go back the cal ripken on the, kal-el. what's next? a chinese hulk? don't mark -- make me asian. you wouldn't like me when i'm asian. next thing you know they'll give us a gay batman. okay, a gayer batman. [applause] anyway, golden age is over. nation, i'm in the afraid of my own shadow, but you should be because i don't know where it goes when i turn off the lights. this is the threatdown. [siren blares] folks, shocking news from a land beyond america's borders. north dakota. [laughter] jim. >> an 82-year-old grand forks man has pointed out a constitutional flaw. it puts into question whether legally north dakota has ever been a state. technically it could be argued in court that north dakota is still a territory. >> stephen: the state of north dakota may not exist. it's like south dakota's canadian girlfriend. she's up north supposedly really cool and beautiful, but nobody has ever seen her. this shocking revelation comes from 82-year-old john robinski, who noticed a discrepancy while reading the north dakota state constitution because that's the most exciting thing to do in no

the 11-year-old on the oakland cal ripken all-star team captured the cal ripken world series. that is the biggest national championship for kids in that age group. abc7 first brought you the story two weeks ago when the team was struggling to raise money to fly all 13 players to beaver, utah, for series. thanks to donations, the team raised $12,000, enough to include everyone. they had a shut-out series defeating the all-stars from bakersfield to take the trophy. their own hard work, they made it happen for themselves. >> that's right. >> they were rewarded. they work hard and they are rewarded. congratulations, guys. >>> 5:08 now. take a look at the weather forecast from another little league coach. with his secret work-out plan. >> that was a fun ride. the kids are great at that age. talk about players on the map. if you want to look at the field, we have a low here. another low upstream. those will push a trough of pressure deeper along the west coast. the temperatures below average through the first part of august. welcome to august 1. look like july to me. temperatures in

organizations and departments inside the school district, really having a strong foundation which ripken use as a model for community input -- it has improved each time we have done it and i think the continue to. i want to acknowledge that and tell you how much i appreciate it. second, i should say i was the person who authored the resolution to form the pac. i wanted such an entity at the district level for parents to have input in policy making at the district level. it was sort of the third iteration. we tried a couple of other things that did not work as well as we like. i think all the members who have served. -- i want to thank all the members that have served. i want to say something about the student assignment policy development. i think this is really tough. i think i was in the minority in that i agree more with the pac recommendations then other members of the board. i acknowledge some changes were made. that is the important thing. what we have done is develop a way to get community input and make policy on complex issues that is able to be modified, that is not set in ston

. >>> and happy birthday to baseball ironman cal ripken jr. who turns 51. >>> all day long you can stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc, and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." >>> here's a look at what's coming up on the "today" show. the east coast gets ahold of itself after the rare earthquake that rattled the region, but could there be more on the way? >>> and dominique strauss-kahn is a free man today with charges against the former imf chief dismissed. his lawyers speak out. >>> and now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop today on your nbc station. today," just your first stop today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

the 11-year-olds on the oakland babe ruth, cal ripken all-star team captured the cal ripken world seriesthat is the biggest national championship for kids in that particular age group. abc7 brought you their story two weeks ago when the team was struggling to raise money to fly all 13 players to beaver, utah, for the series. now thanks to your donations the team raised $12,000 which was enough to include everyone. boys won a shut of out series defeating the all-star from bakersfield to take home the trophy. congratulations, guys. >> awesome. >>> 6:20 now. coming up, cowboys versus aliens versus smurfs. the battle for big screen dominance coming up next. >>> at&t announces a new crackdown on smart phone media hogs. the throttling coming for some of the cell phone carriers' biggest users. ah you can see >>> welcome back. 6:24. little blue smurfs and not so little green men from space had a virtual photo finish at the box office this weekend. daniel craig and harrison ford sci-fi western "cowboys and aliens" at and "the smurfs" tied to the top spot. followed by "captain america". >>> at&t w

and i think with robert mueller what we're seeing right now is an almost cal ripken-like record that we have never seen since hoover and are unlikely, i think, ever to see again. mueller was sort of this right mix of a low-profile individual who was very driven, very ambitious but didn't seek out the spotlight. and can was able to weather a lot of controversies and a lot of storms, serve his presidents and his attorneys general well and is on track to leave office in september with what almost everyone seems to think is a very successful ten-year term. >> host: the homeland security concept was created because of the lack of coordination among the agencies, and i'm wondering as you document this growth in the role of the fbi in counterterrorism, was that a vacuum that robert mueller jumped in to fill, or was it an intentional division of responsibility? >> guest: it was actually a vacuum that began after the end of the cold war in the late '80s when you had what was sort of referred to in washington as the peace di tend -- dividend, sort of these big reductions in defense spending, b

