why do you think they're giving me this trouble? why do you this i'm being harassed by media? >> today could prove to be a do or die day for embattled senate candidate roy moore as one of his most loyal voices has given him a drop-dead ultimatum. claiming sexual harassment from sitting members of the united states congress. >> new details surrounding a shooting rampage in california that began at a school and left five dead and ten injured. next to a growing controversy, on a lighter note surrounding the new justice league. and we'll take you to a place that is affectionately known as god's garage, where miracles happen every minute. "early today" starts right now. good to be with you this

morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. this morning the clock is ticking on alabama senate candidate republican judge roy moore after new sexual assault allegations laid against him. and demoore strongly denying any and all allegations of sexual misconduct, one of his biggest supporters is now bringing down the hammer, giving the candidate just hours to explain himself or drop out. >> for me, the judge has 24 hours. you must immediately and fully come up with a satisfactory explanation for your inconsistencies that i just showed. you must remove any doubt. if you can't do this, then judge moore needs to get out of this race. >> and now three of alabama's largest papers are deeming moore unfit for office, and his time is beginning to run out. nbc's gabe gutierrez starts us off this morning. >> reporter: amid a growing political firestorm, the senate's top republican is publicly floating the idea of attorney general jeff sessions as a write-in alternative to roy moore.

>> the alabaman who would fit that standard would be the attorney general, who is totally well-known and extremely popular in alabama. >> reporter: with a growing number of republicans urging moore to drop out, sessions said he believes the accusers. >> i am -- have no reason to doubt these young women. >> he said i am the district attorney of etowah county, and if you tell anyone about this, no one will ever believe you. >> reporter: the latest one beverly young nelson claimed moore signed her yearbook shortly before the alleged assault, calling her a beautiful girl. >> i never did what she said i did. i don't even know the woman. >> reporter: despite that signature looking similar to moore's signatures in other public documents, his campaign said it's fake. >> no, it's not his signature. he did not sign that yearbook. we're doing our best to try to have that document and verified. >> reporter: in gadsden, alabama where moore was a district attorney, some residents say he often hung around this local

mall. gre greg legat used to work there in the 80s and said moore had been banned from the mall. >> he said if you see him, let me know. i'll take care of it. i questioned why, and the police officer would not tell me. but after he left, uasked my manager. he said he had been bothering the girls in the mall. >> reporter: as moore's opponent doug jones largely avoids the controversy, the race may be tightening. >> i think he is a little different than what i believed him to be. >> reporter: but moore clearly has strong support. >> sometimes you want a leader, you accept some problems that they have. . >> thanks to gabe gutierrez for that report. to capitol hill now, where the issue of sexual misconduct is permeating through its halls in the wake of the allegations laid against roy moore. with house speaker paul ryan announcing his chamber will soon authorize mandatory sexual harassment training after several female lawmakers went

public using graphic and disturbing details to describe the heinous acts they both witnessed and experienced. for more on this let's go to tracie potts on capitol hill. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: hi, phil. good morning. for many it was very disturbing testimony from women, many who have been here on capitol hill, some of them for decades since they were aides and interns, describing what happened to them, their personal stories of sexual misconduct. listen. >> there are two members of congress, republican and democrat, right now who serve. these harasser propositions such as are you going to be a good girl to perpetrators exposing their genitals, to victims having their private parts grabbed on the house floor. thinking member asked a staffer to bring them over some materials to their residence and the young staffer, it was a young woman, went there and was greeted with a member in a towel. it was a male. who then invited her in.

at that point, he decided to expose himself. that kind of situation, what are we doing here for women right now who are dealing with somebody like that? >> reporter: here is what they're doing. house speaker paul ryan says that sexual harassment training which is now voluntary will now be mandatory for lawmakers and staff here on capitol hill. also, they're looking at changing the reporting policy. right now there is a 30-day cooling off period so you can't immediately make a report. and that, many say, frustrates a lot of women and prevents them from reporting these things at all. we saw some numbers about just how big of an issue this is here on capitol hill. roll call did a survey finding 40% of women said that sexual harassment is a problem here on the hill. one in every six said they personally experienced either harassment or assault. only one in ten said they knew

where to go for help. so it's an issue. it's something that congress is now trying to deal with. phillip? >> it's shocking that training didn't already exist. tracie, thank you. violence has struck another american community after a gunman went on a shooting rampage tuesday in a small northern california town, targeting people at random at several locations, including an elementary school. the gunman killed four people and wounded ten others before being shot and killed by police. california governor jerry brown issued a statement offering condolences to victims' families. nbc's dan shineman has more. >> reporter: it was just before 8:00 a.m. local time when police believe the armed suspect tried to settle a dispute with a neighbor. >> and when it went that far, he just went on a rampage. >> reporter: the rampage covered at least seven locations. police say the targets were random. >> it was continuous. it was like they were shooting, emptying a magazine, popping

another one in. >> reporter: among the targets, a school. investigators say the shooter fired into the building. jesse sanders was grazed by a bullet when he tried to protect students. >> when i got there, the db is shooting through the windows. and i said hey, why don't you shoot this way instead. >> reporter: only one child inside the school was hurt. police say elementary school staff saved lives. >> it was a series of gunshots about a quarter mile away that alerted that staff, and they went on an immediate lockdown. >> reporter: the rampage ended, investigators say, about 45 minutes after it began. when the shooter was killed by law enforcement. >> police officer rammed the vehicle, forced it off the road. exchange of gunfire, which resulted in shooter's death. >> reporter: the incident remains under investigation. dan shineman, nbc news.

