this morning on "early today," signs of hope. battered california firefighters may finally be getting some relief from mother nature. baton beating. dash cam video captures police officers pounding away at a suspect pulled over in texas. and firedp. the daring hit the streets of el salvador, tossing fireballs in a the daring hit the streets of el salvador, tossing fireballs in a decades old tradition. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm christina brown.

today we begin with beating the heat. with the help of cooler temperatures and higher humidity, firefighters made significant progress against the massive wildfire raging near los angeles. still, despite making headway, fire officials warn the fight is still far from over. nbc's jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: this morning begins better than any of the last nine for teams battling the massive station wildfire. >> and we have a substantial increase in containment. we will show today that the fire is currently 22% contained. >> reporter: it's the first time firefighters have been able to establish a foothold here. but their work is still far from over. mother nature does continue to nudge dozens of neighborhoods. at least 10,000 homes are still at risk. >> it is eerie with all the smoke and the ash and the fire personnel out here. it's a weird feeling. >> reporter: the blaze has already scorched more than

130,000 acres and destroyed more than 60 homes or businesses. >> it is massive, this fire. it's staggering. >> reporter: so is the effort from firefighters. in the air and on the ground. 3,600 working the front lines, many of the strike teams now using fire to fight fire. taking away fuel in its path by burning the dried out timber and brush before the flames can get there. >> we're in a boxing match. i think we're even today. so we're not with the upper hand. it's a very big animal out there. >> reporter: and there is still a lot of time in this fight before the final bell. jay gray, nbc news, los angeles. it appears the white house is considering a new health care strategy to take control of a debate that has increasingly slipped out of its grasp. a senior adviser says president obama may deliver a speak as

early as next week to lay out his top priorities in specific detail. it follows a tough month for democrats who really lost footing on the issue with declining public support and senate negotiations mired in grid lock. with flipping approval rating, the white house is weighing, a quote, more prescriptive approach. it is not clear if that will include a thumbs up or thumbs down for the controversial public health insurance option. >> english and scottish officials have released previously confidential documents to stem speculation that the government's push for the release of a convicted terrorist to boost economic ties with libya, particularly in oil profits. it follows a storm of criticism by family members of the victims of the pan am bombing who say the former libyan agent, though dieing of cancer, did not deserve a compassionate release. it comes as libya celebrates the 40th anniversary of the cuop that brought moammar gadhafi to

power. despite peaceful relations now, libya continues to be eyed with suspicion by many in the west. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. in texas, newly released dash cam video shows a brutal police beating as two cooperative suspects are being searched. an officer begins flocking one of them with a stick. the man is struck 13 times. both officers handling that suspect have been indicted for excessive force and face up to a year in prison if convicted. well, a georgia man arrested for driving a stolen truck escaped by stealing another vehicle, this time a squad car. while handcuffed in the cop car, the suspect climbed into the front seat and then drove off. his face was later captured on camera trying to disable the engine while ditching the car. authorities, however, are still searching for that fugitive.

in louisiana, one woman only needed a long dress to walk out with some beer. a store security camera captured the woman apparently tucking the 24-pack between her legs and just strolling out the door. the 42-year-old was arrested for the theft. a loose llama in minnesota took police on a week long chase. authorities tried numerous techniques to reign in the evasive animal, first with a lasso, then a taser, even a tranquilizer. when all of those efforts failed with increasing reports of the llama endangering motorists, the animal unfortunately had to be let down. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. i don't know what's more strange, the rogue llama in minnesota or the suspected beer thief who only needed a long dress. >> you had me going.

