the east coast at this hour. we're waiting for a news conference to begin in about 30 minutes with north carolina's governor giving an update on the storm and its impact on the state. we also have reporters out across the east coast from north carolina to new york. nbc meteorologist bill karins tracking the storm's latest movements. bill, let's start with you on this. so the national hurricane center, they have given the latest location. where is it and where is it headed? >> it's a little further off the coast, still a category 2, 100-mile-per-hour storm. now our concern is with our friends in cape cod and nova scotia because you guys are going to get nailed while cape cod will get brushed. last night cape lookout, you were the landfall location. the first category 2 hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. since 2008. we've had a little bit of a drought here. we haven't had a lot of powerful hurricanes making landfall. remember, sandy was barely a hurricane. it was a hybrid, huge monster,

kind of a different category. numerous areas had wind gusts that would do significant damage anywhere else in the country, but eastern north carolina, you are storm tested. you get storms like this often. the structures are built better. that's why we're not hearing reports of a lot of damage. look at our storm, it's almost now parallel to ocean city, maryland. it still has a well-defined eye with it. it's starting to weaken slightly but you can clearly tell we have a hurricane just off the virginia coast this morning. right now winds are at 100, pressure at 976. it's racing to the northeast at 21 miles per hour. it was due east of virginia beach about an hour ago. now it looks like it's probably a little bit north-northeast of that location. and so here it is on radar and satellite. the great news for the north carolina region that got hit hard last night, we're returning to your beautiful carolina blue skies. we have quick clearing of the clouds and rain, and even our reporters out there in kill devil hills will shortly be in

the sunshine along with just a nice breeze. now, there is still some problems to be had with this storm. we're focusing more now on the jersey shore, long island, connecticut, rhode island and also eastern massachusetts. we have a cold front that's stalled out to the north. that's that little rain band you see south of albany and north of new york city. we have a lot of heavy rain to the south that's being sucked to the north. it is going to be a soggy fourth of july in that region. let me take you through it a little bit. there's areas of long island, already some squally weather coming onshore in the southern portions of long island. the jersey shore south of long island, south of long branch, south of beechwood, we have some heavier rain. further to the south we're looking at heavy rains existing virginia beach. that's news for you. that could be the end of your rainy morning. maybe your fourth of july plans for the afternoon will be okay after all. ocean city, maryland, through the coastal areas of delaware still dealing with squalls yourself so give it until about

noon and you should clear out. so how is cape cod going to be affected? this is our latest concern for the storm. you're not going to get a direct hit from the hurricane-force winds but we'll see tropical storm gusts 40 to 60 miles per hour by 8:00 this evening. and then by 5:00 a.m. it will be exiting tomorrow morning so just hunker down this evening, call it an early night, go inside, it will rain, it will pour and tomorrow morning you can enjoy a beautiful saturday and sunday. here are our concerns with hurricane arthur in the new england area. heavy rain moves in, localized flooding. i'll give you the all clear from the rain and the winds by saturday a.m. your beach threat would be rough surf, rip currents, waves 5 to 10 feet. don't go in the water today. they're actually telling you, you likely want to avoid the surf and the water on saturday too. sunday we'll give you the all clear. that's the tricky part of this forecast. you've still got so many people, probably half a million people up there in cape cod, long island. saturday will be a gorgeous day.

blue skies, light breeze, but it's going to be hard for people to stay out of the water and that's when the storm could turn deadly. >> it is so beautiful up that way in the country. so the hurricane warning that's existing just outside of boston -- >> tropical storm warning for cape cod. >> right, right, but in terms of what noaa was saying, if it does take a turn inwards, what might we see? >> right now we're calling for gusts of 40 to 60. if it turns a little closer, maybe a gust of 60 to 70. cape cod is also battle tested with big storms, big nor'easters. that wind wouldn't cause much problems there. the concerns are saturday rip currents, people going back in the water and struggling. also if we get any flooding from these rains as we go throughout the day today. >> quickly, bill karins, so those hurricane hunter planes are up in the sky right now. they could be coming back soon and we'll have an update at 11:00? >> 11:00 is the next update. we'll see if the storm track gets any closer to cape cod but i'm not expecting it.

