this morning on "early today," judging soto meyer. confirmation hearings are set to begin on capitol hill for president obama's nominee fort u.s. supreme court. top secret. new accusations that congress was kept in the dark by dick cheney about a terror operation. and unfriendly skies. more storms threaten another launch attempt of the space more storms threaten another launch attempt of the space shuttle "endeavour." captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning, everyone. i'm dan kloeffler. and today we begin with with

so sonia's story. today confirmation hearings begin for the supreme court nominee. and although she is expected to be confirmed, republicans are promising to put up a fight. for the latest we go to brian mooar live from washington. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. sotomayor's confirmation is all but locked up but republicans are promising a tough fight. after weeks of courtesy calls on capitol hill, judge sonia sotomayor is ready to fight for a seat on the supreme court. president obama called to give her a private pep talk from the oval office. and some democrats are predicting a slam dunk confirmation. >> i think there's a very good chance she's going to get as many or more votes than judge roberts, which was 78. she has wowed people.

>> the i'm going to be playing for the constitutional team. i don't know what more you can ask of a judge sfwlr some republicans want to know more about her swun comment that a wise latina judge might make wiser decisions than a white one. >> i think that's a fair air to question her about. certainly the rule of law depends on the same rules that apply to each one of us no matter our color, sex or ethnicity. >> reporter: they report to her role in a racial discrimination case where no african-american were qualified. the supreme court overturned her ruling but supporters say she was following the law, not making it. today, judge sonia sotomayor has a chance to defend herself. today has been reserved for opening statements and actual questioning is supposed to begin tomorrow. the hearing is expected to last all week long. dan? >> all right. nbc's brian mooar. thank you, brian, appreciate it.

on capitol hill, democrats are fuming over news that for years they were kept in the dark about a top secret cia program, and it was all apparently the work of vice president dick cheney. senator diane fine sten told members of congress that mr. cheney ordered the agency not to share details of this counterterrrorism program. by law, the cia is required to tell congress about its operations, and that's an issue that has been hotly disputed by democrats and republicans recently. feinstein said pa net la ended that 3r5 that and it was never fully operational. nasa had to scrub sunday's liftoff of the space shuttle "endeavour" because of weather concerns. they are due to blast off on a 16-day mission to deliver spare parts to the international space

station. nasa will try to launch again later tonight. police in washington are looking for a pet store dog napper. surveillance video caught this woman reaching over the counter, picking up a $500 dachshund puppy and strolling out the doorch door. now, this is the store's second canine theft in under two months. they are stirl looking for this latest puppy bandit. in ohio, five people were hurt following a tornado. at least three mobile homes were flattened by this twister. fallen trees damaged other homes and closed roads there. no word on the condition of the people people hospitalized by that storm. swarms of lady bugs have taken over a small town in colorado. take a look at this video. all the trees and the buildings look like they're covered in red. some look like red bark, in fact. locals don't mind the millions of lady bugs. what they don't want is to

attract too many tourists snapping all the pictures. and in florida, music wasn't in the air but in the water. divers and; isn't that correct ellers took the plunge for a radio station's 25th annual underwater broadcast which celebrated the 45th anniversary of the beatles yellow submarine album. the music was piped underwater through speakers. now for a look at the national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning, dan. do you consider lady bugs to be good luck? >> yeah. >> it's hike one of those things, a rule, you can't kill a lady bug, right? >> i don't know if it's a rule. >> it's not a law. >> no. i think that's up for debate in the house right now. yeah, you're right. >> let's talk about that forecast. good morning to everyone out there. it's still kind of split around the country. we have cooler weather in the great lakes, northeast. stormy weather in the southeast. that's going to keep

temperatures down especially around the atlanta area. with the cloud cover should be only in the upper 80s. light rain this morning. also the mountains of north carolina are getting a little bit of wet weather. here's the dividing line. we're mild north of that. south of that, we're tropical and humid. what a summer it's been for areas. actually, it hasn't even felt like summer in northern new england. a lot of rain in alabama, birmingham. north wards heading up towards dalton. shower activity by greenville, too. notice another cool, beautiful day. mornings chilly in the areas of the great lakes and northeast. the sun will come out full blast, should heat you up to 80 today. afternoon showers and storms all through the southeast. you notice if you don't get the storms you'll be very hot. areas like jackson, mississippi up around 98. i know people are wondering about the shuttle launchment they'll try to do it once again this evening. in the evening you always get those storms. there is a 30% to 40% chance it

