this mass shooting, this premeditated act of violence is reinforcing the sense of are we safe the data we have has helped to trau national attention on this issue. the atlanta shooting shining a spotlight on the rise of asian hate crimes and attacks across the united states. we have two reports ahead. a steady flow of migrants illegally crossing into the u.s. continues as the homeland security chief is on the hot seat over how to handle this. covid cases on the rise in seven states as many states are

focused and determined to get kids back into school. our lester holt goes into the classroom for a firsthand progress report. the fcc hits robo callers against telemarketers who made billions of robo calls weather impacting millions it's thursday, "early today" starts right now. good morning, i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. >> a new wave of fear after a gunman's rampage left eight people dead, six women of asian descent. >> reporter: the 911 calls were urgent, one coming from inside one of the three spas that police say was targeted by a gunman the caller apparently ducking for cover. >> a white male? what is he wearing >> i don't know. >> reporter: police say the

gunman started at young's asian massage opening fire and killing four people wounding another this neighbor says a bullet flew straight through her wall. >> like bang oh, something happened. >> reporter: as police were still handling the first shooting, almost an hour later two more calls a pair of similar businesses in atlanta right across the street from each other. >> they shot up two spas here in zone two so we need to i can ma sure if you have any asian spas we need to be checking them. >> reporter: in the end eight people killed, six of them were asian women. >> still early but he does claim it was not racially motivated. he apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction and it's a temptation for him he wanted to eliminate. >> reporter: the suspect was caught that night two hours south from where he first opened fires. when authorities released this surveillance photo his relatives immediately recognized the suspect and called police. officials are not calling this a hate crime but not ruling it out

saying it's early in the investigation. still, for many in the asian american community, the pain, the fear is inescapable. >> i do want to say to our asian-american community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened, shocked and outraged all people. >> do you feel like this was a targeted attack? >> definitely feel targeted. at the root of it it's deep seeded, unconscious bias, internalized systemic racism. >> reporter: here a memorial continues to grow. we've watched people stop by and leave flowers, candles and other tributes the gun was legally purchased hours before the shooting began. the alleged gunman told officials he was headed down to florida to continue his spree. >> blayne, thank you. there is a growing outcry after these gruesome murders shannon lee, the daughter of bruce lee, calling out the hatred and xenophobia on

twitter. this is where kung fu leads. the seattle seahawks say they stand behind their asian-american and pacific islander community and no tolerance for hate. >> these gruesome murders triggering protests across the country. vicky nguyen takes a closer look. >> reporter: good morning, frances. the shootings in atlanta are hitting the asian-american community especially hard. it comes as so many more asian-americans find themselves the targets of discrimination and racism. >> reporter: seam stresses pivoted to make personal protective equipment for health care workers their contribution did not hurt them. >> my workers were being yelled at on the streets and on the subways given them dirty looks >> reporter: my friend said her asian staff started feeling the hate early.

>> my head designer was told he was responsible for the china virus. >> reporter: over the weekend sun reported her own incident to the nypd. >> a man with a beer can spit his beer on me and then he proceeded to spray my packages with the beer and said, go back to china. >> reporter: a new report from stop aapi hate shows over the past 12 months, nearly 4,000 anti-asian incidents reported from all 50 states women reported twice as many incidents as men while asian-americans did not bring the coronavirus to the u.s., they have been targeted. just this week racist graffiti on the san antonio restaurant. >> did you just say go back to china [ bleep ]. you said communist china. >> isn't that where you're from? >> this mass shooting, this premeditated act of violence is reinforcing this sense of are we safe and the data we have has helped to draw national attention on

this issue >> reporter: advocates encourage people to report what's happening and to seek support. frances in. >> vicky, thank you. the biden administration is struggling to handle the surge at the border. the house is about to deal with two major immigration bills. tracie potts joins us with the latest that legislation faces a tough battle in the senate. >> reporter: right we don't know if it will get a hearing in the senate. in the house two votes are scheduled, one on farm workers and whether to give them legal status here in the united states the other, whether to create a path to citizenship for dreamers, those children brought here into the country when they were younger that's what lawmakers are considering today as the situation at the border continues to cause a problem for the biden administration trying to figure out how to house 4,000

unaccompanied minors, many of whom have come into the country under the biden relaxed policies at the border. lawmakers, republican critics have been pointing the finger at the biden administration saying that those policies need to change and now complaining that he has frozen funds for border security >> mr. president, you have the ability to put an end to this and ensure the safety of these children by not enticing them into the very dangerous trip. >> what the president has committed to and what i am committed to is to ensure that we have an immigration system that works and that migration to our country is safe, orderly and humane >> reporter: from immigration to the irs. they are behind processing tax returns dealing with all the stimulus checks, so now the agency, the treasury department has announced that they are

