a wisconsin levee continues to fail causing resints to flee their home. rough landing, tense moments at jfk airport when a delta flight's landing gear fas to deploy. and education. nbc takes a special in-depth look at the state of our nation's schools. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and a very good moing to you. i'm veronica dell a cruise. today we begin with on the brink. residents are trying to stay drive as rivers are trying to rise to dangerous levels. one levee built in the 18 # 0s has. it has warneded residents that ifhe levee brings merge vehicles incding police, fire, and balances will not be able to reach those who stay behind.

waters are beginning to reseed elsewhere where emergencies had been declared. this morning they're seeking broader authority to track down. to design their network so fbi officials can monitor suspects if the companies are served with a wire tap order. right now those services ewing what's known as peer to peer software are difficult to intercept because they're not rooted through a central hub. cording to the times, the bill which the obama administration plans to submit next year raises fres fresh questions. >> well, the bishop of a georgia mega church has broken his signs lens speaking for the first tim in a fiery speech eddie long vowed to fight the legations

and lawsuits. they claim he gave them gifts and took them on trips in an attempt to seduce them. federal authorities say they won't instigate the allegations bus all four men were 17 or 18 when the relationships began. the state of georgia's age of consensual sex is 16. today nbc news is proud to kick off education nation here at 30 rock. it's a special weekof programming designed to show american students and schools. a new poll finds well over half of americanselieve public schools need major changes or a complete overhaul. good morning to you, michelle. >> reporter: good morning to you, veronica. certainly this series is aimeded at o a two-day summit. it is the start of a national conversation that many say is long overdue. at a town hall kicking off

education nation -- >> and good afternoon and welcome to our teacher town hall. >> reporter: teachers from around the country inspired ways toeach around the classroom. >> all students can learn as long as teachers are passionate and held accountable. >> reporter: many voiced frustration and searched for ways to improve the education system. >> there shouldn't be a lottery for good education. >> reporter: from the controversy surrounding charter schools to teachers feeled blamed for the problems. >> we're being made the scapegoats for much, much larger ills of society. > reporter: onthing teachers, educators, and many agree on is that children deserve better in school. a recent poll shows 77% of americans give public schools a grade of c or lower. % believe major changes or

overhaul is needed. they need to deal with struggles of families. >> she will go to college. >> reporter: it shows how five students and parents from harlem to silicon valley navigate through a lottery system to get out of failing neighborhood schools and into public charter schools. >>let's get started. >> reporter: luck of the draw pathed for many, wather on the big screen or in the classroom will shape the way they learn. students, teachers, local leaders interact. they can learn abou a teaching garden to help teach kids about nutrition. veronica. >> and we are looking forward to it. nbc's michelle franzen. michelle, thank you. as part of coverage we're going to be presting all week on the nb cnetwork, don't miss this morninging's matt lauer

clusive, a live interview with president obama. that's ming up today. here are other news making news early today. video shot by passenger on a deltalight shows sparks flying during an emergency landing. authorities are looking into reported isues with the plane's landing gear. fortunatelnone of the plane's 60 passengers or crew were hurt. in california a miniature 4 rocket lifted off from the air force base. it carried an air force surveillance flight to monitor. the satellite will play a key role in protecting the country's space-spaced assets. in texas speed eaters dug in at the world tamale eating championship. tim janice known as eater "x"

passed up his conompetition consuming 59 tamales in just ten minutes. that's actually 12 tamales under his world record of 71. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's bill karins. >> it's a raw morning up and down the eastern seaboard. look at the radar. all the green on here is rain and it's plenltful from georgia, thunderstormin south carolina, all over north carolina. on and off rain today, same with virginia. and now that the rain is starting to move northward, maryland,delaware, sunday new jersey. up and down the earn seabrd our system will be a two-day event and don't count on a lot of sunshine. the rest of the country looks pretty nice. temperatures are chilly this morning in chicago up thugh the northern plains. her's your forecast today. a beautiful fall crisp day from

st. los to kansas city. look at dallas, warm at 76. denver. a lot of rain, even some thorns and alorm with it possible airm airport delays. that's a look at your monday forecast. in washington, d.c. some rain this morning andhat will continue through the day. as the warm front kicks north ward we may throw in a thunderstorm or two. ars in the south, same for you in atlanta. as i mention there's some gorgeous weather in the country from dallas to denver. we'll take a look at that tuesday forecast. and for the east coast, veron a veronica, it doesn't get a lot better. >> don't forget your umbrella. so how is wall street going to do this week? your earlile morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus how did wall street do at the box office over the weekend. >> cowboys and vkings do something they haven't done all

weeke weekend. you're watching "early today."

goodorning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. e future of middle east peace talks hangs in the balance after middle east's ten-month slowdown expired last night without a come proprize. to celebrate the end of the moratorium jewish settlers broke ground on a kindergarten in west bank. forces crossed iraq and killed 30 fighters suspected in a deadly bombing last week in iran. no group has claimed responsibility for it. and a report from the group mayors against illegal guns finds nearly half of theuns that crossed state lines came from ten states, georgia,

florida, texas, indiana, ohio, pesylvania, north carolina, california, and arizona. and not everyone was amused by last week's congressional testimony from comedian stephen colbert. sunny hoyer called it inappropriate and a quote embarrassment to colbert. and now here's an early look. the dow opened 10,860. the s&p rose 10 points and the nasdaq added 54. in tokyo the nikkei rose 130 points while in hong kong the hang seng jumped to 121. the dow on ack for its best september since 1954. the big question will this month's surge continue for a fourth straight week. the answer lies which way the economic data swings. 'll get an update on consumer confidence and spending and a fresh look at home pces.

