ukraine war, day 51. the massive russian war lip is at the bottom of the black sea this morning the russians claim it was a fire ukraine claims they hit it with missiles and today the looming russian offensive in the east. we're live in ukraine. tensions running high in michigan following the release of police video of a struggle followed by a white grand rapids officer fatally shooting a black 26-year-old after a traffic stop just a day after elon musk's proposal to buy twitter for $43

billion is he already looking at a plan "b" today across the nation you'll see the number 42 on every major league jerse commem anniversary am. and meet a baby who needed a miracle to survive and got one it's good friday and "early today" starts right now. >> good morning. i'm vuninita nair >> and i'm frances rivera. the eastern part of the country braces for even more brutal attacks. russia has now 65 operational battalion tactical groups in the east and south with more military equipment on the way. and fighting in kharkiv continues. the governor there writing on his telegram channel that there were intense artillery strikes on four separate residential areasch but russia did face a military setback confirming its warship in the black sea fleet

has sunk and, raf, what is the latest on this >> reporter: frances, this is a major strategic and symbolic blow to vladimir putin it is or it was the flagship of russia's black sea fleet now it's likely to be remembered as the largest warship since the second world war sunk by enemy fire the russian ministry of defense says it went down last night as it was being towed into port for repairs. the russians very pointedly not giving any cause for that fire which caused so much neptune anti-vessel vehicle missiles and that's whato go do. now, as you can imagine ukrainian social media is absolutely on fire this morning. but underneath the celebration there is some wariness about how vladimir putin may retaliate for this major humiliation his force

appears to have suffered out on the black sea. >> hit after hit in mariupol and devastating news out of there as the u.n. world food program chief says people are starving to death there >> reporter: yeah, the conditions in mariupol almost unimaginable a woman actually came up to us on the street here just now. she's from mariupol. she says her mother is still inside the besieged city and she hasn't heard from her in three weeks. the head of the world food program says people are starving to death inside that city, and that echoes what we've heard from unicef that say there's not enough water, that people are drinking dirty, filthy water inside the city. the mayor of mariupol says 100,000 civilians are still trapped in there, and it's not clear how much longer the city can hold out we know the defending troops are running low on ammunition, on

supplies, on everything they need it is a very brutal situation in mariupol and it's a reminder that the conflict is having impacts beyond ukraine's shores. mariupol a major port and the rest of the world struggling now to get wheat exports from ukraine and from russia. >> all across the board just devastating what's happening there and beyond raf, thank you in grand rapids, michigan, calls for justice are growing after the deadly police shooting of patrick lee >> reporter: april 4th a grand rapids police officer stops a vehicle, the reason the plates don't match the car. the incident caught on video from four different angles released by police the driver tries to flee after an exchange about a driver's license. the officer attempts to use his taser, there is a struggle, the taser shot hits the ground

moments later the officer is on top of him and fatally shoots him in the back of the head. his family, immigrants from the democratic republic of congo, teamed with civil rights attorney ben crump >> you see a police officer escalate a minor traffic stop into a deadly execution. >> reporter: the officer a 7-year veteran has not been identified he is on paid leave while state police investigate, which is standard procedure >> it was just a progression of sadness for me >> reporter: during a wednesday news conference the city's police chief was pressed about the officer's use of force >> we would expect an officer only to pull their weapon when they anticipate the need to legally use the weapon >> reporter: wednesday night protesters congregated in grand rapids demanding answers and

justice. dan shenman, nbc news. with inflation at a 40-year high president biden hit the road to promote his economic agenda he paid a visit to the nation's largest historically black university the president focused on the importance of stem education and stre strengthening innovation here in america. brie, good morning what is the president's strategy for bringing down the rising prices we're all seeing? >> reporter: i am, frances president biden is call on congress to pass a legislation that would authorize billions for technology research over a five-year period and also aims at improving equity in stem education, expanding national manufacturing and would create a new tech hub at the department of commerce. the president believes manufacturing is the key to bringing costs down. >> when we build more in america, we increase economic

