i'm richard lui along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early >>> breaking news out of the south bay. a young woman reportedly attacked overnight just a block away from a local university. what we're learning about the incident and the search for the suspect now under way. >>> we also have new details this morning about a potential bedbug outbreak at a good will warehouse on the peninsula. >>> plus, it's not a strike but it could threaten this evening's commute. what b.a.r.t. workers are doing this afternoon that could affect thousands in the bay area trying to get home in time for dinner. >>> we want to start with good news, before the sunshine comes up. look at the traffic. don't have worry about anything on this thursday, august 1st. this is "today in the bay."

i'm richard lui along with bill karins. you're watching "early today." have a good one. >>> it is 4:30. good morning everybody. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> right now we have breaking news to tell you about in san francisco where firefighters are working right now on a grass fire threatening the san francisco national cemetery inside the presidio. that fire started near the intersection of park and lincoln boulevard. that happened about 2:00 this morning. this is the very first video of that fire into our newsroom. you can see there, this one creeping up on some of the head stones inside of that cemetery. our bob redell right now on his way to that scene. as soon as he arrives, we'll bring you an update in our 5:00 newscast. >>> in the meantime a man is dead a driver under arrest after an overnight crash in san jose. according to

. >>> here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. how many vacation days for you? >> 43 if i'm lucky. >>> let's talk about what's going on out there with the weather. over the weekend, got drenched in the southeast. the big story, all of the pictures of that devastating fire in idaho, that's where it's located there, just north of the fairfield area. idaho has definitely been one of the bull's eye points. yesterday, it was 97 in boise. 90 in billings. 98 in denver. lot of the heat that's in the west is now going to head east, after another cool weekend. it looks like temperatures are going to soar this weekend. back where they should be. the exception this week will be the southeast, still kind of rainy, and it's been rainy for a while. as far as the forecast, we're going to call for two to three inches of rain there. erin dissipated over the weekend. your forecast for monday, carry your umbrellas from d.c. all of the way down to the southeast. new york city, a chance of hitting 09 degrees this week. first time in a month that we have hit the 90s. sort of an unusua

meteorologist bill karins as we look at winds and temperatures, how's it look for the day? >> every day we're getting a new fire in the west. yesterday was utah. nothing is changing, dangerous, breezy afternoon winds and high temperatures and no really rain in sight with 95 in salt lake city yesterday. today will be just as warm. let's talk about what is changing a little bit. this last storm out in the pacific just under the weather channel logo there dipped down, tried to clip the northwest. this storm is heading more northeasterly direction, dragging some showers into the northwest, but not a lot of rain. here's our expected rainfall totals. >> a lot of eggs, man, a lot of eggs. >> a lot of eggs, in other words, there will be some clouds, little cooler, may be a sprinkle or two, but not a lot of wet weather. wednesday forecast calls for 82 in seattle, 85 in portland. where we showed you the pictures, another very hot day today, about 97 in salt lake city. that's your awhile. spokane, washington, 94. >>> we continue in this pattern. it's in the 40s this morning in norther

bill karins, thank you so much. >>> the situation is syria is causi causing israelis to stock up on gas masks. >>> plus, one major sign that general motors has its mojo back. "early today" is back in two minutes. >>> some stories making headlines -- a 16-year-old boy will face a judge in court today charged as an adult in the murder of an 88-year-old world war ii veteran. police say dimitrius glenn robbed, beat and killed dell bert shorty belton. >>> the search surnd way for a second suspect, keenan adams kinard. >>> ruth bader ginsburg tells the "new york times" she vows to stay on the supreme court as long as her health and intellect stay strong. the 80-year-old called the court one of the most activist courts in history. >>> israelis are stocking up on gas masks amid fears a western attack on syria's chemical weapons could provoke a response from damascus. the demand has tripled. >>> colin powell says martin luther king jr.'s dream is not fully achieved yet. powell also had this to say on the trayvon martin case as washington marked the 50th anniversary of the "i have a dream" speech

