this morning on "early today," owning up. a possible new twist in the ongoing saga involving former senator john edwards and his one-time mistress. summer scorcher. thousands are forced to flee as massive wildfires rage in nortrn and central california. and out with a bang. a controlled explosion topples a never-been-used high rise in a controlled explosion topples a never-been-used high rise in china. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm christina brown. today we begin with another bombshell.

he has categorically denieded it for months. former presidential candidate john edwards is expected to admit that he fathered a child with his former mistress. lastee, the 56-year-old former senator and vice presidential nominee acknowledged his campaign with real hunter. speculation erupted over the paternity of her now 18-month-old daughter named francis. in 2006, hunter was fired by the campaign to produce a documentary, accepting more than $100,000 for the job. now there's an investigation under way into whether she was paid illegally from campaign funds to keep that affair quiet. investigators looking into last weekend's midair crash in manhattan may now have a huge clue into what caused the collision. they are now looking over video obtained exclusive i there by nbc news that shows the moment

of impact. here's nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: as an italian tourist on a boat in the hudson practices using his new camera, he zooms in on the sight-seeing helicopter, inadvertently capturing its final motels. the two aircraft plunge into the river. just a few seconds. but perhaps just what investigators need to figure out how two experienced pilots could have crashed on such a beautiful, clear day. >> the key here is whatever took place in the cockpit was enough to distract the pilot and not allow him to see the helicopter as he intercepted its flight path. >> reporter: slowed down frame by frame, the single engine piper in a final turn before clipping the helicopter's rotors. both race to the area, finding no survivors. nine people were killed, including five italian tourists.

their coffins returned home to italy on thursday. a tragic end that left many to question the safety of that busy flight corridor along new york's hudson river. that as late thursday the faa in control of the piper flight was involved in inappropriate phone conversations at the time of the accident and that the supervisor wasn't present in the building. while the faa says there is no reason to believe that contributed to the crash, both have been put on administrative leave as the investigation continues. kristen dahlgren, nbc news. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. a new york woman says dash cam video from january supports her claim that police used unnecessary force. she was hit with a taser twice after arguing with an officer who stopped her for speeding and talking on a cell phone. although he claims she was refusing his commands, charges

of resisting arrest were later dropped. the federal building in los angeles was closed for hours yesterday after its parking lot became the scene of an hour-long standoff. police fired four rounds of chemical agents into the vehicle of a man who allegedly made threatening statements about the white house. eventually they shattered the suspect's window, used a taser on him, and draggeded him out of the blast. a big blast on the campus of louisiana tech university as a water tower came crashing down. officials say it was too expensive to maintain the 75-year-old structure and the easiest solution was simply knocking it over. and back in california, a precious pooch has become the unlikely focus of kont verse ya. the issue, well, animal control actually fined the dog's owner $200 for failing to license it. but there's a problem. as you might be able to see, the so-called dog is actually a

stuffed animal. well, after realizing their mistake, officials retracted a fine and issued an apology for the mixup. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. gosh, how could anyone mistake that? >> i thought there was a punch line. there has to be something else to that story. >> because it looks so real, right? >> something. just something. good morning, everyone. happy friday to you. as we go throughout the day today, the weather will cooperate most areas. southeast, you'll get your typical afternoon showers and storms. it's going to be a beautiful friday in many locations. we're talking the ohio valley, the great lakes, the northeast. much of the mid atlantic will see a really nice period of weather going into the weekend. high pressure is building in. that means it's cooler and also dryer especially in the early morning hours. but it also means full sunshine.

sunglasses needed. that will heat up in the afternoon. the humid air is in the southeast. that's where we will see showers and storms. numerous thunderstorms out here in the gulf, tampa, cedar keys. tallahassee, storms are starting to push towards the coast. appalachia, pensacola, you may get storms later in the day. it will move with the sea breeze over central florida. beautiful today. it's going to be nice. 79 in boston. can't complain about that. sun and clouds mixing in new york, 84. d.c., 86. clear blue skies through the great lakes. starting to feel a little warmer. that's nice nor the summertime. that's a look at your friday forecast. now a look at the weather outside your window. showers and storms, we'll call it coastal virginia. areas around richmond will remain dry. as we go down the coast south carolina, georgia, florida,

numerous showers and storms today. we'll be dry in maine up through michigan. christina, it's friday. that means your weekend forecast is coming up a little later. >> all right. and it certainly can't start soon enough. thanks so much, bill. unemployment nujs higher, sales tick down, and another regional airline is gobbled up. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, if buzz alone translated into sure-firebox office, they would already be crowning this film as the weekend champ. tiger is on the prowl, tom brady makes his return, and michael vick unleashed in philly. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm christina brown. here are some of your top headlines this morning. thousands of firefighters are on the front line battling several wildfires in california.

one is in the santa cruise mountains and has forced 2,400 people to evacuate. it's far from contained and has already burned more than four square miles. in baltimore, olympic gold medal swimmer michael phelps was driving an suv that collided with a car last night. phelps was not hurt. the other driver was shaken up and taken to the hospital. alcohol was not a factor. music legend and guitar inventor has died of complications of few money ya. he performed sw some of the music industry's biggest names and was known as the father of the electric guitar for creating one of the most popular. les paul was 94 years old. in china, a building towering over 300 feet was reduced to rubble yesterday. the demolition marked theened of a building that seemed doomed from the start. construction was never

finisheded on it, leaving it empty for more than a decade. now here's an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens 9,398 after climbing 36 points on thursday. the s&p inched up 6. and the nasdaq added 10 points. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei gained 80 points while in hong kong the hang seng was up 32 points. new economic data dampened the mood on wall street thursday. by the end of the day, the markets rebounded holding onto wednesday's gains. weighing down the trading session, the number of newly unemployed americans rose by 4,000 since last week. the increase in new jobless claims surprised some who were expecting that figure to drop. more disappointing data out thursday showed americans are tightening their purse strings. retail sales figs for july slipped one-tenth of a percent. despite the discouraging

