-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com under water. a wisconsin levee begins to fail prompting nearby residents to flee their homes. rough landing, tense moments at jfk airport when a delta flight's landing gear fails to deploy. and education nation. nbc news takes a special in-depth look at the state of our nation's schools. good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and much more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we begin this morning with on the brink. this morning several states in the midwest are trying to stay dry as rivers there are rising to dangerous levels. the situation is particularly precarious along the wisconsin river where one levee built in the 1890s is failing. while it hasn't collapsed, officials don't consider it safe. they recommend evacuation and have warned residents that if the levee breaks, emergency vehicles including police, fire and ambulances will not be able to reach those who stay behind. fortunately water levels are beginning to recede elsewhere in wisconsin where a state of emergency had been declared in several counties. this morning's "new york times" is reporting that federal officials are seeking broader authority to hunt down criminal and terror suspects on the internet. they want congress to have companies to design their network so fbi officials can monitor suspects if the companies are served with a wiretap order. right now those services using

what's known as pier-to-pier software are difficult to accept. the bill raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with the protection of privacy. the bishop of a georgia megachurch has broken his silence speaking to his congregation for the first time since being accused of luring four young men into sexual relationships. eddie long vowed to fight the lawsuits claiming that the church leader, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, gave the young men gifts and took them on trips. authorities say they won't investigate the allegations because all four men said they were 17 or 18 when the relationships began. georgia's age of consent is 16. today nbc is proud to kick off "education nation" here at 30 rock. a special week of programming. a new nbc news/"wall street

journal" shows most people think education needs major changes or a complete overhaul. our michelle franzen is in new york. >> reporter: this week-long series and this two-day summit is aimed at looking at what works in the classroom and what doesn't. it is the start of a national conversation that many say is long overdue. at a town hall kicking off education nation -- >> and good afternoon and welcome to our teacher town hall. >> reporter: teachers from around the country highlighted ways to inspire children in the classroom. >> all students can learn as long as teachers are committed, passionate and are held accountable to standards. >> reporter: many also voiced frustration and searched for ways to improve the nation's education system. >> there shouldn't be a lottery for a good education. >> reporter: from the controversy surrounding charter schools to teachers feeling blamed for the problems.

>> we're being made the scapegoats for much, much larger ills of society. >> reporter: one thing teachers, educators and many americans agree on is that children deserve better in schools. a recent poll shows 77% of americans give public schools a grade of "c" or lower. 58% believe major changes or complete overhaul is needed. >> we have to educate our way to a better economy. >> reporter: the new documentary, "waiting for superman," attempts to underscore some of the struggles facing families. >> i don't care what i have to do. i don't care how many jobs i have to obtain, but she will go to college. >> reporter: it shows how five students and parents from harlem to silicon valley navigate through a lottery system to get out of failing neighborhood schools and into public charter schools. >> let's get started. >> reporter: luck of the draw for many. whether on the big screen or in the classroom will shape the way they learn and dream.

and back here live on the learning plaza, students, teachers, educators and local and state and federal leaders from all around the country converge here later today. an interactive setting where they can take quizes. they can also learn about something called a teaching garden to help teach kids about nutrition. veronica. >> michelle, we're looking forward it. michelle franzen, thank you, michelle. as part of our coverage we'll present all week on nbc networks, don't miss this morning's matt lauer exclusive. the live interview with president obama at 8:00 a.m. today and simulcast here on msnbc as well. here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. in new york amateur video on a delta flight shows sparks plying as one of the plane's wings drags along the tarmac during an emergency landing. authorities are looking into reported issues with the plane's landing gear. fortunately none of the plane's 60 passengers or crew were hurt. in california, a minotaur-40

rocket lifted off from vandenburg air force base. it carries a satellite that will be used to monitor space for objects that could threaten national security. the air force says the satellite will play a key role in carrying the country's space-based assets. in texas speed eaters dug in at the sixth annual eating championship. tim janus also known as eater "x" chowed down the competition consuming 59 tamales in 12 minutes. if you think that's impressive, that is actually 12 tamales under his world record of 71. oh, my goodness. well, now for a look at the national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, not just tamale eating but also face painting. >> that guy was struggling. i guess you should after that many tamales. i can't imagine. i'm not good with spicy food.

