apprentice calls him a rat. plus, carthy's top ten targets are all american cars. asiana pilots relied on auto controls before landing and here comes chantal. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is wednesday. good morning. i'm mara schiavocampo. a slew of just released documents paint former nfl start aaron hernandez as the trigger man. the records are the most damming evidence yet in the killing of odin lloyd. hernandez has pleaded not guilty. prosecutors say he orchestrated the murder, but haven't said who they believe fired the fatal shot. two other men, earnest wallace and carlos ortiz have been charged in connection. both have entered not guilty pleas. ortiz reportedly told investigators wallace said hernandez admitted to shooting

odin lloyd. that's according to affidavits who says hernandez slammed the doors on investigators the first time she showed up at his home. new details this morning in the crash of asiana flight 214. investigators say the pilots were used the auto throttle feature during landing instead of controlling the plane manually. the captain reportedly didn't realize until 200 feet out that they were coming in do low and too slow. we're learning more about the moments just after impact. two flight attendants were flown from the back of the jumbo jet upon landing. this morning, doesz remain hospitalized including some in critical condition. turn to go alcohol, house republicans will try to craft the path forward on immigration laws and speaker john boehner says there's a lot of crafting to be done. tracie potts joins us live now with washington with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this meeting today will likely

determine what path republicans in the house are going to take to try to deal with immigration reform. they've said they're starting from scratch. they're not dealing with the senate bill at all. the senate passed this bill with quite a bit of republican support, but in the house they're starting all over and that process begins today. and the big question facing them is this -- are they going to insist on dealing with the border being secured first? that's what we've heard from a lot of republicans. or are they going to consider some path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented workers in this country? and we're starting to hear from a lot of them, especially those called the dreamers. they'll be rallying here on capitol hill. these are children who were brought into this country illegally who say they should be allowed to stay. they know nothing about mexico, they know nothing about their home country and they want to stay.. we also today expect to hear from former president george w. bush. he's speaking on immigration at

a naturalization ceremony in his new library today. mara. >> tracie potts back in washington, thanks. turning to egypt, the muslim brotherhood has rejected the interim president's new timetable for constitutional amendments and new elections by early next year. tuesday, a new prime minister for the embattled country. atia is live in cairo. good morning. what's the latest where you are? >> reporter: good morning, mara. the muslim brotherhood, it's no surprise that they have not accepted the new constitutional declarati declaration. they still haven't accepted their new interim government. their one demand from the beginning has been the reinstatement of mohamed morsi as the legitimate president. possibly after that they say them possibly negotiate with the coalition opposition. in the meantime, the new opposition has gone on to appoint a new prime minister, one of the founders of the social democratic part, a former finance minister.

at the same time, they've appointed mohammed alberdi, trm forenegotiating chief from the iaei from foreign relations to allow the international community to know that egypt is on the right track. at least that's what they want them to think. mara. >> atia abawi, thanks for that. tropical storm chantal is turning near haiti in the dominican republic this morning. bill karins is here with more. >> great news about chantal. last night, the storm lost its luster and is moving too fast to keep up its entity. after bringing heavy rain to st. lucis and martin, it still has winds estimated at 50 miles per hour. this could become just an open wave or a tropical depression later today and the concern levels in the united states and the southeast are dwindling by

the hour. we have rain and heavy thunderstorms and even potential flash flooding this morning. careful driving around area areas of ohio including cleveland, into areas of pittsburgh even dealing with these issues this morning. as that front try toes kick in this afternoon, additional strong storms from buffalo, erie, through southern ohio, right along the ohio river down into areas from memphis to little rock. so, again, that front into the warm, humid air is going to kick storms off this time of year. 101 today in dallas, but the eastern seaboard will be dealing with all the wet weather and storms. that's the national forecast. now here is a look outside your window. so we could see a few strong storms today. nothing in too many tornados. damaging winds with some of the strongest storms through the ohio valley and entering the northeast later this evening. very warm in much of the country today, including dallas. friends in oklahoma city had

their first 100-degree today. >> good news about chantal. >> the big storms are coming. it's early. we didn't need to deal with this one. >> thanks so much, bill. major updates in the george zimmerman murder trial. what are the top five states to do business in? we'll tell you. and a bizarre scene in florida. six buses side by side all up in flames. details in two minutes.

welcome back. stories in the news this morning, canadian authorities have officially opened a criminal investigation into the explosive train derailment in queb quebec. while investigators have ruled out terrorism, they say criminal negligence is a real possibility. curse words filled the courtroom on tuesday during the whitey bulger racketeering trial. one of his former associates called him a rat from the stand causing the two to start yelling and cursing at each other until the judge calmed them down.

