today published it. it is the best new thing today. that does it for us tonight. that's it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. "first look" is up next. good tuesday morning, everybody. right now on "first look," it is a race against time as a wildfire forces 1,500 from their homes along the california/oregon border, and that is just one of many western blazes. today, president obama assigns 3,000 military personnel and $500 million in the fight against ebola, calling it a top national security priority. u.s. leaders implement a new strategy against isis with air strikes near baghdad. plus, big companies, big money. beginning to speak out against the nfl. the hottest august on record? and a big monday night comeback. good morning, and thanks for joining us, everyone. i'm betty nguyen. we do have some breaking news. it's about a firefight. this morning, new wildfires just

explode out west. crews are now trying to tame 12 fires, but making it difficult are triple-digit temperatures. >> kind of at the mercy of what the weather's going to do. >> inside the hot zone, this is what it is like. fire erupts in just seconds, this one near the oregon border. the wildfire 15% contained, charring 100 homes and forcing 1,500 to flee. now, near yosemite, a sign of hope. crews able to keep flames from reaching the park. the fire there is 35% contained. and as a precaution, people are told to leave. >> they said, you know, you guys want to get out, now's your time. so, we packed everything up and we booked and we've been sitting up here ever since. >> the evacuation order affected 900 people. secretary of state john kerry returns to the u.s. today following yesterday's conference in paris concerning the takedown of isis. more than 30 nations have now pledged their support to the u.s.-led plan against the terror

group. here's nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: the obama administration is proposing a three-pronged assault on isis -- build a coalition, rebuild the iraqi army, and support moderate syrian rebels, and weaken isis with air strikes. >> as promised, the u.s. has already stepped up air strikes in isis-controlled territories. one strike took place yesterday near baghdad targeting isis vehicles and combat posts. back at home, house republicans have begun legislation that would approve the president's request to train syrian rebels. the obama administration says the training is needed to establish ground forces in the area and accompany u.s. air strikes. meanwhile, though, isis militants have issued new guidelines for schools in areas controlled by the terror group where students' art and music classes are forbidden, along with classes about history and christianity. i'm joined now by nbc's tracie potts in washington. all right, so, tracie, what's the priority today? >> reporter: well, it's

fast-tracking that vote on the syrian rebels that you were talking about, betty, but also, in just a few hours, lawmakers are going to hear from the pentagon. officials are here today testifying about what the military's role will be. the defense secretary and chair of the joint chiefs testify on capitol hill today about the administration's strategy to defeat isis. >> i believe it's in our national security interests for the congress to act quickly. >> reporter: overnight, the house rules committee agreed to act fast on a vote to train syrian rebels to fight isis, part of the president's plan. >> i think that the congress will at least give the president what he's asking for. >> reporter: as the u.s. continues air strikes over iraq, the question remains, who will join them? >> this cannot be seen as a western invasion of another country for regime change. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry's headed back to the u.s. after meeting 30 countries in france. the white house still won't say which countries are joining the

fight. >> we want to make sure that we have all the boxes checked in terms of what our needs are. >> reporter: lawmakers are pushing for arab nations to do more. >> they're the ones that are going to have to have the boots on the ground. >> reporter: the state department did confirm iran is not part of that coalition. >> we are not coordinating with, we do not want to coordinate with, we are not planning to coordinate with iran in any way on iraq, period. >> reporter: of course, that came after iran rejected the u.s. offer to join that coalition. betty? >> tracie, thank you for that. well, grenades, tanks, assault rifles. when police used them during last month's protests in ferguson, protesters and reporters say they reminded them of a war zone. now we are learning the federal government has also provided these weapons to at least 20 school districts in states like texas and california. that's according to a new report from groups including the naacp. meanwhile, the white house is responding to the petition on its website calling for police

to wear body cameras in the wake of michael brown's shooting death. the white house says they support the use of body cameras, but the practice alone will not solve the problem of mistrust between police and communities. right now, the most powerful storm to strike mexico's baja, california, peninsula does march on. odile is now a tropical storm, but in its wake, devastation. uprooted trees, downed power lines, broken windows. still no reported deaths, but emergency services say about 135 people were injured. tens of thousands of stranded tourists could still be trapped. meanwhile, soldiers do what they can to stop people from looting stores and businesses. in sports, monday night football. philly/indy. the colts dominate the first half, finding the end zone twice to lead 17-6 at the half, but the eagles fight back, making it a one-touchdown game. then this. >> third and nine. it's intercepted!

