soplace treat it like a four-way stop. be careful out there. >> very much so. that's what's happening "today in the bay." don't forget, go to nbcbayarea.com right now for uninterrupted coverage. good morning, breaking news, ready to attack, turkey's military enters syria and begins an assault. this morning the outrage at the white house from republicans and democrats. and confuse on the ground. showdown, the white house clash with congress deepens, the president blocking witnesses and evidence in the impeachment inquiry saying it's a partisan witch hunt, the house calling it obstruction. accused of rape, the woman whose complaint led to matt lauer's firing comes forward publicly with disturbing stories of sexual assault.

the arrest made in the murder of a key witness of former dallas police officer amber guyger. nothing to sneeze at, a warning as flu season gets underway, why it could be one of the worst in years. and solid gold, simone biles leads the u.s. to its fifth team title in the world championships and makes more history for herself in the process, today, wednesday, october 9th, 2019 from nbc news, this is "today" with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. hi, everybody, good morning, nice to have you with us on a wednesday morning. we want to get right to our breaking news from overseas, that buildup of turkish troops at the border with syria poised for a major offensive against a key u.s. ally, and it comes in the wake of the president's decision to pull troops out of

that area. that decision drawing fierce criticism here and abroad from republicans and democrats. nbc chief correspondent richard engel is in istanbul with the latest. what's the situation there. >> reporter: good morning. turkish officials say that all of their military preparations are now complete. all they need is the order to go. with turkish troops and hardware massed on turkey's southern border, this morning, a senior turkish official says an assault is imminent against u.s. allies, the kurds of syria. turkey says it got the green light to go ahead from president trump in a phone call with turkey's president last weekend, according to a turkish presidential spokesman. u.s. troops, the thousands in syria who fought shoulder to shoulder with the kurds against isis have been ordered to stand back, not resist and let it happen. u.s. officials tell us many of the troops in syria feel that's

wrong. president trump says it's overdue to hand the isis fight to someone else. >> we have been in syria for a long time, and it was supposed to be a very short hit, and a hit on isis, but it didn't work out that way. >> reporter: a growing chorus of u.s. officials, including some of the president's supporters describe it as a historic betrayal of the kurds who lost 11,000 men and women fighting with u.s. forces. >> one of the reasons it was so concerning is because it seems so impulsive. >> reporter: many current and former u.s. military commanders are deeply disturbed to abandon their allies who worry they will be massacred by turkey. general botel just retired as commander. >> the overall sentiment is one of disappointment, that we're letting down our partners. >> reporter: president trump says he did coordinate with turkey about their operation but advised them not to go too far

against the kurds whom turkey calls terrorists. turkey's specific goal is to create a buffer zone, 20 miles deep, 250 miles long inside syria right on top of where the kurds live. another fear, that tens of thousands of isis fighters and their family members now guarded by the kurds could break out in the chaos. a fears shared by the family of journalist james foley who was murdered by isis in 2015. >> they can continue their reign of terror on us. no one is going to hold them accountable. they can go ahead and find a way to regroup, and to me that's a very frightening thought. >> this is such a volatile region, richard, you pull one string and unintended consequences everywhere. how much of a crisis might this create. >> well, in this case, these are intended consequences, the kurds have been warning publicly

openly for months, intensifying over the last several days that they could face ethnic cleansing if this goes ahead. there are about 2 million people who live in this kurdish enclave that could be invaded by turkey, in addition to the dead and injured that they expect. there also could be a refugee crisis with many people trying to escape towards iraq. tens of thousands of isis family members, isis members, fighters, who could escape. this could lead to a great deal of chaos and bloodshed. >> richard engel on the ground there. in the meantime, things are escalating in the impeachment investigation in a defiant letter to democratic leaders, the president's lawyer says the white house will not cooperate saying the investigation is invalid. that letter was sent just hours after the trump administration blocked a key witness from testifying on capitol hill. overnight, house speaker nancy pelosi fired back. she accuses the white house of

trying to hide the truth. we've got complete coverage, including a newly revealed memo from the original whistleblower. i we'll start with nbc's kristen welker. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, the white house is escalating its standoff with house democrats, refusing their request for documents, claiming their inquiry is unconstitutional and urging house speaker nancy pelosi to abandon the entire impeachment effort. democrats are returning fire, accusing the white house of trying to put the president above the law. >> thimorning, the white house at war, in a stern, 8 page letter, the white house counsel telling house democrats it rejects the impeachment inquiry as unconstitutional, arguing it violates basic due process saying the president, quote, cannot permit his administration to participate in this partisan inquiry because it would inflict lasting institutional harm on the executive branch. the letter accuses democrats of

trying to reverse the results of the 2016 election. house speaker nancy pelosi warning if the white house continues to block congress it will be regarded as further evidence of obstruction adding mr. president, you are not above the law, you will be held accountable. overnight, other democrats lashing out. >> enough is enough. if in fact he wants to continue to obstruct, then we will say he's obstructing the fundamental rights of congress to do its job, and that will become part of the impeachment. >> reporter: the dramatic escalation comes as house democrats subpoenaed gordon sondland, the ambassador to the european union after the white house blocked him from testifying hours before he was set to appear tuesday. sondland is a one time trump donor at the center of questions about what the president may have promised ukraine's leader if he helped investigate joe biden. mr. trump arguing sondland would be testifying before a totally

compromised kangaroo court. republican allies backing him up. >> we fully understand why the administration made the decision they did. >> reporter: now, the white house is arguing that the inquiry is illegitimate until the households a vote to open one. the constitution says the house of representatives has the sole power of impeachment. when asked if they would cooperate, an administration official said they would not discuss hypothetical situations. savannah. >> more details are emerging now about how white house officials reacted to the president's phone call with the leader of ukraine, and they're coming from a newly revealed memo written by the whistleblower at the center of all of this. nbc's chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has that part of the story this morning. good morning. >> savannah, good morning. this is an unusual look into at lease of the conversations the whistleblower had with the white house official who's describing the conversation between president trump and the ukrainian president in stark

terms. crazy and frightening. that's how one white house official is set to have described that controversial call between president trump and the leader of ukraine in which the president asked for help investigating political rival joe biden. that's according to a newly revealed memo written by the whistleblower, separate from the complaint of the impeachment inquiry. a source with direct knowledge confirmed its contents to nbc news as reported by "the new york times." the memo says the white house official who listened to the july call described the conversation as completely lacking in substance related to national security and that in the official's view, the president had clearly committed a criminal act by urging a foreign power to investigate a u.s. person for the purposes of advancing his own reelection bid in 2020. the official visibly shaken by what had transpired according to the whistleblower's memo.

no comment from the whistleblower's attorney though the president has repeatedly insisted he did nothing inappropriate. >> the perfect call. it's just a scam. it's a scam by the democrats to try and win an election that they're not going to win in 2020. there was no anything. >> but the whistleblower's complaint at the center of the house impeachment inquiry, democrats are defending the process. >> protecting the whistleblower is absolutely essential so there's no retribution or anything for speaking truth. >> hallie, overnight, the president is seizing on a report about the whistleblower's political bias against him. what more do you know about that. >> reporter: the president overnight is tweeting about a report that the whistleblower had a professional tie to one of the 2020 democratic candidates but the intelligence community inspector general while acknowledging that there may be arguable political bias on behalf of the whistleblower still concluded that the

allegations appeared credible. the whistleblower's attorney said that partisanship is not involved here, and keep in mind that the whistleblower's description of that ukraine call largely matched the summary that the white house itself put out. savannah. >> hallie, thank you so much. and now to troubling new allegations about former "today" cohost matt lauer were revealed overnight. >> morgan radford joins us with that story. >> good morning. the soon to be released book "catch and kill" written by ronan farrow was obtained overnight, and contains an interview with a former employee whose complaint that led to lauer's firing. we want to warn you some of the details are very graphic. for the first time we are hearing from the woman whose complaint led to matt lauer's firing, the former nbc news employee whose identity has been kept anonymous by nbc news at her request is now speaking out publicly.

