scott brown on this show as well, but he never returns our phone calls. we are always excited to have elizabeth warren here. scott brown, call me, anytime. have a great night. mile high inferno, tens of thousands are ordered to evacuate as a massive wildfire moves towards colorado springs. remembering nora efron, the author of romantic classics, has died. and name change -- lawmakers want everyone to call london's iconic big ben by a different new name. those stories and more are straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we are going to begin this morning with up in smoke. searing record-setting heat all across the interior west is fueling worsening wildfires throughout that region. and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee from their homes in colorado alone, firefighters are struggling to contain eight separate blazes, burning across the rocky mountain state. near colorado springs, sheriff officials have ordered an estimated 32,000 people to evacuate. more than 2100 residents were told to leave a nearby u.s. air force academy as an unknown number of homes have been torched in that area. nearly a week of 100-plus-degree days and low humidity have sapped the moisture from timber and grass, creating punishing conditions for firefighters. officials say the waldo canyon fire is only 5% contained. elsewhere, forecasters say the lingering storm debby, now a tropical depression, will bring

more rain and flooding to water-logged florida today. after sitting off the coast for days, debby finally came ashore and could head out to sea later today, nbc's jay gray reports from florida. >> reporter: for the last two days, the large, but mostly unorganized system has poured more than 20 inches of rain in parts of the state. and forecasters say it could dump another eight to ten inches as it crosses the peninsula. >> in 58 years, i've never seen it this high. even in a hurricane. a real hurricane. >> reporter: high water that's causing real problems. >> people who have lived here all their lives, they've never seen water up across the road right here. >> reporter: dozens of roads have been washed out, including parts of interstate 10, making evacuations difficult, and in the hardest-hit areas, almost impossible. >> it got two and a half foot deep, we decided not to go further. >> reporter: countless families are struggling to stay ahead and

above the floodwaters. but in some areas, that's an impossible task. >> we had over seven inches of rain through the evening and through the night. as a result, the creeks were overflow, the ground was saturated and the runoff har more than it could handle. in the tiny town of cedar key, the tide was too much. most of the residents here have moved to higher ground, jay gray, nbc news, cedar key, florida. to politics, where not surprisingly, mitt romney was the overwhelming winner of this year's last run primary in utah. also in utah, senator orrin hatch fought off a primary challenge from a tea party-backed candidate. hatch got a boost when mitt romney said he would need him in the senate if he wins the presidency. and 82-year-old new york congressman, charles wrangle, whose stature was dented by an ethics scandal, won a democratic

nomination for a 22nd term, beating four challengers. this morning, hollywood is mourning the loss of a legend, 71-year-old nora ephron, the prolific writer, who is talents spanned page, stage and screen, died after a battle with leukemia. a highly successful screenwriter, director, producer and author, she was best known for her comedic hits, "sleepless in seattle" and "when harry met sally." writing was in ephron's blood before making it on the big screen. she started out as a journalist. her second marriage was to watergate journalist carl bernstein, she turned into "heartburn" starring meryl streep, upon the news of ephron's death, streep released a statement praising her. well now here's your first look at other news going on around america today.

in california, a big rig and 18 other vigs were involved in a massive freeway pileup north of los angeles. 15 people were injured, one victim said he felt a tremendous impact followed by three more crashes. officials say the driver of the big rig was going too fast around a curve and couldn't stop in time. in new jersey don't tell snoo snooki, there's a boardwalk on the jersey shore where bikinis and bathing suits are ban. a former city council member wants to start enforcing the rule, that carries a fine of 90 days in jail. city officials say they're going to try to repeal it. in washington, as the fourth of july nears, it's a dramatic lesson. that's why officials keep doing their annual demonstration of what can go horribly wrong when

people are careless with fireworks. last year alone, four people died and 10,000 others were injured. now for the weather, let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> fires, floods and incredible heat wave that's going to spread across the country. amazing amount of extremes here lately over the last couple of days. this one has been building in the west. with the hot temperatures throughout the spring, into the summer. we didn't have a lot of wet weather, the drought is spreading through the region and the gusty winds hit. unfortunately the fire near colorado springs jumped the fire lines yesterday with the strong, gusty winds, the temperatures were near 100 degrees and the firefighters had no chance. let me get you acclimated to where the fire is that's burned so many beautiful homes. here's colorado springs, interstate 25, the air force academy and pike's peak, a famous monument out there. the fire itself isn't spreading too much any more. the winds have died down, but it's very close to colorado

