developing this morning, the pentagon says russia's moving away ocefrom kyiv is a repositioning of tr quote, retreat even as russia says it is fundamentally coming back under operations. we're live in ukraine with the latestmism. jada pinkett smith brake breaks her silence with an # 1-word message as chris rock prepares the stage. a settlement from $120,000

each and pressing for a trial. nbc 4's sam brock searching for an answers in a tragic park death. and the incredible story head as we kick off your wednesday. "early today" starts right now good morning i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm frances rivera. we begin this day now 35 of the war in ukraine today's peace talks bringing a shred of hope for the war torn nation but ukraine and russia remain skeptical including the biden administration ukraine addressed biden's promises >> we'll see i don't read anything into it until we see what their actions are. >> now to nbc's gabe gutierrez who was onviv with more. good morning >> reporter: vinita and frances,

good morning those concessions by the russians during the peace talks yesterday were met with widespread skepticism around the world. the russians saying they would drastically reduce military action in and around kyiv as well as the northern city of chernihiv, and the ukrainians meanwhile saying they would consider giving up their nato ambitions and being a neutral nation, but this would all have to go before a referendum before the ukrainian people and that could take some time still that concession by the russians has been seen widely by military analysts as potentially being a way to reposition the country's troops as well as refuel after all their attempts to take the capital have been largely unsuccessful, and now the fighting continues in the southern and eastern parts of the country. in ckharkiv, in the northeast of ukraine heavy shelling continues. and in mariupol more than

160,000 residents remain in that city overnight president zelenskyy here in ukraine saying that the progress during the peace talks was positive but reminder shelling continues to devastate many ukrainian cities. again, those peace talks while the first glimmer of hope some peace deal could be reached, it is being greeted with wide skepticism >> gabe, thank you back at home lawmakers are closely following the situation in ukraine both the house and senate will receive briefings today on new developments watching the negotiations with cautious optimism nbc's brie jackson is in d.c. with the latest. understandably, there's a healthy dose of skepticism from the white house. >> reporter: that's right, vinita while the kremlin claims it is drastically reduce operations ssia's actions speak louder

than its words yesterday president biden spoke with top allies about assistance for ukraine. the white house also spelled out what it would take for the president to sit down with vladimir putin >> nobody should be fooling ourselves by the kremlin's now recent claim that it will suddenly just reduce military attacks near kyiv or any reports it's going to withdraw all its forces >> i'm not going to set preconditions for a conversation between president biden and president putin except to say we've been very clear, and president biden has been very clear that there needs to be tangible deescalation from russia and a clear, genuine commitment to diplomacy before the president would have that kind of conversation >> meanwhile, today, congress is also focused on protecting the u.s. from the threat abroad. the house homeland security committee is holding a hearing focused on protecting our critical infrastructure against russian cyber attacks. that meeting is scheduled for later this afternoon

>> a lot of news in d.c. brie, thank you. new on nbcnews.com former president trump is publicly calling on vladimir putin for help, asking the russian leader to release any information he might have on hunter biden, president joe biden's son. in an interview with an outlet called "just the news" mr. trump referenced an unsubstantiated claim about hunter biden receiving a payment from the wife of the former mayor of moskow putin said in 2020 he was unaware of any business ties between biden and the woman. also in 2020 hunter biden's legal team told nbc news that biden had no interest in the firm that received the money, so the claim he had paid $3.5 million was false the white house has not commented. the fda is green lighting a second covid vaccine booster shot for older americans the agency authorized another dose of the pfizer and moderna vaccines for anyone 50 and older four months after their first booster. a booster has also been approved

for people immunocompromised >> a recent poll shows attitudes shifting when it comes to mandemic mandates. 34% are now in favor of instituting mask or social distancing guidelines in their state, this down from 52% in january. and 77% says they support the cdc's recent decision to relax recommendations for areas with low covid infection rates. 21 states are suing to end the federal mask mandate on public transportation. all of the attorneys generals involved are republican, and the lawsuit was announced by florida governor ron desantis. the mask requirement by planes, trains and other forms of mass transed were extended by april 18th but the cdc indicated it is considering scaling back the rules. days later we're still talking about it more high profile celebrities are speaking out after millions watch will smith slap chris rock

