today," high stakes pitch. president obama takes his push for health care reform to the primetime air waves. under scrutiny. local authorities and federal drug agents raid the officeses of michael jackson's personal physician. what an impact. security cameras capture a collision between two light rail security cameras capture a collision between two light rail cars in san francisco. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm christina brown. today we begin with the president's prescription. last night president obama took to the white house podium to deliver his diagnosis of the nation's health care system, a system he sees on life support. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> i'm trying to make sure everybody has good health care and they don't right now. >> reporter: president obama stuck to his guns in a news

conference dominated by the fight over health care. >> if you don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen. >> reporter: this year, he said, he'll get a reform bill with universal coverage. >> we've got doctors, nurses, hospitals, even pharmaceutical industry. it means the stars are aligned and we need to take advantage of that. >> reporter: he did back attacks like on the rich to insure the uninsured and he reached out to republicans. >> the politics may dictate what they don't vote for health care reform because they think, you know, it will make obama more vulnerable. but if they've got a good idea, we'll still take it. >> reporter: as mr. obama weighed in on the arrest of a friend, harvard professor henry louis gates. gates was arrested after breaking into his own home.

>> race remains a factor in this society. that doesn't lessen the incredible progress that has been made. i am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made and yet the fact of the matter is is that, you know, this still haunts us. >> reporter: part of america mr. obama hopes to change, along with our health care system. steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. there are den ianing fissures between ahmadinejad and the supreme leader considered his strongest supporter. in a rare show of defiance toward khomeini, president ahmadinejad insisted on preserving his choice for top vice president. it comes from strong opposition from hardline elements who criticized that candidate's moderate stance towards israel. ahmadinejad's choice is also his

son-in-law. iranian media is reporting that ahmadinejad is arguing for more time for his choice despite the ayatollah's calls to dismiss his selection. meanwhile, the obama administration is stretching its stabs against iran's nuclear mission, for the first time suggesting a defense missile shield for allies in the gulf. secretary of state hillary clinton said in lite of the iranian nuclear threat, the u.s. would consider extending a, quote, defense umbrella over the middle east. she continued to call for a diplomatic solution but the res rick suggests the white house is weighing military strategies to negotiations fail. this sunday morning in a "meet the press" exclusive, moderator david gregory goes one on one exclusively with secretary clinton about her role in the obama administration and the many hot spots around the globe. now time for a look at some

other stories making news "early today" in america. the san francisco transit agency has released video from the light rail crash this weekend which injured 48 people. security cameras on the platform show one train barrel into a second train which is parked in the station. two people are still in the hospital from that crash, including the driver of the oncoming train. a fire truck in detroit last control while turning and smashed into two cars. surveillance footage here from a nearby business caught the truck plow through a car at a red light and slam into another vehicle. that second car was tossed nearly 50 feet. fortunately this accident only caused minor injuries. elsewhere, in california, it was a strange sight on the streets of long beach. a 50-ton fuselage from the military cargo plane was trucked through the city. the 170-foot hull was en route

to a naval dock where a ship will transport it to virginia for soldiers to use for training. at 22 feet wide it certainly did rule the road. a massive wayward tortoise is safely back at home. a 100-pound giant tortoise. apparently he escaped through an open gate. local citizens saw the tortoise and probably did not have to chase him too far after he took off. now, for a loot your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. he must have had all day to escape. >> very large head start. we can learn a lot from those tortoises. they live long. take it nice and easy. let's talk about your forecast today. a lot of heavy rain moving from cleveland, erie, buffalo. two actual areas of rain. that's one of them.

then we have this tropical slug of moisture skirting the outer bank of carolinas. the vacationers aren't happy with that. this will move all the way to the coastline, atlantic and new england. as far as the storm system goes, this weakens and moves to the north. this rides right along the coast almost like a nor easter. rip currents on the coast. first batch of rain over cleveland. pittsburgh just had heavy rain move through. buffalo, syracuse, erie, you look wet as we go throughout the morning. that low is going to come up the coast. eventually the rain this evening new york through new england. heavy rain at that. bring the umbrella in case you need it on the way home. the morning will be dry. you can see where the problems will be at the airport. southeast, you look fine during your day today. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. thunderstorms are possible in philadelphia but a lot of the heavy rain should be up there more or less towards providence, hartford, cape cod, and into the

boston area. well, christina too much to ask, right, new england for two nice days in a row? at least we had yesterday. brand expansion at g.m. and the comeback. and recession-proof rodeo. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, johnny depp has tackled some offbeat parts before, but how about a gender-bending musical role? the red sox had a bat, manny with a flare for the dramatic, and lebron james finally getting dunked on and made public. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm chris theen that brown. and here are some of your top headlines this morning. investigators looking into the death of pop star michael

jackson raided the houston clinic of jackson's personal physician wednesday. the doctor was with the singer when he died. a lawyer for that doctor said authorities were searching for evidence of manslaughter, but police said they do not consider the doctor to be a suspect. there are reports that osama bin laden's son was killed in a u.s. missile strike in pakistan earlier this year. it's believed the 27-year-old was not the target of the u.s. attack but was among those killed when a predator drone fired a missile at an al qaeda target in western pakistan. in a break with the republican parties, more conservative leadership one of supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor's most outspoken critics, south carolina governor lindsey graham, will vote to confirm sotomayor.

more than a quarter century after it was stolen in one of the country's most audacious robberies. a gold watch crafted for french queen marie antoinette. dubbed the most important watch ever made. now, here's an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the doushgs opens 8,881 after sliding 34 points on wednesday. the s&p was down a fraction. but the nasdaq added 10 points. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei jumped 69 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng soared 569 points. it could be a busy day on wall street with a host of big companies reporting quarterly earnings. if yesterday is any example, mixed results could lead the market in mixed territory. for more on that and all your early business headlines, we turn to louisa bojesen from the london headquarters of cnbc. good morning, louisa.

