breaking at this hour. at least five people have died from extreme storms and tornadic activity in the south. widespread damage is feared. our janessa webb is tracking it all. a rising number of unaccompanied children are packed into migration holding facilities the president is defending his administration's actions boulder, colorado, shooter faces a judge. a one-on-one with the inaugural poet amanda gorman and

oprah winfrey. what happens when you mix pepsi and peeps. i'm frances rivera. >> i'm phillip mena. life threatening storms is sweeping across the south. reports of a large and extremely dangerous tornado touching down in the dark of night the city of newman confirming heavy damage as they respond to a flood of 911 calls at least five people were killed as the storms swept through alla ban ma nbc's dan sheneman has more. >> listen to the roar. this is a violent tornado. >> reporter: this is what the storms left behind homes without roofs, what appears to be a patch of forest gone james dunaway, 71, ignored. >> you see that? >> yes >> i was there watching the president on tv. >> reporter: now he feels lucky

to be alive. >> i've been here since '82. i've been hit three times. i thought, well, not going to be me >> reporter: chris partridge celebrating a birthday ready to refinance her home. >> oh, my god, it's gone you could smell the pine >> reporter: she now tries to salvage some memories. her home is now a matter for insurance. the threat is not over dan sheneman, nbc news let's get more on thatm nbc meteorologist janessa webb she's been tracking the latest threats this morning janessa, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we still have a tornado watch in place for central georgia into parts of south carolina. this was a long track tornado that produced eight tornadoes in a series as it made its way across central alabama to georgia. the better news tonight is we do

still have the threat of severe weather but it is starting to lose its force as it tracks to the east that tornado watch will last until 7 a.m. there are pockets of torrential rain the flash flood threat is going to be pretty much a concern across portions of the southeast. you can see the front is very strong that same system will make its way to the northeast unfortunately, guys, we'll get a one-day break. going into the weekend, more severe weather. >> we'll talk to you again in a bit. in boulder, colorado, the 21-year-old man accused of killing 10 people at a supermarket is in court for the first time his lawyer says he has a mental illness that needs to be assessed he's being held without bail last night a vigil was held. a large gathering at a local high school was organized by moms demand action, a group fighting for public safety measures. after 65 days in office,

president biden finally held his first formal news conference mr. biden set forth an ambitious plan to tackle the pandemic. two issues that dominated the discussion were immigration. >> president biden began his first news conference in office trying to makesome news of his own on the fight against covid. >> 200 million shots in 100 days i know it's ambitious, twice our original goal -- >> reporter: while the pandemic has been a major focal point of his presidency, other urgent challenges took center stage with immigration taking up the majority of questions. the president pressed on his response to a surge of migrants at the southern border. >> all the policies underway were not helping at all, did not slow up the amount of immigration and there's many people coming and rolling back the policies of separating children from their mothers make

no apology for that. >> reporter: he promised to speed the process to reunite children with their families or move them to better housing. >> the overwhelming number of people coming to our border are being sent back. >> reporter: he's being questioned whether the filibuster should be gone. >> we're ready to get a lot done if there's complete lockdown and chaos, we'll have to go beyond what i'm talking about. >> reporter: president biden turning back hard to enact harsh voting rights restrictions >> what i'm worried about is how unamerican this whole initiative is it's sick. >> reporter: on his own future prospects? >> my plan is to run for re-election. that's my expectation.

>> reporter: a first news conference for a president who's just wrapped up his second month. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. georgia's governor has signed sweeping new election restrictions into law.d. law and reducing the number of drop bs a law not to give people waiting in line with food and water. he was interrupted by a democratic legislator. park cannon was charged with two misdemeanors, obstruction of law enforcement and obstruction of general assembly she was greeted by a crowd of supporters. anyone planning on attending rutgers university for in-person learning will have to be vaccinated for covid-19. it's one of the first institutions that mandates vaccination. students enrolled exclusively will notneed to be vaccinated.