it wasn't all russia questions that he had to contend with. just watch this exchange between sessions and the democratic congressman on the issue of marijuana. >> he said one time that good people don't smoke marijuana. which of these people would you say are not good people? >> well, let me explain how that occurred. >> all right. quickly. john kasich a good person? george pataki, newt gingrich, george bush, arnold schwarzenegger, judge clarence thomas? which of those are not good people? >> over a period of years, it became unfashionable, unpopular, and people were seen, and it was seen as such that good people didn't use marijuana. that was the context of that statement. >> and while sessions may not be switching his position on pot any time soon, americans are getting out ahead of him with some 64% of americans supporting legalizing marijuana for recreational use. that's according to an october

gallup poll. now 24/7 wall street has crunched some numbers saying these 15 states are likely to be next in legalizing cannabis. among the 15, connecticut, new york, illinois, new hampshire. even arizona and montana. it is wednesday. let's get a check of our midweek weather with bill karins. how are we looking, bill? >> all the problems are on the west coast. the big storm continues from yesterday and the day before. this is the part two of our big event. the heaviest rains now uare in the northwest. later the rains will move into california. we have some flash flood watches. remember the areas that had the fires? now they're going to have 1 to 3 inches of rain, and you can get the debris flows and the mud flows. that's going to be a concern later on today, especially in areas of california. the mountains have winter storm warnings. some areas could get 3 feet of snow above 9,000 feet as you travel near lake tahoe, especially the reno area toon and the northern rockies some k

very warm conditions, well above average for this time of year from houston all the way to brownsville, corpus christi. as we head towards the weekend, it looks like the storm that is on the west coast will move right across the country. i'll tell you what that means, coming up later. >> all right, bill, thuflt. thank you. in australia, a solid majority voted in favor of same-sex marriage. supporters celebrated across australia with dancing and singing, waving rainbow flags. of the 12.7 million who participated in the survey, nearly 62% voted yes, while 38% voted no. that was according to the australian bureau of statistics. while the poll is nonbinding, this clears the way for parliament to legally recognize the unions of gay and lesbian couples. the australian prime minister says the government will seek to legalize same-sex marriage by the end of the year.

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joe biden said he is open to running for president if no other democrats step up. you know your party is in trouble when someone signs up for president the way you sign up for karaoke. no one else? ♪ just a small town girl living in a lonely world ♪ >> that's one way to put it. >> somebody's got to step up. all right. leading the news this morning, the senate plans to end the obamacare mandate, requiring americans to obtain health care coverage in their latest tax proposal. it is the newest development in the senate republicans' plan to push through a sweeping and controversial tax plan and may actually make their attempts to reform the tax code much harder. nbc's kristen welker has more. >> reporter: a risky and surprising move by senate republicans, adding a provision to the tax bill that would repeal the obamacare individual mandate, the requirement that everyone has to buy health

insurance or pay a fine. republicans say the move will lower the cost of the overall tax package and allow for more middle class tax break. >> we're optimistic that inserting the individual mandate repeal would be helpful. >> reporter: the nonpartisan congressional budget office found repealing the individual mandate would cause as many as 13 million people to lose their coverage over ten years. the move could alienate some moderate republicans. democrats are lashing out. >> the people this is going to hit are middle class people that ostensibly this whole bill was supposed to be about helping. >> reporter: why the change? conservative republicans push to remove the individual mandate as a part of tax reform, and so did president trump, tweeting from asia earlier this week, how about ending the unfair and highly unpopular individual mandate in o-care. the action will help the senate meet the budgetary requirements critical for passing the bill, while fulfilling a gop campaign promise. >> immediately repealing and

replacing obamacare. it's a disaster. >> reporter: it seemed tax reform was on glide path. this last-minute change could derail what is basically republicans' last best chance for a major legislative win this year. >> maybe a poison pill in that it takes any chances of this passing in the united states senate and throws it in the garbage. >> there is no plan for the house to add the obamacare language to its bill, which means the two chambers will have to reconcile yet another major difference in their two plans. all underscoring the significant challenges ahead. frances? >> all right, kristen, thank you. and overnight the senate finance committee released its modified bill, including that obamacare mandate repeal. another big change included in the bill, those ones heralded individual tax cuts for the middle class will now expire in 2025. while corporate tax cuts will be permanent. just ahead, did the russians also interfere with some key british elections? the proof, next. stay with us.

