winter's not done yet. a snowstorm rocks the rockies and high plains. janessa is tracking where it's headed next. covid relief hits the road president biden prepares for a whirlwind tour to sell americans on the nearly $2 trillion stimulus package a saints legend goes marching out what's next for new orleans gunslinger drew brees, as he rides off into the sunset. ♪

>> it was anything but the same old song and dance at the 2021 grammys. "early today" starts right now good monday morning. i'm phillip mena. >> glad you're with us i'm frances rivera as we set our clocks forward and get ready for spring, winter has packed one more punch for some states the state's two-day snow record was buried in cheyenne, wyoming. the blizzard conditions brought travel to a stand still. hundreds of flights have been cancel at denver's international airport. crews are working to clear the runways after being overwhelmed by more than two feet of snow. this blizzard became the fourth largest snowstorm in denver's history on sunday with even more snow falling overnight nbc meteorologist janessa webb joins us now with more on where the storm is headed overnight. janessa, good morning. >> good morning, guys. we have over 27 inches on the ground in denver this storm system is starting to fall apart, but it will make its way into the midwest going ooh

into this afternoon. you can see we're still dealing with some light precipitation, but man this was a hefty storm system that sat across this area for nearly two days. so additional snow accumulation. it will be on the light side going to watch some rain and snow making its way into the chicago area also watching minneapolis this morning and where we could see an additional 3 to 5 inches. you can see that line of rain/snow could possibly deal with some freezing rain, and then it shifts more to the east coast. but i do think the storm system really starts to fall apart. big-time snow maker for the high plains, but i think they're starting to let up guys >> all right, janessa, thank you so much. we talk to you in a bit. with the growing chorus of democrats calling for governor andrew cuomo's resignation, president biden is now weighing in when asked by reporters if he should resign, mr. biden says he wants to see what comes of an investigation into sexual harassment claims. the allegations made by multiple women range from sexual harassment to inappropriate

behavior kathy park has the latest. kathy, good morning. >> reporter: hey, phillip, good morning to you despite mounting pressure for new york governor andrew cuomo to step down this weekend, he kept a relatively low profile in albany and showed no signs of stepping aside meanwhile, this weekend new reports surfaced alleging his vaccine czar larry schwartz called a county executive to kind of gauge their loyalty with the governor and one county executive felt it was a big questionable and decided to flag this to the attorney general's office. and speaking of the attorney general's office, you know there is an investigation that is moving forward with the ongoing sexual harassment allegation as well as a separate investigation that is being spearheaded by the judiciary committee. and both of these investigations are still very much in the early stages phillip? >> all right, kathy, thank you top health fimpbls soffici

pleading for states to put the bricks on reopening as the country races to get the pandemic under control the rollback on restrictions comes as the biden administration grapples with a new battle at the border here is jennifer johnson. >> reporter: as at least a dozen states roll become covid restrictions, a warning from the nation's top infectious disease doctor the country could see a new surge in cases if it lets its guard down. >> that's why i get so anxious when i hear pulling back completely on public health measures like saying no more mask, no nothing like that that is a risky business >> dr. fauci even urging former president trump to encourage his reluctant supporters to get vaccinated meanwhile, democrats are blaming the trump administration for dismantling the system to deal with a massive increase in unaccompanied minors crossing the u.s./mexico border fema agents have been ordered to the border to help >> what the administration has inherited is a broken system at the border, and they are working to correct that in the

children's interest. >> but many republicans blame president biden for rescinding the deal with mexico to keep the children and say drug cartels are now taking advantage >> and they play the gaps. they find the gaps they find the places where they can advance their goals, which is basically to make money by moving people into the united states. >> reporter: the biden administration says it will try to place minors with u.s. family members or sponsors until their cases are heard. but adults crossing the boarder are subject to covid travel restrictions and will be returned to mexico jennifer johnson, nbc news, washington the biden administration will kick off a nationwide blitz to sell the country on the covid relief package vice president kamala harris will visit las vegas today to out to the benefits of the bill. and tomorrow president biden will head to pennsylvania. nbc tracie potts joins us now with the latest. tracie, good morning the president is not taking the popularity of this bill for granted.

>> reporter: they're not, phillip, because there is still a lot of criticism about what's in the bill and whether it's specific to covid relief but it is now law, and now president biden and members of his administration along with the first lady are hitting the road to sell this to the public. take a look. you mentioned las vegas and pennsylvania he's also going to georgia we'll see seven stops in all over the next five days by the first lady, the president, and members of the administration. meantime, on capitol hill, lawmakers are still going back and forth over whether or not this bill was targeted toward covid relief democrats insist this is money that families needed >> by the way, this bill is 90-some percent coronavirus centric. this is similar to the bill that we wrote in may, the heroes act, some of which was implemented in december, much of it now >> to call this a covid relief

