hi, everyone, i'm kate snow. >> i'm ellison barber in for aaron gilchrist. "nbc news daily" starts right now. today, monday, february 13th, 2023. mystery in the sky. new questions emerging after the u.s. shoots down three flying objects in just 72 hours. the latest said to be a potential risk to airlines. the new information about what those objects were and how washington is responding. holding out hope. people still being pulled from

the rubble one week after those earthquakes in turkey and syria. the dramatic rescues and stories of survival from the quake zone. flagrant foul. a college basketball team cancels the remainder of its season after three players allegedly hazed a teammate. why the school took such drastic action. missions of faith. a grew pouring millions into securing african american heritage by restoring black churches. we begin this hour with a mystery in the skies since friday -- >> since friday, military planes have shot down at least three unidentified flying objects over north america. one off of coast of alaska, one over the yukon territory in canada, and another off the coast of michigan over lake huron. it's unclear what the objects were or who they belonged to. >> we don't fully appreciate or understand exactly what we're seeing. and so as we try to do the recovery efforts for some of the things that we've shot down, we'll know more. >> the military has stepped up

surveillance over u.s. airspace ever since the chinese spy balloon was taken down off the coast of south carolina on february 4th. nbc news's tom costello joining us now. we seem to know very little about what exactly was shot of the sky over the weekend, but what do we know? >> reporter: well, what we know for sure, at least according to the pentagon, is that that balloon which was shot down, as you know ten days ago, that all the evidencings is that in fact -- evidence suggests that it was in fact carrying out some intelligence over north american airspace. u.s., maybe canadian airspace. as for the three objects shot down over the last few days, friday, saturday, and sunday, this where we don't have a lot of information. we believe that that first one was maybe the size of a car. we don't know the weight. it went down into prudhoe bay off of alaska's north shore. as for the one that was shot down over canadian airspace in the yukon, we're told that was some sort of a cylindrical shape, and then we had yet another one shot down over lake

ontario -- pardon me, lake huron, but we not that's also in canadian airspace or water, and that was even smaller. and so now they're trying to recover all of those. however, you have extreme weather, extremely bad weather conditions, of course, that they're dealing with certainly off the coast of alaska, rough conditions in the yukon. we also heard from the white house today about plans to do a fuller investigation involving a board of inquiry. >> the president through his national security adviser has directed an interagency team to study the broader policy implications for detection, analysis, and disposition of unidentified aerial objects that pose either safety or security risks. >> reporter: bottom line, they don't know if this is, for example, the product from another country or if it's literally something benign like a university's weather experiment, multiple of those up in the air, or if it's just air

junk if you will that floats up there at 20,000, 40,000, 60,000 feet. we don't know yet. >> a lot of mystery. thank you. hope is still alive in turkey and syria after those destructive earthquakes hit exactly one week ago. families across the region are praying for miracles like this one. a young girl was pulled out alive after being trapped in the rubble for 178 hours in southeastern turkey. rescuers shouted "god is great" as she was being taken to safety. the scale of the destruction is hard to wrap your mind around. the death toll in both countries has now risen beyond 35,000 people. nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley joins us now from southern turkey. matt, what are local leaders there saying about how much longer rescue efforts can go on? is there any indication that things could shift just to more of a relief and recovery effort? >> reporter: yeah, i mean we're starting to see that now.

it depends on who you ask. we're kind of waiting to see whether or not we're going to be seeing some clear line of delineation where we go from a rescue effort to a recovery effort. and you kind of see sightings of both. my team just as recently as two days ago, we were in the city about a two-hour drive from here, where we saw people being brought out alive as recently as two days ago. as you mentioned, they were brought out alive as recently as today. one week after that earthquake. if you look here, in a place like this, this just really looks more like a demolition effort. we've been here a couple of days. in the past, there were tons of people around waiting expectantly. neighbors and family waiting for rescue workers to hopefully bring out members of their family, their friends, their neighbors alive out of nightmarish scenes like this one. now it doesn't look like that anywhere, does it? it looks like earth movers cleaning up debris. that is what you're starting to

