today," dangerous dose. there is new information about what drug was given to michael jackson and by whom on the night the pop star died. holding sway. time lapse video shows what subway trains do when they pass over a 100-year-old new york city bridge. and flip out. things go spectacularly wrong at a washington state boat race. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for tuesday, jewel 28th, 2009. hello and good morning, everyone. i'm dan kloeffler. today we begin with the michael jackson mystery. law enforcement sources tell nbc news that michael jackson's doctor administered a powerful drug the night the late pop star died. those sources confirm dr. murray did give jackson the prescription sedative. according to the associated

press, jackson regularly relied on the drug to sleep with doctors, then stopping the intravenous drip in his room whenever it was time for jackson to wake up. still, we do not know exactly what killed jackson. toxicology results have not been released. they are expected later this week. federal officials say seven men in north carolina was ind t indicted of planning a coup overseas. boyd is accused of encouraging others to engage in jihad, offering military-style travel and offering money to aid overseas travel. some went to israel in 2007 to aid tax. they later returned without going through with the plan. the men are charged with providing material support to terrorism, punishable by life in prison. at least two are dead, many

more missing after a passenger boat filled with immigrants capsized near the turks and caicos islands. there were as many as 200 abroad when the vessel veered into a reef. rescuers have been working throughout the night to rescue 113 passengers left strandsed on the reef. a coast cord helicopter is expected to arrive this morning and step up the search. the rest of the missing are feared dead. a president, a professional and a policeman walk into a bar. you think you've heard this one? well, it is no joke. later this week, perhaps thursday, president obama will be meeting with the black professor and the white police officer at the center of a national debate on charges of racism. the president said the officer

acted stupidly. now the three will have some drinks. as far as what the president is serving his gusts? suds are probably on tap. yesterday, the space shuttle "endeavour" finished off its mission. astronauts put the finishing touches on the $2.4 billion japanese liberty on monday. during their fifth and spinal spacewalk the team of two floated 225 miles above earth as they attached two tv cameras to the newly installed experiment platform. in addition to rewiring a circuit for the system. the "endeavour" crew is scheduled to dock later today. here's a look at other stories making news today. a hydroplane driver is okay. the plane flew up in the air and hit backward.

it eventually landed upside down. unbelievably that driver survived that crash without any injury. a house explodeed in kentucky. a surveillance camera at a nearby business captured that moment on tape. it blew the windows out of a nearby business. investigators say natural gas is likely the cause. an accident in texas made for highway barbecue. a track overturned spilling frozen beef to thaw in the sun. it shut down the highway for three and a half hours. wisconsin citizens got a look at what space travel may be look. virgin airlines plans to use

plans for future space travel. it's built to climb to 50,000 feet before rocketing a spaceship off into the final frontier. save up your air miles. for a look at the national and regional weather, here's bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning. >> good morning to you, dan. finally feels like summer. only took, five, six weeks. the whole country is in a summer weather pattern. look how hot it is. the heat wave is taking place in the northwest. seattle was 89 yesterday. a lot of areas near there was 100 yesterday. it was 103 yesterday. in the east, temperatures were finally warm. boston, warmest you've been 87. we had a lot of showers and storms pop up in the max heating of the day. i know savannah, georgia, you had horrible thunderstorms with

flash flooding last night. we saw snowstorms south florida. a couple went through new york city. big bermudas high. dominant weather factor pumping up the humidity. once again, we'll see warm temperatures during the morning. afternoon showers and storms, florida and then in the southeast, also the great lakes. should be a relatively dry day. warm from boston through the mid-atlantic. that's your national forecast. here's a look at the weather outside your window. sunshine and warm conditions for new england. enjoy the nice summer weather pattern. i know it hasn't been all that warm this summer so far. we should be at least mid-80s from albany to pittsburgh. some areas could be near 90 from d.c. to philadelphia. dan, it looks like we're in the summer weather pattern. it's not going anywhere. it will be warm and humid. i think a lot of people will enjoy it. >> we're done with the rain for a while. we'll keep this into maybe say, december. >> let's not push it. new home sales jumped, more

layoffs at verizon. clamping down on naked traders. your early morning business headlines straight ahead. plus, her character on "sex and the city" was a sexual adventurer. you won't believe what she found out about her own family's scandalous sexual past. michael vick reinstated. could pete rose be pardoned? it was a grand day in baseball. we'll show you why. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today," everyone. i'm dan kloeffler. here are some of the top headlines this tuesday morning. in northern nigeria, radical islamic militants attacked police stations, churches and government buildings. they're the latest attacks in a wave of violence that reportedly killed 55 people. the group opposed to western education appears to be at the root of this current unrest. in a sign of improving relations with cuba, the u.s.

has turned off a giant electronic sign that's attached to the u.s. diplomatic mission in havana. for years, it displayed pro democracy and human rights messages to cubans that infuriated cuban leaders. a california judge has appointed a guardian to monitor the money made by the octuplets of nadia suleman. a petition was filed by a former child actor. suleman's octuplets will star in a reality show this fall. a camera capturing a time lapse every time cars cross on the brooklyn bridge. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off. the dow opens at 9108.

