this morning on "early today" -- on alert. tropical storm isaac takes aim at new orleans almost seven years to the day after hurricane kaina. a change in plans. isaac forces an abrupt change to the republican national convention. and rare rival. a giant panda in china welcomes and rare rival. a giant panda in china welcomes a brand new budgeted of joy. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with tracking isaac. folks from florida pan handle are watching and waiting as isaac makes its way into the

gulf of mexico. forecasters say by the time isaac makes landfall it could be a dangerous category 2 hurricane. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: isaac continues to intensify in the gulf. wind and rain thrashing florida for much of the day. >> we're only two feet above sea level. >> reporter: officials have ed mandatory evacuations in many coastal communities. to this point florida has only seen a glancing blow. >> a large area at risk here. >> reporter: isaac is a massive storm with wind 350 miles. as the storm shifts, so does the focus. governors have declared states of emergency in florida, mississippi. >> it's important to be on high alert. >> reporter: new orleans and southwest louisiana could see the worst of isaac on wednesday. seven years to the day after

hurricane katrina. >> i know the anxiety level is high. this storm is somewhat uncertain, out of the abundance of caution we have begin to take these precautions so we should be prepared for anything that might come in our way. >> reporter: preparations like sandbags now stretch across the gulf coast. hundreds of thousands stocking up, boarding up and bracing for impact. while offshore oil companies have pulled crews from their rigs. the storm threatening to shut down as much as 90% of production in the gulf. >> today and tomorrow are the preparation times on northern gulf coast. >> reporter: as isaac continues to gather momentum and the attention of so many in its path. jay gray, nbc news. bill karins will have the latest on isaac's path in a few moments. republican national committee officials have postponed most of today's events due to tropical storm isaac.

steve handelsman has the details from tampa. >> reporter: a party at tropicana field in st. petersburg. the first major event of the gop convention went off as scheduled, under a dome, protected from the gathering storm. but with the projected track of isaac moving west away from tampa, republican party planners decided no more postponements. the convention starts tuesday. >> we need to take the economy of the united states of america to the people. it's also important to get mitt romney and show him more human and more like the regular guy that he truly is. >> reporter: despite losing their monday session, most delegates are upbeat. >> say no to obama. >> the major networks like yourself, nbc, were only going to cover tuesday, wednesday, thursday. >> reporter: you think you're going to be okay? >> we'll be okay.

>> reporter: mitt romney was practicing his acceptance speech. and tuesday's speech can help, but his could mark a turning point. president obama hold a slim lead in national polls, but a 35-point lead in likability. romney hopes his convention shows him off as both a bolder obama critic and a more acceptable obama alternative. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, tampa. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. pennsylvania dramat shows a bull breaking loose and rampaging through fair grounds entering ten people. it was one of four bulls that broke free being loaded aboard a trailer in a rodeo. the others were captured right away. among the injured an elderly woman who had to be air lifted to the hospital. in a north carolina town

appropriately named roanoke rapids, torrential rain shut down highways and forced dozens from their homes. finally in california, man's best friend has been saved after a long, wild journey. sarah's owners live in colorado, but she was lost by relatives looking after her in kansas. sarah wandered to a truck stop where a transient picked up the poo pooch, brought the animal to california and turned it over to a shelter. because she had a microchip implant, they found her parents and now she's on her way home. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with a weather channel forecast. that's my biggest fear, my puppy will run away. >> get her microchipped. >> it works. >> it's all about isaac, the big concerns out there right now. the storm is still affecting florida even though it mostly hit yesterday. this band of rain on the west

coast of florida now moving through central florida has had numerous tornado warnings and blowing the windows along the eastern shore of florida. now heading up toward orlando and palm bay. tampa has had bands of rain but it looks like this will shift to the north of you. we'll watch that. the center of the storm continues to push away from the keys. there's good news and bad news this morning with the storm since we went to bed. the good news is it hasn't strengthed. we've seen a core near the center but we haven't seen the inner core organize. that's why it isn't aurricane yet. we're only 36 hours away so it gets close here to the north central gulf coastline. where is the storm heading and at what intensity? the hurricane center thinks probably will become a hurricane later today. that's if it can get its act together, the innercore. the pressure continues to drop a little bit. now all of a sudden -- not all of a sudden, it was yesterday, too, but we're pinpointing the areas of louisiana towards mississippi, possibly alabama, too. but we eliminated pensacola to

panama center. it's mostly looking like this will be a big problem with storm surge somewhere here from the mobile bay to bay st. louis, biloxi, gulfport and new orleans area. a storm track is worst case scenario for storm surge in new orleans. as of now the hurricane center putting landfall, category 2. the rule of thumb is to prepare for a category higher in case. right now is when everyone should be preparing for a category 3. if it's a category 1shgs we'll all be happy. here's a look at the weather outside your window. slight chance of a few storms today in areas like philadelphia. what a weekend it was in the mid-atlantic as that storm system spun itself ever so slowly with the flooding in virginia and then up through delaware and maryland. so with isaac, the good news is, it has yet to strengthen. bad news is it looks like it

will be an ugly scene in the north central gulf. >> thanks for the update. you get what you pay for. or you don't. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, like it or not, believe it or not, she is a mom. the jets continue to struggle. a 15-year-old makes golf history. japan puts on a show in the little league world series.

