and on a lighter note, these heels, they're made for promenading and promotion, but a commotion sarah jessica parker caused bringing her shoe line to carrie's old brownstone and leaving some neighbors p.o.'d in the city. this is "way too early"! ♪ hey, everybody! we are almost to the weekend. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is thursday, october 23rd. welcome to "way too early," the show that loves sjp's style. it is better to ask forgiveness than permission. we will talk about that story and what is getting sjp in a little bit of trouble down on perry street. but we want to start this morning on some very serious news, and we begin in canada, where the prime minister is vowing that that country will not be intimidated after a gunman shot and killed a soldier guarding its national war memorial. sources telling nbc the gunman has been identified as 32-year-old michael joseph hall from quebec. he also used the name michael

zehaf-bibeau and was a convert to islam. the gunman was later killed in a shoot-out at the canadian equivalent of capitol hill. and at this hour, officials are investigating possible ties to terror groups overseas. nbc's pete williams has more on the terrifying day in ottawa. [ sirens ] >> out of the way! move! move! >> reporter: police in ottawa fanatically searched for armed men most of the day in the center of ottawa, canada's fourth largest city. just before 10:00 a.m. eastern time, a soldier standing guard at canada's national war memorial was shot and seriously wounded by a man with a rifle, a shocking scene witnessed by many bystanders. >> i was just passing, just over here, and all of a sudden just heard a shot. turned around, and there was a guy with a rifle just around on the back corner. and just, pow, pow. >> i thought it was just firecrackers going off, so i look across the street, and there's a man with a rifle shooting at a bunch of people.

>> reporter: witnesses at the memorial say the gunman then hijacked a car. >> didn't hurt the gentleman in the car. and then took off towards the back here and headed in that direction towards the construction. >> reporter: the gunman went about a third of a mile to the building housing canada's parliament, in session at the time. as officers inside responded, dozens of shots rang out inside the building's ornate halls. [ shots ] members of parliament inside meeting rooms reacted by piling furniture against the doors. outside, members were hustled away by police and security. canadian authorities say the gunman was shot and killed in parliament's central hall of honor by the sergeant-at-arms. >> that was nbc's pete williams reporting. now, police also went door to door after witnesses reported there were other armed men in the streets, but officials say they found no evidence of another gunman. we turn now to politics here at home, and candidates are making their final pitch to

voters as the new polling out there is suggesting that we are in for an exciting final stretch to this year's midterm election cycle. in iowa, republican joni ernst is leading congressman bruce braley 47%-46%. scott brown holding on to a one-point lead over incumbent senator jeanne shaheen, 48%-47%. demand colorado, challenger congressman cory gardner has opened up a seven-point lead over the incumbent senator mark udall. he leads that race 46%-39%. meanwhile, there are several closely contested gubernatorial races. keeping an eye on this one. governor scott walker has a slight lead over mary burke in wisconsin, 47%-46%. former governor rick scott and charlie crist tied -- oh, that's the wrong graphic there, but tied at 42%. another also essentially guided along gender lines, men favor governor scott by an eight-point margin. women favor crist by six points. then, if we look at connecticut,

it looks like 2010 all over again for governor dannel malloy, who won that race against republican tom foley by less than 1%. the latest quinnipiac poll has malloy leading foley in their rematch 43%-42%. and we know the elections will come down to the turnout. and while democrats have typically out-performed republicans in early voting, they are not doing as well this year in certain key states. iowa republicans say that they have surpassed their counterparts in early voting for the first time in elections history, but it's not just iowa. take another battleground state, north carolina. according to the latest data from the u.s. elections project, more than 40% of early votes were cast by republicans compared to 37% from democrats and 22% from voters not affiliated with either party. and it's a very similar story in colorado, where republicans have a double-digit lead in ballots already cast, while the gop at nearly 44%, democrats with

almost 32%. then we get the unaffiliated voters, 24%. more than 4 million ballots have already been returned with election day now just 12 days away. all right, getting in the home stretch. now to the latest on the ebola crisis and anyone entering the u.s. from affected countries in west africa will now be monitored for 21 days starting next week. they will receive care kits with a thermometer and information about ebola symptoms. the cdc says travelers will be required to take their temperature twice a day and report their results to state health departments. nearly 5,000 people have now died from ebola in west africa. a handful of americans who have contracted the virus in that part of the world have been fortunate enough to be flown home for treatment and survive. the quarantine for dr. nancy snyderman and her team is over, and we are pleased to report that our cameraman, ashoka mukpo, is now out of the hospital. he is able to share his remarkable story with nbc's kate snow.

