hi, everyone. i'm kate snow. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. "nbc news daily" starts right now. today, tuesday, february 28th, 2023, forgive or forget? the supreme court weighing whether the biden administration can write off $400 billion in student loan debt. what that decision could mean for millions of americans. >> tiktok. time is running out for federal employees to delete the app from

their work phones. the impact this decision could have for you. >> toxic threat, the head of the environmental protection agency back in ohio today nearly a month after the toxic derailment. >> and the beat goes on. why surgeons say a so-called heart in a box could be a game-changer for thousands of patients in desperate need of a heart transplant. we begin with student loan debt, the topic today inside the nation's highest court. the supreme court is hearing two cases that could decide whether president biden is allowed to forgive some or all of student loan debt. >> supporters of canceling the debt, including democratic politicians, gathered outside the supreme court today. lower courts have temporarily paused the president's plan from taking effect. nbc news washington correspondent, yamiche alcindor, is outside the supreme court for us today. so yamiche, walk us through these cases today and the arguments we're hearing on both sides. >> reporter: really, the arguments that we're hearing center on president biden's

authority to create the student debt relief program. the biden administration is saying that it is well within its right to do so because we were going through a national emergency, the emergency being the covid-19 pandemic. on the other side you have people who have sued and are taking this case to the supreme court that are saying that the president has overreached powers here. you have six gop-led states saying that the president should not have done this, he didn't go through the proper procedures and he should have consulted with congress before creating this possibly $400 billion program. and then you have two students who are also suing saying that they didn't have enough time and enough time to be able to weigh in on this and that this program should possibly be broader. the conservative justices seem to be skeptical of this program, but you also had some liberal justices that were questioning whether or not there was standing and whether they were allowed to bring the case forward. definitely something to watch. >> i know you spoke with supporters at a rally today

calling for student loan debt cancellation. what were they saying? >> reporter: there was a lot of passion outside the supreme court today. you had a number of people coming, the loudest voices were pushing for the student loan relief program to go forward. take a listen to what one person told me. >> for my family in particular, it just means that there's more money on the table for my family. there's more money for my siblings, there's more money for them to go to college. and i think that's so important because it's a generational thing. it's not just one person, it's the whole family. that's something a lot of people miss. >> reporter: so there you heard it, people saying this is critical and that america really needs to be able to take care of students. now, white house data says that it could be up to 40 million student loan borrowers that could be impacted in addition to the 26 million who applied and are stalled and in limbo. so definitely a big case to watch and the decisions is going to have lasting and consequential impact, whatever the justices decide. >> people are watching this

really closely. thank you. and tens of millions of americans are also bracing for another coast-to-coast winter storm and the typing couldn't be worse for some. a state of emergency has been declared in san bernardino county, california, that's after several feet of snow there trapped people in their homes. in central ohio, power has been restored after a tornado touched down on monday. two more tornados were confirmed monday in the chicago suburbs. and on the east coast, fresh off the biggest snowstorm of the season, some areas from new jersey to new england are bracing for several more inches of snow. nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us. you warned us about this. time it out. who should be bracing for another round of winter weather? >> it's going to start in california and it's actually where it's happening now. i-80 is closed, blizzard conditions across the sierra. manmouth mountain, it's so windy they only have 6 of 25 lifts open. the main lodge is even closed

because they're getting such high wind gusts along with heavy snow. so that's the storm system that's kicking down through central portions of california. eventually that will shift down toward los angeles with a rainstorm later on tonight. they will get a little bit of snow in the mountains outside of l.a. but not as much as the last storm. this is really a big event for years of the sierra. that's the purple color, the blizzard warning. and we will see the storm moving toward utah and also arizona tomorrow. we are going to see a significant snowstorm, flagstaff up to 2 feet of snow, cedar city will get about a half a foot of snow. the grand canyon could get 6 to 12 inches of snow. as far as rainfall totals, in los angeles this isn't a huge event, i don't expect a lot of flooding. but areas in the mountains where it's warm enough to the south could get 1 to 1 1/2 inches, outside oceanside and san diego. 2 to 4 feet possible additional snow in the snow lab in the sierra, they've had 110 inches in the last seven days and we're going to add another possible 24