moving tax day, you get an extra month. that deadline now may 17th phillip. >> two months from yesterday tracie, thanks. jury selection will pick up again today in the trial of the former officer accused of killing george floyd yesterday a judge dismitssed two seated jurors over a city settlement a lawyer for derek chauvin had asked to recall 7 of the 9 jurors seated in the trial. the renewal of the violence against women act is heading to the senate after clearing the house yesterday. 29 republicans joined all democrats in supporting the bill the law provides resources to help victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking. it has faced gop resistance in the senate because of gun restriction. then senator biden was one of the leaders in 1994. the nation's largest school

system is looking to get students back into school. lester holt tells us the story >> reporter: it is the last and most important piece of l.a.'s plan to get kids back into the classroom, covid vaccinations for all school staff who want them >> thank you. >> reporter: a lot of your teachers say we're not coming back unless you get us vaccinated. >> they were a show-stopper because we were there with them saying, sure, if we can make it safer, it's our commitment not just to those who work in schools but to the entire community. >> reporter: austin butner is looking at april to bring students back to the classroom a previous attempt to reopen classes was short circuited by a covid surge. >> reporter: what makes you more confident this time kids will be able to get back in class and stay there. >> we've got all of the tools in place. >> reporter: those tools include weekly covid testing for

students and staff a phone app confirms health and testing status before anyone is allowed in the school. >> austin? >> yes, ma'am. >> i will check you in. >> reporter: touring an elementary school, they have invested $120 million to stockpile personal protection items. beef up custodial staff to disinfect classrooms and upgrade air filtration. >> these are top of the line filters. >> top of the line equivalent of n-95 masks. >> reporter: for lower grades a hybrid model some in class dmt morning, others in the afternoon. a camera system will help remote learners. >> i can see them move these are the tools in the classroom that they're used to having the teachers use. >> reporter: remote strategies are important because early results find many parents, especially from hard-hit neighborhoods do not plan to send their kids back into the classroom. >> we have communities with the death rates 3 and 4 times the

national average i want to make sure someone in the family is vaccinated because they live in multi-generational households they have been traumatized. >> reporter: absent an approved vaccine for kids, buttner says what schools can offer is safety and confidence. >> the best place for students to learn is in the school classroom. we want that support system back in place as soon as possible further consequences if we don't have kids back could be a lifetime of consequence for a child. >> reporter: and the plan is to send middle and high school students back to school late april. we'll send it back to you now, phillip. >> lester, thank you we are getting a new look this morning at the devastation caused by the storms across the south. several homes were completely destroyed in billingsly, alabama. the winds were strong enough to flip cars and tear down walls. families spending the night searching through the rubble for their belongings undoubtedly there will be more damage to assess when the sun comes up. there werereports of more

than 20 tornadoes across the deep south some stretched into the early morning hours. >> let's see where that storm is headed and what's next as she's tracking severe weather for us janessa, good morning. >> good morning. good morning, everyone we still have a fluid situation, but things are starting to die down we could see another round of this severe weather pick up this morning to your afternoon if you are across the carolinas they have backed off the tornado watch and central georgia, the florida panhandle. now out of the atlanta area. so that's a little bit of better news also backing off this severe weather threat that was for all of the carolinas to now a moderate risk for the coastal areas from wilmington all the way through charleston we still have a good bulk of people of 26 million where we could see a few tornadoes throughout your afternoon. damaging winds up to 70 miles an hour a little bit of hail to west

virginia this is associated to a cold front. a series of fronts now we have rain and snow back in the forecast. we'll talk about that coming up. the flooding rain is the primary issue throughout your day. that's for d.c philadelphia, cooler air for the great lakes. we're still talking about snow i'll have that forecast coming up. >> unreal we're talking about that still. >> the wrong kind of march madness. thanks, janessa. coming up, we'll talk about you the canning the lines of robo calls the record fine on telemarketers. the countries respond to the culmination of vladimir putin. with kids who can catch “almost” everything.

