breaking overnight, california voters overwhelmingly select no in the gubernatorial recall we'll break down the numbers for you. our richard engel on the capitol hill grilling of secretary of state blinken over the u.s. pull-t of afghanistan and how it was handled the surprising reason why many of your restaurants are having trouble keeping the best items on the menu. and the unveiling of the new iphone 13. and remembering comedic

genius norm macdonald. nbc news is projecting governor gts voted no by a two to one margin. and here's what he had to say after the polls closed >> we said yes to all those things that we hold dear as californians, and i would argue as americans, economic justice, social justice, racial justice, environmental justice, our values where california's made so much progress >> terry mcsweeney from our kntv station has more >> reporter: governor gavin newsom of california is not going anywhere, and that huge sigh you may have heard where you are came from here, the democratic headquarters in sacramento this is where the governor came tuesday night you can see the

relief in his face you could see by how relaxed he was by his body started becaus pandemic his opponents said that he shut down california, cost a lot of businesses, their existence and cost business people a lot of people they came after him, he defended himself by saying that he was following the science, he was in favor of vaccines. on top of that he was in favor of women, he was in favor of fair elections joe biden was here on monday kamala harris was here last week elizabeth warren was there the week before that he had everybody, all the heavy weights out here trying to save his job, and it worked it was an overwhelming victory we have heard much the same from the governor throughout this campaign about the vaccines and the science. what we heard here tonight was a little different he started getting choked up talking about his political hero, bobby kennedy, who was

shot and killed here in california in 1968 after winning the california primary it was a rare moment of seeing gavin newsom'sgoing to have him as governor until at least november of next year when there is another election. terry mcsweeney, nbc news. >> terry, thank you. also breaking overnight, the justice department is aiming to block the strict new abortion law in texas the doj has submitted an emergency order seeking a temporary halt on the state's ban on abortions after six weeks. the biden administration filed the lawsuit last week challenging the supreme court's decision to allow the ban to remain in place, saying that it violated the constitutional rights of women. attorney general merrick garland also slammed the state for effectively deputizing legal bounty hunters to deter a procedure that technically remains legal under state law and supreme court precedent. there are more twists, turns

and questions in a south carolina murder mystery. a man has been charged with assisted suicide in the shooting of lawyer alex murdaugh. that shooting happened almost three months after the attorney's wife and son were found fatally shot at their home on june 7th. last week he resigned from his law firm and entered rehab state officials are now looking into accusations that he misappropriated money from the firm he has not been charged with a crime, and his legal team says alex hopes his conduct doesn't distract from efforts to find who murdered his wife and son. the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan is still facing scrutiny from both sides of the aisle. on tuesday secretary of state tony blinken was on the hot seat defending the way the biden administration handled the pull-out which ended america's longest war. here's nbc's richard engel >> reporter: secretary of state

tony blinken again facing a barrage of bipartisan criticism, slamming president biden's pull-out from afghanistan. >> mr. secretary, the execution of the u.s. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed >> president biden has described the evacuation from afghanistan as an extraordinary success. this has to be the lie of the 21st century >> reporter: blinken insisting president biden inherited a deal with the taliban, and its may 1st withdrawal deadline. >> president biden took office in january, he inherited an agreement. >> reporter: but he was pressed why president biden who postponed that withdrawal date to august didn't delay it again to get all americans and afghan allies out >> you didn't inherit the date the date was may 1st and you push it to august 31st why didn't you push it much later? >> we took some risk in terms of what the taliban would do or not do after may 1st >> it's a risk with other people

we took. >> reporter: in kabul, young women are already suffering under the taliban's rule classes largely empty, most students too afraid to show up this 20-year-old hoped to be an ambassador one day what is it like to have a dream and to have a plan and then suddenly see it disappear? >> we are so unlucky that we are afghan, sometimes, so it's so hard everything was not good. >> reporter: the hardest thing in the world is to lose hope >> you know, i didn't cry for my goals. if someone tell me that your country will be saved and peace, i will pray for it to die. >> reporter: so why are you crying now