to 48. in the week ahead we'll track the storm east and talk about severe weather. >> bill karins, thank you. the prosecution in the alex murdaugh trial is calling its final witness to the stand. one is the woman who performed autopsies of maggie and paul murdaugh. alex murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to their murders. closing arguments are expected to get under way tomorrow. allison barber is outside the courthouse in south carolina for us. what was the prosecution's strategy behind the testimony we've just heard and this came after the defense's experts yesterday, right? >> reporter: right. it's a rebuttal witness. we previously heard from the state's pathologist. she had previously testified, talked about her findings in the autopsy report. then the defense had a pathologist that they brought to the stand yesterday. that pathologist is the one that brought up this two shooter theory, saying that he felt based on his expertise, based on the evidence that he had seen that the most likely scenario

here was a two shooter scenario. and in making that argument, he really criticized and questioned the original autopsy report that was done by this state pathologist. so what we saw was her come back on the stand and really push back on some of the points that the defense's witness had made. a big point of contention was a specific gunshot wound on paul murdaugh's head. the original autopsy report, they said that was an exit wound. the defense pathologist yesterday testified that he believed that was a contact wound. he adamantly pushed back. >> expert opinion, having actually done the autopsies in this case, is there any way that could have been a contact wound to the top of the head? >> no. >> and having addressed the specific concerns of the testimony of the defense pathologist as it relates to maggie, is your conclusion still that the shot went in the direction as you described before? >> yes, i disagree with his

conclusions. >> reporter: she was adamant, kate, in saying based on her expertise that if it was a contact shotgun wound on the back of paul murdaugh's head, the damage, and she said i know what you've seen is horrific, but if that was a contact wound, the damage that he would have sustained would be so much worse than what it is. >> please forgive my ignorance. what is a contact wound? what does that mean? >> reporter: so they're talking about if it was an entry wound or close to the head. i think this will come into play when we see the jury take the trip to the murder scene, which could happen later today or tomorrow morning. and i think what you see the defense getting at is they're suggesting if this was a wound where it was back here versus an exit wound, which is what the state is saying, that in theory that would mean the shooter was in a different position. so the defense has sort of tried to lay out this question of why they want the jury to go to moselle, to say if it was a back

of the head contact wound, then that would imply that the shooter had to be inside the feed room and the defense has said alex murdaugh is too tall to maneuver in that way and shoot and kill maggie murdaugh. the state has said that's not where it came from, he was in a different position entirely. that's what we're getting at. but a lot of technical terms and a lot of tiny details. it feels like this case just keeps getting longer and longer and the prosecution, rather, still has another rebuttal witness to call today. >> wow. it's a lot to watch. allison barber, thank you for being there. the clock may be ticking for tiktok in the u.s. >> there's a new crackdown on government owned devices. in a memo released on monday the white house said federal employees have 30 days to delete the app tiktok off their work devices because of cybersecurity concerns. >> 41 states have a similar ban either in effect or under consideration, and it's already having an impact on students at some public universities. >> i'm 18, we're all 18.

like, let me share my information with china if i want to. i literally could care less. >> nbc news technology correspondent jake ward joins us now. that young woman sounds like all of my kids' friends talking about tiktok. >> you recognize the sentiment. >> i'm curious about this white house move, but this is about government devices. could this expand to affect everyone who has tiktok? >> at this hour we know that federal employees have about 30 days to delete it off their devices and that the various agencies need to figure out a plan for making sure that's the case. there's going to be all kinds of exceptions and steps that have to happen. it's a complicated thing to do. but will that then turn into a full-on federal ban? that's the big question. we're waiting right now to find out whether the house foreign affairs committee is going to give president biden executive authority that could conceivably give him the authority to strip away, basically to ban it in the united states. we also know that house and senate republicans and democrats have talked about doing that as

