jamie foxx, michelle monaghan this morning on "early today," what happened? testimony at the trial of michael jackson's doctor reveals more on the dramatic final moments of the pop star's life. mt. etna lights up the sky with bursts of lava. and cat got your tongue? a massachusetts feline with two heads makes the guinness book of a massachusetts feline with two heads makes the guinness book of world records. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with chilling testimony. for the third day emotions ran high in a los angeles courtroom where michael jackson's personal

physician, dr. conrad murray, stands accused of involuntary manslaughter in the late pop star's death. yesterday jurors heard more details about the crucial moments surrounding jackson's death. nbc's stephanie stanton has more. >> reporter: after three days of emotional testimony, jackson family members left the courthouse surrounded by supportive fans. meanwhile, inside the courtroom, compelling testimony from a key witness for the prosecution. >> he was laying on his back -- >> reporter: security guard alberto alvarez recalled those critical minutes in jackson's bedroom, all while jackson's children watched. >> paris screamed out daddy. >> reporter: alvarez says he was asked to call 911. >> we have a gentleman here that needs help. >> reporter: but not before he said conrad murray had him collect drug vials and i.v. bag in the room. >> he pointed to incht v. stat and he said, get that bag -- remove that bag and put it in

the blue bag. >> cause now pending -- >> reporter: later jackson's personal chef testified about that fateful day. >> it was a very devastating day. >> reporter: she said she was preparing jackson's lunch when dr. murray came running down the stairs in a panic. >> he was shouting. >> what did he shout? >> get help. get security. get prints. >> reporter: she was also questioned about several paid interviews she did after jackson's death. >> were you paid for that interview. >> yes, i was. >> how much? >> $1,000. >> reporter: stephanie stanton, los angeles. on a political front, after a week of will he or won't he speculation about a presidential bid, this morning it appears new jersey governor chris christie is adding more fuel to the fire. according to new york's wnbc, christie is no longer ruling out a run for presidents after months of adamant denials sources tell the station the

first-term governor is reconsidering his stance after what he felt was a strong outpouring of support during appearances throughout the country this week. a final decision could come as early as next week. elsewhere, facebook is in hot water. this time with congress over potential privacy violations. co-chairs of a bipartisan congressional caucus have asked the ftc to launch an inquiry once they learned facebook was using cookie software to track users even after they logged off the network. facebook says it's fixed the problem adding in a statement yesterday saying it did not store or use any information it should not have. still, congress is concerned the practice raises privacy concerns. the newspaper "the onion" set off controversy after series of tweets went out alleging

gunfire and hostage-taking on capitol hill. capitol police are investigating the paper for false report after enough twitter users were alarmed. the story, along with a doctored photo of house speaker boehner holding a child hostage was a spoof but on the same day of a terror plot uncovered by the fbi left some believing this story to be true. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. the life of a florida child was saved by a group of bystanders after he was run over by a car. the boy became trapped under after getting out of his grandmother's car and falling in front of an oncoming vehicle. the make-shift rescue crew freed the boy by lifting the car and pulling him from underneath. he is expected to recover from his injuries. a pit bull puppy is expected

to make a miraculous recovery after surviving a bizarre his owner rushed him to the vet after he swallowed a garden flagpo flagpole. surgeons were able to remove the pole and patch up the canine without causing damage to oregon organs. attention shoppers. michele obama in sunglass and shades shopping in the store. they say she often will slip out on regular errands. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's meteorologist demenica davis from wnbc 4 new york. can you imagine being in your checkup live line -- >> she always looks good. >> absolutely. >> so, the weekend's here, yes. >> fist pump. >> and we do have some big

changes. they're not all necessarily bad. there's a look at the wider view. still dealing with active weather moving off to the east. this is a cold front, the last of the cold fronts that will push through the ohio valley. but what this does is it brings some cooler air to much of the country. so, from the middle part of the country off to the east we'll see fall-like temperatures and even a preview of winter where we could get our first snowflakes out to the west. tropics still heating up. the biggest storm is hurricane ophelia. this is just south of the bahamas. it is expected to stay in the open water of the atlantic, so no threat to the u.s. here's how your friday's forecast looks. we have a chance for a few isolated storms out to the west. other than that, it's quiet through the middle part of the country. but cool as that air is heading off to the east. so, we're in the 70s once again from new york, washington all the way up to boston. that cold air is moving off and will be there for the weekend. here's a look at your local forecast.

