i'm betty ngyuen. overnight a rapidly spreading wildfire in southern california grew larger, and this morning it is on the move. the silver fire is what it's called. it's in riverside county. it's moving east toward the resort town of palm springs. in just a past few hours, the fire has grown to 22 square miles and is burning an estimated 1,000 acres an hour. the latest update puts the blaze at just 20% contained. local officials have ordered nearly 2,000 people out of the area. 26 homes have already been destroyed. at least one man has suffered serious burns. and five firefighters have also been injured with heat exhaustion. they'll be off the job for at least 24 hours. the multistate manhunt for james lee dimaggio has taken yet another dramatic turn. authorities now believe the man suspected of kidnapping 16-year-old hannah anderson and her 8-year-old brother ethan may be armed with homemade explosives. the two children have been missing since sunday when their mother's body was discovered in a burned log cabin-style home. police found a second body in the charred house that has yet to be identified. however, they do believe it may be ethan's. in a statement thursday, police asked the public not to approach dimaggio's bluis in anniversa in case it is rigged with explosives. they believe dimaggio may have shaved his goatee and they describe him as a dangerous and desperate man. president obama will meet with the press this afternoon in his first solo press conference since april. his cancellation of talks as russia's vladimir putin and those recent terror threats both expected to be front and center. nbc's tracie potts joins us live in washington with a preview. a lot on the plate today. >> reporter: a lot on the plate for the president to address before he heads off to the nine-day vacation in martha's vineya vineyard. it's not unusual to see these types of press conferences late summer. congress is gone all month which means republicans and a lot of his critics are gone. the president will have the stage. what will he talk about? he will undoubtedly be asked about canceling this conference, the summit, with vladimir putin with the russian president. why that happened and how much the asylum for edward snowden had to do with that decision. he will also likely be asked to address the terror threats in the middle east. now not just the one that shut down 19 embassies and consulates this week, but a new one that is now shutting down the consulate in lahore in pakistan. that's a separate issue, according to the state department. but clearly concerns throughout that region. egypt, syria, unrest in those regions. what is the appropriate level of u.s. involvement? where does russia stand with the syrian government? all expected to come up today. >> and all very important. nbc news will have live coverage of the president's news conference noon pacific time right here on this nbc station. many parts of the nation's midsection and deep south are waking up under water this morning. on thursday, some communities got more rain in just one day than they usually get all summer long. parts of missouri have seen 15 inches of rain in just the past 48 hours. the small town of hollister near branson was one of the hardest hit. so much rain in so little time caused the governor to activate the national guard. at least 25 people had to be rescued and more than 100 evacuated. and it's not just missouri. tennessee is also seeing the waters rise. in and around nashville, 200 people had to be rescued by boat. nbc meteorologist bill karins will be here in just a few minutes to tell us when things will dry out. another threat in as many days prompts the evacuation of a u.s. consulate abroad. this time, though, in pakistan. because of a, quote, specific threat. the state department thursday warned americans not to travel to pakistan and evacuated all but emergency staff at the consulate in lahore. officials say this threat is not related to the one that temporarily shut down 19 u.s. embassies in the middle east and africa through saturday. the u.s. embassy in yemen was evacuated on tuesday and u.s. citizens urged to leave after a terror threat there. and u.s. drone strikes are only intensifying the high alert in yemen. three strikes thursday killed 12 suspected militants. u.s. officials suggest the latest wave is the result of intelligence gathered last week from the electronics communication between high level al qaeda leaders. that communication suggested a terror threat. military officials in yemen report 34 suspected al qaeda militants have been killed in eight drone attacks in less than two weeks. let's talk about something very happy. especially for those three winners of the powerball lotto. they have been waiting for this day. in fact, one in specific has been waiting his entire life. paul white is an engineer and father of two from minnesota. he is one of three winners of the $448 million powerball lottery. he chose the lump sum. who wouldn't? he will end up getting about $53 million when it's all said and done. >> not bad at all. >> white says his family always called the lottery his financial plan. >> i've spent my whole life trying to figure out what it was i wanted to do when i grow up. now i get the opportunity to do whatever i want. i know i'm not going to be one of those people that says i'm going to keep working. because i'm not working for anybody else anymore. it's not going to happen. ron this morning was my boss. he started the day my boss. he's going to end the day my chauffeur. >> yeah, you can act like that when you win that kind of money. the two other winning tickets were sold in new jersey at a stop & shop and acme. while no one -- -- no one has come forward in fact, nbc new york is reporting 16 county employees are the holders of the wing acme ticket. they reportly work at a car maintenance department and once lottery officials confirm it, they'll have a slice of powerball's third largest prize. >> not bad at all. >> especially if you only played two bucks to get in on the pool. nationwide flooding has made