capacity and ultimately it helps lower every day prices for families that's what we're starting to see. look around. american manufacturing is coming back >> reporter: according to moody's analytics the average american household is spending an extra $327 per month to covering the soaring costs from gas to groceries and the 40-year mortgage is up 5% for the first time since 2011 today the markets will be paused for good friday as we head into the easter weekend >> brie, thank you today is the first day of passover and the white house celebrated with the second seder. the event featured a message from the president and first lady as well as message and meanings and songs

pharmaceutical company pfizer says it'll ask the fda to green light covid boosters for kids 5 to 11 in the coming days. the person cites a 30-person lab study showing a third shot increases the defense against omicron. pfizer's data has not been available for independent review the agency has authorized the first covid-19 breath test it can detect the virus in less than three minutes and with a high degree of accuracy. according to "the new york times" the test is the size of a carry on luggage and a single machine can analyze about 160 samples per day. the device was tested in a study made up of more than 2,400 individuals. a man on trial in d.c. over the january 6th insurrection has been found guilty on all six counts including obstructing an official proceeding. dustin thompson of ohio had tried to blame then-president trump for his actions telling jurors, he was, quote, following

presidential orders that day the judge ordered him detained until sentencing meanwhile former trump aide stephen miller testified before the house select committee investigating the riot for more than eight hours a source tells nbc news miller was, quote, pugnacious during the investigation. a spokesman declined today comment and mr. miller did not respond for our request for comment. today marks 75 years since jackie robinson became the first black man to play in a major league baseball game for the brooklyn dodgers and the empire state building will shine blue and white lights with the number 42 rotating on display during a special lighting ceremony. plus all major league players and coaches will wear the number 42 this year all numbers will be dodger blue regardless of the team's primary colors. let's get to your good friday weather with michelle grossman >> good morning to you both. and we're looking pretty good

weather wise we're watching a few spring storms through the south we're going to unsettled today also through easter sunday it's going to sweep through the midwest bringing storms at home and also arkansas as we head through the later part of friday, and then by tomorrow areas of wet snow in new england and scattered storms for much of the southeast. so we do have a severe threat as we look towards parts of oklahoma and arkansas. that includes tulsa, and then northwest of little rock we can see damaging hail, 2 inches or greater. so that's big hail also some wind gusts and a brief tornado is possible. now, as we go throughout saturday we're going to see slight risk shifting to the east, so now just outside of shreveport into parts of mississippi and alabama. winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour and we could see some showers as we hea the

northern plain and midwest, temperatures in the 20s and 30s. 29 in minneapolis. all right, it's friday let's look ahead towards the weekend in just a bit. thank you, michelle. let go my eggo not in the toaster. it's ditching the kitchen appliance and spicing things up with their new toasterless grab and go waffles eggo released two waffles. they'll be available at most grocery stores nationwide later this month >> it's for the busy family on the go so not only do you not need the toaster, you don't need the syrup. >> you've got to have it warm, though next a royal reunion as prince harry and meghan markle visit the queen. and how elon musk's $43

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leading the news, prince harry and meghan markle visited the queen for the first time since leaving the u.k. for the u.s. back in 2020. according to the couple's spokesperson who confirmed the these to "people," the duke and duchess of sussex stopped in the u.k. to visit inqueen. the world's richest man says he wants to buy the social media giant but critics wonder whether he's actually serious and what it could mean for the future of the company. here's tom costello. >> reporter: calling twitter a de facto town square elon musk says he's trying to buy twitter in a $43 billion deal to preserve democracy and prevent censorship speaking at a ted conference >> it's really important people have both the reality and the

perception that they're able to speak freely within the bounds of the law >> reporter: after announcing last week he's taken a 9% stake in twitter the world's richest man shocked wall street and the world by making a take it or leave it offer, suggesting he could dump his own shares if the board says no. >> i could technically afford it this is not a way to make money. >> reporter: wall street is skeptical. >> the twitter take over whether it happensch. >> reporter: both twitter and tesla stock moved lower with investors concerned musk would have to sell shares to buy twitter. while twitter doesn't have the reach of a facebook or instagram run by another billionaire, mark zuckerberg, twitter has become a critical channel for sharing news and information but it's also moved to shutdown hate speech and conspiracy theories president trump was banned after the january 6th insurrection musk himself has engaged on name-calling on twitter and came

