but the first primaries and caucuses in february are still a long way off. and that's a long time for even the most talented showman to keep it fresh. up next, "first look." it's wednesday, october 7th, right now on "first look" a chilling investigation into armed smugglers involving radioactive materials and dirty bombs. after days of massive floods and breached dams, south carolina officials are warning of new evacuations. in the mideast, violent clashes are escalating as tensions are rising between israelis and palestinians. plus fantasy football under fire as new york attorney general gets involved. and awesome sight of a whale enjoying the northern lights. "first look" starts right now. good morning, on this wednesday, thanks for joining us today, i'm betty nguyen. a chilling new investigation is shining a light on an underground black market. nuclear smugglers in eastern europe trying to sell radioactive materials to terrorists, including isis.

according to the associated press, four attempts have been interrupted in the past five years, all in the former soviet state of moldova. the videos show almost like drug bust there. but instead of it being drugs, fbi and moldovan authorities are seizing materials like bomb grade uranium. these things seem -- but there are huge shortcomings. kingpins have gotten away while other smugglers escaped lengthy sentences. one reportedly served barely three years in moldova. there's another concern declining relations between russia and the west means less cooperation between the two on this front. that is a scary thought. in the most recent case in february a smuggler was specifically seeking an islamic state buyer for a radioactive material that could be used to make a dirty bomb. the fbi and the white house have declined to comment to the associated press right now, escalating tensions and violence across the west bank to tell you about. the latest flare-up between

israel and palestine rose after a week of killings on both sides. palestinians have vie vently protested and been met with force. this latest skirmish broke out after the funeral for a 13-year-old palestinian boy shot and killed on monday. protesters rocked israeli forces who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. palestinian president mahmoud abbas says he doesn't want things to escalate but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he will use a quote, strong hand to quell violence and future attacks. thousands of his country's troops have been deployed to the west bank. it was another nervous night for parts of south carolina. there's been enough rain there in the past five days to end california's massive drought. dams are struggling just to hold on. people within a half mile of one in particular got a reverse 911 call last night. it urged them to seek higher ground because of a potential breach. and this morning, we are learning more about the death toll in the carolinas. it has climbed to at least 17 at this point. but the danger is not over.

as governor nikki haley put it yesterday, do not let the sunshine fool you. nbc's kerry sanders reports. >> reporter: water levels are still at record highs, with ten dams already breached. >> we're not close to being out of the woods. >> reporter: officials say more than a half dozen dams are in danger of giving way. >> with these types of natural disasters, it does require the entire nation to come together to make sure that we come back. >> reporter: too much water. but not enough clean water to drink. contaminated city lines were drained. with a boil water alert in effect. >> there's no water nowhere around here. i looked all morning. >> reporter: the toll from this still ongoing crisis, seen across the state. dozens of rescues. hundreds of impassable roads. and 911 inundated with more than 2400 calls. >> that was kerry sanders reporting. a top u.s. general is calling it a mistake. the u.s. airstrike in

afghanistan that struck a hospital saturday killing 22 people, including doctors and patients. now three separate investigations, they are under way, and the charity that ran the hospital is demanding more. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has details. >> reporter: it was an attack with serious legal and moral repercussions. the top american general in afghanistan admitted it was a mistake. >> a hospital was mistakenly struck. we would never intentionally target a protected medical facility. >> reporter: the military is investigating. so is nato. and the afghan government. but doctors without borders, the nobel prize winning charity that ran the hospital, and lost 12 of its own, says that isn't enough. it calls the attack a war crime, wants an independent investigation, and took to the internet in protest. refusing to be included in that catch-all of war. collateral damage. the pentagon said afghan forces asked for the airstrikes, but took responsibility.

