i'm veronica de la cruz. hurricane sandy is bearing down on the east coast. 60 million people are bracing for impact across the northeast with waves growing ever more ominous overnight. and the threat of storm surges anywhere from four to 11 feet high. this is the scene about 100 miles north of boston. hundreds of thousands have been told to evacuate in coastal areas all the way into new england. the mid-atlantic is already dealing with flooding from a storm that has claimed 65 lives in the caribbean and has the potential to paralyze new york and other big cities. >>> this morning, president obama signed three emergency declarations for connecticut, and rhode island, clearing the way for fema. let's get right to bill karins and the weather channel forecast. what's it looking like right now. >> sandy is an amazing anomaly. this storm this time of year should not be this strong this far north. at this point in the math it should not be ready to take a hook back into the northern mid atlantic states and southern

veronica? >> tracy trahan of wnbc, thanks very much. as hurricane sandy barrels closer to the storm it's being felt on the campaign trail and with the election just eight days away, the impact could be just what both candidates either wanted or feared the most. nbc tracie potts has the latest for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're on the south side of that storm dumping so much rain. so far light rain. we have not yet felt the full effects of sandy but the wages aren't taking any chances. with the storm on the way romney canceled rallies in north carolina in the storm's path. instead he'll join paul ryan's bus tour in ohio. >> our thoughts and prayers are with the people who will find themselves in harm's way. >> reporter: president obama canceled events in virginia and colorado and will do one last rally in florida before heading to washington. he met with fema overseeing the government's plans to help states and cities. >> anything they need, we will be there. and we're going to cut through red tape. we're not going to

veronica garcia. >>> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is veronica garcia. i'm a san francisco native, born and raised here in san francisco. i'm a single mom. i have two daughters that attend school here in san francisco. i am involved in several different organizations, one being coleman advocates for children and youth. another is a fellow at the -- excuse me, at urban habitat and their boards and commissions leadership institute. i am also an intern at the ethnic study resource and empowerment center at san francisco state. i also recently developed mom empowerment, teenage pregnancy group to be based here at hilltop high school in san francisco which coleman has taken in as a project of theirs. i graduated from city college earlier this year and in may i graduated with my associate degree, two associate degrees. one in social sciences and behavior and another in administration of justice. currently at san francisco state working on my bachelor's degree in justice studies and also with a minor in urban planning. the reason why i would like to be a part o

veronica? >> thank you. mitt romney will deliver that major policy speech before noon eastern, but the obama campaign is issuing a preemptive strike with this new tv ad criticizing the republican candidate's past foreign policy faux pas. take a look. >> reckless. amateurish. that's what news media and fellow republicans called mitt romney's gaffe-filled july tour of england, israel, and poland, when our u.s. diplomats were attacked in libya, "the new york times" said romney's response showed an extraordinary lack of presidential character. >> the obama campaign said this will be romney's seventh speech on foreign policy. >>> venezuelan president hugo chavez gets to keep his job for another seven years, but his re-election came in the slimmest margin ever in his nearly 14 years in power. he won just 54% of the vote. actor danny glover, a longtime supporter of chavez, was on hand for a day of heavy voter turnout. chavez's opponent, a former state governor, accused him of using the oil to his advantage. he told

veronica johnson, how are we looking out there right now? >> we're looki ining dry out th right now. i was amused for that whole segment there. yeah, we're dry out there right now. got rid of the fog. but now we still have some cloud cover throughout the area. despite that cloud cover, we still got up to 80 degrees today. we're now at 79 degrees. i'm expecting more fog. i'll tell you how bad that fog is going to be for tomorrow morning, and what else we're going to have to dea l with tomorrow with that fog coming up. >>> coming up, new concerns that the fbi investigation into the murder of an american ambassador is being delayed. tonight we'll get some answers. >>> americans are being tricked into giving up their credit card numbers, and remote access to their computers. so-called dreamers who want to get an education and contribute to their communities are still not rushing to take advantage of president obama's immigration policy change. >> i feel powerless at some point, because i can't vote. >>> and it's a challenge to get a baby to eat

