today", royal details, the future king of england waste no >> double trouble wedding plans a suspect crashes his car twice being pulled over by police. pretty in pink rvegs nearly 25 karat rare pink diamond fetches a record price at auction. this is earlied to today.

i'm lynn berry, we begin with a wedding in the works. in less than a year, prince william and his birl friend will have a fairy tale ending. we're starting to learn details of his engagement to kate middleton, including how he made sure his late mother didn't miss out by giving his mother's diamond engagement ring. we go to todd brad by for his interview with the couple. >> it was a total shock. >> reporter: i think kate was nervous, william wasn't particularly. he was laughing and joking. it has to be said, you both look incredibly happy and relaxed. >> we are. we're like ducks, calm on the surface but we've been talking about it for a long time so for us it's a real releaf.

>> kate was nervous but composed and did the whole thing with relative good humor. >> it's a story that goes around that you had a picture of him on your wall. >> he wishes. i had the levi's guy on my wall. sorry. >> reporter: everyone will remember they have been planning for this on months. most of them guess they were engaged in kenya sometime ago so they've been preparing for this moment. they know it was coming. are they aware of this wave of attention coming their way from all over the world? probably but does that mean they find it easy to deal with. that's a different thing. we'll have to see. >> back here at home, president obama suffered a potentially serious set back in his push for

nuclear arms treaty with russia. tracie potts has details on that and the latest on charles rangel's ethics probe. >> reporter: good morning. let's start with the treaty. this was a big priority for the white house to get it ratified. preferably during this lame duck session of congress ending in a few weeks but now the top republican, john kyl has said it's not going to happen because of other issues the senate is dealing with like the tax cuts because it's so complicated and because of the short time frame. president obama was supposed to sit down with democratic and republican leaders this week but because of scheduling issues that has been postponed until november 30th. the other big story here on capitol hill, charlie rangel, now convicted by an ethics panel of violating 11 of the 13

charges ruled that he was accused of, mainly financial misconduct. this is huge. he's the chair of the congressional black caucus. the ethics panel will decide his fate on thursday. lynn? >> tracie, thank you. and now here's a look at other stories making news today in america, suspected drunk driver hardly kept it together. he got out of his car but apparently left it in reverse. so the car slammed into the front of a patrol vehicle but it got worse. the driver got back in and the car sped off and crashed. he was arrested on suspicion of dui. a wisconsin robbery suspect is dead after he led police on a high speed chase which quickly ended when he charged through an intersection and was t-boned by another car. police say the man robbed a convenience store then stole a customer's car. the other driver was treated for nonlife threatening injuries. an explosion at a

pennsylvania lumber mill sent firefighters scrambling. fire crews were caught off guard when a 55 gallon oil tank exploded sending a huge fire ball into the sky. no one was injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation. and in florida, officials are investigating an emergency landing that left a small plane belly up in an orange grove. the pilot lost an engine shortly after takeoff and flipped over as he hit the ground. no passengers were on board and the pilot seems to be fine. now for a look at your national and regional weather. here's bill karins. good morning. >> be happy you don't have to head outdoors in the next hour or two. >> bad? >> it's not just rain and wind but even severe thunderstorms are now rolling through areas of new jersey. they just exited philadelphia now heading for new york city. this line goes right through the heart of new jersey at the current time. there are severe thunderstorm warnings all along this line for 60-mile-per-hour winds. that's going to wake a lot of

people up and should be heading through new york within the next hour and should be gone by the heart of the morning rush hour. by then it should be up here in connecticut and massachusetts. the line of storms goes from albany down through southern new york and through new jersey. swing and pivot through new england this morning. a shield of heavy rain from heart hartford to boston. the big storm system will make it very windy for a lot of people in the ohio valley, m mid-atlant mid-atlantic. and pennsylvania and new york tooxt the storm will be leaving by about noon. but from now through the morning rush hour it's going to be difficult. the next system coming down through the rockies, a little bit of snow in denver and nebraska. not a big storm, but enough to cause minor inconveniences. your forecast today a cool rain in kansas city at 42. southeast of texas looks nine.

new england has all of the weather problems. here's a look at weather outside your window. the rain in philadelphia, just scattered showers. new york city should be done with the heaviest rains by about 7:00 a.m., from boston and hartford it's going to be a long difficult morning. >> we'll take a look at the radar later. gm prepares for a big sale and tweeting your way to a better education? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. voter at home take bristol palin into the next round. the lady huskies turn 80 and happy from philadelphia.

