a large swath of the u.s. enduring another day of relentless heat, but is there light at the end of the tunnel? exit wound. shocking new video shows the moments leading up to a huge pileup on a dallas off ramp. and -- with a bang. out with a bang. a technical glitch causes all of san diego's july 4th fireworks to go off at once. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we begin this morning with going to extremes. relief could be in sight for millions of americans who have endured nearly a week of record-breaking heat, but the dangerous heat wave forecast to break this weekend in many parts of country is still not over yet. nbc's dan shenaman has that story. >> reporter: 92 degrees before 9:00 a.m. another hot day just beginning in chicago. the temperature eventually soared to 103, a new record for the day. just two degrees shy of the city's all-time record. it's blamed for this buckling pavement. >> happening from wisconsin to texas you're seeing streets buckling all over the place. >> reporter: no relief in the forecast for friday. chicago cancels all summer school classes. the same for much of the nation. 102 in south carolina to 103 as far north as milwaukee. to make matters worst, hundreds

of thousands of americans are in their sixth day without electricity from last week's storm. waiting for relief from the heat and the frustration. >> when they told me july 8th this morning, i cried. it's -- i couldn't believe that i actually had broken at that point. >> reporter: forecasters say that relief may come soon. >> by the end of this weekend and certainly by the beginning of next week, it's going to feel much more comfortable, especially for the middle of the country. >> reporter: cooler temperatures without rain will do little to help extremely dry conditions affecting two-thirds of the country, about 2 million people. this farm hasn't had decent rain since april 15th. >> basically we're considering this to be probably a total loss. >> reporter: the government reports the nation's corn crop is in its worse shape in more than 20 years. prices are up 35% in just the last three weeks. for nbc news. also, president obama hit the road on a two-day re-election bus tour. he started off in ohio.

that's seen as a key state in his campaign against republican mitt romney and probably no coincidence that ohio's economic recovery has been one of the strongest in the nation. nbc's steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: kicking off his bus trip to the battleground of ohio and pennsylvania, president obama went positive maumee, near toledo, ohio and detroit. he claimed he saved 1 million auto industry jobs. >> governor romney says we should let the country grow bankrupt. i refuse to turn my back on communities like this. -- and three years later, the american auto industry is coming roaring back. >> reporter: unemployment in ohio and pennsylvania is now almost a point below the national average. mitt romney knows no republican has won the white house without winning ohio. as romney took time off to vote, two men said to be considered

running mates tim pawlenty and bobby jindal went to counter the obama trip. >> half the graduates unemployed or under employed coming out of college. with obamacare, he promised health care costs would go down and no one would lose health insurance to keep it. all creditable studies say health care is going up. >> reporter: the president says the popularity of his plan is going up since the supreme court ruled it constitutional. >> i'll work with anybody who wants to work with me to continue to improve our health care system and our health care laws, but the law i passed is here to stay. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: a fight over health care and jobs in a battleground state. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. last night on "politics nation," congressman told al sharpton he feels the comparison of president obama and mitt romney on the issues jobs will fall squarely in favor of the president.

>> it's going to play out to the benefit of the american worker, who is going to know that the president's on their side and that governor romney has been on the side of big capital off shoring and all the rest for a very long time. mitt romney's got a lot of trouble, because he's over here saying, well, i haven't saved any money by off shoring. well, has he made any jobs in america by off shoring? decidedly, no, and so he's going to be in a defensive posture and he's going to be in trouble. >> the reverend al sharpton in "politics nation" weekdays at 6:00 eastern right here on msnbc, the place for politics. in florida, significantly higher bail has been set for george zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed 17-year-old trayvon martin, after his original $150,000 bond was revoked last month. now his attorneys are marking a plea for online donations. nbc's eric edwards has more on this, but, of course, we are going to go to that now, take a