at the oscars. it made after chris rock made a joke about jada pinkett smith's shaved head. the actress has beeng alopecia one day after the actor apologized for the now infamous incident, jada wrote on her instagram this is a season for healing and i'm here for it. >> i was sickened by the standing ovation i felt like hollywood is just spineless. you do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody in the face because they said worst. >> carrey also told king he would have sued smith for $2 million. here a pictures of my dress at the show where we are apparently

assaulting people on stage now president biden signed the emmitt till anti-lynching act after congress finally passed the bill this year with near unanimous consent. the legislation is named after till, a 14-year-old black teenager from chicago who was did napped, beaten and brutally murdered in 1955 after a white woman said he whistled at her. relatives of those killed in a sandy hook massacre have rejected a settlement offer from info war doug jones. 20 young children and six educators were shot to death in 2012 families then sued for defamation after jones claimed the mass shooting was staged jones has apologized and retracted his statements but a trial now looks likely the power of the tornados

that bore down on texas last week is in full display in new surveillance footage security cameras at jacksborough elementary school and high school capture the winds tearing through the james, hallways and football field nine people were zwrered i town of about 4,000 people all students have returned te severe weather to tell you about. nbc meteorologist bill karins has been tracking it overnight >> swnt surprise me we had maybe a million 2 million people without power. located right over the top of the dallas area, and we have a tornado watch out until 7:00 a.m. central daylight in areas from dallas all the way towards

louisiana. now, as far as the setup goes warm, humid air is coming out ahead of the storm system. we have strong winds kicking in behind the storms, and that's going to push these storms quickly through the south and help these storms to maintain their intensity and get stronger during the day today we even have a large area of moderate risk. we include 36 million people in this anywhere in the yellows is a slight risk, orange enhanced risk and red the greatest concentration of severe weather including a chance for severe weather, all of mississippi, a good chunk easily 70 to 80 mile per hour

wind gusts will be possible. we do have a cold side of this storm too today at the northern plains also watching severe weather arriving on the can he say coast tomorrow but won't be as bad as today. the popular stoc1-y hot strg do you own it? and nbc news investigates the amusement park dthea of a 14-year-old. how could it happen? next sn't just eliminate odors... simply shake and spray to unlock the breakthrough power of touch-activated scent technology. that lasts, even hours later! that's because febreze touch stores scent in your fabrics so. your whole world will come alive. welcome home to fresh with febreze touch. la, la, la, la, la i assumed dust always stayed put. turns out? it can be on the move. we were breathing that day and night!

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nbc news has obtained the operation manual for the drop tower released by the state which reads in part, be careful when seeing if large guests fit within the seats, check towithie properly the ride's weight limit per the manual is 130 kilograms or around 287 pounds. according to sampson's father the boy was 340 pounds saying sampson had already been turned away that night from two other rides because of his weight >> i'd rather for y'all to hurt his little feelings and tell him not to get on and he'd still be here >> reporter: they've not yet commented on the weight restrictions or sampson being blocked from other rides but last week the group saying it's cooperating with authorities on the investigation and heartbroken. >> safety is first for both our guests and our employees, and we -- i've never encountered

anything like this, so we are devastated >> reporter: both rides at icon park operated by slingshot are currently being examined for family members and friends memorials now obscured in black mesh as they process the shocking loss. >> the hardest thing i had to do was clean his blood up they didn't even clean -- they left it there and i had to clean it up. >> reporter: the boy's father overcome with grief. >> it's still the worst day of my life. >> reporter: sampson's family has retained high profile attorneys benjamin crump and john hilliard to represent them. >> there has to be redundancies. it has to be more than a 16-year-old minimum wage kid checking whether or not your harness works. >> we, again, go around each individual and we ensure that that harness is locked in.

and if it's not locked in the ride will not operate. >> reporter: on saturday singer dolly parten's theme park dollywood announced it would shutdown a similar ride. as for now sampson's family can only mourn as they await answers to their many questions. >> i wish i was there to tell him i love him >> our thanks to sam brock for that report. still to come, from filing taxes to filing suit, why the fcc is going after turbotax. >> and big tech, bigger gains. cnbc's steve sedgwick will tell us about the hottest stock around and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. ♪

