And we have the response you wont want to miss today. Wednesday, august 20th, 2014. Announcer from nbc news this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Im matt lauer alongside tamron hall while savannah continues maternity leave. We have to start with a horrific story this morning. These images were seeing that were not going to show, the execution of an american journalist. This is an extremely disturbing story. James foley was held for nearly two years after he was captured in syria. He gave his life trying to expose the world to his suffering there. Andrea mitchell, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. Isis terrorists say they killed james foley in retribution for americas recent air strikes in iraq. And theyre now threatening another slaying unless president obama backs down. James foley seen here just prior to his gruesome execution by isis. Foley has been missing for two years believed held with other western hostages in Northern Syria. An experienced journalist most recently with global post. Foley was abducted on thanksgiving day in Northern Syria 2012. Six weeks after he went missing his parents talked on today. After 40 days without information, we felt it was important to make people aware and remind them that jims an objective journalist, innocent journalist doing his job. Reporter foley had previously been captive in libya in 2011. After his release, he was passionate about the need to cover wars despite the danger as he told the boston globe. I believe this is important. Without these photos and videos and firsthand experience, we cant really tell the world how bad it might be. Reporter isis did release four french journalists in april and other westerners reportedly after their governments or go betweens paid ransom although they have denied it. The video also purportedly showed another american journalist who they said they will kill next. Foleys mother diane released a statement saying we thank jim for all the joy he gave us. He was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist, and person. We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like jim they are innocent. Friends who have been working actively to save foley were told by the u. S. Any operation would likely result in the death of all hostages. And the u. S. Refuses to pay ransom to terrorists. Thank you very much. Richard engel is nbcs chief foreign correspondent. Andrea talked about an operation deemed too dangerous. What were the logistical issues. Reporter it would be a logistical nightmare. This is the border between turkey and syria. The u. S. Has no friendly place to operate inside syria. There are no bases so you couldnt launch a rescue operation by road. You would have to come in by air presumably by helicopter and also assuming that the militants expect this is a possibility, as soon as they heard any helicopter approach, they could kill any hostage they have. Richard, we know that the isis militants are holding another american journalist hostage. Do we have any idea of how many others they might be holding from other countries . Reporter we dont know the exact number, because a lot of families dont want to talk about their missing relatives. Some people may have been killed and are still missing and unaccounted for. Some may be held by the regime. But its fair to assume there are between 30 and 40 western hostages, most of them journalists, aid workers as well. Almost all of them crossing from turkey into syria. Over the last several years there were many different groups in syria that were taking hostages. But isis has been collecting them. Theyve been buying them from other groups, theyve been trading them. Sometimes theyve just been stealing them off of militants. So now almost all of the foreign hostages are being held by this very dangerous group. Richard engel on the border of turkey and syria on a horrific story. Thank you very much. Now to a tense standoff this morning at a home in suburban chicago. At least two children are among the hostages being held by suspects in a botched burglary and shootout with police. Negotiators working through the night to try and end this situation. Nbcs john yang is there. What is the latest . Reporter well, tamron, you may be able to hear the sirens. The police say theyre using those to try to keep the two suspects awake and alert as they continue their negotiations. This all began at midday yesterday. As you say, a botched burglary attempt. Two officers wounded, both nonlife threatening wounds. Both already home. But the burglars, the two suspects took eight people hostage. Two adults, six children. Overnight four of those children were released. The last one at 10 30 tuesday night. They were 11 years old, 2 years old, and two 1yearolds. Police say the oldest of those children has been helping them a lot. The 11yearold who was released last night around 8 30 has been very helpful to the negotiators in determining what exactly is inside. From the inception we were highly dependent upon the suspects. Now we have credible information as some of the victims have come out of the house. Reporter now, some of the neighbors have been evacuated, two nearby schools will be closed today. All this as talks go on both through a bull horn through an open window and on telephone as police try to bring this to a peaceful conclusion. Thank you, john. Eric holder heads to ferguson, missouri, today among encouraging signs that it could be easing somewhat. Craig melvin is in ferguson. Good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. No tear gas last night. No molotov cocktails thrown. There were some 47 arrests made in the Early Morning hours as police pushed the remaining pockets of protesters off the streets. Most of those folks were arrested for failure to disperse. Today the Michael Brown case moves off the streets and into the courthouse. 