. >>> live from new york city, it's "the wendy williams show", today, pop culture icon, paula abdul isg simon cowell and grande and more. >>> another amazing makeover for a deserving woman. plus, all of the day's juicy hot topics. now, here's wendy! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> wendy: yes, happiest

>> paula abdul.e watching today in the bay. >> a very good morning to you. it is 8:56. i'm laura garcia-cannon. at&t park rocking tonight. little quiet this morning, but especially after the team's walk off win in extra innings, game four slated to start at 5:07 tonight. now, if you missed the walk off win, here it is. two on in the bottom of the tenth inning, blanco lays down a bunt. the cardinals' pitcher fields the ball just fine, but blows the throw to first. gets past the first baseman, see him there running in for the game winning run. final score, 5-4. on the hill tonight, ryan vogelsong. he's won seven straight playoff appearances coming into tonight's game, so go giants. another update in half hour. see you then. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today's take" with al roker, natalie morales, willie geist and tamron hall live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> how about that? >> happy man this morning. >> yes. we'll tell you why. >> finally together atthe end of our today's take. >>

>> paula abdul.morning, everyone, i'm chris cato. bill henley is standing by with your forecast. >> we have a few mainly scattered showers moving through the area right now. very light scattered showers. a little more impressive to the north, just to the north of allentown. even more impressive is the line of thunderstorms. they could be here this afternoon and into tonigh4eóó right now the temperatures are climbing after a warm start it is 74 in philadelphia. >>> with just 20 days until voters go to the polls, the president and the first lady are on the campaign trail today. michelle obama will be speaking for tom wolf, and president obama will be in north jersey for a fundraiser. and there is word this morning that he will do campaigning in pennsylvania in the coming weeks. tom wolf is trying to unseat tom corbett who has events scheduled today. the latest poll shows wolf with a 55% to 38% lead over corbett. another poll, the yougov shows a little tighter race. >> the school board voted last night

top that >>> live from new york city, it's "the wendy williams show", today, pop culture icon, paula abdulhere talking simon cowell and grande and more. >>> another amazing makeover for a deserving woman. plus, all of the day's juicy hot topics. now, here's wendy! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> wendy: yes, happiest place on earth. [ cheers and applause ] >> wendy: and the tickets are free. thank you for watching today. thank you my

paula abdul. that's the blessing and the curse of videotape. it absolutely lives forever.e have to find moments of you way back when. >> no social media back then. >> i know. >> thank goodness. >> if only. while so many people in the bay area are desperate to get world series tickets, a cupertino couple gave theirs away today which is an amazing story. kevin and grace witt actually handed over their tickets for tomorrow night's game to wounded warrior brian jurgens and the former army sergeant is excited beyond belief. >> i always watch it on tv. the giants play the royals. and on tv, i get excited but i go in person and see a game live, that's excitement. that's the only way i can describe it. excitement. >> the former army sergeant lost both legs and suffered severe head injuries when he ran over a bomb in afghanistan in 2011. he will be going to the game with a marine from camp pendleton. what a story of courage there. what a magnanimous gift by that couple to give away tickets to that man. so awhile ago, you started on your jaunt across the way to momo's. what have you

of course that mother, paula cassie, wrote "i'm an old woman and abdul rahman is my only child. how can we reach you?" abdul rahman kassigs, is a former u.s. army ranger who returned to the middle east to help syrian refugees. he was taken captive by isis on october 1st. last night, kassig's parents attended a vigil at butler university where kassig went to school. >>> a suburban chicago teenager will appear in federal court this morning to determine if he will stay locked up until his trial. 19-year-old mohammed khan is accused of trying to assist the terror group, isis. he was arrested saturday night at chicago's o'hare airport. he was about to board a flight that would have eventually taken him to turkey. there, he supposedly was to meet an isis contact who would help him get into syria. ted rowlands live in chicago with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. we are expecting this hearing to be relatively short. the main focus of this hearing is detention. the prosecution, the federal government wants khan to remain behind bars, his defense will argue for some

