> this morning on "early today." verge of collapse. questioquestions about the acc thr ththepthe strauss-k case. no deal, no break. the senate canceled its vacation plans with the country headed towartowards a potential debt t crisis. > and what is wrong with th picture? chinese officials catch flack for releasing an obviously doctored photograph. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

hello, and good morning to you. i'm ver ona dela cruz. today we begin with a case in jeopardy. dominique strauss kahn is set to appear in court today following questions about the maid that accused him of sexual assault. jonathan dean from w nbc 4 new york has the details. >> reporter: defense lawyers will ask for dominique strauss kahn to be released from house arrest amid new questions about his accuser and her credibility. and it appears prosecutors are expected to agree to some reduced bail conditions. that according to a source familiar with the case who says there are now problems for prosecutors and the attempted rape case. the "new york times" reports the victim had contact with a suspected drug dealer and spoke to him about the dsk case and that she allegedly had accepted cash deposits in the past of over $100,000 and that she had numerous cell phones. "the times" says she was not honest with police about that

past. the attorney for the maid did not return repeated calls for comment. these details raise questions about her credibility and defense lawyers plan to ask the judge to now release strauss kahn on his own reconnaissance given these questions of credibility. it looks like lawmakers will be cancelling their vacation due to debt ceiling talks. let's go to tracie potts in washington. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. good morning, everyone. we hear this morning that there may be at least a short-term deal in the works where congress would be able to work this out so the united states does not default on its bills come august 2nd. here is that short-term deal. $1 trillion in spending cuts, which would allow the u.s. to borrow $1 trillion and prevent a default for at least seven

months. another version of that. $2 trillion in cuts, $2 trillion in borrowing that would prevent default until the end of next year. john boehner's office says it hasn't seen anything on the table yesterday. president bush wants to raise taxes in part, but republicans are furious at him for suggesting this week that they've been taking too much time off as opposed to working on this very important issue. the tone here is, in fact, changing. one of the big concerns and senator harry reid brought this up yesterday, is if they don't come up with a deal soon, how might the markets react and how might that affect ordinary families. veronica. >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. a federal judge has blocked a controversial south dakota law that forces women who choose to have an abortion to face a three-duh wait, the nation's longest. yesterday preliminary injunction sought by planned parenthood was granted preventing the law from taking effect today while it's challenged in court, saying it would humiliate and degrade

women. the judge said the law is probably unconstitutional and that there's a public interest in protecting a woman's right to seek an abortion. under the measure women face a 72 hour waiting period and would have to undergo counseling at pregnancy centers that discourage abortion. now here's a look at some other news making news early today in america. in arizona a transformer explosion at a power plant sent plumes of thick, black smoke into the air yesterday afternoon. the blast sparked a raging fire that consumed several pieces of equipment at the substation. crews worked into the night to restore power to an estimated 80,000 customers who lost electricity during the heat of the day. fortunately, no one was injured. in florida a morning excursion turned deadly after a sailboat burst into flames. men were rescued and rushed to a palm beach hospital. one man died as a result of severe burns to most of his body.

the other man is said to be in stable condition. in kentucky officials are looking for a truck they believe caused a 15-car train derailment. sheriff's officials say the rail was offset after a dark green tractor-trailer slammed into the truck and then drove off. cleanup crews hope to have the area cleared by this afternoon. and, finally, a couple of california surfers have come up with a faster way to catch a wave with a motorized surf board. yeah, that's right. the remote controlled wave jet has an engine mounted on the bottom of the board and some critics are calling it xheegt, but the wave jet creators hope their board will encourage more surfers to dive right in. now, for a look at your national and regional weather, here's bill karins with the weather channel forecast. it's not cheating. especially for people like me who have zero ability. >> not for the people that know how to do it already. >> is it a board or a boat?