nbc meteorologist bill karins will be here to keep us posted on that story. >>> a wildfire in southern california grew larger and now it's on the move. the silver fire has grown to 22 square miles and is burning an estimated 1,000 acres an hour. the latest update puts the blaze at just 20% contained. local officials have ordered nearly 2,000 people out of the area, 26 homes have already been destroyed, at least one man has suffered serious burns and five firefighters have also been injured with heat exhaustion. they'll be off the job for at least 24 hours. >>> the multistate man hunt for james lee dimaggio has taken another dramatic turn. the man suspected of kidnapping 15-year-old hanna anderson and her 8-year-old brother ethan may be armed with explosives. police found the second body in the charred house that is yet to be identified but they believe it may be ethan's. in a statement thursday, officials -- dimaggio may have shaved his goatee. >>> the state department thursday warned americans not to travel to pakistani and evacuated all but emergency staff. this threat is not related

bill karins, our nbc meteorologist, you look at these pictures. they are called a haboob, right? >> if you get a big enough one. if it moves fast enough. some are small. some are big. we get these storms daily. it continues this morning. there's even more storms after that race through arizona overnight. i'm sure they did produce some gusty winds that kicked up the dust, too. let's show you what's going on with the fires. 33 uncontrolled blazes continue to burn. california now has the most. you've passed idaho. you have eight fires burning uncontained at this time. of course, the biggest one of them being the rim fire. that was 20% containment. still burning in very rugged terrain. dry conditions. that's not going to stop any time soon. additional storms last night. there was a little lightning with these storms. they did miss las vegas through cedar city and southern portions of utah right now. we'll see additional hit and miss storms in the desert areas from vegas northwards from flagstaff up to salt lake city. even boise has a chance of a storm or two. with these thunderstorms

i'm richard lui, along with bill karins. have a good one. >>> breaking news, a triple shooting at a restaurant in san jose turns deadly overnight. we just talked to san jose police. what they're telling us next. >>> plus a local child hides under the coffers as robbers break into his home and attack his mother. we'll let you know what we're learning from overnight. >>> an oakland man making new claims saying city workers assaulted him right outside city hall. what the city is saying this morning. >>> right now a live look outside at a foggy golden gate bridge. we can tell you the bay area right now under a red flag warning this morning after thousands of lightning strikes all over the bay. christina has a look at your weather.

somebody right about 100% of the time is bill karins. >> 80% of the time is right? it's kind of like the national inquirer, every now and then they'll get a big story right. we'll find out super bowl sunday. a lot of weather headlines over the weekend. one of the big ones is obviously this rim fire in california. here is a picture from nasa, a picture taken from one of the satellites above the fire. that's the state of california. you can see the green there in the middle of the picture is the central valley. the fire is huge up in the mountains in the sierra there. the smoke was blowing the the north all weekend long, a very rural area. the other story over the weekend. tropical storm fernand made land faufl in the southern gulf of mexico. this one thankfully was near land so couldn't become a hurricane, just a big rain event. it was hot over the weekend, very hot in the central plains, 96 minneapolis with a record high. we are right in the mid summer-like pattern for the end of summer. this is going to be an end of summer heat wave, here to stay for at least the n

i'm joined by richard lui and bill karins.overnight, we had quite a sight. >> the blue moon. >> are you going to sing for us? >> it's setting in some areas, too. >> you went out there yourself. and the blue moon as you both know is really not blue. >> i know nothing about a blue moon. >> the deal is the reason why they call it a blue moon is because it is the second full moon of the month, but that's the new definition. the original definite thiion be the '40s was if it were to be the third of four full moons in a season. >> it's pretty. >> i won't go any further. just it's a beautiful moon. >>> a new sleep study is out. it found that for people who suffer from insomnia, sleep may have more of an impact on exercise than exerce has on sleep. conventional wisdom is that if you exercise, you sleep better. but they found it took four months who people who started an exercise routine to seat benefits in their sleep. but if you don't sleep well, the effect on your exercise rue team is immediate. you won't gets a good of a workout, i

nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us right now. you don't want to be in that situation. tough to breathe as well. >> i would like to -- i've never seen a volcano explode. i'd love to see one, be near it but not in it. >> not be in it or have to breathe it. we'll not have that in the states though. not soon. >> don't want to predict that. no more mt. st. helens. >> as far as the weather, hot and windy in much of the west. you saw what happened in idaho. the beaver creek fire. we told you some of the stats. over 1,000 firefighters on the ground. 10,000 helicopters over like 100 engines on the ground. it continues to be boiling. 95 today for the forecast for the fire lines today. and the 8% containment help hopefully get the number up a little bit. the weather will not cooperate. hot in boise yesterday, 97. relatively cool in l.a. 72. san francisco, 78. getting warmer than you've been. not bad also in many areas of the pacific northwest. this is the upcoming weather pattern for much of this week. dominant hot weather continues from arizona northwards into nevada. all interi

." >>> and our first look at the weather, i'm joined by bill karins. >> morning. rainy tuesday. i know. nap day. >> well, maybe. >> if we should be so lucky. >> it's not happening for me either. this morning we're going to deal with some travel issues out there for a lot of us. bring the umbrella if it's not raining already. flash flooding problems. flash flood watched for about 10 million or maybe even 20 million now that we've added new york city. oklahoma city to little rock, west virginia into d.c. and new york. a huge area of rain developed overnight covering all of the southern half of pennsylvania right now. it's especially heavy going from areas of allentown to harrisburg and it's about to start pouring in philadelphia. and that will move right over the much to new york city during the heart of the morning rush hour. expect some major travel delays and airport delays also. as far as the severe weather goes, if we get anything, damaging winds most likely. richmond, virginia beach, raleigh, goldsboro, out to the outer banks could deal with some small hail. the forecast for

i'm richard lui along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." have a very good wednesday. >>> a normally quiet neighborhood in the south bay startled by the sound of gunfire. bob redell is talking to police. he'll have a live update, next. >>> fire crews from the bay area called in to help as a while fire continues to rage near yosemite. thousands told to pack up and leave, including some bay area students. >>> plus, new video just in. dozen of protesters pulled from san francisco's city hall early this morning. >>> speaking of san francisco, here's one of its famous bridges. a live look outside at the bay bridge on this wednesday, august 21st. this is "today in the bay."

. >>> for the weather i'm joined by bill karins. >>> this morning, hope windows are open in many areas of the country. the 24-hour temperature change has made its way to the east coast. columbus is 16 degrees cooler than this time yesterday. d.c. is about 13 degrees cooler. it's 51 degrees right now in detroit, i mean, that's cool, that's jacket weather. same for buffalo and columbus, that cool air is making its way to the east coast. now, one little thing of interest we have to watch over the next couple of days, 30% chance of development of this system in the western portions of the caribbean it's over very warm water. it's going to be very weak, i'm thinking, the possibilities of maybe 3 to 6 inches of rain and we could have some flooding concerns heading toward the weekend. overall, pretty quiet day. look at the beautiful forecast f from minneapolis to new york city. it feels like fall. >>> all right, thanks so much bill, a major announcement is expected from the pentagon today. all of the details coming up next. >>> plus, could this be the $60 million man? [ school bell rings ] ♪

bill karins, though, we talked about this earlier. georgia normally a place where you have some nice weather. a lot of sun. not a lot of water. >> usually they complain it's too hot and not enough water. they'll need it in many areas. we talked about fairbanks yesterday. 84 degrees. >> they did it? >> yes, they did. broke the record. 85 there actually. so very impressive. also 67 in anchorage. so it wasn't everywhere. interior alaska has been very high. juneau around 75. fairbanks yesterday, 31 80-plus degree days this summer. breaks the record. also 13th day 85 or above in fairbanks. that also breaks your record. >> what about today? >> 62 right now. interior alaska going up to 84 once again in fairbanks. so they'll add to the record-breaking summer. also as far as the rest of the west goes, yesterday was very warm in the desert. texas was hot. salt lake was hot. we just got hdone with one of or hottest. a little rain left over in northern portions of idaho. that's about it. a few sprinkles today in seattle. that's a lookbe cooler be