>> do you do hugs at all? >> i mean, i -- >> reporter: for the first time, ashoka mukpo got to see the faces of some of the 60 medical workers who had cared for him with no protective gear in the way. >> i'm frank and i brought you that. >> reporter: we met up with him later. >> i am so fortunate to be alive. every breath i take, every step i take is just a reminder of how valuable and precious life is. >> reporter: ashoka had been back in liberia for several weeks and worked with our nbc news crew, including dr. nancy snyderman, for two days. on the start of the second day, he says he felt fine, but after lunch, his back started to ache, so he stopped at his apartment. >> i put that thermometer in my house and that came up 101.3, and that was that moment. >> 101.3. >> and i didn't feel feverish. >> people might wonder, okay, if you were starting to feel funny, why were you working? why would you put other people at risk? >> the moment i started to feel funny, i went home. i mean there was a five-minute period, literally, five to

ten-minute period between the first moment that i thought, you know, what's that, and i had a thermometer in my mouth. >> reporter: do you know how you contracted ebola? >> i mean, that's the million-dollar question. and fortunately, there's not a satisfactory answer for it. you know, the best thing that i can say is that there was a period of time, about a week that i was working with various news organizations. and in the course of that week, i was at ebola treatment units, i was following burial teams, i was with ambulance drivers. >> reporter: was that the week before you joined up with the nbc team? >> yeah, about a week beforehand. >> reporter: his parents had begged him not to go back to liberia, but he says he has no regrets, despite all he's been through. >> you know, your life is hanging by a thread. it makes me remember a lot of these people that i filmed, a lot of these people that i talked to, and to kind of connect with the kind of fear that they must have felt. and you know, there's almost no words for that. you just, you feel like this is 2014, you know, we can't be seeing this happening to human beings right now. we've got to do better. we've really got to do better. >> that was kate snow reporting.

the university of north carolina is trying to move forward after an extensive investigation found more than 3,000 student athletes took no-show classes for nearly two decades. the no class time was required and there was no professor and the sole term paper was graded by an administrative assistant. many of these classes were in the african american studies program, and about half of the students, they were athletes. the probe found that the athletes were regularly given as and bs so that they could continue playing on the unc sports teams. >> bad actions of a very few and inaction of many more failed our students and our faculty and our staff, and it undermined our institution. it was an inexcusable betrayal of our values and our mission and our students' trust. the length of time that this behavior went on and the number of people involved is really shocking. >> so, the university says the

fraud ended in 2011. nine staffers were fired or disciplined and that no current coaches were involved. so, this brings us to our twitter question for you this morning. tell us what you think of the unc scandal, because this report found that no high-level officials knew about any of this going on at the university for two decades? yeah. jen, yeah, jen's kind of shaking her head. no high-level officials knew about this for a very long time. tweet us your most creative answers using #waytooearly. we'll put your best answers coming up later in the show. moving our attention to business and a major development in the recall of millions of vehicles due to a defective airbag. it includes a stark warning from two big automakers. no front seat passengers until those airbags are fixed. cnbc's geoff cutmore joins us live now from london to fill us in. geoff, good morning. >> hey, good morning to you. yep, this is alarming for

anybody that has a vehicle that's getting a little long in the tooth. and i think the average age now for the american automobile is about 11 years. so, there are quite a lot of older vehicles driving around. and the problem is that these airbags appear to deteriorate in terms of their function over time. it is the japanese company takita that produced a lot of these airbags that have been identified as potentially problematic. so, this advisory coming. perhaps it's not a great idea to sit in the front seat until those airbags have been changed by your dealer, although it is probably worth pointing out here airbags have saved a lot of lives, and you don't want to reject this technology. let's move you forward. you either love it or you hate it. e-mail i'm talking about here. it took over from snail mail increasingly. a lot of us would like an auto delete function included in our inbox. g-mail or google are coming up

with something new. they're calling it inbox invitation-only for this new service at the moment, but i suspect you probably can get it if you hunt around. but the idea is that they just make the organization of your e-mails a little bit smarter inside that inbox. so, take a look, see what you think of the service here. whatever you think of e-mail, at this point, it is still not going away. it remains a key business tool. and i want to round you off on the business report with a look at where we're going with the markets. the early look at the futures for the u.s. modestly positive at this point following on from a weak session yesterday where the dow slipped back into negative territory for the year. so, quite a bit to play for for the markets. back to you. >> it's been a roller coaster this week. all right, geoff, thank you, sir. appreciate it. still ahead on "way too early," the benches clear last night in kc, but could the royals pull out a win in game two? we've got your world series highlights coming up next. and imagine heading to your local drugstore and finding

yourself shopping alongside this little guy, a bear cub! one furry shopper turns up in the cooler! can you imagine? yeah, just looking for the doritos. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. (receptionist) gunderman group.

