in need of good news after thursday's major sell-off. initially investors got some good news, but stocks opened strong initially, but now the dow is back down in negative territory. >> down about 55 points right now. let's look at the jobs numbers. the unemployment rate dipped to 9.1% in july. employers adsing about 117,000 new jobs, so what's the take-away of all this for you? we're going to talk to cnbc's maria bartiromo and jim kramer from the floor of the new york stock exchange in just a couple minutes. redmond o'neill, the son of ryan o'neill and the late farrah faucet was arraigned on thursday following his most recent drug arrest. what ryan o'neal says about his son's latest trouble. and a remarkable couple we've been following on "today" for more than a year now. rachel was paralyzeeds when she was pushed into her pool at her bachelorette party. she's finally married the man of her dreams. they are back from their honeymoon, and they'll be in our studio to talk to us. >> nice of them to make that stop. and one of the most beloved stars of the 20th century, lucille ball, would have turned 100 tomorrow. we're going to show you tom never-before-seen photographs of the tv star. >> hard to believe there are photos we have not seen of lucille ball. we've got a huge crowd out on the plaza for a concert with one of the best bands around, maroon5. we'll get to that in our 8:30 half hour. let's begin with the jobs report and the reaction on wall street. after the worst sell-off in 2 1/2 years. cnbc's maria bartiromo and jim cramer are at the new york stock exchange. good morning to both of you. >> borng. >> 117,000 jobs in the month of july. that sounds like really good news or at least better news than anticipated. why is the market down slightly right now? >> look, i would love to tell you that our country is really in charge of our own destiny. that's clearly a better number. i don't need to know how much we'd be down without it. but this is a problem having to do with europe. an unseen worry that people could say what the heck is going on down there on wall street? it's not all that crazy. we're worried about italy, spain, and greece. this summer does not make it better. >> and worried about the u.s. yes, the numbers are better than expected for the month of july, but people recognize that there are structural changes that need to take place. we're still talking about a debt load that the country needs to get its arms around. and i think there's a lot of nervousness that we, in fact, are seeing this soft patch in the u.s. persist. i agree, it is about larger losses, but we're also seeing fragility when it comes to the u.s. economy. >> we'll talk about some of those factors in just a second. the market down 11% in the last couple weeks, wiping out the gains for the entire year. i want to ask you both about something that paul krugman yoet wroet in this morning's "new york times." pretty pessimistic, guys. >> that's harsh. we had some recovery. it was a stimulated recovery out of washington. i think you could argue that it's not a great recovery. i don't necessarily see a severe recession. i think it's important to point out that the stock market can diverge. think about how wrong it would have been to panic and get out before an employment number. i don't think things are that bad. not that bad. >> the truth is the corporate sector, and i know jim agrees, is the strongest we've seen in a long time. corporate profits have been very strong, $2.5 trillion in cash on the balance sheet. but the fact is the new worry is will this soft patch impact what has been part of the recovery? i don't care what you call it. call it a recession, depression, double dip, triple dip. that doesn't mat kwhaer you label it. what's more important is we're all feeling it. we're still in an environment where we're worried and that will hold back spending and sentiment. >> let's look back a little bit to see another element that may have had some impact here. that nasty debate over raising the debt ceiling that we watched play out in congress over the last several weeks, it clearly shook people up, didn't it? >> absolutely. a quick story. someone said to me the other day, what do you think about the debt ceiling? this person is not involved in any of this. i said why are you asking? he said i want to send my daughter to catholic school and the deposit is due next week. but if the economy is going to crash, i'm going to send her to public school. i thought, whoa, this is what's going on across the country -- indecision, lack of moving forward as a result of this talk in washington. don't underestimate what happened as a result of that back and forth because of the debt ceiling. people just stopped doing -- >> it was a near-death experience. social security checks, are they going to be in the mail? is the military going to be paid, our interest going to be paid? lasting damage from that, matt. without a doubt. lasting damage. i still say