for tom llamas. more news on the way. more news on the way. re news on. major arrests in two shocking hollywood deaths. five people now charged in connection with the overdose death of matthew perry, as los

angeles police arrest four in the shooting death of general hospital actor johnny wactor. we have the latest in both investigations. a major announcement from the biden administration, bringing deep cost cuts to prescription drugs covered by medicare as vice president kamala harris and president biden make their first appearance since harris became the 2024 nominee. a data breach, what you need to know. a viral wellness check from a beloved "sesame street" character, inspiring a nationwide mental health survey. what americans are saying about the state of their well-being. and heartwarming story of how one texas fire department rallied around a fallen brother's daughter on her first day of school. it's friday, august 16. "early today" starts right now. good friday morning to you.

i'm frances rivera. we bring with a breakthrough in the murder investigation of johnny wactor. four suspects have been arrested. three male 18-year-olds on suspicion of murder. bail is set at $2 million. johnny was shot on may 25th after he interrupted three men stealing the catalytic converter from his car. wactor appeared in 163 episodes of the popular daytime soap. his manager remembering him as a kind soul and a talented actor. now to the latest updates in the tragic death of another beloved actor. on thursday, federal prosecutors charged five people in connection with the death of matthew perry. the "friends" star died last october from an accidental ketamine overdose. five people charged, including a

doctor, an acquaintance and personal assistant. the "ketamine queen", they say was responsible for providing the drug, charging him up to $60,000, this, despite being aware of his addiction. and three have pled guilty or agreed to. the five people charged were motivated by greed and took advantage of perry's vulnerable condition, authorities say, to enrich themselves. turn now to the race for the white house. vice president kamala harris will unveil her economic plan in north carolina today. she appeared with president biden yesterday for the first time since he left the race. while former president trump dialed up his attacks against the new democratic nominee. let's get to garrett haake. >> reporter: vice president

harris holding her first joint event with president biden since he dropped out of the race and endorsed her. >> she can make one hell of a president. >> reporter: appearing in front of a raucous crowd to tout a white house effort to lower drug prices. >> today we take the next step, thank you, joe, forward in our fight. >> thank you, joe! thank you joe! >> reporter: biden taking aim at republicans. >> they're trying to turn this into a race war. they're trying to turn this into a war about who you are, what your ethnicity is, what your background is. >> reporter: he was asked whether harris would try to distance herself from him on the economy. >> she's not going to. >> you don't have to imagine what a kamala harris presidency would be, because you're living through that nightmare right now. and it is a nightmare. >> reporter: and he was pressed about fellow republicans calling on him to focus on harris'

record. >> i think i'm entitled to personal attacks. i don't have a lot of respect for her. i don't have a lot of respect for her intelligence, and i think she'll be a terrible president. she certainly attacks me personally. she actually called me weird. he's weird. and she's weird in her policy. who wouldn't want to have strong borders? who doesn't want to have lower taxes? >> reporter: meanwhile, nbc news learning from two sources familiar with the planning, that the secret service will start using bullet-resistant glass to protect former president trump so he can resume outdoor rallies after he survived an assassination attempt last month in pennsylvania. ballistic glass is already available to president biden and vice president harris. now to a big announcement from the biden administration, big cuts on prescriptions. taxpayers stand to save billions. >> reporter: for eight years,

jackie has taken two daily medications for incurable blood cancer. her out-of-pocket costs she says, as high as $22,000 in a single year. >> we've had to make sacrifices. big ones and small ones. we've refinanced our house. we sold two vehicles. you know, we've sold our furnishings. >> reporter: now under the inflation reduction act her medications will get a lot cheaper in 2026. a 30-day supply of xarelto to prevent blood clots cut from $517 to $197. this year, out-of-pocket co-pays capped at $3300. next year, a $2,000 cap. much-needed relief for americans like jackie trapp. >> after doing this for eight and a half years, i'm running out of things to sell. >> reporter: president biden and vice president harris called it a big win. >> this time we finally beat big pharma. >> reporter: earlier this year,

insulin was capped at $35 a month for medicare. now, for the first time, medicare is authorized to negotiate. 40% to 80% cuts on drugs, including stellara. a lot of americans have been choosing between putting food on the table or taking their meds. >> this is not right. it affects all of us, when our nation's seniors can't retire. when our nation's seniors are going into diabetic comas, because they can't afford their insulin. >> reporter: the pharmaceutical industry has sued but failed to block the law, saying it will mean higher costs and fewer treatments. >> our thanks to tom for that report. the estimated death toll in gaza has now passed 40,000. that's according to local health officials. the gaza government says 16,000