look. >> reporter: george zimmerman's new bond has been set at $1 million. >> the judge is obviously saying mr. zimmerman screwed up, in a big way. >> reporter: to get out of jail he's need 10% of that amount, $100,000. but it's money zimmerman's attorney mark o'mara says his client does not have and will remain locked up waiting for his trial in the shooting death of trayvon martin to begin. zimmerman is the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed unarmed teen trayvon martin in february. he pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder claiming self-defense. in court on friday, his attorney showed this police video from the day after the shooting. >> there's a cut. >> reporter: george zimmerman has been in jail more than a month. his original $150,000 bond revoked after the judge decided zimmerman and his wife shellie misled the court regarding their finances. >> he's put his credibility squarely in the cross hairs of this judge when his credibility

was the main talking point in this case. >> reporter: the judge wrote that the new bond was not a punishment but instead additional insurance that zimmerman would not leave down. leave town. among many details of the bond, zimmerman must not leave the county without the court's permission, and must stay away from the airport. erica edwards, nbc news. and here's your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. in dallas, newly released video shows the moment of impact when a small commuter bus slammed into four cars on a highway off ramp. you can see there the force of the chain reaction crash, which injured two people. it also appears to show the driver of the bus not even hitting the brakes until it was too late. police investigators say that driver was not paying attention. looks like it. in tennessee, a pentecostal church pastor has no plans to stop using live snakes as part of his sermons. he does so in violation of a state law that forbids the

possession of venomous snakes. the pastor admits he's been bitten four times. church members are allowed to come up and handle the serpents. the pastor says you don't pick up the snake unless the spirit moves you. finally in st. louis, this has belly ache written all over it. it is a two-foot long hot dog rollaled out at busch stadium. how about that? it's called the giant slugger. that's appropriate. it's larger than five jumbo dogs and weighs a pound. if that's not add, add chili and why not some other toppings? it's going to cost you, though. it's about $26 for the dog. maybe you can spread it out, breakfast, lunch and dinner. so it's kinds of affordable. now for a look at your national weather, bill karins and your weather channel forecast. >> i'm willing to bet you've never had a chili dog. >> you're right. >> you've never had a chili dog? >> never a chili dog. plenty of hot dogs but never actually a chili dogs. >> all right. >> seems like this weekend i

have my work to do. my homework assignment. >> good morning, everyone. what we're dealing with across the country, the heat wave, of course, has been the story that just continues on and on. two weeks now we've gone on with this heat wave, but it's coming to an end this weekend. yesterday was just an amazingly hot day from the midwest all the way to the east coast. 100-degree heat from d.c., richmond, raleigh, charlotte, atlanta, nashville, memphis, every big city pretty much from kansas city through st. louis to the east coast, 100 degrees. even our friends at green bay close to 100 degrees. you're at 99. where do we sit today? the jet stream is needed to dip to the south to give us the cooler air. the jet stream has been way up in canada for the last two weeks. when that moves south, the cooler air moves south with it. right now the only ones getting the cooler air, areas of new england. especially northern new england. you haven't heard much of 100-degree heat there because they've been a little cooler. of course, the high pressure sits over top of st. louis. that's why

you're see nine straight days today of 100-degree-plus heat. so how hot will it be? already starting this morning, this is pretty amazing. the heat index is 92 in chicago. it is 91 in st. louis. you're starting that high. you have a chance of seeing some incredible heat this afternoon. maybe close to all-time record highs. it even feels like 87 in d.c. this morning. that's pretty gross when you step outside. that's cranking your ac before the sun is even up. we have heat warnings in place from des moines, to chicago, indianapolis, chicago. pretty much all the same locations as we did yesterday. this is how hot it will get today. 107 in st. louis. 105 in indianapolis to 104 all the way back up possibly into central indiana. 103 in chicago and 100 for the east coast. saturday will be the last day of our widespread heat wave. notice we continue with a 105 right through the ohio valley and even getting near 100 in new york city, lynn. that will be it. sunday will be cooler. those details coming up. >> good.