>> sarah dallof has been out all morning for us in kill devil hills, north carolina. bill was alluding to they'll see sun later on today. sarah, you'll be glad that noaa is saying that at the moment arthur is now 105 miles east of norfolk, virginia, and that is north of you and that is why you are smiling there. >> reporter: yeah. we never wanted him and we are thrilled to see him go. we're actually starting to see the sun kind of peek through the clouds, and that is a huge change from where we've been in the last 12 hours. 60 to 70-mile-an-hour winds here at kill devil hills, just the stinging rain comes sideways and the surf really kicking up. right now the winds have died down, the rain has stopped. the people who opted to stay through the storm are starting to come out on the beach with their dogs, kind of check out how it's looking compared to yesterday. we lost several feet in elevation for erosion here on the beach, so that's very noticeable once you step out

here. we sustained, like i said, winds 60 to 70 miles per hour, but very little damage we're seeing in this immediate area. we saw some shingles fly off roofs overnight but no metal, nothing like that. we did see some street signs bent but right now we're looking pretty good for the amount of damage. highway 12, limited access right now to northern dare county. hatteras island, that was under a mandatory -- >> it looks like we have some technical difficulty, as has been the case over the last 24 hours, as you have a hurricane moving through in the area. the satellite trucks connecting with those satellites. sarah dallof who is reporting for us live there in kill devil hills, north carolina. of course we're looking forward to the governor, who we expect to be speaking within just the next 30 minutes. we will go straight to him if we can to hear what his concerns might be. of course that highway 12 stretch that goes north to south, so important to those 300,000 people that are expected to be on the outer banks of north carolina.

we'll be following that. also riding out the storm 200 miles to the south, things really gearing up now there is the weather channel's raegan medgie in wrightsville beach, north carolina. what's it look like there? >> reporter: like we've been saying all along, hurricane arthur packed its bags and now the fourth of july holiday for wrightsville beach, north carolina, is starting off pretty nice. we'll take you on a little tour of the beach area here. as you see behind me, beachgoers are already lining up. then you see the beautiful surf as well. but looks are deceiving as we look down and see some surfers every now and again just carving through those waves. there could be a possibility of strong rip currents today after the storm, because those rip currents just don't leave when the hurricane leaves, they stick around. and of course if we back up a little bit over here, we see the lifeguard stand. we've got two atvs sitting there parked. basically in a couple short minutes, those lifeguards will take the stand, making sure

everybody is good to go for this beautiful weekend. it's the fourth of july, a lot of tourists are coming in and it's a beautiful day here at wrightsville beach, north carolina. back to you. >> thank you very much for the very latest there. coming up, we've taken a look at where it's been. now, where is arthur headed? what do expect as hurricane arthur's heavy rains and sustained 100-mile-per-hour winds continue to do as they trek north up the eastern coast. later, pizza for patriots. how one company is delivering a taste of home to all of our troops abroad.

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built for business. well, arthur, the category 2 storm, continues to move north unleashing nasty rain along the east coast. just look at those bands as they twirl, changing the plans of

many communities on this fourth of july holiday. forecasters are warning high surf and dangerous rip currents are a threat along many of the new york area coastal areas. nbc's ron allen in long beach, new york. he's been there all morning monitoring the situation. and i'm told, ron, that you are with the long beach supervisor. of course their concern is that safety in the ocean right behind you. >> reporter: exactly. i'm going to let one of the experts answer all your questions about this situation down here. it's john scuden, the boef supervis -- beach supervisor here. he's been here 40 years. you've got surfers out there, is that safe? >> yeah, if you're experienced. when in doubt, don't go out. if it's too big for you, don't go out and wait for another day that's a little smaller. right now it's small, but it's going to fill in. >> reporter: we're getting some rain now for the first time. >> i don't know if it's

associated with that or the front. really doesn't make a difference. we'll start getting -- the swell will grow as the day goes along. as the storm pops off the coast and we begin in a cone, the angle of the waves approaches. >> reporter: how unsafe do you think the situation here might become. >> you know, it depends on the person, obviously, but the key is, one, don't get complacent because it doesn't appear to be that bad because it's going to grow all day, and respect the ocean. >> reporter: the rip tides are very serious out here. >> yeah, the rip currents, all the lifeguards are waiting for me to say that. >> reporter: rip currents, not riptides. finger currents too. >> it will go out like a finger like this. yeah, the water rushes in and sometimes goes out in one spot or a number of spots. >> reporter: it's hard to see it. >> yeah, it is. if you're not a trained eye, you know what to expect. a lifeguard knows what to expect. he knows where the holes are in

