very considerable consequence, even for a man who was among the most powerful people on earth when he served as the longest-serving speaker of the house in the history of the republican party. it's wednesday, october 28th. right now on "first look," ben carson is surging in the polls as donald trump calls on voters to fix the problem by asking them to get his numbers up. we'll preview tonight's all-important gop debate. new details of the fbi investigation into the disturbing officer/student incident at south carolina spring valley high school. we hear from those involved. from the first pitch, a 14-inning game one thriller as the world series goes late into the night. plus, a disturbing new study about faulty tires that may be on your vehicle. and the president makes the phrase, playing like a girl, cool. that and much more. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody, i'm betty nguyen, thanks so much for starting your day with us. we want to begin with the latest from the shocking video of a police officer forcibly

arresting a student in a south carolina classroom. the justice department and the fbi have opened investigations into the incident. we are now hearing from a second student arrested. nbc's dave gutierrez has the latest. >> reporter: it's 10:30 monday morning. math class at spring valley high school. school resource officer ben fields is called in to confront a student. >> are you going to come with me? >> reporter: witnesses say she had not been participating in class, had taken out her phone and refused to leave when the teacher asked. the confrontation escalates while other students watch silently. while she's still sitting at her desk, fields pulls her to the ground and throws her across the floor. >> it wasn't right. he was like slinging her around like a rag doll. >> reporter: naya tells craig melvin she stood up for her classmate and was also arrested and charged with disturbing schools. >> i can tell you i feel like grown men were scared in there, too. i was scared. he's known as officer slam. i was in eighth grade hearing

about this man. >> reporter: the cell phone videos lit up social media, trending under the #assaultatspringvalleyhigh. >> i think it's ridiculous -- it's not even the student. she's just a child sitting in a seat. >> reporter: field is a sheriff's deputy, his boss says the girl tried to punch fields at least once but he probably should have responded differently. >> when a student refuses to comply what should a resource officer do? >> well one of the first things we'd like to see happening is the school handle it, not involve us as a law enforcement officer. >> reporter: fields and other school officials are also facing a lawsuit brought by a student for a 2013 incident, claiming in part that fields unfairly and recklessly targets african-american students with allegations of gang membership. fields and the other defendants deny wrongdoing and have supplied evidence. he's also a football coach and had received a culture of excellence award at the school last year. >> he's a really good officer. and sometimes he can be like pretty mean but he can also be a

really nice officer. he can also help kids out at school. >> reporter: deputy fields is on administrative leave without pay. >> that was nbc's gabe gutierrez reporting. deputy fields has not commented nor has the student. the sheriff says he doesn't believe race is a factor and noting that fields has been dating an african-american woman for some time and that the teacher and principal initially said the force was appropriate. he said he plans to announce a decision about fields' future within the department later today. hillary clinton continues separating herself from president obama. on "the late show with stephen colbert" she gave us a glimpse of how a president clinton would handle potentially troubled big banks. >> do we let them fail this time? >> yes. yes, yes. >> we let them fail this team? >> yes, yes. >> wow. >> and tonight's gop debate will be the first with a new front-runner. ben carson is surging ahead of donald trump who literally asked iowans last night to get your numbers up, please. nbc's leanne gregg is at the

sight of the battle in boulder. have the candidates started to arrive? >> good morning, betty. they are trickling in. not here yet at this location. but final preparations are under way here in the media spin room. also on the main stage where that debate will take place later this evening, and you mentioned for the first time in months, a national poll shows that donald trump is not in the lead, edged out by ben carson, who, like trump, is a political novice. donald trump in iowa on the eve of the debate, as a cbs/"new york times" poll, shows him losing the lead to ben carson. >> got a little shake-up in iowa. i don't know what's going on. >> reporter: in the poll 26% of republican primary voters said they back carson. four points ahead of trump. with the rest of the candidates far behind in the single digits. numbers have moderator john harwood said could impact the debate's tone. >> we saw when ben carson pulled ahead of trump in iowa in polling there, donald trump

really started going after ben carson. so, this is only one national survey that's showing this. but it does introduce an unpredictable dynamic to the stage. >> reporter: carson staffers say he'll defend himself at the debate but will remain low key. >> you know, some people think that he's laid back. i don't think that there are very many people think that he's too laid back to be president. i think that people really, really appreciate his temperament. >> reporter: here in boulder, as in much of the country, many are undecided. >> i'm looking for somebody who's intelligent, successful in business, that's not a career politician. >> reporter: with much of the attention on front-runners, the other candidates hope their debate performances will swing momentum their way. including jeb bush, once expected to be a dominant presence, now cutting staff and struggling to find footing in the race. and tonight, another round in the long nominating process. the debate is expected to last two hours, including commercials. it was set to be longer but cnbc