all those stories were cute, they're funny. then you had to put the llama in. >> i'm sorry. i didn't mean to do that. >> that's all right. it's wednesday. let's take a look at what's going on in the forecast. we are watching rain out there in northern portions of florida. besides that, we are seeing a beautiful fall, crisp morning. tennessee valley, ohio valley, great lakes, back up through the northeast and mid atlantic, just a very nice weather pattern right now. and it looks like it's going to continue to labor day for many people. let's take a look and show you what we're dealing with in the eastern seaboard. choppy. not a good beach day in south carolina, georgia, east coast of florida. be careful of some rip currents. this front stalled in the vicinity. a weak area of low pressure is going to be moving through. that's really the only trouble some weather. cool in the morning. then the afternoon, with that still strong sun for this time of the year, it should be mild. the radar, umbrella weather for you in daytona beach,

jacksonville, later today tampa and orlando. upper 70s to 80s just about everywhere except for the rain down in florida. that's your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. portland, maine, gorgeous, 75 and sunny. that's a beautiful, beautiful start to september. indianapolis, another top 10 day. philadelphia, nearly perfect. a couple clouds lingering the virginia coast. but we can't complain with 76. christina, turk hi mena is making landfall in the baja of california. stocks tank, auto sales zoom, and how not to get away from your wife. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, madonna wraps up her world tour and unwraps her new video. rangers double up the blue jays, jay hamels slams it,

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. the first space walk of the shuttle "discovery's" mission is being called a success, though it was far from smooth. a moment of concern arose when one astronaut noticed some fraying on his glove, and the other a high reading of carbon dioxide levels. then there was a half-hour communication outage with mission control. fortunately the problems proved to be minor glitches and the astronauts were able to complete their main task, removing a bulky ammonia tank. greek police are trying to figure out who was behind a small bomb blast outside the athens stock exchange. it injured one passer by but also damageded several cars. so far police suspect a greek

far west militant group. michael jackson's death certificate has officially been amended to reflect his cause of death as homicide. specified injection as another fatal injury. they believe the pop star's death was a homicide. one festival in el salvador is straight out of the don't try this at home file. young men recently gathered there to hurl fireballs at each other. it's meant to commemorate a volcanic ee rupgsz in 1922 that forced the town to evacuate. although there were no rules, there were no serious injuries either. now here's an early look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens 9,310 after dipping 185 points on tuesday. the s&p fell 22. and the nasdaq dropped 40 points. tying a look at overseas trading this morning, the nikkei

tumbled 249 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng shot down 350 points. the september can curse continues to haunt wall street tuesday. as stocks tumbled thanks to rumors of another bank sale rattling jittery investors. that's all it took to send markets on a downward spiral. 2% across the board, a correction some had predicted for weeks. 29 of 30 dow stocks were down on the day. walmart was the lone blue chip to eek out a gain. hardest hit, financials. bank of america dropped 6%, citigroup fell 9%. tuesday's phantom fear, a measurement of wall street's fear, sending it up 12%. the institute for supply management's first sign of growth in a year and a half was unable to aleve investors's

anxiety, as well as the highest level of pending home sales in more than two years. investors ignored boosted auto sales for august thanks to the cash for clunkers program. ford suffered a 4% laws despite a double digit monthly sales increase. ebay took a hit after announcing it will sell a share in skype. much of wall street's hopes for a recovery hang on improving job figures, which is why a private employment survey due out will have the market's attention. finally, at his sentencing hearing a pennsylvania man told the judge he robbed the bank to go to jail to get away from his overbearing wife. he got three to six years. adding insult to injury, the couple divorced earlier this year. the rangers rely on the long ball, but the twins settle for a pinch-hit winner. while boston's jacoby ellsbury uses his glove to rob the rays.

your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. well, los angeles continues to struggle with the bad air quality and the heat, the rest of the country still feels like fall. 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, the opener of the series crucial to the a.l. wild card race, the boston red sox drew first blood versus the tampa bay rays. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it was a perfect opportunity for the rays to get back at the a.l. wild card race. but the red sox weren't having it. pick it up in the fourth, tied at one. j.d. drew, 19th of the year. four in the last eight games. red sox up 3-1. added insurance in the fifth. jason bay. it's there, it's gone. bay put the sox up 5-2. solo blast to left. down three. sacks full. jason bartlett. ellsbury came one a sliding grab in center field. red sox win 8-4. rays back six back in the wild card standings. hammil son hit not one but two home runs. second put the rangers up 4-0.

