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where there is a bright spot for investors. why now is the hottest market and best time to cash in on your car. and how exercise giant peleton is shifting gearsinto video gaming "early today" starts right now good tuesday morning, i'm phillip mena >> glad you're with us i'm frances rivera covid numbers are trending in the wrong direction in every single state the highly contagious delta variant is driving increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths florida accounts for one-fifth of all new cases in the country. a hospital in jacksonville just broke a record set in january for the most covid patients in one day. >> meanwhile, a federal judge just handed down what could be a landmark ruling on vaccine policies at colleges, allowing indiana university to require the shots for students attending the fall semester. >> when it comes to the americans who are already vaccinated, 62% say in a new poll that they would be willing to get a booster shot if one

were available 18% said they would not, and 20% said they were unsure. with just three days to go, covid is creeping into the olympic games. two alternates are in quarantine after one tested positive for covid. and with covid cases on the rise in japan, officials are putting strict protocols in place to protect those athletes >> reporter: the olympics in a tug of war with the pandemic the first american athlete here testing positive for covid kara eaker, an alternate for the super star women's gymnastics team was vaccinated. she's asymptomatic and quarantining at a hotel. her parents say she's been incredibly brave >> as a parent you just feel totally helpless to do anything except try and keep her spirits up and hug the heck out of her when she gets back >> reporter: nbc affiliate kshb

confirming eaker's fellow alternate is also now in isolation. she's tested negative. the alternates had been training in the same facility as the six athletes who will compete here including simone biles usa gymnastics says the groups were kept separate and strict covid protocols were in place. i visited the brand new gymnastics center where the team will compete these handcrafted wooden seats will stay empty. so imagine you pull off a gold medal routine in tokyo and there is nobody around to witness it including your family. organizers have thought of a solution it's called the athlete moment cam. think of this as a very intimate zoom call where the athletes will speak face to face with their families back home another testing positive saying she's heartbroken to miss the olympics while another member of the men's basketball team zach levine is in covid protocols

in the athletes' village, olympians are being tested every day. there are even partitions up in the dining hall. >> you just have to keep your distance and everyone's wearing masks so it just feels separate. >> reporter: the women who are keeping on the gymnastics team is staying in a hotel, not in the village. the women start competing on sunday >> let's hope they all stay as healthy as possible. the countdown is on for the second leg of the billionaire space race just after the sun rises in western texas this morning, the founder of amazon will be launched into space. nbc's tom costello is at the launch site for us tom, good morning. >> reporter: frances, good morning. we are in a very remote corner of west texas. but out there in the desert, that is the launch pad that we will today see jeff bezos and three others lift off headed for this rendezvous with space 6 #

mi -- 62 miles up, an 11-minute trip the launch pad set for billionaire jeff bezos' liftoff. today bezos and his three fellow passengers were giddy with excitement >> people who say they go into space that they come back changed sbachlt wait to see what it's going to do to me >> and we have liftoff >> reporter: while blue origin has flown 15 unmanned test flights, this will be the first to carry passengers. 62 miles high for three minutes of weightlessness and six massive windows. >> as you're ascending, it feels like the earth is falling away from you watching the whole thing roll through your window >> reporter: paying passengers are already signing up eventually blue origin plans to

send six passengers at a time into space from this launch pad in the west texas desert there are no professional astronauts or pilots on board. it is all controlled from the ground blue origin insists the ship is loaded with safety backups with the bezos great escape set for 9:00 a.m. eastern. 9:00 a.m. east coast time, 8:00 here in the central time zone. this place is going to be rocking with press from all over the world. it should only last 11 minutes and then they land right out here in this vast stretch of the west texas desert. frances, back to you >> tom, thanks one week from today, the house will launch its investigation into the deadly insurrection at theu.s. capito on january 6th a committee will dive into the root causes of the siege and recommend how to prevent any future attacks nbc's tracie potts joins us now with the latest. tracie, good morning so this committee is finally

starting to take shape >> reporter: hi, phillip right, things are getting started now. house speaker nancy pelosi introduced a bill last month to create a select committee to investigate the capitol attack this after republicans blocked a bipartisan effort to do the same now pelosi has named those that she wants to appoint to this commission they include several democrats and republican liz cheney as the panel is bipartisan. we're also now hearing from minority leader kevin mccarthy, naming the five house republicans he wants to serve on the commission they are indiana's jim banks, rodney davis from illinois, ohio's jim jordan, north dakota's kelly armstrong and troy nels from texas all voted to overturn the 2020 election results >> you've got a mix from the entire conference, right, people who objected and who didn't object

>> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi still has to sign off on the appointments before the committee has its first hearing next week. meantime, a federal judge yesterday sentenced the first felony defendant in the january 6th insurrection he got eight months in prison. images from that day show him clearly carrying a red trump 2020 flag inside the evacuated senate chamber paul hodgkins needed guilty last month to a single count of obstructing an official proceeding, the ongoing congressional proceeding that was happening there when the whole chamber was evacuated. the justice department is pursuing hundreds of these cases. >> yes, here we are the fallout continues six and a half months later. tracie, thank you. a long and difficult road to recovery has begun in germany. almost 200 people were killed in last week's torrential rainfall and floods the floodwaters have receded today rescue workers and

residents are sifting through debris for the missing while also salvaging what they can we turn to nbc's claudio lavanga who is live in sinzig, germany claudio, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, frances. five days after the flood devastated this part of western germany, this is what this village still looks like today there are mountains of debris piled up by the roadside and this is a mix of the debris that was washed up here by the floods, rocks, branches, leaves, mud, but also a lot of household items that have either been destroyed or rendered unusable by the floods that was at some stage so high that it was ten feet high. you can actually see that water line there that is about ten feet, so it completely flooded the ground floors and rendered basically villages like this ghost towns because of course those houses are destroyed. a lot of houses collapsed. they were even washed away at some stage but even people on the first

floors will not even be able to come back for weeks or months because the infrastructure is down >> just astounding, three months worth of rain falling in just 24 hours. claudio, thank you meanwhile over here, massive wildfires are burning across 13 states some are so powerful they're generating their own weather patterns including fire clouds that can spawn lightning the bootleg fire in oregon is the largest in the u.s. so far this year, and it's burned more than 360,000 acres more than 75 homes and other structures have been destroyed and in california pacific gas & electric say its equipment may have sparked the dixie fire, which has scorched 40,000 acres and it only 15% contained. smoke from the fires in the pacific northwest has delayed more than 300 flights out of denver >> is there any relief out west

to put those fires out let's ask nbc meteorologist bill karins who's in for janessa this morning. >> unfortunately the answer is going to be not any time soon. we may have to wait till the rainy season at the end of october, beginning of november this is going to be a very long summer tracking. in the southeast we're still dealing with areas of heavy rain, not as bad as it was yesterday afternoon. it was really nasty around the birmingham area. louisiana it's already raining pretty hard near lake charles and will spread towards the new orleans area watch out around atlanta we could see isolated areas of possibilities of 3 inches of rain finally a nice day in the northeast. should be very enjoyable we will have a few hit and miss storms late today in northern new england. and many areas in the south will be warm today including the launch should b

in areas of the west we'll see that monsoonal flow. we'll talk about those temperatures coming up, guys it's going to warm up in the middle of the country where it's actually been kind of cool >> thank you, bill we'll check in with you in just a bit. peloton is adding a video game the big difference here, there are no instructors it uses speed and resistance to score points riders will control a wheel on their screen using the pedal on their bikes. it'd just in the testing stage now. the official launch is in 2022 still to come, history on the ice. the first nhl player to come out as gay and deals on wheels. you can take advantage of the red hot rk fmaetor used cars "early today" is back in two cool. so what are you waiting for? mckayla maroney to get your frisbee off the roof? i'll get it. ♪ (upbeat music) ♪

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car may now be worth more than you paid for it. >> reporter: when angela hill tried to find a new honda civic. >> there are none out there. >> reporter: she thought about used, but those cost almost as much as new. the only saving grace was that her trade-in went for 1,500 more than she planned >> i was happy about that because it has, like, 100,000 miles. so it was a significantly used car. >> reporter: the pandemic combined with a global micro chip shortage has slowed new car production now used cars are in such high demand, prices are skyrocketing. president biden. >> it's a real challenge my administration is going to do everything we can to address it. >> reporter: experts say they don't expect new car inventory to get back to normal until 2022 wholesale prices are now up 30% over last year car dealers desperate for inventory are cold-calling previous customers and offering drive-through appraisals and top

dollar >> if you have a car sitting in your driveway that you're not driving, you potentially are sitting on a gold mine >> reporter: reach out to different dealers if you're ready to sell. if you have to buy, try widening your search area though you may not get great dealer incentives, you can still find lower interest rates. but have your financing lined up before you shop. in a seller's market that shows no signs of slowing. kristen dahlgren, nbc news still to come, delta hits the dow. new covid concerns sends shock waves down wall street and prices of lumber keep lumbering on why the pandemic's impact on home builders shows no signs of letting up and dealing with a bulky vacuum.. . is such a hassle. uchhh!!! 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 lock all kinds of dirt, dust and pet hair.

