feared dead in the city of mariupol with planning their next assault as we enter our 40th day of the r. an inflation report predicted to send shivers through the wallets of every american fit to stand trial after multiple delays in a mental health facility lori valo will face charges in the killing of her children

and morgan radford on the inspiring legacy lift behind by a famed 20th century architect that's touching future generations. "early today" starts right now glad you're with us. i'm frances rivera >> andi'm vinita nair. as russia's onslaught into ukraine continues into day 48 the usga is seeing new evidence that the kremlin is beefing up troops in the donbas region of eastern ukraine this as president zelenskyy renews pleas for more firepower from the west our gabe gutierrez has more from ukraine. >> reporter: this body camera video shows a fire fight in the besieged south eastern city of mariupol where ukraine's president zelenskyy now says it's likely tens of thousands of people are dead though that number cannot be verified. after its defeat around kyiv russia is now shifting its assault east u.s. officials say they've seen efforts by the russian military to resupply and reinforce their troops in the eastern donbas

region, the country's largest city in the east, kharkiv, is seeing more deadly air strike as satellite image said show an ominous 8-mile long russian convoy on the move near kharkiv, president zelenskyy over the weekend hosted british prime minister boris johnson who strolled through kyiv while zelenskyy told cbs that president biden and the u.s. are still not providing ukraine with enough weapons to win. >> translator: whether we will be able to survive depends on this, but unfortunately i don't have the confidence we'll be receiving everything we need >> reporter: in the suburbs of kyiv after russian forces retreated a picture of destruction is emerging. the death toll is rising now topping 400. here in bucha a painstaking recovery is under way. forensic investigators are still exhuming the bodies from this mass grave and war crime his

good friend buried here and als this is genocide, he says. among those rounded up by russian troops is an advisor to the city council here. he says his hands were tied behind his back and he was held at gunpoint. you were held right here he was told if he tried to escape russian snipers would shoot him. he did it anyway when he thought the troops weren't looking during the harrowing russian occupation he says he personally knows at least ten people who were killed. it's very difficult to understand how these things could be happening in the 21st century, he says how can you shoot a man who's trying to escape with his family in bucha there are many such questions but few answers. >> our thanks to gabe gutierrez for that report. >> russia's assault on ukraine's port city of mariupol made even more brutal than once thought.

the pentagon says it's closely monitoring a report of possible chemks weapon use there. the allegations come from the ultranationalist party of the ukrainian national guard raf, what more are you learning about this >> reporter: yeah, frances the battalion is leading the defense of mariupol, and last night this far right group said several of its troops had been exposed to what it called chemical weapons dropped by a russian drone. now, we should be clear nbc news has not independently verified that claim, and in just the last couple of minutes the ukrainian deputy defense minister saying at a press conference that they, too, are unable to verify that but that initial information indicates that these soldiers may have been exposed to phosphorus now, phosphorus is a very, very nasty weapon it drops burning white substance over a large area, but it's not

traditionally what we think of as a chemical weapon when we talk about chemical weapon we're usually referring to things like sarin gas which the assad regime in syria used several times against civilians. if the russians had indeed used chemical weapons that would be a callus esh clagz in this war and that moskow must pay the price for that, but that is an easy thing to say, a difficult thing to do. you may remember president obama warning the syrian regime the use of chemical weapons would be a red line that would trigger american military intervention the assad regime went ahead and used those chemical weapons and the u.s. did not in the end intervene militarily president biden, secretary of state blinken were in the obama administration at the time that president obama drew that red line, and they will be very wary of drawing lines that they do not plan to enforce.

