that is so private it precludes release of their tax returns. it's either the thing you want us to know or don't want us to know. you have to pick one. maybe you would prefer if we just go back to talking about want us to know. you have to pick one. maybe you'd prefer we just go back to talking about abortion? "first look" is up next. all eyes on isaac. florida's gulf coast launches and waits as tropical storm isaac churns in the caribbean. game over. lance armstrong gives up his fight against doping allegations and loses seven tour de france titles. and "fresco" fiasco. a spanish woman's attempts at art at restoration goes horribly wrong. very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with a storm threat. tropical storm isaac is still hundreds of miles away from the u.s. coast, but the possibility of a direct impact has florida officials urging residents to prepare now. nbc's kurt gregory has the latest. >> reporter: wind and rain in puerto rico, a glancing blow from tropical storm isaac as the system meanders across the caribbean. warnings are in effect for the dominican republic and in haiti, where aid groups are mobilizing to assist the thousands of people still struggling in makeshift shelters 2 1/2 years after an earthquake destroyed the capital city. >> the next 24 hours will be very critical for the population of haiti, and the international red cross is extremely concerned. >> reporter: concern is spreading throughout florida as well. the latest projection map shows the state feeling the storm's force as early as sunday.

in cape coral, firemen wasted no time in securing a storm curtain around city hall. >> to protect the glass and any debris that comes up against it. >> reporter: and along florida's gulf coast -- >> i'd rather be early than late. >> reporter: -- preparations for isaac are under way. just as the final touches are added to tampa's big party. >> we're ready for this storm, if it were to come. we don't think it will. so, we really now are more focused on putting on a great event for the republican national convention. >> reporter: organizers say contingency plans are in place if tropical storm isaac strengthens and threatens the bay. >> the next couple days, especially this weekend, we'll find out when it comes off the coast of cuba what happens. >> reporter: but those plans depend on what isaac may do. kurt gregory, nbc news. nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking the storm for us this morning. bill, what's the latest? >> it's just a mess of a storm. it hasn't intensified.

it's just kind of wobbling around out there, and it hasn't gotten any more intense, and that's good for the people around the dominican republic and haiti and cuba, just a rain-maker for them it looks impressive on the satellite imagery, still a big storm sizewise, but the inner core hasn't developed and there's no signs of it developing, either. the hurricane hunters are in the storm and the current estimate of the center is right here while all the thunderstorms are well away from it. this means don't expect this to become a hurricane in the next two or three days, and we don't know what the intensity of the structure will be until sunday, maybe sunday afternoon or even sunday evening by the time it gets to the keys. so, this is the new forecast out from the hurricane center. this white line, by the way, has been the previous path, and you can see how it's been wobbling around south of puerto rico, dominican republic. it should be moving toward the northwest or cuba over the weekend. it's going to remain very weak. if it's going to intensify, it would be once it gets out here off the keys and just off the

west coast of florida. so, as far as specifics go, on the end of the forecast, when it gets closest to the united states, it should be somewhere very near key west as we go through about midnight sunday night into monday. it will be closest to tampa, it appears, monday morning. notice the cone of uncertainty still has tampa in it, orlando is now out, but all of a sudden, we have new orleans a possibility. so, the intensity forecast, veronica, three to four days in advance are usually horrible. >> right. >> so don't go so much thinking it's only going to be a tropical storm or a category 1. that we won't know, but the path definitely somewhere between new orleans and north florida. >> got to be prepared. all right, thanks, bill. in part because of the threat from isaac, delegates at the republican national convention in tampa will begin the roll call vote to nominate mitt romney on monday. that is days earlier than what scheduled and earlier that had been done at previous conventions. party officials are also worried about several hundred delegates who are pledged to vote for ron paul during the roll call voting. paul has not yet released his

