we tried desperately to get us an official truck arer cap today from david and michael harp in time to show you one in the flesh. ours is apparently in the mail, due to arrive soon. but in the meantime we made our own mock-up of it in anticipation. it it is not nearly as nice as the big thing. and the best new thing in the world, drive on. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow night. "first look" is up next. brewing battle. as president obama promotes his jobs proposal, republicans prepare to unveil a plan of their own. the next giant leap. nasa rolls out blueprints to take astronauts to the moon and

beyond. and a car goes barrelling through a california bike shop. good morning. i'm vinita nair, those stories and more straight ahead this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with an economic emergency. during a campaign-style push for his jobs plan yesterday, president obama declared the nation's need for jobs a, quote, national emergency. the ramped up rhetoric will likely set the tone in washington today when house speaker john boehner lays out his own jobs plan. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: hi. good morning, everyone. boehner's speech is here in washington at the economic club

this afternoon. and the big question is, how far will he go in endorsing key parts of president obama's plan? some analysts are saying he could go out on a limb and do that for a couple of reasons. disapproval ratings for congress are two times what they are for president obama. and there are about 60 house republicans who may be vulnerable in the next election. meantime, president obama is still out there pushing his $447 billion plan. he says he'll talk more monday about how to pay for it and also about a go big plan for deficit reduction, $2 trillion more than the $1 or $1.5 trillion the deficit super committee is looking for. but republicans are accusing the government of killing jobs in a couple of instances. particularly the boeing plant down in south carolina that would create 2,000 jobs. the national labor relations board is trying to block that plant and republicans aren't happy about that. vinita? >> thanks. in massachusetts yesterday,

democrat elizabeth warren launched her campaign for that state's senate seat, currently occupied by republican scott brown. last night on "the rachel maddow show" the harvard professor and consumer advocate told rachel why she decided to throw her hat into the ring. >> there was a time, we came out of the great depression. we wrote a set of economic rules and spent 50 years growing america's middle class, making it stronger, more vibrant. every generation said my kids will do better than i did. starting about 30 years ago, we really lost our way on that. so that now we are in a place where middle class families have just been hammered for a generation. it's not just what's happened in the last few years. it's been going on now for a long time. and it's the case that nobody seems to get this. nobody in washington. washington has been wired now for the big institutions, for those who can hire an army of

lobbyists. it's not working for middle class families. and that's what i care about. that's why i'm going to step up on this one. that's why i'm ready to fight back. >> lean forward with the rachel maddow show, weeknights at 9:00 eastern only on msnbc, the place for politics. a newly released government report on the massive gulf oil spill finds bp ultimately responsible for the events and problems leading up to the rig explosion and spill. this particular report by the coast guard and offshore oil regulator puts more blame on bp than any previous investigation. nbc's michelle franzen reports. >> reporter: the final government report blames bp for the bulk of events that triggered last year's explosion at the deepwater horizon oil rig, killing 11 workers and resulting in the worst offshore oil spill in u.s. history. the key findings determined bp made critical errors surrounding the cement seal at macondo exploratory well violated

federal regulations. when the company realized those mistakes, did not immediately notify its partners or the u.s. government. energy risk experts say it shows the deadly incident could have been avoided. >> the cement wasn't sufficient. it wasn't tested. and bp ignored industry standards which called for redundancy with the cement casings. >> reporter: bp responded with a statement saying it agreed with the report's core conclusion, that the deep water horizon accident was the result of multiple causes involving multiple parties. other reports have spread the blame to bp partners transocean and haliburton and sperry sun, contractors for the cement seal. the federal report says those companies also bear some blame, but says bp was "ultimately responsible for conducting operations at macondo in a way that ensured the safety and protection of personnel, equipment, natural resources and the environment."

nearly 5 million barrels of oil spewed into the gulf and caused billions of dollars in damages. >> it reminds us that we have to do everything possible to make sure nothing like this ever happens again in the gulf of mexico or anywhere else. >> reporter: damages and costs that are still being tallied up and down the gulf coast. michelle franzen, nbc news. and now here's your "first look" at some other news going on around america today. in california customers inside a bike shop are lucky to be alive after a car came crashing through the store. the car mowed down everything in its path, narrowly missing two people who managed to jump out of the way. no word on whether charges will be filed against the elderly driver. a rhode island surveillance camera captured one customer's deed after she found a misplaced wallet on the store counter. the mystery woman turned robbery suspect pulled $200 from the wallet before leaving with her purchases. police were called after the wallet's owner returned and

store employees viewed the tape. a colorado cat missing for the past five years has turned up on the streets of new york. vets at a pet shelter learned the cat's back story after scanning a microchip embedded in its neck. plans are in the works to fly it back to its colorado family. in new york city, the guinness world record holder for the woman with the longest nails was in town and she let her fingers do the talking. she's been growing them for the past 18 years, and with both hands combined, her nails measure 19 feet and nine inches long. for the national weather, we turn to bill karins with the weather channel forecast it would be interesting if you had nails like that to watch you do the weather. >> would be a little distracting. good morning, everyone. much as next person, but this summer has been so hot for so long, today is the day we finally give the relief to so many areas.

