state john kerry held talks with his iranian counterpart. it is the highest level meeting between the u.s. and iran since the carter administration. both sides voiced cautious optimism saying great obstacles remain. she may be the most wanted woman in the world. the so called white widow. interpol issues an international arrest warrant for the woman, not for the nairobi mall attacks, but she is wanted by kenya for charged relating to a 2011 plot to bomb reports. -- resorts. she's thought, though, to be a key member of al shabaab, but officials have not made public any evidence linking her to the attack. leftwait was once married to one of the 2005 london subway suicide bombers. and now to a shocking admission from the nsa, what's informally known as love i.n.t., collecting intelligence on love interests.

this letter by the nsa inspector reveals employees eavesdropped on their girlfriends, boyfriends, and spouses. the "intention abuse of authority" happened on 12 occasions since 2003. in one case, an employee tried to listen in on the calls of his foreign national girlfriend. the system blocked him, but he received data like time, date, and duration. the justice department declined to prosecute and the agency has two open investigations into alleged misuse of eavesdropping and is actually reviewing a third. police dash cam captured a horrific crash during a high-speed chase in central florida. authorities say 30-year-old james maddox was fleeing a dui pullover when he drove across the median and crashed into an oncoming car. the suspect was hospitalized in critical condition, while a passenger in the other car was in serious condition. maddox, who was reportedly on probation, was driving on a suspended license, is facing a slew of felony charges.

a massive dust storm made the daily commute even more miserable in southern arizona yesterday. yesterday's storm was so severe that it shut down a 14-mile stretch on route 347 during rush hour. the poor visibility is being blamed for multiple accidents. but thankfully no one was seriously injured. bill karin is joining us now with an update on today's forecast. happy friday. >> it is a happy friday. that dust storm was almost as bad as driving in fog for areas of the east, for people that haven't driven in something like that, plus it comes on you much quicker than the fog does. the storm that we're watching is still in the northern rockies, still producing snow out there in wyoming. the high country is getting it good. areas like casper, an all-rain event for you. over the next 48 hours, this is a slow-moving rainstorm. it's going to head into the northern plains. we could get some strong storms today, though, along that front as it kicks out into the plains, especially areas from amarillo, out to rural sections of western

kansas, the goodland area, also out there into western nebraska. may see storms in denver, too, but i don't think they'll be too severe. everywhere east of the mississippi is looking dry and beautiful. the only exception just a few showers leftover there in florida. as we go through your weekend forecast, that storm slowly pushes into the central plains. we'll see more storms along that cold front on saturday from texas all the way to minneapolis and chicago. and then by the time we get to sunday, there will still be some leftover showers and storms from dallas all the way to the ohio valley. but the concentration of rain will be diminishing as that storm begins to weaken. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. another beautiful day today. humidity levels continue to be on the low side. alabama is looking great. our friends in st. louis no complaints. kind of summer-like, 84 and sunny, but without the humidity, it feels really nice. veronica, we're to that time of year we have to start talking about the leaves and where they're going to be peaking this upcoming weekend.

i'll give you that report coming up a little later. >> i am so excited. thanks for the nice forecast, bill. coming up, an arrest in the miss teen usa sextortion case. plus, is one thrill seeker about to go too far with a real death-defying challenge? "early today" is back in two minutes.

good morning. welcome back. some stories making news on this last friday of september. teacher and convicted rapist stacy ramble was released after serving his 30-day jail term. yes, 30 days. the judge who sentenced ramble is still facing heavy criticism and even petitions demanding his removal from the bench. the fbi has made an arrest in the miss teen usa sextortion case. 19-year-old jared abrahams admitted to hacking into miss teen usa cassidy wolf's web cam and then taking nude photos and

videos of her. he then threatened to release the material. abrahams faces two years in prison. the president of borilla italian foods is in hot water after saying he would not show gay families in ads for their pasta. he said while he respects gay marriages, he would "never make a spot with a homosexual family." he went on to say if people disagree with that, they can eat other pasta. night was turned to day in alberta, canada, when a meteor blazed by leaving a visible trail. the officer who captured the video said he "freaked out" when he saw the meteor. and jeff corliss has announced his most daring stunt yet. he's going to attempt to fly through a three to five-yard cleft in the middle of a rock formation in china. yikes. the s&p 500 and dow snap a five-day losing streak as the gdp confirms growth at a moderate pace and jobless claims drop.

