today supreme court justice steven breyer is expected to inform the president of his impending retirement and you can expect mr. biden to fulfill a major campaign promise when he chooses his replacement. trying to figure out vladimir putin's end game as tensions rise surrounding the military build up along the ukraine border >> millions are in the path of subzero temperatures as a nor'easter is churning toward the northeast potentially creating a bombogenesis. their motto is always ready, always there, and members of the

national guard proved it when a teacher shortage made classroom duty a priority. and imagine going to prison for seven years or faking your covid vaccine card in order to see an nfl playoff game. "early today" starts right now good morning on this thursday i'm cori coffin. >> so glad you could be with us. i'm frances rivera president biden is about to make a choice that could have decades long consequences. steven breyer preparing to tell the white house he'll retire this june. nbc's brie jackson joins us live from washington. the president expected to make history with his choice for the court. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right the white house is signaling president biden will stick to a campaign promise to nominate a black woman to the supreme court. so far the president has nominated eight black women to federal appellate courts so far, and one of the women from that list is emerging as a

front-runner for the lifetime appointment to the supreme court. ketanji brown jackson was a clerk for justice breyer president biden nominated her last year to the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit she was confirmed by 50 democrats and three republicans. another leading contender is judge leondra kruger she's argued several cases before the u.s. supreme court. at 45 years old if confirmed she would be the youngest justice on the bench by about 5 years now, justice steven breyer is one of three remaining liberal justices,so this new appointment will not change the balance of the supreme court breyer has not formally announced his retitle, but that could be coming in just a matter of hours now, a source familiar with the matter has told nbc news that breyer is expected to meet with president biden at the white house today, and that's when we

expect to hear more information. >> yeah. every step of this process playing a major part in shaping our nation down the road brie, thank you. now to the growing crisis in ukraine. secretary of state antony blinken says the u.s. offered russia a, quote, serious diplomatic path forward but rejected russia's demand to ban ukraine from joining nato. this as russia ramps up its military drills on the border of ukraine. ali, the big question here is it just a matter of time before russia invades >> reporter: ell, as churchill once put it russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma tensions continue to simmer along the ukrainian border even though secretary blinken says the u.s. has offered moskow a serious diplomatic path forward, washington isn't giving in to putin's demands. the formal response from the u.s. to resolve the ukraine

crisis involves none of the concessions vladimir putin wants, crucially such as blocking ukraine from joining nato both the u.s. and nato say that that is an issue between kyiv and the alliance and not for moskow to decide as all nations have the right to choose their own security arrangements. but that hasn't gone down well with the russians. foreign minister sergei lavrov has accused the head of nato with having lost touch with reality while russia continues to keep large numbers of troops amassed on ukraine's border conducting provocative training exercises, something western countries say bears all the hallmarks of a possible invasion, an invasion russia denies planning. diplomats reaffirming a commitment to it long-standing cease-fire agreement in ukraine. and when secretary blinken says he's offered moskow a path forward, well, the devil may be in the details there might just be enough there

to get putin on the off-ramp and tell his domestic audiences that he got concessions from the west >> okay, ali, thank you very much many states across the u.s. are still battling massive covid spikes as omicron continues its rapid spread cases now soaring past 73 million since the pandemic began. health officials are now closely watching a new version of the variant that's being called stealth omicron. this as more reinfections than ever are being reported. now to gabe gutierrez for more >> reporter: the new stealth version of the omicron variant discovered in california seems to be harder to detect and according to some experts is even more contagious though it's not yet clear how dangerous it is >> so far we don't really know how it behaves >> reporter: across the u.s. reported covid cases are down 6% over the previous week, hospitalizations down 8%, but deaths are up 21%. still the cdc says that's because of the sheer volume of cases weeks earlier. >> deaths remain low in

comparison to the case counts. >> reporter: not only are more people getting covid, more are being infected for a second time researchers in england spoke with 3,500 covid positive people this month two-thirds reported having either a suspected or confirmed case before. here in new york about 80% of reported reinfections happened during the omicron wave. they're also up in minnesota and washington state but notably some 60% of so-called second timers there were unvaccinated. in illinois brian first got co covid in march of 2020 he spent weeks on a ventilator and later underwent a double lung transplant. >> they told me if i got it again i would die, so i was very afraid >> reporter: even though he was vaccinated this month he did test positive again. >> this time it was much easier. i actually didn't have any symptoms until i knew i had it >> the increase in the infected

