this morning on "early today," democratic delay. president obama suffers a setback in his push for a health care reform bill. race debate tempers flare after president obama comments on the arrest of a distinguished harvard scholar. > and perfect pitch. white sox pitcher mark buehrle > and perfect pitch. white sox pitcher mark buehrle throws one for the recordbooks. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with division over the deadline. after days of tough inside negotiations, democrats in congress now say they won't meet the president's timeline to push through a deal on health care reform. still, with the white house in damage control mode, president obama says the issue remains his top priority. here's nbc's steve handelsman. >> reporter: president obama had gone to cleveland to push health care reform when he learned the

senate will not meet his august 7th deadline for a first vote. >> that's okay. i just want people to keep on working. and i want it done by the end of this year. i want it done by the fall. >> reporter: senators looking for ways to pay fort obama plan had reported more progress. but senate finance committee chairman privately said he needs more time. and senate majority leader reid gave it to him. >> it's better to have a product that is one that's based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than trying to jam something through. >> reporter: that's what republicans are saying. >> why are you in such a rush? >> reporter: in cleveland, president obama said again health care reform is an urgent priority. >> it may be coming too soon for washington but it's not soon enough for the american people. >> reporter: republicans leaders

say they want reform. >> the president said last night that the status quo is unacceptable. we agree. >> reporter: on the house side, speaker pelosi still wants a vote soon. >> i'm more confident than ever we'll go to the floor and we'll win. >> keep up the heat. >> reporter: but team obama learned from the senate this fight will drag out. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, capitol hill. meanwhile, president obama is at the center of another controversial debate this morning, the touchy subject of police and race relations in america. nbc's kristen dahlgren reports. . >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. >> reporter: they are five words that touched off a firestorm. the president criticizing a massachusetts police force, insighting what he called a long history of racial profiling in america. >> i don't know not having been there and not seeing all the facts what role race played in that, but i think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would

be pretty angry. >> reporter: henry louis gates jr., a harvard scholar the president considers a friend, struggled to get his front door open. neighbors thought it was a break-in. police showed up. he accused them of racism. though disorderly conduct charges were eventually dropped, gates's daughter said her father was humiliated. >> no one would expect to get arrested in their own home, no one. >> reporter: gates demanded an apology but the police force said they are standing by sergeant crowley. >> i don't think he acted with any racial motivation at all. he tried to deescalate the situation and made a determination that the only way to stop the situation was to make an crafty. >> reporter: crowley said he's sad the president commented about the story before knowing the full story.

what happened in a small town now draws a nation, including the president, into a race debate. kristen dahlgren, nbc news. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. video of suspected inmate abuse in illinois was released after the three officers involved were cleared of wrongdoing. the officers were accused of mistreating a woman arrested for drunk driving. at one point the inmate is thrown into a concrete wall, then tasered. a review commission determined the officers's actions were justified but the county is appealing the decision. a deputy used a stun gun to subdue a defendant who lunged at an attorney. courtroom cameras were rolling as the man flipped the table in front of him and moved toward the defendant. the angry defendant didn't get very far as a deputy tasered him after the outburst. it was a routine robbery for

two crooks in indiana as they held up the same pharmacy for a third time. with guns drawn, the two bandits demanded thousands of painkillers. police hope the surveillance tapes will help catch the repeat offenders. in washington state, a very special veteran celebrated his 109th birthday. john babcock is the only surviving canadian soldier who fought in world war i. for his birthday, he crossed the border to be with his family at his favorite restaurant. now for a loot your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, good morning. weekend weather, people in for something good? >> it looks like a decent summer weekend finally. you saw what happened yesterday in new york and all through the mid atlantic coast. a nor easter in july. strange beginnings of summer. i think we'll see more typical summertime weather pattern in many areas.