delegates to support romney or anyone else for the matter. champion cyclist lance armstrong is expected to be stripped of his tour de france titles today. the u.s. anti-doping agency says they will ban armstrong from cycling for life and take away his seven titles in the tour de france. armstrong who retired last year, said he would stop fighting doping allegations in what he called an unconstitutional witch hunt. armstrong could also lose a bronze olympic medal he won at the 2000 games in australia. here's your "first look" at other news around america today. a management april woman and her child were nearly killed in front of dozens of other subway riders. the woman fell on to the tracks with her 4-year-old son after she accidentally walked off the platform. a bystander immediately helped the two before a train arrived. she told officials she was rushing toward the train but didn't realize it was on the other side of the station. the waters of virginia beach

have become a battle zone. more than 200 surfers are ready to catch some waves at the 50th annual east coast surfing championships. the event is north america's oldest surfing contest and it is steep with competition. surfers from all over the world have arrived for their shot at the $155,000 grand prize. finally, the san diego zoo received some great news thursday. a baby panda cub born july 29th passed its first physical exam with flying colors! the next step is finding out the sex of the animal, which will be determined during follow-up exams. and now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with a weather channel forecast. it just wouldn't be a newscast unless we had the story about the baby panda. >> isn't it a cute panda? they couldn't tell the sex of it just by looking? is it just me? >> yeah, i'm not going to touch that one. >> yeah, okay. you told me.

it's your information. well, we have other concerns this morning as far as getting you out the door for your friday. and this is actually a piece of good news. we are watching rain moving through portions of kansas, especially along interstate 70. it's one of the hardest hit drought states. so, we'll take this rainfall. it will be eventually moving into areas like kansas city and possibly even oklahoma city late today. the other area that's going to be a little wet and rainy today, the beaches of north carolina, heading up eventually to virginia beach and norfolk, and that looks like it could last into the weekend, so, especially in areas around maryland and in delaware. so, the forecast, veronica, not too bad around the country. again, all eyes on isaac. weekend forecast coming up. >> sounds good, all right. investors drill down, gold pinches a pretty penny and the parking spot of your dreams. your "first look" at business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a slugfest in boston, adrian beltre is red hot and olympian gabby douglas like you've never seen her before! you're watching "first look" on msnbc. i've discovered gold.

[ female announcer ] the gold standard in anti-aging. roc® retinol. found in roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream. it's clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. now for maximum results... the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum to create retinol correxion® max.

it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. new roc® retinol correxion® max. nothing's better than gold. let's compare. germ party! eww! now the colgate total mouth. nice! [ female announcer ] colgate total fights 90% more plaque germs. i'm in. [ female announcer ] colgate total. less germs. healthier mouth.

welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. the fbi and u.s. capitol police are investigating rape threats against missouri congressman todd akin, his family and staff. akin sparked controversy by saying that relatively few pregnancies resulted from what he called "legitimate rape." republican mitt romney says his energy plan would make the u.s. independent of foreign oil by 2020 and create 3 million jobs. the obama campaign called it a "backward plan" that would reward big oil companies. a norwegian court has ruled confessed killer andres breivik was sane when he murdered 77 people in a bomb massacre last year. breivik will spend a minimum of 21 years in prison for the crime and called the heinous attack a political statement against norway's support of muslim immigration.

nasa has released a high-resolution video of the landing of the curiosity rover on the planet mars earlier this month. it shows the final moments before the touchdown of the first spacecraft to record a landing on another planet. and in spain, a century-old art fresco of christ was in need of repair, so an amateur art restorer in her 80s took it upon herself to try to fix it, and she didn't do a very good job, so now professionals will try to repair the damage that was done to this fresco. oops! and now, here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of "scrambled politics." how much of a bounce in the polls can mitt romney and paul ryan expect from the gop convention next week? over the last century, political wire says the average bounce is about five points, but since president obama and joe biden can expect their own bounce a week later, it's not likely to change the outcome in november,