gunderman group is growing. getting in a groove. growth is gratifying. goal is to grow. gotta get greater growth. i just talked to ups. they got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. like smart pick ups. they'll only show up when you print a label and it's automatic. we save time and money. time? money? time and money. awesome. awesome! awesome! awesome! awesome! (all) awesome! i love logistics.

this is the one. can we go for a test drive? oh sure, i'll be right back. thanks. leather, running boards... carmax quality certified, low, no-haggle price, 5-day money back guarantee ... that's great... and, a roof rack for the kayak! we don't have a kayak. we could get a kayak. ready to roll? yes, we are. with more than 35,000 cars nationwide, carmax has the perfect car for...everybody. carmax. start here. when salesman alan ames books his room at laquinta.com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can check in and power up before his big meeting.

and when alan gets all powered up, ya know what happens? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! he's a selling machine! put it there. and there, and there, and there. la quinta inns & suites is ready for you, so you'll be ready for business. the ready for you alert, only a laquinta.com! la quinta! oats go! wow! go power oats! go! go power! yayyyy! okay, time for sports! we're going to head to kansas city for game two of the world series. last night, bill karins. the giants sent out five different pitchers against the royals in a five-run sixth inning capped off with the

two-run homer by omar infante there. the scoring did not sit well with san fran -- >> look at those fans -- >> the pitcher, hunter strickland, who got into a shouting match with kc's salvador perez, leading to this tense moment. clear the benches. that makes for good ratings. but the situation did not escalate any further. >> they didn't even dance. they just kind of looked at each other. >> the royals evened the series up, though. this series now 2-2. the victory last night 7-2. we know that josh earnest at the white house, press secretary's going to be happy. my buddy, chely wright. >> this is a series! this is fun now. now it's best of five. >> good tie. the teams head to san fran for game three tomorrow night. to tennis. a rough outing for top-ranked serena williams, and one of the worst losses of her career at the wta finals in singapore. she was routed 6-0, 6-2 in this round. >> i'd lose on that court, too. what's the deal? >> simona hallop?

serena describes her play as "embarrassing." yeah, there was some purple. purple's good. >> i didn't say i have a problem with purple. i just never played tennis on it. >> just a lot of it. all right, now to this from the nfl. take a look. >> no more boys will be boys. >> no more, what's the big deal? >> no more, it's just the way it is. >> no more, he just has a temper. >> no more, but he's such a nice guy. >> look at these faces, right? you know these guys. giants quarterback eli manning among a number of other very well-known nfl players featured in a new antidomestic violence ad for the no more campaign. this psa is going to air during game broadcasts coming up this week. and hopefully, it's going to be very impactful. obviously, domestic violence has been in the news with the nfl, and we're seeing these guys show up post and talk about it, and maybe that's going to help bring the conversation along in the country. on a lighter note, though, we move on to cowboys running

back demarco murray making history on sunday, becoming the only player ever to rush for over 100 yards in each of his first seven games of the season, but he's not taking all the credit for this one. murray bought his starting offensive linemen brand new imac computers to thank the big men for blocking that got him all the glory. wouldn't that be nice? you show up at your locker, you get a new -- >> that's a little thank you! >> -- computer? >> they don't get paid as much as him. that's nice. >> i left t.j. a mug on his desk yesterday. >> a mug. >> "way too early" mug. >> i've seen them on ebay going for a lot of money. >> my mom and sis only sent me a dozen, so limited edition. let's check your weather, meteorologist bill karins. >> very nice of your mom and sister. >> i know. the "way too early" budget is way too non-existent. so -- >> but i still have to return those bottles and cans later today, so we'll have a little more fun. >> we'll object that. >> yeah. this nor'easter definitely caused some problems last night,

especially during the evening hours. about 100,000 people lost power up in new england. we're getting some of those people back on, but the storm is still plaguing us. it's sitting just south of new england. the worst of it today is definitely central new england up into northern new england. not a fun drive on the mass pike right now. it is pouring all the way from the berkshires back to boston. just some lighter rain down around new york city, but you can see the worst of it there from springfield to boston, still gusting to 40 miles per hour. a lot of leaves around there have come down, the roads are wet, so it's definitely slippery. today's forecast, the worst of it northern portions of new england, not new york city, d.c. and philly. you should be fine. middle of the country looks great, too, by the way, thomas. but we're lucky this wasn't winter, this nor'easter. it rained a lot. if that had been snow, it wouldn't have been fun. >> plus, the rain that's going to make the change of seasons. the leaves come off a lot faster for those up in new england. >> a lot of those trees got stripped. >> thank you, bill. appreciate it. coming up on "morning joe," the canadian prime minister says the country will not be intimidated by yesterday's

