another strong showing for a gop underdog, while front-runner rick perry's cane deals with a disturbing revelation. high anxiety, scary moment for an engineer inspecting earthquake damage on the washington monument. and wheel of misfortune, a small plane crashes into a carnival ride in eastern australia. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we begin this morning with breaking news and a second chance. today there is a possibility amanda knox could gain her freedom after spending four years behind bars in italy for her roommate's murder. knox has addressed the court ahead of it deciding on the appeal of her 26-year prison sentence. a tearful knox said the accusations that she killed her roommate are unfair and groundless. knox and her co-defendant, a boyfriend at the time of the killing, were found guilty of stabbing meredith kercher to death. prosecutors wanted her sentence increased to life in prison. the defense has tried to cast doubt over dna evidence linking the two to the crime. the prosecution contends even without dna, there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence proving knox committed

the crime. a verdict is expected later today. and back here at home, the campaign of gop presidential hopeful rick perry is on the defensive over a report linking him to a hunting camp that used a racially charged name. the accusations have drawn criticisms from rival herman cain who spent the weekend celebrating a victory. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. herman cain has now won his second republican straw poll, the first one in florida and now over the weekend in kansas city at a gop women's convention. he had been considered a minor candidate, this former pizza executive from atlanta, but now he seems to be gaining momentum. we saw him on a couple of the sunday talk shows yesterday criticizing texas governor and candidate rick perry. apparently perry, his father owns a farm where perry often hunts.

at the entrance of that farm painted on a rock was a racial slur. the perry family says they bought this farm in the '80s, they removed it, but there were some anonymous reports that it was still there recently. cain said that that was insensitive to african-americans in this century. perry now trying to hold on to his lead as a front-runner in that race as chris christie, new jersey governor, is taking a second look at possibly running, though some say his record in new jersey -- joblessness and education cuts -- could make it pretty tough. lynn? >> tracie, thank you very much. anti-wall street protesters are promising to keep up their fight, despite the arrest of hundreds this weekend in new york. the movement, known as occupy wall street, has gained momentum, spawning similar demonstrations across the country. nbc's francis coe reports. >> reporter: protesters out in force, stretching into their third week in new york city. their concerns range from the environment to social change,

all seemingly unified by beefs about the economy and inequality. >> i want to see more opportunities for my children and for my students and for all americans. >> on saturday, police arrested more than 700 in the growing group of demonstrators on the brooklyn bridge. but the arrest didn't dampen the outpouring of support. fueled by social media like twitter and facebook. >> i wouldn't be here if it weren't for twitter and facebook, that's how i found out about it. >> reporter: those networks rallying groups to follow suit across the nation. solidarity showed in the form of hundreds this weekend from california to colorado. >> we are 99%. >> reporter: north carolina to upstate new york. labor experts say the arab spring uprisings overseas have empowered protesters to stand up. >> those movements, those revolutions led by young people. and i think they've been unemployed and wondering what to do. so i think that's another, let's say, inspiration for why they're sitting in now. >> we're nowhere on that same level and we're nowhere facing

the same kind of opposition, but we can still be inspired by that and i think a lot of us are. >> reporter: an inspiration that keeps the occupy wall street protests going strong. francis coe, nbc news. here's your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. powerful winds temporarily shut down inspections of the washington monument yesterday. newly released video shows high wind gusts blowing one engineer 30 feet off the wall of the 550 foot structure friday. it's unclear when the crew will be able to return to work to complete their assessment. a 9-year-old learned the dangers of joy riding the hard way after crashing hits parents' car in philadelphia. according to witnesses, the boy is very lucky to be alive after surviving a collision with a tree and flipping over twice. he's currently hospitalized with head injuries, listed in critical but stable condition. finally, the annual albuquerque international

balloon fiesta kicked off this weekend. organizers set the record for most balloons launched in an hour sending 345 hot air balloons toward the heavens. early highlights of the nine-day event included glowing balloon launches and fireworks. now for a look at your national weather. we welcome back nbc meteorologist bill karins, who returned from his caribbean vacation. how was it, was it nice? >> does the tan show. >> i was surprised, you came back pasty. >> i had the dreds but i took them out before work. >> you haven't left the house, right? bill was celebrating the arrival of her little girl there, taylor karins. she's going to be a knockout. >> not leaving the house during her teenage years. >> i bet not. you're in a lot of trouble. >> she look like she'll be blond and blue eyed like her mother. i guess i asked for.