there will be an exemption for medical or religious purposes. vaccinated pregnant and breast feeding women could pass along coronavirus immunity to their babies the study of 131 women found pregnant and lactating women found comparable immunity after receiving moderna and pfizer vaccines antibodies were found in up bell lick call club and breast sample. now oprah. history making poet amanda gormon is sitting down with the queen of media. >> i was born early along with my twin and for a lot of times that can lead to learning delays i think of my speech impediment as one of my greatest strengths. >> 23-year-old amanda gormon will open up about her life aon

the oprah conversation she took her under her wing right before all of this she gave her some jewelry for that inaugural dress you can tell the relationship they have is special zblal what they have is when either of them will speak, everybody wants to hear what they have to say it weighs heavily on everybody. let's get more on today's weather with nbc meteorologist janessa webb >> hi, good morning. good morning, everyone a few isolated spots across the carolinas into the midwest and we'll watch high wind warnings that are currently in place. i really want to prepare you for tomorrow afternoon into your evening. we'll get a one-day break as another series of storms are going to be impacting the tennessee valley into areas of the deep south you now currently it's just upgraded in the last few minutes to an enhanced risk. several tornadoes will be

possible for tomorrow afternoon with damaging wind and hale up to an inch for sunday it tracks more r the lakes to northern new england this afternoon rain making its way in in the 50s. we'll take a look at the week end forecast coming up. >> we'll need to hear it janessa, thank you. a middle schooler in alabama got a surprise she'll never forget her mom who had been stationed at sea came home early look at her reaction. >> that is an emotional reunion right there. officer ka thrown rosier had been deployed three times. her time apart had gotten harder an in-person hug, never mind a

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or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. visit enbrel.com to see how your joint damage could progress. enbrel. eligible patients may pay as little as $5 per month. now to an important consumer alert. you may want to check your bags, bottles at home. there is a hand sanitizer recall durasan hand sanitizer has been contaminated with bacteria the product is package different sizes ranging from small bottles to wall dispensers. president biden is suggesting the migrant surge at the border is comparable to those of years past. there's more to those numbers. here's nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: phillip, good morning. president biden says there's no real crisis or surge at the

border not yet, but this time there's also a lot more unaccompanied minors with more unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the u.s. border, president biden is defending his decision to let them stay. >> the only people we're not going to let sit there on the other side of the rio grande by themselves are children. >> reporter: he says this is seasonal. >> there is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months. >> reporter: this year between january and february there was a 28% increase in border apprehension 2019 during the same period the increase was 31% but the overall numbers this year are higher 100,000 in february compared to 76,000 in 2019 the biden administration says that's partly due to migrants having delayed their trips during the pandemic. what's alarming though is the unaccompanied number of minors this time around

there's more than held in facie this one children are harder to care for. department of health and human services says it has fewer beds due to covid in this hhs facility we toured we saw teen boys playing soccer and going to class now the rush is on to set up new temporary housing in san diego, dallas, midland and pecos, texas. we also learned from the administration officials that minor children are not being tested in border patrol stations where they spend days in crowded conditions they are tested once they're moved to less crowded hhs facilities like this one more than 100 teenagers have tested positive here phillip. >> important story glad you're on it for us, gabe. still to come on "early to today", we'll get the latest from the deadly tornado threats across the south. our colleaguriard e chs a s

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taking care of an hours a day. that's tough >> that's our very own richard lui and his father steven who was diagnosed with alzheimer's lui has made the extraordinary move of becoming his caregiver when he isn't traveling with his

baba, he's anchoring on msnbc or an anchoring. the alarming number hits very close to lui who spent more than 15 years with aapi groups and he wrote a book called "enough about me." he's up dark and early joining me which he's done before. so great to see you. congratulations about your book. first i want to talk to you about something we both have in common and that's an awakening you write about it in this piece. you weren't very welcoming when it comes to the aapi groups as a teen why the shift? >> reporter: good morning to you, frances, as well, phillip i write about how my father was pushed to the ground about five years ago when there was another round of anti-aapi incidents in northerna and i didn't

say anything and i think that's part of one of the dynamics of the asian-american pacific islander community, not being vocal in a society that values being vocal. that very struggle that all 22 million asian-american pacific islanders goes through the latest incidents that were reported in a fiscal year. that makes every one of them feel like who am i who am i i went through that as you were indicating i went through that same dye namm zblik richard, more than 100, nearly 200 organizations calling on president biden you're calling for an aapi movement what do you think should be done to combat this >> you know, phillip, we have never seen this sort of energy for this community and from this community. the last time we saw this was 1982 when vincent chen was