see more and more. we're starting to hear that from officials like martin griffiths, the united nations, saying the time is essentially out. a week is far longer than most people could possibly stand underneath wreckage like that, and it was a miracle that we're still seeing people brought out a week later. but at some point, the focus has to shift, and we're starting to hear and see officials, international aid agencies, signaling that the focus is going to start to be on helping those who survived. ellison? >> we can't forget that syria has been impacted by this, as well. there have been a lot of difficulties getting aid to people there. a top united nations official was on the ground yesterday and tweeted this, quote, we have so far failed the people in northwest syria. they rightly feel abandoned. what can you tell us about the challenges when it relates to getting help to people who need it the most in syria, and what is being done to try and work around some of those constraints?

>> reporter: well, the people of syria have been victims three times over. first of a 13-year-long civil war, then of this catastrophic earthquake, one of the worst this region has ever seen, and now they're the victim of political wrangling. and they're a victim of all three at the same time really. there's a lot of push for the united nations to bring more aid in, as you heard from that head of the united nations humanitarian effort. but it is a political issue. the regime of al assad will not allow for the united nations to open up more ways for aid to come into the rebel-held territories. and a lot of the rebels in that region won't be accepting aid from regions that are occupied or that are still governed by bashar al assad. who loses here, it's the people of syria. ellison? >> all right. matt bradley in turkey. thank you so much, we appreciate it. we are seeing a tale two of seasons. parts of the east coast are feeling more like spring with unseasonably warm temperatures. in the west, a double dose of

storms will bring strong winds and heavy snow. meteorologist bill karins is tracking all of it for us. bill, let's start with the east coast warmup. how high are the temperatures going? >> 50s and 60s. reports in the mid-atlantic of pollen. the leaves are coming out in areas of virginia, like three to four weeks early. it hasn't been much of a winter. now we're seeing these warm really unbelievable warmer temperatures. it's not just isolated on the east coast. this goes to the rockies. denver, 53. rapid city, 62 degrees. minneapolis, 46. this is almost 20 degrees warmer than you should be. it's not just one day. it's going to last almost all week in some cases. madison, 46. detroit at 50. d.c. near 60. boston at 48. you get the idea. we don't cool off until the end of the week. >> you're also keeping an eye on the west coast, two systems out there. what do they bring? >> different story. we got snow in areas of arizona on the room. a snowstorm coming into the pacific northwest. even portland tonight could go from rain over to snow. we're going to see these two storms bringing significant snow to the four corners region, and

eventually out here into the plains. it's when we get toward wednesday and thursday, these storms are going to hit that warm air in the east and i'm concerned with the chance of another tornado outbreak. that's been the theme this winter. we could see severe weather from little rock to areas of near dallas, shreveport included. this is going to be wednesday. thursday, this could go through mississippi, all the way through tennessee. maybe even the ohio valley. so we'll keep an eye on that the rest of this week. >> all right. bill karins, thank you. you might have heard kansas city chiefs fans, they are basking in glory today after their team's exhilarating victory in the super bowl. >> celebrations spilled into the streets overnight after patrick mahomes and the chiefs rallied for a double-digit comeback to defeat the philadelphia eagles 38-35. this is now their second super bowl in the last four years. who's counting? nbc news' maggie vespa, the chiefs have a passionate fan base. i'm sure they're still out celebrating. >> reporter: at least some people are, guys.

as you said, it was mayhem in the streets last night. plenty of celebrating downtown. safe to say plenty of recovering across the area today. all the while, patrick mahomes and coach andy reid holding a press conference earlier today. mahomes saying among other things in part, he said he and his teammates had seen the doubters on social media all season and hopes, he says, they've proved them wrong. take a listen. >> it's hard not to hear that stuff especially in today's age with social media and everything like that. you hear how -- how not good we're going to be, and all you can do is prove it on the football field. i'm not a guy that's going to respond and say stuff back to people or anything like that on social media. i'm just going to prove it on the football field. once you do that, there's nothing they can really say. >> reporter: in between partying, guys, fans telling us time and time again they think, yeah, he proved it on the football field last night. it was incredible. >> maggie, i imagine we will see you at a super bowl parade very soon. any indication as to when that might take place?