the s&p gained day and the nasdaq edged up one point. in tokyo, the nikkei closed down a point. in hong kong, the hang seng shot up 372 points. wall street breathe a sigh of relief with more signs the worst of the economic downturn has passed. investors were able to sustain a two-week rally, even in the face of downbeat corporate and economic earnings reports. the dow jones eked out a 15-point gain, which a couple of weeks ago, investors would have taken the money and run. the worst of yesterday's news was perhaps from verizon. the nation's largest wireless carrier reported a 21% drop in second quarter profit. it announced more than 8,000 job cuts before the end of the year. on the plus side though, government data showed new home sales. the fastest june increase in more than eight years. buyers are jumping on low interest rates and reduced

prices and taking advantage of the federal tax credit for first time homeowners. as far as economic recovery, we'll find out more on friday. that's when the government reports on the second quarter's gdp. analysts say the economy shrank at 1.5%. it's not great but it's far better than the decline of 5.5% in the first quarter and 6.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008. meanwhile, the government is trying to hold on to the recovery and hold off another crisis. federal regulators made permanent an emergency rule banning so-called naked short selling. short selling is when a trader borrows stocks and hopes to resell them and pocketing the profit. naked short-sellers sell stocks that only technically exist in cyberspace. that is what is now banned. speaking of shares, the federal government plans to sell

its holdings in general motors and chrysler as quickly as it can. officials save the sells won't come all at once. more money might be made following an initial public offering. people blame lawmakers for not getting things done. in india, they have a pretty good excuse. a stray snake brought parliament to a standstill for several hours on thursday. wildlife officials searched unsuccessfully for a suspected king cobra. better than a filibuster. a reinstatement in football. a possible pardon in baseball. grand slams galore. including one guy for whom one grand salami wasn't enough. >> our incident-summer heat wave friends south texas through the west coast. 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, disgraced quarterback michael vick is one step closer to returning to the nfl. that's if he can find a team willing to sign him. here's fred roggin with an early

look at your sports headlines. >> after two years in federal custody and out of if believe, michael vick received a seconds chance from the nfl. commissioner goodell reinstated him yesterday. he could play in the regular seasonal as early as october. however, vick still needs to find a team willing to sign him but can can immediately take part in practices, workouts meetings and play in the final preseason gamtz. once the season begins, goodell said he would consider full reinstatement. vick served a sentence for taking part in a dogfighting scheme. 20 years after being banned for life in baseball, pete rose may be pardoned by the commissioner. the new york daily news reports some behind the scenes lobbying from hank aaron and joe robinson has selig considering lifting the life-time suspension. to new york where the mets are showing competitive fire. new york rallied, scoring six straight, including a grand slam

in the eighth. the mets won it 7-3. they've won three in a roach. what a night for josh willingham for the nationals. not only did he hit one grand slam but twice. the odds are rare. only the 13th player in history to accomplish such a feat. he finished with eight rbis. milwaukee lost to washington, 14-6. cubs hosting the astros. tied at one in the 13th. soriano at the plate. walk-off grand slam to end it. the crowd, ecstatic. why not? the cubs won it 5-1. afterwards, soriano received the good old shaving cream in the face. that's your early look at sports on "early today." engine trouble for katie holmes and jessica simpson can't get passed the gate.

your early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. plus, get ready to say, w x as we bring you a trio of baby tigers from the wild plains of south dakota.

good tuesday morning. here's your forecast for today. another warm day. southern new england through the d.c. area, upper 80s for puff it

should be dry too. we are going to see isolated storms from tallahassee to orlando. more storms moving in atlanta. that mess on wednesday comes into the eastern seaboard. we could see a wide coverage of storms by wednesday afternoon. if you're watching us on wbal tv 11 in baltimore, maryland, kids and adults will love chagall for children. an interactive exhibit that explores the whimsical paintings of mark chagall. >> that's not chagall for children? i'm leaving that one out there, i'm sorry. >> turn the page. >> here's an early look at headlines in entertainment. how ugly have things gotten between exs, tony romo and jessica simpson, u.s. weekly reports that romo gave his gated community red alert orders not

to admit simpson. this weekend, marc anthony threw his wife a birthday party this weekend. she threw the mandatory temper at that point rum over guests arriving left. lopez also upset that pals tom cruise and kate holmes didn't show up. katie was filming in australia. she narrowly escaped serious injury, when a battery exploded, setting a car she was near on fire. kim cattrall goes on a show called, who do you think you are? she was curious about a grandfather who disappeared in 1939. he was a bigamist who ran away with and married another woman. this comes to us now from kdlt-tv in sioux falls, south dakota, where three rare tiger cubs are just stretching their

legs. the newborn trio are amour tigers. since their overstressed mom can't feed them, zookeepers working around-the-clock. the cubs are kitten-sized now and cuddly. they were eventually grow to over 600 pounds. they don't make good pets. i'm dan kloeffler and this is "early today." 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--

>> it is -- a very good thursday morning to all of you. we are looking bet that our doppler, not much going on. we had some showers develop in isolated areas last night. we will have some activity mostly to our south. the temperatures will be in the upper 70's. 78 degrees in ocean city. there is no difference in the air mass behind and in front of the front. winds will be out of the south. partly cloudy today with some humidity. 87 degrees-92 degrees. we hit 90 degrees yesterday in

one area. now over to mindy. >> for clock 57. here is a look ahead at 11 news today. >> area leaders are calling for action due to the violence. >> in washington, on health care, negotiators are under pressure and inching towards compromise. i will have that story coming up. >> which are attracting an early morning accident. we will update you on that location as well as traffic lights

>> good morning. >> thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> we will get to our big stories in just a minute. it was cut yesterday. let's talku