it's the worst traffic accident in years. 20 people killed after a limousine collides with a parked car. this morning, the ntsb has more questions than answers. overnight, spacex lights up the skies over california, but nobody told the neighbors, and it caused quite a stir on social media. over the weekend, taylor swift breaks her silence and goes political, sending a blistering message to her millions of fans, this as new supreme court justice brett kavanaugh gets ready for his first day at the supreme court. a powerful tropical storm in the gulf will soon be hurricane michael and make landfall before midweek. to an incredible scientific breakthrough. the connection between the moon and a new technique to bring dying coral back to life.

"early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm marlie hall. >> and i'm philip deadliest cra nearly a decade rocking a small upstate new york community. this morning, ntsb investigators will return to the scene of a limo accident that claimed 20 lives. the victims on board were out celebrating a 30th birthday saturday when their stretch suv went careening off a highway, speeding down a hill and into a parking lot where it hit a parked car. >> the tragedy is sparking new safety concerns for limousines. >> every inch you stretch a limo makes it more dangerous, and yet, there are no rules regulating them. once and for all, the ntsb must pass regulations limiting these stretch limos and their safety. >> nbc's matt bradley has the latest on the investigation. good morning, matt. >> reporter: good morning, guys. that massive accident has stunned this rural part of upstate new york, and now

federal investigators are on the scene trying to figure out what went wrong. in a matter of moments, a 30th turd to tragedy. >> reports of a multivehicle motor vehicle accident. >> reporter: an suv limousine carrying 18 people careened off a new york state highway near albany. >> everybody inside the limousine was killed. >> reporter: witnesses say the limo, a 2001 ford excursion, sped down a hill, through a parking lot, and collided with a parked car. two pedestrians in the parking lot were killed. >> i heard some screaming and just, it looked serious because people were just, you know, running back and forth. >> reporter: the snarled wreckage ended up in a nearby creek bed. state officials declined to comment on whether the accident. >> i've been on losses of i a l, long time. >> reporter: saying they won't release the victims' names unti speaking out.

>> i can't believe it, you know. it's not something you can wrap your head around. >> reporter: barbara douglas said four of her nieces, all sisters, were among the dead. >> they were very smart and they were beautiful, and they lived life to the fullest. >> reporter: the collision said to be the worst highway accident since 2009 is now the focus of a federal investigation. the ntsb sent a go team to the site. that ntsb team is going to be here for several days trying to reconstruct this accident. as you can see, these tire tracks are really the onlysi st limousines are even safe to drive. guys? >> thanks, matt, for that report. tomorrow the supreme court will once again have nine justices on its bench. brett kavanaugh's expected to join his new colleagues tuesday. he was sworn in as an associate justice saturday in a private ceremony after the senate voted to confirm him to the high court. president trump announcing a formal swearing in for this evening. but the fallout from the contentious fight continues with some democratic lawmakers

already floating the idea of impeaching justice kavanaugh. each party looking to use the o energize their base less than a month away from the midterm elections. let's get more from nbc's tracie potts in washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: hey, there. good morning. so, rarely do court nominations get this political, but in this case, it did, and it happened quickly. now both sides seem to be looking forward to seeing what impact this bitter political fight may have on the upcoming midterm elections. a public swearing in for justice brett kavanaugh is set for >> he's oisupreme court with a huge tai and a big asterisk. >> reporter: we must not agonize, we must organize, house speaker nancy pelosi tells democrats. eye urging thousands who demonstrated to speak out again with their vote in november. >> if we want to correct the course, what do we need to do? we need to take the power! >> reporter: but republicans -- >> i'm happy as a clam.

