breaking overnight, a deadly volcano erupts half a world awa small island off new zealand and a crucial day ahead in the impeachment inquiry as the white house delivery of the formal articles of impeachment one of the biggest influences on america early childhood education has passed this morning we will remember caroll spinney who brought big bird and oscar the grouch to life we've got the big takeaways. and the world has a new universe as we kick off the week it's monday, december 9th, "early today" starts right now >> good to be with you this

morning. i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena. we begin with breaking news this morning from new zealand at least one person is dead. police say that number will likely increase after a volcano erupted on white island, which is a popular tourist attraction about 30 miles northeast of new zealand's coast. police say about 50 people were in the area. 23 have been transported to shore. emergency crews say most of them required medical treatment officials say the island is covered in ash and at this stage it's too dangerous for rescue services to go there royal caribbean cruises told nbc news that they had guests tourine status of r passengers now to the fbi who is expanding their investigation into friday's deadly shooting at the naval air station that left three people dead. federal investigators say they are moving forward as if the shooting was an act of terror. one of the deputies shot and killed a suspect investigators say the shooter mohammed alshamrani was a second

lieutenant in the royal saudi air force and legally bought the gun he used in his shooting rampage. here is nbc's dan shenniman. >> reporter: the investigation goes on. >> we are as, as we do in most active shooter investigations, work with the presumption that this was an act of terrorism >> reporter: the gunman identified to nbc news is 21-year-old mohammed alshamrani, an aviation student from saudi arabia investigators say he opened fire inside a classroom on the base killing three, wounding ten others, including two sheriff's deputies no one has been arrested >> our main goal right now is to confirm whether he acted alone or was he a part of a larger network. we currently assess there was one gunman >> reporter: among the dead joshua cat watson from alabama his brother writing on facebook

that watson directed first responders to the gunman despite being shot several times mohamed hatham of florida was also killed. the former high school principal called him the salt of the earth. >> he wanted to give back and he wanted to do good things i just felt like he was headed in that direction. >> reporter: a procession carried the three who died back to the base. it was lined with flags, flowers, and mourners, paying their respects nbc news the stage is set for an historic showdown in washington as congress forges ahead with impeachment hearings today members of the intelligence committee will testify before the judiciary about their findings on whether president trump tried to pressure ukraine into investigating his political rival joe biden. democrats and republicans will each present their side, and it's up to judiciary members to take the next step meanwhile, the white house has confirmed that it will not participate in any upcoming hearings, calling the inquiry, quote, completely baseless

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more >> reporter: a working sunday on capitol hill, impeachment headquarters >> we are continuing to prep for hearings while behind closed doors a t dress rehearsal before laying out the evidence >> i expect us to get all of our ducks in a row >> reporter: the house judiciary committee is expected to take several hours monday as evidence against the president and testimony from past witnesses is presented to the country and the committee. chairman jerrold nadler would not commit to a timeline but expects articles of impeachment could be written this week >> my goal is to do it as expeditiously but as fairly as possible depending how long it takes. >> reporter: perhaps the biggest unknown, the scope of the allegations democrats will pursue, limited to the ukraine saga or including aspects of the mueller investigation. >> well, it's certainly abuse of power. it might be abuse of obstruction

of congress and is not cooperating. >> reporter: in florida saturday night, president trump made his peril a punch line >> i've got some good news i've got people trying to impeach me >> reporter: his gop defenders argued that house democrats have only convinced themselves. >> it's not just that democrats can't persuade people like me who support the president. they can't even persuade people like will hurd who are critics of the president >> they have looked at the facts. they know wherwe gets a little competition with the expected release of the inspector general's report from the department of justice on the origins of the russia investigation into the trump campaign and officials who ha eenly drafts of this report say they expect it will find some mistakes made at the fbi but that overall the origins of that investigation were lawful however, president trump has already been claiming that this

report will be the day's big story. phillip? >> all right, kelly. thank you. the loss of the man behind the magic has a lot of hearts breaking this morning. the artistic genius who helped shape and define sesame street has died caroll spinney, the man who made big bird and oscar the grouch died sunday at his home in connecticut. fans scattered flowers, but it was spinney who made generations of children feel like they always had a friend. here's nbc's harry smith >> reporter: 50 years ago caroll spinney was a puppateer in search of a purpose when muppet creator jim hensen asked him to join his creation. ♪ and won the day-to-day goin o that. see, it's got letters on it.