that's what you are thinking. sfla motorized. battery. good morning. let's take you through your forecast. what we are going to be dealing with throughout the day 24 to to 48 hours. the cold front is moving through. you can see the weather out here now. showers and thunderstorms through south dakota. pierre, south dakota, has storms just skirting by to your south. it crosses interstate 90 here. for anyone traveling there and the fargo area. the heat is actually the bigger store as we go throughout this holiday weekend. yesterday the hot weather was up here in the dakotas, but now it's shifting and heading eastward. now we're watching chicago. heat advisory for you to minneapolis. the areas in orange are under heat warnings. that includes the greater kansas city area, right around tulsa, oklahoma, to wichita. that's where it's not just hot, but also humid too. a little dangerous heat index. especially for the elderly. check on them in those location wrshz how hot will it be today? 97 in chicago. 98, kansas city. let's stay in the shade, ac, or

pool. 100 in dallas once again. that's nothing new for you also oklahoma city. also hot around phoenix, temperature at 113 for you today. it's not chilly either down here in the southeast. from atlanta to orlando, temperatures in the 90s, but the difference in florida is that late this afternoon you will get some wet weather and showers and storms to cool you off. that's a look at your friday forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. sunshine in baltimore today. 88 degrees. really starting to warm it up in the mid-atlantic, but the humidity is still low. chance of the storms in florida as we mentioned. very hot around st. louis today. 97 with a heat index over 100. of course, holiday weekend forecast coming right up. >> a hot holiday weekend, right? >> definitely. >> looks like it. >> without a doubt. >> thanks, bill. stocks surge, corn is planted, and the ultimate case of atm envy? hmm. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, if you are into clashing, shape shifting,

technological bohemaths, then this weekend we have a movie for you. >> coming up, another walk-off between the cubs and giants. the phils lose one of their aces, and we're getting close to football ending its lockout. now there's no basketball. you're watching "early today."

well, good morning, and welcome back to "early today." here are some of your top headlines this morning. firefighters in new mexico say they are confident they've stopped the 96,000 acre wildfire from advancing towards the los alamos nuclear lab. nearby residents evacuated earlier this week won't be allowed back home until sunday at the earliest. the defense rested its case in the trial of casey anthony on thursday without the 25-year-old defendant taking the stand. she's accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. during a farewell tribute to defense secretary robert gates, president obama surprised him

with a medal of freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. gates is being replaced by cia chief leon pinetta. prince william and his new wife katherine arrived in canada for their first official trip abroad. the newlyweds arrived in ottawa to cheering crowds before attending an informal barbecue and a reception. and check this out. officials in china szechuan province have apologized for releasing a blatantly doctored photo of three men inspecting a highway project so poorly photo shopped, it appears the men are levitating. the photographer admits to combining photos because he felt his originals weren't impressive enough. and now here's an early look at wall street. the dow opens at 12,414 after gaining 152 points yesterday.

the s&p was up 13 points. and the nasdaq rose 33. in tokyo the nikkei added 51 points, while the hang seng climbed 336. well, stocks close after a rough month and quarter thursday with their biggest four-day rally since fall last year. this week's rally lifted the dow slilts into the black for the second quarter and left the s&p 500 and the nasdaq with only fractional losses. end of quarter buying by fund managers who typically sell losers and buy winners to sweeten up portfolios helped fuel the rally. also helping midwest business activity showed surprising strength. investors shrugged off a slightly disappointing weekly employment report. greece's parliament approved budget cuts and asset sales, measures necessary for new bailouts. >> worthington jumped nearly 10% after raising its quarterly dividend and announcing a big stock buyback. ebay rose more than 4% on upgrades in the wake of a fed decision favorable to the pay pal service.

this spring farmers planted the second largest corn crop in 70 years. good for consumers. it should bring down food prices, but bad for farmers who probably will lose income. as a result, fertilizer maker cf industries fell more than 5%. a mixed trade commission verdict from the international trade commission in eastman kodak patent dispute with the makers of iphones and blackberrys sent kodak tumbling. lockheed martin cut about 1,500 job, anticipating reduced defense spending. a customer using a bank machine in long island's swanky east hampton village found the previous user left behind their savings account bank right showing a balance of $99 million. hmm. sfwlirchlgts another sports lockout, a seesaw battle between the giants and cubs, and who is making noise at wimbledon? plus, talk about coming right into your living room. your early morning sports headlines, ah, are straight ahead. well, in weather, of course, everyone is getting ready for the big fourth of july forecast,

and i'll have that coming up for you. you're watching "early today."

and a very good morning to you. if you are just waking up, this is "early today." in sports with strained labor relations already driving the nfl into lockout land, yesterday

professional basketball joined the club. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning, first the nfl and now the nba. the league has locked out their players after a collective bargaining agreement ended at midnight. that means all business officially put on hold, unless the two sides come to an agreement, they won't be playing basketball in the fall. there's always tennis, and no one is going to lock them out. maria sharapova won in straight sets to advance to her first level of final in seven years. the women's final is tomorrow on nbc. then there's baseball. cubs and giants. pablo sandoval. solo shot at the top of the 13th to give chicago the lead. chicago's giovanni stepped up and belted one in the bottom of the 13th. two games, two walk-offs for the cubs. they won it 5-2. phils have a great pitching staff, but they took a hit against the red sox. a line drive took off his glove and bruised his right hand. jason varitek had to leave the yard twice. a pair of hummers.

