. >> people came from all over north texas and they heard about the machine.machine saved me from going out of business. >> reporter: today, martinez sits atop an empmpe of a half dozen restaurants over north texas. with 600 employees. >> look at how beautiful this is. >> reporter: a very loil clientele. >> cheers to mariano's. >> it's great. >> reporter: and one honor he couldn't evenn fathom. his invention is now in the smithsonian. mariano and his wife of 38 years, wanda, now split tim between texas and the california coast. >> we just kind of window shop. >> reporter: we spent a day with them bar hopping. what to order was never a question. >> here are your margaritas. >> life's good. >> reporter: especially after a few margaritas. >> well, that makes it better. life's great. >> reporter: you still have traditionalists who say the best margarita is one on the rocks. what do you say to them? >> i agree with them. i'm one of those. >> reporter: wait a minute, the guy came up with the margarita machine and he drinks them on the rocks? >> right. my tastes have

the big high ridge of high pressure is over north texas. that's keeping some of the humidity on the increase in arizona. once we heat it up today, we'll get more showers and storms late in the afternoon to this evening. phoenix 109 with showers and storms. same forecast for you in tucson. vegas 104. very hot in interior sections of california. beautiful weather here. seattle, i know you like to be a little warmer, but at least a good deal of sunshine. >>> we probably won't see anything like that again for a while. >> let's hope not. bill, thanks so much. >>> more positive economic data. oil prices rise, and impressive honesty in austria. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> a high paid hollywood actor risks life and limb in iceland on an adventure show. >>> coming up, disappointing news for tiger woods. derek jeter gets another step closer to 3,000 hits. the fans have voted. >>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. officials say a member o

just hours ago here in north texas, a man died. emergency officials say they found him in a house with no air conditioning. diane. >> yungi, thank you for reporting in tonight from that dry lake bed. >>> and, next, there are a lot of ways americans are expressing worry and frustration at the squabbling politicians letting the debt deadline take the economy to the brink. and one big message was delivered today. the markets, the dow dropped almost 100 points, as worried investors pulled out. they're watching that clock, you see, right there, ticking down to the august 2nd deadline for a debt deal. and in another scramble for safety, people are rushing to invest in gold. prices up as never seen before. here's abc's john berman. >> reporter: the partisanship, politicking and lack of progress in washington might already be taking a toll on your personal bank account and 40101 the stock drop today -- the first sign investors are saying, "we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore." >> the impatience and frustration is clea

in north texas, it was the 22nd day in a row above 100 degrees. here is one doctor who warned of the dangers. >> it takes several hours to restore oneself after a day in the heat. drinking cold water, relaxing and being in a cool environment. that is air-conditioning for three hours a day is very protective in terms of heat stroke or dying in your apartment. >> julie: the national weather service is warning of more oppressive heat to come, heat in the 90s for much of northeast in parts of oklahoma, new york, new jersey and connecticut. a meteorologist with the national weather service says new york is experience go what they call the urban heat island effect. all the concrete and black top warms up and stays hotter longer so overnight there is a little relief. temperatures didn't get below 80 degrees in some places. in chicago, residents trying to beat the heat also drenched with overnight rain storms dumping up to 7 inches of rain and forcing the closure of expressways and roads and knocking out power to more than 85,000 people. air quality alert

shattered glass a burned door picture show what a fire left behind planned parenthood of north texas has one of its clinics with attacked with a molotov cocktail sometime last night and it's the first attack of a crime for any clinics in our area and it certainly raising concerns today let me say at this hour there are no suspects they also emphasize that there is no evidence connecting the demonstrators to protest out here pretty quickly to this attempted arson. i didn't hear the word terrorism if you wasn't clear it's not being used because it was presumably a christian it was a muslim now can just imagine if the exact same molotov cocktail had been thrown into the local bad sister lutheran or catholic or whatever church thrown into a christian church by a person with dark skin who had mohammad as their first name cox news would have been all over it all day long but because this was a women's clinic. ok you know the local news says we're concerned about it national news not a peep it's time to start calling terrorism terrorism regardless of who commits it . it's a good the bad in

debris was scattered across north texas. and although tarnished, the shuttle has been america's only way to put humans in space. >> i defy anybody -- and i will argue with my "apollo" comrades -- the accomplishments, the achievements, the record of performance, the spin-offs, the capabilities that have been developed, what we did in shuttle over 30 years dwarf what was done in the "apollo" era. >> we can build spacecraft. we can build hardware. we can build boosters. but there's no goal. there's no mission. we are wandering in the desert in space today, period. >> so why now? why call it quits now? from the time of its inception 40 years ago, until the shuttles are retired, the program will have cost the american taxpayers just shy of $115 billion. that's less than $4 billion a year. a drop, if that, in the federal budget. still, the problem is money. >> there's just not enough money at nasa to continue the existing programs and start a new program at the same time. >> but its ending now leaves a gaping hole. >> the nation w

