good thursday morning. buckle up today with rising pressure and a little relief. first the pressure with new details about what donald trump knew and when he knew it about the federal investigation into michael flynn. and relief for many as the highly respected bob mueller is appointed special counsel taking of the fbi russia campaign interference investigation. weather whiplash including a winter storm warning in montana. a potential tornado outbreak in the central plains and 27 million at risk. the death of sound garden front man chris cornell. a new warning from one texas mother about those spinners

after her daughter's frightful encounter. two instances when danger was avoided by amazing timing and dumb luck. "early today" starts right now. so good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. breaking overnight, chris cornell, the lead singer of sound garden has died. the grunge icon passed away late last night. the circumstances surrounding his death were not immediately clear, but his spokesperson confirmed he died in detroit just hours after performing with sound garden. the grammy winning band broke up in 1997 but reunited in 2010 and has performed together consistently since then. cornell was also a member of the rock super group audio slave where he released five solo albums, one of them the casino royale theme song "you know my name. chris cornell dead at the age of 52. now to the new reporting radding washington this morning. "the new york times" saying former national security adviser

michael flynn fired after 24 days on the job revealed to the trump team he was under federal investigation for lobbying work on behalf of a foreign country weeks before trump's inauguration. according to "the times" the warning from flynn came about a month after the justice department notified flynn of an inquiry. it comes as new reporting questions whether flynn was even vetted prior to his taking on his job as national security adviser. a source tells peter alexander flynn himself made it clear to trump associates two days after the election that he wanted the nsa post. jared kushner and ivanka trump made it clear the president would reward flynn for loyalty after deputy attorney general ron rosenstein made a surprise announcement appointing a special counsel in the 2016 election. former fbi director robert mueller was named to lead the investigation after allegations trump urged then fbi director james comey to shut down an investigation in to

flynn. mueller's appointment is an aboutface from the administration that rallied against the need for an investigation. nbc's pete williams brings us more. >> reporter: after serving for three weeks rod rosenstein took himself out of overseeing the russia investigation turning that over to robert mueller. saying the 3406 is in the public interest. mueller is the former fbi director who served 12 years in the job. next to j. edgar hoover he's the longest serving. i asked him in 2013 about stepping down. >> you going to miss all this? >> yes. no. great people. great challenge. it's been great opportunity. >> reporter: mueller will have the full authority to investigate the russian matter that any u.s. attorney would including the power to file criminal charges. democrats have been pushing for the appointment of a special counsel since rosenstein was

confirmed and since attorney general jeff sessions took himself out of making decisions about the investigation. mueller now 72 took over as fbi director just a week before 9/11, more recently the nfl chose him to review handling of the ray rice domestic violence case. he is in private law practice but says he will resign from that firm to avoid potential conflicts. >> that was nbc's pete williams. the president reacted saying quote a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know, there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. i look forward to this matter concluding quickly. lawmakers reacted positively to the mueller appointment. >> i think it's a very positive step that a special counsel has been appointed and a special counsel of the caliber of bob mueller. >> he is as good as it gets. his credentials are impeccable. he served in the bush administration, the obama administration. he is unassailable in terms of credentials, his background. >> lengths turn to nbc's edward lawrence live in washington. highly respected as we just heard there. certainly a game-changer somewhat when it comes to this

appointment. >> reporter: exactly, frances. this was a surprise on capitol hill. lawmakers did not know this was coming. the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein appointed after three weeks of being in charge of the investigation. this gives robert mueller the ability to subpoena. he can also file charges. in addition to that, he can prosecute folks for criminal charges. mueller is no stranger to the fbi. he's likely to reach out to his colleagues there and get an update on exactly how the russian investigation is going up to this point. now, if there is nothing to find, then both house republicans and democrats will accept the answer from robert mueller because of his reputation. if there is something to find, his reputation is such that he would find it. frances? >> big news in itself. you have on the side the 2016 allegation from a high ranking republican basically saying vladimir putin was paying donald trump. >> reporter: that's interesting. that comes from a tape that was made last year. it's now surfaced. "the washington post" got ahold

of it. on the tape, the second highest ranking member of the house, kevin mccarthy is heard saying, quote, there's two people i think putin pays, rohrabacher and trump. on the tape house speaker paul ryan said there could be no leaks about this statement. now that it's out mccarthy says this was an attempt at humor gone wrong and lashed out at "the washington post" for trying to make this breaking news. >> nbc's edward lawrence, thank you. not guilty. that is the verdict from a tulsa jury in the case of betty shelby, the white police officer on trial for manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed black man whose veekd stalled out. the 12-person jury, two of whom were black women deliberated for over nine hours before reaching the verdict. once it was announced, about 100 protesters gathered outside the courthouse. the demonstration remained peaceful and later dispersed. crutcher's sister expressed