. >> paula kassigs who son goes by the game abdul-rahman appeared at a vij until indianapolis and sent a tweet meant for isis leader abu bakr al baghdadi. >> now, abdul-rahman is a u.s. military veteran kidnapped last year while doing aid work in syria. isis militants threatened to kill him in a video last friday. >> a syrian rights group says isis now controls one-third of the turkish border town of kobani. that comes as the u.s. military says it launched eight air strikes against isis targets near the town on wednesday. but the pentagon says air str e strikes alone will not save the town from falling to isis. jim sciutto reports. >> reporter: a u.s. b-1 bomber in disguise over kobani. the rescue that kurdish fighters batting isis there have been desperately hoping for. military commanders say coalition air strikes have helped push isis back. today pentagon spokesman admiral john kirby bluntly warned that the u.s.-led air campaign will not save kobani or for that matter any number of other syrian towns under isis' assault. are you preparing the public in effect for the fact that not j

over the weekend, his parents ed and paula pleaded for mercy, revealing their son had willingly converted to islam during his captivity. >> our son is abdul-rahman, formerly known as peter. >> reporter: kassig, a former army ranger medic went to syria to provide medical care, seen in a cnn report two years ago. >> we just get one life. that's it. you get one shot at this. >> reporter: kassig's mother, wearing a head scarf, spoke directly to her son. >> most of all, know that we love you and our hearts ache for you to be granted your freedom so we can hug you again. >> reporter: u.s. and british authorities are now analyzing the latest video of kassig questioning whether the man in the black mask is the same reported executioner known as jihad john in earlier videos. >> you are keeping up with the attacks. and isis is throwing back the videos. why haven't we gotten them yet? >> they use throw away e-mail addresses to obscure their locations. the u.s. doesn't know where they are. but still, they have no idea where kassig or other hostages might be. >> thank you. >>> we move on to the extreme weather here in the u.s. heat and in wisconsin, s

american peter kasig, to changed his name to abdul rahman while in captivity after converting to islam. >> my name is ed casing, and this is my wife, paula reporter: today from indianapolis, his parents pleaded for isis to spare their son. >> our hearts ache for you to be granted your freedom so we can hug you again and then set you free to continue the life you have chosen, the life of service to those in greatest need. we implore those who are holding you to show mercy and use their power to let you go. >> reporter: an army ranger who served in iraq, kasig was captured in syria last october while working with the aid agency he'd founded. his web site shows him helping war wounded and providing medical training to residents. british aid worker alan henning went to syria to help victims of the savage war, too, but the 47-year-old taxi driver's journey came to a brutal end at the blade of an isis militant. >> his blood is on the hands of the british parliament. >> reporter: today, british prime minister david cameron called the beheading senseless and ruthless. >> anyone in any doubt about this organization can now see how truly repulsive

paula casic. he converted to islam after he was taken hostage. he now goes by abdul.ace was shown in this video clip from isis about 10 days ago. of course the parents's anguish has turned to desperation. they spoke to us about an audio recording they received just two weeks ago. that was news that had not been released before. we will tell you a little bit about what they heard from their son. more about a letter they received from him as well. in addition to more details about the communication they have been having with isis . all that coming up a short time from now here on the "today" show. >> looking forward to that. thank you, peter. it is now 6:46. a second ebola case has been diagnosed in the u.s. a health care worker at texas health presbyterian hospital in dallas has tested positive for the disease. jay gray is live outside the the hospital where that worker is in isolation this morning. jay, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, eun. the officials with the centers for disease control call this latest development "deeply disturbing." they won't re

yesterday his mother paula made a direct plea to the lookedder officeis, repeatedly posting a queening abdulahman, my husband and i are on our own with no help from the government. we would like to talk to you how can we reach you. he is a former army range shore dereplied to iraq and later return as a aid work tore help the syria people. >> in the seven years i have none abdul rahman i have seen him very passionate about a lot of things but never as passionate about what it is that he is doing, in syria. >> he makes a habit of going to danger sense and trying to help people out. while have been else is getting out, he is going in. >> reporter: now his hometown is coming together praying this humanitarian's kindness is rewarded with freedom from isis. >> bring him home safely to his parents and the loving community in indianapolis. >> reporter: chris van cleve, cbs news, new york. >>> 8:15. lets get our forecast and check with katie. >> good morning, erika. let's give you a sense of the big picture here. nice day today. we don't worry about today but by tomorrow that does all start to change

over the weekend his parents ed and paula pleaded for mercy, revealing their son had willingly converted to islam during his captivity. >> our son is abdulman, formerly known as peter. >> reporter: kassig, a former u.s. army ranger medic, went to syria to provide medical care, seen in a cnn report two years ago. >> we each get one life, that's it. you get one shot at this. >> reporter: kassig's mother wearing a head scarf spoke directly to her son. >> most of all, know that we love you, and our hearts ache for you to be granted your freedom so we can hug you again. >> reporter: u.s. and british authorities are now analyzing this latest video of kassig, questioning whether the man in the black mask is the same purported executioner known as jihad john in earlier isis videos. u.s. officials tell abc news they believe they may have knocked ot some of the propaganda units used by isis, but they still have no idea of the precise location of kassig and some 14 other western hostages, including one young american woman. brian ross, abc news, new york. >> what's so fascinating about this isis story, there's a new report from mcclatchey newspaper

