this morning on "early today," terror plot. federal officials arrest three men in an alleged plan to stage attacks in new york city. piggy back ride. the space shuttle discovery hitches a lift back home to florida. and primetime pop. the stars come out for and primetime pop. the stars come out for television's biggest night. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

hello and good morning, everyone. i'm dan kloeffler. and today we begin with on unlocking the details. three men are in court accused of making false statement. at the center of the probe is a 24-year-old colorado man, zazi. zazi's fingerprints were found on materials that investigators say can be used to make explosives. court papers show the man admitted to attending a training camp in afghanistan last year. the main suspect visited earlier this month in what may have been advanced panning for an attack. this morning "washington post" is reporting that the top

u.s. commander in afghanistan has warned in a confidential report that the battle against insurgents there will, quote, likely result in failure unless more forces are added to the fight. the report filed by stanley mcchrystal is being reviewed by the president. mcchrystal calls for new insurgency strategy to battle militants and a corrupt central afghan government. the general suggests the mission not be resourced. elsewhere, two less urgent matters, as it always seems, at the emmy awards it was mostly the usual suspects on stage last night. still, there were some surprises. fan favorites may have been ruled, nevertheless some shows fell off the radar managed to watch out with tv's coveted signal of success. >> here's hoping kanye west likes 30 rock. >> reporter: emmy's host neil

patrick harris joked about it to start the night. and almost three hours later, the nbc sitcom won as best comedy. >> we want to tha our friends at nbc for keeping us on the air even though we are so much more expensive than a talk show. >> reporter: alec baldwin won best actor for the second year in a row. >> this is the greatest job i'll ever have. >> reporter: a surprise for best actress as tony collette of the cabl company, united states of tara beat last year's winner, tina fey. >> this is insanely confronting. >> reporter: it was deja vu in the drama categories. the 60s advertising saga two straight wins as best drama. >> we worked very hard to not have it stink the second year. >> reporter: glenn close also made it two straigh wins as best actress. >> it is a job that makes it worthwhile leaving home for. >> i'm so thankful that glenn

close is actually a woman. >> reporter: another repeat winner was bryan cranston, best actor for breaking back. >> daily show with jon stewart. >> reporter: another night of repeat winners was the daily show, seven straight wins as best variety, music and comedy series. >> i thank you again for the opportunity to come up here and go backstage and watch a football game. >> reporter: only one winner in dallas, but on this night many in hollywood. >> nbc of course very proud of that. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. space shuttle discovery made a pit stop in texas. earlier this month "discovery" was forced to land in california following a 14-day mission to the international space station. now it is being carried back on a modified 747 aircraft. a would-be bank robber in wisconsin got more than he bargained for when a customer tackled him from behind.

23-year-old suspect wearing a sweatshirt and mask was demanding money from the tellers. that's when the customer sprung into action. a suspect was held down until police arrived. north carolina officers are investigating a crash that certainly roughlied a lot of feathers there. a truck carrying more than 5,000 chickens ran off the road. witnesses say about 400 birds died. no humans, though, were hurt from that accident. >> activists in new york are trying to bring attention to the issue of climate change ahead of u.n. general assembly meetings this week. yesterday thousands of mpaigners formed a human sculpture of planet earth trapped inside an hourglass. it dissolved like sand to signify the time the action is out. and in new mexico, beef, beans and chiles all flying for the word burrito eating championship. 15 competitors started the race. only one winner, though. he gulped down 33 1/2 burritos

in only 10 minutes. and then comes the indigestion. bill, good morning. >> they say beans are good to u, dan. >> that's what they say. i won't go into the inappropriate comments. 33 and a half burr rhee toes, 10 minutes. got to make mom proud. >> let's talk this morning about the problems. good morning. hope you had a wonderful weekend. down in the southeast, the rain won't stop. we're continuing each and every day and night now to get these slow-moving storms just sitting over the same locations. and the problem spot this morning is in georgia. especially around the atlanta area. flash flooding is widespread. almost all the small creeks are now out of their banks. we're starting to worry about some of the bigger rivers, too. atlanta, the little red dot here. and these storms are just sitting here. they're barely moving. they'rerifting up towards the northeast. the north side of atlanta especially, you've got more

