your fight is a fight for everyone and so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done >> from the u.s. capitol all the way to kyiv, house speaker nancy pelosi leads the highest profile delegation yet to ukraine, meeting with president volodymyr zelenskyy while evacuations begin in the war-torn city of mariupol severe weather sweeps the south, tragically claiming the lives of three meteorology students and ripping apart neighborhoods in oklahoma and kansas we'll track where the storms are

heading next and a new tool in the fight kw against the pandemic when omicron boosters could arrive as cases rise across the country. hitting below the belt in the beltway. trevor noah and president biden bring the laughs and start your week on a high note. the saxophone player bringing a rhode island community together through music. it's monday, may 2nd "early today" starts right now and good morning i'm steven romo. >> glad you're with us i'm frances rivera the first lady is preparing to visit overseas with some of ukraine's most vulnerable. just announced this morning, dr. jill biden will leave the white house for a five-day trip to romania and slovakia, meeting the refugees and humanitarian aid workers. this comes as house speaker nancy pelosi led a congressional delegation to kyiv, where they met with president zelenskyy, telling the ukrainian leader that the united states is committed to supporting his fight for freedom to >> we are visiting you to say

thank you for your fight for freedom. and that your fight is a fight for everyone and so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done >> house speaker pelosi is now in warsaw, where the lawmakers will meet with poland's president. pelosi says the meet willing be on strengthening partnerships and showing gratitude for poland's humanitarian efforts. matt bradley joins us live from eastern ukraine. matt said they also brought the first reports of evacuations from the steel plant in mariupol which has been quite a battleground what can you tell us about those efforts? >> yeah, what we're seeing right now, actually, we're in the city of zaporizhzhia. and that's a couple of hours' drive from mariupol, that besieged city to the south and east of where i am right now no we're waiting for some people who have been evacuated from the azov steel plant right now we haven't really seen

anybody yet. what you see behind me are large numbers of members of the international press corps. they're all waiting with us. and there are aid agencies, we're seeing tents for unicef, doctors without borders, international red cross, red crescent these are the people who have coordinated the effort to evacuate people from the steel plant. there have been a couple to arrive from some of the villages around -- villages and towns around mariupol. and we spoke with them they said it couldn't have been easier essentially, what happened was they took advantage of the silencing of the guns that were all around the region, and decided to flee on their own accord they said they had been holed up in their homes, waiting for the opportunity, waiting for silence and peace. and when they heard it, they just got in their cars and left. now they did describe very tense drives up here but of course they were doing it on their own not part of a coordinated effort by the united nations or the

icrc they did say when they reached checkpoints, they had to bribe some of the soldiers, either with a little less than $20 or hard liquor they would give to some of the russian soldiers to allow them to leave. and they finally made it here. there is nothing war ravaged or dangerous about the place i am now. this is just a parking lot for a big box megastore, the kind you'd see outside of any major city in the united states. this has been turned into a receiving center for evacuees from mariupol. and we're expecting today to see some of those people coming out of that steel plant. and that's why there is so much attention focused right here guys >> doing whatever they can do get out. matt bradley, thank you so much for that report. let's get more now on russia's efforts to advance in the east our richard lui is tracking the front lines. richard, good morning. >> good morning, frances it has been just over one month since russian commanders

announced that they were going to focus and try to take donbas and move away from the north that was their new top strategic. here is the new positioning in terms of what it looked like a month ago when they announced that on april 2nd. notice the groups here in the north. notice the groupings in the northeast. i'll freeze the boxes and you can see gone there, a little bit more red here. i'll go back again see this in the north? gone today so how have they been doing as they've been shifting to the east and the south i want to enumerate for you the number of troops on the russian side that have been moved south. 92 battalions. each one of these icons equals ten troops that if you do the math here is about 92,000 troops. each battalion has about 7,000 to 100000 troops how are they doing i want to zoom in on the donbas

now and show you what they're attempting to do at with the 92,000 they've now encircled on three sides crosswalk troops here. what they've been trying to do, though, is try to close this fourth side and box them in. they have been unable to do that even with the concentrated russian manpower that is there right now. slow progress. one explanation is that the russian units have been poorly plagued by supply issue, trying to get inconsistent air support to support the troops on the front lines. in addition to that, the troops are removed from the north they never had a time to recover. they went straight back to the front lines. frances? >> all right thank you for the better understanding of what's happening, richard u.s. marshals are offering $10,000 for an escaped inmate and a corrections officer who went southern missing alongside him. authorities are working with the fbi, atf, secret service and u.s. service marshalls to find accused killer casey white and

missing corrections officer vicky white. the pair are not related officer white was allegedly taking the inmate for a mental health evaluation, an appointment the sheriff says never actually existed investigators found her patrol car at a shopping center the inmate was serving time for a violent crime spree. the corrections officer has been with the department for 17 years. firefighters in new mexico continue to battle the hermit's peak and calf canyon fire which exploded in size over the weekend. the two fires merged scorching almost 4,000 acres east of san jose more residents for forced to evacuate 6,000 people. the fire is about 30% contained. residents from wichita to andover are picking up what's left of their homes this morning. that's after an ef-3 tornado barreled through on friday nearly a thousand buildings were damaged. morgan chesky's on the round with the latest.

