this morning -- after the storm. millions of americans are left in the dark and in hundred-degree heat. charred remains. victims of colorado return home to assess the damage. and outrageous reptile. a massive crocodile in the philippines shatters a world record. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with a blackout. many people are still without

power as temperatures soared past the 100-degree mark. those storms are being blamed for at least 17 deaths. >> reporter: residents across the mid-atlantic are cleaning up. after a fierce storm that knocked down power lines and wreaked havoc across several states. >> this storm had all of the impact of a hurricane without the warning. >> reporter: crews are working around the clock, but officials say it could take a full week before power is restored to the more than 2 million left in the dark. >> this particular storm, almost twice as many as hurricane irene least summer. this is on the level of hurricane isabelle. >> reporter: with temperatures soaring past the 100 degree mark in many places for a third straight day, dozens of communities have opened cooling stations. >> it's here for the people who don't have electricity. they can come here, cool off. >> reporter: some gas stations are seeing long lines too, while

others have closed with no power or fuel. >> frustrated. highly frustrated. >> reporter: david retland of washington, d.c. echoes what many are feeling. >> most of stuff will be discarded, most of my neighbors have packed up an left somewhere. >> reporter: just some of the millions without power headed into a sweltering fourth of july holiday. and our meteorologist will have more in a few minutes. meanwhile, firefighters made significant progress over the weekend despite harsh conditions and searing heat. the 26-square waldo canyon fire is 35% contained. most evacuation orders have been lifted but some 3,000 residents in and around colorado springs are still unable to return home. the record blaze has destroyed more than 350 homes. well, the debate is still raging over health care.

what happens next after the supreme court upheld the controversial law? both sides appear ready to battle it out right up until election day. nbc's brian moar has the story. >> reporter: the supreme court may have delivered the ultimate verdict on the health care law, but that is far from the final word. >> this has to be ripped out by its roots. this is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. the american people do not want to go down the path. >> reporter: and republicans wants to make obamacare and its removal a campaign issue. >> let me tell you what we're not going to do. we're not going to tell the health care system into a western european health care system. >> reporter: and team obama is trying to present the massachusetts law as a model and presumptive nominee mitt romney as the godfather of poobamacare >> the fact that 1% pays the penalty tells you a great deal.

this was a plan that governor romney support. i think it's something he would have been proud of. >> the republicans are certainly going to lose the election in the house, the senate and the presidency. >> reporter: the high court's decision seems to have caught both sides off guard. but republicans and democrats seem to agree that disagreeing on health care is the way to victory. and now here's a look at some other stories making news today in america. in arizona, a wild scene as a naked carjacking suspect was arrested. cell phone video captured the bizarre end to a chase in which police say the man crashed his open car, took off his clothes, then carjacked another vehicle, wrecked that one as well and was about to carjack yet another victim when officers finally caught up with him. witnesses say he was also chanting and singing. seven people were injured

including a pregnant woman. and in boston, the holiday celebrations, the famous tall ship sailed into trip for the boston harbor fest. they're making the bicentennial of war of 1812 which established the u.s. navy as a force to be reckoned with. finally, thousands of fans gathered in los angeles for the 21st annual aninae expo. they went to concerts and dressed up as their favorite characters. celebrating that craze that first started in japan. now, for a look at the national regional weather, here's phil carons with the forecast. who's your favorite character? >> the horse head. i never got into it. i don't know about it. >> how about hello kitty, does she count? >> i don't know.

well, the story is the nasty heat wave. not like we had a break yesterday. severe storms covered much of the eastern half of the country. all the blue dots are the damaging wind reports from the storm. and the southeast down to the carolinas was hit pretty hard. even the ohio valley too. it's so hot, we can't win right now. you want to get cooled off with the rain, but it's at the expense of the thunderstorms. yesterday was another day in the offen in the -- oven in the southeast. columbia, south carolina, the all-time record high temperature on sunday was 107. this isn't your average heat wave, but it's continued for seven days, it started off in colorado and pushed to the east coast. thankfully the thunderstorms have created a bunch of clouds. we have areas of light rain out there. that's going to start you off a little cooler this morning. that's why temperatures are a couple of degrees lower today

than the last couple of days. some humid air is sneaking up through arkansas to st. louis too. that's going to increase your humidity. that means the heat index will be a little higher that's why we have excessive heat warnings. in southern illinois and down to the boot of missouri. we have kind of eliminated a bunch of the heat advisories in the carolinas. that's because we'll have more thunderstorms and clouds this afternoon. high temperatures still hot. but instead of 105, more or less near 100 to charlotte to raleigh. not like we have gotten a break from the heat wave. that's a look at your national forecast. here's a look at the weather outside your window. so still a very, very warm day today. the cold front going to knock it down into the upper 08s, low 90s. still records, but not low

values. of course, only two days away, fourth of july forecast. a big holiday week. i'll have that coming up. >> with some good news, right? >> can't be worse than what we just had. >> we're hoping. good news for europe's bank, speaking of. and bad news for one of the bankers. and why the weekend was slightly longer than usual. your early morning business head lines are straightaway. did a trash talking bear or hollywood hunk did they win at the box office? tiger stands alone, plus a heart breaking end for a true olympic champion. you're watching "early today."

good morning to you. here's the top headlines. the party that dominated the mexican politics for 70 years appears to be headed back to power.