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welcome back to "early today." the second russian arms dealer viktor bought will face terrorism charges after being extradited from thailand. the 43-year-old who has been dubbed the merchant of death is accused of trafficking weapons to africa and south america and the middle east. the cholera epidemic is spreading across the border with one case in neighboring dominican republic. since the disease broke out it sparked riots and claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people. >> the head of the transportation securities administration has a message for those vouing to opt out of security measures, including full body scans and patdowns. if they do, they won't fly,

appearing before a congressional committee yesterday he urged the public to become quote partners in the fight against terrorism. lisa murkowski appears to be taking a lead over joe miller. still miller's campaign says he is interested in requesting a recount. a rare pink diamond has smashed the record. a london gemstone dealer bought the diamond for $46 million, nearly double the previous record. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off. the dow opens at 11,023 after tumbling 178 points, the s&p lost 19 points. taking a loefr at overseas, the

hang seng dropped 478. global economic growth sent the markets tumbling yesterday triggering a train rereaction. chinese shares were lower, which set off the global trend yesterday. beijing is readying a plan to reign in the rapid cost of living. in europe, financial leaders will head to ireland to try to figure out if that country? need of a bailout to stabilize its battered banking system. the fallout was swift and sweeping. materials were among the hardest hit sending the price of commodities tumbling. energy stocks follow the trend. exxon-mobil dropped 2% as the price of crude settled 3% lower. walmart did little to ee lay

fears but they still managed to eek out gains. the company that makes the controversial caffeinated alcoholic better beverage four loko says it remove the caffeine. general motors in what could be the largest ipo in history. and finally, twitter may have its critics, but tweeting does pay off. kfc is offering a $20,000 scholarship to the high schooler with the best tweet. students who use twitter for school work earned a higher gpa than those who didn't. there you go. coming up. a blue devil makes it look easy and this time the butler didn't do it. the denver nuggets had to

use creativity last night to keep a new york team at bay. your sports highlights are straight ahead. a strong storm system is bringing gusty winds to much of the east coast today. you're watching "early today."

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good morning, if you're just waking up this is "early today." the struggling knicks saw firsthand what denver's anthony could bring to the team if a long rumored trade ever comes off. here's fred roggin when an early look. >> the denver nuggets, caramel plo anthony will likely be traded sometime this season. knicks fanned loved to see that koxt ombo, he had a game high 26, time seconds down three. inbound pass out of bounds. ouch. nuggets held on to win 120-118. kobe bryant had 31 but it was shannon brown who stole the show. lakers snapped the two game skid, 118 -107. off to d.c. a sprained fill being to arena s.

baseball, roy halladay was the winner of the cy young award, the fifth player to win the award in both leagues. college basketball, uconn continued the winning streak by beating baylor. shot at the buzzer but the three was way short. to the men, where number 18 butler was upset by louisville. the block by mike mir ra, knocked down the three. louisville won it 88-73. finally, maybe this is why duke beat butler in the title game. that's shooting the ball from anywhere and everywhere. then he took it to another level. literally. it's a bound shot from the rafters. with shooting like that it's no surprise that duke won last

night. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> what? red ford and streisand together again thankds thanks to oprah. he leapt into action without any regard for his own safety. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this stormy wednesday morning. severe thunderstorms about to roll through new york city. they are moving quickly and will be here in central new england by the heart of the morning rush hour. if you're traveling anywhere in this region, give yourself extra time. if you're in the new york city area, wait another half hour indoors if you can. very windy day from the great lakes through the mid-atlantic as the rain exists and the storm heads out. gusty winds behind it. a weak storm system is coming out of kansas today, should bring wet weather to kansas city and eventually down here into arkansas. ov overall the worst of it heading out in new england today. if you're watching in georgia, litd up your day with festive trees with decorative ornmentes. that's your early event of

today. now here's an early look at your headlines in entertainment. hollywood is in shock this morning after a respected publicist was gunned down leaving a hollywood movie premiere. ronnie chasen was shot and killed and police say they have no motives. the mystery deepened when police seized computers from her firm. oprah winfrey reunited roblt redford and barbra streisand yesterday. he surprised her for first interview together which he joked he had never done before because, quote, i never in and out thought i would get a word in. it is a decision "dancing with the stars" live audience was shocked to hear. that was the reaction when brist

bristol palinmade it to the final despite finishing last. they advance to the show's final thanks to the home audience vote. high scoring singer brandy were among the favorites to win but they were sent home instead. this comes from our nation's capitol where the president honored the first living medal of honor recipient since the vietnam war. giunta received the award when he risked his life to save mortally wounded comrades during an ambush in afghanistan. he braved enemy fire even rescuing a soldier from insurgents. giunta said he would give back the medal in a second to have his fallen friends back with him. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today", just your first stop of today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today in hd. >> good morning, everyone. we have the big thunderstorms around last night. it will be a windy day, but we do not expect any precipitation for the drive time. most of the rain is now off shore. there could be a sprinkle over the next hour or so. the forecast for today -- a mixture of clouds and sunshine. the wind may gust over 30 miles

per hour later this afternoon. we will check the seven-day forecast coming up in just a few minutes. for now, to the news desk. >> thank you. 55 degrees on tv hill. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. we have breaking news. the baltimore area is assessing storm damage that has created quite a bit of havoc this morning. >> we have the downed trees and we

[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. a busy weatherboarding. >> we have the big storms last night. -- a busy whether morning. the ground it was saturated because we had an all-day rain -- a busy whet