. >> from a first time crook to a robber who ticked off his victim in north texas at a pizza place, aain wrong. pizza guy cooperated with the robber until being slapped in the face. >> he dis me and that's not right. you don't disrespect a man and slap him in the face. >> the two men started fighting. >> we started fighting a little bit. >> the robber went for the register. he was hit with a punch. down goes the suspect. down goes the suspect. >> good two, three times he dropped right there he was out. >> the robber is the father of one of the employees. who was there at the time of the rob rip. she didn't realize it was him until the fight knocked off his sunglasses and wig. he was sentenced to 60 years in state prison. >> just when you thought you heard it all. this guy takes stupid criminals to a new level. a man in connecticut calls 911 with a question about his marijuana plant. >> connecticut police trace the call paid a visit to his home and charged him with possession and illegal cultivation. he was released on $5,000 bond and flipped police off as he walked out the door. his c

northeast, oppressive and heat, air alerts in affect in new york city and heat advisories continue in north texas have video of the 22nd day in a row peop are enduring over 100 degrees temperatures. so far this summer, the area has had a total of 28 days in the 100 degrees mark. there is drought-like conditions. water levels are decreasing and causing water levels to simply disappear and the heat wave blamed for a hundred deaths in the country. an 18 year old landscaper died in kentucky and had a temperature of 110 . in chicago seven people doid of heat stress or heart stroke. but meteorologist with the national weather service saying cities like new york and chicago are experiencing the urban heat island affect. that means all of the concrete and black top warms up and keeps the city faster and stays hotter longer. overnight very little relief. temperatures didn't get below 80 degrees . yesterday take a look at the numbers and murkry in newark, new jersey reaching 108 degrees. highest temperature ever recorded there. while in new york city 104 and philadelphia and boston 103 and portland maine,

debris was scattered across north texas.nd although tarnished, the shuttle has been america's only way to put humans in space. >> i defy anybody -- and i will argue with my "apollo" comrades -- the accomplishments, the achievements, the record of performance, the spin-offs, the capabilities that have been developed, what we did in shuttle over 30 years dwarf what was done in the "apollo" era. >> we can build spacecraft. we can build hardware. we can build boosters. but there's no goal. there's no mission. we are wandering in the desert in space today, period. >> so why now? why call it quits now? from the time of its inception 40 years ago, until the shuttles are retired, the program will have cost the american taxpayers just shy of $115 billion. that's less than $4 billion a year. a drop, if that, in the federal budget. still, the problem is money. >> there's just not enough money at nasa to continue the existing programs and start a new program at the same time. >> but its ending now leaves a gaping hole. >> the nation was

. >> from a first time crook to a robber who ticked off his victim in north texas at a pizza place, ay again wrong. pizza guy cooperated with the robber until being slapped in the face. >> he dis me and that's not right. you don't disrespect a man and slap him in the face. >> the two men started fighting. >> we started fighting a little bit. >> the robber went for the register. he was hit with a punch. down goes the suspect. down goes the suspect. >> good two, three times he dropped right there he was out. >> the robber is the father of one of the employees. who was there at the time of the rob rip. she didn't realize it was him until the fight knocked off his sunglasses and wig. he was sentenced to 60 years in state prison. >> just when you thought you heard it all. this guy takes stupid criminals to a new level. a man in connecticut calls 911 with a question about his marijuana plant. >> connecticut police trace the call paid a visit to his home and charged him with possession and illegal cultivation. he was released on $5,000 bond and flipped police off as he walked out the door. h

