just hours from now, emergency meetings will commence when u.s. officials trying to head off a russian invasion of ukraine that the white house says may be imminent. major airlines may be getting a teorary reprieve to the 5g technology that many say acts landing equipment, especially in cold weather the free at-home tests web saet up and ready.

today marks one year in office at a high profile press conference how one man says his life was saved after a snowmobile burst into flames. it's wednesday, january 19th glad you can be with us. >> i'm frances rivera. >> i'm philly mena >> the white house saying a russian invasion in ukraine could be imminent. tony blinken arrives in ukraine. president biden sent his top diplomat it's a matter of time before russia invades >> reporter: good morning, frances. well, the situation along the ukrainian border is still very troubling. there are still around 100,000 russian troops amassed along that border in what can be described as one of the world's most dangerous flash points. but for its part, russia has repeatedly denied any plans to

launch an attack on ukraine. but u.s. and european intelligence say that russian military buildup bears all the hallmarks of a full scale invasion an invasion that could spark off at a moment's notice that's why president biden has asked his secretary of state anthony blinking to embark on a shocking round of diplomacy to involve a dangerous situation. blinken will hold discussions with president zelensky in kiev before meeting with british and russian counterparts in berlin he will try to shore up support amongst western allies to impose what the u.s. officials have called massive consequences and severe economic costs on russia should an invasion occur then on friday, blinken will meet russia's more than minister sergei lavrov in geneva.

it may be an indication that perhaps diplomacy is not dead in the efforts to fend off a new russian attack on ukraine. frances. >> certainly high stakes diplomacy. we'll see if that can be diffused day-by-day. thank you. tomorrow marks one year since president biden was sworn into office and he's wrapping up his first year today with his second formal press conference the president is expected to highlight his achieve kms. he is sure to also face some tough questions on everything from the pandemic to inflation nbc news' prejackson is in washington, d.c. with a preview. bree, good morning this is a story of questions and setbacks >> reporter: good morning, the president plans to focus on successes first and some of the accomplishments that his administration has made so far now a listing of successes include that bipartisan infrastructure law, the ambitious covid relief package and the vaccination rollout. but the president is also

bracing for tough questions on key setbacks like the seemingly doomed voting rights push in the senate, the surging cases of omicron and stalled out build back better legislation. the soaring inflation that can be felt everywhere from the grocery store to car dealerships. last year marked the highest rise in consumer prices since 1982 white house press secretary jen psaki spoke yesterday about what to expect from today's press conference >> what we feel good about is that coming into anen credibly difficult circumstance, fighting a pandemic, and economic massive economic downturn as a result, there has been a lot of progress made we need to build on that, the work is not done the job is not done. >> nbc news has also learned that president biden is plotting a reset for year two, one shift in strategy will tone down the legislator in chief persona built on his 36 years in the

senate and instead more time spent communicating directly with the people. now the question that the white house has is how will they showcase what they see as president biden's greatest political strength that's his empathy and his ability to connect with every day people back to you. >> bree jackson for us if washington this morning, thank you. this morning, a travel nightmare for some international flyers a host of aerials have canceled into its to the u.s. over the 5g network rollout near airports across the country air india and emirates are cutting back on flights and operating on a limited schedule. it is creating chaos yet again with travelers after the massive delays due to the omicron surge. nbc news' tom costello has the latest. >> reporter: with clock ticking down to the nation 5g rollout, a last-minute deal to avoid a crisis at&t and verizon said they will

temporarily limit or delay turning on 5g cell towers close to certain airports. it comes after ten airline ceos urged the white house to intervene, warning of catastrophic disruption affecting hundreds of thousands of airline passengers. if a two-mile buffer zone isn't plotted around sights. they involve the sec, faa, and competing agendales. the concern, the new fit generation of sales service called 5g operates open a radio spectrum that could bleed over and act the altimeter they give pilots their distance to the ground. critical for landing and poor visibility, warning a potential interference the faa had told pilots they would notbe able t use altimeters at 80 airports,

including large hubs in houston, dallas, l.a., new york, chicago and seattle. the airlines warned that would lead tomas nosekive delays, diversions and cancellations as soon as wednesday. >> the faa has to go airport by airport and runway by runway and do an analysis to clear these airports so we can safely fly. >> reporter: but the cell phone industry says 5g is safe, at&t took aim at the faa saying we are frus frustrated by the faa's ability to do ba nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy technology without disruption services. >> the bottom line is we got to get this done safely right now, every indication is it's not been tested and it is not safe for a full roll out. >> reporter: the faa announced to clear every make and model of plane to see if it's altimeter may be vulnerable. it's cleared 45% of the u.s.

