breaking overnight. severe weather rips through the heartland yet again. powerful thunderstorms leaving a trail of destruction in nebraska and iowa. our angie lassman tells us if the storms will last through the holiday weekend. plus, what could be a historic hurricane season. new this morning, a game

changer for college sports. the multi-billion dollar settlement that could pave the way for athletes to get paid directly by their university. the doj rocks live nation with a new anti-trust lawsuit aiming to break up the ticketmaster parent company. how frontier airlines wants to crack down on travelers faking their disability. a song of ice and backboards. an overtime thriller in the nhl, and another boston blowout against the pacers. we have the highlights to kick off your friday. "early today" starts right now. good morning. glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. we begin this morning with a relentless round of severe weather that has left communities in shambles across the midwest and south. video here showing an apparent tornado marching across central texas. in the city of temple, homes and businesses were ripped to

pieces. authorities say one house was struck by lightning, catching fire. and in iowa, five people were killed in tuesday's storms. the national weather service now confirming three powerful tornados tore through the state, leveling more than 200 homes. meanwhile, that same system that struck texas also wreaking havoc in mexico. this new video showing chaos at a presidential campaign rally, where severe winds brought the event's stage crashing down. mexican officials say nine people, including a child, were killed and more than 120 were injured. let's get to angie lassman, who is tracking the latest systems that could bring more potential threats across the county. >> a busy weekend ahead with all the travel as people gear up for memorial day celebrations. this morning we're waking up to a line of strong storms across the northern plains. iowa in the bull's eye with tornado warnings already this morning. but notice what happens by this afternoon. we expand that area of severe

risk. we're expecting another line of severe storms from chicago to dallas. we'll see the potential for 45 million people to deal with strong winds, some hail as well as the potential for some tornados. as we look ahead to maybe travel today, chicago, st. louis, dallas, those are the spots i want you to watch for likely delays. if you're getting out and traveling through those airports today. notice the severe thunderstorm risk is going to last for the central plains as well. wichita right in the bull's eye for that. by the time sunday rolls around, the midwest on the docket for potential by the severe impacts. by the time memorial day arrives, storms across that region to celebrate memorial day, frances. >> angie, thank you. breaking overnight, a new era for student athletes on the horizon. the ncaa signing off on a deal that could reshape college sports and allow universities to pay players directly. the ncaa board of directors

approved nearly a $3 billion settlement for a class action anti-trust lawsuit. the money would be paid out over the next decade to thousands of former and current student athletes. under the new model, each school would be allowed to set aside up t to $21 million in revenue to share with athletes each year. as revenues rise, so could the cap. that would be in addition to the name image and likeness or nil money already allowed under the current system. however, it is not a done deal yet. the federal judge overseeing the case must still sign off on the agreement. and many of the details are still to be determined. the doj is standing up for all of the swifties out there and for anyone else who's faced frustration buying concert tickets. the department is suing the parent company of ticketmaster, accusing them of having a monopoly over the entertainment

industry. >> reporter: we've seen that, frances. consumer kplants complaints hav growing for years. the rollout of the taylor swift tickets was such a disaster it faced a senate hearing. some waited for hours online just to get shut out of the process. nowthe justice department has filed this lawsuit. they say live nation, which merged with ticketmaster, now controls about 80% of ticketing at major venues. and they argue that the company needs to be broken up. they allege an illegal monopoly because live nation controls venues, sells tickets, promotes the events and manages artists. >> the result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts. smaller promoters get squeezed out and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services.

>> reporter: live nation says the lawsuit ignore everything that is actually causing higher ticket prices, like increasing production costs, artist popularity and online ticket scalping. live nation's president said this on cnbc. >> if you took out our entire margin, all the money we made, that would reduce prices by 1.7%. it's just not what's driving the pricing in the market. >> reporter: now there are also bills working through the house and snath renate right now that increase ticket transparency to expose any hidden fees. >> music to our ears if that works out. thank you. senate republicans have again blocked a border security bill. lisa murkowski of alaska was the only republican who voted for the bill. six democrats voted against. the vote had been expected to fail but was brought up by the democratic majority as an attempt to illustrate republican

obstructionism. republicann expected to fail but was brought up by the democratic majority as an attempt to illustrate republican obstructionism. republican presidential candidate donald trump has urged allies to block the compromise, keeping immigration as a winning gop issue come november. all eyes are on the hague as the international court of just physical justice could order a halt to the attack on rafah. mike johnson has confirmed he's invited prime minister benjamin netanyahu to address a joint session of congress. let's go to claudio lavanga. but first a warning. the most recent pictures out of rafah are upsetting. how is the icj expected to rule? >> reporter: good morning, f frances. we expect the court to announce

its decision in a few hours from now. but the israeli newspaper israel today is reporting that officials are bracing for the icj to rule in favor of south africa, who brought their request to halt the rafah offensive. even if the order is given, it will be non-binding. but it could spur another u.n. security council resolution, against it, that the u.s. will likely have to veto. this will be a string in the latest diplomatic blows for israel after warrants were sought for benjamin netanyahu and the minister of defense, gallant, and more recently, norway, spain and ireland recognizing palestine as a state. in the meantime, the israeli ground operation in rafah continues. and while the military calls it limited, aerial pictures show flattened buildings and widespread destruction just as in other parts of gaza.

