this morning on "early today," a matter of faith. religion and politics collide on the campaign trail as comments about mitt romney ignite a firestorm. cairo chaos, deadly fire erupts during a protest in egypt. and all you need is love. beatles legend paul mccartney and all you need is love. beatles legend paul mccartney says i do to wife number three. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm veronica de la cruz.

today, we begin with controversial comments. republican presidential candidates are weighing in on mitt romney's mormon region as a pastor for rick perry called it a cult. tracety pots is live with the details. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. for the most part, most candidates saying this is a non-issue. herman ciain called the comments unwise and inappropriate. jon huntsman said it's a ridiculous side show. rick santorum says romney should be judged on his values, not on his religion. over the weekend, a pastor from texas defended his comments where he called mormonism a cult. he defended those comments saying, yes, mormons are good people, but that in his words, it is a thee logical cult

because they have their own doctrines from christianity. now, rick perry denounced what he said, but some analysts are saying that perry needs to come out, face reporters, answer questions and say even more to end this controversy and that, perhaps, it's not over, that this issue of mormonism and the candidate, mitt romney, may came up again. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. in cairo yesterday, at least 24 350e78 were killed and the 00 injured in the worst violence that country has seen since the february uprising that led to the ouster of hosni mubarak. >> reporter: the scene was reminiscence of the uprising months ago. riot police and their shields

tried to hold back a mushrooming crowd of angry protesters. some used batons, some vehicle vehicles ablaze. the spark began last week after attackers partially demolished a church. christians blame muslim radicals for the incident and protested on sunday. what started as peaceful disintegrated into outright violence by nightfall. they fought back against military police who allegedly used heavy handed tactics against them. some muslims joined them in solidarity. late sunday, egypt's prime minister appeared on egyptian tv and appealed for calm. the violence stands to taint the upcoming elections scheduled for next month. the country struggles to form a stable government. francis coe, nbc news.

back here at home, lawmakers are weighing in on occupy wall street, the grassroots demonstration that set up camp across the country. sunday, protesters said it looked more like a festival as supporters took to the streets for a 23rd day. lawmakers are divided on the movement. house majority leader eric cantor says he is concerned about what he i'm lynn berry. called growing mobs while nancy pelosi installed her support. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a drat dramatic rescue played out in the pacific ocean off the coast of hawaii. a 65-year-old man flying from california to hawaii ran out of gas, forcing him to crash into the water. he was pulled to safety by the coast guard with no serious injuries. a small tornado made a big mess in san antonio sunday.

the storm dumped massive amounts of rain, leaving thousands without power. officials are still evaluating the extent of the damage caused by the storm. in rhode island, there were some giant sized competitors at the annual new england pumpkin growers weighoff. the top prize went to one gargantuan guard that tipped the scales at over 1600 pounds. this year's winner was just 150 pounds shy of the world record. what a bummer. finally, some elaborate facial features were put on display in pennsylvania. more than 200 competitors made to stay clear of those clippers as they vie for various titles at the national beard and moustache championship. even winner received $600 and additional prizes. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. it's been way too long.

>> yes, good to see you. >> welcome back. >> did you have a good weekend? >> i had a phenomenal weekend working. >> oh, you were work? i was working, too. i was picking pumpkins with the rest of america. >> bravo. >> it was a warm, sunny weekend and a lot of people were enjoying the festivities. it was so warm and so unusual. everywhere pretty much east of the rockies has been extremely warm to start our october. yesterday was 87 in boston. can you imagine that? we had record highs in many areas and it's going to continue today. everyone colored in orange and red color here was 70 and above. it was that warm all the way up into can day. it was 83 in minneapolis. we've had seven days in a row in the 80s to start october. it's never been this warm for that long this late in the season. as far as the right weather goes, we had beneficial heavy rains in texas and oklahoma this weekend. it did cancel some plans and a baseball game.

with the drought situation, we definitely needed it. the rainfall this morning will be difficult in florida. that's located now over the ocala national forest and that rain will be plentiful today from jacksonville up the coast towards savannah. we're still warm and summer like in many areas. carry the umbrella in the southeast and down into florida. that's a look at your national forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. washington, d.c., northward, enjoy it. this is probably going to be the last day we're going to see like this until next spring. 81 in d.c. philly and new york city will be in the low 80s. even tennessee, gorgeous weather while it lasts. sunny credible stuff. we know it's going to end in a hurry, but enjoy the short sleeves while you can. >> 84 degrees. you see? you bring the sunshine. it's knight nice you have to back. >> at least today. europe tackles it debt crisis, sobering data on income

and proof the duke still has true grit. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, hugh jackman has a rock em sock em weekend at the box office. coming up, a huge come back by the super bowl champs and the raiders honor a legend. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. "the wall street journal" reports a court order has been provided to handle over information from the wicky leaks website. wic wikileaks released diplomatic correspondence. the oversight committees

could send subpoenas into the obama administration this week. the fast and furious operation allowed drug cartel intermediaries to buy thousands of tweps from arizona gun shops, some of.which were later recovered from mexican crime scenes. new zealand officials are scrambling to pump oil from a tanker that crashed on thursday. a california's governor has signed a bill that will prevent children from under 18 to use tanning beds. the new law takes effect on january 1st. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,103 after losing 20 points friday. the s&p was down 9 the. the nasdaq dropped 27. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei rose 83 points while in hong kong the hang seng gained 4.

