♪ ♪ this morning more parents have the option of getting their kids vaccinated now that the fda has given fizer the green light for 12 to 15-year-olding but almost a quarter of parents are saying thanks, but no thanks a deadly and violent escalation in the middle east between militants in gaza and israelis a state of emergency has been declared in north carolina after a russian group called dark side managed to hack one of america's most important gasoline and aircraft fuel pipelines. with rising gas prices from

that pipeline disruption, so too are prices going up on everyday essentials like eggs, bread, milk, coffee and more. we have a report you need to hear new details on the tiger that roamed through a houston neighborhood and the handler believed to be behind the big cat. "early today" starts right now >> good tuesday morning. i'm philip mena. >> and i'm frances rivera. the fda has cleared the way for about 17 million more americans to get vaccinated. authorizing the use of pfizer's vaccine for kids as young as 12. the cdc is expected to sign off on the move soon, but will parents approve? in a recent poll, 30% of parents said they would get their children vaccinated as soon as possible 23% said they definitely would not. others said they will wait or would if required. for more on the vaccine rollout, here's our correspondent >> reporter: the food and drug administration says pfizer's covid-19 vaccine can be used to

inoculate children as young as 12 >> having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step to lessen the public health burden caused by the covid-19 pandemic. >> reporter: more than 2,000 volunteers were used for testing. the fda study found the vaccine was safe and offered strong protection 17 million children will be eligible for vaccination >> one can say that often children don't get terribly sick from covid-19, there are kids who do get very sick in addition, they can bring it asymptomatically around to their grandparents and others. >> reporter: some 15,000 pharmacies and some schools will offer doses. >> there should be the ones that would be more safe >> reporter: the final hurdle, a cdc advisory committee it's expected to make a recommendation on wednesday. there's a wave of gun

violence sweeping across the country. hundreds have been either killed or wounded this weekend alone. now authorities are trying to figure out what led to this deadly surge senior national correspondent tom yamas investigates >> reporter: new body cam video showing the chaos in times square after a gunman turned the crossroads of the world into a crime scene. three people shot, including this little girl watch as an officer applies a tourniquet, lifts her up and rushes her to a nearby ambulance. a 23-year-old tourist also shot. >> the first shot went to my leg. >> reporter: all of it part of a violent weekend that reached every corner of america. more than 400 people shot or killed in south florida, shoppers inside a mall hiding in terror as gunshots rang out outside, others running for safety >> sounds like more shots are still being fired. >> reporter: in colorado springs, six people shot and

killed in a birthday massacre. police say the gunman saking his life in los angeles, chicago, philadelphia, homicides and shootings are all on the rise, compared to this time last year. in new york city, shootings are up a staggering 79%. and because of safety issues here in new york, the mayor had started a new program. any city worker who commutes into work can sign up for a travel body. essentially a co-worker who will ride with them on the subway to get to and from work safely. the violence is even surprising to criminal justice experts who say a spike in gun violence usually occurs after memorial day. do you think this summer will be more violent >> i do. the trends indicate we'll have a more violent summer in 2021. that's after we had a very disturbingly high 2020 >> our thanks to tom for that report a critical artery for the nation's fuel supply is still offline this morning after a

crippling ransom ware attack the fbi confirmed that a russian crime organization is responsible for taking down the colonial pipeline. and every minute it's offline threatened to pub gas prices higher here's tom costello. >> reporter: the fbi says a russian criminal gang called dark side is behind the largest ransom ware attack of its kind, targeting a critical piece of u.s. oil infrastructure, the colonial pipeline that supply 45s% of fuel to the east coal remains shut down. >> colonial is currently working with its private cybersecurity consultants to assess potential damage and determine when it is safe to bring the pipeline online >> reporter: experts say dark side is a sophisticated criminal ring that targets english speaking victims >> so far there's no evidence based on from our intelligence people that russia is involved although there's evidence that

the actors of ransom ware is in russia they have some responsibility to deal with this >> they're shielded by the russian state. so at some point this becomes a u.s. national security problem not just a criminal problem for corporations >> reporter: for years, ransom ware attacks have targeted retailers, hospitals, police departments, utilities, state and local governments. their data held hostage until they pay up. >> this is not an attack that was unforeseen many in the industry have been warning against it >> reporter: no word on whether colonial might pay the ransom demand until the pipeline can reopen, the white house is allowing more tanker trucks to carry fuel up the east coast >> without that fuel, tank forms that pull product from that are going to start draining. >> reporter: as to the gas prices we say, the longer this drags on, the more likely we will go over $3 a gallon