of the dead are children. three analysts tell nbc news that the toll is most likely an undercount. >> the figures don't include those missing under rubble nor indirect deaths from lack of medical attention. for the latest, let's go to claudio lavanga. what more do we know about these numbers? >> reporter: good morning, frances. well, authorities in gaza say a number of people who are still missing presumably under the rubble of destroyed buildings is about 10,000. and that bring that death toll up to 50,000. and that does not take into account, as you mentioned, the number of people who may have died because of the lack or absence of health services due to the war or due to the lack or absence of basic necessities. now israel says that they have killed 17,000 militants since the start of the war. and even if the numbers from hamas and israel are indeed correct, that will mean that more than half of the victims, a

lot more than half of the victims are indeed civilians. the latest round of negotiations started in cairo, but hamas is not there, because they say any deal should be based on a previous deal proposed by president biden and that it should include complete cease-fire, a complete withdrawal, and also the exchange of prisoners. now, talking about prisoners, hamas say that a member of their al qassem military wing who was guarding the, some of the hostages was shot and killed one hostage and, in another incident, two hostages were wounded. as hamas says is retaliation against what they say were recent massacres. now a claim that nbc news is not able to currently, independently verify. >> claudio, thank you. a court in russia has sentenced a russian-american ballerina to a penal colony. she was visiting from los angeles when she was arrested,

accused of donating to a ukrainian charity in the u.s. a facebook post from her former employer says the amount was around $50. nbc news was not able to independently verify that figure or the nature of the donation. karelina's attorney says they will appeal and work toward a prisoner swap with the united states. hurricane ernesto growing into category 2 overnight. it's expected to pass near or over bermuda sometime tomorrow. this after ernesto left hundreds of thousands without power in puerto rico. as of this morning, about a quarter million people remain in the dark. let's turn to ryan hanrahan, who's tracking ernesto's path. we see it strengthening overnight. >> it did strengthen as expected. and it looks like it will strength and little more during the day today. here's ernesto. still a little ragged looking. a bit of an eye is trying to form. but at least right now it's not

strengthening too rapidly, which is good news for bermuda. but they're still going to get quite a storm late tonight and into tomorrow. it's 360 miles to the south of bermuda. winds with ernesto now up to 100 miles per hour. looks like the storm is going to go right over the island, with winds around 110, 115 miles per hour. it's going to be a powerful storm. then it will recurve out to sea to the south of the canadian maritimes. in the lower 48, we've got storms across portions of the midwest and great lakes. those storms will begin to move to the east by this weekend. through upstate new york, down into portions of pennsylvania m.

75 today in minneapolis. and that's a look at today's weather. frances, back over to you. >> thanks for covering that, ryan. this morning we are remembering a game show icon. >> true or false? your teeth are about the same size and shape as a pig's. >> look who's talking, beaver face! >> and that's peter marshall. he has died. hosted nbc's classic "hollywood squares" for 16 years, winning four daytime emmy awards while at the helm. he was 98. coming up, a cucumber recall linked to a major salmonella outbreak. outbreak. r salmonella outbreak.

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we are back with a huge data breach, potentially impacting billions of people around the world. a new class action lawsuit detailing how personal information, including social security numbers, could now be for sale on the darkweb. here's jasmine vossoughian. >> reporter: fears a massive data breach may have impacted billions of people across the globe, which means social security numbers and other sensitive information could now be up for sale on the darkweb. so how did this happen? a company called jerico pictures, which operates as national public data is a florida-based ground check company. they take information from public, national and state databases and court records and sells it to a range of organizations, including app developers and data resellers. in april of this year, a hacking group called usdod breached the

systems and stole private information. the suit goes on to say in a post on april, usdod claimed they stole 2.9 billion records of personal data and were trying to sell them for $3.5 million. that personal data includes names, address histories, relatives and social security numbers. in a statement on their website, npd acknowledges the breach and says we cooperated with law enforcement and governmental investigators and have implemented additional security measures. we reached out to npd but did not hear back. since the information was posted for sale in april, other hackers have released different copies of the data, including a hacker known as fenice, who posted the most complete version for free in august, according to bleeping computer. some good news, the database does not contain information from individuals who used opt-out services, according to the lawsuit. >> this year has been the year

of the hackers. >> reporter: but people on social media still panicking. >> biggest data breach, possibly in human history! >> reporter: as many fear their private data is up for sale. >> our thanks to yasmin for that report. coming up, gaga goes to mars in a new collaboration. w c. o why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec. for easier heartburn relief, one beats ten. prilosec otc. one pill. 24 hours. zero heartburn. when your clothes come out looking newer, longer... you get to take them for a spin. again... ...and again... ...and again. persil cleans and helps keep clothes looking newer, longer. get that new clothes feeling. wash with persil. whoa! how'd you get your teeth so white? you gotta use the right toothpaste! dr. c?! ♪♪ not all toothpastes whiten the same.