you don't need to abandon all hope because i do believe as maria pointed out our corporations are strong. in reference to the stock market, we are getting bargains. it can still come down. no one denies that. problems are more in europe than the united states. this is not 2008, matt. it is not. >> the biggest difference that i can see between right now and 2008, a couple things, jim, you've had less hair, but also, you are not -- you are not running around as you did in 2008 on this show telling people if you need your money in the short term get it out of the market. >> no. it's not one of those. i was trying to dodge a 30% decline, which we got. i don't see that in the cards. this is not a time to panic. it's a very strange time where panic actually paid off. >> it's not a time to panic, but let's not wear rose-colored glasses. we're in a fragile economy. housing the stuck in the mud, hasn't done much, and we're looking at structural issues in the economy where we'll have to make changes, and that means spending cuts and cuts to the programs that are quite critical. >> banks are strong. corporations are strong. they were weak. it is europe that is the problem right now, not our corporations and banks. their banks, their bonds. >> all right. jim, you know i love you. thanks very much. maria, thank you very much. >> no love for me, matt? >> love for you, too. good to have you both here. here's ann. >> all right, matt, thank you. >> now to the prual heat wave covering the entire southern portion of the united states. even more records were shattered on thursday, and it will be another scorcher today. nbc's janet shamlian is live in houston, texas, this morning. janet, good morning. >> reporter: ann, good morning. the demand on the power grid is so great there is concerns about outages. it comes at a time where fans and ac are necessities, not just in texas but all over the south. >> do not take these temperatures lightly. there is nothing -- there's nothing trivial about this at all. >> reporter: in memphis, where the heat is being blamed for the deaths of a police officer and public works employee, city leaders are pleading with residents to look after their neighbors. >> please, just check on somebody. >> reporter: a gardner in santa fe, texas, did just that and saved an elderly man when he spotted him on the floor passed out from 100-degree temperatures inside this mobile home. carla allen is one of thousands left without power in arkansas after a malfunction at the area's utility plant. with no air conditioning to keep cool, she worries for her pets. >> they can't stand the heat. so i don't know what we're going to do. >> reporter: nightfall provided little relief for firefighters rescuing a communications tower worker who fainted from heat exhaustion in dallas this week. >> the heat is tremendous right now, even at night. the guys had to climb up 700 feet to get to the patient. >> reporter: it's so hot this lake in central texas has turned blood red, the result of bacteria that thrive in water starved of oxygen. the lack of rainfall is also contributing to the spiking temperatures. >> this heat wave is actually hotter than it would have been if we hadn't had a drought under way. >> reporter: residents aren't allowed to tend to their yards. >> you've invested all this money in the trees and there's nothing we can do to water them to keep them alive so we're probably going have to replace several of them. >> reporter: soaring temperatures are also taking a financial toll on those who make a living in the heat of summer. in phoenix, wranglers who offer horseback rides to tourists have to restrict their hours. not only for the safety of the riders but for the horses as well. >> what are you going to do? you can't endanger the stock, you can't endanger the guests. what are you going to do? >> reporter: with temperatures below 100 degrees nowhere to be seen and the school year fast approaching, these students at a supply fair in dallas learn plenty of lessons on how to stay cool. >> we gave out a lot of water today. >> reporter: three high school football players and a high school coach all have died within the last week, and all of those deaths are believed to be heat related. some are calling for an end to those two-a-day practices where they come out in the morning and then in the heat of the day in heavy pads and helmets. it's a critical situation across texas and much of the south. >> janet shamlian, thank you so much. so just how much longer will this extreme heat last? al roker is upstairs with more on this. hey, al, good morning. >> good morning, ann. first of all, we want to tell you about emily. was a tropical storm as of yesterday, now no longer, just a disorganized mess bringing a lot of rain to haiti, where they don't need it. these are cities that have had 100 degree days. 42 of them in oklahoma city. 45 in midland. afternoon highs, dallas a high of 108, 103 in tulsa. shreveport, 107 degrees. add in