nationally that would be the highest we've paid since november of 2014. and that's just as we head into the summer driving season with memorial day frances, back to you >> tom, thank you. violence in the middle east is escalating. at least 20 people are dead, including nine children after hamas militants and israelis exchanged rocket fire. israeli air strikes came as retaliation after hamas launched rocket attacks on jerusalem. and that was after hundreds of palestinians were hurt during earlier clashes with israeli forces at a religious site for the latest on this, we turn now to chapman bell. good morning what is the u.s. saying about these attacks? >> reporter: well, as you sashgs things escalating indeed tension rising significantly yesterday and overnight. the israeli defense force saying that due to continuous rocket fire from gaza, some 200 rockets launched into israel they say that they struck over 130

targets inside the gaza strip belonging to terror organization we have heard from the u.s john kirby say thing at the pentagon >> today's rocket attack from gaza into israel is unacceptable and the united states supports israel's right to self-defense and here today at the department, we're going to continue our cooperation to ensure that israel has what it needs to defend and protect itself >> reporter: now, some of these rockets have reached the outskirts of jerusalem on the anniversary of the israeli capturing the old city in the 1967 six-day war. this, of course, following other tensions in the area hundreds of palestinians injured around the mosque during the holy month of ramadan. so many factors continuing to the rise and violence. we have yet to hear from the white house on this. but some speculating if things

continue, we may hear a response from the white house >> chapman bell reporting for us this morning thank you. the battle over the ballot box could boil over into an all-out war today as the senate takes up a voting rights bill. the legislation cleared the house but hit a wall of opposition from senate republicans. susan, mitch mcconnell has vowed to kill this bill. >> reporter: yeah, he's making that a priority. republicans promising an all-out assault. democrats on the hill today are going to be debating the for the people bill. it's a response to recent voting changes made in republican led states like florida, texas, and georgia. and democrats say those changes are restricting access to -- for americans to the ballot box, especially black americans something their bill is going to do, automatically register all citizens for the vote, guarantee early voting republicans say they're trying to stop voter fraud and say this bill amounts to a federal

takeover of elections and they're ready for a fight. >> this is a full-fledged assault on voting rights, unlike anything we have seen since the era of jim crow. the truth is, politicians in their craven lust for power are willing to sacrifice our democracy by using the big lie as a pretext for their true aim, some people don't want some people to vote >> it's a vast federal takeover of all american elections. it's a horrible bill i'm going to do everything i can and my colleagues are going to do everything we can to prevent it >> reporter: this bill being debated today. but make election day a national holiday. >> susan, thank you. let's get a check of our weather on this tuesday with meteorologist janessa web. good morning >> hi, good morning. good morning, everyone we are watching the south for severe weather this afternoon. things have calmed down for

southern texas, but the cloud coverage is still in place, and watching just a few storms nothing on the severe side for northern louisiana it has been a wet spring, so localized minor flooding in this area will continue through thursday afternoon right now, storm prediction just has a marginal risk. we'll watch for hail and50s acre carolinas into florida mid 70s to upper 80s the northern tier we're watching freeze alerts. we'll talk about that coming up. >> we have to. >> "early today" is back with ways to save as grocery prices skyrocket. >> and chipolte is hoping higher

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leading the news, chipotle is hoping higher wage also attract new employees, as the restaurant chain is hoping to hire 20,000 people but the ceo says this is one of the most challenging labor markets he's ever seen the company is raising its pay for new and existing employees to reach an average of $15 an hour by the end of june. employees can get referral bonuses of $200 for crew members and $750 for managers. >> eating out is an option, but if you've gone to the grocery store you may have noticed your bill going up, even if your shopping list stays the same eggs, bread, milk, even coffee, prices are on the rise we take a deeper dive into what's going on and ways to save >> reporter: this year, those homemade mother's day brunches weren't only served with love, but likely a bigger grocery

bill compared to last march, coffee is now an average of $4.67, up 8% eggs, up 7%. bacon and bread, both up 11% chicken, up 10%. sarah is a mom of two girls with another baby on the way. she says her grocery bill has steadily increased the last year >> it ranges anywhere from $20 to $50 more expensive than six months ago which when you're making a few trips each week, you know, that adds up. >> reporter: this family is lucky. they have a way to cut corners they get meat and dairy products from their farm in erie, pennsylvania but price hikes on other essential items have forced them to take a second look at their budget >> we've had to rework some of our finances i have been planning this. >> reporter: the higher cost of raw materials, shipping delays, and gas hikes have led some of the nation's largest product

