signed and sealed, but when will it be delivered? after a weekend of golf, president trump reversed his course and signed the covid relief bill late sunday evening. details ahead. police name a suspect in the christmas day explosion that rocked downtown nashville. new details this morning. she's been in prison since november 19th. later today lori loughlin is set to be released. worst month to date. the vaccines trickle out here and abroad.

we'll introduce you to one icu nurse who uses her love of music to get through these tough times. "early today" starts now. welcome to the last monday of the year. i'm philipp mena. >> i'm michelle fischer. breaking this morning, president trump signs the covid relief bill avoiding a government shutdown. after calling it a disgrace last week, mr. trump reversed course sending a life line to millions. the president is demanding congress cut back on wasteful spending and renewing his call for increased direct payments. but here's what else is in that bill. 15 billion for performance venues. 12 billion for hard-hit farmers, 14 billion for transportation and 1.3 billion to expand internet to hard to reach areas. the standoff of stimulus payments could trigger a showdown. moments after the bill was signed nancy pelosi released

this statement calling out house republicans and chuck schumer called out senate republicans. the financial fate is happening in the balance this morning. our jennifer johnson has more. >> reporter: after a day spent on the golf course and under immense pressure from both democrats and republicans, pr m president trump reversed course signing a bill with $900 billion in covid relief aid. this averted a government shutdown starting tuesday. sunday several lawmakers begged the president to endorse the package. >> what we need to do is have the president sign that bill today, right now, or else the suffering of this country will be immense. >> reporter: president trump signed the bill after the house and senate agreed to vote on increasing one-time payments to most americans from 600 to $2,000 although many in the gop still opposed that. >> i don't agree with $2,000 checks to people who have had no

lost income whatsoever, which is the vast majority of americans. >> reporter: the bill provides protection from eviction, new loans for struggling small businesses and another $8 billion for vaccine distribution as federal health officials predict another post holiday surge of covid-19 deaths. >> we have a grim month ahead of us. the east coast and west coast and florida where cases are building. >> reporter: the u.s. death toll is now over 330,000 while new cases have shot up from 18 million to over 19 million in less than a week. jennifer johnson, nbc news, washington. experts are warning that the coronavirus pandemic will get darker before we see brighter days. more than 19 million americans have contracted the virus. 1 out of every 17 people and with the death toll over 333,000, that means one american has died out of every 1,000. despite cdc warnings to stay home, the ts a screened more thn

1.1 million travelers the day after christmas. the cdc projects after another holiday surge the u.s. could pass 400 million deaths after january. a new york health care provider is under investigation for potentially giving out unauthorized doses. according to the state health department, parcare may have fraudulently obtained and distributed the vaccine. they offered shots on a first come first serve basis on social media which goes against the state's plan to vaccinate health care workers and nursing home individuals first. vaccination is underway in the european union. it's a shot of relief for workers, health care workers, politicians and elderly. south africa is battling one of those new strains like the one found in the u.k. that seems to

be highly contagious. the country has surpassed 1 million. molly has the story. extra precautions are being taken to contain the variant. >> reporter: that's right. this is highly contagious. scientists are saying it can be as contagious. more than 70% more contagious than the current virus. it's spreading across the world. here in the u.k. where i am in london, we are that he tier 4, essentially a national lockdown. it's spreading in spain, sweden, canada, japan, parts of austria have detected this variant. japan, for example, has shut down all travel from foreign nationals. more than 40 countries have stopped, banned u.k. travelers altogether. the big change at british

airports, the cdc announced last week that any traveller heading from the u.k. to the u.s. would have to show proof of a covid-negative test 72 hours before they fly. they have to show that proof at the airport either hard copy or electronic. failure to show that copy or take a test, they will not be able to board a flight. flight traffic 90% dn from this time last year. most britishationals have not been able to get into the u. since last march. today 15 flights will depart heathrow. we will try to talk to people at theairport. i can't go there but face time. >> molly, thank you for keeping more about the nashville bombing.

they know who is responsible. police have identified 63-year-old anthony quinn warner as the suspect. investigators sequin died in the blast and acted alone. >> reporter: federal authorities naming the man they say is the nashville bomber. >> anthony warner is the bomber. he was present when the bomb went off and he parished in the bombing. >> reporter: the break made from a dna test. investigators matching tissue to an evidence sample gathered elsewhere. federal authorities say all signs point to the 63-year-old but the damage is clear. >> what would make this an act of domestic terrorism? >> it has to be tied to an ideology. >> reporter: nashville police say the rv was playing the 1964 hit downtown.