are even being fully vaccinated in the past does protect you from getting severe covid. >> reporter: new data from moderna suggested its booster's effectiveness against omicron declined slightly after six months but was still noticeable. the company's phase 2 trial for an omicron specific booster is now under way. gabe gutierrez, nbc news two buffalo bills fans could face jail time after using fake vaccination cards to enter a game prosecutors say they bragged on social media about using forged cards to get into other games. officials questioned the couple during the bill's wild card playoff game against the patriots they're each charged with one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument. if convicted the two could face-up to seven years in prison the feds move to curb inflation is costing the stock market futures are pointing to a steep drop in the open the fed signaled an interest rate hike as early as march which sent stocks tumbling

yesterday. the dow dropping nearly 130 points nbc's stephanie ruhle breaks it all down for us. >> so the official statement from fed chair j. powell was that this is a complicated economic picture, and we need to be humble and nimble while we do have full employment and we are in an economic recovery, the inflation situation is a problem that's why while they're not very strongly signaled and put us to expect there will be a rate hike come march and more after that it means going forward it could cost you more to get a mortgage, a bank loan, a credit card so for those who are preparing for this rate hike in march if you need any of those things it would be a good time to lock them in now. but remember the reason for doing this for the overall reason is to try to slow down the rate of inflation, prices continuing to go up. so if we do see rates go up a little bit hopefully that will be overshadowed by prices going

down a bit more. >> all right, our thanks to stephanie ruhle for that and while the u.s. is preoccupied with the russia-ukraine crisis north korea fires two more missiles. that is the sixth round of launches this month. kim jong-un has been ramping up missile testing since last fall, putting pressurer on the biden administration talks have come to a standstill since the last meeting with president donald trump a judge has allowed him to represent himself. prosecutors accuse avenatti of stealing nearly $300,000 from daniels. she's due to take the stand today and will be cross examined by avenatti at some point. >> i'm a trial lawyer. it's what i've done for two decades. it's my arena. it's where i'm most at home, and i think it gives me the best chance at winning, and it gives the best chance of the truth and the evidence to come out

>> avenatti has pleaded not guilty to the charges. it has been two years since nine people including kobe bryant and his daughter gianna were tragically killed in a helicopter crash a los angeles sculptor is honoring the victims with a bronze statue. the artist hiked with the statue and placed i hills above calabasas, california. the base incluts the names of all nine people who lost their lives. single digit temps with subzero wind chills ahead for millions let's bring in janessa webwith your forecast. we need to know this stuff to make our plans >> yeah, it's definitely cold and that's really not going away upper midwest now headed into the east coast this morning. we're in the negative digits the feel like temperature. this actually coming in for from the national weather service as we await the arrival of this

next winter storm. you can see from the carolinas to boston they have now issued winter storm watches across this area this is roughly 34 million people going to be impacted by this storm models are still not in agreement, but we are less than 40 hours away from this potential nor'easter being very strong in its time to prepare. so you can see this will be a pre-tease for new york city, d.c. all the way into atlanta before this storm system starts to collide, then we'll watch re in the single digits right now. highs today in the lower 30s there's going to be some significant impacts. we'll take a look at that forecast coming up ladies >> a messy weekend

janessa, thanks. all right, my favorite story of the morning. mini mouse is trading her iconic red dress for a pantsuit disneyland paris announced this week the iconic character will wear a pair of pants for the first time ever. it'll be designed by stella mccartney. mccartney says this new take on the signature look acts as a symbol of progress for a new generation women's history month is approaching in march, which also inspired the update. >> and i like it blue and black not the red and black this time around we've got a major suv recall to warn you about just ahead but first when a massive pandemic fueled acteher shortage happened members of the national guard raised their hand to step into the classroom recommend cascade platinum... ...with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. for sparkling-clean dishes, the first time. cascade platinum. how did olay top expensive creams? like this with hydration that beats the $100 cream

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service members to fill in temporarily during an unprecedented shortage of educators. here's nbc's gadi schwartz >> reporter: in cras rooms across new mexico the national guard taking up teaching posts during an education emergency. service members in both uniform and civilian clothing substitute teaching during an unprecedented shortage of educators. >> i rose my hand right away and said it's absolutely necessary and i'd love to help >> is she a good substitute? yeah stepping up is personal. seven years ago she say a student in the very math class she's now overseeing >> i was excited i was like i want to volunteer for that and help out because i'm from this area, and i know even when i was in school there was short staffing >> reporter: the superintendent says with the recent surge of omicron almost every day is a scramble to get classrooms covered. what does a bad day look like for you is. >> we've had as many as 25% of our teaching staff out on a day.

