if the senator as ware of these allegations. no word from them yet either. this is an old scandal that sort of out of nowhere today got a big new life. stick a pin in this one. it's not done. good wednesday morning. right now on "first look," president obama's first comments on the seriousness of the current terror threat. >> it's significant enough that we're taking every precaution. >> the president also talks about lunch with hillary, russia's putin and a classic romance comedy. bush 43's emergency heart surgery and how he hopes to resume a normal schedule as early as tomorrow. plus, these cute seals are attracting fierce creatures off cape cod. a big rig crash caught on tape and look at this sight, a massive fire in east africa's busiest airport in kenya. good morning. for the first time president

obama is publicly speaking about the on going global terror threat. during a stop at the tonight show with jay leno, mr. obama called the safety concerns significant and this morning many u.s. embassies and kons lats remain closed as we learn more about the threat. tracie potts is live now in washington with the latest. tracy, good morning. >> good morning. there is height ened concern about that threat because today is the 15th anniversary of our dead will he bombings in tanzania and kenya. 200 people were killed there. as a result of the tension and concern in that region, there is something that caught our eye there today, a huge fire in kenya this morning. >> reporter: there's nothing going in or out of kenya's airport this morning because of this huge fire. no word if it's connected to today's 15th anniversary of deadly bombings at our embassy there and in tanzania. the whole region is on alert.

19 u.s. embassies and consulates remain closed all week due to a terror threat. on jay leno last it in, president obama said it's a reminder. >> violence extremism is still out there. and we've got to stay on top of it. >> reporter: the air force evacuated 100 americans from our embassy in yemen based on -- >> an immediate specific threat. >> reporter: but not new. intelligence officials caught yemen's al qaeda leader talking to the head of al qaeda, planning an attack. >> al qaeda is alive. look at afghanistan. look at yemen. >> reporter: experts say exposing the plot may force al qaeda to change course. >> this will now drive them to currier which is what led us to osama bin laden but were very hard to find. >> reporter: the u.s. found four al qaeda suspects and killed them looking for the group's

chief bomb maker. there is a worldwide travel alert for this entire month. the president said if you're planning to travel abroad, don't put it off just because of that alert. the point of that alert is to warn americans to be careful, be vigilant, and travel smart. >> all right, tracie potts live in washington, thank you. on "the tonight show," the president talked to jay about everything from edwards snowden to lunch with hillary clinton. >> if there's a lawbreaker or an allegeded lawbreaker in their country, we evaluate and try to work with them. they didn't do that with us. and in some ways it's reflective of underlying challenges that we've had with russia lately. i think putin and russia have a big stake in making sure the olympics work. i think they understand that for most of the countries that participate in the olympics, we wouldn't tolerate gays and lesbians being treated differently. she had that post administration glow.

you know? when folks leave the white house, like two weeks later, they look great. >> yeah. >> well today president obama remains in california where he'll visit marines at camp pendleton. now to a major headline, nearly a year in the making, government officials confirm to nbc news a man has been charged in last year's deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. the charges are sealed. he's described as a self formed militia leader in libya and accused of playing a significant role in the attack. the move makes him the first person known to be charged in connection with that raid. u.s. authorities say they identified half a dozen other suspects. former president george w. bush is expected to go home today after doctors successfully implanted a stent tuesday to open up a blocked artery in his heart. a stent is essentially scaffolding placed in an artery that is narrowed by cholesterol plaque. it restores blood throw and

prevents a heart attack. the news caught many off guard because bush is known for maintaining a rigorous exercise regimen. stark admission from the accused ft. hood shooter on the first dave his trial. acting as his own attorney, the evidence will clearly show that he is the shooter. but he says the evidence would not tell entire story. prosecutors say the army psychiatrist carefully planned his attack on fellow troops and spared civilians. he's accused of killing 13 soldiers and wounding 32 others in 2009. the son of r&b singer usher is in intensive care following a freak descend in a swimming pool. atlanta police say the 5-year-old's arm got stuck in a drain at the bottom of the pool. once the boy was pulled from the water, he was kiven cpr by a contractor working in the home. he was conscious and alert when firefighters arrived. now usher's ex-wife is reportedly seeking custody of their son citing a dangerous

environment. and now it's time for your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. house speaker john boehner seems to be enjoying his five-week vacation. the ohio republican joined donald trump for a round of golf at the donald's course in new jersey. trump is say big supporter of the speaker, even cutting him a $100,000 check to a boehner linked superpac. >> bin capitol hill capitol hill capitol hill is staying away from the new york city mayoral race. he and his wife hillary have many personal friends in the race and won't discuss the candidates. >> we are 100 miles from that race and everyone understands that we're not going to be involved as long as our personal friends and people who we feel obligations are involved. >> according to roll call, "washington post" new owner jeff bezos has been a pragmatic contributor of federal candidates. he has given to republicans and democrats. many of whom sit on judiciary