>> to be clear, the decision to provide aerial fire was a u.s. decision, made within the u.s. chain of command. >> reporter: the general said u.s. special forces were in close vicinity, talking to the ac-130 gunship that opened fire. gut how the mistake was made, the u.s. military isn't saying. >> that was nbc's richard engel reporting. the desperate search continues for a cargo ship that went missing during hurricane joaquin. while the coast guard heads up the search for survivors, the national transportation safety board has joined the investigation to try and figure out what happened. ntsb vice chairman. >> our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, and to issue recommendations and findings to prevent this from happening again. >> the agency's first goal is to find the voyage data recorder. it would provide crucial details that could shed light on what

went wrong. the company which owned the vessel said it would never put the safety of the crew in jeopardy. turn now to politics. gop presidential candidate marco rubio is rising in the polls. that seems to be making him a bigger target for his rivals. since the start of his campaign, rubio has missed 59 senate votes. fellow republican jeb bush is proposing to dock pay for legislators who miss votes. >> the majority of the job of being a senator is not walking onto the senate floor and lifting your finger on a noncontroversial finger and saying which way you're going to vote. the majority of the work of the senator is the constituent service. >> a no show of 42% senate votes. that is what has marco rubio's record been so far. and he's announcing that -- we're understanding that rand paul who announced the same week has less than senator john mccain in 2007. the gop presidential candidates have some new reading material, thanks to hillary clinton. turns out clinton mailed a copy of her book "hard choices" to

nearly all of her gop rivals along with a letter that read, in part, i understand that you and your fellow republican candidates for president were questioning my record of accomplishments at your last debate so i thought it might -- you might, in fact, enjoy reading my book. and she ended by saying with 15 candidates in the race, you've got enough people for a book club. well billionaire media magnate barry diller doesn't seem to be a fan of donald trump. in an interview with bloomberg he said, quote, if donald trump doesn't fall i'll either move out of the country or join the resistance. former president bill clinton stopped by the late show with stephen colbert last night and dismissed a rumor having to do with donald trump. >> there's a rumor out there and feel free to dispel this, did you call donald trump and ask him to run for president of the united states? >> no. no. >> no? that would be pretty smart. >> yeah. yeah, i get credit for doing a lot of things i didn't do like that. >> clinton went on to say he did

talk to trump on the phone, but never encouraged him to run for president. and last night on "the tonight show" host jimmy fallon got a little help during his monologue from his predecessor, jay leno. >> you know a lot of people think when the republican field begins to clear it will be down to jeb bush and donald trump. kind of like between the tortoise and the bad hair. all right eight minutes past the hour. let's get down to business with landon dowdy. >> good morning to you, as well. stocks could continue the recent rally today after taking a one-day breather on tuesday. the dow ending up for a third straight session. but the nasdaq snapping its four-day winning streak. asian and european markets are higher as energy stocks are being boosted by rising oil prices. facebook will now let you draw on your photos. it's launched a new feature called doodle. you upload a photo, hit edit, and just draw away. it's the latest tool to let people more fully express themselves. doodle is available on i-os and

android devices. you may want to bake your pumpkin pies now. libby says this year's harvest is about a third smaller in illinois, where 90% of all u.s. pumpkins are grown. farmers blame heavy rain this summer. betty, back over to you. >> what? no pumpkin pie for thanksgiving? uh-oh. >> we better start baking now. >> people are going to be upset. espn's big move on fantasy football and much more in a moment. first want to tell you about this. the a.l. wild card, one and done and it was anything but wild. the houston astros, pretty much shut down the yankees bats by giving up just three singles and striking out seven. the astros blanked the yanks 3-0. they head to kansas city to open the division series on thursday. but tonight the chicago cubs travel to pittsburgh for the n.l. wild card game. and it looks like new york attorney general eric schneiderman is going all in. he is investigating allegations that fantasy football employees may have used proprietary information to make highly profitable bets.

meanwhile, espn has decided to cut some draft team sponsored segments within its shows. nbc's ron mott has our report. >> reporter: up to $1 million every day. >> it's a lure millions have found too good to pass up. >> you like winning? >> reporter: but are the contests fair? it's a question dominating the sports world after "the new york times" reported an employee of draft teams admitted releasing confidential data before winning $350,000 on rival sat fan duel. >> knowledge is power. you need to know more than the next guy to win. >> reporter: mike bigham of san jose, california, recently started playing with hesitation. >> the employees of the companies are winning these contests. that needs to be disclosed. because to me that's a conflict of interest. >> reporter: here's how it works. a contestant picks a roster of players, each carrying a monetary value based on their perceived ability to score points. after the games are played the scores are totalled and top finishers award prize money some topping $1 million.