springs and the west winds are going to be blowing the smoke into the city. we'll hope to get improvement there today, it shouldn't be as hot or as windy. for debby, the storm is heading off the coast. we're not going to be watching the flooding like we were seeing, we had incredible pictures coming out of the areas, especially northern portions of florida. where we're going to see the improvement during the day. and a little more information later in the show on the impressive heat wave coming our way. stocks rebound, europe still looms, and another misstep by facebook. your fist look at the morning's business headlines is straight ahead. catch the bcs's playoff bond and somersaults, you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry and here's some of the top stories making news this morning, a new nbc

news "wall street journal" poll show as tight race for the white house, with president obama leeting mitt romney 44% to 40%. mitt romney's personal negative rating is at an all-time high. turkey is warning syrian forces to stay away interest their border or risk attack. and syrian president, bashar al assad, says his country is at war without directly specifying who the country is at war with. in an unusually strongly worded decision, a federal appeals court has sided with the environmental protection agency. the judges found the epa was correct that the clean air act requires the federal government to impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions that are causing harm. in london, despite public opposition, the house of commons has voted to rename the clock tower known the world round as big ben, the elizabeth tower in honor of the queen's diamond jubilee. and treasure hunters have

dug up gold and silver roman coins, on the island of jersey between england and france. and they're estimated to be worth more than $15 million. not bad. well now here is your "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. politico reports three years after her death panel remarks during the health care debate won her 2009 political fact lie of the year. she released a statement saying that obama created a panel of faceless democrats to make life and death decisions. illegal immigrants to enter the u.s. so they can be converted to voters before election day. harry reid called a possible house contempt vote against attorney general holder, sheer basic low-level politics at its best. condoleezza rice is the latest not me for mitt romney's running mate. rice told cbs this morning quote

i didn't run for student council president, i don't see myself in any way in elective office. politico reports nebraska senate candidate, bob kerrey has a big backer, the oracle of omaha himself, warren buffett. but don't expect him to donate millions. "village voice" columnist bashed goproud group. and finally believe it or not, the "huffington post" reports jon gosling, former star of "jon and cate plus eight" is joining a republican candidate in new jersey today to promote tax-deductible marriage counseling. that's your morning's dish of scrambled politics. well last night on the "ed show" vermont senator bernie sanders talked about this week's

supreme court ruling that expanded its controversial 2010 decision that changed the rules on political campaign contributions to include state and local elections. he told host ed schultz the wealthy would be crazy not to take advantage. >> with the citizens united decision, what the supreme court said to all of these billionaires, go for it. you're tired of buying coal companies and gambling casinos. you know what you can buy now? you can buy the united states government! so if you are the coke brothers and you're worth $50 billion. you're sheldon adelson, you're worth $20-plus billion. why would you hesitate one minute to spend a billion, two billion. you could own the united states government, you could own various states, you can own county commissioners, you can own governors, pretty good deal. "lean forward" with "the ed

show". here's your first look at wall street. the dow opens at 12,534 after adding 32 points yesterday. the s&p 500 was up six, the nasdaq gained 17. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei nudged up 66 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng climbed 195. home builders led a rebound on wall street tuesday. but worries about europe were never far off. news that home prices rose for the first time in seven months renewed investors' optimism and gave builders a healthy boost. more worries out of europe kept u.s. markets in check after a pair of debt auctions sent spain's borrowing costs higher. consumer confidence fell in june for the fourth straight month as economic worries outweighed lower gas prices. news corp. shares shot up 8% after "the wall street journal" report its parent company is considering splitting up its publishing and media arms.

the parent company of the university of phoenix online was another big market mover, soaring 10% on far better-than-expected quarterly earnings. best buy's founder is reportedly working on a deal to take the retailer private. fbi agents said yesterday 24 suspected hackers had been arrested as a result of a two-year sting operation targeting stolen credit cards and bank information. a u.s. judge has granted apple's bid to stop samsung from selling its galaxy tablet as part of a patent lawsuit filed by the ipad maker. after mediation with its creditors failed, stockton, california, is set to earn the dubious distinction as the biggest u.s. city to ever declare bankruptcy. in case you missed the launch of facebook's find friends nearby app on monday, it's you're not alone. it's called the stalker app, it lets you track your friends in your area, but it was pulled

hours after it launched. sorry to all of those stalkers out there. a red flips out, a hole in one and talkie greats welcomed to the hall. and your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch? with two times the points on dining in restaurants, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred.

tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ normal voice ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ ask an allstate agent about the value plan. are you in good hands? a playoff system has been approved to decide college

football's national championship. here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning, in college football fans you have spoken and the bcs has finally listened. it is official, the bcs approved a 14-playoff system starting in 2014. the teams will be chosen by a selection committee. semifinals will be held at the current bcs bowl sites followed by a championship game. the new deal run through 2025. the nba draft is tomorrow and the houston rockets are preparing to make a splash, they traded trace puttinger for the 13th overall pick. they're trying to acquire as many assets as possible to make a trade for dwight howards. one guy who was dealing last night was the red's chapman struck out three in the ninth to close out brewers, if you thought his pitching was good, a pair of somersaults. he's ready for the gymnastics team. reds won it 4-3. a controversy in the yankees/indians game. foul ball down the line, dwayne

wise jumped into the stands to make the grab, or did he? he couldn't hold on, it was called an out. even though the guy in red was holding the ball. the yankees won it 6-4. hockey, four players voted into the hockey hall of fame, it only got better for oats, he was also named the head coach of the capitals. finally, matt dobins leads the pga national championship thanks to shots like this. interest 200 yards out, the ball hit the green, turned left and found its way to the bottom of the cup. it's a hole in one. look at his reaction, who, me? yes, you. matt will be cruising the links in style this weekend, the shot won him a new golf cart. that's your "first look" at sports. well now for another check of the weather here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. we thought the heat wave was moving out from last week. it's moving in. >> the one on the east coast

left, we had a beautiful day on the eastern seaboard, now we're getting ready for the heat to return. right now it's in the middle of the country, it's responsible for the big fire in colorado. now through the next three days, let me take you through the progression, today on the eastern seaboard in the 80s, we jump to the 90s, and all the 100s back here from kansas city to witch dawe to oklahoma city will travel across the country in the next three days. into thursday, we jump to 100s. st. louis could be 104. chicago, 101. indianapolis, 102. louisville, 103, they canceled all the horse races on churchill downs on thursday because they're concerned with the heat. by friday, the 100-degree heat arrives in richmond, raleigh, charlotte, maybe 100 degrees near washington, d.c. about 95 in philadelphia. it's not like it ends back here, either. we're still going to have about two days in a row of 104 in st. louis. so this is going to be one of those all-time heat waves moving across the country. >> it's like -- all right, bill

thank you so much. coming up, whose life story is headed to broadway and the spice girls are uniting in london. what? yeah. turn the mic up. plus the material girl reportedly has a special theme to make sure she's not left behind. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. it's time to live wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system... from beautyrest. it's you, fully charged. how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher

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a dog from the uk named muggily was named the world's ugliest dog. that dog is ugly. >> how ugly is he? >> he's so ugly, when he's around other dogs they sniff his

face. >> that's ugly. >> that dog is ugly. over the weekend a man in tennessee was kicked out of a kenny chesney concert because he looked too much like kenny chesney. it actually happens a lot. in fact my grandma was kicked out of a an aerosmith concert because of looking too much like steven tyler. she's a big fan! tonight jimmy welcomes actress salma hayek, and musical guest, lmfao. on your local nbc station. now a check of entertainment news. rapper fifty cent was involved in a serious crash on the new york expressway. the 36-year-old, a passenger in a chevy suburban was rear-ended by a mack truck, he was briefly hospitalized with neck and back injuries, but is now said to be doing just fine. good news there. cher will write and star in

an autobiography show. the musical will cover three stages of her life. the sonny and cher era, a great one, some solo stardom days and great outfits and finally today. cher has won an oscar, emmy and a grammy, but never a tony. all five spice girls are coming back, scary, sporty, ginger, baby and posh reunited in london tuesday, announced that they're going to start a new musical by the creator of "mama mia" based on their song, "viva forever." and finally england's "daily mirror" reports on her daily tour, madonna reports no one enter her dressing room after a show until the sterilization team has reported all traces of dna. and her team must modify every dressing room with fake ceilings and walls so no one can hide cameras. you buy that? >> she's worried someone is

going to try to clone her? >> that's what my sterilization team is worried about. that's why they sweep the studio. this is "first look" on msnbc. wail too earl li with willie geist starts right now. we better go. shall we? >> i wanted it to be you. i wanted it to be you so badly. >> writer and director, nora ephron who brought us those two movias