committees. president obama sat down with jay leno as we mentioned, for his fourth aperns as president on "the tonight show." leno revealed what he thought was the most interesting part of their latest chat to lawrence o'donnell. >> i talked to him about how eloquent i thought he was in the trayvon martin story. to speak off the cuff, i think took tremendous courage. i'm not sure he knew what he was going to say when he said it. you could tell he was speaking from the heart. some republicans are threatening to shut down the government in an effort to deepen obama care. m.i.t. romney says not so fast. during a party fundraiser in new hampshire, romney says while that approach has appeal, the consequences are too great. and it looks like liz cheney has a whale of a tale on her hands. records from the wyoming game and fish department show she received a fishing license after being a state resident for just 72 days. you need to live in the state

for at least a year. cheney's application was there for a decade. the senate candidate blames a clericaleron and she never claimed to be a ten year resident. that's the morning dish of scrambled politics. severe flooding in srn missouri. one person is dead and hundreds of homes have been destroyed. nine inches of rain fell tuesday. the governor called a state of emergency and hundreds were evacuated from the area. for more now on our weather forecast, bill karins. good morning. >> okay. so that town we just showed you, a little boy perished. he got caught in the floodwater. the town north of there is now being evacuated because of flash flooding this morning. one town away. almost the same exact spot. you know, this is just hard to get pictures out of the small towns. it's southern missouri. only 200 or 300 people. the video pictures we showed you on the bottom left of your screen, right on interstate 44 going up through southern missouri, the town of newburg

that you see there to your right is the one being evacuated right now because of torrential rain and the river rose four feet in the last two hours. this weather pattern remains in place. there are just thunderstorms from kansas all the way through missouri. kind of an atmospherish squeeze play. cool air to the north coming out of canada, hot air in texas. all that air is being forced up into the atmosphere over the heartland. that's where all the travel trouble will be today. that's where the flash flooding concerns are. yes, there's a chance of scattered storms in the east including philly and d.c. garden variety summer storms. what's happening in missouri is like epic, torrential, we feel horrib horrible. >> we'll keep an eye on it. straight ahead, the story of a sinking ship and the man who saves his dog first and then goes back for his wife. plus, the donald is about to get his hands on one of washington's most historic landmarks.

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the house of horrors. three young women were held for

upwards of a decade, is set to be demolished today. it's part of a plea deal that spared ariel castro the death penalty. jay gray is live in cleveland with what's coming next. jay, good morning. >> reporter: hey there. good morning to you. as part of that plea deal, that home was turned over to the city. you talked about later today, they will demolish this house. bulldozers will be called in and they'll begin to tear it away and take the rubble away. a lot of people will also begin to tear away some of the pain of what happened here. look, we know that families of some of the victims will be here. this neighborhood will turn out. they wanted to see the house gone since all of this unfolded since the women escaped and since ariel castro was arrested. his family was at the home earlier this week. they really disowned him since all this happened. they weren't at any of the hearings he was involved with. they came out very publicly, very aggressively to say they can't believe what happened and they obviously are just shocked

as everyone else. they did pull some belongings out of the house. late yesterday crewed tore away everything they could. today, again, later this morning they'll tear down the house, mara. >> all right, jay gray live in cleveland, thank you. now to other stories making news this morning. we begin with an update on a tragic story. logan stephenson, the 2-year-old who served as the best man at his parents wedding on saturday has died. after the steefrnson learned logan only had weeks to live because of a rare genetic disease, they moved their wedding up so he could take part in the ceremony. logan's mother wrote about passing in a facebook post saying he is with angels now. he is in no more pain. >> disturbing video surfaced of a fatal truck crash that happened over the weekend. in the clip, you can see the 18 wheeler fly off an overpass before crashing on to the turnpike below. investigators are trying to figure out what caused that crash. on to a lighter note. residents in south london found

they couldn't flush their toilets, the reason, a 15 ton massive fat had been growing in the sewer compromised mainly of food and wet wipes. the double decker sized fatburg took two weeks to clear. a man in the uk is in the dog house after discovering his boat was sinking. the man swam his 9-year-old jack russell to safety before going back to help his wife. at least now we know who his best friend is. and finally, the powerball jackpot is now up to $425 million. it's the fourth largest prize ever. while your odds are just $1 1-1 million to win, it's still fun to play. we turn to bertha combs. we may have lost her. we'll get back to her. donald trump signed a $260

million 60 year lease on the historic post office. the donald will convert the space into a luxury hotel, spa, and restaurant scheduled to open in 2016. there's no confirmation that urban turfs rendering is what the building will look like in the future. straight ahead, where seals gather, sharks are sure to follow. plus, we'll have all your sports highlights coming up next. healthy. but if your skin feels tight and dry it could be a sign of damage. [ female announcer ] get a healthier clean with neutrogena® ultra gentle cleanser. unlike ordinary cleansers that can over-penetrate and damage skin's healthy barrier our breakthrough formula cleans gently without the damage, yet removes dirt, oil, even eye makeup. so clean really is healthy. [ female announcer ] ultra gentle cleanser. neutrogena®. #1 dermatologist recommended skincare.

