week-long spirited debate about the state of our schools. and leap of faith. a winged stuntman performs a death-defying jump in china. good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and more straight ahead. this is msnbc. we begin this morning with running out of time. disaster victims depending on government aid may be left high dry if lawmakers don't settle their differences over a funding bill. today the senate will vote on a measure to fund the government through november. tracie potts joins us live from washington. good morning. >> veronica, good morning. good morning, everyone. if a bill doesn't pass this week

it could mean no emergency aid of victims of hurricane irene, of flooding and other natural disasters. the federal emergency management agency has $175 million left in disaster funds, and that could run out by tomorrow or wednesday if congress doesn't act. >> stop playing politics, do the right thing for the country and make sure we're not playing politics with disaster aid. >> fema needs a money that runs past thursday. the house passed it and went home. senate democrats don't like that they cleaned energy programs to pay for billions in emergency aid. >> we will help people effected by disaster bus we will cut government in other places where the money is not so important. >> the choice is pay for it now or never pay for it there are alternatives. >> democrats blame the tea party for linking fema's money to the spending bill.

>> i don't like the business of blaming each other over such small potatoes. we ought to be spending time to see if we can get $4 trillion in debt reduction. >> that's an entirely different issue lawmakers need to deal with after deciding if they can keep government running and emergency funds flowing to disaster victims this week. president obama said over the weekend that the republicans vision could fundamentally cripple america. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. after two long years in iran, hikers shane bauer and josh fattal are back home again on american soil. with sara shroud at their side, they talked about their captivity. the men, who were convicted of spying say they would held in solitary confinement and they often hear screams of other prisoners being beaten. the pair believe they were detained because of their nationality, not because they passed the border from iraq.

here at nbc, the week-long education initiative is underway. michelle franzen is outside our studios in new york city where the summit is being held. good morning to you. >> reporter: that summit brings together the nation's top teachers, policymakers and business leaders to 30 rock to debate the key issues surrounding education and look for ways to make sure students can learn better. >> teachers, educators and innovators from around the country came together for the start of the education nation summit. >> a great teacher in the classroom is fundamental and it's what changes the trajectory of the students. >> reporter: voicing their concerns. >> when i know passionate teachers have left the classroom, it's not because of lack of dollars, it's a lack of voice. >> reporter: and looking for solutions at a time when only a third of u.s. students are proficient in studies like math

and reading. >> it's our joe job as educators to make sure we're keeping the same standards for all students. >> from the debate over standardized testing to the debate over teachers and teacher pay. >> if we want to keep the best teachers in the classroom, we want to pay them commensurate with the passion, we have to pay them for that. >> we can take what we do here and the format here, the town hall, the different voices, the time and space they're given to be respected, we can bring that to the also a courtroom. >> reporter: one of the biggest challenges facing communities, the economy. school budgets are suffering cutbacks and many teachers are being forced to take a second job to make ends meet. >> if teachers are not being compensated well enough to take care of their families and they're having to take second jobs, they can't be at their best when they walk into that classroom. >> reporter: teachers impacted by the economy, policies and at times,

frustration. but still determined to give students their best. there are still a lot of room left for improvement there has also been progress this year. at public schools, the graduate rate has risen to 72%, that's the highest level in two decades. >> some good news. all right. thank you. here's your "first look" at other news going on around america today. in san diego friday night, some people who watch closely enough may have gotten a glimpse of debris from nasa's satellite before falling down to earth. unconfirmed video shows what looks like a tiny dot zipping across the night sky. according to nasa the defunct six-ton upper atmosphere research satellite splashed down somewhere in the pacific early saturday morning. in wisconsin, folks near lake michigan had a rare sighting of their own this weekend. time lapsed video shows a waterspout spinning over the surface of the lake near milwaukee. fortunately, the only tornados spotted were the ones that form over water.

finally, a sight that could put your stomach in a tailspin this weekend. the seventh annual world tamale eating championship was held in texas. the defending champ retained his title by scarfing down a nauseating 67 tamales in just 12 minutes. the feat earned him $1,500. now for a look at your national weather, we turn to meteorologist todd santos. did you see that video? >> look at everyone's face there i'm suddenly not hungry. >> the last guy -- >> it's painful to watch. i don't know how they do it. good morning. want to look at the tropics. we'll talk about some ties to what's going on to our weather here across the lower 48. only one thing in the atlantic with a name, that's tropical