>> reporter: listen, i'm lobbying for that assignment already. we can talk about the parade itself. it's scheduled to be, weather permitting on, wednesday. the city already set aside close to $750,000 to make sure it goes smoothly. last time they had one of these, a few years ago, they had close to a million people on that parade route. that's when it was freezing. and as bill said, the weather's going to be pretty nice this week. safe to say the party's going to continue here, guys, for days. back to you. >> all right. maggie vespa. thank you. more layoffs coming to big tech, and a beloved purple dinosaur getting a makeover. >> we have more now on the cnbc "money minute." >> reporter: hi, let's start with the bad news. the san francisco based cloud communications company says it will be laying off 1,500 workers. roughly about 17% of its work force. this isn't, though, the first round of layoffs to the company. the company cut 11% of its work force just last september as part of a new restructuring plan. a large number of recalls are affecting several major car

brands -- honda, toyota, and general motors have each issued recalls for a number of problems including faulty software and improperly made parts. so it's important you call your local dealership if your car is affected. lastly, the popular tv character barney the purple dinosaur is getting a makeover. toy company mattel is relaunching the barney franchise with all new toys and tv projects. the newly designed character will return in an animated series in 2024. >> the next generation. >> reporter: i'm trying to remember the theme song but not remembering it now -- >> don't get that in our head. ♪ i love you ♪ >> no. >> there you go. >> okay. thanks. thank you. switching gears, why one university is sidelining its university is sidelining its men's bketball team foras t if you still have symptoms of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. stand up to your symptoms with rinvoq. rinvoq is a once-daily pill

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new mexico state university is suspending its men's basketball program for the remainder of the season now. the school and police are looking into reports of hazing among players. nbc news' stephanie gosk has been following the story. we understand there's one particular victim in this case who has spoken out. what is he saying? >> reporter: he went to campus police on friday. he said on february 6th, three of his fellow players held him down, took his clothes off, and then hit him and touched him inappropriately. now he's not bringing criminal charges, but there have been

pretty swift repercussions from this. on friday the chancellor of the school suspended the basketball program, and then when this report came out from police, he ended the season entirely. the staff and coaches, they are on paid leave at the moment while this is being investigated. to end a season, this is an ncaa division-one team, there is a big problem and a very big deal, kate. >> you get the sense that maybe this is bigger than just the one person who has spoken out potentially. have we heard any reaction from the team, from the university? >> reporter: well, we know that the university regents are going to meet tomorrow. they say it's about a specific personnel matter. we don't know exactly what that is about. we will hear more no doubt. also, these their player says this -- this player says this the first incident, that this has been going on since the summer. it's also not the first controversy for this team. a forward on the team was involved in a fatal shooting with a rival player. he was not charged with anything, and then it was

self-defense. he's been suspended from the team. all of that together has led the chancellor to say it's time for the program, the entire program, to get a reset. and that's what's happening. >> yeah. all right. stephanie gosk, thank you. we are following the story of a bizarre murder plot involving cheesecake. a russian woman living in new york was convicted of trying to kill her lookalike. she wanted to steal the victim's identity, and prosecutors say she tried to do that by feeding the woman dessert laced with drugs. nbc's valerie castro has more. >> reporter: a poisoned cheesecake at the center of an attempted murder trial. a new york jury finding the woman who served it guilty. she was convicted of trying to kill olga sick who at the time in 2016 looked a lot like nasarova. she stole from her victim including a gold ring, according to the queens district attorney. but prosecutors say her real motive was to steal, quote, her most valuable possession -- her identity, and took her passport.

