we kick off a new week after easter gatherings and passover observances. more americans are flying as vaccinations continue to rise, reaching a new record of four million doses in arms. developing in florida, a desperate race against a toxic waste water reservoir on the verge of collapse. a state of emergency is declared a witness expected to testify in a few hours at the trial of derek chauvin who is accused of murdering george floyd last memorial day. new fallout this morning in the state of georgia over major

league baseball's decision to pull the all-star game from atlanta. airlines are taking the initiative to get a growing number of air travelers to their destinations faster. we'll tell you what to expect when you hit the airport and on the heels of saturday's jaw-dropping game-winning finish for gonzaga, the cardinal iced a nail biter to capture the national championship of women's college basketball "early today" starts right now >> good monday morning i'm phillip mena. >> and i'm lindsey reiser. happy to be with you we hope you had a good easter and passover weekend, but it was another holiday in pandemic. for the second year worldwide christians celebrated easter under coronavirus restrictions some people masked up and worshipped in person, with othed others decided the stoic virtual services proving that faith remains a center point of people's lives here is nbc's sarah harman >> reporter: pope francis holding an unusually socially distanced easter mass.

addressing those suffering due to the pandemic and callinted by covid for a second year with italy once again under national lockdown, hoping to avoid a repeat of the disaster they suffered at the start of the pandemic across europe, a similar story with tougher restrictions in france, poland, and germany. >> i think it definitely makes people not want to go out as much because the rules have become so much stricter. >> reporter: in paris, fire ravaged notre dame cathedral remained closed after president macron imposed a third national lockdown, sensing parisians racing out of the city in england, restaurants and pubs remain shut, but outdoor meet-ups are now permitted, allowing the queen and prince charles to take a socially distanced easter stroll. back in the u.s., vaccinations are speeding up with more than one in three american adults

having received at least one dose, but there are growing concerns over a new wave as cases surge, particularly in michigan and the northeast easter weekend has brought a huge number of travelers the tsa screened 1.5 million people at airports as health officials warned it's now a race between the vaccine and the new variants speaking of those new variants, the first u.s. case of the indian variant has just been confirmed in the state of california by researchers at stanford university. the indian variant is a so-called double mutant, which could make it even more contagious sarah harman, nbc news, london changes are being made at that baltimore plant where 15 million doses of johnson & johnson's vaccine were ruined last week. the company says it is taking full responsibility for that incident according to reuters, the government has put johnson & johnson in charge of the plant the company says it's adding leaders in operations and

quality to supervise the work of its vaccine line the plant will now solely produce the j&j vaccine as astrazeneca says it will relocate its production. the head of the capital police union is urging congress to step up security after a second attack on the capitol left an officer dead on friday in a statement, the union chairman said the department is severely understaffed, down 233 officers right now and he says many more are considering leaving. nbc's jennifer johnson has the latest >> reporter: capitol police officers cheering on officer kenny shaver as he left the hospital after surviving friday's car attack that killed fellow officer william evans the incident came less than three months after rioters stormed the capitol, which left officer brian sicknick dead. the capital police union chair informed congress several on the force want to quit, writing i've had many younger officers confide in me that they're

actively looking at other agencies and departments right now. the force is asking for swift action to enforce security an outer perimeter security fence erected after the january riot was recently removed, and some republicans say a second one should go too. >> i think the permanent fencing should come down i don't think it does the job. in fact, the fencing was right there when the car drove through. >> reporter: but removing that fence will likely be delayed after 25-year-old noah green rammed his car into the officers an then hit a barrier. he was shot and killed after lunging at police with a knife the fbi and others are still trying to determine the motive. >> it was not appear to be terrorism related, but obviously we'll continue the investigate >> reporter: flags are again flying at half-staff at the capitol in honor of the 18-year veteran as evans' fellow officers appeal to lawmakers for better protection. jennifer johnson, nbc news, washington breaking news. a state of emergency has been

declared for manatee county, florida. a waste water reservoir south of tampa is threatening to burst, and it could flood the area with millions of gallons of saltwater mixed with nitrogen and ammonia. more than 300 homes are under evacuation orders. officials warn if the structure collapses, catastrophic flooding could happen in a matter of minutes. >> in a period of minutes, and the models for less than an hour are as high as a 20-foot wall of water. so if your in an evacuation area and you have not heeded that, you need to think twice. >> crews are working to move water out of the reservoir as quickly as possible, but they say they're still in a critical phase. the trial of derek chauvin will resume in just a few hours from now, and prosecutors will be calling on yet another member of the force, this time the police chief he'll be taking the stand against his former colleague our meagan fitzgerald is following the latest developments