veronica? >> thank you. mitt romney will deliver that major policy speech before noon eastern, but the obama campaign is issuing a preemptive strike with this new tv ad criticizing the republican candidate's past foreign policy faux pas. take a look. >> reckless. amateurish. that's what news media and fellow republicans called mitt romney's gaffe-filled july tour of england, israel, and poland, when our u.s. diplomats were attacked in libya, "the new york times" said romney's response showed an extraordinary lack of presidential character. >> the obama campaign sed this will be romney's seventh speech on foreign policy. >>> venezuelan president hugo chavez gets to keep his job for another seven years, but his re-election came in the slimmest margin ever in his nearly 14 years in power. actor danny glover, a longtime supporter of chavez, was on hand for a day of heavy voter turnout. chavez's opponent, a former state governor, accused him of using the oil to his advantage. >>> well, talk about wedding crashers

storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson is here this morning. the bearer of bad news. >> no. >> i'm just calling it like i see it. >> honestly, there's mixed reviews. a lot of people like the cool fall weather. my dad was wearing shorts yesterday, i kid you not. >> he probably has the birkenstocks too. >> he's very heaardy, to say th least. >>> at least we're not getting rain at the same time as the cold, but we will see showers move in later today. we'll go from cold to chilly. it will be a chilly rain this afternoon. on storm team 4 radar as i scoot on in, we do have some showers down south of petersburg and bluegrass and west virginia. rest of the area right now is dry. we are going to see clouds increase very quickly, i think by 10:00 a.m. we'll have a cloudy sky. by 11:00 a.m. to noontime, that rain through areas of tennessee and back down through kentucky and the deep south, that's what's going to be streaming through our area from afternoon through the evening and into tomorrow morning. temperature-wise, look how cold. 39 in gaithersburg,

. >> you bet, veronica. nice to speak with you. >>> we want to join our affiliate coverage now looking at live pictures from khnl, our affiliate there in hawaii. let's watch right here. >> a year and a half ago i was at this exact same spot during the japan tsunami and at that point the waves receded about 200 yards back into the ocean where you could see all the coral and the reef was exposed, and you could really definitively see the recession of the wave. this time that hasn't happened at all. in fact, it's tough to even tell if the waves at this point are going up and down at all. it seemed like we were standing there a wave came up maybe 6 inches higher than when we started and we got there 10:15 and watched until 10:45. at the time it didn't seem the waves were doing much of anything. i mean, on a normal night down here watching the waves, no one woch paid any attention to it, in fact. the fact we were expecting or watching it, there was a little bit of fluctuation but i will say there was not that rec

veronica has been holding down the fort for tom this week.ciate you being here. >> some well-deserved vacation for tom. take a look at the temperatures for today. it's going to feel a lot like it did yesterday until we get late in the day. late in the day, we're going to see changes with temperatures falling fast and with the wind picking up. so let's talk about the timing of that. outside right now, you can see gorgeous sunset that is under way. sunset officially today at 7:15. right now we're at 48 degrees. sunrise. what am i talking about? i'm so used to working the other shift. thanks, tom. 48 degrees right now. beautiful sunrise. let's talk about what's coming our way later today. look at these numbers. mt. aerie, maryland, at 37 degrees. rappahannock and culpeper, 37 the temperature. 39 la plata. tomorrow morning, upper 20s to upper 30s through the area. already a freeze watch that's been posted. some clouds drifting through. we're going to see today a mixture of clouds and sunshine. so kind of like a 50-50 day coming our way. high pres