those maximum numbers. >> me, too. i'm done. coming up, wall street waits on june jobs. the retailer that sold well when others didn't, and the world's most expensive divorce settlement. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. the knicks sign a future hall of famer and serena muscles her way into the finals at wimbledon. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. i read an article... well, i read the majority of an article online about how older people

are becoming more and more antisocial, so i was really aggressive with my parents about joining facebook. my parents are up to 19 friends now? so sad. ♪ i have 687 friends. this is living. what!? that is not a real puppy. that's too small to be a real puppy. [ male announcer ] venza. from toyota. the retailer that sold well when you're watching "first look" on

welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here's some of the top stories making headlines this morning -- the u.s. are threatening bashar al assad's government with global sanctions unless he agrees to a peace plan, and syrian general from assad's inner circle has reportedly defected. a new parliamentary report in japan says the fukushima crisis was preventible resulting from a solution by the plant and

governor and regulators. they criticized the power company and the prime minister who resigned last year. a satellite view shows the scorched earth left by the waldo canyon fire in colorado surrounded by the red false color image of trees and plants. firefighters in the western states are getting a little help today from heavy rains. as big "oops" in san diego where the big fireworks display was really big on the fourth of july. that's because the entire evening's program of fireworks exploded right away all at once. this due to a technical glitch. and england's prince william has been given scotland's highest honor. queen elizabeth, prince philip and william's wife kate attended the ceremony awarding william the order of the thistle. this is second in importance only to the order of the gardener. now here's a "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. talk about a good sport.

96-year-old raoul castro former governor of the state of arizona, says he holds no grudge against border patrol agents who detained him at a checkpoint at the u.s. for more than a half hour in stifling heat, after his pacemaker apparently set off a radiation sensor. politico reports, continuing to savage chief justice roberts, conservatives, over his key sbepgs favoring the health care law last week, justice alain knap kagan who basically came out against the expansion of medicaid as unconstitutional, has her practically nothing from liberals. "new york" magazine cited a glitch by mitt romney at a new hampshire parade. an interesting description of lemonade. describes it as lemon, wet, good. politico was fascinated with president obama campaigning at bar in ohio yesterday during a bus tour. one patron offered to wrestle the president for the vote. arm wrissal. the president said, i'll play basketball for your vote.

and actor morgan freeman reminded npr this president is not america's first black president since mr. obama's mother was white, he stresses obama is america's first mixed race president. if you feel like throwing the politicians to the dogs this year you're in luck. bow-wow barack can become your dog's favorite or there's also mitt for mutts. cost $24. and that is your dish of scrambled politics. and now here's your "first look" how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,896. loses 47 points yesterday. the s&p down 6 while the nasdaq added a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo the nikkei dipped 59 points while in hong kong the hang seng fell 8. stocks edged lower thursday on jitters over job numbers. that's coming out later today. june's government employment data is expected to show the

economy added an anemic 90,000 jobs but others over european debt keeping hiring down. that will likely increase concerns that recovery here is losing steam. light post holiday volume along with those job worries put an end to the s&p 500s strongest three-day run of the year. financials were hit hard. jpmorgan chase fell over 4%. bank of america off 3%. ahead of today's broader job numbers, thursday's data showing stronger private hiring drew little attention. investors were also unmoved by chinese, european and english moves to lower rates, which set the euro lower against the dollar. slowing to a 2 1/2 year low in june didn't face traders. staggering growth here and abroad. meanwhile, spain's ten-year borrowing costs rose despite the eurozone's latest emergency aid plan. costco, macy's, kohl's and target were among big retailers reporting disapoirchting june sales.

