this morning the latest on the deadly winter storm that's taken lives. millions without power. president biden hitting the road for the first time hitting the covid strain a uk strain was found in a 4-year-old as the vaccinations ramp up. leader mitch mcconnell saying he's to blame for the gop troubles days after the senators votes against the impeachment. >> what's behind the wicked spike at the gasoline pump and

are there signs even more pain is ahead. and what's behind the creative success of rihanna's lon jer rain line that crossed the billion dollar mark. "early tod gibson. >> and i'm phillip mena. the brutal conditions that swept across the south and southeast claimed at least 30 lives. officials in texas predict that number will climb much higher as they do welfare checks on the more than 3 million people that are still without power. >> and quite a scene in austin when a grocery store was finally able to reopen the line stretching around the block. for more tonyan going fallout from the storm, here's nbc's morgan chesky. >> reporter: a frigid icy fate facing millions of americans from washington to maine, winter storms claiming at least 28 lives. subzero conditions shutting down

entire states. >> it got a little chilly in here. >> reporter: in texas, new record lows. dallas dipping to negative 2 the coldest day since 1949. >> we're huddled under all the blankets that we have. >> reporter: here in dallas the power outages have been wide spaced more than 3 million households left in the dark, fighting to stay warm. steve rivera couldn't let his wife get any colder, so he turned to a neighbor with a fireplace for the first bit of warmth in days >> over the past three days, how much power have you had? >> basically about three hours all total. >> three hours >> yeah. >> reporter: the same winter blast plunging louisiana into a deep freeze. and in north carolina -- >> multiple houses gone, nothing but a coastal town, leaving three t ta

disaster last night. >> reporter: for many in texas, the fear of another round of snow, and no idea when power is coming back. >> we're just keeping our fingers crossed at some point it will come back on, but for now, we'll continue to live in the 19th century until then. >> reporter: governor greg abbott is calling for accountability into the state's electric council for being anything but reliable. >> thank you. the race to vaccinate seems to be helping to curb the spread of covid-19 tlout the nation at least 55 million americans have received a coronavirus vaccine, and new infections and hospitalizations are down. but medical experts are still worried because vaccine supply problems continue on top of the spread of the mutant strains of the virus. miguel almaguer has the latest. >> reporter: emerging as the pandemic's most serious threat, new variants of the virus are

being discovered in more pockets of the nation. in massachusetts, the uk strain found in a patient as young as 4. in connecticut, authorities now confirming their first case of the south african variant. >> i'm pretty concerned. i feel like this is kind of the last big storm before vaccines really pull us out of this pandemic. >> reporter: with dr. fauci now saying the general public may not have access to vaccines until may or june, another brutal blast of cold weather, put a freeze on new shots in several states, but in seattle, a snowstorm didn't stop 90-year-old fran goldman to walk six miles to get her dose. >> there's no driving, and i thought, what's the alternative, so i decided i would walk. >> reporter: meantimes, super cites like the coliseum at cal state, los angeles, opened for the first time.

>> it's important to get it out there and protect all of us as a group. >> reporter: this man went from a renowned doctor to a criminal. >> i could not waste the stuff. >> reporter: goeckel only had minutes left to give out his last dose before it expired. he inoculated his wife who has underlying conditions and he was charged with vaccine theft the next day. >> what went through your head after being charged with a crime. >> that had to be the toughest day of my life everything collapsed at once. >> reporter: the judge later

released the claim >> reporter: meantime here in the city of los angeles, elementary schools have been given the green light to reopen, but it still remain as question as to when they will phillip, back to you. >> meanwhile education is in flux there miguel, thank you. stieng that top in, in denver, the public school district is to get teachers vaccinated the goal is to have all 18,000 inoxolated by the end of the month. our priscilla thompson has more. >> reporter: kendis, district officials here in denver tell me this vaccine rollout plan is about equity and prioritizing those students who need teachers in front of them the most. so what denver schools did is they ranked their schools based on those receiving free or reduced priced lunch that's how they decided which teachers would be the first to get the vaccine. they started the rollout last

week already more than 3,000 teachers and staff have been vaccinated they have a total of 18,000 folks they'll need to get through, and officials say they're hopeful they'll be able to do it by the end of next month. of course, health officials are cautioning that's going to depend on the amount of vaccine doses they're given per week kendis >> priscilla, just last night, the president said he's hoping things will be normal by the end of the year. our president biden will meet with labor leaders to discuss a covid relief face-to-h americans about how his administration is fighting this pandemic nbc's tracie potts joins us now with more. tracie, as we would expect, covid dominated the conversation last night. >> reporter: exactly it was the big topic of the night at this town hall in wisconsin, phillip, where the president talked about the pandemic he talked about delivering

vaccines he went in detail about the timeline for vaccinations, about getting kids back in school, and he said in terms of dealing with covid relief, it's time to go big. >> by the end of july, we'll have over 600 million doses, nugget to vaccinate every single american we don't know for certain, but it is highly unlikely that by the beginning of next year, traditional school year in september, we're not significantly better off than we are today. now's the time we should be spending now's the time to go big it is estimated that if we pass this bill alone, we'll create 7 million jobs this year >> reporter: education was a big topic, not just getting kids back into k-12 schools, but also college. the president reiterated he wants to make community college

free for every american, but he's dismissing democrats' idea of wiping out $50,000 worth of student loan debts >> i do think that in this moment of economic pain and strain, that we should be eliminating interest on the debts that are accumulated, number one and, number two, i'm prepared to write off a $10,000 debt, but not $50,000. >> reporter: so that was the wrap-up of the event in wisconsin last night it was really dominated by the pandemic but there were questions about former president trump and the impeachment trial. people wanted to know what president biden thought about that he said the last four years were about trump. the next four should be about the american people. phillip? >> conspicuously quiet about the entire impeachment all right, tracie. thank you. coming up on "today,"