the woman, brooke nevils, sat down with ronan. nbc news has not obtained a copy of the book, but variety did and released details of her interview overnight. in the book, nevils alleged lauer raped her in his hotel room at the sochi olympics. according to her account, she had been drinking heavily and went back to his room twice, to receive her press credentials which lauer had taken as a joke, and the second time he invited her back. she had no reason to suspect lauer would be anything but friendly based on prior experience. once she was in his hotel room, she alleges lauer pushed her against the door and kissed her before pushing her on to the bed, flipping her over, asking if she liked anal sex. she says she declined several times. she was in the midst of telling him she wasn't interested again when he just did it. nevils saying it was painful and that she wept silently into a pillow while it happened, adding

when lauer asked if she liked it, she said yes. nevils also saying it was not consensual in the sense that i was too drunk to consent, it was nonconsensual that i said several times i didn't want to have anal sex. back in new york, nevils said she had more sexual encounters with lauer, saying she was terrified about the control he had over her career. sources close to lauer emphasized that she sometimes initiated contact. nevils who had been working for meredith vieir eventually told vieira in 2017 what happened according to the book. vieira urged her to go to the human resources department with a lawyer. which she does. the day after that meet, lauer was terminated for inappropriate sexual behavior in the

workplace. she went on medical leave in 2018, and was eventually paid 7 figures by nbc. >> nbc news has reached out to matt lauer for exhibit and this morning he released alert saying it is categorically false, ignores the facts and defies common sense. we'll put his entire response up on our website. and meantime nbc news is also responding saying matt lauer 's conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible as we said at the time that is why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. our hearts break again for our colleague. in addition, nbc news chairman, andy lack said previously, our highest priority is to ensure we have a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected. we are absolutely committed to making this a reality. there can be no exceptions. we did reach out to ms. nevils who has not returned our calls >> morgan, thank you. >> we feel like we owe it to our

viewers to pause for a moment. you know, this is shocking. and appalling and i honestly don't even know what to say about it. i want to say that we -- i know it wasn't easy for our colleague brooke to come forward then, it's not easy now, and we support her and any women who come forward with claims, and it's just very painful for all of us at nbc and at the "today" show. you know, it's very very difficult. >> i'm looking at you, and i'm having a weird moment that we were sitting here just like this two years ago, and truth be told, savannah and i did a little prayer upstairs just to sort out what we were going to do. and i think it's like you feel like you have known someone for 12 years, and i don't know if you guys have ever felt like that, you know someone, you feel like you know them inside and out, and all of a sudden a door opens up and it's a part of them

you didn't know. and we don't know all the facts in this, but there are not allegations of an affair, there are allegations of a crime, and i think that's shocking to all of us here who have sat with matt for many many years. so i think we're going to just sort of continue to process this part of this horrific story and as you said, you know, our thoughts are with brooke. it's not easy what she did to come forward, not easy at all. >> i think i speak for all of us very disturbed to our very dist we have a commitment to keep you informed, and we will continue to do that we have other news to get to this morning, including new details surrounding russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. according to a new senate committee report, african-american voters were targeted by russian operatives more frequently than any other group in an apparent effort to suppress the vote which would help donald trump. 2/3 of the facebook ads from russia's internet research agency were focused on race.

the 85 page report called for congress to consider new stricter laws designed to prevent foreign interference on social media. the state of california is facing an historic power outage this morning due to the heightened fire danger pacific gas and electric is proactively turning off power to 800,000 customers in central and northern california, including parts of the bay area. it is the largest preventative outage in the state's history, trying to avert wildfires. pg&e has been blamed for sefrlg fires in the recent years. well, did we say good morning to al, get a first check of the forecast. >> good morning, guys, they have santa ana winds, high wind warnings, red flag warnings out west there's going to be a big story over the next several days here in the east, we've got a couple of systems that may be developing tropical systems or subtropical systems. the development zone keeps them off the eastern seaboard

you can already see heavier showers and thunderstorms back to the delmarva peninsula. wet weather making its way through new england. here are the two systems, low pressure drifts northward, both of them, wind and rain along the coast, the secondary system to the south gets absorbed by the first one and that becomes more powerful, extending from the mid atlantic to the northeast. tomorrow the storm drifts southward with the rain tapering off for new england. winds are a big problem from nantucket to boston, airport delays, high profile vehicles will have problems high wind warnings, northeasterly winds gusts of 60 miles per hour coastal impacts, minor to moderate coastal flooding, and rainfall, some places in eastern new england could see -- coastal new england, could see 5 to 8 inches of rain we're going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds

♪ i'm back in baby's arms more glorious than a billion sunsets. we were found. ♪ i'm back where i belong found by the hounds. ♪ back in baby's arms good morning. i'm meteorologist kari hall. we are under a high fire danger for bay area hills, all areas shaded in red included in the fire danger as our winds increase and the humidity levels drop. this continues until 5:00 tomorrow evening so during this time, between now and tomorrow evening, we will have some gusty winds and some low humidity, and whenever we get a spark or if there is one little small fire it could spread rapidly especially in some of the more remote areas so we'll continue to monitor that. as our temperatures today will

be cooler, reaching the mid-70s and low 80s, we will have some more of that cool weather going throughout the forecast. we'll go hour by hour with our wind forecast coming up in a few minutes. right now i'll send it over to scott and laura. >> breaking news, we're following the planned power outages we've been talking about for days already in effect at this hour in some locations. >> overnight pg&e started cutting power to more than 1 0 500,000 homes in businesses in the bay area. this is due to high fire danger and red flag warning in effect. for a live look see the large swatch of purple across the top is phase one in the north bay. >> a second phase is set to start around noon and last at least through tonight. outages will impact parts of contra costa, santa clara, alameda and san mateo county. in the second phase, 234,000 homes and businesses will be impacted. let's check in with pete

suratos, he is live in napa with the very latest. power is out there, pete. >> rorter: yes, good morning to you guys. as the traffic is picking up as the power shutoff that phase one in napa county around 12:30 a.m. and one of the effects behind me the traffic lights that are off, essentially folks are conducting on their own this four-way stop in this area. we're talking about the impact napa county about 32,000 people all together are affected by these pg&e power shutoffs. i believe we have video to show you some other areas where there are shutoffs from overnight or early morning, that is out in sausalito. you see a shopping center that was dealing with power issues as well as different intersections in those parts. to bring folks up to date pg&e is deciding to shut off the power in different parts of the bay area and several counties due to elevated fire danger

across different areas. of course this decision is affecting hundreds of thousands of customers who are trying best to prepare for this situation. people getting flashlights, going to the grocery store, to get the ice prepared, all those things for however long these power shutoffs at pg&e will take place and now it's trickling down into the morning commute. we bring you out here to highway 29 as it turns into highway 12 at airport boulevard, the traffic backups as they deal with the issues of the power being off. i want to point out there are charge-up stations available in napa county as folks have to deal with this who are affected by it, those will be available. phase one of the shutoffs in napa county are under way as we speak, guys. >> pete suratos in napa, thank you. we were checking in ourselves the pg&e website has crashed, with all the people trying to figure out if they are going to be the next to be part of these

rolling power outages >> they had that problem yesterday as well, this is a look at what you'll see if you logon to it. some of the people were trying to access it, because it gives the maps where the address is. you can put in your own address or you could before to try to find out if the power outages would affect you. we have the most up to date information as well to try to keep you posted on when that second phase of outages will be coming your way. >> it's a good reminder, stay ahead of this. pg&e just came back up, it's a good reminder get ahead of this. the blackouts in the south bay and san mateo county and parts of other counties begins at noon so get your gas filled up in your car, turn down the freezer and the refrigerator, try to get them colder, keep the door shut, et cetera. get ahead of this now. >> we have cruise throughout the bay area as well. we want to bring you the latest, bob redell right now, we've been tracking this for some time,

known it's been coming. people are just trying to adjust, bob. >> reporter: correct. the big issue is for people is b.a.r.t. is up and running and the answer is yes. b.a.r.t. has been preparing for months with pg&e to prepare for the emergency outages so even if the b.a.r.t. station and the tracks are in an area that end up without power, b.a.r.t. is able to keep those tracks electrified by drawing power from other parts of their transit system. so b.a.r.t. sup ais up and runn and stations in the east bay will have portable generators to keep the house power on, talking about things the power for the fare gates, the vending machines, tickets, and the's ska escalators and elevators. there was concern about caldecott tunnel whether or not that was going to be open. it is according to caltrans.