heavy rain heading your way. everywhere in the red here from atlanta to gainsville, these are all flash flood warnings. be careful driving out there this morning. many locations are probably -- either the roads will be closed or it will be difficult to drive. other spots with rain, nashville, cincinnati, the ohio valley. it is a wet and wild day from the southeast up through the great lakes. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. well, that rain is going to extend and stretch. we have areas of rain in michigan currently. indianapolis, a chance of storms during the day today, 78. columbus, ohio, same for you. we will see some gorgeous weather, though, in most of the d atlantic. dan, sometimes it's not fair. sometimes it's beautiful all weekend like what we saw in the northeast. other times you get what they had in the southeast, which wasn't pretty. >> yeah, i know. but then in a couple months from now when we're dealing with snow, they'll have sunshine. >> they'll be laughing. thank you, about him.

what the fed has to say and all the other things traders will be looking for this week on wall street. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, let's just say megan fox's future as a top box office star is in doubt this morning. a billion dollar grand opening ruined in dallas. jets try to back up their trash talk. and a troubled baseball player suspended for the season. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today," everyone. i'm dan kloeffler. and here are some of your top headlines this morning. in washington state, a killer who was on the loose after escaping while on a field trip from a mental institution has been recaptured. phillips arnold paul, acquitted by reason of insanity in the 1987 sleighing of an elderly woman made his escape thrsday. he had a parntly planned for his

getaway on a field trip to a county fair. a soldier was killed when a helicopter crashed into the united states main air base in iraq. the chopper went down at balad air base. no word, though, on the cause. a new report says greenhouse gas emissions from fallen courtesy of the global economic downturn. an international economic agency found emissions from burning fossil fuels this year. it's the biggest drop in 40 years. off the coast of brazil, researchers found a previously unknown species of fish. this scaleless fish was found dead floating in the water, weighed in at 88 pounds. one oceanographer found the fish, quote, a rare gem. now here's a look at how wall street will kick off the day today. the s&p added 2. taking a look at overseas

trading, in tokyo, the nikkei was closed for a hole day. the hang seng dropped 150 points. can the upward trend continue? investors will look for clues from the meeting of a central bank this week. federal reserve will kick off a two-day meeting on whether to keep interest rates at their incredibly low level at zero. accompanying the decision, pointing to the overall strength of the economy. wall street will get an update on the housing secretary tore. economists predict both figures will be up for a fifth straight month. president obama will meet with world leaders in pittsburgh this week to discuss the global economy. this will be the third meeting of the g-20 in less than a year. all to strategyize a solution to the global financial crisis. the internal revenue service is giving anyone hiding assets overassess until october 15th to claim unreported funds and avoid

jail time. more than 3,000 americans have already applied for the amnesty compared to an average 100 applicants in years past. the names of 4,500 tax evaders will be turned over to the i say thanks to a settlement between the u.s. and swiss governments. bank of america learned over the weekend it cannot invoke attorney/client privilege over its merger with merrill lynch. congress has given the bank until noon today to provide the requested information to the house committee. wall street will find out how the back berry is selling in the smartphone market. and final lishgs a store manager in north dakota found out sometimes you get more than you pay more. when a customer pulled out a $20 bill from 1934 the old note caught her eye. she ended up buying it. turns out that same bill goes for as much $134 in online

auctions. now, everyone is going to be checking out the dates on their bills today. pennant race updates, the latest from nascar, and the dallas cowboys open their football pal ras. plus, a rookie quarterback and head coach shock tom brady, bill belichick and the new england patriots. on this last full day of summer, flash flooding is the big story in the midwest and the atlanta area. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm barbara harrison. straight ahead on "news 4 today," construction is getting under way aimed at easing the come matt in the district. but traffic congestion is only going to get worse before it gets better. >> plus, the washington redskins win their home opener so why is the victory a bit unsettling for a lot of fans? >> job-seekers beware. that's scam in cyberspace.