look at this thing cranked up up here, dry, cool air. usually it's humid and sticky in the southeast. people in atlanta will tell you it hasn't been your normal summer in many areas. this is a storm this morning. look at this on radar. 46-mile-per-hour wind gust just south of boston. you can see it's curled right up. it looks like a tropical storm or nor easter. it's not tropical in nature. this is drenching a horrible amount of rain here through the mountain areas of new hampshire, back through areas of massachusetts and just outside providence. providence has picked up two inches of rain. we also have showers and thunderstorms along a front from raleigh to norfolk. eastern carolina, you could get storms "early today." all that wet weather will exit during the day. it will be replaced by decent weather conditions. a chance of a stray storm around d.c. that's your national forecast. now a look at the weather outside your window. baltimore, maryland, same as d.c., mostly your day will be

dry. a slight chance of an afternoon storm. it will be mild in many areas. starting to do the big warmup in areas of the ohio valley and the southeast. lynn, i'll have the complete weekend forecast. i think you're going to like what you will see. you may be thinking beach this weekend. >> sounds good. thanks so much, bill. home sales jump, ford surprises, and dow breaks through a psychological barrier. your early morning business headlines straight ahead. plus, her films have done very well. but stick around to hear why experts think her latest won't tie. armstrong makes his move. and buehrle is perfect on the south side of chicago. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. and here are some of your top headlines this morning.

the cardiologist who was with michael jackson on the day he died is now being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter in the singer's death. that's according to court documents filed thursday, a day after authorities seized items from his clinic. in maryland, four people are dead after a commercial helicopter crashed onto a highway and burst into flames. officials say visibility was limited by fog at the time, but it's not clear if weather played a role in the crash. three mayors, two state lawmakers and several rabbis were among 44 arrested in a massive corruption investigation in new jersey. federal prosecutors said the probe initially focused on a money laundering network but quickly ballooned into one of the biggest scandals in state history. angelina jolie is expected to bring awareness to many of the iraqis. she visited a makeshift

settlement on the outskirts of baghdad. a new york church was filled to capacity thursday as mourners said good-bye to legendary newsman walter cronkite. he died last week at the age of 92. he was remembered in eulogy as an exceptional journalist, sailor, friend and father. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 9,069 after surging 188 points on thursday. the s&p added 22. and the nasdaq jumped 47 points. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei hiked up 151 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng gained 165 points. wall street had a little bit of everything on thursday. for jobs and home sales, to earnings reports, investors weighed the numbers and they liked what they saw. for more on that and all your early business headlines, we're

joined by geoff cutmore from the london headquarters of cnbc. geoff, good morning. >> reporter: hi. good morning to you. in fact, all that positive sentiment pushing the dow up over 2% so we had the best gain for the blue chip since november 5th here. but it's worth bearing in mind we're still 5,000 points off that october 2007 level of over 14,000. the existing home sales number strong. home sales up 3.6%. elsewhere, we had a big of a dampener from some of the corporates. microsoft saying thursday its profit in the last quarter plunged 29% because of weak computer sales. and amazon also putting in a quarterly net profit thursday that fell by 10%. elsewhere, ford a little more upbeat. a huge improvement on the record $8.7 billion loss it reported a year earlier. jobless claims, let's give you the details on that, initial claims for unemployment rose by

40,000. seasonally adjusteded 554,000. up really is beginning to reflect life. even home in march forced to sell their house. we're going to have more recession talk with ben affleck set to star in a new movie about the aftermath of a corporate downsizing. that's a wrapup of your business stories. >> geoff, thanks so much. the latest on lance's chances in the tour. and soccer on another big stage. in every no-hitter or perfect game, someone always helps out with a great defensive play. yesterday was no exception. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. we're warming up on this friday and getting ready for a summer weekend. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, in a game that lives on stats, yesterday chicago white sox pitcher mark buehrle managed to do something that's only been done 17 times before in the long history of baseball. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines.