it seems like an invasion in all but name. now frances, there's more information coming in from gaza. the idf said they have recovered the bodies of three more hostages. they've already been returned to israel for burial. back to you. >> claudio lavanga, thank you. police are clearing the recent pro-palestinian encampment at ucla. the standoff happened the same day ucla chancellor gene block testified on capitol hill about his handling of the protest. seemingly unaware of the new demonstration. >> there is no encampment, and there are no demonstrations that are problematic. >> in a statement thursday, the university put out a statement saying, quote, there is reasonable cause to find that demonstrators' activities are disrupting campus operations. meanwhile at harvard, hundreds of students walked out of graduation in protest. one student described their semester this way. >> our freedom of speech and our

expressions of solidarity became punishable. [cheers and applause] >> the students were protesting the school's decision to bar some students who participated in pro-palestinian encampments from getting their degrees. louisville police are releasing new dash cam video of golfer scottie scheffler's arrest last week. it shows the moments his car was stopped and later leading the top-ranked golfer away in handcuffs. according to the arrest report, scheffler tried to drive around the traffic and dragged a detective to the ground. that moment was not captured on video. the detective was reprimanded for not turning on his body camera. scheffler's attorney says he will plead not guilty at his arraignment on june 3rd. all right, we could be in for a record-breaking hurricane season. let's turn back to nbc meteorologist angie lassman who has a new warning from experts as if the storm season so far hasn't been tough enough, angie, good morning. >> we transition right from the really active spring that we've had into hurricane season which

starts in just a little over a week. here's what noaa has to say about it. expecting an above-normal season, 80% chance we will see that, with 17-25-named storms, and of those, 4 to 7 becoming major hurricanes. this is the greatest number of storms in a noaa forecast history. from all the times they've been doing this, this is the highest they've gone. that says something. we are transitioning to a la nina in the pacific. that's going to play into this. we've got really warm temperatures across the tropical atlantic. talking sea surface temperatures that are more like august than this time of year. so all of that leading us to the potential for degrees.

cleveland and detroit head to the low 80s with plenty of sunshine. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. thank you, angie. "early today" is back in a minute with the worst day for markets in over a year. and finding home sweet home is a bigger headache than ever. r new tool that maps out where it's the hardest to buy. your digestive system isn't at its best. but a little metamucil everyday can help. metamucil's psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down and also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. lighten everyday the metamucil way. feel less sluggish & weighed down after just 14 days. sign up for the 2 week challenge at metamucil.com ♪♪ are you tired of your hair breaking after waiting years for it to grow? meet new pantene pro-v miracles. with our highest concentration of pro-vitamins yet, infused with ingredients like biotin & collagen.

strengthens hair bonds and repairs as well as the leading luxury brand without the $60 price tag. for stronger, healthier hair. ♪♪ if you know, you know it's pantene. ♪♪ wall street hoping to head into the holiday weekend on a high note after the dow surfferd its worst day in a year. cnbc's arabile gumede is here with the details. hi, arabilmorning. >> yeah, good morning, frances. you're quite right. the markets today have been getting a bit of a down turn yesterday. the dow jones going down 1.5%. that's the worst day since at least march last year. so a significant decline. on the basis that boeing was the one that actually lost out.

7.6% lower on the day's trading. so weakness across the day for that. the overall market, though, did decline. like the s&p 500, even the nasdaq managing to decrease. but there are nuances to all this. nvidia, the stock darling of the a.i. world has managed to move higher yesterday. 9%, but it wasn't enough to cut out the losses then that we saw for the nasdaq. on the s&p 500, more than 420 stocks going into decline. just on another story very quickly. frontier airlines are saying users, consumers and flyers are actually using the wheelchair services just a little too much and abusing it, with far too many people who aren't actually in need of those wheelchair services as they go into planes. and it costs $30 to $35 per person every time a wheelchair is called out. so, expensive. >> and they get to the lines at tsa, get to board first, all

that. not fair if you don't sdeserve it. nbc news is rolling out a new tool to help you through the hurdles of buying a new home. >> reporter: erica and her husband began shopping for a home in 2020. four years, two babies, one dog and eight rejected offers later, they are still in a rental. >> i don't think that we anticipated five years into our marriage we'd still be renting. >> reporter: they want to stay near their suburban new jersey home. the drive to work is short. >> the prices of the houses plus the high interest rates make it unrealistic to be able to afford what it will cost you monthly to own a house. >> reporter: a new homebuyer index shows across the u.s. since 2022, it's been harder to buy a home than any other period in the last decade. the index accounts for factors like median home sale prices which over the last queeyear ar 6%.

