this morning, evidence of the russian atrocities continue to mount as a new general nicknamed "the butcher" takes charge as we enter day 47 of the war. they are nontraceable, they require no background checks, they are made from perfectly legal preacknowledged kits but ghost guns are a public menace and president biden says he'll do something about them. the world's richest man turns down a seat on twitter's board. what is elon musk plan ing tiger woods did something

many thought unheard of, plus scott scheffler takes his first green jacket in style. lchris rock revealed what i will take for him to talk about the will smith oscar slap. "early today" begins right now i'm vinita nair. >> good to be with you, i'm frances rivera. we begin as russian forces show signs of ramping up attacks on eastern ukraine and reports of the kremlin appointing a new general to take over operations in ukraine he is known specifically for his cruelty to civilians we turn to raf sanchez who join us from lviv raf, this general has been called the butcher of syria. >> reporter: frances, that's right. alexander dvornikov earns that nickname for his brutal tactics in syria he and his forces effectively leveled the city of aleppo, killing thousands of civilians as they carried out putin's orders to prop up syrian dictator bashar al assad

now taking command in ukraine as the war turns decisively to the east a dangerous new phase of of putin's invasion under way these satellite images show an eight-mile column of russian tanks and artillery amassing near kharkiv in mariupol, invading troops closing in on a city in ruins after weeks of bombardment led by a newly appointed general with a reputation for brutal tactics. but ukraine's forces, flush with victories of recent weeks, now digging in and ready to resist "there will be a lot of troops here, there will be a fight. >> ukraine won the battle for kyiv now another battle is coming the battle for donbas. the timeline is crucial. every day matters, and things must be supplied on a daily basis to strengthen our defense capabilities

>> reporter: even after the attack at kramatorsk station where at least 57 were killed, including children, ukrainians still rushing to flee by train more than 10 million have already been forced from their homes, many arriving here in the relative safety of lviv. the trains have been an absolute lifeline for the ukrainian people throughout the war, ferrying them to safety even as the bombs fell now there's real fear of fresh russian attacks on railway lines. >> they don't have souls, i think. they don't think that we are people >> reporter: after british prime minister boris johnson's surprise visit to kyiv - >> it's very, very, very good to see you. >> reporter: the white house saying president biden has no current plans to visit the capital. in the suburbs of kyiv, every day yields new horrors and potential evidence of war crimes "i have no more tears," says a

woman who lost her nephew. "my heart is cramped, i don't sleep anymore. losses too terrible to bear. british intelligence says the russians are getting increasingly desperate for manpower after their losses on the battlefield. they're calling up recently retired soldiers and trying to get recruits from the tiny european nation of moldova >> raf, thank you. president biden is taking aim at gun violence today amid a nationwide rise in shootings he is expected to unveil new policy measures this afternoon focused on tightening gun control. nbc's brie jackson is in d.c. with the details feels like we all know a lot more about ghost guns now. what action can the president take >> reporter: president biden will likely have to rely on executive orders as part of today's announcement several gun control bills passed by the house have already hit a wall on republican resistance in

the senate according to two people familiar with the remarks, the president will pay special attention to ghost guns the weapons can be 3d printed at home, acquired for cheap, and bypass metal detectors they also lack serial numbers which would allow law enforcement to track them and enforce background checks. senate majority leader chuck schumer called on the administration yesterday to take action >> you can be a 5-year-old and buy the pieces of a gun and put it together. that is too much this whole kit costs $89 that's it. i am calling on the administration to go all after ghost guns by putting out regulations that will stop them. >> reporter: gun control advocates have grown increasingly frustrated with the administration's inaction. more americans died from gunfire in 2020 than any time in record.

the president is also expected to announce a replacement nominee to lead the atf. the white house withdrew its last nominee back in september, 25-year atf veteran david chipman faced unanimous opposition from republicans who said they wanted to protect second amendment rights. so far, no word on who the president plans to tap as his next replacement the return of a 137-year-old d.c. tradition has led to a covid outbreak among prominent political figures. at least 72 people, including members of congress, the biden administration, and reporters have tested positive for covid after attending the gridiron dinner in d.c. last week nbc's kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: abruptly canceling all his public events, new york city mayor eric adams announced he is covid positive add his name to a list of prominent political figures hit

