Morning Recordsdata NOW Fat Broadcast – Can also 6

right now on Morning News Now former president Trump's historic hush money trial enters its fourth week here in Manhattan Trump balancing the campaign Trail and the courtroom as he faces 34 felony counts in the first ever criminal trial of an exus president we'll tell you what we're watching for this week.

Dim Outlook the latest round of talks between Hamas and Israel have stalled but not completely collapsed but no deal in sight Israel urging civilians in part of this morning to evacuate as Israeli leaders vow to push forward with their military operation Deal or No Deal plus a massive cleanup is underway this morning in parts of Texas after a.

Weekend of deadly storms and severe flooding latest on cleanup efforts and how long that flooding is expected to last and it's Fashion's biggest Night Out stars are preparing to hit the red carpet at the me Galla tonight in all their extravagant looks we have got your preview the fun theme the G of time I think it's called which kind.

Of interesting to see how they interpret that yeah I mean I expect lots of flowers and then lots of surprises I drive by every morning so it's always fun to see theit The Fortress built around I bet it's so cool ready for tonight and then tomorrow I'll just see vacuuming good to have you with us on this Monday morning I'm Joe frier and.

I'm Savannah sers thanks for starting your week with us we're going to begin this morning here in New York where former president Donald Trump is headed back to court to resume his hush money criminal trial it's unclear who the prosecution will call as its next witness whoever it is is going to follow last week's emotional testimony from.

Someone who is once a top aid for Trump hope Hicks she testified for nearly three hours about the 2016 presidential campaign including the Firestorm around the release of the now Infamous Access Hollywood tape Trump is facing 34 felony counts he's accused of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to Stormy Daniels in 2016 he.

Denied any wrongdoing in this case NBC News National correspondent Yasmin suin is outside the courtroom this morning with the latest and NBC News legal analyst Danny savalos joined us now to break it all down Yasmin let's start with you what can we expect in the courtroom today any idea who's going to testify uh not really you said it Joe we.

Don't necessarily know who's going to be testifying um today we can take some educated guesses though so in a leadup the last couple of weeks the last three weeks or so because this is the beginning of week four by the way as a reminder uh when we started this thing out we expected the trial to last about four to six weeks it looking like it's.

Going to extend certainly Beyond four weeks who knows how much longer it'll take but again it was the establishment more of a timeline between Keith Davidson between hope Hicks uh Rona graph as well and David Becker now we're getting into the nitty-gritty of what this case is all about which is falsifying business records the.

Expectation is witnesses to take the stem will help build the case for falsifying business records for the prosecution remember some outstanding witnesses that are going to be major Witnesses in this case Stormy Daniels also known as Stephanie Clifford who alleged to have had a one night stand back in 2006 and was subsequently paid.

Off $130,000 by Michael Cohen uh Michael Cohen himself who has been key to this entire trial his name brought up thousands of times really at this point and meline westerhout who was the former president's uh secretary inside the Oval Office an individual who may very well have walked those nine checks over to.

The former president to be signed and then sent to Michael Cohen to reimburse him for some of those payments some of those witnesses to look out for but expect this week to be really about establishing the falsifying of business records and again we are awaiting also a judgment when it comes to whether or not the former president violated those gag.

Orders for potential violations we have not gotten a decision on that expect that sometime this week Joe Danny let's bring you in here so as Yasmin just mentioned haven't heard from Michael Cohen haven't heard from Stormy Daniels some of these big names do you sort of saving them for last what is the strategy here when it comes to Stormy.

Daniels I'm not 100% sure the prosecution even really needs Stormy Daniels at this point I definitely don't think they need Karen McDougall so if they call those two people I think that tells us a lot about the prosecution that they want a splashy witness one that's a marquee name and one that really will not paint Trump in a.

Flattering light but at the same time I think Stormy Daniels represents a lot of risk for the prosecution as well I don't know that she can be controlled that well uh in terms of asking her questions she has definitely been out speaking maybe not as much as Michael Cohen but uh if they may call her they may not Michael Cohen obviously is the one most.

Anticipated but he may not be the star in the sense that the prosecution has worked very hard to get the evidence that they need to corroborate Michael Cohen's story from other Witnesses so that when he finally takes the stand his checkered pest may not be the damage to the prosecution that the defense hopes it is all right so looking back Yasmin.

We heard emotional testimony from former top Trump Aid hope Hicks on Friday just what was the major headline from her testimony yeah just to follow up quickly Joe if I can on what Danny just said also we're finding out the star witness really for the prosecution as the documents more so than anything else that's what they want the jury really to.

Rely on the documents that kind of build and tell the story um so how do we get here essentially right we ended Friday on H piix that was a major Ma major testimony an emotional moment from hopix as she broke down recounting when the former president told her essentially um to to deny uh that he had a one night stand with Stormy Daniels because he was.

Concerned for Melania Trump along with his family as well at that moment she broke down was able to gather herself and then continue her testimony um in Cross examination she helped build that timeline and she certainly helped build a case of of intent um right and I say that because she he painted a picture of an individual of a man of the candidate.

For the next president of the United States former president Donald Trump in 2016 desperate to win an election in the final weeks um running up to November and painting a picture of the release of the Access Hollywood tape email exchanges happening back and forth as to how to respond to the Access Hollywood tape then how to respond to these.

Stories that were emerging about both Karen McDougall and Stormy Daniels she was certainly an incredibly strong witness for the prosecution incredible witness for the prosecution but also guys I will say a credible and strong witness for the defense as well painting the former president as a family man someone who is concerned for Melania.

Trump his wife concerned for his family not wanting to embarrass his family and wanting to win this election Danny let's come back to you now what kind of impact do you think that could have on the jury what they heard from hopix yeah yasman gave a great summary of hk's testimony and I think it was important for the prosecution but I don't think it was as.

Devastating as I heard other folks take Hop's testimony I think it was obviously good for the prosecution they never would have called her if not and it does tend to show that Trump may have been more concerned about the campaign than he was about say his family or Melania when these stories surfaced but at the same time there was stuff for the.

Defense in hk's testimony I mean she painted her employer as a generally good employer we've seen that as a theme she painted Michael Cohen as kind of this bumbling wannabe Mr Fixit who broke things and then had to fix them and even painted him as Rogue and I want to point out that word rogue I believe will be a central theme of the defense I expect.

You will hear that word again in their closing argument when they stand up to argue their case all right Danny and Yasmin thank you both so much for kicking us off this hour well yesterday marked the official six-month countdown to the presidential election and it's time to start talking running mates so we're learning more about who's in the.

Mix to potentially become former president Trump's this fall well that competition heats up we're also hearing for the first time from the new Republican party chair chairman in an exclusive interview NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns has the latest former president Donald Trump appearing at the Formula 1 race in Miami.

And with 6 months to go in the race for president there's another race heating up to become his running mate possible vep Stakes contenders converging this weekend at a donor's conference in Mara Lago at least seven contenders on the short list according to Trump World sources Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Doug bergham seeing.

Their stock Rising Governor Christine gome seeing hers falling and Trump praising them and the other prospects in his speech on Saturday will you accept the election results of 2024 I I look forward to president Trump being the 47th president Kristen you can ask him multiple times Senor just a yes or no answer so the American people the.

American people will make the decision newly installed Republican party chairman Michael Watley addressing that issue and a so-called litmus test for RNC employees in his first Network interview the RNC has been accused of creating a sort of litmus test for employees or potential hires around denying the results of the 2024 election.

Is there any truth to that the the only litus test that I have is whether or not you support our Republican candidates the RNC says it's recruiting 100,000 lawyers and volunteers to monitor voting and has filed more than 80 lawsuits as part of what they call their election Integrity program what do you say to critics who argue that these law suit.

Are just sort of Paving the way for former president Trump to claim the election was stolen in 2024 if if President Biden wins there there absolutely not look what we're trying to do through these lawsuits is get states to implement Common Sense election Integrity programs uh that has nothing to do with voter suppression another.

Priority for Watley uniting the party after a bitter primary and a push to oust house Speaker Mike Johnson we need to make sure that all of the Republicans understand the gravity of this election cycle and they do and we need to make sure that that we are on the same page as we're moving forward thanks to Dasha Burns for that report the 20124.

Republican National Convention will get underway just over two months from now July 15th in Milwaukee NBC News senior National politics reporter Jonathan Allen joins us for more on this topic in the race for the White House John good morning great to have you with us as always so let's start with what we just heard in dosh's piece about these.

Potential former running mates for former excuse me running mates for former president Trump VP hope that spent the weekend at maralago for this fundraising Retreat and a source familiar with the matter says that the Trump team has started doing this deep dive on the candidates what should we know about the process so far and tell.

Us more about some of those names involved yeah good morning Savannah Good morning Joe uh it's like celebrity political Apprentice going down uh in moral Lago right now um you know in terms of the process uh it is uh not like other vice presidential uh processes in that uh you know ultimately Donald Trump's going to make a decision.

Whether or not it's somebody on his list whether it's somebody on his short list whether it's somebody on nobody's list um and and so I mean that which is characterized how how Trump has operated for a long time all of that said uh there's between 15 to 17 people that have been identified as uh potential vice presidential candidates and uh as.

You alluded to uh they are starting to do uh some of the research his team is doing some of the research into uh who these folks are but the the standards may be a little bit different um for this set than than for others in that um you know what the what the metrics are maybe different yeah I mean different from maybe a conventional VP search but.

Also could it be different from when he selected then Indiana Governor Mike Pence in 2016 and also do they feel a sense of urgency right now or do they feel like they have some time uh absolutely could be different probably will be different than how he selected Mike Pence uh back in 2016 uh you know Pence was a a kind of last.