well. so it is really moving toward a national ban. >> is there enough support in congress? >> it's not at all clear. house republicans seem set on that idea, whether it reaches the more split senate and goes forward at that point, not really clear. and, again, you guys, this is the united states. we don't ban private companies on a whim. this is a really complicated thing and it would be unprecedented. >> the white house says the ban is because of cybersecurity concerns. is that something that china has said, no, you need not be concerned about that? how is china responding? >> china has both -- has basically made fun of the united states in one statement from last night, the foreign minister basically described the number one superpower in the world as feeling not confident enough and said that the u.s. government should effectively respect the principles of market economy and fair competition. so at this hour we're really seeing just a war of words between the u.s. and china. >> jake ward with us today, thank you. td bank agrees to pay a

billion dollar settlement and elon musk is looking to get into the artificial intelligence market. >> seema mody joins us now. let's start with td bank which has agreed to pay a massive settlement related to a ponzi scheme from more than a decade ago. they'll pay $1.2 billion involving the disgraced texas financier. they had litigation that accused it of negligence for working with stanford. >> in other news, elon musk is looking to build a new ai chatbot according to a report from the information. musk is reportedly meeting with ai researchers to start a lab to develop an alternative to chatgpt. the report says the project is still in the early stages and musk has yet to comment on this publicly. >> seema mody, thank you. coming up, what we're learning about a major

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the u.s. marshals service says it has been hit by a major security breach. >> law enforcement officials say sensitive information was compromised. nbc news investigative correspondent tom winter joins us with more. how significant was the leak or breach and what kind of information are we talking about? >> potentially quite significant because of the information you

alluded to. the investigative files is what we are understanding is what was hacked here. we're talking about not just the fact that somebody is a fugitive, but also the underlying information in that file. so that might be if you're on the run from the law, that might be who your family members are, your friends, the types of information they've uncovered. if the information gets out, we've seen no indication so far that it is out, i might be able to see what does the marshals service know about me or what don't they know, where i might be fleeing to next. those are the types of things. >> you've covered these incidents before, hacking, security breaches. is there anything about this one that stands out to you that seems exemplary? >> any time we see a law enforcement sensitive database, and that's got information that's not public from a law enforcement perspective hacked, that's important, it's something that needs to be followed, because you don't know who has done it. do we have a nation state that's

particularly interested in several individuals or do we have security that is poor, and anybody could have accessed it? i know one particular instance of a teenager who hacked a database just using the word password as a password for the administrator. it's true. they were concerned that a small drug deal they were involved in could have gotten them into trouble. it's those types of things we need to figure out what was going on with the u.s. marshals computer system or was this a sophisticated state actor that was looking for a particular individual or individuals or an organized criminal group. that's one of the reasons why we're paying so close attention to it and we're on top of the stories. >> tom winter for us, thank you. this month's chinese spy balloon drama is putting renewed focus on that country's espionage operations not in the sky, but also online. >> a new report is revealing just how large and widespread china's cyberhacking programs are. let's bring in nbc news justice correspondent.

this dives into what chinese hackers are doing in cyberspace. what did it find? >> it found that chinese hackers are everywhere. they've hacked 39 industries on nearly every continent according to this report by crowdstrike. they've been tracking these hacking groups for more than a decade. they give them cute names like with panda in the title for china or bear or russia, linked groups, and what they found is that, look, china, like the united states, hacks for espionage purposes to collect national security information. that's kind of an accepted practice. but they also do this other thing, they hack american and western corporations to steal trade secrets. and one former top intelligence official a few years ago called that the greatest transfer of wealth in history because it's a theft of intellectual property developed by americans, europeans, that goes to china and helps china in their quest to become the dominant world power. and even though cybersecurity is

continually improving and the biden administration is trying to make that happen, it always seems like the hackers are staying one step ahead of the defenses. >> it sure does. so what is being done to limit some of the hacking in the u.s.? >> the biden administration has tried to be aggressive on this and they issued an executive order at the beginning of the administration to try to shore up federal cybersecurity. but one thing the u.s. government has tried for years but failed to do is adopt any kind of basic cybersecurity regulations that all companies have to follow. there was a debate in the senate a few years ago to try to do that. it failed because companies resist the government telling them how to shore up computer systems. but these hacks go on, we don't hear about them, companies don't have to disclose, we don't know the impact and there aren't rules for cyberhygiene so it's a big problem. >> thank you. coming up, what the head of the environmental protection agency is promising people in