fleet. it has another 55% to go this could take weeks or months before the faa determines planess can fly with 5g turned on around airports back to you. >> thank you breaking overnight, new york's attorney general announcing new details as a part of a civil organization of the trump organization ag james filed a motion to compel former president donald trump, donald trump, junior, and ivanka trump to give testimony against financial dealings they say they have uncovered sophisticate information that they used fraudulent and misleading benefits. donald, jr. and ivanka have been closely involved in the transactions, her office says it has not reached a decision whether it merits legal action the state cannot issue subpoenas as a part of the civil investigation while the state is also involved in a criminal

investigation with an active grand jury nbc news reached out to the trump organization overnight for comments on the allegations. attorneys for don, junior, ivanka and the former president did you do not immediately respond to questions for comment. they have suspended former trump allies, rudy guiliani, jenna ellis, sidney powell and boris epstein, accusing them of pushing election lies. a lawyer for guiliani responded saying it implicates executive and attorney/client privileges, they say it's no surprise the panel would attempt to subpoena and referring it as a stalinist witch hunt they did not immediately respond to requests for comment. meanwhile, cnn is reporting the health committee has retained the phone records from donald trump the u.s. seen dramatic covid spikes in children

nearly 1 million pediatric covid cases were reported last week, which experts say is mostly being fueled by the spread of the omicron variant. this as the white house has finally launched its website for free at-home covid tests here's nbc news' jolene kept. >> reporter: the federal government's would be site for free covid tests have gone live. in a soft launch, the white house began taking orders for up to four tests per household. >> reporter: we are pleased so far. >>reporter: it officially launches after a year of rapid tests often nowhere to be found. >> the bottom line this winter you will be able to test for free at your company home and have peace in mind. >> reporter: today many major retailers are out of stock, leaving families frustrated. >> look. you are negative. >> reporter: like so many, he says finding rapid tests to get kids back in school has been

nearly impossible. >> i felt desperate so i posted it on instagram and that was the only way that we had to actually get a couple more tests. we have friendshiping us tests from vermont overnight. >> reporter: the biden administration says they will land at your door at the end of this month the best case scenario what would be the grade you would give biden administration on tests >> right now the grade i would give is a c. >> reporter: epidemiologist ab gel echohawk is the vice president of the pawnee health forum. >> we will see those on native reservations will not get the same access to information that will continue to drive the inic writety of the-- inequity f covid-19. >> reporter: the white houses it will add a phone number soon. >> we're trying to catch up. >> reporter: in seattle, rapid manufacturers wants to produce

five to ten million tests per week. >> the biggest challenge in terms of the home test in particular is labor shortage as well as paper products so, we have the tests, but we can't ship it if we don't have the product insert, the instructions for use as well as the box to put it in. >> reporter: for parents, only a negative tests gets the kids back in the classroom. what is your message to family who's feel so frustrated they haven't been able to get tests sooner >> yeah, we see there has been enormous demand. we are trying to keep one that demand. >> as families who ep the white house will deliver jolene kepkent, nbc news >> we turn to our meteorologist janessa webb what's happening out there it seems to be back-to-back storms >> yeah. we have a series of storms we are watching today will be a quick hitter from the east coast to the tennessee valley and we have a

larger storm system for the 22nd tracking in this cold front northern new england could see a quick burst of snow. up will watch tennessee to kentucky, they will be dealing with pyeongchang in the form of rain, sleet and even freezing rain so pretty dicey this morning then things track into the mid-atlantic across the carolinas, once again, raleigh-durham area to colombia, south carolina, predominantly rain you don't need this after the couple days of icy conditions. the system will push offstore, a our models are not ican see oure falk quickly in the upper mid-wests

temperatures feel in the mid-range. the cold is invading a lot of areas. we'll look at our temperature forecast in a few minutes. >> thank you blimps at the southern border, the pentagon is spending rvllcew on these ne sueian missions. a michigan man is lucky to be alive those details when "early today" returns in 60 seconds. just spray once and 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. microban 24. touch after touch, microban doesn't give up. i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger.