Minut at call there were others including Chris Christie the governor of New Jersey that were uh sort of there at the end Pence was somebody that Trump sat down with uh right at the end and uh became convinced that uh he would be the better vice presidential choice um obviously as we know they uh they were very close to each other during Trump.

Trump's presidency and then had a major split when uh Trump's supporters went to the capital and chanted hang Mike Pence and looked for Mike Pence inside the capital since then they have not you know uh understandably reconciled um so yeah we we'll have to see um exactly how he makes this decision but I suspect it will he will be informed by the.

Experience of Mike Pence and John now that we're a little bit into this process how is this going for the former president that he's spending so much time here in New York in court for his hush money criminal trial versus on the campaign Trail even though we've seen him kind of use some of those moments as s kind of campaign events what's it.

Looking like yeah at some level I think this may be um May Be overblown by the Trump campaign itself uh if you were normally in this point in the process uh having wrapped up effectively the delegates uh that you need for the nomination and not yet really into that stretch front for the general election you wouldn't see a.

A Presidential nominee doing a ton of events a ton of sort of big uh you know sort of big attention events but uh Donald Trump has a big attention event almost every day in New York in terms of the trial so he's able to dominate news coverage that way and then uh he we've seen him traveling uh on the Wednesday usually courts out on Wednesday travels.

On Wednesday he's going to be doing fundraising he's going to be doing uh political events in swing States and he's going to be saying while he's there uh that he'd be doing more if only not for being in New York I'm not sure how uh how true that actually is it probably costs him one event a week rather than um you know every day that he's in New.

York all right John Allen always great to have you thank you so much overnight is Ry Defense Forces began dropping leaflets on Eastern Rafa they're warning tens of thousands of civilians in the southern part of the Gaza Strip to begin evacuating ahead of a possible Invasion this is ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are at a Crossroads with the.

World watching NBC News International correspondent Raph Sanchez is in Tel Aviv and joins us now so Raph what's the latest on the ground there Joe good morning Israeli forces dropping leaflets from aircraft sending text messages putting out messages on social media in Arabic all with a stark warning to these residents in eastern.

Rafa get out we are about to attack the area the IDF estimates there are around 100,000 people living in that area in between the city of Rafa and the Gaza border and they are telling them to head north and west to an area called almasi which the Israeli military says is a safe zone now this is part it appears of Israel's long threatened operation in.

The city of Rafa to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions there something prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened many many times it is worth noting guys at this point Israeli forces do not appear to have crossed over into Gaza and appear to be heading into Rafa I spoke to an Israeli official earlier today they said at this.

Point there is no firm timeline for when that Israeli ground defensive would begin they would need first of all an order from the Israeli government to send the troops in and two they are monitoring to see how long it takes for those Palestinian civilians to evacuate from Eastern Rafa but the US the UN humanitarian groups have consistently.

Warned that an Israeli ground attack on Rafa where more than a million Palestinian civilians are Sheltering has the potential to be a disaster not just in terms of loss of innocent life but also disrupting the flow of humanitarian AIDS and of course this all comes amid these ceasefire negotiations so it is possible guys that this maneuvering on.

The ground inside Gaza may be an Israeli tactic to try to put more pressure not just on Hamas but also on the US and on Egypt to try to get this deal over the line guys and R we're hearing CIA director William Burns is in the region in this last ditch effort to try to save those ceasefire negotiations who just referenced what do we know about that.

Meeting and the latest on negotiations yeah Savannah the CIA director has been crisscrossing the Middle East for a couple of days now he started his trip in Egypt where these negotiations have been taking place he flew to Qatar and he is here in Israel today we expect him to meet with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on and.

He is really trying to salvage these talks which have not fully collapsed according to an Israeli official but are not in a good place there did seem to be some progress towards the end of last week at these negotiations in Cairo but the two sides now deadlocked on what has been a familiar problem Hamas says any ceasefire deal has to lead to an end to.

The war Israel is saying it will only agree to a temporary ceasefire and that it is determined to go into Rafa before or after a hostage deal now there were major protests here in Tel Aviv over the weekend families the hostages telling prime minister Netanyahu do what it takes to get a deal but the CIA director other mediators at this point doing what.

They can to keep these talks from falling apart guys Raph quickly I want to ask you about the so-called humanitarian Zone what can you tell us about what it's like in these areas that people are being evacuated to yeah Joe so this is an area called alasi it's on the Mediterranean coast of Gaza it is largely a beachfront uh the.

IDF has expanded the area somewhat so there's some of the city of hanun included also Israel is saying that there is food there is medicine there is Aid there that it is somewhere people can go I asked the Israeli military earlier can you guarantee that you will not attack in that zone They said that zone will be safer but they.

Reserve the right to strike if Hamas operates out of it guys okay Raph thank you so much well college students across the country continued to clash with police throughout the weekend in Pro Palestinian demonstrations and those are colliding with graduation season NBC News correspondent Adrien brus has the latest.

Colleges Nationwide grappling with ongoing demonstrations Before Sunrise at the University of Southern California officers cleared this encampment protesters left willingly no one was arrested fre the pro Palestinian demonstrators calling for a ceasefire and for the.

School to divest from Israel University officials say they called in police about 12 hours after warning the encampment was a viol VI ation of quote policies and the law and that protesters could face arrest and when the students were cleared by LAPD from the center of Campus they shut down this Main Street and they also chanted they do not care.

They will be back at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville police clash with demonstrators as they tried to take down an encampment the school says at least 25 were arrested for trespassing and it's not just schools at the Art Institute of Chicago 68 were arrested and charged with trespassing now School administrators Coast to Coast.

Trying to determine whether or not to change graduation plans in an arbor nearly 75 protesters interrupted the beginning of commencement at the University of Michigan demonstrators chanting before being moved they have the right to protest a lot of these people you know their senior year at high school their.

Graduation was during Co so they already had that ruined and then now you got this going on some universities like USC have canceled their main graduation ceremony While others have increased their security measures early Sunday morning protesters at USC left peacefully some reluctant.

But not without making some noise all right Adrien thank you so much severe storms in Oklahoma and Texas that brought torrential rain over the weekend left a four-year-old boy dead and millions under FL watch one spot north of Houston got pounded by 23 in of rain over the past week rescue crew spent the weekend battling Rising flood waters.

County officials tell us more than 500 people have been rescued so far NBC News correspondent Priscilla Thompson joins us now from Humble Texas on with the latest on this Priscilla good morning said the amount of water that has hit the state of Texas is just staggering I mean Joe just laid out the inches give us a sense of just how bad it is out.

There yeah Savannah Joe good morning there were some folks who saw more than 2 feet of water and here where we are you can see the kinds of scenes that people are waking up to this morning this roadway just still entirely covered by water uh there's a flood gauge back there that you may not be able to see but it's reading at just under uh 6 in.

At around 4 Ines and I will tell you when we were out here yesterday it was more uh than a foot it was about a foot and a half yesterday so the water is receding significantly which is very good news as folks are trying to get back into their homes today but it comes after a weekend of just Relentless rain where we saw those Waters continuing to.

Rise as you mentioned County officials across the Houston area reporting more than 500 rescues and evacuations helping people who were in life-threatening situations and also people who just stayed in their homes until the water began to rise to a level that was just simply too high for them to leave on their own and we also learned that.

Tragically there was a 4-year-old boy uh who died near Dallas Police say that his family was driving through some of that high water and they got stuck at which point they attempted to walk out and unfortunately that four-year-old boy was swept away and his body was found later so certainly a lot of tragedy here as folks are trying to get back into their.

Homes to begin to survey that damage Joe Savannah just heartbreaking news for that community and that family I I know Priscilla the flood watches in many of the hardest hit areas have expired but that doesn't mean they're out of the woods yet right that's right because they are a number of major rivers here that also.

Got a lot of water some of those Rivers most of them have already crested but there is still the possibility for major river flooding over the next several days so some of these communities may see this water go back up again and that's what officials are worried about that people will see that it's not raining that it's a sunny day and.

They'll attempt to drive through this water to get to their homes not knowing that the water has risen and that that could lead to even more rescues over the next several days as we try to get through all of this and get things back to normal here so Priscilla give us some reminders about how people can stay safe what do authorities want residents to.

Know yeah the biggest thing is to heed the warnings a lot of folks will get warnings to uh their smartphones they'll be put out by local officials and heed whatever that warning is right now there's no evacuation order in place so people can certainly be in their homes but the big thing that we hear from officials is that if you see deep water.

Water that you can't see through if you can't see that line in the road turn around don't drown and that is the big concern here as we wait for this water to continue to go down Joe Savannah all right Priscilla Thompson thank you so much well more severe weather is expected in the upcoming days across the plains joining us now meteorologist.

Michelle grman she's tracking it all for us Michelle good morning good morning guys yeah it's going to be another tough couple of days Monday Tuesday Wednesday especially today we're looking at the potential for another severe weather outbreak in the same spots that we saw last week we're looking at the chance for long tracking tornadoes winds over.

80 mph and golf ball size hail if not a little bit larger up to softball size hail so damaging hail as well back to the West we are looking at cooler air working and also another powerful system moving on Shore that's going to bring us some rain in the Pacific Northwest the Inner Mountain West but really heavy snow in the upper elevations of the.

Mountains then as we head east we're unsettled here too because we're looking at the chance for some showers even pockets of heavier rain in the M Mid-Atlantic into the southeast also some rain throughout the Ohio Valley and also the tenness Tennessee Valley so a lot going on on this Monday taking a look at satlite radar you can see that.