under sec sanction for making financial statements about tesla. >> i'm tweeting more a stream of consciousness, you know. but he also has 82 million followers and uses twitter to unveil new ideas and innovation. full ownership would only increase his influence >> i think he really does love it at the same time it's a very dicy financial proposition for him even as the richest man in the world. >> reporter: twitter says its board will carefully review musk's offer to determine what's in the best interest of the company and shareholders elon musk tweeted out a survey suggesting the decision should be up to shareholders not the board. he's asking his followers to weigh in on the deal back to you. >> okay, tom, thank you. still to come tennessee authorities hop to it. the search for a missing wallby at a popular zoo and aftenely ar ar year off the air you can catch back up with the kardashians starting at 20% off. and get 25% off outdoor decor! plus, take an extra 15% off.

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>> who are you texting kim does his name rhyme with beat? >> a new season of the kardashians premiered on hulu thursday and expected to take fans behind the scenes and headlines of the tight-knit family it includes ten episodes and will stream weekly on the hulu platform. everyone often has a critical view of them and their success, but this apparently has more access to who they are as people >> after letting that go however that worked out and now they're on hulu for everybody in the world to watch michelle grossman has you're easter weather forecast. and a jomar milestone for wind power blowing over some of its biggest competition. ♪ anyway you want it baby ♪ ♪ up ♪ ♪ down ♪ ♪ up ♪

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nuclear on march 29th. according to the u.s. energy information administration wind made up 19% of u.s. energy that day only surpassed by natural gas with 31% coming up on "today" tom costello shows us the future of electric raveiation as part of today's climate series >> that looks cool let's check back with nbc meteorologist michelle grossman on your easter weekend weather how does it look in. >> it's looking pretty good. some spots are going to be wet, some snow, some are cold overall we're not looking at severe weather let's look towards saturday because we're looking at some unsettled weather in the south to the northwest we're looking at some higher elevation snow, some valley rain and then as we head towards easter sunday going to be a cold one in the northern plains and midwest as well and in the south unsettled. we could see some storms from texas to the gulf coast states and that cold air going to expand to the east and next week looking at temperatures in the 50s in the northeast. >> thank you, michelle still ahead florida joins a

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♪♪ ♪ off to save the world, are we >> heading into this weekend's box office numbers "fantastic beasts the secrets of dumbledor" premiers today "father stu"debuted on wednesday. it's expected to bring in $7 billion within the first five day of its release in today's stop stories

governor of florida has signed a abortion ban into law. it goes into effect july 1st florida is the latest republican led state to enact restrictive abortion measures. earlier this week oklahoma passed a near total ban on abortion and kentucky ended all abortions in the state the legislature overrode a governor's veto passing a lieu abortion legislation that makes it the first state in decades without having legal access to abortion it all comes as the supreme court hears a case that could overturn wade. tinsly lewis has been hospitalized since her birth in 2019 she was diagnosed with a rare heart condition known as epstein's anomaly. for three years her mother fought to keep doctors from

removing her from life sustaining treatment doctors argued she would never recover and should be removed from life support. the 3-year-old now has a ventilator and 24-hour nursing care it's april 15th which typically means procrastinators will be racing to file their taxes by the end of the day. because tomorrow is emancipation day federal employees have the day off and that means the deadline was pushed back to monday when they did a head count at anmal hospital one wallaby was missing. the zoo says wallabies are gentle but fairly skittish hopefully they find it stop the presses we've got our song of the summer ♪ oh, i've been too down and under pressure oh, i'm not the

girl i used to be ♪ >> that is the new one from lizzo out just in time for her to perform it on "saturday night live" tomorrow she's pulling double duty as >>st and guest

we love the school. i mean, why take it away from us? >> right now at 4:30, the controversial school vote that is forcing hundreds of parents to find a new school for their kids this fall. >> plus, russia's flagship in the back sea is sunk. the reason leaders say ukraine's recent military attack will set russia back. >> and feline frenzy causing havoc at the coliseum. the plans to stop them from spreading. this is "today in the bay."

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