new york, 79. charlotte, 78 today. columbus, ohio, will be 55. kansas city, 69. pueblo, colorado, they'll be dealing with clouds around, 82 degrees. and that's a look at your friday forecast. >> all right, thanks so much. bank of america getting booed. china stocks get the red hot drop. a familiar restaurant chain may be no more. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, can an r-rated comedy drama about having cancer win at all this weekend at the box office? coming up, an upset in college football. baseball's postseason is finally here. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. in california a man has been

rescued six days after his car plunged 200 feet down a cliff off a winding road. the man who was found by his own children suffered broken bones. his injuries are nonlife threatening. the 67-year-old's car landed next to another that had crashed. it's unclear when it happened, but a badly decomposed body was reportedly found in that vehicle. in chile, police clash with angry protesters about the nation's education system. demonstrations have been taking place since june. student are demanding the government provide free education. yesterday china launched an unmanned rocket carrying the nation's first space lab. the lab will be a testing ground for china to dock with spacecraft later this year, paving the way for a permanent space station around 2020. sicily's mt. etna is blowing once again. in the latest burst, the volcano shot ash and lava up into the

air. it temporarily shut down a nearby airport. and here's a face or faces only a mother could love. oh. franc and louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses and three eyes. the massachusetts cat has made it into the guinness world record book as the longest surviving member of a group of felines known as janis cats named for a roman god with two faces. that will leave you talking this morning. well, now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. cornell researchers who turn to twitter for real-time little filtered behavior and thoughts found a pretty consistent pattern. people tend to wake up in a good mood and are happiest on weekends. on average positive attitude peaks early in the morning and starts to dip mid-morning. the positive vibes start rising again in the evening and peak again near midnight. for information on this and

other health stories you can check out the health page at msnbc.com. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,153 after rising 143 point yesterday. the s&p was up 9 points but the nasdaq lost 10. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei was down a fraction while in hong kong the hang seng dropped 418. stocks mostly rose thursday. a day of high volume and high volatility and one that introduced yet another overseas uncertainty factor. the dow and s&p 500 posted healthy gains but the nasdaq was knocked lower by wild selloff of u.s.-listed chinese stocks on news of an investigation into accounting irregularities. dew tumbled, one of the biggest losers. big tech pressured the nasdaq. amazon was off 3% following a

sharp rise wednesday. apple fell hard on end of quarter profit taking. other big techs and internets were hit. advanced microdevices plunged after cutting its forecast. yahoo! lost over 5% while netflix sank 11%. companies vulnerable to an economic downturn turned down. tiffany fell almost 7% while coach sank 6%. there were gainers and some good news. first time unemployment applications hit a five-month low last week. the government raised its estimate of economic growth for april to june. in a triumph for angela merkel, german deputies approved a beefed up euro crisis fund, relieving the biggest fear hanging over the market. on that news, travelers, bank of america and other financials led the dow higher. but watch bank of america today. america's largest bank is weathering an uproar over plans to charge debit card users $5 a

month if you use the card to pay for purchases. and finally, the ultimate casualty of an unfriendly economy? "the wall street journal" reports, friendlies is preparing for possible bankruptcy and a potential sale. coming up, preparations for the opening of baseball's playoffs. and the first possible casualty among managers who didn't get their team there. plus, graham cracks south florida in a top 20 college football upset. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and we have a chance for a few isolated storms west and cold air heads east. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, eight months after pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, baseball's playoffs begin today. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the baseball world still abuzz over the incredible finish to the regular season. today we turn our attention to the postseason as playoffs begin in the american league. the rays may be considered a team of destiny after coming from seven runs down wednesday to win the a.l. wild card. they'll try to carry that momentum to texas where they'll take on the rangers tonight. the yankees have the best record in the league where tigers have