won both games in arlington. three and a half back in the wild card. chicago down 3-1 in the eighth. beckham bended one to left. to the ninth. runners on the corners. two down. morales slapped a walk-off single into the gap. twins won in dramatic fashion, 4-3. ryan howard gave philadelphia the lead with our shot down the line. victorine that trotted home. phils one 1-0 after four. virtually unhittable. looks ready for the postseason. struck out nine. complete game shutout. phils won 1-0. gonzalez feeling a rocky mountain high against the mets. rockies were up 3-2. todd helton followed suit in the fourth. rockies beat the mets, 8-3. moves them one game ahead of the giants for the n.l. wild card. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. lindsay lohan may actually

have a job, just not an acting job. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, hot off the presses and into local hands just one more time. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this wednesday morning. here's an impressive shot from

space, hurricane jimena making landfall in the baja of california. strong category 2. thankfully this is a rural area and there won't be too much in the way of devastation and destruction. here's your forecast for wednesday. showers and storms, orlando, jacksonville, tampa to miami. but the rest of the eastern half of the nation is looking really nice from chicago to boston. enjoy a sunny, beautiful day. well, if you're watching wvit nbc 30 in gorgeous hartford, connecticut, examine the moon's ancient craters, venture into black holes, and catch glimpses of blazing supernovas at the exploring space exhibit. that's your eastern event of the day, christina. >> all right. thanks, bill. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in enter tramt. when whitney houston does a morning show, it has to be recorded in the afternoon. the comeback singer is not an

early person so she asked nbc to tape her performance in the afternoon. people who saw it say she had some trouble hitting some of those high notes. long out of work actress lindsay lohan was reportedly refused offers for years is considering a $900,000 offer to pose in playboy. msnbc.com the scoop reports five months into their relationship and it appears kate hudson has moved in with alec rodriguez. she's living at his new york apartment even when the team is on the road. finally, madonna is wrapping up her worldwide sticky and sweet tour in tel aviv, playing to 50,000 last night in her first appearance in israel in 16 years. meanwhile, her latest video debuted online yesterday. get this. it features a cameo appearance of her daughter lourdes and the 51-year-old singer making out with her rumored 20-something

boyfriend, jesus. well, this comes to us from ksnw nbc 3 in wichita, kansas, where in nearby emporia, in a scene becoming all too common around the nation, it was the end of an era for one small town paper. the emporia gazette has been published in house for 114 years but yesterday it rolled for the last time. to cut costs, printing will be outsourced to a nearby city. so while the daily hum of the press machine will certainly be missed, at least the paper will continue hitting news stands. well, that's what's important. >> and actually, i lived in topeka for a little bit of my life and read that paper. i've actually seen it. i'm glad they're continuing it at leave. >> yes. that certainly is the good news. well, i'm christina brown. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> of a string of weather continues. we will see mostly sunny skies today. there is a dry patch over the atlantic. comparable conditions. 75 is the forecast high today. howevea: trend scott this mornid yesterday morning. -- a cooler trended dow this mo,

compared to yesterday morning. by the weekend, we will be in the low 80's. stay tuned for details coming up. >>, we will see you in a bid. here is a look ahead to 11 news today. >> president obama weighs in on how to fight the flu. in washington, we will have the story next. >> we are tracking an early morning accident in howard county. county. a water main

♪ [ woman ] ♪ early light breaks through ♪ music and dance calling you ♪ just need that@ mountain grown lift ♪ ♪ before you share your gift ♪ ♪ now there's rhythm and sound ♪ making their hearts pound ♪ the best part of wakin' up... ♪ ♪ is folgers in your cup that's why i got them pillsbury toaster strudel. warm, flaky, pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love.

plus i get two bonus box tops for their school. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. so i always have totino's pizza rolls. big pizza taste in a bite size roll that my kids can't resist. plus i get two bonus box tops for their school. totino's pizza rolls. the pizza way to snack. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good morning. >> thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> we will get to cover big story in just a minute. let's take a look at the forecast fi w