beaten to death with a bat in the street that is when there was a solidification of the idea of an asian rights civil movement y. would you need a civil rights movement there's a misunderstanding of a model minority myth. it's often a group that's mocked, kicked, punched, made fun of yet there is no price to pay and, therefore, we're seeing incidents like this all across the country. so we will see what happens next terms of what might be an aapi movement. >> yeah. and there's so much of your perspective that we get from here just flipping through the pages. you released it called "enough about me." you talk about the unexpecter of selflessness talk about why it's so important especially now of all times. >> i think we're living through a selfish pandemic hate and violence are cheap. all three of us have reported

this week on colorado, the week before in atlanta. it goes on and on and on those are just two, right, in dozens of mass killings. and we went through also a racial pandemic. it's my experience with my father and care giving for him in the last seven years. all of that kind of came together, francis. it's a burrito in a book all of these coming in saying we've got to figure out how to stop this self-lessness. it's a blue collar approach to whie call white collar ideas. >> flipping through this, it was a love letter to your dad. insider anecdotes about our business >> all of that. >> the two of you. >> and then chapter 17 you could do a whole other series about gratitude. >> yes. >> the message is just so important. i think we would have more positivity, more humanity in the world if we embraced that.

the power of selflessness. you embody that and articulate that excellently in your book. >> here it is, "enough about me" available where books are sold congrats, richard. thank you. here on "early today," the top stories ahead including a university that has agreed to pay out $1 million. >> and a new meaning to fashion police opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread and that tests positive for pd-l1 and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. opdivo plus yervoy is the first and only fda-approved combination of two immunotherapies opdivo plus yervoy equals... a chance for more starry nights. more sparkly days. more big notes. more small treasures. more family dinners. more private desserts.

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in today's top stories, an actress whose career spanned more than 60 years has died. >> just haven't met anybody who's not completely self absorbed and impossible to have a conversation with. >> if that's a veiled conversation about me i won't hear it and i won't respond to it. >> h'm. >> jessica walter, best known for playing lucille blue died on wednesday in her sleep according to a rep she won a claim for her voiceover work on archer tony hale who played her son said she was a force and her

talent and timing were unmatched. rest in peace, mama blue jessica walter was 80 years old. decades in the business. people here, she is mama blue. she played that role perfectly. >> we talked about it in the past year during the whole lockdown great to catch her work. just like that >> yeah. university of southern california paying more than $1.1 billion to settle sex abuse cases. thousands of victims have a georged george kindle, the school gynecologist of sexual harassment and abuse he pleaded not guilty to 35 counts of criminal sexual misconduct. an investigation underway in long beach, california, after a life guard tower painted te lgb destroyed by fire. a motive has not been determined here but long beach's mayor, who

is openly gay, called this incident an act of hate. he said the tower will be rebuilt better and brighter. a tennessee police officer's act of kindness is going viral this morning after he led a helping hand to two high school students the clarksville police department said he was on his routine patrol when he stopped to help the students tie their ties for senior pictures they said not all cops are bad and learning life lessons right there. as soon as lockdown is over, he'll be getting out of those joggers. >> from someone who doesn't like wearing ties, it's a life lesson everybody needs to know. pepsi is turning to peeps candies for help with a sweet new spring flavor. it's teaming up with pepsi to create a marshmallow flavored soda you won't find them on store shelves in time for the

holidays pepsi is giving them away on social media you need to mash your post with #hangingwithmypeeps. >> something to try. people are into peeps. we're trying to figure out. if you an't know who tonighret...i'll be eating loaded tots for march madness. ( doorbell ) thanks boo. ( piano glissando ) i think you better double them tots. no, this me was last year. i didn't get my madness last year, so we're doing double the madness this year.

i am ale excited. >> there's 7 billion in the world. i'm patient. >> excitement and some hesitation as the governor announces most of us will soon be eligible to get the covid-19 vaccine. our team breaks down what you need to know to secure that shot. plus -- >> mr. alexander? >> yes. >> mr. bogus? >> yes. >> miss collins? >> an embattled school board member stripped of her powers, the rare move in san francisco following her controversial comments on twitter. and the east bay city appr