this morning on "early today" -- cyber swindle. three men are indicted in what the justice department calls the biggest case of hacking and identity theft in u.s. history. brute force. disturbing police dash cam video in minneapolis prompts a federal investigation. and contaminated currency. you won't believe what researchers found on up to 90% of u.s. paper money. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for tuesday, aun 18th, 2009. good morning, i'm dan kloeffler. today we begin with a credit

caper. it is being called the largest case of cyber crime prosecuted in u.s. history. 130 million credit and debit cards stolen over a two-year period. according to police, it was all master-minded by a one-time government innorchlant. 28-year-old albert gonzalez, along with two unnamed accomplices hacked into the databases to steal private customer information. that data was allegedly sold online. gonzalez is already charged in another credit cyber crime and has been in federal custody since 2008. although it was years ago, he cut a deal with the secret service to track down fellow hackers. prosecutors say he returned to that criminal activity, spear-heading that latest online crime spree. after nearly 20 years in a georgia prison, a death row inmate could be given a new day in court. that's after a rare intervention by the u.s. supreme court.

in an unusual move, the high court interrupted its summer recess to order a new hearing into the case of troy anthony davis. davis was convicted of killing an off-duty police officer in 1989. davis' attorneys say new evidence could prove he was misidentified as the killer. the supreme court's intervention now just the latest twist in this high-profile case. it's been mentioned by former president jimmy carter and pope benedict and used as a rallying cry for death row opponents. new developments kreeszing the numerous legal ramifications left in the wake of the untimely death of singer michael jackson. as leanne gregg reports, one issue dealt with the sale of products in the singer's image and another involved the more serious questions of how the pop icon died. >> reporter: this attorney, representing the pop star's mother, said she might file a

wrongful death lawsuit because of the circumstances surrounding her son's demise. one possible defendant, dr. conrad murray, the singer's personal physician. >> dr. murray's name has been floated because he is under criminal investigation. >> reporter: that investigation focused on the possibility murray may have improperly given jackson a powerful anesthetic, usually only administered in a hospital. police are also looking into actions of other doctors and the role prescription drugs may have played in his death. in a development relating to the estate, a judge on monday approved a deal between the c co-executors of the will and a marketing group in charge of his image. the judge heard objections from katherine jackson's attorney about objections of the exhibit. >> there may be allegations of

the money we have lost because of the delay of ms. jackson's allegations. >> reporter: earlier this year the judge approved a deal between jackson's estate and aeg entertainment for concert footage, a deal expected to generate millions of dollars for the state. >> here is a look at other stories making news early today in america. the fbi will investigate the videotaped beating of a minneapolis man by several police officers. one officer is seen tackling this driver he pulled over after that man stood up to take out his wallet. backup officers arrived and punched and kicked and tasered that subdued man. the police chief said the initial officer acted appropriately, but he has concerns about the way the other officers behaved. california residents stumbled upon a shocking surprise in his backyard. an 11-foot python made its way on to the property and couldn't

find its way home. it took four animal control officers to handle this 50-pound snake. police believe that wayward python is an escaped pet. let's hope so. elsewhere in california, sticker shock for auctiongoers. a vintage ferarri hauling in more than $5 million. the winner bidder of the 1962 of course always remains anonymous. in one town in nebraska, every dog had its day. a possible pool opened its gates to four-legged friends looking to cool off. it drew 70 dogs eager for a summer dog. and the annual cardboard boat races were held on hastings lake. most of the boats qualifying for one trophy, the most spectacular sinking award. always wear your life vest and

double-sided tape. now for a look at the national and regional weather, here's rafael. good morning. >> good morning, dan. we are still watching the tropics on this tuesday. hurricane bill the big story. ana has diminished over the caribbean and claudette is no more. all eyes on bill. the forecast takes the storm to the northwest over the next few days. bermuda will be watching out for this one. not looking for direct impact in the united states. mainly looking for rough seas over the weekend. as we get closer to home, the satellite quiet across the east for the time being. high dew points mean it's going to be a muggy day east of the mississippi. you can see things generally quiet in the northeast. a front draped across the gulf. that will spell storms later this afternoon. it is a muggy morning in new york city, 76 already. in boston, another hot afternoon.

the heat continues in the big cities in the northeast. heat indices and warnings in effect for the northeast. now for your local weather. going for the heat once again in concord, new hampshire. 95 degrees, steamy there. the same for atlantic city, 92. watch out for storms around the great lakes and around cincinnati, ohio and tampa, florida. temperatures in the 90s. back to you, dan. >> all right. hot here in the northeast. >> oh, yeah. >> again. >> again. >> air conditioning. >> it's all good. we shouldn't be surprised about this. september, october, we'll come knocking on your door though. >> i'll be ready. >> asia rattles wall street and low expectations rattles lowe's. your early morning business headlines straight ahead. plus, is brad pitt being brought in by producers to rescue the new sherlock holmes

movie? >> the yankees look to stay hot and a wild finish you have to see to believe from the nfl. you're watching "early today."