good morning. the white sox mark buehrle is not a flashy pitcher. he won't blow you away with 95-mile-per-hour fast balls. but yesterday against the rays he was perfect. 27 up, 27 down for the lefty. he struck out six and had lady luck on his side. foul. still perfect. ninth inning, three outs away from history. capler. a drive deep to left center. on his horse. he leaps up and robbed kept her of a sure home run. nerted in the ninth as defensive replacement. two batters later, buehrle got a grounder to short. perfect game. just the 18th in baseball history. white sox won, 5-0. >> any time your name gets up there with some of the greats in the game, obviously it means a lot. i think it's another thing when you retire, sit back and you see how many perfect games have been thrown in the history and your name is in there.

i think that's when you sit back and be surprised. tour de france is in the books. lance armstrong moved up one spot to third overall, still trailing contador. soccer team usa beat honduras, 2-0, to advance to the gold cup final. they have mexico sunday in new york. finally, we take one more look at the amazing catch that preserved perfection for mark buehrle. >> there he is trying to throw his second no-hitterment high fly back back to deep left center field. that's got some carry. and that ball is caught. he just came into the game. defensively makes a great catch in center field. how about that. >> that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. three new films, a guinea

pig movie, chick flick and horror take on the boy wizard at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. plug, a jug of milk and a carton of eggs. that would be 1 quadrilillion dollars, please. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this try. let's take you through the weekend forecast. first, today, boston, providence, northwards through maine, new hampshire, a very ugly start to your day. stray storms from philly to d.c., also hal has see. by the time saturday arrives, look at the warmth. new york city near 90s for the first time this summer. detroit and cincinnati, typical storms. typical storms in florida. well, if you're watching wnbc 4 in new york, head to pelham bay park to hear music of the temptations and bee gees. that's your barry gibbs eastern event of the day. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. three films open facing an impossible task.

no one will catch harry pot ter and the half-blood prince. it will take its second weekend with about $35 million. the strongest movie is expected to be g force, a film about highly trained james bond like guinea pigs. it will earn about 25 million and start paying back the 80 million it cost to make. and the weekend's date movie, the ugly truth, stagger katherine heigl. it's bringing strong female interest. it is rated r and that will keep the audience down. it should take 20 million, but that makes it already a winner because they made it for only 40 million. and a horror entry orphan about the adoption of an evil child. it will be hampered by an r rating. it is expected to make about 15 million. this comes from kare 11 in minneapolis where in nearby ol'

tan that, like everywhere else, times are tough. this is ridiculous. a minnesota woman who ran to the store to pick up milk and eggs discovered got home and saw her credit card receipt she had been charged over 2$23 quadrilillion. she even got hit with an overdraft fee. this woman's sense of humor has not. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> a very happy friday to you. hope you're doing well. perhaps thurp awakened last night with those strong downpours, very strong thunderstorms as well. you can see them rolling through. we had the approach of a front. there's a lot of precipitation ahead of that. also that storm rolling up the east coast. a very strong couple of cells rolled through. in fact, 2.5-inches in baltimore county last night. a flood warning was issued about 11:00 when that rolled now here. so it was brief but very heavy. 71 downtown now. 68 in easton. 77 in ocean city. so quite mild there. and it's very humid still today. we're going to remain unsettled. an upper level disturbance will be the reason for that. so 83 to 86. more hit and miss type of showers late this afternoon, the possibility of today. partly sunny, a mix of sun and clouds. more on your weekend weather forecast. it's going to heat up a little

bit. coming up. >> thanks. 4:57. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. >> a deadly helicopter crash in western maryland. i'll have the very latest i a live report. >> i'm brook hart in washington. good news for the nation's economy. what will it mean for the health care reform debate? >> a new accident coming in this morning in the city. it does have some lanes closed with it. we'll check on a water main break in pikesville.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy] captioned by the national captioning institute -- www.ncicap.org -- >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm jennifer franciotti here for stan stovall. thanks for joining us. >> we'll get to our big story. first a check of the forecast. jen said she was woken up by the storms. i didn't hear it. but it was severe. >> it was. we're going to have more on that top story with that awful helicopter crash. il