may get canceled again. that's a look at your national forecast. now a look at the weather outside your weekend. cool in the great state of maine. 76 in portland. philadelphia, heading up to 85. columbus, ohio, beautiful, 82. well, dan, we'll continue to take a look at what's going on around the country. severe weather a big story also. we'll talk about that later. thank you, bill. gas prices tank, goldman sachs has a dilemma and lady luck strikes nine times. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, bruno comes out to audiences across the country, but did he score at the box office? also boston's josh beckett with a masterpiece and brandon inge heading for the home run derby. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back "early today," everyone. i'm dan kloeffler. three men being held in connection with a wealthy florida couple. more arrests are expected in this case. south korean media reporting kim jong-il has life threatening pancreatic cancer. a south korean tv station said the cancer was found when he had a stroke last august, though there has not been confirmation of either illness. in iraq, a small roadside bomb narrowly missed a vehicle carrying u.s. ambassador to iraq, christopher hill. fortunately, no one was injured in that attack. and in pennsylvania, a private swim club accused of racism after canceling the memberships of children from a minority day camp.

well, they want to invite those kids back to the club. club members voted overwhelmingly to work things out with the camp, which said racist comments were made to minority children using that pool. now, here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day today. the dow opens at 8,146 after falling 36 points on friday. the s&p lost 3. the nasdaq, though, that added three points. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei was down 236 points. in hong kong, the hang seng plunged 447 points. this week some pretty big companies coming up up with their second quarter earnings. for the rest of us, these numbers should show a clearer picture of the overall health of the economy. for more on that and all your early business headlines, we're joined by steve sedgwick at the london headquarters of cnbc. hey, steve, good morning. >> reporter: dorng to you, dan. the numbers will look pretty

awful. down approximately around 36% for the s&p 500 on average. but its current trading and outlook everyone will want to look for. on the corporate side of things. big companies as well. ibm, marriott, harley davidson and the owner of cnbc, general electric. we're looking also at economic data as well. national association of home builders releases its housing market for july on thursday. fwri, the commerce department will post numbers on numbers in june. also retail sales figures and industrial production as well. one company is goldman sachs as well. numbers will be less than a year ago. we're looking for a really strong quarter. 3.54 a share in terms of net income, just underlying the strngt of this investment bank. despite that, though, the nikkei over in japan fell for a ninth straight session. some good news for consumers. u.s. gasoline prices have fallen

to #$.56 a gallon average at the pump. that is down around 38% from the record high touched almost a year ago. problems for ubs trying to hammer out a deal fort u.s. government to settle a major tax evasion case. good luck for a south charleston lady. the 60-year-old woman has claimed her ninth west virginia lottery prize of 7,000 bucks. her total winnings since last september, $159,000. >> she's got to have some kind of secret. we'll call her, find out what that is. thank you, steve, appreciate it. the detroit tigers pounce on the cleveland indians. plus, josh beckett's rules against the kansas city royals. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. well, we have a plethora of weather topics, including a heat

wave and severe storms. your weather forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

and good morning, everyone. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, red sox pitcher josh beckett sent his team soaring into the all-star break, shutting down the kansas city

royals to notch his 100th career win. here's nbc's mario see lease with an early look at all your sports headlines. the first half of the baseball season is in the books but not before all-star worthy performances from around the league yesterday. we start out in beantown. red sox and royals, first inning, kevin youkilis with a shot to shallow center. pedroia hustles from second. sox up 1-0. that's all the offense josh beckett would need. beckett, who will play in his second all-star game, struck out seven, career win 300. red sox beat the royals, 6-0. dodgers and brewers, national league all-star orlando hudson ending the first half with a bang. sixth inning, left side of the plate. solo shot to the right. dodgers up # 6-0. in the eighth, hudson again. a pair of homers. dodgers head into the break with the best record in baseball. they down the brushgs 7-4. another all-star.

