breaking overnight.

hurricane beryl blasts texas. the category one storm hitting the southeast coast with whipping winds and torrential rain. we have team coverage this morning live on the ground and our meteorologist is tracking the storm for us here in the studio. president biden fighting to salvage his campaign as the growing chorus of democrats call on him to step aside. we are live with the heated call between top democrats shaking up the race for the white house. and breaking news. boeing will plead guilty to criminal charges over two deadly 737 max crashes. the aerospace giant set to pay nearly a quarter bill dollar fine the family of the victims say is not enough. the far right falls short in france. the twists in the country's elections overnight that could potentially paralyze the french government. why more people are tapping into disputing credit card charges to avoid paying up.

the fur will fly the friendly skies. the new airline that is putting -- in first class. it's monday, july 8th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin with breaking news out of texas. hurricane beryl is beginning to batter the lone star state with powerful winds and bringing the threat of dangerous storm surge. the national weather service warning the life-threatening conditions that the storm is pushing inland. nbc jay gray joins us now from the coast right in the path of the storm. good morning, jay. tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: you talk about the wind has picked up significantly the last couple of showers. it is dramatic here in the bay and it is only going to intensify. we got a spitting rain at this point but water is going to be

the primary issue. we are seeing that rain pick up as well as this storm inches closer to the coastline. beryl becoming a category one overnight simand that is after separate landfalls and the storm is intensifying in the warm waters of the gulf. we are watching over the next couple of hours that the storm to keep moving. if it lingers it will only grow stronger. the storm is moving at a pretty good rate. the issue may become the rain, water in the houston area. that is an area that deals with flooding, significant flooding every year and this could bring enough rain to cause problems there. obviously, right now, we are continuing to watch these conditions, again, with everything growing and intensifying at this point and this is only the beginning for the texas coastline. this over the next several hours is going to get much worse.

>> we are hoping that those communities stay safe. jay gray, thank you. now to our meteorologist angie lassan who is tracking the storm for us. >> good morning. >> we have an update from the national weather service winds up to 80 miles per hour. strong category one hurricane and here is where jay is. you can see the outer rain bands working their way onshore up into the houston metro area and this is something we will see continue to deteriorate through the day. we have got port o'connor at 71 gusts so far. the tornado watch is in effect for this region. when we have this circulation coming onshore it's not hard to see the spin-up tornadoes and watch in the morning and afternoon hours. jay mentioned the rain on top of that. something we are concerned about. reporting over 4 inches in bay city and much more to come. we are talking 5 to 10 inches of

rain as we get through the day today with upwards amounts topping out about 15 inches. those would be maximum amounts but still it doesn't take much to see flooding in this region and heavy rain across the mist stretching down to the gulf coast as this system continues northeast ward movement. the flash flood warning at the texas coastline and minor to moderate wind damage with the strong wins coming on shore as the center of that system moves onshall. the immediate coastline the strongest of the winds and inland the houston metro area, we could see hurricane force wind gusts as we get through the day today and downed trees and power lines and power outages on the table as we go throughout the day. on top of that, reporting significant storm surge in this area. here are the spots we are looking at the highest of the storm surge and depend on the low and high tide times on the coast. >> angie, thank you.

let's turn to the race for the white house. president biden continues to face fallout after his poor debate performance. four more democratic lawmakers are calling for the president to step aside and let someone else run and that is from people familiar with the call yesterday. brie jackson in d.c., what more do we know about this phone call? >> this is a call organized by house minority leader hakeem jeffries. our sous say president biden's future as the leader of the party was a major focus of this conversation. and that even lawmakers who did not directly call on the president to drop out, expressed concerns that he may not be the strongest candidate to beat donald trump in november. the lawmakers and biden campaign did not immediately provide comments on this call. president biden continues to insist that he is not giving up this fight. he had this message to campaign staffers in pennsylvania on

