urging residents to prepare now. nbc's curt gregory has the latest. >> reporter: wind and rain in puerto rico. a glancing blow from tropical storm isaac as the system meanders across the caribbean. warnings are in effect for the dominican republic and in haiti where aid groups are mobilizing to assist the thousands of people still struggling in make-shift shelters 2 1/2 years after an earthquake destroyed the capitol city. >> the next 24 hours will be very critical of course for the population of haiti and the international red cross is extremely concerned. >> reporter: concern is spreading throughout florida as well. the latest projection map shows the state feeling the storm's force as early as sunday. in cape coral firemen wasted no time in securing a storm curtain around city hall. >> to protect the glass and any debris that comes up against it. >> reporter: and along florida's gulf coast. >> i'd rather be early than late. >> reporter: preparations for isaac are underway. just as the final touches are added to tampa's big party. >> we're ready for this storm if it were to come. we don't think it will. so we really are now more focused utti p on a great event for the republican national convention. >> reporter: convention organizers say contingency plans are in place if tropical storm isaac strengthens and threatens the bay. >> the next couple days, especialhis weekend, we'll findut when it comes off the coast of cuba wt happens. >> reporter: b those plans depend on what isaac may do. curt gregory, nbc news. nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking the storm for us. bill, good morning. >> good morning. it looked very impressive this morning but it's really not. this storm has not gotten any better organized over the last 48 hours. a lot of thunderstorms and rains to the south side of the storm. the actual center of the storm is not where you'd expect it to be. the center is up here south of the dominican republic. unless it relocates, it will cross over land today. don't expect any intensification of this storm in the next 48 hours. it will be very ragged. there's a chance it could go down to a tropical depression. the key time is saturday afternoon as it comes off the coast of cuba. what will it look like and will it then be able to regenerate over the warm waters between florida and cuba. if it can get its act together, the water is warm that it could attempt to strengthen. the forecast path from the hurricane center has it coming somewhere near the northern gulf anywhere from tampa to new orleans need to prepare. this storm will be heading your way. our forecast computer models are still kind of pinpointing this region from the west coast of florida somewhere in between mobile bay and anywhere around apalachicola, florida. veronica, this path is changing ever so slightly. new orleans to tampa the area of concern. >> thanks for that, bill. in part because of the threat from isaac, delegates at the republican national convention in tampa will begin the roll call vote to nominate mitt romney on monday. that is days earlier than was scheduled. it's earlier than it had been done at previous conventions. officials are also worried about several hundred delegates that are pledged to vote for ron paul during the roll call voting. he has not released his delegates to support mitt romn or anyone else. armstrong will be sipped of his title today. they will ban him from cycling for life and take away his seven titles in the tour de france. armstrong who required last year said yesterday he would stop fighting ongoing doping allegations and what he called, quote, an unconstitution aal wih hunt. he could also lose a bronze medal he won from the 2000 games in australia. a massachusetts woman and her child were nearly dmild front of dozens of subway riders. the woman fell on to the tracks with her 4-year-old son after she accidentally walked off the platform. a bistabbeder immediately helped the two before a train arrived. she told officials she was rushing towards the train but didn't realize it was on the other side of the station. the waters of virgin beach have become a battle zone. more than 200 surfers are read why to catch some waves at the 50th annual east coast surfing championships. this is the oldest surfing competition and is steep with competition. surfers from all over the world have arrived at their shot for the $155,000 grand prize. finally the san diego zoo received some great news on thursday. a baby panda cub born july 29th passed its first physical exam with flying colors. the next step is finding out the sex of the animal which will be determined during follow-up exams. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. did you see how small? >> he's an active little guy. >> so small. and those things become ginormous. >> they're cute when they're young. >> adorable. >> good morning, everyone. besides isaac, there are a few other weather items going on to prepare you as you head out the door this morning. if you haven't used the umbrella in a long time, you will need it today. rain coming down today. along the front along the eastern seaboard, looks like a little area of low pressure will keep you soggy. eastern north carolina today and maybe heading into the weekend around virginia beach right up to ocean city, maryland. not good for your weekend plans. rain coming across kansas. this is one of the driest spots across the country. even in oklahoma we desperately need the rain. we'll get a little bit today. much of north carolina is dry. it's right along the coast that we're seeing the wet weather from wilmington, newburg, washington, greenville. norfolk area, even on the outer banks. everyone has a chance to get on and off rain and cool, cloudy conditions during the day today. north of that it will be warmer up around new york, boston, southern portions of new england. we're still pretty dry today throughout areas of the southeast. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. today in areas like between tweb low, colorado, a chance of storms. minneapolis, the front is trying to push through the northern plains. louisiana, hit or miss. that will be the same around orlando. weekend forecast coming up and its impact for south florida. >> all right. thanks, bill. investors throw down on the fed. gold fetches a pretty penny and the parking spot of your dreams. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, can the "expendables 2" knock out the competition once again at the box office. coming up, a slug fest at boston, adrian beltre is red hot, and olympian gabby douglas like you've never seen before. you're watching "early today." very good morning to you. welcome fwook "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. th fbi and u.s. capitol police are investigating rare threats against missouri congressman todd akin, hisamily andstaff. he sparked controversy by saying that relatively few pregnancies happened from, quote, what he called legitimate rape. republican mitt romney said the energy would make the u.s. free from foreign oil by 2020 and create 3 million jobs. the obama campaign calls it a, quote, backward plan that would reward big oil companies. a nor weej gone court says andres bravick was sane when he murdered people last year. he will spend a minimum of 21 years in prison for his crime called the hain news attack a political statement. nasa has released a high resolution of the landing of the curiosity rover on the planet mars earlier this month. it shows the final moments before the touch down of the spacecraft to record a landing on another planet. and in spain, a century old art fresco of christ was in need of repair. so an amateur art restorer in her 80s took it upon herself to fix it, and she didn't do a very good job. now professionals will try to repair the damage that was done. oops. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,057 after tumbling 115 points. the s&p dropped 11, the nasdaq dropped 20. overseas trading, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 107. in hong kong the hang seng plunged 252. investors banking on help from the feds seemed a little less uncertain thursday. james bullard, the president of the fed's st. louis bank, told our sister network cnbc that the minutes from the central bank's july 31st meeting were stale because the economy had picked up since then. investors dumped stocks and oil betting on gold instead. the precious metal was at 1065 an ounce. new data showed first time unemployment claims ticked slightly higher underscoring the uneven job market. global economic woes showed china's manufacturing at a 9% low. meanwhile, big lots weighed down. the s&p tumbling nearly 21% on a sharp drop in quarterly profits. as the u.s. jury debates apple and samsung's big patent, they ruled that both companies infringed on each other's patents. the court ordered a ban on some iphones, ipads, and galaxy smart pads. facebook announced it will release a ovuled iphone app after users complained it wa slow. finally, say good-bye to your average parking spot. one high rise in singapore is taking luxury to a whole new level. a special elevator delivers your car to your apartment so that you can park right next to your living room. yup, units start at around $8 million. sorry, the lamborghini is not included. a first win for his first nfl start and the little league world series championship match-up is set plus an olympic gold medal gymnast tries her hand at another sport. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. another look at isaac's forecast path. that's coming up. you're watching "early today." what does fall smell like? head north, to someplace pristine like acadia national park. there is nothing like the parks this time of year. the falling leaves, the crisp air, the perfect inspiration for air wick's fall collection. yeah, when i smell all those things, i know fall is in the air. the fall collection brought to you by air wick and the national park foundation. something in the air wick. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, several teams punched some extra time on the clock in yesterday's major league match-ups. here's fred roggin with a look at all your sports headlines. good morning, a handful of starts around the business. slug fest between the angels and morales. the angels were on top. they won a barn burner. the aels won it 14-13 in fen. reds and phils needed extras. john mayberry junior made them pay an rbi single. phils walked off with a 4-3 win. alex avila was the hero. in came the winning run. get out the brooms. tigers swept the jays 3-2 in 11. adrian beltre is the hottest player in baseball. he hit another homer yesterday. a triple shy of the cycle. rangers beat the twins, 10-6. owe lick pick gold medallist gabby davis threw out the opening pitch. mets lost their fifth straight. jake locker was the starting quarterback. he threw a pair of touchdowns against the cards. titans like what they see, they won it 32-27. packers don't have a premiere back but who needs one when you have aaron rodgers. he ran in not one but two touchdowns. green bay beat cinci 27-13. ravens are ready to go on 48 on the jaguars. joe flacco hooked up with anquon boldin. 48-17. finally, congratulations to the little leaguers from petaluma, california. they won over texas. they broke the game wide open with a grand slam. california won it 11-1. they'll play tennessee for the title tomorrow. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. all signs point to a lackluster weekend at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, waterproof makeup, $50. wet suit and bow tie, $100. a unique wedding experience you'll never forget, priceless. you're watching "early today." welcome back to "early today." this is the new advisory in from the national hurricane center. 5:00 east coast advisory. the path has pretty much remained unchange. they still think it could become a hurricane as it heads to the northern gulf somewhere between new orleans and heading over to tampa as we go throughout the early portions of next week. we'll wait and see how it all plays out. the storm is very disorganized at this time. the weekend forecast, damp weather along the mid-atlantic. rain for you in areas that desperately need it. kansas and oklahoma. hopefully we'll get some of that into missouri. much cooler temperatures saturday into sunday. areas of the northern plains will see a cold front. that should spark off additional thunderstorms too. if you're watching us on waff, 48, huntsville, alabama in nearby florence, discover how to plan, design a house from blueprint to building. that's your early event day of today. >> tall order for the kiddies nkts pouring cement. >> aspiring architects. all right. here's an early look at today's headlines in entertainment news. several new releases will be no match for last weekend's champ, "the expendables 2." a new york city bicycle messenger being chased by a crooked cop. it's received decent reviews. it will open with $9 million. are you going to see it? >> no. >> "hit and run," yes, no? >> maybe dvd, maybe. >> well, it's received some pretty bad word of mouth reviews from people who have seen it. it's expected to tai bu at about $8 million. then the wild card this weekend could be the anti-barack obama documentary called "2016, obama's america." it debuts nationwide and is expected to rake in about $4 million. finally, the horror film, "the abhor rigs" it is debuting in 8 million theaters. it may not make it past $2 million. what were you saying about this being an important weekend for the ladies? >> last non-football weekend. starting next weekend is when college football, the nfl. >> why would you think that's a bad thing for the ladies? that's when ladies go shopping. >> her friends want to go watch football and give me the day off, no problem. >> there you go. there always is a compromise. this now comes to us from newport beach, california. one couple's wedding plans takes their nuptuals to new heights. they made a splash making a memorable entrance. adding to the wedding jitters, without saying their vows without tipping head first into the sea. everything went without a hitch. after landing the couple added traditional aspects to their ceremony before taking off to tackle their next adventure, now as husband and wife. i am veronica de la cruz 2467. this is "early today," just your first stop on your nbc station. >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. happy friday. things are looking pretty quiet across the state of maryland. there are a few areas of fog. that is something you should watch out for if you head out this morning. you can see the green on the radar. that is a storm system. that could move on our way this weekend. more clouds and some chances for rain. >> 67 degrees on tv hill. >> a state delegate admits to drinking while operating a boat involved in a recent crash. >> a meeting of political power players. why would some names be no- shows? >> we have a water main break in harfordwççñçñ [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. happy friday. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> how is the weekend shaping up? >> there is a storm system developing to the south. i want to talk about today. i want to talk about today.