the marines are here. marines are landing. >> this will not happen overnight. this is going to be a marathon. >> a growing humanitarian crisis in puerto rico, self-service is barely existent. and aid has yet to reach many after almost a week. >> the dallas cowboys take a differt approach to the nfl kneeling controversy, but president trump continues to be hammered by athletes. >> because the people run this country, not one individual. and damn sure not him. >> but the president is not backing down. >> emotions running high, 181 arrests. the latest dramatic health care cliff hanger in an effort to replace obamacare. >> and rewriting the record books. the judge is in session. "early t

good morning, i'm phillip mena. >> good tuesday to you. i'm frances rivera. the federal government is ramping up its relief effort in puerto rico as residents remain without adequate food, water, power or supplies. president trump tweeted about puerto rico for the first time in four days saying the island is in deep trouble. due to a devastated electrical grid and billions still owed to wall street. a debt which he said must be dealt with. >> fema says over 10,000 federal staff are helping with rescue and relief efforts. the massive clean up effort is leaving some residents feeling forgotten and overwhelmed. nbc's gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: when maria rowerar on shore, they felt the impact. norma lost the roof off her home and the business flew away entirely. >> many of us don't have a lot of money. that will take us a long time to recover from the things t

lost. >> reporter: now the hunt is on here for the basics. this woman snagging water from the side of a mountain. everything is destroyed, she says. with mangled power lines everywhere and eye popping lines at gas stations, people feel paralyzed and disconnected. satellite images show the island before maria hit and after. now almost totally in the dark. no cell service either. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: and this woman hadn't been able to reach her family in indianapolis. when offered a satellite phone, she tells them she's all right, but her 95-year-old grandfather passed away during the storm. san juan's airport packed as travelers rush to escape on the few commercial flights. the u.s. military delivering humanitarian aid launching relief missions from the uss kiersich by sea. >> marines are here, marines are landing. >> reporter: they help clear roads. >> it is not going to happen

marathon. >> reporter: in northwest puerto rico they are inspecting a major dam after finding a crack. thankfully so far it's holding. >> it is sad to see -- >> reporter: the pastor runs this massive church that his father built, and maria ripped apart. >> and see it just destroyed in just a few hours is really, you know, sad, but we are a church of hope so we are going to rebuild. >> reporter: rebuilding will take time for an island in crisis and in need. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, mount nabo, preerk. >> today is a battle between the president and the nfl reaches a new level. it is extended into a fourth day. dallas cowboys owner jerry jones who poured a million dollar into the president's inauguration linked arm in arm with his football team kneeling in a show of unity. the arizona cardinals stood together inter locked in defiance and solidarity. the president fanned the flames with some 15 tweets since friday as the controversy continues to

here's nbc sports bob costas. >> when you start calling people sobs, when you start dehumanizing them and you start making it appear as if the definition of patriotism belongs only to those who agree with you, somehow, somehow people who think of themselves as conservatives view themselves as automatically more patriotic than those who are moderate or left of center. that isn't necessarily true. >> the vice-president is also following suit, tweeting on the issue before voicing his opinion before a rally in alabama. >> now, folks, we've all got a right to our opinions. but i don't think it's too much to ask the players in the national football league to stand for our national anthem. and i know the people of alabama agree. >> this morning one administration official is telling politico, mr. trump dug

base. >> and while major nfl players are digging in their heels on the decision to protest, one player is steelers defensive tackle and former army ranger stood alone on the field during the anthem sunday. is voicing regret. >> every single time i see that picture of me standing by myself, i feel embarrassed to a degree because like i said, unintentionally i left my teammates behind. it wasn't me stepping forward. i never planned to boycott the plan they came up with. >> he apparently deleted his twitter account in the last couple days, no doubt due to the immense scrutiny following sunday's game. >> in washington the gop's latest attempt to repeal obamacare is on life support. republican senator susan collins came out against the bill becoming the crucial third lawmaker to oppose it. >> obviously this was an issue to which i have given a great deal of thought because