>> not happy. >> another one there on the colts. this is a screen with a lot of space for sproles. across midfield! sproles accelerates! darren sproles still going! inside the 10! first and goal at the 6! from the 6, it's foals, throwing. end zone, touchdown maclin! >> talk about a comeback the the eagles seal the 30-27 victory with a field goal, giving andrew luck his first pair of consecutive losses as a pro. to baseball, mets right-hander david doubront has the record for opening strikeouts, eight in a row. he finished with 18 strikeouts in a 6-5 loss to miami. phillies closer jonathan papelbon is suspended seven games and fined an undisclosed amount for his crude gesture. hello! toward fans during sunday's game against the marlins. that resulted in an ejection. the team issued a statement supporting the suspension and apologizing to fans for his

actions. remember that 20-cent tip that eagles star lesean mccoy left for a server at a restaurant in philly? well, the receipt is now up for sale on ebay. the current bid is a whopping $99,900. can you believe it? according to the seller, the money will be used to leave the largest tip possible to all employees at the restaurant. the bidding is september 20th. and new york governor andrew cuomo released a political ad over the weekend against republican opponent rob astorino, calling him out for being a dolphins fan. take a look. >> we'll all be rooting for our buffalo bills. well, everyone, that is, except rob astorino. you see, astorino is a miami dolphins fan. >> uh-oh! well, astorino responded on twitter, pictured with a bills hat and saying, "great game by the buffalo bills today in their opener. laugh now, because we play the week after election day." >> let's get to some of the

weather outside. >> is someone going to not vote for someone because of their sports team? >> i wouldn't say -- >> aren't there more important issues? >> be careful about that. >> there are some die-hards, i know. >> you're going to get some hate mail. the august temperatures, some places it's snowing, some it's not. supposedly, it's the hottest on record? >> it's a good reminder of what happens in our country is just so small compared to the whole planet. obviously, we had a very cool summer in many areas of the great lakes and through the northeast, but as a whole, for the entire globe, this map color codes where it was cooler and where it was warmer. the red coloring shows you where it was warmer and the blues where it was cooler, and much of the planet was warmer. and in antarctica, it was even much, much warmer than normal. and in general, we add it all up, nasa told us yesterday that warmest august since record-keeping began in 1880. so, as a planet as a whole, it was an extremely warm month of august. now, as far as what we dealt with yesterday with odile, a horrible situation down there in

cabo san lucas. people are going to be trapped down there until we can really get in there, probably maybe thursday they're hoping to get the airport open. and now the rains are heading north and some of it will move into the desert southwest. flash flooding is possible in arizona and new mexico in the days ahead. as far as today's forecast, we also have some showers going through the new england area this morning, and those will be gone by this afternoon. so, you know, this is second time in literally ten days we're going to deal with flash flooding in the desert southwest. i mean, we're talking phoenix and tucson. >> right, right. okay, so, here's a question for you. what do you do with these triple-digit temperatures, right, when you're all covered in fur? well, bill -- >> shave? >> you do this! >> or you do that. >> you go pool hopping. >> yeah, i'm not shaving the bear. >> good luck with that. this black bear did on sunday. he took a dip in a southern california pool. the owners said the uninvited guest cooled off for about 15 minutes. good thing they weren't barbecuing. >> you ever went pool hopping? >> no, of course not. >> we're doing it this weekend. >> good luck with that. you could get arrested, perhaps.

i would caution against it. but in the meantime, big money, big companies speaking out about domestic abuse and the nfl. plus, a simple invention to help restore dignity for parkinson's sufferers. and the scene of a frightening situation down in texas. you're watching "first look." >> we'll only get arrested if we get caught. what's your favorite kind of cheerios? honey nut. but... chocolate is my other favorite... oh yeah, and frosted! what's your most favorite of all? hmm...the kind i have with you. me too.

