do they know they're admitting it? do they think they're only talking amongst themselves? from tom corbett on down, subtlety has never really been an asset. right now this is a whole new level. has never been a real asset for pennsylvania. "first look" is up next. good wednesday morning. right now, on "first look," dangerous heat continues across a big chunk of the country, while 10 on-degree temperatures fuel a massive wildfire out west. data on millions of americans. update on nelson mandela's health as the world marks his 95th birthday. plus, a drone mishap in florida. and why queen elizabeth wants the royal baby to get a move on. good morning. we begin with the seager heat wave that's gripg the nation as some 130 million americans

continue to bake in some of the hottest temperatures of the year, and while that heat wave may be more than halfway over, misery had plenty of company on wednesday. >> reporter: tis the season, but boy is it hot outside. add the humidity, heat indices are at or near 100. >> i come out thinking that i'm going to run as far as i usually do, but then i hit the heat. >> reporter: in new york, 2 children and 9 firefighters were taken to a hospital after a fire in suffocating temperatures last night. >> we have to make sure we have hydrate them. >> high pressure, the air is sinking. >> reporter: this heat wave is extending across the country. 45 states experiencing temperatures in the 90s or above. many cities, 5 to 10 degrees

above average. new york city could see the longest streak of 90-degree weather in 11 years. >> i sweat like a chicken. >> we need to drink a lot of water. >> reporter: after three days of extreme heat in d.c., doctors at this hospital center are starting to see heat stroke patients. >> whether you're a worker with physical exertion or an athlete, you got to take breaks, water breaks and cooling breaks. you got to get out of the sun. >> reporter: but this is good news for prince georges country, crews said they can fix a water pipe without turning off the water. >> i need sun screen, sun glasses, i need this hat and i need gatorade. >> reporter: this is his first week pedaling a cab. >> that was nbc's tom costello reporting. bill karins is here with

more. >> reporter: the relief is on the way. right now it's up in canada, monday until it clears the east coast, wednesday was an amazing. miami was the one of the coolest spots in the entire country. 90s widespread yesterday. we'll do it all over again. today, it's already a warm morning. these heat waves as they progress, these nights tend to be warmer and warmer. we're in the 90s in boston on down. mid-atlantic should be in the mid-90s. anywhere with a hint of hitting 100 degrees it will be the washington, d.c. area. chicago, yesterday, you're at 94, we'll do that again today. this goes all of the way back to the rookies. the timing to the end of the heat wave, here's how we look today, this is the storm that will change things, cool things

off, it starts friday in the northern plains, saturday it dips through the great lakes. mara, of course w that change, we're going to get some strong thunderstorms, too, and possibly some severe weather. >> all right, thanks so much, bill. extreme heat out west is adding a fuel to a large and growing wildfire in southern california. the so-called mountain fire outside palm springs grew to more than 30 square miles on wednesday. thousands of homes are threatened and hundreds of residents have been forced to flee. 25 aircraft are battling that blaze which authorities say is about 15% contained. once again, republicans are trying to chip away at obama care. despite a veto threat, the house passed bills calling for one-year delays in two key provisions, one requiring nearly all americans to purchase insurance and the other to mandate businesses to offer it. both are scheduled to kick in come january.

president obama will deliver a speech later today on the benefits of that new law. and while the fight over obama care goes on, there's a good news for tense of millions of studenamericans with student. lower interest rates. they doubled to 6.8% earlier this month. the bill reportedly includes a cap on federal stafford and plus loans. hopeful news out of south africa where nelson mandela is steadily improving today which is also his 95th birthday, it's a milestone in and of itself. a special meaning this year for a nation praying for its special president. nbc's ron allen is live in pretoria, south africa, ron, what are you hearing about reports that mandela may be going home soon? >> reporter: we'll see.

the word from his family, doctors, government officials in recent days has been very upbeat and positive, suggesting that he's recovering from a lung infection that brought him to the hospital some 41 days ago. the scene behind me, there are literally hundreds of people arriving here for what a huge celebration. the national anthem was sung. the words of "happy birthday" resonating across the country wherever you go. mandela is 95 today. it's also his wedding anniversary, by the way, and he's still listed in critical condition, doctors will not upgrade his condition until he shows improvement over a greater stretch of time. they'll have a traditional family lunch later today. everyone wishing happy birthday to the man. >> ron allen live from pretoria.