the pastry plot failed when sick survived. investigators testified the dessert finding it laced with the powerful sedative. she was arrested, pleading not guilty in court to no avail. the conviction coming on the heels of another similar high-profile case in germany where a woman is accused of killing an instagram lookalike to fake her own death. back in 2017 the nypd telling nbc new york that nasarova was an international fugitive wanted for allegedly murdering a woman in her native russia before fleeing to brooklyn. >> couldn't be determined where -- how she was murdered because her body was set ablazeablaze. >> reporter: she denied it in 2017 to cbs. >> i'm not a killer. i'm woman. only woman. >> reporter: the alleged murder victim's daughter enlisting the help of a private investigator who captured this video of nasarova in new york and worked with the nypd who made the arrest. >> kind of tugged at my heartstrings when i heard this long, horrible, tragic story that just wouldn't end for this

young lady because there was no end in sight. >> reporter: police at the time say she was also suspected of drugging men she met on a dating app to steel for there. >> she's -- steal from them. >> she's a con artist that meets people on line and drugs them at some point and takes their property from them. >> reporter: one of those men testifying in the trial as well as the daughter of the alleged murder victim in russia, all pushing the jury to deliver that not-so-sweet guilty verdict. valerie castro, nbc news. at least one person is dead and five others are hurt after a shooting outside a mississippi grocery store. louisville's police chief says that the shooting took place in the parking lot on sunday afternoon. at least one suspect is in custody. no motive has been released. coming up, what body camera footage released to the jury is revealing about alex murdaugh on the night his wife and son were murdered. we are streaming for free,

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later today, we could learn the fate of oakland police chief. here's bob with more on a new discipline committee meeting tonight. >> you might recall last thursday the oakland police committee created a new committee to take the case of armstrong, who the mayor suspended because he allegedly failed to hold accountable an officer accused of misconduct. armstrong is adamant he did nothing wrong. during thursday night's virtual meeting of the police commission, the chair of the commission expressed frustration that the city of oakland has been uncooperative and slow to respond to the requests for documents. in closed session, commissioners voted unanimously to create this new committee to look into the chief armstrong matter. the commission points out it must move fast with regards to the chief because a federal

judge has ordered the city to court by april 4th. with a plan to handle the cases, there's a special closed session tonight at 5:30 followed by the new discipline committee meeting at 8:00. nbc bay area news. >> thank you. we have new video of the deadly home explosion last week in san francisco's sunset neighborhood. i want to warn you, it is hard to watch. here it is. you see right there, that explosion destroyed one home on 22nd avenue. this video comes from a home security camera. so you can see there to the left two people were nearby at the time. albert and his name were both struck with flying glass but weren't seriously hurt. one woman inside the home died. two others were seriously hurt and several nearby homes were damaged with some neighbors losing almost everything and now investigators say the home contained an illegal drug lab. ing said he had brief

interactions with the man who was later arrested by police. >> i say hi when we see each other. >> the 53-year-old darren price is now facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, manufacturing narcotics and child endangerment. a meeting is being planned for neighbors impacted. we have some other stories you should know about. san francisco leaders are talking about cutting some of the red tape when it comes to new construction and the search continues for an east bay man suffering from a brain tumor. first, let's talk about what we are learning. we have new detales about a deadly hit and run crash around 11:00 last night. vehicle collided with another causing it to crash into a concrete barrier. the person inside the vehicle died at the scene and the other driver ran off. he was later found at his home in fremont, arrested on dui and

hit and run charges. plus, the family of antonia silvera said he left home on saturday and hasn't been seen since. the 67-year-old is fighting a tumor and diabetes and doesn't have his medication with him. he was last seen wearing a gray hat, black jacket and blue pantds. city leaders are hoping to remove barriers to new home construction and are pushing to expand housing permits in areas that need housing. tom is tracking the story for us and will have more this afternoon. time to look for that umbrella because rain is coming back to our area. here's kari hall with what to expect. >> we'll see sunshine the rest of the day but it's going to be a windy one as our temperatures only reach into the low to mid-60s and this will actually be the warmest day of the week.

