Meanwhile, president obama will deliver a prime time speech from the oval office next tuesday to mark the official end of u. S. Combat operations in iraq. The address will take place after the president visits with troops in ft. Bliss, texas. Well, alaska senator Lisa Murkowski is struggling to avoid becoming the seventh congressional incumbent to be pushed out of office this year. With all precincts reporting, murkowski is trailing challenger joe miller by nearly 1,700 votes, although some 7,600 absentee ballots have yet to be counted. The relatively unknown miller, whos on the verge of pulling off a stunning upset, has been fueled by the highpowered endorsement of former governor sarah palin and the tea party. Still, murkowski is hoping shell still eke out a victory. Counting of those absentee ballots could take ad least another week. More fuel for an already tense Muslim Community in new york city after a College Student was taken into custody for allegedly attacking a muslim taxicab driver. Police say the 21yearold student was charged with a hate crime and attempted murder after slashing the 43yearold driver on his face and neck. John noelle from nbc station wnbc 4 new york has more. Reporter these are pictures of new York City Taxicab driver ahmed sharif after police say a passenger he picked up slashed his face, throat, both arms and hands, attacking him because hes muslim it was his first fare of the evening. The man got in at east 24th in manhattan and asked sharee where he was from and how long he was here, paused and then asked if he was muslim. When he answered yes, the passenger started screaming, pulled out a knife and started slashing. He asked the driver if he was muslim. The driver said he was. He said asam lakum and then began to stab the driver sort of through the partition. He said this is a checkpoint. Reporter the Manhattan District Attorney charged 21yearold Michael Enright with attempted murder as a hate crime. They say he recently returned from afghanistan where he was shooting video of u. S. Marines fighting the taliban. Its early in the process, so were trying to gather all the facts. Right now hes terrified. Hes shocked with the allegations. So right now, were going to try to gather as much information as possible and figure out where well go from there. Reporter police say enright was drunk, but the cofounder of the new York City TaxiDrivers Union says he has no doubt the current controversy over the Islamic Center near ground zero contributed to his actions. Yes, we believe that because after 9 11, a lot of cab drivers got assaulted and a lot of cabs. Meanwhile, a controversial mosque and Islamic Center slated to be built just blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center got an unexpected boost yesterday. New york neighbors for american values, a group of supporters that includes families of victims of the september 11th attacks, rallied for the first time in favor of the mosque, calling for religious freedom. And now heres a look at some other stories making news early today in america. Officials in hawaii have decided to incinerate 40 Million Pounds of smoldering garbage that has been sitting in an Industrial Park for five months. The trash was originally supposed to be sent to washington state, but the plan fell through. Honolulu produces almost 2 Million Pounds of trash a year. In upstate new york, dairiville 2020 is on display at the new York State Fair. The 800pound butter sculpture depicts the future of farming and how Technology Helps provide a greener community. Atlantic city is celebrating the 75th anniversary of an iconic board game. Mr. Monopoly was there for the occasion, parachuting in in his trademark bow tie and top hat. Most of the streets that made up the game in 1935 still remain, though you would be hardpressed to rent or lease property for what is listed on the cards. And in alabama, theres one gimmick that really never gets old, a monkey riding a dog. The charging duo was bobo the monkey and red the dog, were promoting the Alabama State fair, where theyll also perform. Yes, it really does never get old. And now for a look at your national and regional weather, lets check in with meteorologist bill karins with the Weather Channel forecast. For your viewing pleasure, bill, i thought youd like that. We could put that on for a half hour and scrap the whole show. Just loop it. I think people would appreciate that this early in the morning. Why not . Yeah. Lets talk about whats going to happen here in the tropics, because we still have a minor concern for areas, say up there in nova scotia or maybe the canadian maritimes. This is hurricane danielle. The weather pattern across the country is very quiet. The tropics, though, are very active. Here is bermuda, and thats probably the interesting portion of the forecast this weekend. In bermuda, this looks like possibly a category 2 hurricane could head your way. It should be a major hurricane for a while and then weaken down to a 2 by the weekend. Notice its going to be very close to bermuda, probably traveling just to the east of there. And you notice it heads due north for a while, so our friends up here in canada and the maritimes are going to be watching this, and it will be close enough to send large waves up through new england the beginning of next week. So, thats the only real concern. Theres also Tropical Storm aerial out the earl, but thats way behind this one. So a quiet pattern. Not looking at much troublesome weather. We had thunderstorms and rain down here in florida, but this huge area of High Pressure is providing a great weather pattern. There is the rainfall near naples and the keys and that will be in florida during the day. Overall, wonderful weather from denver to chicago