let's talk about what happened last night and yesterday. because a storm system has brewed. if you're on the eastern seaboard, it's going to be a soggy few days. the moisture this morning is all the way down here from the panhandle of florida up through georgia. and just streaking up the eastern seaboard. this will probably be a two or three-day event. what you see out your window this morning, be prepared for more of that as we go throughout the weekend. the rest of the country is gorgeous. a heat wave out west. chilly in the great lakes but perfect fall weather. it's just the eastern seaboard and just this flow of moisture just going south to north. you can see we even have clusters of thunderstorms now in south carolina. eastern south carolina will get drenched. watch out in raleigh. d.c., baltimore, morning. there's a lot of drizzle in new york city this morning. more of the steadier rains are down to the south. that will shift northwards during the day. if you're in especially southern new england today, make sure you

have the umbrella and everywhere up and down i-95. appalachians, maybe even flooding rains over the next three days. it was 103 in l.a. yesterday. 105 in phoenix. an incredible heat wave. that continues today. contrast that with 60 degrees in chicago. here's how the forecast looks. the heat wave continues. 104 today in l.a. 106 is the record. we're close. 106 in phoenix expected. areas in the midwest, this is some of the coolest temperatures we've seen in texas in a long time. the front has kicked through. all the moisture goes up ahead. and then behind it, the cool canadian air filters in. so the east coast is where we're going to see some of the worst conditions the next two or three days. out on the plaza, we have our big education summit. luckily a lot of it's indoors. we'll give you a tour of that a little later. >> don't forget your umbrella. >> yeah, i've got to go run and get that. so how is wall street going to do this week? your first look at this

morning's business headlines is straight ahead. cowboys and vikings. and an unlikely finish between the yankees and red sox. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ hi, a number two please? would you like that to hurt now, or later? uh, what? sir, it's a simple question, do you want heartburn pain now or later?

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. the future of middle east peace talks hangs in the balance after israel's ten-month slowdown on construction in the west bank expired last night without a compromise. to celebrate the end of the moratorium, jewish settlers yesterday broke ground on a kindergarten in the west bank. iran claims its forces crossed into iraq this weekend. no group has claimed complai ee responsibility for the blast during a parade to commemorate an eight-year war with iraq in the 1980s killing 12 people. and a report from the group mayors against illegal guns finds nearly half of the guns that cross state lines and were used in crimes last year came

from just ten states. georgia, florida, virginia, texas, indiana, ohio, pennsylvania, north carolina, california, and arizona. and not everyone was amused by last week's congressional testimony from comedian stephen colbert at a hearing on immigration reform. house majority leader steny hoyer called it inappropriate and a, quote, embarrassment to colbert. and now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,860 after climbing 197 points on friday. the s&p rose 23 points. the nasdaq added 54. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei rose 131 points while in hong kong, the hang seng jumped 221. with the dow on track for its best september since 1954, the big question is, will this month's surge continue for a fourth straight week? the answer lies with which way this week's economic data

swings. on deck investors will get an update on consumer confidence and spending along with updated manufacturing reports and a fresh look at home prices. auto sales data for september is also due and should be a little higher this month. coming up on thursday wall street will get another reading on just how much the economy grew in the second quarter with another look at gross domestic product, a sum of all the goods and services produced in america. just this morning as expected, french media conglomerate vivendi has sold 20% of its stake to general electric. the current parent company of this network. for $2 billion. if all goes as planned, ge will buy vivendi's remaining stake once the deal to sell nbc to comcast is finalized. a recall of nearly 140,000 2011 sonata sedans over potential steering problems. so far no accidents or injuries reported. and unilevel is in talks to buy the company that makes

alberto 305 hair products for $3.7 billion. a deal could close as early as today. finally, a sign of the times at a recent new york auction. a laundry list of coveted collectibles went up for grabs but no one was buying. a pair of jim morrison sunglasses, superman's cape and one of princess di's diamond necklaces. in health news, chinese officials report five people in tibet have become sick with bubonic plague. it can kill in as few as 24 hours if left untreated. the first patient died of a severe lung infection. the remaining four patients have been gaurn teened. quarantined. go to msnbc.com. michael vick is up to some new tricks. and a walkoff walk in the bronx. plus, the jets a braylon edwards who took heat for his

off-the-field actions last week makes heat of his own last night against the dolphins. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. needed surgery. but it got complicated, because i had an old injury. so i wanted a doctor who had done this before. and unitedhealthcare's database helped me find a surgeon. you know you can't have great legs, if you don't have good knees. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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[ male announcer ] at ge capital, we're out there every day with clients like jetblue -- financing their fleet, sharing our expertise, and working with people who are changing the face of business in america. after 25 years in the aviation business, i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do, then you've got the wrong job. my landing was better than yours. no, it wasn't. yes, it was. was not. yes, it was. what do you think? take one of the big ones out? nah. welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports the jets and dolphins always seem to have classic battles under the lights. and last night was no exception. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. braylon elwards started on the sidelines. but by the third quarter he was leading the jets past an offense.

edwards was benched in the first quarter because of a dui. his first grab, a 67-yard touchdown. jets were up 21-17. down to the final wire. final seconds. dolphins needing a touchdown. chad henny picked off in the end zone. the jets won it 31-23. michael vick proved that he should be the eagles' starting quarterback. threw three touchdowns and ran for another against the panthers. philly fans quickly forgetting about mcnabb. the eagles won, 28-3. cowboys finally got in the win column. romo found williams twice for touchdowns. this one 63 yards down the sidelines. they beat the texans 27-13. to minnesota where adrian peterson and the vikings finally hit their stride. peterson ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run in the third to put the game out of reach. vikings caged the lions, 24-10, their first victory this season. the falcons had luck in new orleans. the saints' garrett hartley missed a 29-yarder for the win. that opened the door for atlanta's matt bryant to put the game away right down the middle.

