it's wednesday may 20th. coming up on "early today," one out of every four vehicles on america's road is at risk. 34 million cars from 11 different automakers are being recalled. is yours one of them. a leaking pipeline thousands of gallons of oil now covering one of america's most beautiful beache a disturb scene. a teacher using a belt to discipline students. plus hillary clinton answers questions from the media for the first time in four weeks. kfc's famous pitch man is back. can you name the man playing colonel sanders. plus 2015 winner of "the voice." good morning. i'm dara brown. it's the biggest product recall in american history. nearly 34 million vehicles on

the road have a potentially deadly defect. takata announcing its airbags could explode with too much force sending shrapnel flying into passengers. it's been linked to deaths. tom costello with what you need to know to stay safe on the road. >> reporter: the size of the recall is stunning. nearly 34 million vehicles nationwide involved 11 different automakers. one out of every cars on the road. after five months of insisting its airbag inflaters are not defective, the takata corporation now admits that's not true. >> takata has agreed to declare that airbag inflaters are defective. it's recalling these airbags and it's nationwide. >> five people in the u.s. have been killed by defective airbags including 18-year-old ashley parham who died after a minor fender-bender when it exploded. >> i literally got there in

seconds and watch an 18-year-old girl who had her whole life in front of her die in that vehicle. >> others like randy brewer lost an eye. >> it makes me angry. angry this has been an ongoing problem and it's still going on now. this is something that should have been fixed years ago. >> they believe airbags most dangerous in extremely humid climates. moisture can lead to chemical reaction causing the inflater to explode. >> to find out if you're call is on the expanded recall list locate vehicle identification number underneath your wipers then go to safercar.gov, go to safer recalls, recalls by vin, type in that vin number. what were recalls are affecting your car, including the airbag recall should pop up. >> not enough to identify defects. to save lives and prevent injuries defects must be repaired. in a statement takata said, "we are committed to continuing to work closely with regulators and our automaker customers to

do everything we can to advance the sate of drivers. >> that was nbc's tom costello reporting. in california crews are trying to contain a slick mess. the pipeline ruptured on shore tuesday. now an oil slick along the the coast in santa barbara. it covers four miles of beach and got 50 yards in the ocean. 21,000 gallons of oil has leaked. congressional republicans at war with each other whether to authorize pay trade act by nsa. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. tracie there's a june 1st deadline and congress has a holiday break coming up. will republicans be able to reach an agreement? >> that's what we're trying to figure out dara. it looks like they have about a week and a half. when you take out that break and look how things have to run here, they really only have a few days to come to some agreement on this. we've seen democrats and republicans teaming up. we've seen republicans against republicans. so some strange alliances here. but this is a critical piece of

national security law that right now remains up in the air. the patriot act allowed the nsa to collect phone records. the court ruled that illegal. house democrats and republicans overwhelmingly passed a replacement. the usa freedom act that would leave those records with phone companies and restrict how the government can search them. >> the house is active. >> the senate's republican leader wants to renew the patriot act as is. >> if there are not enough votes to pass that we need to look at an alternative. >> senator rand paul made filibuster talk it to death and let it expire. >> we shouldn't be doing this. i don't want to replace it with another system. >> the white house is concerned if congress does nothing. >> senator mcconnell this is a lifeboat. you're alone on this island. take the boat get off the island. let us vote. >> mcconnell says he will allow a vote on the usa freedom act

even though he's against it. so let's take a look at the timing here. it's really up to the senate now pt . the break is supposed to start monday. senator mitch mcconnell said not to make travel plans until they work this out. dara. >> thank you so much. now to texas and extreme weather. a storm system spawning several tornadoes. near austin winds whipped and debris flew outside a hotel. in mineral wells a twister hammered the downtown area. an abandoned bank shredded in just minutes. >> it was huge, and it was just funneling down. it went up two or three times and came down. >> in san angelo flooding turned deadly. one area got six inches of rain since monday. after four weeks of carefully planned media silence, we're finally hearing from hillary clinton again. yesterday she faced the press

amid controversy over her family foundation and e-mails with as secretary of state. nbc's kristen welker because there. >> reporter: after 28 days of methodically avoiding direct questions from reporters, hillary clinton finally faced the press in iowa. once again her state department e-mails from her private server were at issue. >> i want those e-mails out. nobody has a bigger interest in getting them released than i do. >> reporter: the department said it wouldn't be able to review and release all 55,000 pages of e-mails until january. >> i want them out as soon as they can get out. >> reporter: a federal judge ordered state to release the e-mails sooner in a series of batches. we asked if mr. clinton will push her former colleague. >> will you demand it? >> they are not mine. they belong to the state department as much as they can expedite that process, that's what i'm asking them to do. >> reporter: republicans refused to let clinton put the politically toxic issue to rest slamming her for deleting e-mails she said were personal. >> i think the server at home

