do notisss this. do not take this lightly because it's a tropical storm and may get to category 1. >> gordon is racing toward the gulf coast with hurricane warnings, including life-threatening storm surge, heavy rainfall, and fierce winds. >> today begins the contentious hearings for mr. trump's supreme court nominee following a labor day tweetth storm fro president targeting organized labor and his own attorney general. >> a new nike just do it campaign featuring controversik quarterbac colin kaepernick is getting a lot of push back this morning. >> then to the mom who dunked her son's head in a toilet, and the backlasht followed. >> plu the uconn men's basketball teams epic end of

summer slam fest. that is the way you do it. we'll show you more when "early today" continues -- starts right now. >> good morning. i'm marlie hall.nd >> i'm phillip mena. after drenching the southern tip of florida, tropical storm gordon is now taking aim at the though it has already lashed south florida with fierce wind and heavy rain, the national hurricane center warns that tropical storm gordon will alikely strengthen become a full-blown hurricane by the time it makes its second landfa later today. >> as the tropical storm quickly travels through theul eastern of mexico, experts say the area stretching from southern louisiana to alabama may see rising water of 3 to 5 feet. louisiana governor has already declared a state of emergency and says 200 national ward troopsl be deployed to the region. nbc's dan scheneman has oure on what become the first hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. this season. >> reporter: south florida hit

with a force of tropical storm gordon. >> i didn't expect it to end up like this. i thought it was just going to e outer bands, rain, not like this. >> reporter: heavy rains fell on part of the sunshine state. now gordon is moving on and expected to gain strength. forecasters say it could be a hurricane when it reachesgu the coast. >> much of southeast louisiana can expect to see heavy rain of 4 t 6 ches, possibly 7 inches of rain in some areas. >> reporter: throughout the coast, ridents are grabbing sand bags and s spping fore last-minute necessities. stuff stacking up on som just in case. >> reporter: hurricanes are a fact of life along the gulf coast,ut even long-time residents like erica garcia are concerned. >> it makes me a little nervous. yeah, last night i was pretty nervous. >> reporter: most people plan to ri out the storm, others have a different plan. >> when a storm come, i leave. >> reporter: dan scheneman, nbc news. >> meteorologist michelles grossman tracking gordon. what can we expect in >> we are looking at a pretty

y.rough if you have any plans, you want to make plans now to protect your home, protect yourself. we are looking at gordon, tropical storm as of the latest advisory at 2:00 a.m., 65 milep hour winds expected to increase throughout the day and coulde hurricane as it makes landfall later on tonight. currently located 200 miles east, southeast of the mississippi river. it is moving pretty quickly. that's good news. it will make landfall later tonight. here is the track moving east, southeast, east northeast, excuse me. tuesday 8:00 a.m., 65 mile per hour, tuesday 75 miles per hour. we need to watch this over the next 12 hours. we are looking at floodingra s, potentially life-threatening storm surges and that's where we'reoong with the lightning. right now over the gulf which is good news, it'soved off land, tt we'll see it moving to the east, northeast ov next 12 hours. >> we'll talk to you again in a bit, michelle. thank you. the stage is set for a rtcontentious supreme cou showdown on capitol hill today. the senate judiciary committee will kickoff severalays of

hearings grilling nominee brett kavanagh about his views on everything from abortion to gun cont there's already plenty of controversy including the trump administrati's decision to withhold thousands of documents from kavanagh's time in the bush white house. nbc's tracee pots joining us live from d.c. with a preview of that fight ahead. tracie, good morning.te >> rep could be an interesting few days, phillip. good morning, everyone. they said they did release hundreds of thousands of documents including when he worked on the ken starr investigatio of bill clinto more documents, they say, than the last fe nominees combined. but the 100,000 that they're holding back is one of the reasons that democrats are rallying, saying they need that bianca ground information, not to amention, you noted, they're concerned about how judge kavanagh might vote on issues like gun control, reproductive rights, abortion. people who worked with him ehough on aiken star

investigation say can take the heat. >> i never saw h him lose temper. he was very serious and very hard working, so i'll be very surprised if he's rattled in any way. i think he's ready for anything they will throw athim. >> reporter: now, supporters say kavanagh would recuse himlf in y conflict. one of the other concerns here, phillip, is how he might vote on the issues of a president being criminally utpros, being investigated. that, of course, can come to bear on the mueller/russia investigation. he has written not a decision, but he has written about that, saying that a president shoul not face criminal prosecution. this is expected to last four days. >> monumental days ahead for th country. tracie, thank you. >> president trump is taking on one of the nation's top union leaders. he lashed out at the head of the afl-cio saying the administration has done more to hurt workers than help. the presidenton touted the s economy and historically low

