the midterm election it's been an issue he's been unable to shake. for more we go to nbc's kristen dahlgren. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. now that he's come out against the proposed mosque plan and moved away from president obama when it comes to the issue, spokesperson says he respects freedom of religion but says that he thinks mosques should be built somewhere else. reid has lost in a tight re-election bid in nevada right now. meantime the president spent monday on a visit dogged by his comments over the mosque. aides have spent the last four days trying to explain the comments last friday where he said freedom of religion includes building a mosque on private property. since then he's tried to clar y clarify. a spokesman said he felt it was his on allegation as president to speak out on the issue. kristen, thank you. well, same-sex is weddings will not resume in california this week. yesterday a federal appeals court blocked the unions while it considers the constitution analyst of the state's gay marriage ban known as proposition 8. the decision trumps a lower judge's issue last week that would allow them to obtain licences tomorrow. the court of appeals will hear arguments in the case in december. defense secretary robert gates announced he's planning to leave his post next year. in an interview with foreign policy magazine yesterday gates said retiring from his pentagon post makes since since he will know ben bithen if the afghanistan strategy is working. he said waiting till 2012 is not the kind of mistake you want to make. officials on a colombian resort island are calling it a miracle and praising a pilot's skill for save 1g 30 passengers onboard a plane that crash landed in bad weather yesterday. amazingly only one passenger was killed when the boeing 737 jetliner broke apart as it slid onto the runway yesterday. authorities are now investigating whether a downdraft may have shaken the plane as it neared the island off the east coast of nicaragua or if it was hit by lightning. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. denver's mayor has called for a federal investigation after newly released video showed a police officer beating a by stander. the incident happened a year ago when the man talking on the cell phone was taken down and beaten by police. an independent investigation had recommended the officers befired for fabricating a report on the incident. but both officers were only suspended. in texas a police helicopter camera captured the dramatic end of a wild escape of a murder suspect. they were able to disable the suspect with spikes. but then the suspect swerved and made a u-turn and within seconds drove head on into a police cruiser. the officer was rescued before his car burst into flames. in south carolina one person is dead after a tanker truck collided with another vehicle and caught fire. spilled gasoline ignited sending flames shooting up through a storm drain, shutting down traffic in both directions. and neighbors in one new mexico neighborhood got up close and personal with a wandering female black bear. wildlife officials tranquilized the bear who climbed up into a tree. she came crashing down to the ground but was not hurt. officials are expecting to tag and release the beer back into nearby mountains. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc's meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. >> you could have said our very own teddy bear or nice or cute if you wanted to. couldn't put enough effort it into. is that what you're saying, bill? i really need to get it just a little mitt heart? i'll try tomorrow. >> we'll work on it. good morning to you, lynn, and good morning everyone else. the big issue continues to be the dallas-ft. worth area. yesterday was 102 degrees which by dallas standards was really no big deal but that was 17 straight days over 100 days. we're going to continue to add to it. there's no signs at all that these temperatures are going to come down in the dallas area. we could be 100 for at least another week, i said at least. maybe longer than that. now, we did get a break yesterday. minneapolis was gorgeous, 79 depreciation chicago was 80 degrees. so the northern half of the country is getting a break from the southern healed r heat. the southern half is still baking. have a feature in new orleans that's going to drench you today. we've got rain heading up through kansas. a lot of areas are going to get some heavy rain in the next couple of days. first things first, heavy rain heading for new orleans. a tropical low is now drifting over the top of new orleans and it's going to pour there this morning and some very heavy rain right now just coming onshore. also we've got scattered rain, even thunderstorms south of kansas and northern border of oklahoma. these will head toward wichita and kansas city and topeka during the day today. your forecast, you definitely need the umbrella. thunderstorms in new orleans. it's a dry but warm day from d.c. up through boston. enjoy it because tomorrow will be a wet day. that's a look at your tuesday forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. sunshine and a gorgeous day in cleveland, ohio. 81 degrees. humidity should be low. chicago, partly cloudy and 80. still hotter than we've lead in areas like memphis and oklahoma city. lynn, on wednesday, i mentioned some areas in the mid-atlantic are going to get drenched. we'll talk about that when we got back. >> all right. you know, bill, you could have done something creative and had an umbrella or something during your forecast. >> i was going to surprise you later but now -- >> there you go. we'll check in with you in a bit. thanks, bill. well, more gloomy data on wall street, dell sparks the nasdaq, and the next step for general motors. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, news that hollywood headliner michael douglas is fighting a new health problem. a pitcher's duo between the rangers. the mets lose a closer for good. you're watching "early today." good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. there's been a deadly blast in baghdad this morning. at least 60 people have been killed in a suicide attack. a bomber blew himself up in a crowd of army recruits near a military headquarters. >> a former israeli soldier is under fire for facebook photos showing her in uniform smiling behind blind folded palestinian leaders. they're criticizing the images. it's not yet clear whether the army could punish her because she has finished her military service. in south carolina, the bodies of two toddlers have been pulled from a car in a river. their mother has been arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an accident. authorities are looking into whether their deaths were accidental. in california, a man who spent 13 years behind bars for trying to steal food from a church has been ordered released. in 1997 gregory taylor had received a 25-year sentence under california's three strikes law. his other two strikes were robberies. neither were violent and no weapons was used. the judge who ordered gregory's release said the three strikes law has often yielded disproportionate sentences. and progress with a repair job at the international space station. yesterday astronauts completed urgent fixes on a cooling system. so far tests showed the ammonia pump is working well. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,302 after losing a point yesterday. the s&p went up a fraction. the nasdaq rose 8 points. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the. >> nikkei dropped 34 points and the hong kong the hang seng gained 25 points. you might say investors have a case of a the summertime blues. disappointing economic data continued to pile up yesterday with home builder confidence dipping for the third straight month, thanks to the weak economy and the flood of bargain basement fore closed properties. an index of new manufacturing orders in new york state didn't bode well for things picking up any time soon either. gold prices hit a six-week high as investors sought out safer investments in mining companies. on the earnings front, skittish consumer spending forced lows to wave a warning flag ahead of a weak full year forecast. still a spike in summer sales boosted second quarter results. the nasdaq managed to make it out of the red monday thanks in part to dell's decision to buy storage tech firm 3 par. it sent their shares sky rolkting 8%. keep an eye on gm as the once beleaguered is expected to be the largest ipos ever. they're expected to raise between 15 and $20 billion for the stock offering. and finally despite the tempting bait, you'd have to be a fool to fall for this one. a billionaire in england is offering a billion dollar for anyone stupid enough to stand maked in front of the president. >> sadly i have a feeling someone is stup pid enough to do something like that. let's hope not. a brave come back. johnny damon returns to new york and strikeouts don't always mean wins. both teams in new york are preseason off with a nasty head-to-head battle. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. our weather high lights on this tuesday, our heat wave continues in texas and tropical downpours in the gulf coast. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." [ male announcer ] it's sunday afternoon. time for football on verizon fios. the nfl in 100% fiber-optic hd quality. that's a good start. but what's this? i can check my fantasy stats without changing the channel. and get an alert any time my team enters the red zone. and then watch every red zone play on nfl redzone. watch out couch, you've got competition as daddy's favorite. it's time for fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v visit verizon.com/getfios. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports after a wild game in tampa, the rays are fit to be tied, tied with the yankees, that is, atop the american league east. here's nbc's bill seward with an early look at all your sports headlines. a possible playoff as the rays posted the rangers. cliff lee getting it done early. b.j. upton morphs into b.j. up no more. david price, not too shaby brandon bogs, eight punchouts over six. carlos pena with an rbi sing toll center. here comes carl crawford, rays, 5-4, win it 6-4, lee saddled with the loss. yankees and tigers. johnny davis with a shot right to the pitcher. johnny 0-for. can't say the same for ryan raburn. got all of that one in the second. two-run bomb. tigers win, 3-1. loss moves the yafrpgs into a tie with the race for first in the east. the dodgers continued their late season implosion. ninth inning, 3-2 against the braves. bases loaded for melky cabrera and melky does a body good. sing toll left, score two. atlanta's won 20 games in its final at-bat. braves rally, 4-3. almost a week after mets closer franke rodriguez got into it with his girlfriend's father at citi he'd neil need thumb surgery. he'll miss the rest of the season. the mets may try to avoid the rest of his $29 million contract. things going better for the football team mets and giants, opening up the $1.6 billion stadium and the jets open up. eli manning. his helmet comes off, we've got a bleeder. he left the game to get 12 stitches. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm bill seward. more troubles for mel gibson. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus a combination of determination and love for baseball makes one man an example for us all. you're watching "early today." well, welcome back. i mentioned the heavy rain threat. it's going to be in the mid-atlantic. not so much today but tomorrow. this is our computer predicting how much rain is going to fall. you see the bull's eye from d.c. to richmond. this could be a heavy rain event. this yellow and orange is two to three inches of rain. this area actually needs the rain. it's been very dry this summer. maybe we'll get beneficial rain out of this. as far as today goes, today is dry in the mid-atlantic. by the time we get to tomorrow you can see the wet weather really pushes up the east coast. well, if you're watching us on whdh nbc 7 in boston, this exhibit will definitely get under your skin. explore 19th century japanese tattooing at under the skin. tattoos and japanese prints at the museum of fine arts. and that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. i say you and i after the show go guetta tooed. >> that's a terrible idea. i'd say no. thanks, bill. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. actor winning producer michael douglas is battling a tumor in his throat. they report he will undergo eight weeks in chemotherapy. he's very optimistic and his doctors expect a full recovery. tmz reports mel fwibson lost control of his car and crabbed into a hillside. he has no idea how he ran off the road and was not using his cell phone and dui was not suspected. angelina jolie will play marilyn monroe will play the last two years of her life. finally two wrongs may not make a right. it's revenge for justin bieber. he hit back at a teen who hacked into his friend's twitter account by publishing the kid's phone numbers to millions of online followers. bieber quickly removed the post but not before the hacker's line was jammed. and this comes to us from wlwt tv channel 5 in cincinnati, ohio, where one man is aspiring baseball fans and just plain folks all across the nation. tom was born without arms but that has. stopped him from stepping up to the mound and throwing out the first pitch with his feet. he always wanted to play baseball so he found his over way to do it. he's been doing what pyre have aspired with people have posted their abilities. good for him. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. 4:28 is the time. 74 degrees outside right now. good morning to you, welcome to "news 4 today," i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. >> we're following breaking news out of iraq, a suicide bomb has killed 60 people in baghdad and wounded 125. the attack happened outside an iraqi army division headquarters. the morning blast targeted army recruits lined up outside the building. they not said whether any americans were among the victims. pepco executives will be feeling the heat at the scheduled hearing. they will be questioned about the recent storm outages that left residents without of power for days. tracee wilkins joins us with the details. >> reporter: good morning, the public service commission issued this order last thursday saying that they wanted to find out exactly what's been going on with pepco. let me give you specifics. they actually want to talk with the president and also some of the heedership at the company. because of the frequency and number of duration of power outages experienced by customers and the apparent breakdown of adequate communication between the customer and the company, the commission finds it necessary to conduct an immediate investigation. the order went on to say the commission has received complaints of frequent and apparently inexplicable outages occurring outside. additionally customers have explained about