in south texas, the eagle ford shale formation near austin is attracting more than a dozen companies who plan to drill thousands of wells. bigad shaban tells us it has touched off a jobs boom. >> reporter: in hobbson, texas, this new pipeline is part of an old-fashioned oil boom along a 400-mile stretch geologists call the eagle ford shale. >> you're looking at the beginnings of it. >> reporter: david brodsky used to own a coin laundromat, now he's on his way of becoming a millionaire. >> i was sitting in my living room and someone knocked on the door and decided they wanted to lease my property for oil. >> reporter: brodsky used the money to build three r.v. parks which are now packed with oil workers, so he's expanding. >> y'all could use some stakes. >> reporter: how many rooms have you rented out so far? >> they're all rented already. >> reporter: energy companies are rushing here to tap deposits that could produce up to 12 billion barrels of oil and enough natural gas to power every american household for at least five years. by 2020, 68,000 new jobs will be created here. >> nic

we'll watch it for south texas. as of now, it looks like you're looking pretty good. the other storm we'll have to deal with about a week from now is tropical storm maria. it will be near the bahamas and close enough to the east coast. so we'll have to watch it. horrible flooding this morning and then we deal with the tropics. >> we have not gotten a break in weeks anywhere. bill, thanks so much. >>> ricky enginegervais has a pr the comeback of the golden globes. >>> and reece witherspoon encounters an unusual type of hollywood danger. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. creates another laptop bg or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. male announcer: be kind to your eyes with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably

south texas and the jobs they are creating down there. and the fine of natural gas in south texas. remember this, too. when texas came in the union as a country, we had a special treaty. so the federal government doesn't tell us what we do with our land in texas because we own our public land and all the land that is going to be drilled on is owned by people and not the federal government. so they can't keep us from leasing our land out to drill these wells. now, they can keep us from keeping us the process to capture the gas and that is what they are trying to do. we created an energy department in this country. i forget, 30 years ago. and it's -- its goal was to make us energy independent in our lifetime. some of those people are already dead, because the truth is, we are farther from being energy independent than the day they created the energy department. way farther. 30% of our oil and gas came from overseas. now we are in 80%. why we would know that we got it and we know we are going to use it and have to use it and have to keep buying it from saudi arabia and places like ven

south. >>> texas, which would pay for the rain drops and fire problems can continue.ontinues towards the north and east. line of weather in through florida. tornados out of that particular structure. looking a at the mean band up and around the frontal boundary. the front came through. winds to the north and colder air this morning, at least by early september standards. we will have a stall pattern with days of rain. if you got the wide screen set, katia off the edge, this, they will sit and spin and get stuck, running its course with the rainfall, leftover showers. let's take it home, look at the rain, building our way. we had a low for the last couple of hours after picking up an inch and a half of rain, half an inch this morning, we add more to the mix, more pulses in through virginia, west virginia and beyond, and watch how our radar plays out. over central, western maryland, south central pa, we will pick up 2-4 inches of rain from this point forward through thursday morning. wednesday, throughout the day, periods of rain, maybe a low midday with a surge coming

in my house, first of all i came from a house in san antonio, south texas of big opinions. my father was a kind of district attorney without portfolio. other jewish fathers play golf. >> this is a jewish district attorney. >> originally from mexico. his whole passion in life is corruption. the family own add discount store. that wasn't where his heart would you say. he was running this family business and his heart was exposing theing bad guy. for a reporter it became the most fantastic training ground. at dinner my father would talk non stop, the mayor is a crook, the senator is a crook, i am going to get that guy. he would have campaigns, whistle blowers, he had stocking bag stuffers. there was an extrodinary house, lucky house, very grateful for all of that who is hilariously funny. he is holder sister, anita brenner was older, worked in the "new york times" in the 1930s. there are many pictures of anita in those family scrapbooks. unfortunately my father hated his older sister, rather than getting to have wonderful times of gertrudestein in mexico, all i heard was she i

