this morning on "early today." no apologies. president obama refuses to back down. dust bowl. new data ranks this year as one of the worst droughts in u.s. history. and off course. at france's bastille day, a parachutist is way off his mark. >> announcer: this is "early today" for monday, july 16, 2012. hello and very good morning to you you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with a war of word. the race for the white house is getting testy with president

obama not letting up his attack at bain capital and the outsourcing of jobs. meanwhile, romney's team has been out in force defending their campaign. >> reporter: if mitt romney is waiting for an apology, it might be a while. from president obama, no apologies for the sharp new attacks on republican mitt romney and his leadership time at bain capital. >> no, we won't be apologizing. >> reporter: an obama campaign, said romney is lying about when he left bain capital or filing false documents. >> he files an fec saying he was ceo. >> team romney is blasting the

president for going negative. >> this is not the candidate of hope and change. this is a candidate of hoping to change subject. >> reporter: romney wants to shift is back to the economy. but for now mitt romney is on defense, forced to explain the business background that's the part of his resume. later this week the romney campaign is reportedly going to attack the president as a politician who does favors for big money donors. the severe drought is expected to show drought among the ten largest in the past centuries. today's report is expected to put 2012 in tenth place for the largest severe drought since 1985 and the parched conditions could get worse. many of the worst droughts

peaked during july and august. secretary of state is in israel after an historic visit to meet with the new islamic president, and met with the head of the military, but he said he would not let the muslim brotherhood to dominate. they chanted monica. meanwhile egypt is working to free two american held hostage by tribesmen hoping to exchange them for an egyptian prisoner. they are reportedly treated well by their captors. here's a look at other stories making news in america. in illinois, a 40-year-old dormitory was blown up on the campus of western illinois university. the dorm housed more than 20,000 student in their lifetime but

took seconds to come crashing down from the implosion. in central oregon it was all systems go for the launch of a pair of lawn chairs strapped to more than 350 ba lons filled with helium. they hoped to break the guinness record by flying to montana but bad weather forced them to try just 50 miles. they are going to try again taking their attempt to iraq. in california the victory was sweet for the winners of an ice cream eating contest. dozens of sweet teeth competitors tried to challenge their competitors. in the women's competitors shoved it down in 1:23. in texas the biggest problem for a skunk is usually the odor but this little guy got a bottle stuck to his face and wandered around for a few minutes with a

container. animal control showed up and removed the bottle. the skunk was said to be confused but doing just fine. for a look at your national and regional weather, bill karins. >> go back to the ice cream story. how would you have done? >> pretty good. i hate to say it but i could have blown them out of the water. >> i get impran freezes. >> give me a banana split i could have taken you out in a minute flat. >> i would have watched. another heat wave in the middle of the country but the heat is going to peak. yesterday 95-plus club with washington, d.c., chicago, st. louis, indianapolis, des moines, kansas city, wichita, kansas city, and 102 in rapid city, and denver hit 100 also. the next heat wave we're not

watching that way in the way of wet weather to provide us any relief or cloud cover for that matter. we have heat advisories for many areas of south dakota, southern wisconsin and heat advisories in place around new york, st. louis, philadelphia and portions outside of washington, d.c. today we will see 90 degrees, mid-90s from new york city down to raleigh. it's very humid so not very enjoyable. the last heat wave was dry. you weren't drenched in sweat but this is more humid. today up to 100 in minneapolis. des moines in 97. through the three-day heat wave, we should see it through wichita, mid-90s around chicago, and d.c. by the end of the heat wave has a chance of hitting near 100 degrees. that's a look at your national forecast.

now here's a look at the weather outside your window. today will be very warm. we'll see a few scattered storms, areas of florida typical this time of year. if you're lucky around charlotte you'll see a shower or storm, but no luck from our friends from kansas city to indianapolis. another heat wave. we barely got done with the last one. >> you're going to sound like a broken record. >> could be every certainly. just like last year. >> don't say that, please new big ben walks up the hill, pump prices fall and an exciting difference on the internet. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. cool, cartoon critters at the box office. and jeremy lyn's net career over. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. the international red cross has declared the fighting in syria as civil war. the united nations observers have been gathering details on a reported massacre in hama province which may have been aimed at activists and army defactors. in china flash floods from heavy rain rose in buildings and low lying areas were covered by raging water. in japan, at least 26 people were killed by severe flooding and mudslides that forced 250,000 people from their homes. many are returning but thousands are still cut off by blocked roads. in eng lajd, cooling towers at a former coal fired power plant were demolished in a controlled explosion. the towers, which had stood on

the site for more than 50 years, came down in a matter of moments. and france's annual bastille day parade started the french revolution with military units, jets in the sky overhead and a less than perfect parachute performance. the new french president visited a parachutist who injured a knee after straying off course. the dow opens at 12777 after zooming 203 point. the s&p spiked 22 and the nasdaq jumped 42. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei added four points while in hong kong the hang seng gained 28. wall street will spend this week wondering what uts been all summer. when will more stimulus come from the fed? ben bernanke presents his sem any annual report to congress monday and tuesday. the imf releases its outlook

today. lower estimates for lower economic growth could fuel fed action. in earnings the last four big banks, citigroup, goldman sachs, bank of america and morgan stanley. investors will watch for struggling yahoo! tomorrow. without a ceo since may, the company suffered a massive hack exposing log-in information for half a million users. general electric, considered a bellwether for economy, and retail sales figures are due out today that and cpi should give a gauge of current consumer karma. jobless claims would bring it back into focus on thursday and ipo are slalted for palo alto, fender and derada therapeutics. palo alto is expected to attract the most interest.