boston finally got a win if in filly 5-2. if you have a 3d tv, this is for you. get your glove ready. a foul ball right into your living room. sabathia struck out 13 for his 11th win of the year. mark hit a milestone. home run number 300. yanks beat the brewers 5-0. shut down the red hot mess. new york has scored 52 runs. they couldn't stop verlander. tigers won it 5-2. finally, nothing going right on or off the field for the as. they lost to the rockies 5-4, and you know you're having a rough year when your fans have trouble spelling. that should say matsui land. they can't win, and their fans need a dictionary. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a very safe fourth of july weekend. i'm fred roguan -- roggin.

>> are there alternatives to mega machines and explosion tiz box office this weekend? your early morning entertainment headlines are just ahead. the american buffalo already has a magesty and mystique all its own, but did you know there's a certain type of buffalo thought of by some as greater than any other? you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this friday morning. forecast, pretty simple. not a lot of bad weather out

there for the next four days. let's take you through your saturday first. thunderstorms possible. ohio valley. a little bit of wet weather back there in the northern rockies. along the gulf, some showers. otherwise, the hot conditions will dominate the forecast. it's going to be very warm in the mid-atlantic this weekend. we'll be a little cooler on sunday and monday in the great lakes. we'll watch an area of thunderstorms, though, on sunday through the dakotas, and by the time we get to the fourth of july, the front is going to sag down to the south. showers and storms pretty widespread in the tennessee valley. well, if you are watching us on wgal news 8 lancaster, pennsylvania, see a collection of art and paintings that create america's pastime. that's at play ball at the lancasterle museum of art. that's your early today early event of the day. >> that will be a nice fourth of july weekend event. >> baseball, hot dogs, and fireworks. >> absolutely. as american as apple pie. now, here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. as often as it happens in summer movie season, this weekend's new blockbuster should be the box office champ, but will it be interesting to see if this champ has legs to make a long run?

you bet. much awaited by its loyal fan base the $200 million almost two and a half hour long "transformers dark of the moon" has notched the year's biggest opening day. almost $38 million on wednesday. it's also being watched as a big test for 3-d. as the largest 3-d release ever, prints of the film will be brighter to counter past complaints 3-d films are too dim. most experts expect this transformers to earn about $100 million over the weekend. sfwlirchlgts older audiences not excited by giant robot fights will be drawn to the comedy "larry crown" with tom hanks and julia roberts. and finally, young teen and tween girls will fill the comedy "monte carlo" to finish as high as $10 million. probably not going to be on my list, but -- >> transformers is -- the reviews are all over the board. i saw someone gave it zero stars, and someone else gave it three or four.

>> what are you thinking? yeah or nay? >> i'm not spending two and a half hours. >> two and a half hours. oh, my goodness. then it's in 3-d, which sometimes makes you dizzy. i don't know. >> watching a lot of things blow up. >> that's true. this now comes to us from kxas nbc 5 in dallas-fort worth where in nearby greeneville one newborn is getting texas sized attention for its uncommon color. folks have been flocking to the lacoda ranch to see a rare white buffalo. the 6-week-old was born in the middle of a thunderstorm which led to his name lightning medicine cloud. the pale colored calf is considered sacred because according to the sioux tradition, the goodest of peace once appeared in the form of a white buffalo calf. i'm veronica dela cruz. 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. >> good morning. i am john collins. four minutes before 5:00 a.m. yesterday, -- maybe your weekend started yesterday. mid to upper 80's with low humidity. at generally clear skies. 64 degrees at the airport. 70% is the humidity. squint at 3 miles per hour. 74 degrees downtown.

a good start today with low humidity. another pleasant day. we have the chance of rain in terms of the holiday weekend. i will have details on a holiday forecast. >> 62 degrees on tv hill. >> might there be a deal in the works? will have the latest from capitol hill. >> no problem spots on the roads so far this morning.

[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. >> good morning. happy friday. i am mindy basara. >> and i am stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> john collins has a check of the forecast. gorgeous day yesterday. >> almost like the holiday weekend started. weekend started.