>> reporter: christina, thank you. a little bit of a mixed session yesterday. s&p ending relatively flat. nasdaq, though, continuing higher for an 11th straight session. apple gaining 3.5%. starbucks surging 18.5%. cost-cutting measures leading them to strong figures. morgan stanley reporting second quarter loss of $1.37 a share, third consecutive quarterly loss. much worse than expected. wells fargo, 47% jump and $2.6 billion. not happy with the asset loss of that surging by 45%. shares coming off on the back of that. goldman sachs saying it paid the u.s. treasury $1.1 billion to redeem warrants connected to t.a.r.p. that makes it the first bank to get fully out of the us bank bailout program. germ motors top sales analyst says he's confident the company can make up the sales it will lose when it sheds four of its eight u.s. brands.

chevy and buick will be expanded to pick up lost sales from elsewhere. amazon.com agreed to buy zapps.com, a shoe store of all thing. t the deal is amazon's biggest acquisition yet. bristol-myers squib is buying medicinerx. the rodeo show attendance is up 12%. people thinking this is an alternative to get out. shows are typically $10, including a concert to end off the evening. louisa bojesen, cnbc, london. the sox slide continues. the pirates walk off winners, and the latest from the tour de france. plus, drama in manny's mix in tinseltown. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and so is bill with your regional weather. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, after losing their grip on first place last night the boston red sox resorted to an age-old cure, shaking up their lineup. here's nbc's fred roggin with an

early look at all your sports headlines. >> reporter: good morning. after falling out of first place in the a.l. east, the red sox added much needed depth to their lineup. boston acquired adam laroche. could have used him last night against the rangers. kinsler stepped in and he stepped out. tied the game with a solo home run to left. the squeeze is on. elvis laid down the perfect bunt. david murphy came in to score. texas won 3-1. pirates seem to be doing just five. five home runs, a game-winning walk-off by brandon moss. pittsburgh rallied to beat milwaukee, 8-7. todd helton with a personal milestone in the third. only the 50th player in major league history to accomplish such a feat. he wasn't done. go ahead homer in the eighth. rockies beat the diamondbacks, 4-3. dodgers and reds, manny ramirez

bobble head night but manny was held out of a starting lineup because of a bruised hand until the sixth when he was pinch-hitting. grand slam to left. dodgers have now won five in a row. tour de france. lance armstrong fell from second to fourth. finally, two weeks ago nike confiscated tapes of lebron getting dunked on. after weeks of witness protection, the videos have now surfaced. keep your eye on the bottom left corner. lebron late getting to crawford who throws down a two-handed dunk. the way nike reacted we assume he dunked directly over lebron. one thing's for sure, the height was definite

hype was definitely larger than the dunk itself. she may be it right now in hollywood, but the things she does has people saying, what? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, what would cats do if firefighters were not around to rescue them? you're watching "early today."

good thursday morning.

the rain unfortunately once again. detroit back through buffalo, over near lake erie. cleveland this morning probably need the umbrella, too. pittsburgh, showers. look what's happening off the coast of virginia. all of this rain headed for new england as we go throughout this evening. carry the umbrella even though you won't need it until the ride home. wet weather here. also look at the southeast. pretty dry today actually. temperatures warming up. if you're watching wtlv nbc 12 jacksonville, florida, if your kids like to perform, let them express their creativity on stage through improv and other drama games as the main library presents dramarama. that's your eastern ooechevent e day. now, here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. johnny depp has made dressing up one of his trademarks but his dream role would take it to a whole new extreme.

his mad hatter getup for alice in wonderland recently revealed his dream role, believe it or not, is to play the legendary musical actress carroll channing. the stage and screen icon has given depp her personal blessing. after being played by a man, channing is used to it saying, quote, most of the impersonations i have seen have had a 5:00 shadow. tabloids across the pond are reporting next stop for lindsay lohan may be the english or american version, "i'm a celebrity, get me out of here!" . finally in hollywood, megan fox is earning a bit of a reputation for being a miss guided loose cannon. this certainly adds fuel to that fire. reports indicate the 23-year-old has turned down a chance to be a bond girl in the next 007 film. the nerve! what was she thinking? well, this comes to us from whdh 7 news in boston where in

nearby massachusetts, firefighters gave one fortunate feline another life. fire crews were not looking high in a tree for this stranded county but instead underground in a drainpipe. the cat actually climbed into the drain during a storm and heavy rain prevented it from getting out. in the end firefighters showed they're not only great at fighting fires, they're pretty good at saving cats, too. well, i'm christina brown. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

[captioning made possible by

constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> american thursday morning to you. we had a loss of activity finally going on as far as rainfall. ocean city is starting to see some showers and storms associated with the semi- tropical system centered off the coast of north carolina. it is moving up the east course -- discussed. is bringing a lot of rain to ocean city and southern maryland. we have showers to our west. that is a head of a front that is approaching us throughout the day. we have a good chance of about 70% tuesday showers and thunderstorms. it is very humid out there. -- 7% to seek showers and thunderstorms. it is very -- 70% to see showers and thunderstorms. it is very humid out there.

the cloud cover and the rainfall will keep temperatures down. i have more under weekend weather forecast coming up with your seven-station a little bit. >> thank you. 72 degrees on tv hill. here is a look ahead on a 11 news today. >> in washington, president obama's used a televised news conference last night is a health-care reform is not about spending money but about saving it. i will have that story coming up. >> we are tracking some early morning accident was a water

pa

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