. >>> bill karins joins us. taking a look at the weather in the west and across the country. >> los angeles has gone 16 days in a row without hitting 80 degrees. in the middle of the summer. one of the longest streaks they've ahad in july and august. on the flip side of that, it's been warmer over this period in seattle than it has been in l.a. now yesterday l.a. did -- this is the downtown read, did edge out seattle by one degree. you can see the heat is there. it's in phoenix and vegas. but it just hasn't been moving into l.a. the winds have been pushing it the wrong direction. more of an onshore flow. temperatures this morning, still pretty nice and mild in many of the spots hot yesterday. salt lake city at 70. boise at 71. not a lot of highlights throughout. most of the pop-up afternoon showers and storms yesterday were in the mountains of idaho, utah and colorado. high pressure dominates the west along with some hot air. it looks like the northwest is going to cool down a little bit as we go throughout the

now for a look at the weather, here is bill karins. >> nothing will phase you. it's 88 and sunny and you're in your glory. >> there you go. >> fire still the big story. it was 95 degrees, windy. almost 2,000 firefighters, like a little mini army trying to fight the fire in rural sections of idaho. so we wish those men and women the best out there. again over 100,000 acres, only 9% contained. a lot of work ahead of them. thankfully the forecast will help. 83 today. yesterday it was 95. it will be partly cloudy, of course there's a lot of smoke and hayes in tze in the air. not a lot of rain in the forecast, but it will help a little bit. and as we've been talking, all the warm hot air in the west yesterday is slowly sliding east. yesterday it warmed up st. louis, kansas city, chicago, the great lakes, ohio valley. and then finally today, northeast and mid-atlantic will warm up. there will still be clouds and showers and storms in the southeast, but it won't rain more day. more typical garden variety afternoon storms. it's been so cool for so long that 88 will feel

nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us. good morning, my friend. >> remember those sprinkles we talked about? a little bit of rain went through, but much of the west continues to bake in the heat. yesterday we showed you the fires in utah. 99 in salt lake city. 100 in boise. very hot in the intermountain west. continues to be one of the hottest summers in some of these locations. the eastern half of the country, the middle of the country is fall-like. no moisture in the air. the dew points are very low. these numbers show you how much moisture is in the air. the higher the number in general means more moisture. the lower the number means there's little. hardly any moisture at all in the intermountain west. fire danger. 71 in salt lake city. 67 in portland. so pretty mild air just about everywhere. the storm that kicked through yesterday is now spinning along the british columbia coastline. the cold front will try to move into the northwest. could be a few more showers out the there. maybe a little more drizzle and clouds in

we turn, of course, to meteorologist bill karins. you got to follow that act. >> i need a story in between. >> to buffer it. >> yes, that was pretty funny. >> don't text me, all right? >> a beautiful weekend for so many people. millions of people in the great lakes, ohio valley, northeast, humidity will be low, cool, crisp nights but yesterday wasn't the case, interesting weather taking place. especially the colorado area was very interesting. this is hail, not snow, they literally had to have a snowplow to clear the ice out of the road so the guide could get his car. >> that is so wild. >> once the hail got collected in the rain it all collected and got that deep, this was a guy's backyard. >> looks like snow. >> looks like a snow picture. pretty impressive with the hail. not a lot of bad weather. the worst in west virginia with heavy rain coming through. as far as the forecast, a few showers and storms around d.c., especially the carolinas and southeast but i mentioned over the weekend great weather from the great lakes to the ohio

