the first lady and others lobby to bring the 2016 olympics to chicago. seeing red, china celebrates 60 years of communist rule while a commemoration here at home sparks controversy. and fighting words -- tempers flair at a city council and fighting words -- tempers flair at a city council meeting in the romanian capital. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is is "early today" for thursday, october 1st, 2009. hello and good morning. i'm christina brown. today we begin with the final countdown. there's just one day left before the international olympic committee decides which city will host the 2016 olympics. will it be chicago, madrid, rio or tokyo? chicago native first lady michelle obama and oprah winfrey are just a few of the heavy hitters already in copenhagen with the biggest of big names headed there today to lend their support to the u.s. bid.

for more on that, nbc's kristen dal again reports live from chicago. good morning, kristen. >> reporter: hey there, good morning christina. talk about a dream team. chicago is pulling out all the stops to try to win the olympics in 2016. as you mentioned first lady michelle obama already over in copenhagen. she's been there about a day, shaking hands, meeting with people. she is joined by the queen of talk, oprah winfrey, along with a host of olympians over there, including names like nadia comen neech, nastia liukin, michael johnson, trying to tell the international olympic committee why chicago could win the games. the big gun gets there tonight, president obama is actually going to be there making a personal pitch. he'll only be on the ground about four hours but a lot of experts say that could put chicago over the top. of course, not everybody happy about the presidential involvement. republican lawmakers quick to criticize, but here in chicago they are excited, they are

getting ready to watch that decision live as it happens tomorrow between 11:30 and noon central. christina. >> thanks so much. kristen dahlgren joining us live from chicago this morning. there is celebration of extraordinary size and spectacle going on this morning in china, as the world's most populace country marks the 60th anniversary of communist rule. the massive display aims to highlight not only the country's economic emergence but also its military muscle. thousands of troops joined a caravan of tanks and nuclear capable missiles in a march through beijing. fighter jets, streamed by overhead. also on display were at least 100,000 civilians who passed through tiananmen square, which is where the government staged a deadly crackdown on pro democracy demonstrators two decades ago. that anniversary is also being marked here in the united states, but not without its controversy.

protesters are blasting officials at new york city's empire state building for shining red and yellow lights from the top of the very familiar landmark. although the skyscraper often marks events with custom lighting, critics say this tribute offers support for a brutal communist chinese government with a poor human rights record. the building's management however says it, quote, celebrates many cultures and causes in the world. well, thousands of people are believed to be trapped in rubble following a pair of indonesian earthquakes. the latest was just this morning. today's 6.8 magnitude quake struck about 150 miles from the epicenter of yesterday's disaster which killed at least 467 people. a huge swath of western indonesia was devastated with entire villages destroyed. at least 200 bodies were found in one coastal town alone. meanwhile, the death toll from an earthquake triggered tsunami

in the samoaen islands now stands at 149. officials say that figure is expected to rise. much depends on the search and recovery efforts which are being spearheaded by u.s. federal officials. they're sending medicine, food and water to the survivors. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. the coast guard is getting some very well-deserved praise this morning for coming to the aid of a submarine crewman off the coast of washington. officials say the crew member actually fell ill forcing the navy to call for help. fortunately a helicopter crew was able to quickly get that sailor off the suband into a nearby hospital. a traffic stop in arizona turned into a surprise drug bust when a secret compartment was discovered on a flatbed truck. take a look at their find. authorities credit their canine for sniffing out almost 350 pounds of marijuana hidden among dryer sheets to mask the smell.

officials estimate the street value is more than $200,000. a ski resort in california is making snow extra early this year, thanks to a rare burst of cold weather. temperatures were in the mid to high 30s allowing staff to fire up their snow machines. the resort says it sets the record for their earliest snow-making effort. a florida coffee shop is brewing up quite the buzz by selling what it claims is the rarest coffee in the world. now you're not going to believe this. the so-called cat poo coffee is made from beans that are eaten and then expelled by indonesian feline. yes, expelled. coffee connoisseurs describe the flavor as chocolatey with a strong aftertaste and for that, customers pay about 10 bucks a cup. now for a look at your national and regional weather. here's meteorologist ginger zee from wmaq chicago with today's forecast. good morning, beginninger. >> good morning, christine and

good morning, everyone. we begin this forecast and quickly have to look off to our west because this is a big weather maker and it is charging towards chicago. we've got strong storms moving through the upper great lakes, parts of the midwest and we'll be tracking those for you. as far as the east coast goes we're going to have one more day of sunshine here in the southeast and one more day of very fall-like weather here in the northeast. so that's what you have to deal with. again, that strong storm, that will be moving towards chicago and eventually bring rain for the weekend here in the northeast and southeast. a high pressure system has been keeping us okay for now. we're starting the morning in the mid 40s in the center, but we'll have sunshine and a nice day again in atlanta. that's a look at your regional forecast. let's get a check a little closer to home. providence, rhode island, we have a high today of 63 with a mostly or partly cloudy sky depending on the day or the hour, of course. more sunshine, though, charlotte, they'll end up in the mid 70s.

