♪ ♪ with his domestic agenda still in the hands of congress, a new nbc news poll shows joe biden's job approval at new lows this morning he's in scotland at a u.n. climate conference where his credibility is on display. >> god forbid there is a major fire or a severe car accident or if a crime takes place >> today's covid vaccination deadline for all new york city

workers has almost everyone on edge with city services in question another travel nightmare weekend for thousands stranded at the airport after american airlines canceled or delayed 1400 flights alec baldwin speaks out about his friend, halyna hutchins, and the once in a trillion accident, as the mother of one was laid to rest on sunday on the day of the dead, our morgan ratford brings us a story you will not soon forget "early today" starts right now >> good morning. thank you for joining us >> new york city is on alert as the big apple's covid vaccine mandate goes into effect thousands of municipal workers who haven't gotten at least one shot or filed for a religious exemption will be placed on unpaid leave this as more than 2,000 new york firefighters have taken sick

leave. good morning, kathy>> reporter: good morning to you. new york city is in the spotlight with its covid vaccine mandate taking hold. for days, union leaders warned of a potential staffing crisis, but the city says they're prepared the nation's largest fire department under pressure. new york city vaccine mandate is in force thousands of firefighters and other unvaccinated municipal workers could be on unpaid leave starting monday. but some members are protesting the mandate, calling in sick, and disrupting essential services one new york congresswoman tweeting -- >> the gym is open, but the ladder is closed god forbid there is a major fire or a severe car accident, or if a crime takes place or even worse. >> reporter: the commissioner firing back. he did confirm members were calling out sick, writing,

irresponsible, bonus sick leave by some of our members is creating a danger for new yorkers and their fellow firefighters they need to return to work or risk the consequences of their actions. the mayor adding that there will be contingencies to address staffing issues. noting 91% vaccination rate for city workers saturday. firefighters have expressed outrange over the mandate, asking for additional time to get the shot >> my members haven't been given a proper opportunity to be informed what's going to happen to them. >> reporter: the vaccine battle is brewing ahead of a critical week to clear covid shots for 28 million 5 to 11-year-olds. >> i'm definitely relieved that they can it's something that i hope is going to happen sooner than later. >> reporter: hospitals are ready for the rollout days before the cdc's final endorsement.

>> we have about 2500 kids signed up. >> reporter: the first week after the vaccine's approval, the biden administration will distribute 15 million shots. back here in new york city, we have learned ever since that 5:00 p.m. deadline on friday, more than 2,000 firefighters took medical leave phillip? >> kathy, thank you. white house press secretary jen psaki announcing she has contracted a breakthrough case of covid-19 after members of her household tested positive. she says she's been working from home and quarantining with her family she tested negative from wednesday to thursday andymsymps new polling by nbc news shows that joe biden's approval rating has fall on the 42% and 7 in 10 adults, including half of the democrats surveyed, believe the nation is headed in

the wrong direction. and attention shifts to the u.n. climate conference, which begins today in scotland. the g20 leaders are facing criticism over the lack of action on climate change nbc's molly hunter joins us now. good morning were there any signs of progress during the g20 summit? >> reporter: hey, good morning from a very windy glasgow, scotland the leaders we heard this weekend in rome spoke a lot about climate change as it relates to almost every single other policy issue, greasing the wheels for cop26, which starts in force today it's been six years since the last cop that was in paris in the last six years, the signatories were legally mandated to go back to their capital and come up with ambitious plans to reach the goals laid out in paris. joe biden has laid out a plan that would half u.s. emissions by 2030, reaching the net zero goal by 2050

a big problem for the u.s. and the rest of the countries, they cannot reach these goals without china. president xi jinping will not be in glasgow here's joe biden >> not only russia but china basically didn't show up in terms of commitments to deal with climate change. and there's a reason why people should disappointed in that. i found it disappointing myself. but what we did do, we passed a number of things here to end the subsidizing of coal. we made commitments here from across the board, all of us. >> reporter: now, china and russia, president putin will not be in glasgow. joe biden arrives today and will speak in a couple of hours we'll be listening >> molly, thank you. now to a weekend travel nightmare. american airlines canceled more

than 1700 flights. the carrier is blaming it on bad weather and staffing shortages but the chaos could be a sign of what is to come. msnbc has the latest. >> reporter: american airlines in the midst of a travel meltdown this weekend. >> they said the original time, and then they canceled >> very aggravating. >> reporter: from dallas to miami and beyond, long lines snaking through terminals, passengers waiting hours to book or speak to an agent the frustrations growing by the second >> it said choose another flight but they don't have flights available till monday or tuesday. i have to work monday and i have a 9-year-old at home >> flying is stressful and with canceled flights and trying to figure it out, it's even more stressful. >> i saw maybe two customer service agents trying to support all of these passengers that were waiting in the line