>> our country's done. with this taliban it's sure. >> reporter: in addition to those hundred citizens, secretary blinken also confirmed that several thousand permanent legal u.s. residents also remain stranded here in afghanistan frances, phillip >> all right, richard, thank you. the army has set a deadline for soldiers later this year to be fully vaccinated. it announced active-duty soldiers have until december 5th to receive both shots. soldiers can receive exemptions for medical, or religious reasons. >> the mandate comes as espn reports the new orleans saints are dealing with an outbreak meanwhile, public schools in des

moines, iowa, are set to reinstate a mask mandate today the move comes after a federal judge blocked a ban on masks in iowa schools the judge cited the need to protect students with disabilities from contracting covid-19 iowa's republican governor who originally signed the mask mandate ban back into law says she plans to appeal that ruling. the fbi going under the microscope today in capitol hill nbc's chris pollone joins us from d.c a lot of things unfolding today. but first i hear the fbi took action against one of the agents involved >> that's right. nbc news has confirmed that the fbi has fired an indianapolis fbi agent who first interviewed gymnast mckayla maroney. nassar is the former usa

gymnastics team doctor accused of abusing more than 250 women in his care. they are examining the response to the allegations against him a july justice department report slammed the agency finding fundamental errors by the indianapolis field office handling the case. it said agents there never opened an official investigation and then two of them lied about their actions later. fbi director christopher wray is expected to outline changes in procedure to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. nassar of course is currently serving time in prison after pleading guilty. he's expected to die in prison in washington, chris pollone, frances, back to you >> chris, thank you. tropical depression nicholas is carving a slow path of destruction across the south nicholas slammed into texas as a

category 1 hurricane, initially knocking out power to half a million people it's expected to slowly crawl across several states over the next few days. the major concerns now, rain and flooding some areas of texas saw as much as 14 inches and now that storm is targeting louisiana, which was just battered by ida. nbc meteorologist janessa webb is tracking this storm. janessa, good morning. >> hi, good morning. yes, this storm has only moved about a hundred miles in 24 hours. it's going to be a slow go and we're going to be talking about this storm system until next tuesday. it's the widespread rain across louisiana, mississippi, alabama, to the florida panhandle i'm really concerned about it's making its way east/northwest at a snail's pace, 6 miles per hour, sustained winds 35 miles per hour that's not the issue it's the tropical moisture that's really going to be staying in place the latest track from the

national hurricane center has it veering more to the north, but that widespread rain is still going to be intact all the way into the weekend the flash flood concerns for 6 million people i do expect this to really expand throughout the afternoon into your evening hours today. now, look at some of these totals we are talking about galveston up to 13 to 14 inches in some spots. right now baton rouge to new orleans only 1 to 2 inches but that's really going to pick up throughout the afternoon. and by tuesday afternoon some of these areas could pick up, up to for the ohio valley to the northeast this afternoon we're in the mid-70s not quite done with nicholas,

but then we turn our focus to two things in atlantic spacex is now just hours away from a first-of-its-kind launch they are sending four civilians into orbit as part of its inspiration four mission none of the crew members are professional astronauts, but they do have five months of training with spacex it will be the world's first all-civilian space flight. that launch is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. eastern, weather permitting coming up, time to trade in that iphone. apple unveils its newest products of the season plus, why your favorite dish may be off the menu. inside the critical food shortage plaguing restaurants. up to 99% of tough grease and food residue faster. so you scrub less. tackle grease wherever it shows up. scrub less. save more. with dawn. you can't control what happens when they leave home, but you can control breakfast.

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life and a new camera with a cinematic mode for videos. the announcement comes a day after the tech titan rolled out an emergency update to protect its devices against spyware vulnerability. >> i remember being so excited about portrait mode. more customers are returning to restaurants, but there are more supply problems making it harder to keep up with the growing demand nbc's stephanie ruhle has the details. >> reporter: frances, our nation's restaurants have suffered massively during the pandemic and now they're facing another challenge just as they're getting back on their feet this restaurant serves up southern-styled cooking. if the chef and owner can find them >> we can't get baby back ribs right now so we had to switch to spare ribs >> reporter: restaurants like his face yet another challenge not enough truck drivers to keep up with deliveries what has it been like trying to

get supplies >> very challenging. we've had to change our menu quite a few times due to not being able to get items. >> if i could hire 50 drivers, i'd hire them today. >> reporter: michael is president of a supply service that delivers to restaurants >> reporter: that includes a $3,000 signing bonus for new truck drivers and a training program. trucks transport 70% of all goods moved across the country yet for years there haven't been enough drivers the pandemic made the labor shortage worse with many retiring the average age of someone behind the wheel is 48 there are now calls to allow people under 21 to drive >> everybody's looking for drivers to be able to get the produce out. >> reporter: but until there are more drivers, many restaurants are left scrambling to find their own supplies >> every single day i'm having an issue with something coming