the best pitcher in baseball. detroit will send justin verlander to the hill for game one. with a guy all-too familiar with the postseason, cc sabathia. >> i have a ton of kofs inconfin cc. he's been doing it for a long time and in the postseason for us well. he gives you a ton of innings but gives you quality innings. i have a ton of belief. you know he's not going to panic if he gets in a tough situation, he'll continue to make his pitches. >> should be a good old-fashioned pitcher's duel in the bronx, first pitch 8:30 eastern. rangers and rays kick off from texas at 5 p.m. eastern. according to sources, manager terry francona will meet with red sox management today and likely leave the team. despite theo epstein's confidence, he'll probably leave. the panthers ran over, around and through number 16

south florida. ray graham did most of the damage. 22 6 yards on the ground, 42 through the air. another 35 on special teams. and two touchdowns. you add that up, you get a pittsburgh blowout. they won it big, 44-17. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. another entry in hollywood's unofficial weird baby name competition. plus, nobody likes getting parking tickets but that goes double when it comes from a loved one. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." i'm meteorologist domenica davis. we're dealing with the warmer temps on the east coast with the front coming out of the midwest. cooler temperature are now pushing through minneapolis, chicago, down to kansas city. more seasonal. that air pushes off to the east so it will be a pretty significant dip in the temperatures. by tomorrow we'll fall about 15 to even 20 degrees. and if you're watching us on whdh 7 news in boston, massachusetts, nearby brookline we see inspired by one artist's life in trinidad and the u.s. at home is memory and memory is now. that's at the brookline arts center. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> thanks so much. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment.

the box office this weekend, can hollywood september surprise finish the month on top? "the lion king" will likely take in $15 million this weekend for its third straight win. the r-rated debut "50/50" about best friends dealing with cancer looks to be top challenger also expected to take in $15 million. don't count out brad pitt's baseball saga "moneyball" which topped the daily box office chart all week, but this weekend's playoffs could keep potential fans at home. wild card, the debut of mystery thriller "dream house" starring daniel craig. experts predictions vary wildly. some see it challenging for top spot, others see it in the low teen millions. opening of the latest r-rated ana faris comedy "what's your number" has a shot with $10 million. mike miers and kelly tisdale

welcomed their first baby into the world, a boy named spike. in nearby lodi, new jersey, one cop proved his wife is above the law. no one gets a pass on parking violation and chief caruso's town. for the second time he offered -- he ordered an officer to ticket his wife. this time for double parking outside their son's school. she was dropping off their child but the chief gave the green light for the ticket. a decision he says he won't lose any sleep over, even though he may be sleeping on the couch. minor detail. very brave there of you. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4 4:28 is your time. it is 62 degrees out there. a nice refreshing coolness out there. good morning. i'm eun yang. >> welcome to "news 4 today" on this friday, september 30th. new from overnight, d.c. police are questioning two people possibly connected to a triple stabbing. it happened in the 400 block of "h" street northwest outside the judiciary house apartment building. three people were taken to the hospital. we don't know their conditions

at this hour. police tell news 4 this could be a case of self defense, but we aren't sure yet. vdot is closing a major exit in northern virginia for good. this is happening on 66 on an exit ramp, and this is expected to cause a lot of problems, especially for the rush hour. our tracee wilkins has been covering this story. she is in fairfax county with more now. tracee, good morning to you. >> good morning, eun. there are going to be some changes for folks who take i-495 to 66. take a look behind me. instead of having two options, now you're going to have one. this is all a permanent change for the hot lanes project. take a look at this. starting tomorrow, exit 49c, the left exit from i-495 north to i-66 west will close permanently