ohio today, nearly a month after that toxic train derailment in their community. stay with us. you're watching "nbc news daily." i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪things are getting clearer.♪ ♪i feel free to bare my skin yeah, that's all me♪ ♪nothing and me go hand in hand♪ ♪nothing on my skin♪ ♪that's my new plan♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ achieve clearer skin with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. in another study, most people had 90% clearer skin, even at 4 years. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪i see nothing in a different way♪ ♪it's my moment so i just gotta say♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur.

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winds. kari hall has more on what to expect. >> we are seeing quite a bit of some rain. we have already measured in much of the bay area from 0.10 inch to 0.5 inch of rain and it's still coming down in spots as we're still seeing the heaviest rain farther to the south, it's getting lighter for the north bay and it's also becoming a lot more spotty. but it is pouring over san jose right now as it continues to move on off towards the south and east and we're also going to see some breaks as we go into the rest of today as also still some waves of rain and the potential of thunderstorms will continue for us as well as small hail and grapple. we are also going to see snow above 2,500 feet later on tonight and once all of this clears out, it's going to be cold tomorrow morning dipping down into the 30s inland. so let's go hour by hour. we are going to have waves of rain coming through. at 3:30 this afternoon it's right over san francisco and

parts of the east bay. all other areas are not seeing the rain at that time, but i think we will all continue to see it off and on into tonight and then additional snowfall on those hills and mountains around the bay area. clearing out tomorrow. a look at the rest of the forecast. it's going to be chilly and it is going to be so nice to get some sunshine, but rain returns this weekend. janelle. >> okay. that sun will feel good. thank you so much, carrie. what day to be under underer an vaccine no situation order in daly city because of a gas leak. >> reporter: it's about 12 hours but pg&e finally was able to cap off two parts of a north county fire crews were watching over pg&e crews as they were digging up concrete around that ruptured gas line so they could cap it two ends before turning the t gas off. the homes are on gellert boulevard near king in daly

city. the ruptured reported before 11:00 last night after people heard explosions down the street. another resident said their electrical box blew up. pg&e addressing a second gas leak there. the battalion chief said they had to let the fire bern even if neighbors were rattled by what they saw and heard. the chief says it is a six inch gas line north/south on gellert avenue. once pg&e is able to repair all of this folks will get their utilities back. about a four-block radius was impacted by evacuations and shelter-in-place orders and we have a lot of neighbors here coming up and asking how soon they will have gas back because it is a very cold day to be without. in daily city, chris sanchez, nbc bay area news. the california state of emergency for covid is now over. it's been three years since the governor declared a public state of emergency. that gave his administration the power to issue mandates and use state funds to fight the virus.

after today some things are going to change. if you want a vaccine or booster you have to go through your doctor or a pharmacy. no more mass vaccination sites. that could many a co-pay for you now. if get sick from covid you may see a change in now how hospitals bill for your care. after march cal fresh benefits will no longer include an emergency allotment. the federal state of emergency is still in effect at least to may and we will see more changes then, too, as well. and here is some other stories you need to know about at this hour. santa clara county is considering a measure making it easy for people to surrender unwanted guns. a show of support for mayor sheng thao. first, berkeley is extending the eviction moratorium even though the covid state of emergency is over. city leaders extended that covid era ordinance last night. similar protections are in jeopardy as the state of emergency ends today. the property owners argued some tenants were taking advantage of

the policy. now the moratorium continues to may 1. then a modified version will be in effect through august. and happening now in oakland a show of support for mayor sheng thao. the oakland chinatown improvement council organized the rally after the mayor faced criticism over the former police chief after a report accused armstrong of mishandling cases of officer misconduct. and supervisors in santa clara county are looking into a measure that takes guns off the streets. supporters say about 700 firearms were turned in as two such events last year. for the latest news go to our website nbcbayarea.com. that does it for this edition of the fast forward. i will be back in 30 minutes. my a1c stayed here, it needed to be here. ray's a1c is down with rybelsus®. i'm down with rybelsus®. my a1c is down with rybelsus®. in a clinical study, once-daily rybelsus®