what came next, a warning to evacuate and a bomb countdown. police rushed to evacuate residents and protect each other. officers shared what happened when the clock ran out. >> i mean, i just saw orange and then him, i saw him stumble and i felt it, i felt the heat, the wave. >> i was telling myself to stay on your feet, stay alive and i take a full out sprint and running towards her to make sure she okay. >> reporter: jeffrey ras mucin was driving his family. >> we go down to the garage, load them in the car. as we're driving away, boom. my wife and son stopped and he totally started to sob and said our house blew up, our house blew up. >> reporter: their home potentially a total loss. >> we had two angels show up on christmas morning in our doorstep and they happened to be

dressed in police uniforms. >> reporter: this morning you can still see that there are parts of downtown nashville that remain closed off because of this investigation. officials say they are closing that perimeter tighter around the blast site and hope to give residents and business owners a chance to get back home soon. >> thank you. just in time to celebrate new year's eve, lori loughlin will be released from prison today. she was serving a two month sentence in the prison scandal. her husband is still serving a five-month sentence. he'll be released in april of 2021. plenty of teams fighting for a playoff position on the second to the last sunday of the. the packers and titans battled under the bright lights and white snow. aaron rodgers turning up the heat on offense. he threw for four touchdowns including this 21 yarder to brown. tennessee kept it close in the first half but green bay ran away with it in the second.

packers plow past the titans 40-14. the colts ran out to a 24-17 lead in pittsburgh. big ben to juju shuster would complete the comeback. pittsburgh rallies to rein in the colts 28-24. the new york jets used nifty trick plays to get ahead of the browns. jamieson crowder throwing this to take the lead. crowder would catch a touchdown from sam darnold. the jets are on a two-game winning streak. they upset the browns 23-16. it guarantees that the jacksonville jaguars will have the first pick in the draft. cowboys are still alive. andy dalton threw three touchdowns not only pulling dallas out of a deficit but blowing past the eagles en route

to a 37-17 victory. that cowboys win eliminates the philadelphia eagles from the playoff contention. if washington beats philly next sunday, then they clinch the division. if they lose, the winner of the cowboys/giants game will be headed to the postseason. time to check in with nbc meteorologist janessa web who has details on the weather. hey, janessa. >> reporter: michelle and phillip, good morning to you both. we have a storm system making its way across the great lakes. it's a bigger weather story that will play out all week long for the southwest to the west, we're dealing with that rain and snow mixture. this will be a coast-to-coast system that will impact the plains first before heading into the east coast. that's why winter weather alerts expand from thedwest.

fargo a little bit of sunshine this afternoon. high of 14. we'll take a look at that week ahead coming up. >> looking forward to it, janessa. talk to you in a bit. with 2021 just days away, workers are preparing times square's iconic crystal balanl r the big drop. this year 194 waterford crystals will adorn the ball called the gift of happiness. a wish for 2021 can become a part of the festivities. you have until the end of the day to submit that so it can be printed on confetti.

>> we all have wishes for 2021, i'm sure. the baseball world mourning edo loss of the king of thespict the complete shutdown of a highway in tennessee stay with us we tested our vitamin b3 formula and beat japan's top moisturizers. south korea's most innovative. and even the $400 french cream. olay regenerist faced 131 premium products in 12 countries, over 10 years. olay's hydration was unbeaten every time. olay. face anything. less sick days! cold coming on? zicam® is clinically proven to shorten colds! highly recommend it! zifans love zicam's unique zinc formula. it shortens colds! zicam zinc that cold! it shortens colds! (chilno-aughs) we're making breakfast!

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tonight, try pure zzzs all night. unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. leading the news, a u.s. army sergeant is in custody after a shooting at a bowling alley in illinois that left three people dead. the suspect has been identified as 37-year-old duke webb police say webb is facing murder charges after he was found at the scene. three men were killed. three others were hurt including a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy. a motive is unknown, but rockford police say that they believe the shooting was random. a suspicious vehicle led police in tennessee to shut down part of a rural highway. dispatchers received a call about the white box truck that was parked there -- was playing audio similar to the nashville

explosion. the truck was parked on a highway, highway 231 in lebanon. that's about 30 miles east of nashville. police sent in a robot that circled the truck checking for explosives, but none were found. deputies did arrest the driver of the truck 33-year-old james turjon he has been charged with two counts of felony filing a false report and one account of tampering with evidence. a statue of breonna taylor was smashed in california. the artist who created that bust is now raised more than $3,000 on a gofundme to have it replaced the baseball community is mourning the loss of one of its most prolific pitchers >> that's it holy cow, what a way to end. a strikeout gets his 300th