and that is a look at your thursday forecast. christina. >> thanks so much, ginger. the saturn brand dies, cisco buys norwegian and who makes the most in the business world? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus they have never done anything but be nasty to each other on tv and you will not believe how much they make for it. the phillies do it again, the tigers give detroit something to cheer about and what's got noon the dodgers? you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm christina brown. here are your top headlines this morning. in the wake of the senate's vote not to kill $2.5 billion for new c-17 cargo jets senator john mccain is challenging

the president to face what he calls a, quote, defining moment in the obama presidency. both mccain and president obama oppose funding for those planes. mccain claims if the president does not veto the bill funding the planes, it will be a sign to lobbyists that he can be steamrolled. new numbers from the government show that in 16 states, drug overdose has now killed more than -- actually drug overdoses now kill more people than car crashes. now, part of that trend is due to a jump in the use of prescription painkillers. cocaine and heroin are still significant killers, but most of the increases is attributed to prescription opiates such as oxy cotton and vicodin. in romania, a pair of politicians upset over a plan being presented at a council meeting, got into a scuffle with security forces. they were told to leave, but then when they didn't, security actually tossed them from the room. and now here's an early look

at how wall street will kickoff the day. the dow opens at 9,712 after dropping 29 points on wednesday. the s&p fell 3 and the nasdaq lost 1 point. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei dipped 154 points while in hong kong the hang seng shed 57 points. right now, things are so tough for the struggling automaker gm, the company couldn't even successfully pull off a deal to sell and save its saturn brand. once billed as a different kind of car company, saturn now appears as dead as the former gm staples pontiac and olds mobile. saturn dealers were stunned wednesday when promising talks between gm and former race car driver and auto exec roger pen ski suddenly ended sealing saturn's fate. as many as 13,000 jobs may be lost and news that pen ski had unexpectedly backed out of the

deal to buy saturn sent the automotive group's share skidding nearly 9% in afterhours trading. more after the bell drama unfolded wednesday when bank of america announced the resignation of its chief executive ken lewis. uncertainty over who will take the reigns at the nation's largest bank didn't deter investors who sent its shares 1% higher in late trading. despite ending the day lower the dow managed to log its biggest quarterly gain since 1998. following data coming out showing an unexpected drop in midwest business activity. cit group was one of the day's biggest losers. shares of the commercial lender spiraled down 45% on worries it could be forced into bankruptcy. the nasdaq's losses were beau whiched which cisco which notched a 1% share rise wednesday. and watch cisco again today after the company announced a $3 billion acquisition of a norwegian video communications

company. finally, it's that time of year again, forbes has released its list of the 400 wealthiest americans and although the names in the top ten are the same, their bank accounts are considerably smaller. in the top slot, once again is bill gates whose net worth of $50 billion is down $7 billion. gates' billionaire buddy warren buffett ranked a close second with $40 billion in the bank, even though his bottom line shrunk the most shedding $20 billion. 25-year-old facebook founder mark suckerburg is the youngest on the list, he's worth $2 billion. well the phillies clench, the tigers inch closer and the rockies stand their ground. plus, with the dodgers seemingly unable to finish the deal, baseball in tinseltown is starting to look more like a disaster movie. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

it will be a relatively quiet day through most of the east. just a little cooler in new england. your regional forecast is coming up and you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports no doubt about it, right now, it is a good time to

be a phillies fan. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it was just a matter of time before the defending champs clenched the nl east and that time was last night. against the astros raul ibanez grounded into a fielder's choice. i don't think the astros chose to do that. past second into centerfield allowed chase utley to trot home and tie the game at three. phillies running with it. ibanez smashed his 34 homer of the year into the cheap seats into the second deck and the phils up 10-3. brad lidge out of the game with two down in the ninth and received a standing ovation, got lance berkman to ground out. phillies won it 10-3 their third straight division title. tigers added to their lead in the al central with another win over the twins. ramon santiago capped a four-run inning with a bloop double that scored a pair. detroit was up 4-2 after two. ordonez broke the game wide open in the fifth with a double of his own and scored three. tigers won it 7-2 and have a three game lead over the twins with four games remaining. to say the dodgers are struggling would be an understatement.