some drivers get a bit creative. a new ferrari. so, yeah, that -- it still had temporary license plate on it and the driver thought he had this one covered but, instead, stalled while driving in two to three feet of standing water. bummer for that ferrari owner. bill joins us now. >> this is another -- >> i'll take it off his hands if he -- >> you'll -- >> i'll pay to dry it out and repair it. >> you can't see how deep the water is, you should not go through. >> you shouldn't drive through water, period if you don't know how deep it is. missouri has been the worst of it. four mornings in a row. now more rain is on its way. but it's not as serious as it was yesterday. starting to dry up. oklahoma got the heavier rains overnight. they'll get a little additional rain today. one or two inches. shouldn't be enough to cause many more extreme flooding problems like we just saw. here's an updated drought map starting off the month of august. notice the colored areas. that's where we have drought in this country. the white is where there's no drought. the whole eastern half of the country. the drought is confined to the west and almost all of california is now in a severe drought. no surprise we get fires like yesterday. they spread rapidly. especially on a breezy day. only rain to be found in the west. just a little bit moving through western portions of oregon. not a lot of wet weather out there. as far as the fire down outside palm springs, today about 86 degrees. winds gusting in the mountains at 25 this afternoon. firefighters will still have their hands full. it's not like santa ana-type winds and heat towards 100 but still going to be difficult. the only chance of rain out there will be northern california and oregon with that upper level low spinning around. a rather dry, i should say, another continu will remain ver and will continue a little breezy in the mountains where the firefighters are. so the fire forecast, you know, it looks like it's going to be a bad year. if they form, they'll be bad. the key is not letting the fires start. >> absolutely. thank you, bill. a facebook murder confession complete with pictures and the president prepares to meet the press. plus, a sobriety test unlike many we have ever seen. was he sober or just playing around? you're watching "early today." stories making news right now. the trial of self-admitted ft. hood shooter nidal hasan continued after a judge said he was allowed to continue representing himself. one person talked about the shooting and how she had to decide quickly who she could save and who she couldn't. there were so many bodies she couldn't tell who was dead and who was alive. a south florida man is under arrest after posting a photo of his wife's dead body on facebook along with a confession. the man wrote, i am going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife. miami-dade police have charged the man with first-degree murder. president obama and the first lady took some time to celebrate his belated 52nd birthday with a dinner on thursday night. and if you are wondering, the couple dined at rasika indian restaurant. here's your reminder not to drink and drive. police pulled over a suspected drunk driver. what is he doing in ohio? instead of just walking a straight line, he decided to start dancing. as you see right there. yep, the man's blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit. shocker. in health news, they must be putting something in europe's water. we want you to meet maria lorena. she's spain's biggest baby born naturally. weighing in at 16.67 pounds, and she was born without an epidural. i think women out there are cringing listening to this. she beats germany's biggest baby born last month by 0.2 pound. the child's mother said she expected her baby to be big, quote, but not that big. >> announcer: "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil. bring yourself back. in for your first look at business, we turn to cnbc's bertha coombs. >> good morning. stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on thursday. still, the dow is on pace for its first drop it in the past several weeks. and get set for lots of back-to-school deals. shoppers are holding back, forcing stores to offer discounts to get them to spend on fall merchandise. a report this week shows retail sales rose 3.5% in july. that's the slowest pace since march. and mortgage rates are holding steady with the average rate on a 30-year loan now at 4.4%. that's a full percent higher than in may, but still low by historical standards. betty have a great weekend. >> you, too. thank you, bertha. straight ahead, three big preseason nfl games to tell you about. and a rare encounter caught on tape for surfers with some whales out there. and when combines collide, who will be the last one standing? you're watching "early today." now for some sports. the nfl preseason. the reigning super bowl champion baltimore ravens blew out the tampa bay buccaneers, 41-16. ravens quarterback joe flacco hands off to bernard pierce who dashes for a touchdown. but comes up -- see this here. after this play, he comes up limping. that's never a good sign. and later, a blocked punt in the end zone recovered for a touchdown by ravens brighton trolic. the broncos versus the 49ers playing at quarterback, manning and kaepernick. former texas longhorn quarterback colt mccoy came in for the niners. he threw this beautiful long pass straight to denver's mike adams. interception. broncos win, 10-6. finishing out the nfl game, the bengals made it look easy, beating the falcons, 34-10. on to baseball, can someone hand the tigers a broom? detroit is on a 12-game hot streak. they swept the cleveland indians in just four games. next up for the tigers, a-rod and the yankees in new york tonight. on to golf now, the 95th pga championship off to a great start for jim furyk. check out this long birdie putt on the 16th hole. will it get in there? yes, it will. he nails it. furyk shares the lead with adam scott. miami heat star lebron james tweeted this selfie before going to court in ohio to serve