they brought in generators to keep the exhaust fans that are in those tunnels, they did bring generators in to get those electrified and trying to do the same for devil's slide on highway 1. if you're concerned getng from the east bay and oakland where we're at right now, caldecott is open. yesterday we spoke with the alameda county sheriff greg ahearn, and he expressed some concerns about the fact that with the power out, there could be security alarms that won't be working and criminals might take advantage of that. that's something that his agency is aware of. the alameda county office of emergency service got the war room up and running and why his agency will be on heightened ale alert. here is what contra costa had to say. >> we urge people not to call 911 if it's not an emergency because you could really impact our response time. >> reporter: laura and scott, we're here in downtown oakland, this specific part of the downtown we do not expect to lose power when the blackouts

come here around noon today, but if you are in an area like this and at an intersection, there's no power, no lines, just remember you want to treat that as a four-way stop and scott as you were saying, assume the other guy isn't doing that. be on your defensive driving skills when you come to an intersection without the power on. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> we can all manage if we work together and make this work. >> that's right. check in with mike. are you seeing any slowdowns? >> slowing behind me, there's a lot of slowing in the area where pete was reporting in napa. look at all of the blue whistles signify areas of defective traffic signals unpowered. over the last half hour a dozen from various parts of the north bay the majority along highway 12. we are talking about that for the north bay specifically 29 at

airport boulevard, where our team showed you the big jam and all the folks coming off i-80 and american canyon headed up into napa. early morning because as you mentioned later on in the day starting midday, phase two hits all of this population south of where we're looking at now. that will be a major factor. san jose as they're doing their press conference it's the return home where you won't see a flashing red light, you'll see no signal. be careful. looking over here good news from bob, b.a.r.t. and the caldecott moving fine. a great flow of traffic there, typical pattern and nothing unusual aside from lighter traffic. again a lot of schools off so parents probably had to stay home unexpectedly this morning. we'll see how the later morning commute builds up. highway 1 devil's slide remains open as well. generators in place for both critical tunnels. it's not for the lights but the exhaust fans to keep everything safe in the tunnel. back to you. >> mike, we have power outages

in the north bay. you mentioned san jose. san jose just a minute ago in their press conference said east and south san jose in al maden valley power will go out at noon. >> that's near the santa cruz mountains bridge there and at lum rock area there, they're turning those off because of the threat of high fire danger. >> all it takes is a spark and very dry conditions and the winds could carry some of these fires away very quickly. so that's been the problem here, and so as we look at our wind speed forecasts right now, not yet windy in parts of the south bay, but we are starting to see some of the winds pick up in the north bay as the cold front sweeps from north to south and here is a look at the wind forecast. it takes us hour by hour and shows the entire bay area where in spots like winters and clearlake we could see those winds sustained and gusting over 30 to 40 miles per hour, and then we start to see the winds

increasing this afternoon into the evening for the south bay, but for most of the day it's mostly the north bay and the higher elevations where we will have the highest winds, and so even as we go into tonight into the day tomorrow, it still looks pretty gusty with the offshore wind flow. that's the reason why they highlighted much of the bay area for the potential of some wildfires and shutting off the power. our humidity will stay low as well as we see our humidity levels dropping down into the teens and single digits. not only is it windy but also critically dry. we have a lot of dry fuels out there in the hills and we'll continue to monitor the situation as our temperatures cool off throughout the day. laura and scott? >> thank you very much. we've been bringing you this live broadcast on air, we'll return you to the "today" show but if you'd like to follow the power outages and know what's happening, we will continue to livestream on nbcbayarea.com. >> it is also on our app,

download that and if you lose power, you still got power on your cell phone, you can continue to watch live coverage of what it is that we're doing. we will return our television viewers to the "today" show, the sort of thing you'll see. you'll join us now online. hello, everybody. 7:30, craig's at the table. look at that, simone biles doing what she does best, you know, just making history. we're going to hear from her, another record breaking performance at the world gymnastics championships. says she doesn't care about breaking records, she doesn't care but she just keeps doing it. >> she can't help it. they're naming moves after her. >> and this is just the beginning. like we've got so much more simone biles. >> i know. well, olympics are coming up too. let's get you caught up on some of the stories we're following this morning. we'll start with breaking news, a buildup of turkish troops now at the border with syria this morning. a major military offensive

against the kurds is said to be imminent. turkey says it got the green light from president trump in a phone call with turkey's president last weekend. u.s. troops who fought shoulder to shoulder with the kurds against isis have been ordered to stand back as this happens. the president's decision to withdraw those troops is drawing fierce criticism from both democrats and republicans. a new york couple was sentenced tuesday in the college admissions scandal, gregory and marsha abbot were each sentenced to one month in prison. the couple pleaded guilty in may to a single count of fraud and conspiracy. they paid $125,000 to boost their daughter's standardized test scores. the judge did order staggered sentences so that at least one of them could be home with their three children. now to new details on a story we have been following closely. police in dallas, texas believe they have solved the murder of a key witness in the amber guyger case, saying he was killed in a drug deal gone wrong and that his death had nothing to do with his testimony against the former

officer. nbc's morgan chesky is in dallas and joins us with more this morning. morgan, good morning. >> reporter: hey, craig, good morning, dallas police have named three men from louisiana as the prime suspects in joshua brown's murder. one of them was caught overnight outside of a louisiana hotel room. a second is already in custody, and this morning, an urgent search is on to find that final man on the run who's believed to be the one who pulled the e many to track dow trigger. this morning, a massive multi-state manhunt is underway to track down joshua brown's alleged killer, police identifying thaddeous green as the prime suspect still on the run. brown's death gained national attention due to his role as a key witness in the widely watched murder trial of amber guyger two weeks ago. >> do you recall anyone saying hey, put your hands up. >> no, ma'am >> or show me your hands. >> no, ma'am. >> his emotional testimony was credited with helping get a

conviction and ten-year prison sentence for the killing of their neighbor botham jean police trying to bring brown's killers to justice a second suspect was caught overnight, michael mitchell, a third man who police say was shot in the deal gone bad is now in a hospital guarded by police. what he and anonymous tipsters told investigators went down friday night. >> all three suspects came from alexandria, louisiana to purchase drugs from joshua brown. >> reporter: police say once there, a fight broke out witnesses told police two gunshots followed. brown fatally wounded collapsed outside his apartment complex. as green, who police say fired the fatal shots grabbed brown's gun and backpack and sped off with the two other men >> it looks like it was a silver sedan that looked like it was fleeing from the location. >> reporter: a search of brown's apartment turned up 12 pounds of

marijuana, 143 grams of thc cartridges and $4,000 in cash. they are slapping down the idea that it was somehow in retaliation for brown testifying against amber guyger >> i assure you that is simply not true >> reporter: but his family's attorney insists suspicions will remain unless another law enforcement agency takes over the case. >> i am not implicating the dallas police department, they're already implicated by the high profile trial. >> the one arrest, we know the prime suspect is still at large. what's the latest on the search for him. >> reporter: because all three men are from louisiana, we know the dallas pd has partnered with u.s. marshals to conduct those searches across state lines. all three men face charges of capital murder >> morgan, thank you just ahead, you have a story you've been telling us about >> two kids, born in congo, born

in africa, nhl season is underway, no players in the nhl from africa, these kids will likely change that how they got to this country, how they became hockey phenomes, incredible story. we have new details on that fatal crash involving the wife of the u.s. official in great britain, she fled the country, claimed diplomatic immunity, but just ahead, what is that, and does it apply in her case. we'll get into the issue right after this me realize beautiful ideas. ♪

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>> she left the country, citing diplomatic immun today's senior international correspondent keir simmons has an update on the story. >> reporter: the family of the man killed on the motorbike will head to the british court. they say they will even go to president trump to argue their case that diplomatic immunity should not be used in this way harry dunn's parents insisting they want the diplomat's wife who pled to face courts in the uk. >> we can't understand how somebody could just think it was right to leave and run away, literally run away from killing our boy. >> reporter: is not about punishment, they say, it's about closure. but could be facing a maximum of 14 years in jail if charged with dangerous driving, a lesser charge of careless driving could

mean five years of jail time britain turning up the heat, the american ambassador meeting at the foreign office to discuss the impasse, and british police have sent their findings to the prosecuting authority. we don't know what the findings are or what the prosecutor will decide her claim of diplomatic immunity causing anger and bewilderment. >> diplomatic immunity does not give a get out of jail free card. >> reporter: diplomatic immunity protects diplomats and their spouses, avoiding consequences for a criminal offense, and escaping civil liability in most cases. that immunity can always be waived by the country the diplomat is serving, in this case, the united states. the u.s. embassy saying that action is rare two decades ago, a georgian diplomat's immunity was waived by his country after he caused a five car pileup in washington, d.c., killing a teenage girl in 2003, colombia waiv immunity for a diplomat, later

