And welcome to today on this sunday morning. Im erica hill. Im lester holt with jenna wolfe and dylan dreyer who sa , said said, ringers off. We have four people here and anybody expecting a call . If they are, one of us will get it. As long as it vibrates, well show they called. The ringer is off. I like that. Thank you. What do we have coming up . Nascar legend tony stewart will be back competing today in the drivers seat after three weeks hiatus after he struck and killed fellow driver kevin ward jr. Were live in georgia at the Atlanta Motor Speedway for a look at what fans have to say about his return. We introduce you d you to charlotte and talk about the medical breakthrough that helped in the reconstruction of her face after a terrible accident. With two years of surgery behind her, were checking in with charlotte and we have a neat surprise for her as well. Looking forward to that. The mornings top story, the Severe Weather expected to batter the Central Plains and the midwest today. Keeping you busy today, dylan. As we say goodbye to summertime, it is certainly not the weekend you hoped for. We saw extremely heavy rain in parts of louisiana yesterday, up to 10 inches of rain in lake charles, louisiana. Flash flood watches are still in effect. It is called like a 20 to 25year event. That means it happens about every 20 to 25 years and we certainly saw it yesterday. We have flooding through peoples homes. We have the water and the just completely saturating the ground. This water unfortunately has nowhere to go. And more rain is in the forecast today. You can see some scattered showers down through louisiana. We have some pockets of heavier rain moving up into kentucky and into ohio and even into pennsylvania. But it is back through the midwest, and into the plains, where were going to see our strongest storms today. We are looking at a slight risk of severe storms from minnesota, right down to kansas including parts of eastern and south dakota, eastern nebraska, most of iowa, right in through here where we have a chance of have tornadoes developing, especially later this afternoon, and into the evening. We also have a slight risk of sto stronger storms from new england to d. C. This wont be for tornadoes but the large hail and also the damaging wind gusts. All out ahead of this frontal system. It is really hot and humid ahead of it. Were looking at the ripe conditions to produce torrential downpours and also some of those possible tornadoes, especially into iowa as we go into late this evening and overnight. Wanted to show you on labor day, were looking at the chance of severe storms to shift a little further to the east. So it is not just the fact that were going to see flooding rains, but just the wind and the hail and also we could see a tornado outbreak. Tough combination. Thanks. Well get the rest of your National Forecast at the moment. U. S. Military forces carried out air strikes and dropped humanitarian aid in one iraqi town today, helping break a sixweek siege by isis fighters. This comes as president obama Still Deciding whether to carry out air strikes in syria. And Andrea Mitchell is nbcs chief Foreign Affairs correspondent, filling in as moderator of meet the press. Good morning. Great to see you. Good morning. Good to see you, lester. The president was cautious in his words about whether to go forward in syria at the same time youve got defense secretary hagel talking about this imminent threat of isis, that what we have seen is beyond anything that we have seen. Great britain raising the terror level, saying highly likely for an attack. Is there some kind of disconnect going on here . I think there is a disconnect, particularly in the president s own National Security cabinet. That was one of the messages that he was deliberately sending when he said we dont have a strategy yet for isis. He was trying to cool down the more hawkish memories of his own National Security team. But in doing so, he perhaps in inadvertently gave ammunition to his critics saying hes being too cautious and not confronting this threat quickly enough aone of those critics is Dianne Feinstein who i interview on meet the press. Lets play a little bit of that interview and then well continue. Here it is. I think ive learned one thing about this president , and that is hes very cautious. Maybe in this instance too cautious. This is a group of people who are extraordinarily dangerous. And theyll kill with abandon. Turn that around now, andrea. Almost exactly a year ago the president was ready to go in against the assad government, over the chemical weapons and attack there. What has transpired in the interim . In the interim, congress has not taken up the challenge. He managed to get rid of the chemical weapons with an agreement ironically enough with Vladimir Putin. This is a Foreign Policy success that the administration is pointing to. But the fact is that he did withdraw sort of that threat, that military threat, even after asaad in syria crossed a red line, and now a year later again showing real caution in his comments. And there is a disconnect, not only within the cabinet, but also with the allies. We saw how strong David Cameron was. I think everyone agrees that the military options against isis is very complex. And that perhaps there does need to be more time, more of a strategy. So hes going to send john kerry and chuck hagel to the middle east after a nato meeting next week and try to rally the allies. But were going to be talking about whether or not the president has signaled weakness and whether there needs to be more show of leadership here in the united states. Andrea, thanks very much. Well check back with you more on whats coming up on meet the press later. Superstar tony stewart will be back on the track today competing for First Time Since he struck and killed driver kevin ward jr. Earlier this month. Gabe gutierrez has more. Gabe, good morning. Reporter erica, good morning. Almost 100,000 people are expected here later