jury duty. he wrote, time to serve my civic duty. good guy there. they say timing is everything. look at that. celebrity surfer ramon navaro captured this video of a southern white whale and her calf swimming side by side. definitely don't see that every day. and in nebraska, competitors got down and dirty at the fifth annual combine derby. it's a tradition at the county fair. drivers take out their old harvesters trying to be the last one standing. it looks like a muddy mess but a blast indeed. just ahead, kate upton on why men need to get their blank together. all eyes over the next couple of days will focus on where the fires are and what the weather conditions are for these fires. the one we've been following is the silver fire just south of i-10 near the palm springs area. mid80s over the weekend. kind of breezy afternoon. you won't be horrible fire conditions but it won't be raining and beneficial either. the only beneficial rains will be in the northwest. storm system over the coastal areas here. upper level low. may bring some showers and storms over the weekend. but again, very much miss. usually say hit and miss but mostly miss, not many hits. the world may end as alisia matt damon's apocalyptic film opens. "we are the millers" is already off to a multimillion-dollar start, and -- oh, bill likes that video. and more -- >> what are you trying to say here? >> and percy jackson sea of monsters and "planes." >> i always appreciate when people take care of their bodies. >> you were admiring it. kate upton bears her emotions, and even surprises a few people as she graces the cover of this month's "elle." upton said after her first "sports illustrated" cover she, quote, felt terrible for a solid month saying -- >> i feel horrible for her. >> she says she treated -- men treated her like their bachelor adding i'm a grown woman and you need to figure your blank out. you tell them, kate. well, former led zeppelin front man robert plante hit social media by storm this week. he offered his first 25,000 twitter followers a free download of his new single. he currently has almost 40,000. "king of queens" actress leah remini filed a missing person's report for shelly miscavige, the wife of scientology's leader. this is based on the true story about world war ii allies saving art from the nazis. and wayne gretzky was a master on the ice, and it turns out he's also a pretty good babysitter. maybe an all-star one. when he was traded to the l.a. kings he spent some time baby sitting for alan thicke's son. >> he turned out all right. marky mark has a solid sense of humor. he was photographed by two fans who believed he was matt damon. instead of getting upset he posted the photo to his facebook and wrote, close enough. >> she just needed to see him in his underwear and then she would have known the difference. >> betty ngyuen. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day on nbc. leading the news in the international herald tribune, japan marks 68th anniversary of atomic bombing. 70,000 people died in nagasaki when the u.s. dropped a second atomic bomb on this date. >> at 10:58, august 9th, the bomb was exploded above the city and in the towering mushroom, japan could read its doom. and on nbc news.com, mona lisa's skeleton and her kin's remains are due to dna testing. researchers are opening a florentine family tomb for the first time in centuries in an effort to identify the bones of a woman believed to be the model for the da vinci masterpiece. and topping our news, gripping testimony in the ft. hood trial. sergeant first class maria guerrero recalled the chaos of the 2009 shooting rampage. her voice breaking. she said she had to quickly decide who she could save so she used a black marker to write a "d" on the foreheads of those she could not. and we're all green with envy of paul white. you know why? he is one of the three powerball winners. the minnesota engineer and father two of says he's been waiting for this day his whole life. he chose the lump sum. who wouldn't? he'll walk away with about 53 million bucks after taxes. not a bad return on investment. park scientists in alberta, canada, have released a video that brings a new meaning to the phrase bearing it all. a hidden camera reveals grizzlies showing off some dance moves while rubbing against -- >> there are kids watching this show. >> biologists call it a communication tree. yeah, they are communicating all right. i think we need some dollar bills for this kind of communication. although surprised by the cool groove, scientists are nonetheless excited to see bears communicate with what appears to be an exotic dance. >> poor tree. >> i know, right? needs to be disinfected after that. time for a look lady and a look back. john kerry and chuck hagel will meet with their russian counterparts. sure to be on the agend aedward snowden's temporary asyl num russia. on this day in 1974, president richard nixon's resignation took effect in the wake of the watergate scandal. tom brokaw reported on it. >> then the transition took on a human form as the fords and nixons walked out of the white house together. general alexander haig with a final salute to his commander in chief. then the final helicopter flight as president away from the white house. happy birthday to gillian anderson who is 45. hoda cotkotb, 49. keep it right here for more news, weather and sports. i'm betty ngyuen . new leads, investigators getting ready to return to a bay area fair ground as they search for a missing oakland woman. the man they are now investigating in her disappearance. and up in smoke. an overnight fire in san francisco leaves a number of people with a little throws wear this morning. plus last-minute cramming under way this morning for hundreds of peninsula high school students, why they're taking ap tests in the middle of summer. right now let's give you a live look outside. how about somebody to play a little misty for me. classic eastwood movie in the '70s. this is something to get you started. this sawing 9 and it's

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