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i have a very simple message for russia. we know what you are doing and you will not succeed. because you underestimate the resilience of our democracies. the enduring attraction of free and open societies, and the commitment of western nations to the alliances that bind us. >> british prime minister theresa may there taking on moscow head-on, accusing russia of meddling in elections and

planting fake stories in the media. in an unprecedented attack, as vladimir putin sought to weaponize information and sow discord in the west. new reporting shows it wasn't just the u.s. that was hit by moscow. with the kremlin's fingerprints on one of britain's most consequential elections that ultimately tao usa it dissolve itself from the rest europe. chapman bell. >> good morning, phillip and francis. you heard it from theresa may, not appearing to give russia the benefit of the doubt. it seems she has seen hard evidence herself of russian meddling. the front page of the times of london here this morning seems to back up their claim. the newspaper reporting that in the 48 hours leading up to the referendum for the uk to leave or remain in the eu, commonly known here as brexit, russian twitter accounts posted nearly 45,000 messages about brexit. this is from more than 150,000 accounts based in russia that the times reports had previously

posted on subjects such as the conflict in ukraine before switching their attention to the subject of brexit just before the vote. this report coming from a research paper by data scientists at swansea university and the university of california berkeley. it appears most of these tweets were from automated bots and cyborgs with little human influence. and most of the tweets seen by the newspaper say they encourage people to vote to leave the eu, an outcome which russia would have regarded as destabilizing for the european union. but the paper points out there were pro remain tweets as well, suggesting that the goal may have been to sow division which hit fits the government's stance here. brexit has been a divisive subject here as the british government struggles to come to agreement to end the relationship with the european union. phillip and frances? >> a disturbingly familiar

accusation. chapman, thank you. still ahead, some southwest passengers were in for a treat. plus, the growing controversy over the costumes in "justice league versus wonder woman." we'll explain when we come back. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you- cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. never give up. see me. see me. clear skin can last.

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costumes in "wonder woman" were much less provocative than the battle-bound leather bic kikini. other fans did note that the films take place almost 100 years apart. so the costumes could have evolved over time. they're a little more skin revealed, a little lower cut. you can decide. but definitely different. >> much more demure in the 100 years, i guess. a southwest airlines flight attendant put his own spin on the safety presentation before taking off from dallas. instructions are given over the intercom. he makes these grand gestures while he is demonstrating the exit locations. he struts his stuff up and down the aisle while passengers watch and laugh. a southwest airlines spokesperson said their employees are known for their fun-0ing attitudes. it's always fun when you get a fun attendant on the airline. you're watching "early today."

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if you have ever had to take your car into the shop, you know the repairs can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollar. >> but how does absolutely free sound to you? nbc's catie beck reports on a garage that is making a difference. >> reporter: this garage in conroe, texas is as well oiled as its machines. but these volunteer mechanics labor without a paycheck. they don't want one. >> it's definitely an investment from the heart. >> reporter: fixing more than engines. here they jump-start people's lives. women who could use a lift. >> smile? >> reporter: single moms, widows, and wives of deployed troops. >> stress seems to just fall off of them. because they have a new start and they know it. >> reporter: at god's garage,

their cars are fixed or a used car overhauled and given to them for free. single mom susan needed a car to take her daughter for cancer treatment. >> it saved her life and mine. and in reality, it really has. >> reporter: founder and former pastor chris williams started small in the garage attached to his home. six years later, a field of donated cars to give away. now a nonprofit garage where miracles are as routine as maintenance. so are tears. >> it's hard to hold back? >> even my big burly mechanics will tear up. dust must be flying. >> reporter: one of those moments came as once homeless single mom elizabeth rawlins sits in her car for the first time. her new way to work. >> with everything that's been going on, it's made everything a lot better. >> reporter: a sight giving everyone's soul a little tune-up. catie beck, nbc news, conroe, texas. >> all those soft mushy hearts

deep inside those mecke imperial beachs. so nice to see. >> i love to see that. >> nbc meteorologist bill karins has another look. >> there are some angels among us. >> a lot. >> let's talk about this week. if you have plans on friday, saturday, sunday heading through the east, it's a rain event. but it will be tracking on friday as we go through areas of the midwest to the great lakes. saturday, it travels through the ohio valley. some of that rain will be arriving in areas of new york state, pennsylvania. as we go throughout the afternoon into saturday evening in new england, a wintry mix in northern new england. and sunday a lot of it begins to push off the east coast. wet weather for a lot of people as we head through the weekend. >> all right, bill, thank you. check out this next story. one returning texas soldier pulled off not one, but two surprises. sergeant lacy came to her daughter's school dressed as the mascot. she takes off the costume to reveal herself. and then her next stop was her son's school where her son was awaiting a special guest speaker. he got the most special guest of

all. ran straight into his mother's arms. i love seeing those story, they never get old. thanks for being with us. i'm franc esri ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

the things that matter most happen one morning and one cup at a time. ♪ ♪ francisco -- we )re in a it is wednesday morning. taking a live look outside at san francisco. we are in the microclimate weather alert. it is raining in several parts of the area. we are tracking a significant storm moving into our area. good morning to you. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. let's get straight to that forecast. meteorologist, kari hall have that umbrella handy today. >> especially the north bay. some may not see it until later this evening. we start with spotty showers for the north bay down to san francisco and over to the east bay. we have the center of the storm well to the north of us right now moving into seattle