tried and acquitted for murder in the uk, and immunity conventions playing a key role in the case of julian assange who was refused such protections by the british government. >> the u.s. and the uk always talk about their close diplomatic relationship, the special relationship between our two countries. how does that affect this situation? >> reporter: you know, it's a great question, there is a very close relationship, including important legal agreements, but of course even that doesn't mean there aren't hurdles in the way. and i've reported on plenty of cases, extradition cases from here to the u.s. have taken years to resolve, and what diplomats will be worrying about is that if they make a precedent of what aboufuture cases, diplomatic immunity is an important ingredient that many rely on. at the same time, you have this family putting heavy political pressure on lawmakers here in the uk you know, savannah, this is a case where politics and

diplomacy seem to clash with simple humanity. it is very hard to resolve. >> a lot of pressures on the system for sure. keir, thank you very much. it is 7:42 now mr. roker is standing by looking at some storms, looking at snow as well. >> different sides of the same system, causing big problems we've got ahead of this system from kansas city down into texas, we have 6 million people at risk for severe weather, back through the plains from minnesota all the way to idaho we're talking heavy snow heavy snow for the northern rockies, cold blast of air dropping temperatures as the system pushes through. by thursday, gusty winds, blowing snow, ahead of it, we're looking at heavy rains near white out conditions, blizzard warnings up as well. they will start to extend. we also look for heavy downpours all the way from the u.p. of michigan down to tennessee as this pushes through, rainfall amounts, some areas could be looking at rainfall rates, 1 to 2 inches per hour, causing some

we have a red flag warning in effect, so it's for all of these areas shaded in red today, and it also continues into tomorrow as our winds continue to increase, especially in higher elevations. those high wind gusts come along with some very low humidity. temperature wise we are going to see upper 80s, our mid 80s for tomorrow and warm weather for friday for the inland areas. san francisco will have a bit of a cooldown today, but we'll be in the mid-70s going toward the end of the week. vannah. sunshine just walked in. >> you guys mentioned this earlier, simone biles doing it again, unbelievable what the world's greatest gymnast is saying to us about her record breaking performance, and guys, she's 22, and she's considered the grandma of the team, the only non-teen on team usa. we'll tell you all about it

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>> when the stakes are high, there's simone biles, and there's everybody else the 22-year-old gymnastics superstar seems to soar to even greater heights when the pressure is on she is now the most decorated female gymnast in the history of the world championship, biles snagging her 21st medal in the competition, helping the u.s. win another team goal, fifth straight. >> to show the strength of the u.s. team is amazing and exhilarating. >> biles leading the way for the red, white and blue. her incredible talent on full display, proving she has plenty left in the tank just this past weekend -- >> there she goes. >> and there it is she's done it. >> it was biles christening not one, but two more signature skills that will now bear her

name and her record setting run at worlds is far from over. up next, even more medal chances this week in the individual finals and leave it to the decorated veteran to know that sometimes even the world's greatest athletes just need a little r and r. >> mentally and physically resting as much as we can before we get back out there. >> napping involved. >> oh, yeah, i'm old now, i need to nap >> 22. >> wow aly raisman used to be the grandma. >> if they dedicated a channel to simone, i would watch it all day long. >> no simone channel just yet, w but you can catch her on the all around tomorrow on nbc. >> simone news. >> all right just ahead, guys, everything we all need to know about the arrival of flu season. it's here. dr. oz is standing by with his needle to give us a flu shot.

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thanks so much for joining us this morning. we are continuously covering all the power outages that are hitting, right now the north bay this is the first tier of power outages that happened overnight as people try to cope with the different areas being shut out. the second tier is coming at noon today to many different areas. >> that's right, be prepared if you have not lost your power already, in the north bay, they have lost power in many sections. we have on the phone mark ressenberger from the chp, based in napa. mark, we've seen the lights out there with our cameras and people so far trying to be safe. >> most of the south napa county major intersection lights are black and/or flashing red at this point. >> so how are you people helping

people cope with all these changes up there? i did notice some officers stationed at some of the four-way stops? >> yes, we're trying to get as many personnel out at these intersections to help with the traffic flow this morning. it's difficult because it's widespread. we have 12 in jamison canyon, kirkland ranch is out which leads in from solano county in to napa county, the first light that's out and the big intersection of highway 12 and 29, right by the airport that's out as well, coming all the way over toward sonoma county as you head on 121 and 12, all the lights are out over through there. if people can't or don't need to, use those roads or go that direction either way, that would be a great help. >> staying off the road would probably be the best, and if small companies and whatnot can warn their employees to not come

in, if they could possibly spare it, that might be a good idea as well. >> mark, thanks so much. >> that would be a great idea. if people come to a four-way intersection that's blacked out or red flashing light, treat it as a four-way stop. we don't need to handle any more crashes than we already do and that would be a great help, all the drivers could remember that rule. >> good advice really throughout the entire bay area because we're going to see these rolling power outages condition. marc, thanks for joining us this morning. >> you're welcome. let's bring you up to speed, overnight pg&e started cutting off power to more than 500,000 homes, and businesses in northern california. 200,000 in the north bay. of course this is high fire danger, red flag warning. this is a look at the outages right now, that purple across the north bay is the outages that are under way, this is phase one. >> that's right, the second

phase is set to start about noon and last at least through this evening. outages impact contra costa, alameda and san mateo counties. in the second phase 234,000 homes and businesses will be impacted. let's check in with mike with that commute. >> you know we're looking at the north bay, talked about the traffic signals a bunch are out, highway 12 coming off of i-80 that is the big concern, headed toward the signal out 29th and airport boulevard. caldecott tunnel is open. b.a.r.t. reporting a power issue unrelated to the outages, power issue causing a delay for the antioch line but everybody's sensitive thought we'd let folks know. lantos tunnel lighter commute but standard pattern. >> thank you, mike. join us for our midday news at 11:00. we'll be back in half an hour at 8:25 on the television end to give you updates of everything that's going on. a very busy day ahead. >> always monitor nbcbayarea.com. we will be continuously updating

that. again, the outage map showing the pple with the outages in the north bay. south bay coming at noon. it's 8:00 on "today," coming up, breaking overnight, on the move, turkish troops gather at the syrian border ahead of an imminent attack against a key u.s. ally. this coming after the president's sudden decision to withdraw u.s. troops from the area. we're live with the latest. plus, it's already here, flu season is underway, and experts are warning it may be especially severe. just ahead, what you need to know about the flu shot and we'll get ours. and cheers to the good place. the one and only ted danson will be here to talk about the final season of his hit show. >> i still don't have a grip on the human emotional spectrum. >> and what's next for the

hollywood icon, "today," wednesday, october 9th, 2019. friends for 50 years. >> hey, you all. >> to my boys in missouri, i love you. >> hello memphis. >> hi to my nbc channel 8 family. >> in laredo, texas. >> we're celebrating cindy. >> hi, everybody. good morning. nice to have you up and adam early with us this morning. and it's not just any day or any month. it's an october to remember. >> october to remember. >> real eye opener by the way, tomorrow coming up as we continue our october to remember. we've got a real eye opener for parents tied to the vaping epidemic, a story we have been covering a lot on the "today" show. wait until you see the new ways kids are hiding those e-cigarette devices in plain sight. >> of course we are counting down to friday. it's our international day of the girl.

michelle obama will be making a special announcement. plus you guys, we have a live performance from grammy winner, alessia cara. a packed and fun show on friday, isn't it. >> packed with inspiration, i would say. let's get right to the news at 8:00. all eyes on northern syria as turkey prepares a major military offensive against the kurds. nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. many are saying we are seeing the start of a historic betrayal by the trump administration of an important u.s. ally. many u.s. soldiers in syria had long feared, thought this day would never come, but now it has come. the syrian militia that has fought for four years side by side with american forces to fight against isis, this militia

that lost 11,000 people in the balgttle with u.s. troops is no under attack. turkish artillery, turkish special forces, a turkish allied militia, all in action. crossing the border into syria. the kurds say this is just the start of a wider campaign that they fear will be ethnic cleansing. what turkey wants to do is establish a buffer zone inside of syria right on top of the area where the kurds currently live. u.s. troops, they are still in syria and now they are watching their allies under attack, they do not have orders to defend their allies, they have been told that while they are still in the country, they cannot engage in this fight. they can only defend themselves. and that is why many of them feel that this is wrong and that this is a betrayal. savannah.