kevin kuz man nauf put the padres up 4-0 with a home run in the third. dodgers had just one hit and lost 5-0. their magic number remains at one after dropping their fourth straight. dodgers continue to lose and the rockies just keep on winning. against the brewers, helton belted a two-run homer into the colorado night and the rockies up 4-2. gonzalez took a turn, now you see it and now you don't and that left the yard in a hurry. the rockies won it 10-6 and have a four game lead on atlanta in the wild card and get this, just 2 1/2 behind the dodgers in the west. colorado plays a three-game set in l.a. this weekend to close out the season. >> new touch of gray lets you keep some gray hair. touch of gray for the generation that swore it would never get old. as if the mets season couldn't get worse, up 4-3 in the ninth, against the loney nationals, francisco rodriguez gave up a grand slam, walk-off home run tos you tin mentionwell. bring out the brooms, the nationals swept the mets for the first time in washington and won in dramatic fashion 7-4. that's your early look at sports

on "early today." i'm fred roggin. have you ever heard why george w. bush refused to honor harry potter author j.k. rowling? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus a 7-year-old teaches us all a little bit about civic involvement as well as a little about duck safety. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." i'm meteorologist ginger zee. we're beginning with a strong storm out in parts of the plains and great lakes heading towards chicago. if you're on the east coast you're saying what does that mean to me? it means your sunshine in charlotte with a high of 75 today and new york 65. for the weekend, means rain for almost all of pus. so we'll have to be tracking that storm. but for now, we are tracking our eastern event of the day and if you're watching us on wxia 11 alive in atlanta experience the civil war through the eyes of the soldiers and civilians at turning point the american civil war exhibit at the atlanta history center. that is your eastern event of the day. christina? >> thanks, ginger. here's an early look this morning's headlines in entertainment. if the selfish emptiness of many television reality stars drives you nuts then you're really not going to want to know how much they make. heidi montag from mtv's "the hills" $100,000 an episode. whether or not he's her real

husband spencer pratt only earns $65,000 on "the hills." all the various real "housewives" they reportedly make $30,000 an episode. donald trump, $100,000 on "the apprentice" and jon and kate from "jon and kate plus 8," $75,000 an episode. jes ska alba has been cast as a troublemaker in the upcoming third movie about a "the fockers." ben stiller, robert de niro and owen wilson are reported on board for "the little fockers." j.k. rowling probably won't lose too much sleep over it but former president george bush did not like her because he believed harry potter books encouraged witchcraft. e-on-line reports that former president refused to honor rowling with a presidential medal of freedom because of it. well, this comes to us from wdiv local 4 in detroit, where in nearby westland a 7-year-old girl is proving persistence

really does pay off. little jessica was worried about a family of ducks living near a roadside marsh she thought were too close to traffic so she lobbied her city council and before long crews went to work putting up crossing signs. now the second grader rightly says she feels a huge sense of accomplishment. i'm christina brown, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station.

>> top of this thursday morning

to you. october 1. it is going to be a gorgeous start to the month. nothing really happening right now over the state. it will be a dry day to day as high pressure builds in from the west in gives as a nice cool, crisp autumn feel to the air. 45 in easton. 48 on the lower eastern shore. the forecast is mostly sunny. we are looking pretty good. we are still below normal. details are coming up. >> here is a look ahead to 11 news today. >> some new driving laws go into effect today. details of straight ahead. >> in washington, in geneva switzerland today, negotiators from six nations confront i ran over their nuclear program. libby corp.?

that story is coming up. >> we are looking at your morning commute. so far so good

♪ they make little hearts happy... ...and big hearts happy too. because as part of a heart healthy diet,... ...those delicious oats in cheerios can help naturally lower cholesterol. (cheerios spilling) cheerios. how can something so little...

...help you do something so big. [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. but a check on the forecast with sandra schaub. >> it is the first day of october, and we will feel like it. some showers. enjoy the dry conditions today. mostly sunny skies. 49 at the airport. with abundant sunshine today, 65-68. the normal hi