we're also getting ready for a cold front that's going to be moving in with spotty showers early on tuesday. we may have some wintry weather in the hills in parts of the north bay, but spotty showers through about early in the afternoon and then as it clears, the cold air will be coming in. we'll continue to see cold air in the forecast as well as in some spots getting about a tenth of an inch of rain. we'll talk a look at our forecast that remains cool, in about 30 minutes. >> thank you. winter phenomenon is back at yosemite. the fire fall is when the light of the sunset hits the water at just the right angle. the falls transform into a the falls transform into a ribbon of ♪♪ you've changed. ♪♪ you've healed. ♪♪ you've evolved.

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bottom of the hour now. here are headlines -- >> fallout continues in the new jersey school district where a 14-year-old died by suicide two days after video of her being attacked in a school hallway surfaced. that district's superintendent resigning over the weekend following comments made to legal papers about the girl's home life and alleged experience with drugs. however, no official reason for the resignation has been given. the school has been criticized for not doing more to address the issue. a driver is under arrest after multiple people were struck by a u-haul van in new york city. eight people were injured, two

of them are in critical condition, two are in serious condition, and the four others have minor injuries. police are still trying to determine the motive here. the city has been on high alert for these kinds of incidents since eight people were killed in a truck attack in manhattan back in 2017. and take a look at this dramatic video from aboard a delta airlines flight. a passenger captured this footage of the plane's wing engulfed in flames. it happened on a flight from edinborough, scotland, to new york city friday. the plane made an emergency landing in glasgow, scotland. no one was hurt. delta is investigating. the murder trial of disgraced former south carolina lawyer alex murdaugh is now in its fourth week. prosecutors have shifted their focus back to the forensics of the case after spending much of the last week honing in on murdaugh's alleged financial crimes. this morning they released new video evidence including police body cam footage from the night of the murders. nbc news' vaughn hillyard is following the case for us.

bring us up to speed. what have we heard in court today, how is the new evidence playing with this jury? >> reporter: there's been a significant deliberation s today, the start of week four for this jury here, over dna analysis here. multiple individuals have come forward to the stand to talk about what was and was not found at the scene. we do now know -- at least according to one of the witnesses -- that in fact inside of the vehicle that alex murdaugh was driving, his gm chevy suburban, blood of maggie murdaugh is believed to have been found. again, though, this doesn't directly mean that alex murr day was the one who pulled the trigger. there is numerous reasons the defense will argue as to how maggie murdaugh's blood could have gotten inside of that vehicle here. but i do want to let you see some new video that has become public this afternoon of when officers arrived to the scene in which alex murdaugh contend he found his wife and one of his sons killed. take a listen.

>> they are dead, aren't they? >> yes, yes, sir, that's what it looks like. >> when was the last time you were here with them? or talked to them or anything like that? >> it was earlier tonight. i don't know the exact time. but -- >> okay. >> i left -- i was probably gone an hour and a half for my mom's, and i saw them about 45 minutes before that. >> reporter: there are serious questions that prosecutors are now trying to convey here to the jury, including questions about the cell phone data which showed alex murdaugh at the scene when they say the shooting took place. we know that gm says that they have tracking data from the vehicle that alex murdaugh was driving that they will be presenting to the prosecution here in the days ahead. the defense will get the chance to look at that analysis there for themselves here.

