today," high seas drama, a major rescue operation under way for a disabled crew ship with thousands on board. cholera crisis, haiti's epidemic worsens as the deadly outbreak reaches the capital. and social distortions, a connecticut woman is fired for bad mouthing her boss on facebook, sparking an unprecedented case over free facebook, sparking an unprecedented case over free speech. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with rescue at sea. a carnival cruise ship that lost power after an engine room fire off the coast of mexico monday morning is now being towed to safety. all passengers aboard are safe and expected to arrive in california late tomorrow. kurt gregory has more. >> reporter: the carnival cruise ship splendor, drifting at sea since it lost power monday. more than 4,500 people are on board and they're safe. >> certainly they're uncomfortable and it's something we hope we can bring to the as soon as possible. >> reporter: the entire ship shut down some 200 miles south of san diego. planes loaded with supplies for the ship's passengers and crews took off monday. the planes carried relief

supplies to the aircraft carrier ronald reagan. plans called for u.s. navy helicopters to make the delivery to the stranded ship. >> right now, it's bread, there's cups, utensils, we've got frozen milk, we've got canned goods. easy to make temt items that are served cold. carnival has decided the tugboats will tow the splendor back to california directly. the coast guard cutter morgan will provides courtship. the justice department says no criminal charges will be filed against cia officials who destroyed 92 tapes that showed the brutal interrogation of the secret tapes were shot at overseas prisons after the 9/11 attacks. they reportedly captured two suspects facing waterboarding, a form ewe simulated drowning.

those tapes were destroyed in 2005 out of fear they could be leaked to the public and compromise the identity of the interrogators. cia investigators could still be charged with making false statements to the probe. president obama dashes from country to country on his extensive tour of asia. he is head to seoul. he spent tuesday in indonesia where he reached out to muslims saying america will never be at war with islam. meanwhile, a conservative muslim minister has stirred up controversy with some indonesians labelling as a hi o hypocrite for shaking first lady michelle obama's hand. the minister is claiming mrs. obama forced the handshake on

him. federal officials say they've arrested three former marines for selling weapons to a las vegas gang. the suspects ringleader who served in iraq oversaw the sales of two cases of firearms, including an ak-47 and two other semi automatic rifles. at the sale, which was attended by both a government informant and a gang member, the former marine was asked if he would be willing to sell more weapons to other gang members in the future and he agreed. the suspect called the charges untrue. and now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a california mystery has been solved. an unidentified object thought by many to be a missile launch just off the coast of california was not, at least according to the pend gone and the faa and norad. although they're certain it wasn't a missile, they're still

not sure what it was. one military expert suggests it was an optical allusion, an airplane illuminated by the setting sun. in new york, some of america's top chefs will feed thingry with a dish made from a 1,426 pumpkin. meals from the gutt eted gourd l be served. a 67-foot spruce is cut and on its way cross-country from the national forest to the u.s. capital lawn. wyoming residents decorated the christmas tree scheduled to be lit on november 27th. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> there's no ig noering it, winter is coming.

>> the weather and the christmas tree. >> next week we'll be talking about snowstorms, you know? we have a little snow on the border of montana and north dakota. there's that ocean storm, two days ago in new england got hammered pretty good. that's still kicking off off the coast. there's a batch of rain heading into the boston area this morning. it's coming from the gulf of maine. it's weakening a little bit. but no boston and massachusetts, you're going to have showers off and on this morning. it's a little windy once again. this ocean storm is still cranking the winds out of the north-northeast. boston, 25. dmru new england, showers and cool weather. it's better the further south you go. d.c., baltimore, philly looks okay today. carolinas look gorgeous.

chicago, another nice day for you. still cool on the back side of our front. what in the denver area. it's definitely cool in montana and up in the dakotas. there's nothing too bad for your morning travels today. that's a look at your forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. chances of snowflakes in salt lake city today. you had a little snow yesterday, especially yesterday morning. raleigh, 65. nice weather into pittsburgh. cincinnati, ohio, one of the best spots in the country today at 71. lynn, there's a big rain event moving into the middle of the country. we'll talk about that, coming pup. also coming up, christmas at google and the dollar guy rates. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, a golden honor for america's golden girl. the pacers are nearly perfect, a golden moment for each ee row and the jazz turned

down the heat. you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. the choler aye epidemic in haiti is spreading, officially make its way to the earthquake battled capital, port-au-prince. a health ministry official says the national death toll now stands at 583. federal authorities say a connecticut woman was illegally fired from her job as an emergency medical technician after she posted disparaging remarks about her boss on facebook. an administrative law judge is expected to hear the case in january possibly setting a precedent as more workers use social networking sites. disturbing details are emerging in the trial of brian mitchell, the man accused of

kidnapping elizabeth smart. smart testified yesterday and described how she was chained to a tree and rained on a daily basis. she was nearly rescued months after she was approached by a cop but mitchell prevented her from speaking. the ozone layer could be leaving the earth's whales scarred from sunburn. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,346 after losing 60 points yesterday. the s&p shed 9 points and the nasdaq dropped 17. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei climbed 136 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng fell 209. what goes up must come down. yesterday, wall street's recent

rally continued its slide. the dollar seesawed over uncertainty still swirling around the fed's plans to buy up hundreds of millions in debt. most commodities shot up. silver and gold lost ground in late trade. banks were hit hard after an announcement that bigger banks will bear the brunt of a new fee structure. dean foods, parents of pricey brands such as soy milk plunged 18% after reporting its net income fell by over half. overseas, airbus flights have been canceled as a precaution after finding oil stains on their engines. the move comes days after qantas grounded its a-380 fleet due to a mid flight failure in one of its rolls-royce made engines. here in the u.s., another delay for the dreamliner.