>> reporter: american airlines canceled close to 2,000 flights this weekend alone 33% of its normal daily flights canceled on sunday how bad is it? >> this weekend is bad >> reporter: the problem started with high winds in dallas, closing down runways and limiting operations. american airlines saying -- >> if there's any bit of bad weather, it's going to be a domino effect, and their operations are just not running well right now >> reporter: this comes on the heels of southwest airline's own travel chaos three weeks ago, resulting in 2,000 flights canceled while airlines beef up their staffing, travel experts say plan for extra travel time >> just be prepared. i'm grateful that we're getting at least into our state tomorrow >> reporter: and it could be some time before things are back to normal. the airline has canceled more than 100 flights for monday.

less than 24 hours away from a critical election day in virginia that could seven as a bellwether for the 2022 midterms it's one of the most watched and closest races in the country here's the latest. >> reporter: it's a statewide race with national implication >> we can't get this done unless we keep this positive momentum going. >> the nation is what's happening in virginia right now. >> reporter: democrat terry mcauliffe and republican glenn youngkin crisscrossing the commonwealth this weekend in a push to be the state's next governor as joe biden's falling approval rating takes a toll on his own party. a worrying trend for democrats ahead of tuesday's bellwether election for the 2022 midterms with a new national nbc news poll

show the democrats are trailing the republicans. the top issues on virginia voter minds -- >> people's safety, schools are important. climate change there's just many issues on what we see going on in the country is very disturbing to me >> we want safe communities, good schools, jobs, we want to protect our families >> reporter: all as president trump still looms large. the former president, who backed youngkin but hasn't campaigned with him, stteasing a rally befe polls close. the latest test of the influence he still has over the republican party. monica alba, nbc news. on this first day of november, let's get a check of your weather with meteorologist bill cairns who is in for janessa. it was cold coming into work today. >> that's the biggest headline going into this november

october was record warm. now it's back to reality we haven't even had a freeze in many areas of the country. it's going to be a little shock. we have two storms on the map that we're watching. one has brought snow to wyoming and now pushing into nebraska. and also a big round of applause another round of rain for california we love it let's just get as much as we can this winter. it's not a horrible rain where it will cause problems just a beneficial rain in northern california today. wednesday will be the next storm we track in oklahoma and into xas.te look at the dakotas, highs only in the 30s

that storm on wednesday, but friday it's on the east coast. >> thank you, bill the astros were playing with their backs against the wall in game five of the world series. it was the braves one win away from the championship that would strike first that grand slam from adam duvall made it 4-0 in the first marlin gonzalez scores two here, no championship celebration on sunday 9-5 astros game six in houston tomorrow night. coming up, we have your nfl week eight highlights. and alec baldwin sakpeing out for the first time since that deadly shooting

two loads of snot covered laundry. only one will be sanitized. wait, what? adding lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of bacteria detergent alone, can't. you have always loved vicks vapors. and now you'll really love new vicks' vapostick. it goes on clear and dries quickly. no mess. just the soothing vicks' vapor for the whole family. introducing new vicks vapostick. the halloween night game had a tense ending in minnesota. court cousins got the vikings on the board first. the cowboys were without dak prescott but cooper rush stepped up that is wilson for the score

minnesota took the tolead with 3:00 to go but the cowboys win it on the road 20-16 and in the nfc south showdown, tom brady lit up new orleans with a quartet of touchdown passes but he did throw two picks and the last one cost the bucs the game the saints overcome a jamison winston knee injury, winning 36-27. and mike white led the league with 405 passing yards to lead the jets, yes, the jets over victory over cincinnati actor alec baldwin is breaking his silence, delivering the first on-camera comments about the tragic shooting that claimed the life of cinematographer halyna hutchins. she was laid to rest yesterday in a private funeral for family and close friends in los angeles. >> reporter: ten days since a cinematographer and director

were shot, the man who pulled the trigger turning heads in his first on-camera comments >> in is a one in a trillion episode. >> reporter: alec baldwin praising the "rust" film crew. >> there are incidental accidents on film sets from time to time. but nothing like this. we were a very, very, you know, well-oiled crew, shooting a film together and then this horrible event happened >> reporter: but others on the ground paint a different pi picture. some crew members walked out over safety concerns, including numerous misfires. the production says they were not made aware of any official complaints >> obviously, this was not a well-oiled machine and nobody would look at it that way. >> reporter: the lawyers representing the person in charge of weapons said gutierrez-reed had no idea where the live rounds came from. and dave halls said he should have checked the gun more thoroughly before handing it to baldwin.