economic reports, markets were able to eek out gains fort day thanks to walmart. shares of the world's largest retailer were up 2.7% on second quarter earnings that beat expectations. and despite reports of dwindling interest, car companies are still crashing in on the clunkers program. thursday, ford said it is ramping up production of the popular focus and escape models to restock depleted showrooms. honda is working its employees overtime on saturdays so it can roll out more civic sedans. on a deal worth $108 million, republic airlines beat out southwest for the denver-based carrier frontier airlines. it puts them in the running to compete with other u.s. major carriers. wall street will be tuned into the retail sector today when consumer sentiment reports are released. and rounding out the retailers to report earnings this week,

department chain j.c. penny and abercrombie and pitch. finally, you may have heard of chocolate covered potato chips, but chocolate covered bacon? he says it's delicious. but on second thought, how can anything dipped in chocolate be that bad anyway. take a guess at who's on top after the opening round of play at the pga. plus, he's back. after 11 months, tom brady takes the field once again for the new england patriots. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. well, we've made it to the end of another summer week. your weekend forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, after weeks of speculation, the philadelphia eagles have decided to roll the dice and give a second chance to troubled quarterback michael vick. here's nbc's bill seward with an early look at all your sports headlines. hi, everybody. michael vick is back in the national football league. former falcons quarterback spent 18 months in prison for running a dogfighting ring. vick has been out of football since 2006 and will back up

mcnabb in philadelphia. vick's new team, eagles, hosting tom brady and the patriots. brady hasn't taken a snap since injuring his knee 11 months ago but looks pretty good in his first start back. one of his two td bunches. brady's bunch beats the eagles, 27-25. rematch of steelers and cardinals. typical preseason game. starter nowhere to be found. undrafted rookie redmond stole the show with two rushing touchdowns for the champs. steel curtain comes down hard on the cardinals. the start of a new era for tony romo and the raiders. no t.o., no problem. he connects with his bff whitten for the score. up 7-3 early. it's not enough. raiders come back to beat them in oakland. browns receiver dante install worth has been suspended without pay for the entire upcoming season by roger goodell after

pleading guilty to dui manslaughter. he struck and killed a pedestrian while driving drunk and recently served a 30-day jail sentence. tiger woods coming off second at the buick and bridgestone. trying to make it three in a row. this will certainly help. draining the long birdie on three. finished 5 under with a stroke lead. shot of the day from bob else advertise. his approach on 6 right on the money. takes a bounce. found the cup. hello. start calling him one-hop bob after that eagle. a 74 is what he shot. he's in a group with phil mickelson 7 back from tiger. that's a look at sports on "early today." i'm bill seward. well, science fiction oro man particular fantasy at the box office this weekend? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, folks across the

country will be eating lobster this weekend but they can only dream of the lobster we're going to show you. you're watching "early today."

thanks for joining us. good friday morning. let's take you right through your weekend forecast. first off, showers and storms along the southeast coast and down here in florida. other areas are looking

fantastic today from the great lakes, tennessee valley, right through the northeast. so saturday more of the same. showers and storms stay to the south. we're looking warmer. almost a little hot in a few areas. 89, 90 in new york city. it's going to be a summer weekend in so many areas. humidity will be up a little bit. even on sunday, most locations are dry. a great weekend to head to the beach or the lake. well, if you're watching nbc 3, syracuse, new york, enjoy comedy, tragedy, romance and the center natural at the thorden park amphitheater shakespeare the tempest. >> thank you, bill. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. last week's number one g.i. joe will get fierce competition. the sci-fi spooker, aliens become refugees in south africa.

it is creating a ton of buzz and should earn $25 million. based on a best-selling novel and targeting women who aren't into sci-fi, the time traveler's wife, starring rachel mcadams, should come in somewhere over 20 million. as for g.i. joe, critics hate it. experts think those who wanted to see it saw it last weekend. a big dropoff is expected. still, it will make $20 million. it won't compete, teens and tweens will still go for the pg-rated comedy, bandslam. it should open around $10 million. the comedy, the goods, live hard, sell hard, is generating very little interest. it's not expected to even break $10 million. gosh, what happens when even $10 million is considered not enough. >> jeremy pivens. why is it so hard for the tv

stars and cable stars to go to the movies? >> maybe if it was a role depicting gold you could get more people. >> he wants to play a different character, though. he gets stuck in these roles that everybody sees you as and that's it. >> i know. too bad, right? this comes from wjar nbc 10 in providence, rhode island, where in nearby bristol, one colossal crustation is really sure to make your mouth water. take a look at big bertha. a mammoth lobster that tips the scale, get this, 12.5 pounds. that means she's probably about 60 years old. good news, she'll likely live much longer. the men that actually caught her are considering holding a charity fund-raiser with the winner getting to release her back into the ocean. good luck, big bertha. i'm christina brun.

you're watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] >> mainly a dry day as high pressure starts to build in and rain over the atlantic. 69 down -- 68 at easton. going up for a high into the 80's. right where we should be for august the 14th.

i have your seven-day forecast coming up. >> all right, sandra, see you in a second. here's a look ahead at what's happening today. >> i'm brooke hart. president obama. will he face wild west showdowns over health care? >> and a car accident involving michael phelps. >> and we're checking on your morning commute. so far this morning, looking pretty good.

>> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. >> we'll get to our big stories in just a moment. first a check on the forecast with sandra shaw. it's friday! >> the good news is, we have nice weather this weekend. dry, partly cloudy, mid 80's. you go to the,