Rain falling right now throughout the Tennessee Valley we saw lightning earlier this morning that's starting to dissipate at this hour back to the West you see that snow falling spring snow that is in the blue the rain falling as well but it's the middle of the country where we're going to start to see those storms fire up with the daytime heating.

Into this evening and the overnight hours once again 15 million people at risk we have a moderate risk and that is in the red here so Witchita Oklahoma City Witchita Falls but anywhere within the yellow the orange the red even the green can see strong to severe storms I mentioned that giant sawall siiz hail long tracking tornadoes the potential.

For strong tornadoes and the potential for an outbreak as well damaging winds up to 80 miles per hour that's hurricane Forest winds that's going to bring down power lines also uh trees creating power outages with any of these storms we are looking at heavy heavy rains so possibly hour rates of 2 to three Ines per hour we're looking at the blue there the.

Darker blue Kansas City Tulsa De Moine where we could see some really heavy rain and we have the potential for seeing some flash flooding this is why look at all these colors on our rainfall forecast where you see those darker colors the Reds especially the oranges as well and the yellows we are looking at the potential of over 3 in we're.

Continuing to watch the Texas rivers where we're seeing uh moderate to Major flooding all those little dots there indicate the gauges that were registering the uh water levels and we are looking at quite a few at moera and major so that's something we're going to watch over the next few days with that rain coming and then guys this sum grows.

To 21 million people on Tuesday and then up to 40 plus million on Wednesday so this is going to be another weather aware tough couple days in uh Thea world of weather another busy week ahead all right Michelle thank you so much appreciate it coming up a tragic ending in the search for three missing Surfers in Mexico authorities confirming that.

Bodies found last week in the Mexican state of Baja California have been identified as those of the missing tourists we're going to have the latest on the investigation and get ready for all the fierce fashion we're just hours away from the Met Gala and we're taking you inside this year's theme The Garden of time that's coming up.

Mexican authorities say that three tourists who went missing while surfing in Mexico where the apparent victims of an attempted carjacking gone wrong one of those victims was an American NBC News correspondent Marissa paraa has the details new details on what Mexican officials are calling a robbery gone out.

Of hand just over a week after three tourist vanished on a surfing trip to Mexico the local attorney general saying this appears to be an attempted carjacking gone wrong and there were signs the men tried to fight back and met a violent end the medical examiner office in inada saying the cause of death for the bodies found gunshot.

Wounds to the Head Mexican investigators seen combing through evidence finding blood bullet casings and drag marks near the men's Campground and a white pickup truck badly burned police have arrested at least three people including a woman who was found with what appears to be a cell phone belonging to one of the men but police believe there may others who.

Were also involved it's tragic very tragic James knew Callum Robinson colum was a good guy uh Surfer um I knew he played rugby and he's from Australia Callum and his brother Jake both from Australia love to Surf bringing their friend American Jack Carter Ro to inada a known Surfer Haven within the Mexican state of Baja California Marissa para.

NBC News sketch you other headlines from around the world this morning China's president president has arrived in Europe for his first visit in 5 years NBC News International correspondent Claudia labanga joined us from Rome with that and other international news claudiao good.

Morning Joseph a good morning that's right China's president zi ping arrived or landed in Paris last night ahead of his European trip now the Chinese leader will also visit Serbia and Hungary on the visit and hopes to rebuild and strengthen relations with European leaders but his visit has already seen protests from human rights groups.

Over to Indonesia where flooding has left at least 14 people dead on the island of sui now days warp of torrential downpours led to floods up to 10 ft high and triggered a landslide where over a thousand houses were impacted in one district and let's end the story of the world in Brazil where Madonna put on a free concert at Rio's.

Famous Copacabana beach it was the grand finale to her month-long celebration tour at one point an incredible 1.6 million fans were estimated to have attended the show the tour celebrated the singer 40 years in music and as she always does she did it in style okay I saw that show twice while it was in New York but there were not 1.6 million.

People there and it was not free and it was not free no claudo thank you so much appreciate it coming up bugging out billions of cicas are set to swarm across the Midwest and the southeast we're talking to an expert about this rare event and why you should actually be watching out for your pets you're watching Morning News Now.

welcome back spring is finally sprung and soon depending where you are so will all the cicas kind of like all of them exactly right over the next month billions and billions of the winged insects are set to swarm across the Midwest and the southeast yeah the emersion of so many of these noisy.

Creepy crawly bugs it's all part of a rare synchronized event that actually hasn't happened in more than 200 years NBC News correspondent Kathy park has more on the species making its presence heard cicada gon has finally arrived and these pesky Critters are not flying quietly under the radar there are thousands instead they're causing a stir.

Everywhere they land don't get too creeped out by them and she gets gets creeped out by him from Georgia the 13year cicas are in um to South Carolina is anybody else in the South where they're taking over backyards they're everywhere and they seem to really like our gazebo I'm not sure why it might seem bad now but just.

Wait two cicada Broods will be spotted in more than a dozen states this spring swarming the Midwest to the South one group crawls out from the ground every 13 years the other 17 years this month we're expecting a r double emergence something we haven't seen since the days of Thomas Jefferson experts predict more than a trillion bugs to emerge lined end.

To end that's enough cicas to reach the moon and back 33 times roughly 75 miles outside of Nashville McMinville is known as a nursery capital of the world here we've got really a target-rich environment for them to to try to lay their eggs yeah and these young trees are vulnerable to damage from nesting cicas Jerry blankin ship grows 200,000.

Trees at his nursery and these bugs keep him up at night they really like something about this size right here most of the time they go for something that's relatively soft but they're looking for a certain size twig or Branch to to lay their eggs on homeowners may want to consider netting as a way to protect the branches you can.

Get cheesecloth or tobacco cloth like I said you could have actually have a sheet and lay it over it but as they stick around for the next 4 to 6 weeks don't expect the cicas to turn down the volume as the males use their siren song to find a mate so the males are making the noise and it's a little bitty buzz you can hear them it's like a.

Kid's toy almost but their Collective chorus can be as loud as a lawn mower or passing jet the noise level could potentially be harmful to it can exceed levels that OSHA would consider you know safe in some areas it's already getting so loud in.

Newberry County South Carolina residents are reporting the noise to the sheriff we had a leap year we had a eclipse now we've got zakas everywhere they might be a nuisance but they're harmless to humans and pets they're crawling all over does that scare you a little and it tickles soon many states will be blanketed with bugs so get ready for the.

Free concert from your new neighbors Kathy Park thank you and I have to say yesterday Kathy did that report for Sunday today she concluded with a leaf blower which she said you can just use to clear them all out if you need to so let's see what Dr kritzky thinks of that he's professor marage of biology and a cicada expert Dr kritzky.

Always great to have you with us good morning so as we just heard Kathy mention this month we expecting this double emergence so explain this to us so it's there's some that come out every 13 years others 17 years why and how does that phenomenon happen and what can we expect to see during this time well we have there are two kinds of Broods of.

Periodical skes one with a 17-year life cycle the other has a 13-year life cycle and what we're seeing right now emerging throughout the South are the 13e skes from brood 19 and they' started just started emerging this past few days in Southern Illinois and we have a good emergence going on in Greater St Louis but the The Brood 13 the 17year skate is.

Not yet started they probably won't start for another week or so yet that'll be in central to Northern Illinois Southern Wisconsin Northwestern Indiana and Eastern Iowa so some pet owners might be worried about the impact this can have on our furry friends so what should you do if your pet finds one or even happens to eat a.

Cicada well eating a cicada will not harm them per se but there is some concern for dogs in particular if and you know your pet if your dog is one of these dogs that just won't stop eating we gulp up everything they can find that's a concern because it can lead to lead to bowel obstruction but generally one or two cicas won't hurt them in fact.

I I've had my C my cats enjoy cicas many times over the last 34 years it's like f Fancy Feast the cicada version funny dror how long are people going to be dealing with this noise and with these bugs and if that noise is really bugging you any tips on coping with it well for the southern states they probably have another four weeks to.

Go for The Brood 13 the 17e skas in Northern Illinois and Wisconsin they haven't started yet so they still have six weeks of cicada joy ahead of them cicada joy I love it thoughts on the leaf blower is that good well the leaf blower will will uh blow them away but some motor some gas power motors actually sound like.

Cicas results in more cicas flying into the area so youer oh it like calls them all in is does this give you Joy you just called it cicada Joy do you like this well I've been studying cicas now for 50 years and uh the I look forward to these events and particularly this one particular because there going to be two two Broods.

Emerging this year which is a rare opportunity to study 13 and 17 years C at the same time you're gonna be busy C Dr Jean gritsky enjoy it I it sounds like it will bring you Joy which makes us happy thank you for your time this morning thank you # cicada Joy yeah yeah I like that coming up Morning News Now is going high fashion ahead of.

Tonight's highly anticipated Met Gala yeah we're previewing the star studded lineup the Bold looks and the costume institute's upcoming exhibition all coming up after the break welcome back let's get to some Financial headlines starting with the week on Wall Street kimb Savanah hanal.

Joins us with that and all our money news Savannah good morning hey Savannah Hey Joe good morning here let's get you some headlines let start with Wall Street it set to open higher after the markets ended last week in the green following that weaker than expected jobs report on Friday now fewer jobs were added in April while unemployment Rose.

Easing fears the economy is overheating and renewing hopes the Federal Reserve may start cutting interest rates soon for the week the down the NASDAQ Rising more than 1% while the S&P was up half a percent and focus this week we get data on the consumer and jobless claims plus earnings from Disney Uber Airbnb instacart and Reddit Warren Buffett.

Holding court at Burkshire Hathway's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha this weekend the billionaire investor Fielding questions for several hours Burkshire trimming it's massive steak and apple in the first quarter Buffett says that was largely for tax reasons and apple will remain berkshire's largest invest investment as it's one of.

