today, the fda meets to decide on pfizer's request for a third covid shot to boost the immunity for those who have already had their two shots at least six months ago tensions running high within the bin administration over the withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan the shocking scene at the border a 2-year-old and her three-month-old brother abandoned. this on top of thousands of er

awaiting processing. the market for fake covid vaccination cards is booming, so much so that customs and border patrol stop keeping track. can you guess the question "early today" starts right now >> good friday morning i'm phillip mena >> glad you could join us. i'm frances rivera we begin with the latest coronavirus developments today a critical meeting is set to take place on the future of covid booster shots. the fda advisory panel will soon vote on whether to approve a third dose of the vaccine to the general public the agency will use its own data along with the decision from pfizer to make the decision. >> reporter: as the booster battle intensifies today, around the country there's another battle brewing, this one over vaccine mandates from florida to arizona to new york, vaccine mandate legal challenges are mounting.

>> yes, there will be some individuals who will try to defy this there will be court decisions that will appeal >> reporter: this week a federal judge in new york temporarily halted a vaccine mandate claiming a religious exemption after some of them sued. but the president is doubling down on his plan to require all private businesses with more than a hundred employees to mandate covid vaccines or weekly testing. >> these policies are what the science tells us we need to do they're going to save lives. >> reporter: los angeles county will soon require proof of vaccination or a negative covid test at indoor clubs, bars, and wineries >> i am not anti-vax, but to not be able to be given the option when sending our children to school and going to businesses, going to establishments, going to entertainment seems crazy >> reporter: legal experts say there is strong precedent for vaccine requirements, especially for government workers private businessman dates could also stand under emergency

powers given to osha, though court battles are likely still, in some parts of the country, enforcing mandates of any kind seems daunting, especially as schools reopen >> you right there you clown >> reporter: police were called to a school board meeting in council bluffs, iowa, after parents erupted in protest over the district's decision to mandate masks. some neighborhoods with low vaccination rates are struggling >> i don't think that anyone should be segregated as far as where they can eat >> reporter: do you think it should be the job of small business owners to police these vaccine mandates >> i don't think it should be the job of the business owner, but there is no other way, i think. >> reporter: and as the vaccine mandate battle rages, new covid cases have dropped slightly nationwide but have reached unprecedented levels in the northwest. the nation's capitol looks more like a fortress this morning. police are stepping up security

ahead of tomorrow's rally in support of the rioters who stormed the capitol on january 6th. nbc's chris pollone is there with the latest for us chris, good morning. so what kind of precautions are in place right now >> reporter: phillip, good morning to you fences encircle the u.s. capitol and the supreme court building as well. there are many more security cameras on the property than there normally are too all this in anticipation of a protest called justice for jay 6. a former donald trump official is organizing it he said there will be nonviolent offenders and the rally will also be nonviolent others aren't so sure, especially with the chance counterprotesters will show up as well. >> i think we will be more ready for that >> i'm pretty confident we won't see a repeat of occupying the capitol. i'm not confident we won't see violence i am confident that law enforcement is more prepared >> reporter: you'll recall that supporters of former president donald trump stormed the capitol

in an attempt to stop the certification of votes for joe biden. trump has weighed in on the rally saying, quote, our hearts and minds are with the people being% cued so unfairly relating to the january 6th protest concerning the rigged presidential election. of course, election officials across the country have repeatedly said that the election is not rigged and there's no evidence that it was. >> still calling it rigged though all right, chris, thank you. the revelations this morning about tensions in the biden administration over the withdrawal from afghanistan are coming to light. a new book claiming president biden resisted calls to keep troops there longer. kelly o'donnell has more >> reporter: the president's national security team on defense, pressed to explain new claims that president biden rejected advice to keep troops in afghanistan longer. according to an upcoming book by bob woodward and robert costa.

>> i won't confirm or deny what's in the book >> reporter: the authors write that last march secretary of state antony blinken called from brussels to say, here's what i'm hearing, mr. president, a blast in quadraphonic sound. blinken questioned by nbc's andrea mitchell. >> views that not only did we listen to very carefully but we shared directly with president biden, and they very much factored into our thinking and into the decisions he made >> reporter: the president has come under fierce criticism for a chaotic withdrawal that includes the deaths of 13 u.s. service members. >> there's nothing low-grade or low-risk or low-cost about any war. >> reporter: the book contends defense secretary austin had urged president biden to extend the mission with u.s. troops in order to buy time for negotiations with an exit plan in three or four stages. >> we followed a rigorous