>> reporter: linsey, good morning. prosecutors are expected to call witnesses all throughout the week but the biggest headline is the chief of the minneapolis police department, who is expected to testify today. >> mr. floyd iofficers, they co ended their restraint. >> reporter: in a rare move, the traditional blue wall of silence broken as two minneapolis police officers testified against their own. >> totally unnecessary >> reporter: now their chief redondo prepares to take the witness stand pour the prosecution. >> we're seeing them blow through that thin blue line one after another. >> reporter: what do we expect the chief to say when he testifies? >> we anticipate that chief of police will come in and say this was contrary to our use of force policies and it was totally unnecessary and excessive. >> reporter: in court, the defense disagreed. >> you as an officer are allowed to use whatever force is

reasonable and necessary, correct? >> yes >> reporter: the prosecution also expected to call dr. andrew baker, hennepin county's medical examiner his autopsy report says floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest, in other words, his heart stopped because it wasn't getting enough oxygen. >> importantly, he said he found no injuries to george floyd's neck, either externally or internally you can bet, meagan, the defense will jump on that. >> reporter: the defense trying to convince the jury that drugs led to floyd's death, and not the knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. the chief came under heavy criticism after george floyd's death. it was less than 24 hours that he fired all four officers involved the minneapolis police union said he didn't give those officers due process so all eyes will be on the chief when he takes the witness stand. linsey >> meagan, thank you

a once secret unit has been shut down. camp seven housed prisoner hoss had previously been held at previous cia facilities often referred to as black sites the military says the prisoners were safely moved into the largely empty camp 5 officials have previously said about 14 men were in camp 7. right now there are a total of prisoners at guantanamo. a new champion has been crowned in women's college basketball stanford set the own early against arizona, going off a 10-0 run early in the game but the upset-minded wildcats could not go away. arizona was down seven at the half they closed the gap with an offensive explosion to close the third. stanford beat arizona twice during the regular season by double-digits, but this game came down to the last shot >> lobs it to mcdonald five seconds left. mcdonald, two seconds. mcdonald trapped, heaves

that is it stanford survives again! >> oh, the pac-12 women's player of the year can't get it to go so stanford survives and wins the title. 54-53. the cardinal claim their first championship since 1992. not a ton of disappointment, but congrats to stanford home state, arizona girl. >> it was a great game and what more can you ask for? one point victory in the titles game nen the men's game after a picture-perfect buzzer beater by jaylen suggs was incredible lifted gonzaga over from perfection.r bears for the national championship tonight >> i know you're not getting any sleep today watching that. >> they start so late. but yeah, i'm going watch. the life of the a.m. newsers. janessa webb nose all about a that morn janessa

>> yeah, morning we've been seeing some great basketball being played. but i hope you've enjoyed the weather over the weekend we have high pressure that is building across the country. we are watching a small storm system that's going to come out of the rockies and this will transition into a severe weather threat as we head into later this evening for the upper midwest. all the way into tuesday afternoon. so there is a minor risk of severe storms. we're going see damaging wind, a little bit of hail early this afe average. slightly cooler this afternoon but a ton of sunshine across the northeast. and we're also watching fire danger we'll take a look at that forecast coming up >> sounds good thank you.

it's official. mars has its first helicopter. >> pretty cool >> nasa's ingenuity was actually off-loaded from the perseverance rover late saturday. this is a four-pound helicopter. and it's using solar panels to charge its battery and that battery will heat its systems to keep itself warm. then it will have 31 earth days to try to be the first helicopter to fly on another planet just a small goal there. the first flight could happen as early as april 11th. we will all be watching. >> pretty cool is an understatement that's amazing what they got going on there hacked personal information from half a billion facebook users hits the web, next and the outpouring of support for rap legend dmx who was rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters. the fluffy fibers? they pick up dust easily. grabbing it in all those hard-to-reach places. gotcha!!! and for our floors, sweeper's textured cloths

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parmesan cheese than anyone -- anyone that you know i went one time for 13 days without sleeping and smoking crack and drinking vodka exclusively throughout that entire time >> leading the news, president biden's son hunter is opening up about his life, investigations of which he is the subject and his struggles with substance abuse. he appeared on cbs sunday morning to discuss his memoir called "beautiful things." that will be released on tuesday. rapper dmx is still in the hospital in critical condition his lawyer tells "the new york times" he is on life support in a vegetative state the l simmons had a heart attack at his home friday night news of his condition hit the music community especially hard with many artists tweeting their support. his family is set to hold a prayer vigil later today outside the hospital the personal data for over 500 million facebook user has

resurfaced online available on a website for hackers. the information appears to be several years old, stolen during a security breach back in 2019 the availability of the data was first reported by business insider, which says the information includes phone numbers, full names, location, birthdays, and email addresses in a statement, facebook said this old data previously reported on we found and fixed that issue back in august of 2019 still to come, vaccinated and ready to vacation. how airlines are preparing for surge in summer travel and everybody get up it's a sequel to the slam. lebron james suits up with bugs bunny in the first trailer for "space jam 2." on your hard surfaces and fabrics. try 9 elements. its vinegar powered deep clean dissolves hard water buildup and releases trapped residues and odors like detoxifying your clothes. made with never more than 9 ingredients.