. >> reporter: with so many drugs coming across the border in south texas, a big cottage industry has sprung up here on the u.s. side of the river. home and business owners often rent out their property to smugglers who need a place to temporarily stash all their drugs before moving them around the country. >> there's the weed. >> reporter: a former u.s. drug czar accuses current administration officials after trying to play down the threat posed by smugglers along the border. >> law enforcement is routinely shot at or intimidated. it is an extremely serious situation and it's getting worse and we're in denial. >> reporter: u.s. officials insist they are addressing the threat and say they've greatly increased law enforcement capabilities along the border, amid concerns that a growing drug supply from mexico could lead to more addiction, with huge costs to american families and communities. mark potter, nbc news, mcallen, texas. >>> when we come back here tonight, a courtroom surprise today in the amanda knox murder trial. >>> it's been more than eight months now since that awful day i

better and it just felt like a nightmare nasri an immigrant from singapore was hauled off to the south texas detention center run by geo group the second largest prison contractor in america geo along with corrections corporation of america for c.c.a. have contracts with immigrations and customs enforcement together their annual revenue is three billion dollars both geo and c.c.a. which operates this facility in san diego have repeatedly been accused of lobbying for tougher immigration policies in order to keep their cells full were given it to corporations their hijacking our legislators their hijacking our government and they're pushing for their own particular agenda to make money private prisons are making millions off of the crackdown on undocumented immigrants they basically manage every aspect of it detainees life just like a government prison except that contractors are doing it for profit c.c.a. and geo are not the only private companies making a killing off of our border security infrastructure wells fargo is reported to have millions and shares in private prisons security contract

in those days, he never campaigned statewide and didn't know anything about dallas or houston or south texasove sent him out to west texas to go to farm bureau meetings while rove raised about $3 million and put them in trash ads. my real opponent was carl rove. >> what do we know about his debate style given his exposure. >> he's not particularly a nice guy, i don't think he's going to take well to a lot of this. but to me, i got to tell you, lawrence, the issue isn't whether or not he can debate or not, the issue is what kind of governor has he been, who might he be as president. good example today, he comes flitting back here to texas after being back on the campaign trail two days after the fires are bursting out all over the state. by the way, these fires are not an unanticipated consequence. in fact, perry's own state officials say that they were inevitable, inevitable not only because of the dry heat that we've been having, but also -- and the high winds -- but also because perry, with his republican super majority in the legislature, managed to slash the budget of the volunteer fire

several were discovered receiving flight training in south texas without the proper visas. as you recall come the 9/11 aviation flight schools in visas also. those are the three major -- there is a major reason. in this case, what there's no indication of terrorist intent on this particular case, we know the aircraft remains a highly attract a target for terrorists. it is strip leading contenders after 9/11 we have foreign nationals taking site and training in the u.s. without the requisite fretting or riverside. in fact come a few days ago the fbi and homeland security issued an al qaeda threat to small aircraft just a few days ago. just let me give you briefly the facts come in the way understanding. we depart from its core that of busting a tree at both important and so. that's how this got started. the boaters out there. this person is taking flight lessons. he was one of several mexican foreign nationals who traveled to the valley to get the pilot's license. homeland security went up there after the fact and deported three of them because i think the problem was instea

you can see an inch or two of rain in south texas.art of oklahoma, watch out for strong storms today. even flooding could be a problem. elsewhere across the country, beautiful across the southwest. some rain possible late in the day across the pacific northwest. m >> and this weather report has been brought to you by keebler. dan? bianna? >> thank you. great to have you with us this morning, brian. >>> coming up on "good morning america," has the fashion world's obsession with youth finally gone too far? we're going to show you the new york runway show that has a lot of people talking this morning. >>> plus, dan, ron and i take "gma's" rock star challenge. how did we do? obviously, we're still here. we didn't quit our day jobs. you'll hear for yourselves coming up. ♪ thank you! ♪ phew! [ ernie ] we make our cookies the way only keebler elves can: with a little something extra. so every bite can be uncommonly good. vo: a breakfast worth waking up for. enjoy the sausage, egg and cheese croissan'wich today. only at burger king. >>> well,

in the last year and it doesn't matter whether you go to west texas, east texas, central texas, south texassuffering terribly. you drive out in the country and you see brown land that's been burned up by the sun or black land that's been burned up by fire. >> ifill: how do you measure in agricultural terms. there's a beef industry, there's a cotton industry, there's even winter wheat planting. >> $5.2 billion and counting, that's how we measure it so far. if you go out at the cattle auctions, they're having five and ten times the number of cows for sale because the state is emptying itself of its cattle. a cattle auction which would have between 500 and 1,000 will see seven or 8,000 cows. the auction will start at 10:00 in the morning and go to 1:00 in the morning. luckily cattle prices are high or we'd really be in trouble. the international demand for meat is pushing the price of cattle higher so at least these ranchers aren't selling in a down market. >> ifill: but they're auctioning the cattle because they can't support it? >> that's right. i mean, a bale of hay is going for $65 to $85