decided to shorten the session at the request of some of the candidates. betty? >> all right. thank you so much, leanne. and remember you can watch the debate tonight on cnbc. coverage begins at 5:00 p.m. eastern. today the house will vote on a budget deal outgoing speaker john boehner calls it the best possible deal at this moment. the deal would hold off any funding fights until 2017, but many republicans are not happy with it. tracie potts is live in washington. did speaker boehner hand president obama a win with this one? >> reporter: well, betty, boehner calls it a government. paul ryan, who is likely to take over as the house speaker this week, not so sure about that. he's not so hot on this deal. it's a two-year budget deal that would restore $80 billion in funding that was cut a couple of years ago. it would also prevent an historic credit default by raising the debt limit for the united states. that's something especially conservatives do not want to see. paul ryan calls this deal a bad one. he says it stinks.

john boehner said i agree. but he says they were pushed into a corner and they really need to try to get this done, especially before the leadership changes. a rushed back room deal is what opponents call it. and they're not all in the house. they're going to try to vote on this in the house today if they can rush a vote through. but that doesn't guarantee at all it will pass the senate. where we're already hearing opposition from the campaign trail, from that debate in colorado. ted cruz says it is utter surrender. marco rubio says this deal is severely flawed. rand paul is already promising a filibuster. promising to try to talk it to death. there are medicare changes, social security disability insurance changes, in this bill. we'll see if it actually gets an up or down vote today. betty? >> all right, tracie, thank you so much. defense secretary ash carter did not mince words about the u.s. role in what was up until now a coalition air campaign in syria. carter appeared before the senate armed services committee yesterday. nbc's richard engel has our report.

>> reporter: after american and kurdish commandos stormed an isis prison in iraq last week, freeing dozens of hostages, it was clear the u.s. had entered directly into combat, yet again, in the middle east. it cost the life of master 345r7b8gent joshua wheeler. >> to degrade and ultimately defeat isil. >> reporter: today, secretary of defense ashton carter couldn't have been more explicit. u.s. troops will be in combat against isis. >> we won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against isil, or conducting such missions directly. whether by strikes from the air or direct action upon the ground. >> reporter: but the president has said repeatedly. >> the american forces that have been deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. >> reporter: the white house is treading a fine line. seeming to want it both ways. considering a wider role for u.s. troops in iraq and syria, while insisting so-called regular troops will no longer be in combat.

only small numbers of special ops forces will carry out, quote, direct action. so an apparent contradiction. the white house insists nothing has changed, no troops in combat. but the pentagon also insists there will be more troops engaging in direct action. >> that was richard engel reporting in istanbul. a big win for northrop drum on. the company will manufacture the first new bomber since the cold war. it's worth an estimated $77 billion. and the congressional budget office estimates the deal could be worth $1 trillion over 30 years. the new planes will each cost an estimated $550 million with the first plane expected to join u.s. forces in the mid2020s. nine minutes past the hour. time to get down to business. cnbc's landon dowdy is here. good morning. >> good morning to you. a giant pharmacy merger with walgreens buying rite aid, and the deal worth $9 a share in cash or $17.2 billion. the hefty merger puts together the nation's second and third

largest pharmacy chains that combined will allow walgreens to expand its retail foot print to nearly 13,000 u.s. stores. experts say it means more pharmacies to compete with cvs and more clout with generic drugmakers. they'll initially operate under the same name but that is likely to change over time. and it's friendlier skies again. a lot of bargains in airfares with the deals likely to continue well into 2016. it's all due to a glut of new flights from low-cost carriers such as spirit and frontier. price matching on other airlines, combined with cheap jet fuel is leading to deals not seen in awhile, and in some cases ever. that's good news for travelers everywhere. and there is, indeed, such a thing as a free meal. america can prepare for a tree taco bell breakfast thanks to the fleet-footed royals player lorenzo kane who stole a base last night in the world series game one. it's all part of the fast food chain's steal a base steal a breakfast campaign. americans can claim their free wraps next thursday, november 5th.