his beach. there's a lot of water that has to rush out. >> reporter: a lot of that here is very bad? >> it tends to be pretty bad here in long beach because we have the jetties and sandbars. we have outside the sandbar and snie the sandbar. and that inside/outside, that makes the difference. >> reporter: so you've got lifeguards on duty now, some people walking with umbrellas on the beach. enjoy it as you will. >> it's fourth of july. >> reporter: do you think you'll have to close the beach? >> you know, that's a tough call. really we just have to see how it's going. we are in touch with the other patrols on the south shore and we're trying to get together and we kind of make the same decision together. >> reporter: but it sounds like the message is don't be complacent, every storm is different and they're very unpredictable. >> absolutely. as i said. by 6:00 tonight, 8:00 tonight, you're going to see a whole different ocean. you know, you have an offshore wind now so it looks calm. the waves are kind of small and it looks clean as far as not choppy and stuff like that. but by tonight that swell will

start filling in. all of a sudden it's going to be overhead as you're standing up, five, six, seven, eight feet and things will be different. >> reporter: now it's almost flat almost. >> it looks flat. it's not a great breaking beach but is only coming in in sets and infrequently right now. >> reporter: somebody called this the quiet before the storm. have you ever heard that? >> i think we all have heard that. >> reporter: but the point is this is a very serious situation that people should be mindful of. >> oh, absolutely. >> reporter: so you hear it from the experts. so again we'll see what's happening. it's starting to rain here for the first time. it's going to probably pick up. there will be more rain. watch the weather. and if you can't swim, don't go near the water. if you don't have a flotation device, probably a good idea to stay out. be careful out there. back to you. >> ron, great interview there. can you ask him if he has heard any reports of incidents within the last 12 or 24 hours that he can tell us about?

>> reporter: have you heard of any incidents along the beach in your area yet, rescues or boating accidents or anything related to the storm yet? >> no. we've had some stuff but not related to the storm. i can't sit there and say that wave was from the storm because we really haven't gotten -- like yesterday, those waves weren't from the storm. those waves were from the south wind and we had a wind swell. >> reporter: there's a lot of activity out here. you're here, the lifeguards are here. it's not a desperate situation, but it's unpredictable, i guess is the thing. that's what you have to be very leery of is you really don't know what's going to happen the next four to six hours or so. >> correct. we have to monitor it like everybody else. has it changes, we have to change. if we have to red flag it, we red flag it if we think it's unsafe and we can't stop something from happening. >> reporter: a lot of people watching to see these guys out here surfing, of course they love it. >> that's what they wait for. that's what they live for. >> reporter: and you're okay with that again because they're

experienced. when's the last time you had to go in and rescue a surfer? >> we have to go in every year becausy don't have surfers that respect it either. it might be too big for them. they go out and they have a leash attached to them but then they panic or get too close to the jetties and they panic and we've got to help them. >> reporter: thanks very much. i hope you have a very easy day, fourth of july. l all right, richard, back to you. >> nbc's ron allen, thank you very much for that report. as indicative of the warnings that he gave us, the weather can change at any moment and now you're seeing that rain that you did not see earlier this morning. thank you, ron. we're waiting for the north carolina governor to update us on the hurricane. as soon as it gets under way, we'll go to that for you live. also, the tragic story of a toddler who died after his father left him in a sweltering hot car, taking an even stranger twist. that's all next. 5% of homeowrs won't have a claim. but if you do... [ glass breaking, dog barking ] ...with allstate, your rates won't go up just because of it.

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information this hour. let's go straight to bill karins, nbc meteorologist. bill, some developing news that you have for us. >> yeah, no big surprise the hurricane center still giving us these hourly updates as we have hurricane warnings that are active on the east coast. they do those until those are dropped. now we're dealing with instead of a category 2, a category 1 hurricane. winds went from max 100 miles per hour sustained to 90 miles per hour. it was within their forecast. we believe it will stay a category 1 maybe all the way up to nova scotia the next 24 hours. it's moving to the northeast at 23 miles per hour, pressure is up a little bit and again it's pretty much parallel. somewhere in between maybe ocean city, maryland, if you go east or maybe even the norfolk, virginia beach area. so again, it's a category 1. again, they haven't changed the path or anything like that. on radar it's a little less organized. it's starting to interact with that cold front sitting over the philadelphia/new york city area and you can see the rain being sucked up. look at southern new jersey.