so there. zryt governor chris christie makes a high-profile appearance at the republican convention next week, giving the keynote speech. "the newark observer" reports that cory booker is considering running against christie next year. one of the proposals in a draft of the republican party platform would push one of ron paul's proposals. a gop official says they may call for bringing back the gold standard to back the u.s. dollar. fox news reports republican judge tom head of texas is proposing a tax increase to prepare for what he says could be "civil war" in the united states. he says that might be the result of president obama signing united nations treaties, which he falsely claimed would override american law. in an interview with "parade" magazine, mitt romney gave what he says is one reason he won't release his income tax returns. romney says it's because the documents would show how much

money he donates to the mormon church, which he never intended to become public, of course. and then, speaking of donations, soon you can use your fingers or your thumbs to contribute to mitt romney or president obama. campaign officials say they will soon be accepting small donations of up to $10 all by text message, so get yourself ready. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." last night on "the rachel maddow show," "the washington post's" edie deon gave his thought of romney, saying he had the same trouble as mccain in 2008 because he can't move to the middle of the political spectrum. >> he's got to make more and more of an effort to win them over when he ought to be shaking that etch-a-sketch and trying to appeal to undecideds, to moderate voters, and especially to women, where he has an enormous gap. so, i think that he's going to

have this contradiction of not being in a position to appeal to more moderate voters because he's going to have to constantly reassure the social conservatives who largely voted against him in the primary. >> "the rachel maddow show" week nights at 9:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc, the place for politics. and now here's your "first look" at how wall street kicks off the day. the dow opens at 13,057 after tumbling 115 points yesterday. the s&p dropped 11 and the nasdaq fell 20. looking at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei sank 107 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng plunged 252. well, investors banking on help from the fed seemed a little less certain thursday. uncertainty about the likelihood of more stimulus spread after james bullard, the president of the fed st. louis bank, told our sister network cnbc that the minutes from the central bank's july 31st meeting were "stale"

because the economy had picked up since then. investors dumped stocks and oil, betting on gold instead. the precious metal price shot up 2% yesterday to just under $1,675 an ounce. new data showed first-time unemployment claims ticked slightly higher, underscoring the job market. global economic woes also took a toll on stocks as china's manufacturing activity fell to a nine-month low. hewlett-packard lost more than 8% thanks to weak quarterly results and a disappointing forecast. meanwhile, big lots weighed down the s&p, tumbling nearly 21% on a sharp drop in quarterly profit. as the u.s. jury debates apple and samsung's big patent suit at home, a south korean court ruled today that both infringed on each other's patents and ordered a ban on some iphones, ipads and galaxy smartphones. facebook released an overall iphone app after users complained it was slow. and finally, say good-bye to

your average parking spot. one high-rise in singapore is taking luxury to a whole new level. a special elevator delivers your car to your apartment so you can park right next to your living room, of course. units start at around $8 million, and sorry, the lamborghini is not included. darn. a first win for his first nfl start and a little league world series u.s. championship matchup is set. plus, an olympic gold medal gymnast tries her hand at another sport. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables?

yeah, maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit.

but it just tastes like fruit. v8. what's your number? welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports, several teams punched some extra time on the clock in yesterday's major league matchups. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. a handful of finishes. the slugfest between the angels and red sox. kenny morales put the angels on top with his 16th homer of the year. it was a barn-burner. nobody pitched, but the angels won 14-13 in ten. reds and phils also needed extras. cinci loaded the bases and john mayberry made them pay with an rbi single. tigers won in the tenth. alex sibila was the hero. get out the brooms, tiger swept the jays 3-2 in 11. adrian beltre is fresh off

hitting three homers on wednesday and hit another yesterday, a triple shy of the cycle. rangers over the twins 10-6. olympic gold medalist gabby douglas threw out the first pitch between the mets and rockies. i'd love to show you highlights, but there weren't any. mets won 1-0. jake locker was named the titans starting quarterback and yesterday threw a pair of touchdowns against the cards. titans like what they see and won it 32-27. packers don't have a premier back, but who needs one when you have aaron rodgers? ran in two touchdowns. in fact, rodgers had more yards on the ground than all five running backs. they beat cinci. ravens are ready to go on the jaguars. joe flacco hooked up with anquan boldin and they ran away with it 48-17. finally, congratulations to the little leaguers from petaluma, california. they punched their ticket to the u.s. championship with a win over texas. hann smith broke it open with a grand slam. california won 11-1 and play