by the virus in the past week. the speaker of the house, the attorney general, secretaries of agriculture and commerce also members of congress, along with new york city's mayor and the white house press office they all attended the gridiron dinner washington about eight days ago along with hundreds of others the tradition, paused for two years, a formal event that for generations brought together bipartisan power players in white tie and tails. at least 72 dinner guests, more than 11%, said they later tested positive though a direct link cannot be determined president biden did not attend the event, but his sister valerie did, and she too has covid. the white house noticeably changed how it talks about the president's own risk. >> there may come a time where the president tests positive for covid. >> reporter: saturday mr. biden, who is double boosted, was again wearing a mask >> it's important for him to be

able to continue his presidential duties. now and even if he tests positive in the future >> reporter: covid, led by this b.a.2 subvariant, is springing forward in 24 states and our nation's capital hospitalizations are up in nine states and covid deaths have climbed in eight. >> we're watching it very, very carefully. and there is concern that it's going up, but hopefully we're not going to see increased severity >> reporter: one of the concerns is this new variant can spread more quickly experts say it's 1.5 times more transmissible than the previous variant. and here in washington, d.c., health experts have tracked test results of covid-positive cases and say more than 60% of those they've studied show they are the b.a.2 subvariant. >> kelly, thank you. new this morning, could former president trump face charges for the capitol riot a top member of the house panel investigating the january 6th

insurrection says there is enough evidence to refer mr. trump for criminal charges >> it's absolutely clear tha what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful, they did it anyway there's not really a dispute on the committee. >> while the committee says it has enough to make a criminal referral, according to the "new york times," leaders are divided over whether to do so. mr. trump has not been charged with a crime and denies wrongdoing. former president trump is endorsing dr. mehmet oz in next month's senate republican primary in pennsylvania. in a statement the physician and tv personality said he was proud of securing the coveted endorsement and went on to say that as senator, he would, quote, be a powerful pro-life voice in the senate and protect our children from harmful woke indoctrination. there is more extreme weather ahead as we kick off a new week nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is with us today.

good morning to you, michelle. i was really hoping that this was behind us. >> i know. i know, it's week after week the fourth week. the potential for more severe weather. even strong storms moving through at this early hour we're talking about today, tomorrow, and also wednesday taking a look at radar, storms moving through oklahoma, also missouri we do have a severe thunderstorm watch. that is where you see the yellow and a severe thunderstorm warning in the orange. that's what we're going to be watching throughout the day. so this is from the severe prediction center. the risk for severe storms into tonight where you see the orange, that is where severe weather is likely. severe weather is possible in the yellow that includes waco, dallas, memphis. 13 million at risk we could see large hail, over 2 an inches tomorrow that risk expands from texas to iowa. now 30 million at risk tomorrow. weil wl in the northern tier

of the nation. look at these temperatures, feeling like summer in parts of texas. san antonio near 90 degrees. some of us feeling like summer in the 90s, some of us blizzard-like conditions by tomorrow >> all over the place, all right, thank you. could the kings of staten island's new ferryboat end up anywhere but s pete davidson and colin jost hope to turn "the john f. kennedy" into an entertainment space. negotiations have begun but it could be anyone's game. we'll take you to the masters where two notable

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augusta, a new masters champion >> scheffler outshines them all at augusta. >> scotty shelfly shot a 1 under 71 in his final round, but it was enough to take home the green jacket scheffler withstood the late surge by rory mcilroy to win the masters. it's the first major tournament victory for the 25-year-old. tiger woods completed his return to the sport with four full rounds of golf at augusta. woods finished 47th in the tournament, but he told sky sports that he plans to play in july's open championship and that he will try for next month's pga championship as well there's no stopping this tiger. >> the crowds couldn't get

enough, standing ovations. even though he played terrible golf, they're so happy to see him. still to come on this busy monday morning, chris rock strikes back why the comedian isn't talking about the slap heard round the world. the early 2000s officially back in style. jennifer lopez and ben affleck are engaged again. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®... ...most people saw 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. the majority of people saw 90% clearer skin even at 5 years. tremfya® is the first medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. and, it's six doses a year, after two starter doses. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®. ask your doctor about

