designer showroom. as they say, who will she be wearing? the inside scoop today, wednesday, july 28th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today." it's 7:00 a.m. on the west coast on this wednesday. i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm meredith vieira. this morning hundreds of firefighters are working to contain those two wildfires that have erupted and spread quickly in southern california. both of them fueled by changing winds. >> now, the most destructive of the blazes is about 70 miles north of los angeles. it's destroyed at least 30 homes already. as i said earlier, 150 other homes are in danger this morning. we're going live to that scene in just a little while. also ahead, a new report this morning that those classified war documents posted online include the names of dozens of afghan informants. so is the leak more dangerous than even the white house first suspected? and has this man put innocent lives at risk? coming up, the founder of wikileaks.org speaks out in an exclusive interview. also i guess you could call them the diva and the diplomat. aretha franklin is used to performing and last night she got some help from an unexpected source. former secretary of state condoleezza rice. al sat down and talked to both of those women. he'll have that conversation for us a little later on. first on this h wednesday morning let's start with those wildfires raging about an hour north of los angeles. nbc's kristen welker is in tehachapi with the latest. kristen, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. governor arnold schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency here in kern county where we are watching two fast-moving fires. so far dozens of homes have been destroyed. people have been evacuated and a number of structures are currently threatened. if we could take a look at some of the video that we shot of this fire here in tehachapi. the first fire is called the west fire. it's destroyed more than 30 homes and is threatening about 150 structures. it's burning near tehachapi, which is 70 miles north of los angeles. it started yesterday afternoon and has already scorched more than 1200 acres. as many as 200 firefighters are battling this blaze and it's about 25% contained. now, we're also watching a second fire, the bull fire. that's in the sequoia national forest in the northern part of kern county. this blaze has destroyed six homes and forced the evacuation of a camp for juvenile offenders. so far 700 firefighters are on the scene and 5,000 acres has been consumed. this blaze only 5% contained, but fewer structures are being threatened at this point in time. now back out here live, there is some good news here, which is that there are no injuries so far. the cause of both of these fires under investigation. it's a very tense situation. a number of residents reporting that they just had to pick up all of their belongings in a matter of minutes and literally, matt, run for their lives. >> kristen, can't help but noticing looking at the wind generators behind you moving pretty quickly. what are the winds like today? what's the weather supposed to do? >> reporter: well, that is the biggest challenge right now for firefighters, matt. the winds are not incredibly strong right now, but they are expected to pick up and one of their greatest problems since yesterday afternoon when the tehachapi expire started was erratic winds, so that's what they're dealing with. today they are going to be out in force trying to get a containment line around these two fires. matt, back to you. >> kristen welker, thank you very much. now let's get a check of the rest of the top stories. natalie morales is in for ann who is on assignment. >> good morning, everyone. at least two americans were among the victims of today's jetliner crash near pakistan's capital of islamabad. 152 people were aboard the flight from karachi. the plane went down in a rain storm. there were no survivors. the head of the website that released the secret documents on the afghanistan war said today he did not post many other records because they contain the names of u.s. service members still serving overseas. today marks 100 days since the oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico, killing 11 workers and triggering the worst oil spill in u.s. history. bp says the containment cap on the well is working and no new oil has leaked now in 12 days. and a sad note about one of our recent guests here on the "today" show. wildfire photographer jim cole passed away this week. his agent said jim died in his sleep of natural causes. last month jim spoke with matt about his new book, surviving a grizzly attack and still loving the great bear. he was a great man and certainly going to be missed. his talents tremendous, especially in the world of natural photography. it is now 7:05 pacific time. back over to matt, meredith and al. >> thanks very much. mr. roker. >> as we go back to california to go you what's going on in the forecast, 86 degrees, winds northwest 10 to 20 miles per hour and they are going to be gusty. and here's what's happening around san francisco. we've got overcast skies and our temperatures today again running quite mild. 50s to get your day started. around lunchtime, breaking out into the 70s inland with some clearing at least inland today, but still stuck in the clouds around san francisco and the coast. 60s and 70s for most of the bay area. about the same story tomorrow. and as we head into the start of the weekend, inland temperatures warming 5 to 10 degrees, to so finally looking a little bit more like july and trending a bit cooler early next week. that's your latest weather. meredith. >> al, thank you. now to that new report this morning that the names of dozens of informants are included in the tens of thousands of classified war documents leaked to an online whistleblower. in a moment we will talk exclusively with the founder of wikileaks. but first nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon with the very latest. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. while the white house is aggressively trying to control the political trying to contro the political fallout while the pent dwagon is assessing any potential damage to security. they are in a desperate search for the leakers themselves. in his first public response to the wikileaks controversy, president obama worried it could put american troops at risk but said there is nothing in the leaks to change his afghan war strategy. >> the fact is these documents don't reveal any issues that haven't already informed our public debate on afghanistan. >> reporter: on capitol hill, marine corps general james madus couldn't contain his thoughts. >> it is appalling to release this information. >> the yeas, 308. >> reporter: the house finally passed a bill to pay for the bill after democrats in both houses stalled the votes for months. >> all of us, however, are concerned that after nearly nine years of war, more than 1,000 american casualties and billions of u.s. taxpayer dollars the taliban appear to be as strong as they have been. >> reporter: the pentagon has launched a full blown investigation to try to find the source of the leak. a senior pentagon official says a prime suspect is 22-year-old army private first class bradley manning. he's already suspected of leaking this gun camera video of a helicopter attack on civilians in baghdad to wikileaks. he's charged with downloading 150,000 secret cables. but pentagon officials tell nbc news that thousands of military d.o.d. civilians and even private contractors have the same kind of security clearance and access to secret files as manning. any one of them with a personal agenda or grudge could easily become wikileaks' next source. >> over half the american people are now against the afghan war. the number is bound to grow as a result of this gusher of leaks. >> reporter: if manning knows anything about these latest leaks, military officials say he isn't talking. as for those reports this morning that those documents contain the names of dozens of afghan civilians who provided intelligence to the u.s. military, pentagon officials say this is the fear they have had all along. if the names are revealed those people could become targets for the taliban. meredith? >> thank you very much. julian assange is the founder of wikileaks. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> since releasing the leaked reports you said, "our primary concern with people being potentially harmed had to do with afghan informants and that is why we held back some 15,000 reports for a detailed review." this morning the london times said they have found the names of dozens of afghans credited with providing detailed information to u.s. intelligence. what is your reaction to that? >> we're still reviewing that report by the times to see if it's credible. we spent quite a bit of effort on pulling out 15 threat reports that may have mentioned that for a detailed review. they will not be published until they are reviewed. this report by the times, i really can't comment on it too much. i have seen the allegation. we take these things seriously and we are reviewing it. >> is the 90,000-plus documents, only 2,000 have been reviewed by you in depth. how do you know what you put out there? >> well, the reports themselves have particular classifications which are placed on them by the u.s. military. now, it is possible that some of those classifications were misapplied internally. so that could be a cause of something slipping in there. it really is too early to say yet. we have seen these things in media reports that are not particularly credible. reading the times article it is hard to get a hook onto what they're talking about. but we have our people involved, looking at the documents. we'll come to a conclusion soon after that what is going on. but looking at the broader picture, there are 2,200 escalation of force reports in this material. the deaths of some 20,000 people documented, and, of course, every week another 100 or so people are killed in afghanistan and that number is increasing. we shouldn't let these rumors about whether there are additional names in there or not which may or may not be serious eclipses the bigger problem. >> you said there is a mood to end the war in afghanistan. you hope this information will shift political will. if in the process you have jeopardizes the lives of afghan informants, if somebody is executed because their name is out there, would you consider that your form of collateral damage? >> yes. that would be true in our case. if we had, in fact, made that mistake then of course that would be something we would take very seriously. >> this has to be sobering for you. your number one concern, you said, is to protect these people. you could have put dozens or maybe many more than that in harm's way. >> well, once again, we are checking to see whether this is, in fact, credible. it is probably unlikely. we have taken care to, in fact, hold back a 15,000 for review that it could have this type of material in it. if there are names there and they are at risk, this would be because of a misclassification by the u.s. military itself. >> would you consider never releasing the other 15,000 documents given what's going on now? >> we reserve the other 15,000 for a detailed review. we have designed a computer system especially for that review at a low level because we believe there was a small risk that some of them would have names within them. that review is progressing. >> all right. julian assange, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> it's 7:13. here's matt. thank you. with an economy on edge many states are facing difficult choice. new jersey's governor is facing waves for fixing his state's budget problems. good to have you here. >> good morning, matt. >> so much for flying under the radar. you have been in the seat for six months and you're making headlines. they are saying, the nation's most interesting governor, governor wrecking ball, a human bu bulldozer and my favorite, he may look like chris farley, but in terms of policy he's as sexy as christie brinkley. >> we're treating the people of new jersey as adults. we are in awful shape and we need to get it together. >> that includes taking on head on what are normally some sacred cows -- unions, teachers, cops. any regrets about the cuts? are you worried that a year or two from now the cuts may come back to haunt the people of new jersey? >> my regret is we didn't deal with it sooner. all the cuts are tough. in a perfect world i wouldn't want to do them. i'm in a state where i have an $11 billion defendant on a $20 billion budget. >> you took on the teachers union. you said to teachers, you may have to take a pay freeze for a year, pay for your own health benefits. you got into a heated exchange at a town hall meeting. take a look. >> -- from my education and my experience. >> well, you know what, you don't have to do it. [ cheers and applause ] >> the simple fact of the matter is -- >> teachers do it because they love it. >> the simple fact is this -- >> teachers do it because they love it. >> well, that's good. >> that's