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directly naming the officers accused of sharing crash site photos from the day her husband kobe, her daughter gianna and seven others were killed earlier this month a judge ruled in favor of vanessa bryant saying the name of the deputies cannot be kept sealed. the los angeles county sheriff said they will not try the case in the media. this morning the white house is facing increased tension with russia the kremlin has now recalled its u.s. ambassador back to moscow after president biden's latest remarks about vladimir putin matt wagner joins us from moscow matt, there seems to be an escalation here. do we know what caused it? >> reporter: phillip, yeah so the list of issues between russia and the united states is long and it's constantly growing. this week we of course added a few new items to the list that it forces the u.s. intelligence community's report that russia did interfere in the 2020 presidential election and that putin himself ordered that

there were of course sanctions that followed t. and then president biden said that putin was going to pay for this and actually that's not all he said. i believe we have a clip of that interview. let's hear it. >> i said, i don't think you have a soul. he looked back and said we understand each other you r. >> you know vladimir putin you think he's a keller. >> i do. >> reporter: harsh criticism and russia has taken note of this. it's been a big talking point in the state media. we're seeing official reaction in this context i think this decision to recall the ambassador is a very unambiguous diplomatic gesture to show disapproval with the statement but on a more fundamental level, u.s./russia relations have been in a bad place for several years now but stably so. i think by recalling the ambassador, this is the first

time we've seen this in a while. moscow said from its perspective we've not yet hit rock bottom. we'll be following this closely. >> seems like the last four years that was different, back to that obama era policy there matt, thanks still to come, another low note for music fans. a huge delay for coachella amid the pandemic. and to save or to spend? financial guru suze ormon weighs in on what to do with the $1400 stimulus check kill 99.9% of viruses and bacteria initially including the covid-19 virus. once dry microban forms a shield that keeps killing bacteria for 24 hours. touch after touch. don't just sanitize. keep killing bacteria for 24 hours with microban 24 i'm jimmy dean and uh, isn't that sunrise somthin'?

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to support local restaurants, we've been to every city. including little rock and even worcester. and tonight... i'll be eating the chicken quesadilla from...tony's tex mex...in... katy. (doorbell) (giggle) do ya think they bought it? oh yeah.

♪ ♪ coachella has been canceled yet another year it has been moved from october 2021 to april of 2022. while the october show was still seven months away, preparations would have needed to begin soon. with the ongoing uncertainty over the covid-19 pandemic, that wasn't possible. like we're seeing again, we thought that maybe some shows had been scheduled for later this year keeping fingers crossed tight, but that's a tough sign. >> as much as i like sports, missing these live music events, concerts has been so much tougher. sports you can watch that on tv and get a fraction of the experience nothing like going to a concert with all the people, describing to the music you like. >> the energy, nothing like it. >> 2022. coming up, enjoy the final hours with your perfect bracket. we'll tell you who's tipping off today in the ncaa tournament.

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neutrogena®. in today's top stories, a landmark ruling out of japan a district court said it is unconstitutional to outlaw same-sex marriage though a new law will need to pass to make things official. same-sex couples are barred from other rights such as inheriting their parents' assets and parental rights over their partners' children they held rainbow banners and flags in front of the capitol. some relief could be coming to the family of covid-19 victims. fema says it will reimburse funeral costs incurred after january 20th of 2020 these expenses are covered under

the coronavirus response and relief supplemental act of 2021 and the american rescue plan act of 2021. a toll-free number will also be launched next month where people will be able to get more information. where the money resides, where the money resides. stimulus checks are on the way 159 million americans are expected to receive one due to the passage of president joe biden's relief package while a large sum of money might be tempting to spend suze ormon wants you to avoid doing that she appeared on cnbc to give you advice on what you should be doing with your money instead. >> pay the minimum on your credit cards or whatever it is and just play it safe until your job has returned, things are back to normal financially speaking in your life. >> so ormon also advises people to save their stimulus check and to start an emergency fund of at least 12 months. her final note, don't invest it

in the stock market. federal communications commission issued a record fine of $225 million to two texas telemarketers who reportedly made about a billion robo calls trying to sell fake health insurance plans. the fine is the largest ever issued by the fcc and part of a heightened crackdown on spam calls. robo calls are on the rise, as i'm sure many of you know, here in the u.s according to the antispam call app robo killer, they rose 26% in the last year they are one of the most annoying parts of your day. >> don't know the number, don't pick it up. basketball fans the ncaa men's tournament tips off today. the action starts at indiana after 4 p.m. local time with texas southern taking on the northeast college champions mount st. mary's and the bull dogs battle wichita state.

and appalachian state takes on norfolk state. michigan state will play ucla. been waiting for over a year for this one of my favorite times of the year. >> now work from home, hey, we'll never know we'll never know thanksor w fak 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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