set ac cooler and use big appliances before 4pm. then from 4-9pm reduce use and take it easy on our energy. sign up today. this morning, new reports that some americans have already received a third coronavirus vaccine, an unauthorized booster shot and the battle over certain states, mas mandates from new york political royalty to new york. andrew cuomo is out as new york's governor. and his legal troubles may only now be wrapping up how long can state forces hold out against taliban control, and when will kabul fall more than $600 million or

stolen in what might be the biggest cryptocurrency theft in history. what may be the most unlikely best of friends "early today" starts right now good morning i'm phillip mena >> hi there, i'm frances rivera. after months of heated negotiatons, all leading to this for few fleeting hours the senate remembered how to work together yesterday, passing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more the senate was up all night adding amendments to that proposal >> reporter: right up all night, frances. and at last report within the last hour or so, they have passed more than three dozen changes to this democratic

budget resolution. they're calling it the human infrastructure bill because it's $3.5 trillion addressing things like education, childcare, healthcare, republicans call it reckless and expensive, and they argue, it will push gas prices up now, this is different than the bill that they agreed on, the traditional infrastructure bill. that one's all about fixing roads and bridges and expanding transit and internet a big part of that is expanding broadband, the largest investment in broadband that we've seen in this country so traditional infrastructure versus the social changes that democrats want to see. president biden weighing in on what this historic agreement on roads and bridges means as they move forward >> after years and years of infrastructure week, we're on the cusp of an infrastructure decade that i truly believe will transform america.

this bill is declared dead more often than anyway. bipartisanship was a thing of the past it was characterized as a relic of an earlier age. as you may well remember, i never believed that. i still don't. >> now, house speaker nancy pelosi has said the house will not consider one without the other. remember, these were approved in the senate the house still has to take them both up when we come back. they will be back august 23rd, about a week early >> tracie, thanks. there is no mistaking the covid battle is far from over as yet another summer surge is here in places with lower vaccination rates are being hit hardest. the u.s. has now surpassed 36 million infections >> reporter: delta drive in covid cases to dangerous highs

the variant now tied to 93% of u.s. infections. the biggest spikes coming in texas, missouri, florida, and arkansas where monday brought its largest single-day increase of hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic. >> it's worse than any of the prior surges for a whole host of reasons. >> reporter: with only eight icu beds left in the entire state, this doctor says his hospital is seeing an increase in younger patients >> young, healthy people should not be dying from a viral illness, period. they shouldn't be dying from covid-19 but because this particular variant is so severe, virulent and replicates very quickly, we're seeing pretty rapid changes to the health of the individuals that are infected with the virus >> reporter: president biden speaking out about states banning mask mandates despite the surge.

>> i find that totally counterintuitive and, quite frankly, disingenuous. >> do you have presidential powers to intervene in states like texas and florida where they are banning mask mandates >> i don't believe that i do we're checking that. >> reporter: after multiple school districts in texas deified the governor's mask ban, a san antonio judge issued an order, allowing local school officials to issue their own mandate. and as u.s. covid cases now top 36 million, the push to vaccinate and confusion over booster shots continues, despite the fda urging no need for boosters, some states like mississippi are advising doctors to consider it as pfizer and moderna conduct their own safety trials, texas officials confirming some people are intentionally getting more doses than they should experts say that decision is premature. >> i don't believe that most people should be going out and doing this on their own. it's going to cause a lot more confusion. and we want to actually look at the safety and efficacy data of

third shots before we make guidance about who would benefit from it and who won't. >> reporter: and with the likelihood of booster shots becoming a reality, the cdc has announced it will be holding an advisory panel this upcoming friday to discuss how to best move forward on that front in the meantime, the country of israel has announced they will be offering a third booster shot for anyone over the age of 60 vaccinated at least five months ago. the scandal sinks andrew cuomo's career he announced his resignation yesterday sending shock waves through the empire state the democratic governor ending his historic ten-year run. >> it is your best interest that i must serve >> reporter: after months of allegations and an investigation that alleged he sexually harassed 11 women including nine state employees, facing possible impeachment, new york governor