why i do it. >> teachers go into it knowing what the pay scale is. >> it's basically, you knew the deal, take it or leave it. these are teachers and that's a tough group to take on. any fear of fallout? >> i don't think you can lead out of fear. the teachers union in new jersey demanded 4% and 5% increases in the 0% inflation world. they pay nothing to the teachers for family health benefits from the day they are hired to the day they die. the people being ravaged from the recession are being asked to shelter people from the recession. the politically correct approach doesn't work anymore. we have to talk about the problems and solve them. >> are you reacting to what has happened inside the republican party long known as the party of fiscal responsibility? it took on a slightly different reputation over the last dozen or so years. did the party lose sight of core responsibilities? >> i think it did. the reason i became a republican at 18 and voted for reagan in 1980 is he articulated the ideas of lower spending, smaller government, common sense regulation, lower taxes. i feel we have lost our way. we have to get back to those core things and that's what people in new jersey, at least, want to hear. >> president obama is coming to your state later on. i know you're going to greet him. he's here, in part, to push for legislation that would help small businesses. do you agree with the legislation? are you in favor of it? >> i'm in favor of trying to lower taxes and lower regulation so they can create jobs. we need more private sector jobs and the economies are producing. >> based on what you have seen in the legislation, will you support that? you do agree on some of the things he's done for the economy. >> i agree on things like education, renewable energy and those things. i have been vocal in my support. i think he has to get back to the core principles as well. that's what he'll hear today. >> you made headlines for another reason. you're smiling already. you took on the jersey shore -- not the geographic location but the television show. you said that the show is negative for new jersey. i get the whole governor wrecking ball, but staki taking snooki and the situation? >> they're new yorkers. they parachute people from new york to the jersey shore and say that this is new jersey. it's not. if you want to come to the jersey shore, let's go. i will show you the real jersey shore. >> people say they are good for the economy in the towns along the jersey shore and they have increased tourism. you need money. >> we'll find other ways. we'll take the situation and snookie out back. >> now you're dumping them on me? >> there's only so much a man can take. >> governor, it's good to have you here. >> thanks, matt. good to be here. >> thank you very much. 19 minutes after the hour. here's meredith. >> matt, thank you. a new proposal is ruffling feathers in san francisco. a proposed ban on sale of most pets within city limits. natalie has details. >> cities like west hollywood, california, have had similar bans with dogs and cats but the new law would include all creatures great and small and the idea has the fur flying. >> reporter: it's a bow-wow brouhaha in the city by the bay. san francisco officials are considering a measure that would take the pets out of pet stores within city limits. if passed, store owners say the law would take a serious bite out of profits and consumer choice. ♪ how much is that doggy in the window ♪ >> there are lots of dogs and cats at rescues. there are more than enough. >> reporter: the idea to ban pet sales started with philip gary, who is also a backyard beekeeper on his own time. he says the original goal was to discourage so-called puppy mills, large factory-style breeding operations that he says raise dogs in cruel and unhealthy conditions and end up in pet stores. but animal lovers in this famously pet-centric town said, why stop with cats and dogs? what about hamsters, birds and chinchillas which also end up in shelters and are eventually euthanized. >> it's animal welfare. >> reporter: pet store owners like rick french say the city should keep its paws off. >> san francisco has a law that says you cannot walk an elephant down market street without a leash. if this passes i won't be able to buy a pet in a pet shop. >> reporter: french agrees puppy mills are a problem but says putting a leash on pet stores won't solve it. >> man has had pets for thousands of years. all the stores i know of in san francisco are very responsible. if they are not responsible that's where they should be focusing their efforts. >> reporter: in a city where dog owners refer to themselves as "guardians," any proposal about animals will raise hackles. advocates on both sides are certain to continue fighting like cats and dogs. >> of course before it can become a law a final proposal has to get through the city's animal control and welfare commission and a vote by the board of supervisors. meredith? thank you very much. still to come, who is that under the floppy hat? chelsea clinton heading into the store of a well known designer. who will she be wearing? all the details, but first, this is "today" on nbc. still to come, police investigating the disappearance of 7-year-old kyron horman in oregon say they are making significant progress but why are they doubling the reward? fancy feast appetizers. simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or seabass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment. as a juicy flame-grilled cheeseburger on a delicious bun. and when you get it all at walmart's guaranteed unbeatable prices -- it somehow tastes even better. save money. live better. walmart. it somehow tastes even better. have you tried honey bunches of oats yet? every spoonful is a little different. mmm. they got three kinds of flakes. this is delicious. it's the perfect combination of sweet and crispy. i love it. this is so good. this is great. the magic's in the mix. good wednesday morning to you. 7:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. time to check the commute with mike. a fire to tell you about. >> two car fires. the van fire is still going on in the peninsula. earlier one in castro valley. two reported in the last half an hour there. northbound 101 at 92. sounds like that should be out. no injuries are reported and no slowing on your peninsula drive. i guess that's the better news. a little bit of smoke might be remaining in the area, but our view of the san mateo bridge from the hayward side shows you you wouldn't even notice it if there was smoke on the peninsula side. rob, kind of a cloudy