but there is a lot still at play here, and what we expect to be the prosecution and that includes making their case later on this week. >> interesting. you've mentioned the jury. there was drama this morning when two jurors tested positive for covid. what impact might that have on the trial? >> reporter: right. there are serious questions and concern about there trial going to ultimately become mistrial. and this morning the judge upon convening the defense and the prosecutors there notified them that two of the jurors had tested positive for covid. now that means that just three alternates remain. the prosecution and the defense had urged the judge to spoibd the trial for -- suspend the trial for a couple days in order to ensure other jurors were not also infected here. if there's not enough jurors to file out the jury box, this will go to a mistrial. >> all right. vaughn hillyard for us. thank you. the epa says it's identified three additional chemicals around the site of a train derailment in northeastern ohio. the train went off the tracks ten days ago leaking toxic

chemicals and causing a major fire. health officials have assured those who evacuated that it is now safe to return home. some are still concerned about the safety of the air and water. >> don't tell me it's safe. something's going on if the fish are floating in the creek. we have called the number to have our well tested. we haven't heard back yet. we were told that we'd have to wait until they know what to test for. so that's kind of what we're waiting on. >> joining us now is nbc news correspondent ron allen. ron, what do we know about these new chemicals, and why are health officials say confident that it's safe for people to return home? >> reporter: well, the epa revealed this in a letter sent to the rail operator, norfolk southern, that these chemicals were also present in the rail cars that crashed last week. they are basically chemicals that are used in adhesives and plastics, acrylic rubber, cosmetics, construction materials, and they are

hazardous potentially at certain levels. now throughout this process, environmental officials, local as well as the federal officials who have been there say they have been monitoring the air, monitoring the water, and they have found nothing that is at a level of concern, was one term they used, for people, for humans, for people in that vicinity. and -- but as you reported, there are people who have reported finding, for example, dead fish in creeks there. the environmental officials at a briefing last week said they are aware of that, but this should not be a concern to people. yes, the fish were apparently killed by something in these rail cars that was then released in this huge plume of smoke and fire to get rid of it essentially. but there are long-term concerns. there are lawsuits by several residents, class-action lawsuits that are forming because people smell things in the air, things that are irritating, and they taste things in the water. the rail company, for its part, norfolk southern, has been -- has a claim center open and a

resident support center open. they are doing air monitoring, they say. they are going around and testing water samples, but they say so far there has been nothing of concern. but again, this is going to be a long-term concern for a lot of residents who are just distrustful and who are just not comfortable with what -- what they're smelling or tasting in the water or in the air. >> all right. ron allen, thank you so much for that. an annual ice fishing tournament on lake champlain in northeastern vermont was -- northwestern vermont, rather, was called off at the last minute on saturday because of abnormally warm weather and unsafe ice conditions. nbc news is following the story. maya? >> reporter: the grant isle sheriff's department asked organize force cancel the event after three men died falling through the ice. this all happened three days before the start of the tournament. two of the victims were brothers who died after their vehicle broke through the ice early saturday. rescue crews pulled 71-year-old

john fleury from the water but he died at the hospital. his brother, an 88-year-old, was found by a diver trapped inside the vehicle. he was pronounced dead t scene. on thursday, 62-year-old wayne alexander broke through the ice while fishing, and his body was recovered hours later. authorities say all three incidents appear to be accidents and are not considered to be suspicious. is on incidents are rare, and often people are able to self-rescue when they fall through by pulling themselves to safety. but that's not always the case. >> low frequency but high severity when someone goes below the ice. it's below freezing temperatures. a couple minutes in there you lose dexterity and trouble breathing. it's panic in a short time to correct yourself. >> reporter: the u.s. national weather service in burlington, vermont, issued a warning saying ice thickness on area lakes and ponds is highly variable. ice is never 100% safe. if you don't know, don't go. over the last week, temperatures

in the region were between seven and 15 degrees above average with highs topping out at 45 degrees on thursday. kate? >> yeah, and bill karins said it's going to get even warmer. maya, thank you. gas is flowing against in las vegas after a pipeline leak sent off a panic and sent drivers rushing to fill up their tanks. this was the scene over the weekend. the company that operates the pipeline says the leak has been found, and the lines are back in normal working order. nbc news' dana griffin is following all of this for us from our los angeles bureau. what else have we been able to learn about what happened here? >> reporter: so ellison, the chaos stemmed from a leak at a fuel pipeline here in southern california which shut down deliveries of gasoline and diesel to areas like las vegas and phoenix. now that created a chain reaction of panicked drivers in nevada after the governor there issued a state of emergency.