because either of their race, most of them were african-americans then, the mexican americans in south texas where johnson grew up, and rural whites in places like appalachia, the ozark mountains in my home state, who were far away from the center of any economic activity. and then things began to change. in world war ii to 1980, the bottom 90% of americans claimed 65% of the national income, the top 10% got 35%. that was enough equality to build the world's greatest middle class, and enough inequality to encourage people to work hard and award them for innovation. it made it work. in the last 30 years, those numbers have changed a lot. the bottom 90% have gone from 65 to 52% of the national income. the top 10% have gone from 35 to 48% of the national income. the top 1% have gone from 9 to 21% of the national income. and so there's not as much to go around. now, we were beginning to reverse that in my second term, when the labor markets got so tight, for the only time in 30 years, the incomes of the bottom 20% of workers, in percentage terms, rose as much as the top 20%. you have to create j

holmes, you'll be happy in parts of south texas. in miami your highs will be in the 90s. today dealing with scattered showers and a few embedded thunderstorms across the central and southern plains. what that is going to do is give you the rain chances not just through parts of the southern plains but also moving into parts of the southeast, even into florida. expect some scattered showers, some across much of the great lakes. severe storms could also cause some delays to stack up in a few places. no surprise out in st. louis you might have a delay of about an hour. same deal in oklahoma and kansas city. chicago, back into tampa and miami. those thunderstorms in the afternoon may keep you delayed for about an hour or so so just keep that in mind. temperatures again -- wow. love this time of year. it is going to be just perfect in chicago. 72 degrees. 67 in new york. 81 in atlanta. again, t.j., miami and tampa, highs in the 90s. 64 portland. 74 billings and minneapolis with 63. that's a quick shot at your forecast. today, back to you. >> reynolds, thank you, kind sir. >>>

several were discovered receiving flight training in south texas without the proper visas. as you recall come the 9/11 aviation flight schools in visas also. those are the three major -- there is a major reason. in this case, what there's no indication of terrorist intent on this particular case, we know the aircraft remains a highly attract a target for terrorists. it is strip leading contenders after 9/11 we have foreign nationals taking site and training in the u.s. without the requisite fretting or riverside. in fact come a few days ago the fbi and homeland security issued an al qaeda threat to small aircraft just a few days ago. just let me give you briefly the facts come in the way understanding. we depart from its core that of busting a tree at both important and so. that's how this got started. the boaters out there. this person is taking flight lessons. he was one of several mexican foreign nationals who traveled to the valley to get the pilot's license. homeland security went up there after the fact and deported three of them because i think the problem was instea

jim spellman is in bastrop, texas, south of austin. he's covering the record-breaking wildfires. let's go to jim first. jim, 3.5 million acres of texas have burned since november. area roughly the size of connecticut. what's going on now? >> yeah. it's really amazing how many fires they've had here and that sheer volume the size of connecticut. we know this fire here in bastrop, southeast of austin, 500 homes destroyed, 25,000 acres and i would be shocked when the sun comes up and they assess this if both of those numbers haven't grown. this fire when we got here yesterday, it was amazing. this huge wall of smoke that just spread across the horizon. helicopters in the air, planes dropping water and retardant trying to get a handle on it. it was burning so fast and aggressively they were having trouble getting even a hold on it yesterday. like you said these epic drought conditions are creating the perfect opportunity for these fires to spread. heat, drought conditions, and wind. it just goes so fast, these fires spring out of nowhere. it barely gives people time to get out of the

>>reporter: former massachusetts governor romney spoke during a canada account forum in south carolina today. texaserry appeared at another event in south carolina before heading home to deal with wildfires in his state. >>> imagine vacation oning in leak tahoe looking out the cabin window and seeing a bear driving away with your car. these exactly what happened to the man who owns what is left of this 2002 toyota a.he says the bear totalled the car after breaking into it. manual got stuck behind the whale tried to kick and scratch its way out but instead shifted the car that neutral and it rolled out of the drive way. bear financially escaped from the consider and ran back in the woods. that was the result. >> crazy scene. >>> let's get a check of our warming forecast now. >> yes. spencer is in for sand c tonight. spencer. >> folks start with beautiful time lapse view of this evening sunset from the east bay hills camera lacking obviously west ward. look at that sunset. sunset time officially 7:33 this evening and more beautiful ones like that in the days ahead. high pressure today up in the 90's