about the economy, and at 4:15, secretary of state hillary clinton meets with baseball great cal ripkenyoung, japanese baseball players. part of the first international sports exchange with japan. >>> all right we're following lots of developments in the next hour. let's check in with christine romans out of new york. >> kyra, it could keep getting interesting, right? the fed meets today, so after an s&p downgrade after a summer stock swoon, what, if anything, can the fed do to try to prop up the economy, markets and the job market? i'll have that at the top of the hour. >> and i'm alison kosik at the new york stock exchange, where i'm keeping a close eye on the markets after yesterday's massive 600-point drop. the dow is now in positive territory, but the question is, is it going to hold to the close? i'm going to have an update next hour. >> i'm brianna keilar at the white house, where the president is under tremendous pressure to take action on the economy. but the question is, what can he actually do in the near-term? i'll have that near the top of the hour. >> all right, ladies, th

. >> reporter: for 17 seasons, cal ripken, jr., was in the orioles line-up every day playing a record games. but now, there is a new ironman in baseball. >> like garlic fries or the coke bottle or the wonderful mccovey cove lucille is right in there with it. >> fans get into him. i know players have fun with him. and, you know, he's -- it's the one constant here at the ballpark. he is going to be in the line- up be out there doing his thing. >> reporter: lucille has been a part of every giants home game for the last 13 years or 1,027 games and counting. the longest active streak by major league mascots and just like the players it takes a lot of hard work off the field to make sure the streak continues. >> he is an absolute physical marvel. >> reporter: how do you stay in shape and how have you been able to keep this streak intact? >> you go out to lunch with lou seal and he anybody else like a little bird. lou bird. no, just kidding. >> reporter: lou seal is the unofficial 26th man on the giants roster. and while he doesn't say much or in fact say anything at all, he is a favorite in

the lynn-year-olds on the oakland babe ruth cal ripken team has won the world series.7 brought you the story a week ago when the team was struggling to raise money to fly all 13 players to beaver utah for the series. with the help of donations the team raise -- raised $12,000. the boys had a shutout series defeating the champs from i can bakers -- from bakersfield last night. >>> kids love robots and monkeys. and now, the 10-year drive to discover a shoulder-sitting silicon smarty pants. >> nick donaldson is in the monkey business. that guy on his should sermon key 1.0 who makes cheeky noises while performing a dozen behaviors. nick made him just for fun. >> every time i go out in public i get moped -- mobbed by people. >> the little robot was too expensive to manufacture. the motor inside cost $100. reduce their number took time hard work and his own clever design. >> the original one took two years to build. >> money ski 2 -- monkey 2.0 was dave. >> it was the top selling toy. >> in the u.s. he is now on the shelves of the toys r us stores. >> he says monkey business

and at 4:15, secretary of state hillary clinton meets with baseball great cal ripken and some young japanese it's part of the first international sports exchange with japan. >>> marathon swimmer diana nyad's crossing from cuba to florida has ended just short of her goal. we're going to have a live report from key west right after the break. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. >>> the u.s. is pledging more than $100 million in aid to somalia. more than 12 million people in that region are in desperate need of help to combat drought and famine. here's visual proof. this is an amazing satellite image of a refugee camp in kenya. it's so large you can actually see the camp from space. >>> top u.s. officials say that hundreds of thousands of children could die unless more help arrives in that region. our dr. sanjay gupta is right there at the refugee c

. >> baseball icon cal ripken tells me he wants to tap into the magic of sports. >> it does have a powerfuln't know how to articulate a message of caring but certainly through sports we're able to communicate that message. >> 14 years old, lost his father in the tsunami. a lot of people like baseball in japan so he says i feel like playing the game and can cheer people up and encourage them. 17-year-old is from fukushima. she says, just a snap of her arm

. >> but first, happy birthday to cal ripken jr., the baseball hall of famer turns 51 today.favorite all time baseball player. i love you. >> i have a sense he'll sit out a game soon. ♪ [ female announcer ] erybody loves that cushiony feeling. uh oh. i gotta go. [ female announcer ] and with charmin ultra soft, you can get that same cushiony feeling you love while still using less. charmin ultra ft has extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent. so you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. ah. [ femalennouncer ] using less never felt so good. we all go... why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft. i'm not looking forward to my flight. try this. bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back. no, this is new bayer advanced aspirin... clinically proven to relieve tough pain twice as fast as before. what, did you invent this or something? well, my team did. i'm dr. eric first, from bayer. wow. look. it has microparticles. it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of pain. better? great! thanks. [ male announcer ] n