storm felipe. that was ophelia. wanted to mention this. you can see that moisture moving up towards the carolinas, that set the stage yesterday for some areas in carolina to pick up over three inches of rainfall an hour. when you talk about hurricane hilary, still a major hurricane off the central mexico coastline. it's likely to weaken. it's expected to turn north. some of the moisture it's been churning off the pacific could get into the four corners by this coming weekend and the coming week. that could have some impacts. texas today likely on the quieter side of things. a few light shower here's and there. back towards the gulf coast, we have a frontal boundary associated with this system that may trigger a few showers. some areas that saw showers early this morning likely

settling down now. closer to the north, we have had some heavy showers towards louisville. there have been a couple water rescues reported this morning. be careful commuting from central kentucky back up to ohio. rainfall chances will be increasing even over towards cleveland, cincinnati already in those showers. you can see the lightning strikes as well. not a great set up for severe weather, but chicago, you're still in it. that upper level low spinning across the region will be there through tuesday and wednesday before that slowly lifts off to the north and east. temperatures on the cooler side, especially south of the great lakes. denver, 61. 64 in billings now. new york city, d.c., better chances for showers, d.c. and south coastal edge of the carolinas, that's part of the frontal boundary. so we're in between two systems. we'll see some better chance for

showers towards philly and new york city as we work our way into tomorrow. veronica? >> not good news, thanks, todd. wall street licks its wounds, wall street tumbles and boeing's dreams finally come true. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. the steelers and colts go down to the wire. another first for cam newton and michael vick is hurt again. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ agent ] so your policy looks good, is there anything else? why did you buy my husband a falcon? thanks for the falcon. i didn't buy anyone a falcon.

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welcome back to "first look." here's are some of the top stories making news this morning. gunfire erupted overnight at a hotel in the afghan capital that hous hous houses members of the cia. several afghans were wounded before one lone gunman was shot dead. bowing to pressure, saudi arabia's king has announced women will be granted the right to vote for the first time beginning in 2015.

saudi women, however, are still not allowed to drive or travel abroad without permission from a male guardian. after more than 40 hours in the water, diana nyad has abandoned her latest attempt to make the 103-mile journey from cuba to florida without a shark cage. her face and body swelled from a painful jellyfish stain and medics advised more stings could be life threatening. the end of an era in spain and the catalonia region where the final bullfight was held sunday. the local parliament outlawed the sport last year after a citizen's petition. in china, an amazing feat by wing stuntman jeb corlet, jumping through a helicopter, he

managed to dive through a hole in a cliff at a speed of 75 miles per hour before landing safely. absolutely incredible. >> here is how wall street opens the day. the dow opens at 10,771 after adding 10 points on friday. the s&p was up 6. the nasdaq rose 27. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 186 points. in hong kong, the hang seng dropped 261. wall street opens for business today after suffering its worst week since the depths of the financial crisis three years ago. the dow fell 6.4%, the largest weekly loss since october of 2008. the s&p 500 fell 6.6%. the nasdaq tumbled 5.3% for the week. analysts expect significantly fewer healthy earnings and outlooks moving forward, which would make data all the more important. reports to watch for this week includes new home sales for august, due today. the consumer price index comes out tomorrow.

we'll get an idea if factories are picking up steam from durable goods orders out wednesday. on friday, we'll get august personal income and spending data. elsewhere, the national average for regular unleaded gas is $3.51 a gallon, down 47 cents from its high in early may. for the fist time in months, prices have fallen below $3 a gallon in places includes parts of michigan, missouri and texas. finally, boeing's long-awaited dream machine finally became a commercial reality sunday, three years behind schedule, when the 787 was formally delivered to japan's al nippon airways. michael vick knocked out of another game, the red sox try to win another game and jimmy johnson fades in the chase. plus the mighty tom brady and the patriots get a rude reception from their host, the no-names of buffalo. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead.

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welcome back to "first look." in sports, we may only be three weeks into the nfl season, but it's not too early to say the buffalo bills are an entirely different new team. here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning. if we learned anything about the nfl yesterday, it's that the patriots tom brady is human and the buffalo bills are for real. they rallied from 21 down to beat the patriots. buffalo picked brady off four times.

to put that in perspective, brady threw just four interceptions all of last season. this pick six tied it late in the fourth. the bills were a perfect 3-0 after an impressive 34-31 win. giants and eagles, another game and another injury for michael vick. took a hit and broke his nonthrowing hand. returned briefly but finished the game on the sidelines. eli manning had his way with the eagle defense through four touchdowns, a pair of victor cruise. giants won it, 29-16 in philly. in oakland, the raiders pulled out all the stops to beat the jets. michael bush handed off to moore, and he was gone. took the reverse 23 yards up the middle for the score. raiders won it, 34-24. no one thought the skoe colts/steelers game was going to be close, but it was. it came down to the last possession. pittsburgh hit the game-winning field goal with four seconds left and the steelers escaped indy with a 23-20 win. where is noah's ark when you need it?

