastating floods. today, the president will be marking labor day, speaking to a group of union workers in detroit, just days before presenting a sweeping economic proposal to congress. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: the president says he has a plan and we'll hear more on thursday. today on labor day, he's spending this day with workers in detroit.

unions used to be a scht hoo-in vote for democrats, now they're distanting themselves. >> i think the president should challenge the patriotism of these american corporations that are sitting on the sidelines. >> reporter: on saturday the president urged congress to pass a transportation bill that he says could save a million american jobs. >> in virginia, 19,000 jobs are at risk. in minnesota, more than 12,000. and in florida, over 35,000 people could be out of work about if congress doesn't act. >> reporter: the president will lay out his own jobs plan thursday. republicans expect more of the same. >> frankly, i'm so tired of his speeches, it will be hard for me to watch. >> reporter: he'll likely pitch building roads and bridges, extending unemployment, and i roll tax cuts and tax breaks for businesses who hire workers. >> i don't think you can have a program that simply gives more tax breaks to the very people

that who got mus this trouble. >> reporter: the nation's unemployment rate is stagnant at 9.1%, a labor day with millions not laboring at all. including those workers who are part-time whold like to work full-time and those who have stopped looking for work, the unprovidu unemployed now total 25 million people. >> tracie potts for us this washington. thanks. in libya, a rebel spokesman says negotiations over the surrender of one of gadhafi's last remaining strong holds have collapsed. and rebels around gadhafi's hometown have say what is evidence of brutal killings. johner vine has more.

>> reporter: when the dust finally settles in this conflict, there will be many allegations of war crimes. an what happened here on the road may well be among them. the rebels have been told that 11 of their number lie in shallow graves and they want to retrieve the bodies for a proper burial elsewhere. a receipt is dated august the 21st, meaning the killings happened within the last fort night. the rebels believe the hen within captured by pro gadhafi forces who then executed them. we have no way of verifying that claim, but the fact that at least two have had their throats cut does give the account some degree denie credence. the rendells believe it was an atrocity and that their comrades were murdered in a variety of ways for sport. this man is now ale volunteer medic and he's convinced

something monstrous happened here. >> maybe they cut the hands, maybe they cut throats. different kind of executions. but they're making like game the people here and gadhafi about atal gones making execution like the fun. >> reporter: the rebels suspect that not all the dead were competent. two doctors from a nearby village have gone hmissing. of course discoveries like this do not bode well for post dr wash libya. the conflict we hope is entering its final phase. john irvine, libya. a tornado carved a path of destruction through upstate new york, leaving decimated homes, and damaged landscape in its wake. national weather service officials confirmed the touchdown but have not yet

determined its classification. ground crews are expected to conduct surveys, which will help estimate the strength of the tornado. two people died in a plane crash that ignited a fast-moving brushfire in the hills of eastern california. according to officials, the fire quickly spread, only moments after the cessna single-engine plane went down, triggering the evacuation of at least 100 homes. the fire has already charred nearly 4,000 acres, and still rages out of control. and finally, in north carolina, a new fitness class is replacing a good sweat with getting a little shut-eye. participants in what is being called air napping climb into a hammock and lie in a suspended position for 30 minutes, where they are able to recharge, and get rejuvenated. i like that. and now a look at your national weather with todd santos.

that's the kind of wrorkout i could get my head around. >> especially for early in the morning. >> they need to set up those hammocks in the hallways. well, there's a lot going on. considering how we just started off the show, talking about fires, torns, everyone again some of the issues with tropical systems, especially this past weekend. last night the hurricane center issued their final advisory on the system, so it's kind of switching to just a mid latitude system, it's traveling along a frontal boundary. what you you really need to know today is that we're still dealing with heavy rainfall, a big threat no plaflash flooding. where you see the red box, that's the tornado watch box this effect up 7:00 central time. as some of the bands rotate on shore, you may see brief torns spin up. so if you live across the

