the confrontation with police is the big question. telling lawmakers she had a history of mental illness. police say she tried to crash her car into a gate at the white house and struck an officer and took off. one police officer crashed into a barrier. he is in good condition. capitol hill would go on lockdown. lawmakers racing through halls and tourists running for cover. police tracked her car at the capitol but she resisted, evaded and sped away. officers opened fire. she would soon be shot dead on the other side of capitol hill. >> it was like a series of maybe five or six and then a pause. >> reporter: investigators confirm she ner returned fire and had no gun. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, capitol hill. a state of emergency has been declared in three states as the gulf coast braces for tropical storm karen. forecasters say karen could reach hurricane strength by the time it makes landfall saturday night. jay gray is live a at pensacola beach at the panhandle. are they nervous? >> reporter: i would say cautious and getting ready. this is a storm churning in the gulf. clearing taking a look at the gulf coast. after a quiet summer tropical storm karen is churning in the gulf and could be a hurricane before landfall. >> we are preparing for category 1 and deploying assets consistent with our plan. >> reporter: preparations from louisiana to the florida panhandle. the gulf coast for the first time his hurricane season is on alert. >> we have started to remove some items from the beach area. >> reporter: windows boarded up. sand bags stacked and ready. and some have decided -- >> i'm getting out. >> reporter: to move to higher ground as karen starts to move in. and if karen stays on its current path we should begin to feel the severe effects of this storm sometime this evening. it should make landfall taking aim right now at pensacola beach sometime late saturday and sunday morning. bill karins will have more on karen's path and intensity in a few moments. on day four of the government shutdown the impact is growing more apparent. states could run out of money for women, infants and children food program by the end of the month. >> every day counts. i always promised my daughter that i refuse to let her grow up without a mom. >> she has been told her rare sarcoma could be terminal. without funding and any new institute of health drug trials are on hold, many americans are frustrated. a protester heckled republican congressman steve king tuesday. democrats and republicans alike are pushing their rhetoric and strategy. these moments were captured between mitch mcconnell and rand paul. >> i didn't see an end. we are willing to compromise. we are willing to compromise. i think it is awful for say that over and over again. >> i do, too. >> i think if they say we wanted to fund it and we are willing to compromise -- >> on the late show with david letterman brian williams said the country is in a very, very dark time. >> they have a point to make. they don't like how the place is being governed. it is a heck of a lot easier to do it from their set of seats in the house. it is a heck of a lot tougher when you bottle things up and we are where we are. day three, complete paralysis. when i called the u.s. capitol after we had a shooting in washington i couldn't get anybody. the government workers had been furloughed. an early winter storm hits the rocky mountains. in montana over ten inches of snow have fallen. temperatures are in the 30s. none of that seemed to bother this golden retriever. bill karins is here. >> tornadoes, landfalling tropical system and a blizzard. the storm in the gulf, karen does not look too impressive. the center of the storm is located where it is spinning. thunderstorms are displaced to the east of the storm. winds are still at 65 miles per hour. it is still a big area of circulation. without thunderstorms near the center it is doubtful it will become hurricane before landfall. blizzard warnings there in the rapids city area. you will change to snow. it is snowing hard in the mountains of wyoming. we are talking about the possibility of up to two feet of snow. and then out ahead of that storm system later on today we will see a chance of strong thunderstorms, possibly tornadoes, that area of red is at greatest risk right across much of central and northern iowa where we focus for the best chance of tornadoes. strong storms from kansas city down to areas around oklahoma city. a lot of things on the map today to be aware of for your safety. that is your national forecast. here is a look at the weather outside your window. on the east coast it is going to be summer. we have such a crazy weather pattern. denver 45 degrees. in washington, d.c. it feels like mid summer, almost 90. . >> good news as far as karen is concerned. snow storm is what it is. we will have to see how the tornadoes play out later on tonight. billionaire warren buffett