career win >> hall of famer phil niekro who died over the weekend. he won 318 games that is the most for a knuckleballer in his 24 seasons in the major leagues the five-time all staur was inducted into the baseball hall of name in 1997. he was 81 years old. if you're looking ahead to traveling in 2021, we've got the tips you need to know before you book those trips >> and even though it may be effective, pleasdoote n use a flame thrower to remove that snow details ahead. daniel... state farm offers surprisingly great rates to everyone. sure you do, tell you what. i'm not supposed to do this, but i'll letcha try the chunk honey. oh...i'm good. but here's the deal, great rates are kinda our thing. you wanna meet the queen? ahhh i'm not dressed for that.

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we have a consumer alert more than 400,000 bottles of excedrin have been recalled due to a manufacturing issue holes that were found in certain bottles of the migraine medication, which include their migraine caplets gel tablets, pm headache caplets no injuries have been reported fears of a covid spike are growing after we learned it was a record-breaking travel week despite the fact that doctors warned people to stay home nbc's kathy park joins us now with details good morning, kathy. >> hey, michelle good morning to you. so, despite the warnings from the cdc according to the tsa more than 1 million people were

screened at airports across the country on saturday. and the numbers were very similar to what we saw on wednesday right before the christmas holiday. now, the cdc, they're obviously recommending people stay at home to reduce the risk of catching the virus as well as spreading it to others now, if you do decide to travel, the cdc geurs people to get tested at least one to three days before you travel and also when you arrive to your destination, consider getting a test anywhere between three to five days after you land, and obviously monitor your symptoms and make sure that you don't come up with a positive test and if you do you want to cancel your travel plans and stay at home a lot of airports across the country are helping to mitigate this crisis by offering testing on site, laguardia is one of those locations. no appointment is necessary. and it is free to travelers. but that is not the case at all the airports so you do want to check in advance. michelle >> all right, kathy, thank you

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the surprising way to save water. it's hard to imagine the struggles the hospital staff members have had to deal with during this pandemic one colorado icu nurse wrote a song about her own experience. here she is in her own words ♪ >> i have loved music all my life music has gotten me through all of the hardest parts of my life. it's really important to me. ♪ we had a day today trudging through the waters trying to keep our heads above ♪ my name's emily. i am an icu nurse at highlands ranch hospital ♪ we've been giving it our all

♪ i definitely think working during covid i've been more stressed than i've ever been ♪ ♪ from what i see we're breakin and no one is listening ♪ ♪ we're battling a giant and we're losing ♪ for this whole pandemic i've had a lot of difficulty putting into words how i really feel about what's going on. so i took a lot of those ideas and kind of just put it all into this song that i wrote ♪ they are scared today ♪ we try to hold them up but there's not enough of us to ease the pain ♪ it's a prettsay d theme to the song, but we do see a lot of families that aren't able to say good-bye to each other, aren't able to see each other we see nurses that are working so hard to get to everyone and comfort everyone, but there's so much to get accomplished and so many people to see that it's challenging. ♪ try to save all the lives we touch but it's not enough ♪ ♪ we're not enough

some people that have heard it have told me that it's exactly what they've been thinking in their heads but haven't been able to say. and i want us to all kind of be reunited in those same thoughts and realize we're all going through it together. ♪ we're keeping our heads above the way ♪ >> really powerful stuff there our thanks to emily and our den v over affiliate steph curry has won half of the nba splash brothers for a really good season he took out his frustrations over the warriors' christmas day loss on the practice court sinking 105 straight three-pointers the full video of this that the warriors posts was over five minutes long he tried to prove that practice makes perfect. but he shot just five for 15 in chicago last night that's still 33% but 105 in a row is the reason

why he's the best long-range shooter in the history of the game >> thanks for watching "early today" with us i'm michelle fisher. >> and i'm phillip mena. for all of you national lampoons christmas vacation

reversing course after threatening to veto president trump signs into law the latest covid economic relief bill we'll tell you what it means and when you'll get paid plus, this offers advice on saving the president's legacy. developing overnight, police are now naming a specific person who they believe is solely responsible for the nashville christmas day attack as millions are traveling over the holidays, dr. anthony fauci issues a new warning about a critical point in