The great companies of our time Berkshire has nearly $200 billion in cash but Buffett says he doesn't see anything compelling to invest in saying they only take big swings and YouTube is testing out AI to help you skip to the good part 9 to-5 Google reports some YouTube premium subscribers can now jump to the most watch part of a video but.

Only in the YouTube app they can now double tap the right side of the screen which normally skips ahead 10 seconds then tap a jump ahead button that appears YouTube Premium cost $13.99 a month guys so you got to pay up to get to the good part or scroll can you do that is that a probably I guess maybe just you don't know where the good part.

Is I don't all right they do it for you thanks now to our series flipping the script featuring people on screen on stage and behind the scenes who are shining a spotlight on diversity enter avantica just 19 years old the actress is making a name for herself while challenging stereotypes 2024 is off to a huge start for her over the weekend her.

Movie tarot hit theater is beating box office projections and earlier this year she starred in a little movie you may have heard of the remake of mean girls playing a role first made famous by Amanda Cypher oh that's how you use it slay Queens what has it meant to you to be part of the Mean Girls Universe I.

Mean so much like and so indescribably much um I grew up watching that film it came out the year I was born and so it's kind of like always been there I guess it's like as someone who's Brown and a woman of color I guess were not normally acknowledged in spaces that consider these specific women to be like unanimously beautiful and popular and.

Glamorous and so it felt really really meaningful to kind of be acknowledged as such and I guess it was refreshing also to play a bimbo and someone who was stupid you know what I mean because that is that's refreshing for you it is absolutely refreshing why is that I it's just not the narrative that's genuinely um associated with South Asian people.

And so I think when you want to break molds or or are planning on doing that you have to start somewhere when you are shattering ceilings and breaking stereotypes there was backlash I guess that comes with it I mean racist comments how did you handle that I've kind of always had the same perspective when dealing with any kind.

Of racism online it really does just kind of roll off of my back my skin color is so intrinsic to who I am there's nothing I can actually do about it so there's no offense that I take or or none that nothing that I can like really be offended about because there's nothing I can change about it dance bre when you worked with Tina Fay you had to.

Have this discussion about the name of the character in mean talk about that she had asked me which I think was so kind and and so sensitive of her she was like vka do you have any interest in changing the name of Karen just because I don't know if it's typical for a brown girl to be named Karen she was like do you want to do like Karina or Karen or.

Something like that and I was like I think it's totally good like I think it's kind of funny to have a brown girl named Karen um especially with all the like discourse now around someone being a Karen um and she was like well do you want to change the last name and I was like now that idea like I really really like I think it's like a subtle way to.

Add my culture while also retaining like the original essence of who Karen was and so we decided to change the last name to specifically a South Indian last name uh which meant a lot for me and like my family who's going first one of your next projects that you're promoting is a movie called Taro which seems very different from Mean.

Girls needless to say it's a horror movie 100% what should we know about tarot tarot is so fun I think it's kind of just like Final Destination with a little bit of astrology and and Tarot and horoscopes thrown in uh I grew up really really passionate about the occult and my mom was a really big fan of like astrology and and kind of all.

Things in that space so it was very exciting for me to be able to do this movie considering horror is also one of my favorite genres um why do you like horror I honestly don't know because I hate being scar I hate being scared in real life like I really that is the one place where I can't take a joke like if somebody scares me I really I'm like I.

Need a second and I walk off and I'm just like I can't I can't do it but I love the adrenaline rush of like being in a horror movie and and being scared like that I'm very excited for it it's like a super fun summer horror film and I think it's really exciting that it's coming out in theaters because I think you should see it on the big screen our.

Thanks to avantica for That interview one of our next projects an adaptation of a crown of wishes she said to both star and produce which excites her because she really also wants to get into producing that's so important when it comes to diversity of folks behind the camera also involved in the process so true things like casting all that.

Kind of stuff what a neat story about the name and Mean Girls I it's really cool that they had that conversation and it was such an open conversation I like that too absolutely she seems like such a sweetheart thanks JN well there's much more to come on morning news now stay with us we'll be right back welcome back here's a question for.

You how many tags ABS do you have open on your computer right now on your internet browser 15 maybe 25 I have a lot probably in that like 25 range well what about 7,470 I feel like there are two types of people you're either like yeah or you're like I have so much anxiety a software engineer known only as Hazel says she.

Collected her 7,000 plus tabs over the course of more than two years on Firefox she called them this sort of memorabilia for all the things that she's been thinking about but one day all of Hazel's tabs suddenly closed out out of nowhere so then she posted about her sad moment on X thinking that all was lost as you can see here it went viral well.

Thanks to the help of a few years users who knew how to recover them Hazel got them all back the engineer updated all her followers that were invested in this tab Saga she said that she feels a part of her has been restored I I'm glad she got them um I first of all what does that even look like I I know I mean it must be a bunch of Windows right right I.

Mean my my computer if it has like 20 like shuts down right doesn't work anymore I totally agree like all right good for her we're happy for all right now for a look at Fashion's biggest night the Met Gala tonight celebrities will take that stylish stroll up the steps of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art making glamorous entrances.

Serving their best looks for a celebration of the costume institute's upcoming exhibition it's always important to keep the theme in mind this year it is the garden of time so joining us now with the previews entertainment journalist pop culture expert friend of the show Brian basar Brian good morning so to see you so let's talk through that.

Theme in Garden yeah I know thank you come on I was going someone going to say anything is that why you're outside I love it okay tell us what you think about this theme and who are you excited to see right no I didn't get locked out of my house yes it's was designed it's based on a 1962 short story called The Garden of time where a count and his.

Wife are in this manner surrounded by Crystal plants and flowers and I think it's a great theme because it will obviously if people follow the theme and we could talk about that um involve a lot of florals a lot of over-the-top kind of plant like or magical mystical nature inspired outfits but as we both as we all know not everyone follows the.

Theme sometimes just go someone just goes for the show but I will say Anna wior does approve every outfit that they go in on oh I had no idea yeah oh yeah she has to okay it you do not put on a show without Anna giving it the okay I feel like I would want to know she approved it because the ramifications of going there and disappointing her would.

Be but every sing guest like submits their look to her well if you are like say there about 500 there have been between 500 and 800 guests now they try and keep it an intimate 500 and especially if you're one of these high name people and of course if you're one of those 500 you are and you're going to put on some sort of spectacle um then.

Yes there is but definitely definitely she does give the okay all right so this year's star started host committee features a really big line up what can you tell us about that right we have Zena Bad Bunny JLo Chris Hemsworth um and interestingly you know they can be as involved or as not involved kind of as they want obviously Anna is the final.

Say on everything but they will be there greeting guests and kind of being ambassadors to the event but they can also give input as to the menu and things like that um but this is really Anna's moment and she chooses very carefully those people who have had a great legacy of fashion at the Met Galla itself and in the world as we mentioned.

This theme highlights what's going to come this new exhibition from the costume Institute it's called Sleeping Beauties Reawakening fashion it opens soon tell us what that looks like and can anyone go see it right yes absolutely and it involves fashion that is so fragile that it can never be worn you're going to see fashion that dates.

Back hundreds of years um which speaks to the archive of the met and of itself and this event in fact that can raise between roughly sometimes $15 million uh to preserve iconic fashion and tell that fashion history over the years but yes the whole point is to get people to come to the met and this is one of only four days that the Met is closed um the.

Others being holidays actually right Brian who are you looking forward to most well Rihanna says she's going to show up but she says she's going to the dinner the guest list is very very guarded we probably only hear a little trickling going out today we do know sorry Savannah Taylor's not going to make it sorry but she'll be back but.

Rihanna does put on a show but I think this time when she says she's just going to the dinner that's her way of saying that she's um not going to do anything too huge we've seen people like Lady Gaga do big Productions BL Lively I always like to see what Blake Lively is going to wear yeah oh yeah was was last year when she did that whole like Statue.

Of Liberty kind of transformation that was there was one where it changed colors yeah I think that was last year it's all a blur by the end of the night really and on Taylor that was sad because we thought maybe there was a chance that Taylor and Travis would do like a red carpet debut and he's such a fashion guy so that would have been what.

About where did Travis and Jason go that would be Jason Kelsey like a moment interesting is that you don't always get a plus one you have to be G that person also has to be given an invitation but come on it's Taylor you know Kelsey would get get his invitation right I feel and he's like Po all over the place these days so I don't know maybe maybe.

Just he would go right Brian um B remind us like what this is all about and for and why we do this it's always the first Monday in May and I know that that exhibition is coming up but what's with the red carpet arrivals what's with the putting on the show and then what do they do once they go inside well okay once they go inside there is a receiving.

Light in which the the hosts that we told you about will receive them and it is kept very quiet what goes on but there is a a delicious meal Anna tries to make sure that the food is easy to eat that isn't going to easily stay in clothing and that you can basically eat you know very simply that's not messy and then entertainers will perform.

Sometimes one time it was Lady Gaga another time Rihanna performed it was I believe one of the most expensive performances although we don't know the number that they've ever had and then it it's ultimately this is all about creating Buzz around the Met um as a whole but particularly the costume Institute which is really about.

Preserving the history of fashion um but of course what gets buzz and attention to a space more than a spectacle sometimes and a really outlandish outfit can sometimes do that so no red beets I'm guessing no beet salad on the menu there be no beet salad I'm sure there's no beet soup not crazy sauces uh it is very interesting and one year they.