says our elected officials are approaching the point of idiocy. bank customers notice their balance has grown by trillions of dollars. now to other stories making news this morning. at least 114 african migrants seeking a better life in europe are dead after their boat capsized off the italian coast. some 200 more are still unaccounted for. the u.n. refugee agency says 84 migrants landed in the first half of the year alone. new cell phone video, the group of bikers in new york city, you can see them blocking a gas station and riding aggressively. the wife of the man beat says her husband was forced to take the actions he did to protect the lives of the family. a grand jury charges a montana newly wed with pushing her husband off a cliff to his death. california governor jerry brown signs a law allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers licenses. california is now one of 11 states that has enacted such law. take a look at this rare two-headed calf. it is in vermont. vets say she is perfectly healthy. turning to business. as we mentioned the dow dipped below 15,000 and you won't be getting unemployment numbers today since the government is partially closed. twitter is looking to raise $1 billion. twitter earned 87% of the revenue so far this year from advertising but it has lost about $70 million in the first half of the year. bank error in your favor to the tune of a few trillion dollars. it happened to a handful of mississippi bank customers who woke up to trillions of dollars. bancorp south corrected the errors. adobe announces this morning that they have been hacked resulting in 3 million accounts being compromised. information removed includes incrypted credit cards. critics say it is another example of wasteful government spending but supporters are promoting it as the world's biggest metal construction in china. warren buffett saying we will go right up to the point of extreme idiocy but we won't cross it. betty nguyen will have your thursday night football and baseball playoffs. with tropical storm karen headed to the gulf, what is the co costliest hurricane in u.s. history? we'll have the answer coming up next. before the break we asked what is the costliest hurricane in u.s. history? is it andrew? katrina? ike? or sandy? the answer is hurricane katrina which struck the coast line of louisiana causing $108 billion in property damage and the third deadliest hurricane on record. betty nguyen is here with all of the highlights. >> we are going to talk about thursday night football. buffalo takes on cleveland. the browns are hungry for a third consecutive win and tied with the ravens for first. benjamin with unstoppable punt return for the t.d. browns ward with this pick six sealing victory for the browns, 37-24. the st. clair hospital in pittsburgh decked out babies in pirates swag. is this not the cutest ever? including bandannas and little bats. beltran blasts this homer in the third. he is tied with babe ruth for 15 post season home runs. and the dodgers easily handled the braves winning 6-1. check this out. some squirrely shenanigans during the opening. adopted that squirrel that apparently popped up. later tiger woods seemed unenthused when she played with it on his shoulder. i hope it doesn't bite. this is a lucky play during a high school game in iowa. the quarterback attempting a two point conversion. it is caught in the end zone. i don't know if that was lucky. some people wouldn't dare to bungee jump. this person broke the record for the most jumps in 24 hours. how many? >> ten. >> try 150 in 21 hours. the previous record was 105 jumps. who needs a bike lane miller is the first man to bike across the hudson river. he founded the bay cycle project and said any bike can use two inflatable pontoons connected to the bike. that is pretty cool. >> try doing that in the middle of february in new york. >> too cold. just aheadt battle betweentia nade o'connbetween sinead o'connor and miley cyrus. welcome back to "early today." tropical storm karen is not going to be a devastating storm for the gulf coast. saturday windy and rainy and wet from louisiana into the panhandle of florida. it will move into areas of the southeast. it will have good rain with it. the other big thing today is the chance of tornadoes especially the state of iowa where we are watching the most for possible twisters and large hail. turning to entertainment. a big weekend for hot new movies. "runner runner" opens along side "parkland" and "gravity." george clooney said though the space suit was uncomfortable it was not as bat as the bat suit. steven colbert has a solution for the couples whose weddings were cancelled. >> by the power vested in me by the state of new york and entire viacom family i pronounce you man and wife. the wrecking ball may have wrecked a friendship with singer sinead o'connor. yesterday miley cyrus tweeted a photo of tweets from when o'connor was undergoing health