this morning washington is taking no chances and pulling out all the stops to avoid a type of insurgency tod. is it time masks, could it spark a new surge. the justice by policing act was voted along party lines but can the senate get 60 votes? and the story of a chef struggling to get by through

tough times. >> to the pro-wresting debut of the one and only shaquille o'neal a busy day ahead "early today" starts right now. >> good morning. i'm frances rivera. >> threats aimed at our nation's capitol. security there is ramping up amid the possibility of another attempt to breach the capitol like the deadly assault we saw on january 6th for more on why the risk is so high today, here's nbc's pete williams. >> reporter: security is already tight arounde after the fbi talked about extremist groups storming the capitol and removing some democrats. some conspiracy followers believe president trump will return as president on march 4th, what some consider

inauguration day it was inauguration day until the 1930s. congress continues looking for answers about what happened january 6th. the commander of the washington, d.c., national guard told a hearing he asked for permission to deploy guard members at 1:49 p.m. just after the riot began chris miller approved it at 5:02 it wasn't till then he was told. by then he had troops on buses from armories with the go-ahead. >> what would have been the impact if you sent the troops around the 2:00 time frame >> i believe that would havee a >> reporter: the defense department was gun-shy about deploying the guard after it was criticized for its role on clamping down on protests around the white house last summer. as of today, they know of no

activity to actually carry out an attack on the capitol the house was originally scheduled to conduct business today, but the leadership d decided it would not be in session because of security concerns the senate will, though, still be in session. phillip? >> pete, thank you. after a week of growing criticism, governor andrew cuomo makes a public apology. what started as a business as usual press conference ended with this. >> i certainly never, ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone. >> the governor admitting his behavior caused harm, cuomo saying also he would not resign. ida siegal has the latest. >> reporter: governor cuomo asserting his position to stay governor of new york despite numerous calls from democrat for him to step down

an apology during his press conference since three women accused him of sexual harassment. >> i now understand that i acted in a way that made people feel uncomf uncomfortable. it was unintentional, and i truly and deeply apologize for it. >> reporter: but the women who made the accusations were quick to dismiss his apology lindsey boylan who accuses cuomo of an unwanted kiss on the lips tweeted how can new yorkers trust you when you're inappropriate with your own staff. the latest comes from a woman not on his staff anna ruch gave this report to "the new york times. she said he put his hands on her lower back and on her face at a wedding. >> you can find hundreds of me kissing people, men, women it is my usual and customary way

of greeting. >> i know what has happened and what has happened is infollowerable. >> reporter: state senator james skalfis says he should step down. >> the apology is certainly a start. i think people want to hear and understand that he knows that he's made people uncomfortable. >> reporter: and mayor de blasio also did not call for cuomo to step down, but he didn't rule it out either. >> if you're not in a position to governor for whatever reason, if you're incapacitated, whatever it is, of course, step aside and let someone else do it. >> i feel awful about it, and, frankly, i am embarrassed by it. >> thanks to w nbc's ida siegal for that report. americans desperately waiting for more financial relief may be kept waiting even

longer republican senator ron johnson said he will force the reading of the entire bill, which is nearly 600 pages long on the senate floor this is most always waived, but johnson plans to object. meanwhile president biden is slamming governors willing to lift covid restrictions. >> the last thing we need is a neanderthal decision, take off your mask, forget it it still matters. >> the president's comments come as the cdc warns this is a critical time for fighting the pandemic here's nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: the face mask fallout in texas and mississippi after both governors blatantly ignored cdc guidelines regarding masks and other things inside businesses next week the growing number of national chains including target, macy's,

and kroger's say they'll still enforce the mask regulation. >> you couple a more contagious virus with lucid restrictions and that can really be a recipe for disaster. >> reporter: with cities like new orleans lifting restrictions, louisiana plans to open up its stadium this fall. >> the team is winning and the exact measures we have taken to stop the pandemic are now too often flagrantly ignored. >> reporter: the fight to keep america safe and push restrictions aimed to doing just that soon the guidelines are expected to be released it could include gathering with small groups indoors with others

vaccinated without the need for a mask. a texas woman is facing up to 30 years in federal prison and a possible $1 million maximum fine after authorities say she committed fraud to get over $3 million from the c.a.r.e.s. act she's charged with making a false statement to a bank and charged with bank fraud. the woman is accused of using the money to make personal purchases including two homes, multiple vehicles, and luxury goods. the united states is issuing an emergency warning after microsoft said the chinese hackers targeted its email servers and gained access to their computers. the tech company alleges the hacker group is trying to steal information from universities, defense contractors, lawmakers, and science labs federal agencies have until tomorrow to update their software to protect against it. meanwhile in china the government's biggest political

session of the year kicked off joining us, jacnice mackay frayer >> reporter: this is still considered the most important political event on the calendar here because it sets the blueprint for the coming year but also offers this rare glimpse into the thinking of xi jinping and top leaders in terms of what their priorities are this is also the time they set economic targets last year they didn't set a gdp target even though they're closely watched, and they're not expected to do so this year. economists still expect growth given the pandemic is largely under control here the real focus for the five-year plan in terms of the economy is going to be technology and competition. how can china be more competitive in technologies and also self-sufficient in chips

and semiconductors this has taken on added performance since the u.s. blackballed companies like huawei now, another big political issue that's going to be discussed is beijing's control over hong kong and reforms that china wants to make to the city's election laws, this after imposing the national security law last summer in a sign of how hong kong is changing, a key economic freedom index that the city dominated for 25 year, now it's been revealed it will no longer be included in that list. it will be listed on the heritage foundation annual index as part of mainland china for economic freedom, and it sits at number 107 on that index phillip? >> all of those things have consequences for us back in the states thank you so much. let's check in with nbc

