today," east coast swelter, more than a million people are still without power and a brutal heat wave with no leaf expected for days. thar she blows am world war ii naval ship is sent to its dpienl resting place off the coast of florida. and rockets red glare. the sun unleashes a sew lore fire display just in time for the fourth of july. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and a very good morning to you. i'm veronica dell la cruise.

in the middle of a stifling heat wave more than a million people are still without power this morning. crews are working feverishly to restore activity. they're raising fears that the kelt toll toll now at 22 could continue to rise. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: washington, d.c., on day three of the massive power outage. it's another scorcher and still no air conditioning for a million households from north carolina to new jersey. >> it's prepost truss. at this point what are we left to do? what are we left with? >> reporter: trees. work crews have thousands to lift off homes and cars. utility crews have to rewire a grird that has been ravaged. pepco has crews from texas and even canada. >> you know people are not

happy. >> absolutely. and we get it. >> frustrated. highly frustrated. >> reporter: david rut lidge and his neighbors are spoiled, full of food. crowded malls and schools and libraries. word is power may not be back on for many until friday. >> we put a lot of money into restoring and/or hardening the system but this was around extreme event. >> reporter: the first storms blasted through friday night, 90-mile-an-hour winds. >> you could see rain falling, trees, trash being lited off the ground. >> reporter: storms in chicago. one kill add couple on a golf cart. another kill mand taking refuge in a barn. the death toll when the storms passed, 22. and today will be even hotter from coast to coast and in the mid-atlantic. more potentially powerful storms

are forecast. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. in his first comment since last week's contempt of congress vote attorney general eric holder said republicans voted against him to make attorney general a proxy to attack president obama. he told the post he won't resign. the attorney general said he is angry but not surprised by the vote over the justice department's decision not to turn over dounlts from the fast and furious gun tracking operation. he said in an election year, quote, you'd have to be exceedingly naive to think that that vote was about documents. >> a surprising new poll finds clie ma'am change is no longer american's chief environmental concern. according to a new "washington post" stanford university poll, 29% of americans consider water and air pollution to be the world's biggest environmental problem compared with only 18% now worried about global warming. that is down from 33% back in

2007, around the same time a major u.n. climate report and al gore's documentary about global warming "an inconvenient truth" were released. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. off. off the florida coast a ship was blown up. it was indentionally ze destroyed and such so its remnants can be turned into an artificial reef. it took just three minutes to down the vessel which will now rest at the bottom of the gulf of mexico attract sea life, anglers and divers. it took 35 years for this piece of greenery to have a sudden and dramatic overnight growth spurt. it hovers high above a home in savannah but it won't last long. they die off quickly leaving over tiny portions of their once

towers presence. finally in indiana, you know about the mail getting through no matter what the weather's like. what about the mailbox? this one made of plastic was no match for the intense triple-digit heat as it seems to, i don't know, just give up. the owner says the next time he thinks h will buy a metal one. probably a smart idea. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. are we going to see more of that? >> of meltings mailboxes? >> exactly. melting mailboxes? >> i don't know. good thing owners in arizona don't have melting mailboxes. good morning, everyone. yesterday the heat dome expanded back to the west. we actually cooled it off a couple degrees in the east. instead of being 100, we were 93 in atlanta, 95 in d.c. without power the weather is still not pleasant. louisville was 100.

st. louis conned their streak. denver was 101 yesterday. even minneapolis, a new record high yesterday of 99. so what's happening out there today? we have some very strong thunderstorms that are waking up people in the middle of the night. northern minnesota, probably the worst weather this morning. still very hot. the high pressure over tennessee. the warm air is flowing all the way up ahead of the next storm system it's going to be a very warm uncomfortbling day. the southern great lakes, iowa, illinois, and areas through missouri especially, that's where the heat index is going to approach 110 during the day. that's the "feel like" temperature. as far as the thunderstorms, they're rolling down. green bay, northern michigan is getting those storms. minneapolis is getting it. stay inside and then the storms should pass on through. so how hot will it be today? still 90s to a near 100. not much bet owner the east coast. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look outside your

window. so the hot air continues. miami, florida, you expect to be about 92 this time of year. but we don't expect to have this many 90-degree days in a row, especially like detroit. detroit will have 94 but strong thunderstorms will cool you off later today. and, of course, your fourth of july forecast coming up. >> all right. and some good news? got my fingers cross. i know it's not going to be good new, but anyway. manufacturing shrinks, deals are made, and you won't believe the latest thing up for sale on ebay. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus the latest on the big break-up of tom cruise and katie holmes. the nets make a huge trade and deja vu for the pirates. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz, and here are some of your top headlines this morning.

the rain league is calling on the opposition figures to unite as another 85 soldiers including a general and 14 officers defected across the boarder to tur kichlt and syrian president bashar ail ha sad says he regrets that they shot down a plane. they tried to glabt the olympic flame as it was being cared. police were able to intervene and escort them away. and in london, the geeld, sill version and bronze medals for the olympic games have been taken to the tower of london for safekeeping. the tower has been used for over 600uals to store the crowned jewels and it will hold the medals until the 2012 games in august. >> so which game consumes the most beer per person? a new beer institution on consumption found that residents in new hampshire drink more per

capita than any other state followed by north dakota, montana, south dakota, and nevada. utah with its large nondrinking mormon group consumes nothing. the eruption of electrically charged articles might pass the earth's magnetic field in time to spark an aurora fire works display in time for the fourth of july. >> the dow 12,871, taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo, the nikkei gained 63 points while in honor congress the hang sang shot up 294. stocks revelled to stay out of the red on monday. news that u.s. manufacturing shrank for the first time in

three years. industrial stocks still took a beating. best buy jumped 6% on reports that its company is aiming to take its company final. bristol-myers squibb agreed to buy it. dell won its bid to buy quest. meanwhile drug client galaxy joe smith sclien agreed to pay $3 billion, the largest fine ever in a health care fraud case for years including kickbacks, false advertising and failure to warn of health risks. elsewhere microsoft admitted more than $6 billion buying an online company that basically went to waste. barclays chief bob diamond resigned. a little good news if you are getting away by car for the fourth. on average, gas prices are 22 cents cheaper than last year at around $3.35 a gallon.