i'm joined by richard lui and bill karins. bill, i have no idea what your story is.people are calling this photo the turducken of the sea. this photo here the researchers and the university of delaware were trying to recapture a tagged sand shark, the female there you see the big one. they had about a foot long bait out, a three-foot shark ate that bait and immediately after the sand shark ate the three-foot long shark and they captured this photo. they're calling it the turducken of the sea. fish eating the fish eating the fish. >> a brutal place. >> it's a cool photo, it's like shark beak or it was. >> fits in. >> much healthier than a turducken. >> people don't know what turducken is, turkey and duck stuffed in chicken? >> deboned chicken and duck and stuff it inside the turkey and cook it up. >> you learn something every day here. >> it's great stuff. >> richard, bowling? >> well kind of. we got the center from mississippi state, they all went out the entire line to have some fun so what do they do? the center dylan dader says hey, give me that bowling ball. watc

i am joined by richard lui and bill karins. we're talking about first buzz.t of the gate, let's go with this one. facebook, could your friends actually help your credit score? i sure the heck hope so. that would be great, wouldn't it? according to some financial lending companies, social connections can be a good indication of a person's credit worthiness. if you keep up with facebook and twitter, you'll be on top of your life. >> better friends, the more stuff you do on facebook and twitter, the more credit you have. >> i need more friends so tweet me. what have you got today? >> this is an interesting development from noaa. we talk about lightening strikes every year. unfortunate statistic. what we've learned from noaa, they've had the 17th death from lightening strikes. florida and arizona are the big states. looking at 2012 and '11, we're behind those averages. >> that's a good thing. >> i was wondering -- >> that's one of the biggest killers. being careful. a lot of the soccer fields and baseball fields have systems on them when alarms go off. >> get out

. >>> now for a look at the weather, i'm joined by bill karins. amazing video and the kid was okay, possibly even sleeping. >> and hopefully going to a safe home. >> yesterday was salt lake city it was nearly 100 degrees. the record was 101. boise was 99. and that is because of the front that's along the coast. a middle morning, not much significant to talk about there. this map in the best is about as blank as you get for this or any time of year. richard thinks he could do this job. so as far as the high pressure goes, it sits off of the rockies. it will keep you cloudy and cooler than we have been in the west. the temperatures will hold. if we start complaining about upper 70s and cloudy in the northwest you know you had a good summer. look at this, 100s continuing. so many fires in a lot wine. >> monterey, california 68. san diego 74. >> here i am just sitting back enjoying that. >> absolutely clear, no one can ever replace your three decades of experience. >> a great grandmother is the latest to accuse the mayor of sexual harassment. >>> welc

. >>> now for a look at the weather forecast, i'm joined by nbc's bill karins. good morning, bill. >> good tuesday morning. not bad around the country. we have nice, cool weather coming from the great lakes. but in the middle is the concern. it's all heading for the southeast. this morning, grab your umbrella. probably the worst trial out there on interstate 40, it will move towards little rock shortly. we've got a lot of wet weather in the east today. numerous showers and thunderstorms even overnight formed just south of buffalo, moving through erie .now they're trying to race along the pennsylvania/new york state boarder. pretty heavy batch of storms approaching the lehigh valley just to the west of philadelphia. that could be heading right for the fop of the philadelphia/new york city area during the peak of the rush hour. showers and storms from boston down the busy i-95 corridor. it will pour for at least a period of the day. we could get a few strong storms from richmond, virginia beach, golds borrow, rally, down to wilmington. no tornados, but damaging win

now for a look at our national forecast, i'm joined by nbc's bill karins. >> two mornings in a row we had horrible flooding today. so far, so good, but it's not going to stay that way today. they're going to get more rain and the flooding is going to get worse. it's been a rough night in northern oklahoma and kansas. not so much severe weather, but the radar just heavy torrential rains. i-35 is the worst drive around from oklahoma city and soon up to wichita who has avoided the rain at this point. as we shift over a little bit, this area of springfield just to the east of there, that's where we've been dealing with the heavy rain over the last couple of mornings. as of now you're okay. the other story was the heat yesterday in the deep south. 105 in dallas. 104 in san antonio. it's going to be another scorching day in areas of the deep south. heat advisories are up for many spots. once again, 100 to 105. that hot forecast, as far as the airports go today, there will be a lot of clouds, showers and thunderstorms around new york city, philly, baltimore and d.c. a lot of big airports are

