this morning on "early today," america ru rising. los angeles falters in a record breaking autumn heat wave. and hme on the range, record numbers turn out to watch an american tradition on the record numbers turn out to watch an american tradition on the great plain. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good tuesday morning to you. today we begin with taking aim on the trail. president obama took republicans to task for their proposed pledge to america yesterday, calling their policies, quot irresponsible. today the president sets out on a campaign which stops the plan in three states to sell his plan to fix the economy. tracie potts is in washington, d.c. live with us this morning with the latest. good morning to you, tracie. >> veronica,ood morning. what you'll see this week will take on a distinct campaign

trail, designed to use what worked for them two years ago during the presidential campaign, the president swinging through states to energize young voters and to sell his economic plan. part of that pan was helping small businesses. we saw that as he designed the small business plan into law yesterday creating a $30 billion fund to give them more money to free up money for these businesses to expand and hire workers. today, president obama takes his message to albuquerque, new mexico, where he'll continue a series of backyard meetings with voters and have a big rally at the university of wisconsin later on tonigt. as we get closer to the election, we're seeing the administration get much more aggressive in tone and message, by vice presint biden saying to republicans stop wining and loor for alternatives out there. president obama calling their pledge to america irrespsible. today, we'll find out what voters think consumer confidence

numbers come out this morning. veronica. >> tracie potts live for us this morning in washington. tracie, thank you. american students and teachers could be in for jor changes. this i a special week of programming on concerns over the education system on "today." the president talks about what he wants to see happening at scools including identifying teachers who do well and getting rid of those that don't >> i think we should have longer school years. we now have our kids go to school about a month less than most other advanced countries. and that month makes a dinners. >> don't forget, our coverage of education nation continues on the "today" show and on nbc nightly news right here on this nbc station. for more resources and information, check out our ecial website, educationnation.com.

palestinian president mahmoud abbas says he will wait one week before deciding whether or not to quit middle east peace talks with israel. that development comes after the united states, france, england and england all expressed concern over the west bank. meahile, george mitchl has been sent to israel in hopes of breaking the problems in the negotiations. it has literally never been hoert in california than it was yesterday. downtown l.a. hitting 113 deges breaking the all-time record of 112 set back in june 1990. the heat has led to tens of thousands of power outages. in e meantime, the dry conditions have firefighters on alert. today has been forecast to be another hot one, but no records are expected to be broken. now here is a look at other stories making news today in

america. in texas, an elderly couple is dead after a fire broke out in an apartment complex. they were forced to retreat when live ammunition started going off. authoritiesre investigating the cause of the fire. in south dakota, the annual roundup of a free roaming buffalo herd in the black hills custer state park attracted thousands. once a year, the herd is rounded up the old fashioned way for a visit to the buffalo doctor, if you will, where they will be sorted, branded and released to once again roam freely home of the range. a new exhibit ons in new york today, the yan dynasty exhibit. it belonged to the grandson of the great conquerer genghis khan. many of the items on display have never been seen outside of china. in utah, one man claims he

has the fastest lawn mower ever, averaging speeds of up to 90 miles per hour he ran several speeds to get his speed up from his previous avera speed of 81 miles per hour. nevertheless, he says he will be back racing up to 100 miles per hour. they say he's going fast, but i don't kn, it didn't quite look like he was anywhere near 100 miles an hour. >> yeah, it didn't lo that fast. but i don't know. >> we don't race lawn mowers. let's take a look at what's happening across the country. we have a lot of rain. in the easthat's pretty much where the rain is showing up on the radar. extreme moisture is coming up from the south, so we are looking at another rainey day that will be up to the southeast, sttch up to the mid-atlantic and the northeast. parts of the carolinas picked up half a foot yesterday. we're gng to see more with this moisture continuing to come up in bands. so we will have some heavy

downpours that will extend from new england all the way down throu the southeast. we're expecting about an additional inch of rain, but in some of those areas, we have the consistent downpours, we could see one to two inches of additional rain. here is how the tuesday forecast shapes up. you can see, it stays rainey right along the east coast. nice in the middle part of the country. hi pressure is locked in. temperatures a little bit below normal. out to the west, the heat backs off a little bit. looking at hot temperatures in l.a., but notearly as hot as they have seen it. let's get a check off your local forecast. in new york, 80 degreesith showers and thunderstorms. orlando, florida, 89 and mostly rainey conditions, as well. kansas city, 72. plenty of sunshine. and colorado looks great. 92 degrees there with sunny skies. that's a look at your local forecast. veronica. >> i don't know, there's just way too much green on that map.

can you do something about that map? >> i will change it for you. >> pink. like pink. that means it's warm and sunny, right? >> yep. we'll s you soon. ben and jerry go unnatural and pumpkin shortage? what pumpkinhortage? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, comedian and talk show host george lopez may be divorcing his wife, but he can never really get away from her. the phillies popped the champagne a a battle of unbeatens goes down to the wire in chicago. you're watching "early today." hugo chavez says his country

is carrying out initial studies for carrying out a nuclear program. chavez brought the issue up during a news conference monday saying venezuela needs nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. a prisoner who tried to kill himself last week by slashing s arms and throat was executed. 30-year-old brannon rhodes was put to death for killing three people in a burglary back in 2000. a dallas judge has overturned the 1993 conviction of a dead man who was in prison for the rape of a 5-year-old girl for lack of evidence. and the owner of a company is dead after apparent falling

off a cliff. the 62-year-old was testing a cross-country version of a segue near his estate in england sunday when he lost control of it. now here's an early look at how wall street will kck off the day. the dow opens at 10,112 after falling 48 points yesterday. th s&p last 6 points and the nasdaq fell 11. taking a look at overseas trading. the nikkei fell 127 points while in hong kong, the hang seng dropped 230. on the heels of a strong rally yesterday, wall street inest vers took a pause. dallas based airlines bought air tran for $104 billi. despite the rmblings of higher ticket prices, airtran soared and southwest shot up nearly 9%. more m & a action othe streets.