all of a sudden you just see all that rain heading north. so eventually philadelphia, the new york city area, you've had a pretty dry morning. that's going to change shortly, especially there in new york city. you're going to get drenched for a good portion of the middle of your fourth of july. hartford area, you're going to be next as that rain just surges northwards out ahead of arthur and out ahead of that cold front. the storm itself will stay off the coast and it will begin to weaken throughout the day today. again, maybe it will be a strong tropical storm, maybe it will be a low end hurricane, category 1, as it goes into nova scotia, but it doesn't make too much of a difference of the we're not expecting a lot of wind damage anyways. we're more concerned with what's going to happen with the rainfall and the waves at the beaches. here's the timing of it. here's where we're just about at now. there's the surge of rain heading north. by the time we get to noon, it should be fully entrenched in rain over long island, areas of connecticut, long island, massachusetts. d.c., you look fine. philadelphia, by noon today the rain should be ending.

new york city, it's going to take a little longer than that. sometime right around 3:00 or 4:00. and by 9:00 p.m. this evening, remember those macy's fireworks in the new york city area, it looks like you clear out just in time for a great show. by 4:00 a.m. even the boston area begins to clear out. so your fourth of july forecast, there's the rain socked in. d.c., you're the lucky one, same for you in baltimore. but southern portions of new england, we do clear it out for a great saturday, a great sunday but the problem will be occurring over the next 12 hours as literally there's a cold front slicing through and it's just sucking up the moisture from arthur and drenching us. we haven't really talked much about it as we've gone throughout the day today but the rest of the country will enjoy a beautiful fourth of july. there's really not many problem spots. typical afternoon storms in the florida area, but otherwise it looks very, very nice. >> very nice fourth of july for a lot of different folks. so now a category 1. >> will never be a category 2

again. will slowly weaken as it heads towards nova scotia. >> you were mentioning the cold front. does it become markedly cooler? >> it was over the gulf stream, the warm water all the way on its journey up to the outer banks and now the water temperature is starting to dramatically cool. >> right about here. >> and that's why it's going to weaken. but the damage is already done in north carolina. we're not expecting a lot of damage in the cape anyways. >> nbc meteorologist bill karins, thank you, man. we're getting a look at some of the aftermath of hurricane arthur in some of the coastal areas of north carolina. this is from the town of manteo on roanoke island in the outer banks. arthur has turned streets there into rivers, making driving hazardous if not impossible. residents there are being asked to stay off the streets until the waters recede. on twitter, there are plenty of pictures of damage. this photo was tweeted out by jeff rogers in the city of avon. here's a look at the city of waves with pictures tweeted out by the weather channel's jim

cantore, who earlier today because of where he was at had some difficulty actually getting on the air as the storm, as arthur was passing through. those connections making it difficult as we've seen within the last 24 hours, so jim doing a lot of tweeting to get the information out to us and to his viewers. shifting gears now, disturbing allegations with the dad accused of killing his toddler by leaving him in an suv for hours. in a court hearing yesterday, prosecutors laid out their case against justin ross harris, including police claims that he sent nude photographs to women that day, was sexting them and wanted a, quote, child-free life and according to police, harris' demeanor during questioning was a bit troubling. >> his demeanor would actually fluctuate also. he started off trying to work himself up. we're watching him on the camera as he's doing this. he's walking around and rubbing around and looking like he was trying to hyperventilate himself and then he'll just stop. no tears, no real emotion coming

out of him except for the huffing. >> now, harris was denied bail by the judge. he has pleaded not guilty to murder and child cruelty and his defense insists there was no evidence the death was intentional here. we're joined here by nbc legal analyst faith jenkins. faith, every day brings another twist to this story. what do you make of the sexting, nude photographs and the child-free life? >> i knew there would be some additional details that would come out yesterday in the probable cause hearing. i was stunned by the barrage of incriminating and damaging evidence that came out yesterday. i mean you talk about this case, if it's an accident or murder. i think yesterday the prosecutors took the allegation that this could be an accident off the table completely. there's just too much here. you don't have to have motive in this kind of case, but look at the evidence the prosecutors presented yesterday. he was on a blog called read it and he would look at articles about families who encourage

living a child-free life. why does someone with a child need to research that? second, he was looking at -- he had -- there were two life insurance policies out on his son. third, as you mention, the sexting. what kind of man -- we're going to this hearing wondering what kind of man is his father. did he really -- was this all a big accident and is he being wrongfully charged? who is he really because they painted a picture of him as very religious and a caring father. then yesterday you find out he has all of these relationships with all of these other women and he even googled the age of consent in georgia. >> you are the prosecutor here and laying out all of this information. what kind of picture are they ideally trying to paint of him legally? >> this was a plan. this was not an accident, this was a plan. this is just a probable cause hearing. it's a very low threshold to get past a probable cause hearing to the next step in georgia, which is an indictment. so as you can imagine, they're just presenting as much as they need to to get to the next step.