the contestants cannot see their opponents' lineups until the real games begin. so an employee who plays with access to this data has an advantage. abc's parent comcast and nbc sports have invested in fan duel. fan duel and draft teams headquartered here in boston issued a joint statement saying nothing is more important than the integrity of the games we offer and in a sense barred employees from entering fantasy sports contests for money. in a separate statement draft king said an internal review showed because of timing the employee could not possibly have used the information in question to make decisions about his fan duel lineup. still the controversy is poised to linger with billions of dollars, and now credibility at risk. ron mott, abz, boston. well the federal government is getting ready to give an early parole to thousands of prisoners. plus meet america's newest millionaire grandma. $140 million richer after taxes. south carolina's still recovering and it still has some rivers in major flood stage.

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welcome back to "first look." where would you guess this image is from? maybe the midwest? how about the southwest. the desert southwest. torrential rains, this was casa grande, arizona from tucson and phoenix even into new mexico. you've been the rainy spot in the country over the last two days. we'll see isolated flash flooding. that's a supercell thunderstorm. our cutoff low that provided us with the historic rainfall in south carolina is finally leaving. it's following right on the heels of hurricane joaquin. and now we turn our attention out west. this is another cutoff low. the storm system in the upper atmosphere that's just sitting here and spinning over new mexico today. and even like five days from now, it's going to drift towards areas of new mexico, west texas and then go back over northern mexico and back to california. it's going to do the loop de loop. thankfully this storm does not have the moisture with it. doesn't have the atmospheric river and a hurricane to steal from, that's why we're not going

to see torrential rains and horrible flooding. we see this isolated flooding in areas of new mexico and west texas. a couple showers and storms even at this hour. they'll be enhanced later on this afternoon. as far as rainfall totals over the next three days, nothing epic. but you notice west texas is pinpointed the possibility there of three to six inches. the other story, although we were a little cooler than the great lakes, a lot of the country still seeing a very warm period of weather. 90s today in texas. 90 in dallas. 69 in chicago. the next three days look very warm. and even all the way to the east. it looks like we're -- this is like a late summer feeling to it. cool mornings but the afternoon will be very mild. enjoy it. >> sounds wonderful. thank you so much. well the justice department is releasing 6,000 drug related convicts early from prison. this comes after new federal drug sentencing guidelines went into effect last year. it shortened average drug sentences by 25 months. prisoners are being released between october 30th and november 2nd. all right. this was not you, but a very lucky lady indeed.

50-year-old from michigan is $310 million richer after winning last week's whopping powerball jackpot. >> i didn't believe it. i had to go back to work, and get verified from a couple other coworkers. i quit automatically. >> do you blame her? julie leach worked as a supervisor at a fiberglass factory. as you just heard, she quit her job after winning all that money. well this 800 pound gator was nothing against 10-year-old ella haek of houston, texas. she was haunting with her father tony hawke, no not the skate border, when she got the alligator using only a cross bow. she shot the massive alligator from just 15 yards away. so karma comes back to bite lindsey graham. bill clinton's favorite bartender and the e-mail investigation expands. "scrambled politics" is next.

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covered by most health insurance and medicare plans. 20 minutes past the hour. here is your hump day edition of "scrambled politics." during a campaign event in new york city tuesday things got a little awkward when a heckler accused gop candidate marco rubio of cheating on his wife. >> this is about your wife -- >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry. >> i think you should drop out of the race. your polling numbers are too low -- >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry, you're not welcome here. you're not welcome here. >> i apologize. >> that's actually kind of weird.

