this morning on "early today," partisan play. sete republicans block the efforts to repeal the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. fair or foul? the florida pastor who planned a koran burning is asked to foot a huge bill for security. and texas tangle, a bus ride turns into a brawl tween two and texas tangle, a bus ride turns into a brawl tween two women with infants. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. today we begin with a on don't ask, don tell. a move by senate democrats to peal the military's ban on gay serving openly in the armed services fell short yesterday. it was blocked by republians with some claiming democrats were using the issue to score political points. steve handelsman has more. >> i snd here today on two

good legs again as a prud, gay marine. >> democrats roll out their big guns. eric alfa, one of the first warriors hurt in the war. alva got a medical discharge. ut since don't ask, don't tell took effect in 1993, 13,000 men and women have been kicked out of the militar >> but it's long past time to repeal this policy, which is both unjust, un-american and extremely hurtful to the effectiveness of our military. >> reporter: but republicans blocked the vote. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: john mccain opposes this repeal. >> we would be ignoring the troops a casting aside the ofessional military advice given by each of the four service chiefs. >> in fact, just before president obama awarded a medal of honor to the marine he's

chosen to keep in command of the corps said don't let gays serve openly yet. we're not quite sure what the impact would be. >> reporter: a bigger blow came fm susan collins who backs repeal. >> now is not the time to play politics simply because an election is looming in a few weeks. >> this ain't over. >> reporter: democrats are vowing to fight on. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, capitol hill. >> as steve just mentioned, president obama awarded the medal of honor to a military hero more than four decades afr he lost his life in service to his country. at a white house ceremony yesterday, air force chief master sergeant richard etchberger's three sons accepted the nation's highest honor on behalf of their dad.

ehberger died back in 1968. the white house has announced that president obama's top economic adviser plans to leave his post by the end of the year. lawrence summers is stepping down as director of the national economic council to return to a teaching job at harvard university. summers had initially agreed to the white house role for at least one year. president obama thanked summers for his service during what he called a timof great peril to the country. now only timothy geithner remains from the president's original top economic team. oday, president obama heads to new york to addess t general assembly where administration officials say he'll walk a fine line regarding iran in a broad based foreign policy speech. yesterday, mahmoud ahmadinejad warned it could spark a war that

would have no limits. president obama plans to leave the door open to talks with iran. ahmadinejad told reporters yesterday u.s. sanctions have damaged the chance for relations. new video shows a growi problem in san antonio. violence breaking out in city buses. in the case, a woman who had a newborn strapped to her chest is seen taking a swing at a woman who had a small child nearby. the woman with the babykeeps throwing more punches. to combat such behavior, the city recently announced a code of conduct for riders. in minnesota, three firefighters were hurt following a fire and subsequent explosion at a local power plant. the blast was strong enough to blow out one side of a corrugated steel building. fortunately, all the models were minor. tinker bell is the latest celebrity to get her latest star

on hollywood hall of fame. and in new york, a diamond jewelry set that belonged to england's diana princess of wales will be auctioned off this week. the diamonds and cultured pearls are valued at over $1 llion. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is bill karins with a look at your forecast. good morning, bill. >> good morning to you and welcome. >> thank you. >> you come up in t northeast from miami, get nice, cool, enjoyable air, but that's not going to be the case. >> i'm ready for the fall. so bring it on. >> unfortunately, can't give it to you quite yet and that's going to be the story. it's been very hot the last couple days from atlanta back dowthrough the deep south. we've had near 10 degree heat in areas of tennessee. yesterday was a steamy date day here in the southeast. now some of that air is pushing into the mid-atlantic and we're

even going to make it up to boston. current temperatures this morning, we're in the 60s in new york, d.c., boston, chicago is at 66. we did get some of that rain yesterday as expected. the only cool air is montana up through the dakotas. so here is a look at the satellite and radar informion. the green on this map is where it's raining. on this front, we have rain through indiana, some pushing throughtoledo, ohio. we have rain in arizona and still showers in south texas. here is the setup. high pressure pushes off the coast. we call thishe return flow. that pocket of warm airhat was over the deep south is going to move into the east today. thexceptions would be around st. louis. rain for you. also columbia getting rain and interstate 44 from springfield up to st. louis, that will be a wet drive this morning. look at these temperatres. d.c., 91 today. new york city, 86. there's that warmth that we were talking about for your wednesday. that's a look at your national forecast. now here is a look at the weather out your window.

we are going to see the warm conditions up through the big apple. charlotte, 90. same for you in orlando. this looks more like a summertime forecast instead of the first day of fall. when i me back later, i'll let you know just how long we're going to watch this mini -- i don't want to call it a heat wave, but for the end of summe beginning of fall, it's pretty warm. >> yeah. thank you, bill. well, the fed speaks, sort of. and why frivolous speech isn't necessarily the best idea while you're on holiday. your early morning buness headlines are straight ahead. plus, right now, he's down about as low as can be, but least one friend is proudly standing by him. also, the twins clench, yankees increase their lead. and what do you get when you combine tiger woods and michael jordan? you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." here are some of your top headlin this rning. a new book by bob woodward claim there have been big battles in the white house over the president's strategy in afghanistan. some doubt the plan will work. woodward says president obama himself has been at odds with military commanders. pastor terry jones may have canceledhis plans for burn a koran day, but he's still going to get a bill for it, a $200,000 bill from the city of gainesville, florida, for beefed up security. the gainesvle city manager admits he doesn't know how much legal authority the city has to force the church to pay. a mayor has been arrested

