out of gas thousands of stations are dry this morning as the cyber attack on the key fuel pipeline grows more intense and worse, could other key parts of our infrastructure including electrical, financial and nuclear also be at greater risk. mid east violence shows no sign of slowing down the rising death toll and injuries continue to mount as israel and hamas continue their military assault. this morning the new charges and the death penalty the da is seeking in the atlanta spa

shootings. addicted to the internet lester holt goes deep into what you need in this age of social media. plus, countless families adopted a ped during the pandemic and now they're being returned "early today" starts right now. >> i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. much of the nation grappling with a fuel shortage in the wake of the crippling pipe line attack, demand has striked across the southeast leaving gas stations running on empty. the governors of virginia, florida. colognial should know when the pipeline will be back up and running. dan sheneman has the latest. >> we're out of gas. i'm he sorry. >> reporter: that's the problem throughout much of the southeast. more than 7% of stations in north carolina are out. >> i've been waiting here for 45

minutes just to get gas. >> lines are long, tempers are short. prices are up. about 6 cents compared with last week. >> i'll spend that extra few bucks. that's the way it is. >> this is the reason, the 5500 mile colonial pipeline nearly shut down, the target of a ransom wear attack blamed on russian hackers stretching from texas to new jersey. the east coast depends on this pipeline for nearly half of all refined fuel despite the panicked buying, officials say there is no reason to panic. >> there should be no cause for hoarding gasoline, especially in light of the fact that the pipeline should be substantially operational by the end of this week and over the weekend. >> reporter: but many drivers are worried they may soon be running on empty dan sheneman, nbc news. for years they have sounded the alarm warning of the vulnerabilities across our

infrastructure network what can be done to prevent more attacks. here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: for years they have warned critical infrastructure is under constant foreign surveillance and attacks all of these are potentials. already this year ransom wear losses have exceeded $350 million. a 300% increase over last year >> there's no company too small to suffer a ransom wear attack we are seeing increasingly small and medium sized businesses suffer a ransom wear attack. >> overseas criminal gains and russia present problems. they suggest the u.s. and russia should cooperate in fighting

cyber crimes the challenge for u.s. utilities is safeguarding for an attack which russia has been preparing for for years. russia is widely expected for shutting off power to people as the white house urges any potential infrastructure target to harden them position. >> is it too costly to be one step ahead of the hackers? >> it costs money to have a robust cyber security posture but it costs more monea devastating breach you weren't prepared for. >> the good news, this is made up of many smaller grids making a single successful attack less likely as for the fuel that's stored behind me in those tanks, it moves very, very slowly through the pipeline, 5 miles per hour so it will take days to restock

the tanks and get them back up to levels where they were before the attack occurred. >> we can expect further delays. tom, thanks. breaking news. on tuesday over 30 people killed and over 200 wounded in rocket attacks between airstrikes from the two. over 1,000 rockets have been fired at israel since the fighting began the attacks are described by some as some of the most intense fighting in seven years. we turn to chapman bell live in london good morning >> reporter: good morning. yeah, as you say, escalating to the point that the u.n. envoy for middle east peace that wrer' headed to a full scale war the latest news from the idf telling us in the last 38 hours, 1050 rocketshave been fired

from gaza to israel. the other 850 were intercepted or landed in israel. now overnight, hundreds of targets attacked by the idf including two high rises they say were headquartered at hamas. we're told israeli paratroopers are reinforcing the border with gaza this escalation comes as no surprise as prime minister benjamin netanyahu yesterday saying that both the intensity and the rate of attacks by israel would increase and also that hamas and islamic jihad is paid and will pay a heavy price for their aggression now we've also heard from the white house jen psaki saying that president biden has been briefed and that the primary focus is de-escalation israel has get under control and millions

of young people are dying. >> the casualty's really there chapman, thanks. the stage is set for a grand old battle of the future of the gop. house republicans will vote this morning on whether to purge congresswoman liz cheney from her leadership role. the daughter of a former official remains strong. let's get to susan mcginnis live for us in d.c. this does not look promising for liz cheney. >> good morning, philipp that's right house republicans will vote to oust liz cheney today. it's all about her criticism of president trump, his false claims about the election and his role in the january 6th insurrection liz cheney not going quietly giving an empassioned speech on the house floor last night. >> this is not about policy. this is not about partisanship this is about our duty as

americans. remaining silent and not saying anything emboldens thewhile oths lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to underline our democracy. >> reporter: elise stefanik is an early critic of president trump has not voted with him as much as liz cheney we don't know when that vote is taking place coinciding with cheney's ouster, there are 100 republicans and more forming a joint statement talking about threatening to leave the party and form a third party if reforms are not made. evidently they are fed up with this unwavering loyalty to president trump. finally after this vote today the so-called big four congressional leaders from both parties leave here, capitol hill

to the white house talking about the president's $4 trillion spending plan. the president and democrats trying to form some kind of alliance and they're committed to blocking this administration, phillip. >> new look republican party they need to evolve. susan, thank you so much for the update. after weeks of legal exchanges the judge ordered the family of andrew brown jr. to see more footage they were shown 18:40 of the 118 minutes of the video recorded by deputies lawyers for brown's family called it an ambush. >> what we saw on that video was an unjustified killing what we saw on that video is something we believe also denotes further investigation and does have some criminal liability. >> the brown family attorneys

want the district attorney to focus -- to recuse himself because he has worked with deputies for years. now to georgia where the man accused of killing people in march was charged with murder on tuesday. they will face the health crime and robert aaron long is being held without bond. >> let's check in with nbc meteorologist janessa webb good morning >> hi, good morning. we have a fluid situation. severe weather now sparking up across southern texas. san bow nieto city into brownsville dealing with a storm on the ground. should be in your safe place right now. torrential rain.