this was a plan. the wife was perhaps complicit in it. perhaps it was a conspiracy. i would not be surprised to see charges against her based on the evidence that they talked about yesterday. her reaction going to the day care, finding out her son wasn't there and her first reaction was, oh, my husband must have left him in the car. really? you think that's a coincidence? there are too many what they're going to call -- the defense is going to call these coincidences. there are just too many of them. >> is that going to be a good defense to say these are all coincidences or are they going to use a different strategy? >> i think that they're going to pick apart, divide and conquer some of these allegations because at this point you're talking about forensic evidence here. they have looked at the computers preliminarily. now they're sending computers and iphones and things like that off to be tested and get more information. based on the forensic evidence they have gathered so far, i think the defense is going to say there's an innocent explanation for these things. when you put them altogether, i think it's very significant and

damaging evidence against him. >> we've got to go but i have to ask you, what else might be out there in the arc of where the prosecution might be going in their strategy here? >> i think that you will probably see these charges upgraded. i think that right now it's felony murder. i would not be surprised at all if you're looking at a depraved heart murder here and georgia is a death penalty state. i would not be surprised if the prosecutors go for that in this case. >> a lot in this story. every single day we get to talk about it, unfortunately. thank you so much msnbc legal analyst faith jenkins with all the latest on that story. coming up, we're awaiting a press conference from north carolina governor pat mccrory on how his state is dealing with hurricane arthur. and later, coming to you live from the essence festival in new orleans. all of that ahead. vo: david's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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any moment we expect to hear from the governor of north carolina on hurricane arthur. that storm blasting the state's

outer banks, unleashing punishing winds and driving rain. the concern, of course, are the ways that they are connected to the outer bank and that highway 12 and the condition of that. those are the microphones we expect the governor to come to very soon. governor mccrory of north carolina saying yesterday, hey, do not put on your stupid hat. he will report today in terms of what he has learned is happening in his state. we'll have that for you live. sectarian violence is where we move to now and the struggle for power continuing in iraq. secretary of defense chuck hagel in a press conference yesterday attempted to clarify the u.s. military role in an increasingly chaotic situation there. >> approximately 200 military advisers are now on the ground. we have established a joint operations center with iraqis in baghdad. and we have personnel on the ground in irbil. none of these troops are performing combat missions. none will perform combat

missions. our approach is deliberate and flexible. >> i'm joined by colonel jack jacobs, msnbc military analyst. lynn sweet as well joining us, washington bureau chief for "the chicago sun-times." colonel, i'll start with you right now. what did you think of the secretary of defense's comments there? >> it's one thing to say just because they're atd viersz they're not going to be involved in combat. i was an adviser twice in vietnam and was in plenty of combat. whether or not the advisers are in combat is wholly a function of what the iraqis do. if they get ambushed, if they're in attacks, our guys with them will be involved as well. >> so advisers on the ground can quickly change roles and become combat related. they are trained as such. >> not only are they trained as such, but they're embedded just like reporters are, they're embedded in the units. if they're going to be giving advice to their counterparts,

the commanders of the iraqi units, and they're going to be controlling the air strikes, which they are going to be doing, they're going to be in confrontation with isis forces and they will be shot at. >> stand by, colonel, as well as stand by, lynn. the governor of north carolina is just beginning to start his news conference. let's go to that right now. >> exactly what they want. in fact i've taken off my green emergency operations shirt and i've put on my beat shirt because i'm about to go down to south port and participate in their wonderful fourth of july parade. but this is good news. i'm very proud of the north carolina safety team for taking a measured response to the threat that we were presented. we are glad that the public took our warnings. and because of that, i think we have reduced the negative impact of hurricane arthur. we do have power outages in ocracoke island and the moorhead city area right now.