lost re-entering the atmosphere, debris was scattered across north texas. and although tarnished, the shuttle has been america's only way to put humans in space. >> i defy anybody -- and i will argue with my apollo comrades -- the accomplishments, the achievements, the record of performance, the spinoffs, the cape capabilities that have been developed. what we did in shuttle 30 years dwarfed what was done in the apollo era. >> we can build spacecraft. we can build half hardware. we can build boosters. but there's no goal, no mission. we are wandering in the desert in space today. period. >> so why now? why call it quits now? from the time of its inception 40 years ago until the shuttles are retired, the program will have cost the american taxpayers just shy of $115 billion. that's less than $4 billion a year. a drop, if that, in the federal budget. still, the problem is money. >> there's just not enough money in nasa to continue the existing programs and start a new program at the same time. >> but it's ending now leaves a gaping hole. >> the nation was not

lost re-entering the atmosphere, debris was scattered across north texas. and although tarnished, the shuttle has been america's only way to put humans in space. >> i defy anybody -- and i will argue with my apollo comrades -- the accomplishments, the achievements, the record of performance, the spinoffs, the capabilities that have been developed. what we did in shuttle 30 years dwarfed what was done in the apollo era. >> we can build spacecraft. we can build hardware. we can build boosters. but there's no goal, no mission. we are wandering in the desert in space today. period. >> so why now? why call it quits now? from the time of its inception 40 years ago until the shuttles are retired, the program will have cost the american taxpayers just shy of $115 billion. that's less than $4 billion a year. a drop, if that, in the federal budget. still, the problem is money. >> there's just not enough money in nasa to continue the existing programs and start a new program at the same time. >> but it's ending now leaves a gaping hole. >> the nation was not very disc

it power plant in north texas was imploded today. it crashed to the ground in a cloud of smoke.he company says that almost all of the steel copper and all the equipment from the plant will be recycled. in new orleans, a honda civic landed upside down on top of a 12 ft. bus stop building. the driver was killed, they believe that the driver may have been fatigued and speeding and hit the curb. the vehicle then hit a sign, bounce, flip on the grass and then wound up on the top of the building. parol royal newlyweds have officially started their trip to north america. coming up we will show you the scene as a kid in william tour ontario and quebec. that is just ahead but of course they will have their trip to california. >> the duke and duchess of cambridge got a were welcome in canada. the former case militant was looking regal and a hat that was fashioned in the shape of a maple leaf. today would've been princess diana's 50th birthday, her oldest son is proving to be just as popular. >> as many as half a million people waited in the 90 degree heat to get a glimpse of the couple. w

police in north texas having a hard time catching a bank robber even though they have seen a face caughtn camera. notice i said a face, not his face. look at this. the robber wears an $800 life-like mask. it's called the handsome guy mask. police have dubbed the man the handsome guy robber. the mask moves and feels like real skin. >> it's hard to tell that there is a person underneath it and it's not the person's face. >> wasn't even that guy's real face. the only thing police are noting is that he has really large shoulders. interesting. >> there's animators in taiwan that like to give their take on world events. they immortalized what happened at rupert murdoch's hearing. did you see it? here's what happened a. protester came at murdoch with a shaving cream pie. his wife dives in. you saw her in the pink. here is a take on the incident from news animators in taiwan. knocks the pie away, the protesters cower on the ground. and then she turns into a tiger, bites him on the leg. like a true wife would. it's 6:57. what have you got? >> good morning. i love that they animate something that

meanwhile north texas is exploding. why not pipe the water out to help the rest? we have everything in place. eventually someone will need to buy our water. t. boone pickens figured if he could convince dallas-fort worth to spend 165 million to buy 65 billion of the water a year for three years his roberts county investments reported the $150 million by 2008 what net the water over $1 billion. despite many contingencies such as the dallas officials remain noncommittal, pickens crowed this could be the biggest deal of my life. the water pipeline would cross the private land. to make this feasible i should explain he has a ranch in the texas panhandle in the northern part of the state and he plans to build a pipeline from his ranch down to dallas-fort worth. but to do that he would need special exemptions because would cross private property. it would cross private land. to make this feasible he would have to negotiate with hundreds of individual property owners or find another way to gain access to their land. it wasn't clear what the other way might be until 2007

in west texas and north central texas, they've had over 3 million acres that have burned due to fires this season. we're only seeing some spotty shower activity well to the north of albuquerque and right along the arizona/. in border. these are barely enough to do much in the way of a dent as far as fires. take a look at what's happening as far as our temperatures go. and for chicago, you are looking at a temperature in the low 90s. now typical for you for chicago would be around 82 degrees. and do you know what? here's what's going to be happening over the next 24 hours. behind that, some cooler air blows in so no 90s. we're looking at temperature in the 80s. west texas, it has been 35 years since no fireworks around the austin texas area. but it looks like no fireworks there this year because it is so tinder dry. this is a fireman carrying a shows and look what he is hosing off. yep, the gators. do you know why? they made 38th 1,000 acre fire. it skimmed over them. but they found a mud hole. they found the right place to be during a fire. and it is kind of funny to see them hosing t