bill karins is here with a look at the forecast. you warned us of this yesterday. >> it's happening again in the same exact spot. it's really cruel it couldn't have shifted over a couple towns. this is a map of southern missouri. there's kansas city in the upper left, st. louis in the upper right. all the bright yellows and oranges and reds, those are thunderstorms. some spots have an estimated ten inches of rain just to the northwest of rola, missouri. a few towns are being evacuated because of the extreme rainfall. that's really the main show in town. we have the big storm to the north and high pressure to the south of texas. i was able to find a few showers, they are approaching from the southeast, moving to the northwest. clip to medford and raining to the north on i-5 as you go throughout your morning drive. still warm in the pacific northwest and back to sunshine in the deserts. that's your national forecast, coast, like santa rosa at 69. >>> and it looks like the forecast doesn't change either. those poor people in missouri t

bill karins? >> the only thing i can think of it looked like a tree when they go through a shredder. >> i want to know where does it go underground? where is all of this going? >> there's a secret tree world. >> is that what it is? >> yeah, like all the hobbits. >> fire season. 51 uncontrolled blazes right now. let me show you where they are located. pretty widespread. a couple in arizona. really in idaho, california, oregon and portions of western montana. 14 in idaho alone. what's interesting is that we also told you about the running out of money to fund the firefighting efforts. we have only had about half the acreage burn this year as we did last year. almost the same as 2011. so it's interesting we're already out of money, even though the fire season hasn't been as bad as last year. as far as satellite and radar goes, unfortunately today, more moisture and humidity being sent up into the rockies. we're in a drought. we want the rain but don't want the thunderstorms because those have lightni

now for a look at the weather, here is bill karins with the national forecast. good morning, bill. >> i wish i was around for that. >> for? >> 50 years ago. >> a little history. look at our new history today. >> okay. >> that's a very positive way to think about it. >>> as far as the weather, missouri just got nailed again with incredible flooding. we had a big fire in areas of california that we showed you. en into ohio we had severe storms. we're doing it all over again. this radar is just lit up. the yellow is heavy rain. reds, torrential rains. these are thunderstorms moving from oklahoma city northward to witch that. i-35 is not advised to travel out of right now if you don't have to. i-44 is next. we're starting to watch the heavy rain shifting to the east a little bit. these are areas that got hit hard yesterday. the heat wave continues in texas. that's the other big story. it was 105 yesterday in dallas. that eight days in a row of 100-degree heat. when will the heat wave end? no time soon. 100 right through the upcoming weekend. no rain in sight. and spe

. >>> coming up, bill karins and first buzz and we'll tell you what caught our eyes today.eoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. playtime is so much more with a superhero by your side. because even superheroes need superheroes. that's why purina dog chow is made with high quality ingredients, including 23 vitamins and minerals. to help keep him strong. dog chow strong. i'to guard their manhood with trnew depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> how can you

nbc meteorologist bill karins will be here in just a few minutes to tell us when things will dry out. >>> another threat in as many days prompts the evacuation of a u.s. consulate abroad. this time, though, in pakistan. because of a, quote, specific threat. the state department thursday warned americans not to travel to pakistan and evacuated all but emergency staff at the consulate in lahore. officials say this threat is not related to the one that temporarily shut down 19 u.s. embassies in the middle east and africa through saturday. the u.s. embassy in yemen was evacuated on tuesday and u.s. citizens urged to leave after a terror threat there. >>> and u.s. drone strikes are only intensifying the high alert in yemen. three strikes thursday killed 12 suspected militants. u.s. officials suggest the latest wave is the result of intelligence gathered last week from the electronics communication between high level al qaeda leaders. that communication suggested a terror threat. military officials in yemen report 34 suspected al qaeda militants have been killed in eight drone attacks in le