meteorologist janessa webb to see who's going to get the cold side, who's going to get the mild side, because you never know this time of year good morning, janessa. >> good morning, frances you're exactly right we have some confusion always with the start of march. it's warm versus cold as the pattern continues to change. right now for the northeast you sit under that pattern change. upper 20s in some spots. northern new england with these winds blustering today, i think you're going to be in the teens. if you loo5 miles an hour. get to the deep south, new orleans, alabama, mississippi, mid-70s. another nice warmup headed our way for the east coast

i'll show you when. >> finally getting nice around here thank you, janessa. we'll be right back in two minutes. we've got new details on the horrific highway crash in california. plus a celebrity chef pays it forward to help restaurants in need. 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 ♪ ♪ ♪thick like homemade. no way around it.♪ ♪prego's so good they may as well crown it.♪ ♪your sauce is lookin' think hon' fix that quick.♪ ♪when you're in my house you pour it on thick.♪ ever wonder why your just washed laundry doesn'tk smell... just washed.k.♪ that's because there's hidden sweat and body soils

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or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. janssen can help you explore cost support options. leading the news, at the border there is shocking news. they had 1,700 migrant children in custody 600 have been held for more than three days and nearly 100 were just under 13 years old. the alarming number of these children is because of a biden reversal of a trump policy a bill named after george floyd passed entirely along party lines and will now head to the senate republican lance gooden of texas said he voted for it by accident

and the record has since been updated. this ban would restrict neck restraints and it would make it very difficult to sue officers it will need at least ten republican votes to pass the senate. new developments on the horrible highway crash in california the migrants were believed to be part of a human smuggling operation. now to something big added to the menu by a well-known chef helping others in the business get through tough times. nbc's lester holt has the story. >> reporter: at more than waffles in encino, california, the co-owner is passing out checks, but this is no ordinary payday. >> i felt as if i won the lottery for my employees. >> reporter: in november she

closed the doors of her restaurant for a second time and had to temporarily lay off most of her staff, but then a lifeline in the form of 1 16 $1,200 checks for the workers struggling the most. >> will you ever forget the reactions of the employees when they saw those checks? >> i'll never forget it. it was just so overwhelming with joy and relief. >> reporter: that money from chef andrew grool. his restaurant slap fish >> i was incredibly surprised by the generous donation. the average donation was $30 for a burger. >> reporter: andrew has given away 3 p $5,000 to more than 400 individuals. her restaurant is open again,

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. in today's news by the numbers, an autographed tom brady rookie card is catching a high price at auction. bidding on the card started at

$75,000 and it's now fetching over $582,000. do you become carbon-neutral by 2040 it plans to invest in alternative sustainable energy and have an all-electric vehicles. >> disney is planning to close 60 of its stores by the end of the year it looks focus on its online shop no word on which stores will close. now a warning that china has hacked the system putting potentially all government agencies at risk cnbc's steve sedgwick has been doing some research on that. >> this is a big story microsoft said in a blog post they have a high degree of confidence that hackers working for the chinese government are working on a u.s. target this is an infrastructure security agency.

they've issued an emergency declaration. all government agencies have until noon on friday to block the perpetrator. and there's quite an interesting product that apple has come out with. you can copy your apple photos over to google a cnbc todd hazelton had a slight problem here. wait for it. he downloaded his 117 gig of photos and 800 videos. it would take between three and seven days how many of us have the patience to wait that out >> i was so excited. i have digital anxiety >> that's what we get for taking 37 photos of one thing we needed. >> i'm a hoarder, a digital hoarder, i can't not do it. >> i think we all are.

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a spacex starship rocket exploded minutes after successfully landing from a test flight it land vertically but burst into flames while on the concrete landing pad no one was inside the rocket at the time of the explosion and the cause was not clear. you may remember two other spacex rockets explodedwhile trying to land. a new controversy has hit buckingham palace and it's created more tension prince harry and meghan markle

will be on oprah that will air raf, good morning. >> reporter: this is a painful return of prince harry and meghan markle on one hand and the british on the other this is the headline on the pape e "all-out war in palace." there's a claim while meghan was in the uk she allegedly bullied staff. buckingham palace is taking it seriously enough they put out an unusual statement. they say they're very concerned and they're opening up an investigation. the duke and duchess of sussex deny this and say it's a smear

campaign ahead of the oprah interview this weekend we have some footage from that inte interview. in it you hear from meghan the first time she suggests that the firm, the royal family, is perpetuating falsehoods about us, which gives you a sense of how big the rift is right now this is all playing out while prince philip, the queen's 99-year-old husband, harry's grandfather, is spending a second week in hospital. buck buckinghampalace said he's being treated for a pre-existing heart condition. frances? >> so much to watch here, especially with how deep this divide can get. shaquille o'neill, as we all know, he's a man of many, many talents. it turns out wrestling is among them he teamed up with jay cargill against cody rhodes and red velvet look at shaq busting out the big

moves against the ropes and through the table. in the end, his team won shaq flecking. it was his first time he stepped into the square circle since he competed at wrestlemania in 2014 he looks like he was born to be he looks like he was born to be it's back, guys! check it out! what up, people? jack! what are you doing in my car? oh, just sharing my triple bonus jack combo... triple meat and cheese, secret sauce... go ahead, tell them how much it is... it's just $5.99! only at jack in the box. sorry, what were you going to say?

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