. >>> 300 miles to t t north in texas, that u.s. soldier accused of plotting a massive terror attack on troops at ft. hood was in court today. police say 21-year-old private naser abdo had an arsenal of explosives and weapons and was about to use them. at his hearing, abdo who is muslim and was raised in texas, was defiant shouting the name of nidal hasan, the man charged with the shooting at ft. hood two years ago. >>> and news for healthy living tonight. about a million of us who under go knee and hip replacement surgery every year. we got troubling news about the failure to test a lot of those devices before the doctor actually uses them. here is abc's lisa stark. >> reporter: katy couldn't agree more with today's call for more rigorous testing of more implants after what happened to her. >> it's just amazing to me that something that doesn't work properly gets approved. >> reporter: katy was shocked to find out something inside her body was being recalled. it turned out her artificial hip was leaking toxins. it had never been te

a fire plant in north texas was imploded today, some of the detonators overheated on the first try, buted to the ground in a cloud of smoke. the sale of the still copper and other equipment from the 50 year- old plant will be recycled. the duke and duchess of cambridge are getting a royal welcome in canada. today is a national day in canada. kate middleton manage to look regal and a hat that was shaped in a maple leaf. today would've been princess diana's 50th birthday. her oldest son is proving to be just as popular. we will have more on that story coming up. they are coming to california one week from today on july 8th, but they will not be coming to northern california. governor jerry brown says that he will greet them in los angeles. he was also governor when williams' father prince charles visited in 1977. at that time he picked up a little royal in his three-year old plymouth and fed him cold roast beef in california cheese from a local deli. [music] >> a live look outside this afternoon from the mount tancam, not a cloud to be seen it is a gorgeous day. very comfortable and close

it hasn't moved far enough north to give texas their needed rainfall.ust scattered showers today on the coast. the only areas that will get the heavy rain, possibly from brownsville, maybe up to corpus christi. that's a maybe and over to laredo. there's the forecast path. instead of going up here like this, we need it to head up to corpus christi and go to the middle of texas. unfortunately it's going to head to mexico to the high mountains, which will tear it apart. the forecast for the west, everything is relatively calm, although we did have a pretty good batch of showers and storms rolling through southern new mexico and southern arizona, there's still a fau showers left. a lot of them have dried up. up in the rim countries outside the cities of arizona, there are some showers, possibly driving from prescott to flagstaff, beautiful country there, you may get a few raindrops. we'll do it again with more showers and storms later today. 107 in phoenix. a beautiful day in some areas, a little toasty in thunderstorm a. nice day in san diego, nice to be r

texas. it takes a lot for a heat advisory to be issued out for north central texas, by the way. we are looking at up to 115 heat indexes in these region, especially those shaded in red and again, this is going to continue as we head into tomorrow, it's actually going to get worse. minneapolis, 104 will be the actual temperature tomorrow. humidity, factored into that, it will feel hotter. the reason for all of this is because we have a large area of high pressure that's going to sit in this area and it will slowly track eastward. so pushing in all of that hot air east, even here in new york, we'll be looking at highs in the 90s as we head into monday. around that area of high pressure, we do have showers and storms bringing heavy rain along portions of the gulf coast. that's good news. we really need the rain across portions of louisiana. also southern mississippi, alabama and georgia and the florida panhandle. we also is a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms with the potential to become severe. so tornado watch has been issued just now across eastern north dakota and nor