bill karins will join us and update the conditions. turning to the latest in egypt, the daily beast is reporting the white house has secretly suspended military and economic aid to egypt, a sign the administration at least internally is treating the government takeover oas a coup. u.s. officials say the review is ongoing, but it should be pointed out that saudi arabia has said it will fill the void of any foreign aid that is cut. meanwhile a new survey by the pew research center finds 51% of americans think the u.s. should cut aid to egypt to put pressure on their government. however 26% say the u.s. should continue providing military support. the same survey found half of all americans believe president obama has not been tough enough in his response to this particular crisis. despite the violence, americans still believe the egyptian military is in the best position to provide the leadership to the troubled state. it's a messy situation. for more, let's go live to cairo. good morning, yousef. >> reporter: more uncertainty after the l

i'm bill karins in. talking about anthony weiner and the walkoff at yankee stadium. >>> today, the obama administration is expected to make a major shift in drug policy. attorney general eric holder will order prosecutors to leave out the quantity or amount of illegal substances involved in low-level drug cases. it's a move to get around mandatory minimum sentences that the administration has overfilled cell blocks. they're cited as a tax burden for a prison system that costs $80 billion a year to operate. too many americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no good law enforcement reason. holder will defer certain types of low-level prosecution to the state and local level. he's also expected to ask prison officials to release older, nonviolent offenders, to face what he calls compelling circumstances. >>> here's your stat of the day. the u.s. with just 5% of the world's population has 25% of the world's inmates. >>> overseas, 18 u.s. diplomatic posts are again open for business today. fol

bill karins and i still couldn't get around on it. >>> former u.s.pen champion maria sharapova out of the u.s. open. reportedly has bursitis in her right shoulder. she can't change her name now and promote her candy brand. she was the third seed, she won it back in 2006. so i know that she's obviously good to have at the open, but that is true, she was into -- >> a week of random sharapova. pretty much it. >> sue gargar pova. you can just rip off your shirt. >> i'll pass. >> ever seen a red sprite before? this is a phenomenon that happens above thunderstorms. this was captured by a guy searching for them flying high aloft. pretty cool stuff. almost like lightning that goes out into outer space. that was one of the coolest photos of it i've ever seen. as far as the forecast today, it's a pretty simple day. iowa is getting heavy rain over to omaha. we'll have scattered storms in the east. we will see a few downpours out there. that will include the southeast, too. just a typical sum are day. enjoy it. looks like by the time we get to the weekend, it wi

nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us. what are we going to see for the weekend? the same. much improved for new england and the southeast. wet weather yesterday. ugly day. a lot of airport delays. exiting the rain. leaving the boston area, up to portsmouth, bangor and eventually will clear out of all of new england today. the other rainy spot is in eastern kansas. wichita, emporia, kansas city. here's how the weekend shapes up. still very hot. we're talking easily 100 to 105 in much of texas all the way through much of the midwest. cool through the great lakes. temperatures will be in the 70s at most during the day and at night could be dropping off into the 50s. that's like good fall camping weather. as far as thunderstorms go, saturday we'll see a few of them along the mid-atlantic but not a lot on sunday. here's the wrapup for the weekend forecast. pick your area out. showers and storms, missouri up to florida. saturday, not a washout. storms from kansas city all the way back to jersey. finally looks like a really nice sunday on the eastern seaboard. new engla

meteorologist bill karins joins us now. >> if you watch it it gets darker, too. there's a big brunt of it. it just goes pitch black. >> is it just like sand pouring down on you. >> winds come out of the thunderstorms as they die and they move along the ground and just pick up all the dust and particles. it's just literally the gust front of the winds coming at you. pretty cool. some interesting stuff in the forecast. the desert southwest is getting a lot more moisture and more rain/flooding likely by the end of the weekend. even a lot of areas of rain and wet weather through the rockies. here's a picture from colorado. this is near littleton. that's a car stuck in the hail. literally hail was covering the ground. the snow plow had to come to get that vehicle out. pretty incredible. let's talk about the rain. needles, california. mojave desert. one of the driest places. picked up an inch of rain last night. doesn't sound like much to a lot of people around the country. but that is literally about 25% of their annual rainfall. this is one of the driest places there

i'm bill karins in. anthony weiner and the walkoff at yankee stadium. >>> today, the obama administration is expected to make a major shift in drug policy. attorney general eric holder will order prosecutors to leave out the quantity or amount of illegal substances involved in low-level drug cases. it's a move to get around mandatory minimum sentences that the administration has overfilled