as you see, that panicked drivers worried about prices going up and supply running out. they flooded fuel stations. i spoke with one gas station worker in las vegas who said that they ran out of fuel friday night. he says drivers were growing tense. listen. when you looked outside the gas station window, what did you see? >> yeah, like imagine like a black friday, people waiting in front of stores and whatnot. >> reporter: now according to the company kinder morgan, they began investigating the leak thursday afternoon. by saturday afternoon they announced service was fully restored. the governor told people not to panic buy, but many did not listen. this just highlights how one leak, even hundreds of miles away, can cause panic at the pump. ellison? >> major ripple effects there. thank you so much. coming up, preserving history. while keeping the faith. why one organization is spending millions to fix up black churches.

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a texas lawsuit with a key deadline this month is posing a threat to the nationwide availability of abortion pills. abortion pills are now the most common method for abortions in the united states. if the federal judge rules to reverse the fda's approval of a particular medicine, it would halt the supply of mifeprisdtone in all states whether abortion

was legal in the state. the deadline for the ruling is february 24th. all month long we are celebrating black heritage on "nbc news daily." today we're taking a look at an effort to preserve the history of black churches. as our blayne alexander tells us, these houses of worship are vital to their communities and rich in african american culture. ♪♪ >> reporter: in every corner of old ship ame zion church -- ♪♪ the joyful noise is resounding. but this soulful sanctuary in montgomery, alabama, is more than a house of worship, it's a living, breathing monument to history. >> it's the oldest african american church in the city of montgomery. about god -- >> reporter: pastor kathy mcfadden has been at the helm for two decades, just a fraction of old ship's stunning 171-year history. founded by slaves in 1852, a century later old ship held meetings to help plan the

montgomery bus boycott. and through the years, it's hosted a who's who was historical figures. >> frederick douglass, president mckinley, booker t. washington, and dr. martin luther king. >> all of them spoke here? >> all of them spoke here. >> reporter: now old ship is getting new restoration thanks to a grant from the african american cultural heritage action fund, part of the national trust for historic preservation. in all, $4 million to 35 historic black churches around the country. why is it so important to focus on black churches? >> black churches are among the oldest institutions in the united states. these places have been at the forefront of meaningful and critical democratic reform in american society. you can't tell the story of america without talking about the story of black churches. >> reporter: on the list, 16th street baptist church in birmingham where four little

girls were killed by a klansman's bomb in 1963. and reedy chapel in galveston, texas. >> associated to emancipation and juneteenth. >> reporter: for old ship the money means restoring its bell towers damaged by rainwater, and outside, a facelift. welcome news for member joseph tremble. his family history here dates back to slavery. what does it mean to you to know that this church is going to be preserved for future generations? >> oh, my god. it means so much. it means that our history as a people, african american people, and as a christian faith will continue. >> reporter: here it's music to their ears. ♪♪ blayne alexander, nbc news, montgomery, alabama. >> we're going to keep holding on! when you think of country music, you probably think of nashville. it's considered the country music capital of the world. and now a growing list of young black artists are making their mark on music city.

here's "nbc news daily" anchor morgan radford. ♪♪ >> reporter: from its bluegrassroots -- ♪♪ to a modern pop feel -- ♪ working real hard ♪ country music has always evolved to include new sounds. ♪♪ and now it includes some new faces, too. ♪♪ black artists like kane brown -- ♪♪ mickey guyton. ♪♪ and willie joe racing up the charts as part of a new group of country music stars. ♪♪ among them, michael and tanya trotter. ♪♪ >> oh, my -- you are having too much fun. >> reporter: the husband and wife duo known as the war and treaty. >> we try to find a genre that would represent all of our experiences. the genre that will carry the