the humidity, it will feel like 110 in shreveport, 113 in tulsa, 112 in laredo. the good news is in parts of the south, the high pressure is going to start to move back to the west. so that wide area of warm, moist air will shrink. cooler, drier air will come down out of canada into the plains, great lakes into the northeast, but unfortunately from all of texas, oklahoma, parts of nebraska, arkansas, and mississippi, the heat will continue, 100-plus readings still into the beginning and middle of next week. no relief in sight. ann? >> all right. so we can't say it enough -- hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. al, thanks. first a check of the morning's other top stories. natalie morales is at the news desk this morning. >> good morning to you, ann. good morning, everyone. about 4,000 furloughed federal aviation administration employees could return to work as soon as monday as the senate votes today to end the two-week partial shutdown of the agency. some 70,000 workers on construction related projects could also be back on the job soon. the bill extends the faa's operating authority through september and eliminates more than $16 million in service subsidies to some rural airports. with the stalling economy president obama is urging congress to help america's 1 million unemployed veterans get back into the civilian workforce. the president will outline his proposal today that would give tax incentives to companies that hire out of work veterans. warren jeffs heads to a sentencing hearing today after convicted thursday on two child sexual assault convictions. jeffs had 79 wives and 24 of them under the age of 17, according to texas prosecutors. he faces life in prison. former beatle paul mccartney says he plans to contact police, claiming he may be yet another victim of the british phone hacking scandal. earlier this week, his ex-wife, heather mills, told the bbc that she'd been confronted by a journalist with details of a phone message left by mccartney in 2001. mccartney called the scandal a horrendous invasion of friday. a five-hour lockdown at virginia tech thursday brought back memories of 2007 when the school was the site of the worst mass school shooting in history. three teenage girls attending a summer camp at the university reported they saw a man possibly carrying a gun. students and staff were ordered to stay indoors, but no suspects were found. it's official. there will be a football season this year. players ratified a new ten-year collective bargaining agreement ending nearly a five-month lockout. the new contract will eventually make the nfl the first major u.s. sports league to use blood testing for human growth hormone. and the shuttle program may now be over, but nasa is still setting its sights sky-high. this morning "juneau" will be launched from cape ka ral on a five-year trip to jupiter. it is now 7:13. let's go back to ann and al. >> all right, natalie. thank you so much. and al is back with his forecast. looks like we need sunglasses for a couple of reasons this morning. >> that's right. thank vow very much. >> nicely done. >> we try. and as we try to show you where the severe weather is going to be it's in the plains mostly today. could be some strong storms. we're not looking for tornadoes out of this. the heat will continue through the southwest. beautiful day in the northeast. 88 in dc. 83 in new york city. clouds in the pacific northwest. 73 degrees in seattle. and a darn nice day in los angeles with plenty of sunshine and a high of 71 degrees -- 81 degrees. 81 here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> hey, we're going to see a darned nice day as well once we get rid of all of this low cloud cover. you are socked in with fog on our local bridges, it's not going the last all day. the sun will come out warming to about 66 in the city of san francisco, elsewhere i'm going 80 degrees in los gatos and 76 in places like napa. just about the same or maybe a hint warmer than where we ended up yesterday. the big weekend has arrived. temperatures nice and mild. weather. ann? >> al, thank yo >> that's your latest weather. now to the humanitarian crisis in somalia, a famine affecting millions of people. one brave woman has made it her mission to help, even though she was held prisoner there for 460 agonizing days. nbc's kate snow is in kenya with that woman's story. kate, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, ann. when amanda was released a year and a half ago, she made it a point of founding an organization to bring schools to the somali refugee camps in kenya in the hopes that if you educate young people they'll be less likely to commit violent acts. and then the famine hit, and she decided to do even more -- a convoy into somalia. >> i want to go in five minutes. this has been going on too long already. okay? >> reporter: organizing a food convoy into southern somalia is a logistical nightmare. not many small aid organizations are attempting