. >>> coming up, bill karins and richard liu will be back for first buzz.alk about all the stories that caught our eye this morning. that's next. you're watching "first look." if you've got it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and man, you know how that feels. copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that helps open my obstructed airways for a full 24 hours. you know, spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. d

nbc meteorologist bill karins is first in line for that. >> i would go to the kiss concert. >> i remember when i would see them on variety shows as a kiss, they scared the hell out of me. >> you didn't want to dress up and stick your tongue out? >> no, they scared me. they had flames flying behind them and the face stuff and the big boots. >> i know what you're going to do for halloween this year? >> what's that? going to be an l.a. kiss football player. >> kiss outfit, makeup. this weekend, we're looking really nice, the exception being the southeast. unfortunately, it can loos like your dreary summer is going to continue. showers out through central georgia and south carolina. as we go throughout the weekend, periods of heavy rain. it's not going to pour all weekend. there will be wet weather out there. in the gulf of mexico, we're still watching the area of disturb turned weather near the yucatan. it will send a lot of tropical moisture up through the southeast. we have the potential for 3 to 6 inches of rain over the next three-day period. kind of a gloomy weekend. atlanta you'll be l

. >>> speaking of getting through this morning, bill karins will be here for first buzz and tell youour eyes today. ♪ ♪ let busy treats entertain your dog with playful shapes, long lasting layers, savory flavors, and mesmerizing textures. get busy. the world's most entertaining treats. a quarter million tweeters is beare tweeting. and 900 million dollars are changing hands online. that's why hp built a new kind of server. one that's 80% smaller. uses 89% less energy. and costs 77% less. it's called hp moonshot. and it's giving the internet the room it needs to grow. this&is gonna be big. hp moonshot. it's time to build a better enterprise. together. >>> alex rodriguez has been suspended from baseball for 211 ga games but he said he's going to appeal the decision and keep playing. even anthony weiner was like, man, some people don't know when to quit. >> that's rough. first up, a lot of people discuss i discussing this jeff bezos purchase of "the washington post." at first i thought it was a little light for the "washington post." >> that's not even powerball money. >> "the boston glo

for more now on our weather forecast, bill karins. good morning. >> okay. so that town we just showed you, a little boy perished. he got caught in the floodwater. the town north of there is now being evacuated because of flash flooding this morning. one town away. almost the same exact spot. you know, this is just hard to get pictures out of the small towns. it's southern missouri. only 200 or 300 people. the video pictures we showed you on the bottom left of your screen, right on interstate 44 going up through southern missouri, the town of newburg that you see there to your right is the one being evacuated right now because of torrential rain and the river rose four feet in the last two hours. this weather pattern remains in place. there are just thunderstorms from kansas all the way through missouri. kind of an atmospherish squeeze play. cool air to the north coming out of canada, hot air in texas. all that air is being forced up into the atmosphere over the heartland. that's where all the travel trouble will be today. that's where the flash flooding con

bill karins will have more on the conditions coming up. >>> now to syria where the government has agreed to allow u.n. inspectors to survey the scene of an alleged chemical attack. u.s. officials call the move, quote, too late to be credible. this morning there are reports that at least two mortars fell near the hotel of the u.n. representatives. there's doubt about what inspectors will find at the scene where 355 people were believed to have been killed in large part because of continued heavy shelling in that area as seen by the two shells that hit the u.n. hotel. on saturday president obama reviewed a range of options and possible targets with his national security team. the u.s. has four destroyers near in the mediterranean sea. members of congress are calling the situation to kosovo calling for surgical strikes using cruise missiles. >> i think we have to respond and i think we have to respond in conjunction with our nato allies, we have to respond much as i think was done in libya with the nato allies. i think we cannot afford to sit back and wait. >> syria ratcheting up the rhetor