andrew cuomo announces his resignation. >> given the circumstances, the best way i can help now is if i step aside and let government get back to governing. >> reporter: disputing many of the allegations outlined in the investigative report, cuomo says his behavior was taken out of context while acknowledging he has been too familiar with people and that his sense of humor can be insensitive and offputting >> it has been an incredibly rapid fall from grace for the governor with allegations coming to light, cuomo lost significant support not only inside the statehouse but within the national party president biden who last week called for him to step down acknowledging cuomo politically has been an effective leader but that he had to go. >> he's done a hell of a job, everything from access to voting

to infrastructure to a whole range of things. that's why it's so sad >> reporter: after a 14-day transition period, lieutenant governor kathy hochul will become the first female governor of new york. on social media she says she agrees with the decision and is prepared to lead as new york's 57th governor. as the state's 56th governor now retreats with no clear flight plan moving forward. jay gray, nbc news after 20 years, u.s. and nato troops are finalizing their withdrawal from afghanistan, and the taliban is using that opportunity to make rapid military advances. tailan militants were taking control of key cities. for the latest on this we turn to nbc's ali arouzi live from iran's capital of tehran ali, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that's right, phillip. the taliban's takeover of afghanistan continues.

they've now seized three more provincial capitals in the country, putting nine out of 34 of them in the hands of taliban fighters in less than a week the fall of the capitals to the northeast is piling pressure on the country's government who seem to be unable to stem the tide of the advance now that the u.s. troops have all but gone. now after heavy fighting, the taliban have captured the key afghan city of puli khumri, the capital of the baghlan province. it's about 140 miles north of kabul, giving the insurgents control of the strategic road junction linking kabul to the north and the west the taliban flag is the city gates. kabul itself hasn't been directly threatened, but the taliban offensive is stretching the afghan security forces who just can't fight them on their own. now, even though the taliban are

in control of about 65% of the country, and that's increasing every day, president biden has said that the afghans must fight for themselves, and he doesn't regret the u.s. withdrawal however, plenty of afghans do regret the u.s. withdrawal they've been left only with the feeling of abandonment and hopelessness as the taliban spread their tentacles across the country. phillip? >> it is disheartening, the siege of kabul just seems imminent at this point ali, thanks. over half a million people are without power in the midwest after heavy storms barrelled through wisconsin, illinois, and michigan nbc meteorologist janessa webb is tracking the latest for us. janessa, tell us where it's headed and where they can finally find some calm, if at all, right now >> yes, some real rowdy storms overnight and even last night across sections of the midwest and the northeast. right now a squall line that's starting to break apart across michigan so that's a little bit of good

news it's a rinse and repeat situation. we'll have more severe weather across the same area for today as people are picking up the pieces this afternoon, things really start to pick up once again. 27 million people under that severe weather threat across the great lakes to the midwest damaging wind gusts going to be the primary threat with this last storm system 230 reports of wind damage. also, the heat will continue to build across the pacific northwest to the northeast, and that will allow the severe weather reat throughouthe heat's building mid-atlantic to new york city, lower 90s and then now we have tropical storm fred i'll show you the direction of that storm coming up

>> all right, janessa, thank you. we'll hear from you then wendy's is looking out for those who want to start their mornings with them the fast food chain, they are offering free croissant sandwiches this friday and saturday morning they come with your choice of sausage or bacon, plus some swiss cheese and an egg. wendy's says it's just as simple as showing up on friday or saturday between 6:30 and 10:30 a.m. "early today" is back in two with the online scams targeting tech-savvy teens and this pandemic has americans upping the ae kentli never before the big year for the gambling industry pants this morning. why, andi? i'm a dinosaur. won't wear pants, will eat eggo waffles. get your wins where you can when you l'eggo with eggo.