betty? >> mark the calendars for that one. thank you. kansas city royals beat the mark nets in a marathon 5 hour 9 minute game. the royals started the game off with a bang. an inside the park home run on the first pitch of the first inning giving the royals an early lead. the mets were up 4-3 in the bottom of the nine the when the royals tied it with a solo homer to center field sending the game to extra innings. then in the bottom of the 14th, eric osmer hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded for a winning run. the game was temporarily suspended in the fourth inning after fox's production truck lost power. the game resumed ten minutes later when both teams agreed to play without replay challenges. fox switched over to the mlb national feed until the issue was fixed two innings later. game two is later today. next opening night of the nba. the golden state warriors celebrated the 2015 nba championship including ailing

head coach steve kerr. now to the action. steph curry came out on fire the reigning nba mvp scored 24 of his 40 points in just the first quarter. the pelicans could not keep up with the defending champs. warriors win their first game of the season 111-95. next to chicago where a busy president barack obama offered his take on his bulls. >> well, these are two of the top teams in the east. i think in the west it's a free for all. spurs, oklahoma, houston, that's a tough lineup. so i wouldn't want to be battling it out. grad my bulls are over in the east. >> in the end, the president's bulls would pull out the season opener against the cleveland cavaliers, 97-95. but earlier in the day, the president welcomed the women's world cup champion team to the white house, and he had this to say. >> this team taught all america's children that playing like a girl means you're a bad

ass. perhaps i shouldn't have used that phrase. playing like a girl means being the best. it means drawing largest tv audience for a soccer match, men or women's, in american history. >> i don't know. i think his first phrase was spot-on. new details from the ntsb for anyone driving a car or truck. plus the scene of a dangerous robbery on a philly commuter train. we have those details next. you're watching "first look." so what's your news?

i got a job! i'll be programming at ge. oh i got a job too, at zazzies. (friends gasp) the app where you put fruit hats on animals? i love that! guys, i'll be writing code that helps machines communicate. (interrupting) i just zazzied you. (phone vibrates) look at it! (friends giggle) i can do dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs... you name it. i'm going to transform the way the world works. (proudly) i programmed that hat. and i can do casaba melons. i'll be helping turbines power cities. i put a turbine on a cat. (friends ooh and ahh) i can make hospitals run more efficiently... this isn't a competition!

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it's gotten squarer. over the years. brighter. bigger. thinner. even curvier. but what's next? for all binge watchers. movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. welcome back to "first look." a soaking rain has moved into the great lakes region, now through all of ohio, pennsylvania is getting drenched and now it's going to head up into new england and the northeast during the day today. thunderstorms possible around nashville early this morning. that steadier rain is going to be this afternoon into this evening and this will be one of the heavier rain events we've seen in awhile. possibility of one to two inches of rain from boston to new york city to state college to albany up through northern portions of new england. a lot of leaves will be coming

down. it's also going to be windy, too, so we do expect major airport delays. winds gusting up to 30, maybe even 40 miles per hour this afternoon. you can see some of the wind gusts. we have high wind warnings in a few spots near western new york and also in areas of maine. do be prepared for windy conditions, especially driving will be dangerous. as we go throughout the evening hours. that's when a lot of the leaves will be coming down. the storm drains will get clogged. and difficulties. >> stormy day, okay, thank you. ntsb has released a shocking report. each year over 500 people are killed and 19,000 injured from tire-related accidents. tire manufacturers recalled 3.2 million faulty tires from 2009 to 2013, but listen to this, only 44% of them came off the road. here's the problem. many drivers and their mechanics do not know when a tire is recalled. investigators unanimously recommended a national tire registration system. in virginia, two people are dead after their car crashed into this house last night. the car was reportedly driving

over 80 miles an hour when it lost control and slammed into a fire hydrant before hitting the house. authorities are trying to determine the cause of that crash. in anderson, california, police officers will start carrying nunchakus. you heard me right. this weapon made famous by martial artists like bruce lee will apparently help officers subdue unruly subjects without using too much force. >> we can use them for joint manipulation, wrist control, pain compliance, that type of thing. >> officers will have to pass 16 hours of training before using the nunchakus. now to philly, a man fell onto commuter train tracks after he was tased during a robbery early sunday morning. the police are still searching for the two suspects who stole the victim's baggier on the train. that victim was treated in the hospital for minor injuries. hard ball's chris matthews is next with a must-see look at the gop's hugely important third debate. ♪