approximately 44,000 people without power. mostly in moorhead city and some of the outlying islands as you go up the coast. hatteras island and others. we are seeing some beach erosion. there are shingles off some houses. we have some dock debris. my secretary of administration just called me, his dock was partially destroyed, but he feels good. he feels good. he's going to enjoy the fourth of july on atlantic beach today. we are seeing some artificial reef debris coming on several beaches, and we're also seeing some downed trees inland at this point in time. right now the winds are too high and the seas are too rough to put a boat in still the turbulent inlet to do a sonar scan on the bonner bridge, so we have not determined yet if the bonner bridge is safe. as conditions improve, the team will do that scan.

our goal is to have the bonner bridge and highway 12 open by late tomorrow. i have just watched a live video of highway 12. we do have some flooding on highway 12 right now and we do have some sand covering parts of highway 12 which is not atypical but considering that it's in pretty good shape with a little buckling on some of the pavement, it's exceeded our expectations. we also just watched a live video on hatteras island just a few minutes ago where we had a person with a live video going down the streets there. we have some minor flooding there, but the people are safe. i think as the weather moves out of that tip of hatteras island, we're going to continue to see good conditions like we've seen in other areas, although we may have some more beach erosion in that area also. ocracoke has been our major concern at this point in time, but we've just got phone calls

made to there. we do have power outages basically on the entire ocracoke island. we also have communications failures there right now but we have had the opportunity to talk to some people there and things seem to be very safe and sound and no injuries. we are getting a communication package sent there as quick as possible, so we'll have the communications up and running. the north carolina beaches are open for business, and they're open for tourists from not only all over the state of north carolina and the southeast part of our country, but from people from throughout the united states. we want to say come visit the north carolina beaches. we've got updates. surf city is open. sunset beach is beautiful, as always. ocean isle is perfect. holden beach, oak island, people are enjoying the beach as we stand here. carolina, wrightsville, emerald island, ronnie watson, my good friend, just gave me a great

report there and emerald island is open for business and the beach looks pretty sound at this point in time. that's very good news. i just got a report from atlantic beach. the umbrellas are going up as we speak right now. and we're, again, still evaluating mainly the outer banks. some of the sound overflow that may be occurring at this point in time. we do want to emphasize, even though many of the beaches are open and we're still evaluating some of the outer bank beaches, please listen to lifeguards, look at the warning flags. do not get in the water if the lifeguards and local authorities say do not get in the water, because we could have riptides further up, especially the northern beaches, and we do not want any casualties at this point in time. as i said yesterday, most kaz ya casualties occur right before a storm or right after a storm. so we do want people to enjoy the beach but if the local authorities say don't get in the water, don't get in the water

and we mean it. this is not worth of loss of lives or injury or putting other people at risk. but right now especially on the southern beaches, it looks like normal conditions and that is extremely good news for north carolina. i just want to encourage everyone who might be listening in the rest of the state and the rest of the nation, if you do have fourth of july parade -- or fourth of july vacation plans between now and the rest of the summer, we do want you to come and enjoy the most beautiful beaches in the world right here in north carolina. so with that, i'd like to also recognize our incredible emergency management director, mike sprayberry, also bill grigg from the highway patrol. the highway patrol has done an outstanding job. they are out in the field right now ensuring that we have checked everything, and we're still doing that. >> governor pat mccrory there of north carolina giving the very latest from his state's perspective, and he was simply saying at the top of his report that he has now changed shirts, out of his north carolina green

emergency operations shirt into a casual shirt because he is on vacation starting today, in fact. he was reflecting on some of the conditions that he has seen. highway 12, that key artery that he was mentioning which connects some 300,000 people on the outer banks of north carolina he says is in better condition than they had originally thought and of course the latest information this hour is that now arthur, a category 1, no longer a category 2, we learned that within the last 30 minutes. now, as arthur goes north, spins about 130 miles off the coast of virginia at this moment, there are still concerns about riptides and flooding, which the governor was talking about. the mayor of virginia beach knows this very well. he has got to watch out for his residents as well as visitors there in the area. mayor, thanks for being with us. what concerns do you have right now in terms of flooding and surging? noaa is saying, hey, look out if you're in virginia.

