this morning on "early today," tea time? mainstream republicans feel the primary pinch from tea party candidates. elder care outrage, disturbing video shows a 91-year-old woman boeing abused by her caregiver. and coach crunch, controversial new airline seats aimed at putting a squeeze on controversial new airline seats aimed at putting a squeeze on passengers. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a tea party takeover. across the country, the votes are in from a string of primary races, providing a dmrims of what's to come in the midterm elections. and in a surprise twist last night, the gop establishment was once again upended by the tea party. dan shinaman reports. >> reporter: a stunning victory in delaware. christine o'donnell defeating moderate republican mike castle, who until recently had been considered a shoo-in. >> we're in this to win. and we're in this to win big. >> reporter: o'donnell, a media consultant, will run for the senate seat held for 36 years by vice president joe biden. castle, who had run positive campaigns for decade went

negative saying o'donnell can't we know in november. >> the last several weeks have been spirited, shall we say. and the voters in the republican primary have spoken and i respect that decision. >> reporter: and in new york's gubernatorial race, another upset with carl paladino defeating rick lazio. >> all andrew offers us is startus cuomo. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> reporter: also in new york despiting facing voters for the first time fais while facing ethics charges, charles rangel had an easy win. nbc news. >> one result is still spending.

that the new hampshire primary. preliminary results show kelly ayotte is ahead of ovide lamontagne the. sarah shourd is free after spending a year in an iranian prison. but the story is not over. two other american hikers still face espionage charges. >> reporter: it was a happy ending tonight for sarah shourd, released from an iranian prison and flown immediately to oman, who put up the $500,000 that iran was demanding for her bail according to some reports. >> on behalf of myself and my family, if anything, i'm standing here today because of the efforts of many people and many governments. >> reporter: she was reunited there with her mother, nora, who with the other two mowers had

been lobbying and begging for the release of their children, saying that they had simply wandered across the border, an unmarked border in iran from iraq and that they were certainly not spies. but the prosecutor has announced that not only are there charges of espionage against the two men, the two male hikers, shane baure and 28-year-old josh pa fattal, that these two men will face charges & of oespinage. a caregiver in new jersey was seen on tape allegedly abusing her 91-year-old patient. a children of the victim set up a camera when they saw bruises.

and louisiana, new videotape was released of a hit and run driver whose offense was caught on walmart security camera. now, the driver approaches a crosswalk and mows down a 60-year-old woman who bravely pushes her daughter out of the way. moments later, another person is clipped. the 60-year-old is in the hospital with severe injury and the car has been found abandon. a california woman got a scare when a 3-feet snake coiled around a pole in the wall. bit him while he slept. the snake has been removed. a diver hauled in a monstrous catch, a 9 pound, 2 foot long lobster. the diver says he wrestle the

colossal crustacean for about 20 minutes. he estimates there are about five moundz pounds of meat in the tail alone. bill, any idea what he cooked up with that lobster? >> you have to go with the corn and the coleslaw. >> close, close. actually, made some lobster enchilladas. >> wow. >> baked potato, maybe. when you have five pounds of lobster, you have to think of something pretty big to make. >> share it. >> share it with the staff over here. lynn, i've got a lot to talk about in the weather. yesterday at this time, we didn't even have a storm named karl. and it's going to make landfall down here today in mexico and belize. this storm has been rapidly forming and really getting its

act together in the last 24 hours. now, we have two other storms, hurricane igor and hurricane julia. thankfully, neither of these two is going to affect, really, any major land area. we still have our eyes on better mood ya with igor as we head towards the upcoming weekend. a lot of these large waves will arrive on the east coast as we go throughout this upcoming weekend. the forecast here in the lower 48, east coast looks great today. showers and thunderstorms in the midwest, especially from kansas city up through minneapolis. the rest of the country looks nice, but a little hot in the deep south. that's a look at your wednesday forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. thunderstorms as i mentioned around kansas city today, could locally have 2 to 3 inches of rain. minneapolis, cooler. for you, a little rain mixed in with maybe some breaks every now and then. temperatures there, much cooler in the 60s and 70s.

let's take a look at that thursday forecast and that heavy rain, lynn. it's going to move from the midwest towards the great lakes. >> all right, bill, thank you. stocks stumble. japan propped up the yen. and you won't believe who's going green. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, lady gaga, the lobbyist? flexing the power of twitter. reggie bush makes the biggest return of his career and the yanks and the rays need extra innings, again. you're watching "early today."

good mortgages morning. welcome back to "early today." france is one step closer to banning women from wearing a burka in public. after the senate overwhelmingly approved yesterday. it will go into effect next spring setting a range of fines

for women including tourists who wear the full facial veil. one of 33 miners trapped underneath the ground in chile has a reason to celebrate this morning. his wife gave birth yesterday to a baby girl means esperanza, a spanish word meaning hope. if you thought airline seats couldn't get more uncomfortable, this week, an italian can the company unveiled a seat with as much surface area as a bar stool. some call it akin to riding horseback. what's next, right? let's get a check off how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,526 after dropping 17 points yesterday. the s&p was down a fraction and the nasdaq edged up 4. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei add 217 points. the hang seng gained 29.

