today," the ryan factor. a new poll reveals how americans feel about mitt romney's choice for running mate. punch line. a surveillance camera is rolling as a tampa bus passenger suddenly snaps. and road chaos. an elderly man drives his camper into oncoming traffic. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with on the campaign trail with the race to the white house taking center stage in the battleground state of iowa yesterday it appears mitt romney's pick may be

growing on some americans. according to a new abc "washington post" poll it's up from 23% last week. 33% viewed ryan unfavorably. nbc's steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: his opponent got the weekend busby picking a running mate, but in drought-stricken iowa, president obama created his own buzz as only an incumbent condition. >> we've got a lot of freezers. >> reporter: the president said the farm bill frozen on chile and would help more and singled out mitt romney's running mate to help block it. >> so if you happen to see congressman ryan tell him how important this farm bill is to iowa and its farming communities. >> reporter: he, too, went to that swing state. a chaotic event. his speech repeatedly disrupted. >> we don't want a welfare

state. we don't want a debt crisis. we don't want to prolong this recession. >> reporter: romney's pick put him in trouble in the state of florida, a state full of people using medicare that ryan wants to stink but in st. augustine romney charged obama did that. >> it was to cut it by $700 billion. that's not the right answer. we want to make sure that we preserve and protect medicare. >> reporter: under obama health care, medicare payments to doctors and drug companies will drop, not the benefits to seniors. under ryan's proposal, seniors would get vouchers for private insurance, ending medicare as a government entitlement. >> he is an articulate spokesman for governor romney but that vision is one i fundamentally disagreewith. >> reporter: i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. elsewhere in politics chris

christie will be giving the key note speech at the republican national convention. he says he plans to make what he calls an emphatic speech making what he calls for electing mitt romney and ryan. he said he's grinding away on the fourth draft of his speech and he'll be offering some, quote, very direct and hard truths to people in the country about the trouble that we're in. well, a policeman and two others are dead this morning after a gunman opened fire near texas a&m on monday. the suspected gunman, 35-year-old was being served an eviction notice before he opened fire from inside a home. a county constable, a 43-year-old man, and the gunman were killed while three other officers were wounded in the shoot-out. a 55-year-old woman was in serious condition after surgery. authorities say the nearby texas a&m campus was mostly empty when the incident occurred. in new york city police are

investigating a stunning security breach at jfk airport. it happened over the weekend when a lost jet skier who was stranded on the water, swam ashore, scaled a fence and walked across two runways before entering a terminal, this despite a $100 million intrusion detection system. the new york port authority which runs the airport has called for an expedited review. the lost jet skier was charged with criminal trespassing. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in florida a bus driver was attacked by a woman who just began punching and fighting with him after paying her fare. the driver, who suffered a concussion, can be seen pushing the wambach out of the bus. she has been since arrested. no word yet on what may have set her off. in indiana some scary moments at a state fair when a stagecoach flipped over injured five people. among them, the state fair queen who was riding atop the buggy.

it's not clear what went wrong. fortunately no one was seriously hurt and the fair queen was back to work on monday. even in florida this counts as one mighty big snake. they say it's a record-breaker. the laencht burmese python ever caught in the state. it's 17 feet, 7 inches tall -- long. it weighs more than 160 pounds and was carrying 87 eggs. that's another record when it was captured in the everglades. new york city firefighters aren't just known as the bravest. they're also known as quite the beefcakes. i voted for you. apparently they didn't put you in there, bill. some of the hunkiest heroes made their way to times square to sign the new 2013 cal dollars. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is our resident hunk nbc

