washington, d.c. i'm dara brown. just today more than a dozen raids were carried out and 15 people arrested in australia following a huge anti-terrorism operation. australian ill tell jens officials say militants connected with isis were planning to carry out public beheadings, more than 800 police officers in sydney were involved in this operation. back at home, it is now up to the senate. today they take what the house passed wednesday, a measure to approve arming moderate syrians in hopes of taking down terror group isis. president obama thanked house lawmakers at the annual congressional picnic. he urged the senate to take up the bill without delay, some lawmakers remain concerned. loretta sanchez said, quote, we don't know if somehow down the line they'll turn our guns right back on us. here is senator joe manchin with msnbc's chris hayes. >> we'll give them the air support. i'm all for that. this doesn't make any sense for us to go in and embolden them, the isis, and use it as a recruiting tool against us. >> the navy has released video showing different aircraft supporting strikes, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over iraq. this comes after isis posted a propaganda video flames of war, a new warning to american forces. nbc's tracie potts is in washington. tracie, what is expected to be the outcome from the senate today? >> reporter: well, if it is like the house, this measure will get bipartisan support, because despite the fact that there is opposition out there, a significant number of, majority of democrats and republicans thought, no, this isn't the ideal way to deal with the situation, but it may be the best way to change what is happening on the ground. this morning, the iraqis say they're gaining ground against isis, taking back parts of hadithah province. fallujah and ramadi are still under islamic control. left unchecked, the administration says isis could become a threat to the u.s. >> when it comes to america's national security, america's united. >> reporter: but not necessarily on how to do it. there is already opposition to today's senate vote on arming syrians against isis. >> i cannot and will not support arming or training the syrian opposition forces. >> reporter: even supporters are skeptical. >> this is not a blank check. >> best of the bad options that we face. >> an ally today is a sworn enemy tomorrow. >> we need to defeat isil before they develop the operational capacity to perform a september 11th-like attack. >> reporter: but not on the ground. the president promised again. >> i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq. >> the u.s. troops that have been deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry testifies again today on capitol hill, about the 40 nations president obama says are joining the fight. >> i hope that what we're going to end up with is more than a group of coat holders. >> reporter: so what we're looking at here today is several hours of debate in the senate before a vote that we're hearing is expected to happen late afternoon. dara? >> tracie potts reporting from washington, d.c., thanks so much, tracie. a new arrest, another embarrassment for the nfl. arizona cardinal jonathan dwyer, he's accused of hitting his wife. dwyer is being held on $25,000 bond, the new blemish causing more unhappy sponsors. on the player level, wheaties and nike dropped adrian peterson. ray rice lost underarmor and burger max. pepsi isn't happy. it pull mps $90 million into th league. the giants eli manning, taking on the adrian peterson child abuse scandal saying, you don't like seeing those things or hearing about them. but peterson's mom said, when you whip those you love, it is not about abuse, but love. you want to make them understand that they did wrong. here's nbc's kirk gregory with more. >> reporter: cardinals running back jonathan dwyer has been arrested for allegations of aggravated assault. but charges against the 25-year-old stem from two separate incidents alleged to have occurred in july. >> he has admitted the incidents occurred. however he has denied he has physically assaulted the victim in this particular case. >> reporter: arizona has deactivated dwyer, removing him from all team activities. the third nfl player taken off an nfl lineup in 24 hours. the minnesota vikings remove star running back adrian peterson, who faces child abuse charges, from their roster, and all team activities until his legal issues are resolved. carolina panther greg hardy convicted of domestic abuse, but appealing that decision, has voluntarily taken a leave of absence. they're the latest legal entanglements for professional football players and potential stumbling blocks for the nfl. the pressure is mounting over the league's handling of domestic violence cases. >> what we really need to see is the commissioner to come out and stand up to the press and stand up to the inquiries and stand up to the public, which is outraged at the decisions he's been making. >> reporter: as off the field problems overshadow any games made on the gridiron for america's most popular sport. kirk gregory, nbc news. turning now to the west, an extreme sea, fires and floods. the number of wildfires torching california is 13. the biggest is outside of sacramento, the size of manhattan and just 5% contained, threatening 2,000 homes. in palm springs, a heart stopping moment, floodwaters swept away a 1-year-old. water reached the ceiling in his room, causing the wall to fall. >> his room was gone and he was nowhere to be found. >> the toddler was found safe, 200 feet away in the front yard. the home is a total loss. the funeral will be held for the pennsylvania state trooper gunned down last week in an ambush. corporal bryon dickson was killed last friday. thousands of friends, family and fellow officers turned out for dickson's viewing yesterday. 