sunday. >> this election is about block and tackle, simple basic politics, simple. it's a matter of how many signs we get out and how many doors we knock on and how many calls we make and how many requests we defense. i tell you what, dark brannon is coming back and guess what. it makes 120 some days or so, they are going to get a real good look at who donald trump is. >> reporter: president biden faces another big test this week. he will be hosting world leaders for a nato summit here in our nation's capital. the three-day summit begins on tue tuesday. president biden is expected to kick things off on a speech honoring nato's 75th anniversary. >> busy week for the president. thank you, brie. another week, another shock election result in france. leftist alliance defeating the far right national rally party

defying both expectations and polling. this was the second and final round of legislative snap elections called by president macron. national rally had won the previous vote raising fears that france would get its first far right government since the nazi occupation. for the latest, claudio lavanga. what explains this result? use good morning. france really swaung from the fr right to the left on the wild week. . last week, after first round of vout they thought the national round would pin. after sunday's voting, leftist alliance has won. a surprise win. the national rally even arrived third after emmanuel macron coalition. how did we come to this? well, it's mainly due to what

the french called some sort of political fire roll that started from the center and the left put out to prevent the far right from winning. essentially what they did was to endorse each other's candidate, depending on which one got the most votes, during the first round of voting and polling out the other ne. it clearly worked and, also, emmanuel macron gambling and calling a snap election having it paid off because it did obtain a national rally in the end but launch the french politics into turmoil. this would probably lead to a hung parliament. prime minister has already resigned. and france is bounced to a political uncertainty, at least until 2027 when the french national elections are expected, unless macron moves them forward. >> claudio, thank you.

breaking overnight. boeing has accepted a plea deal to avoid facing a criminal trial. the justice department says boeing will plead guilty to a fraud charge. the government determined the company violated the terms of a settlement related to the two 737 max crashes that killed 346 passengers. the plea deal calls for boeing to pay an additional fine of over $240 million. families of the crash victims were briefed about this potential agreement and they indicated they would ask the judge to reject the deal. two people were killed and 19 injured in a shooting on a block party on the east side of detroit and it happened early sunday morning. no arrests have been made yet. it tapped off a long holiday week of violence of block parties in the city. detroit's mayor and police chief will hold a joint press conference today to present what they are calling a comprehensive new strategy for safety around these events. turning now to the explosive start to wildfire season out

west. in southern california, the lake fire has scorched more than 16,000 acres in santa barbara county and prompting and evacuation order around 100 residents. so far, officials have not reported any injuries or serious damages. but the fire is zero percent contained. each of the sacramento crews are trying to contain a fire. the flames damaged several hangars at the city's airport and that fire is 25% contained now. fueling those fires, the brutal heat wave. angie lassman is tracking those temperatures for us. so much to watch at the start of this week. >> indeed, and the heat wave is not letting up so not much good news in the way for folks out west. 103 million people under the heat alerts right now. you can see how expansive they are. heat wave will be with us as we at any time get through the rest of this week. and that is going to make for a

whole lot more in the way of records possibly to be broken as we get through the week. we got more than hundred records threatened across the region. parts of southern california expected to be over 115 in multiple areas. las vegas expected to hit 118 by tuesday and wednesday palm springs at 118 by wednesday. reading as well. these numbers come anywhere from 10 to 20, 25 degrees above noal trm rms. 95 in orlando today with afternoon thunderstorms possible. that is a look at your forecast. back to you. >> thank you. coming up, the box office is bananas for minuions. fueling the rise ofrndf iely fraud with credit card disputes.

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have you ever contested a charge on your credit card? there is a stunning rise in people taking advantage of that process. brian chung tells us what is being called friendly fraud. >> reporter: >> if an airline ever does you wrong, dispute with it your credit card. >> reporter: it's the latest social media finance fad. >> credit cards have so much charge. dispute your charges. >> they ended up refunding and all is right in this world. >> reporter: if a customer sees a charge on their bill they don't recognize they have a right to call the credit card and dispute. it worked for don kelly. >> when i first saw the charge, i just sought this was a mistake. >> reporter: he spotted an unexpected $47 charge on his bill. frustrated after trying to reach the company in question, he then turned to his credit card company. how quickly were they able to get you your money back?