Served these like little lamb pot pies and there was a big upro and a lot of special requests because people were not having it so they really do think it through for the course of the year how lamb for a 500 person dinner is is a it's a risk yeah that's a decision I would have been asking for a different no there's no fondue table there's.

No that would be great all these celebrities and these outfits dip in na yeah oh my God help yourself Brian Bazar thank you so much we'll be watching enjoy now you can go back inside that'll do it for well hasn't been locked out right that'll do it for this hour morning news now stay with us the news continues right now.

good morning I'm Savannah sers I'm Joe frier right now on Morning News Now millions of Americans in the Heartland are facing another round of severe weather this after deadly flood waters raged across Texas heavy rain turn roads into rivers sweeping away cars and leaving people and pets stranded for.

Tracking the new weather threat on the move this morning also this morning a new warning from Israel IDF forces dropping leaflets over Rafa urging an estimated 100,000 civilians to flee the move potentially signaling preparations for a ground Invasion as hopes for a ceasefire begin to fade meanwhile protest crackdowns continue on college.

Campuses Nationwide the threat of disruptions now impacting graduation ceremonies how schools are preparing plus Donald Trump back in court this morning following emotional testimony from one of his former top AIDS hope Hicks the new controversy facing the former president over comments at a private retreat with Republican donors.

As new polling shows the race for the White House up in the air and the heart of rock and roll is still beating this morning we are sitting down with music legend huie Lewis to talk about the new Broadway musical featuring music from his decades long career and proving it is always hip to be squ looking forward to that conversation coming up in just a.

Little bit wait good to have you with us on Monday this morning at least 14 million people are under severe weather alerts in the plains and the Midwest yeah this is after a weekend of deadly storms and severe flooding inundated Texas First Responders were forced to rescue hundreds of people stranded in high water Priscilla Thompson is in.

Humble Texas where the massive cleanup is already underway parts of Texas underwater this morning oh that was floating after a weekend of deadly flooding ravaged the Southeastern part of the state new video shows Rescuers near Dallas desperately searching the high waters for 4-year-old Lucas Warren who.

Was Swept Away by Raging Waters tragically the child was later found dead police in Houston using jet skis to pull a man and three dogs out of up to 8 ft of water it was among the more than 500 rescues and evacuations in the Houston area in a matter of days we personally did close to a 100 water evacuations as.

The Relentless rain submerged homes and sunk cars the banks are full The Creeks are full and it's got nowhere else to go Kingwood residents Erica G and Frank Courier say they barely made it out in time we started looking at the water levels rising and we're like yeah we need to get out of here and by the time we did it was it was just coming too.

Fast the couple saved by a high water vehicle now returning home for the first time oh my gosh but it's is wild to see like how much like damage it does yeah that's overwhelming as the sky is clear the road to recovery begins what does rebuilding look like for these people it's very difficult these people might not be back in their homes for a year or.

Two all thanks to Priscilla Thompson for that report for those in the flood zone the threat is not over yet with major river flooding expected to last the next few days let's bring in NBC News meteorologist Michelle grman with a look at what's in store for the week ahead Michelle good morning what are you tracking good morning guys yeah it's.

Going to be another busy week especially today tomorrow Wednesday we have a multi-day event for severe weather today is going to be volatile in many spots you want to have your tornado plan in place especially if you're in the plains because we are looking at the potential for another severe weather outbreak that includes a chance of strong tornadoes.

Long tracking tornadoes uh softball siiz hail that's very damaging and also winds gusting over 80 mph back behind the system we have high winds in the Northern Plains and Northern High Plains and then we have some spring snow throughout the Cascades of Oregon into the Rockies as well we could see up to a foot of snow in some spots and also the.

Green on the map showing where we have some rainf falling also unsettled in the East still the Tennessee Valley parts of the Ohio Valley the Carolinas as well could see some thunderstorms so it's going to be a unsettled day for many of us or an unsettled day for many of us and as we go throughout Wednesday severe storms into the Tennessee Valley also.

The Ohio Valley parts of the Great Lakes could see some rain as well the snow continues throughout the Inner Mountain West Monday Tuesday Wednesday and then look at the South record highs from Texas along the Gulf Coast into the southeast temperatures soaring into the 90s we have the chance for some showers in parts of the interior parts of the.

Northeast and also New England good news we are going to finally dry it out in the middle of the country by Friday plenty of sunshine temperatures not all that bad could see some rain and snow throughout the Rockies warm throughout the uh Northwest and we're looking at sunshine in the southwest but it's the East Coast on Friday that we'll see some.

Rain and windy conditions from New England throughout the Northeast and in Atlantic the Carolinas into the southeast so this is what's happening right now on satellite and radar you can see some lightning here and some Thunder in the Tennessee Valley that will move off to the east but then we're going to start to see some severe storms.

Developing throughout the plains later on this afternoon into the evening and overnight hours again you see some blue on the map that's where the snow is falling in the Inner Mountain West in the Rockies this is what it looks like for today 15 million people at risk for very strong storms you need to be weather aware especially this afternoon.

Into the evening in overnight hours giant softball siiz hail long tracking torn tornadoes winds gusting up to 80 m per hour especially where you see that yellow orange and also red rain that will be a problem too it's going to be coming down at 2 to three inches per hour so heavy downpours we're going to see training storms over the next couple.

Days as well flash flood risks especially for Omaha Kansas City Tulsa into Springfield and then uh we're looking a lot of rain where you see those brighter colors that's where we're seeing the heaviest amounts of rain and then guys we're looking at that severe weather threat Tuesday and also Wednesday wow got to stay safe Michelle.

Thank you so much thanks the criminal hush money trial against former president Donald Trump is said to resume here in New York today it comes after a high-profile witness took the stand former top Aid hope Hicks NBC News Now anchor Hy Jackson has the recap plus more on the latest from Trump's campaign Trail hey there it is some Whiplash for.

The former president today from a weekend with donors to a day at the defense table with prosecutors set to go deeper into the case against Mr Trump after tearful testimony from one of his former closest confidants riveted the courtroom former president Trump heading back to court this morning following Friday's emotional testimony from one of.

Mr Trump's former top AIDS hope Hicks we want hope Hicks appearing under a subpoena admitted she was nervous later tearing up and taking a break to compose herself Hicks also discussing the infamous Access Hollywood tape prosecutors say it's released before the 2016 election helped Propel the hush money scheme though hick said she was.

Not engaged in negotiations she testified Mr Trump was in fact aware of the payments the former president has denied allegations of Affairs and pleaded not guilty Mr Trump Sunday making a stop at Miami's Formula 1 race with his own race for the White House in the spotlight during a private meeting with GOP donors at his Mar Lago estate.

Saturday Mr Trump comparing President Biden's Administration to the Nazi secret police according to audio obtained by NBC News Mr Trump accused Biden officials of running a Gestapo Administration while venting about his legal troubles the White House in a statement says the former president is echoing the appalling rhetoric of.

Fascists at that maralago Retreat a number of potential top VP contenders including Senator Tim Scott who voted to certify the 2020 election but now repeatedly dodging when asked on Meet the Press whether he'd accept the results of the next election just yes or no will you accept the election results of 2020.

For I I look forward to president Trump being the 47th president Kristen you can ask him multiple times Senator just a yes or no answer so the American people the American people will make the decision but I don't hear be for president Trump that's that clear now it wasn't just Senator Scott making that Trek to Mara Lago some other.

Potential vice presidential candidates included Senator Marco Rubio senator JD Vance congresswoman Elise stefanic as well but on the timing of it all it doesn't sound like Mr Trump will make a pick anytime soon he has said he doesn't plan to do that until much closer to the Republican convention which happens just over two months from now in Milwaukee.

Back to you all right hie thank you so much well now to the latest in the Middle East overnight the Israeli Army started telling people to evacuate parts of Rafa ahead of an expected military operation there one that President Biden has warned against carrying out NBC News Chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has the latest from.

Jerusalem ceasefire negotiations are back on this morning and the CIA director is in the region trying to work out what would be an 11th Hour deal but Israel is now taking its first concrete steps indicating that a major operation into Raa in the Gaza Strip could be coming Palestinians in Gaza are being forced to move once again to get out of.

The way for new Israeli military operations against Hamas this time in an unprecedented move they're being forced out of the city of Rafa along the Egyptian border where more than a million Palestinians are taking shelter because they were told it would be safe there the Israeli military used leaflets and text messages to tell gazin to leave.

Eastern Rafa because the military will be using significant Force against terrorists in the area the Israeli military estimates 100,000 people are affected they're being instructed to go to another District on the Mediterranean Coast which Israel is designating ating as a not quite safe but safer Zone President Biden has told prime minister.

Netanyahu he does not support a major offensive against Rafa because it's two packed with civilians but Netanyahu says the Rafa operation must go ahead to root out Hamas ceasefire negotiations stalled over the weekend Hamas says it wants a permanent ceasefire and for the Israeli military to pull out of Gaza Netanyahu.

Says any ceasefire would be temporary to free hostages in Gaza but that the mission to destroy Hamas would then continue speaking to Mark Holocaust Remembrance Day Netanyahu said history has proven Israel can only count on itself for its safety if Israel is forced to stand alone Israel will stand.

Alone this morning Israelis stopped for 2 minutes of silence to remember the 6 million Jews butchered by the nazzi and their allies during World War II Palestinians are increasingly convinced that Israel will go ahead with a Rafa incursion and point to the fact that this weekend Israel closed the offices of Al jazer in this country and.

Blocked the channel they say Israel doesn't want live continuous coverage of what may be coming Israel said it closed Al jazer down because it had become a mouthpiece for Hamas all right Richard thank you so much well here in the states police continue to clash with Pro Palestinian protesters across college campuses the unrest is now threatening.

