♪ a heartbreaking update out of texas, authorities recovering the body of a missing 11-year-old girl who vanished waiting for her school bus the man facing charges in that case.

stage is set for a south carolina showdown, nikki haley against donald trump, the next gop primary new chapter in the battle over reproductive rights, the alabama supreme court ruling that frozen embryos are children why critics fear for the future of ivf why walmart is buying a tv maker to take on amazon's ad game. the competitive fishing world left reeling teams angling for the truth in a possible cheating scandal. "early today" starts right now good morning, i'm richard lui, we'll start with the search for the 11-year-old girl officials saying they have found the body oe body of f 11-year-oy

cunningham who never made it to school thursday. >> my heart aches with this news, i express my deepest sympathies and condolences for everyone who knew, cared for and loved audrey >> in custody, don stephen mcdugal. according to the sheriff, the suspect provided information to help lead them to the body a family friend who took audrey to the bus stop. he's expected to face capital murder charges. a u.s. citizen was detained in russia, suspected of treason. a russian ballerina who became a u.s. citizen in 2021 working to get consular access, could be difficult because russian doesn't recognize it claudio, what is the latest in the story? >> reporter: russian authorities say she raised funds for ukraine following russia's invasion of

now the fsb, the russia federal security service released this video of her handcuffed and taken away, behind bars. her being detained and in custody. they issued a statement, they said, i quote, she was involved in providing financial assistance to a foreign state and activities against the security of our country they continued saying she raised money and i quote again, spent on medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition for ukraine and continued saying in the united states she took part in demonstrations in support of ukraine. if she's found guilty of treason, could look at sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison. and fact she's a dual citizen does not offer any guarantees, because the state department spokesperson, matthew miller, confirmed that russia doesn't recognize dual citizenships. they look at the russian

citizenship, it comes first. for this reason, he warmed all american citizens living in russia now, including those with dual citizenship, to leave immediately. thank you. now to the race for the white house. the countdown to south carolina's primary the palmetto state votes in four days, and nikki haley faces an uphill battle. alice barr from d.c., no matter what happens on saturday, haley is saying she's not going to stop there >> reporter: for sure. nikki hale continues to make clear she's staying in the race for the long haul what her campaign called a state of the race speech she said south carolina will vote saturday and sunday she will still be running for president. she delivered what she said were hard truths about former president donald trump, saying he's become more unstable and

unhinged last night while donald trump appeared at a fox news tow hall, haley was asked about the legal battles and if they were a factor in her strategy >> my strategy is having american people's voices heard but also acknowledging the reality that he will be in court march, april, may and june and more judgments will be heard. >> why do you think she's staying in the race? >> i don't think she knows how to get out, actually i really don't she did terribly in new hampshire, only vote was democrats. >> the people behind her >> they're trying to hurt me because of the general election, the democrats are giving her money and she's playing into the game >> reporter: the trump campaign released a new memo outlining his path to securing the republican nomination, saying he should hav enough delegates by march 19th and haley has no mathematical path to victory and is

irrelevant there are 19 states holding nominating contests in the next two weeks, and public polling does not show nikki haley with a lead in any of them. >> thank you so much this week the supreme court could rule on not one but two cases involving donald trump the former president's ballot eligibility in colorado has been argued before the court and a decision could be imminent and mr. trump asked justices to stay a lower court decision that dismissed his broad claim on immunity from criminal prosecution. meanwhile the supreme court has decided to not intervene in the case of a supposedly race neutral high school in virginia. one of their policies is not consider standardized test scores, leading to decline in asian american students there. two justices dissented,

conservatives alito and thomas in alabama, the highest court ruling that embryos frozen in labs are children, nbc's senior legal correspondent has more. gaby rodriguez like many others is undergoing fertility treatments. >> we're a traditional family who wants a kid. >> reporter: but now the highest court decided that frozen embryos are children and people can be held legally responsible for destroying them. rodriguez worries knowing that doctors may find some of her embryos not viable. >> i don't want to implant a child that's going to miscarry i worry about the ones genetically abnormal and if my

clinic shuts down. >> reporter: in a wrongful death case, they found parents could sue an ivf clinic after their embryos were destroyed finding them no different than unborn children in the womb. it could have massive ramifications. frozen embryos are regularly created and discarded as fertility treatments >> patients will be harmed by this decision. >> reporter: a fertility specialist has been fielding messages about the decision. >> we'll have to limit fertilization of eggs, limit efficiency and cost, and increase risk to patients. >> reporter: it's a first of its kind, but other states like florida considering laws allowing similar claims. and others debating bills

defining life to begin at beginning of fertilization. >> never believed they would question ivf, it's scary. in kansas city, two men are in custody charged with murder in the shooting at the super bowl celebration authorities saying they opened fire in a dispute, killing a bystander and injuring 22 others, many children. a day at the beach turned deadly, 5-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl were digging a large hole, pulled under as the sand collapsed beachgoers frantically tried to get them out, the girl was not breathing, did not survive the boy is receiving tree. an investigation is ongoing. california, another storm is leaving a trail of destruction massive boulders falling on the famous pacific coast highway,

blocking traffic dramatic rescues los angeles has almost a year's worth of rain in february. the deluge is taking a toll on the region's infrastructure as well and some of the already eroding coastlines an active landslide area was moving inches per year, now it's moving feet. >> started with a crack, now sinking, worse and worse. >> that rain is reaching into death valley bad water basin there is typically dry, very dry, but a temporary lake formed in august after hurricane hilary and it's still there thanks to the atmospheric rivers sweeping through the region nbc meteorologist angie lassman, when we look at the pictures, every single time it does tell the story. how is it looking now? >> it's looking a little better.