>> chairman towns those, thank you very much for recognizing one of my constituents, from deep south texasn who was born in santa rosa texas, a little community of 2000 people. this young man went on to become the valedictorian and went and graduated from texas a. in them, and did so well they gave him a scholarship to go to princeton university. and from there he just kept going and going and helping the latino community. he has done great things in organizations, including loopback and many other organizations. but more especially he has served under three presidents. president bill clinton, president bush, and president obama. and he has as the regional director invested in many communities since five states that he is responsible for. but being that he is from santa rosa, which is in my home district, he has always listened every time that i have asked him, can you help us with seed money to start the driscoll children's hospital. and yes, he did. i said will you help us with seed money to be able to start the nurse training center, and he did. would you help us with just some seed mon

heavy rain from tampa to new orleans, houston and south texas.is and the upper peninsula of michigan. show frers burlington, vermont, to pittsburgh. thunderstorms in the rockies. >> triple digits in phoenix and colorado springs. 91 in sacramento. and just 68 in seattle. 90s from the twin cities to kansas city. 102 in dallas. 83 here in new york. and 91 in atlanta. >>> well, the forecast in one spanish town yesterday, sunny with a chance of meatballs, almost. but it was raining tomatoes, thanks to the massive food fight called the tomatina. >> some 40,000 folks showed up for this year's annual event. 120 tons of ripe tomatoes are tossed from trucks to the crowds who then toss them at each other. and for all that, the revels last just one hour, then the town opens up all the fire hydrants so everyone can wash off. this actually dates all the way back to 1944 and started very innocently dudung a parade when two kids had a tomato fight. >> look at all the fun. i guess you really have to love tomatoes to be into that. >> you would have to. good thing

these are mostly based in states with strong evangelical traditions south carolina. texas. most cities of character and for example, men of the new england states are there any cities of character. it knows of the biblical teachings then the government. with the fundamentalist who believe in the biblical truth. >> host: why you describe sarah palin terms as a reign of terror? >> because she began to fire people as soon as she took office. the of police chief, bed town librarian two to resign, public works director, forced the resignation 71 who had supported her opponent in the mayor of the elections and replaced them all with high school friends lower members of her assembly of god evangelical church. she tried to pack the city council was a right-wing supporters and was the autocratic leader overnight. i had talked to many people during my research some had to move out of wasilla and alaska because they displease her and she brought an end to their terms of public service and in many cases to find other jobs. people began to fears sarah palin if you are on her wrong side,

. >> i am a person that grew up in south texas.re's a difference between tough talk and extreme talk. it's important that people recognize and that the press recognize the difference. i think people want to see our leaders lead with some level of decisive conviction. but there is a difference between that and extreme moments. i think where perry or any of the rest of them get in trouble is when they engage in extremism. i think there will be some of that tonight as well. >> do you think romney will go after perry by name, and should he? >> well, you know, the mitt romney in the last presidential campaign, it looks like he has learned a lot about the art and tactical skills of campaigning. because through the summer he has shown a lot of discipline to his own message, and sometimes that can be hard because your supporters are dismayed that you are not swinging at everything. and i think it will be interesting to watch if he decides to isolate other candidates by picking a fight with one or two of them. that's a strategic decision he

several were discovered receiving flight training in south texas without the proper visas. as you recall come the 9/11 aviation flight schools in visas also. those are the three major -- there is a major reason. in this case, what there's no indication of terrorist intent on this particular case, we know the aircraft remains a highly attract a target for terrorists. it is strip leading contenders after 9/11 we have foreign nationals taking site and training in the u.s. without the requisite fretting or riverside. in fact come a few days ago the fbi and homeland security issued an al qaeda threat to small aircraft just a few days ago. just let me give you briefly the facts come in the way understanding. we depart from its core that of busting a tree at both imortant and so. that's how this got started. the boaters out there. this person is taking flight lessons. he was one of several mexican foreign nationals who traveled to the valley to get the pilot's license. homeland security went up there after the fact and deported three of them because i think the problem was instead