>> reporter: -- are ready to move on. >> the overreach of the protesters at the capitol have actually energized the republican base. >> reporter: at risk, maine's susan collins, who voted yes for kavanaugh as opponents raised some $3.5 million for whoever runs against her in two years. >> i have to do what i think is right, and over the years, the people of maine have trusted me to exercise my best judgment. that's what i did in this case. >> reporter: there's talk of an effort to impeach kavanaugh on sexual misconduct allegations. the fbi says they were not substantiated. even some democrats say that's too much. >> and i t at this point isn't necessarily healing us and moving us forward. >> reporter: the fallout may depend on which party can turn out the vote less than one month from today. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. spacex is lighting up the skies over california.

as the aerospace company pulled off its first west coast launch and landing of its reusable falcon 9 rocket. the rocket blasted off from vandenberg air force base near santa barbara and landed on a concrete pad at the base about 15 minutes later. the launch caused quite a commotion in l.a. and resulted in a swirling technicolor light show that could be seen as far north as san francisco. up until now, all of spacex's ground landings have been out of cape canaveral, florida. this morning, singer tina turner is in the spotlight, revealing she underwent a and. innth, the 78-year-old singer reveals she suffered from kidney disease and her current husband, music producer erwin bach, gave her one of his kidneys as her health was rapidly declining. turner says at the lowest point, her kidneys were only functioning at 20%. she writes that the donation from her husband gave her happiness and relief just to be alive. what a scene it was in las vegas over the weekend. an ultimate fighting match

lasted four rounds, but the real fireworks started after it was over. even mike tyson thought it was kind of crazy. nbc's kathy clark has that story. >> reporter: the highly anticipated ufc fight between mma rivals conor mcgregor and khabib nurmagomedov took an ugly turn after mcgregor tapped out after the fourth round. >> no! >> reporter: the brawl shows nurmagomedov leaping off into the crowd toward men in corner after they allegedly taunted him. then, watch as this man climbs t punching the back of mcgregor's head. >> people have been saying mean things to people for 18 years here at the ufc. nothing like this h nurmagomedo multimillion dollar purse now being withheld pending an investigation. his title also in jeopardy. >> i know this is not my best side, you know. this is not my best side, you

know. i am human being. >> reporter: in the postfight press conference, nurmagomedov brought up the bad blood between the two men. going back to when mcgregor pled guilty to disorderly conduct for attacking nurmagomedov's bus last april -- >> he talk about my religion, he talk about my country, he talk about my father. he come and broke bus. >> reporter: this created quite a suspect call on social media with fans, celebrities, even boxer mik tweeting "it was charges, he indicated this fight is far from over, tweeting "good knock. look forward to the rematch." kathy park, nbc news do> has left behind significant damage in fairfax, oklahoma, after a officials say the electricity has been restored after parts of the community lost power. so far, there have been no reports of injuries from the storm and emergency responders

are working to determine the extent of the damage. meteorologist michelle grisman is here with our monday forecast. how's it looking, michelle? >> hi there, guys. that tornado is due to what's happening here. we have a clash of air masses here, kind of what happens in october. you have the cold air to the west, warm air to the east, and it's sort of battling to become stable and we're going it see the potential for more storms today. but in the west we're looking at temperatures 27 degrees below what is typical for this time of year in denver. then another big weather story this week. we are looking at the gulf of mexico, where we're looking at tropical storm michael. right now it's at 70-mile-per-hour winds. and remember, just 74-mile-per-hour winds is a hurricane, so that could happen later on today. it w m the gulf as we head towards wednesday. that's a lookt the b aig gorgeous along the coast of california, temperatures in the 70s and 80s.

yeah, so feeling like winter as we head towards the west and we'll talk more about michael this week. >> thanks so much, michelle. >> sure. speedsters hit the skies for the red bull air race world championships. american michael gullan powered his way to win at indianapolis motor speedway to grab the top spot. he piloted around the course in one minute and six seconds to earn his second win of the season. the series now heads to texas for the final race of the season on november 18th. >> what a rush. just ahead,utation on the l by wading into the political debate. and to protect and to serve. an officer busts out his moves and is taking the internet by storm. no matter how much you clean, does your house still smell stuffy? that's because your home is filled with soft surfaces that trap odors and release them back into the room. so, try febreze fabric refresher. febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics and cleans them away as it dries.up to keep your whole house smelling fresh air clean.