shooting, but how is the government responding to this attack? we'll go live to ottawa and speak to a member of parliament. obviously, this is big in canada. on average in that country, they only have roughly about over

all right, louis is back and has an update with some controversy on sarah jessica parker. say it isn't so! >> that's right. we start downtown this morning, the west village, where actress sarah jessica parker is in a bit of hot water. earlier this month, she went to her old stomping grounds to perry street, the brownstone used as carrie's apartment on "sex and the city." she posted instagram photos of her new shoe line, some on the house's stairwell, which was chained off to keep onlookers from the steps. the head of the perry association says parker never asked for permission to take the

pictures there. they filmed it eight years ago and now the house has become a tourist destination and has been annoying neighbors with crowds who come visit the iconic stairs. so far, sjp hasn't weighed in on the controversy. we'll see what happens there. >> rubber stamp, not guilty! >> not guilty, that's right. >> sjp, you are clear. talking of famous actresses, renee zellweger is speaking out about the new viral photos that have some calling her unrecognizable. during an appearance this week, the oscar winner sported a different look, and that has many of us remember her in "jerry maguire," and a lot of people are saying she doesn't look the same. she says that the controversy is silling, telling "people" magazine "i'm glad folks think i look different. i'm living a more happy, fulfilling life and i'm thrilled and perhaps this shows it." i think it's good for her. and now, let's get out of the city and head to pennsylvania, where a store clerk is working the nightshift and told a would-be bandit to bug off, literally. she did it by spraying the suspect with insecticide.

anna bell miller says the masked man threw a bag on the counter -- ♪ put your hand on your hip and bug off ♪ >> that's right, she grabbed the closest thing in her reach, and that was a can of raid. >> when she pulled her hands back towards herself, i didn't know she had anything on her and i wasn't letting her get to it first. i just got mad. i have better things to do with my night than that. >> wouldn't want to mess with her. i don't want a can of raid in the face. the clerk says the store is usually drama-free, adding "we have the occasional drunks, but no one's ever been out of line." i don't think anyone will be out of line again. >> she's just calm, cool, collected. ♪ put your hand on your hip and bug off ♪ now to a little bit of self-medication here, thomas. i like your energy this morning. it's unclear what ailed him, but a bear cub who wandered into this oregon drugstore will be sent to rehab. the 1-month-old baby -- >> i'm gonna catch you with this little plastic box! come here, little cubby. >> roaming the aisles of a rite aid. he was first spotted at a local

motel. when nothing was there that piqued his interest, witnesses say he hopped off the window and crossed the street and walked into the rite aid like he owned the joint. police eventually scooped him up in a shopping basket. the little guy is now in the care of the rehab center with the goal of releasing him back to the wild. and i just think that's cute and also a little bit scary. >> he was looking for a halloween card. down the street, little bear cub. all right, louis, good to have you back. want to get to your responses to our twitter question, because earlier in the show, we asked you your thoughts about unc, the scandal that allowed athletes to coast through classes, these nonexistent classes, in order to get great grades to stay in the game. justine, our producer, has some of the responses. what'd we get? >> good morning. so, our viewers don't seem to be buying it today. >> no. >> kevin says "given how often academics takes a back seat to the almighty dollars earned from athletics, nope, i don't buy it for a second." then john says, "carolina is my alma mater and i'm truly saddened. big-time sports schools all now need an investigation."

>> hearing from kevin, our old buddy who used to work here. the high-level officials who were cleared, saying that they did not know about any of this for the years that this went on. justine, thanks. that's going to do it for "way too early." "morning joe" is coming up right after this. stick around. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] when you see everyone in america almost every day, you notice a few things. like the fact that you're pretty attached to these. ok, really attached. and that's alright. because we'll text you when your package is on the way. we're even expanding sunday package delivery. yes, sunday. at the u.s. postal service, our priority is...was... and always will be...you. great rates and safety.. working in harmony. open an optimizer plus account from synchrony bank. service. security. savings. synchrony bank

engage with us. health can change in a minute. so cvs health is changing healthcare. making it more accessible and affordable, with over 900 locations for walk-in medical care. and more on the way. minuteclinic. another innovation from cvs health. because health is everything.

♪ ♪ "here i am. rock you like a hurricane." ♪ fiber one now makes cookies. find them in the cookie aisle.

my fellow canadians, for the second time this week, there's been a brutal and violent attack on our soil. but this week's events are a grim reminder that canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world. but we will not be intimidated. canada will never be intimidated. >> good morning, it is thursday, october 23rd, welcome to "morning joe." we have senior political editor sam stein. and in