Day. And look what we have. Two days before their release to the world, weve gotten our hands on the newest iphones. Well put them to the test today, wednesday, september 17th, 2014. Hello. So pretty. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And, good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Im matt lauer along with hoda kotb, Natalie Morales and al roker. Savannah is on maternity leave. You would have thought they brought a basket of kittens to the desk. Everybody hovered around. This one hold it up against your five. Its a little teeny bit bigger. And thinner. This is the monster six, the six plus. Much bigger. I hear they take great pictures. Do you know what else takes pretty good pictures . What . The five. And guess whose picture i took yesterday, so excited. Baby vail. Savannah was so adorable and peaceful. That baby is a bundle of joy. Jenna bush hager went. That was a terrible selfie. Savannah just looked so joyful. I get teary eyed. Thats great. Well show more of that in a little while. Our top story, though, this morning. Scandals rocking the nfl, nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander has more on this. Good morning to you. Matt, good morning to you. Minnesota vikings are telling star running back Adrian Peterson to stay away from all Team Activities while the leagues Player Association has officially appealed the suspension of ray rice. He is not the only one challenging how the nfl has handle this had Domestic Abuse scandal. The leagues biggest sponsors are now also demanding answers and results. Overnight the Minnesota Vikings reversed their decision for monday, reinstating Adrian Peterson and are now banning the football star from all Team Activities while allowing him to take care of his personal situation until all Legal Proceedings are resolved. The star, who admits he disciplined his son with a stick was set to return to practice today and play on sunday. The team explained the decision by saying after further reflection, weve concluded that this resolution is best for the vikings and for adrian, adding we want to be sure to get this right. The news came hours after the Nfl Players Union challenged ray rices suspension sarksing it was taking action to protect the Due Process Rights of all nfl players. The union singled out nfl commissioner Roger Goodell arguing that the indefinite suspension wasnt fair or impartial, asking an independent arbitrator to over see the appeal because goodell may be called as a witness. They may be losing some key sponsors, mcdonalds, general motors, bridgestone all voicing concerns but not pulling support for the nfl. Anheuserbusch sent a strong message saying we are not yet satisfied with the leagues handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own Company Culture and moral code. The nfl responded saying, we understand. We are taking action and there will be more to come. Average nfl sponsor gets back more than two dollars in profits than what they spend. Its hard for them to give up. Cbs says its moving in a different direction and pulled the song permanently. New developments in this case almost every hour. Overnight, Adrian Peterson tweeted an inspirational religious message that read, in part, pray and keep moving. God bless. It could be a while while petersons legal case is resolved. His arraignment isnt scheduled to happen for another three weeks. Matt . Thank you very much. Breaking news overnight in the u. S. Led fight to destroy isis,leasing a hollywoodtype propaganda, amid new concern that Ground Forces may be necessary to stamp out militants. Andrea mitchell, good morning. Good morning, hoda. That slick new isis propaganda video appears to be possibly a response to president obamas recent speech. Even as the nations top military adviser has opened the door for the first time to the possibility of using american boots on the ground. And the president is in florida today to be briefed on the war plans. The new propaganda video from the isis looks like a quick picture of the white house and flames engulfing edited pictures of u. S. Troops. Perhaps by coincidence it was released a few hours after joint chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey told congress that if the president s strategy does not work, he would recommend that the president use american Ground Troops against isis. If we reach a opponent where i believe advisers should accompany our allies, i would recommend that to the president. And i would make a recommendation that may include the use of u. S. Military Ground Forces. The president has repeatedly said he would not order boots on the ground. The white house immediately pushed back, saying dempsey was speaking only hypothetically. Under pressure from the white house, dempseys spokesman said combat forces are not required now but then repeated that if the situation calls for Ground Troops, the major will be asking for them. Hoda . Thank you very much. Business owner from upstate new york has been indicted on charges trying to aid isis. Pete williams has that part of the story. Pete, good morning to you. Matt, good morning. These are new charges against a man who has been in custody since may. He came to the attention of the fbi after posting messages on social media, saying he wanted to help muslims overseas carry out jihad. He ran a Convenience Store in rochester, a naturalized u. S. Citizen from yemen, arrested in may, accused of buying handguns from two men who turned out to be undercover informants for the fbi. Prosecutors say he told them he wanted to carry out mass shootings, targeting military personnel returning from the middle