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canine officer chris schilling decided to show kids at hammond west side montessori school the fun side of getting jiggy with it to some police sirens. i like that beat. makes me want to dance. >> it was funky. leading the news, watch out for suspicious messages you may get from your friends on facebook because there's a new hoax going around. you've got to watch out for this. they're called closed accounts. here's what it looks like. you get a message from someone who claims they got a new friend request from you and warns you to check your account and then pass that message along to other users. that's when you know you're going wrong. facebook officials told local media it's going viral and out nauti say it's not related to last week's security breach. so there's that silver lining. >> it's suspicious, though, when you get the same message from multiple people. you know something's up. >> who wants to that's not righ pop star taylor swift is breaking her silence on politics, pledging to support two democratic candidates in tennessee during next month's

midterm elections. swift took to instagram with a rousing endorsement for democrats, writing in part, "i've been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in the past two years, i feel very differently about that now." one of the issues she went on to address was lgbt rights and antidiscrimination. a lot of people surprised to hear her speaking out about these political issues. >> yeah, doesn't need to, but i guess she feels it's her place. football fans excited about week five had good reason. it was a good one. let's start down in texas. the texans and cowboys on sunday night football. let's go straight to overtime. tied at 16, deshaun watson finds deandre hopkins. look at that, whoops! another spin move, whoops! all the way down inside the 30 yard line. that would set up the game-winning field goal. cowboys lose, 19-16, in overtime. let's go to cleveland, another game where scores are hard to come by. browns and ravens. quarterback baker mayfield finding rashard higgins,

19-yarder. touchdown browns. they're up three. they had a chance to win it before overtime, didn't do it, but here's another chance. oh, my goodness, it was ugly, but the fans are cheering. that is because cleveland wins for the first time on a sunday in over 1,000 days. switching to another nail-biter in the queen city. the panthers taking on the new york giants. the giants were down big here when odell beckham jr. decides to throw the ball, and that is saquan barkley on the other end, and he goes in for the touchdown. he would actually end up catching his first touchdown of the season there, but it was all about this here. graham gano kicked it from forever deep, 63 yards out, and he got it. panthers win. that was the second longest field goal to win a game in nfl history. finally, in seattle, another unbeaten streak on the line. the rams versus the seahawks. back-and-forth game here. it was supposed to be a blowout for the rams, but instead, the seahawks kept up with them, but at the end, it was cairo santos

for the rams that got it right. 33-31, rams beat seattle. so, let's get to some playoff baseball. the milwaukee brewers became the first team to punch their ticket to the n.l. champion series, sweeping the rockies in denver with a 6-0 shutout. in atlanta, the braves avoided their own sweep, thanks in part to this grand slam from rookie ronald acuna jr. the 20-year-old is the youngest player ever to hit a postseason grand slam. braves beat the dodgers, 6-5. l.a. leads the series 2-1. they square off again today at 4:30 eastern. but first, the astros look to sweep the indians in game three of the alds. and tonight, it's the red sox and yankees in the bronx, tied at a game apiece. >> the red sox and yankees playing in the playoffs. all feels right in the sports world now. coming up, new details on the mystery involving the missing president of interpol. plus, venom proves to be the cure for the box office blues. the record-breaking debut, next. to look at me now, you don't see psoriasis. you see clear skin.

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hands! >> you do not want to do this. trust me. >> copy! >> all right. >> superhero argen movie "venom" led the charge in theaters this weekend, bringing in an october box office best of $80 million. in second place, warner brothers' "a star is born" with $42.6 million in its opening weekend. the film stars lady gaga and director bradley cooper. new developments this morning in the mystery surrounding the missing president of interpol.