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now let's get to the latest in sperts. >> good morning. let's do it. we begin with heat. the nba announced the reigning champs will host the chicago bulls for the season opener on october 29th. the lakers take on the clippers. no luck for the yankees on their second night against the chicago white sox. first was he really out? yeah. the umpire called him out. the replay doesn't seem too convincing. check thought catch by alfonso soriano. what a dive. a-rod went 1 for 2 in the losing effort. and incredible finish for the pittsburgh pirates. bottom of the ninth, tied 3-3. a walkoff homer. his reward, check this out. he gets a classic -- here it comes, a class uk pie to the face by a.j. burnett. always fun to watch. trayvon martin's memory lives on in the special edition of "ebony magazine." they're dedicated four separate

covers to martin and other sons across the country. miami heat's dwyane wade will be on the cover with his sons all wearing symbolic gray hoodies. andrew shaw is auctioning off, well, a personal momento, shall we say, the actual stitches he got during game six in the stanley cup finals. nasty. after getting a puck to the face. yes, he actually kept them. >> who wants those? >> i don't know. and who is going to save that? he did. he plans on donating the money to cancer research. the auction begins on august 15th on ebay. so get your money ready. >> the nfl's favorite brothers are watching football on the phones. ♪ it's football >> check out that rap.

summer swag. poppa manning made an appearance in the video. hilarious. >> that reminds me of that famous justin timber lake schedule. >> "something in a box." >> same humor. all right. thank you so much, betty. >> it's one of the most popular summer spots in the u.s. cape cod, massachusetts. traditionally known for beautiful beaches and tranquil waters. but as katie tur reports, there are growing concerns over a population explosion and the hidden danger it's attractsing. >> reporter: crowds by the dozen, seals by the hundreds. at least right here. on any given day on cape cod, thousands of the sea creatures can be seen sunning on the island where they've been federally protected for the last 40 years. it's not just the visitors the seals are attracting. last year using tracking sensors, the shark researching group tagged two great whites in the waters off cape cod. on monday, beaches were closed for an hour after people spotted

another shark 30 yards out. everyone talks about the shark and how the sharks make it unsafe to get in the water. but if you ask the fishermen, the sharks are not the problem. >> the problem is too many seals. >> reporter: bill has been fishing here since the '70s. he'd only see an occasional seal. but now they're everywhere. 16,000 by a rough estimate from the marine fishery service. >> they're eating the fish. they're eating fish at rates greater than we're able to catch him. >> reporter: they want the government to take another look at the marine mammal protection act which they say worked too well. their idea, to thin the population. a tough sell but given the choice between this and this, residents along the cape are facing an uneasy end to summer. katie tur, nbc news, massachusetts. coming up, betty and bill will be back for first buzz. all the stories that we're

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they made up dance routines including celebrities like jimmy fallon and brian kranston.

they did perform later on. time now for first buzz, all the storize we're talking about this morning. >> not bad. >> so it's breakfast time. >> or dinner time. >> you brought us food. >> i didn't. this is not something i would eat, actually. taco bell has a new breakfast offering. it's the waffle taco. it is called the waco. the waffle part itself is 460 calories, it's a fried waffle. they're trying out. >> that doesn't include the sausage and eggs and syrup. they're trying new breakfast offerings because that's a hole in the marketplace. they tested them out and some locations and this is the best seller. so now they're going to expand it to more stores. >> but your entire breakfast rolled into one thing, right? >> it's like a breakfast burrito. >> zip it in orange juice. >> early morning taco bell is the 3:00 a.m. after the bar going to get the bean burritto.

>> soak up that alcohol. >> yes. >> they're going for the morning crowd. speaking of morning crowds, teachers get up early. >> we have teachers in this country that don't get paid enough, right? there's a lot of talk about that. imagine being this teacher in south korea. yeah, that number is correct there, folks. $4 million. that's what this teacher makes. basically what he does is records classes online and students over 150,000 of them, mainly high school kids, pay $4 an hour to watch these courses online much it's incredible. basically, he's getting paid by demand. and if you want to look at what kind of, you know, effort this is creating there in the country and what statistics, they have gone 60 years from being i will literal to 15-year-olds ranking number two in the world. they have a 93% high school graduation rate. so it's working. >> quickly, bill? >> children's place. they have a t-shirt out for girls. here's a look at it. my best subjects, shop willing,

check, music, check, dancing, check, math, uncheck. there is a lot of outrage. it was pulled off the shelves because the public outrage. >> math was my favorite subject. >> is there a romance with you and john mccain? you two have that quarrel for a while and now you're best friends. >> you know, that's how a classic romantic comedy goes, right? >> yeah. >> initially you don't get along and then you keep bumping into each other. he deserves credit for being somebody who is willing to go against the grain of his own party sometimes. >> obama and leno. the president actually had a lot of stuff last night. we'll have the highlights from his latest venture on late night

tv. also, we know more about the terrorist threat that shut down u.s. embassies. and peyton manning and eli rapping. it might not be blank in a box but it's pretty funny. like we do at "way too early," we're going to show you the beth athlete ads of all sim. >> we also have that conversation between atlanta braves and waffle house. we'll tell you why later. and perhaps the best of all the rap mashups yet. we'll have that. we begin with president obama sitting down with jay leno. despite some joking, the president addressing a number of issues from the economy and health care to foreign