toyota recalling over 600,000 older sienna minivans to prevent rollaways. a transmission problem could cause them to shift out of the park position when the driver isn't pressing the brake pedal. mcdonald's announced the clinton global initiative that it will start giving customers the choice of salad, fruit, or vegetables as a substitute for french fries in its value meals. speaking of fast-food, former miss alabama usa katherine webb, a.j. mccarron's girlfriend, is following in the footsteps of kate upton and kim kardashian. she is the latest spokesperson for carl's jr, where she is appearing in commercials eating the saucy buffalo blue cheeseburger. nike earnings flew past expectations. the new dow stock finished above $70 a share for the first time. and martha stewart stirred up a public relations hornet's nest when she began tweeting about her broken ipad.

after a series of tweets asking for help, apple asked her to stop. stewart explained her frustrations adding that steve jobs himself gave her the ipad. "thursday night football" highlights and all your headlines with betty nguyen up next. but first, our trivia question. put on your thinking caps. with a threat of a government shutdown looming, how many times has the u.s. federal government shut down before? is it seven, ten, 13, or 17 times? the answer when "early today" returns.

all right, before the break, we asked how many times has the u.s. federal government shut down before? is it seven, ten, 13, or 17 times? the answer, since the modern congressional budgeting process took effect in 1976, there have been 17 different government shutdowns. 17. the longest one was in 1995 and in 1996 and it lasted 21 days. now let's get the latest from betty nguyen on sports. good morning. >> yeah, we're all hoping that there's not another government shutdown. let's move to "thursday night football." 49ers versus the rams. niners quarterback colin kaepernick got things going in the second quarter with a touchdown pass to anquan boldin,

who made the extra effort to score, and later, he connected with vernon davis for his second td. watch that. the niners over the rams 35-11. across the pond in the uk, the steelers and vikings play sunday at wembley stadium in london, so mark your calendars. electronic arts has reached a settlement in the legal battle over its ncaa college football video game, but no details were released of what players will be paid for the use of the likenesses. ea also cancelled next year's college football video game. a legend and a class act. yankees retiring closer mariano rivera made his last appearance at home in a very emotional moment. with two outs in the ninth inning, yankee captain derek jeter and pitcher andy pettitte went out to the mound to take him out of the game. and with tears in his eyes, rivera was given a huge standing ovation that lasted four

minutes. police in san francisco have actually arrested a suspect and will charge him with homicide in a stabbing of a dodgers fan just a few blocks away from at&t park on wednesday. 24-year-old jonathan denver died after a confrontation with giants fans. baseball commissioner bud selig says he will retire in january 2015. he will have served 22 years. that is the second-longest in history. "gq" magazine's list of the worst sports franchises, it awarded the top spot to cleveland. yes, this includes the browns, the indians, and the cavaliers. worst franchises in terms of losing and no titles all combined, cleveland has had 152 seasons of futility. and the wnba playoffs. diana taurasi of phoenix and simone augustus of minnesota

were in each other's faces as they fought for position. getting nasty. as the ref called fouls on both players, taurasi kissed a eed a gusties on the cheek and then seemed mystified, what did i do? a fox is having a whole lot of fun on a golf course. except for the guy chasing him. not so much fun. the animal known as foxy loves to grab golf balls, and then runs off and hides them. >> today's sports is brought to you by just for men auto stop. gray is over. >> too cute. >> fun for the fox. not so much for the golfer. >> cutest video in the meantime. all right, betty, thanks. just ahead, your weekend movie round-up and a sneak peek at britney's new music video. plus, supermodel kate moss takes her career in a whole new direction. we've got details next. direction. we've got details next.