Commencement ceremonies with some schools as we've been reporting canceling the tradition in the name of safety NBC News correspondent Maggie Besa joins us from the University of Chicago with the latest Maggie good morning hey Savannah good morning Yan tensions escalating here again overnight you might be able to make out the.

Encampment behind me although police are keeping us a ways back protesters overnight erecting a fence around their encampment here on campus saying dos broke down essentially with the university we also saw clashes here in Chicago over the weekend at depal University and the Art Institute as well as several campuses as you said across.

The country as this surge in college protests now collides with commencement season this morning amid mounting Chaos on America's college campuses another round of violent clashes between police and pro Palestinian protesters on you on you at the University of Virginia Saturday officers in riot gear pushed demonstrators and sprayed them with what.

Officials say is pepper spray 25 were arrested according to the university across the country at the University of Southern California Sunday close to 100 officers cleared a camp USC's president said protesters had rebuilt adding areas of Campus were blocked people were harassed and iconic Trojan symbols were defaced this had to.

Stop these latest flash points following weeks of clashes at roughly 75 campuses Nationwide according to account count by NBC News arrests now topping 2400 as demonstrators demand schools divest from Israel tensions Rippling into the commencement season over the weekend at nor Eastern one ceremony was interrupted as a.

Protester covered in fake blood stormed the stage before being taken away by security we respect your passion and your opinions we respect your right to voice them in the appropriate setting and this morning Colombia rethinking its commencement plans while a final decision has not been made a source at.

The University telling NBC News the main graduation ceremony is slated to be cancelled two members of the student government saying it's due to security concerns this after USC made the same call New York's mayor pushing back and I don't think we should allow anything to get in our normal way of life and these protests clearly testing.

Public officials here in Chicago as well on Friday the city's mayor and chief of police told reporters that they support and want to protect First Amendment rights to free speech but added they're still monitoring this situation in case intervention is needed again that situation changing again overnight Savannah Maggie vesa thank you so much.

Well amidst all this today is actually Holocaust rembrance day and as part of commemorations during this period President Biden is set to address anti-semitism at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum tomorrow his remarks come amid a sharp spike in anti-Semitism following this crisis in the Middle East and following the president breaking his.

Silence to speak about these campus protests last week we joining us now on what we can expect from the president as NBC News White House correspondent Aaron gilr Aaron good morning always great to see you so what should we expect what can you tell us about the president's address tomorrow well this is a speech that we.

Know the president has been working on for some time now it will be delivered uh as a part of the national Holocaust Museum Memorial museums uh annual days of remembrance something that the museum has been uh hosting since the uh since the early 80s I believe it is and so President Biden uh will F in the footsteps of other presidents in.

Addressing a gathering at the US capital actually tomorrow and he will talk about uh obviously the loss of so many lives six million Jews all those years ago at the hands of the Nazis uh he will lament that loss and talk about where that fits into the broader context of history and how we handle that reality today he's also going to talk about what the White.

House is called a moral duty to address anti-Semitism in this country and around the world for that matter obviously we've been watching some of the protests that have been happening at college campuses around the country we do expect that the president will address that as well uh similar to the way he did last week uh but but I think the main thrust.

Of what we're going to hear from him tomorrow Savannah is talking about the responsibility that every individual ual and every government entity has to combat anti-Semitism and he'll also talk about the work that his administration has done since he announced his National strategy to counter anti-Semitism about a year ago May of last year uh and there.

Have been several steps that the Administration has taken since then Savannah and Aaron let's specifically talk about this chaos that we've seen on campus what is the White House's ongoing message now regarding those demonstrations and do you think we'll hear anything different anything new about those particular events when the.

President makes his remarks I don't think we'll hear anything new necessarily the president May address potentially some any new initiatives that he may be trying to take but I think the message that we'll hear from the president as we heard last week is that uh the administration the president supports the idea of demonstrations.

Something that uh is a First Amendment right in this country but he says as he said last week it is something that needs to be done uh peacefully it's something that needs to be done at the right time and in the right place and destroying property breaking into building is not something he would support I want you to hear just a.

Portion of what the president had to say about this in the short remarks he gave on this issue last Thursday listen to this there should be no place on any campus no place in America for anti-Semitism or threats of violence against Jewish students there is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind whether it's anti-Semitism.

Islamophobia or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans and so Savannah the president president has recognized that there are passions about this issue about what's happening in Gaza uh across the board when we've gone to uh formal speeches the president has given on other topics we've gone to campaign events there have.

Been people in the crowd who stood up uh and and protested what the administration has supported in terms of Israel's actions in Gaza but the administration says that is something it supports the idea that people will speak their minds but it doesn't want to see violence as a result of people making those thoughts known Savannah and Aaron.

You laid what the president is doing concretely at the top of this conversation and we also know the House of Representatives recently passed what's being called the anti-Semitism awareness act to help enforce anti-discrimination laws are we expecting anything new any future Steps From The White House like that to.

Address the rise in anti-Semitism so this law that's coming out of uh the House of Representatives that was passed last last week would push the dep Department of Education to adopt a definition of anti-semitism that is in line with International organizations in terms of how it starts to enforce rules around these issues of.

Discrimination and such and so the Senate has said that it's it's it's looking at that piece of legislation that passed in the house the White House has said that it uh in principle supports the idea there may be some tweaks to the language before we hear a final position from the White House on this but it is it is likely that it.

Could get through the Senate and into the president's desk and he would likely sign it at the same time we are anticipating hearing what the president has to say tomorrow Savannah and whether he will announce any new initiatives the White House has made clear that when it comes to what we're seeing on college campuses a lot of the decisions that are.

Being made in terms of how to interact with protesters how to stop protests how to clear camps those are decisions that are for universities and colleges to make and and local governments of but the president has said he will continue to speak out forcefully against violence as these demonstrations are happening uh and obviously will continue to happen.

Certainly through the election but until something more concrete happens in Gaza to help Palestinians there all right Aron Gil Chris thank you very much we'll check in with you after those remarks we coming up countdown to liftoff after years of setbacks Boeing's Starliner is set to take its first crude mission to space today that's not the only major.

Space news though the all civilian crew of spacex's Polaris Dawn joins us to talk about their historic voyage that is all up next welcome back tonight the country's eyes will be on Boeing its Starliner spaceship is set to launch carrying astronauts for the first time after a series of engineering setbacks and.

Delays NBC News correspondent Tom costell of course is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the latest Hey Joe and Savannah good morning so this mission was supposed to be back in 2020 but Boeing has fallen years behind arch rival SpaceX due to some engineering missteps and then of course some of course some very close calls.

Indeed a similar problem we've seen play out with boing's commercial airliners as well but this morning the countdown is on for this High stay Mission with astronauts on board a brand new Boeing spaceship veteran astronauts and test pilots Butch Wilmore and Sita Williams will lift off at 10:34 p.m. at Eastern time the Starliner spaceship built by.

Boeing right now sitting on top of an atlas 5 rocket over at the cape canaval space force station but Starliner is is over budget and way overdue during an uncrewed test flight back in 2019 that we were here for uh suddenly they had to abort because the the engineers had incorrectly programmed the clocks inside Starliner to be off by 11 hours so.

Mission Control aborted and then later learned that the spaceship could have crashed into the space station last June we had even more delays Engineers discover flammable tape inside the spaceship and then they were concerned that the parachute straps might not hold as the Space Capsule came back down to earth the good news is back in 2022 we.

Did have a a successful uncrewed Starliner emission to the space station with cargo both Williams and Wilmore insist they believe that the spaceship is safe that it's ready to fly NASA says it will never put astronauts on a on a ship that it's not absolutely confident in uh this is a test flight it's a Shakedown mission to make sure that they.

Are completely confident that this ship can join SpaceX in a rotation of taking astronauts up to the station but 5 years ago very few would have ever guessed that in fact upstart SpaceX would fly 11 crude missions up to the space station before Boeing even got off the ground so all eyes are on Boeing and on Starliner tonight again 10:34 p.m. 10:34 p.m.

Eastern time Joe and Savannah back to you all right Tom thank you so much well we are going to stay with space news and with the story of another group that is headed to infinity and beyond to achieve the very first all civilian spacewalk the Polaris Dawn crew is set to embark on a 5-day Mission launching this summer on spacex's Dragon X their goal is to.

Fly higher than any dragon mission to date and reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown today we are getting to meet some of the team joining us now to discuss their upcoming mission is entrepreneur Jared isaacman he actually commissioned the mission you are also its commander and you are actually financing a series of these flights as I.

Understand it and also joining us is Scott ptite he is the mission pilot good morning to both of you thank you for being here thanks for having us morning okay so I have so many questions for you because I'm fascinated by the fact that as I understand it you both have plenty of flight experience you both have been in all different types of aircraft up in.

The sky are very experienced in that way but this is not that this is actually going to space right so first just how is prep going it it's going really well I mean uh we've been training for almost two years for this Mission uh as you mentioned we have some pretty ambitious objectives we're going farther into space than the last time humans walked.

On the moon more than 50 years ago we're testing out uh a brand new space suit that maybe someday some evolution of it could could be used to uh for humans walking on the moon or Mars we've got a communication uh system we're testing over starlink lasers and and we got a lot of science and research takes a long time to get ready but we're getting.

Close Scott how you feeling about flying I I love flying you know it's uh it's good training that uh we utilize uh we have fighter jets that uh allows us to work together you know build that trust um be in an environment where it's uh stressful but it's manageable uh and It prepares us for space and so it's you know we not only fly fter Jets we've.