tigers brandon inge flexing his muscle against the indians. brandon looking ready for tonight's home run derby. tigers mall the indians, 10-1. at the other end of the spectrum, alex reels with a high fly ball to center. a sure home run. adam jones making it look easy. orioles fly past the blue jays, 4-2. tour de france, after nine stages, lance armstrong remains in third place, eight seconds off the lead. final round of the john deere classic shot of the day from steve stricker. his approach on 17 is right on the money. the ball hits the pin and backs into the cup for an eagle. what a shot. stricker won the tournament with the final round of 64. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. thank you, mario. looking to make a fastback? all you have to do is rub one

celebrity's feet. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, a unique road rage from takes drivers on a journey from coast to coast and back in time. you're watching "early today."

well, good monday morning. welcome back. severe thunderstorms are possible today. eastern north carolina really

from raleigh. mostly out toward hamilton sound. a slight chance of severe weather from memphis, head to go mississippi, and back into the northern plainsment here's your forecast as we go throughout the day today. beautiful from the great lakes, chicago, detroit, cleveland, new york, boston, ideal. perfect summer day. chance of storms later today from atlanta to charlotte, to savannah. orlando, a possibility of storms, that will include during the launch possibility this evening. well, if you're watching wwlp 22 news, that's springfield mass, see displays from the front line of war from ancient egypt to world war ii at the toy soldiers, history in miniature. that's your eastern ooechbt on the day, dan. thank you. big laughs, awkward moments and plenty of controversy were all in fashion at the box office. bruno, starring sacha baron cohen as an outgoing fashionista

went straight to the top. with $34.5 million. they're not sure if this can match what borat made. now, in just two weeks, this animated family film has earned $120 million. and transformers, revenge of the fallen, still has some gas in the tank. robots in the skies came in third with a little over $24 million. and finally, according to tmz, if charlie sheen asks you to clip his toe nails, you better do it. the two men star reportedly left a $100 tip after getting a $50 pedicure. >> you're telling me you would do it for 100 bucks. >> hey, listen. >> you would? >> you know where i work. no, just kidding. what do you leave for a tip nor your pedicurist. >> i've never had one but i would not pay $100 or i wouldn't

take $100 to give one. >> i think if someone is daring enough to touch my feet, i would give them 100 bucks. i think it's worth it. >> don't go knocking on my door. >> from king 5 news in seattle where a string of vintage vehicles completed a historic 4,000-mile journey. 55 model t cars reenacted the 1909 ocean-to-oceanen durngsz race, a trance continental drive from new york to seattle. they followed the same cross country route taken a krntry ago. one car from each state completed the reach to the pacific. the original contest was held to help publicize the first world's fair. >> i know jay leno has a bunch of them but i want just one. >> apparently you can get them but the upkeep, that will get you. i'm dan kloeffler. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy] >> top of this monday to you. hope you're ready to start another workweek. weather-wise, hope you're not complaining because we're going to see lower humidity than is typical for this time of the year. this is july and while we're going to see temperatures surge into the 80's today, we're not going to be too humid. the front made its way through yesterday and is hanging out over the delmarva peninsula. so it's warmer in ocean city and southern maryland this morning. not too bad downtown. 73. 65 b.w.i. marshall. only 55 right now in york where cooler air has filtered in. partly cloudy for today. 84-87. winds flow out of the north-northeast. that will keep the humidity and

dew point levels lower than is typical. tonight in the lower 60's. >> 4:57. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. >> a popular catholic high school is closing its doors but not if school supporters have anything to say about it. i'm kim dacey. i'm live in towson with that story. >> judge sonya sotomayor fighting for her seat on the supreme court. i'm brian mooar in washington that story's coming up. >> and the area load ways looking good so far. some closures in advance of

captioned by the national captioning institute -- www.ncicap.org -- >> good morning. i'm lisa robinson in for mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us. >> let's get a chof