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the dallas cowboys learned the hard way last night, do not invite the new york giants to your next house warming party. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it was the grand opening dallas had been waiting for but the jintsz spoiled their party. first game of the $1.2 billion cowboys stadium. a new roared, 105,000 fans in attendance. pick it up in the final minutes. cowboys coming back. jones in for the touchdown and dallas grabbed a 31-30 lead. but dallas saved their house warming present for the final seconds. tying 37 yards out. giants spoiled the cowboys opener, 33-31. in new jersey, after a week of

trash talking the patriots, jets backed it up. third quarter sanchez to daus tin keller for the touchdown. 16-9. beat the patriots in jersey or not first time since 2000. to chicago, bears and steelers, third quarter. cutler to knox. touchdown tied it at 14. same score, final seconds. gold, the runner for chicago, 44 yards out and good. bears came back to beat pittsburgh 17-14. baseball, the cubs have suspended troubled outfielder milton bradley the rest of the season after making negative comments to the press. bradley told reporters, you understand why they haven't won in 100 years. i wouldn't be surprised if he's gone in 100 days. yanks had a chance to clinch the playoff spot but the mariners weren't having it. three-run shot. yankees party to wait another day. they lost 7-1. twins and tigers, a blts a top the a.l. central. rayburn went deep for a solo blast. tigers won it 6-2. they lead minnesota by three

with just 13 to placement new hampshire, trouble in the pits. kyle busch, look out. right into david ragan. a love tap. 50-year-old won the first race in the chase to the cup. that's an early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> thank you, fred. someone has actually come out defending kanye west. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, he tried to wake his dad to play a video game and ended up saving his life instead. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday morning. i'm meteorologist bill karins. i talked a little bit about the flash flooding in atlanta. that's going to be troublesome for the commute. we have rain up through michigan, detroit, saginaw, grand rapids, traverse city. other areas for rain today, really everywhere in the ohio valley back down through tennessee. tennessee valley, jackson, atlanta. some of the worst of it today. mid atlantic, you're actually looking pretty g. well, if you're watching wncn nbc 17 in raleigh, north carolina, experience nature throughout the entire state by watching the award-winning documentary, wilderness north carolina. showing at the north carolina museum of natural sciences. that's your eastern event of the

day. beautiful day from the beaches all the way to the mountains. >> got it all right there. now you can see it all on film. thank you, bill. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. at the box office this weekend, if you saw something in the sky, it wasn't a bird or a plane. chances are it was a meatball. the animated 3-d comedy won box office champ earning just over $30 million. matt damon's the informant is in second place with a $10.5 million. after months on of hype, jennifer opens baed, starring megan fox, finished weak, fifth, with just $6.8 million. it was expected to take second in the mid-teen millions. big blow not only for fox's box office credibility but also prior for diablo cody whose shot to fame writing juno. finally, with a story almost extinguished for some reason jay-z felt the need to defend

kanye west's disaster. he defended him as super passionate complaining, quote, he didn't kill anybody. >> that's not even worth talking about. >> so we'll talk about cloudy with a chance of meatballs. did you see it? >> i did not see it. i was very impressed. i was so wrong on jennifer's body. >> so you saw that instead? yeah. got you. speaks for itself. this comes to us now from west 2 in orlando where in nearby a lot mont springs, big heros can come in small packages. police say a 6-year-old boy knew to dial 911 when his father wouldn't wake up. it turns out the boy's dad has diabetes and was suffering from low blood sugar. now the man credits his quick-thinking son for saving his life. he is encouraging other kids to teach their kidsds to make that all-important call. wow. good kid.