it. >> these are your two trucks? >> yeah, yeah, i'm so excited to be bringing these trucks to somalia. >> reporter: but 30-year-old amanda lynnhouse's devotion to the challenge is even more impressive when you consider the last time she spoke to the world from inside somalia. perhaps the most dangerous country on earth. >> i don't know how much longer i can -- i can bear this. >> reporter: she had been working as a freelance journalist when she was kidnapped in mogadishu, held for 15 1/2 months. >> there's no one to take care of me here. i don't want to die here. >> reporter: they didn't treat you well at all. >> no. it was about as bad as you can imagine. i was kidnapped by a handful of teenage boys. so you can only begin to imagine the types of abuse that i endured. and it probably surpasses even where your imagination can go. >> reporter: daily. >> daily. >> reporter: chained, alone in a pitch-black room, she began to dream about what she would do if she ever made it out alive. >> i found that the most positive way to spend the time was really to think about programs that i could create that would one day transform somalia into a better place. >> reporter: after amanda's family paid for her release she returned to her native canada, but thursday morning she set off for the very country she once begged to leave. >> i was really tossing and turning. and i think maybe questioning right up until the end if i could actually go through with it. but here i am now, and i feel ready. >> reporter: you have permission from the transitional government now. >> yes, i was welcomed in. welcome to somalia, he said. >> reporter: you just stepped into somalia. >> i know. >> reporter: they unloaded enough food for 14,000 people, rice, sugar, flour, and oil. >> the last time that i was here it was not so good. at the moment i'm feeling better. there's a lot of security around. and you look at the little kids here, and that's the whole reason. >> reporter: feeding the hungry was what this trip was all about, of course. for amanda it was also about reclaiming a part of herself, facing her fears and letting them go. she's already making plans for a second food convoy into somalia. you can go to her website, globalenrichmentfoundation.com or at our web sit, today.com. >> kate snow, thank you so much. here's malt. here at home, a hearing is is under way to determine if casey anthony will have to return to florida to serve probation on a fraud charge. jeff rossen is outside the courthouse in orlando with the latest. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. obviously, casey anthony doesn't want to come back to florida or serve her probation. even prosecutors here in florida aren't asking her to come back. at this point, it's all up to the judge, and he could decide momentarily, sometime today, if casey anthony can remain in hiding or not. when casey anthony was released last month, who knew we would be back today, awaiting a new ruling that could send her right back here to orlando. here's the issue. long before her murder trial, casey anthony pled guilty to check fraud. >> i sincerely apologize. >> reporter: admitting she went on shopping sprees at target and winn-dixie using her best friend's account. the sentence, time served and one year probation. at issue now, whether she already served that probation while sitting in jail waiting for her murder trial or does she need to come back. >> if the department of corrections was supervising her that entire year and she was at jeopardy of violating her probation if she did something wrong in jail, that means she was serving that sentence and we can't have her do it twice. >> reporter: but the judge in the check fraud case said she intended casey anthony to serve her probation after her release, not in jail. casey's lawyers are fighting that. the original judge has since recused himself. so now this judge, the one who presided over the murder trial, could decide today. casey anthony's lead attorney, jose baez, spoke with matt here on "today." >> i live in the united states of america where someone's accused of a crime, you have your day in court, and if a jury finds you not guilty, that should be the end of it. but unfortunately, in this e-lynching-type day that we live in, that's not possible. >> we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. >> reporter: and don't forget, many in orlando don't want casey anthony to return. some people here screamed when the jury came back with a not guilty in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. now, for some, that shock has morphed into anger with concerns for casey's safety. >> there's a lot of hate. she don't want to be in orlando right now. i would give it some time. give it a year or couple. >> reporter: it is all coming to a head inside this orlando courtroom right now. back to live pictures inside. this is the assistant state attorney who is challenging whether casey anthony should be coming back here or not