his mother paula making a desperate plea, with this message to his captor. i'm an old woman and abduls my only child. my husband and i are on your own, with no help from the government. >> there is this impression or believe that there is no hope. that is when it is more important than ever that we come in against all odds and try to do something. >> reporter: we first met peter kassig the summer of 2012 is the a hospital in tripoli lebanon where he used his background to treat syrians. back then he was just 24, driven by a burning desire to help. >> we each get one life and that's it. we get one shot at. this we don't get any do-overs. for me it was either put up or shut up. the way i saw it, i didn't have a choice. this is what i was put here to do. i'm a hopele remabtic and idealist. >> shortly after that he delivered medical aid to syrians. he was kidnapped by isis in october of 2013 while on his way to deliver aid. at sp point during -- some point during his captivity he converted to islam. now going by the name abdul rahman. >> like our son, we have no control over the u.s. gove

>>reporter: now paula kassig has taken to twitter to send her message directly to isis, referring to her son by his islamic name. "i am an old woman, and abdul rahman is my only child. my husband and i are on our own, with no help from the government," she wrote. "we would like to talk to you. how can we reach you?" officials in washington appeared stung today by the mother's message that the government was providing, quote, no help. >> we have reached out to the kassig family. it remains true that we are using all of our military, intelligence, law enforcement and diplomatic capabilities to bring peter home. >> reporter: the obama administration faced similar criticism from the parents of hostage james foley after he was executed by isis in august. >> the higher we went, the more difficult. >> right. and we were an annoyance, it felt, at some level. that they really didn't have time for us. >> reporter: the attempts by other hostage families to reach out directly to isis leadership has only served to prove it is a group of murderers who know no mercy. in fact, some of the people who mrs. kassig sent her message to responded with predictable

paula kassig was trying to contact isis lieders about the fate of her son, abdul-rahman kassig.t quote, i'm trying to get in touch with the islamic state about my son's fate. i'm an old woman and abdul-rahman kassig is my only child. my husband and i are on our own, with no help from the government. we would like to talk to you. how can we reach you? this, as the syrian border town of kobani continues to dangle bay thread. nearby turkey literally the other side of the border, doing nothing to stop it. there are high-level talks in turkey set for today to try to coax more involvement in the coalition on their behalf. so let's bring in daveed gartenstein-ross, senior fellow with the foundation for the defense of democracies. you understand the desperation of this family. you understand their sense of estrangement from the government. we've heard this, where families don't feel enough is being done. but reaching out directly to isis, is this a tactic that is worth it? >> it was something that happened before. in steven sotloff's case, his mother did something very similar. by issui

abdul after his recent conversion to islam appeared in the beheading video. the threat that unless the united states stopped bombing isis, he will be next to die. soon after his mother, paula, pleaded with his camdenors for her son's life. >> we implore those who are holding you to show mercy and use their power to let you go. >> this as isis fighters continue to gain ground across the region. the militants raising their black flag over the town of kobani. to the west in anbar province, isis has captured the town and today mortar fire hit the green zone in baghdad. here in the united states, the fbi arrests an illinois teen at chicago's o'hare airport that he was headed to the middle east to fight for isis. our chief national security correspondent begin our coverage "outfront." >> reporter: he told his parents he felt an obligation to migrate. mohammed hamzah khan. he was arrested at o'hare airport as he was about to board what he allegedly said was a one-way journey to syria and to war. on the ground there, isis is advancing even in the face of american air power. today in kobani, northern syria, kurdish fighters are long in bloody street battles with isis. the militants

. >> reporter: now paula kassig has taken to twitter to send her message directly to isis, referring to her son by his islamic named. "i am an old woman and abdulith no help from the government," she wrote. "we would like to talk to you. how can we reach you?" officials in washington appeared stunned by the mother's message that the government is providing "no help." >> we have reached out to the kassig family.pnte lawenforceme e j fole after he waswenforceme >> the higher we went, the more difficult -- >> right. and we were an annoyance it felt at some level, that, you know, they really didn't have time for us. >> reporter: the attempts by other hostage families to reach out directly to isis leadership has only served to prove it is a group of murderers who know no mercy. in fact, some of the people who mrs. kassig sent her message to via twitter responded with predictable ugliness. "you trying to ask me for help makes no sense. had i had the chance, i would have already killed him." u.s. authorities say that kassig and the other western hostages are still beg h by isis in and around the stronghold of the city of raqqah, although being moved o