24 hours ago, these were the Images Associated with focus in missouri. But overnight, relative calm. Cars moving freely in the area where military style vehicles stood at the ready the night before. Law enforcement officers still donning helmet, shields, and riot gear. But the police presence, smaller. The air free of smoke and tear gas, isolated pockets of tension diffused quickly. Tonight we saw a different dynamic. Protest crowds were a bit smaller and they were out earlier. Reporter the quiet night came after shooting earlier in the day. A few miles away from where Michael Brown was killed, a 23yearold robbery suspect armed with a knife was confronted by st. Louis police. Officers opened fire when the suspect moved towards them killing them. Keeping the peace in ferguson has been no easy task. We rode along with captain ron johnson of the highway patrol. Took us to a Convenience Store that had been hit twice. Thats the same group. Reporter its the same type of criminal element. If the officer was charged tomorrow, if there was an indictment tomorrow, do you think these streets would be empty the following night . If charges were brought tonight, our peaceful people will still be out here. The criminal element is going to be out here as long as they know they can create havoc and cause issues. Reporter today eric holder will be here in ferguson. He will be meeting with federal investigators. This as county prosecutors start the grand jury proceedings. The Police Officer has been interviewed. He has also been given the opportunity to address that grand jury panel. Matt . All right, craig melvin. Thank you very much. A little earlier this morning we spoke to Sergeant Kevin ahlbrand. Hes the president of the missouri fraternal order of peace that represents the officer that shot Michael Brown. I began asking about governor jay nixons comments that he wants a prosecution in this case and also if he feels theres been a rush to judgment. Im very disappointed with governor nixons remarks in that case. Asking for vigorous prosecution. Were all for vigorous investigation, but vigorous prosecution i believe is irresponsible and a rush to judgment before all the facts are in. That was Sergeant Kevin ahlbrand. A lot still going on there. Meantime, the cleanup is going on in arizona. Rain in areas caught thousands of residents off guard leading to evacuations and dramatic rescues. Jacob rascon is in phoenix. Good morning. Reporter tamron, good morning. This is a monsoon season unlike any here in recent memory. The flood water leaving neighborhoods a wreck. Lifting a momebile home off of s foundation and tossing it into a tree. In only a few hours, a few inches of rain turning arizonas desert into a deluge of water. Rivers of mud, tossing trailers like toys in a bathtub. These horses desperate for higher ground. Homes nearly swept away. This one held by two trees. Buying rescuers enough time to pull the two women to safety. A very dangerous situation. Reporter in the town of surprise, an overflowing wash sweeps a minivan off the road. The driver barely escapes. There were two feet running on the side of the car. Reporter shirley his wife of 60 years was left inside. I was floating away. It was so scary. Theres the sheriffhelicopte. Reporter with the raging water threatening to swallow the car, rescuers rush in pulling shirley to safety just in time. And i thank that fireman so much for saving me, because i couldnt have got out by myself. Reporter a total of 14 rescues happening during the flood and everybody made it out alive. During the storm, nobody was inside this house. As most of arizona braces for another round of storms into tomorrow. Tamron . All right, jacob. Thank you. How terrifying. That poor lady. Oh, they are so lucky. More storms coming today. The grounds already saturated. Any bit will cause problems. Parts of the west we have floods. And other parts we have wildfires. A wildfire threatening hundreds of homes in southern california. The wave fire east of bakersfield has grown to 3300 acres. Eight structures and ten outbuildings have been destroyed. Some residents are being asked to evacuate. Meantime firefighters are getting a better handle on a fire near yosemite park. Texas governor rick perry has been booked on two felony counts of abuse of power. He is vowing to fight the charges with every fiber of his being. Janet shamlian is in austin, texas, covering the story. Good morning. Reporter good morning. It looks like a political rally more than a criminal surrender here tuesday. Dozens of supporters cheering on the Texas Governor as he turns himself in to be booked on abuse of power charges. The governor was fingerprinted. He had his mugshot taken. Then he came out to address the crowd a second time. Defiantly he called this a political hatchet job and vowed to fight it. He and his attorneys apparently went for ice cream afterwards and tweeted out a photo of that. Perry has been testing the 2016 president ial waters and is scheduled to visit New Hampshire later this week. All right. Thank you. The Obama Administration says it plans to change the way travelers can ask to be removed from its no fly list. This after a federal judge ruled that there was no meaningful way to challenge the air travel ban which the judge says is unconstitutional. The Justice Department says the u. S. Will make changes during the next six months but offered few details. As of late last summer, there were 48,000 people still on the no fly list. A patient who may have been exposed to the ebola virus is being tested. The patient is being kept in isolation. Doctors at the sacramento hospital took a blood sample and send it to centers for Disease Control and prevention in atlanta. It could take several days for those results to come back. And a motorcyclist who ran into some trouble on a russian highway has thankfully landed on his