welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry, here's some of the top stories making news this morning, firefighters have gained ground on the texas blaze known as the bastrop fire, that's burned 800 homes and is

30% contained. the state's wildfire outbreak has killed four people. attorney general eric holder announced that 91 people, including 11 doctors have been charged in a nationwide crackdown on medicare fraud. the alleged schemes involved $295 million in false billings. olympic gymnast paul hamm was arrested this weekend, accused of hitting and kicking a taxi driver over a fare. hamm has been charged with assault and is out on bail. in columbia, police have found almost five tons of marijuana hidden in boxes of onions, four people were arrested in connection with the operation. and at a zoo in poland, police are trying to track down a man seen leaving behind a package that contained a crocodile. a security officer became suspicious after hearing scratching noises from inside the package. the croc was left out in chilly

weather, but zoo officials say he is now in good condition. well now for a "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day, the dow opens at 11,414. the s&p added 33 points and the nasdaq spiked 75. overseas trading, in tokyo, the nikkei rose 29 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng fell 135. and the seemingly never-ending roller coaster ride did continue on wall street wednesday. just a day after cascading lower, stocks zoomed up. the comeback trail. it started in europe, where stocks boupsed back from two-year lows after a german court rejected lawsuits aimed at blocking germany's efforts to aid greece and other struggling euro nations. in july, companies posted the most job openings in the last three years. and, a fed survey found consumer spending in july and august drove the economy to modest

growth nationwide. suddenly stocks were back in, all 30 dow stocks rose after spiking 9% tuesday, wall street's volatility index or fear factor tumbled 9%. and suddenly, safe havens were out. the yield on the ten-year treasury note rose back above 2%. gold tumbled 3%, down $56 an ounce. yahoo jumped over 4.5% after firing ceo carol bartz, a move some analysts say now makes yahoo a takeover target. bank of america rose 7% after its own management shakeup. and on a nvidia rose 7%. red lobster and olive garden operator warned hurricane irene will hurt quarterly warnings. urban outfitters was down after warning quarterly sales were slipping. and "reuters" report facebook

which is private, doubled revenue in the first half of this year with a net profit of half a billion dollars. well in health news this morning, in the first randomized controlled trial of its krind, weight watchers was found to be more than twice as effective than standard family doctor care. it was an independent study. 12 months, overweight patients told by their doctors to use the program lost twice as much as people receiving standard health care. you can check out the health page on msnbc.com. hitting a homer for grandpa, a tiger tosser keeps winning and losing a no-hitter. plus, sad news, a plane crash in russia stuns the world of professional sports. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead.

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. in sports, makeshift vigils were held by hockey fans throughout europe and russia last night after a tragic plane crash that virtually wiped out an entire russian professional hockey team. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning, and off the top tragic news, people still talking about that private jet carrying members of a russian hockey team that crashed yesterday. it killed 43 passengers and one of the worst accidents ever

involving a sports team. among the dead, former nfl all-star pavel dmitra. the president of the international hockey association has called this the darkest day in the history of the sport. the plane crashed about 150 miles outside of moscow. russian media reported that it struggle odd to gain altitude after takeoff, killing 43 of the 45 passengers. the team was on its way to the capital of belarus to play the opening game of the continental hockey league season. the accident something mourned around the world, since there were so many former nfl players and coaches on board. back in the united states, the tigers justin verlander picked up his league-leading 22nd win, but not without a little help from his own friends. down one to the indians, victor martinez smashed a grand slam to left. look at verlander's reaction in the dugout. it got him another w and the tigers win it 8- 6. oakland's and perez crashed

the party, spoiled everything with base hit, close, but not close enough, a's won it 7-0. phils swept the braves with a walkoff single in the ninth. the phils are rolling after a 3-2 win. and finally that's mike napoli's grandfather, mike and the texas rangers and his grandpa was there to root him on. grandpa, here you go. mike with a towering blast to left, and no doubt about that one. look at gramps, he's on his feet and he couldn't be prouder. a moment grandpa will never forget. that's your "first look" at sports, i'm fred roggin. and now for another quick look at the weather, here once again is msnbc meteorologist bill karins. >> the big weather story overnight is the flooding concerns, southern new york, on the susquehana river and down into pennsylvania, 100-year type flood situation and now the heavy rain is moving over philadelphia and the delaware

river areas and up into new jersey and the catskills. so as far as the forecast goes, flash flood warnings, just so widespread, one of the worst i've seen for pennsylvania, new york and new jersey. and also, we got nailed last night in western portions of maryland, too, right outside of d.c. and baltimore. we also have our hurricane situation out there, katia producing huge waves, 17-foot waves just offshore virginia beach, so be careful near the coast. we have tropical storm nate in the gulf of mexico, thankfully this one looks like it's not going to make a direct landfall anywhere in the u.s. our friends in mexico may have to deal with a hurricane coming ashore about tuesday. we'll watch it for south texas. as of now, it looks like you're looking pretty good. the other storm we'll have to deal with about a week from now is tropical storm maria. it will be near the bahamas and close enough to the east coast. so we'll have to watch it. horrible flooding this morning and then we deal with the

tropics. >> we have not gotten a break in weeks anywhere. bill, thanks so much. ricky enginegervais has a pr the comeback of the golden globes. and reece witherspoon encounters an unusual type of hollywood danger. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. creates another laptop bg or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. last night on "late night with jimmy fallon" jimmy went the long route to make an observation about the current crop of gop presidential candidates. >> hey, this is just insane. shirtless man in indiana was just arrested for running on the highway with a samurai sword

while yelling that he was cuckoo for co-co puffs. nbc invited him to take part in this night's republican debate. you'll fit right in, come on in, buddy. ford is building a new plant that will create 5,000 jobs, all in india. or as obama put it, you got to be freaking kidding me. this is -- built ford tough. really big movie news, arnold schwarzenegger has officially signed on to star in the "expendables ii" along with sylvester stallone. apparently there's a twist in the end where stallone is like, wait a minute, dad? >> on "jimmy" tonight, blue bloods actor tom sellick, and pearl jam. tonight at 12:35 a.m.

time for your "first look" at entertainment news, a hollywood heavyweight suffered a major scare yesterday while out for a run in santa monica, reece witherspoon was hospitalized after being hit by a car while jogging. fortunately the car was only moving about 20 miles per hour and witherspoon is now at home, resting. elsewhere, the web is burning with speculation, over exactly why lindsay lohan's 17-year-old sister, alli seen here in file footage suddenly looks like an entirely different person. higher cheek did the bones, dramatically fuller lips and extreme weight loss. and after his hosting of the golden globes, ricky gervais is prepared not to be invited back. shocking. instead, he is suggesting a three-hour podcast where he and a few friends do their own commentary for people watching at home and he may try it first with the emmys. it's not only they hired him

to do it, they knew what they were getting, right? >> that's what they probably want until they started going after the academy themselves, that's when you get into dangerous territory. kind of lesson learned. that's the beauty of the internet. you can do just about anything. we should start the bill and lynn show, then we don't have to edit ourselves. >> who would be our sponsor? >> when bill holds me back when i'm about to say something bad. >> maybe your dad would sponsor us, it would be perfect. >> i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" on msnbc, but stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. ♪ governor perry is talking about you, let's hear from you. >> i feel like the pinata here at the party. >> if not the pinata, texas governor rick perry certainly was the focus at last night's republican debate where he and mitt romney drew most of the attention and most of the fire. the question is, are gop voters