meteorologist bill karins. i'm trying. i'm trying to throw in some compliments and they will slowly go downhill. good morning, everyone. we need it, we're getting it. just a little too late in so many areas. we've had a decently wet month of august so far. the first two weeks through much of i. even in ohio light rain is greeting you from southern michigan down through detroit and toledo. in indianapolis we had a couple of showers. not a lot. we have some showers we're traffic through the upper appalachians. some of it is trying to sneak into the d.c. area. actually everywhere from pennsylvania, new jersey, southern new york you could get rain and thunderstorms. south, pretty strong storms around jackson, mississippi. we're tracking one little lone thunderstorm that's trying to hold together as it approaches the greater atlanta area. and the final stop, we're showing you some arias that are

seeing light rain. right through central kansas this morning. kansas hasn't had any rain through much of august and even through the back of july. this is welcome, even though it's a little bit. there's nothing else on the maps. the big story will be these storms heading through the eastern seaboard and areas like new york city to philadelphia, even d.c., a strong thunderstorm or two. we shouldn't see any tornadoes or anything like that. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. the worst case for thunderstorms later this afternoon would be damaging winds and large hail. again, philadelphia, much of new jersey, especially the eastern half of pennsylvania, chicago today around 82 and a little warmer. so looking pretty quiet in tropics. i really haven't had much to talk about there. >> that's some good news. all right, bill. thanks so much. coming up stocks tank, google gobbles and what's new in the dictionary.

your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. in the aftermath of the cheating scandal, what did robert pattinson have to say. a pry view, a lejtd and the worst penalty kick ever. you're watching "early today." >> announcer: "early today" is brought to you by caltrate.

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. rebels in syria released a video that purports to show a warplane they claim to have shot down and captured the pilot of the plane. meanwhile foreign ministers at a meeting of the islamic cooperation agreed yesterday to suspend syria from the group due to its violent suppression. back in the u.s. a colorado judge has ordered most of the ski documents in the case against accused movie theater gunman james holmes remain

sealed. news organizations had requested the documents released. heaven girlie brown, the editor who made cosmopolitan magazine into a single girl's sex book and glamor has died at the age of 90. >> police ceased a marijuana farm. they say the irrigation system and equipment to process the plant indicate the operation was run by a crime organization. and an australian man has had his license taken away after driving his car and a travel trailer the wrong way on a highway in melbourne in february. he drove 70 miles weaving through heavy traffic reportedly had suffer add stroke. and now here's an early look at how wall street's going to kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,169 after falling 38 points yesterday.

the s&p was down a point but the nasdaq ganged one taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei rose 44 points while in hong kong the hang seng shot up 210. well, global fears caught up with wall street again on monday. the dow has fallen for ten of the past 11 mondays. yesterday it was weak growth in japan that snapped the s&p's longest winning streak since december 2010. after the bell groupon blamed the weak economy for its slow growth. tesoro is shelling out $2.5 billion for one of bp's california plants creating the nation's biggest nation's refine i ing. travel guides for $23 million. pfizer acquires prescription rights to nexium pending

approval, the purple pill could show up over the counter by 2014. sears shot up on plans to spin off its hometown and stores. new data show it's up 6% while late payments remain near an 18-year low. a new "associated press" tally finds land long island phone companies collectively lost brondband subscribers for the first time thanks to cable company's high-speed access. they shattered their own record in london. more than 219 million viewers made the 2012 summer games the most watched tv event in u.s. history. and you can add f-bomb to the list of "f" words in the diction. others include flex tear yand and obesogenic. which for the record we had to

look up. coming up, a botched kick, a gotham grand slam and the jace survive some gopher balls, plus a comeback that nearly takes the head off one of the boys in blew. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. unfortunately we're going to have another big warm-up in the middle of the country. this time it's another going to last. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports last night a grand slam catapulted the yankees past the texas rangers. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it was a possible alcs preview. yankees and rangers in the big apple. pick it up in third inning, texas up two. bases loaded for nick swisher and he unloads, leaves the park in a hurry. grand slam into the second deck. yanks up 4-2 and looking for more. chavez has been filling in nicely for a-rod. pinch drives all over dempster and go on the win, 8-2. white sox and blue jace adam done doesn't hit much but when he does, they go a long, long way. ties the game. that forces extra innings. blue jays take the lead for good