it was a tearful day in prescott, arizona, as thousands attended a memorial service for the 19 firefighters who died in the line of duty last week. the victim's families were presented with american flags and vice president joe biden spoke about the importance of heros like they hot shots. and in florida, six luxury buses caught fire tuesday afternoon with some being completely destroyed. investigators are calling the blaze, quote, bizarre and are still trying to figure out the cause of that fire. defense attorneys in the trial of george zimmerman could wrap up their case as early as today. this followed a marathon 13-hour court session that went late into the night. sara is outside the courthouse in sanford, florida. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mara. yesterday, the defense put what some are calling their star witness on the stand, a forensic pathologist who kept the jury's attention and according to legal

analysts were very ekive. a shift in court yesterday from testimony centered around 911 calls, gunshot wound internet dr. mayo. as jurors took notes, dr. demayo laid out his findings that george zimmerman suffered six impact injuries to his face and head. and that while the gun was against trayvon martin's sweatshirt when the trigger was pulled, the sweatshirt was 2 to 44 inches away from his body, consistent with someone leaning over another person, as zimm zimmerman described to investigators. >> the medical evidence, the gunshot wound, is consistent with his opinion -- with his statement as to that. >> during cross-examination, demayo agreed that martin could have been pulling away when he was shot and that bruises from a

fight could take days to appear or not appear at all. >> in other words, george zim r zimmerman could have hit trayvon martin and not left any bruising on his knuckles. >> legal analysts say the doctor was a strong witness for the defense. >> dr. di miao was most effective in his cross-examination. he was calm, he understood the questions. he didn't give an inch when questions seemed to implicate a different answer. yes says he acted in self-defense, has plead not guilty to second degree murder. and on the admissibility of text messages from trayvon martin's phone as well as a ruling on a 3d animation are expected this morning. arguments about them grew heated late into the night. mara, back to you. >> sarah, thanks so much. turning now to business, keep an eye on oil which rose a buck yesterday to close at $105 a barrel. apple's five years in the

app store business have wielded in an app for just about everything. there are currently about 900,000 available apps. apple has 50 billion downloaded apps in just that short amount of time. south dakota is the top state for business. the mt. rushmore state tops cnbc's annual list, considering 50 metrics and 10 categories of competitiveness. rounding out the top five, texas slips to number two followed by north dakota which enjoys the nation's lowest unemployment rate. nebraska is fourth with utah and virginia tied for fifth. ford and gm are favorites among thieves. the ford f-250 super duty crew cab has an astounding 7 insurance claims for every 11,000 vehicles. the average number is 11.2 per thousand. general motors as a whole has eight of the top ten most stolen vehicles. the nba has raised their salary cap for the upcoming season a mere $700,000 to $58.7

million. with harsher penalties for teams that exceed that tax level. the soon to be most famous person on the planet, we'll have all those details next. plus, all your sports highlights with richard lui. stay with us.

now to the fevered pitch in london where britain's royal baby is due any day now. we've learned the baby's title will be prince or princess of cambridge. martin fletcher joins us live now from outside st. mary's hospital in london where duchess kate will give birth. this baby is about to be the most famous baby in the world. what are preparations like over there? >> that's right. this is a once in a generation thing, the birth of a future british monarch. but all the attention now will be faced here on the private wing at st. mary's hospital in london with where when the duchess of cambridge goes into labor, this is where she's going to come. the first question is will her husband william get her to belv standing by to bring him here. it will take him about two hours to get here. the other big question, is it a

boy or a girl? prince william and kate did not want to be told the gender of the kield. so now the question is will this boy be a king or a queen, a future king or queen of england? the law has changed. if it's a girl, then without waiting, it's nothea boy in lin for the throne. the girl will automatically become queen of england, mara. >> very exciting and fun time there. thanks so much. now let's get to the latest in sports from my colleague, richard lui. richard, good morning. >> good morning to you, mara. everybody is looking forward to that baby. they have to take the world tour after that and squeeze the cheeks. multiple reports say after the after-star break, alex rodriguez and many others will face possible suspensions for banned substances. a-rod is expected to meet friday with baseball officials. under investigation as a pipeline for banned substances. milwaukee's ryan brawn and other players reportedly declined to answer questions in this

investigation. chicago's alex rios did in one night what takes most players week. last night, he tied the american league record, six hits and six at-bats and the white sox win there, 11-4 over the tigers. please, not the face. twins arcia chases a fly ball. yep, he lost it in the air there, march are. the ball hits him in the face. he seems okay after. the 4-1 loss to the rays, by the way. makes it 54 for the season for minnesota. that's a slap in the face. four nhl hall of famers were announced, including brendan shanahan plus only the third one in history, gerald even shahini. chris wolowski had three goals in the 6-1 jersey there. look at that.