>> it was a matter of days and all done online and very easy. >> reporter: he is not alone. $11 billion in charge-backs were paid out last year up 50% compared to pre-pandemic and expected to rise 40% by 2026. but with payback a fewclicks aw it may be too easy and some people lying they dispute a charge but they really made it. credit card companies have even given it a name. friendly fraud. >> people change their minds or their package is expiring and they haven't used it. >> reporter: but it's far from friendly and it's hitting businesses hard. >> good. keep going here. perfect. >> reporter: brooklyn-based pilates instructor says every dispute means having to defend her charges to a credit card processor and charging her money and time due to charge-back

fees. do you have any estimate last year how much in fees you had to incur? >> between 500 and $1,000. when you're an extremely small business it's a lot. >> reporter: her wish that consumers just would talk to her first. would you prefer that your customers just come to you directly? >> i do. we are very flexible. >> reporter: a useful tool for consumers but making some businesses sweat. brian chung, nbc news, new york. still as to come, it is minion over mind over the holiday box office. more of the oscar winner ki h pmangislay for the first trail for his upcoming film. that's why you need zevo traps. zevo works 24/7 to attract and trap flying insects. for effortless protection. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. finish ultimate. engineered for the toughest conditions. dry burnt-on stains. old dishwashers. very hard water.

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♪ buddy you're a boy making a big noise be a big man some day ♪ >> driving is not on brad pitt's mind in the trailer for f-1. it includes several other sports live stars. it arrives in the theaters next june. i love the explosion of popularity seeping in all sorts of beyond the sport, right? >> definitely. >> entertainment as well. brad pitt is there for it. >> he is such a great cast. look at how great they seem to fit together and it just seems like a film that will be full of lots of intensity like the sport itself. minion domination over the multiplex over the holiday weekend. >> you will be the first to test our super theater designed to transform you into agents. or you might just explode! >> huh?

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of its kind airline. bark air is giving man's friend a first class experience with gourmet biscuits and spa treatments and complimentary service. >> reporter: anyone knows flying with your dog could be a rough ride. the ceo of bark air, the first-ever airline catered to dogs, knows that a little too well. >> today i'm going to fly like a dog in a crate. how do you feel about a four-hour flight? >> i don't feel good about the next four minutes in this! >> reporter: the new airlines motto is dogs fly first and they mean it. that is why they decided to check it out. good job. it from the minute you make the booking, everything is about the dog. >> reporter: katherine is the chief of staff and creates the vip experience for dogs like bowie. >> everything is for the dogs. with we have goodies over there.

we have a whole doggie fine doggie menu you can choose from doggie champagne or or fine dining treats for the dogs. >> reporter: talk about bon appetit. as for the other remedies, bowie barked yes to the freshen up spa service and made his way up to the cockpit to visit the pilot. the airline took off in may and only flights from l.a. to london, england and now they have expanded to five more cities with more in the works. a ticket for each dog and their human will take a bite out of your wallet. starting at $6,000! >> this experience is something that i'm sure every dog owner would be super excited about. but the cost factor is kind of prohibitive. >> like anything, the longer it's around, the more common it is, the prices should lower and we should be able to take on more. >> reporter: some of that costs goes to the cost leading up to the flight and after as well. >> we didn't want to fly you to

a destination and say you're on your own from here on, so we do a complimentary cost service up to 30 mile radius. >> reporter: those looking for taking dog walks across the ponds bark air takes care of the international work too. >> we are trying to take the stress out of it. >> reporter: the sky used to be the limit for pet friendly travel but now it seems anything is possible. >> that must be nice. our thanks to laura barrett for that report. on "today," we go inside the booming business of antiaging and longevity to maedications t topical and how people are taking aging into their own hands and what you kneed to kno is coming up on "today." thank you for joining us. i hope you're back up to join me