13,000 students stayed home wednesday in northeast pennsylvania as authorities search for suspect 31-year-old eric frein, considered armed and dangerous. voters in scotland are at the polls right now. it is a simple but not so simple choice to be an independent state or not. turnout is expected to be high, close to 100%. polls show tens of thousands of scottish citizens are still on the fence. british prime minister david cameron expressed concern heading into the vote. >> well, of course, everyone who cares about our united kingdom and i care passionately about our united kingdom is nervous but i'm confident that we set out how scotland can have best of both worlds. >> media mogul and two time presidential candidate steve forbes took to the telegraph to voice his opinion saying, quote, the breakup of great britain would encourage all the forces of chaos, terrorism and aggression and set a terrible precedent. while supporters of an independent state say it is to distance itself from a conservative parliament, that doesn't match scottish concerns. police in virginia are hoping new surveillance video will help find a college student. she was last seen friday night. the two videos show 18-year-old hannah graham walking to a mall early saturday morning. in first video, a man is seen walking in front of the university of virginia student. then stops and walks behind her. two minutes later, graham is seen walking with another woman and the same man is following them. police also released this surveillance video showing her walking outside of a pub about 20 minutes earlier. police do not suspect foul play at this time, but they believe she was under the influence of alcohol. graham's friends reported her missing on sunday after they hadn't heard from her since late friday night. jeannette kai is here with your thursday morning forecast. >> we have a lot of weather to talk about, especially across the desert southwest. we're still talking what was odile, bringing lots of rainfall to southern portions of arizona. a little bit where the heaviest rain is coming down across central and southern sections of new mexico and that overspreads western sections of texas. over the next several days, throughout at least saturday evening, another one to two inches of rainfall, some places locally could see up to six inches, so life threatening flooding possible as we head on into the weekend. in the pacific northwest, pretty showery, cloudy as well, with temperatures in the upper 60s. that's a look at your national the week, highs more closer to seasonable today. and that's your thursday forecast. so, dara, looks like things will stay active in the desert southwest, into western texas, into the weekend. >> looks like those triple digits are also coming down a little bit. that's good news. thank you, jeannette. >> how much money does the government waste out of every dollar they'll spend? we'll tell you. plus, the scene of a horrific church collapse. details coming in two. 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(family laughs) (gong) campbell's! m'm! m'm! good! for four generations back to school? time to stock up on the soups they always love. campbells! . welcome back. rescuers still don't know how many died, new video shows the nigerian church collapse killing at least 70 almost a week ago. south africa says 300 of its people were visiting and in the building at the time. texas put a woman to death last night, lisa coleman was convicted in the deadly starvation of her girlfriend's 9-year-old son. she is the 15th woman executed since 1976. 1400 men were executed in that same time span. toronto mayor rob ford has a rare form of cancer and will undergo chemo. there is hope, his doctor says we're optimistic about treatment. beef prices at an all time high. drought is partly to blame. bureau of labor statistics says ground beef passed $4 a pound last month, that's nearly double from a decade ago. the new apple operating system carry -- it takes a lot of space. nearly 5 gigabytes. and can take hours to download. twitter reacted, in order to download ios 8, you must delete every app in your phone and sacrifice your first born child. and i had to break up with my girl to make space for my i os 8. that's a tough one. it keeps data so private, it won't allow police to retrieve data from iphones or ipads. only the obwn owner of the devin hand over data. pizza hut testing a skinny slice, using less dough than regular pizza and those lighter on toppings. this comes as pizza hut tries to win back market share. last year sales fell 2% while dominos rose 5% and papa john's was up 4%. the latest gallup poll shows americans believe the federal government wastes 51 cents out of every dollar that they spend. procter & gamble agreed to move the tiny plastic beads -- remove them from crest toothpaste after dentists complain the beads hid bacteria in teeth. the beads gave toothpaste color, but had no benefit to improving oral health. and just ahead, a fourth day where the highlights all seem to happen off the field. that's coming up next. nexium®, the purple pill, is now available without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. because the best moments in life aren't experienced from the sidelines. now there's nothing holding you back. this is nexium level protection™. the #1 prescribed acid-blocking brand. now without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protection™. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle, see how much you could save. it's not every day that you find yourself at the corner of "a little flu shot" and "a world of difference." when you get any immunization at walgreens, you'll help provide a lifesaving vaccine to a child in a developing country through the un foundation's shot@life campaign. thanks to customers like you, last year we helped supply three million vaccines to children in need. this year, help give even more. it's easy at walgreens. simply get a shot. and give a shot. at the corner of happy and healthy. this morning on "today," how would you get involved if you saw a lost child on the street. nbc investigative correspondent jeff rossen did a hidden camera social experiment and the results may alarm you. now, it is time for sports. and the third of six mlb divisions is clinched. it is the los angeles angels. they're shut out of seattle in a 5-0 victory. and a texas win over oakland gave the angels their first division title since 2009. to the nfl and chicago's brandon marshall. he's planning to speak out today after being targeted for his domestic violence from five years ago. marshall tweeted, he plans to address the current state of the nfl, roger goodell, domestic violence, and espn and using his case to show why i need to have the right assistance in place before we act. marshall was originally banned for three games, but reduced when he was not convicted. a statement from chicago's gm phil emory said brandon has the full support of the bears. florida state quarterback jamison winston will sit out of the first half of the game after yelling an obscene statement in the student union on tuesday. former nfl players, the keymotu brothers are making the news. maki donated a kidney to his little brother chris, a former pittsburgh player. >> if my brother or any of my siblings need blood, it will be my blood, and my brother's siblings needed a kidney, it would have to be my kidney. >> true thank you to him for making the sacrifice. it really has been a really humbling experience for me. >> little bro chris, whose health was at risk, couldn't play anymore. so big bro maki gave him his kidney and quit too, not wanting to go on in the nfl without his kid brother. just ahead, guess who is coming to downton abbey? 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>> no. >> maybe i can fix this. watch. >> wow. 10 of spades. is that you? is that right? >> mesmerizing and awesome. matt franco was the winner of the ninth season of "america's got talent." franco gets a las vegas show, and $1 million. i wonder if he can just make that magic happen. >> yes. >> and also, winning a million dollars last night, math teacher sarah manchester. she became the third person to win the million dollar prize in the history of "wheel of fortune." i've never seen that happen before. that's fantastic. >> amazing. and look out for george clooney on downton abbey next season. hmm. after a secret visit to the cast last week, it confirmed that clooney will be making an appearance. now, this is interesting. i wonder if he'll play an american or if he'll put the british accent on and be one of the family members. >> lord clooney. i'm sure fans can't wait. >> that might be outside of downton abbey. that might be in george clooney's, you know, future. who knows what he'll be crowned soon. >> right. >> i'm dara brown. this is "early today." we hope it is just your first stop of the day on nbc. he found it cleans everything... whefrom stove tops...d writing a book about his magic eraser ...to scuffed shoes, and more. and when ran out of pages, he made a website instead. share your tips at mycleanbook.com say revlon colorstay makeup. breakthrough time release technology keeps skin balanced for a continuously fresh look. 24 hour wear. flawless results. and these little angels build in strength. and that little angel says, "weeeeeeeee!" 60% more sheets than charmin. everything you want and the value you love. angel soft. leading the news from our cincinnati affiliate wlwt 5, u.s. senate candidate uses campaign to spread slogan with jews, we lose. robert ransel says he knows he can't win against mcconnell or grimes, but he's using the campaign to spread his shocking anti-semitic message. from nbc bay area, drag queens say they will mobilize if facebook doesn't change real names policy. several drag queens are trying to convince facebook to let them use stage names on their facebook pages instead of their real names. on wednesday, a meeting with facebook officials didn't go their way. >> we can't let them tell us we're not genuine. >> we're not going to rest until this unfair discriminatory policy is taken away from facebook. now to other stories we're following, we're learning more about an attack on a gay couple in philadelphia last week. this police video exploded online and helped authorities find persons of interest. some of them are being interviewed but no official charges. a local school says one of them works as an assistant basketball coach and has been fired. so help me god, those words were mandatory for airmen taking their enlistment or officer appointment oath until now. that decision from the air force after one airman was allegedly told by his commanders, swear to god or leave the service. and police may soon be able to use a radar gun to tell if you're texting while driving. the virginian pilot reports com sonics isn't far away from producing that device. it could track radio frequencies unique to texting. and in l.a., a chase that had it all. a news chopper caught every wild frame, cops are tailing a stolen van, and it looked like it was over until the driver jumped the curb. a cop car bumps the van, spins it, but, hey, it is still going, rolling on three tires. and the sparks fly. then another cop bumps and the van finally stops. the suspects are taken down. and now it is time for a look ahead and a look back. in pennsylvania, a newlywed couple who lured a stranger to his death through a craigslist ad is scheduled to be sentenced. miranda barber and elliott pleaded guilty last month to second degree murder in a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. the victim was answering an ad for a companionship when he was murdered last november. today's birthday, ronaldo turns 38, "snl" player jason sudeikis is 39, and jada pinkett smith turns 43. well, i'm dara brown along with jeannette kai. thanks for watching "early today." have a great one today. wet roads already after steady sprinkles overnight. let's bring in meteorologist christina loren. she's back. >> good morning to you, laura, everybody at home. our first rain of the season officially on the radar this season. we're really excited about is

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