. >> many ggood morning, veronica. >>> i'm tracking news early. all lanes blocked at burtonsville road due to a crash in that area. let's head over to construction. if you're traveling along the outer loop of the beltway, right now the ramp to westbound 66 has road work there that may be slowing you down. and also, if you're making the commute of 66 heading eastbound to the beltway, had the ramp to the inner loop, also had construction there stopping you in that area. good news is i-66, as you make your way between the beltway and nutley in both directions had construction. how about one lane getting by? both lanes are open. i'm back in ten with more traffic. >>> today the supreme court will hear a case on whether race should be a factor considered in college admissions. the nine justices will hear the case of abigail fisher. she says she was denied admission to the university of texas austin in 2008 because she's white. among those that will be in the courtroom are relatives of heyman sweat. he sued the same college alleging his admission was blo

hi, veronica. >> hey, there. circles of our own the last couple of days with the clouds and drizzle and mist this morning. same deal this morning, but conditions will improve rapidly. >>> right now 54 to 57 degrees. gaithersburg, rockville, reston into d.c. your hour by hour forecast, by noontime today, the sunshine. the high 72 for today. we'll take a look at the extended forecast in a couple of minutes. right now first 4 traffic. >>> veronica, tracking a downed tree in northwest, 27th street at broad branch road. that intersection is blocked right now because of the tree in the intersection. let's head over to i-66 making your commute. travel lanes are open eastbound starting to hit the brakes just a bit as you make your way past the rest area. travel lanes are open heading to the beltway. richard and eun? >> danella, thanks. >>> tired of living in terrible conditions? the actions these people are taking to force their landlord to make so take away his toys and he'll play with a stick. take away their bikes and

daniel weaver, miss veronica garcia, mr. henry kevane and mr. william walker who just spoke again just now. so thank you to the other applicants who are here again today. supervisor campos. >> thank you, madame chair. and thank you to all of the applicants who have come out. and for your interest in serving the city and county of for instance. it's always hard when you have more applicants that you have seats. i think any one of these applicants would do a great job in this position. so it's unfortunate that we only have six seats for nine applicants. so my hope is that whatever happens if for some reason you are not celebritied or appointed that you will continue to be engaged. people's schedules change, and their ability to do this may not be there. so i would keep -- i would hope that people would remain involved. i do have a quick question through the chair to the city attorney. is it possible if someone applied for a seat to appoint that person to a different seat at this point? or is that someone that would require us coming back? >> deput

i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and much more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we begin this morning with debate prep. president obama and his republican rival mitt romney are both getting ready for their first face to face presidential debate in denver wednesday night. romney is holding a rally in the mile-high city today, while the president gears up in nevada. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. we get an interesting perspective on this from john mccain, he's debated both the president and mitt romney. he says we will see two very strong well-prepared debaters and he predicts few surprises. the president's behind closed doors in nevada for the next two days preparing to face mitt romney in denver wednesday. >> he's a good debater. i'm just okay. but what i'm most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing. >> reporter: both sides are downplaying expectations. a sen

let's go right now to meteorologist veronica johnson for the latest on the new models. veronica? >> thanks a lot, pat. a lot of folks wondering why is this a frankenstorm? we're seeing all the right ingredients to make it just that. we've got a hurricane moving up the coast, possibly becoming a tropical storm by the time it gets near us. we have high pressure up across new england that will block that storm and push it inland. then we've got a weather front coming in from the west. all interacting, giving us a whole lot of rain throughout the area. the winds are at 75 miles per hour, sitting just off the coast of florida. watch it as it makes its way northward. a category 1, perhaps even weakening before it makes landfall. so what's changed now from the last time we hit air, and from some of the new guidance that comes out, is the fact that it's going to be lagging by about 12 hours. so the brunt of the storm, the worst of the storm now probably late monday through tueay morning or at least midday. and coming inland somewhere perhaps around the southern shore of new jersey on tue