this morning, the battered nfl is on damage control. the league will now use these four women to crack down on domestic violence and sexual assaults. it comes as nfl star adrian peterson is cleared to come back to practice this week and to play on sunday, but companies are not thrilled with how the vikings are handling the situation over child abuse charges. >> whether it's an abusive situation or not or whether he went too far disciplining, we feel very strongly that that is the court's decision to make. >> but the move proved costly. the radisson hotel chain pulling its sponsorship. their logo is always visible

during pressers. as for ray rice, still no confirmation on his appeal. the deadline to file it is just before midnight tonight. it comes as a major nfl partner reacts to a tweet ad gone viral. "covergirl" tweeting it "supports women and stands for female empowerment. we believe domestic violence is unacceptable." other stories we're following, kids and car seats. safe kids worldwide reports one in four parents say they don't always make their children buckle up. the actual number could be more. 60% of those surveyed said they had seen other parents bending the rules. two vietnam war veterans received the medal of honor yesterday. army specialist donald p. sloat died on the battlefield shielding his unit from a grenade. his brother accepted the award. and army command sergeant major bennie g. adkins was there himself. he ran through enemy fire to rescue fellow soldiers. crews near dallas are still cleaning up this morning after this. look at it!

yesterday, a 40,000-pound drilling rig fell off a flatbed truck. it dangled from an overpass. a tow truck driver had to hang from a rope just to secure it. and the report from "the daily mail" caught our eye about a spoon that eliminates 70% of the shaking and tremors caused by parkinson's. the company, lift labs, recently purchased by google, is behind a spoon that allows sufferers to eat with dignity. a powerf fuful republican fd to resign after outrageous comments. a democrat says she's not like president obama. and a full helping of "scrambled politics." yeah! vo: don't just dream of being the hero. make it happen. i can't believe we're missing the game for this. we're not. i've got xlte. vo: it doubles our 4g lte bandwidth in cities nationwide, so be that guy with verizon xlte.

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are you type e*? in a recent interview, texas governor rick perry revealed that he has spent the last 20 months preparing to run for president. yeah. then hillary said, yeah, call me when you spend 67 years. i'm ready, baby! time for tuesday's first look at "scrambled politics." for the second time this year, senate republicans have blocked the paycheck fairness act. it's an attempt by senate democrats to put women on equal footing with men when it comes to pay. and arizona republican state senator russell pierce resigned from office on sunday night, a week earlier, pierce made remarks supporting mandatory birth control or sterilization for anyone registering for medicaid. he added that mandatory drug and alcohol tests were a good idea along with getting a job for anyone wanting more kids. meanwhile, in wisconsin,

governor scott walker is the latest republican leader to propose drug testing for recipients of food stamps and jobless benefits. his rationale, it will make it easier for them to get a job. >> their plan? citizenship for millions who broke the law. illegal immigrants would become -- >> later this morning, a group backing senator mitch mcconnell's re-election will release this new ad. it links his democratic opponent, alison lundergan grimes, with the president over immigration reform. the ad comes one day after mcconnell's campaign tweeted two separate pictures showing grimes and president obama skeet shooting, an ad where once again grimes tries to distinguish herself from barack obama. >> i'm not barack obama. i disagree with him on guns, coal and the epa. >> senator kirsten gillibrand had all of washington speculating on which lawmakers made derogatory remarks about her weight when she made the

revelation last month. and now she is using some choice words to explain why she couldn't defend herself during one particular encounter. >> i had to just sit there and talk to him. and i switched the subject and i didn't hear another word he said, but it wasn't a place where i could [ bleep ]. >> okay! well, she says that at a later time she "unleashed on him." can you imagine? i can. the senator has yet to name any of her harassers. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." watch it now! i'm joined by "newsday" columnist and political analyst ellis hennequin. good morning to you, ellis. >> i bet you don't know what those words mean. >> never heard them in my life! what are you talking about? i do want to talk about this, though, it appears republicans are poised to fund the government until mid-december? does it seem that the 16-day shutdown of the past has left lawmakers bruised and they don't

want another helping of that? >> just say yes. that's the new republican policy. just agree with the president, whatever you want. republicans see a clear path to victory in november and don't want to blow it. they remember that a year ago, they shut down the government, they were embroiled in all this bitterness, and i think that smart republicans right now fear that if they do anything like that, they really could blow what it is that is looking like a positive november for them. so, at this point, all they want to do is agree. >> so, ellis, are you telling me now that it's not about the policy, it's not about the politics, it's about the election? >> you think they woke up in the morning and decided, oh, we love barack obama, he's a wonderful president? of course, it's about the election, betty! >> all right, so, is this about it as well, because it does seem like it appears gop lawmakers are going to back the white house's request to fund syrian rebels. so, is that something that you think is just politics, or is that really about policy at this point?