unemployment in his rebuttal. here's nbc's nky carvajal on the growing feud. >> reporter: on a day celebratingbor, some mixed messages from the president for america's workers. ju days after announcing a freeze on federal employee wages, president trump tweeting the american worker is doing better than ever before. and attacking the head of the afl-cio who disagrees. >> unfortunately to date, the things that he's done to hurt workers outpaced what he's done to help workers. >> reporter: on sunday richard told fox news that despite unemployment rates, worke are suffering. >> wages have been down since the first of the year. gas prices have been up since the firstf the year. so overall workers aren't doing as well. >> reporter: at labor day event around t country, some workers also voiced concern over the president's policies. >> manufacturers aren't ready to be able to go out and produce products. our members aren't going to work. >> reporter: president trump who

calls this the strongest economy in history signalled friday he was rethinking his decision on a raise for federal workers. >> people don't want to give them an increase, they haven't had one in a long time. i said i'm going it study that over theweekend. it's a good time to study it, labor day. let's see how they do next week. but a lot of people wer it.ainst i'm going to take a good hard look over the weekend. >> reporter: congress c still add those wage increases into the budget on its own. nikky carvaja nbc news, washington. >> just hours after announcing former trump strategist steve the newould headline yorker festival, the magazine said he's been dropped. bannon was scheduled to bein rviewed on stage by david remnick at next month's festival. but backlash against bannon swift with other guests threatening to drop out. movied director j tweeting, i will not take part in an event that normalizes hate. actor jim carrey saying bannon

and me on the same program? could never happen. some new yteker staff w also saying they were appalled by the decision to includeon ba remnick later issuing a lengthy sthaement saying heed his mind after listening to concerns. he writes, in part, there is a better w to do this if the opportunity prellnts itself. nterview him in a more traditional journalistic setting. bannon slammed the news telling cnbc in what i would call a defining moment, david remnick showed he was gut less when confronted by the howling mob. >> monica lewiky sat downor an interview but walked off the stage after one question. the interviewer from channel 2 news asked lewinsky whether she still expects an apology from president clinton. lewinsky said, i'm sorry, i'm no going to be able to do this and left the stage. she later explained on twitter saying she agreed to the interview with the understanding the clinton question was off limits.

she added, it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control the narrative. according to the jerusalem post, channel 2 news thank lewinsky in a statement saying we respect her sensitivity and wish her luck. >> a disaster is unfolding io the midwest as powerful storms pound the r with heavy rain, leaving some roads under water. in cedar falls iowa, the downpour left roads virtually impassable and businesses there scrambling to put dow san bags to prevent flood waters from rushing in. it's not over yet. meteorologists say widespread thunderstorms are expected to continue today and those areas hit hardest could experience flash flooding. >> heavy showers dumped nearly 9 inches of rain in kansas causing rivers to overflow their banks. riley police rescued 150 people from the flood zone along with four pets according to west star energy, more than 170 remain without power due to the flooding. >> moving over to chicago,

torrential rain csed hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays at o'hare international airport. crews worked to clean up leaks inside the terminals as rainwater ran down the walls and pooled onto the floor. and in galveston,texas, the ncavy rain did not let up. leaving the city dd and roads there also submerged. >> and michelle is back with the forecast. what's the latest there? >> yeah, we ar drenched once again today. we had such a wet august. we're going to see another drenching round of rains today. this is what we'll look like da throughout the a slow moving front will move to the east. we are moving through humid aird that wilp a lot of rain once begin. flooding is not going to take a lot to flood these areas and then by wednesday, even further off to the east, but you can see not moving veryst very here's what we're looking at as far as rainfall totals. anywhere from 1 to 3 inches, but locally higher amounts up to 5 inches. that's a look at the big weather loory of the day. now here's a close at your day ahead. we're expecting more showers and thunderstorms in the

southern plains. temperatures warm alsoear 90 degrees as we head further to the west. a pretty ne day in the southwest. temperatures pretty warm in the 100s.gh all yeah, we're looking good at least in the southwest. that's the good part, the northwest. everywhere else a busy weather day. >> a long day ahead. all right, michelle, thank you. >> sure. >> iowa police say a 10 foot long boa the windshield of this car. it stopped short of hitting a child hitting in the front 76-seat. according to officials, the 63-year-old driver suffered from a medical condition that caused this accident. thankfully another young passenger that was there was cared of any injuries. >> wow,se call. just ahead, nike'sew ad campaign is create ag quite a buzz with quarterback colin kaepernick front and center. if you have psoriasis, ...