>> you did. >> i did. good morning. hope you had an enjoyable weekend. not a lot of big weather headlines out there. we'll be ducking the showers. a little chilly in some spots. we had our first snow reports in this weekend, some of the higher elevations of north carolina, snowshoe, west virginia had some college, state college, pennsylvania. they had snowflakes. it was a cool, chilly october weekend, especially in the great lakes. this morning, 46 in atlanta. it's actually colder in atlanta than our friends in boston and new york. it's a morning for the jacket, for yourself and for the kids. you need the umbrella up around detroit. pittsburgh has a chance of showers. same are erie, rochester, syracuse. later today, the big city also have a chance of showers. the time i was gone these last two weeks, we had the cut-off lows. you can see the spinning motion over west virginia. a cut-off low means the weather

pattern is not changing soon. it's a slow transition. today will be a lot like yesterday from philadelphia to d.c. breaks of sunshine, cool and crisp. when the sun is out, it will feel warm. then showers later on this afternoon and this evening. thankfully the weather pattern will change. the middle of the country had a gorgeous weekend. it was in the 90s as far north as montana. that warm air will slowly head eastward as we go throughout this week. though the beginning of the week is not the best in the mid-atlantic and the northeast, the end of this week towards next weekend looks great. fantastic fall weather. there is the beautiful stuff in the middle of the country. still cool but not bad in the southeast. showers in new england. overall a nice start to october. >> apple-picking weather. >> pumpkins too, now. >> thank you very much. greece teeters again, a

buyer stops an internet giant and a small chunk of new york city sold on the auction block. coming up, one of football's best quarterbacks scores six touchdowns, the cowboys cut down by the lions, and a big hit for albert pujols. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back.

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look." i'm lynn berry. here's some of the top stories making news this morning. a top yemeni official says al qaeda's chief bombmaker did not die in a u.s. drone strike late last week as was widely reported. the drone strike did kill anwar al awlaki, one of the world's most wanted terrorists. israel has formally accepted a proposal by the so-called quartet of mid-east peacemakers to return to the negotiations with the palestinians. ahead of the visit to the region, defense secretary leon panetta stressed the need for negotiations, warning israel is becoming increasingly isolated

in the mideast. six members of the u.s. supreme court attended the annual red mass in washington, d.c. on sunday ahead of the start of today's new session. the high court will likely take up the constitutionality of president obama's health care law with a decision expected during next year's presidential campaign. and an ultralight plane crashed into a ferris wheel trapping two children on the ride and two adults in the wreckage. amazingly, no one was seriously hurt. the pilot says he didn't see the ride. as we reported at the top of the show, after spending four years behind bars in italy for her roommate's murder, amanda knox has addressed the court this morning ahead of it deciding on the appeal of her 26-year prison sentence. chapman belle has been following the story in perusia italy.

chapman? >> the final act that we will see before the judge and jury come back with a verdict in this case. amanda knox stood up to address the court here. she gave an emotional plea, shaky at first. the judge even offering her an opportunity to sit down to deliver it. she says she wants to go home. she did not do this crime. she is not the person these people have painted the picture of. she seeks the truth. she wants to find out what happened to her friend meredith still. also taking a declaration to the court, her co-accused, her former boyfriend. he gave a plea as well. during both their declarations in court, the judges and jury were very focused. some of the jury members even having tears in their eyes, also having tears in their eyes were the family of knox, hoping the judge and jury will return a verdict today that will allow them to take their sister and daughter home.

lynn? >> chapman, thank you very much. let's take your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,913 after falling 240 points on friday. the s&p was down 28 points. the nasdaq dropped 65. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei sank 154 points while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 770. friday investors said good riddance to this year's painful third quarter. with that in the rearview mirror, there's still not much ahead to look forward to. the third quarter was the s&p 500's worst since 2008, prompting many to slash forecasts for the rest of the year. the s&p dropped over 14%, losing roughly $1.7 trillion in value. that already has investors nervous about earnings season which begins next week. global economic troubles have many concerned. healthy earnings, the one continuous positive note for

months, may have come to an end. case in point, ingersoll-rand sank 12% friday after cutting its third quarter and full year earnings forecast. another cause for concern, greece's finance ministry said sunday the country is missing a crucial deficit target set for its massive bailout package and called on the state and citizens to respond. in other words, make more cuts. greek bankruptcy could plunge the world into economic turmoil. data out this week includes manufacturing data later today. wednesday, we'll get the service sector index. and all week, wall street will brace for friday's september employment report. keep an eye on yahoo!. this weekend, jack moss, ceo of china's alibaba, said he is interested in buying yahoo!. watch kodak, which plummeted 54% friday on bankruptcy rumors. finally, new york city's rat island is basically a pile of rocks that once housed typhoid