outrage and vowed to take action. >> i'm going to make sure that i don't rest until we get reform for this police department in tulsa, oklahoma. >> after officer shelby ran out of the courthouse through its back door. a possible bird strike forced a jetblue strike to the airport to new york jfk to turn back around for an emergency landing. the airline says the bird hit an engine about 15 minutes into flight. passengers shared images after the plane landed safely at dulles. crews foamed the plane to clean up a fuel spill to prevent fire. no injuries were reported. one passenger gave thanks to the hero crew for guiding the plane to safety. check out this frightening scene at a deli. a car smashes right through the storefront, nearly hitting a pregnant woman. the woman who is five months pregnant was working behind the counter when a minivan slammed

through the building. it sent products flying all over her. luckily she's okay and her unborn child was not hurt, something torres says she's grateful for. >> that's like i win the lottery. i was so nervous yesterday, like what the heck happened. >> surveillance footage captured the accident from outside the store. an 18-year-old was arrested in the stolen van. police are looking for other suspects seen running away from the scene. 27 million people at risk for severe weather as it continues to rock the midwest. wisconsin under a state warning after multiple powerful tornadoes swept in, one devastated a trailer park. >> firefighters lifted parts of trailer homes off of people. >> one man was killed and over 25 people were injured there. a state of emergency was also declared in oklahoma following destructive tornadoes that killed a man, survivors are assessing the damage and picking up the pieces. >> it will take a while, but it

can be fixed. >> but the threat is not over yet as more tornadoes could hit the region today. nbc meteorologist bill karins has a look ahead. bill, where are we watching right now? >> all about tornado alley, kansas, oklahoma, north texas. we have a rather high-risk day. these are the days we're very concerned with the safety of people because we get these tornadoes, they could be not just tornadoes but the big, strong tornadoes on the ground for a long time. wichita is the biggest city at risk. we'll get breaking news stories because of these tornadoes, it will be from about 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. this evening. typical late afternoon into the early evening. also watching a snowstorm in the warming up to the

mid 60s, portland today near 70. >> it's not just snowing in the rockies, frances. some areas will be getting a snowstorm. i'll show you how much snow they're going to get. pretty amazing in the middle of may. >> bill, thank you very much. check out this newly released video of a close call from the houston metro. one boy trying to cross the tracks and another right there comes following. look at this split second about-face, saves the boys life as he clings to the railway fence. a warning for anyone crossing tracks. the trains come quicker than you think. hilarious and spicy melissa mccarthy out takes not broadcast before. an incredible takedown and capture of an escaped felon all caught on camera. we'll show it to you next. you help ensure that children in the u.s.

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>> we love you melissa. >> oh, god. oh, god. ah. i'm roasting in the sun. i just need a couple minutes in a bush to get it together. >> melissa mccarthy in those outtakes as she drove through manhattan streets as sean spicer for last week's performance of "snl." her impersonation of spicer had gotten so big, legitimate news camera crews trying to chase her down and look, having fun. really in character. nikki haley is saying what the white house won't, the western wall is in israel. the former south carolina governor endorsed the idea of moving the american embassy in israel to jerusalem and placing the western wall in israel in new comments amid reports the president may rule out moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem altogether. days before the president

embarks on his foreign trip which includes a stop in israel. this incident caught on body cameras, an officer approaches a man at a dollar general store when suddenly he takes off. the officer chases him through the store and using his taser trying to subdue the suspect. the struggle continued outside. police eventually tackled the man to the ground and placed him in custody. one officer suffered a fractured finger. the other injured his elbow. now to the nfl. they're trying to gather more information and investigating allegations made by supermodel gisele bundchen when she told cbs her husband, new england patriot quarterback tom brady suffered from concussions last season as he fought his way to a super bowl mvp. take a listen to that. >> he had a concussion last year. he has concussions -- we don't talk about it but he does have concussions. i don't think it's a healthy thing for your body to go

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president trump is expected

to welcome colombian president juan manuel santos today, the first meeting between both world leaders, that as the white house continues its search for a new fbi director following a meeting with four separate candidates including former senator joe lieberman and current acting director andrew mccabe. the president hits back against his detractors when he offered this advice to u.s. coast guard academy graduates in connecticut. >> things will work out just fine. look at the way i've been treated lately. no politician in history, and i say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. you can't let them get you down. >> startling new information this morning that affects all americans. the federal reserve bank of new york says household debt has exploded to $12.73 trillion.

