this morning on "early today" -- going public. another woman comes forward with sexual harassment claims against gop presidential candidate herman cain. fatal dose. michael jackson's former doctor is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the singer's death. and nature's fury. oklahoma deals with a tornado outbreak just days after its oklahoma deals with a tornado outbreak just days after its largest earthquake in decades. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with speaking out. days after angrily declaring he was done answering questions about sexual harassment, republican presidential hopeful herman cain says he's ready to talk again. in the wake of yet another woman making accusations, cain has

called a news conference for this afternoon in arizona. nbc's steve handelsman report. >> reporter: it's the first time a woman has publicly come forward to accuse herman cain. >> mr. cain had been very sexually inappropriate with me. >> reporter: her name is sharon bialek. she says in july 1997 after she was fired from a restaurant association job in chicago she came to washington to get advice from national ceo herman cain. after dinner, bialek charges cain physically assaulted her. >> he reached over, put his hand under my skirt. i was very surprised and shocked. i said, what are you doing? you know i have a boyfriend? this isn't what i came here for. mr. cain said, you want a job, right? >> reporter: bialek says cain stopped. she did not file charges. nbc news cannot independently

confirm bialek's allegations but attorney gloria allred showed statements who swor bialek told them in 1997 cain was inappropriate. after three anonymous women accused cain this month, bialek says she decided to do it publicly. >> i want you, mr. cain, to come clean, just admit what you did. >> reporter: cain issued a statement this afternoon denying what he called false allegations. sharon bialek says she's telling her story to put a name and face on the charges. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. and last night, herman cain was on abc's jimmy kimmel live where he took a swipe at his new acurer's lawyer. >> you consider hiring gloria allred as your attorney? >> you almost made me say

something that my handlers say you should not say. let me put it this way. i can't think of anything i would hire her to do, okay? now to the latest nbc news/wall street journal poll where the president gears up for his re-election bid, respondents were asked to score him on a dozen different domestic and foreign policy issues. now, a majority believe the president has lived up to expectations on just two fronts -- iraq and improving race relations. he received a, quote, fallen short grade on everything else, from the war in afghanistan to the environment and even health care. but right now the president still leads all of his potential republican challengers, including mitt romney by six points and herman cain by 15. elsewhere, after just six weeks of testimony in the involuntary manslaughter case against michael jackson's personal physician it didn't take long for the jury to deliver a verdict. nbc's stephanie stanton reports. >> we, the jury in the above

entitled action, find the defendant, conrad robert murray, guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter. >> reporter: dr. conrad murray showed no emotion as the verdict was read. fans and members of the jackson family got the verdict they'd been hoping for. >> wonderful! absolutely justice was served. michael is watching over us. >> reporter: the jury of seven men and five women spent some eight hours deliberating, contemplating testimony from 49 witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence. in the end, they agreed conrad murray should be held responsible for michael jackson's death. after the verdict was read, prosecutors had another request, put him behind bars now. >> people would ask the defendant be remanded into custody. >> the judge agreed. >> dr. murray reckless conduct poses a demon strabl risk to the safety. >> reporter: court officers placed dr. murray in handcuffs and led him off to jail to await sentence. the man michael jackson trusted

with his life, now responsible for his death. stephanie stanton, nbc news, los angeles. and now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. mother nature continued its assault on oklahoma monday. battering the earthquake-ravaged state with at least two tornadoes. the dangerous storms whipped up 92-mile-an-hour winds, produced golf ball size hail and damaged several buildings. but no injuries were reported. a large group of elderly protesters joined occupy chicago demonstrators. protesting against budget cuts to social security and other programs. police stepped in to arrest 43 people, including some seniors, after the group staged a sit-in at federal plaza new a new york man spent hours dangling from a new york bridge several feet above the hudson river, protesting alleged government corruption. the ordeal ended with police taking the man into custody after he fell in the water. and finally, one new york marathoner proved she finishes

