back now with more "today" on this thursday morning. . crisp and cool start in new on the plaza, british sention cher lloyd. savannah had to leave a little early to head too l.a. for her appearance on "the late show with jay leno." you see who is sitting next to me, formerly punky brewster. >> i love punky. >> i know you're a mom of two.

you have poet and jagger. >> i have to say hi to them. i love you girls! >> and you have a birthday coming up, a 4 -year-old. >> next week. have i have to put in the order today. >> mine are all about cars right now. >> rainbow, cars. >> coming up this morning, we had babies on earlier today and now we've got the animals to follow the babies. we have the quest for the best this morning. we have a real dog and pony show for you. we set out to find the best pet trick and some furry friends are getting prepped backstage to show off their talent. so, soleil, do you want to take this next tease? >> coming up, paying off student loans, our experts answer your questions.

>> you do everything perfectly. >> you are the sweetest. can i stay here forever? >> first we have some serious headlines to get you. i'm going to get to the headlines. tropical storm isaac is dumping more heavy rain, up to a foot in some places. this morning officials in mississippi are reporting the first death related to the storm, a man killed when a tree fell on his vehicle. president obama has declared federal emergencies in louisiana and mississippi, following damage from what had been hurricane isaac when it came ashore. isaac forded the evacuation of thousands of people whose homes were flooded up to the roof. more than several hundred homes and businesses are still without powertoday. >> today mitt military accepts his party's nomination for president in what is being called the biggest speech of his political career. and last night paul rn accepted the vice presidential nomination with tough criticism

for president obama saying the leadership is missing in the white house. ryan said he and romney can get the economy growing again. and a proposal that was anything but political. rnc production manager bradley come ton dropped to one knee and proposed to his girl friend laura bowman and she said yes. you can see mitt romney as he says yes to his party's nomination, tonight during nbc's coverage of the republican national convention. >> two international service members were killed this morning in a helicopter crash in southern afghanistan. the crash comes one day after an afghan wearing an army uniform killed three other nato service members, all of them australians. >> another sign that the west nile virus is spreading. health officials say cases of the virus are now up 40% since last week. so far at least -- 1,590 cases have been reported leading to at

least 66 deaths and this could become the worst year ever for the mosquito-borne disease. >> the man charged in the shooting of trayvon martin will get a new judge to preside over the trial. they argued that lester had made negative comments about zimmermann's character during a july bond hearing. >> a terrifying scene wednesday across from an elementary school in los angeles after a 100-year-old driver backed his car on to a sidewalk and into a crowd of people, including nine children, pinning some children under the car. the driver said his bras failed and said he has sympathy and love for the people who were injured. police are now investigating. >> a 25-year study on the impact of extremely low calorie diets on monkeys found the thin ones did not live any longer than those kept at more normal

weight. lab tests did show lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels but only in male monkeys whose calories were cut by one third once they reached old age. >> an uninvited guest swooped into a canadian tv studio earlier this week, bringing the news staff to a frenzy as they tried to scare a bat away. eventually the bat was encouraged to go outside and leave the humans alone. good thing there are no bats in the studio here today. let's go out to al in new orleans, who has another check of the weather for us. hi, al. >> reporter: hey, thanks so much. good to see you, soleil. weep have rain going on here at lake pontchartrain. that's the lake back there by those light poles.

that's the shore of the lake. we are seeing remnants of thunderstorms and showers making their way from tropical storm isaac. right now it's 35 miles southeast of alexandria, louisiana. 45 mile-an-hour winds. it's moving northwest at 8. look at the part of the day making its way into missouri. the low pressure system finally petering out as it makes its way into central illinois and indiana. we have extended tornado watches, something you always have to worry about. they are extended until 4:00 p.m. central daylight time. the rain is going to be an issue. we have water issues going on in eastern, mississippi and quickman, mississippi. here in slidel, just north of here, we have rainfalls and he >> good morning.

we will see mostly sunny skies. it will be a little bit warmer than yesterday. >> and that's your latest weather. natalie? >> al, thank you. this morning on "today's quest for the best," outstanding pet tricks. we asked for video submissions and we have narrowed down the best. >> our three finalists are here. joe rappaport is here with a

little help from ruby. >> i'm here because i'm very easy. i love every animal but this one, very little impresses her. >> very picky, right? >> she's going to be a tough judge so i need a little help. >> what are you looking for? >> obviously talent, the most unique trick they can do. a little personality doesn't hurt. right, sweetheart? >> i have a rescue dog at home. >> they're the best. >> let's bring out our finalists. let's start out with linda wright and her australian cattle dog ruger. they're here from lake elseinor. linda, how many bets do you have exactly? >> i have four dogs. >> what is ruger's special trick? he's going to ride a scooter. >> my kid are just learning to ride a scooter. amazing. >> did youer that? >> yeah. you have to get working on that.