. >> i know because not only are they dealing with triple-digit weather from texas north through the midwest, they have got humidity. really, really heavy air out there. making it feel even warmer. because of course that moisture has a mass. as we head throughout this afternoon we'll see more moisture but it's going to cool us down. a nice marine influence kicking in. and san francisco, boy, what a drop from yesterday you can expect today. cool onshore flow. as this trough of low pressure, you see that even a little shower activity just to the north of the bay area this morning, the northern most portion of the state. well, it's going to cool us down. significantly from yesterday. 60 degrees in livermore, yesterday livermore hit mid-90s. today much cooler. this is what we're forecasting. 86 in livermore, 88 in fairfield and 86 in concord. we continue to drop off as we head throughout the weekend. a comfortable weekend on tap for you. here are those numbers. as we head through saturday and sunday we will fall to the 80s, next week overall looking much warmer as a whole. temperatures a

. >> here in lake arlington in north texas, they're losing two inches of water in this lake every day. normally the water level would be above my head but now it's six feet below normal levels and dropping fast. >> reporter: in oklahoma, 911 calls captured the dire situation. >> we had a man go down due to the heat. he's sweating profusely. we can't get his breathing or his heart rate to slow down. >> reporter: and further north it was so intense it sent off smoke alarms from iowa to minnesota. at this twins game, 50 fans like this woman had to be treated for heat exhaustion while i-94 seemed to pop right out of the highway. and folks really need to be careful about their cars. in 100 degrees it can reach 140 inside your car in just 15 minutes. park it in the sun, it can reach 170. enough to cook this steak well done. robin? >> ooh, that is secret to keep in mind, all right there, matt, thanks. let's turn to sam. what's so important for them to know about the heat index? >> the body can't cool itself with high humidity and high heat, 1995, in a five-day heat wave in chicago where it g

. >>> a north texas mom is in trouble after leading police on a high-speed chase with her two kids inhat the car hit speeds of more than 100 miles an hour. the pursuit sped through three counties before her car was disabled. they say that the mother took the children from their legal guardian without permission. the little girls, age 3 and 5, were not hurt. >>> to washington now where the debt talks have turned tense to say the least. president obama, frustrated with the lack of progress, said there would be no short-term extensions. according to those in the meeting, he said, "this may bring my presidency down but i will not yield on this." the president then walked out. now moody's is threatening to downgrade the u.s. financial rating. and as jim avila reports it could impact your savings. >> reporter: paul rollins and jan moran, retired in asheville, north carolina, living off their 401(k) fund. and now concerned that it could take a second massive hit in four years. >> if we got hit the same way we did before, we would lose our house and we would be e oking for a rental apartment

the heat is just really, really intense, from wichita to oklahoma all the way down to north texas. look at the 100-degree days. in oklahoma city, 19 days, 100 degrees, that's more than las va kbas. out in the desert. it showings you how exceptional the drought has been and the heat. yesterday it was 105 in dallas, 104 today. relief in the southeast with afternoon storms. >>> here's a look at our temperatures this morning waking up to mostly 50s outside. we do have a pretty good sea freeze blasting into fairfield. southwest winds at 26. even inland. as the sea breeze kicks up, our companies are going to start to drop down. a little bit more than yesterday. we should see highs in the 70s to maybe close to 80 in san jose. cool for san francisco and the coast. highs will only be in the low 60s today. we'll see cool temperatures on the coast to wrap up the weekend with spotty areas of drizzle as well. cool temperatures early next week. the northern plains looking at temperatures a little hot and humid with some storms. that's the weekend forecast, amy. >>> bill, thank you. with a passio

. >>> it was a hellish ride, speaking of, for people at a north texas theme park too.even when they work i think roller coasters are terrifying. but these folks, they had to hike down from the top of that ride, it was about 14 stories high, no big deal. wfaa's gary reeves has the details. >> reporter: the texas giant is back. climbing 14 stories up before plunging its riders down at 79 degrees, the steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster in the world. its speed now in sharp contrast to sunday. whenen worker reported hearing a noise and shut the coaster down, stranding two dozen passengers at the top. it took nearly half an hour for workers to walk them down stairs to safety. while the rebuilt ride has only been open since this spring, park officials say maintenance crews found one of its wheels had become worn. it's since been repaired and inspected and returned to service. six flags issued a statement saying, this ride is designed with a complex system of cross-checks that monitor every aspect of the ride. there is even the smallest indication that there's somethin

