this morning on "early today," partisan play. senate republicans block the efforts to repeal the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. fair or foul? the florida pastor who planned a koran burning is asked to foot a huge bill for security. and texas tangle, a bus ride turns into a brawl between two and texas tangle, a bus ride turns into a brawl between two women with infants. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. today we begin with a no-go on don't ask, don't tell. a move by senate democrats to repeal the military's ban on gays serving openly in the armed services fell short yesterday.

it was blocked by republicans with some claiming democrats were using the issue to score political points. steve handelsman has more. >> i stand here today on two good legs again as a prud, gay marine. >> democrats roll out their big guns. eric alfa, one of the first warriors hurt in the war. alva got a medical discharge. but since don't ask, don't tell took effect in 1993, 13,000 men and women have been kicked out of the military. >> but it's long past time to repeal this policy, which is both unjust, un-american and extremely hurtful to the effectiveness of our military. >> reporter: but republicans blocked the vote. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: john mccain opposes this repeal.

>> we would be ignoring the troops and casting aside the professional military advice given by each of the four service chiefs. >> in fact, just before president obama awarded a medal of honor to the marine he's chosen to keep in command of the corps said don't let gays serve openly yet. we're not quite sure what the impact would be. >> reporter: a bigger blow came from susan collins who backs repeal. >> now is not the time to play politics simply because an election is looming in a few weeks. >> this ain't over. >> reporter: democrats are vowing to fight on. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, capitol hill. >> as steve just mentioned, president obama awarded the medal of honor to a military hero more than four decades after he lost his life in service to his country. at a white house ceremony

yesterday, air force chief master sergeant richard etchberger's three sons accepted the nation's highest honor on behalf of their dad. etchberger died back in 1968. the white house has announced that president obama's top economic adviser plans to leave his post by the end of the year. lawrence summers is stepping down as director of the national economic council to return to a teaching job at harvard university. summers had initially agreed to the white house role for at least one year. president obama thanked summers for his service during what he called a time of great peril to the country. now only timothy geithner remains from the president's original top economic team. today, president obama heads to new york to address the general assembly where administration officials say he'll walk a fine line regarding

iran in a broad based foreign policy speech. yesterday, mahmoud ahmadinejad warned it could spark a war that would have no limits. president obama plans to leave the door open to talks with iran. ahmadinejad told reporters yesterday u.s. sanctions have damaged the chance for relations. new video shows a growing problem in san antonio. violence breaking out in city buses. in the case, a woman who had a newborn strapped to her chest is seen taking a swing at a woman who had a small child nearby. the woman with the baby keeps throwing more punches. to combat such behavior, the city recently announced a code of conduct for riders. in minnesota, three firefighters were hurt following a fire and subsequent explosion at a local power plant.

the blast was strong enough to blow out one side of a corrugated steel building. fortunately, all the models were minor. tinker bell is the latest celebrity to get her latest star on hollywood hall of fame. and in new york, a diamond jewelry set that belonged to england's diana princess of wales will be auctioned off this week. the diamonds and cultured pearls are valued at over $1 million. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is bill karins with a look at your forecast. good morning, bill. >> good morning to you and welcome. >> thank you. >> you come up in the northeast from miami, get nice, cool, enjoyable air, but that's not going to be the case. >> i'm ready for the fall. so bring it on. >> unfortunately, i can't give it to you quite yet and that's going to be the story. it's been very hot the last

couple days from atlanta back down through the deep south. we've had near 100 degree heat in areas of tennessee. yesterday was a steamy date day here in the southeast. now some of that air is pushing into the mid-atlantic and we're even going to make it up to boston. current temperatures this morning, we're in the 60s in new york, d.c., boston, chicago is at 66. we did get some of that rain yesterday as expected. the only cool air is montana up through the dakotas. so here is a look at the satellite and radar information. the green on this map is where it's raining. on this front, we have rain through indiana, some pushing through toledo, ohio. we have rain in arizona and still showers in south texas. here is the setup. high pressure pushes off the coast. we call this the return flow. that pocket of warm air that was over the deep south is going to move into the east today. the exceptions would be around st. louis. rain for you. also columbia getting rain and interstate 44 from springfield up to st. louis, that will be a wet drive this morning.

look at these temperatures. d.c., 91 today. new york city, 86. there's that warmth that we were talking about for your wednesday. that's a look at your national forecast. now here is a look at the weather out your window. we are going to see the warm conditions up through the big apple. charlotte, 90. same for you in orlando. this looks more like a summertime forecast instead of the first day of fall. when i come back later, i'll let you know just how long we're going to watch this mini -- i don't want to call it a heat wave, but for the end of summer, beginning of fall, it's pretty warm. >> yeah. thank you, bill. well, the fed speaks, sort of. and why frivolous speech isn't necessarily the best idea while you're on holiday. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, right now, he's down about as low as can be, but at least one friend is proudly standing by him. also, the twins clench,

yankees increase their lead. and what do you get when you combine tiger woods and michael jordan? you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." here are some of your top headlines this morning. a new book by bob woodward claim there have been big battles in the white house over the president's strategy in afghanistan. some doubt the plan will work. woodward says president obama himself has been at odds with military commanders. pastor terry jones may have canceled his plans for burn a koran day, but he's still going to get a bill for it, a $200,000 bill from the city of gainesville, florida, for beefed up security. the gainesville city manager

admits he doesn't know how much legal authority the city has to force the church to pay. a mayor has been arrested along with others charged for paying themselves huge salaries, some topping $800,000. the district attorney called it a case of, quote, corruption on steroids. and in england, the hunt is on for a man who apparently dumped his dog. he appears to abandon the animal even as it limps after the man's car. the dog has been taken to a kennel which has been swamped by animal lovers waiting to take in the pup. >> and now here's a look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,761 after gaining 7 points yesterday. the s&p lost two points and the nasdaq fell six. taking a look at overseas