southeast today, even including portions of the pan ham handle florida, that you have a way to get your warnings. again, lowest level of your home, away from windows. there's a look at what's left of lee. tropical moisture one of the buildi biggest things. so the back side, we mentioned some of the fires in the texas. that will still continue to drive winds there. just want to track the low. through tuesday, we're still dealing with the system even into wednesday, at least some of the moisture associated with it. hurricane katia, this system again you're talking about a category 2 storm, it has weakened a little bit, 100-mile-per-hour wind tsz right now, wednesday and thursday, you're talking about a major hurricane. the good piece about this one, it's more of a surf generating storm. notice the trough kind of sweeps it off the coastline, so still want to keep tuned for the

latest. so certainly one to watch, may have some effects there especially along some of the beaches that have just been battered by irene. and you look at the picture across the whole country. you see some of the biggest issues here in the east. travel wise, we'll start to see showers, thunderstorms getting in through the major northeast corridor. this morning not so bad out at the beaches, but later on this afternoon, you could see problems from cape rod back through cape may and even down towards the carolina coastline especially the southeast. a few areas looking pretty good, billings, montana, 87 degrees. so a number of things to take a close eye on. >> also coming up, jobs, jobs, jobs. it's what it's all about. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. also controversy between the phillies and marlins. concerning news for peyton manning. and rafael nadal meets his

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welcome back. here are some of your top headlines this morning. more than 400,000 israelis turned out to protests over the nation's high cost of living. this wias the eighth week it ina row. in japan, at least 25 people have been killed by a powerful typhoon. the swarm is believed to be japan's worst since 2004, when 98 were killed or reported missing. in mexico, a former teacher and a math tutor face possible 30-year prison sentences over their tweets. they're accused of causing chaos in a southern mexican town after tweeting rumors about children being kidnapped from school. they claim that they were just replaying messages from others. and a penguin from antarctica that washed up on a beach far from home in new

zealand has been returned to the ocean. the penguin, nicknamed happy feet, came ashore two months ago, and had to be nursed back to health. happy feet has been fitted with a gps tracker, and his movements will be monitored. now here's your first look at how wall street finished friday, heading into the holiday weekend. the dow closed at 11,240, after sinking 253 points. the s&p lost 30 points. the nasdaq plunged 65. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 166 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng shot down 596. ironically, as we celebrate labor day, it's unemployment that's dogging wall street, the economy and the president. stocks tumbled over 2% friday, after the government's monthly jobs report showed hiring had unexpectedly ground to a halt in august. also revised downward, showing

tens of thousands fewer jobs, were figures for june and july. in a kind of rally that means bad news for stocks, the bond market was busy friday. after goldman sachs and other prime treasury dealers said due to the poor job figures, they expect the fed to start buying treasuries after its meeting later this month. in fact, according to a reuters poll friday, wall street sees an 80% chance the federal reserve will buy into bonds once again to boost the sagging economy. a third round of quantitative easing. or qe-3. asian markets opened with a thud with every major index in the region down early at least 2%. this week ahead stocks here could be impacted as europe faces a string of political and legal tests that could hamper efforts to resolve its debt crisis. of course, nothing this week tops president obama's address to a joint session of congress

thursday to lay out his plan to create jobs, boost economic growth, and lower the deficit. and finally, according to 24/7 wall street, the jobs that will pay the best and be in the highest demand over the next decade will be management analysts, accountants and auditors, and number one, registered nurses. to health news. the government reports two cases of a new strain of swine flu related infection have been reported in young children. the infection involved two children under the age of five, one a boy from indiana, the other a girl from pennsylvania. the particular strain identified in late august has they ever been seen before. both children thankfully have recovered. for more information on this and other health stories, you can check out the health page at msnbc.com. on the eve of their nfl season opener, the news is not good for peyton manning and the