manufacturers to raise prices. protector and gamble says customer also see up to a 9% increase on its baby and feminine care products coca cola and general mills say the cost of their products will also go up according to experts, the savvy shopper can find ways to cut a growing bill >> use store brands. they're often produced in the same factories as the national brands that you're familiar with and they are a whole heck of a lot cheaper. >> reporter: if you are working from home, those long zoom meetings aren't the only thing making your power bill go up the price of electricity has risen 3% since last spring a shock to consumers nationwide. with summer just around the corner >> here's other ways to help and save experts suggest joining a loyalty program at stores and look for discounts that come with credit cards and off

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fast forwarding into tuesday. queen elizabeth will open a new session of parliament, performing her first duties since her husband's funeral. they will outline the

government's agenda. andrew brown jr.'s family is expected to view body cam footage from april 21 when he was shot by deputies in elizabeth city, north carolina so far, the video is not expected to be released publicly jennifer garner is said to accompany jill biden to west virginia on thursday to tour a elementary school and visit a vaccination site in charleston another reason prices are going up as we told you in the earlier report is that companies are having a heck of a time getting products to stores joining us now with details is karen cho. good morning >> good morning. yes, truck drivers are still hard to come by with the latest report showing only just 1 in 10 jobs in the sector is being filled the latest state of the trucking report reveals a top worry is finding drivers. we know delivering shipping costs have gone up

a quarter of goods around the country is moved by truck. the industry is relying on pay increases and incentives to recruit. this is the opposite side to the labor force where we are seeing shortages in certain sectors meanwhile, the carmaker uno has released a new packa of cards to celebrate diversity. the new deck of cards is available for only $6 exclusively from target. the owner mattel has pledged to donate $50,000 to the it gets better project >> just ahead of pride month karen, thanks. still to come, details between the u.s. navy and iran >> and a tiger on the run in texas. the latest in thsech fe aror the big cat that's left a neighborhood on edge

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in today's top stories, the world health organization has reclassified a covid variant as a covid variant spreading in india. the agency is labelling a triple strain as a variant of concern, indicating it has become a global health risk it's been found to spread more easily and may be able to evade some protections from vaccines but the shots are still considered effective a close encounter on the high seas. a u.s. ship fires 30 warning shots after 13 iranian speedboats got too close in the strait of hormuz they were part of iran's

revolutionary guard core navy. the u.s. military vessels were escorting a vessel at the time the warning shots were fired after they came within 150 yards. this comes after the u.s. intercepted thousands of weapons in the arabian sea >> if you own a honda accord, pay attention. more than 1.1 million may have a dangerous steering problem there is an investigation that's been opened to accords from 2013 to 2015. there have been 108 complaints by owners, including a loss of steering control in cars veering from their intended path two crashes that caused injuries resulted from this issue a transgender person made history within the christian faith. that makes them the first openly first transgender person in the u.s. to do so.

she was elected to lead about 200 worshippers. houston pd made an arrest in connection with a higher roaming through a neighborhood 26-year-old victor hugo cuevas was arrested his attorney says that the tiger did not belong to his client police say the tiger's whereabouts are unknown and urge res residents to call if they see this office. only texas maybe florida. the only places where just a random tire -- >> or a wild cat sanctuaries could be close around. but in this case, it's got stripes, long legs >> hope they find him quickly. blazing footage from a victory day celebration in russia high above st. petersburg over the weekend. capturing the incredible shot there. a drone camera was attached to a

small model military plane the celebration was marking the end of world war ii. it's always amazing to watch fireworks, but how cool is that? >> i've never seen fireworks like that. awesome. >> thanks for watching "early today. i'm frces riveraan

he said he was robbed for his watch and that he tried to take his wallet. >> right now at 4:30, another disturbing attack in the bay area against an elderly asian man. what the suspects got away with and the action the state's top prosecutor is taking to crack down on hate crimes. moving into yellow, the bay area county set to head into the least restrictive coronavirus tier today. we're breaking down what this means for you. plus, long lines, even gas shortages in some cities across the country. the fallout from the cyber attack of a top u.s. pipeline is far