>> reporter: a character without guile. 8'2" bird >> i was one of those kind of kids who wanted to do the right thing. that's what big bird is always trying to be is be a good kid. >> reporter: awkward, flightless, and sweet, big bird was the perfect counterpart to ostor the grouch who was also played by spinney. >> oscar's kind of cool. it's fun to play somebody very different than oneself on the other hand, big bird is my kid in some ways i love him best >> reporter: big bird brought him all over the world, opened his mind and nurtured his soul thank you, caroll spinney, for 50 years you have been our fine-feathered friend. harry smith, nbc news, caroll s5 another loss in the entertainment community, "ar" an his home the cause of death was metastic

lung cancer. he earned an emmy nod in the sitcom "benson" and he played in star trek deep space nine. it is a terrible loss of a caring man renee was 79 protests in hong kong have now reached the half-year mark marchers poured into the streets. 800,000 joined the demonstrations protests evolved into a push for broad political reform as night fell, protesters braced for possible confrontations with law enforcement. spacex's dragon's space craft successfully docked at the international space station. the dragon, a reusable cargo space craft lifted off thursday from cape canaveral for a

resupply mission >> it was loaded with more than 5,000 pounds of cargo when arrived at the orbiting space hub. this is spacex's 19th mission. we are heading back to work, and back to school let's check in with meteorologist vanessa webb >> are you guys ready for some rain >> i guess we are ready or not, here we come >> it is generally going to be consistent across the north and northeast. it's already starting to brew this morning from chicago all the way into new york city right now it's on the light side but will continue to rev up in the next 24 hours. and this extends allhe afternoon look at new york city to boston. up to 2 to 3 inches. this won't be a ton of rain. but it will definitely be consistent now let's talk about the good a tae of warmth isn. it's a warm front associated with this next storm system. look at these daytime highs.

charleston, west virginia, a high o 2 degrees today will continue to be in the single digits for the upper midwest. 57 for new york city >> the trade-off, warmer temperatures, but i promise you i will show you when that cold is headed our way. >> it's bound to come back all right, janessa, thank you. there is a new queen of the universe >> new miss universe is south africa >> from south africa was crowned the winner of this year's miss universeshe beat out nearly 90 n

from across the globe. it was hosted by steve harvey. ms. puerto rico and miss mexico rounded out the top three. a scare on snapchat leaves a 12-year-old in serious trouble and a political twist on a christmas tradition. a methodist church sparking contribution by caging its nativity scene you are watching "early today. so, try febreze fabric refresher febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics (bubbles popping) and cleans them away as it dries. use febreze every time you tidy up to keep your whole house smelling fresh air clean. fabric refresher even works for clothes you want to wear another day. make febreze part of your clean routine for whole home freshness. ♪la la la la la. good mormore treatment? we're going to try something different today. hi! awwww, so pretty. dogs bring out the good in us. pedigree® brings out the good in them.

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felon. it happened friday the deputies approached the man's truck to make an arrest who then hit the gas andne did. one deputy got dragged and the other was in the truck when it ran off the road the suspect was taken into custody. rising chicago rapper jared anthony higgins also known as juice wrld died this morning she was considered at the forefront of the emo rap scene police say he suffered a medical emergency after arriving at chicago's midway international airport and died shortly after at a nearby hospital tmz reported that the rapper had a seizure after the flight from california. an autopsy is set to be completed today. several artists memorialized higgins in social media posts. juice wrld dead at the age of

21 a methodist church in los angeles has stoked debate after displaying their nativity scene inside cages it's depicting the biblical story of jesus in the context of u.s. immigration policies. the church's senior pastor says the nativity is meant to highlight the plight of migrants and refugees he says the church often uses its nativity scene to tackle social issues. just ahead, we have highlights from a wild week, 14 in the nfl and "frozen 2" puts the competition on ice again at the box office how much the blockbuster brought in over the weekend. recommend cascade platinum... ...with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. for sparkling-clean dishes, the first time. cascade platinum. is skincare from around the wobetter than olay? olay regenerist faced 131 premium products, from 12 countries,

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excuse me. i climbed to the north mountain, survived a frozen heart and saved you from my ex-boyfriend and i did it without powers. >> me too. i'll drive >> "frozen 2" is officially a three-peat blockbuster it iced out the competition. knives out carved out a respectable 14 million and ford versus ferrari raced into third with just over $6 million. >> i have a feeling people are going to keee holidays we are close to the en race is fa let's check out the highlights the rams stayed in the running after a stunning win over th je showed flashes of last season's greatness.