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coming up on "today," spring breakers beware. a dangerous sea creature that is taking over beaches. >> wow, what is that intriguing. this morning, an exciting announcement from nbc news we are sharing the recipients of second annual "original voices jirkss fellowship, a program for documentary filmmakers that celebrates diverse stories and storytellers often from underrepresented communities six documentary projects have been selected for the prom by an all-star group of jurors

including renowned documentarians julie cohen, yense ford, and bing logical u the program gives a financial grant of $60,000 as well as access to nbc news resources and training nbc news correspondent isa gutierrez is taking a closer look at some of this year's projects. >> what this fellowship means is the sense of affirmation, that the work and the story that we're telling is important >> reporter: he's the filmmaker behind the documentary "unseen." it follows a blind, undocumented immigrant who dreams of becoming a social worker. it's one of the six documentary projects selected for nbc's second annual "original voices fellowship," a collaboration between nbcu academy and nbc news studios that supports and celebrates diverse stories and storytellers an opportunity that eric calls a lifeline. >> these opportunities have been falling away over the last couple of years. the day that i found out that i got this fellowship was an incredible day

it meant that, wow, there's actually a light at the end of the tunnel now. >> reporter: he's one of the creatives behind "the queer beat," a story about lgbtq journalism. >> when lgbtq storytellers tell our own stories, there's a huge benefit. it actually helps to ensure that our humanity is captured >> reporter: the selected projects cover a range of topics from battles over labor to a young activist forced to grapple with the fallout after a death row inmate he supported takes a plea deal. the fellowship is also a way for creators to take hold of their own narrative. like stephanie wong breal, whose documentary "florence from ohio" tells the story of her immigrant mother's experience as a local tv personality in middle america. >> it's really important for filmmakers like myself who get to sort of reclaim territory of telling our own stories. >> reporter: journalist and director rebecca lansbury baker is excited to share a story she says is often overlooked, the

battle for a free press in her own muskogee nation tribe. >> i really am excited to show people the rich diversity that we have within indian country. >> reporter: for rebecca, a first-time filmmaker, she hopes her story opens the door for other diverse creators too. >> maybe there are people that don't even know they're storytellers yet, but they have really valuable stories they can bring. if i can inspire that, i'm doing more than i planned with this film >> that's going to be exciting to see these films tom kogt. two of the films from last year's inaugural class went on to premiere at sundance. it really helps these filmmakers on their journey to learn more about the relationship head to nbcnewsstudios.com if you're looking to further your journalistic training at home, access classes at nbcuacademy.com. coming up this monday morning, michelle grossman is atr. with a look at your

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la la la la la. . we're looking at a really active weather week again. it looks like we have every season on this map today we have severe weather through the southern plains into the middle mississippi valley. also record warmth in texas. temperatures into the 90s. and a powerful winter storm moving onshore in the pacific northwest. we could see up to 2 feet of snow in the high elevations of the cascades strong storms stretching from texas all the way to iowa. looking at blizzard-like conditions in the northern tier of the country the good news is we clear out by friday, looking much quieter muggy in the state of florida. we're looking at snow showers continuing into the northern plains and this is a look at the winter alerts winter weather alerts, warnings, advisories where we could see 1 to 2 feet of snow. still ahead, after two

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lawmakers in maryland are expanding abortion access in the state, overriding a veto by governor larry hogan starting july 1st, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physicians assistants may perform abortions. currently only medical doctors are legally allowed to do it the new law also requires most insurance companies to fully cover the procedure and sets aside $3.5 million a year for an abortion care training program. a texas woman may no longer be facing charges after what authorities call a self-induced abortion texas district attorney says she

will file a motion to dismiss the indictment against 26-year-old herera, who had been charged with murder. in a statement the d.a. says, quote, it is clear that miss herera cannot be and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her. herera's lawyer declined to comment. twitter ceo revealed elon musk has turned down a seat on the company's board. the tesla ceo said he would join after a stock purchase of about 9% of the social media company twitter says they will remain open to elon's input as he is still the biggest shareholder. shortly after the news broke overnight, musk tweeted this emoji of a face with a hand over the mouth. tourists and locals hanging out in times square in new york city were sent into a panic on sunday after a manhole exploded. the incident happened just before 7:00 p.m. in a statement con edison said the explosion was due to a cable failure and smoke was also coming from two other manholes the company said there were no customer outages and no reports

of injuries or any property damage. chris rock is still pretty tight-lipped about the infamous will smith slap at the oscars two weeks ago. at the beginning of a stand-up comedy show friday, the comedian told the audience, quote, i'm not talking about that until i get paid saying now he's got his hearing back after being slapped that's according to "the desert sun" newspaper it is unclear if rock was joking about potential financial gain from the incident. also joking about his hearing. in case you missed it, the bennifer comeback is stronger than ever. jennifer lopez and ben affleck are engaged for the second time in nearly 20 years j. lo reportedly told "people" magazine that they are stronger and smarter this time around this marks the sixth engagement for jenny from the block, including that first one with ben. >> smarter and stronger this time, that means stakes are higher, they've got to go through with it. today is the "paw-fect" day to give pet in your life tlc,

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