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♪ nobody's promised tomorrow ♪ ♪ so i'ma love you every night ♪ ♪ like it's the last night ♪ ♪ ♪ >> lady gaga and bruno mars are channeling some country legends in their new collaboration, "die with a smile". it had been teased on social media and was officially

announced thursday. gaga told fans she hopes this tides them over until the release of her seventh studio album. she posted the cover art. but it's been a minute since these two have come out with their own music. so fans, i'm sure, are eating this all up. >> i like the outfits, too. >> the whole country core theme. the nfl's most larger than life character is being brought to the big screen by an equally-iconic actor. nicolas cage has been cast to play john madden. the film, from director david russell won't focus on the late hall-of-famer's main two hustles. it will focus on the video game series, with the latest entry hitting stores today. >> i would never think of nicolas cage. >> no. >> but i hope they touch on it.

the younger generation needs to know about turducken. the new federal push to cut sodium levels in food. how the "sesame street" icon helped inspire a nationwide mental health check. mental health check. a nationwi mental health check. it's in your nature to stand strong. supplement your bones with high-absorption magnesium. nature's bounty. it's in your nature. with cascade platinum plus, i have upped my dish game auntie, in that dishwasher? watch me platinum plus gives you the highest standard of clean, even in your machine. clean enough for you? yeah! scrape. load. done. cascade platinum plus. zyrtec allergy relief works fast and lasts a full 24 hours so dave can be the... deliverer of dance. ok, dave! let's be more than our allergies. zeize the day with zyrtec.

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(♪♪) [baby crying] this is not just a pharmacist. you could try this. yeah? this is another woman who gets it. (♪♪) here's what's making headlines this morning. the cdc reports 449 people likely fell ill from salmonella-tainted cucumbers. it spread to 31 states and d.c. no deaths have been reported. the fda is+++0n processed and packaged foods by 20% over the next three years. this follows early success, targeting salt intake. new research shows aging involves two major leaks, with sharp accelerations around ages

44 and 60. a study of over 100 adults analyzed 246 data points. the findings could potentially reduce the impact of aging on health. "sesame street" and the harris poll surveyed over it tho2,000 americans, revealing mental health is almost as important as economic stability. economic sbiy . alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice, and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain. it ain't my dad's razor, dad. ay watch it!

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family, it's bittersweet. our dallas-ft. worth station has the story. >> reporter: the sun was still wipe the sleep from its eyes, but at boren elementary, staff were wide awake and ready to go for the first day of school. >> yes, ma'am. where would you like the kindergartens? outside their door? >> yes. >> reporter: lots of little feet are step through these doors for the first time. >> how are you! are you still good? >> reporter: principal elizabeth hostin knows them all by name, including one of the newest students. >> guys, we're letting you all walk to class with her. >> reporter: this is not how most kindergarteners get a ride to the first day of school. >> good morning. >> ready to go? >> yeah. >> reporter: lancaster firefighters made a promise to be here for this day. >> before brandon passed away,

we told him, we've got your girls. and so no matter what that is, we've always got them. >> reporter: lancaster firefighter, brandon died from cancer in the line of duty. >> your daddy's picture is in your locker, okay? >> reporter: this one will greet kayla every time she opens her locker. >> i want letter to hold onto those hmemories and know he lovd her. >> she still has her dad with her in her heart, but, to have those men be his physical presence in her life is amazing. >> we're a family. he was family. and he would be happy to see this. >> you're going to have so much fun. >> reporter: kayla's first lesson in kindergarten, this extended family will always be in the picture. >> y'all have a good day.

>> othat is the sweetest first day of school for her. a virginia girl has reached an impressive milestone at just 12 years old. julia haley has earned enough badges to become an eagle scout. that's the highest rank in the boy scouts of america. the accomplishment comes just five years after the boy scouts began including girls in the organization. >> i think we can prove that girls can do scouting, too. and they can be good at it just like the boys can. >> the boy scouts of america will officially change its name in 2025 in an effort to become more inclusive. thanks for wake up with "early today" and getting your friday started. started. ram frances rive football season already and not a satellite dish in sight!

i hardly recognize the roofs i grew up on. enough squawkin'! oh great... coach prime! y'all are whining while everyone else is watching nonstop football on directv! tell me! whose house is this? their house? i think they're renting. listen, listen— i know they get easy access to all this football... but you know what you got? what, coach? a crumb bum attitude! now drop and give me twenty! twenty what? retail crime, the new law. governor newsom is set to sign off on today in the south