>> look at that! that's great! >> how did you teach her to do that? >> i just tried it one day and he did it. >> how did he try it the first time? did you just bring a scooter out? >> yeah. i just put him on it because he already knew who to push a stroller. >> great. >> do you want to come help with my kid? >> that's a great thing. excellent. what do you think? >> unbelievable. i'm impressed. >> he pushes a stroller with a baby in it, a butty in it. >> good job! ruby -- do you -- okay, ruger.

>> we have our miniature -- >> we have a miniature horse here. >> we have a miniature horse here. if i could oy bring this home to my kids, they would go crazy! >> you've probably never seen a horse this small. >> amos is from boca raton. i understand amos is a huge twitter and facebook follower already? >> yes. >> i was looking at his twitter feed last night. he's very popular. >> apparently he's even performed with the harlem globetrotte globetrotters? so he's somewhat pro. >> i think you're pushing him a little bit too much, natalie. you have to be objective. >> is it true that your horse can actually play basketball? >> he can play basketball. you want to see? >> let's go for it.

>> get it. ♪ ♪ >> go get it. >> the balls are getting bigger so it's going to get harder. >> this is a tough one. >> that's his globetrotter ball. >> that's a hard one to pick up. want to try another one? >> they have to be a little bit soft. >> how did you get him to start playing basketball? >> great job. >> treats. >> isn't that unbelievable? >> there we go. >> amos, 3 for 3. >> wow! >> that's pretty impressive. >> i can get my dog to give me licks. >> exactly. >> one more? >> one more. >> there we go. for the slam dunk! >> can you believe how calm this giep is? unbelievable. >> so impressive.

thank you very much. >> my girls are going to be so jealous. >> that's a tough one to beat. >> i think ruby's leaning towards the horse. >> she's even making a noise. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> we're supposed to be objective. calm down. >> all right. last but not least. all the way from california, we have april robert and her husband ski, sk-- husky sky. i understand she's loves the theme song to "brian williams." >> she does. ♪ ♪ >> okay. now what about this theme song?

a different theme song? an nbc theme song. >> no. >> one more time. ♪ ♪ >> she's a big fan of the news. >> how did you discover -- no other theme music as far as we know, right? >> no. and a little bit of stage fright. she usually has a full-out how will. >> there's a lot going on here. >> i think brian is looking at a new co-anchor. could be a whole new future here. >> have i to say all very impressive acts. >> this is a tough one.

>> they're so talented. you are so blessed to have these animals. i know we can't give them all awards, can we? >> i'll bring them all home to visit the girls. they'd love it. >> so i'm going to grab the trophy. >> i'm going to walk over. >> oh, they're all so wonderful. >> they're all winners in our book, right? >> they're all winners. but excuse me for walking in front but tada! they're all amazing. >> you're very sweet. ngratulations! >> she was going crazy.

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back now with "today"'s money questions. jean and good morning, gang. you guys have a tough act to follow. here we go. let's get right to it. we're going to go to skype first to jennifer from illinois. what's your question for our panel? >> good morning. it's time for me to start paying back my student loans. so what to pay down first, my interest or my principal since i know there's a tax deduction for the interest. and also if i have to go into deferment, will that hurt my credit score? >> so, jennifer, the way it works is when you send a check to your loan company, the money goes first to late payments if you have any, then it goes to interest and then it goes to

principal. if your loans are federal loans, there a lot of choices in payment plans. the ten-year plan is your best option to getting out. that's the standard repayment plan. however, if you need to defer for any reason, you want to make sure that if the interest is not being picked up because your loans are subsidized that you at least make that payment on the loan to just stay on top of it and it will not hurt your credit rating. >> all right. thanks so much, jennifer. appreciate the question. next we're getting a question on our facebook page. christina from easton, maryland writes "i have three children, ages 10, 9 and 7. i want to know the best way to save money which will get the most gain without putting it into an education al -- if she just wants to use a regular investment, the most important

thing is saving the money automatically. with three kids she needs to be saving at least $500 a month. it's hard to hear right now but it has to be saved automatically from your checking account going right into a mutual fund every single month and i'd break it up so it's $250 every two weeks. if i wasn't going to use a 5 to 9 plan, i'd use a balanced mutual fund, 60% stock. i would use the van guard balance fund, low-guard, conservative, the returns have been over 7% for the last ten years and over three years have been over 13%. if you're worried about a balance fund, i'd look at a target dated fund at 225, right around the time you're continuing to give -- >> but you won't get the

flexibility. >> the roth ira. let me just make a plea for the roth ira. she's probably worried about retirement at the same time as college. the report ira, if you put the money in there, you get the ability to use it for college or retirement. >> good point. >> let's get back to skype again. we have a question from boulder, colorado and sydney joins us. good morning to you. i know you're a college student there. what do you have for our panel here this morning? >> through my university e-mail, i receive advertisements from companies that pay decently for answering survey. they all have a one-time fee. how do i know if they're a scam or not? >> that fee is a red flag. i would be wary of these companies that say you make money filling out surveys and

then they pay a fee approximately many times, maybe it's worth looking into, but it's not going to give you the type of money you'd want from a paid job. if they want your personal information, social security numbers, all those are red flags. if you