alabama, tennessee, texas, south carolina, all enacted stricter retirements.our other states. three states will try again next year. 14 states have photo i.d. requirements right now but these seven states, these seven that we highlighted have the strictest. you can't vote until you show a photo i.d. texas, kansas, georgia, south carolina, tennessee, indiana, and wisconsin as well. want to bring in michael. executive director for the brennan center for justice at new york center of law and fo former speech writer for president clinton. thank you for joining me. you have supporters of voter i.d. laws saying they are needed to prevent voter fraud at the polls but others say voter i.d. laws will suppress turnout since 12% of eligible voters don't have a photo i.d. how do you strike the right balance? >> that's the thing. as you say, everybody who is eligible to vote should be able to vote and only those people who are eligible to vote should be eligible to vote but we shouldn't erect barriers that keep people with the right to vote from voting. unfortunately this

tomorrow's forecast is looking very much like today but the front starts to sink to the south across texasa. we are concerned about the wildfire danger. >> thank you for keeping us posted on that. have aed if great evening. >>> we will have more ahead. don lemon is coming up. have a great week. see you next weekend. [ junior ] i played professional basketball for 12 years. today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more customers. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. we're builders. [ male announcer ] we went to germany's nurburgring to challenge ourselves on the most demanding track in the world. with us, in spi

several were discovered receiving flight training in south texas without the proper visas.1 aviation flight schools in visas also. those are the three major -- there is a major reason. in this case, what there's no indication of terrorist intent on this particular case, we know the aircraft remains a highly attract a target for terrorists. it is strip leading contenders after 9/11 we have foreign nationals taking site and training in the u.s. without the requisite fretting or riverside. in fact come a few days ago the fbi and homeland security issued an al qaeda threat to small aircraft just a few days ago. just let me give you briefly the facts come in the way understanding. we depart from its core that of busting a tree at both important and so. that's how this got started. the boaters out there. this person is taking flight lessons. he was one of several mexican foreign nationals who traveled to the valley to get the pilot's license. homeland security went up there after the fact and deported three of them because i think the problem was instead of using a proper and one

he stepped out of the big doings in south carolina yesterday to tend to the wildfires in texas.k to us about that and we'll try to squeeze in a question or two about politics as well. >> in the meantime, we have to start with your headlines. fox news alert out of afghanistan. intelligence sources claiming an american civilian engineer has been found dead in kabul after going missing. it appears the man identified by the u.s. army corps of engineers as james will koker worked in kabul as a construction contractor. we'll continue to monitor this developing story and keep you updated as more information becomes available. another fox news alert, huge wildfires continue to burn out of control across the state of texas. strong winds and dry conditions fueling those flames. the biggest fire is in bastrop county where 2500 acres have been burned and 500 homes destroyed already. thousands more have been evacuated across the state. meanwhile, governor rick perry came home from the campaign trail to survey the damage and meet with residents there. as we mentioned, governor perry will join

arizona prison system. >>> a live event weefr watching at this hour, governor rick perry of texas is in conway, south carolina, this hour you're looking live there from a texas call college in conway, perry is taking part in a town hall meeting. it's scheduled to begin in a few minutes. we wait for rick perry. cnn just learned that perry is apparently pulling out of this afternoon's presidential forum to return to texas to deal with the wildfire situation there near austin. five of the other candidates will still face off this afternoon starting at 3:00 p.m. eastern, our deputy political director paul stein hauser covering the event. paul, what have we learned from this? >> reporter: seems wildfires in texas are definitely having an impact right here in south carolina. here is what we learned. earlier this morning, i reached out to the rick perry campaign and asked them whether those fires would make a dent in his schedule? and the communications director of the campaign said, yes, the first event, the one with live pictures, was still on, but likely his schedule would change after that and in the la

south carolina. perry is returning instead to texas to deal with the wildfires. but he may participate remotely. or live coverage of the forum in south carolina. we'll bring it to you all starting at 3:00 eastern time. >>> honda is recalling nearly a million cars worldwide to fix an electrical problem and a software glitch. this affects 936,000 cars to be exact. honda says it will have to replace the master switch for the power windows to cars in its fit and cr-v lines. it's recalling cars from the cr-z software line. a bug could cause the car to if in the opposite direction. so the car may roll backwards when the transmission is in forward gear. no injuries have been recorded because of either of these problems as of yet. >>> two deaths are reported in texas because of the wildfires. a mother and her 18-month-old child were killed when flames overtook their mobile home in eastern texas. the biggest fire is near austin. that's where our chris welch is in the thick of it. give us the latest here. i can see the wind is still blowing. that's the major problem here pause it's pushing these fires ever