>> well, the key thing we have right now, our winds are dying down. they're down to about 20 to 25 miles an hour sustained. this will be offshore totally probably by noon. but that being said, we want people to enjoy the beach but we don't want them to go into the water. as you know, we did not have to evacuate here, so our hotels are 100% occupied as we speak. >> right. >> we have a lot of wonderful people here to enjoy themselves and they can have a great time but they're going to have to stay out of the water this afternoon. >> it's a careful balance, no doubt, because as the governor of north carolina was saying and what you know so well, when those residents enter and stay indoors, they're not out and that can cost the economy tens of thousands of dollars per location, per small business, as some ant eecdotes have it so fa >> that's right. that's why we've been blessed because we didn't have to

evacuate and so they have been here spending money. unfortunately, they're here for the beach which they can enjoy but they're going to have to keep out of the water today. we'll see what happens tomorrow as far as letting them go in. >> mayor, it sounds like you as well as other officials in that part of the country did well in precipitation here for arthur. what some have called a good rehearsal for the next storm. this being the first storm. did it meet your expectations or not? >> well, we've been following it very closely and it's done exactly what we thought it would do. we got some very minor beach erosion. and again, the waves are big, but not nearly as big as i've seen over the years. we hope -- we hope we don't have another one this year. >> what would be your warning to residents or tourists in the virginia beach area right now? >> the key thing is to stay out of the water. the waves are big. we have a lot of rip currents

and we don't want anyone to lose their life out in that water. >> my friend, thank you for all of work, virginia beach mayor will sessoms, thank you for your time. >> thank you. what better way to spend independence day than with a slice of pizza? there's an organization called pizzas for patriots that makes sure that our servicemen and women overseas get to do just that, get a slice. i'm joined now from chicago by retired air force master sergeant mark evans, who evidently is hungry right now. >> yes, sir. >> you're founder of pizza -- >> good morning. >> -- for patriots. you and i spoke exactly a year ago about what you do for all of our servicemen and women. talk about how many pizzas you plan on getting over there this time. >> i sure will, sir. pizza is the breakfast of master sergeants. >> there you go. >> please give me 100 pushups while we're talking. >> i've got to work off the slice. >> keep working.

happy birthday, america, and everybody out there. god bless our country. god bless america. we're so blessed. our goal is to ship 5,000 pizzas to our soldiers in afghanistan. we've reached that goal and we have another thing we feed. we have pizza parties at veteran hospitals around the nation. and this time -- we usually do 15 to 20. this time our goal is to do one in each state. that's 50. and in the future expand even bigger. >> well, tell us this -- >> so we'll need a national company. >> i'm not going to yet ask you whether you're sending deep dish, but i'm guessing most likely you are sending some. >> yes, sir, it's chicago style. >> so you've shipped some one million slices since '08. how do you get these things there? >> it's a sheer miracle. we've never had one bad pizza. we're very fortunate for that. and the miracle is dhl express, they answered my e-mail.

when it started, i e-mailed general david petraeus. my wife, of course, told me i was nuts, my beautiful wife, and i said, no, we can do this. my son asked me on a friday night, we were eating pizza. he said could we send some pizzas, and i said yeah. so with that said, david answered in 12 hours and the highest generals love this project. so dhl came to the rescue and said we'll do this for you, mark. here we are, over 150,000 pizzas and a million slices later. >> so you've got the pizzas there in chicago. how long does it take for it to get out to our servicemen and women? >> we can get it in country within 24 hours. it leaves chicago, yes, sir. leaves the hub in chicago, goes to bahrain, an island in the persian gulf. from there it goes out to afghanistan, kandahar, bagram and leather neck, those are the main hubs. and then it's staged there. they already know where they want to take it, and the military takes it out.

they deliver it by helicopter, truck and air drop it also out of airplanes to the furthest forward-operating bases down range to the combat troops that are out there, special operations and everything. >> master sergeant, do they then reheat them there, is that what they do, or they arrive warm? >> yes, sir. well, it's 138 degrees there right now today. and the pizzas, they're par baked. that means they're three-quarters baked. they run through a machine at 1,000 degrees and microwaved at the same time for 10 seconds. it's so hot and it's industrial microwave. then they're cryofrozen. they're completely natural pizzas so there's no preservatives. all they have to do is put them on the hood of their truck because that metal in 138 degrees, it's about 250 to 300 degrees. they just have to brown the pizzas. >> very quickly here, tell me about a story of somebody who got the pizza and says master