albert ya jumped after diussing adding vo5 to its lineup. walmart is looking to expand oversees to buy south african retailer mass mart. research in motion is hoping its blackberry notebook will be a game changer in the market. no wordet on a release date or price point, but experts expect the notebook to start around $500. ben&jerry have decided to drop the words "all natural" from their offerings since there are certain great that are not all natural. meanwhile, the federal trade commission says there is no evidence back upmakers of palm wonderful. that's a pricey pomegranate juice that suggests specific health benefits. the country's top producer

says this ye's hump kin crop is healthy and cans are arriving in stores. last year, pumpkin shortages added increased to the pumpkin mixes. in sports, the passing of a legend. plus, the bears in a classic monday night matchup. your early sports headlines are straight ahead. we are looking at extreme heat to the west and extreme rain to the east. we'll have a look at your tuesday forect, coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, two undefeated and storied franchises got together last night in chicago as the bears and packers renewed the nfl's oldest rivalry. here's nbc's fred rgin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. for the third straight week, the monday night footba game decided in the final miutes. ears and packers. pick it up in the fourth. packers up, 10-7. they made a huge miake. there hester goes, 62 yards to the house. his eighth punt return for a touchdown in his career and the bears were up, 14-10.

they were answer aaron rogers scramble and he scrambled and called his own number. he was in for the score. a gutsry play and the packers led, 17-14. final seconds, tied at 17. bears milked the clock. robbie gold came in and nailed a 19-yarder. bears remain undeated with a 20-17 win. some sad news fm the football world. hall of fame quicker and characteristic george blandon pass away yesterday. he retired e moh shy of his 4e89 birthday. he place for the bears, colts and oilers, but will best be remembered for his years with e 9ers. blue jays, this is not how you want to start a game. a lineup stumbled off the mound. that's an unusual first pitch. with a start like that, you can only get better. at one point, he struck out seven straight. he finished with 9 ks. bl jays put up five in the third. yanks missed a chance to win a

playoff spot. speaking of clenching, phils had the champagne on ice. a towering shot, philadelphia led it, 1-0. that's all they need because roy haliday was dealing. struck out danny espinosa. the phils win their fourth straight n.l.e. crown. rays and marlins, needed extra innings. ended with a walk-off single in the 11th. braves won, 1, now a half game up in the wild card race. that'sour early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. yourarly morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, a treasurered american landmark makes a come bak. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." the east coast, get gear ready. we are looking at ra once again from the southeast up through the northeast. scteredhowers and even som thunderstorms will be in the forecast. sght risk we could see severe storms mainly from the mid-atlantic down through the southeast. nice temperatures through the middle part of the country. he west, to still dealing with the heat a break in the rain tomorrow along the east coast, but it will quickly return by thursday and into the beginning of the weekend. we stay dry through the middle of the country and the heat backs off even more to the west coast. now to your event of the day.

if you are watching us on wcyb5 in bristol, virginia, the official birthplace of country music allows you to hear some tunes at the live bluegrass music eventt the downtown center. that's your early event of the day. >> and trivia for you, congress made that official in '98. so it truly is the birthplace -- >> veronica, very impressive. >> there you go. i'm a lover of all music. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. does she finally get it? that's the current lindsay lohan question. she visited a homeless shelter last weekend and is saying all the right things about addiction. some have their doubts. she spent the weekend calling photo agencies, shopping pictures of herself posing for $10,000 in her alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet. the 1930s hollywood beauty only to return as the oldest

academy award winningominee for "titanic" has died at the age of 100. max wineberg w't be joining jay leno on his new late night show. finally, showbiz divorces aren't rare, but in the case of george lopez and his wife, the two are amicably splitting after 17 years. but george can never truly say good-bye to ann. you see, five years a when he was suffering from a genetic kidney disorder, she saved his life by donating to him one of her kidneys. hmmm. i don't know what to say about that. >> well, i guess with that you have to end on a good note, right? >> yeah. but do you end it? i mean, he owes her his life, really. can she ask for her kidney back? she can't. >> i don't know. maybe this is not --e'll let them sort it out. >> all right. this one comes to us from nashville, tennessee, where a

country music gem backed to country music is shining once again. the grand ole opry reopens its doors tonight after a recent flood damage threatened to wash away what some call the home of american music. the early reminder of the flood music is on the wall and a piece of the original stage where many a star was born. i'm veronica de la cruz, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28 is your time now. 70 degrees out there. clouds left in the sky. looks like the rain has cleared out for now. good morning. i'm eun yang. good morning. i'm joe krebs. welcome on tuesday, the 28th day of september. right now rain moving into the area. messy morning commute. i-66 towards manassas. rain already falling out there. check in with jerry edwards for a loo at the impact on the rain on the traffic. first of all, let's get a check of the traffic. here it come. another surge after a bit of a lull overnight. right now on the radar we should see areas of green. that's moderate rain falling in prince william county and faulk county. that is advancing to the rth.

the radar is showing the area of the heaviest rain just about to move in towards manassas and crossing into culpepper county. that, again, is heading to the north. the western part of 66 is going to get inundated with rain. it moves into montgomery county, loudon, fairfax. stay tuned. eun an joe. flames engulfed t livestock exchange on john marshall highway in marshall. fire crews were able to get many of the animals out of the burning tructure. however, at least 50 died. firefighters on the scene describe the damage as significant. right now the cause of the fire is still under