this morning's dish of scrambled politics, new york mayor michael bloomberg is out with his next stop to stop obesity, the billionaire mayor has signed an executive order require city agencies to promote the use of stairways. texas governor rick perry is out with an ad campaign trying to attract businesses to the lone star state. he's currently suing the state because it failed to follow through on promised financial incentives. high schooler caught the ire of jay carney. he asked for president obama's response on death threats to george zimmerman and his family. >> he certainly would oppose any violence of any kind. >> you can editorialize all you

want. that is a ridiculous statement. >> after his 15 minutes of fame the 16-year-old tweeted just angered obama's press secretary. word! nancy pelosi is speaking out on the controversial anti-abortion law in texas. measures like those put the discretion of women to make judgments at risk. >> this is women's health, reproductive part of us is part of the health. i don't know my colleagues need a lesson in the birds and the bees. i really don't get it. >> catch the full report at 1:00 p.m. on andrea mitchell report. not so popular with voters, just 15% of americans approve of the job congress is doing. that's up five points from the all-time low of 10% from last

august. how can the house be expected to get done. >> that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. el well, just ahead -- the $92 quad rillion mistake. and why queen elizabeth does not like to be kept waiting. we'll have a live report from london when "first look" returns.

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well, any day now we're expecting the birth of the royal baby and the hype has reached an absolute fever pitch. we're live outside buckingham palace with the latest, danie e danielle, good morning. what kind of preparations are being made for this baby's arrival? >> reporter: mara, the media is clearly set, ready and waiting for this royal baby to come. here at buckingham palace, officials are getting ready for

the celebration to follow. they'll accept the official notice when this baby arrives and display it. at the hospital where kate is expected to give birth there's a room set up, that room could look something like this one that displayed in the lindo wing. outside the hospital, there's quite the circus. this is something that all in britain can rally around. many guessing whether it will be a prince or a princess. even the royal family is extremely excited and anxious. the queen told school children just yesterday, she's ready for this baby to come. >> do you want kate's baby to be a boy or girl. >>. >> i don't think i i mind. i would very much like it to arrive. i'm going on holiday. >> of course, kate was predicted to have been due last saturday.

and now that date has obviously come and gone. and it's leading to a bit impatience as people eagerly await the baby's arrival and upping the ante betting on when this baby will come. mara, back to you. >> no one is more impatient than kate herself. some stories making news this morning, police across the country are using automatic cameras to scan license place to help solve crimes. innocent americans are having their information stored in these tracking systems. at least 25 children in india are dead after being poisoned by a school meal on tuesday. medical teams currently suspect the food was contaminated with incest side. >> no one inside. police were forced to close a

nearby highway. the six jurors in the george zimmerman received mani-pedis during their sequester. the total cost of the sequester was about $33,000. and after your "first look" at business, we turn to cnbc in washington. hampto hampton, good morning. good morning. stocks posted small gains. while the fed may start cutting back on its stimulus package, futures. microsoft, yahoo! facebook are joining with civil liberties in sending a letter to president obama and congress today they're urging the government to be more transparent on its secret surveillance programs. the economy may predict how

much families will spend on back to school supplies. that's an early look at some business headlines. back to you. >> hampton, thanks so much for that. tiger woods is gearing up to tee up. plus, a-rod is any closer to joining the yankees. betty nguyen will have our sports highlights. that's coming up next. ♪ ♪

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and now let's get the latest in sports from my colleague betty nguyen. >> good morning, mara. tiger woods and other top golfers are teague off at the british open in scotland. of course, we have to talk about olympic gold medalist lindsay vonn, she's in scotland with tiger woods. she has told vogue, she definitely is not getting married again to anyone. so, no wedding bells in the future for those two. she's recovering from injuries. also, rehabbing, yankees third baseman alex rodriguez who will play in aaa this weekend. he hopes to rejoin the yankees monday in texas. and you have to check this out. nike has stopped selling a t-shirt for the nfl's carolina panthers, because it has the panthers' logo. outlined in the state of south carolina.