we'll see improvements from here to the next couple of days we have scattered showers left over across california but we're starting to see the system work farther east over the rockies, where we'll watch for additional snowfall through the day we can't rule out showers that are going to linger from northern california into oregon and washington we'll watch for the rain through the day today. flooding concern will be there, even with a batch of rain moving into southern california early this morning middle of the country feels like spring 70s on tap, st. louis to wichita, 80s for amarillo and dallas chicago well above 20 degrees of normal dip in temperatures by the end of the workweek into the weekend, st. louis, back to the mid-50s. but sundayr omaha, low

60s for chicago and mostly cloudy skies in indianapolis that's the forecast. back to you. >> 70s better be coming our way. >> i'll see what i can do. in kansas city, two men in custody this morning -- rather a new york scientist i want to talk about, caught running what authorities call a "breaking bad" style meth lab. but way he got caught, walter white would never do that. matthew reported a burglary at his business but his alleged drug lab was also there police noticed broken glass that led to the clandestine lab with

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business overall, beat out other competitors in the market. vizio has long been a maker and seller of tvs around the u.s. as well high protest ad business it's trying to grow, walmart, at this stage, will acquire 1150 per share, announcing the acquisition with the fourth quarter earnings number. other side, that corporation, remember when fox, walt disney and i like decided to form a conglomerate for sports streaming? fubo tv says this is going to hamper competition within the spectrum, including licenses and needs to be looked at deeper this was bound to create fractions considering how big the deal was still to come, "snl" locks into two hot stars as latest

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>> now a set of films that aims to match the ambition of the fab four themselves. sam mendez will helm four movies about each member of the beatles. tetralogy set for release, it's a collaboration with the company, apple corp. it has approval from living members of the band and families of others. starr voicing his support. this is going to be great, i have a feeling we've got stars all set to be in each of the four interconnected movies >> quadrilogy. "snl," sydney sweeney is making her debut with case musgraves, and josh brolin returning as host with ariana grande on march 9th.

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>> reporter: outraged fishermen in murky waters >> what do my children think i was lying? >> reporter: failing polygraph tests disqualified them from first and second place prize money in a connecticut fishing tournament >> on my integrity. >> reporter: a healthy bluefin would have won $7,500. >> kevin fishing left, rick to right. >> feeling lucky. >> reporter: captain reflecting on what the win would have meant. >> so excited, i've been doing this since i was a little kid. >> reporter: the initial first place winners also failing the lie detector test, giving up the bragging rights and prize of $25,000. >> from the get-go people didn't believe it, it was a large fish. anyone could have caught that fish >> reporter: a massive, 20-pound-plus fish the 41-year-old competition

known as the greatest bluefin tournament on earth stipulates in addition to weight verification and consideration of the condition of the catches, a lie detector test is required to assure there's no cheating >> back on the boat, i told them where we caught the fish, everyone in the boat witnessed the catch. >> reporter: they don't know why they failed the polygraph. >> for some reason he failed the lie detector test. i don't understand how it's even possible >> they have it on video, everything, but -- >> reporter: the lie detector tests are in place in theory to keep the contest fair in a sport rocked by high profile cheating scandals. >> got fish! >> yeah! >> reporter: in 2022, a cleveland team was disqualified for stuffing their catch with lead balls, and last year a south carolina team was eliminated after officials spotted a shark bite on a 620-poun marlin, the injury that could have made catching the fish

easier >> it would appear this fish has been bitten by a shark. >> reporter: but the fishermen in connecticut questioned the need for a lie detector test and according to forensic psychiatrist morgan, they could be on to something. >> the problem with that kind of a test is that you have lots of chances to look guilty when you're not, i would challenge it i wouldn't accept it >> catching the fish is the easy part passing the polygraph is the hard part. >> thanks for that report. thanks for watching "early today. today. i'm richard lui, have a great (oven ding audio mnemonic) tyson boneless buffalo bites and hot wings have that tasty kick of flavor... ...so they're perfect for any get-together ...if there are any left when your guests arrive. tyson any'tizers® chicken. more kicks of flavor. more smiling snackers. more to love. tyson. you want to see who we are as americans? i'm peter dixon and in kenya... more smiling snackers. we built a hospital that provides maternal care. as a marine... we fought against the taliban and their crimes against women.

and in hillary clinton's state department... we took on gender-based violence in the congo. now extremists are banning abortion and contraception right here at home. so, i'm running for congress to help stop them. for your family... and mine. i approved this message because this is who we are. more news is on the way. re news. an american detained, russia accusing a u.s. ballerina and dual citizen of treason, backing ukraine's war effort tragic end to