the district attorney saying -- >> i think corners were cut on the set. >> reporter: and this from the investigating sheriff. >> i think there was some complacency on the set and issues that need to be addressed by the industry. >> reporter: hutchins' colleague, who held her in his arms while she was dying, wrote on facebook -- >> reporter: hutchins' death spotlighting safety protocols in production, same alec baldwin says he's interested in. >> what has to happen now is, we have to realize when it does go wrong, and it's this horrible, catastrophic thing, some measures have to take place. >> reporter: the comments come just hours ahead of a private funeral for hutchins >> she was my friend she was my friend. >> reporter: his wife seen recording the entire encounter, later saying --

>> please, just stop following us >> our thanks to emily for that report still to come, momma said rock you out ll cool j hits the rock 'n' roll hall of fame >> and this is the way to the timate halloween can costume that means, you could be right back where you started. break the cycle with microban 24. just spray once and your surfaces are protected against bacteria all day. microban keeps killing 99.9% of bacteria touch after touch for up to 24 hours. these leading disinfectants do not. use the sanitizer 4 out of 5 doctors would use in their own homes. microban 24. are infused with natural essential oils

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♪ ♪ that was ll cool j, part of a star-studded class that went into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame over the weekend, including jennifer lopez and eminem. ll cool j received the musical

sbe excellence award president obama called the rapper an embodiment of the american dream keith urban led a tribute for the hardest working woman in rock 'n' roll, tina turner, who was not in attendance. there's only been three women entered. i didn't realize that. >> sounds like a lot more to go. >> maybe taylor swift herself. hollywood goes all out for halloween. >> and why the dead ofhe d tead is taking on a special meaning for families celebrating this year definitely after meatloaf. like clockwork. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum and save water. did you know an energy star certified dishwasher uses less than four gallons per cycle? while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. that means even small loads can save water. so why not do it? run your dishwasher every night with cascade platinum.

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this morning marks the start of the day of the dead a holiday for many that has taken on added many this year because of the pandemic. here's morgan ratford. >> reporter: she lost her mother to covid in december, just weeks after her father's death >> it's like two people i loved the most >> reporter: now she's turning those memories into an offering. a tradition of the day of the dead >> i want to honor them for everything they've done for us it's a day for me to commemorate and show them the love we have for them >> reporter: the holiday began

in mexico nearly 3,000 years ago. those who celebrate believe on midnight of october 31st, the souls of their loves ones come back to visit. and when they do, make them feel at home. how tall is this >> 16 feet >> reporter: that's why isabella made hers bigger than ever why was it for the for you to make this, this year >> seeing friends and family dying. i just wanted to lift up their spirits and just remember that they will never be forgotten >> reporter: here at the national museum of mexican art, this honors latinos who died of covid. does this day have a different significance this year in light of covid >> it's more important than ever we've not been able to mourn as a community. this allows for that to happen >> i put their favorite food as if they were alive to me >> reporter: alive through memory and tradition

morgan ratford, nbc news, chicago. >> you see a lot of the symbols out fronldt of rockefeller cent. >> it was a big halloween weekend that celebrities and families transformed for the holidays that's a good one. and a surprise performance to spotify's halloween party. and she paid tribute and said i wanted one of my costumes to reflect the latin x society. and dressing as characters, bringing back memories from 2003, the film >> if they really wanted to, that's a perfect opportunity to go incognito but they're still out there. >> there was so many good celebrity ones

everyone wanted lots of hair thank you for kicking off your week with "early today." >> we leave you with this. divers taking halloween festiva

this morning, we are live in scottland with the president amid sinking poll numbers about his performance back home. mandate deadline new york city faces reality for mandate for city first responders a recent surge of violence and bad behavior at schools is putting kids under pressure but are the adults to blame. the big plays and major upsets