it's actually chilly out there in a few spots. minneapolis at 39 degrees. that's enough to be putting a jacket on. in oklahoma city and dallas, we've gone from 100 degree heat to practically needing a jacket, too. that's what happens in the plains. 70 in dallas. look to your north, kansas city at 41. the cooler air is arriving. still one more warm morning from new york to boston, providence, hartford, down to philly, baltimore and d.c. the southeast is pretty mild, too. but that cool air will rush your way. the temperatures are dropping significantly behind this front. right now in kansas city, it's 19 degrees cooler right you to than this time yesterday. you notice that cool air, chicago, the same for you. that cold front will slide through the big cities in the east as we go throughout the noon to 2:00 hour. that's when you will start to see the rain coming down. it will get windy and then the skies will clear and

temperatures will plummet tonight. pittsburgh, cleveland that front is going to clear out quickly during your day today. we may get a few thunderstorms along the front, for the most part a period of rain, then the winds will pick up and skies will clear. that's when temperatures will plummet. for the big cities in the east, it's the middle of the day. you will go to work and temperatures will be warm. later on it will be windy, dry, you'll probably even want to roll the windows up. good news this morning in oklahoma and texas, rain to report. enjoying that around lubbock and a amarillo. a chilly morning for new minneapolis and chicago. not warming it up much either. look at the temperatures in the east. we'll be at our highs early today then temperatures drop later today. it will stay beautiful and cool in much areases of east all weekend long. should be enjoyable. euro fears ease, oil tumbles and a childhood favorite gets a

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welcome back to "first look." i'm vinita nair. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. the lawyer for a pair of hikers detained in iran tells nbc news he's making bail arrangements for their release, though it's unclear when that will happen. at a house hearing republicans pressed obama officials on a $535 million loan given to solyndra. a eventually bankrupted solar panel manufacturer once championed by the president. e-mails suggest the administration was in a hurry to provide taxpayer money despite red flags about solyndra's viability. administration officials insist the deal was handled properly. yesterday supreme court

justice ruth bader ginsburg safely slid down an emergency chute to evacuate a flight at dulles international airport. smoke in the engine forced passengers to abandon the plane just after it pulled away from the gate. a new report shows s.a.t. reading scores for the class of 2011 were the lowest on record. combined reading and math scores also fell to their lowest level since 1995. and nasa has unveiled plans for the world's most powerful rocket aimed at launching the first crew of astronauts by 2021. the program's price tag -- $35 billion. and now here is your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,246 after rising 140 points yesterday. the s&p nudged up 15 points and the nasdaq climbed 40. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei gained 150 points, while in hong kong the hang seng added 136.

optimism over europe's deepening debt crisis pushed markets higher again on wednesday. traders were encouraged by news that a common eurozone bond is still a possibility for the debt-ridden region. this as greece appears to be on track to stick to its austerity plan, one of the key conditions to secure the necessary aid to avoid default. >> industrials led the dow's gains once again while investors shrugged off flat retail sales last month. fears americans doing less shopping, will use less fuel helped push oil prices down, more than $1 a barrel. on the nasdaq, chipmakers nvidia and sandisk helped the nasdaq rise for a third day. stock buyback programs were big as well. dell shares rose 3% and staples got a boost as well. in ipo news, groupon is back on track with its initial public offering plans and could go public as early as late october.

facebook's public debut has reportedly been pushed back to late 2012. the securities and exchange commission is under review over allegations documents from early investigations into several major banks and convicted ponzi schemer bernard madoff were illegally destroyed. s.e.c. officials say the former policy that allowed staffers to discard documents in closed cases has since been revised. finally, say good-bye to brownies baked under a bulb. energy efficiency has sparked a modern makeover for the easy-bake oven. the old school 100 watt incandescent bulb has been replaced with a heating element like you'll find in a grown-up oven. mariano rivera's pursuit of the major league saves record is put on hold. apparently it wasn't time to forgive and forget at last night's dodgers/diamondbacks game. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. [ female announcer ] investing for yourself

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it's a necessity. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists. quickly. easily. i use pre-defined screeners and insightful trading ideas to dig deeper. work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself the one person i do trust to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ] welcome back to "first look." in sports, the mlb playoffs are just starting to take form with the phillies clinching the first postseason berth. here is nbc's fred roggin. good morning. no celebration no champagne party in the locker room, just business as usual as the phils clinched another playoff berth. started to be old hat for the phillies. made the playoffs for the fifth year in a row. polanco singled in the only run.