>> richard engel, thank you. the white house is escalating its standoff with house democrats over their impeachment investigation of president trump. in a letter yesterday, the white house called the inquiry a, quote, illegitimate attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election it said it would not provide documents requested by the house tied to the president's controversial phone call with the president of ukraine house leader nancy pelosi warned that if the white house continues to block congress it will be regarded as further evidence of obstruction. a jury in philadelphia has ordered johnson & johnson to pay $8 billion in punitive damages to a man who says the drug risperdal caused him to grow breast tissue. he took the drug as a 9-year-old to treat symptoms of autism. he accuses the drug maker of down playing the issue of breast tissue growth in boys. johnson & johnson called the award excessive and vowed

immediate action to overturn it. tampa bay fans had more than baseball to hold their attention during last night's playoff game against the houston astros a security guard took advantage of a commercial break, and he wanted to show off his dance moves. fans were delighted with the dancing. they were watching their team also beat houston in a decisive game five. >> he might a good luck char >> wow >> i mean, he's got the moves. >> sure does. >> moves like jagger. coming up, ready, time for flu shots boys and girls, dr. oz is here to help. he's also going to tell us what to expect with what could be an especially bad flu season bearing down on us. >> the signs are not good. television icon, ted danson, we're going to talk about the final season of "the good place", plus that other show he made famous, maybe the music rings a bell saturdays happen.

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it is flu season al >> dr. oz is here, he's got the gloves on. ready or not, flu season is underway that's how we're getting our flu shots from dr. oz right now. he just did it >> look at you, you're so brave. >> the new evidence that suggests this could be an especially severe season >> from aching pains to sneezing and sore throats, flu season is upon us. researchers are looking at australia's flu season, it can be a good predictor of just how bad americans could get hit in the coming months. the numbers are causing concern as australia has reported six times as many flu cases as last year. >> every year we're looking to see what happens in the southern hemisphere so we can predict how to protect people in the northern hemisphere. when we look at australia, we see not only more disease, we

see more severe disease. >> in the u.s. last season, the cdc estimates 43 million cases of the flu with 5,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths, it's a record breaker as the longest flu season in a decade as for this year, in the last week alone, hundreds of patients have already tested positive for the flu. doctors say people can take a few simple steps to protect themselves >> i would encourage every american to be vaccinated right now because this will give us great protection through the flu season. >> a washing hands with soap and warm water can help prevent the virus from spreading, as can covering up noses and mouths when sneezing and coughing. >> every year we talk about the flu vaccine being somewhere between 40 and 60% affected. there are a few populations at popular risk for influenza, pregnant women and newborn infants and those with compromised immune systems, not only is it important for us to be vaccinated ourselves, it's important that when we are vaccinated, we protect those around us. >> if you do come down with the flu, experts say seek immediate treatment. >> it's important to know we have effective treatments to both make people feel better quicker from the flu and also to prevent spread to other

individuals. >> i'm still alive after the flu shot okay dr. oz is here he's going to give us our shots and break it down. hoda, are you ready. >> talk to me. >> i'll look at the other way. >> can you give shots and talk at the same time >> she's already doing it. you're done already. >> why are you squeezing. >> that jiggle is good it distracts you >> you're done >> who would have thought. >> is this a good match for the year >> we believe it is. we spoke to the cdc, and they delayed the vaccine to make a better match it's always better than 0 and a lot better than 0. >> i just got over, i should have told you, i got over pneumonia and a sinus infection. is it bad to get it.

>> i watch the show so had the idea if you're actively ill you don't want to do it. it's not going to hurt if you're just getting over sniffles or allergies or whatever. >> by the way, that's firm it's not going to be easy. >> by the way, connie is going to give al a higher dose. >> why >> al, you tell us you figured this out >> i was watching msnbc and they had a psa on, if you're 65 or older, you need like this super -- it scared the heck out of me, you're going to die if you don't get this shot, you're old, get it now, because you don't have much longer to live >> this is like when you're getting a drink at the airport, like a double for a dollar, of course i want the double i want the double flu shot. >> al is right >> i'm putting gloves on it. >> he had them on for me too >> you know what we're going to do, connie, you do the easier victim i'm taking carson. >> okay. >> are you going to do it. >> yeah, i'm ready >> it never gets old

it never gets old. >> this is my flu shot shirt >> i actually had a suppository version for you. >> so this is a live strand, right, why do you actually give somebody the flu in order to prevent the flu. >> it's not the live strand. this is actually dead. the one that you use as an inhaler, that one is live. >> that one doesn't work. >> it does work, ages 2 to 50, you can use the nasal, that's a live vaccine, though, which means there's a small possibility it could irritate people around you. this is a dead vaccine anyone who's over the age of 6 months and no matter how old you are can benefit from this vaccine. it's dead, it can't hurt you it realizes it looks like the virus, if the virus hits you, your immune system is primed.

>> when should siri get hers. she's pregnant >> she's at high risk for getting the flu, so they especially should get the flu vaccine. half the country gets the flu vaccine and half doesn't, and they're worried about that if you're worried, for example, heavy metals, like the preservative, they're thiomersal free. >> i have always told you that. >> it's mercury free vaccines, there's no preservative, and most is made in america. >> this is a strand against australias, that's the only thing we look at, australia already had the flu season. >> based on that and other experiences at the cdc, these are strands of viruses that seem to be affecting those people let's target the four strains that are most important. >> what if we get the other strains, could it mitigate the effects. >> it could. >> your flu shot shirt makes you very inquisitive >> seriously >> it's from larry the cable

guy. >> why are older more susceptible. >> it doesn't fight as hard against getting the flu vaccine, sometimes doesn't get enough of a response also if you get the flu, likely having a major complication, heart attack, people with diabetes are at risk older folks don't weather the storm. if you're pregnant, even though you have to take care of two, you're more prone of falling prey to the flu. >> i'm so proud of you, and especially you >> whoa, thank you, buddy, appreciate it. >> i love it it was all worth it for that moment >> you're awesome. >> that's just too much. >> i wear this shirt once a year >> carson also has flu pants. >> i do. i have chickenpox pants, actually >> you can catch more dr. oz weekdays on the dr. oz show. check your local listings. mr. roker, how is the weather. >> let's take a shot at giving you the weather. we are looking at snow making

its way through the rockies and also into the plains we're also looking at heavier showers and thunderstorms pushing to the east, we're watching this system that's developing along the coast going to bring heavy rain, strong winds heavy rain through florida strong storms in the mid-plains, big fire risk throughout the southwest and into california. if you heard the power companies there are actually proactively putting in blackouts to prevent wildfires so that's going to be a very big thing over th good morning. i'm meteorologist kari hall. so, the red flag warning, meaning a high fire danger, continues for bay area hills, and that started earlier this morning. it continues until 5:00 tomorrow evening. and it's because we will have some gusty winds and some low humidity, even as our temperatures continue to fall. we are going to be cooler than yesterday, reaching the upper 70s and low 80s. the rest of the forecast, we will still have some high winds

tomorrow, and then some much more pleasant weather going into the weekend. and that's your latest weather. craig. >> a little pop start. >> let's get to it, everybody. >> i got it on, ready to roll. car pool karaoke, james corden had chance the rapper and got to talking about chance's celebrity friends, including president obama. chance revealing what it's like to call the former president and how it's actually similar to calling up another high profile figure >> i have a -- no, so i don't have a number for him, but i have a number for him. i have a person that i could call that will say, okay, i'll have him call you. that's the same way with jay-z, jay-z and barack obama are very very similar both of them have like an assistant that you have to call, and then you get a call from a private number and it's either jay-z or barack obama the phone. i never know which one it is calling when i get that call back.