in the 1th inning. cooper ends it with an rbi single. toronto placed the third placed sox. they knew they were getting some speed, leadership, and a little bit of pop. his first home run with the blue crew, l.a. up, 4-2. play of the game turned in by randy choate. comebacker right at his face mchler self-defense than a catch. great reax by choate. dodgers fend off the pirates, 5-4. sad news out of red sox. johnny passky passed away. he was part of the organization for over five decades. in 1948 he hit a game-winning home run that wrapped around the pole which will forever beknown as the pesky pole. he was 92 years old. finally a moment to show you from across the pond. jonathan soriano with the penalty shot. him against the goalie. what could possibly go wrong?

apparently a lot. soriano boots it a mile high. they're dubbing it the worst penalty kick in the world. i'll just call it hilarious. and that's your sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. coming up a teamster's dramatic change of looks and ana star's confession of an affair nearly 20 years later. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, weddings are normally a fam willing affair but five siblings married off all at once? you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday. we're going to see a few thunderstorms today in many areas of the east. especially have that umbrella handy from washington, d.c., philly, baltimore, up to new york and areas of new jersey too. watch what happens here in montana. a big shot of hot air is right over the top of the intermountain west today. 97 degrees in billings, and then just like that, a strong cold front comes through. 66 in billings tomorrow. that cool air will move to the middle of the country shortly. well, if you're watching us on news channel 5, beautiful burlington, vermont, come see paintings prints and artd facts at up in smoke across various cultures and time peer yuds at the fleming museum. and that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment.

robert pattinson did take the high road. good for him. he shared points of ice cream on "the daily show" with jon stewart and they joked that they were a couple of gals talking about a breakup and he was better off without former flame kristin stewart. he never commented on her saying only right now he needs a good publicist. well, returning to acting in the expensables two after an eight-year break arnold schwarzenegger admits it's tough staying in shape at 65 but admits the same food and exercise he relied on 50 years ago still works. that's a little modern med sin. and meanwhile 20 years later jean-claude van dam said he had an affair while shooting the movie street fighter in thailand. why dig that up now? and finally miley cyrus -- whoa -- has yet another new look thanks to the style list who gave us jennifer aniston's

rachel hair cut. super short, tweeting, never felt more me in my whole life. i'm a little speechless. >> i'm not but i'll just zip my mouth. >> good. very smart. this comes to us from kpns in arizona where it was "i do" times five. two brothers -- three sisters and two brothers had plans to marry their sweethearts within months of each other, so dad had a really good idea. he suggested one big wedding. brilliant. the super-sized resechgs was held in an airplane hanger with five different theme ts and five different cakes, perhaps the most poignant moment was when all the brides joined in for their father/daughter dance. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

tuesday morning. just a little bit of rain i noticed on my drive in this morning. the question is, will it stick around through the commute for you. tom kierein will have that for news a moment. first, good morning. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. today maryland's house of gambling will vote on a measure as early as tonight. a house committee approved a new version of the legislation. its version of the billowered the taxes maryland live! and new casino planned in baltimore would have to pay. that would help them cope with a

possible loss of business they face if a new casino is built in georgia county. another allow us will make up for big las vegas style gambling. the national harbor is considered a likely spot. the senate still has to agree to the changes the house made to the bill. the house could also vote today on a bill to hold dog owners liable when their animals bite someone. the house committee passed a very different version from the senate approved last week. this version would hold dog owners liable if their pets attack someone while running loose. they held dog owners responsible if they were in the leash and if they had never bitten anyone in the past. the town of culpeper is under a boil water advisory because a 12-inch water main broke near the safe way on blue ridge avenue. if you live in the southern part of town boil your tap water before drinking or cooking with it. new information about what led to that wide spread 911 outage in fairfax county during