roy halladay struck out seven for a complete game shutout. now to the a.l. west, angels need wins and they got one against the a's. trumbo gave them a lead with a two-run shot. angels may not make a shot but trumbo will likely win the rookie of the year award. they won it 4-1. could angels make up ground on the rangers? texas had their way with cleveland. hamilton with a eighth run fourth with a grand slam. rangers three games ahead of the angels with a 9-1 win. yankees and mariners needed extras and rodriguez ended it with one big swing, seattle's luis rodriguez. a solo shot to right. mariners walked off with a 2-1 win in 12. finally, the dodgers won't make the playoffs but they're making the final weeks of the season pretty entertaining. we'll take you back to tuesday night against arizona. hong-chih kuo almost took para's head off. parawasn't happy, and he stared kuo down. a few pitches later he did this,

a solo home run. parra watched the ball go over the wall and that didn't sit well with the dodger dugout. clayton kershaw gave him an earful as he crossed home plate. we fast forward to last night when kershaw did more than just talk. in the sixth, parra at the plate and clayton exacted his revenge, hit him on the elbow. that was it for kershaw, immediately tossed. manager don mattingly came out to defend his pitcher. he was tossed too. kershaw got his man, earned his 19th win of the year, and more importantly, made our show. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning. it's the day of change. we already have rain on the map. this is the leading edge of the cool air moving into areas in pennsylvania. everywhere in the green is getting light rain. not enough to cause flooding concerns. with the hurricanes and with lee, the ground is still saturated.

maybe a few thunderstorms during the day today, but a dry morning commute along the big cities, along 95 up to new england. as we go to the middle of the day, we'll see some rain. it should be over with by the time everyone heads home from work and school. temperatures out ahead of the front are warm. it's mild. humidity levels are high. you will feel it in the air. behind the front, look at pittsburgh now, 55 degrees. buffalo, 50. it's a big contrast. as soon as you go behind the front, the cool air will rush in. that's what will you get this afternoon and evening. if you have anything outdoors today, practices with the kids, you will feel it winds will blow and temperatures will get chilly. high temperatures will be early in the day, then the rain and thunderstorms come through. much cooler behind it. in buffalo today, only 59 for a high. that's it. not going to get warmer than that. then even on the eastern seaboard on friday enjoys what should be a beautiful, crisp fall day. chilly morning, sunny in the afternoon. the good news is this weather

pattern is here to stay for many areas in the country including the ohio valley, great lakes, southeast. not much in the way of stormy weather. look at boston through the weekend. gorgeous conditions for fall and soon those leaves will begin to change. >> so we all can complain a little today but be thankful for the weekend. >> should be gorgeous. >> thank you, bill. which legendary sitcom star is getting a royal title? plus scarlet johannsen is the latest victim in a string of celebrity hackings. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. she has kind of funny looking toes. she's always touching my hair. and she does this dancing finger thing. [ male announcer ] with advanced technology from ge, now doctors can diagnose diseases like breast cancer on a cellular level. so that women, like kristy's mom, can get personalized treatment that's as unique as she is. [ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird. ♪

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look." last night on "late night with jimmy fallon" funny man ricky gervase was on hand to give ricky some pointers. >> listen to this. the government is about to release a report on what went wrong during the bp oil spill. or as fish put it, hey, no rush. sorry. sorry. sorry. you're not giving them -- they come out, they park their cars, they got babysitters they haven't paid, if i were you, i would be going thank you very much to these people. >> but i'm not doing that. >> you know, you didn't write it it. and that's -- but do it like -- but -- do it like it's -- do it like you were clever enough to come up with this joke yourself. >> i could use some pointers.

"late night with jimmy fallon" week nights at 12:35, 11:35 central time on your local nbc station. it's time for your "first look" at end entertainment news. the on again/off again romance between cameron diaz and alex rodriguez is reportedly kaput. a source close to aa-rod says they broke up recently because she's too busy with her career and the yankee slugger wants to focus on his game. scarlett johansson appears to be the latest victim of a nude photo hacking after multiple naked cell phone pics of the actress showed up on various websites wednesday. an fbi spokeswoman tells e news the agency is on the case. former "happy days" stars henry winkler is getting royal recognition. queen elizabeth has given him title of honorary excellence of british empire for his work with children. and finally, remember the

white house gate crashers, the salahis? tareq reported his wife michaele of "the real housewives of d.c." missing tuesday. turns out she was in memphis with a guitarist for the band journey and didn't want her husband to know her whereabouts. tmz is reporting she might be dating that guy. >> really? >> yeah. >> is that all we need? >> way to fain interest, i can tell. >> i'm trying to be interested. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. president obama continues his sales pitch for the jobs bill he hopes will turn the economy around and perhaps save his presidency. the question is, why did harry reid say essentially despite the president pass this bill