business is just absolutely incredible. you'd be secretary of state and working off a private e-mail and be deleting and destroying that stuff is just incredible to me. >> reporter: clinton waded into an issue that has tripped up some of her republican rivals. she punted when asked if iraq is better off without saddam hussein but reiterated she regrets voting for the law. >> i made it very clear i made a mistake, plain and simple. >> reporter: the former secretary also denied any conflict of interest in her paid speeches and dismissed criticism she's out of touch after earning $30 million over the past 16 months. >> well, obviously bill and i have been blessed and we're very grateful for the opportunities that we had, but we've never forgotten where we came from. >> that was nbc's kristen welker reporting. a substitute teacher in maryland is accused of hitting students with a belt. we want to warn you some may find a video graphic. it shows the substitute teacher

striking the children. it was on the twitter. they bashed the student are working in the school district. they released a statement saying in part a substitute teacher used improper actions to discipline students while in one of our classes. the substitute teacher has been removed from the classroom. rainfall totals for the month of may are nearing historic levels in the south central states. that means major flooding. this is norman, oklahoma where torrential rains have turned streets into rivers. more wet weather is expected today. with that nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with a check of your wednesday weather. bill. >> every day seems to get a little bit worse. the ground can hold less water, getting daily thunderstorms in oklahoma and texas. you know that's the pattern right through memorial day weekend. this morning we've had a lot of nasty storms along red river, that's the big river that separates ork and texas, that border is jagged. up in missouri some light rain pretty good storms going through areas of arkansas. the worst has definitely been to

the south. overnight we saw a lot of lightning strikes. it's starting to break up a little as you'd expect as the sun begins to rise in the area. we don't expect too much more flash flooding the damage has been done. fort smith, 100 miles worth of flash flood warnings and flash flood watches for dallas. at least the dallas area has avoided a lot of the flash flood warnings. we could see as much as one to three inches especially in arkansas and north texas throughout the day today. another round of heavy rain as we head to the weekend. possibility of another four to six inches on top of already what is record rainfall. also a little light rain in the areas of the west in the next couple of days and upper-level low coming in. nothing compared to what as we go to the south, a little warmer.

a little bit of light rain every afternoon in washington and oregon next couple of days but nothing too bad. >> all right. thank you so much bill. just ahead, why one of the nation's largest youth organizations has banned water gun fights. plus the culmination of a columbia university student's year long protest. "early today" is back in two. how do you get to the top of your game? give it everything you've got and leave those sticky sunscreens behind. new neutrogena cooldry sport. powerful protection designed to feel good. micromesh technology lets sweat pass through and evaporate so skin stays comfortable, while clinically proven protection keeps going strong. don't get stuck with a sticky sunscreen. stay protected and comfortable with every move. new cooldry sport. neutrogena. they say after seeing a magician make his assistant disappear mr.clean came up with a product that makes dirt virtually disappear. he called it the magic eraser. it cleans like magic. even baked on dirt disappears right before your eyes. mr.clean's magic eraser.

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scout reminded about the ban earlier this month saying a ban is kind and pointing a firearm at someone is not. it can't be that bad president obama had a fight with his daughter sasha in 2011. 80% of sun screens don't really work or have worrisome ingredients. environmental working group tested products. most offer inferior sun protection. furthermore research for disease control determined only 14% of men regularly use sunscreen while 30% of women do. >> announcer: "early today" brought to you by vagisil, experts in intimate health. get down to business with cnbc's lan do not dowdy, good morning. >> good morning. mcdonald's workers will hold their big eprotest today. they are calling for a higher

minimum wage of $15 an hour. the new ceo has announced plans to raise wages to just under $10 an hour. amazon named a woman to one of its most coveted rolls in the country, technical adviser to ceo. better known as his shadow. she's the first woman to hold the position and has been with amazon since 1999. the company only has one woman in a top executive role. colonel sanders back at kfc. they are rolling out with darrell hammond, as the famous founder. >> hi folks, it's my colonel sanders. i've been gone for a while and, boy, howdy have things changed. what you don't always seem to have these days is my kentucky fried chicken. i'm here to change that folks. i'm back america. >> the new ads airing on memorial day. dara back over to you. >> thank you, landon. just ahead the big rule change