oops, that's problematic because they play in north carolina. 7-year-old brain cancer survivor jack hoffman, he had a touchdown run at last april's spring football game. last night at the espys last night, that was named the best moment of the year. jack was there to accept the award. >> this is super duper awesome. thanks for the trophy. i'm glad that you are all now on team jack, and i know with you we can't lose. thanks. >> love that. >> thanks so much, betty. turning back now to top political stories, joining me for our "first look" at politics, is syndicated columnist bob franken. let's start with lynn cheney throwing her hat in the ring for

u.s. senate. lot of people don't have warm and fuzzy feelings about the bush/cheney years in the white house. do you think her last name helps or hurt her here? >> she probably wouldn't be running if she wasn't the daughter of. in addition to that, she really reflects the problem that the republicans might have this year, where everybody is trying to outextreme the other. mike enzi, a senator, the one who's incumbent and feels betrayed that cheney is running, is considered very conservative by standards. it will be interesting to see if that works there and other places where there's going to be primaries in the gop. switching gears to the voter rights act. do you think that the partisan divides in congress are too deep to reach agreement on this issue

quickly and efficiently? >> yes, i do. as a matter of fact, there's a real divide. in a general sense, the democrats would like to reinstate some version of it and the republicans would not. part of the strategy seems to be to try to discourage minority voting. it's going to be very difficult to come to an accommodation. >> turning quickly to immigration, as it works its way to the house, marco rubio seems to have gone completely quiet on the topic. has it turned into a liebt with conservatives? >> it could. it could for mario rubio if he's going to run for president. many people in people's eyes the gop has become the h.o.p., the hateful old party. coming up, bill karins and betty nguyen will be here for "first buzz." all of the stories that are

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it's time now for first buzz, all of the stories that we're talking about this morning. some headlines from the bbc a stolen picasso and monet turned up in the oven, a woman burned them in romania trying to protect her son. moving on now to the issue with rolling stone, which alot of people are talking about this morning, thissish new issue has on the cover of tsarnaev. lot of people are taking issue that he's on the cover in the first place because he's a

accused murderer. this is self-ie that he took and posted online. some retailers including cvs are refusing to carry this. >> they have the right to put on their cover. consumers have the right not to buy it. the stores have the right to say take it off our shelves. >> an in depth look at how this kid became a monster allegedly. rolling stone saying we're taking how someone this innocent became something that he ultimately became. >> controversy helps sell. a much lighter story. >> much light zbler the world's richest man. >> a man in pennsylvania, mr. reynolds, for a couple of minutes yesterday, was the richest man in the world. his paypal added about 15 zeros.

he was a quadrillionaire. the mistake was corrected quickly. >> darn. >> paypal said they'll make a monetary contribution of his choice. he said that he would pay down the national debt. >> what a generous guy. >> it's easy to say when it's not your money. >> purchase the country. now, betty, buy an electronics skateboard. >> only 4,000 bucks. you have to check this out. this is very cool. the old days of skateboarding, using manpower, that's out the window. it has extra-wide tires, it moves at over 30 miles per hour, so kids be very careful on this, it's going to be available later this year, and again -- >> he's not everybody wear a

helmet. >> always, always wear protective gear. >> it's cool. it's almost like a scooter. >> it reminds me of a segway. "way too early" starts right now. i understand why people are angry that tsarnaev are on the cover. up to now rolling stone always features role models, like o.j. simpson and charlie manson. rolling stone isn't doing anything that hasn't been doing else. -- done before.

rolling stone, listen up, i'm not going to bite on your controversy bait here. okay, and give you free publicity by holding up your magazine and talking about it. nice try. no big deal for colbert. but others disagree when it comes to the cover. poor students and recent grads, rejoice, your interest rates aren't double. today, it's larry king rapping with snoop dogg. no, we do not make this stuff up. this is "way too early" for a thursday. good morning, everybody. it's july 18th. this morning, we'll look at millions more to be spent just getting out of afghanistan and