where kyle rittenhouse testified in his own defense in an emotional display. later the judged a monishing the prosecutor could this lead to a mistrial of the entire case. inflation in the u.s. hits a 30-year high as americans, dig deeper into their wallet a consumer alert for anyone that uses hand sanitizert could

cancer-causing solvent more on the alec baldwin deadly movie shooting. one group has been largely overlooked for leadership positions. "early today" starts right now >> good morning, i'm philip men na. >> i'm frances rivera. we begin with an intense day in kenosha, kyle rittenhouse taking the stand in his murder trial. the 18-year-old broke down, recounting the night he opened fire last summer a tense moment as the judge admonished prosecution here's dan schennman with the details. >> reporter: high drama in the courtroom, kyle rittenhouse facing homicide charges taking the stand in his own defense. >> and there were -- there were

people right there. >> reporter: breaking down during his testimony as defense attorney mark richards asked him about the night he shot three people first, joseph rosenbalm fatally. >> as you see him amying at you, what did you do? >> i shot him. he grabs my gun and i can feel it pulling away from me and i can freely the straps starting to come off my body. >> and what do you do then >> i fire one shot. >> in all three cases insisting. >> i didn't do anything wrong, i defended myself. >> reporter: during an intense cross examination. >> so i don't know what you were up to. >> reporter: the judge scolding the prosecutor for mentioning rittenhouse's silence after shooting as he tried to point i paint him as someone from out of town taking matters into his own hands. >> you are not living in kenosha at this time when this all happens? >> my dad lives in kenosha

>> you didn't? >> my residence was in antioch >> a crucial day in a closely-watched trial. president biden's infrastructure week celebrations were instrumented by an alarming update on the u.s. economy new figures reveal the rate of inflation has soared to its highest levels in over 30 years. nbc news' chris pollone joins us from washington, d.c good morning, these numbers are not so shocking to consumers watching those price tags get bigger and bicker. >> reporter: absolutely right, anyone that picked up a ground beef at the supermarket knows and seen this for themselves, inflation now up 6% over year. the highest levels over 30 years. all sectors up, used cars and trucks, 26%. food, 5% beef alone is up 20% the white house blames a part of

this inflation surge on the supply chain backlog, where goods are arriving at the nation's ports faster than they can be unloaded the rece $17 billion to repair aging ports. some of those projects can take years to complete. president biden will sign that bill on monday he spoke about it in baltimore and says it will help bring down those high prices. >> reporter: not only will we see more record-breaking job growth we will see lower prices, faster deliveries as well this work will be critical as we implement the infrastructure bill as we continue to build the economy from the bottom up and piddle out bypassing the build back better plan. >> reporter: the next plank is the build back better, key moderate holdout joe manchin sounding the alarm about rising inflation saying washington can no longer ignore the pain americans feel every day he says for months now, the

price tag on that larger spending plan is way too high. philip. >> chris pollone joining us from washington chris, thank you millions of people have aggressively been using hand sanitizer during theand sanitiz have tested positive for a cancer-causing agent called benzene. the fda says more than 250 batches have been contaminated some brands have voluntarily recalled products. we urge you to check fda.gov to see if any hand sanitizer in your home is effective the first lawsuit filed in the aftermath of the tragic "rust" shooting. the chief of lighting is suing nearly two dozen people involved in the production. miguel almaguer has the details. >> she was my friend. >> reporter: breaking his silence, now filing a lawsuit claiming severe emotional

distress, the light chief on the set of "rust" vividly recalls the moment alec baldwin accidentally and fatally shot his friend, cinematographer helena hutchins. >> i feel i cannot believe that she is not here with us. he claims recreational shootins happening before the deadly accident, names nearly two dozen parties in his lawsuit, including armorer hannah gutierrez reed, who he says loaded the gun, assistant director dave halls who happened the weapon to baldwin and the actor, who is also a producer. >> any responsible actor knows, you don't take a real gun, point it at a human being, pull the trigger, shoot a bullet and they die and the answer is, huh, i didn't know it was loaded. >> reporter: of baldwin, he claims he should have double checked the colt revolver with halls upon being handed it to

ensure it did not contain live ammunition adding the scene did not call for baldwin to shoot and should refrain from point ing the gun at anyone. baldwin had said it was an accident today gutierrez reed says she fears sabotage and is being framed halls has not released a statement. >> reporter: their conduct was despicable that must be punished. that must be stopped. >> with no criminal charges filed in the case yet, the first lawsuit has been miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> the homeland security warning that both foreign and domestic extremists are trying to exploit the united states' withdrawal from afghanistan to inspire potential attacks here it says the covid pandemic sparked rhetoric tied to vaccine mandates with extremists calling on attacks from members of congress and health and school officials. a federal judge has dealt a proceed to texas governor greg