sbeest east and shia mus the rochester area. He urged those two men to go to syria and join up with isis. He helped one of them get a passport. He sent 600 to a man in yemen urging him to go to syria. Theres no documents that that man ever made it there. Matt . Thank you very much. Wildfires raging across california, tens of thousands of acres have been burned and the damage to the small town of weed is still being tallied. Nbcs Miguel Almaguer is there. Good morning, miguel. Reporter hoda, good morning. This is one suburb in the community of weed. Damage and destruction stretches much farther than you can see here. This morning, families are picking up the pieces to their lives, while crews battle a blaze thats already taken so much. Overnight, the firefight on the front lines. The fire still a threat in weed but no longer the raging monster that swept through 100 properties in this tiny town, kids driven from their schools, families from their homes. My daughters bedroom here, my two sons bedroom was right here. Reporter the bernsteins fled a wall of flames. They returned to a pile of debris. Im just glad nobody got hurt. Reporter with 6,000 firefighters on the front lines in california today, a dozen fires are being fought across the state, nearly 90,000 acres have already burned this year. Fueled by record temperatures and parched terrain. We flew with californias top fire chief and the states director of emergency services. Exclusive access in the air and on the ground in the burn zone. This is the early part of the fire season. This is more of a marathon, not a sprint. We knead to be able to be prepared for it. Reporter conditions here can turn deadly on a dime. Outside sacramento at the king fire, 12 firefighters used their emergency shelters when they were overrun by flames. The delta crew they deployed their shelters. Theyre in a safety zone. Reporter a close call. Everyone came home. But for so many in weed, how many home will never be the same. With so much devastation in such a small place, it will cost tens of millions of dollars to rebuild here. Many families say theyre unsure if theyll ever come back home. Meantime on the firefight here, this place blaze is at least 20 contained. It looks like a black and white picture behind you almost. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. People in the Southwestern United States are bracing for even more historic flooding, from the remnants of hurricane odile. The storm slammed into the resort area of los cabo over the weekend. Gabe gutierrez is in tucson, arizona. Good morning. Reporter matt, good morning. Flash flood watches or warnings are in effect for five states. The rain is expected to start soon. This is the desert. People here are used to dealing with heat waves, not Tropical Storms. The Desert Southwest is bracing for its second drenching in slightly more than a week. The rain is coming. Reporter remnants of hurricane odile are forecast to soak Southern Arizona and new mexico with up to eight inches of rain. Other areas could see five inches. This after odile swept through mexico, with winds of more than 125 miles an hour, the storm made landfall sunday, battering Cabo San Lucas and damaging the airport. The military is scrambling to evacuate 30,000 stranded tourists, most of them americans. Were happy to be out there. It seemed like we were there forever. Make sure you look at the Weather Forecast up and down before you go anywhere, i guess. Reporter in san diego tuesday, odiles remnants spawned thunderstorms that knocked out power and even picked up this small plane. This morning, the system is much weaker but still a threat. The High Resolution computer models are putting out, quite frankly, scary. To get in florida what you would see with a tropical system here in the southwest is dangerous. Reporter record rainfall and two deaths after what was left of hurricane norbert swept through. In phoenix, Emergency Personnel are preparing for the worst. Have somebody monitoring the storm for them so they can come running if it starts to get bad like it was last monday. Reporter some forecasters say they could see half a years worth of rainfall in 24 hours. Al, many people here in the desert are asking themselves, really . Thats right, david. This is the First Time Ever theyve had two tropical entities approach in ten days. So this is really unprecedented. And as we watch odile, it is still a Tropical Storm. 50mileperhour winds. If this makes its way into arizona, it will be the First Time Since 1997 weve seen a Tropical Storm make its way into arizona. You see all the rain now already pushing up into the area. We do have flash flood watches now, stretching from california all the way to texas. We expect as the day goes on and a couple of days go on, we will extend further into texas. Over the next several hours, you can see all that moisture streaming into thursday morning, into texas, san angelo, on into austin. And the rainfall amounts really impressive. Were talking four to five inches, but locally could be up to nine inches of rain in the next 72 hours and the landscape there just cant handle that. Weve got another tropical system behind that. Weve got Tropical Storm polo that looks like it could cause problems as well. Wow thank you very much. Natalie has the latest on the search for a dangerous suspect in pennsylvania. Scary this morning. An entire School District in pennsylvania is closed this morning as police amp up the search for a man suspected of shooting two Pennsylvania State troopers. 