thanks, veronica. >>> off to the races. we put teddy to the test to see if his big win at nats park was just a fluke. >>> also, you've got to see this story. a large curious bird has drivers putting on their brakes. why this emu was on the highway in the first place. >>> jumping for their lives, watch as the family leaps from a burning apartment to the ground below. >>> you're showing off your nat-itude. we asked for pictures of the biggest nats fans in our region and you responded in a big way. >> it's not too late to get in on the fun. send us your photos of your kids, your pets, even yourself, all decked out in nats colors, and we may use those pictures on the air on nbcwashington.com. you can also send your photos to natspics@nbcwashington.com. >> we saw a lot of the big hats on the babies. >> cute pictures. >>> as you've no doubt seen and heard by now, after six long years and 539 tries, teddy has finally won. he won the presidents race at the nats final game of the regular season. >> but we decided that teddy needed a

veronica? >> thank you. >>> nato forces in afghanistan say three international service members and their translator were killed in a suicide bombing in the eastern part of the country this morning. this as the war in afghanistan reached a grim milestone sunday with a death of the 2,000th u.s. service member. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the details. >> reporter: there has been another insider attack, the so called green on blue attack, when afghan troops attack and kill their american partners. so far, this year, these kind of attacks have led to at least 20% of american combat deaths in afghanistan. a group of american soldiers were manning a check point, a vehicle control point, when they were approached by two afghan troops. the afghan soldiers walked up to the americans, they exchanged a few words with them. it's not exactly sure what was said between the american soldiers and the afghan soldiers. but then one of the afghan soldiers pulled out a weapon, opened fire, k

you're watching "early today." >>> i'm veronica de la cruz. right now, one day after a israeli war plane shot down a drone that crossed into its air space, israeli forces swooped in over lebanese villages sunday. an apparent warning to hezbollah, which israel considers the prime suspect in the drone raid. >>> coast guard crews went fishing for drugs and reeled in a major catch, seizing $35 million worth of cocaine in the caribbean and $2 million worth of marijuana tossed from a speeding boat near guantanamo bay, cuba. >>> today a one-time cincinnati bengals cheerleader accused of having sex with an underage student will reportedly accept a plea deal. sarah jones allegedly had sexual contact with a 17-year-old while teaching at a high school in kentucky. >>> and trending right now on nbcnews.com, did you know your pets can catch the flu? in some cases, from you. new research finds a jump in the number of cats infected with both the seasonal and h1n1 virus. a third of american homes have at least one cat. nearly four in ten have at least one dog

i'm veronica de la cruz. heading into tonight's third and final presidential debate, our new nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows election night could be a cliffhanger with the candidates now dead even. nbc news political director and political correspondent chuck todd breaks down the numbers. >> reporter: the new nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows the candidates in a 47-47 tie among likely voters. in mid september, the president led 50-45. the numbers show an evenly divided country overall. the president's job approval holding steady at 49%. economic approval down at 46%. foreign policy approval at 49%. the poll also shows a clear enthusiasm gap. the president has a 49-44 lead among all registered voters, but that 47-47 tie among likelies, it means republicans are more enthusiastic and more likely to vote. the biggest red flag for obama, 62% say they want major changes if he's re-elected. romney's biggest red flag, by 44-43, he is still personally viewed more negatively than positively. >> that w

veronica? >> tracie, thank you. >>> nato forces in afghanistan say three international service members and their translator were killed in a suicide bombing in the eastern part of the country this morning. the attack comes on a grim milestone of the war in afghanistan on sunday with the death of the 2000th u.s. service member. relations between international forces and their afghan partners have been pushed to the breaking point by a surge of insider attacks by afghan allies. >>> on this first monday in october the u.s. supreme court begins its new term today. the justices are expected to consider a number of controversial issues. nbc's francis coe has more. >> reporter: one case the court will hear involves the practice of considering race for college admissions. abigail fisher sued after she was rejected by the university of texas at austin. >> there were people in my class with lower grades who weren't in the activities i was in who were being accepted. the only other difference between us w

the warrant accuses veronica alford of hiding the ak-47 that was used in the shooting. their investigation indicated the weapon had been removed by the defendant from the basement of the home and put into a 2008 gmc truck, and operated by the defendants daughter's boyfriend. that boyfriend was the baltimore city police officer. the warrant accuses her of helping to hide the body and says dna analysis of the victim's clothing indicated that the defendant helped lift the victim and removed her from the house in an attempt to cover up the crime. the attorney says her family members are pleased the investigation continues. they're still waiting to receive an autopsy report. >> we have called the state's attorney's office. we filed a freedom of information request. we've called the medical examiner's office. what we know now, we thought the criminal investigation had been terminated. now we find out from the medical examiner's office that the autopsy is not being released because of the ongoing criminal aspect of the case. >> veronica alford is expected to turn herself in th

