its august jobs report later this morning. the data will come on the heels of a new white house project ekz that does not point to much improvement in the unemployment rate any time soon. tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. tracie, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. that new white house projection says that our unemployment rate in the states will probably hover around 9%, 9.1% all of this year and all of next year as well. later this morning we'll see if that was the case last month as the new unemployment rate comes out for august. analysts don't expect to see much change, even though the weekly jobless figures are down, and that's certainly good news. all of this comes less than a week before president obama is expected to roll out his new jobs plan, and he is increasingly under pressure even from democrats who say he has been compromising too much. what they want to see is a fresh new plan that the president thinks will work, a vision as they put it to distinguish himself from the republican party. so far we believe his plan will include infrastructure projects to create more construction jobs and payroll cuts, tax cuts. we saw them this year. more for next year. and an extension of unemployment insurance as well. by the way, it looks like the president's speech will not conflict with the nfl season opener. it looks like he is going to speak about an hour before. >> a lot of fans relieved about that. tracie, thanks. an economic woe may be the reason why the nation's highways won't be quite as crowded this weekend as they have in years past. most of the causes for folks spending this holiday at home starts with dollar signs. chris clackum reports. >> reporter: starting at the gas pump with a gallon costing $1 more than last labor day and with airfares up as much as 13%, it means americans won't be traveling that much or that far this last long weekend of the summer. travel will be down about 2.5% this labor day over the last one. >> it makes sense that over this weekend in particular people are thinking about a quick trek as opposed a longer vacation. >> reporter: but industry experts say the reduced travel is actually resulting in reduced travel costs. >> a particularly good time, for example, to go to europe when the weather is still good, prices are about 20%, 30% less than you find in the summer months. >> reporter: starting next week cruise prices drop to less than $100 per person per night, and they expect hotel prices to do the same after the labor day holiday monday. chris clackum, nbc news. elsewhere this morning ousted libyan leader muammar gadhafi is showing no signs of giving up. even as rebel forces extended a dead lien for gadhafi's hometown to surrender, gadhafi released a heated audiotape from hiding vowing to keep fighting. nbc's stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: i'm in the city of ms. rauta, possibly the city in this country that has suffered the most under gadhafi's forces. there is growing concern that the fighting is not over. gadhafi in a phone interview with arabic television told his loyal forces not to back down, not to surrender. the national transitional council extended an ultimatum tom two cities to surrender. they were told that they had to surrender this saturday or they would face an attack. now they have an additional week to surrender, but gadhafi has told his forces to rise up, to fight back, and that makes people in misrata nervous. nearly 1,000 people were killed in an extended battle in this city, and they just don't want to see any more bloodshed. stephanie gosk, nbc news, misrata. >> now here are other stories making news early today in america. fists were flying at a youth football game in florida last weekend. an argument over one referee's calls erupted into an all-out brawl. at least one player and a couple of parent coaches roughed up the referee before the melee ended. no arrests were made after the incident, but charges against some of the adult attackers are expected soon. in kansas a couple of wichita officers suffocated smoke and braved flames to pull an elderly driver from his car. the officer sprang into action after the 65-year-old's car ignited following a crash involving two vehicles and a guardrail. the officer and the driver did not suffer any serious injuries. and, finally, at the nebraska state fair we have liftoff. a group of dogs got plenty of air time showing off their leaping skills at the dock dog competition. with a little bit of coaching, owners did their best to get their dogs to take flight. the dogs with the longest jump will compete for the championship on monday. good luck to them. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist todd santos. a tropical storm there, right? >> at least tropical depression at this point, lynn. the chances it will become a tropical storm -- it would be tropical storm 13 at the moment. you see the storm towards the coastline. biggest problem, even if it does make tropical storm strength, we'll deal with very heavy rainfall in the southeasterly flow pushing in towards new orleans. southern louisiana and southern mississippi. again, the rainfall amounts this weekend could be pretty big. if you are headed to the beaches, keep this in mind. a big-time surf producer. there's the bulk of the system off the coastline. center of circulation right about there. it's still being sheered. it's helping to keep it at bay a little bit, but you are talking about a stationary system that's expected to move later on today. the max winds are at 35 miles an hour. if it starts moving, irked say, that's one big thing in the forecast. we should be seeing landfall somewhere around sunday. a stationary storm gets going, and then you could talk about the effects long-term. notice this. basically between now and tuesday it's still involved in the gulf coast. flooding is likely an issue, and you are talking a number of years, especially southern louisiana. potentially upwards of a foot of rainfall. actually, at this point it's a tropical storm. it's likely to be a hurricane later on today. headed south of bermuda, potentially as a major hurricane by early this coming week. here's a look at the region. let's check on the your local forecast. philadelphia, coming in with 82 degrees today. at least getting showers. especially the second half of the weekend. primarily into sunday. maybe a little into monday. tampa, florida, weekend showers as well. 89 degrees there. also factor in the thunderstorms if you are heading out to the beach. a lot is going on as far as the tropics are concerned. tropical storm likely to become a hurricane, so we'll try to keep you updated. >> a lot to watch. thanks, todd. well, coming up, big banks in big trouble over bad mortgages. say good-bye to something familiar on your street corner. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, can an account of a secret moon mission knock the champ out of the top box office? coming up, the college football season kicks offer. chris johnson hits the jackpot, and law and order milwaukee. 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. a milestone in the war in iraq. august marks the first month since the start of the u.s.-led invasion that no u.s. forces died. the federal election commission has agreed that gabrielle giffords, the congressman wounded in the tucson shooting, can use $2,200 in campaign donations to pay for security upgrades to her home. the panel made an exception due to violence and threats stemming from her work. england's telegraph reports king arthur's legendary roundtable, the place he gathered his knights, may have been found beneath a geometric landmark at stirling castle. they have linked the site to the king. in el salvador men throw balls of fire at each other in a tradition marking a volcanic eruption in 1922. amazingly over the years, there have been few serious injuries in the festival. now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. after a two-day meeting on silicone breast implants, the food and drug administration has found they are safe and will stay on the market. the agency will consider a registry to track safety problems. last year alone there were almost 400,000 enlargement or reconstruction procedures involving silicone or saline implants. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. >> "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil wash with odor block. the confident clean. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,493 after falling 119 points yesterday. the s&p lost 14 points. the nasdaq sank 33. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei skid 110 points, while in hong kong the hang seng slipped 372. wall street's full day rally ground to a halt thursday thanks to jitters ahead of today's august jobs report. a mild increase of about 75,000 jobs is expected, despite weekly jobless claims falling thursday. other down data had investors gloomy about today's numbers. such as a drop in factory employment. overall factory activity came in only just above growth levels. construction spent e spending fell unexpectedly in july. public outlays dropped to their lowest level. the white house cut its economic growth outlook for the next two years. goldman sachs fell 3.5% on renewed scrutiny from the fed over past mortgage and foreclosure practices. the agency oversees fannie mae and freddie mac will sue more than a dozen banks for billions over mortgage securities at the height of the housing bubble. the times, bank of america, jp morgan chase, and deutsche bank. auto sales rose 7.5%, way better than expected. august same-store retail sales were slightly below expectations, but macy's and costco both rose on strong sales. communications equipment maker seena skyrocketed 20% posting its first profit in three years. after the bell netflix tumbled after stars entertainment said it would stop streaming its content on the service. and, finally, chalk up another casualty to the digital age. the blue corner mailbox, due to steeply declining use, the postal service has removed more than 60% of the familiar neighborhood mail drops. well, coming up, the yankee-red sox rubber game last year's heisman trophy winner throws a protest, and milwaukee's brewers showed their major league sense of humor. plus, time flies in the opening game of the college football season. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and opening day in your holiday weekend just hours away. we'll take a look at the forecast coming up. you're watching "early today." good morning. if are you just waking up, this is "early today." in sports it's classic baseball. a back and forth struggle in september between the red sox and the yankees. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it's hard to believe that the yairnkees could be better without alex rodriguez. apparently it's true. new york is now 15 games over 500 without rodriguez after beating the red sox. no a-rod. maybe the yanks have signed golfer phil mickelson. he took some swings during batting practice, and he looked pretty good. russell martin gave them the lead. that scored a pair. yanks went on to win it 4-2. they're a half game back. bruins may be in first place, but albert pujols is not someone you want to face. grand slam. cards won it 8-4. if you took a gamble and drafted running back chris johnson in your fantasy football team, that move has now paid off. he ended his hold-out with the titans to agree to a four-year $53 million extension, $30 million guaranteed. he is expected to play week one against the jag arz. panthers and steelers. cam newton earned the starting quarterback job. his first touchdown to jeremy shockey. not enough. pittsburgh won 33-17. the regular season begins next week while college football started last night. number 11, wisconsin wishgs had no problem with unlv. monty ball scored four touchdowns. wisconsin won easily 51-17. the badger did a punish-up for every touchdown scored. he could be a linebacker by midseason. we showed you the attempt inside the park home run yesterday. his teammates had fun with it. recreating the scene of the crime. there's the culprit. a speed bump down the third baseline. they also do a chalk outline of his body using athletic tape. this was a thorough investigation. no stone was left unturned. nbc wants to do "law and order" milwaukee, they need to look no further than the brewers dugout. ♪ that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a very safe labor day weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> good one, fred. a reality tv star is sued for animal abuse. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it's one of the dues you play in college. dorm life. wouldn't it be nice if you could live your school days in the highest of style? you are watching "early today." welcome back into "early today." we want to take a look at the radar where you are seeing some showers heading towards the minneapolis area. it will be going down towards green bay, potentially milwaukeely later on this afternoon. this evening better chances getting some of that into chicago. otherwise, today, chicago, just hot. 95 degrees. atlanta, 93. good chance for showers and heavy rainfall. especially closer back towards the gulf coast right into the weekend. if you are watching us on wvit nbc 29 in charlottesville, virginia, the art from the early 1900s detailing people who lived and worked in new york city. it's the figure study at the university of virginia art museum. that's your early today event of the day. >> thank you, todd. now here's an early look at the headlines in entertainment. this we cans three new films will chase a steady but not unstoppable box office chance. the help hasn't been blockbuster, but at this time of year it's steady modest take has earned repeated top spots. it should finish with about $15 million. its biggest competition, the sci-fi thriller "apollo 18." it revolves around the unknown last apollo mission. one usually bad sign? the studio wouldn't screen for critics. it's still expected to battle for top spot. rounding out the newcomers. shark night 3-d expected to earn $10 million, and, finally, tmz reports steven siegall has been accused of puppy killing. a lawsuit by the suspect alleges he, among other things, killed his 11-month-old puppy. siegall says he is outraged by the charge. this comes to us from wcau nbc 10 in philadelphia, pennsylvania, where in nearby galloway new jersey a few college co-eds get a seriously ridiculous chance at life upgrade. the college's recent purchase of a historic vacation resort is redefining the dorm experience for about 50 select students. the hopt hospitality management ma majors will be housed at the four star getaways living it up as well as learning about the industry they hope to make a living in. we are in the wrong business. >> i went to the wrong school apparently. i don't know. they don't have quite a campus like that. >> no kidding. i want to go back to college. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. you 28 is our time right now in the nation's capital. it was a stormy night. good morning, i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm aaron gil cyst in for union yang. well, still six days after the storm, thousands of people are still waking up without power. here are the latest numbers. bge still has about 10,000 customers in the dark. most of them in anne arundel county. pepco has about 3,500 customers without electricity. smeco has about 2,300 customers in the dark in southern maryland. dominion and novec have restored power to their customers in our area. >> tom kierein is here