savannah will have an exclusive interview with vice president kamala harris. that will be her first interview since taking office. >> yay. >> tracie is excited. >> reporter: . the battle for the republican party is getting ugly it's an all-out war. mcconnell voted to acquit him. the former president unleashed a blistering attack aimed squarely at the senate minority leader. the president blasted the top republican for what he called his dedication to business as usual, mocking mcconnell as a dower, sour, political act, trump promising to back others regarding maga policies. >> congressman bennie thompson along with naacp is suing mr. trump and rudy giuliani over the capitol riots on january 6th

the lawsuit accuses them of conspireing with two extremist groups to block the vote count by storming the capitol. he says he did not incite to cause any violence. we want to get to more weather because extreme weather conditions are on the move nbc meteorologist janessa webb has the details. good morning >> good morning. good morning, everyone our second storm system is starting to form i think the first part of the story is the bone-chilling cold. we continue to be in the deep freeze, even though the windchill alerts have kind of subsided across most areas in the southern plains, but still intact in the upper midwest. we can see temperatures down to 35 below look at our storm. it's moving very quickly and forming across the southern plains, dumping a good amount of snow but we're seeing freezing rain for austin that is not going to help the

power problems that we're going to continue to see in that area. it's a good dose of snow this storm system is a lot stronger than the first one that we just saw. it will race into the mid-mississippi valley to the northeast, something a good 6 to the heat and mild conditions for arizona, new mexico. there's a severe weather side to this storm we should talk about that coming up. >> all right we'll talk to you in just a bit, janessa, thank you. a man's round of golf went from bad to worse in florida when an alligator grabbed his ball the shot landed near a pond on the course and that gator

champed down on it not long after t gator would head back into the pond with their ball we have no idea how they scored that, whether he took a mulligan it truly is a hazard. >> yes, it is. still to come, why spacex is rocketing in value this morning. but brace yourself for more pain at the pump the trouble down the road for gas prices if i can eke out a win, it's going to be a miracle, baby! uh, mr. vitale? it wouldn't be a miracle because geico gives you a team of experts to help manage your claim. it's going to be a nail-biter. no, the geico team is there for you 24/7. geico is awesome, baby! (shouting) too much? i think we got it. yeah. thanks. thank you. geico. great service without all the drama. super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, thanks. thank you. we switched to tide plus downy free. it's gentle on her skin,

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the average for a gallon of regular has spiked 14 cents over the last month alone with the highest increases in florida, connecticut, utah. and in idaho, up 20 cents a gallon. >> it's unheard of seeing a spike in the middle of february when the demand tends to be lower. >> reporter: the price hikes are delivered by a punch, a freezing weather and shouting down of refineries, mostly in texas, and a nur surge in gas as the country begins to recover. >> as global demand comes back in recent months, oil producers have not reached the price and demand it's a sign we're getting back out on the road. >> reporter: here in california, the gas price is the highest across the country gasbuddy predicts a gallon of regular will go up in price

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we're back game of throne stars recently welcomed their first child a representative for harrington announced they had a baby son as they were walking around london. kris jenner took to social media saying she's proud of the work her daughter's put in. madison square garden is said to welcome back fans at knicks' games starting next tuesday. 10%, 2,000 fans can come in. chalk up another win for rihanna, this time for lingerie. geoff cutmore has more on that good morning. >> rihanna showing once again she can hit the right notes when it comes to her business acumen. this fancy brand has only been up and running for only two

years, but already round, which ultimately values this umbrella of products at about a billion dollars, which is quite remarkable for such a young business here. but if it was a good day in the office for rihanna, it was a pretty good day for elon musk as spacex also raised more capital, ultimately $800 million, sending the valuation for that business to $74 billion there is a good reason why elon musk is tha lingerie company. >> that's all that counts. >> much more ahead, including what you can and account do

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jake from state farm, you couldn't find a stand-in that looked anything like me? have you seen mine? like looking in a mirror, right? now that one makes sense. look guys, i don't even have a stand-in. of course, you do. hold on, is that drake?? that's right. drake from state farm. (in unison) like a good neighbor (in unison again) like a good neighbor hey, stand-ins don't have lines. oh, okay. like a good neighbor, state farm is there good morning, everyone do me a favor, friends if you're across the deep south including areas of the southeast, you need to be ready this afternoon and evening there's a potential for severe weather with that squall line making its way across new orleans through parts of the florida panhandle, gusts at least 60 miles an hour, guys >> we have been warned, thanks.

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later. all right. so you've gotten the covid vaccination. now what can you return to pre-covid life and meet up with friends and family, go to the gym, and enjoy all of those activities we've had to stop doing? here's nbc's catie beck with some advice. >> reporter: as the vaccine rolls out and more americans rolls up their sleeve -- >> it feels like freedom, you know >> reporter: a shot of relief. >> my mom lives ten minutes away and i haven't been able to hug her in a year. >> reporter: for some, questions about life after vaccination the doctor says it's a phased approach two weeks after a second dose, it's okay tou can take fewer pr yoon. >> grandchildren may visit keep in mind you can still spread the virus.

>> we're eager to get back to routine. >> you're probably safer to go back to those routines the concern would again be, making sure the staff at the gym, other patrons at the gym are also protected. >> reporter: the next phase, herd immunity, estimated when 60% to 80% of the population are vaccinated and finally international immunity, not likely before 2022 while shots go out, masks still a must in public, but doctors say vaccines are finally giving us hope. catie beck, nbc news. celebrating birthdays today. how is ed shaerin only 30. >> and paris, only 50. denise richards, hits the big 5-0.

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