captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a friday morning. i m matt lauer. and i m ann curry. happy friday, everybody. so this debate in sioux city was the last before the iowa caucuses, which are on january 3rd. while newt gingrich did face some criticism, surprisingly, none of it came from mitt romney. instead, he saved his harshest words for president obama. we ll have much more on the debate and where the republican race stands right now, straight ahead. an encouraging sign for one of the smallest babies ever born, delivered at 24 weeks and weighed 9.5 ounces and doctors gave her a 1% chance of surviving. now four months later doctors have wonderful news for this family. we ll talk to the parents coming up in just a few moments. and we re going to be hearing a lot from howard stern on the new season of america s got talent. the outspoken shock jock as some call him decided to join the judge s table and already promi
captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today. it s 7:00 a.m. on the west coast on a friday. i m matt lauer. i m ann curry. the clock is sticking. there s still no end to the debt ceiling crisis, and this has investors nervous. really nervous. just 30 minutes into the trading day, the dow down about 100 points already. this comes after a heated night on capitol hill where john boehner failed to find enough votes within his own party to push his plan through the house. as we said, we re expecting to hear from the president in just a short while. we ll get the latest from washington and wall street just ahead. also ahead this morning, a children plot to kill u.s. soldiers foiled near ft. hood in texas. investigators say the alleged attack was imminent and that a fellow soldier was behind it. we ll get details from ft. hood coming up, matt. and we want to tell you about another royal wedding in britain. the queen s eldest granddaugh
story with us today, july 29th, we ll share his remarkal sto aa story with us today, july 29th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. welcome to today on a friday morning. i m matt lauer. tgif, matt. i m ann curry. good morning. the clock is ticking. the crisis is no clearer today than several months ago. both house republicans and senate democrats will meet this morning after speaker john boehner failed to find enough votes within his own party to push his plan through the house. so, are lawmakers wasting too much time on a bill that perhaps has no chance of passing in the first place? we re live on capitol hill with the latest on that coming up in just a couple of minutes. we ve got another very disturbing story. a chilling plot to kill u.s. soldiers foiled near ft. hood in texas and investigators say the alleged attack was eminent and a fellow soldier was behind it. we re going to live there for a report. have you heard there s anoth
abernethy: coming up: the u.s. episcopal church says gays and lesbians are eligible to become bishops. we have a special report. also, new scientific research on the effects of meditation on the brain. we ve learned that being religious or spiritual has a very profound effect on who we are has a very profound effect on our biology and on our brain. captioning sponsored by the lilly endowment abernethy: welcome. i m bob abernethy. it s good to have you with us. after decades of debate and division, the u.s. episcopal church this week said, overwhelmingly, that gays and lesbians are eligible to become bishops, or serve in any other ordained ministry of the church. at their general convention, episcopal leaders also moved toward developing an official rite for blessing same sex unions. these decisions are likely to widen the divide between episcopalians and the worldwide, 77-million-member anglican communion of which they are a part. kim lawton has our special report from