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this summer has shrunk considerably. it appears to be limited to donald trump, marco rubio and ted cruz. simply because cruz hates any republican in modern history. i don't believe ben carson strikes me right now, he strikes me like mainly an iowa candidate like huckabee and santorum before him. if you're a republican what does this tell you? it could tell you that you've either got to shoot the moon with trump, and boy would that be an exciting proposition, or think you're playing it safe by going with rubio. the little mr. firecracker of the bomb's away set. cruz i have to believe would be an inaugural kiss to hillary. america isn't man enough in either sense of the word mad to go that far. so how in the world do we get from walker and rand paul and chris christie and joe biden, all the rest, to this? the answer is that donald trump showed himself the best television candidate since ronald reagan and jack kennedy before him. attack trump, and it looks like sour grapes. meanwhile hillary clinton has proven herself all pro on defense. attack her, and you're a dead man. could be quite a general, by the way, if this thing keeps up, hillary versus donald trump?

>> could be interesting. all right. let's welcome in jonathan allen, the chief local correspondent for vox which has a partnership, relationship, in fact, with nbc universal. good morning, jonathan. >> good morning, partner. >> all right. partner. let's talk with this gop debate. ben carson. he is ahead in the polls. how important is tonight's debate to keep that momentum going for him? >> i think it's very important for him. i think the scrutiny on him will be much higher not only from the media but from voters in iowa, and in other early states. so, this is an opportunity for ben carson to really make the sale for himself to all those voters. and i think if he falters, you could see a precipitous decline in poll numbers. >> yeah. what is it about carson that has him surging ahead of the pack right now? >> i think what you've got going on with republicans in this early stage is sort of a process of elimination. i don't think there's a candidate that has really coalesced republican voters yet. and so what you see from carson is that he's fairly likable, his

favorable ratings in iowa, for example, in the last poll i saw, were 84%, and so i think he's benefiting from other candidates being seen as less favorable by voters, and as, again, as the process of elimination goes, that makes him rise. >> that's going to be a good show tonight. we'll see if it kicks off on cnbc. jonathan, thanks so much for joining us today. >> take care. just ahead, a high-powered republican wants to impeach the head of the irs? we have those details next.

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leading the news on nbcnews.come, two killed when a world war ii era tank explodes

in oregon. deputies responded to the explosion tuesday afternoon. paramedics attempted to save the victims but they died from their injuries. local and state authorities are still investigating. jason chaffetz moves to impeach irs chief. yesterday the republican chairman said irs commissioner john koskinen violated the public trust and obstructed congressional investigations. now, this comes after the justice department's decision to not charge any irs official after the two-year investigation. chaffetz believes the move will help restore public confidence in the irs. so, high heels. they're not just for walking anymore. thousands gathered in the nation's capital last night to watch the annual high heel race. donning their best costumes participates raced down the street in their impressive footwear. since 1998 the city tradition takes place on the tuesday before halloween. some of them may not get out to trick-or-treating because their feet are hurting so bad. >> how hard is it to really run in high heels?

i haven't done it in at least a couple weeks. >> i'm pretty skilled. so it's not too bad. now that i'm pregnant, very hard. i'm betty nguyen. this is "first look." >> low and slow. >> yes. don't forget to like us on facebook at facebook.com/firstlookmsnbc. this morning, federal officials step in to investigate the officer's actions in this video. now local officials are saying something we've heard before. that there's more to the story. and a whole new world. it's debate night on cnbc, but for the first time, donald trump is not the front-runner. >> when i heard the poll today, i said what are you going to do? i said i'm going to work harder in iowa. i'm not leaving iowa. i'm not leaving iowa. now, if i lose iowa i will never speak to you people again. that i can -- >> and later, world series royale. a history making night in kansas city. game one goes late into the night. it's 5:30 on the east coast,

2:30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning, it's wednesday october 28th. i'm louis burgdorf, this morning the fbi and justice department have launched investigations after video from a south carolina classroom provoked tough questions about how african-american students are treated. multiple videos showing deputy ben fields, a school resource officer, at spring valley high in columbia slamming a female student to the ground. fields has been suspended without pay, pending an internal investigation. sheriff leon lott of richland county said in a news conference that the student refused to leave the class when both a teacher and administrator asked her to. and refused again when asked by deputy fields. but the sheriff also said he was