nuclear-powered submarine to the media in south korea on monday in a show of deterrence aimed at north korea. the uss texas made a port call in pusan on saturday for its crew members' rest. it is armed with tomahawk missiles and intelligence. >> the purpose of our port visit here is to discuss our coordinated operations that we conducted at sea. we are postured to respond to any aggression. >> last year north korea allegedly sank a south korean naval vessel. observers say the united states appears to be trying to discourage further military provocations by showing that a high-performance submarine has been deployed around the korean peninsula. >>> the death toll in the sinking of a tour boat in central russia has risen to about 50. the cruise ship volga capsized on sunday with about 200 passengers and crew members aboard. officials of russia's emergency situation ministry said that 79 people have been rescued but about 50 have been confirmed dead so far. nearly 70 are still unaccounted for. they're believed to be inside the boat which is lying on the bottom of the river about 20 meters below. it was on its

just hours ago, a man died here in north texas. i de nies, abc news, lake arlington, texas. >> we're talking about deadly heat. very, very serious. let's take a look at those temps in your tuesday forecast. humid with severe stormsmsnd flash flooding from minneapolis to washington, d.c. morning showers around new york and philadelphia. we also have popup thunderstorms along the gulf coast. more rain from new mexico to wyoming. wet in the pacific northwest. >> a damp 69 in seattle. 88 in sacramento. 99 in colorado springs. 90s from the twin cities to dallas. 89 in detroit. 85 in bean town. >>> all right, how about this story. if you live in a house, perhaps you have a basement where you put the stuff you dodot want to deal with, maybe the holiday decorations, old clothes or whatever. >> or your mother-in-law. >> not mine, of course. imagine a colorado homeowner's surprise when they found this. this is disturbing and crazy. a horse. >> oh, yeah. where did the horse go? oh, yeah. mr. ed ended up right there in the basement. apparently

. >> reporter: so hot and muggy, advisories or warnings are posted in 17 states from texas north to minnesota and east to ohio. in five of them, temperatures topped 100. in chicago today, the beaches became a reliable heat index. you can see how the crowds thickened as the temperatures climbed. >> we're going to have a meet down for dinner on the beach. and just hang out in the water. >> reporter: this kind of heat is the most lethal kind of weather. the elderly are particularly vulnerable. >> the worst part is heat stroke. people's temperatures are getting over 103 degrees and they're not capable of maintaining a normal temperature. >> reporter: even for athletes, the heat can be too much, and not only for humans. at illinois's arlington racetrack, these horses were sprinting in spite of an excessive heat warning. they did get a cooldown later. >> just like with people, the overachievers push too hard, beyond their limits and that's what i woror about. >> reporter: the most striking thing about this heat wave is how long it's expected to last. up to five sweltering days here in the middle of

texas coast early tomorrow morning. don is the first tropical storm system to threaten the u.s. this year. the weather channel's paul goodlow is in north. how big is this one supposed to get, paul? >> reporter: it turned out the size is a pretty small storm, contessa. it's going to be wide ranging. the good news is it is a moderate tropical storm. sustained winds at 50 miles per hour. there's still a slight chance it could strengthen for landfall. thoi moved up the landfall point probably to 9:00 and midnight local time here. i'm in north padre island. it's the northern end of the 130-mile long warier island between here and south padre to the east of brownsville. that's where don will come ashore. here north padre we're going to see waves increase awem as rain. the heaviest rains will be south of us. and definitely the south padre island, brownsville seeing the bulk of that rain. as everyone knows texas in a long-term drought. it extends from 2010 they do need the rain. this one not packing as much rain as we would like. it's going to have some rain, but down towards the valley, south texas, that's where the bulk of the rain will be a

advisories are warnings and have been posted in 17 states from texas and north to minnesota. in five states, temperatures topped the century mark. high pressure system is expected who ver across the midwest for five more sweltering days before heading east. 40 states will see temperatures 90 degrees or more. >> it looks like we'll deal with this high pressure system for many days to come as it don't intensity. >> for beachgoers it means fun in the sun for beachgoers. >> to come out early before it gets packed. >> for some people especially the elderly it can be extremely dangerous. >> they will complain of dizziness, weakness, being light-headed and may even start to exhibit some signs of confusion. >> experts say to drink plenty of water. stay out of the sun and avoid strenuous outdoor activity. >> i don't think i'm going to make it this far. >> not everybody is heeding the warning. despite the blazing sun, these hard-core athletes in racine participated in a ironman triathalon. >> it's hot. >>> the flip side of the story is what we have here, yesterday, it was nice and cool