european leaders have set a lofty deadline to tackle the region's deepening debt crisis. angela merkel and french president nicolas sarkozy vowed to find a long-term debt to fix the debt woes and track coordination in the euro zone all in time for the next g-27 on november 3rd. meanwhile, the president of dexia has accepted a plan developed in luxembourg. investors will also get third quarter results this week from the likes of pepsi co.google and jp morgan chase. the government will weigh in this week with its take on september's receipts. a sobering new study finds

household income declined more in the two years after the recession ended, some 6.7%, than it did during the recession itself when income fell just 3.2%. now to some good news. the latest lyndburg survey says the latest price of average gas that's dropped 13 cents over the past two weeks to $3.42 a gallon. finally, hats off to john wayne whose movie memorabilia brought in more than $5 billion. wayne's green better rret fetch $102,000 while one of his cowboys sold for $119,000. very nice. the national league championship series gets under way and golf great tiger woods has a bizarre run-in. plus, giants receiver victor cruz makes an incredible catch. and then it all goes downhill. your early morning sports

headlines are straight ahead. it was an amazing weekend of warmth around the country and also some heavy rain in needed areas. your forecast for your monday is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today."

in sorts, the milwaukee brewers managed to flex their power-hitting muscles in the opener of the national league championship series. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. game one of the nlcs came down to one big inning. we go to milwaukee, card wes a three-run lead in the fifth when the brewers came fielding back. that's a two-run homer and the brewers are up by one. a couple of batters later, a two-run shot, a six-pack for the bruin in the fifth and milwaukee won it, 9-5. golf, tiger woods finished ten shots back, but his day was not without incident. a spectator threw a hot dog at woods. who knew the pat's could run. ben jarvis and ellis. pat's over the jets, 30- 21. green bay remained unbeaten with

a comeback win over the falcons. the champ scored 25 unanswered. aaron rodgers led the way with a pair of touchdown passes, they won it, 25-14. emotional day in houston, the raiders honored al davis who passed away on saturday. they then went out and did the only thing that matter to davis, just win, baby, win. tim tebow, too little, too late, chargers held on, 29-24. broncos have turned to a fb in you quarterback, the eagles might want to do the same thing. it's been a nightmare season for the eagles, bills win it, 39-24. giants and seahawks, eli manning threw up a jump ball, victor cruz pulled it in one hand. he went 68 yards for the score, but not enough. sea pauks won it. check this out, dwayne beau,

tipped it to himself and made the grab for the touchdown. all hail the chiefs, they beetle the colts. former beatle paul mccartney takes another trip down the aisle. plus, a 9-year-old girl wins the ultimate prize at her school's spelling bee. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday morning. hope you had a wonderful weekend. on this columbus day, we are watching very warm summer-like temperatures from just about north carolina northward up through the ohio valley. 76 in chicago, still very mild and 84 in new york just jumps out at you. that's the average high temperature in new york city during the hottest periods of the summer. atlanta, 67, showery and cooler weather. northern florida up through georgia and then tomorrow, south carolina, north carolina and virginia should get drenched. temperatures do cool off a little bit, but still very mild air out there in most places throughout much of this week. if you're watching us on wcau nbc 10 in philadelphia, pennsylvania, see some of nature's high-flying act row bats, spider monkeys. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> one more time, spider monkeys. >> spieden monkeys. >> it will be a good day for them, too. >> yeah. they'll probably be sweating it out. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment.

a boxing robot drama action pulled no punches at the box office this weekend. "real steel" took number one spot with $23 million in its opening weekend thanks in large paul to its youngest male audience. the political thriller "the ides of march" scored big with older women and still only took in $2.47 million to come in second. dolphin tale came in third with $9.2 million. in fourth, the brad pitt drama "money ball" brought in $7.5 million. finally, former beatle paul mccartney tied the knot for the third time sunday exchanging vows with nancy schevell at the same london office where he wed his first wife, linda, in 1969. ringo starr was the only

surviving member of the beatles was present. how would you feel getting married in the same spot my husband got married in decades ago? >> a little weird. but it's the history behind it, bill, please. in nearby boca raton a spelling bee turned into an emotional explosion. a 9-year-old was asked to spell the word sergeant and she she actually knew one, her dad. staff charge theiron johnson backed up his daughter's story surprising her. he had been in iraq since christmas, but managed to return just in time for her birthday, making it a memorable one. i'm veronica de la 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. >> we enjoyed a spectacular weather pattern over the weekend. it does look like it will continue into columbus day. we are waking up to mostly clear skies. 58 right now. -- 55. a 9% humidity at the airport with the wind mostly calm. a few high clouds building in from the south. two storm systems are heading

our way. we will talk about that in the forecast coming up. >> 4:57. 56 degrees on tv hill. changes are coming that could ccity sometime. >> more reaction from the campaign trail. i am tracie potts in washington. >> this walmart was evacuated over the weekend and 19 people were sent to the hospital. i will explain. >> we will let you know how your morning commute is sha

[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. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. morning. >> did you enjoy the