indianapolis colts. here's mario solis. >> hey there, good morning. we start with news from the nfl. colts quarterback peyton manning is recovering slower than expected from off-season neck surgery, and according to sources, could need another procedure. in essence, he's out indefinitely. to the diamond controversy between the phillies and marlins. the shot to right, brian peterson is there, yet can't make the catch. but wait, peterson says he's interfered with, and he's right. a fan reaches over the wall to grab the baseball. umpires review it and call the out on fan interference. to the 14th, tied at four. bases loaded and david herndon walks in the winning run. nothing going right for the phils. two days after suffering a stroke, hall of famer leroy sellman passed away yesterday. the first overall pick by the tampa bay buccaneers in 1976 he was a defensive end with the oklahoma sooners. he was 56 years old. wild scene at the baltimore grand prix. on board with helio castroneves

during morning warm-ups. all is going well when the car comes flying over castroneves, hits the ground and crashes into the tire barriers. he has no other option but to hit castroneves. thankfully the two brazilian drivers were okay but it could have been much worse. and finally rafael nadal cruising through his third round match at the u.s. open and then collapsed. it didn't happen on the court. he was overcome by pain and squirms in agony as a cramp takes over his right leg. at one point rafa had to duck under the table and laid on the floor. it took about ten minutes for him to work out the pain. but the second ranked player in the world says that won't cramp his style. he'll be ready to play tomorrow. that's your first look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. a report of a new front-runner to host this year's oscars. plus your first look at entertainment is straight ahead.

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everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. welcome back to "first look." friday night on late night, squim any talked about the lucky discovery one man made in his own yard. >> this is crazy. i read that a man from illinois discovered $150,000 in his garden. do you hear that, president obama is this a man from illinois actually grew the economy. isn't that wild?

will is cool. a company is building a new hotel in space located 200 miles above earth. it's going to be weird when the bell boy's like can i help you with your bag? ju just follow them up. a man in arkansas spotted his house being robbed from an airplane. yeah. today police released this sketch of the suspect. >> on jimmy tonight, steve carell, and music act matt and kim. that's late night with jimmy fallon on on your local nbc station. time for your entertainment news. chalk up another win at the box office for the film that seems like it just cannot lose. for the third straight week "the help" finished as top film, this time with just under $15 million. after four weeks out, it's fast

approaching an impressive overall total of close to $120 million. the helen mirren thriller, "the debt" debuted slightly better than expected just off $10 million to take the second spot. "apollo 18" disappointed, opening well below expectations taking in under $9 million for third. also under-performing "shark night 3-d" at fourth. and eddie murphy's comeback may be going from solar powered to nuclear powers. starring in the upcoming action comedy power heist due in november, deadline.com reports the director also is directing the oscars wants murphy to host this year's show and murphy is interested. i bet he is. and now for another quick look at the weather, let's check back in with todd santos. good morning again.

>> yeah, want to update what's going on. the remnants of lee tracking off towards the northeast. may still see gusty winds throughout this area, but notice the tornado watch box in effect up 7:00 a.m. central time. it does include portions of the panhandle of florida, as well as mississippi. and we could get short tornados. make sure you you get the warnings. we could see the threat spreading through the northern portion of alabama, even mississippi. also the flash flood threat in the northeast. notice showers and thunderstorms from late yesterday starting to die off. a beautiful morning across the coastline from cape cod back down through coastal delaware. maryland, as well, you see some of the showers as we get daytime heating. that will get some of the areas going with showers during the daytime. again early goers out at the beach have a pretty decent day. some of the showers move ngs.

cooler towards chicago but a beautiful day, temperatures topping off around 67, so a little on the cool side, but a mice review of what's on the way as we work towards fall. meanwhile the southeast on the wet side of things, that's an understatement. and still gusty wins through oklahoma and central to east texas, so still issues with the fire situation there. notice into tuesday we're still hanging on to showers in the northeast. still some remnants of lee working their way through eastern portions of tennessee, even back through the house of representatives continues of north carolina. so still issues with flash flood potential especially across the southeast. >> definitely something that we'll have to watch over the next week. and surprising because it's extending new a couple days. thanks so much. i'm lynn berry and this is "first look" on msnbc. we believe honor is not 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 are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families

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