nbc's tom trung is in waller, texas, just north of houston, tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. this drought is choking the life out of cattle and crops. just take a look at this parched corn field. one of the hardest hit areas is right here in texas, the first six of months of the year have been the driest in more than a century. the drought that's baking most of the south is the worst since scientists started tracking drought conditions more than a century ago. almost 12% of the country is now enduring a brutal combination of high temperatures and too little rain. in texas 213 of 254 counties have been declared disaster areas. some ranchers struggling to feed their cattle are forced to either sell or slaughter them. normally fertile farm lands are bone dry. the texas farm bureau says the state's wheat crop is a loss, and hardest hit here is cotton, which accounts for half of the u.s. crop. estimated agricultural losses in texas alone total more than $3 billion. >> i can remember it being dry, i can remember it being w

it's all hands on deck in front of will and ellen anthony's house on north 26th street in arlington. >> i'm from texasoriginally. i've seen tornadoes before. this looked like tornado's wind. i told my wife get to the basement. i heard thump, thump, like branches hitting the roof. we hung out in the basement. we came out, and all this was down here covering half the street, three-quarters of the street. we're trying to clear the street. >> reporter: around the corner, north wakefield street is impassable. trees down all over the place. the back yard of a family out of town for the weekend, a whopper of a tree landed on the house. there's substantial roof damage here. over there, that's a chunk of earth uprooted by another fallen tree. >> it looked like a microburst touched down here in the north arlington area and went, i guess east, maybe about a mile or two through country club hills and tore up a lot of trees. >> reporter: chris is a tree expert. it will be a busy night for his crews. >> we're going to start gearing up now and we'll be out tonight and probably first thing tomorrow morning. >> report

these go from north texas all the way up to the border of canada. going into canada, just as warm as some of these states, this el see record breaking stuff. how long is this heat wave going the last? it will feel like it will be up and over 100 degrees in minneapolis today again. and tomorrow could possibly feel like heat index of over 110. into wednesday. maybe by thursday, we start to see things moderate. just a little farther down to the south. long-term event. a spot that's not used to seeing this sort of heat continuously. all right. satellite tropical storm brett. developed yesterday afternoon. it is about 150 miles or so east of west palm beach. and it is drifting here east about three miles an hour. winds at 50 miles per hour. the forecast track keeps it away from the u.s. and keeps it just below hurricane strength out to sea. not necessarily the best because the southeast, including florida, really could use the rain. so typically tropical storm, moderate to weak tropical storm. we will bring in a decent amount of rain. those are the kind

we still have heat warnings and advisories out for places like oklahoma and kansas and north texas andmetime. now the i-95 corridor. that is never a good thing, purple. philly, baltimore and d.c. and boston excessive heat warnings out. temperatures into the 90s and some cases maybe touch 100 degrees and couple that with the humidity and if you're out in the sun it will feel like 110 and 120 and in some cases 130. good through the cool front that we think is going to happen. that is the saving grace but not make a lot of progress to the east, at least not any time too soon. minneapolis are record breaking humidity are feeling more comfortable at least for now. here is what we think the heat is going to do as far as heat indexes the next couple of days. thursday, today, into friday, looking at 107. what it's going to feel like tomorrow. in new york. saturday, same deal. maybe a little bit of a cool down come sunday and monday. the next two and a half days are going to be a tough go. tropical storm bret, good-bye. tropical storm cindy formed yesterday and even further out to sea. another

advisories are warnings have been toss ted in 17 states from texas north to minnesota and east to ohioive states, temperatures passed the century mark. it's expected who ver across the midwest for five more days before heading east. this week 40 states will see temperatures of on the degrees or more. >> not moving at all. looks like we'll be dealing with this high pressure system as it continues to intensity and grow in size. >> for beachgoers the soaring temperatures mean fun in the sun. >> we're coming out earlier before it gets packed. >> but for some people, elderly, extreme heat can be extremely dangerous. >> they will complain of dizziness, weakness, being light-headed and may even start to exhibit some signs of confusion. >> experts say to drink plenty of water. stay out of the sun and avoid strenuous outdoor activity. >> i don't think i'll make it too that far. >> not everybody is heeding the warning, these hard-core athletes participated in an ironman triathalon in raceni. >> it's hot. >>> in stark contrast, here, i took the kids to the pool. they had to swim. i ended in the h