in >> we are not going to be able to service your account. >> sometimes we just want to go have our favorite meal and we can't get it >> reporter: frances, this lack of truckers, slower production, these are the supply chain issues causing the shortages that we keep talking about the good news, inflation numbers are out today. and even though prices are continuing to rise, they're rising at a slower rate than we've seen in previous months, which is good news in the big picture and a sign that we're getting slowly a little closer back to normal >> stephanie, thank you. still to come, amazon is prime to hire tens of thousands of new workers, and the pay is better than ever plus, 830 million reasons to play the staggering jackpot for mega millions and powerball

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♪ in today's "news by the numbers," amazon announced tuesday it is looking to fill 120,000 roles nationwide the company says they will pay an average of $18 an hour with some offering up to $22.50 since the pandemic began, amazon says it has hired 450,000 workers nationwide sam's club also announced tuesday that it's raising its

starting wage from 11 to $15 an hour the membership-based club has nearly 100,000 employees across 600 stores and more than a third of those hourly workers will get that raise as of september 25th. that means the average hourly rate will be more than 17 bucks an hour. lottery fever is taking shape in a big way after no one hit the mega millions jackpot, the grand prize ballooned to $405 million the next drawing is friday night. and with no winners on monday's powerball draw, that sored to $232 million the two games have a combined estimated jackpot of over $830 million we got a hurricane season that just won't quit janessa is tracking a new threat in the tropics that's next. and from burt reynolds to bob dole, norm macdonald never failed to bring the laughs we'll take a look back at the life of the comedy legend.

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to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. hi, everyone i have two areas of low pressure that i am watching invest 96-l, but then this makes its way out more to the atlantic, won't be a u.s. threat now, it's 95-l we'll be watching for about two weeks as this system continues to grow potentially the national hurricane center saying it turns into a tropical system in the next five days guys >> all right, janessa, thank you. next on "early today," we will celebrate the life of

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febreze car. la, la, la, la, la one time norm walked back into the studio to visit i don't remember how old his son was at the time, but his son was young, and someone said, hey, norm, how's being a dad? and he said, it's going great, still no abductions. [ laughter ] i think for so many of us, we came up watching norm, and we thought that you were on the inside with him when you were watching him tell these jokes that you thought were great and you just felt this connection to him and that ability to just stare into an audience unblinkingly telling the jokes

that you believed in he was the gold standard, and he will continue to be the gold standard >> the world mourns the loss of legendary funnyman norm macdonald. the former "snl" weekend update host brought a style of comedy to tv, movies, and the late night talk show circuit. here's miguel almaguer with a look back at the life and laughs of a prolific comedian >> live from new york, saturday night! >> reporter: norm macdonald could play anyone, but he was perhaps most famous for delivering the news on "saturday night live." as weekend update anchor in the '90s, he began to cement his comedic career >> the in addition, a special lifetime achievement award was presented to david crosby's liver. [ laughter ] >> reporter: a stand-up comic from canada, macdonald first found stardom on "snl," his impression of burt reynolds

legendary. >> yeah, i found this backstage, this oversized hat, it's funny >> no, it's not. >> it's funny because it's bigger than a normal hat >> reporter: appearing in multiple films >> what's today? >> october >> reporter: and a regular on the late night circuit after his passing conan o'brien said i will never laugh that hard again. macdonald did face controversy for a comment that appears to downplay victims of the #metoo movement for which he said he was misconstrued and later apologized >> the new museum dedicated to broadcast -- ah. [ bleep ] [ laughter ] my farewell performance. [ laughter ] >> reporter: losing his nine-year battle to cancer for decades norm macdonald made millions of americans laugh, but he leaves many in tears. miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> i mean, his delivery was legendary, one of the funniest

people i have ever seen in my whole life, but i think he was more entertaining when he was bombing. >> and he owned it right there at that very moment when you're laughing along with him. there's nobody like norm macdonald. >> we are going to miss him. thanks for starting your wednesday with us. i'm phillip mena and i'm franc>>es

county. said yes to all those things that we hold dear as californians. >> right now, at 4:30, recall rejected. california keeping governor newsom in office following a $276 million special election. here's a live look from sacramento. we're coming what the future holds for the staters the governor and his close opponents. this is "today in the bay." and a very good wednesday to you. thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm kris sanchez. i'm here