sacredness of gospel, that will give the heartbreak of blues, and a genre that will celebrate our faith in god. i feel like country music embodies all of those things. ♪♪ >> reporter: but it's a genre where artists who look like them haven't always been included. of the more than 11,000 songs played on country radio for the past 18 years, fewer than 1% were by black artists. now that landscape is changing with radio play for black indigenous and people of color increasing by 3.5%. challenging perceptions for white audiences and black. >> the black american neighborhoods will sound of our city, especially growing up in cleveland, ohio, in the '90s, was bones, thugs, and harmony. big. tupac. said it all. when that bond is broken, you're not singing r&b, you're not doing soul music? that's for the other folk. and you know, then you get

labeled. >> reporter: prompting a conversation about race that dates back generation was country's roots to music created by enslaved africans to shows featuring white performers in black face who twisted black music into cruel stereotypes. author francesca royster has written about country's moots and often unacknowledged debt to black americans. >> country music is black music. but i think part of where the negative part of that history happens is where there's a deliberate silencing of some of the origins in the roots of that music. >> reporter: which is why the trotters see their success as part of the larger message. >> when you look five years down the line, ten years down the line, what do you hope this space looks like? >> hopefully we're blazing that trail so there are many more of us doing it. ♪♪ >> reporter: linking country's past to a more inclusive future. morgan radford, nbc news.

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afternoon. twilio is cutting 17% of its workforce. that's about 1500 jobs. the cloud communications softwaremaeker already laid off 11% of its employees in september and in an e-mail to employees, the ceo said the additional cuts were driven by the need to reorganize the company in order to succeed. meanwhile, meta is delaying finalizing budgets for several teams within the company amid speculation they may be preparing for another round of layoffs. the financial times reports the giant is likely to announce the new cuts after it's completed reviews. meta, facebook and what's app cut 11,000 jobs. well, we are tracking possible rain on valentine's day and here's meteorologist kari

hall with your extended forecast. >> we're going into valentine's day with much colder temperatures and spotty rain. there will be a slight chance of showers but the highest chance of rain will be in the north bay. and for the next few mornings, we'll be near freezing with our morning starting out in the low to near 30s. on thursday, we'll see clouds increasing and a chance of showers on friday, but the weekend is looking very pleasant although it will be cool and below what we typically see for mid february, we'll see highs in the low 60s inland and for san francisco, we have mostly 50s in the forecast with a good chance of showers on tuesday and then again on friday. >> thank y ou

benefits for low income families are ending this month and we have more on the local food banks that are already

scrambling. >> local food banks like second harvest are trying to figure out how they're ghoing to stretch their dollars. for a single person for the last three years of the pandemic, that benefit was $281 per month. in march, people will get just $23. the numbers will be even more dramatic for larger households. while they say they expect more people will turn to them when they lose the state assistance and like the rest of us, food banks are struggling with rising food prices. costs are up 2 to 18%. the ceo says they're seeing a spike because of inflation. >> starting in really january of last year, we started seeing another uptick in demand just due to inflation. in our high cost of living area for so many families, food and fuel is a large percentage of

their budget, so our numbers are back up to almost the numbers at the height of the pandemic. >> there are also concerns that reduced dollars spent in stores could affect the economy. california is just one of 32 states set to cut food stamps in march, making it a problem for so many struggling to maek ends meet. if you have questions, you can call 211 for information. if you are in a position to help, you can donate to your local food bank or volunteer your time because as the needs increase, there will be more people to distribute it. >> thank you. that does it for this edition of fast forward. we'll see you at 4:30. if you still have symptoms of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. stand up to your symptoms with rinvoq.

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today on "access daily," "the masked singer" is about to kick off a new singer, and look who it is. >> "access daily" starts now. >> oh, yeah. >> welcome to "access daily," universal studio, hollywood. i'm mario lopez with kit hoover. the trailer just dropped for air. it's a fascinating story. it's directed by ben affleck, and it's a real life story about a guy who signs michael jordan to a deal to wear their shoes. check it out. >> i'm willing to bet my careerd on one guy. my name is sonny.ce 3hd i'm with nike. >> do you typically make it aacy habit of showing up at p