we have thousands of people without power in new orleans all due to a band of moisture. the severe weather threat has diminished in that area. it's going to be taking a while to get power restored in that area flash flood watches remain the y into the boston area, mid-atlantic, upper 70s for the deep south today west coast, sunshine and beach weather. a black prolific burglary setup

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internet became a life line but for others a life altering portal to what some describe as a rabbit hole. scott zaid said he's been down it. >> i would imagine it's like what any addiction feels like. you think about giving it up. >> reporter: he found himself spending more and more time online in his case feeding an insayingsal appetite for politics, the election and capital siege particularly drew him in does it feel like you're being swept down this tunnel >> yeah. yeah they cycle the things you want to see they know what you want to read. they feed you more and more of that i know it's happening and yet i still click and open that next article. >> reporter: psychiatrist dr. howard for man said internet addiction is real. >> just based on the volume of calls i'm getting, volume of calls my colleagues are getting it is certainly growing.

we're going to see this is one of the major behavioral addictions. >> overseas has noticed increased dependence during the pandemic with links to anxiety and depression. >> i blood pressure medication. >> scientifically what is happening when we cross this line on the computer into addiction? >> every time that you get a like or a follow or someone comments you get a surge of dopamine in a section of the brain called the pleasure sector it gets very addicting >> reporter: attempts to stop cold generally fail. >> the therapy i always start with is that you start out with a simple do and a simple don't and the simple do is do engage in activities that previously were pleasurable to you before

the internet took over your life >> reporter: as for scott, a health care worker, online disinformation and lies about covid are triggers i know it's happening and yet i still click and open that next article. >> reporter: a struggle between the healthy need to know and engage and the unhealthy fall into that rabbit hole. >> thanks to lester for that allof us can somehow relate. >> yeah. >> behind these screens really pulls you in. >> yeah. that's why we're here in many ways. next on "early today," steve sedgwick will break down whether inflation concerns are over inflated. lightning strikes at ford as the nation's most popular pickup goes electric. with pharmacists who you know, who know you. so, when you're ready, they'll be ready to give it to you safely, for free. this is our shot at bringing our communities back together. providing healing, not just for some, but for all.

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coming up this morning, the "today" show will exclusively reveal this year's nfl kickoff game along with the first sunday night football game of the season with nbc sports mike ti tirico. this morning all eyes are closely fixed on the new data coming out at 8:30 eastern and the state of inflation and whether we're all in for some massive sticker shock. here's steve sedgwick. >> very good morning to you, frances, phillip probably the first time we've done this on this show that we've talked about inflation this way cpi is a bit boring and something the federal market looks at

we are expecting potentially this time the biggest figure, 3.6% jump, the biggest increase since september of 2011. the federal reserve is saying, don't worry about it this is transitory others in the market which has wobbled a little bit are saying this could be more permanent elsewhere, got a couple of great new suvs for consumers in 2022 there is a collaboration between subaru and toyota. it's called the solterra which means sun and earth. that will be available in 2022 ford is unveiling the f-150 lightning and that will be built in dearborn, michigan on may 19th it will be available with production starting next spring as well. let me hand it back to both of you. >> steve, thanks for the update. >> appreciate it. >> it would be cool if bob dylan was the pitch man on that. coming up, why texas

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in today's quick hits, the white house says uber and lyft will be providing free rides to and from vaccination sites the program is going to launch within the next two weeks and will last until july 4th. former president trump's acting defense secretary christopher miller plans to defend the pentagon's response for the january 6th capitol hill riots. he will testify before congress today. michael bloomberg has donated $200 million to create the vivian thomas funds scholarship.

it will help six historically black colleges pursue ph.d.s in s.t.e.m. fields. kentuckyr medina spirit has been cleare stakes the horse was unwhitingly treated with an ointment containing steroids which may have led to a drug test. the horse will undergo rigorous testing for the preakness. texas lawmakers are debating the word meat. a bill would ban companies that make plant based foods broader terms like burger would be okay. they want to prevent misleading labels the house will need to vote on the bill before it goes to the state senate for more debate a new study is shedding light on racial disparities in banking. the financial health network has found hispanic and black households paint a total of $3.1

billion and $4.1 billion in overdraft fees in 2020 it found black americans paid $800 million for fees for banking like checking account, money orders and more. hispanic families spent $1.1 billion on the same services. >> as more people go back to their offices, more pets are being returned one shelter said over the last four months they've seen more returns than they usually see in an entire year other rescues are reporting similar trends and say adoptions are slowing down. enormous trolls are taking over coastal maine botanical gardens. made of mostly recycled wood pallets. these aren't just a sight to see. the danish artist who created them wrote a father ri tale that

they are helping the forests if you are able to visit all five of them you can solve a riddle hidden within the exhibit is set to fully open on memorial day weekend. >> be able to solve the riledd

right now at 4:30, mother nature turning on the air conditioning. take a look, carl the fog hugging the coastline in san francisco. the good news here, it's cooling things down a bit, which means fire danger is subsiding, at least for now. the wednesday forecast is straight ahead as "today in the bay" starts right now. good wednesday morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. all right, mike, keeping an eye on that commute for us this morning, but first we want to start off with the forecast. meteorologist kari hall is taking a look at that