today. Many of them will be eager to welcome one of nascars biggest stars back to the track after an emotional three weeks. This morning, tony stewart is preparing for one of the biggest races of his career, he was all business saturday during practice laps. You know, i can only imagine what hes going through with the ward family. But hes a driver. He needs to do what he wants to do. And were just glad hes back. Reporter all weekend here at Atlanta Motor Speedway, stewart has been the center of attention. On friday, speaking publicly for the first time. This is a sadness and a pain that i hope no one ever has to experience in their life. Tony stewart just hit that guy. Reporter since he struck and killed fellow driver kevin ward jr. At a dirt track in upstate new york earlier this month. The horrifying collision caught on camera and posted on youtube. The sheriff says that crash investigation will take at least another two weeks. That was a total accident. I mean, it is very obvious. I dont think tony would hurt a fly. Reporter stewarts team says he sent flowers and a card to wards relatives and would like to meet them at a appropriate time but the family has not commented on stewarts return to racing. Everybody in nascar industry and legal experts are expecting there will be some sort of civil action and settlement. Reporter corporate sponsors are watching how stewart handles the adversitadversity. Bass pro shops said it was proud to stand by him. Nascar is the second most watched sport on television behind the nfl. Bobby and Sherry Gordon drove ten hours to catch a glimpse of stewart. Theyre not alone. I think it is the best thing he can do, get back out there on the racetrack. It is what he needs. Reporter stewart would need to win one of the next two races to have a shot at the championship. He came in 12th during fridays qualifying laps. Tonights race is scheduled to begin at 7 30 eastern. Erica . Gabe, thanks. Gabe gutierrez this morning. Michael sam, first openly gay player drafted by an nfl team, is waiting to see what is next for him today after he was cut. A lot of people are watching the clock yesterday, the rams had until 4 00 to trim the roster down, down from 75 to 53. Making the decision to let the defensive end go in just the final hours. Michael sam brought his a game during the st. Louis rams four preseason games. But his 11 tackles and three sacks werent enough for the franchise who passed on him before the official start of the season this week. It was a football decision back in may to draft mike. And once again, i mean, it has been all about football. Reporter rams coach jeff fisher adding i will tell you this, i was pulling for mike. Reporter the rams ultimately deciding that sam wasnt their best option, at a position where the team is already suited with talent. From the start, it would be difficult to prove that to the rams because they have such good defensive ends, would be tough for michael sam to get on the field. Hell get a hard look from other 43 defensive units that might need help in that position. Reporter earlier this week, sam was confident about his chances saying ill sleep really well tonight and im very confident ill be on the team on the rams or any other team in the nfl. Reporter and late saturday, in response to the news, sam tweeted, i want to thank the entire Rams Organization and the city of st. Louis for giving me this tremendous opportunity and allowing me to show i can play at this level. I look forward to continuing to build on the progress i made here toward a long and successful career. And while sam was just one of hundreds of players released yesterday, his openly gay sexuality made him the most talked about. In the end, the coaches and the scouts are going to judge him on can he help you win Football Games on sundays. Reporter now a free agent, sam will pass through waivers giving the other 31 nfl teams an opportunity to add him to their rosters. Yes, sam could end up on another teams roster as early as today. So what if that does not happen well . The rams could sign them to their practice squad, their tenman practice squad, so at some point, if somebody gets hurt on the roster, they could call him up. So eventually he will officially be the first openly gay player to play in the nfl, just has to wait a little longer. T. J. , thanks very much. Time for a look at the rest of the mornings top stories. Jenna is following those for us. Good morning. European leaders overnight issued an ultimatum to russia, one week to pull back Russian Troops from ukraine or face new sanctions. Russian president Vladimir Putin reacted this morning saying moscow cannot stand aside when people are being shot at in ukraine, but denies nato assertions that 1,000 of russias troops have crossed into ukraine. A new volcanic eruption in iceland caused the country to issue its highest aviation warning. Authorities warn that a code red warning means there is potential for the volcano to spew ash into flight paths. An eruption in the same volcano system four years ago led to a sixday closure of european air space. Rescuers are still feverishly working to save at least four people and four miners trapped in nicaragua. A they now have been underground for 72 hours. They said they first felt despair after thursdays collapse in a gold and silver mine and then pure joy as the miners digging from the inside were reached by rescuers digging from the outside. The coast guard is searching for the wreckage of a small plane today that triggered a security alert before crashing into the atlantic. The plane took off from wisconsin saturday headed for virginia. When it entered restricted air space, over washington, d. C. , fighter jets were scrambled. The jet pilot said the person at the controls appeared to be unconscious and they followed the plane until it crashed at sea in virginia. It may be first weekend of college football, but receivers around the country have to go a long way to top this catch. Collect it out. Jordan heading