along with others charged for paying themselves huge salaries, some topping $800,000. the district attorney called it a case of, quote, corruption on steroids. and in england, the hunt is on for a man who apparently dumped his dog. he appears to abandon the animal even as it limps after the man's car. the dog has been taken to a kennel which has been swamped by animal lovers waitingo take in the pup. >> and now here's a look at h wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,761 after gaining 7 points yesterday. the s&p lost two points and the nasdaq fell six. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 35 points. but in tokyo, the hang seng was up 45. markets got a boost fm the

fed's pledge to help the economy yesterday. after aone-day interest rate meeting, the fed kept rates unchanged. promising only, quote, additional accomodation to support the recovery. initially, stocks and treasuries rallied, but the momentum quickly faded. meanwhile, the housing sector slid after reporting a jump in august construction boosted by volatile building of multi-famil homes. overseas, ilian authorities seized more than $30 million from a vatican bank yesterday as part of a money laundering scheme by top church officials. the vatican said it was both perplexed and surprised by the investigation. twitter's website was hacked yesterday causing pornographic web pages to pop up when some users moused over sites.

keep an eye on adobe systems today. shares of the softwaremaker plunged after low forecasts. a cole staying at the golden beach hotel in england was kicked out after the second day of their prepaid three day stay after allegedly posting a negative comment on trip adviser. 50% of t trip adviser users give it a negative rating. the yankees and phillies open up some distance. mrus, an amazing trick shot goes . but is it a hole in one or worth two points? your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. even though we're heading into fall, the summer heat refuses to go away. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, thi is "early today." in sorts, the yankees jumped all over the viting tampa bay rays last night to seiz control of the american league east. here is mario with an early look at all your spos headlines. good orning with nly 11 games left in the

season wibt appears that the yankees are finally pulling away in the a.l. east. bombers jumping all over the rays. number 27 for the swiser king, 1-0, yanks. a few batters later, lance berkman joins the fun. here come two more runs. yankees score five in the first. they go on 8-3 and now have 2 1/2 game lead in the east. twins and minnesota, a white sox socks puts minnesota on top in the eighth inning with an rbi single. danny valencia beats the throw home. twins up by four. twinare the first team to advance to the postseason with a 6-4 comeback over the indians. the phillies number is now down to6. roy haliday becomes the first phillies pitches in 20 years to win over 20 games. the phillies win it, 5-1, and

now lead the n.l. east by five. the season cannot end soon ough for the mets. they lost their fourth in a row last night. sanchez smashing a thr-run homer in the fifth adding insult to injury. not a good day for the metropolitans. marlins win, 5-2. tiger woods is arguably the best golfer and michael jordan is the best basketball player. but when you cbine the sports, neither can match the talent of john jones. the teenager shows off his basketball hole in one. the video doesn't appear to be altered, but you bthe judge. that's a look at your sports today p.m. who is getting boued out of japan? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it's getting to be at time of year and the pumpkins are getting ready for their close up. you're watching "early today."

a good wednesday mornin temperatures will be in the 80s and 90s up and down the eastern seaboard today. another day to turn the air-conditioning on. chicago is a little cooler today. yesterday we had those thunderstorms and rain roll through. look at thursday. the heat returns to chicago and

the east coast is going to be up around 90 degrees once again in washington, d.c. sothe summer that never ends keeps going. if you'reatching us onkare in memberships, minnesota. if you thought legos and politics don't mix, wrong. check out the model of the minnesota state capitol made of 75,000 leggons of the capitol in st. paul. >> that's impressive. i thought that was the real thing. what can't you build th legos any more. >> you can do just about anything. it's pretty cool. here is a look at your early morning entertainment headlines. jo did i e foster is standing by mel gibson afer a nasty battle with his ex-girlfriend. foster tells the october issue of "more" magazine that gibson is, quote theeasiest, nicest person i've ever worked with. the second i met him, i said i

will love this man for the rest of my life. they may love david hasselhoff in germany, but last night he was the first to be eliminated from "dancing with the stars." finally, paris hilton has been booted out of japan. yesterday officials delayed hilton's entrance while looking into her case. she was scheduled to cancel a tokyo news conference to promote her fashion and fragrance lines. you know what? i don't feel bad that she wasn't given preferential treaent this time around. >> worse than that, she wasn't allowed through the door. i think they would do that. >> last we checked, she was staying at a hotel on the grounds. i'm sure her business won't take a huge hit from this. >> she'll probably like the publicity. who knows.

in bluefield, west virginia, there are signs that fall is right around the corner. a couple of farmers are showing off the ultimate halloween accessory. three massive pumpkins that weigh between 500 and 50 pounds. the giant gourds are still the vine. next month,hey will be entered in an annual pumpkin festival. by then, they hope to tip the scales at over 1,000 pounds. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day toy on your nbc station. [ male announcer ] it's suny afternoon.

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4:28 is our time right now. degrees outside as we look at a beautiful clear sky above the ation's dam. we'll check in with tom in just a moment. good morning. i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. in the news it is a case raising more questions than answers. a woman murdered in the middle of the afternoon at an apartment complex en there are a bunch of peoplearound. jackie benson has more on the disturng and baffling crime. >> repoer: autos crime scene technicians fingerprinted the doorway leading to the stirwell, investigators tried to piece together a brutal crime. two separate 911 calls sent

police officers to the gates of sip an know gard apartments in green belt at 2:00 p.m. one said there was a woman in the stairwell and she appeared to be very badly injured. >> they located the woman who was suffering trauma to her body. they transported her at that point to a local hospital where a doctor pronounced her dead at approximately 3:20 this afternoon. >> reporter: anher 911 call reported a shooting. but it's not clear whether that calleheard gunshots or assumed she had been shot based on her appearance. tree trimmers who were working 50 feet away from the doorway when the crime occued. it's not clear whether they were able to provide a description. in an apartment near the entry door they located a darkreen honda sedan. they believ