are many problems in the affordable care act that do need to be fixed. however, it was clear to me that the graham/cassidy bill was not the answer. >> collins' opposition came as nearly 200 demonstrators were arrested on capitol hill, dragged out of a committee proceeding on the gop's plan, chanting shame at its chief architects, senators bill cassidy and lindsey graham. overnight late night host jimmy kimmel who has been at the center of the health care debate for weeks celebrated the bill's apparent defeat. >> one of the two key republican hold outs, susan collins the senator from maine, said she would not support graham/cassidy, which means -- [cheering and applauding] the bill is almost certainly dead or at least on life support which isn't covered so it will be dead. thank you, senator collins. >> for more on this we go to nbc's tracy potts. tracy, now where does the bill go from here? >> reporter: what's next is if reic

of these three members to change their minds, that could be it for this week for what the republican party's best chance to get rid of obamacare. we've got susan collins now along with rand paul and john mccain all saying no. that is one more than the republican party can afford. lindsey graham, one of the authors of the bill last night in a debate on cnn, saying that we're going to press on. it's okay to vote. it's okay to fall short. raising the question of whether the party will even bring this up for a vote if they know it's going to fail. and then overnight, president trump tweeting video of lindsey graham putting pressure on him over and over saying how he wanted to repeal obamacare. the president saying, my oh, my, hasn't he changed. we saw those demonstrations here on capitol hill nearly 200 people arrested. democrats are putting the pressure on. thre

pressure on. but at this point, if republicans can't tweak something in this bill to get at least one more person on board, then they won't meet saturday's deadline and the significance there is that after saturday, it will take more, even 60 votes to get rid of the affordable care act. philip? >> quite an uphill battle for the president. tracie, thank you. >> a helicopter crashed into the roof of a home in odessa, oklahoma. he suffered life-threatening injuries. he was rushed to the hospital and is in stable condition. luckily no one was inside the home at the time of the crash. a dog was inside, but was not hurt. >> target employees are getting a raise. the retail giant has announced it's raising its minimum hourly wage from $10 to $11 starting next month and to $15 by the end of 2020. target hopes the raise will help the company recruit and retain top quality staff and provide a

customers. competitor wal-mart has raised its starting pay to $10 in 2016. >> now to england, one impatient dad was trying to pickup his partner's child from school. the teacher stopped him and said go another way. the dad refuses. all of a sudden he hits the accelerator flinging the teacher on the hood of his car, he turns, the teacher flies off the ground. the father pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and causing bodily harm to the teacher. the teacher was treated for a head injury and then the two kids on the bike, too, that he dodged. >> nearly missed them. what is he thinking? my goodness. all right. it was historic day in the bronx for new york yankees rookie aaron judge in the third inning. judge blasted his 49th home run of the year. that tied mark mcguire's record for most home runs of the season. his day was not done. the young bomber hit

the left field seats there, to pass mcguire. he stands alone with six games still to play on the regular season schedule. congrats to him. >> congrats. when you see those guys out there playing baseball and the weather some of us have been having, it's like, all right, it's not fall yet. >> it doesn't feel like fall yet. >> yeah, we had to get through the hurricane season. we want the fall there to come because it cools everyone off and we can get rid of these storms and deflect them out to sea. this one was a close call. just barely going to hit the outer banks of north carolina being. some of the highest winds gusts 50 to 60 miles per hour. moore head city area, virginia beach also 40 to 50. shouldn't cause too many power outages. as far as storm surge we should see areas of inundation. we will get wash on 12. the surf will be huge. there will be huge waves. cruise ships or on boats, 20 foot seas near the center of maria. that is a big look at the weather story of the day. here's a closer look at your day ahead. the hea

story plaguing the eastern half of the country. areas of 5 to 10 degrees above average. where we are seeing the rain it is much cooler. amarillo, 62 degrees, lubbock 67. and the temperatures are a big story. we'll talk more about that and when it is finally going to cool off for some of us. >> looking forward to it. thank you, bill. fast forwarding into tuesday, roger stone is set to testify behind closed doors before the house in tetelligenc committee. he plans to deny he had discussions with russian operatives. >> president trump heads to new york city for a fund-raiser. while his pick for alabama primary luther strange faces off against former alabama chief justice ray moore who is backed by former trump advisor steve bannon in a runoff election. keep it here on "early today." coney island has been around for a long, long time. reminds me of how geico has been saving people money