Done scuba diving training we've climbed mountains we do a lot of simulator training uh nominal procedures as well as get ready for contingencies okay neither of you seem like you scare easily but I don't mean to freak you out or anything but I have interviewed some NASA astronauts one of whom her name is Christina cook she's fabulous she was.

Part of the first all female spacewalk we talked a lot about what it takes for a spacewalk and the type of training that they did for months and months not even knowing for sure that they were going to need to do one just to be prepared in case what is it like prepping for a spacewalk I know you have you're doing some.

Interesting things underwater above water using these different machines but I mean how are you feeling about actually like opening the door and going out there I I think we're super excited I mean that has been the largest portion of our training for the last couple years I mean you know the capability to undertake a spacewalk has been limited.

To a couple World superpowers I mean the US Russia and China as governments have figured this out but we all need to understand this if we're going to have thousands of people in space someday walking on the moon going to Mars and Beyond like this capability to get outside your vehicle and explore and build and repair everyone needs to.

Understand so we've trained a lot for it we've been underwat as you mentioned we've been hanging from the ceiling in these off loaders that replicate microgravity and uh I think we're feeling pretty prepared and concurrent to our training SpaceX has developed a suit for the very first time that is uh it's phenomenal technology and it's.

Going to keep us safe yeah tell me more about the suit because actually that's something else I talked with Christina about is the suits for space walks they're obviously very specific so what's new here how are you innovating on it it it is a completely brand new suit so like the uh the suits that Christina wore that they have on the.

International Space Station like their lineage goes back four decades they work no one's built a new suit in a long time because it's super hard because essentially it turns into a mini spacecraft uh when we walk around and wear it it looks like not a big deal but when it's pressurized to keep us safe and healthy it is very rigid um and you.

Have to have joints all over the place just to be able to move around to move your fingers uh you need a visor to protect you from the Sun you need multiple Paths of um of life support of oxygen to get into to keep you alive and maintain you know thermal regulation your body there's a lot that goes into it it's why it hasn't been done in a.

While but we've had a front row seat for the last two years of SpaceX development of it and this is a suit again that someday people could be wearing on the moon or Mars it's pretty cool Scott how different is piloting this than the other types of aircraft we've piloted you know there there's skill sets that definitely carry over uh that that's why.

We continue to fly fighter jets to this day uh to prepare us for this Mission um but we all bring uh you know uh skill sets that are important for this Mission Sarah and Anna our crew members they're Engineers for SpaceX um and you know Sarah taught Jared how to be an astronaut now she has the opportunity to actually uh go into space so she can.

Bring all those um that experience and teach in the future and uh Anna she has a background with NASA as well as SpaceX and she was the technical adviser for Jared's inspiration for Mission I've been very Reliant upon them to train for this Mission and I'm just happy to be with this crewp so cool very cool we're pretty much out of time but I do just.

Want to ask St Jude's is involved here tell us about that oh absolutely so uh St Jude was an important part of my last mission inspiration for uh raised over $250 million uh for their important cause and I mean that's what this is about you know we want to build an exciting future for tomorrow that we can all be excited about I mean it's.

Spacex's Vision the world's more interesting when people can Journey among the star but St judee's got an important mission right that no child should die in the dawn of life and we've got to build towards that important future for tomorrow and try and take care of some of the problems we have here on Earth as.

Well they do such incredible work there at St J Jared isacson Scot good luck thank you for coming by we'd love to talk to you after thanks for being here sounds great thanks for having sh absolutely coming up terrifying moments caught on camera this was the scene at a church service after a man pulled a gun on the pastor what that Pastor is now.

Saying about the close call and the parishioners who came to his rescue stay with us welcome back we do want to warn you that this next story does have some disturbing footage there was a scary scene at a church service in Pennsylvania when a man attempted to shoot a pastor the video shows the.

Moment it all unfolded the gun did not go off NBC News correspondent Emily aeta is here with more on this one Emily good morning hey good morning to you talk about a close call what was supposed to be a quiet Sunday at church turned into chaos for a group of parishioners as a Gman walked up to the front Pew and tried to fire his weapon directly at the.

Pass we should warn our viewers some may find these images disturbing en God a Sunday afternoon church service dramatically interrupted and God the terrifying incident at Jesus's Dwelling Place Church in North bradic Pennsylvania unfolding on a live stream showing a gunman identified by police as.

26-year-old Bernard Jr polite approached Pastor Glenn Germany and attempted to shoot but the gun didn't go off it clicked you heard shoot it it clicked so God jamed the gun so that the bullet didn't come out the Deacon sitting just feet away left into action the man had his back turned towards me and I could see he would.

Never see me coming both men wrestling the weapon from the gunman's hands in the church at the time 25 congregation members including the pastor's daughter he stood up and he smiled at me like and it was just a smile the pastor actually speaking with the gunman he said look Spirits was in my mind he said that they got in my mind and they told me come in.

And shoot the pastor he actually apologized to me I told him I forgive you and I want you to know I love you what could have been a devastating tragedy at this small community church now considered a small miracle God had his hands on the pastor he wasn't let him go nowhere so Emily tells us what else are.

We learning about the suspect so the pastor indicated that he had never seen the Gman before until this incident and that he had been going in and out of the church now that gum faces a number of charges including aggravated assault uh attempted homicide reckless endangerment and our Pittsburgh affiliate is reporting that later that night police.

Have been actually called to a home where the gum had been living it's within a mile of the church they discovered a body so we're waiting for more details to be released on that I should also note that we did uh we did try to seek out legal representation for the suspect but we weren't able to identify anyone all right Emily thank.

You so much appreciate it thank you well time for some very special guests now is today is the first day of national teacher appreciation week it is a time to recognize teachers and Educators in the hard work and sacrifice they make to their students throughout the year a Tennessee teacher was recently named 2024 national teacher of the year she.

Was honored with a state dinner at the White House last week along with fellow Educators in the field we are joined this morning by the 2024 National Teacher of the Year Missy testerman she's a kindergarten through 8th grade English as a second language teacher we are also joined by Secretary of education Miguel Cardona good morning to.

Both of you great to have you with us Missy I will start with you first of all congratulations on the honor congratulations on the dinner that sounds fabulous tell us what does being teacher of the year mean to you and what have these last few weeks been like thank you savan being named the 2024 national teacher of the year is just an.

Immense honor there are three and a half million teachers all across this country working hard to prepare our students for futures every single day and I am thrilled to get to be the one who ad who was able to advocate for them this year secretary Cardona this recognition comes from the Council of Chief State School officers how there's so many great.

Educators out there how on Earth do they pick the person who gets this prestigious honor yes yes well first of all happy Teacher Appreciation Week and congratulations Missy uh ccsso does a great job interviewing teachers from across the country looking for those qualities that we know elevate our.

Profession and Elevate our country and uh Missy was the one selected this year and she's a great representative for the best profession there is Missy as you mentioned you were honored alongside fellow teachers at the White House with this state dinner President Biden along with First Lady Joe Biden where they tell us about that.

Experience Savannah it was an amazing experience not only to be in the white house which is such a symbol of freedom for um our country that's recognized all around the world but to be able to enjoy that moment with all of my fellow State teachers of the Year from all across the country was was just amazing it was a a beautiful evening where teachers felt.

Celebrated and and nurtured for all the things that they do to invest in our children's lives each and every day secretary Cardona this is actually the first time a state dinner was held to honor teachers I mean these types of events they're traditionally held when heads of state visit the White House why in this situation did you do this how.

How did this change come to fruition well look you know as you mentioned typically State dinners are held for heads of States kings and queens who better than teachers to elevate to to say we see you we recognize you and um thanks to the bidens who really wanted to make sure that this year we lifted up what it.

Means to celebrate our teachers not only those who were selected to represent their states and Missi but the teachers across the country sec K Cardon if you don't mind while I have you we would like to ask you about this year's the college admissions issues that we've seen all those issues with the FF process where do things stand on.

Rectifying that situation at this point I mean I know of course as you're aware families have been anxious about whether their loved ones are able to go to their college of their choice it's delayed students being able to make that big all-important college decision what is the latest thing right y thank you for for asking um we're almost at 9 million.

Processed uh applications uh colleges have the information information they've had the information and are making uh offers now I've spoken to college presidents and chancellors who've already sent out letters to families there was a delay this year there was a an overhaul of the entire system that was over 40 years old uh we're we're.

Proud to say that if the student applies today within one to three days their college will have the information um and is able to process letter so we're glad to see that that's moving and we hope uh not only this year but for years ahead more and more students will have access to federal aid Missy uh over the years you have seen the amazing things the.

Teachers can accomplish the challenges they face as well right now what do you see as as the biggest challenges for teachers in and out of the classroom and what do you think is the best way to address those challenges thank you Joe right now the biggest challenge I feel like facing America schools is that we have a mental.

Health crisis that can range from anxiety and depression in our middle school and high school students all the way down to our youngest students who often arrive with an inability to regulate their behavior obviously that is something that needs to continue to be addressed it was addressed through the use of erer funds previously but.

That is something that is really vitally important is important is getting counselors mental health professionals into our schools because we know that students with mental health issues are more likely to be served in a school setting than outside of the school setting also at the same time we we need to elevate pay for our our teachers who.

Are professionals we need to pay them a living wage that is aligned to the professional work that they do each and every day it is hard to retain teachers when they are able to go out into another career field and make more F make more money to take care of their fam so I feel like those are two things that that need to be addressed as we.

Move this country forward they are such good points on that Mental Health crisis is something we've talked extensively actually with secretary Cardona about Teacher of the Year Missy testerman congratulations on the honor secretary Cardona always great to see you thank you both for your time this morning thank you for having me well coming up.