tgx, operating t.j. maxx, home goods and marshalls bucks that trend jumping on a sales boost. and shore technology zoomed over 10% on news the food and drug administration approved its first home hiv test which starts selling in october. and finally, with all that talk about the tom cruise and katie holmes divorce, cnbc meemds us, the world's all-time most expensive divorce settlement was the $1.7 billion rupert murdoch had to pay his former wife anna after this 1999 split. ouch. well, in health news this morning, a new study finds more than 13,000 babies in the u.s. are born each year addicted to prescription painkillers likes oxycontin and other narcotics. they call addiction in women a monstrous tidal wave. the number of babies born addict had increased by more than 20 times over the past five

years. for more information on this and other health stories check out the health page at msnbc.com. to sports now. bashed in their attempts to sign point guard steve nash, the nba's new york knicks settled for a sure-fire future hall of famer. here's nbc's mario solis. >> good morning. another day, another big signing in the nba. jason kidd is leaving dallas and heading to the big apple, a verbal agreement to the sign a three-year $9 million deal with the knicks. new york gets an aging hall of famer and may lose a budding presential all-star. according to reports, the rockets offered jeremy lin a four-year $30 million contract. the knicks have until july 14th to match it. another quick note, the clippers pulled out of the ray allen sweepstakes and came to terms with chauncey billups and crawford averaging with the hawks. allen met with them yesterday.

between the phills and mets, new york down one, two outs in the ninth. daniel murphy plunged him, scrambles, can't make the play. everyone is safe, in comes the run. mets tied at 5. on the next pitch, hits the rbi bloop single. they get a win, the mets. 6-5. cheer up philly fans. howard is expected to make his season debut tonight. similar situation between the nats and giants after washington ties it in the ninth. laroche wins it. giants trying to turn a double play but can't pull it off. in comes the winning run. nats rally to sweep the giants 6-5. not a bad day for kevin youkilis. a walk-off on the fourth of july and smacks his second home run as a member of the white sox yesterday. and then giving chicago the lead, that was the difference. they beat the rangers 2-1. finally, serena williams muscles her way into the women's final at wimbledon blasting tornado tournament record

against victoria azarenka. fitting another ace. trying to win her fifth wimbledon title tomorrow. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm mario solis. spider-man weave as web around the weekend box office, plus a famous director and all-star cast and original story. why does this film have no chance this weekend at the box office? your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. overed gold. [ female announcer ] new roc® retinol correxion max. the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. roc® max for maximum results. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. see how much you could save with allstate. are you in good hands? use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park.

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welcome back to "first look." time for a little entertainment news. the latest crime-fighting super hero, to the film. "the amazing spider-man" already took in under $60 million in its first two days. this weekend it's expected to take in as much as $60 million or more to easily finish number one. katy perry "part of me" is a mix of interviewers, backstage scenes and concert footage, all which will appeal to teen and preteen girls, and bill karins, he may go see it. plus being in 3d, it's expected to bring in much more money. appropriately expected to finish -- in the mid-teen millions. a total bet. did you hear that? maybe i will try it this weekend. hmm. and all the star-studded drama. "savages" mid-budget film with a story. hollywood doesn't pick enough of these days. right? the problem is, it is opening weekend this weekend. that means it's going to be pounded by one of those comic

book blockbusters. some say there are too many of them. i don't know. i'm kind of a fan. sadly, that plus an r rating it makes its expectations at around $10 million. now for another look at the weather, here's nbc's meteorologist bill karins. >> you saw "the avengers." >> liked it a lot and plan on seeing "batman "and "spider-man." >> you like the genre of all the comic book movies. it's not ryan gosling, but keeps your attention at least half the movie before falling asleep. well, good morning, everyone. if you're in north dakota what heat wave? soaking rain. this is really what the farmers needed up here. it's a start. getting soaking rains. heading up to northern minnesota too. not for minneapolis during the morning hours. still hot there. your relief this afternoon with storms. a hot day, very hot around d.c. 100 degrees again. 90s back up in new york city. not bad around boston. about 86. for the rest of country, the

real heat from kansas city to st. louis, illinois, indiana, much of kentucky and tennessee. and here's how it's going to end. cooler air shifting down from the south, along with showers and storms. notice chicago only 90 tomorrow. only 90 tomorrow. 100s, new york to washington, d.c. by sunday, lynn, finally the 100s are pretty much off the map. >> there we go. all right, bill, thanks so much. well, i'm lynn berry and this is "first look" on msnbc.

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