begin with breaking news in drought-stricken texas where strong winds from tropical storm lee are kicking up several major wildfires. you see them here. this is south of austin, texas. crews are scrambling to knock down flames as soon as they pop up. 1,000 homes are at risk, in the line of fire. the situation has been getting worse. fire officials can't tell us how many evacuations they have or any damage assessments as of yet. we'll have more ahead on the fires including a live report from the scene and also a man who may lose his home to this fire. first we want to bring you up to date on the enormous amounts of rain tropical storm lee is dumping on louisiana and also mississippi. this was tropical storm lee tearing through the gulf this weekend. this is an oil rig and the workers there, you see them leaning into the wind holding on for dear life just to find out how fast the wind is blowing. they found out fast. on land, lee has been a flood maker. parts of louisiana have gotten a foot of rain or more. the mayor of new orleans warns the city will be dealing with the storm for at least one more day. want to bring in jacqui jeras in the cnn weathe

mostly based in states with strong evangelical traditions, south carolina and texas i believe have the most common to most cities of character at any of the states in the union. for example, none of the new england states, none of the new england states are there any cities of character. it denotes a commitment the following biblical teachings in government. in other words, having to city government influenced by the fundamentalists belief in biblical truth as literal truth. >> why do you describe sarah palin's terms as mayor as a reign of terror? >> because she began to fire people as soon as she took office. she fired the police chief. she drove the town library and to resign. she fired the public works director. she fired, she fired or forced the resignations of anyone who have supported her opponent in the mayoral election. and she replaced them all with high school friends or members offer a simply of god evangelical church. she tried to pack the city council with right wing supporters. she became this autocratic leader overnight. i have talked to many, many people during my resea

south. of course, texas, louisiana, oklahoma, all those areas in the southern parts of the u.s. have been dealing with the severe drought. wildfires. so it would bridge welcome rainfall. you never want to see it heading in those directions but there could be direction out there. keep in mind. $3.2 million. that's the cost for the wildfire so far this year. andrew. >> isn't it. they can't have an upside as well. >> absolutely. bringing much needed rainfall. et it's bad across parts of the south. >> yeah. okay. thanks, jen. >> you're welcome. >>> now, what's a superhero to do when comic book sales are slumping? why, change underwear, of course. when we come back e we'll be taking a sneak look at a man who steal as new look and a new strategy capturing market share to evildoers everywhere. this is unbelievable. it's a lifetime. gone. we'll make it right, john. when the unthinkable happens, we're right there with you to help you get your life back on track. nationwide is on your side. any questions? no. you know... ♪ we're not magicians ♪ we can't read your mind ♪ ♪ read your mind ♪

a powerful weather system soaks the south and fans wildfires in texas. >>> rare strike. a twister barrels through a state not used to tornado touchdowns. >>> and a happy ending. a wayward penguin is sent back home after washing ashore. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello, and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with wet, miserable holiday weather. after drenching and, in some areas, a damaging landfall in the gulf coast this weekend, tropical storm lee has been weakening this hour. forecasters are warning that lee could stir up more damage for several days to come. nbc's frances coe has more. >> reporter: lee kicked up waves as the slow-moving system made landfall and dumped as much as a foot of rain on the gulf coast. from alabama and mississippi -- >> we're talking about four to sick inches in the house last time. we need to put it at the back doors and stuff. you know? >> reporter: to the bayous of louisiana, swamping parts of the small shrimping community of la

>>> flames and floods, a raging wildfire tears through texas, while the south bails out from high waters. laboring on labor day, president obama hits detroit delivering a sneak peek of his jobs plan and challenging republicans. >>> and colossal croc, a one-ton crocodile lurking in a creek in the philippines is captured. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more are straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we begin this morning with a slow and stubborn storm, severe weather marked the unofficial end of summer for tens of thousands of people in texas and several states along the gulf coast. the remnants of tropical storm lee continued to fan flames in texas, and flood parts of the southeast. nbc's kurt gregory has more. >> reporter: texas firefighters are looking at another extreme day on the job. even with help from above monday in the form of firefighting helicopters, crews on the groundy outmatched. >> i have seen a number of big fires in my life. this one is as mean-looking as i've ever seen. >> reporter: just outside of austin, more than 450 homes have b