what she starts. after 31: 21, zoey finished the gruelling course for the 23rd time. the 63-year-old with multiple sclerosis competes in the race to bring awareness to her disease. that's incredibly inspirational story for you there. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast. can you believe that, 31 hours? >> the barricades are gone by some point and she's -- and she's in crosswalks in traffic, dangerous. amazing. let's talk about more of these tornadoes. a lot of storm chasers out there yesterday. well advertised november outbreak. right along the red river just north of texas into southern oklahoma. thankfully we didn't have any fatalities or injuries. most of the tornadoes were out in pretty rural areas. now, as far as what we're dealing with now, we still have strong storms, the potential at

least for a couple isolated tornadoes this morning. but we're more or less watching this new line here. strong gusty winds approaching the abilene area. that will move between abilene and dallas. so during the heart of the rush hour, interstate 20 will be difficult. then rain up through oklahoma. i think texas is at risk for any damaging storms early today. then later this afternoon, those strong storms will be in this area of yellow, slight risk from st. louis through southern missouri, all of arkansas, watch around shreveport southward down into houston, that's where all the strong storms will be. then we'll have a band of snow on the backside of this coming out of colorado and maybe even up through iowa and northern minnesota. east coast, you're fine. middle of the country, you're a mess. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. sunshine in new york today. beautiful weather continues for much of the eastern seaboard. 67 and sunny. charlotte, north carolina, beautiful at 71 and sunny. we'll also be watching kansas city, missouri with a chance of storms and 53.

with so much active weather out there, i would encourage people to check with their local meteorologist at their local nbc station. italy scares investors. a judge says no to scary cigarette packs. and economic conditions have gotten so bad, even santa has no job security. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, the biebs is fighting mad and has a plan to fight back. coming up, the bears clip the eagles and the sport of boxing loses a legend. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. white house chief of staff bill daley reportedly plans to hand off some day-to-day responsibilities to a senior aide. daley has come under fire for his management style and for his cool relations with some

congressional leaders. as voters head to the polls this election day, a controversial measure in mississippi is asking whether to give designation of personhood to a pertized human egg. it's intended to make abortion illegal in mississippi as well as some forms of birth control and infertility treatments. a new measure of census data finds the number of poor americans hit a record 49 million in 2010 with poverty rate for the elderly, asians and hispanics higher than previously known. acted viss say syrian forces have unleashed a bloody assault on the country's third largest city following a five-day siege that left scores of people dead. and the white house says, it has no evidence that extraterrestrial life exists. that's your breaking news of the day. the declaration came in response to a petition on the white house website demanding it disclose the government's knowledge of extraterrestrial beings.

now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,068 after rising 85 points yesterday. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei dropped 111 points but in hong kong the hang seng was up a fraction. with one eye on europe, in light, cautious trade wall street opened the week with moderate gains. the latest euro anxiety is italy where government bond yields spiked monday to their highest level since 1997. prime minister berlusconi, who has resisted tough but critical cost-cutting, is refusing to resign. here pfizer rose as defensive stocks like health care and telcoms led gainers. data showed cautious consumers borrowed more for cars and tuition in september but charged less on credit cards for a third straight months.

late mortgage payments unexpectedly rose last quarter for the first time since 2009. in deal news, best buy foal its plan to buy english partner carphone warehouse for $1.3 warehouse. amigen jumped on the $5 billion buy back. dish network rose on a special $2 a share dividend and a net income jump. after the bell, priceline sank on below expectation results. a judge approved $400 million settlement on claims bank of america charged more than 13 million debit card users excessive overdraft fees over the past dk aid. another judge blocked rules requiring graphic images of dead and deceased smokers on cigarette packs next year. u.p.s. says holiday procrastinators will be shipping 6% more in peak week with busiest day, december 22nd. and finally, faced with drastic

budget shortfalls, suffolk county new york has laid off san santa. an 83-year-old world war ii vet who greeted long island kids as st. nick for nine years has gotten his pink slip. disappointing for all the folks. coming up, a boxing legend passes. the bruins bonk the islanders. and you think hockey players get a little carried out? wait until you see one coach. plus, the bears come into philly and maul the eagles. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. it's an active day of weather in the midwest with snow and severe weather. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." [ female announcer ] at verizonfios.com,