student and auto loans making up a larger portion of the debt while mortgages and credit card debt remains below pre recession levels. right now stocks overseas following yesterday's plunge in u.s. markets. landon dowdy, what's moving stocks. >> global markets continuing to struggle today amid the political turmoil in the u.s. asia and europe are in the red, although losses aren't as big as those on wall street yesterday. the dow having its worst day since september, down 372 points while the nasdaq suffered its worse day since the uk's brexit vote last june. investors are concerned news out of the white house is casting doubt on president trump's pro growth agenda which includes tax reform. a flight to safe haven assets yesterday such as gold and u.s. treasury bonds. twitter uses to decide what adds and content in your

timeline. this comes from your personality activity such as who you follow, but also partners or categories that advisers place you in based on data that they collect. you can now collect free delta miles by hailing a ride with lyft. the airline added the service to its rewards program so you can add miles from something you might use more often than you use air travel. for the launch lyft is offering $3 for every dollar spent on rides to and from the airport. >> always good to get those points and rewards. landon, thank you. just ahead, flying may be about to take a critical turn with new safety measures. we'll bring you those details next. we're on to you, diabetes. time's up, insufficient prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier,

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luggage which goes through better explosive screening. the u.s. pants to expand the ban for flights coming from europe to the u.s. >> for them to take steps to eliminate carry-on laptops demonstrates to me that they believe is a credible risk, it's a significant risk and i'm imminent. >> it could have a huge impact on anyone flying transatlantic, 426 flights from across europe arrive in the u.s. every day. according to hopper.com, that's 105,000 passengers a day, 15,000 of them business and first class passengers who, like many people in coach, often use their laptops on board. now some airlines are pushing back, concerned it could lead to confusion with some passengers choosing not to fly. >> that would be a great inconvenience to all travellers, especially business travelers, because on these long flights you usually work all the time. come on...you can do it! dogs just won't quit. neither does frontline.

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the snow is already falling in areas of colorado. mountains could get one to two feet. denver is right on the edge. when you go up in elevation outside of denver, they get significant snow. the ski resort getting one to two feet. most of them closed already. driving down i-25 not the best. as the storms move through the inner mountain west, enjoyable in phoenix. you don't get many 87-degree days this time of year. there's good weather to be found on the west coast. >> bill, thank you. a girl in texas is recovering this morning after a traumatic accident when one of those fidget spinners all the craze, the girl found herself choking in the back of her mother's car on the way back from a swim meet after the spinner she was playing with

lodged in her front. remember frantic mother rushed her to urgent care only to find the toy in her esophagus. this morning the family is waking up thankful with a word of warning for others, too. "the washington post" has a concerning report on how some companies are having trouble filling open jobs because candidates keep testing positive for drugs. job applicants are testing positive for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine and heroin at the highest rate in 12 years. the most significant increase has come from marijuana with positive tests jumping 25% since 2012. some sharks in south carolina got a little too close to comfort. a man fishing off the pier captured the footage a few miles south of myrtle beach. two sharks are seen swimming in shallow waters feet from the shoreline. that video has gone viral with more than 9 million views. tonight show host jimmy fallon is speaking out about

that infamous moment when then candidate donald trump visited his show only for fallon to ruffle up his air. many criticized the interview as soft approach to trump leaving fallen feeling, quote, devastated. he said viewers have a right to be mad. if it let anyone down, it hurt my feelings they didn't like it. i got it. he's adding that just because the late night ratings war is centering on politics doesn't mean he's going to do his job differently. when it comes to hair, about this. an egyptian barber using a hot way to style hair. really hot. he uses fire. he saw the technique on youtube and said i'm going to try that. he says the fire streit ens hair and also says it can prevented dand rough and split ends. young people have lined up in droves. >> burnt hair smells horrible.

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-- deputies surround a home in the east bay -- as neighbors are breaking news right now at 4:30, deputies surround a home in the east bay as neighbors are evacuated. we a live report from the scene coming up. we are also follows breaking news out of san jose today. a commercial fire has broken out on the east side of town. thank you for joining us, i'm sam broke. >> and i'm laura garcia-cannon. a lot to talk about today, including a heatup in the weather department. >> that's what everyone will be talking about. we will see temperatures really going up over the next couple of days. yesterday it was so nice as you head out the door now we have a nice cool start, live look outside at san jose. it's also very chilly with