It's been 20 years since one of the most watched TV finales of all time we're taking a look back at the last one and the friends who were always there for you next we're back with some Financial headlines and it looks like some big moves are the works at Paramount CNBC.

Savannah hanau joins us with that in other money news savan good morning Hey Joe hey Savannah good morning yes so Paramount has reportedly agreed to start buyout talks with a group led by Sony Pictures and private Equity Firm Apollo Global an exclusive window with production company Sky Dan media expired Friday last week the Sony group.

Reportedly made a 26 billion offer for Paramount the New York Times says Paramount's controlling shareholder Sher Redstone prefers Sky Dan because it would face fewer regulatory issues former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is criticizing the coffee giant saying it needs to renew Focus Starbucks reported disappointing earnings last week and in.

A post on LinkedIn Schultz says the company should start by fixing its us business which he says was the quote primary reason for the company's Fall From Grace Starbucks hasn't commented but its current CEO said last week he's mounting a turnaround including speeding up service during morning hours to meet customer demand and Sony reversed in.

Course on requiring players of its new game hell divers 2 to link their stream and place PlayStation Network accounts the company walking back the policy following a weekend of backlash including tens of thousands of negative reviews leading to the game being delisted in 177 countries hell divers 2 has been one of the most.

Popular games this year thanks to its unique approach of live story lines guys all right sylvana thank you so much you got it now to the one that turns 20 if you try to remember what you were doing 20 years ago tonight odds are good you were watching the series finale of friends the final episode called the last one was the fourth most watched.

Finale in TV history and while it was an ending 20 years later the Friendship endured it was like the Super Bowl of sitcom the next baby should be along in a minute Monica and Chandler got a surprise delivery we only ordered.

One spans anxiously waited to see if Ross and Rachel would end up more than friends we were incredibly nervous because we so wanted to get it right show creators David Crane and Marty Kaufman wrote the final episode did she get off the plane did you get off the plane I got off the plane they knew Ross and Rachel would.

Finally end up together it was just figuring out how when it gets to that moment when she says I got off the plane I cried then we did our job right yeah Smelly Cats over 10 seasons America befriended all six characters could I be more sorry oh embracing their quirky catch phrases how you doing I know we were on the break relishing their moving.

Moments P all of it building to the last episode The 236th of the series which was watched by 52.5 million Americans back in 2004 the cast told today how hard it was to say goodbye it's just all so unbelievably surreal and yeah it will be hard we hate talking about it we hate thinking about it.

Matthew Perry who died last year talked about the finale in his 2022 Memoir before that final episode i' Taken Mar Coffman to one side he wrote nobody else will care about this except me I said so may I please have the last line could there be anyone else okay should we get some coffee sure.

Where Looking Back Now how poignant does that feel it's incredibly poignant it's um it's a legacy for him one of his many legacies but that moment that moment one of many moments still cherished by fans 20 years after that purple door closed for the last time friends found a whole new.

Generation of fans when it hits streaming first on Netflix now on Max Kaufman says a while back one of her daughter's friends initially thought it was a new show set in the 9s a period piece if you will perhaps a testament to how some of the themes are still pretty oh my go it's pretty funny I know no what a great we made that a while ago I.

Know isn't it fun don't you love being a New Yorker when you talk about friends right all the things exactly all right coming up our Curtain Call is taking us back in time we are sitting down with producer writer Jonathan Abrams and the one and only Hy Lewis to talk about their new Broadway musical the heart of a rock and roll that's up next.

welcome back rev up those engines you know I love Formula 1 and Britain's Lando Norris just scored his very first Formula One win at yesterday's soldout Miami Grand Prix it was Full Speed Ahead for the racer who beat Out World Champion Max for stappen by 7 Seconds which is actually quite a lot in Formula.

1 Norris celebrated with a well-deserved champagne pop and a celebratory dive into his crew who just adore him well here's the thing I guess you could say I helped him prepare just last summer I gave Norris a little run for his money by taking him on in a three laap race at a go-kart track in New Jersey our friends over at RPM unfortunately he did.

Beat me I will say though I held the lead for a little while and he did also say that I should be in Formula 1 which I never let people forget now he may or may not have also giv me a little Head Start that's not really the point though Lando we love you congratulations Joe you know I'm so excited did he beat you by 7 Seconds actually it was only by.

Like two or three see so you would have won yesterday exactly that's all I'm saying I love that math I like that thank you Savannah finally we're ending the hour with a curtain call your front row seat to Broadway and Beyond and this morning we are taking you to one of the newest musicals on Broadway the heart of rock and roll it is a jukebox musical.

Featuring the songs of huie Lewis in the news the plot is not about the band rather the show uses their music to tell a fictional story set of course in the 80s about a couple of 20 somethings chasing their dreams and naturally features many many hits including Do You Believe In Love this is it and hip to be square and we are so lucky to be joined.

This morning by the huie Lewis we're going to call us huie Lewis on the news along with Jonathan Abrams who wrote the book for the show good to have you with us thanks for joining us this morning great to be Hy what does it mean for you this sort of new chapter to have these songs that we have loved for decades now on a Broadway stage in this musical well.

It's it's wonderful I mean it's a lovely gift you know it's and it's it's particularly uh gratifying to see these songs uh have this other life you know uh and be used in this other way you you feel kind of proud of your songs like they were children or something you know so it's been a lot of fun you know some people don't know this but you revealed.

A few years ago that because of an inner ear syndrome you've lost a lot of your hearing which means you're not able to play music has this what has this process of being able to do the musical meant for you well that's true I mean me there was seven years ago I lost my hearing and um you know was devastating for 6 months I spent 6 months in bed.

Really and uh you know lost weight and worried and tried all kinds of protocol uh but but uh the show has really been a Salvation for me it's given me something to be creative with and to stay busy and and frankly take my mind off my crappy hearing Jonathan what has it been like for you to work with huie on this well growing up huie Lewis was my musical.

Idol and so the opportunity just to meet him which was the you know origins of this I just wanted to meeting with huie Lewis to pitch him my story of how I could take his songs and fashion them into a a story and now to be here a decade later friends you know colleagues it's it's a dream come true that's the thing too about jbox musicals is you.

Know the music is written the lyrics are there so the fun but also the challenge is you have to try and find a story with those lyrics to tie them all together how does that process work that process works by writing down all the lyrics to your songs pasting them on note cards on my wall and then finding words that popped out at me recurring themes.

Working hip power love heart and then you put all those together you you forgot soul and soul you put them all together and and suddenly a story starts to emerge and by the way I think that a little too simple uh John is the book is is the key to our show because it's funny and and and John.

Is is a great writer and it's funny and it was funny from day one and you know funny is kind of harder to do than dark sometimes you got to be smart to be funny and John is from from day one he his very first draft was fantastic and we're now what nine drafts later or something I think I checked it's actually 62 drafts 62 drafts my goodness.

Is that how many how many drafts of your songs were there usually well we did a few one of the interesting conversations I think you had is is what songs go in the show because you had to make tough choices to cut a popular song or two but in the same time you there were some songs that maybe a lot of folks weren't super familiar with that you told him no.

This should be in the show Even if you were skeptical right well no that this is John and and our producer Tyler Mitchell who know the music really well and they know the early stuff and so um it was their idea to to use to take kind of a deep dive in some of these songs and and interestingly certain songs emerge in our show as being the.

Favorites and and there were songs that hardly anybody ever heard give me the keys uh the only one these are highlights of our show that most people who you know the record didn't sell at all and and for you it was just like no these songs need to go in they help the story it was always about what was best for the story and huie was so gracious.

In saying okay well if heart and soul doesn't make sense in the story then we're not going to use it even though it was a big hit conversely the only one maybe not a big hit but it worked so well for the story we needed to tell and he said okay try it and I love for the audience maybe they're experiencing some of these songs for the first time which.

Is great this is not your first dance with Broadway you actually played Billy Flynn on Chicago many years ago what what was that experience like how does this compare well that experience was amazing I was Billy Flynn number 31 I told them they should have had numbers on the C on the on the tuxedo but uh yeah uh you know I didn't know from.

Broadway growing up I'm a rock and roller and I you know I thought but I was offered the part and I my son was going to NYU at the time and I visited my kid I said let's just go see the show we went to see it I fell in love with it thought and I thought to myself you know if I don't try to do this I'll never forget myself so uh I I accepted and uh.

Fell in love with everything that is Broadway I just the talent the the the people it's really the people isn't it and and the collaborative nature of it all makes it really a a wonderful experience I love that you were number 31 because the show's still on Broadway right now so I don't even know how many Billy Flyn they must be on right now.

There must be in the 50s by now exactly yeah 62 just like the drafts there you go overall I mean I love the fact that when you even just read the reviews for the show they're just telling folks you are going to go and you are going to have fun and we need that there's amazing shows on Broadway right now but some of them get very serious some of.

Them can be a little dark what is it you want people to know about seeing this show well it it's it's it's fun and funny and uh it you know it the show will not change your life but it will change your evening and and that's really what we're after we're we're after a wonderful evening and Lord knows with with the news that you read today.

Uh C couldn't we all use two and a half hours of uh sort of entertainment absolutely Jonathan what do you hope folks take away from the show I'll tell you a story so two weeks ago at the show I saw a family there Grandma Mom uh and son and and his son so four generations saw Ag to4 and they all had a great time and they found me afterwards they.

Learned that I wrote the thing and they told me we had a wonderful time together as a family and I was so overwhelmed by that something everyone in the family can have in common is their love of huie Lewis we love you guys too thank you so much for joining us this morning you can catch the hard and rock and roll playing now at the James Earl Jones theater in.

Manhattan that's going to do it for this hour morning news now don't go anywhere the news continues right now thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media

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