>> kansas, one mangled mile after another following a friday nightmare. >> oh, my gosh. >> an ef-3 tornado 1630 miles per hour this drone video capturing a wear glimpse of the twister. and while you can't hear it, the images stunning. you can see the debris has the sky sucks forward. seconds before the twister starts tearing through homes. >> we were not prepared when we came outside to see all of this. it's pretty shocking >> reporter: eric and melanie barney showed the closet where the entire family hid as the tornado closed in. >> we could hear the glass shattering out there i had no idea what was happening. >> reporter: officials credit early warnings with zero tornado deaths but the storm didn't leave without tragedy. >> it was gavin's 12th tornado. >> reporter: their son gavin, a top meteorology student at the university of oklahoma called to

say he was storm chasing friday with two friends, nicholas they're. >> we love that gavin was spreading his wings. it's just this is the worst nightmare, for us and two others. >> reporter: the group safely witnessed the kansas tornado and was driving back to kansas when their car hydro plaend, putting it in the path of a semitruck. >> they were all watching each other's trackers just to make sure that everyone was making it back to norman and they noticed that all three of their beacons had stopped moving >> authorities say gavin, nicholas and blake died at the scene. their lives honored by the national weather service, who launched a special weather balloon to pay tribute the university mourning throw of their own, friends facing a dream of their own morgan chesky, nbc newscast. >> let's turn to michelle grossman tracking the severe

weather. what else are you seeing >> good morning. we are tracking storms at this moment in the southern plains. we're going see the severe weather threat not only today, tuesday, wednesday, possibly thursday we're looking at the threat from the central and southern plains. that means we could see large hail and strong tornadoes as well 8 million at risk as we head throughout the rest of the afternoon into the evening hours. 2-inch hail is possible and strong tornadoes we're watching for sure as we go through tuesday afternoon, throughout shifts to the east and also to the north 6 million at risk. the biggest risk on tuesday looks to be winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour and damaging hail of an inch. and we're looking at a slight risk from kentucky all the way to parts of indiana and ohio here is that area of low pressure it's going to move off to the east it's going to brin

southeast. we're looking at temperatures in the 90s. all right, guy, we'll talk about the week ahead that includes more severe weather and also the threat for some fire danger we'll look at that straight ahead. >> michelle, thank you time for today's quick hits. the stars will be on the red carpet dressed for the nines for tonight's met gala the dress code is gilded glamour and white tie. it is the first met gala held in may since the start of the pandemic. a home run price for a piece of baseball history. the bat jackie robinson used at the 1949 all-star game sold for just over a million dollars at auction. it includes a letter of authenticity from robinson's wife rachel. krispy kreme is partnering krispy kreme is partnering for a trio o

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the u.s. is seeing a rise in covid cases across most of the country. according to "the new york times," new infections and hospitalizations are rising in a majority of all states >> according to the paper, cases are increasing in all but three states and more than 30 states and territories have seen their covid hospitalization rates tick up in the past two weeks this data comes as moderna's chief medical officer announced on cbs' face the nation that the company will have large amounts of the new covid booster it's designed to protect against omicron and other covid-19 variants this fall meanwhile, in florida, a new report by the florida hospital association estimates 70% of hospitals there are facing a critical staffing shortage, and the state will be short 60,000 nurses by 2035, signaling that florida is not at all prepared for the next wave. the white house correspondents dinner returned to washington this weekend for the first time in two years. unlike former president trump

who boycotted the event during his term, president biden was in attendance and tried his hand at comedy himself josh all right man reports >> reporter: for a few hours, it was like covid didn't exist. more than 2,500 people, including president biden, packed into a hotel ballroom there were very few masks, no social distancing but plenty of pandemic punch lines from comedian trevor noah. >> fauci thought it was too dangerous to come tonight. pete davidson thinks it's okay, and we all went with pete. okay >> reporter: mr. biden pointing out it's the first time a president attended the correspondence dinner in six years. >> it's understandable we had a horrible plague, followed by two years of covid >> you guys spent the last two years telling everyone the importance of wearing masks and avoiding large indoor gatherings then the second someone offers you a free dinner, you all turn into joe rogan. huh?