he had nearly 300 yards in the air and added two touchdowns while the defense swarmed seattle all night. they sacked russell wilson five times. the rams win it 28-12. and the chiefs punched their ticket to the playoffs by delivering the patriots their first loss at home in 21 games new england which striked first a little trickery from tom brady who connected to julian edelman 37 yards there but last year's mvp patrick mahomes he scienced gillette with that absolute bomb. the chiefs won the game 23-16. but that win nearly didn't happen that's because the chiefs' equipment was accidently sent to new jersey instead of foxborough, massachusetts. and it avoided the first -- what would have been the league's first ever forfeit the ravens also clinching a playoff with a big win over the

buffalo bills. you've got a quick flip from quarterback lamar jackson to nick boyle the ravens would bust it open in the second half. jackson connecting here to haden hurst. baltimore wins it by a touchdown. how about the shootout down in the super dome 49ers and saints put up nearly a hundred points combined. new orleans quarterback drew brees threw for 349 yards and five touchdowns. jimmy g. was no slouch either. he had four touchdown passes and 349 passing yards of his own the 49ers would win it on this kick as the clock hit zero 48-46. we might see a rematch in the nfc championship in several weeks here they lost the game but drew brees topped the list fantasy players this weekend over 40 points jameis winston followed by emmanuel sanders andh trubisky

in anybody's fantasy playoffs. now down to the football guys here top-ranked lsu will take on number four ranked oklahoma. while ohio state is going to play the clemson tigers. those are semi-final games, going to be played on december 28th the winners are going to face off for the national championship to be played on january 13th janessa will have a look at your work week forecast. and watch out. this first step here is a doozie the feiv ting stalakthe height of excitement to a whole new level. you're watching "early today." studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection or flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems,

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vietnam with former first lady vietnam to help share stories on girls pursuing education and empower young women. in part one of the exclusive in-depth interview love the bush/obama connection that we keep seeing. >> let's hand it back over to janessa webb >> good morning. we are tracking this rain this morning from the midwest to the northeast. upper midwest frigid highs with overnight lows down to 25 to 35 below by tuesday we will be right back. tremfya® can help adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. in another study, the majority of tremfya® patients saw 90% clearer skin at 3 years. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to.

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association this morning a live stream of the anonymouses c -- nomination can be viewed 8:00 a.m. eastern time first lady melania trump is getting into the spirit of giving she will be participating in the annual marine toys for tots program hosted by the u.s. marine corps reserve today at noon eastern the trump administration is heading to court this week in two lawsuits today a panel of judges will hear oral arguments about whether members of congress can sue the president for alleged emoluments violations. a world famous festival taking adventure to incredible nail-biting new heights. nbc's gadi schwartz has more >> reporter: they lined up by the hundreds parachutes on their backs but no plane in sight instead, leaping into the great beyond from a platform or a

sciss scissor or even a catapult >> that was awesome! >> reporter: this is west virginia's famed bridge day, the only legal day base jumps are allowed to hurl themselves into the river gorge. the crowd fired up at the sight of the crowd >> reporter: i think they want you to jump. >> whoa! >> reporter: while above a man dressed as eor gets stoked when he spots his mom >> one, two, one see you! >> reporter: around 900 feet below, landings range from spot on to a little rocky and some soaking wet a few bumps and bruises and footage galore and if you're curious, here's a

little taste of what it would be like if humans could fly gadi schwartz, nbc news, fayetteville, west virginia. >> that was incredibly entertaining just to watch from here >> i can't imagine what it was like for them to be jumping. man, the rush they must feel all right. the chinese lantern festival found a home in the northern european nation of estonia dozens of pandas and dragons are featuring elaborate and exquisite bright installation using about 10,000 bulbs to create this magical experience >> this time of year there is only about six hours of daylight thanks for

breaking overnight, details are still coming in as a volcano erupts on a remote island off new zealand. dozens of tourists trying to escape many still unaccounted for.

impeachment enters a new phase. the judiciary committee holds s second public hearing today with a full house vote on articles of impeachment expected before the end of the week another possible shooting thwarted police arresting a man who posted this disturbing video where he mimics shooting pedestrians from a california hotel room how real was the threat? the peloton girl is out with a new ad for