>> i feel like if i did that people would go, he doesn't need to call me back now. i've got the only answer i needed he's dead to me. >> you guys have anybody like that in your life, you have to call somebody, they call the somebody you're originally trying to call you have anybody like that call a person to get a person. next up is miley cyrus, the singer has revealed that she has been hospitalized with a case of tonsillitis, she posted a picture with her mom brushing her hair saying how you present yourself can determine how you feel which may explain why cyrus then revealed she has redesigned her hospital gown, looking a little more stylish right there we hope miley feels better soon. the jonas brothers stopped by ellen, where they fell to the scaring scheme they decided to shock and

surprise fans later backstage. >> is there a specific song, something we should sing. ♪ because i'm a sucker for you >> sorry to scare you. >> we're going to take a picture. one -- i'm kidding, we're not taking a picture >> when are we on, what time >> that set shocked. >> amazing >> that's good stuff that is your pop start today >> you got a click for us. >> give you the click. since monday, we have featured a few gender reveals here, and we like to see them fail. this might be the best nonreveal that we have seen because this just gets from bad to worse. >> hit it hard

oh, man. strike out >> oh, my god. yeah, i don't know if he was hitting it they need to stab it, i think. and he has a hard time on the fence there. we did find out, you want to guess what they're having, i know they told us. it's a girl. there you go congratulations. >> congratulations. >> thank you, carson. nhl season is underway, hockey fans around the world are rejoicing, and among them, an ordinary american family but they have a really incredible story. >> when you're watching nhl game, you see players from the united states, from russia, from canada, other parts of the world as well. what you will not see is players who were born in africa. but recently we met two young men who will likely one day tw men who will change that. for most players, their journey

to the bright lights of the nhl start places like this, lowly frozen ponds or near empty ice rinks, the same is true of sawyer and simon seidl, they live in stillwater, minnesota, but you could say they never would have put on a pair of skates if not for a fateful meeting at an orphanage. the boy's biological mother had left home one day, and never returned they biological father overwhelmed by caring for his four children put them in an orphanage. his >> i have this epiphany while i'm in the congo, and i'm sitting there going, oh, these two are my children. >> molly and steven seidl had four children of their own, and were almost empty nesters, but they had more love to give molly brought sawyer and simon home in the dead of winter when the boys were just 5 and 3 years old. >> they were tiny. as a matter of fact, i remember holding them both walking through the airport. i felt a bond probably quicker than i did watching my newborns

come >> there was definitely an adjustment period. >> they were like all over the place. they were driving me crazy, they were on the counters and up and down the stairs. they need to be in sports, they need to do something with this energy i couldn't keep up. >> which sports would they play. >> i played hockey these kids can climb up walls. they seem super athletic, i got to put them in hockey. everybody says, they're black, they can't play hockey, and that made me go, i'm going to put them in ice hockey. >> what is it about the game of hockey that you guys enjoy. >> it was the first thing we ever did once we came to the u.s. it was skating and then we started playing. >> did it click immediately. >> we were bad we were really bad we couldn't skate. >> sawyer is now 15. simon is 13. and they have been lighting up the hockey leagues for their age group. simon has received mvp awards at

tournaments in canada, in russia despite their age, the brothers say they know why they're singled out for more criticism than their teammates. >> most hockey players don't look like us. >> hmm-mm. >> is that ever a problem on the ice? >> when it's either the game is getting so heated or aggressive that the white guys started like their way of chirping me is calling me the n word. >> really? >> that's when it becomes a problem for me. >> has it ever happened to you >> oh, yeah, it's happened to me i would say look at the scoreboard because most of the time whenever they start calling me the n word or start saying racial stuff it's because we're winning or i'm doing way better than them. >> it's hard for their parents to see and hear. >> a lot of people don't know i'm their dad because i don't look like them i'm able to hear some of the things people say. that's why i don't sit in the

stands because i get in trouble with some of the things i hear. >> they bear these challenges as a family, together their eyes are down ice toward the future >> what are you doing five years from now >> hopefully in college playing college sports. >> hockey? >> hockey, football, track, i don't know, whatever one i do better at. >> i hope it's something with sport, but if it's not, i don't know, engineering. >> no matter what they do on or off the ice, they know their biggest fans are at home >> i do think that because of where they came from, they do remember that, i think they have the american dream >> simon and sawyer both said it would be a dream to play in the nhl someday. they also football players, they'll likely be in the nhl. >> i want to see the movie where they win the stanley cup. >> it's coming and they have one sibling adopted in pennsylvania, another adopted sibling with a military family in asia as well they said they would like to at some point go back to the congo,

and find out what happened to their mom, their biological mom. >> do their siblings keep in touch. >> they do a lot of facetime. >> some of that racial stuff was shocking. >> i was stunned >> not sitting in the stands because of it. what's going on? >> i know. it's horrible. >> and mom and dad said unfortunately it's something they have grown accustomed to. sadly. >> they are great sports. >> yeah, they are. >> by the way, speaking of hockey, wednesday night hockey is back tonight. it's the new jersey devils taking on the philadelphia flyers coverage, 7:30 eastern only on nbcsn. all right. just ahead, look who's over there. icon ted danson is in the house. excited. >> yeah. >> plus you see him everywhere, even if you don't know the term, our resident hip correspondent, savannah sellers explains, i don't know what this is, visco

girl she's going live on the internet and we're going to be so embarrassed after your local news i have no idea what it is. good morning to you. it's 8:26. i'm scott mcgrew. >> and i'm laura garcia. breaking news that we're following, pg&e overnight launching that massive controlled power outage, leaving some 200,000 homes and businesses in napa county in the dark. across northern california, meantime, 500,000 homes and businesses have no power, and it's all due to extremely high fire risk. >> let's show you a look at the outages in effect. that large swath of purple there in the north bay, those are the current outages, and more are coming today. the second phase of outages will happen at noon and will include contra costa, parts of it, along with santa clara, alameda and

san mateo county. >> kari hall's been tracking the red flag warning. >> we are starting out this morning for most of the bay area some very light winds. we've seen a few gusts on some of the higher elevations. this is a look outside in walnut creek, where you have the view of mt. diablo and i've seen some of the winds there gusting at about 45 m per hour so far. and then we are seeing the red flag warning, the high fire danger for the higher elevations above 1,000 feet. notice that it does not include some of our low-lying areas, and we won't feel the winds picking up until about later on today. so, the problem today will be the high winds, some of the low humidity. temperatures will not be an issue. so, if you're not having power at this point, it's cold this morning, but we will have some comfortable weather later on today. as we reach into the mid-70s for oakland, we'll see some upper 70s in the tri-valley and some low 80s in spots like antioch and concord, and as well in napa, to 80 degrees today. we will see the humidity levels dropping. this is a look at the forecast for relative humidity going into

8:00 this evening. and notice that we do have some single digits but a lot of teens here, especially in the north bay hills. humidity will be a little bit higher, so it takes a little bit of a spark, some dry brush, and some winds to carry it. and with humidity levels this low, those fires can spread rapidly. so, we'll continue to monitor that throughout the day. we do still have some high winds in the forecast for tomorrow as that red flag warning continues until 5:00 p.m. after that, friday looks like a very pleasant day, but it will be breezy going into the weekend as we keep more of this same weather, upper 70s and low 80s in the valleys, while san francisco will have a slight boost in temperatures through the end of the week. we'll have more updates on that. mike, how's it looking on the roads? >> overall, looking good on the major highways, but we're focusing on the nor bay, because with the planned outages, all morning we are seeing more reports of local signals out. and we know this. we've been warning folks. but i call your attention over here to the one, westbound highway 12, basically highway 29 at highway boulevard, highway 12

turns into that heading toward the napa airport. we have a big jam. local traffic control in the area, so things are moving much more smoothly now, but plan on that delay. and the local signal issues are a factor for the north bay, where the highways are their local roads, for the most part. we're looking at a change as we implement phase two in the rest of the areas south of there later on today, so we'll watch for those changes. but right now we're still worried about the caldecott tunnel, which remains open. generators in place. same thing for the lantos tunnel, generators in place there to keep those exhaust fans moving. no major problems for the roadways and b.a.r.t. is recovering now from a 20-minute delay on the antioch line. power issues, unrelated. back to you guys. >> all right. many pg&e help centers are popping up across the bay area as well this morning. >> bottled water, bathrooms, places to charge your devices are provided via a stadium, s y staying open until the sun goes down. and contra costa has the bishop ranch parking lot in san ramon

offering help. we have a full list at nbcbayarea.com. we're goio have lot more coming up on our midday newscast. you could also turn to nbcbayarea.com for the very latest. hey, everybody, it is 8:30 on this wednesday morning. it is october the 9th. we have a rocking and rolling crowd out here, and i don't know, craig, i don't know how you found a crowd moment because there are so many. >> we got a good one i think we got a good one.

>> we're ready >> i'm looking for rudy and diane. >> which one are you >> i'm carol. >> this is diane. >> this is rudy. your son says dylan replay, what does that mean. >> we were here in 2016, and she was pregnant so we had to come back in 2019. >> how about that. >> we just want to know when the third one is coming so we can schedule our next trip >> you know what, where's dylan dreyer, she can tell you meet rudy and diane from michigan >> it's the replay >> oh, but wait, there's more. carol, you're here with helen? >> helen and janet. >> and you're big fans of someone else. >> sheinelle. >> sheinelle jones. >> i saw her there she is, there's the pride of philly. >> how are you >> thank you >> there's a crowd moment for you. >> how about that.