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let's end this >> and get our son back. ♪ >> yikes >> classic >> it's the toon squad versus the goon squad in "space jam: a new legacy" coming out this summer we've seen some of the highest numbers of people traveling since the pandemic began. and now with more people vaccinated and itching for vacations, airlines are adding hundreds of new direct routes to summer destinations. our stephanie ruhle has more >> reporter: for millions of americans like the palcek

family. >> tomorrow marks six weeks before vacation. >> reporter: a vacation can't come soon nough. >> we just could not wait. >> reporter: they're booked on a fight from baltimore to fort walton beach in florida, a route that never existed before on southwest. as demand surges, u.s. airlines are adding more than 250 brand-new routes by memorial day, offering direct links to vacation destinations across the country, like milwaukee to myrtle beach, pittsburg to pensacola, and columbus to charleston >> we're providing customers access to nonstop routes that we haven't ever done before. >> reporter: the vice president of domestic scheduling for airlines says united is seeing its highest ticket sales since the start of the pandemic. is this in response to people being excited about summer leisure travel domestically? that is absolutely right the combination of the pent-up demand plus the leash destinations opening up that is creating this increased demand. >> reporter: while passenger volume was way down at major

airports in new york and l.a., it's actually already up above prepandemic levels in places like ski country in colorado, key west and myrtle beach. what has tourism been like for myrtle beach >> we had an incredible march. actually saw numbers that equal june and july. so the forecast here is for a very busy summer >> reporter: the cdc is still advising against leisure travel, but as demand surges, experts warn prices may spike as much as 45% by memorial day. >> covid isn't gone. what should we know before booking travel >> travelers should do their research understand that if there are covid restrictions where they're headed and understand what is expected of them as a visitor. we have a responsibility to keep the covid rates going down, travelers included >> reporter: for the palchacs, that new flight gets them to their destination cheaper and faster. >> it was a no-brainer

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ahh. the hummer is going electric general motors has added a bevy of high-tech features to the classic suv. kit drive diagonally it can cruise to zero to 60 in three seconds. as you might expect, it's still quite a beast off-road with the ability to raise and lower its suspension it get here is in 2023 if you can afford it, it starts a 90 k >> weren't those notorious for being a gas guzzler and they went out of style. they remind me of van dutch hats and t-shirts that's a new one

i like that it's electric. now to the major league baseball battle between professional baseball and the state of georgia mlb pulled its all-star game on friday over its controversial voting law this weekend its governor fired back here is nbc's steve patterson. >> reporter: major league baseball is now back in full swing. but the most radical play so far comes from the league itself, pulling its extravagant all-star game and draft weekend out of atlanta. georgia's governor brian kemp cried fall, calling it a cave to cancel culture. >> they're coming for your game or event in your hometown, and they're coming to cancel everything from sports to how you make a living. >> reporter: the mlb's decision a reaction to the access to dr, absentee voting, and critics say targets black voters with heavy new requirements in atlanta, praise over the move >> the mlb is right in pulling

the all-star game from atlanta >> reporter: former president barack obama tweeting congratulations to the mlb for taking a stand on behalf of voting rights while former president trump fired boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with free and fair elections but that decidedly social stance is both risky for the league and a major blow to the state's economy, already upended by the pandemic >> we were expecting a high-rise in people here during that time. unfortunately we are not expecting that anymore. >> reporter: voting rights activist stacey abrams commended the league i respect boycotts, although i don't want to see georgia families hurt by lost events and jobs georgia isn't alone. legislators in 47 states has introduced more than 360 bills with restrictive provisions. major american companies decrying voter restrictions as a move by america's pastime sends shockwaves across the cultural spectrum steve patterson, nbc news. >> some lawmakers firing back

now saying they want coke out of their offices. >> company autonomy against. this it doesn't add up >> thank you so much for starting your week was i'm lindsey reiser. >> and i'm phillip mena. before we go

florida on edge. hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic waste water at risk of breaking through and flooding sunshine state neighborhoods hundreds of families ordered to evacuate can it be contained in time? catol police exodus on the heels of friday's deadly encounter. word now that many officers could be planning an exit strategy from the already depleted force, still wounded from the january 6 incursion the trial of derek chauvin enters its second week of testimony with a key witness taking the stand for the