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[ applause ] wall street is notching a fourth day in the green. the dow finished nearly 340 points higher while the nasdaq was up almost 2%

we'll have to wait and see what today brings futures are muted ahead of the open on wall street tech darling is on 11-day hot streak. here are the details with cnbc's steve sedgwick steve, good morning. >> yeah, good morning to frances. yeah, we'll talk about apple in a moment what a tear there as well. in the meantime as you say the federal trade commission, the ftc is suing the owner of turbo tax, intuit. they say they're advertising their software for free, but actually it's a bait and switch because most users are then charged when they file their tax returns. intuit themselves say the arguments from the ftc -- apple shares are now up 11 straight sessions that is the best winning streak since 2003 when they had 12

sessions in a row. in the meantime, of course, they've developed a small device called the iphone when they developed in 2007, and the market cap of this company has gone through the roof. apple is now worth nearly 3 trillion u.s. dollars. and one of the big ren for it maybe is a broader tech rally. but one thing is very interesting tim cooke according to warren buffet is a brilliant ceo. and he believes it's a great company and they own absolutely loads of apple shares, 5% plus back to you both >> to hear the entirety of that report since we couldn't see you in your entirety steve, thanks. it is almost april but there are still winter weather alerts. bill karins with everything you need to know after there bak and a teen takes an unforgettable step after being seriously hurt by a tornado. . metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap

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new this morning an american astronaut is returning to earth right now inside a russian capsule. he's left the international space station along with two russian cosmonauts they're expected to land in kazakhstan around 7:30 a.m. eastern. while handing over command a cosmonaut said people have problems on earth but in orbit they are one crew. they called the station of symbol of friendship and cooperation. and now to that big freeze we march nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with the latest i feel like march is not going out like a lamp. >> not even close. this is huge spring storm and the snow is even falling this morning from areas of west virginia all the way to the u.s. canadian border. 20 million people under winter weather advisories including pennsylvania which had those horrific snow squalls just a couple days ago.

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also try sweeper wood cloths. many families won't soon forget the deadly tornado outbreak that stretched across four states in december. now one teenager in tennessee who was badly injured in the storm is taking an inspiring step in his recovery tom llamas has his story >> reporter: as the tornd sirens wailed last december in western tennessee 14-year-old kyle coand his family ran for cover >> he made this comment, he says keep your shoes on tonight >> reporter: their home took a director hit from a twister part of the quadstate tornado

outbreak >> the house started dusting a little bit and you could see it and i was like this for real >> i dove for the hall and had not sat down when we heard it splintering. >> reporter: when the dust settled the cohen family home was gone right outside kyle was a few yards away on the ground >> and he was moaning, and i said right there, i says, oh, that boy is hurt bad >> i don't remember the pain so much i just remember it was cold and it was wet >> reporter: two weeks later kyle was transferred to the geo. louis. >> he had a fracture that involved every vertebrae in his back he had no feeling from his umbilsis, his bellybutton basically down >> reporter: kyle was essentially paralyzed. doctors told the teen his road to any type of recovery would not be easy. >> they'll make you do stuff you think is really hard, but they'll make you do it >> reporter: a journey made even

harder by the fact he had to spend the first part of it without his family mom and dad were recovering from their own injuries back in tennessee. >> the first time we saw him was here six weeks later that's how long it took for us to recover enough to travel up here >> reporter: but through it all kyle stayed strong, working hard with his doctors and nurses on his physical therapy >> we knew that this was a kid who's going to fight hard. >> reporter: and that's what kyle did for three months his life was on a treadmill working with therapists and relearning how to walk downstairs. when word kind that kyle would be discharged his friends and family chartered a bus to st. louis ready to support kyle whatever his condition they even had signs that read welcome home, and this one, go kyle so 12 weeks after a tornado destroyed his home and his body, this is kyle cohen, walking out of the hospital. step by step into a sea of hugs. kyle says it happened thank to

his team of doctors, and now he's standing tall with the community that stood by him. >> what a great story there. our thanks to tom llamas for sharing that today >> what a great lesson of literall

>> the cdc guidelines really could, rather than should, so you want to protect the most vulnerable people in society. >> right now at 4:30, boosting up. a second covid-19 booster shot now available for some. the bay area counties already rolling out the shots starting today. >> and the simple way you can help those who are battling covid. we're going break down the push the american red cross is making. >> and is the war in ukraine de-escalating? the progress being made as peace talks continue.