right into new york city. Thats a look at your thursday forecast. Now heres a look at the weather outside your window. New orleans today 92 degrees. Thats a hot day for you, but the humiditys down just a tad. Columbus, ohio, gorgeous through the ohio valley. Kansas city, fantastic. Pueblo getting a little hot in colorado. Temperatures there will be in the 90s. Lynn, its a great thursday forecast for much of the nation. Friday looks equally as good. Its a nice, quiet, almost falllike weather pattern. Bill, thank you. Overstocks finally able to end their losing streak. And think your taxes are bad . How about a 172 million bill . Your earlymorning business headlines are straight ahead. Plus, heidi montag is desperate to be normal. Question is, what is her normal . Tiger woods talks about his failed marriage. And a ninerun lead sure didnt save any more. Youre watching early today. Good morning. Welcome back to early today. I am lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. Chilean officials have assigned daily tasks and planned entertainment, such as games and singing, to keep the 33 trapped miners mentally healthy and trim. The challenge is that the miners will have to be slim enough to fit through a 26inch escape tunnel once its drilled. Meanwhile, there are conflicting reports as to whether the miners know they could be trapped until christmas. Some reports say the news has been broken to them and they took it calmly. In mexico, 72 bodies have been discovered in what may be the biggest massacre in mexicos drug war. The corpses were found at a ranch near the texas border. According to a man who survived the incident, the victims were u. S. Bound migrants killed by a drug gang. A highprofile republican says hes gay. Ken mehlman, who was once the Republican Party chairman and president george w. Bushs campaign manager, tells the atlantic magazine he came out publicly in part because he wants to be an advocate for samesex marriage. And the Empire State Building is on its way to face some competition just two blocks away. Yesterday the new York City Council voted in favor of plans for a nearly 1,200foot tower about 200 feet shorter than the manhattan icon. It was passed despite rejections from the Empire State Buildings owner, who says the tower would ruin the view of the landmark. And now heres an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. The dow opens at 10,060 after gaining 19 points yesterday. The s p added three points. The nasdaq rose 17. Taking a look at overseas trading this morning. In tokyo, the nikkei jumped 61 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng lost 22. Bargain hunting investors helped markets bounce back yesterday, despite another blow to the economy. Americans bought new homes at the slowest pace in nearly half a century last month, sending the dow in a downward spiral early in the day. But stocks recovered later on with the Health Care Sector leading the way. Meanwhile, Toll Brothers reported its first quarterly profit in three years, giving homebuilders a muchneeded boost. Apple helped the nasdaq stay out of the red, adding 1 on nation it will unveil a revamped ipod september 1st. Elsewhere, google is giving skype a run for its money with a new feature that will let gmail users make phone calls from their email inbox. Walmart has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether a wage Discrimination Suit involving more than a million female workers can proceed. If allowed, walmart could face an estimated 1 billion in damages. Germanys government has proposed a new law that would restrict employers from using social networking sites like facebook as a means to screen potential new hires. Aaa says more americans will get away for the Labor Day Weekend this year. The average traveler will spend an estimated 697 over the holiday, up 50 bucks from last year. And finally, need incentive to file your taxes . Get this, the irs recently issued a staggering 172 million tax bill to a spanish man who worked as a day trader in his tiny new york city apartment in 2006 after he failed to file a return, a tax expert believes uncle sam assumed the man had raked in 500 million based on the number of trades he made instead of his actual profit. Im sure he would have loved 500 million. Well, tiger woods opens up about his divorce and so does his exwife, elin. And extra innings in San Francisco after the reds blow a ninerun lead. Your earlymorning sports headlines are straight ahead. With the exception of florida, it is going to be sunny and dry from coast to coast, a really nice thursday. Your regional forecast is coming up. Youre watching early today. Good morning. If youre just waking up, this is early toid. And in sports, tiger woods is back on the course and trying to get his life back on track after his divorce became official. Heres nbcs fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. Good morning. Its safe to say tiger woods has a lot on his mind these days. He tees off for the barclays in new jersey just after 7 00 a. M. Eastern time. This comes less than a week after his divorce to Elin Nordegren was finalized. So naturally, the press wanted to talk to tiger about his failed marriage. I wish her the best in everything. You know, its a sad time in our lives. You dont ever go into a marriage looking to get divorced. You know, thats the thing. Thats why it is sad. Do you have any regrets . Well, my actions certainly led us to this decision, and you know, ive certainly made a lot of errors in my life, and thats something im going to have to live with. Ironically, his now exwife broke her silence yesterday to people magazine. She said she never had any inkling of tigers infidelity, never hit him with a golf club and that her hair has started