enrique pena nieto won with about 40% of the voters in early exit polls. iran is threatening to wipe israel off the face of the earth. yesterday, there was an oil embargo instituted against iran in an effort to force the country to halt the nuclear program. a federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the mississippi law that could shut down the state's only abortion clinic. the law requires anyone performing abortions at the clinic to be an ob/gyn with privileges to admit the patients to a local hospital which can be difficult to obtain. pelfrey failed to be the first woman to swim from mexico to the u.s. unaided. she had to stop because of strong currents. and a salt water crocodile in the philippines has been

confirmed by guinness officials as the biggest in history. it measures over 20 feet long and weighs a ton. wow. now here's a look at how wall street will kick off the dow. the s&p surged 33 and the nasdaq skyrocketed 35. taking a look at overseas trading, the hang seng jumped 416. well, wall street kicks off a new quarter on a high note with a shortened but busy week ahead. u.s. markets close early tomorrow before shutting down for the 4th on wednesday. investors will be looking to extend friday's rally which gave the s&p and the nasdaq the best daily boost since friday. the surge came after significant steps were taken to shore up the struggling banks in europe. overseas this morning

optimism over europe's debt crisis helped most asian markets climb upbeat. it continue continue if the european central bank decides to cut interest rates this week. another big driver for u.s. markets will be the june jobs report due out on friday. investors will get an update on the june auto sales which have been strong all year. interest rate rigging scandal that rocked the global banking scandal last week has claimed the first victim. the chairman of barclays resigned today saying the buck stops with me after they suffered a blow. and apple has agreed to play $60 million to a company that claimed it opened the rights to the name ipod. and one leap was added to keep the atomic clock in sync with the earth's rotation.

the dodgers snap a seven-game skid and tiger woods makes history. plus, a heart breaking fall for one five-time olympic medalist. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the fourth of july forecast looks very warm across the country. i'll have the details coming up. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. if you're just waking up this is "early today." yesterday, major league baseball announced the rosters for the all-star. here's mario solis. >> good morning. baseball fans voted and a record 11 million chose josh hamilton. he was among seven ragthe range next week. robinson cano will be in kansas city next today. no one has been hitting the ball better, crushing another home run against the white sox. he has nine in the last 14 games. yankees won 4-2. the dodgers clayton kershaw is an all-star pitching like one yesterday. one earned over seven and get this, the dodgers actually scored some runs, snapping a seven-game losing streak with an 8-3 win.

golf, tiger woods is getting back to his old form, winning the at&t national in washington. he drains a birdie to take the lead and never looks back. it's his 74th career pga win. moving him past jack nicholas for second place. spain cementing themselves as the best soccer team in the world and quite possibly the best of all time. fernando torres scored a goal and added an assist. spain wins back-to-back euro championships. they beat italy, 4-0. finally, it would have taken a miracle for nastia liukin to make the u.s. gymnastics team. the darling of the beijing games had a tough weekend and it only got worse on the uneven bars. couldn't find her drip, took a major spill. thankfully she was okay. a heart breaking moment for the five-time olympic medalists. she regrouped an she was able to

finish h finish her routine. she won't make the olympics, but will be remembered as a true olympic champion. kid friendly films and their reign at the box office. that's straight ahead. and plus, a magical prom night for one couple and we are going to tell you why. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. let me get right to your forecast. not as many record highs today,

but still very hot 90s from denver to the eastern seaboard. then as we look towards your tuesday, notice not a lot changes. almost every location has a similar forecast. we'll duck a few storms in the southeast again. the only spot that gets a break from the heat is up in new england and the great lakes over the next two days. now for the fourth of july, i'm a little concerned. strong cold front going through new england is going to spark numerous showers and thunderstorms. that could possibly delay some of those fireworks displays and the heat continues pretty much in the same areas across the country. so i'll update that tomorrow of course. if you're watching us in south carolina, nearby hunting island, learn why the sea turtles migrate to the same place every year. i've always wanted to watch the turtles lay their eggs. >> i have seen it in aruba. it was awesome. >> i'm jealous. >> something you've got to do in

a lifetime, that's for sure. all right. a look at the head lines in entertainment news. a little teddy bear managed to claw its way to the box office while breaking a record. "ted" starring mark wahlberg and mila kunis and a teddy bear who comes to life for his owner brought in $150 million. you're shaking your head. >> that's done really well. >> that's the best showing by the way for an original r-rated movie. and "magic mike" finished second with a stronger than expected $32.9 million. >> i think it was so hot that i think a lot of people retreated to the movie theaters. >> you weren't talking about the weather. get it. coming in third, "brave" with an impressive $34 million and then "tyler madea's witness

protection". >> even that came in with a lot of money. >> seriously. there's nothing i want to see right now in the theaters unfortunately. all right. this comes to us from wnbc news where in nearby huntington a pair of high school sweethearts who have down's syndrome were voted king and queen of the prom. they have been dating four years but their friendship goes all the way back to preschool. even one of the other finalists for queen said she voted for megan. she said they're cute together and everyone loves them. this is "early today", just your first stop today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we have a little bit of rain on this monday morning. maybe some rain to get things started. we can see the leftovers that worked thunderstorms that are drifting off to the southeast. a big thunderstorm will hanover towards ocean city. that's severe weather will stay away from baltimore. a mixture of sun and clouds. it will turn less humid. high temperature in the low 90's. the seven-day forecast in just a few minutes. >> 70 degrees on tv hill.

b.g.e. continues to restore power to more than 200,000 maryland residents. >> the heat remains. where you can get some relief. >> we have some downedwn

[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. stillthis time we're saying this'll be a multi day restoration. >> it was it long weekend for half a million maryland residents and a to be even longer for many of them. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> more on the cleanup in just a minute. minute.