>> well, there's a little bit of both. and yes, there's a political angle, like we discussed. but i think that in general, the republican party still does support this. you know, they're divided a little bit. there's some of the antiwar libertarian types who are not so swift to go in, but i think most republicans think that if we're going to head in that direction, there ought to be some kind of firm congressional authorization so the president doesn't just get a blank check. and at this point, it seems like that's the way it's going. >> yeah, when i say fund, i mean arm them in that sense. >> arm them, but you know what, we've got to pay for it, too. >> that's very true. >> don't forget about that. and we forgot that the last time. maybe we'll remember. >> ellis, thank you so much. >> good to see you. coming up, find out how helping in the fight against extreme poverty could score you one of this year's hottest tickets. munity la cocina, a small kitchen that kick-starts the careers of 41 entrepreneurs. they bring the talent. we help fund the tools.

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all right, time is running out to get free tickets to one of the hottest concerts this year, and all you have to do is your part in helping end extreme poverty. now, it's actually easier than you think. ♪ ♪ baby, baby, baby >> cheering crowds will soon fill central park's great lawn for the global citizen festival on september 27th, featuring jay z, no doubt, carrie underwood, fun, the roots, and tiesto. >> hi, hugh jackman here. i am really excited to be a host this year of the global citizen festival. ♪ >> and it's all absolutely free. while you can't buy these tickets, concert-goers, better known as global citizens, can earn them by taking action to end extreme poverty by the year 2030. >> it's not just about clicktivism where you click a

button, go to a concert, smile a bit and that's the end of it. for them, it becomes a lifestyle. they say i'm actually going to take action year in, year out. >> hugh evans is ceo of the global poverty project, the organization behind the global citizen movement. >> we believe in the next 15 years, if we get the right policy environment, if we get the right sort of interventions, whek end extreme poverty forever. >> to get that environment, global citizens are taking individual actions, pressing governments to implement poverty-preventing efforts for people in need, like this roe rwandan mother, who weaves baskets hoping to send their daughters to school. it's their best shot out of poverty. one in ten children across the world have no access to an education. global citizens are working to get 29 million kids in school. they're also campaigning for sanitation and clean water in some of the world's poorest areas. and just as important is the global citizen effort to save 6 million lives with immunizations. 1.5 million children die every year from vaccine-preventible

diseases. but you can help change that, because global citizen is not just an organization. you are the global citizen. here's how it works. just go to the global citizen festival website and join the movement. once you've earned eight points, then you're eligible for a chance to win free festival tickets. there are a lot of ways to earn points. the more action you take to prevent poverty, the better shot you have at concert tickets. >> actions can be anything from taking a social media action, so tweeting, to e-mailing a congressman to signing a petition. so, they're easy actions that can have great impact for the world's poor. >> this way, the impact doesn't stop when the concert ends. global citizens will leave knowing they're part of a history-making effort to wipe out extreme poverty within the next 16 years. so, don't forget to watch the global citizen festival live from central park september 27th at 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. i've got to tell you, bill, last year, some 250,000 people

participated in the movement. >> and i think it was nice weather, too. we need some really good weather out there for that concert, too. >> that's all you. >> 11 days away. >> okay, work your magic. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early with thomas roberts" starts right now. ♪ damage control. the nfl tries to demonstrate that it understands the gravity of domestic violence. meanwhile, a player indicted for child abuse is allowed back on the field. is scotland headed for a painful divorce? british prime minister david cameron pleads for his northern neighbors to remain partners. and "the view" returns anew! our good friend, nicolle wallace, joins the ladies at "the view" in a new era of daytime talk, but is the foursome's chemistry a hot topic? this is "way too early"! ♪ >> hey, everybody! good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is tuesday, september the

16th. welcome to "way too early," the show that wanted to see a little more fireworks and a little less kumbaya at "the view," but today's only day number two, and jen's back. she was off yesterday. welcome back, jen! you're going to have a big role in today's show, just so you know, since you had the day off yesterday. she's very excited. all right, so, let's get down to business and begin with what's going on in the nfl. this as adrian peterson is back with the minnesota vikings this morning after being reinstated to that team. peterson, who did not play on sunday after being indicted for allegedly abusing his son, will face a judge tomorrow in texas. team officials say after careful deliberation, they decided to let the case proceed through the legal system before taking any additional action. >> based on the extensive information that we have right now and what we know about adrian not only as a person but what he has also done for this community, we believe he deserves to play while the legal process plays out. we f