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four of matt lauer's tour dered nose riding from boston to new york to raise money for

children. a reminder tomorrow is red nose day. nbc eastern will air a live three-hour special. it includes comedy musical performances appearances by hollywood's biggest stars. all to benefit 12 charity organizations that lift children and young people out of poverty. don't misread nose day here on nbc. now for the latest in sports and i'll send it over to my friend betty nguyen. good morning, betty. >> good morning, dara. starts with yankees nats in the capital, ryan zimmerman knocks it into outfield and gets the walkoff home run. nationals beat yankees for their fourth win. game one western conference warriors close the first half of 21-4 run to take a three-point lead and never trailed again. sean livingston came off the bench to score 14 of his 18 in the second, warriors win 114-106. nfl moving to extra point

kick and allowing defense to score. in a 30-2 vote washington redskins and raiders are the only two teams to vote no. nfl will move the ball from 2 yard line to 15 yard line making it to the previous 20. nfl owner robert kraft decided to accept the nfl punishment in the deflategate scandal. this is what he had to say at the owners meeting in san francisco yesterday. >> i don't want to continue the rhetoric that's gone on for the last four months. i'm going to accept reluctantly what he has given to us and not continue this dialogue and rhetoric. we won't appeal. >> the patriots were fined $1 million, docked two draft picks and qb tom brady will serve a four-game suspension. pittsburgh pirates third baseman pedro alvarez, 436 home

run out of the park and look where it goes? right into a boat. a fan passing by decided to grab himself a little souvenir. as you can see he needed a little assistance to get out of that boat. what are the chances of that ball landing in the boat dara? i don't know. back to you. >> pretty amazing. thanks betty. just ahead ratings stunner. the '50s comedy that beat out super hyped "mad men" finale. plus why the white house is so worried about honeybees. you're watching "early today." join red nose day, a national event to help lift children out of poverty. it's easy: support red nose day at walgreens and start making a difference. it's a good laugh for a good cause. tune in on may 21st to watch the red nose day benefit live on nbc. i want my foyer to smell more like a foyer.

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now for some entertainment news. it was a star-studded "the voice" finale. megan trainer, ed sheeran, just a few to rock the house. it all came down to the two final contestants and the moment of truth. >> find out, the winner of the voice is sawyer fredericks you won! >> predicted that one by the way. >> i didn't know you were "the voice" fan. a colored version of "i love lucy" aired. 4.6 million tuned in. twice as many viewers as the "mad men" finale on this night. so great to see that in color. on his second to last program late show host david letterman had his fun with his end date and shared a tender

moment with actor bill murray. >> tomorrow is our final show but -- no wait a minute. unless it rains, then there will be a rain delay. we'll make it up in a double-header around labor day. >> this one of the few times you can eat off your shoe. >> it's been great to see you grow from that tubby little hoosier to the man you are today. >> the best part of it is the friendships. the friendship you've brought to the program. thank you for that. >> it is amazing. >> you don't often have many moments in life when you're covered in cake. >> covered in cake. bull murray pulls it offer. totally pulls it off. i'm dara brown and this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc. the beast was as long as the boat. for seven hours, we did battle. until i said... you will not beat... meeeeee!!!

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welcome back. norwegian cruise ship ran aground in bermuda after it temporarily lost power while departing the wharf. the ship was scheduled to return to boston by friday but still checked for damage. in england british police arrested nine men in connection with last month's jewelry heist in london after officers raided several locations in and outside of london. the thieves between the ages of 48 and 76 allegedly stole $300 million worth of jewelry by drilling holes into the vault. in new york city a columbia university student who carried a mattress around campus all year to raise awareness of sexual assault brought it to graduation. she said she was raped on her first day of sophomore year. she first talked about her

mattress project, part of her senior thesis last year. the case against her alleged abuser was cleared in a disciplinary process and he was allowed to stay in school. school officials asked her to leave her mattress in her room and pick it up after the event but she was ultimately allowed to bring it. according to a recent study over 40% of bee colonies were lost last year and the white house wants to do something about it. one plan is to restore 7 million acres of bee hab talt tat. this would involve growing flowering plants on several lands. last night seth meyers paid tribute to david letterman, the first host of late night. meyers air a remake of the opening, plus this. >> my guest -- and now a man who knows it's letterman's show because he's just borrowing it

seth meyers. >> you know it's amazing. i was watching that and you see seth meyers right here walk out and david letterman. what a flashback to when david letterman first started. >> i had forgotten completely that open. now it brought back all these memories of him doing that show. >> exactly, like it was yesterday. we know so much has changed. >> he gave usa lot of laughs. he deserves to rest. i wish he would continue. >> he'll come back and do some specials, i hope. fleet week kicks off in new york city. naval academy will take part in annual parade of ships through new york harbor. happy birthday to nascar champion tony stewart turns 44. former radio host and first son ron reagan is 57. and if i could turn back time singer cher turns 69. she looks great. keep it here for more news weather and sports. i'm dara brown along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." we hope you have a great wednesday.

the waters off the california coastline. how did it happen? and how bad is the damage? another beached whale, the third in recent weeks, this time in half moon bay the largest oughtautomotive recall a live look outside this morning the bay bridge on wednesday, may 20th. you are watching "today in the bay." a good wednesday morning. it's 4:30. thank you for joining us. >> let's first check that forecast, and rob