stocks gave up their gains just before the closing bell yesterday as skittish investors worried about the health of the global economy. fresh reports of waning confidence among german investors coupled with stalled industrial production in some european countries weighed on investors' minds. that made so-called safe betts like gold a hot commodity. the precious metal traded at a record high above $1,276 an ounce. overseas, japanese officials stepped in to stabilize the country's volatile currency for the first time in six years to help keep its export-driven economy in effect. so far, the move has pushed the yen sharply lower and stocks sharply higher. back on wall street yesterday, news that retail sales picked up at their fastest pace in six months buoyed stocks for the rest of the day. massey's added 3% while jcpenney

added 7%. meanwhile, best buy raised its full year forecast and blew past earnings estimates thanks to strong mobile phone sales. good news for owners of cisco stocks, the number one network gearmaker says it will start paying out a 1% to 2% dividend to shareholders by july of next year. millions of jp morgan chase customers weren't able to access their accounts online or on the go yesterday. however, the bank fixed what it called a restorative issue. going green is here to stay. italian officials seized mafia linked assets worth $1.2 billion on tuesday, the biggest mob haul ever. the record windfall came from the crime group's newest scheme, laundering money through alternative energy companies. apparently not always good to go green. reggie returns a trophy.

the angels get focgophered and clubhouse hits the field. defense takes center stage as the yankees and rays battle for first place. today's travel trouble spot is kansas city to minneapolis with heavy rain.

my commute home to the eastern shore every night only takes an hour but that's more time than congress spends reading massive spending bills, it's crazy.

that's why i wrote a law that requires 72 hours to read every bill. i read the big bills and i said no. no to the $3 trillion budget, no to the bank bailout, and no to the health care bill. at home you would never pay a bill without reading it neither should congress. i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message because i'm proud to be ranked one of the most independent members of congress.

good morning. 23 you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, former university of southern california running back reggie bush has become the first person ever to forfeit the most prestigious trophy in all of college sports. good morning. after a week of rumors that the heisman trophy might strip reggie bush of his heisman trophy, he beat them to the punch. he gave back the trophy. reggie bush calls the decision heartbreaking. the heisman trust has yesterday to decide if they'll give the trophy to vince young. willie aybar changed that with a home run.

curtis granderson on his horse, terrific grabbing dive in the ninth and kept it tied at seven. jorge posada gave the yanks the lead. 7-6. duncan hit two home runs against the angels, indians won it. joe inglett with a shot up the middle. norris those it down with and makes the play at first. another nice defensive play, ryan howard, a line drive to right. uglis threw out howard before he collided with sanchez. luckily, they were both okay. phils won it, 3-2. finally, a stumble and fall while running out of the dugout. that's embarrassing. the teammates had some fun with it, made an outline where he

took the spill. it's not too often that you get to look at your own chalk outlines. orioless shot down the blue jays, 7-3. another problem star is headed to jail for bad driving behavior. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, the leader of the free world gives a pep talk to our future leader, kids returning to school. you're watching "early today."

well, welcome back. let me quickly tell you, everyone that needs the umbrella, who needs to head out the door with it today? from kansas city northward of minneapolis, that's where the heavy rain is going to be today. by the 48 hour forecast, this includes tomorrow, too, rainfall will be moving through the great lakes and northern new england. today is beautiful up and down the eastern seaboard and it's going to be the same as we go into thursday in most areas from texas to florida, really nice. just an increase in clouds up there in the mid-atlantic. but dry. if you're watching us on wgba 26, green bay, wisconsin, which came first, the egg or the dinosaur? find the answer at hatching the past, dinosaur eggs and babies. that's at the neville public museum. it seems obvious, a dinosaur has

to have an egg, right? >> yeah. but we'll let them go and find out the answer. >> i don't want to ruin it for everyone. >> way to be a downer, bill. celebrities in england don't get the hollywood treatment whit comes to repeat dui offenses. 47-year-old pop star george mike i can't tellal was sentenced to eight weeks in jail after admitting he drove under the influence of marijuana. the judge made it clear jail was inevitable following a similar conviction in 2006. michael was slashed with a five-year driving ban and a fine of nearly $2,000. following months of repeated denials, penelope cruz's agent announced that she is 4 1/2 months pregnant. finally, lady gaga knows the power of twitter. the most followed twitter user with almost 6 million followers, she tweeted yesterday for fans

to get in touch with senator harry reid and schedule a vote to repeal the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. reid quickly responded that a vote had been scheduled for next week. welcome to 2010. >> i haven't started my twitter account yet and i wondered if you would be my first follower, maybe my only one. >> sure. would you be my follower? i only have a few and would have been tweeting for a while. and this comes to us from philadelphia where one group of kids going back to school was made even more exciting by a pep talk from high up. president obama talked to students at philadelphia's masterman school receiving a rock star's welcome with standing ovation and did he havening spring. the if the president shared comical and inspiring schools from his own high school years. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first

stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today in hd. >> good morning, everyone. we are off to a cool start on this wednesday morning. the temperatures are in the low to mid 50's. 52 in frederick are now. 56 at the airport. mostly sunny skies today. it will be nice and milder this afternoon with highs around 80. we will check the seven-day forecast coming up in just a few minutes.

we will give you the latest on the tropics. temperatureck the on tv hill. here is a look ahead to 11 news today. >> it does look like patricia jessamy's name will not be on the november ballot. details are next. >> a dramatic night of primary returns. a stunning upset for the gop. >> we will detail your morning commute. there is a tractor-trailer in

[ male announcer ] it's ram truck season. and the 60-day handshake lives on, that five-finger bond that communicates trust, honor, follow-through, and follow-up. it's a promise that says go ahead and buy a ram 1500 or a heavy duty without a payment fo60 days. and if it doesn't do everything you ask it to do... bring it back. ram. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today in hd. >> good wednesday morning. i am mindy basara. >> and i am stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> tony pann has a quick look at today's forecast. pleasant couple of days.