abbott, ruling his mandate in schools violates the americans with disabilities act. the judge stated that covid-19 poses an even greater risk for children with special health need the ruling also prohibits the texas attorney general from enforcing that mandate. >> let's get a check of our today's weather with michelle grossman who is in for janessa hi, michelle, how are we looking? >> reporter: hi there, guys. we are looking at a huge system in the middle of the country it's huge stretching from the northern plains to the southern plains on the cold side, we're looking at wintry weather, upper mid-west, that trailing cold front brings them strong storms in the southern plains this is going to take a long trek over the next 48 hours, so we're going to see rain out ahead of this warm front and then snow piling up, even up to 9 inches in some spots on the northern side. by tomorrow morning, we're looking at storms into the northeast. this is going to be a big weather change in the northeast. we're going to see colder weather as this pulls through. but for the morning commute,

we're looking for strong rain or heavy rain from boston all the way down to d.c. along with some gusty winds and into new degreee well above formal this time of year we're improving conditions later this afternoon >> all right guys, we'll talk more about these storms and also looking ahead towards the weekend forecast it's never too early we'll do that? just a bit >> you are right about that, thanks grab a pen and paper, later in the show, we got some terrific gift ideas for toy lovers >> our tom llamas is next why latinos have been largely overlooked when it comes to military leadership. t night's dinner the next morning. for an easy way to keep your whole home smelling fresh

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leading the news on honor day, we recognize the many obstacles service members have faced while trying to move through the ranks, especially those of color currently latinos make up 70% of active duty members. 8% are of the officer core and 1% of general and flag officers. nbc's tom llamas spoke about discrimination in the military and the efforts to combat it. >> reporter: he remembers the highs of being an airman, but can't forget the lows, setbacks that grounded his career >> it's the dream of a lifetime. i fell in love with flying back when i was seven-years-old. >> reporter: but after serving the country for 15 years that dream came to a screeching halt. >> i saw no more future in the active duty for me. >> reporter: he was no longer rising in the ranks. he says he wasn't sure why until he looked in the mirror.

given the opportunities to hit the right stepping stones in the military doesn't come to you because you were hispanic? >> yes the short answer is yes. >> why did you think it had to do with your ethnicity >> i have no other reason to think it had to do with anything else. >> reporter: he served in the air force reserve, where he says he received the right training and mentoring to move up, becoming a big deer general before retiring in 2007. latinos make up just over 17% of active duty members but only 8% of the officer core and 1% of general and flag officers. right now, there is only one three-star general, no four-star general and there has never been a hispanic secretary of defense. >> we're being ignored they're not being mentored by senior leadership. that looks and is hispanic does not exist. >> reporter: one of the newest under secretaries at the dod revealed to us he experienced

first happened the dead end many hispanics face in the military during his time in the navy. >> i can even look at my own self i was passed up for a do 3 level for promotion. >> reporter: so you experienced this >> i have. but you know here and this is one of the reasons that i wawanted -- >> reporter: what did you blame it on? >> you know. hmm. you know, going back and reflecting on why i was passed over, you can kind of think, like, okay, was there bias or racing towards that? i can assume that might have been a part of it. >> reporter: now he's in position to change that how do you do that? what is the biden administration doing to fix this problem? >> there is a lot of things we will do, mentorship. it's a number of things from recruiting talent, retaining talent, in order to grow those individuals so we can have latinos become flag and general

officers. >> reporter: non-profit organizations, military family advisory network and the association of naval services officers and others are tackling challenges when it comes to latinos in the military. >> anso has a lot of officers that offer time freely to mentor young junior officers. we need allies to help these young men and women. >> reporter: these groups serving a new type mission longover due, tom llamas, nb news still to come, chr dominates the country music awards he didn't take home entertainer of the year. can we guess who did we have holiday gift inspiration, the hottest toys of 2021 oh... shawn? [yes] thank you. you're welcome. have a great day. if it's “that will leave a mark season,” it's walgreens season. hey there! what are you..?