the pentagon says it is closely monitoring the situation and will keep an eye tlaut the day they're seeing more evidence of new russian troops, armorter tillry all headed to the east of ukraine where new fighting is expected >> every day there are new horrors revealed with the war. soaring prices on everything we buy putting a strain across the country. in just a few hours the march consumer inflation report will be released and it is expected to be the highest yet. nbc's brie jackson jones us live from d.c brie, when you look at the headlines people are saying extraordinarily elevated, words like nasty are in all these headlines. what can we expect >> reporter: good morning, vinita well, americans are paying way more for the price of food and

gas these days and today the biden administration will find out just how much more white house press secretary jen psaki pointed the finger at russia >> we expect march cpi headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to prosecutin's pre hike >> reporter: february's inflation rate was nearly 8%, the highest since 1982 but these numbers fail to include the surge in oil and gas prices gas hit a record high of $4.31 per gallon last month. according to aaa the average is now $4.11. the biden administration has taken steps to alleviate this by releasing about 1 million barrels from the petroleum reserve. today president biden will head to des moines, iowa and share his economic agenda including the plan to lower cost for

families covid is on the move for the united states. some pockets of the country are seeing a surge here when it comes to those numbers, and it is tough with some now areas having new restrictions. well, some pockets of those countries now fueled by omicron's highly contagious subvariant, ba.2, and this is what's happening new infections up less than 6% and case saids are on the rise more than the country. but cases in the northeast are seeing the most significant spread after more than 50% climb in new covid cases in ten days, health inspectors will begin enforcing the mask mandate in city businesses on april 18th after nearly a year in an idaho mental health facility lori vallow is declared fit to

stand trial. vallow was initially declared mentally unfit and the murder case was postponed people close to her had expressed concern about her mental state and the children's well-being after she began espousing apocalyptic beliefs. jurors found him guilty of all six counts his case is the second to go to trial. among the prosecution's witness is a fellow officer who entered the capitol alongside robertson. sentencing has not been scheduled yet. a rare and historic event in oregon, measurable snow fell in portland for the first time in april since those records were first kept 1 to 3 inches fell cross the city meanwhile the south was pounded by ice, hail as large as golf balls reported in arkansas multiple tornados in arkansas,

there are signs of damage but thankfully no reports of anyone hurt let's get to meteorologist michelle grossman. what extremes we're seeing this type of year >> feels like every season is on the map today. looking at spring severe weather, wintery weather, looking at fire danger as well let's take a look what happened yesterday and what we expect today. we had six tornado reports we had 35 hail reports and again, we saw large hail also saw the damaging winds. now, radar showing us we're active once again this morning if we zoom in closer here we do have a severe thunderstorm watch. that's in yellow and that includes memphis and we have a severe thunderstorm warning in orange also a downpour where you see darking colors, oranges, reds and seeing some lightening as well

severe threat today 45 million people at risk again, we could see hail over 2 inches, a few small tornados and also winds gusting over 60 miles per hour the likeliess. temperatures in the 90s. 93 degrees we'll talk about winter warnings coming up. >> pick a season, any season seems like no one can resist the taste of cheetos, not even this country this one got stuck in a car while on the hunt for chips. well, after licking that bag

clean it wrecked the car trying to escape tearing through the dashboard and passenger door and kicking the car into neutral causing it to roll across the street police released it safely with a belly full of those cheetos. up next an nfl great teams up with florida's governor to a wllathers >>nde' show you when officers pull over a car only to find out there's no driver what goes on it... usually. ♪♪ in it... mostly. even what gets near your body. please please please take that outside. here to meet those high standards is the walgreens health and wellness brand. over 2000 products. rigorously tested. walgreens pharmacist recommended... and particularly kind to your wallet. ♪♪ (dramatic music) ♪ ♪

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drove ahead to pull over in a safe spot. i don't know, though >> tech, though, is so impressive to see, isn't it? >> it's still kind of scary. i don't know if i trust it florida governor desantis aimed to sign a bill what he calls a father hood crisis it will provide more than $70 million to support fathers and equip them with resources, case managers, jobs, transition from prison assistance and more according to the tampa bay times some of the funding will support non-profit organizations like all-pro dad. the nation's largest utility company has agreed to pay $55 million to wildfire victims. they said gas and electric did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement. the settlements are designed to accelerate payments to hundreds of people whose homes were