>> quite the crowd moment. >> that was awesome. when she has her third, you guys come back. >> i don't have a third on the calendar yet three more years coming up, did you see a legend in the studio, because i just did ted danson, he's here, we're going talk about his legendary career, and the final season of "the good place", apparently ted did not keep a secret well maybe we'll find out what the finale is. >> i like that >> they have a certain look and their own language just what exactly is visco girl. savannah sellers will explain all. >> do you know what that is? >> i have no idea. >> somebody said maybe an editing system for mobile. >> plus, you want to cook like a famous chef. guess what, you're in luck the legendary jean-georges is here with essential recipes you can pull off in your own kitchen. the 3rd hour, the queen of

tv dramas, shonda rhimes, what she had to say about her success, her family, and her next big project, and we're talking about natural hair, which is why we're all going natural today. >> you go to dr. oz, and get your flu shot. >> wait until tonight, you won't be able to move your arm. on the fourth hour, one of the biggest country stars on the planet, kenny chesney, but first mr. roker. >> earlier, craig complimented sheinelle on her hair. >> like diana ross. >> and i said thank you. >> you did with one finger, but that's another thing >> let's show you what's going on >> there are no secrets. >> the number one hair style ocean storm off the mid atlantic coast, going to cause problems, fire risk out west, especially in california, winter storms in the western plains, tomorrow, much colder, more heavy snow, making its way through the plains heavy thunderstorms in the mid-mississippi river valley rain and wind especially in new england. those santa ana winds are going to be kicking up the high fire danger, going to be a big problem.

that's what's going on around the country. good morning. i'm meteorologist kari hall. as we take a look at our high fire danger map and the red flag warning that's in effect for our bay area hills, this will continue through 5:00 tomorrow evening as we encounter some gusty winds and low humidity, but it will also be cooler with high temperatures today reaching the upper 70s and low 80s. we're up to 77 in san jose with san francisco seeing a high of 67 degrees. we'll see more weather like this with some gusty winds through tomorrow, but then as the winds calm down, we do keep the comfortable air throughout the weekend. take us with you get your siriusxm on your connected device and you can listen all day long. carson that's what happens at the end of "the good place," you all just die ted danson is here such a good show, series finale, why. we have to talk about this we're going to chat with mr.

nson about this. this is "today" on nbc welcome to the carnival 30 minute tour.

hey, shaq. it's a 30 second tour. no man it's like... now it's 26. welcome aboard. ocean! skyride. mini golf. relax! relax! relax! you take this man to be your husband? i do. married. no time for basketball. pool. carnival. choose fun.

we're back with television legend, ted danson, he's been a busy guy these past few years, busy guy these past few years, starring as starring as michael, the demon turned friend in "the good place" the hit show is in its fourth and final season, still a lot of work to be done as michael and his team save humanity michael is having a hard time figuring out the human thing >> i don't have a grip on the human emotional spectrum you are happy when you should be sad, and angry when you should be happy, and texting when you should be driving, which is not an emotion i know, but it's insane the point is in this case, even if it's not rational, you're allowed to feel a little angry let yourself off the hook.

process it and work your way through it, and get your shirt together an we be a little angry and process the fact that this show is ending. carson was just outraged over here going why, why does it have to end. >> it was surprising when we all heard it usually the network cancels you at the last second when you thought you were coming back this case, mike shore, very elegantly said he was in the writers room they were starting to write the last season, and they realized that they would have told their story by the end of that season, and this is how the universe works, we think, and to pad it would be wrong but what was lovely for the cast is we got to say good-bye to each other for a whole season, and relish being together because we knew it was coming to an end. >> and did you kind of feel that way, we were looking at each other like wiping the tears. >> it got very confusing, the characters were sad about things sometimes, and so were we.

you couldn't deny it >> i know you're not supposed to tell us how it all ends. >> i'll tell you everything. >> just go spill it. do you think it's a good resolution, are we going to be in a good place about it >> yes, you will >> i wish we were talking after you had seen the entire season it's so satisfying, emotionally, and philosophically. part of you thinks, yes, it may not be that way, who knows but it should be >> i heard you teared up when you first read the script. >> we all did. it was just mike shore, really a wonderful writer and his writers that he assembled around him it's about decency, there are consequences for our actions >> it's kind of a feat to pull off, a show that's funny but also thought provoking. >> well, with that, you need to sprinkle 9-year-old fart humor and it goes down. >> it's a little palette cleanser. >> i saw on twitter that you do your own snts, i think we have video. >> really. >> i think we can roll the stunt

video. oh, they're pulling it >> they're talking about me. >> no, that wasn't a stunt that was actually a mistake. i just fell. >> you just fell, and you're like tom cruise, like mission impossible right there >> i think they're just showing it on a circular clip there, because i only did it once. >> you did it one time, but you nailed it. you're that good you are a legend >> soon to be a national treasure. >> i think you are a national treasure let's upgrade you right now. >> a few more years. >> do you think it's icon, then legend, then national treasure. >> yes, i do >> but you're also america's sweetheart. >> not so much >> yeah, you are. >> no, you are >> i don't think guys are america's sweetheart. >> i meant that as a compliment, though you're like america's, what would be a good one, what's the equivalent. >> buff dude. >> exactly stud, just great, all around fabulous guy

how's mary, your lovely wife. >> mary's wonderful. we just had our anniversary, 24. >> talk about life accomplishments. >> yeah. >> that's awesome. >> we're blessed we are 100% blessed. we're in vancouver because that's where she's working, shooting an nbc show >> keep it in the family >> yes, that's awesome >> can i see the name, zoe's extraordinary play list. keep your eye on it. it's an all out musical. >> does mary sing. >> she does now. >> tell her to come by and see us we're glad you brought up dancing. with the roll of the tape, do you remember this from season 3 when you learned to floss. >> this is not dancing, this is dental hygiene. >> flossing. >> you know, let's see >> that was day one. i never heard of it. >> you don't, like, seem totally convinced that you want to floss there. >> no. come on. give the older gentleman a break. >> now you can teach mary your

moves and she can use them in her new show too >> a week of chiropractor. >> thank you so much >> pleasure. >> dr. oz is here if you want to get a flu shot. >> i saw him he gave me a rubber glove for some reason as we walked out the door. >> what happens backstage, i don't know "the good place" thursdays nine, eight central here on nbc. check it out. coming up next, do you have any idea what a vsco girl is, i do not, but savannah sellers is going to fill us in on the

announcer: time magazine reports: "the new american addiction. how juul hooked kids and ignited a public health crisis." other news outlets report- juul took $12.8 billion from big tobacco. markets e-cigarettes with kid friendly flavors and uses nicotine to addict them. 5 million kids use e-cigarettes. juul is "following big tobacco's playbook." and now, juul is pushing prop c to eoverturn e-cigarette protections. vote no on juul. no on big tobacco. no on prop c. how you watch it does too. tv just keeps getting better. this is xfinity x1. featuring the emmy award-winning voice remote. streaming services without changing passwords and input. live sports - with real-time stats and scores.

access to the most 4k content. and your movies and shows to go. the best tv experience is the best tv value. xfinity x1. simple. easy. awesome. xfinity. the future of awesome. we're back, 8:44 stay tuned to "today." >> we are about to get hip savannah sellers is here to enlighten us on vsco girls. >> are we saying it? >> are we vsco girls >> no, that's okay you'll find out why in just a

second it's a lot about your look, and everything and you guys will see. if you have teens at home, you may have seen catch phrases and fashion trends on your tween and teen daughterstween and instead of explaining a vsco girl, we decided to chat with both of them. >> even if you've never heard the term vsco girl, you might already know them from the sound. >> and then it's like the vsco girl laugh. >> what is it again? >> baggy tee's, scrunchies and a hydro flask. >> some take their hydro flask and a metal straw, and oversized t-shirt, and jean shorts that the oversized t-shirt covers. >> it's not like all this stuff became a thing because of vsco, it's been a thing, just now since it's a trend, it's more popular. >> it's the look of a so called vsco girl. the trend dominating teen and

preteen girls in fashion and on social media >> it's about what you wear, and like what you say, and like kind of how you act >> okay. >> it's like a lifestyle, kind of. >> it's especially huge on tictoc, an app where users post videos that's beloved by gen z, where they joke about themselves and a trend that they're apart of. >> keep that, don't even worryn where they joke about about that >> and i oop, it's an oops. >> you're very good at it. >> new catch phrases aside, the trait of a vsco girl is how simple its components. the came comes from vsco, a social media app for editing and posting photos but doesn't count likes or comments, think instagram without the pressure

of tracking numbers, a low. >> it's defining a generation that's figuring it out they're safe to be who they are, and not doing it for other people they're doing for themselves. >> even if many of the vsco girls themselves don't actually use the vsco app, the name stuck thanks to the similar come as you are mentality. >> they're like, be yourself, and don't do it just because it's the trend and it's popular. >> so good >> we don't need more vsco girls. >> like be what you want, and not what everyone else is. >> which is a pretty positive philosophy for any generation. >> oh, my gosh we're not vsco girls >> now we get it. >> i told you, but you do get it one thing that i thought was cool that the ceo i interviewed there also mentioned was that some parents will go and find their children's vsco accounts and they're like this is actually the daughter that i know it's a little bit more real looking, what they're like, rather than this curated look on instagram. >> also no likes, that's cool.