trading in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 35 points. but in tokyo, the hang seng was up 45. markets got a boost from the fed's pledge to help the economy yesterday. after a one-day interest rate meeting, the fed kept rates unchanged. promising only, quote, additional accommodation to support the recovery. initially, stocks and treasuries rallied, but the momentum quickly faded. meanwhile, the housing sector slid after reporting a jump in august construction boosted by volatile building of multi-family homes. overseas, italian authorities seized more than $30 million from a vatican bank yesterday as part of a money laundering scheme by top church officials. the vatican said it was both perplexed and surprised by the

investigation. twitter's website was hacked yesterday causing pornographic web pages to pop up when some users moused over sites. keep an eye on adobe systems today. shares of the softwaremaker plunged after low forecasts. a couple staying at the golden beach hotel in england was kicked out after the second day of their prepaid three day stay after allegedly posting a negative comment on trip adviser. 50% of the trip adviser users give it a negative rating. the yankees and phillies open up some distance. mrus, an amazing trick shot goes in. but is it a hole in one or worth two points? your early morning sports headlines are just ahead.

even though we're heading into fall, the summer heat refuses to go away. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sorts, the yankees jumped all over the visiting tampa bay rays

last night to seize control of the american league east. here is mario with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. with only 11 games left in the season wibt appears that the yankees are finally pulling away in the a.l. east. bombers jumping all over the rays. number 27 for the swisher king, 1-0, yanks. a few batters later, lance berkman joins the fun. here come two more runs. yankees score five in the first. they go on 8-3 and now have a 2 1/2 game lead in the east. twins and minnesota, a white sox socks puts minnesota on top in the eighth inning with an rbi single. danny valencia beats the throw home. twins up by four. twins are the first team to advance to the postseason with a 6-4 comeback over the indians. the phillies number is now

down to 6. roy haliday becomes the first phillies pitches in 20 years to win over 20 games. the phillies win it, 5-1, and now lead the n.l. east by five. the season cannot end soon enough for the mets. they lost their fourth in a row last night. sanchez smashing a three-run homer in the fifth adding insult to injury. not a good day for the metropolitans. marlins win, 5-2. tiger woods is arguably the best golfer and michael jordan is the best basketball player. but when you combine the sports, neither can match the talent of john jones. the teenager shows off his basketball hole in one. the video doesn't appear to be altered, but you be the judge. that's a look at your sports today p.m.

who is getting bounced out of japan? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it's getting to be that time of year and the pumpkins are getting ready for their close up. you're watching "early today."

a good wednesday morning. temperatures will be in the 80s

and 90s up and down the eastern seaboard today. another day to turn the air-conditioning on. chicago is a little cooler today. yesterday we had those thunderstorms and rain roll through. look at thursday. the heat returns to chicago and the east coast is going to be up around 90 degrees once again in washington, d.c. so the summer that never ends keeps going. if you're watching us on kare in memberships, minnesota. if you thought legos and politics don't mix, wrong. check out the model of the minnesota state capitol made of 75,000 leggons of the capitol in st. paul. >> that's impressive. i thought that was the real thing. what can't you build with legos any more. >> you can do just about anything. it's pretty cool. here is a look at your early morning entertainment headlines. jo did i e foster is standing by mel gibson after a nasty battle

with his ex-girlfriend. foster tells the october issue of "more" magazine that gibson is, quote, the easiest, nicest person i've ever worked with. the second i met him, i said i will love this man for the rest of my life. they may love david hasselhoff in germany, but last night he was the first to be eliminated from "dancing with the stars." finally, paris hilton has been booted out ofjapan. yesterday officials delayed hilton's entrance while looking into her case. she was scheduled to cancel a tokyo news conference to promote her fashion and fragrance lines. you know what? i don't feel bad that she wasn't given preferential treatment this time around. >> worse than that, she wasn't allowed through the door. i think they would do that. >> last we checked, she was staying at a hotel on the

grounds. i'm sure her business won't take a huge hit from this. >> she'll probably like the publicity. who knows. in bluefield, west virginia, there are signs that fall is right around the corner. a couple of farmers are showing off the ultimate halloween accessory. three massive pumpkins that weigh between 500 and 950 pounds. the giant gourds are still on the vine. next month, they will be entered in an annual pumpkin festival. by then, they hope to tip the scales at over 1,000 pounds. 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 in hd. >> good morning, everyone. it should be a dry commute for us on this wednesday, the last day of summer. yesterday we were in the 40's in many spots. 62 at the airport. 55 in parkton. a mixture of sunshine and clouds. the high temperature between 83 and 88. summer-like state to say the least. we will check the seven-day forecast coming up in just a few minutes. for now, to the news desk in. >> thank you. 62 degrees on tv hill. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. >> the latest unemployment

numbers are out for maryland's and the news is not good. >> health care reform hits the six-month mark. the president is reintroducing its to the public today. >> we do have one problem coming in on the west side. [ monkey cheeps ] [ male announcer ] a bath becomes even more pleasurable when you know that your water is being heated in an environmentally- conscious way while saving you hundreds of dollars on your water-heating energy bill. the geospring water heater from ge with advanced hybrid technology. heating the water in your home any other way is just going to seem primitive. [ monkey cheeps ] ♪

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holiday inn express hotels, you always can. holiday inn express. stay you. [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 in hd. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. >> and i am stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> tony pann has a quick look at today's forecast. good morning. >> good morning. --you liked summer weather >> i'm over it. >> we will turn up the heat today. the temperatureil