but it also accounts for available inventory, still tight but getting a little better, up 13% nationwide. the overall difficulty of home buying is graded on a scale of 0 to most difficult, 100. that was 82.4. it is $70,000 more than the average household can affect. >> it just doesn't feel like a reality right now. >> reporter: not of your own doing, just the state of the housin housing market. >> correct. >> reporter: the housing market is unlikely to ease up for buyers any time soon. forecasters saying mortgage rates will likely remain 7% through the end of the year, leaving potential buyers to wait even longer for the new home. still to come. a double overtime thriller on nde ice. fi out how the duel ended after this.

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>> the stars looked like they were aligning in dallas on thursday after following into a 2-0 hole against the edmonton oilers. tyler seguin scored two goals for dallas with a second, sending the match to overtime. but after a scoreless extra period it took 30 seconds of the second overtime to bring the night to a close. >> here come the oilers. nugent hopkins. into the corner with tanev. tanev plays the puck up the boards. here's bouchard in front, score! >> connor mcdavid got the puck past goalie oettinger. so the series picks back up on saturday. so you have oettinger with a wild save in the first overtime against mcdavid, only for mcdavid to best him in the second ot. that's got you right back. >> and jaylen brown didn't have to pull off any late-game

heroics on thursday, not when he just couldn't stop scoring points. >> the pacers can throw out, he can punish switches. brown punishes from downtown. here's brown, goes up town from behind, count it and-one. >> brown 's 40-point performanc allowed them to cruise to a win. the series heads to indy. tyrese haliburton left the game due to a pulled hamstringe. when we come back, look no further for your next slice. there is a new pizza capital of america, and it may not be where you think.

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currently a colonoscopy is the best test for the disease. but they decided the benefits outweighed the risk. connecticut can now call itself the pizza state, at least according to lawmakers from the state. a congresswoman declared new haven the pizza capital of the u.s. symbolically entering the bold claim in the congressional record. "early today" will be right bab. . ♪ back. after waiting years for it to grow? meet new pantene pro-v miracles. with our highest concentration of pro-vitamins yet, infused with ingredients like biotin & collagen. strengthens hair bonds and repairs as well as the leading luxury brand without the $60 price tag. for stronger, healthier hair. ♪♪ if you know, you know it's pantene. ♪♪ this charmin ultra soft smooth tear

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of other vets. and our st. louis affiliate got an early showing. >> i always wanted to have a place many. >> reporter: on east main street in grafton. new life is coming to this building, built in 1859. >> tribute to family. >> reporter: marine corps veteran, gene smith, always wanted to open an art gallery of his own. after studying art history tin college his heart was set. >> we wanted to do it for a long time. my wife was with me for 58 years. >> reporter: the two moved to gr grafton. it has the largest per-capita population of veterans at 17%. it was a perfect fit. the dream came to fruition decades later, opening grafton art gallery. >> we have so many talents locally here. >> reporter: the gallery will showcase veteran artwork. >> gorgeous art, people

expressing themselves, and they've elevated grafton. >> reporter: that includes drawings from grafton mayor who served in the military for 30 years. he even published his own book. >> when i was deployed to kuwait for the kuwait war, we didn't have then cell phone, e-mail, none of that thing and didn't have, basically, cameras. so i took my sketchbook, pens and papers. there's a lot of horrible things in war, but it gives you an opportunity to think through that, put it on paper. it's very therapeutic for me. >> reporter: it's the very reason smith wanted the space. a space to honor the work and the men and women. >> it doesn't need an interpreter, you know? it speaks all languages. >> our thanks to justina cornell for that report. monday it memorial day. and in preparation for the solemn day, more than 1500 service members placed small flags on headstones in the arlington national cemetery near d.c. a quarter of a million

star-spangled banners were laid in just four hours, honoring the thousands who fell serving the american military. the flags will remain at the cemetery throughout the holiday weekend. coming up later this morning on "today", one of the biggest names in tennis, coco gauff is live from paris, as she prepares for the french open and looks ahead at a very busy summer, including a trip back to the city of light for the summer olympics. something you don't want to miss. thanks so much for ending the week with "early today." have a great holiday weekend. make sure it's safe, and for those we've lost serving the country, we honor and thank you. have a great one. n the way.

is on the way. severe weather still battering th