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bottom of the hour. here are some of the stories making headlines on "nbc news daily." >> three crew members from the film "rust" have filed a new lawsuit against alec baldwin and the movie's producers. they allege they now have anxiety and ptsd symptoms following the accidental shooting death of halyna hutchins. the ex-husband and former inlaws of a hong kong model have been arrested and charged in connection with her death. 28-year-old abby choi went missing on february 21st.

three days later police found parts of her body in a refrigerator. her ex-husband, along with three of his relatives, have been placed into custody without bail. choi reportedly had ongoing financial disputes with them. jeremy renner is giving us an update. the caption read, whatever it takes. renner broke more than 30 bones when he was run over by a snowplow near his home in nevada. the leader of the environmental protection agency is back in east palestine, ohio, today. it is his third trip to the site of the toxic train derailment. some residents have been diagnosed with bronchitis and other health conditions since the crash, and doctors suspect the hazardous chemicals onboard the train could be responsible for that. let's go to nbc news correspondent george solis in east palestine today. you got a chance to speak with

the administrator of the epa. what is he telling you about how much longer the cleanup could take? >> reporter: good afternoon, kate. they're saying they don't have a definitive timeline but they're working as fast as they can to ensure that norfolk southern presents them with a plan and gives them a timeline as tomu wn they could move contaminated soil out of the area. they're excavating the soil at the cleanup site. cleanup efforts are still ongoing. the head of the epa saying they want to make sure norfolk southern is held accountable. he's expressed that and today he opened an epa welcome center in town to further help address residents' concerns, be it about their water, air quality or about the soil. he went today to a local business, even a high school to take questions from students who are wondering about the future of their community. i had a one-on-one with him. take a listen to what he told me. >> i was on derailment site

earlier. i wanted to see for myself. we have a level of efficiency we're requiring of the company. i'm satisfied with the movement that i'm seeing. i want this to go as quickly as possible. but also as safely as possible for the community. we are here to stay and we're not leaving until the job is done. this community does not have to go through this journey alone. they have a partner in me and they have a partner in epa. >> reporter: kate, the other thing i pressed him on is some of the disposal of some material which has raised concern across state lines. the head of the epa telling me every site they have looked at has been vetted and they are able to take some of the contaminated dirt and water from the site. >> there's been calls on capitol hill for accountability. we just learned the ceo of the train company has been invited to testify. tell us about that. >> reporter: yeah, this is developing news. the senate environment and public works community inviting

norfolk southern and its ceo to come before them and testify. this is of course mounting pressure on the company and we expect more of these type of hearings to be announced in the coming weeks, if not years, about this derailment. at this time no word if norfolk southern or alan shah will attend. >> george solis in ohio, thank you. there are finally some answers today in a nearly 30-year-old cold case. california detectives say they've identified the remains of a woman who was found in a refrigerator. maya, detectives say they've not been able to identify or not being able to identify this woman has haunted them for years. what do we know about who she is and what are we learning about her life? >> the woman has been identified as amanda daza and investigators believe she was 29 years old when she disappeared in 1994. her remains were found a year later in a discarded refrigerator floating in a canal east of the san francisco bay area. officials say her identity was

discovered through dna mapping. new technology was used to extract hundreds of thousands of genetic markers from dna evidence. instead of the usual 20 used by law enforcement. officials were able to track down amanda lynn's mother and daughter. >> we've spoken to several family members and they are grateful that we've identified, but they're cautious. you know, they were obviously shocked by the news, but they, too, are hopeful that we can get some type of resolution for them. >> reporter: the sheriff's office says amanda lynn had not been reported missing when her remains were found. skaven jers were looking for things to recycle. a $10,000 reward is on the table for information that leads to an arrest. >> to that end, what are the next steps to finally solve this cold case?