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coming up on the third hour of "today" actor gary sinise shares his mission to support

veterans this year's hottest toys could sell out before black friday so we're helping you get a head start. earlier, i spoke with marissa silva, toy insider editor-in-chief about this year's most coveted toys marissa, thanks for scombroining us joining us. what are the hottest toys out there? >> good morning. we will start with an active toy. bb hoopsters he will talk with kids and interact and moves all around the house. so it makes shooting that perfect three-pointer a little more difficult when he is roving all over the place this is a great item to get kids up, active and having a great time >> up next, for the budding photographer, we have the kids' zoom print cam tell us more about that. >> reporter: yeah, so this is an instant print camera from v-tech i think kids will absolutely love it. they love taking photos. right? this camera instantly prints up

to 80 photos on one roll of film we got the little screen on the back it flips up into selfie mode they can take selfies easy, instantly print right from the camera i took this shot from my dog this morning. >> this is the joy of getting a kind of a pola rroid feel to it. we have a class ir, the pokemon surprise attack game >> yeah, pokemon is hotter than ever with the spreez attack gag surprise attack world you can bring your real world. there is a hidden character inside you slam it down it will open, the disc starts spinning you will see how much damage you can do to your opposing pokemon. the game takes five-to-ten minutes and you get all the fun of pokemon. >> we haven't seen the last of pokemon go for sure.

you have a classic >> yes, tamagotchi is back i'm a '90s kids, this is cooler than ever, the tamagotchi picks, it takes photos. so you can take selfies and see yourself with your tamagotchi pet. it's like a lot of play value packed into this little egg. >> that's what we should have got for our dollar instead of the fish she forgets to feed the fish something like this, a little practice lastly the motor strike battle set. that sounds fun. >> yeah. bay blade. kid are totally obsessed with beyblade there are these little cool spinning tops you launch into the bey stadium. the battle set is the first one that features a motorized center he's got a fast vortex that pulls the tops right in and makes your battles that much harder it's really incredible

beyblade fans will go crazy for this >> battle in the winter. >> a lot of action. >> i appreciate your help. thank you. still to come, tom hanks reveals his favt tom hanks movies. >> and nicole kidman irey s ad for her closeup as lucille ball. a stunning new look is out now a stunning new look is out now >> if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back, what?! no! over the cnter eye drops typically work by lubricating the eyes and may provide temporary relief. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda-approved non-steroid eye drop specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you are allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation,

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. welcome back on this thursday we're looking at snow and wind in the northern plains, the rocking rain and winds from the ohio valley to the tennessee valley, also to the southeast. this is going to move off to the northeast on friday. a tricky morning commute on your friday, into new england friday night, saturday we're looking at that snow and wind continuing in the upper mid-west a really nice day in the central and southern plains by saturday. much colder. look at sunday, we're colder in the northeast. those snow showers lingering in the mid-west back to you, guys. >> we're starting to feel like

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if it's “that will leave a mark season,” it's walgreens season. . blue sill ball, when i'm funny, you will know it. >> have you been cheating on me? >> if they boo you, we're done >> all right i got lost for a second. >> nicole kidman there in the role of lucille ball and the official trailer for "being the ricardos" i can't wait to see even more to see how she does. some people were like, i don't

know if i can see the connection, how she'll pull it off. we'll see if she does it >> the look is uncanny, we'll tell you that. the 55th am acountry music awards, luke bryant hosted the event for the first time ever. it was a night filled with some big wins the coveted intertainer of the year award went to luke holmes carley pierce was named female vocalist of the year and chris stapleton won award afteraward he took home album of the year, song of the year, single of the year and male vocalist of the year tom hanks is opening up about which films are his favorite can he guess which ones? during his 40-year career, he won two oscars and played a series of beloved roles. in his podcast, the actor reveals his top three movies they, are can you guess? leak of their own, castaways and

one film i haven't heard of cloud atlas. i don't know if you have it's his favorite. he selected them based on the experience he had during filming, not necessarily our favorites, the ones we love watching him in. it's all about his experience, i'm curious. >> it's a big difference that man is amazing. saving private ryan. >> philadelphia. >> there you go. he probably didn't have too much fun for that he had to lose a lot of weight for that roam. all right. businesses around the country are honoring our heroes on this veteran's day with well-earned deals and discounts. here's a look at some of them. buffalo wild wings offering ten free wings and prize to as a part of their wings for heroes promotion. kohl's is bringing a discount and doubling it military personnel and their families can get 30% off purchases today. on this veteran's day, take a look at the following people

that are important to us here on "early today." these are the faces of many men and women. they have served our nation well over the past few decades and many of the people that put this daily broadcast together we are great to their service to america and the life lessons they taught us. the life lessons they taught us. al when you hear the word healthy it always feels a little out of reach. but it's all about the baby steps. maybe it's a jump or eating something green. or taking mom to get that vaccine. ♪ healthier means bringing stuff to the folks ♪ ♪ that really need it. ♪ ♪ like help at 2 am or care that's right at home. ♪ ♪ believe it. ♪ ♪ and caring for them all means ♪ ♪ we're doing healthier right. ♪ ♪ so, let's do it all together people, ♪ ♪ 'cause this is what healthier looks like. ♪ hi honey! hi mommy! oh i missed you! you just want to video call the kids. ok. hush little baby...don't say a word... but if slow upload speeds turns your goodnight call

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