patients. only about two and a half acres during low time, nevertheless, rat island sold at auction sunday for $160,000. some may call that a steal. the jets crash, the packers fry and albert caps a cardinal comeback. plus, a good friend does bad things to tony romo and his cowboys. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. u want. now there's no need to hold back. new revolutionary scope dualblast obliterates strong food odors leaving your breath minty fresh. hey. [ male announcer ] so there's no trace of evidence... new scope dualblast. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. and in sports, remember all those preseason predictions about the new york jets going to the super bowl? well, last night the baltimore ravens took the wind out of those sails. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the last time rex ryan was in baltimore, he was the ravens defensive coordinator. last night, the jets leader trying to stick it to his old team, but it didn't go too well for rex and the jets. third quarter, mark sanchez picked up by ladarius webb. he went 73 yards for the touchdown. jets turned it over four times. the ravens ripped the jets, 34-17. in dallas, the cowboys led, 27-3. detroit has the heart of a lion. bobby carpenter picked off romo in the third and ran back for the score. carpenter was a groomsman in romo's wedding this summer. i guess that's payback for having so wear that silly tux. the lions came back to win it, 34-30.

detroit's 4-0 for the first time since 1980. green bay, big day for aaron rodgers against the broncos. four touchdowns and ran for two more. packers remain unbeaten. they rotted denver, 49-23. now to arizona, the cardinals up in the fourth, but eli manning to jake in the end zone. giants defense stopped the cards and 58 seconds later, manning at it again. giants came back to win, 31-27, they're 3-1. baseball playoffs in the bronx, tiger's miguel cabrera, huge game against the yankees. tigers led, 4-0 at one point. yanks tried to rally late with the go-ahead at the plate. detroit won it, 5-3, the series tied at a game. in milwaukee, brewers and diamondbacks in the sixth. nyjer morgan a two-run single. brewers scored five in the inning. milwaukee won it, 5-4. in philadelphia, the phils and cards tied in the seventh until albert pujols struck the

blow. a base hit scored craig with a go-ahead run. cards won it 5-4. that series tied at a game apiece. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at the weather, here is bill karins. >> i think a lot of people will have the heat on in the car today. it's chilly in some areas. we are at 49 in philadelphia. d.c. at 47. 46 in pittsburgh. so, we're talking about, you know, your fall jacket or maybe even breaking out the winter coat. we are going to see a cool day today, especially in areas that don't get sunshine. much of west virginia, pennsylvania, still ducking the showers. those are showing up in green. we will see breaks of sunshine in new england. those showers will increase late this afternoon and tonight just like it has over the last couple of days. mix of sun and clouds. temperatures are very cool. highs in some cases getting into the 50s today. typically this time of year you should be around maybe 65 or so. this is much cooler than normal. one of the warmer spots will be

up there around hartford and boston. you should be in the low 60s. the week starts off cool, but by the time we get to thursday and friday, look at philadelphia. 71, 66, 70 by friday. the weekend should see highs in the mid 70s. we'll go from a dreary weather pattern to a beautiful fall forecast for much of the eastern seaboard. all that gorgeous weather is in the middle of the country, then we will shift that to the east coast as we go towards the end of this week. if anyone is doing traveling, dealing with wet weather from seattle, san francisco, much of the west coast has a storm system moving onshore. shouldn't cause many flight delayses that's the only two wet weather spots in the country. not all that bad in new england. we should be okay for the most part. if you dealt with it this weekend, it will be similar today. >> thank you very much. coming up, which film made a splash this weekend at the box

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. it's time for entertainment news. "the lion king" has been knocked off his perch by a dolphin. "dolphin tale," last week's third-place finisher took in $14.2 million to leap into the top spot. brat pitt's "money ball" came in second place and "50/50" finished fourth with 8.85 million. the christian police drama "courageous" finished fifth

with 8.8 million. "dream house" finished sixth with 8.2 million. and "what's your numbers" flopped in eighth. finally, a new book by martha stewart's daughter, alexis, makes growing up with the domestic diva sound like a nightmare. for christmas she had to wrap her own presents. for halloween, no costumes. they turned off the lights and pretended their weren't home. i hated those houses. alexis said if i didn't do something perfectly, i had do it again. i grew up with a glue gun held to her head. still, there are no hard feelings and she dedicated the book to her mom. and apparently martha stewart came out and said, she's her own person. she can say whatever she wants. >> what is she going say? can't argue it. i don't get the halloween stuff. martha stewart used to have

these big shows with halloween, costumes. hiding with the lights off? come on. >> big breaking news while you were gone, bill. i went to a movie. it's been about six months. "money ball" it was great. >> are you okay? your fear of public places has got to end. >> they let me out of the bubble. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" is coming up next. as the obama administration and many other americans celebrated the death in a drone strike on friday of a yemeni cleric who is an american citizens, many others questioned the killing. are you bothered by the cia taking out anwar al awlaki. rick perry is taking heat right now for the name of a texas hunting lodge he's leased that's known to some, according to "washington post," by an ugly racist name. the question is did governor perry know a