stuffing them in a rented u haul trailer and driving more than 1,000 miles from north carolina to texasns in a murky creek southwest of houston. so these divers, they're equipped with sonar equipment. they found a head, a torso and a piece of leg in that creek. dna tests are a match for 22-year-old laura ackerson. grant and amanda hayes have been arrested in north carolina. both were in court just yesterday. i want you to watch the judge yesterday. the judge told amanda hayes, keep in mind, she gave birth to a baby daughter not too long ago. >> ms. hayes, you're charged with first degree murder. if convicted or if you plead guilty to that offense, the maximum punishment will be life without parole or the death penalty. and i'm going to go ahead and appoint the public defender to represent you. if for some reason, you want to hire your own lawyer, that's always an option. >> thank you, ma'am. >> and bond, there isn't a bond. >> grant hayes is also being held without bond on the same charge. his father is caring for those little children he had with laura ackerson and amanda hayes. and no

until north carolina, tennessee, texas and virginia.this goes on through september. >>> now time to get smart. college degrees are stocks and bonds. college degrees or stocks and bonds. which do you think is the best long-term investment? think on it, i've got an answer for you after the break. 35 minutes after the hour. >>> before the break i asked you, which do you think is the best long-term investment. college degrees or stocks and bonds. if your answer was wall street, you would be wrong. according to a new study by the brookician institution, a college degree will get you far better returns on the same amount of money. compared to stocks and bonds, or even gold. for more, head to the all-new redesigned cnnmoney.com. it's all about john huntsman today, good morning, shannon bricker. >> hey there, ali, good morning, we're watching john huntsman. you know, ali that money equals attention in this presidential race. we're watching it because the second fundraising quarter just ended yesterday and we're looking to the presidential candi

deep red, signaling triple digits, spreads from texas, north nearly to canada. it's a brutal mix of heat and humidity and it is spreading with no relief insight. meteorologist amber sullins is here from our phoenix affiliate knxv is here. good morning, amber. >> good morning. there are now 17 states under heat warnings or watches. remaining in effect for the next week. at last 36 states will see temperatures at or above 90 degrees today. of course that humidity will make it feel even hotter. as the sun baked, the temperatures skyrocketed. in normally cool pierre, south dakota, it felt like 106. oklahoma city, it felt like a sizzling 113, and in wichita, it was a real scorcher, feeling like 114. >> stay in the water. >> reporter: kids beat the heat by running through the water park. and fountains. and dipping in pools. ♪ chicago's annual taste of the river north festival served up some of the hottest dishes in town, despite the high temperatures. >> it's brutal out here. >> reporter: some residents are without power, making the heat harder to cope with. and the e

left behind a beautiful day, as testified by the weather channel's kan kan who is live in north padre island, texasyou believe the calm after the storm. the beautiful calm. >> you are missing a great beach day. i have been honest with you. >> i wish. >> i know you do, darling. this is my 69th storm that i have covered for the weather channel. i want to show you this thing. i have never seen a storm come in like this and basically just go poof. if you notice how the infra-red, you lose all those colors there. that's the storm pretty much dissipating right before our very eyes. nobody got a little over half inch of rain with this. nobody. everybody got about a trace, 200ths of an inch. it was a great dry run for us. can you see behind me, they've taken the chairs off the beached in through here and gotten those ready. you know, there's a few other folks that were out here doing broadcasts as a result of this. there's not much laying around that could have been blown around, but, again, it's all about the beach today. we've had a young family out here frolicking in the water a little bit. sometimes it

. >>> this morning tropical storm don is in the gulf of mexico heading north for texas. a tropical storm watch is out. a lot of people in south texas say bringing it on and give us some rain. it is so needed in that area. marysol castro is here with the latest on don. normally, you don't see people saying bring on the tropical storm. >> absolutely not. good morning to you at home. it's churning in the gulf of mexico about 650 miles off the coast of corpus christi, texas. moving 10 miles an hour west/northwest and actually picking up a little bit of speed packing 40-mile-per-hour winds. expected to make landfall in the overnight hours and as you mentioned, erica, a portion of the country experience is the worst drought p.m. almost on record, portions of texas have seen a drought conditions for the last nine months. this tropical storm is expected to bring anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of rain. that doesn't seem like a lot of rain, but when you're talking about a drought, any precipitation is welcome precipitation and, of course, we're going to keep an eye on this and tell b