>> investigators believe their best shot at solving this case is reconstructing amanda lynn's last days, most likely in the late summer or fall of '94. they hope that this will help find former friends and possible witnesses with the goal of finding whoever is responsible, aaron. >> give this family some closer. maya, thank you. police in new york city are warning people to be on the lookout for a group of thieves who have been seen stealing air pods right out of people's ears. the crime stopper unit released footage of the thieves using mopeds to steal the air pod max air phones. victims can't hear them approaching since these $500 ear buds are noise canceling. in a memo, they told students to turn out of the noise cancellation feature on campus. >> you've got to keep your eyes open. you can turn the noise canceling off. >> police say no injuries have been linked to the thefts, which

have been reportedly happening since the end of january. florida governor ron desantis has not officially announced a 2024 white house run, but the republican has just released a new book highlighting his conservative record in florida and now he's going on a nationwide speaking tour to promote the book. ali vitali joins us. it feels like a way to build momentum for an official 2024 bid. if he decides to run, do we know when and do we know that's going to happen? >> reporter: probably not until this summer, kate, if it happens at all. that's according to my conversations with sources in the florida governor's orbit. look, when he's talking about florida as a blueprint, what do you do with a blueprint but build off of it? and it's clear that he has at least some national aspirations, as he's planning to take the show kind of on the road. we've already seen him in states like new york and in the coming weeks his book tour, which also seems to be sort of serving just as an unofficial canvas of the united states, will take him to

closed-door republican party dinners in texas and alabama. he's going to be doing a big speech at the reagan library in california. my sources tell me they're considering potential stops in iowa and new hampshire, south carolina, nevada. those are states that really raise people's eyebrows, especially if you're in the presidential conversation, all this does is just continue to stoke that speculation. >> all those early voting states, maybe not an accident. >> reporter: yeah. >> if he does get in the race, he's been seen as a strong contender by analysts to former president trump for the republican nomination. any sense what that matchup might look like? >> reporter: it's going to be tough, especially when you look at the polling, we've seen a few new polls in recent days and they bear out that trump is polling ahead of desantis, but desantis is really the only one coming within striking distance of the former president. now, the other people in that poll include people like nikki haley, who is the former u.n.

ambassador from the trump administration, she's officially in the field. so the former vice president mike pence, when you look at those polls, he's clearly mulling a bit himself. but many of the strategists that i talked to, they look at this race, at least right now, it's a theoretical two-man race. >> we're getting ahead of ourselves flt ali vitali, thank you. it is election day in chicago. polls are open right now. voters are deciding a hotly contested race for the mayor's office. incumbent mayor lori lightfoot is facing eight challengers nearly four years after she carried all 50 wards in the general election. nbc news correspondent is live outside a polling site. marissa, talk to us about this race. what are some of the big issues that voters are considering when they're casting their ballots today. >> reporter: aaron, we've had a chance to speak to a number of voters as they were leaving the polling site, and what we have

found, just boots on the ground talking to people, lined up with what we were seeing with independent issue polls. the number one leading voting issue that people have is crime. take a listen. >> honestly, just making sure our kids are safe. making sure that we have programming, making sure that we have after-school programs, making sure that they can go to school safely. keeping the violence down in chicago. >> what's the number one issue for you as a chicagoan? >> crime, for sure. >> reporter: now, of course, how to go about tackling crime, who they think the best person is to do that, that's of course where the road starts to splinter. the road is splintered nine different ways, and i think one of the most interesting parts of today, aaron, is it is not a high confidence among the chicago voters, there is not high confidence that even mayor lori lightfoot will be in what will inevitably be a runoff race

in april, to see who will be the mayor. >> voters are going to tackle one of the crime reform issues. they're voting for members of the new police district councils that are set up in chicago, one of the reforms put in place after years of protests about police misconduct. what is the board going to do exactly? >> reporter: this is a brand new thing and advocates have been pushing for this for decades. you have 22 chicago police districts, each of those districts will be made up of a three-person council. the idea being that they'll be getting community input, relaying that to the chicago police department to get a sense of how the community is feeling on things like police budgets, and even having a role in picking the next superintendent. back to you. >> marissa parra in chicago, thank you. thank you. more news ahead.