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and you're always guaranteed the lowest prices online. so don't wait... try, compare and buy at verizonfios.com today. because there's never been a better time to build the perfect fios bundle. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, last night the boxing world lost an epic heavyweight champion. here's nbc fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. we start with sad news out of philadelphia. former heavyweight champion of the world joe frazier lost his battle with liver cancer. a bruising fighter. it wasn't about finesse, it was force. gave muhammad ali the first lost of his career no. as the fight of the century in 1971. forever linked with ali, they

met two more rings, including the highly publicized t this. rilla in manila. joe frazier was 67 years old. football, a seesaw battle between eagles and bears. cutler found forte in the flats but he was stripped of the ball and brian rolle scooped and scored. eagles tied the game 10 -10. lesean mccoy took the handoff, one move at the line and was gone. 33 yards to the house. mccoy has a touchdown in every game this season. eagles up 24-17. bears did not go away quietly. cutler lobbed perfect pass to bennett in the end zone. bears held on to win it 30-24. hockey after a sluggish start bruins have caught fire, scored three goals in their first 12 shots against islanders. that was it for nabokov. in came montoya and didn't fare much better. horton led the way with a pair of goals. champs have won three straight beating the islanders 6-2.

wild scene in russia where a coach was so angry he tried to take on the crowd. he grabbed a stick, swung at spectators during a game in belarus. he was reacting to fans throwing plastic bottles on the ice in protest of his team's dirty tactics. he was suspended two games for trying to stick it to the fans. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> simmer down. all right. coming up, sour grapes from johnny depp. and lindsay was scared in jail. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, military training is as tough as it gets. but one girl with a big heart has what it takes to make the grade. you're muching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." active weather in the middle of the country. severe thunderstorms, possibly few isolated tornadoes today. watch out from areas of eastern oklahoma, dallas over to shreveport, little rock, too, and southern missouri. on the backside we have snow? -n southeast colorado and that will spread to the north throughout the next two days. areas of iowa and minnesota, maybe a couple inches. if you're watching us on news 5 in cincinnati, ohio, see photographs that capture the harmonious relationship, like lynn and i, between people, the earth and animals at earthbound at westen art gallery. that's your early event of the day. everything's all bonded together

in life. >> it's very zen. thank you, i needed that. here's an early look at headlines in entertainment. after picking up a few awards in europe, justin bieber will return with an aggressive plan of attack against paternity charges. he's going to take a dna test and he says confidently, once the test shows he's not the father, is he going to sue his accuser. johnny depp took a shot at america's heartland telling england's "guardian" his recent film "the rum diary" bombed because it's an intelligent film and sometimes outside the big cities, they don't want that. sideline singer adele is expected to recover fully from throat surgery she just had in boston. and finally, tmz reports lindsay lohan says her 4 1/2 hour jail stay was scary, cold, one of the worst places she's ever been and was another

wake-up call. another. and this comes to us from wis news in south carolina in columbia where in nearby ft. jackson it's mission accomplished for one girl getting to live her military dream. cystic fibrosis couldn't stop alyssa from reporting for duty. the make awick foundation signed up the 13-year-old for a few days of basic training where she's learning the army way of doing things. repelling and obstacle courses have been fun. her biggest joy comes from being among the rank and file of those she calls her american heroes. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28 is the time right now. we have 48 degrees outside. feels a little colder than that. we have clear skies. nice big, almost full moon in the sky. good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this tuesday, november 8th, 2011. new from overnight, at least 12 people were injured when a bus and a fire truck collided. we're told the truck was responding to an apartment fire when it crashed into the bus. the victims' conditions are not being released at this time. today is election day. all 140 seats in virginia's general assembly and many local offices are up for grabs. republicans are looking to take control of both chambers of the

general assembly for only the second time since the civil war. they currently control the house, but democrats have a four-seat majority in the senate. experts believe they expect a voter turnout of just 30%. the polls open at 6:00 this morning, and will stay open until 7:00 tonight. also today, congresswoman eleanor holmes norton will speak at a special place promoting the website d.c. statehood. it will provide a petition for people to sign supporting the plan for the district to become the 51st state. the event will kick off at 10:00 this morning at the john a. wilson building. d.c. police chief cathy lanier says her department will make changes as needed when it comes to demonstrators camped out at the square. she did not detail who wha those actions would be, but they come after occupy d.c. protesters charged