process. the president made his decision. >> reporter: the white house would not say whether president biden accepted or rejected recommendations on afghanistan, but that he took in nonsugar-coated, sometimes conflicting advice frances? >> kelly, thank you. new body cam footage shows a missing 22-year-old woman weeks before she vanished on a cross-country trip with her fiancé this video shows a distraught gabby petito petito telling an officer that her and brian laundrie had been fighting this morning. petito's family lost caught with her in late august laundrie has been named a person of interest. the murdaugh mystery gets even more bizarre. the south carolina lawyer who allegedly tried to stage his own murder was arrested in connection to an insurance fraud scheme but questions still remain surrounding the death of his

wife and son here's catie beck. >> reporter: alex murdaugh faced a judge. the prominent south carolina attorney now a defendant in the low country court system he knows all too well murdaugh surrendered to authorities in hampton county thursday charges stemming from what investigators believed was a staged suicide attempt on september 4th, claiming murdaugh instructed 61-year-old curtis smith to kill him, a plot to ensure murdaugh's son could collect on a $10 million insurance claim after his death. >> he's not a danger to the community. the only person he's a danger to is himself >> reporter: they argued he was a flight risk with significant means who should be tracked by gps. >> sometimes those who have everything and who are suffering a possible fall from grace are actually more of a concern than

a pardoned criminal. >> reporter: this after murdaugh's lawyers again detailed their client's life dismantled by opioid abuse and the pain of grieving a wife and son brutally murdered. that detail causing murdaugh to shed tears at the table. for murdaugh, it's the latest in a chain of devastating events with several investigations and civil litigations pending, including the murder of his wife and son, possibly misappropriating millions from the family law firm, and the 2018 death of the murdaugh's longtime housekeeper who allegedly fell at the murdaugh home murdaugh is headed back to rehab, but his legal woes are likely far from over let's turn now to the weekend, talk about the weather with nbc meteorologist janessa webb hi, janessa, good morning. >> hi, good morning. happy friday, everyone we're seeing some isolated showers right now for the deep

south to the southeast and they're on the light side. that's the good news the bad news things will continue to pick up on the weekend. this is post-tropical system nicholas, and it just has not moved. and it's going to stay stationary for at least the next three days we do still have flash flood watches. they are currently in place across sections of the deep south. they have expired for florida. i do expect them to pick up once again later on this afternoon. so today into your saturday, 1 to 3 inches across this area and it spreads into the tennessee valley as well these rainfall totals really start to pick up sunday all the way into tuesday afternoon because this storm system just won't budge too much so the latest track, it moves into the tennessee valley all the way inill in place this

afternoon for the pacific northwest. dakotas quite chilly weekend forecast coming up, guys >> can't wait to hear it thank you, janessa we now know who will host "jeopardy!" at least until the end of the year. may yam bialik and ken jennings will host until late 2021. "early today" is back in two with the new border showdown and a poultry pautyo the new settlement for just about everyone who's bought chicken. smelling fresh way longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. i'm 53, but in my mind i'm still 35.

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investors. it is part of a madoff victim fund set up in 2015. the fund has over $4 billion for victims. if you purchased chicken over this last decade, then you might be eligible to receive a payout as part of a $181 million class-action settlement. the suit alleges that several corporations conspired to stabilize the price and supply of chicken so anyone who purchased farms from certain companies between january 1st, 2009, all the way through december 31st, 2020, could be eligible for a payment. so consumers can check their eligibility and file a claim at overcharge for chicken.com border patrol agents found a 2-year-old girl and three-month-old boy near eagle pass in texas.

>> reporter: the image is heartbreaking. two children abandoned at the u.s. border. a 2-year-old girl from honduras and her three-month-old baby brother spotted by border patrol agents along the rio grande river. >> the three-month-old was still in his baby car seat we were able to rescue these children >> reporter: it's just the latest instance of children abandoned during the record migrant surge like these two young ecuadorian girls thrown over a 14-foot-high border wall. and the 10-year-old nicaraguan boy found walking alone and crying >> it is very taxing on us as agents to constantly see stuff like this happening. >> reporter: the incident comes as border patrol reveals in august for a second straight month they encountered more than 200,000 migrants trying to cross the southern border. that's a 21-year high. though the total has dipped slightly from last month earlier this summer we saw

agents trying to keep up with the massive numbers just at this one bridge along the rio grande. >> i do think that what we're dealing with is much different than what we've dealt with in the past >> reporter: it was in the hundreds when we were there. officials say the number of migrants under that bridge is now in the thousands and the texas governor is demanding the biden administration shut down six border crossings as for those children, border patrol said thankfully they did not require medical attention, and they're now in the custody of health and human services still to come, ford revs up production, putting the pedal to the metal on their f50 > inside the blooming back market for fake vaccination cards. 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