too many ws, one too many right in the middle. >> you think he would notice. he's like, i'm just going to wear it. and the rivalry between ohio state and michigan, helping 12-year-old grand reed. the young fan hab completed chemotherapy for cancer. his progress looks good. his motivation, grant named his tumor michigan. that way the buckeye fan can see can say he beat michigan. i'm a fan, but i'm glad that he's actually done this. go get them, grant. >> being in the right mental state when you're dealing with something like that is really important. whatever it takes to fight. thanks, richard. entertainment is just ahead, including the loss of a trusted store cluck. plus, a government waste story that everyone will be talking about, that's coming up next.

welcome back. earlier, i showed you the heavy rain moves through areas of ohio. missouri is also a travel trouble spot. we have storms now intensifying over central missouri. they should be spreading over inter state 44 shortly. west side of st. louis, storms are firing up. be careful driving there also. as far as the forecast for the afternoon, just like yesterday. warm and humid on the east coast. watch out for stray afternoon storms. >> we'll watch out for those. thanks so much, bill. turning to entertainment, the twitter-verse has lost one

of its brightest stars. lady gaga recently shut down her twitter account abandoning more than 40 billion followers. only justin bieber and katy perry have more followers. dumb & dumber 2, universal studios plans to green light the sequel on "late night with jimmy fallon." >> i've seen the script. it's hysterical. we're middle aged. we're not pretending we aren't. we're middle aged and we're still that stupid. elisabeth hasselbeck is leaving "the view" for a co-host duty of "fox and friends." news broke on the same day meredith vieira announced her deal for a new syndicated talk show on nbc. good luck to both of them. i'm mara schiavocampo. this is "early today." we hope it's just your first

stop of the day today on nbc.

a northern virginia neighborhood filled with police units late into the night. the screen triggered by a man with a gun. the fight over the minimum wage has a major retailer threatening to yank hundreds of jobs out of the district this morning. good morning, everyone, i'm greftd greate

aaron gilchrest. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for today, wednesday, july 10, 2013. another muggy morning, warm out there. 77 degrees. >> storm team 4 meteorologist amelia seigel in for tom with the first forecast. we're starting off the day similar to yesterday, plenty of cloudiness. i'm tracking rain back to the west once again. working throughout the morning hours, there will be scattered showers likely especially to the west of washington. another day you need to keep the umbrella handy. getting into the midday and afternoon hours, we're looking at scattered rain and a few thunderstorms. you can see more moisture as we look back to the west. now here's what you can expect today. some thunderstorms this afternoon could be strong to severe. i'll be talking more about that in five minutes. we're also looking at the potential for some strong storms in the area tomorrow. that will lower the humidity for friday and saturday. again, more on what to expect as far as severe weather is concerned in five minutes. for now, here's danella with traffic. >> reporter: good morning. traveling over the 14th street

bridge, light volume. we saw this yesterday, as well, look out for roadwork. it is blocking the right side of the roadway. two left lanes getting by there. also checking on a disabled vehicle. luckily just in the shoulder lane. this is i-95 in virginia, northbound near the pohick overpass. you see v-dot's on the scene and the disabled car off to the right shoulder lanes. travel lane on i-95 in virginia nice and clear. i'm back at 4:31. over to you. >> thank you. we are following a developing story in forecast now at 4:28. u.s. park police are searching the home of a gun rights activist, adam kokesh. we received a tip last night that police were at the home on winter haven place in herndon. that search has lasted through the overnight hours. kok kokesh's producer and roommate are looking for the shotgun he was seen loading with live ammunition in a youtube video

filled in freedom plaza last week. >> we were expecting this. we were expecting the government to raid our house for about two months now. we were under the impression that they could hit our house any day. just in due time i guess. >> young claims kokesh could be under arrest. the u.s. attorney's office is not confirming that. it is unclear if the gun seen in the video has been found. today a d.c. community will hold a vigil for a 7-year-old boy who was found dead. the vigil for michael kingsbury will happen tonight at 8:00 where he was found along west virginia avenue in northeast. a police officer found him on monday laying facedown on the floorboard of the back seat of a locked car. police say at least four officers looked inside the car in the 30-hour search and didn't see the body. investigators say there were no signs of trauma either. the medical examiner still trying to determine the exact cause of death. also today, family and friends will hold a memorial service for the howard university student shot and killed on the 4th of july. d.c. mayor vincent gray will speak at the service for

22-year-old omar sykes at the andrew rankin memorial chapel at 6:00. sykes was killed a few blocks from compass. there have been no arrests. a vote that could make or break plans for a new walmart in the district. the d.c. council will take up the large retailer accountability act. it would increase minimum wage from $8.25 to $12.50 an hour for large retailers including walmart. supporters say it offers living wages in the district. walmart says the bill could mean fewer jobs and higher prices. it says it will scrap plans to open stores including some already under construction. mayor vincent gray said he urged the country critical to consider whether the legislation will actually promote strong economic development in the district. also today, the d.c. council expected to vet on tougher smoking restrictions in public places. the proposal would ban smoking within 25 feet of any