to fall out because of the stress. Baseball and colorado. Rockies trail 101 to the braves in the third, but no problem. Instead of packing it in, the rockies made a historical comeback. In the eighth, Troy Tulowitzki singled in the goahead run. Colorado came from nine back, matching their biggest rally in team history. They won it 1210 that keeps their wild card hopes alive. To San Francisco where the giants almost pulled off the same magic trick against the reds. They were down 101. They forced extra innings. But mvp candidate joey vado singled in a goahead run in the top of the 12th after ripping a pair of homers. Reds won it 1211. Finally, the wnba playoffs tipped off last night. Washington hosts atlanta. Angela cotchery poured in 28 points as the dream upset the mystics 9590. Atlanta leads 10 in the bestofthree eastern conference semis. Thats your early look at sports on early today. Im fred roggin. Lindsay lohan may be going from the big house to the small screen. Your earlymorning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. Plus, ever tossed your phone out a window . Well, one tech addict went a different route. Youre watching early today. Welcome back on this thursday morning. Its going to be a quiet, Beautiful Day throughout much of the country, all the way from texas back through the northern plains. Very average temperatures for thyme of year. A lot of areas in the 70s and 80s, texas in the 90s. Finally, beautiful weather will arrive in new england. New york city warming up along with boston and even maine eventually will clear out. The hot areas will be back here in the west. And a look at your friday forecast, much of the same. Were not really going to see any troublesome weather, the exception being florida today and tomorrow, a chance of some showers and storms. But overall, very nice weather pattern. Well, if youre watching us on wstm nbc 3 in syracuse, new york, celebrate the end of summer new york style with good food, shows and fun attractions at the great new York State Fair at the empire expo center. Thats your early today event of the day, lynn. When i was a little kid growing up, my grandparents would always bring me to that fair there in syracuse. Really . Always a great time. Big fair, too, huge. Great. Now heres an early look at this mornings headlines in entertainment. Heidi montag admits she has regrets. Where to begin. Apparently, with her drastic transformation, including ten Plastic Surgery procedures in one day. The soontobe exwife of Spencer Pratt says shes desperate to get back to normal, which includes removing her massive breast implants. Mel gibsons fate is now in the l. A. District attorneys hands. Reports say police have turned over their investigation into Domestic Violence allegations, and now prosecutors will decide whether any charges will be filed. Mariah carey is reportedly expecting. According to radaronline, the singer is four months along. No confirmation from husba nick cannon who said on his radio show when my wife feels like talk being whatever she wants to talk about, youll hear it directly from her. And Lindsay Lohan may be free from rehab, but her next move could be pricey. Reports say lohan has been offered 1 million to host a talk show with her mother, dina. She might have trouble fitting that into her busy courtordered schedule, including therapy and drug testing. I saved that for you, bill. I know how much you love Lindsay Lohan. The name of the show is easy. Well call it train wreck. That is easy. And this is from wnbc 4 new york, where one man is going through some pretty extreme measures to fight his technology addiction. Hes been couped up living in his bathroom for the past five days. The selfdescribed internet iphone social media junkie said he felt like he was losing control and needed to do something extreme to kick the habit. But dont feel too bad for him. He has all of his essentials stashed right there in his medicine cabinet. Thanks for the garr banso beans. Im lynn berry and this is early today, just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. Our time is 4 28 in the morning. 69 degrees out there. A Beautiful Day right now. Well find out what the forecast is coming up. Good morning to you. Im joe krebs. And im aaron gilchrist. Welcome to news 4 today. It is thursday, august 26th, 2010. And for many of you, your morning commute is about to get a little more expense sif. Metro Just Announced its implementing its morning peak of the peak sur chaurnlg next week. That will affect tense of thousands of people. Megan mcgrath joins us live from balan gallery place are who are. Reporter rirders traveling during the peak of the peak in the evening period have been playing a surcharge now for several week, but metro Just Announced that they will implement that same surcharge during the morning crunch time. That will begin on monday. So that means that people who ride from 7 30 in the morning until 9 00 in the morning, they will have to pay a 20 cent peak of the peak surcharge. Metro also announced a change in their smart trip policy. Riders will h have to have the full fare on their card before exiting the station. No more going into the red and paying the difference later. They havent set a exact date, just that it will be sometime in the fall. Right now if you dont have enough money on your smart trip card, you can still exit the station. When you add hormone to your card, what you owe is subtracted from the new balance. But beginning in the fall, you are no longer going to be able to do that, you have to have that full fare on your card before youre able to exit the station. Theyre also going to have machines this at those turn styles so that if you dont have enough money, you can use cash to put money on your smartr