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good morning. welcome back to "early today," everyone. i'm dan kloeffler. here are some of your top headlines this morning. anti-war activists at the university of california-berkeley are calling for the firing of law professor john yu. the former bush administration official cowrote legal memos that critics say were used to justify the torture of suspected terrorists. the highest-ranking criminal judge in texas is on trial facing allegations of professional misconduct. all for refusing to hear a last-minute appeal from a prisoner on death row. according to reports, an appeal was headed for judge sharon keller's office near closing time, but she refused to stay late. that prisoner was put to death that same evening. journalism, dangerous work

perform that's if you ask one cameraman in taiwan. he was covering last week's typhoon when he was swept away by strong currents. fortunately, nearby locals were able to catch him and get him back safely on his feet and someone else caught the video. new research finds traces of cocaine our present on up to 90% of paper money in the u.s. that's the highest rate among five countries studied. that's up 20% from a similar study done just two years ago. researchers are speculating the stunning increase may be because of an increase in drug use following the global economic downturn. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off. the dow opens at 9,135. the s&p lost 2004. the nasdaq fell 54 points. looking at overseas trading. in tokyo, the nikkei up 56

points. the hang seng jumped 168 points. wall street will be taking its cue from overseas markets after a widespread sell-off yesterday in asia. in it rolled like a tsunami in american markets. stocks suffered their worst lock in seven weeks. japan showing that nation's economy out of recession but growing at a slower pace than expected and it's hurting hopes here. also driving stocks down, lowe's. its third quarter earnings below expansions. that killed some of the optimism from investors and lowe's stock dropped a whopping 10%. the mood was cautious among asian markets today, among fear that asia's economy may be stalling. the hang seng at one point following to a two-year low.

this monday, the u.s. government is trip ling the work force to get through the backlog of cash for clunkers vouchers. people will go to work pumping out repayments owed to dealers across the country. retailers may get a boost from the national federation retail report. the study found the average american family has just started that back to school shopping. the majority though of those purchases still yet to be made. data on housing starts comes out this morning. yesterday, investors learned u.s. home builders sentiment in august rose to its highest level in over a year. adding to evidence that the housing market is leveling out. a cross-section of retailers including home depot, target, all set to report their earnings today. here is a shocker, tongue in cheek. a market company found that of six possible categories in news,

spasm and pass-along value, 40% of tweets are pointless babble. if you're tired and hungry, you're just a statistic. plus, whatever it might not have, preseason football still his quirky plays. your early morning sports headlines straight ahead. >> still sizzling in the northeast. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the san francisco giants were anything but sympathetic last night against the injury-riddled new york mets. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. it is often said injuries are part of the game. what the mets are going through is unexplainable. new york, with four stars on the dl, including david wright, after getting hit in the head on saturday. they pummeled new york, 10-1. to los angeles, big match-up, cards and dodgers. fourth inning, pujols sent that

into the left field stands. st. louis won it 3-2. texas sits atop the a.l. wildcard after the rangers beat the twins. two-run score. texas won 8-5. yanks visiting the a's. doing all their damage in the fourth. capped a three-run inning with a double. the yanks suffer the second lost in seven games. oakland won it, 3-0. how about this? with the college football season set to kick off in less than a month, syracuse named greg paulus as their starting quarterback. he hasn't played football since high school. the giants and panthers preseason. carolina's fourth string quarterback cantwell setting up for the hail mary, but the prayer is answered for the other team. there he goes. 18 yards as time expired. it may be the preseason, but no doubt a bizarre finish.

giants won it 24-17. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred rogue in. >> when is a hollywood couple not separated but not together? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, what possible cosmic forces could make teens and teachers voluntarily show up for school in the summer? you're watching "early today."

hello. welcome back to "early today." we're still tracking hurricane bill way out in the eastern atlantic. thousands of miles away from the u.s. current stats show the winds up to 100 miles per hour, gusting at 121. a powerful storm. this storm has the potential to be a major hurricane. we'll watch it closely over the weekend. for today, heat is the big story in the northeast. 94 in boston. 92 in new york city. we're adding in the humidity as well. watch out for some strong thunderstorms all the way from the great lakes down to the gulf coast. 89 degrees with storms in miami. if you're watching us on wcmh, numbers-4 in columbus, ohio, posters and artifacts celebrating the history of the circus at the columbus historical society's art of the circus exhibit. that's your eastern event of the day. dan? >> thank you very much, sir. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. this morning, at least two former friends are dying to get

back together. lisa kudrow is lobbying to guest on courtney cox's new show. she thinks the show about older women chasing younger lovers will be a hit. she said i saw the pilot and courtney is fantastic. in a stranger casting call, jennifer aniston will be singing in her next movie about a 1940s prison country group. producers of guy ritchie's new sherlock homes film have been furiously denying brad pitt has been hired to rescue the film. british table likewise say the film is a dud. perez hilton reporting that people are in talks with robert downey jr. to replace tom cruise as le stat in interview with a vampire. robert wright penn said she

and sean penn are no longer seeking official separation but the couple will not get back together. working out differences. he took time off from some movies. >> looks like they tried but no luck. >> we don't know that for certain. but at this point, you're right. it would seem as if they would lean that way. this comes to us from wkkl, iowa's news channel in waterloo, where students and teachers went to school for a day in the summer with a smile on their faces. a massive twist demolished their school last summer. since then, students and teachers met together to restore it. eager volunteers happy to trade november a day of freedom to get their new digs set up. 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-- >> good morning. we will start off with a very humid day outside. clear skies for now. we may have a chance for some heavy rain developing late in the afternoon. the sticking look outside at the cloud cover. a few clouds out right now. there is a line of clouds out towards the great lakes. it will be coming close to us -- this front that is. 72 degrees in philadelphia. temperatures in the mid 70's. it will get warmer as we reach lunchtime.

the seven-day forecast is up in just a little bit. >> here is a look at 11 news today. >> weekend violence at the inner harbor has some concern about the long-term effects on tourism. >> in washington, democrats tried to determine what reform should look like. i will have that story coming up. >> we are dealing with a serious accident. we will have th

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>> good morning. >> thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> let's get a job of the forecast. >> good morning. it is going to be very sticky