a dubai firm will convert used vegetable oil from mcdonald's outlets into 100% biodiesel, a fuel thaturns 50% cleaner than normal diesel. >>> the top vote getter for baseball's all-star contest, the mets, eke out a win against their cross-town rivals. and who is dancing at wimbledon? plus an extra participant invades the pitch in a contest between brazil and venezuela. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> your fourth of july forecast looks fantastic in many areas of the country. a few showers and storms are possible in areas that don't usually see them. >>> well, good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, sunday saw a match-up between one of baseball's hottest hitters, and one of the game's toughest pitchers. here's nbc's bill stewart with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. and a happy fourth of july. it may be america's pastime, but a guy on a canadian team is the leading vote getter for baseball's all-star game. the toronto blue jays jose bautista received a record 7.4 million votes. then he helped break

we have biodiesel. we have these vehicles going out into schools. i saw on the news today, the bay area transport commission is trying to get people to take public transportation. we have the employees -- if they get public transportation, we provide them a couple of money for the passage, and we also encourage people to come to the san francisco zoo by giving them a dollar off. this is a corrective action that will make this a better place. i went to a conference in seattle in march, and this was a conservation conference. this was from committees and zoos across the world talking about global conservation. what was emerging that wanted to bring to you is over half of the populations of the united states, -- we have an opportunity to really advance the conservation conversation, with these visitors. this is part of a growing in the bidding partnership, with a local and regional governments. people like you. this is an important action that we can make. thank you for your support. >> thank you for your important work that you are doing at the zoo. >

even if we are going full-throttle on clean energy solutions like solar and wind and biodiesel, we're going to need oil for some time. but if we had a goal where we're just reducing our dependence on oil each year in a staggered set of steps, it would save consumers in their pocketbook; it would make our businesses more efficient and less subject to the whims of the spot oil market; it would make us less vulnerable to the kinds of disruptions that have occurred because of what happened in the middle east this spring; and it would drastically cut down on our carbon resources. so what i -- unfortunately, we have not seen a sense of urgency coming out of congress over the last several months on this issue. most of the rhetoric has been about, let's produce more. well, we can produce more, and i'm committed to that, but the fact is, we only have 2 to 3 percent of the world's oil reserves; we use 25 percent of the world's oil. we can't drill our way out of this problem. what we can do that we've already done administratively is increase fuel-efficiency standards on cars, just to take one e

a dubai firm will confirm used vegetable oil from mcdonald's outlets into 100% biodiesel. a fuel that burns 50% cleaner than normal diesel. >>> in sports now, sunday saw a match-up between one of baseball's hottest hitters and one of the game's toughest pitchers. here's nbc's bill seward. >> good morning. and a happy fourth of july. it hay be america's pastime, but a guy on a canadian team is the leading vote getter for baseball's all-star game. the toronto blue jay's jose batista received 7.4 million votes. he helped break up cliff lee's scoreless streak. puts toronto on top. lee's streak ends at 34 innings. don't feel too sorry for him. he is all an all-star. jays beat the phils, 7-4. yankees have six players in the midsummer classic. mets have a pair. they also got a big win against the bombers. tenth inning. bases loaded. jason bay, what do you say? how about game over? mets walkoff with a win in ten. boston's josh beckett could start the all-star. 11 strikeouts over eight innings. he was lights out. mark ma lancen was out to lunch. red sox swept the astros with a 2-1

nutri foods has a deal to convert it into biodiesel and they plan to produce fuel to burn 50% cleaner than the average diesel. >>> family heartache and loss brought them together. tonight, an unlikely pair tie the knot. what sets this wedding a part when fox 5 news continues. >>> what does scouting anding can have in common? turns out a lot. i'm jennifer davis on capitol hill. the story is coming up. >> this 4th of july will be one to remember for the sweet and balmer children of bowie, maryland. it's wedding day for their mom and dad and a day that brings together two families torn a part by war. bob barnard has more. >> reporter: in nearly 10 years of war in afghanistan and in iraq, more than 6100 u.s. service men and women lost their lives. multiply that countless times by the loved ones they leave behind. now a love story lending two of those families rising from the ashes of heartbreaking sadness. beneath the towering air force memorial overlooking the nation's capitol, on board the bus, appears a white stretch limo and in it, two families discard by war. >> chris picked the 4th.