. >>> sorprendimos a verónica castro con su hijo cristián castro, y el gallito feliz nos confiesa a quiénere pedir el sí, esto y más ahora mismo en primer impacto ♪. >>> hola, ¿qué tal?, bienvenidos a primer impacto, les saluda pamela silva conde. >>> y bárbara bermudo, gracias por esta con nosotros . >>> mientras más pasa el tiempo los daños de sandy salen a la luz, barrios enteros han quedado sumergidos, millones están sin energía eléctrica, y personas desamparadas., >>> más de 60 muertos han sido reportados, más de 100 casas destruidas y hay terminales de aeropuertos repletas de agua. >>> muchos damnificados han sido rescatados por lesta mega tormenta, por supuesto tenemos cobertura en equipo, con nayele chávez que está donde los daños han sido severos, adelante buenas tardes. >>> gracias, muy buenas tardes, estoy en nueva jersey, una de las zonas más devastads por sandy, donde esta mañana llegó la guardia nacional para asistir enrescates, es que 20 mil personas quedaron atrapadas en sus hogares por las inundaciones. >>> miren ustedes la cadena de lugares sumergidas bajo el agua en nue

thanks, veronica. >> thanks for joining us.e in at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 for all the days news. >> we'll be back tomorrow morning. plan to join us for that. until then, have a terrific day. we

veronica, any theories? >> you're the expert in the weather department. >> in weather, not what people do. what i do when the weather is kind of lousy, yeah, i talk to my mom more. >>> in terms of the weather trouble that we're going to have around here, you saw the rain, the flooding in the west coast there, in los angeles area. our big trouble will be the cold that we get. in fact, a cold start is expected for the day tomorrow with possible freezing temperatures throughout this entire area. could be looking at widespread frost too. fauquier county, loudoun, fairfax county, montgomery county, points north and west. that's for tomorrow morning, and it extends all the way north, those freeze warnings up into new york state and boston areas throughout new england for tomorrow morning. it is a chilly start here. we've got a mostly clear sky, a nice pretty light wind. it's at 5 miles per hour right now. your temperature, 48 degrees. at the bus stop, we'll be anywhere between 42 and 53 or 51 degrees. dry ngs ccon

veronica is here to tell us more. >> i'm so excited about the day. i'm glad the nats are back in town. i'm so happy we're going to have great weather around. >> wearing your red. >> wearing my red. i'll be hopefully wearing my red too if they win. the rest of the week, i'll be wearing my red. >>> as far as what's happening right now, we do have clouds still out there, a little bit of mist, and a few light showers and sprinkles. that is going to end very soon. unlike the last couple of days where it just kind of lingered on and on, we're going to see the clouds move out. we're going to see sunshine in here, i think, by around 9:00 today. look at the satellite and radar review over the last few hours. you can see that clearing around charleston and west virginia. we're at 58 degrees here. new york city 53. philadelphia 59 degrees. we'll see the sunshine here. areas north of new york, probably staying in the clouds with showers around the area today. here's a look at the hour by hour forecast. for today, mid-60s noontime, with lots of sunshine, and a fe

i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> heading into tonight's third and final presidential debate, our new nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows election night could be a cliff-hanger with the candidates now dead even. chuck todd breaks down the numbers. >> reporter: the new nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows the candidates in a 47-47 tie among likely voters. in mid september, the president led 50-45. the numbers show an evenly divided country overall. the president's job approval holding steady at 49%. economic approval down at 46%. foreign policy approval at 49%. the poll also shows a clear enthusiasm gap. the president has a 49-44 lead among all registered voters, but that 47-47 tie among likelies, it means republicans are more enthusiastic and more likely to vote. the biggest red flag for obama, 62% say they want major changes if he's re-elected. romney's biggest red flag, by 44-43, he is still personally viewed more negatively than positively. >> that was nbc's chuck todd