monsoon-like conditions in carolina for the panth panthers/jaguars game. the fans had to bail water out of the stands just to sit in their seats. cam newton for the rain and his first nfl win. carolina won it, 16-10. nascar tony stewart won his second straight race, now leads the chase for the cup standings. finally, the red sox needed a win and it took them 14 innings to get it. jacobi ellsbury with a deep home run. sox beat the yanks 7-4. that's your "first look" at sports, i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at the weather, here is todd santos with the weather channel forecast. did you see that game in carolina, all that weather? >> just a little ways down to the south, at the university of south carolina, they recorded just over three inches of rain in an hour. that's part of that tropical moisture streaming northward. what we are looking at here is where we expect to see the rain

over the next 36 hours. maybe some spotty showers up towards new york city, the better chance there will come in the afternoon. today some of the heaviest rain, that core towards the great lakes. also the outer banks of carolina and the carolinas in general. chicago by thursday, finally that upper level low out of the area. washington, d.c., a rainy day, maybe a good one for a lot to go on in capitol hill, hopefully making some good decisions and helping out fema. we'll be dealing with showers in the pacific northwest that will start to lead a cooling trend but it will take a couple days to take hold. 78 in billings. 64 in chicago with a good chance of showers. new york city, philadelphia, a slight chance today especially towards philly, but tomorrow the next best chance for showers. get down to central and southern florida, temperatures in the 90s. still a chance for showers and thunderstorms there. atlanta, today is the better chance for showers. tomorrow clearing out.

78 degrees. all of these showers that won't go away courtesy of that upper level low spinning across the area. it's been left there across the northeast. that should start to transition out by the latter half of the week, chicago, a wet wednesday on the way. veronica? >> todd, thanks. did brad pitt hit a homer or strike out at the box office? and all these years later, does "the lion king" have enough to make it two in a row? the postal service is critical to our economy--

delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. it'd be easier to compare. you think these all cost about the same. they all give safe drivers a discount.

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welcome back to "first look." friday night on "late night with jimmy fallon," jimmy had some advice on how to weather an incoming storm.

some big weather news. looks like tropical storm hilary is picking up strength near mexico. it is expected to turn into a hurricane tonight. when he heard that hilary was coming, one guy was like stay indoors, do not talk back. don't talk back. trust me. so, election news here. mitt romney says he wants sarah palin to run for president to make the race more exciting. though with mitt romney exciting, even al gore on ambien would make the race more exciting. mr. romney, oh, you are awake. this is cool. universal is coming out with an undated version of the 1983 movie "scarface" which explains the line "say hello to my little facebook friend." poke me. poke you! tonight jimmy welcomes andy

sandberg, pink floyd drummer nick mason and elmo. it will be a good one. it's "late night with jimmy fallon" weeknights at 12:35, 11:35 central on your local nbc station. it's time for your "first look" at entertainment news. something old with something new was a winning theme once again at the box office this weekend. the lion king in 3-d clawed its way to the top taking in just over $22 million. knowing a good thing when it now sees it, disney now plans to leave the updated classic in theaters longer than the two-week run initially planned. brad pitt's "moneyball" opened in line with expectations at just of $20 million. and debuting closely behind in third, also cracking $20 million, was the star-packed family film "dolphin tale." after those films, there wasn't much left for "abduction" which opened in fourth with just over $11 million.

and another action thriller, "killer elite." despite robert de niro and clive owen, it managed to open in fifth with $9.5 million. what was the last good movie you've saw? >> it's been a good time. that cast of characters, i'm glad i don't have to forecast what hollywood can expect from the movies. i wouldn't have put that in the fifth spot. >> i don't think i heard anything about it. >> besides they were showing flashes of de niro doing something. clive owen doing something. it's all these guys together. >> i'm veronica del la cruz. stay tuned because "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. have a terrific monday. rick perry has a rough weekend getting destroyed for his debate performance the other night by snl to the fox news

sunday panel. and herman cain pulls an upset in the straw poll. and president obama is raising some own cash for his 2012 campaign. and a tough day for new england sports fans as tom brady and the patriots throw one away to the bills and the red sox continue their historic self destruction. the question is what was the one bit of good newsor the sox late last night in new york city? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm willie geist and this is "way too early." the show has likes you as a friend. we're glad you are up this morning watching us on msnbc.