the price of a gallon of gas dropped seven cents over the last few weeks snoou. comcast has acquired microsoft 50% stakes in the website msnbc.com. it is now nbcnews.com. one man does it all for the nationals and one man is posing problems for the new york knicks. plus, one yankee slugger loses his grip. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather we're watching this heat wave spreading from the midwest to the east coast. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, there was no power shortage in the final game of the angels/yankees weekend match-up. here's nbc bill seward with an early look at all your sport headlines. >> a very good morning to you. angels/yankees game was for you if you like home runs. to the bronx, aybar hit a solo shot, pujols followed that with one of his own back-to-back jacks. angels up 2-0. the lead didn't last long, bottom of the inning, a-rod, see ya. 14th of the year, tied it 2-2,

three home runs before fans were settled in their seats. mark trumbo didn't win the home run ter by but buried the yankees with this bomb in the ninth inning. angels win a slug fest 10-8. nats and marlins. we know strasburg can pitch but he can hit. an rbi single in the fifth. over six innings, strasburg with his tenth win of the year. to the nba. it's been an interesting weekend to for the knicks. kidd was arrested for driving while intoxicated and now according to sources, the knicks will not be re-signing jeremy lyn, inking a three-year $25 million with the rockets. the knicks have until tuesday to match houston's offer but with the addition of felton it appears lynn-sanity is over in the big apple. finally back to new york where the knicks biggest fan

made the catch of the day. teixeira taking a swing. look out. bat goes flying into the crowd. the lucky fan made the grab and doing the right thing by being in the perfect spot. and that is spike lee. even showed off his swing. by the looks of that hack, spike may want to stick to directing. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm bill seward. madonna embroiled in french politics. a self-appointed candidate for "american idol" judge and katie says no to suri. plus, we'll introduce you to a one-of-a-kind mayor of this alaskan town. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." the heat is going to expand. relief in many areas as we go into thursday, but today 100 degree forecast for minneapolis. chicago, 96. 96 in d.c. hot and humid pretty much everywhere from the rockies to the east coast. as we look towards tomorrow, we get the front to cool you off in minneapolis. we'll be near 100 from kansas city, st. louis, chicago, indianapolis, louisville. those areas are extremely dry also. if you're watching us on valley news live in fargo, north dakota, an often of games, contests and activities poolside at waterama at madison park.

that's your "early today" event of the day. oh, to be in a nice, cool pool. >> i was going to say, we're all going to need a little waterama with that heat wave. >> only way to survive. >> that and banana splits. an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment news. the amazing spider-man has done something no other spider-man has done, finishing second in just its second weekend. still, it took in a respectedable $35 million. >> that's okay. >> and "ice age" took top spot with $46 million and outearning spider-man overseas. did you rush out to see that? >> animated films take in so much money. aretha franklin wants to be a judge on "american idol." she has one condition, pattie labelle has to be a judge alongside her. >> what do you think about j. lo

or steven tyler signing off? >> i would rather see them performing and putting out new songs. >> you're over it, we get it. france's front party will sue madonna after her concert showed her with a swastika on her forehead. katie holmes enrolled suri in an all-girls catholic school for girls. and then suri fell in love with a dog in a pet store and katie holmes had to say no. and then you see suri bursting into tears but she couldn't have that puppy. i was a lot like that. >> you can't take your kids to the puppy store. >> you have to steer clear of pet stores. i'm still like that every time i go into one. >> you want to grab a whole bunch. >> you have to remove me.

>> they're yanked from their mothers, little puppies by themselves. >> do you have i puppy? >> not right now. taking a break. >> you can babysit mine. this comes from channel 2 news in anchorage, alaska, the long-time mayor took power away from the people but they think he's purrfecf for this job. a cat has earned the top spot, winning a write-in vote in a town with less than 900 residents. he's remained one cool cat who made it in politics without having to claw his way to the top. 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're noticing a big change in the weather pattern. the temperatures are building and so was the humidity. we can see temperatures are in the 70's. 71 at the airport. any time we had that 70 degree mark, that is when our bodies start to feel the humidity. 75 at the airport and 70's across the lower eastern shore. even hotter into the afternoon. details are coming up.

>> 75 degrees on tv hill. >> two dozen apartments are destroyed in a fire. >> public works crews will begin making repairs to parts of a water main in baltimore. >> tracking an early morning accident on 70 and we will ch

[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. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> it already feels sticky outside this morning. >> that is the pattern we will feel for the next couple of days. it feels more on comfortable as we head towards