issues. o'connor responded with mockery causes death. after seeing this letter cyrus had a little response of her own sending two tweets saying she is too busy to write but if you would like to meet up and talk let me know in your next letter. >> are these cliff notes? >> it is a little hard to keep up with but basically they are feuding. they are spatting. i'm mara schiavocampo. this is "early today." we hope this is just your first stop of the day on nbc. cameras capturing the dramatic scene as a woman leads police on a deadly high-speed chase through the heart of washington. what we're learning about the woman behind the wheel and the the impact that investigation is having on traffic this morning. plus, lawmakers on capitol hill turning their focus to the hundreds of thousands of people who are not being paid as the government shutdown drags into its fourth day. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome 0 to this friday, october 4, 2013. we are entering day four of the government shutdown, and there is little evidence that any progress has been made in the effort to end the standoff. we've learned that overnight the white house canceled president obama's entire trip to asia set for next week. a fight over the debt ceiling will reach its limit in about two weeks. house speaker john boehner says, however, that he will not allow the nation to default on its debt. the house plans to vote on more piece meal bills today. it would approve back pay for furloughed workers once the government reopens. >> a live look along constitution avenue in northwest on capitol hill or northeast. it should be where streets are starting to reopen more than 12 hours after an intense chase that led to a tedly shoot iing. megan mcgrath is gathering more information about what things are like down there now. first, another pleasant start to your morning. the warm weather we've been having has been feeling like summer. tom kierein here now with more on your forecast. more warm weather, tom? it's muggy this morning, too. and as a result we have some patchy fog forming around much the region this morning in the rural areas. visibility down under a quarter of a mile. with that patchy fog down to near 60 degrees but closer to washington don't have much fog. a few areas in some of the suburbs have a little bit of fog around in the low 60s there. and it's in the mid-60s right on the tidal potomac and around the chesapeake bay. certainly not feeling like autumn this morning. now for students at the bus stop, it's going to be another short slaeeve morning but watch out for students waiting for buseses in the patchy fog. we'll be in the 60s between 7:00 through 8:30, 9:00 this morning. warm-up on the way. details on traffic, danella? an accident on route 50. as you travel in virginia lee jackson highway, the crash here is just past 28. so if you're traveling eastbound route 50 you'll be forced off to 28. you have the option of jumping on 66 at that point, but, for now, accident investigation blocking all of your eastbound lanes. here is a live look at what it all looks like. you can see entire eastbound lanes are blocked in this area. aaron and eun? thank you, danella. 4:29 is your time. now to the latest on the chaos on capitol hill. right now that area is still the scene of a growing investigation after a high-speed chase and police shooting in d.c. streets. police say a woman tried to hit a barricade near the white house lead i leading police on a chase up to capitol hill where things would come to a violent end. news 4's megan mcgrath is on capitol hill with the latest. megan? >> reporter: eun, at this point most of the roads closed for this investigation have e of the few closures left is behind me he of the this is the 100 block of constitution avenue. you can see we have a police officer in the street there in one of those pop-up barriers in the up position. now this all started at one of the outer perimeter security checkpoints at the white house at 15th and 66. 34-year-old miriam carey hit the barrier and struck a secret service officer with her car. she sped off leading police on a chase. her 1-year-old child was in the car with her when all of this was unfolding. at one point carey's car was koerpd by police at garfield circle on the west side of the u.s. capitol. take a look at this video shot by al hurrahtv as this was unfolding. police, guns drawn. carey hit a cruiser and then made her escape. and at that point police fired a number of shots. she sped away ultimately crashed her car in the 100 block of maryland avenue. more shots were fired. carey died of her injuries. we are told, though, her 1-year-old daughter is going to be okay. now the big question is the motive. it was behind all of this? and that is still unclear and certainly part of the investigation. but here is what we do know about miriam carey. she is 34 years old. she's from stamford, connecticut. she's a dental resident