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supreme court ruled the legislators could be rounded up, the house voted 80-12 in favor of forcing their return. the warrants will be delivered this morning to the house sergeant of arms tech-savvy gen-z may not be as observant as expected in spotting online scams. people age 20 or younger reporting they are victims of cybercrimes has surged 156% over the last three years that compares to 112% growth of people age 60 or older the trend is alarming, adding, since gen-z is very comfortable being online, it makes them very trusting california's second largest wildfire in history continues to grow the dixie fire has destroyed nearly half a million acres, and as another heat wave begins to grip much of the country, there's still more than 16,000 homes in danger. >> the united states is not the only country facing this

disaster at this moment there are large wildfires burning in at least six other countries including in places where they're not very common some of the largest infernos are burning in russia including in one of the coldest places in the world. in siberia's vast wilderness, some fires are left to burn completely uncontrolled. the smoke from russian wildfires has traveled nearly 2,000 miles to reach the north pole. tragedy struck in algeria. at least 42 people were killed including 25 soldiers who were helping with the rescue efforts. and a fire rescue in turkey was caught on camera soldiers found a litter of puppies trapped under rocks. their mother was chained in the backyard of a house that had burned still to come here on "early today," the gambling industry is running the table in 2021. the record-breaking year amid the pandemic and a digital heist with a record haul. how thieves ole stmore than $600 million in cryptocurrency

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nevada you see there brought in the most money, nearly 3 0irks $5 billion pennsylvania came in second with 1.21 billion and new jersey collected 1.1 billion. now to some sinister deal configures in what might be the largest cryptocurrency million theft ever geoff cutmore has those details. >> reporter: good morning. well, the sec chair has called this space the wild west and this latest story will only add to the pressure on the industry i think reporting $600 million plus hacked from its blockchain platform this is part of the drive to decentralize the financial system and take business away from exchanges and brokerages ultimately and to take their margin effectively

but unless the industry can really demonstrate security of data and of these tokens, very hard to see how it's going to get properly legislated. the company going on to twitter to ask for those hacked goods back pepsico teaming up with boston beer, they are bringing a new alcohol drink, alcoholic drink to the table 5% by volume is what this new product will register at hard mountain dew is the name. it'll hit the shelves in 2022. back to you. >> gotta do the dew when it comes to that. thank you. >> just the design of the cans were hardcore. coming up here, one of soccer's biggest stars found a new home >>ananhe> d otr big month for lil nas x. his new streaming record like h, odors, and oils.

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rapper lil nas x bragged about his grammys in his latest song "industry baby. the 22-year-old just hit another milestone to add to his list of achievements his hit song surpassed 100 million streams on spotify but that's not all the grammy winner also reached 52 million listeners on spotify. that makes him the most listened-to male rapper on that

platform lionel messi is leaving barcelona, signing a two-year deal with paris saint-germain. they will reportedly pay him as much as $41 million per year finally friendship, this one was forced between neighbors. >> reporter: two houses separated by a fence >> benjamin olson in one just turned 2 mary o'neill in the other just shy of 100 both found themselves pandemic prisoners. >> i'm playing against myself. >> he has never really had any friends. >> reporter: until mary and benjamin found each other. >> we call it cane ball. >> his first best friend >> reporter: mary's grand and

great grandkids live far away. >> they're the closest thing to i have to grandchildren around here >> reporter: the grass is even greener when you can share a friendship same side of the fence. >> oh, that's nice durt. >> reporter: days passed when their yards remain empty >> i have never known that yeah, i'm so happy they have each other >> reporter: when friendships form, powerful forces are engineered mary and benjamin built a bridge over 98 years. boyd hupert, nbc news, minneapolis. >> that connection was so needed during the pandemic. i know if that was my grandma, i'd be happy that she found that >> the joy they both have from each other, i hope they can just grow that friendship for years to come. thanks for starting your morning here with "early today."

i'm phillip mena >> and i'm frances rivera. coming up on the "today" show, katie ledecky is dropping by the plaza. she added two gold and two silver medals to her already impressive collection at the tokyo olympics she'll talk about her warm

collision,. the beds are filling up. we're not really sure where it's going. >> right now at 4:30, running out of beds, a new covid wave fueled by the delta variant is pushing hospitals to their limits again. the concerns from bay area doctors and the new procedures starting today. flames from the dixie fire continue to ravage northern california. we'll show you dramatic before and after images of that destruction and the new milestone that fire just reached. and giving teachers a housing lifeline. the groundbreaking help today to help them just make it in the bay. this is