for the sideline. The pass is tipped. Watch it. He makes an unbelievable behind the back catch. His coach says hes never seen anything like this. Oh, by the way, cornhuskers won the game handily over florida. Did you see it . Did you see it . Watch it. Here it is. And there is the catch. And finally this morning, if youre an expecting mom and i know a few, among the many things you worry about, if you are a worrier, is where youll be when it is time. Near a hospital, near a cab to take you to a hospital, near someone who owns a cab who knows where the hospital is . Mark potter introduces us to one illinois couple whose delivery situation included none of the above. Reporter maybe Mary Margaret came into the world on friday to join three brother and a sister already here, she made quite an entrance. It began around midknignight wh her mother felt strong contractions that went away. Came on with a vengeance. Reporter fearing they may not make it to the hospital, she and her husband dan headed for their minivan. He gets in the car, i dont know. Just dont push. Reporter racing down the highway, it wasnt long before they had to pull over. I called 911 right away. And then i went over to the passenger door and opened it just to get a little bit of light because it is still dark out and at that point it was very obvious i was going to deliver a child on the shoulder of the road. Reporter luckily hes a captain in the Fire Department and was trained in childbirth, but never tested. You dont think about anything other than dont drop the baby. Reporter the roadway birth of his own child took only about two minutes. Fellow firefighters were impressed. Pretty cool move, and did a great job. Everybody here is pretty proud of him. Reporter but for the lynches, this is it. Were done. We went out with a bang with her. Reporter their fifth child, the one who just couldnt wait. For today, mark potter, nbc news. Im making sure stephs watching, just on the off chance. Are you watching that . Because you need to know. Send. I think were all good now. I feel safe. Now that we have that part of it down, manybe a check of the weather. A busy day today for the last unofficial weekend of summer. We have got a lot going on. We have scattered showers and storms from Northern New England to southern texas with an area across the midatlantic where we could end up with large hail and damaging wind gusts. It is this hour baarea back thre midwest where we could see isolated tornadoes break out late this afternoon and into the this evening. Good morning everyone. Im meteorologist ted florendo. Humidity is back and so is the threat of showers and thunderstorms. Hot and humid today. Thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening hours. Temperatures are going in the upper 80s. Its going to feel like the 90s for the day today. Still storms for labor day, hot for tuesday. We start to cool off a little. Still in the upper 80s and warm towards the end of the week. Have a great morning everyone. And thats your latest forecast. Thank you very much. Up next on today, a Hometown Hero without an actual place to call home. Well have the story of a Little League champ from chicago whose life is changing thanks to one mans generosity. Well tell you all about it you read the labels on the foods you eat but do you know whats in your skincare . Neutrogena naturals. A line of nutrientrich skincare with pure, naturally derived ingredients, carefully chosen and clinically proven to cleanse, purify and moisturize. And youll never find any harsh chemical sulfates, parabens or unnecessary additives. Healthy skinstarts from within. Neutrogena naturals. Learn more at neutrogenanaturals. Com. I think im getting the hang of it. [ jay ] okay, now pick up the specially cured bacon hit it with the brown sugar now roll that beautiful bean footage yes [ jay ] bushs baked beans are slowcooked according to our secret family recipe for a big flavor. High score you get to put your name on the wall of fame [ beeping ] whoa game over. Aww, youre no fun. [ jay ] enjoy bushs baked beans. Still made from our secret family recipe. Bananas. Rice cakes. Raspberries. Toast [ kelly ] jif hazelnut spread makes anything your new favorite thing. Spoons which is why this choosy mom chooses jif. [ female announcer ] aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion has active naturals® oat with five vital nutrients. [ aniston ] because Beautiful Skin goes with everything. Aveeno®. Naturally beautiful results™. Glass on floors. Daily chores. For the little mishaps you feel use neosporin to help you heal. It kills germs so you heal four days faster. Neosporin. Buy three Johnson Johnson first aid products and get a free bag. If youre like most of us, youre probably captivated by chicagos Jackie Robinson west Little League team. They made it to the finals of the Little League world series but it is one of the stories of a player off the field that is really grabbing headlines this morning. Kristen dahlgren has more on that. Good morning, erica. Jackie robinson west may have been the hometown favorites, but one player didnt have a home. It sounds like every little boys dream, help win the u. S. Title in the Little League world series. Be welcomed home to chicago like a hero. And they are not just chicagos team, they are americas number one team. Reporter even honored on field at the white sox game. For jaheim benton, life off the feel was far are from a storybook. Its been hard, but i tell my babies, keep your head up. Reporter this past year has been a real struggle for his family. His mom devona had hours cut at her home care job. The family lost their home. They stayed apart with friends and relatives. All while jaheims Little League team was on its incredible run. Get out there and play ball, despite him knowing that we lost our home, he got out there and still played ball. He didnt give up. Reporter Jackie Robinson west was crowned best team in the country. Making headlines, and legions of fans. So w