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♪ we just want to love people. >> the devil's coming for me >> can we talk about satan later? >> a pair of oscar contenders hits theaters this weekend jessica chastain disappears into the eyes of tammy faye the new movie is about the infamous tele-vangelist. now to wall street where the computer chip shortage is cutting into automobile manufacturing and idling some plans. here with the details, steve

sedgwick and to you phillip. this is really unambiguous good news ford adding jobs and boosting production of the electric 150, the lightning as they call it. reservations are up to 150,000 a quarter of a billion dollars extra. $250 million across three michigan facilities as well. now the electric cars go on sale next spring, price tags somewhere in the region north of 40,000 bucks per car as well not such good news though coming out of online fake markets apparently covid cards, fake covid-19 vaccination cards it's booming. there are literally thousands of online sellers claiming to offer near-perfect copies at prices that have increased in recent weeks.

the u.s. customs and border protection says the agency has intercepted thousands of packages of fake cards a lot of them coming from china. basically they stopped keeping track because there are so many. and this is illegal just in case anyone was wondering and very interesting on the cnbc piece on this. they tracked down 10,000 telegram users, it's an app, claiming to sell vaccination cards. the scale of this is absolutely enormous but as the fbi says, it is illegal, ladies and gentlemen. back to you both >> i can't say i'm too surprised when it comes to that. >> we saw that coming. thanks, steve. stick around for some science experiments that are truly out of this world. >> and hop on for this wild ride caandog amt d te up to break a world record will they be able to do it stat. texted the next day? same guy. is that even legal? and get this - he remembered my name. of course. hey, blink twice if you're in danger.

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maria! getting that fiber in. nice! ah, the miller's. rising and shining! that's a bright idea. with high fiber and plump juicy raisins kellogg's raisin bran gives any day a sunny start. good morning, friends. we're about to step into the last weekend of summer so please enjoy this if you're across the ohio valley to the northeast, really great conditions all weekend long. we'll also watch the flood risk as nicholas is still a post-tropical system in that area and staying pretty soggy for the pacific northwest. not a ton of sunshine. the fire danger does increase for sunday, but we're watching a little bit of snow, rain for the pacific northwest. our temperatures across the central u.s., they are starting to heat up but i like this, an abundance of sunshine across the ohio valley to the northeast and we'll continue to watch that rain for the deep south.

enjoy the weekend. >> thanks a lot, janessa and next we will check in onhe t astronauts taking one giant leap for civilians everywhere its highly active peroxide droplets swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. crestwhitesmile.com does your vitamin c last twenty-four hours? only nature's bounty does. immune twenty-four hour plus has longer lasting vitamin c. plus, herbal and other immune superstars. only from nature's bounty. [growling] [sfx: toaster ding] meet the 4-year-old who refused to wear 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. - oh...oh. - what's going on? - oh, darn! - let me help. get your wins where you can lift and push and push! there... it's up there.

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hear us for miles. the longest ears on a dog stand at just a bit over 13 inches each and finally maya gabeira hit the record for the largest wave surfed at 73 1/2 feet in portugal it just looks like that painting of the great wave. spacex ground-breaking all-civilian crew is orbiting high above the earth the crew is starting to tackle experiments that can affect the future of commercial space travel here's nbc's kerry sanders with more >> reporter: 357 miles above planet earth, four everyday americans in the process of that space travel for the rest of us is possible. the wednesday liftoff was flawless the falcon 9 rocket separated at

two minutes 40 seconds the booster then kicked in, propelling the dragon capsule into orbit watching it all from florida, 8-year-old slater bushman, a pediatric cancer patient at st. jude, just as st. jude physician assistant and now astronaut hayley arceneaux was when she was 10 >> we needed some hope to cling onto and seeing hayley shoot into space like that, my god, if that's not a symbol of hope? >> reporter: only about 600 people have gone to space but never in all civilian crew >> i think those guys last night kicked the door open to orbital commercial space flight. >> reporter: there may be a commercial space race, but the achievement here celebrated by all. the crew in weightlessness has already started to guide things

from space how does space travel affect their hearts how is their blood impacted by radiation? are their cognitive abilities impaired their laundry list of work will occupy a significant portion of their mission. elon musk tweeted that he's spoken to the crew and they're all okay sp.

right now at 4:30, do you need one or not? a crucial meeting on covid booster shots is minutes away. what infectious disease experts will happen in hours. >> a former theranos employee heads back on the stand for elizabeth holmes criminal fraud case. what we expect from today's hearing. plus -- >> i hear the howling at night. >> not your average neighborhood watch. the wild encounters that have one community taking action. this is "today in the bay."