feet. Take a look. This was all captured by a dash cam video there. You can see the rider crashing into the back of the car. He flipped and he sticks that landing right on the roof of the moving car. Dont even know how this is possible. We do want to point out this has not been verified to be real video, but its obviously getting a lot of attention on the internet. The landing, by the way, getting a perfect ten by the russian judge. Crazy. That looked like a stunt. Meanwhile, does it feel 60 in here or is it just al . And so it begins. Thank you very much. Happy birthday, al. Thank you. A lot of nice folks out there made some really nice signs. Its nice to be on this side. Unfortunately weve got some dangerous weather to talk about for millions literally over the next several days. We have this big dome of High Pressure thats building in. And weve got dangerous temperatures setting up. We have excessive heat watches and warnings from texas all the way into illinois. As temperatures build, look at this. Memphis today, 97. St. Louis, 95. But you add the humidity to it, its going to feel well above 100 degrees. Going to continue into thursday and friday. Were going to have your local forecast coming up in 30 seconds. Good wednesday morning, everyone, im meteorologist tedd florendo. Its going to be another nice day for us. A mix of sun and clouds today. Another warm one with humidity slightly up but not too bad. Mid80s, about 58 for the day today with winds remaining on the light side. Showers and storms return for tomorrow. That includes friday, too. But the temperatures drop to the upper 70s. That will last all throughout the weekend. More sunshine as we head into the early part of next week. Have a great morning, everyone. And thats your latest weather. All right, al. Thank you. Have you guys heard about this ice bucket challenge . Yeah. I was thinking about doing that. Starting to catch on a bit. Willies here with a challenge issued here on the show. When you thought this was ste stale, a dramatic escalation. This thing has gone president ial. Come with me into the orange room here. Last weekus hager our dear friend was doused with water out on the plaza. She issued a challenge to mother and father who just so happen to be theprident and fir lets watch. The question is, is my mother going to ruin the hair . Mom, get ready. Tomorrow morning. Do you think shell do it . She has had this helmet since 1981. The helmet hair. Put that on hold for a second. Jenna is on vacation right now with her mother and father. Lets get the answer. Did the president deliver . To you all that challenge me, i do not think its president ial for me to be splashed with ice water, so im simply going to write you a check. That check is for me. I ruined my hair style. I challenge my friend bill clinton to the als challenge. Yesterday was bills birthday and my gift to bill is a bucket of cold water. The president and mrs. Bush deliver. Laura bush dumping the water on president bush. And we have Jenna Bush Hager on the phone from maine on vacation. First of all, how did the helmet hair comment go over with your mom . I didnt mean that. I meant a beautiful coif. But we have had several donations made already. And finally, and i think it was actually the golfer who challenged rory mcilroy. Thats what really got him, i think. So it wasnt you, jenna. I put the peer pressure on a lot, but i would say my dad loves golf. I think it was probably rory. How did the challenge go down . Because they put some thought into this, obviously, your mother and father. Yes. Well, the challenge went down without me here. So it actually shows that when i dont put on a lot of pressure, they do the things i want them to do. Reverse psychological. Right . You know, my dad was all for it. My mom had to keep that hair looking as pretty as it has since 1984 so she wrote a check. A lot of money has raised and you take another shot at your mothers hair. Unbelievable. Jenna, thanks so much and thank your mother and father for doing this. President bush has challenged president clinton. President obama has been challenged by bieber and lebron james. He says hes not going to do it but will make a donation to the als association. That screeching sound you heard was jenna throwing it into full reverse on her mom. Willie, thanks very much. Coming up, all eyes on mone davis, the superstar of the Little League world series as she returns to the mound today. Well hear from her. Plus an emotional trial in texas. A father accused of gunning down the drunk driver who hit and killed his two sons. Were live at the courthouse. But first this is today on nbc. Coming up on trending, is this the worst commercial ever or marketing genius . Well find out. And big surprises for al as he turns the big 60. And hes going to share the biggest lessons hes learned in [ julie ] the wrinkle cream graveyard. If it doesnt work fast. Youre on to the next thing. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. Neutrogena®. You can ring my bell [ male announcer ] sometimes you just need to spice things up. Ring my bell. Ring my bell. [ male announcer ] new oscar mayer deli fresh bold. Made with 100 turkey breast and real cajun spices. You help me pour. [ male announcer ] new oscar mayer deli fresh bold. The simple grains of rice krispies®. Oooo good. Help me. Theyre made with rice. 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Were starting 0 of with clouds this morning, though, chris. We start to see more sunshine in the afternoon. You could see sun breaks as we look from the skyline from our comcast camera. Temperatures on the mild side, philadelphia at 71 degrees, along with northeast philly. Mid60s in allentown. Temperatures for the day will hit about 85 by the afternoon. Look for partly sunny skies and more humid for your wednesday. Jillian mele is in now with an update on that accident th