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in today's news by the numbers sony and lego are investing $1 billion each into epic games, the creatores of fortnite it'll accelerate their company's work on building the meta verse for players. krispe creme is looking to the pump for the price of doughnuts. a dozen original glazed will be priced on wednesday matching the national average for a gallon of gas. churchill downs unveil an

expensive julep. gold cup for $25,000 and silver with proceeds going to the farm charity. investors and everyone bracing for what's being touted an extraordinary inflation report expected to deliver bad news good morning, geoff. i know we're kind of dreading hearing this but we have to. >> his is not good news. and you porartially quote theret white house, frances, who came out and said they're expecting an extraordinarily elevated number in this inflation report. the economists have pencilled in 8.4%, which is extremely painful for anybody that's having to pay a mortgage right now, who's having to meet fuel costs. we know that gasoline is up over

$4 a gallon right now. so what does it mean for markets? well, they are on edgewoied thal reserve will have to match these inflation numbers with higher moves on official interest rates. markets on edge because it also means companies may make less profits going forward, but of course for consumers it means we've all got to tighten our belts because wage hikes are running way behind the official inflation numbers. hopefully, though, many economists say it'll be transitory still and maybe it'll wash out in food and fuel prices later on in the year back to you. >> all right, we're going to brace ourselves for what we're going to hear. will winter weather be here forever? your forecast next >>pl> us another one deejay khalid shining the light on everybody in hollywood. ady t? -i'm in. ready to earn that “world's greatest dad” mug? -i'm in.

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♪ ♪ i think i did it again i made you believe we're more than just friends ♪ so maybe this wasn't an oops, she did it again congratulations are in order for britney spears who's expecting her third child and first with her partner. spears took to social media sharing she realized her stomach was noticeably growing while on vacation in maui and joked she was just food pregnant, it turns out months after she was release from that conservatorship that restricted her from having another child, she's pregnant again. the south, we're looking at severe weather once again today and also tomorrow we could see hail over 2 inches and also looking at winter weather. it's april and could see a blizzard in the northern plains and snow measured in feet, 1 to 2 feet in some spots there's a look at your winter

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retailer and club. music producer dj khaled celebrates, other names in music also attended to show their support. the visionary who designed homes for hollywood's biggest stars is now inspiring the next generation building the future here's morgan radford.

>> reporter: his work is instantly recognizable this is his handwriting on the side of the beverly hills hotel. but for many his name is still unknown. paul r. williams, california's first accredited black architect. >> he's one of the greatest architects that america has produced >> reporter: born in los angeles in 1894 williams became the most influential black architect of the 20th century designing the homes of america's biggest celebrities from frank sinatra to lusill ball, often in neighborhoods where he wasn't able to own property him such today just 2% of architects are black. why do you think that is >> we need to prioritize diversity, who can be in the room to make those power judgments about what gets built, where it gets built. we need to be at that table. >> reporter: which is why the

university of south california has launched a new program for high schoolers how many of you by show of hands have ever met a black architect? nobody >> no. >> reporter: where they spent three hours a day completing their own design projects. >> and you make buildings on lots and stuff which i never thought was possible >> reporter: you're actually designing them yourselves? >> yes >> reporter: how does it feel to know there are people that look like you designing the buildings every day? >> that it can be me one day designing a school building or an office building >> reporter: a legacy generations in the making. morgan radford, nbc news, los angeles. >> thank you for kicking off our tuesday with "early today. i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm frances rivera. before we go, though, we want to say good-bye and send good lucks to our director. he's the one that makes the magic happening early morning

bringing "early today" to all of you at home. we're going to miss him dearly peter, enjoy sleeping in, enjoy your music and enjoy everything that colorado has to offer, you know, writing, skiing off, retiring

for answers. the investigation under way into the massive fire that destroyed a home depot in the south bay. we asked a retired fire chief what comes next. >> a rise in covid cases forces major u.s. cities to bring back one expert weighing in this morning. this is "today in the bay.">> ad