is really false advertising. only 9% of the money actually guess to defeating the virus only 1% of the money goes for vaccines this is a nancy pelosi payoff to the liberal left >> reporter: well, it's a done deal now passed by democrats only and now it's law. $422 billion of that money is going to direct payments to americans. the $1400 checks started hitting bank accounts over the weekend phillip? >> a lot of people started seeing those numbers pop up. tracy, thank you overnight, new york city held a remembrance ceremony for victims of covid mayor bill de blasio hosted the ceremony while photos of new yorkers who were lost to the pandemic were projected on to the brooklyn bridge. for more of the state of new york one year into this crisiin. >> one year ago governor cuomo

announced the first covid-19 death. a global pandemic. new york was in for some dark days a ahead here at bellevue hospital, the holdest hospitals in the city, they were rhetetrofitting rooms. as soon as one patient would leave the icu, another would be right behind them. and then mobile morgues were brought in to deal with all of the people dying from covid-19 at the peak this the city, new york was recording as many as a thousand covid deaths a day. one year later the cases of hospitalizations and the deaths, they're all down, which is great news but one year later we're also dealing with staggering numbers. 1.7 million cases in new york city, nearly 50,000 deaths i spoke with the director of nursing at the icu here about what he wants people to know about the last year that he and his health care colleagues have been through . >> you know, we dealt with a lot of sadness we watched people come here for

help we watch people pass unfortunately.'ve always be theh them excuse me., nurses, doctors, people walking to this building every day who give it all. sacrifice. who sacrificed themselves for the good of others >> they held a moment of silence over the weekend they lost eight of their colleagues to covid, but there is hope on the horizon 20% of new yorkers have been vaccinated, and frances, in addition to that, that director of nursing and his wife are expecting a baby in may. frances? >> reassuring news, and slowly seeing signs of the city coming back lin lindsey, thanks. music's biggest night finally happened, but things of course looked a bit different. this year the grammy awards urn official theme seemed to be music and mast

trevor noah hosted the socially distanced 63rd annual votes. there were jokes, electrifying performances as well as historic moments. liz laughlin has our grammys recap. >> reporter: sunday's grammy awards unlike any before it. >> this is not a zoom background this is real. >> reporter: held in person with pandemic precautions, stars socially distant performing for each other on multiple stages in downtown los angeles ♪ on a summer evening >> dua lipa, bts and card by b among the show's nearly two dozen performances beyonce made history she won her 28th grammy award. now the woman with the most grammy wins of all time. >> so i wanted to uplift, encourage, celebrate all of the beautiful black queens and kings. >> reporter: all of the top awards went to top artists taylor swift won album of the year billie eilish won record of the year but thought the honor should be

bestowed to another nominee. >> you deserve it, honestly. genuine, this goes to h.e.r. her. can we cheer for megan thee stallion >> she took home awards of her own, including best new artist. >> it's been a hell of a year but we made it >> reporter: the show's focused on the struggles of 2020, including the death of george floyd, inspiration of the song of the year, i can't breathe this year's grammys acknowledging criticism over past slights. >> we hear the cries for diversity. >> reporter: while watching women dominate the night. >> i love you. >> reporter: liz mclaughlin, nbc news let's take a turn and check in with janessa. we'll look back at our forecast and what's to come now that it's feeling more like winter again for most of us hi >> yeah, to the north we're still watching that snowstorm. it will make its way into the midwest today. but towards the south we do have a weather risk going into the

rest of the week it really starts to pick up tomorrow across the southern plains this is known as dixie alley and wednesday a big-time tornado outbreak potential in this area could. see several tornadoes with 1 inch or larger hail. damaging winds up to 60 miles that's a of sunshine for the northeast, but dramatically cooler, 41 philadelphia. the chill is back. we'll take a look at that forecast coming up >> hopefully not for long, show. it was so nice this weekend. all right. thanks, janessa. in today's quick hit, the gas prices continue to soar. the national average price for regular gas now sits around $2.89 a gallon an increase of 25 cents in the past three weeks analysts point to higher crude

oil prices and oil refinery shutdowns. "avatar" is back on top after being rereleased in china over the weekend it's the highest grossing film of all time earning over $2.8 million. a surprise move. the chicago river dyed green for st. patrick's day. they said theyer we cancelling the day because of the pandemic. the parade is still off. we'll be right back. i wasn't going to just back down from moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. psoriatic arthritis wasn't going to change who i am. when i learned that my joint pain could mean permanent joint damage, i asked about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self. -play ball! enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores,