31yearold eric matthew freen is described as armed and extremely dangerous. He has militarylike survivalist training and had expressed antigovernment views. More than 200 Police Personnel from three states are taking part in this massive manhunt. The Ebola Outbreak is spiraling out of control, president obama issuing that stark warning and saying the world is looking to the United States to help fight the epidemic in west africa. The president laid out those plans at the centers for Disease Control in atlanta. Kelly odonnell is in washington. Good morning. Reporter good morning, natalie. The president is asking congress to back a major new military mission with american boots on the ground in western africa. The president announced the deployment of 3,000 american troops to build health care facilities, to train medical workers but not have any direct contact with ebola patients. Tuesday and again today, congress is hearing from Infectious Disease experts and dr. Kent brantley who worked with the Group Survivors first. I spoke exclusively with him about his meeting with the president and his message to congress about whats at stake. Whats at stake is humanity. Human lives. This outbreak is now growing at an exponential rate. Every day we delay is hundreds of human lives. Reporter dr. Brantley of samaritans is Getting Better every day but says it will take time. He is appearing before the house today and congress is considering 500 million for this effort. Natalie . Thank you, kelly. Orbits from u. S. Soil, ending the nations reliance on russian spacecraft. The apolo style aircraft. U. S. Astronauts have been riding on russian rockets since 2011. They will begin in 2017 at a cost of about 8. 7 billion. Butterfly kisses for a violinist right in the middle of a performance. Taking part in the Carl Nielsen International competition in denmark when that butterfly decided it wanted the best seat in the house, right on her face. Of course, the stakes are high with this competition. What does she do . She keeps on playing beautifully. Eventually when she finished the performance you saw she gently brushed the butterfly away. Isnt that good luck . I would think so. Youre blessed. She should have won the competition. Better than that story with the bat. I thought i would redeem myself. By the way, merry christmas. Thats why i got the iphone, our Christmas Present early. Mr. Roker, what else do you have . I know. Lets show you what we have for today. We are looking at all that wet weather down through the southwest. Low pressure off the carolina coast, may bring heavy rain there and rip currents. Beautiful day in the northeast with temperatures cooler than usual and lower humidity and wet weather along the Pacific Northwest coast helping the fire danger there. Were going to have your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Vivofit. Gently reminds you to get moving. Join the movement. Good morning. Im first alert meteorologist brittney shipp. It is going to be a nice day for us. Plenty of sunshine expected. Light wind speeds. A cool start. By 10 00 a. M. , 63 degrees. By noon, 70 degrees. And our high today 73, which is below average. As we wind down the final days of summer. Well see our temperatures dropping down once again heading into friday at 69 degrees, but we have a weekend warmup. Take a look at saturday and sunday. Back to 82 degrees by sunday. And thats your what do you have . What is that . What do you have . Which one . I got a six plus . Ive got a plus for you. I got one for you. How are you . You got it, baby. Merry christmas, ladies. Well, what more is there to say . In a couple of days these suckers will be in stores, right . Theyre cool, were all sort of geeking out. Very cool. I like the bigger one. I really do. Its not too big . Tablet. Apple has been really high on both the release of the six and six plus internally. How will consumers feel about it . If preorders are any indication, theyre right in line with apple. When the five came out, first 24 hours of preorders, 2 million. The six and six plus have doubled that at 4 million. Today, weve got katie linendal right here. Shes the reason we were able to get these. Shes taking your questions, tech expert. Orange room on facebook or twitter, any question you have for these guys, katie will answer them. Well have a lot more coming up. If you want to read a great revi review, our partners wrote one at today. Com. Guys, back to you. Carson, good stuff. Coming up, the search intensifies for a missing university of virginia student. Surveillance video releases new clues. Taking your kids to a Trampoline Park this weekend . The safety concerns being raised by a mom whose son died in a tragic accident. First this is today on nbc. Im Stanley Tucci and i love new york. Theres no place like it in the world. One of my favorite fall activities is visiting our worldrenowned wineries and craft brewers. And, awardwinning distilleries and cider makers. Theyre located all across our great state. Come raise a glass to your favorites. Plan your fall getaway at iloveny. Com fall theres something for everyone coming up in the wake of the ray rice scandal, Meredith Vieira reveals why she once stayed in an abusive relationship. Then on trending, eat on a seat. Guy without a shirt. Ew. Calling out rude airline whats your favorite kind of cheerios . Honey nut. But. Chocolate is my other favorite. Oh yeah, and frosted whats your most favorite of all . Hmm. The kind i have with you. Me too. Create things that help people. Design safer cars. Faster computers. Smarter grids and smarter phones. Think up new ways to produce energy. Be an engineer. Solve problems the world needs solved. What are you waiting for . Changing the world is part of the jo