veronica? >> yeah, nice and mild outside.now this is the kind of weather that you love so much, pat. you want to keep it warm and mild as long as possible. >> if i can. >> exactly. all right. take a look at this shot. this, of course, is our wonderful live camera shot. the camera high atop the gaylord national resort. you can see the gorgeous blue sky. temperatures, this is the overnight period. 43 degrees by tomorrow morning in frederick, maryland. 46 leesburg. other areas dropping down to the mid-40s. la plata, 54. high temperatures tomorrow, we'll be doing a little better than today, getting in the upper 70s to right near 80 degrees down south, warrenton, manassas and fredericksburg, too. we'll look at the trend, how long it will continue and the next best chance of rain, all coming up when i meet you outside. >>> apple may have fans clamoring for brand-new gadget for the holidays. a smaller, lighter version of the ipad is rumored to be part of that big reveal. speculation about a 7.8-inch mini has been flying for months n

i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> a day before president obama and mitt romney meet for the second of three debates, brand-new poll numbers show the candidates locked in a virtual dead heat. according to a new "washington post" abc news poll of likely voters, 49% favor president obama compared to 46% who back governor romney. those numbers are basically where they were two weeks ago and within the polls' margin of error. however that doesn't mean mitt romney didn't get a big boost from his win. republicans' enthusiasm for their candidate has soared to 59% now, including an 11-point gain in just the past two weeks. both the romney and obama campaigns are expressing concern about the moderator of tuesday's second presidential debate. candy crowley of cnn will be hosting the debate, and she suggested that she'll play a larger role than agreed to by the candidates. according to mark hallpren of ""time" magazine" the two campaigns have raised objection saying the moderator's participation

. >>> let's head straight to meteorologist veronica johnson. what do we need to know, v.j.? >> thanks, jim and pat. sandy is a hurricane 2. again, its winds right now at 105 miles per hour. very, very strong hurricane. we're going to see the storm system weaken a little bit. today the eye not quite as apparent. but it is expected to then strengthen again after a little weakening takes place. here's a look at the track of hurricane sandy. it will make its way on up toward the north, getting very close to the east coast and now for areas from the mid-atlantic through new england, that's where the track is even more to the west, as we head into tomorrow. impact on mid-atlantic to new england sunday through monday, possibly even tuesday. here's what we know now. sandy moving more inland. a higher probability with it likely to see some power outages and flooding. right now a moderate to high threat for areas of the mid-atlantic on up through new england. the thinking here is that this will be a destructive storm for some, with a lot of wind and a lot of rain. it will be in areas

veronica is here with the latest word about our weather and hurricane sandy. >> right. hurricane sandy as we look toward the weekend and next week, this could be a very big storm system for parts of the east coast. right now we know today, it's been pounding areas of jamaica. there's certainty on what it will do for cuba and southeastern bahamas, then on beyond that, chances are pretty high, about 60%, 70% chance that part of the east coast will be impacted with rain and wind. let's talk about what we know right now as we head over to the weather wall. as far as the confidence on sandy's track, here we go. right near the coast, the confidence is up on that track, with a lot of the computer models now coming on board and taking it in that direction, or many of them. major problems for the east coast. and again, a destructive storm, this system could be for some with some heavy rain and possible flooding. out there right now today, we've got 79 degrees. we got rid of the clouds and even the morning sprinkles, 79 degrees. plenty warm with some locations just down to the so