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just d it ad campaign now features a polarizing new face. former nfl quarterbackol kaepernick tweeting out the newest ad showing himself with the words, believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. kaepernick sparked heated debate after he beganeling during the national anthem in protest of police brality. nike's campaign is proving just as fiery. the #boycott nike and just burn it quickly began trending on twitter with users posting images like these of nike pructs they burned o destroyed. but there is also plenty of support, too. serena williams who is also part of this campaign saying, especially proud to be part of the nike family today. former cia director and nbc news contributor john brennan saying, well done, colin, well done. >> a joke taken too far? a florida mother is under fire this morning after a video of her dunking her toddler's head in the toilet went viral. the mom says they were jus havingfun, but police andie stae

aus aren't laughing. she's now facing an investigation. from our n ailiate in orlando, michelle meredith has the story. >> it was just a joke. >> reporter:yn caitlolf said she had no ideas thi video sticking her son's headn the toilet would get the reaction it did. oh, but it did. reaten to do what to you? >> threatened to kill , murtd me, shoot me, shove my head in the toilet, bury me halfway alive, cut my head off. >> reporter: it started last week when caitlyn says as a prank she gave her 3-year-old son what she calls a swirly, toilet flushing, head dangling. n the video you hear her son seemingly scream his lungs out. but caitlyn says he's not g, screame's laughing. >> it was just a joke. and i mean, everybodys like, oh, his face didn't go in --

it's not a dirty toilet. it was clean, you know. he wasn't being tortured in any way. >> reporter: but the leesburg policeen departm and the state of florida rare not lorenzo-veraing. both have launched investigations. caitlyn sayser 10-year-old son shot this video. caitlyn said she sent the video to a former friend, that former friend sent the video to another woman, and that woman posted it on facebook. >> i would never do it again because i would never have this kind of explosion of hate. >> reporter: and explosion of hate, investigations and the debate on where a joke ends and abuse begins. that is a debate for sure. that was michelle meredith reporting. >> noticeonhe said she do it again because of all the backlash she got, not because she didn't believehat she did. coming up, eating champion joey chestnutin wins agay just winging it. and a young woman with down syndrome on cloud 9 after a

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ain't no thing but a chicken wing. for the second year in a row, joey chestnut took first place at the national eating championship where else, new york. one of the mosts popular event of the summer, chestnut gobbled

up 206 wings in just 12 minutes. >> i mean, the gluttony is fascinatg. we need a documentary on this guy. a woman in california set her sights high in the sky. tracy wanted to be a flight attendant and she got her chance on a southwest flight from sacramento to seattle. it all started when tracy who has down syndrome befriended vicky heath. she helped tracy get a uniform and of course those wings to be a flight attendant for the day. when the plane landed, tracy got a big round of applause. i have to say that's tough to do. she's standing in front of hundreds ever people public speaking like that. >> a well deserved round of applause. did a great job. the end of summer means back to school and back to that early morning ffee. starbucks sampled the orders of its college-age customers and found that no surprise, they love espresso. by region, students in the southeast go for a double shot espres ice. the northeast prefers a white a

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a texas mother led police on a hot pursuit all while having her baby on board. this newly released video of that incident happened in june shows 29-year-old caitlyn rodriguez who had outstanding warrants crashing her suve into th back of that truck. sshe then get out, grabs the c baby in thear 76-seat, and makes a run for itau orities say she tried to carjack somebody before they were finally able to arrest her. not mother o dthe year. >>'t think so. michelle grossman, what do you think? >> definitely thinking not mother of the year. weather not great todayeither. we're looking at showers and storms in the southern and central plains. of courseg watch tropical storm gordon all throughout the day and watching some pretty high heat in the some sizzling heat. temperatures in the 90s. feeling more like 100 degrees in many spots. we'lbe right back.

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