falcons beat the champs. the seahawks' washington returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. his first 101 yards to start the third quarter. his second, 99 yards to put the seahawks on top late in the fourth. washington and the seahawks shocked the chargers, 27-20. finally, there's something you don't see every day. red sox/yankees. tenth inning. sacks full. miranda at the plate. high drama. and he walked him. that's it. game over. on a walkoff walk. yanks won it, 4-3. they're a half game back in the east. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. and now for another quick look at the weather, we turn to meteorologist bill karins who has made his way down to learning plaza. is it wet out there, bill? >> unfortunately it is. i'm covered in here but it's like a mist or drizzle. these are one of the learning exhibitions. you can actually see it on the floor. there is some water, but that's

the worst of it. they are covered. it's going to be kind of rainy. it's a five-day event. the forecast looks good. as far as today goes, it looks very soggy. it's not just new york city either. it's up and down the eastern seaboard. it's a rain event we've had lately. you see the heavier rain moving over long island. we're in the middle of that map. there will be on and off rain and drizzle through today, tomorrow. they'll be outside regardless on "morning joe" and "way too early." i know the "today" show will be out here. there's the forecast. morning commute will be slow from boston all the way down through philly. maybe even thunderstorms later today in areas like washington. the middle of the country's fantastic. nice weather doesn't arrive on the east coast until we get to the end of this week. more or less thursday, friday, into the upcoming weekend. we'll continue to watch the rain. as i mentioned, we're out here on learning plaza. we are covered. one of the goals, we want to educate. so much conversation out there about the politics that's been going on and all the other issues around the globe.

education here at home, still a big issue here at nbc. one of the things that got my attention, this is one of the fascinating things that's the science rankings. you hear about the reading scores and math scores, too. right here is the united states. we rank 21st in the globe now for science. that means a lot to me. netherlands, new zealand, australia, japan. finland is number one in science. if you want to be a meteorologist like myself, you also have to do the math, too. we're not much better in math. you can see it go all the way back down to the list at 474. finally, i mentioned the reading scores, too. it's more or less the same. the united states on this list. this is just one of the public exhibits we have out here that can kind of get everyone's attention. everyone can come out here and walk. we had the big town hall yesterday with the teachers that brian williams was hosting. just a lot of insight. if you're a teacher and you want to come out and learn new tools and technology, you can do that, too. maybe there's things you can

bring back to your community and get them to throw you some extra dollars hopefully and get stuff set up for you. the weather's not perfect. the end of the week looks a lot better. at least they were smart enough to go and cover all this stuff up so hopefully they won't give you a hard time on "morning joe" and all the other shows. >> hopefully they'll be nice to you. >> hopefully. >> you won't draw the short straw this morning. bill, obviously the united states has a lot of work to do when it comes to education overall. but you mentioned something interesting. you were saying this is actually open to the public. >> yeah. they're just trying to open it up to everyone. this is just to bring a thoughtful conversation, to bring it to the forefront. it's been on the back burner way too long. hopefully we'll try to bring this -- a lot of people are going into schools and they get the high tax from the schooling. people want to know where their money's going and hopefully make it useful and good. >> we appreciate that, bill. see you soon. thanks. why this weekend's biggest winner at the box office didn't

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. time for your first look at entertainment news. back in the '80s greed was good. today at the box office greed is just okay. the long-awaited sequel "wall street never sleeps" fell short of expectations taking in $19 million. the experts blame failure to attract a younger crowd. a whopping 65% of "wall

street's" audience was over the age of 30. also this weekend, "legend of the guardians," an animated fantasy adventure, it cost $100 million to make. some experts picked it to win, but it only managed second with a little over $16 million. perhaps the weekend's top performer was last weekend's champ ben affleck's "the town," it finished third behind the owl movie with $16 million. that raised the ten-day total to just over $49 million giving it a solid shot of hitting $100 million before all is done. did you make it this weekend? >> i didn't. who was the movie exec that approved a $100 million budget for an owl movie. >> i don't know but i definitely am not going to go see it. and the last movie you saw? wasn't it "sex and the city 2"? >> it was all about nfl football this weekend.

>> oh, gosh. you're one of those? really? no, i can't stand it. so "education nation," stay tuned. matt lauer will be sitting down with president obama. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. >> the word around here this week is education. we'll talk about what to do to revolutionize the country's broken system. the question is what are the ideas that are working right now? we'll talk to two people who will share their ideas. the political issue of the moment and perhaps of the midterm elections is taxes. the question is, will there be a vote on the bush tax cuts before the midterms, or are we all just arguing principle here? and the sunday night football game that probably ended after you went to bed had braylon edwards going from perp walk to touchdown dance. the question is, was the man arrest