a test run was cut short after odors were found in the cabin. chef ron has announced it will pay more than $3 billion for a stake in shale based supplies. it was a good day for search engines. google employees found out about a companywide 10% pay raise and $1,000 holiday bonuses. finally, you can't beat the real thing. last night, that coke slogan held true for andy warhol's 1962 pop painting coca-cola that went to the highest bidder at southbies for $35 million. that's an expensive coke. coming up, pinpoint accurate pacers, ichiro is on again and a

relatively unknown has the best night of his career as the jazz beat the heat. your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. >> we're looking at a typical fall day from coast to coast with a few kepgzs. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." resolve stain busters.

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in sports, the miami heat was supposed to be invincible this season. the problem is, that has every team they play motivated to beat them. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it has been a season of firsts for the miami heat. last night, they blew their biggest lead of the season against the jazz. they were up by 22 when the jazz mounted a comeback. paul millsap led the way. final seconds, c.j. miles missed the jumper but millsap was there to put it in. he had a career high 46. stayed tied until the end with 0.4 seconds left. knocked down both free throws to give utah the looet lead. eddie house couldn't get the jumper to fall. despite a triple-double by lebron james, the jazz hand the heat their third lost of the season 160-114.

the cavs won it, 93-91. pacers had a third quarter to remember unless, of course, you're the nuggets. indy was nearly perfect. missed a three-pointer with two seconds left. pacers scored 54 in the quarter and beat the nuggets. ichiro won his 10th straight aol glove award. finally, another day, another wacky highlight to show from you high school football. this comes from south dakota where derek swigger punted the ball. the wind blew the ball another 47 yards down field. we sped up the video for the same of time. the ball finally came to rest at three. credited to an 86 yard kick thanks toolth help from mother nature. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin.

>> every bit helps. robert downey jr. swears he doesn't care about winning an oscar. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, monday was the 50th anniversary of jfk's election. coming up, we'll tell you about what kennedy fan who stumbled upon a cherished keepsake. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this wednesday. a rather quiet weather day out there. just showers lingering in new

england today. pretty tranquil in the southeast. dallas was all right today. we will be watching, though, a storm moving from the rockies into the middle of the country. not today, but more tomorrow and then as we go into friday. veterans day forecast, east coast looks nice. we will see a chance of snow in denver. not a huge storm, but just a little bit. rain will be developing here on thursday and friday in the middle of the country. we can pick up a couple inches of rain in oklahoma, missouri and possibly into iowa. if you're watching us on wttz news channel 5 burlington, vermont, looking to get published? aspiring fiction authors can learn all about it at the workshop how writers doet at the fletcher library pap that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. >> thanks so much. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. for someone who insists that he doesn't care about winning oscars, robert downey jr. sure sounds like he thinks about them a lot. the twice nominated actor says

there was a time when he thought the only way out of hell was to win one. now he claims to be over that, but says he'll eventually win a bunch of them even if someone else deserves it. why? because it will be his time. according to downey, that's just the way it works. tonight, gweneth paltro makes her debut as a singer. she's confident that if she can keep her notes under control, she can survive it. that's probably true. the betty white train shows no signs of slowing down. yesterday she was made an honorary forest ranger. ranger white calls the honor a childhood dream and i'm sure, bill, the publicity is a dream for the parks, as well. >> only you can prevent forest fires. >> apparently she went camping a lot as a kid and it was a dream for her. >> what better person to promote

our national forests. >> she just keeps going and going and going. she's like the energizer bunny. they should have been a commercial with that. >> i'll call them. now from little rock, arkansas, one man hit the presidential history jackpot when he read between the lines. paul is a self-professed kennedy buff. so when a friend gifted him a used copy of john f. kennedy's 1960 book, the strategy of peace, he was ecstatic. but the true stunner was tucked between the pages. a mint condition business card signed by the former president during his senate years. the card is now locked away in a bank. its true worth, still unknown. well, 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're off to a nice quiet start on this wednesday. it will not be as windy as it has been the last couple days. 48 downtown. 43 and parkton. mostly sunny and pleasant today. high temperatures will be looked 60's. " come back and check if forecast going into the weekend. >> thank you.

45 degrees on tv hill. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. >> it looks like plans to build a walmart have cleared a major hurdle. details are next. >> president obama in south korea this morning with the economic on his mind. >> on the b-w parkway, there are reports of an accident. we'll check of the major roads.

[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 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. good morning. >> it is going to be a beautiful stretch of weather. it will get even better. we'll lose the wind we had the last couple of days. today we will keep t