leading the news, a federal judge signs off on a plan for puerto rico's bankruptcy crisis the largest municipal debt crisis cuts the island's public debt by 80% and saves it more than $50 billion in payments puerto rico filed for bankruptcy in 2017. natural disasters and the pandemic deepen the crisis the government can now start repaying creditors at a discount revolutionary auto maker tesla may be known for its innovative technology. for the first time a tesla owner faces criminal charges following a crash involving the company's

partial automated system while using the system, a california man ran through a red light and crashed into another car killing two passengerles the driver of the model s pleaded fought guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter before being released open bail. the morning, the fashion world is mourning the death of style icon and former creative director andre leon tally. he first joined vogue in 1983 as fashion fuse director and rose to creative director becoming an no win tour's right hasn't the towering trail blasier was known for flowing robes and pushing for diversity on the runway diane vonn fausten berg looked at their relationship and billy porter calling him legendary, an dre leon tally was 73-years-old.

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a michigan man is lucky to be alive after his snomobile burst into flames. he says he has no idea how it caught fire. the rider behind him saved him he jumped off his snowmobile the other rider tackled him no a snow bang to put out those flames. >> let's head over to janessa with the weather. >> we have a cold front seeping in across the upper mid-west it will not go away. the winds are a problem. we have some spots 40 below. look at our day time highs, the air temperatures really going to struggle near the single digits, the feels-like temperatures down to about 14 below in some spots. guys >> thanks, ground breaker is

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blazer > . a milestone for the city of los angeles, which may soon have its first female fire chief. they second kristen crawley to make the department. he made the ground breaking announcement on tuesday. the l.a. times confirmed by the city council, she would be the first woman to lead the l.a. fire department if its 136-year history. her appointment comes as the current l.a. fire department chief is set to retire he has led the agency since 2014 now to a sports legend who finally got his name in the

rafters. the boston bruins retired number 22 uniform of willie o're's as the first black player we look back at the legacy of hockey's most beloved players who skated into history. >> reporter: making sports history in hockey, it was a game cappinger. >> the greatest time of my life. >> reporter: willie o'rebecame the first black skater 64 years ago. >> at the time i didn't realize i broke the color barrier until i read the paper the next day. >> because you didn't care in. >> i didn't care. >> reporter: he played for the boston bruins in what many believed at the time to be a white man's sport. >> i started not because i wanted to, but because i had to. >> reporter: willie did it all, keeping secret the fact that he couldn't see out of one eye. that would have kept him from the game he loved. elected to a hockey hall of fame, o'renow 86 has worked

tirelessly to make hockey a game for everyone a men for with the nhl's diversity bram, he gives some advice >> if you think you can, you can, if you think you can't, it's true. >> reporter: black players followed him into the nhl. >> thank you for being a role model. >> thanks, willie. >> the youngest of 13 kids who overcame all obstacles to make it to the nhl. >> retiring his jersey is sending a message. you come and make a change, either a woman, a transfer person, a person of color, that should be celebrated and remembered >> his black and gold bruins' jersey football 22 raised to the rafters. kevin tibbles, nbc news. >> oh, that is just incredible to think he did that in boston, pre-civil rights era and then the complications he had with his eye. >> i was going to say, layer after layer, it's fascinating,

so well deserved glad he is around to see it all and his legacy to continue. >> those numbers will be up there. thank you for starting your day with us here on "early today." >>m phillip mena

right now at 4:30, up for grabs. while many say it's easy to order those free covid tests from the federal government, it's not been smooth sailing for everyone. coming up, we'll show you the way you can get around those hurdles. plus -- >> she lit up every room that she was in. >> from the bay area to the east coast, friends and family remember the life of michelle gowe who was pushed to her death at a subway station. and the los gatos mother