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2, 2 popped up left side. russell racing over. into the stand. leaping in. >> what a catch. did you catch that, though? watch this, one fan nearly -- he lost his full plate of nachos. addison russell dives into the stand to catch that foul ball. he didn't make the catch, but he made it up to the nacholess fan. he got him a new order. i don't know where he got that from. he took a selfie with the guy. he took it in stride even after he had his hands full of cheese. >> those nachos are not loaded. we need hjalapenos. >> he was with a rival. >> leaving the news, h.r. mcmaster is reportedly saying north korea must declare it is willing to give up atomic weapons to accept nuclear inspections before the u.s. will enter negotiations. mcmaster said the u.s. is gaining out

and, quote, some are uglier than others. nbc's chief correspondent richard engel has more on this heated nuclear standoff. >> reporter: on the same day north korea said the u.s. has declared war, it released a computer simulation showing how it would destroy american aircraft and set a carrier ablaze. it's propaganda, but experts say there is now a real risk of an exchange of fire with nuclear-armed north korea, or worst. the growing concern comes after president trump stepped up his personal insults against kim jong-un labeling him "little rocket man" and tweeting, he won't be around much longer. beyond rhetoric, the u.s. this weekend flew two advanced bombers near north korea's border. north korea's foreign minister replied. since the united states declared war on our country, he said, we will have the right to make counter measures including shooting down u.s.

>> we have not declared war on north korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd. >> reporter: former nato supreme admiral commander, and nbc news contributor said this may go beyond a war of words. >> i would say the chances of an exchange of ordinance are now approaching 50/50. >> reporter: he says north korea could fire at an american jet or ship. the u.s. would fire back. >> we are at such a high level of potential escalation to full-blown war because of the relative inexperience of the leader in pyongyang and the leader in washington. >> reporter: the spokesman for the united nations seemed to agree. >> fiery talk can lead to fatal misunderstandings. >> reporter: concerned president trump and kim jong-un's game of brink man ship could become a conflict. the big worry among experts is that there is some exchange of fire, perhaps fuelled by the rhetoric, and

today the h.r. cmaster said the u.s. dz doesn't want a war but can't discount the possibility. richard engel, nbc news, london. >> all right, richard, thank you. >> twitter is promising to clarify its rules after saying that president trump's tweets threatening north korea do not violate its terms of service. the president tweeted that north korea won't be around much longer and that the u.s. would totally destroy north korea, this may appear to violate twitter's rule that you may not make threats of violence or promote violence. when asked about the apparent violation, the company said it considers a number of things like news worthiness and the public interest when assessing violations. twitter says it plans to be more transparent about its rules in the future. >> a prominent former congressman is now filed as a sex offender. we'll bring you the details next. and a california police officer is being praised for saving a life. you are watching "early today." s prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss

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former new york congressman anthony weiner is headed to prison. he was sentenced monday to 21 months for sexting with a 15-year-old girl. hillary clinton's former aide huma abedin, he must enter a selkz

is being hailed a hero for possibly saving a woman's life last wednesday. the dramatic incident was captured on his body camera. the woman was preparing to jump off the bridge overlooking the american river. the lieutenant asked her what's wrong and urged her not to jump. when she halftimely gets off the ledge, he sprints towards her and tackles her. but the officer isn't taking any credit. he has asked to remain anonymous. >> coming up, the cost of the international space station, $70 million. how about a view of the northern lights? priceless. you're watching "early today." and ... i used to have cancer. i beat it. i did. not alone. i used to have no idea what the american cancer society did. research? yeah. but also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. i used to maybe give a little. then i got so much back. ... i used to have cancer.

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more record highs yesterday. you're not supposed to go driving around peopling in new england. all the fall chill has been in the west and that is where it is going to remain another two days. today 90 in chicago. syracuse new york, 89 degrees. little rock 89, atlanta, 88. the really warm stuff then shifts on wednesday to only northern new england. we start to cool off the great lakes by about thursday and friday everything kind of gets back to normal. >> all right. seems so weird everything flipped. thanks, bill. >> still ahead, an update on the devastating earthquake in mexico plus a tragic air show crash captured on video. you're watching "early today."

. . . the story continues to break and bring you updates throughout the morning. we'll check in with wtop's dave dildine soon, shortly to find out alternate routes around this tie-up. we want to head over to the storm team weather center where chuck bell is standing by with the weather. after a string of glorious days, we might see clouds today. >> a little more cloud cover to deal with today. not much of a rain chance. there could be an isolated sprinkle or shower today, mainly into southern maryland and on to the shore. not much of a rain chance in and around the city today. no chance for rain up in the shenandoah valley. rain chances as low as they are ar