a raging wildfire tears through texas while the south bails out from high water. >>> laboring on labor day. president obama hits detroit delivering a sneak peek of his jobs plan and challenging republicans. >>> and a one ton crocodile lurking in a creek in the >>> and a one ton crocodile lurking in a creek in the philippines isaptured. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello and good morning, welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a slow and stubborn storm. severe marked the unofficial end of summer with tens of thousands of people in texas and several states along the gulf coast. the remnants of tropical storm lee continue to fan flames in texas and flood parts of the southeast. nbc's curt gregory has more. >> reporter: texas firefighters are looking at another extreme day on the job. even with help from above monday in the form of firefighting helicopters, crews on the ground were outmatched. >> i have seen a number of big fires in my life. this one is as -- this one is as mean-looking as i have e

this area from oklahoma here all the way back down through south texas, was easily into the hundreds. for today, it's the same old story. 106 today in dallas. that's where the extreme heat is. notice further to the north this is where the cooler air has moved in. sooner or later that's going to move to the south. looks like dallas, you're going to have to wait until thursday to officially end your summer heat. unbelievable streak. we're going to end up with 71 100-degree days in dallas. never happened before. notice what happens on wednesday, thunderstorms make their way to the mid-atlantic and northeast and then the cool down will arrive for us. highs on thursday and friday from d.c. to new york only in the 60s. be ready as fall is finally arriving across the country. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. i'm really glad we took this last minute trip! you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. get the app. hotels.com. we get double miles on ev

in south texas, a new field he go for it will create 60,000 jobs by 2020 and so thousands of jobs already exists. the surrounding area is booming for new trilling and increase business across the board from restaurants or grocery stores to hotels. a marsalis trend is located in the northeastern part of the united states and as the largest resources of them all. it covers all or part of seven states. according to penn state university, gas development now supports 140,000 jobs in pennsylvania alone. natural gas benefits other industries. for example, petrochemicals. the american chemistry council said it would be keen for greater domestic use of natural gas production. they see a 25% increase in supplies associated with gas production because this is used as feedstock for making chemicals. this would create 17,000 jobs in that industry at 395,000 more jobs outside it. the numbers like these are really very, very encouraging. so we had a powerful job creation machine available if you put it to its full use. but capturing the full potential of natural gas, our industry faces a number of chal

south. also today, texas inferno. dozens of wildfires continue to rage in the lone star state today. officials say with conditions this bone dry, it is anyone's guess when those flames will be contained. and president obama ready to roll out his big jobs plan this week. first, he'll face a tough audience filled with labor union workers today in the heart of the motor city. good monday to you. thanks for joining us for this special labor day edition of msnbc live. lee is still packing powerful rain. more than a foot of rain fell in new orleans. as the storm pushes inland, it could cause dangerous flash flooding. lee has churned up surf all along the gulf. a body border drowned in texas. mike seidel is in brandon, mississippi, this morning. what's the latest there? >> reporter: well, i've got better news here as far as the weather goes. the rain, the heaviest rain has moved on out. we're still getting light rain, but we have this gusty north wind. behind me is the reservoir. this is not the gulf of mexico. look at the wave action. a lot of locals are coming out and grabbing video and p

south through los angeles. one quick look. tropical storm nate. we thought nate would bring relief to texas. that is what happens. eed it. nate is staying south bringing rain in mexico. we will talk about maria as well off the coast and it shouldn't affect the east coast. that is a quick picture. >> alexandra, thank you. >>> honoring the victims of those killed. the victims killed on 9/11. i'll tell you about the special events planned today from the pentagon to shanksville to manhattan. stay with me. me too. you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? fret not ma'lady. i have the hotels.com app so we can t a great deal even at the last minute. ah, wellyesir. dolo free hotels.com app and get exclusive mobi dls. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree will see. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help everyone have the retirement income they'll need to enjoy every one of their days. ♪ prudentia

a powerful weather system soaks the south and fans wildfires in texas. >>> rare strike. a twister barrels through a state not used to tornado touchdowns. >>> and a happy ending. a wayward penguin is sent back home after washing ashore. good morning. happy labor day. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and today we begin with wet, miserable, holiday weather. after a drenching and in some areas a damaging landfall in the gulf coast this weekend, tropical storm lee has been downgraded to a tropical depression. however, as the still dangerous storm continues to crawl inland, forecasters are warning lee could stir up more damage for several days to come. frances coe has more. >> reporter: lee kicked up waves as the slow-moving system made landfall, and dumped as much as a foot of rain on the gulf coast. from alabama, and mississippi -- >> four to six inches in the house last time. we need to put it at the back doors and stuff. >> reporter: to the bayous of louisiana, swamping parts of the small shrimping community of la fi