feels like the middle of a long hot summer. bc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: a heat wave continues to sweep across much of the country right now. >> it's sticky is how i'd describe it. >> reporter: sticky, stief ling, and likely to stay around for a while. >> mostly windy, sunny and hot again this afternoon. >> reporter: so hot teen forecasters are looking for a little relief. the more traditional dunk in detroit is at community swimming pools and charlotte water parks are parked while outside of boston hundreds are hoping to beat the heat at the beach. it's anything but a day at the beach for those that have to work in the blazing sun, whether it's laying bricks or cutting lawns, crews battling near 100-degree temperatures have to take plenty of breaks and stay hydrated. >> keep my water and my gatorade, and i'm all set for the day. >> reporter: in philadelphia, free ice cream is helping to keep things cool, but in the end on the first day of summer, these kids seem to have figured out the best way to beat the heat. jay gray, nbc news. >> and have some fun while doing it. of course, nbc's meteorologist bill karins will have much more on this record heat wave and weather. first the house led committee voted to cite eric holder for contempt. it allowed mention began gangs to obtain guns. the white house charged the committee is engaging in, a quote, tax-payer-funded election-year phishing kpek diggs and offering a partial release of it. it wasn't enough to stop it. steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: all 23 republicans on the committee voted for contempt. all 17 democrats were opposed. >> the ayes have it. >> reporter: u.s. attorney eric holder possibly headed to a contempt vote on the house floor. president obama tried to prevent it, invoking executive privilege, denying house republicans internal documents on fast and furious, the kind used in criminal cases and often withheld from congress. everyone agrees that gun-running sting went barkd letting mexican gangs walk away with 2,000 assault weapons. >> who knew about fast and furious, when did they know about it, and how high up did it go? >> reporter: the house has expected holderknew. >> what in the world is he exerting executive privilege for? he's either part of it or not. >> reporter: democrats talk about it's not about gut guts. >> it should. be a witch hunt against our country and our president in an election year. >> reporter: the battle rages on. well, after just seven days of testimony, closing arguments are set for today in the child sex abuse trial of former penn state assistant football doech jerry sandusky. despite suggestions by his lawyer that he might testify, the defense rested wednesday without calling sandusky to the stand to dispute 51 criminal charges of alleged 'bous of ten boys over a 15-year period. now, if convicted the 68-year-old former defensive coordinator could be sent to state prison for the rest of his life. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in tennessee a traffic camera captured a bicyclist being run down by an suv whose driver just kept on going. the cyclist was thrown some 30 feet as the driver just took off. the victim had to be airlifted to the hospital and is now recovering. the police are still looking for the driver. in san francisco flames ripped through the roof of a large pier of the city's famed waterfront. the fire caused part of the front of the building to tear away and crash to the ground. that pier was undergoing construction and set to be the home base for the america's cup next year. no one was hurt. and finally in nebraska, they're the tiniest of rodeo riders. we love this. about 80 kids did their best to hang on in the mutt on the bustin' competition. they rode lambs for as lodge as they could. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning do you, bill. >> good morning. did you enjoy your little mini heat nap? >> i stayed inside, mm-hmm. >> that's how the people in arizona do it. crank the ac like the wintertime in the north, just the opposite. the incredible heat stretched all the way from the deserts of arizona all the way through tennessee and the ohio valley, back into the northeast. it was very widespread obviously from boston southwards to d.c. we didn't quite get to a hundred in any location. we were close, though. newark with 98. laguardia, new york city hit 98. and also d.c. i think today's going to be a little warmer. we still have the heat advisories in place. thankfully the humidity levels aren't off the charts high like sometimes you get in july and august. if it were really super humid we would see heat warnings in all cities. heat levels will be low during the peak heath. 99 in philly, 100 in d.c. this is pretty incredible stuff out there. be careful, of course, in this area. we're looking for a little bit of relief, especially in the november plains. eventually that's going the arrive in chicago and kansas city. ahhh. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look outside your window. today the cold front will arrive in place like indianapolis. you'll get showers this afternoon and that will begin to cool things off a little bit. still getting very hot down in dallas. today, about mid-90s. so today's the worst of it. the cold front is going to move all the way to the east coast by the weekend. >> perfect timing. all right, bill. thanks so much. coming up, big ben givens but not enough for wall street, bad news for mcdonald's, and let one multi-million ceo bought to indulge himself. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, alec baldwin goes on the comedy offenses on the dust-up with the new york photographer. a record-setting night at yankee stadium and college football takes another step toward a playoff system. 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. egyptians are protesting the delayed announcement of the winner in the presidential vote, while allegations of election abuse are investigated. that could affect whether an islamic candidate or a former military officer becomes the country's next leader. in san francisco, bill lee has been fired as police chief for the unarmed shooting of trayvon martin. the city manager said they need a police chief all citizens can support. he has died at age 91. and england's prince william is celebrating his 30th birthday privately today. turning 30 also means that william inherits around $50 million from his trust fund from his mother. and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. a new study finds that up to eight alcoholic drichks per week while pregnant may be okay. children of mothers did not have any iq deficits than mothers who didn't. however, mothers who did have more drinks were linked to an increased risk in attention problems in their children. and for more information on this and other health stories, you can check out the health page at msnbc.com. >> announcer: "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil wash with oi door block, the confident clean. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,824 after lose 1g 2 points yesterday. the s&p was down 2. the nasdaq was up a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei rose 71 points but in hong kong the hang sang sank 253. well stocks barely budged wednesday as a largely symbolic move by the fed failed to impress investors. after slashing its forecast through 2014 ben bernanke announced the fed will extend operation twist which seeks to lower borrowing costs through securities purr chags by the feds through year's end but wall street was disappointed that more action such as another bond buying program would have to wait. concerns about weakening demand weakened with procter & gamble lowering its quarterly growth forecast, sending it u down 3%. another outlue look came from bed, bath, and beyond. tech stocks were the day's biggest gainers. jabil soared 7%. meanwhile adobe systems fled 3% after slashing its outlook. an illinois woman is hoping to cash in with a class action lawsuit over linkedin's recent security breach. the world's number two burger chain last traded as a public company back in 2010. meanwhile, mcdonald's, the number one fast food chain lacked last in customer satisfaction according to a national poll. crude prices dropped near eight-month lows. yesterday the government's first offshore oil lease option near the gulf oil disaster brought in $1.78 billion. and finally oracle's ceo larry ellison is buying himself an island. not just any i lachbltd he's shelling out $500 million to $600 million for 98% of the h an island lanai. coming up the phils catch a bag, big papi goes yard and they get a home run. plus, new york yankee stadium has never seen a home run derby like this one. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather as we head toward the upcoming weekend, our temperatures are going to return to where they should be. you're watching "early today." 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[ beeping, ticks ] and when their devices are powered by a battery, there are athletes everywhere who trust duracell so whether they're headed for london or the journey has just begun... they rely on copper to go for the gold. duracell. trusted everywhere. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports after years of complaints about how college football crowns its national champion, yesterday a solution may have emerged. here's nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. hi, there. good morning. we'll start with the big news out of college football. the bcs conferences have agreed to a 14-game playoff system. a committee will decide which teams qualify based on college championship and schedule. if approved the playoff will begin in 2014. now to the diamonds where the yankees and braves set a new stadium record, combining for nine home runs. jason hayward left the yard twice. braves win the home run desh by, 10-5. nine there. how about eight between the mariners and diamondbacks. ryan roberts with the toughest one of them all. fly ball takes a crazy bounce off the wall. roberts says i'm going to score too, hustles around the plate. the catcher can't handle it. an inside the park home run. the d'backs win a barn burner, 14-10. there's no way david ortiz is going to hit an inside the park home run but he can do this. grand slam for big papi. they win it, 15-5. rockies and phillies. two outs with the bases loads. polanco with a grounder. marco scutaro pulls it in. polanco is safe and the winning run scores. not pretty but the phils will take it. they win this one, 6-5. and finally hockey's best were in las vegas yesterday. no, not to see celine dion but for the nhl awards. some notable winners henrik lundqvist. for the league's top goalie henrik karlsson took home the norris trow fis for top defensemen and evgeni malkin won his first mvp award. soak it up, hockey fan. this could be the last time you see these guys for a while. there's a real threat of a lockout next season. that's a look at sports on "early today." i'm solis. >> reporter: "early today" brought to you by moustache and beard just for men. keep your beard. jim carrey says no and you won't believe who gets crashed. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus a long lost wedding ring makes a happy return. you're watching "early today." welcome back to "early today." lost in all the heat wave talk across the country was the incredible record flooding yesterday in duluth, minnesota. some of the photos out of the region were just incredible with roads washed out. it was almost impossible for people to get around. the zoo was flooded. that i had to tranquilize the polar bar. some animals passed away in the flood. they're dealing with a lot of clean-up there in minnesota. as far as the cold front, the cool off will be in kansas city and chicago. but for the east coast, today's the day. if you're watching us on wvit in connecticut, hardford, nearby norwalk, see one of the rarest animals in the world at white alligator. that's the mary tame aquarium. and that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. clearly in a better mood last night than he was the day before, alec baldwin tried to make light of his run-in with the paparazzi. after dropping his pants -- yes, that's right, after dropping his pants on late night with david letterman to prove he lost weight he addressed the incident where he denied he punched the photographer. then he joked, i think you can see i'm forming the letter "s" with my mouth. it was funnier in delivery. i'm not that good at that. else where jim carrey frustrated by lack of enthusiasm from the two studio behind it is out of the sequel in "dumb & dummer. yts. you wouldn't think kissing angelina would be a chorks but, quote, james mcavoy, her co-star said kissing her was awkward, sweaty, and not very nice. bill, thoughts? then, sandy newton did not enjoy kissing tom cruise back in 2000. she said kissing tom cruise was slightly icky and sort of wet. i'm sort of like this is information i'd rather not know. this comes to us from k krc. the couple found a 14-karat golden wedding ring buried under the seat of a used car they bought. it was inscribed with ted withling date from 1961. for weeks they didn't know who it blocked to. they tracked down the winner, a 79-year-old widow. it's their late huft's ring and it will now be given to the son. good to hear. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. it will be another hot and steamy day. one more day and this many heat wave and we'll have a cool off going into the weekend. it feels tropical outside. hot, humid. the actual high temperature will be in the upper 90's. director for today is 100. we do have some relief in the seven-day forecast. >> 4:56. 78 degrees on tv hill. >> the governor faces a roadblock in an effort to open up a sixth casino in maryland. >> ava marie shows up in a federal investigation -- eddie murray showing up in a federal investigation. investigation. >> we will talk abo investigation. >> we will talk abo we gotta sell the car. where would we even start? get the car. hi howard. get in. hi, good to see you. start with an actual written offer when selling your car, no strings attached. carmax. start here. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> we have one more day of this? >> today will probably be a couple of degrees hotter than yesterday. right now it is warm, muggy, a