they have a deal to convert used oil from mickey d's into biodiesel. the partnership plans to produce a fuel that will burn 50% cleaning than your average diesel. >>> we are continuing to count down to the final space shuttle flight. it will be at the end of the week. >>> showers moving through during the overnight hours. we have some fog out there as well as all the details on the hot and huge you had forecast. lauren demarco is in with a look at your on-time traffic coming up right after the break.  >>> the countdown continues to the last flight of that is' now 30-year shuttle program. last flight just three days away. four astronauts who will take the shuttle atlantis into space on friday arrived at the kennedy space center yesterday. they will embark on the 12-day journey to deliver supplies to the international space station. >> we have a very event had been filled mission ahead of us. we have 12 days. we'll be, very busy. you can tell we have an abridged crew. when it is all over, i think i speak again for everyone when i

overnight, even if we are going full throttle on clean energy solutions like solar and wind and biodiesel, we're going to need oil for some time, but if we had a goal where we're just reducing our dependance on oil each year in a staggered set of steps, it would ave consumers in their pocketbook. it would make our businesses more efficient and less subject to the whims of the spot oil market. it would make us less vulnerable to the kinds of disruptions that have occurred because of what happened in the middle east this -- this spring, and it would drastically cut down on our carbon resources, so one -- what i -- unfortunately, we've not seen a sense of urgency coming out of congress over the last several months on this issue. most of the rhetoric has been about let's produce more. well, we can produce more, and i'm committed to that, but the fact is we only have 2%, 3% of the world's oil reserves. we use 25% of the world's oil. we can't drill our way out of this problem. what we can do, that we've already done administratively, is increase fuel efficiency standards on cars just to take on

even if we are going full throttle on clean energy solutions like solar and wind and biodiesel, we're oil for some time. but if we had a goal where we're just reducing our dependence on oil each year in a staggered set of steps, it would save consumers in their pocketbook, it would make our businesses more efficient and less subject to the whims of the spot oil market. it would make us less vulnerable to the kinds of disruptions that have occurred because of what happened in the middle east this spring, and it would drastically cut down on our carbon resources. unfortunately, we have not seen a sense of urgency coming out of congress over the last several months on this issue. most of the rhetoric has been about, let's produce more. well, we can produce more, but we only have 2% to 3% of the world's oil reserves and we use 25% of the world's oil. we can't drill ourselves out of this problem. what we can do that we've already done administratively is increase fuel standards on cars, to take one example. that will save us millions of barrels of oil, just by using existing technologies a

even if we are going full throttle on clean energy solutions like solar, wind and biodiesel we're going to need oil sister sometime, but if we had a goal where we are reducing it in a staggered sense, it would say consumers in the pocketbook, it would make our business more efficient and less subject to the whims of the oil market. it would make us less vulnerable for the kinds of disruptions that have occurred because of action in the middle east this spring and it would drastically cut down on our carbon use. i have not seenan a sensor urgency coming out of -- sense of urgency coming out of congress on this issue. most of the rhetoric has been let's produce more. we can produce more and i'm committed to that but we only have 2% to 3% of the world's oil reserves. we can't drill our way out of this problem. what we can do, that we have already done is increase standards on cars just to take one example. that will save us millions of barrels of oil just by using existing technologies and saying to car companies you can do better than 10 miles a gallon or 15 miles a gallon. we're starting

it is important to examine if we're going after the cutting edge by diesel --biodiesel and ethanol approaches that allow brazil to run about 1/3 of its transportation system on biofuels. they get it from sugar cane. it is a more efficient conversion process than corn- based ethanol. doing more research in finding better ways to do the same concepts, i think that is the right way to go. >> i believe you addressed this next one. we will skip past it. james says he would cut costs by cutting welfare programs. people will not try harder when they are handed everything. >> i think we should acknowledge that some welfare programs in the past were not well-designed. in some cases, they did encourage dependency. i worked in low-income neighborhoods and have seen it. people were not encouraged to work or upgrade their skills. they were just getting a check. over time, their motivation started to diminish. even if you are progressive, you have to acknowledge some of these things were not well- designed. today welfare payments are not the big driver of the deficit or debt. there are work obligations att

possibilities include the full array of existing text nolings, including flex fuel, natural gas, hydrogen, biodiesel, plug-in electric drive and a catch-all for new technologies. i mention it because it's similar to this, and i really believe that our energy policies can only be done in a bipartisan basis. i encourage my colleagues to support this amendment. again, as we've done on all the other bills that i've introduced it as we work to break our dependence on foreign oil and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back his time. is there further discussion on the amendment? for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. young: mr. chairman, i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. young: i think the gentleman's amendment is a good amendment, and i think we've seen this on other bills and i'm happy to accept the amendment. mr. dicks: will the gentleman yield? mr. young: i will yield. mr. dicks: i appreciate the gentleman's willingness to accept the amendment and i, too, think it's a good amendment and good idea. so i yield back

possibilities include the full array of existing technologies including flex fuel, natural gas, hydrogen, biodiesel, plug-in electric drive and fuel cell and a catch-all for new technologies. so i encourage my colleagues to support this amendment and when we -- i certainly will. mr. frelinghuysen: we're prepared to accept your amendment and commend you for it. mr. engel: i thank the gentleman and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. and the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. hastings: mr. chairman, for the last time i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. hastings of washington. at the end of the bill, before the short title, insert the following, section, none of the funds made available to the corps of engineers by this act may be used for the removal or associa