the international police organization has received a letter of resignation from manning hong with a with no details attached. he was traveling in china when he was detained by the government there. in a brief statement, the country's anticorruption watchdog said mr. mang is suspected of violating the law and is currently under monitoring. for more on this, let's go to nbc's sarah harmon in london. sarah, good morning. i understand you have some new information here. >> reporter: yeah, good morning to you, philip. we have new information today in this rather bizarre story. id ty're investigating mang for librabri and for other crimes. the ministry of public security said he was being investigated for, quote, his own willfulness and for bringing trouble upon himself. now, mang's wife, grace, says before he vanished on september 25th, he sent her an image of a knife. she believes that was his way of telling her he was in danger. grace mang gave a press conference in leone, france,

where interpol is based, and she did it with her back to the cameras. she doesn't want to show her face because she's afraid for her safety and the safety of her two children. the french government and interpol have both expressed their concern, and mang's family is pleading for his safe return. philip, marlie? >> some odd circumstances there. all right, sarah. thank you. just ahead, saving the ocean's treasures. how scientists may have found a way to bring dying coral quickly back to life. it was here. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib. what's afib? i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem.

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some layers might be necessary in parts of the west. denver especially. may even need a hat, some gloves. we're looking at temperatures in the 30s, so pretty close to the freezing mark. billing 49, salt lake city 58 degrees. looking nice along the coast, though, in southern california. not much of as we head towards tuesday. we're looking at temperatures right around 42 in denver with some snow and freezing rain. >> 42? >> it's coming, winter. >> all right. justu.n. scientists issue a life-or-death warning about climate change. (vo) this is not a video game. this is not a screensaver. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪

start with 100% cleancheese? ingredients. like vermont white cheddar. then... add bacon, bbq chicken, or baja blend. catering and delivery now available. panera. food as it should be. the united nations is issuing a dire, new warning on climate change, saying in a new report that nations must make unprecedented changes to avoid life-or-death effects. u.n. scientists say the global

temperature rise must not surpass 1.5 degrees celsius, a difference of just half a degree could have catastrophic consequences, including completely wiping out the planet's coral reefs. and while the u.n. tries to spur nations into action, an accidental discovery has some marine biologists hopeful they can bring dying coral back to life. nbc's kerry sanders has the story. >> reporter: five to seven days after a summer's full moon, one of the rarest events in the upon millions of fertilized biologists don't know h millio eggs, scientists say this rarely photographed event is no longer enough to maintain healthy coral reefs. but now, an accidental discovery is offering hope. a half mile off key west, ten feet down in the atlantic, marine biologist joey mandero. on a team that witnessed corrals that grow only a millimeter a year can now be tricked into growing up to 500 times faster.

>> how excited are you to see what was once impossible now possible? >> i'm absolutely ecstatic. >> reporter: corrals among the slowest growing animals in earth are dying at an alarming rate, turning w on this day, are growing corals scientists, with my helping hand resistant to climatechange. >> when you touch it near to the reef -- >> like this right now? >>usse small corals grow towards each other and then unify. no one knew that would happen until some fragments of cut corals fell to the bottom of the tank. >> there is a small one that was just planted. >> reporter: scientist david vaughn discovered those flecks of coral were unexpectedly supercharged after the trauma of being cut. >> and that was a eureka moment. >> it was what "the new york times" called my eureka mistake. >> reporter: why protect reefs? scientists say they help provide 70% of the oxygen we breathe, support a quarter of all aquatic

life, and form a vital buffer against coastal erosion. after planting the next step, up heyature. actually start to spawn. that's a sign that they're really, really healthy, because they wouldn't reproduce if they were stressed. >> reporter: helping corals help themselves. kerry sanders, nbc news, key west. >> 100 years from now, they're going to be wondering why every newscast every day wasn't focused on climate change. >> yeah. and they're so beautiful. i'm mar

new week, new storm. tropical storm michael is gaining strength and should be a hurricane in a day as it spreads toward the florida panhandle. this is one of the biggest losses of life -- loss of lives that we've seen in a long, long time. >> a tragic scene. 20 people killed in a single limo crash. how did it happen? who was involved? the ntsb is investigating this

morning. today brett kavanaugh begins his roughly $255,000 a year bhe court justic b singing legend ts revealing health crisis and the