>> as you can see the heckler was escorted from the room. senator rubio laughed off the situation. following historic flooding in south carolina, senator and 2016 presidential hopeful lindsey graham is asking the federal government to help out financially. but, critics are pointing out that back in january 2013 senator graham was one of 36 senators who voted against similar funding for the folks in new jersey after hurricane sandy. a group of schoolchildren stopped by the white house to help first lady michelle obama in her vegetable garden. the group harvested sweet potatoes, peanuts and moore. mrs. obama started the vegetable garden in 2009 during her first year at the white house. america's longest-serving congressman, michigan democrat john dingell is in the hospital and on tuesday he tweeted, back in the hospital. being old sucks. according to the detroit free press the 89-year-old is expected to undergo a heart procedure. and we, of course, do wish him well. as we mentioned earlier, former president bill clinton was on "the late show" last night and

at one point he was asked about who he likes for 2016. >> who do you think is the most qualified to hold office in 2016? >> the lady i saw singing on "saturday night live." >> that woman was wonderful. she was really wonderful. >> maybe want to take a drink with her. >> yeah. >> and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." all right, 22 minutes past the hour. jonathan allen. good morning. >> good morning. >> so politico is reporting vice president joe biden's senate colleagues are mostly behind hillary clinton, but they still want biden to jump in, because he makes her a better candidate. do you agree? >> i think that's true, if she doesn't lose the primary because joe biden got in. >> oh, that's a really good point. >> so, yeah, i think having competition is helpful.

i think it sharpens a candidate. but, again, obviously only if they still win. >> yeah. well you know, new york magazine has a report out saying hillary clinton is trying to make sure that that doesn't happen. that she, indeed, wins that primary because she has a team digging through her record, quoting toys report, looking for attack lines should he jump into the race. what do you know about this? >> number one, joe biden's been in the public eye for longer than i've been alive. and so, in terms of opposition research, what you're talking about is basically building what they call a book, and it's almost all going to be public stuff. things that are known by insiders, but can be use bid a campaign. i think it would be political malpractice for her not do be doing this -- >> i was going to say, is this standard operating procedure? >> everybody's got what they call an op research book. in the case of joe biden it would be impossible after a couple presidential runs, vice president for eight years and in the senate for 36 years if we didn't pretty much know everything there is to know. >> you know, clinton's e-mail

investigation is far from over. and we are, in fact, learning more about this one. now "the washington post" is reporting the fbi is investigating, and expanding that investigation to a second data company. what could this mean? >> well, senator ron johnson from wisconsin thinks it means that there's a cover-up going on. he's revealed some e-mails between people at that second company who suggested they were worried, that they were being asked to change the backup times for data that was on their servers. i don't think that we know the full scale of this yet and i think it's probably wise to wait to see what else comes out. >> yeah. it sounds like we could be hearing a lot more in the coming days. all right, jonathan, thanks so much for the information you provided us this morning. we do appreciate it. >> always great to see you. >> good to see you, too. take care. just ahead, yet another reason to love tom hanks. and could this be any more idyllic? whales frolicking under the northern lights. we have that next.

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in entertainment news on what would have been john lennon's 75th birthday his widow yoko ono gathered 2,000 fans in the shape of a giant peace sign in central park. they fell short of the 5800 needed for a record but ohno said elevlennon would have been proud. tom hanks was a real life hero for a fordham student. he tweeted lauren, i found your student i.d. in the park. if you still need it, my office will get it to you, hanks. lauren was finally located and she said she almost didn't believe it. and check this out, a spectacular view of northern lights was captured off the coast of norway yesterday. also seen were a group of

humpback whales swimming underneath the colorful sky. now is prime time to see those lights since they appear mostly between september and march. just beautiful. thanks for joining us today. "way too early" starts right now. who do you like for 2016? and please try to be impartial here. who do you think is the most qualified to hold office in 2016? >> the lady i saw singing on "saturday night live." >> that val woman was wonderful. >> yeah. >> she was really wonderful. >> maybe want to take a drink with her. >> yeah. >> former president bill clinton ramping up appearances as his wife tries to secure her party's presidential nomination. and it seems she didn't leave her humor at 30 rock. apparently taking a cue from donald trump. and as vice president joe biden considers a run, his office is hitting back hard at

claims that he used his son's death to rally support behind a potential presidential bid. and the largest mass release of federal prison inmates in u.s. history expected later this month. it's just the beginning of the obama administration's prison reform plan. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. yep, this is "way too early." good morning, it's wednesday, october 7th, i'm jonathan capehart. vice president joe biden's office is forcefully pushing back against a report that he used a story of the dying wish of his oldest son to bring attention to his potential presidential candidacy. the report in politico cites anonymous sources claiming biden personally told "new york times"