>> reporter: since the pandemic teacher vacancies have nearly doubled with over 1,000 unfilled positions. that means 20,000 students without permanent teachers in their classrooms, and the need for subs is just one part of a growing problem. new mexico ranks last in the nation in education. >> this has been the hardest year because we're dealing with the traumas that our students experienced during that time kids we have back on campus aren't the same. we're having to reteach them how to study we're having to reteach for them to interact with individuals >> reporter: as omicron takes more teachers out of the classroom, reinforcements are arriving while the state does all it can to keep schools open when it comes to long-term solutions the governor here is talking about a 7% increase in salaries for teachers, which would bring them up to around the national average, but it still has to get through the state legislature. back to you. >> okay, gadi, thank you

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a consumer alert to tell you about this morning auto maker nissan has issued a recall for its top selling u.s. vehicle the nissan rogue more than 793,000 suvs sold in canada have been rrled from fire risk for wiring. that recall covers 2014 to 2016 model years. the company says it'll send notification letters to affected owners stock markets around the globe are reacting to our federal reserve's plan to raise interest rates with markets in japan and south korea down big right now and dow futures also deep in the red let's get more from cnbc's karen

tso. good morning >> good morning frans and cori as expected the fed set the scene for that rate hike in march. dow closed down, the nasdaq barely positive, all this on very high volume a little more selling on wall street today, asian markets taking their cue on wall street, fairly sizable losses roughly to tune about 2%. here in europe this morning we've also opened mostly weaker across the continent investors are nervous about the pace and timing of rate hikes, and in the other news away from extraordinary monetary stimulus including shrinking the balance sheets a lack of clarity just impacting sentiment yet again. meantime over at gm they're embarking upon a hiring spree with about 8,000 positions being sought they are looking for software,

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court justice steven breyer is expected to visit the white house today. a source familiar with the planning tells nbc news breyer is scheduled to appear alongside president biden as the justice is set to formally announce his retirement from the bench. president biden likely hoping this big moment for the court will spark some positive movement in his agenda only 49% of americans approve of the job president biden is doing. today marks 77 years since the liberation of the liberation camp in nazi occupied poland the soviet red army liberated auschwitz and its satellite camps on january 27, 1945. that date now marks holocaust remembrance day commemorated around the world in total nazi germany murdered abou6 million european jews. much needed aid has arrived

in the country of tofollowing a and tsunami that struck there earlier this month a navy ship made a contactless delivery of supplies yesterday the australian minister said about 23 people onboard that ship tested positive according to "the new york times" no one entered the vessel and the cargo was off-loaded by machines since the start of the pandemic tonga has had one recorded covid case there's been some unusual activity detected in the milky way according to an astronomer at the international center for radio astonmy and research scientists there observed a particular patch of sky and noticed an object that releases bright bursts of light every 20 minutes or so disappearing seven minutes later. the object is said to be about 4,000 light years away, likely a slow spinning dead star. here's some news if you don't have time for a big work out. a new study looking into exercise for older americans could help them save their life.

it is found exercising 10 minutes a day can save your life if you're over the age of 40 if you increase that to 20 to 30 minutes it could lead to even more lives saved >> that's the motivation you need this morning if you're like i can't get up just 1

okay. okay. right now at 4:30, terrifying moments for drivers on a pay area bridge as a semi goes up in flames leaving the driver with no place to go. the investigation under way into that fatal accident. >> and a looming teacher's strike. what teachers in one bay area school district are demanding. >> plus, a booster targeting omicron. the new trial under way to help combat the variant. this is "today in the bay." >> thursday morning. here we are. thanks for joining us. i'm