i'm dan kloeffler and this is good morning. our time right now is 4:54, 61 degrees on this 21st day of september. we have some clouds above us right now. good morning and welcome to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm barbara harrison. we're glad you're up with us this monday morning. we want to start things off, as we always do, with a look at weather and traffic. tom, good morning. >> hey, barbara and joe, good morning. welcome back, joe. nice to have you back with us. as we get rolling, off to work and school on this monday morning, no precipitation on radar. temperatures around the region are cool, down into the 50s around the blue ridge, shenandoah valley, into the mountains. closer to washington and montgomery county, prince george's prnince george's it's n the 50s and low 60s. quite a cool start to the day. all around the region we've got quite a bit of cloudiness this

morning, a little bit of light rain in far western west virginia but we ought to stay dry throughout the day. temperatures should make night the upper 70s. some chances of rain tomorrow and perhaps again on wednesday, drying out thursday. look at friday and the weekend will be coming up in a few minutes. stay tuned. >> thanks, tom. see you in a few minutes. >> thank you very much. let's go to ashley linder now and the news 4 traffic network. >> good morning. >> happy monday to you guys. taking a look here at 270, you can see a pretty happy morning for commuters right now. southbound is headed toward us, but headlights continuing toward the capital beltway. quiet morning overall, no big issues going on right now. we're in the clear. back to you. >> okay, ashley, great. good to have you with us this morning. >> thanks very much. in the news this morning, happening today, the man suspected of murdering four people at a home of a longwood university professor is expected to appear in court today. 20-year-old richard mccroskey bragged about the thrill of killing in rap songs he performed on the internet. mccroskey is charged with the

killing of presbyterian pastor mark needer brock. also suspected in the murders of professor debra kelley, kelley's husband and their teenage daughter. >> investigators in colorado say there's evidence that a airport shuttle driver played a direct role in an alleged terror plot. he is due in court today along with his father. documents show zazi's fingerprints were found on bomb-making material. >> president obama is leaving for new york city later today. he'll spend several days there and is set to address the united nations general assembly on wednesday. he'll also make an appearance on "the late show" with david letterman. >> the cleanup continues in dundalk, maryland, this morning after a six-foot water main break. officials say it will take several weeks to get the highway repaired and opened for traffic. part of that highway was washed away when the pipe broke on friday. at least 100 homes were flooded.

70 of those have been deemed unlivable. >> the swit against swine flu is taking place in america's schools. vaccines will not be available until next month, leaving about a month gap for students who are already back in the classrooms. >> that's putting an extra strain on school nurses who are trying to protect students in the meantime. nbc's michelle franzen has the story. >> reporter: they are on the front lines in the battle against h1n1 flu -- school nurses like donna randle at ft. mill middle school in south carolina, already busy taking temperatures and taking extra precautions to prevent a flu outbreak. randall and school nurses around the country are following recommendation business the centers for disease control and health department. >> we take their temperature and if they do have a temperature of greater than 100 degrees, they are excluded from school. >> reporter: if there is a wave of students feeling sick, ft. mill has set up a quarantine room across the hall where they can wait until parents can pick them up. new rules for this new strain of

flu that affects the hlthy and the young. >> for there to be an illness which is particularly risky for that group, which is generally considered the healthiest, i think has scared a lot of people. >> reporter: this year, school nurses will be helping the cdc track potential h1n1 cases. the national association of school nurses is providing the link to the cdc that will monitor school dismissals. >> we do accumulate the numbers daily and submitthem. >> reporter: last spring in new york city, st. francis prep school was at the center of the h1n1 outbreak. >> i already had, by 9:30, 10:00, about 15 fevers online so i alerted the principal when i came back. the line was doubled in about 20 minutes. >> reporter: the school was closed for weeks. now, with the new school year under way, nurses and officials are armed with a plan and knowledge. >> our job this coming fall is to educate. >> reporter: health experts say