sergeant, thank you so much. >> sir, we have some wonderful stories. i had a kid here in chicago. the helicopter came in and he -- it was mail call. they were going to get some supplies. and he goes up, they hand him the bags of mail and throw them on the ground and it's a hot lz, landing zone, so the chopper comes in really fast and they hand him a stack of chicago pizzas and he completely froze. he said he couldn't move. and the chopper guy is like get out of here, we've got to go. he couldn't move and his buddies dragged him away. he's like oh, my god, chicago pizza. then some special operation guys last fourth of july contacted me and said, sir, we've been out for months eating just mres. this is like a week before the fourth of july, get us some. i said, okay, have your guy call my guy over there. i can't know where you're at. so the morning of fourth of july they're standing, 17 guys are waiting. an airplane goes over and they see a parachute open. it's coming down, coming down and fell in a huge body of

water. so they swam out, hooked anything they had to it to get it out. they dragged it out. they saved every pizza. there were 100 pizzas for 17 guys. they just could not believe. >> master sergeant, you're bringing a little bit of home to all those servicemen and women on this independence day. >> yes, sir. >> golly, i know they can't say it to you right now but i'll do it for them. thank you so much for your service and for doing what you've done so many years. it's so well appreciated. >> thank you so much. you know, we call it a slice of home and for the vas we call it a slice of home at home. you know, they're coming back now and we need to take care of them. you hear all these stories about va. you know, vas have the best hospital record of even civilian hospitals. but with that said, they do a wonderful job and they're allowing us to give the guys pizza. there's no better thing than that, you know. i've gone to vas several times and one time last year ronnie murphy in texas, i walked in one of the rooms and it was a day

room. they're all sitting around and they jumped up. they're like oh, my god. we were just saying wouldn't it be nice to get a pizza on veterans day. they said why are you here, mark? i said i'm here because it's your holiday, holiday, you know. we're fortune. we're calling it adopt a va. next one is veteran's day. and just be a part of this. >> master sergeant -- mark evans, i thank you very much so much. pizzas for patriots. have a great fourth! we'll be back right after this going straight to the sense festival in new orleans. stick around. didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. and cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved

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new this hour. hurricane arthur now a category 1 hurricane. was category 2 when we started the hour. new this hour a category 1. we just heard from the governor

of north carolina saying in his state trees are down, debris scattered. concerns about power outages. some 19,000 people still indicating to people altogether you can go to the beaches to be cautious and listen to authorities when getting into the water, if at all. in new orleans, the 20th annual essence fest in swing. promising to be big and better. prince will be performing tonight. attendees can join the growing hope conversation and share their hopes for changes in our community. chris witherspoon is the entertainment editor. he's been there and following the story. you're in new orleans. do we have enough toews to count this. 80 artists. >> this is a pretty gig event.

it's almost 9:00 a.m. right now. still pretty early. it's going to be a huge event. officially kicked off yesterday. but today it's like the big day. a lot of people from out of town are coming in despite the storms that are surrounding the area. about 80 artists, as you said. the festival is as as big as it gets. the biggest live music event in the united states. we have major advertisers setting up like ford, walmart, verizon. coming here to get the demographic of black women that come to the festival, and people that come to celebrate the music and the empowerment. talking about a lot of key issues to the community here. >> chris, what are some of those key issues that will be discussed in the seminars you have heard about? >> well, the empowerment seminars are a chance for the magazine to come to life. the magazine has been around since 1970. it tackled so many key issues like relationships, romance, love, family, parenting, and

these seminars are taking place today. we have alicia keys on how to end aids. there's going to be several panels happening. neil long is going to be in one. it's great because the panels are free and open to the public. people can take place and have their voice heard. >> every year it gets bigger and bigger. there's so much happening there. and the great town that we know so well. new orleans, and especially, during the month of july. thank you very much there. chris witherspoon on the essence festival that is taking off this weekend. that does it for me for this 4th of july. hope you have a great one. the latest on the path of hurricane arthur as it heads toward boston as it passes by new york and new jersey. all of that next. so imagine -- what if there was a new class of medicine

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hurricane arthur bringing whipping winds to the outerbacks of north carolina. only left little in the way of damage. the storm is making the way up the east coast. it could dampen some folks' fourth of july plans. also, this morning startling details. we know a lot more about the dad that left his baby boy in a hot car to die. investigators say that dad was leading a double life. [ chanting usa ] >> taking action. angry res debits in one california city protested bus loads of undocumented immigrants. they're preparing more protests today. i'll talk to a key texas congressman whose st