>> they can be themselves. >> absolutely, which a lot of other apps are experimenting with. >> what's the language, like pig latin, like minions. >> why are you the old man on the porch. >> it's a whole language. >> it really is. >> do you speak it >> the two real things are the tisk and i oop. >> there's a vsco girl deep down inside >> it was born out of these memes that came up on tictoc is where that all came from what's funny is i think a lot of parents who might have teen girls heard that and they're like, oh, my goodness, that's what my girls are doing all the time >> it seems harmless. >> exactly, it really is >> thank you, you can catch more of her on nbc news, stay tuned on snapchat, instagram, and tictoc >> i feel like i still have so many questions we can keep talking. >> explain it all, thank you, savannah al is with jean-georges.

>> sharing recipes that made him the kitchen legend that he is, first, that's all folks, this is "today" on nbc that

this morning on "today" food, culinary legend jean-georges, his career has brought every accolade a chef can receive, now taking pen to paper, writing a memoir he hopes will help future generations in the kitchen. >> for more than four decades, jean-georges has been recognized as one of the most important chefs in the world, with nearly 40 restaurants in a dozen countries. the multi michelin starred restauranteur is synonymous with fine food. his latest dish is a memoir and a love story to his craft. jgv, a life in 12 recipes. >> a reflection of my life, try

to pass along my experience, my inspiration. >> his journey, starting with the humble beginnings of his childhood in france. >> food is part of every family. food and wine open up. >> through apprentice ships, travels and the opening-his first restaurants, a moment in time jean-georges hopes will resonate. >> it could apply to any job, you know, it's a lot of hours of work, traveling, i just want to try to inspire people. >> a life made up of more success than failure. >> the passion of everything comes along, but it starts with a good heart and from that, you can build whatever >> chef, what an honor to have you here this morning. we can't get in any of your restaurants, so this is great for us you write in the memoir, you dropped out of high school. >> at 16. >> my mother was a great cook. she teach me how to eat, how to season

how to, you know, they took me for my 16th birthday, i fell in love with it today one part ketchup, one part soy sauce. one part vinegar, mix together on soy >> hot sauce, got it >> so the knife work here is the vegetables, cutting all of those vegetables, you can use two, three, i'm using seven here. so blanching vegetables, boiling water, salt. >> get heat, cook it, stop the cooking process quickly, is that right in. >> 30 seconds, stop the cooking very fast. and then what we do, we shock it in ice water >> you are already eating the cod. it looks so good as does every dish >> and then all my blanched ook. as does every vegetables i'm adding some capers, some

saffron. >> why do you blanch them. >> do you ever eat fast food, do you ever eat popeyes. >> this is ketchup here, absolutely i do. >> have you ever ordered pizza >> i do sometimes. shake shack. >> shake shack >> i do sometimes. shake shack. >> shake shack. >> score one for >> score one for us. >> so i mix all my vegetables together leave it for ten minutes. >> beautiful >> here's my cod she's going to season it salt, pepper. >> just that's it, salt, pepper, is that olive oil down. >> in a hot pan, just adding the cod to it. >> how difficult is it to get the cod cooked just right. >> wow, look at that >> three or four minutes on each side and resting time as well. >> cod melts in your mouth, i'm sure. >> delicious. >> sauce to die for. >> ketchup, soy, vinegar, butter, a little sauce. >> you just plate that

>>ikthis sauce >> adding a little bit of blanch basil and olive oil. >> of your 40 restaurants in 12 countries do you have a favorite, is that fair to ask. >> you know, i like to go to all of them. i love them all. >> you have one in asia that seats 14 people, it's very small. >> that's correct. that's in tokyo. >> in tokyo, yeah. >> there's the plating. >> we should get in for next year. >> hopefully the olympics, yeah. >> the takeover. >> i'm putting my fish on top of the sauce, adding more vegetables. >> that is gorgeous. the plating is beautiful what is this thing here, this is beautiful too. >> cod with ketchup. >> cod with ketchup. simple this is a black sea bass in a pastry crust. >> whole fish, head on, everything. >> look at that. that is beautiful. >> let me give you a little bit of that ketchup, it goes with everything the chicken, bass. >> do you cook for yourself at

home. >> i do on the weekend for my family >> dessert >> chef. >> what do we have here? the dessert. >> that's the chocolate cake i started that in 1987 it actually was a mistake. what was supposed to be a chocolate cupcake, put all the cakes in the oven. >> and there it is. >> it dropped. >> jean-georges, today.com/food, get the book, it is fantastic. jgv, a life in 12 recipes, chef, thank you, we appreciate it very much i'm going to get some doggy bags to go. good morning, everyone. it's 8:56. i'm scott mcgrew. >> and i'm laura garcia. breaking news, pg&e overnight launching a massive controlled power outage, leaving some 200,000 homes and businesses in napa county in the dark. across northern california, meantime, 500,000 homes and businesses have no power, and it's all due to extreme higher fire risk. >> more power outages are

coming. a live look at the outages already in effect. the purple across the north bay. those are those outages. more coming today. the second phase expected to happen at noon will include parts of contra costa, santa clara, alameda and san mateo counties. while lots of schools are closed, we just heard san jose unified will remain open, even the schools that don't have power. let's go to meteorologist kari hall, tracking that red flag warning. >> yeah, so, we are experiencing the red flag warning for elevations above 1,000 feet. so, it's for the hills across the bay area, from the north bay down to the diablo range, east bay hills as well as the santa cruz mountains. notice it does not include the valleys, as our temperatures will be cooler today as this cold front moves through, but it also brings about some gusty winds. and so far, our wind gusts have been in the high elevations. get synced in with nbc bay area on instagram. i'll see you there.

>> altamont pass at about 26. at henry coe state park, about 23 miles an hour and morgan hill 22. the rest of the day will be breezy, humidity slow and it will stay with us throughout the day tomorrow before winds gradually subside going into tomorrow evening. then for friday, we have a calm day, mild temperatures, but it will be breezy as we go into the weekend with high temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s. san francisco windy for the next couple of days and then breezy for fleet week activities this weekend. mike, how are things looking out there on the roads? >> you know, kari, we have the power disruptage for the north bay, so all morning we've been gathering more reports, among around highway 12, but creeping around to napa with signals out. treat them as four-way stops. in the north bay, highways are the local roadways for the most part. highway 12 coming off i-80, there is traffic and chp guiding folks through the intersection where the signal has been out all morning. that's the worst of the

problems. highway 29 at airport boulevard. the rest of the north bay does move smoothly. we've had a good flow of traffic and lighter through most of the day. caldecott tunnel and lantos tunnels are open with generators in place. no major delays, but with phase two kicking in about midday, we'll watch for the local impact as well down here. back to you. >> all right. thank you very much. well, many pg&e help centers are popping up across the bay area this morning. >> water, bathrooms, places to charge your phones being provided. san jose's stadium is one location that's open this morning. it will stay open until the sun goes down. each county will also open at least one community center. in contra costa county, that will be the bishop ranch parking lot in san ramon. there's a full list on our website, nbcbayarea.com. if you do have power this morning and you're unsure if you're going to lose it later today, there are some things that you can do. you can fully charge your cell phone, crank down the temperature in your refrigerator and freezer to try to keep your food from spoiling.

if you have an electric garage door opener, figure out how to open that door manually. continued coverage online, nbcbayarea.com. . live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza, this is the third hour of "today." good morning welcome to the third hour of "today." i'm al, along with morgan radford with us here this morning. morgan reporting on a story we covered in the past but there are some troubling new allegations about our former colleague, our former "today" anchor matt lauer. this is really disturbing stuff. >> it's a hard story to tell because overnight "variety" said they obtained a copy of "catch and kill" written by ronan farrell. the xlabt led to lauer's firing in