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the administration our jake ward has more good morning, jake >> good morning, frances we heard the president on the campaign trail talk about the need to take on big tech and there has been a lot of rhetoric on both sides of the aisles about it. what we're seeing here, though, with the nomination of lena kahn to the ftc and tim wu at columbia on track to join the economic council, both these people who are not just politically interested in this, but know an incredible amount about how tech works in the past we've seen regulations and administrators coming in two just didn't really understand the system. but these are people who have been talking about the attention economy, about the need the abandon old ways of thinking about price as a valuation for whether a company is being anti-competitive and instead looking at things like how much influence do they have how are they taking over infrastructure how are they making it impossible for other companies

to compete these sorts of questions are suddenly at the party of what could be a very active effort on the part of the biden administration to rein in big tech in a way it's never been reined in before >> uncharted territory there thank you. still to come, ninth time is the charge spacex breaks a record as it sendses coulds more satellites into orbit and pulling strings for a vaccine. how celloist yoyo ma celebrated his second dose. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful. emerge tremfyant™ with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. tremfya® is also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms

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♪ after receiving his coronavirus vaccine at massachusetts clinic, the iconic cellist yoyo ma broke out his cello for a surprise concert how about that he played an array of classical tunes as he as other recipients waited out the post 15-minute observation period i wonder if the concert was a healing experience that brought the room together. i believe it >> and great little taste of the live music maybe to come when we get past all of this >> hopefully we get jimmeric cln spacex with a falcon 9 rocket lifting 16 more satellites into orbit. this marks a record nine times

it has sent 1300 of its beaming satellites into space. >> remember when one-use rockets was the norm pulling it off, elon musk. this morning we're remembering boxing legend marvin hagler who died this weekend unexpectedly, according to his wife he was known as marvelous marvin he was a hall of fame middleweight he got into the ring against some of the most famous boxers in history during the 1970s and '80s specifically that 1985 win against thomas hearns has been called one of the greatest matches of all time. marvelous marvin hagler was 66 years old. up next, janessa has your monday forecast. plus, a dog and her fosters form an unbreakable bond stay with us on this march 15th. you really did me a solid with that “maya markdown” on my insurance. here's the deal maya, state farm offers everyone surprisingly great rates. right.

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♪♪ good morning, everyone let's kick off your monday with some rain and snow headed into the midwest. also watching another storm system for the pacific northwest. the winds are going to be kicking up northeast pretty chilly. daytime highs back into the mid-30s for new york city. now things will rev up for your wednesday across the deep south, to the southeast we're going watch that severe weather potential. but some milder air making its way back in. feeling like spring, and then a reality check the day before spring friday afternoon rain and snow makes its way into the northeast. guys >> janessa, thank you. up next, an incredible tale of survival for a family of lucky pups we'll introduce you when we come back

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we're back with the story about nature's challenges and nature's wonders, and how one family overcame an unfolding disaster to bring new lives into the world. here is nbc's jose diaz-balart >> reporter: audrey morgan has always loved animals so in january, when a pregnant shepherd mix ended up at a local shelter, aubrey's family decided to foster the dog they named maggie. >> you know, she has become family to us. >> reporter: making her cozy and safe in their san antonio home a new mom herself, aubrey knew she had to help. >> i started researching and figuring out what all it entails to foster a pregnant dog and to

help her have her puppies. >> reporter: but last month when it was finally time, disaster struck >> millions in texas tonight are living a freezing nightmare. >> reporter: a deadly winter storm slammed into texas >> and then all of the sudden the power goes out >> so i was already nervous. >> reporter: nervous because maggie was in labor. >> mama is panting and resting >> reporter: with temperatures plunging and four puppies already out, aubrey's husband chris came up with a plan. >> reran out to the car in the snow he got tarp and blankets downs got the heat cranking and moved her and the four puppies into the car, and that's where she had her last three puppies and we stayed in there the next day. >> reporter: parked in the driveway, it was a 12-hour mission in their suv >> they're still in the car. still no electricity >> reporter: each taking turns to keep maggie's little ones alive while the other stayed indoors with their own kids. >> make sure the puppy was breathing well

we would try to help warm her up as mama was licking her and stuff. >> reporter: the spca shelter where maggie first landed. now she is even more moved by aubrey's compassion in the midst of the family's own crisis. >> we were so proud of her and her family for going above and beyond >> reporter: the puppies seven strong some might even say lucky seven. >> how are the puppies and the mom doing? >> they're growling and parking and starting to get a little playful with each other. so the next hurried legal be finding all of them their forever homes and matching them with their perfect families. >> just seeing the videos you know it won't be too hard to find them. our thanks to jose diaz-balart for that report. it was so dangerous, that storm for so many people but protecting the most vulnerable. >> even now we're hearing all the great stories coming out of it what a story they have to share with their forever families. >> thank you so much for starting your week with us

i'm phillip mena. >> and i'm frances rivera. coming up on the "today" show, hoda talks to the first ever female gm in major league baseball, and also talks to the boss who hired her derek jeter. for now keep it right here more news is straight

♪ winter is going out with a bang a snowstorm barrels toward the midwest after slamming the rockies and high plains. selling the stimulus plan. president biden sets off on a how the covid relegal bill will help the average american. the royal rift the buckingham palace brings in an investigators in the wake of harry and meghan's interview a high note at the