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fears of another coronavirus outbreak are infecting wall street the dow plummeted over 700 points yesterday, the worst drop since october. the nasdaq shed about 1% of its value, while the s&p was down about 1.5% >> now let's check on the markets this morning and see if there are any stocks getting grounds as fears over the delta variant grows. karen, where are the markets headed >> frances and phillip, good morning to you we are seeing futures recover this morning that selloff yesterday there are a number of concerns in the market, the spread of the delta variant chief concern for market

participants at this stage, given the rise in u.s. cases particularly among the unvaccinated they're concerned what that does to the recovery we're witnessing so far market valuations have run a that 700-point plunge was on l volatility it did see a selloff in some of those growth areas the market boeing, caterpillar stock. but a lot of investors are talking about placing bets on defensive for the next phase as volatility picks up. elsewhere, lumber prices which hit a record high in may have slumped and wiped out nearly all of the gains so far this year but has not been reflected in customer prices yet. home builders and diy homeowners are just not seeing those savings with lumber prices still up about 100% on spring last year that is putting off some of the home improvements with people instead spending money on vacations. and as for the home builders,

labor shortage, so putting off some of the construction plans >> yep, certainly seeing that. karen, thank you just ahead, the nhl gets its first openly gay player. and the new sports set to debut in just three days state f, it's the least i can do. you really did me a solid with that “maya markdown” on my insurance. here's the deal maya, state farm offers everyone surprisingly great rates. right. no really. there's no markdowns, just great rates. pull around back in 20 minutes. i'll hook you up with the good parts. when you want the real deal... like a good neighbor. state farm is there. family meeting! ♪ we have big news. new kellogg's cinnamon roll frosted mini wheats. bakery fresh cinnamon roll flavor in every bite,

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the massive wall of death shut down major expressways and disrupted traffic as visibility plunged. police were out patrolling the area ahead of the storm's arrival warning motorists to get out of the road. from time to time, we do see that in arizona. bill karins is back with a look at the fire danger out west. bill >> good morning, guys. the contrast of the blue skies made it pretty epic. the story as we go throughout the day today, tomorrow's going to be the heat yesterday in montana it reached 110 degrees in glasgow that was the hottest temperature in 86 years. so the heat wave in the northern rockies, it's not as bad today but it's still very hot. bismarck 100 degrees minneapolis at 94. still 102 still in miles city in montana. and even into wednesday it stays pretty warm. and then the heat begins to expand a little bit into the midwest. minneapolis stays warm but a little cooler in the northeast but enjoyable, mid-80s tennis star naomi osaka makes history on the cover of

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"sports illustrated" has named a trio of historymakers to grace the cover of this year's swimsuit edition tennis star naomi osaka becomes the first black athlete to appear on the cover. she's joined by grammy winner megan thee stallion and lena bloom becomes the first transgender person of color to ever appear in the swimsuit editions the 19-year-old prospect is making history in the hockey world. luke prokop, who is signed with the national predators, came out as gay he becomes the first active player under contract to do so

in the nhl provokob said, in part, i believe that living my authentic life will allow me to bring my whole self to the rink this year's team usa is filled with the best of the best nbc's jay gray takes a closer look >> simone biles is the greatest of all time. >> incredible. >> reporter: vaulting her sport to new unbelievable heights. the most decorated gymnast of all time, looking to add to her medal collection >> all of our training has geared us for this moment. so i'm just super excited for the journey. >> reporter: the olympic journey is ending for allyson felix, the queen of the track competing in her fifth and final games. it's also likely the last kick for many on team usa's historic

soccer team after winning the world cup the group is adding to look olympic gold. >> everybody who was there in rio does not want that to be their only olympic experience or their last olympic experience. >> reporter: the olympic experience for swimming phenom caeleb dressel is aiming for seven events and while jessica springsteen is jumping into the olympic arena for the first time, the daughter of bruce looking for glory days in tokyo, as a member of the u.s. equestrian team jay gray, nbc news so many fascinating story lines including bruce springsteen's daughter i just hope that covid cases do not overshadow the athletics we've waited five years since the last summer olympics >> and we've already seen coco gauff and others who aren't

going to be able to participate because of being infected. keeping fingers crossed tight and knocking on wood >> thanks for starting your monday with us it's not monday, it's tuesday. i'm phillip mena >> and i'm frances rivera. on "today" an exclusive l.a. c

right now at 4:30, more fallout from the delta variant. another bay area county changing its stance on masks. will they stay? the fate of the oakland a's will be decided today. what you need to know ahead of the key vote. minutes away from a joy ride in space like no other. we're testing live or taking you live there this morning. this is west texas where a historic space launch is 90s minutes away, on board the richest man in the world. "today in the bay" starts now. you said