>> reporter: president biden poked fun at his own dismal poll numbers, now in the low 40s. >> i'm excited to be here tonight with the only group of americans with a lower approval rating than i have >> reporter: noah taking on the president over inflation ever since you have come into office, things are really looking up you know, gas is up. rent is up food is up everything >> reporter: the president's decision to attend raising concerns as new covid cases are popping up at the white house. at this star studded event, guests had to sh can hope for. >> reporter: mr. biden unmasked, but skipping dinner and staying mostly socially distanced as journalists and the politicians they cover raised a toast to the first amendment. >> to the journalists and their families, to the people and their elected representatives, to the united states of america. [ applause ]

>> reporter: josh letterman, nbc news washington. >> it's been a while since that happened well, still to come, the country music world honors legendary naomi judd a day after her passing. and nike honors gianna bryant on what would have been her 16th birthday. time for ache and burn! over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. those'll probably pass by me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. xiidra? no! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is approved to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. don't use if you're include eye irritation, sis discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. got any room in your eye? ask your doctor if a 90-day prescription is right for you. and pay as little as $0. i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye.

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now the touching tribute for country music superstar naomi judd judd died suddenly on saturday daughters wynonna and ashley judd said they lost their mother to, quote, the disease of mental illness. despite her untimely death, naomi and her late mother wynonna were inducted into the country music hall of fame yesterday. >> your esteem for her and your regard for her really penetrated her heart. and it was your affection for her that did keep her going in these last years >> the judds ran up 14 number one songs over a 30-year career. naomi judd was 76 years old. >> just heartbreaking. such strength for those daughters to be up there speaking about their mother. on what would have been gianna bryant's 16th birthday, nike released a pair of sneakers in tribute the mamacita sweet 16s were

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want more from your vitamin brand? get more with nature's bounty. from the first-ever triple action sleep supplement... to the only 24-hour vitamin c to heart-healthy support every day. get more with nature's bounty. welcome back on this monday. we continue to watch fire danger once again in the southwest. we have red flag warnings through parts of new mexico, and that fire threat extends from southern california through the state of new mexico and also western texas. we have really dry terrain we also have some gusty winds, and also some low relative humidity that's going to spark some fires. as we go throughout the rest of the week, today we're looking at severe weather in the central and southern plains. snow okay on the back side of this that fire danger continues through wednesday. storms continue in the southern plains back to you guys. >> nice. michelle, thank you. still to come, the royal

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enjoy the go with charmin. we're back with the rhode island man who is in the business of uplifting the spirits using his saxophone to bring some harmony to park goers around him our providence affiliate wjar has the story. >> reporter: every week -- >> levee music. >> reporter: at slater park in pawtucket near the pond, as 69-year-old bob jazzes things up a bit with his saxophone

>> try at the park because of the acoustics. >> reporter: three to four times a week he carries the tune >> i play mostly like when you call love songs, pop music. >> reporter: and it all started 30 years ago in 1989 when bob's pastor got him hooked on the instrument. >> he gave me this horn and said play it. and i said what is it? i jokingly said that a saxophone, play it which i didn't know nothing about. >> reporter: ever since, bob has been using the brass, i play for free ♪ i don't come here to make money. >> reporter: to raise people up when they may be feeling low >> if i've had any kind of stress or things that are troubling me, like all the stuff going on in the world right now with the coronavirus and the russian/ukraine situation, it's peaceful for me. >> reporter: he'll stop at any time to offer an ear. >> there was high school kids that talked to me about music

that play instruments, and they wanted my advice and i told them, whatever you're good at, pursue it. >> reporter: bob believes music is a universal language that helps him connect with his community. >> people say they love it old people, young people a little boy came here one day and put a flower in my horn. he was with his mom and dad. that's the best gift i ever got. >> reporter: and while he is okay with the fact that he might never be rich or famous, what he gets in return is more than he would have ever imagined >> listen, it gives me a little self-esteem and makes me feel good i'm grateful to god above. >> reporter: showing you something good >> and it's a perfect time of year, right? it's spring. everybody is coming out to the park and enjoying that gift. >> perfect i love that. >> all right we are sending birthday wishes across the pond to princess charlotte. prince william and kate shared new photos of their daughter to celebrate her seventh birthday the portraits taken by the duchess herself feature a

smiling princess there is a royal cameo from the family dog so intimate when you get photos taken like that. even more so if it's your mom. >> love to see that so much. and the dogs. >> thanks for kicking off your workweek with us i'm frances rivera. >>

shattering out there we had no idea what was going on >> we're tracking where the severe weather is heading xt. one of the strongest shows of support yet nancy pelosi and a congressional delegation meet with volodymyr zelenskyy in kyiv, plus we're live as they race to get civilians ou