auto data seams for september is also due and should be a little higher this month. coming up on thursday, wall street will get another reading on just how ch the economy grew in the sond quarter with another look at gross domestic pruct. treasury secretary tim geithner will be meeting for the first time this week. the goal will be to find ways for fiscal responsibility and financial reform. hyundai has issued a voluntary recall of40,000 sedan over potential steering issues. asian license insuranc will rn a profit of at least $30 billion this fiscal year. ai gi is spir aig is spinning off its balance to help with the bail out. a deal could cse as early

as today. and finally, a sign of the times, at a recent new york auction a laundry list of collectibles went up for grabs but no one was buying. among the memorabilia, a pair of jim morrison sunglasses, superman's cape and one of princess di's diamonds. >> a walk offwalk in the bronx, plus the jets bray lynn edwards makes some heat of his own last night against the dolphins. your earlyorning sports headlines are straight ahead. on this monday we have soaking rain up and down the east coast and record heat on the west coast. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports long time rivals the jets and the dolphins always seem to have classic battles under the lights and last night in south beach was no exption. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. bray lynn edwards started the game on the sidelines, but by the trd quarter he was leading the jets. here we go to miami. edwards was benched the the first quarter because of a draunken driving arrest.

e jets were up, 20-17. final seconds. dolphins needing a touchdown. but pickedoff in the end zone and that was it. michael vick back on the field again and proof that he should be the eagles' starting quarterback. philly fans quickly forgetting about donovan mcnabb. cowboys finally got in the win column. tony romo found roy williams twice. they beat the texans 27-13. let's go to minnesota where they finally hit their striechltd peterson ripped off a touchdown. they shaved t lions 24-10. > the falcons had luck on their side in new orleans. the saints missed it f a win. falcons beat the champs 27-24. in seattle, two kick off

returns for touchdowns. his first to start the third quarter, his second, 99 yards to put the seahawks late in the fourth. washington and the seahawks shot the chargers 27-20. finally here's something you don't see every day. red sox high drama. he walked them. that's it. game over. on a wa-off walk. yanks won it 4-3. that's your early look at sports on "early toda" i'm fred roggin. >> we'll explain why this weekend's big winner didn't come in first place. your early morning enteainment headlines are straight ahead. plus thousands turn out to run. you're watching "early today."

well welcome back once again. you need your umbrella today up and down the east coast from orgia to the carolinas, virginia, west rginia, much of pennsylvania, even ohio this morning and now it's moved and increased to the north and up to new jersey, marand, and delaware. soon new york city to boston, it will be raining pretty good. the morning rush hour a little slow. the middle of the country looks fine. everyone's dry and beautiful. it's the east coast, monday and tuesday that we're going to be watching this wet weather lingering here. we could see thunderstorms on and off a possibility of rains

in the appalachians. if you're watching us on wnne 31 white river junction in vermont. definitely more than just fixal. got all fired up. six artists from vermont in near buy shelburne at the shelburne museum. the question is are you fired up today. >> i am a little bit. >> good. >> not sure why but i am. >> i haven't seen you for a while. all right. see you soon. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. back in the '80s greed w good but today at the box office greed is just okay. the long awaited sequel wall street's money never sleeps won the box office title this week but fell short of expectations taking in only $19 million. the experts blamthat underperformance on failure to attract the younger crowd. a whopping 65% of wall street's audience was over the age of 30. also underperforming this weekend legend of the guardians,

an animated fantasy adventure cost $130 million to make and some picked to win but it only managed second with a little over $16 million. perhaps the weekend's top performer was ben affleck's the town. that raid the ten-day total to over $49 miion giving it a solid shot at hitting $100 million before it's done. i don't know. i haven't been to the theatre lately but i saw date night with mymom. >> it's out on rental. it's mixed reviews. >> it has steven corral. . this comes to us from wnbc news 4 new york where 125,000 retraced heroic footsteps, members of our armed forces an people from around the world

ined firefighter who came across the world. a new york fire fighter when he heard about the 911 attacks ran with 90 pounds of gear all the way from brooklyn to manhattan to save lives. he later died in the towers. i'm veronica de la cruz and this is "early today," your "early today" on this nbc station.

our time right now, 4:28. 64 degrees here in the nation's capital. you can see the rain droplets hanging around. a beautiful pictu of the capitol dome. good morning. i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. this morning marks the begning of education nation. a week long focus by nbc news on the nation's school systems. the event kicks off with a two-day summit in rockefeller center. national and local leaders will meet with parents and students to dcuss the problems facing school systems pros the country. d.c. has been at the forefront of this debate. michelle rhee has already voiced her opinion on meet the press.

tracee wilkins is live with more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. michelle rhee is becoming the face of urban school reform. she was featured yesterday on meet the press's panel. during the show we addressedhy she fired hundreds of teachers. moderator david gregory brought fenty's loss and e d.c. primary up. suggesting that a lack of national support may keep other mayors and governors from risking political capital lost through education refm effort. when gregory asked rhee wl she stay on as chancellor, she had this to say. >> i think that's something we still have to determine and i have