welcome back to "early today." this weekend, peak leaves in a few spots. as we come into this weekend, in the early portion of october, really the beautiful leaves are in the northern and central new england. the great lakes through wisconsin, northern minnesota, also those aspen leaves get going really nice in colorado and through the rockies. as we go through the middle to the end of the month, it progresses farther to the south. early november, almost down into the southeast. enjoy those beautiful leaves in the adirondacks this weekend.

already a portion of the northern great lakes. looks like we'll have a really nice forecast. that starts today. in the central plains, that's where we'll see a chance of rain, not just today, but into the weekend and maybe even some strong thunderstorms. >> thank you, bill. now for some entertainment news. four films will be competing to take the top spot in the box office. joseph gordon lev visit's "don jon" will be going up against "baggage claim", "cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2" and "rush." congrats to caylee cuoco who has gotten enjoined to ryan sweeting. britney spears is back in fighting shape for vegas. zack galifianakis felt honored to have justin bieber on his comedic talk show, especially during his meltdown. galifianakis taught bieber a lesson with a good-old belt whipping. kate moss may have found a new career. the model has taken on singing, or as it should probably be called, speaking with music underneath.

♪ >> everyone's a singer, bill. >> i can't sing eerither, but i know i can do that. >> i'm veronica de la cruz and this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning.

we are off to another quiet start on this friday morning. the clouds are going to break up as we go into the afternoon. 56 in taneytown and parkton. 60 in rock hall. we will start with early clouds. it will be really nice later on with high temperatures between 70 and 75. >> 4:57. 57 degrees at the airport. >> it will be much better if people would just mind their own business. >> allegations of a drug war in one community. a baby girl is suffering gunshot wounds. >> we have some closures in the setting -- in the

[captioning made posble by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> ok. let's have a look. >> that is part of a new series of attack ads trying to creep you out about the new health- care reform act. they want to keep you from opting in to the program. >> you may not go to a restaurant. you may not purchase a car. all those decisions will be put off until something is happening. >> keeping the government from shutting down. there could be dire consequences in maryland.

saw theked up and i whole side of her face was covered in blood. hurt when a suspect fires several shots into a home. the child's father said it was richard bhushan. good morning -- the child's father said it was richard ushan. -- retribution. 5:01. i like the cold mornings. >> everybody is sad because you're going out of summer and going into winter. we are starting out with some cloud cover this morning. it will start out to be a nice day -- it will turn out to be a nice day. the average high is 74 and we

will be in that neighborhood. it will become partly to mostly sunny this afternoon. first we check on the roads. >> happy friday. a nice start out there. we have a water main break to avoid along north avenue at harford. navigate around it. looking pretty good on the j.f.x. from cold spring. everything checking out ok on the north and west sides of the beltway. tunnel traffic is running smoothly at this hour. we're up to speed on the north side at providence. west side checking out just fine at baltimore national pike. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> you may be wrapping up your work week today.

lawmakers are settling in for a busy working weekend. >> they are trying to avoid a looming budget shutdown. tara mergener has more. >> congress has until midnight monday to approve a new spending bill or it is lights out for the federal government. lawmakers do not seem any closer to a deal. voteenate is expected to on the house version of a deal and send it back without a provision to defund the health- care law. that is a move the house speaker said will not fly. the gop is working on a new plan which includes update the federal debt limit. stan? >> you mentioned the upcoming debt ceiling. the house was expected

to vote on a measure this weekend but did not have the votes to move forward. that has been shelved. how congress is going to avoid the government shutdown. both sides insist they do not want one. >> tara mergener, thank you. the affects could devastate economy if there government does shut down. there could be a ripple effect on the local economy. each shutdown day would total $5 million in lost state revenue. $1 million in reduced sales tax revenue. maryland businesses are expected to suffer for each day the federal government is shut down. an economic professor says the