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. southern california was hit by a swarm of as many as 70 earthquakes yesterday. that caused some damage and knocked out power to a few thousand people. the largest quake was magnitude 5.5.

no injuries were reported. after the syrian army and opposition forces battled for days in the suburbs of damascus, rebels are reporting one of the worst mass car of the civil war. they say they executed between 300 and 600 people. in pakistan there are reports one of the sons of the hikani was killed. they say he was killed last week but the taliban insists he is alive. a refinery fire in venezuela is still burning after a gas leak caused an explosion at the facility saturday. three days of national mourning have been declared for at least 39 people killed. in china a newborn panda cub is being kept in an incubator. giant pandas are seen as a national treasure in china. the new panda baby has yet to be named.

and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,157 after climbing 100 points friday. the s&p rose 9. the nasdaq gained 16. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo the nikkei inched 14, but in hong kong the hang seng fell 81. trade today in asia focuses on speculation over new stimulation from two central banks. reports say european bank is considering buying debt in hard hit euro nations. also rising hopes the fed will implement a third round of quantitative eisen. ben bernanke hinted in a letter to congress more fed action could be on the way and traders will listen closely to bernanke this week when he speaks at the annual jackson hole meeting. problem solving at industrial companies offset

asian optimism over possible central bank stimulus while asian stocks fell, gold hit a 4 1/2 month high. and oil rose sharply, up more than $1. now inching back up towards $100 a barrel. elsewhere, hertz is buying dollar general. if it goes through, it will be do tohree major players, hertz, enterprise and. a landmark legal battle saw apple $3 billion after a ruling samsung infringed on several of apple's patents. a norwegian art gallery trying to save money on courier and insurance cost lost a rembrandt etching close to $9,000 in the regular mail system. oops.

the mets walk off, three big bashes for one little leaguer and a well-known nfl wide receiver gets the axe. plus, an angel robs a home run but can't seal the victory. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. we'll take another look at the possible landfall spots for isaac as we dp through tomorrow night. your forecast is coming up.

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports, miami marlins relied on the long ball yesterday to power past the l.a. dodgers. here's nbc's mario solis with a look at all your sports headlines. >> the dodge pulled off one of the biggest trades in baseball history this past weekend but it was the marlins' statin who came up huge in l.a. the new-look dodgers couldn't figure him out. unloads in the fourth inning. l.a. hit four straight homers. marlins win 6-2. to boston, bobby valentine wasn't happy about something against the royals. james loney picks up his first rbi as a member of the red sox and boston wins 8-6. met and astros. davis hit a pair of home runs, the second one ends the game, a walkoff bomb in the ninth.

mets win 2-1. to motown, vernon wells with the catch of the day, infante with a shot to the left. detroit had the last laugh winning 5-2. nick watney won the barclays. football, peytonning is starting to look like the manning of old, tossing a pair of touchdowns against the niners. both to eric decker. san francisco wins 29-24. then you've got the jets. they haven't scored a touchdown all preseason. mark sanchez and tim tebow both threw interceptions against the panthers. new york's offense continues to struggle. captain jet has seen enough. panthers win 17-12. maybe the jets can sign terrell owens. the outspoken wide receiver was cut by the seahawks. he had just two catches this preseason with seattle. congratulations to the little leaguers from japan. beat tennessee to win the little

league world series. one boy hit three home runs putting japan up by ten. little league champs. they win 12-2. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. who won this weekend at the box office and who looks like a loser once again in love? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. getting into a ivy league school is one thing but listen ho sw thisdent got there. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." let's start with the good news. isaac has not strengthened over the warm water of the gulf. that's fantastic. the bad news is the forecast cone is starting to narrow in on new orleans and a path similar to this would almost be kind of a worst case scenario. as a cat 1 it would be significant area up through lake pontchartrain. that's the thing to watch for the next 36 hours until landfall new if you're watchingous nbc 4 in lancaster, ohio, watch appalachian strings. >> that looked like a piece of art, banjo. here's an early look at headlines in entertainment news. lack of any real opposition left

"expendables 2" in the driver's seat at the box office. sylvester stallone lost 50% of their audience. fortunately for them, there was no competition from new films, so $13 million was enough to make it -- >> that's all? >> yes. multiple sources have confirmed to "us weekly" after a couple months of casual dating john mayer and katy perry have split. according to an insider, perry is very upset. "people" reports an that farris and chris have a baby boy. congratulations. "jersey shore's" snooki gave birth to lorenzo dominic lavalle and she tweeted jionni loves being a dad. no reports if he came out tan.

this comes from new haven, connecticut, where a yale university freshman is keeping a vow he made every step of the vow. gabe wrote in his admission essay if accepted he would walk to the campus from his home in baltimore. he didn't think he'd get in, but he did. so his journey began, taking him across nearly 400 miles. most of it along the april lay chan trail. he says the trek helped car his mind for the path he's aut to go down as an ivy leaguer. >> very original. see, i always wanted to do that. >> 400 mile? >> write an essay and get in for being original? >>y. i've heard of some good ones. 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. klaxon good morning. -- >> the morning. we saw some heavy rain yesterday. as a look at the doppler, we are still seeing some showers and thunderstorms out there. those are the areas that we will see the most as we had in this morning. a very heavy thunderstorm right now. there are still a chance for some storms in baltimore today. it is looking good. more details in the seven-day forecast. >> for clock 57.

it is the first day of school for hundreds of thousands of maryland students. >> live in baltimore. concerns about how school officials have been using their credit cards coming out. >> republicans are pouring into tamput they are not alone. mother nature is having an impact, too. that story next. >> if you are getting ready for the first day of school, we will let you know

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> is a good morning. i am lisa robertson. >> in stan stovall. all choked