and speaking of getting away, a new survey shows around 51% of executives are not checking in with the office while on vacation. back in 2010 only 26% went offline while away. finally, forget the bake s.e.a.l.s. one pennsylvania high school is hoping to raise funds by auctioning its on ee basement bidding was set to begin bidding at $600. they won't own the school but get a free pizza, naming rights and a right to earn a speech at the graduation. a costly error and no need for ta frip oar runoff for the olympic tie-breaker. plus, back to back jack that will have you seeing double. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in your fourth of july forecast is going to feature thunderstorms. moe nature going to have a show of her own in the east. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

a very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports the nba's brooklyn's nets have made a big off-season acquisition. here's nbc's mario solis with all of your sports 4edlines. good morning. it was the first big move of the

nbaoff season. no, it wasn't dwight howard or darryl williams but it did involve the brook lib nets. according to reports they traded five players in first round picks to the hawks for joe johnson. averaging 19 points last season, the nets where hoping the acquisition of him will encourage dwight to re-sign. two women tied last week. they were supposed to have a run offthis week but tarmoh backed out conceding the race to felix. all is not lost for tarmoh. she will be an alternate for the ee olympics. to baseball, mark teixeira is a four-time gold glover but you wouldn't know it on this flay. elliot johnson squeaks one by tex rachlt in comes the go-ahead run. rays win 4-3. seven years ago, jeff with catching touchdowns for the notre dame fighting irish. last night he wu mowing down the atlanta braves achlt career-high

11 strikeouts. bases loaded in the seventh and he scores three. don't look now but the cubbies have won four in a row. they win this one, 4-1. here's a news crash. jose bautista can crush the bachlt leading 27th homer of the year. but the biggest homer was turnedny by mike moustakas. royals win big 1rks 1-4. finally, a bit of history in pittsburgh. garrett jones hit as solo shot off the right field foul pole. next one walker hits one. deja vu all over again. back to back jacks off the upright first time that's happened since 2000. pirates beat the astros, 11-2. and that's your slook at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. more trouble for mel gibson. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, many ways have been attempted to show the danger of fireworks, but in fork state they've come up with a new one. you're watching "early today."

well, welcome back. let me take you through your holiday forecast. first off, very hot conditions, even dangerous up through chicago, kansas city, st. louis, that's where we have a few heat advisories and warnings in ee fechlkt eastern seaboard still very warm. a few pop-up storms in the southeast, near 98 once again in atlanta. here's your fourth of july forecast.

mother nature left some fireworks. the front is going to be pushing into new england and the mid-atlantic. that's going to be sparking afternoon thunderstorms. hopefully we'll get the fireworks display in there, the big macy's fireworks display. if you're watching us on whda news in massachusetts, check out stunning images of polar bear behave your patterns at the great white bears. that's your early event of the day. >> i liked your animation, by the way. the fooire works one. >> i worked on it all night. >> did you. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in holmes filed for divorce from cruise last week because she feared plans that cruise and his church of descriscientology had

their 6-year-old daughter surri. she felt like she was in "rosemary's baby" in which a young wife unknowingly bear as child for her husband's say tang cult. holmes filed in new york for league vachlkt cruise plans to file in california where presum bly he would have a better chance of at least partial custody of suri. >> ugly. in the meantime bloggers ask if tom or indicateky keep the beck hams. cruise wants to put beckham in movies and katy and victoria collect in on what each other is wearing. i guess only girls, do that, right? finally mel gibson's stepmother has filed claims he's been violent with her. i don't know about the tom and katie thing.

>> a lot of people don't want to talk about it. a lot of people are fearful of the church of scientology. >> even when you and i speak about it? this comes from wnbc new york whereby they're using a new way to make sure you know the true way of handling fireworks. they filled a car with pyrotechnics and set them off. they set off the same amount of fireworks people bring in illegally. they have a total ban on personal fireworks. more than 1,700 explosives were surrendered yesterday by people taking part in an amnesty program. wow, look at that. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today," just your firstston of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28. and heat wave continues a cross the d.c. metro area. but today there may be a little relief. /*en /- in sight /* /- /* /-. # good morning. # 126,000 customers are out right

now. do monday i don't know reports 82,000 outages. that's down from yesterday morning. bge reporting 50,000 people without power. novec reports outage of 2,000. smeco, about 1300. a number of schools and governments remain closed today. others are flexible. federal government offices are open but employees can opt for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. in virginia, the fairfax county government is open with unscheduled leave. same thing goes for fairfax city. d.c. public schools are closed today. same case for montgomery county school there's. montgomery county circuit court is also closed today. we're running all the closures on the bottom of your screen. you can find them online at nbcwashington.com. a dc diner is ale couping center right now. a few people spent the night at the american city diner on connecticut avenue northwest near the