tennessee for the title tomorrow. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm fred roggin. now for another look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. watching isaac still? >> yeah, over the weekend. not has changed overnight. the forecast path slightly away from tampa, so a little bit more good news for the republican national convention. not completely out of the woods yet, this is a big storm, but it looks like it will be between new orleans and tampa monday night into tuesday. as far as our computer models going, they're all some of them near tampa, but most of them are now off the west coast of florida, bringing it somewhere up here to northern portions of florida, panama city, pensacola area, watch out. as far as the forecast today, not many issues, but rain from kansas city to oklahoma city. a nice, warm day through areas of the mid-atlantic. around d.c., though, through the weekend, an area of low pressure just off the coast could bring you some showers, especially if you're anywhere near the beaches of maryland and delaware, down through the norfolk, virginia

beach area, and even into sunday, that forecast a little more cloudy than you would like. not the best of beach weekends along the mid-atlantic. >> we're running out of time! summer's almost over. >> yeah, a lot of people are going back to school, if not already. >> no bad news, though. all signs point to a lackluster weekend at the box office, although "the expendables 2" once again knock out the competition? your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. t exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. 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. receive up to a $300 beautyrest visa prepaid card when you buy select beautyrest mattress sets. you have a plan? first we're gonna check our bags for free, thanks to our explorer card. then, the united club. my mother was so wrong about you. next, we get priority boarding on our flight i booked with miles. all because of the card. and me. okay, what's the plan? plan? mm-hmm. we're on vacation. this is no plan. really? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. the mileage card with special perks on united. get it and you're in. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true.

...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios atct wi cor

here's some political news, you guys. cnn plans to air a 90-minute documentary on mitt romney before the republican national convention. yeah. 90 minutes of mitt romney.

even red bull is like, this is out of my league, bro. i can't help you. president obama's supporters can now text the word "give" to donate up to $50 to his campaign, though it's frustrating when autocorrect keeps changing it to "fix the economy." frustrating. frustrating. >> tonight, jimmy welcomes actor bradley cooper, olympic gold medalist ryan lochte and musical act ante ballas. that's "late night with jimmy fallon" on your local nbc station. time for your "first look" at entertainment news. as the summer box office season rolls down, some new releases will be no match for last weekend's champ, "the expendables 2." vying against the spot, "the bourne legacy: premium rush." it has received decent reviews. are you yawning there, bill? >> yeah. this is not exciting. >> very boring to you? this one is expected to open

around $9 million, so just in case you're wondering. what about this one, the road trip comedy "hit and run" with kristen bell, jack shepard, bradley cooper? yes, no, maybe? >> that's a double yawn. >> oh, no! all right, well, it's received pretty bad word-of-mouth reviews from people who have seen it. this is expected to debut at about $8 million. and the wild card could be the anti-barack obama documentary "2016: obama's america." it debuts nationwide ahead of the republican national convention, expected to rake in about $4 million. finally, the horror film "the apparition" starring "twilight" actress ashley greene, is debuting in only 800 theaters, so it might not even make it past the $2 million mark. why haven't we been talking about the will ferrell movie? >> it didn't do well. >> it didn't? >> reviews were bad for that one as well. >> really? i was going to go see it. >> it went well for one weekend

and then -- >> i liked the actors in it, too. >> yeah, it's over. >> oh, well. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. lance armstrong saying enough is enough, drops his fight against charges he used banned substances to become one of the most successful and famous athletes in the world and quickly has all seven of his tour de france titles taken away. the question is, did armstrong cheat or is he the victim as he continues to claim of a witch hunt? we'll have the details. meanwhile, tropical storm isaac almost certain to play some role early next week in the republican convention. news this morning that mitt romney could be officially nominated by monday, a couple days ahead of schedule. the question is, will hat do is and ron paul have to do with that move? and we now know the identity of the navy s.e.a.ho