>> storm team 4 meteorologist, veronica johnson. i heard you earlier on the morning show, you were singing out there. i didn't know your voice was so good. >> what was i singing? >> sunshine, sunshine. >> we certainly have that today. it was chilly this morning. i was out there, i'm not sure. maybe i was shivering, maybe that was the sound you heard. a lot of folks not liking this mornings chill. if you didn't like it, you are not going to like tomorrow morning. at least for now, we have temperatures rising fairly quickly with the southwest breeze. temperatures throughout the area right now were in the upper 50s and low 60s already. we have a stack of 63 degree temperatures from culpeper up to d.c. 61 in leesburg. 57 degrees in kensington and montgomery village. clouds in the area. north and west over western maryland. the clouds are associated with a cold front. we are going to see a mixture of clouds and sun later today. partly sunny for the afternoon. 58 to 63 and rising a little higher and dropping big time tonight. look at that

yes. >>> veronica [speaker not understood],. i just want to clarify one thing regarding the revision that it has been endorsed by the human rights commission advisory committee as well as the human rights commission, full commission. >> all right. duly noted. any other comments on this item? is there a motion? -- to reflect these changes? >> i'll move it. >> all right, commissioner moran. is there a second? >> second. >> all right. let's note that the management and labor came together on this motion. all those in favor signify by saying aye. i'm sorry, you want to speak to the motion? >> i do. thank you, president torres. i'm sensitive to the comments that we heard certainly from my brothers and sisters in the carpenters union. in just a moment about that, bob i alvarado who president torres mentioned earlier, is a colleague of oscar de la or he and the carpenters and the laborers are probably the most progressive inclusive trade unions in the region. * bobby it's not even close. in terms of really -- not just allowing things t

right now first 4 traffic. >>> veronica, it's starting to slow down in our area.s. first let's start if you're making the commute along i-270 here's a look as you head past germantown road southbound. delays continue as you head toward rockville. it is stop and go for you. another look as you head past falls road again in this area. just sluggish to the beltway. good news on i-270, not seeing reports of accidents right now. let's head over to 395 under speed in this area as you make your way northbound from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. take a look at this, as you make the commute, about 29 miles per hour. it will take you 22 minutes to the from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. i'm back in 10. over to you. >>> angie is over at the live desk. >> good morning. we have breaking news out of russia. several explosions rock a russian military test site. a giant cloud of smoke is hefr you've hovering over the city and this was followed by several aftershocks. russian officials say the triple explosions were unplanned shell detonations and no one was hurt.

veronica, thanks. >>> an unusual arrest of a cape cruseder in michigan.ark wane williams dresses up as batman and his girlfriend dresses up as bat girl. williams was arrested for obstructing justice last weekend. suspicious actevty on the side of the road. turns out, he was in the middle of an act aive police search for a hit and run suspect. williams and his girlfriend still plan to continue with their costume crime fighting acta activi activities. their efforts are misunderstood. >>> a utah man's dog is in the dog house. bruce gardner was at work when he got a call at his cell phone. the number calling him was his home land line number. no one was on the line but he heard all the scratching and other noises on the other end of the line which made him think that his house was being burglarized. they rushed to the house, but found nothing out of place, except the phone. it was in the backyard with, mia, his 4-year-old lab. >> in the midst of chewing on it hit redialed and called the man's cell phone and then the dog buried the phone in the back yard in th

i'm veronica de la cruz. a day before president obama and mitt romney meet for the second of three debates, brand-new poll numbers show the candidates locked in a virtual dead heat. according to a new "washington post" abc news poll of likely voters, 49% favor president obama compared to 46% who back governor romney. those numbers are basically where they were two weeks ago and within the polls' margi of error. but that doesn't mean mitt romney didn't get a big boost. republicans' enthusiasm for their candidate has soared to 59% now, including an 11-point gain in just the past two weeks. both the romney and obama campaigns are expressing concern about the moderator of tuesday's second presidential debate. candy crowley will be hosting the debate, and she suggested that she'll play a larger role than agreed to by the candidates. according to "time" magazine's mark halperin, the two campaigns have raised objection saying the moderator's participation should be much more limited than she's leading people to beli

i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific monday. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com