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in today's daily health, new technology that could save the lives of heart transplant recipients. nbc news mellow fellow shows us how it works. first a heads-up, some of the video is hard to watch. >> reporter: john was dying, his only hope, a heart transplant. without one, his doctors at northwestern medicine only gave

him weeks to months to live. >> he was barely able to walk across the room. he was shortness of breath lying in bed. other organs were starting to fail as well. >> reporter: john became one of the nearly 3,500 patients on the heart transplant list with wait times that can last up to sick months. but doctors at northwestern are at the forefront of a cutting-edge innovation that might be able to save john's life. it's called transmedics organ system heart, also known as heart in a box. it keeps a donor heart beating outside of the body for up to 12 hours by giving the heart warm blood and nutrients. >> it's the biggest advancement since the '60s and '70s. >> heart transplant would typically last four hours. the extra time means medical teams can travel further than before to get a donor heart. doctors estimate the device is make up to 30% more hearts available for transplant. after five long weeks in the hospital, john was in danger of

losing hope, to one day dance again with his wife. >> i can only get through half of johnny b. good now. i want to see if i can get through the whole song again. >> can i come in? >> of course. >> reporter: time is running out. until his doctors got a call for a donor heart that would have typically been out of reach. thanks to heart in a box, it was go time. >> if everything goes smoothly, we're expecting four to six hours of surgery. >> everything went well. we've got the heart on the machine, monitoring the flow and the blood pressure, as well as the rates of the medications that the machine is giving to the heart. everything looks quite good right now, very happy. >> reporter: the heart, wheeled into the operating room, beating in a box, and three hours later that same heart beating in john. >> hello, it's dr. pham.

we finished. we got a great heart for him. >> what's the most gratifying part? >> i would have to say seeing our patients go home, enjoying time with their families and enjoying their lives again. >> reporter: john already achieving his post-surgery dreams with a lot of heart. >> nearly 2 million americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year. early detection can save lives and there's hope that robots can help. here is nbc's dana griffin. >> reporter: inside this los angeles county operating room called city of hope, hope is exactly what they're trying to give patients with lung cancer. this comprehensive cancer center is one of the first on the west coast to perform a robotic bronchoscopy. here is how it works. thoracic surgery chief dr. kim threads a long flexible camera that can navigate through the

tiniest branchs of the airway. >> it's telling me how far i am from the tumor. >> reporter: looking for the elusive cancer cells, hard to detect on normal scans. within minutes, this less invasive procedure can biopsy tissue later tested for cancer, putting patients closer to treatment to destroy the disease. the stats are sobering. more people in the u.s. die from lung cancer than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. >> what should people know about lung cancer? >> there's a stigma. so when you hear someone has lung cancer, often the question is, well, did they smoke. just because someone smoked doesn't mean that they deserve to get lung cancer. but also there's so many people who get lung cancer who have never smoked. >> reporter: for women diagnosed with lung cancer, the doctor says 20% have never smoked and it's more likely to develop in african american women like this 55-year-old. >> lung cancer is serious and i

didn't know i had it. >> reporter: she's a mother who has worked for american airlines for years, lugging pounds of baggage. her 2021 diagnosis, her heaviest load yet. >> i had an ongoing cough that just would not go away. and a very close friend of mine said, get dressed, i'm coming to pick you up and take you to the er. i'm glad she did, because they did an x-ray and they saw a spot. >> she saved your life. >> when you put it that way, she did, because the doctors said in my case they caught it early and normally it doesn't get detected until it's, like, stage 4. >> reporter: with the help of dr. kim and city of hope, her cancer was detected early and now she's cancer-free. >> if you look at cancers that are detected with lung cancer screening, over 90% of them are cured. >> there's hope there? >> absolutely. >> now she holds onto this hospital teddy bear she got when

she went through treatment, a reminder that prevention can be the new cure. >> what's your message to someone who may have a cough like yours? >> please just take the time out to go get checked. it will save your life, trust it will save your life, trust me. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin. and, they felt dramatic and fast itch relief some as early as 2 days. that's rinvoq relief. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers including lymphoma and skin cancer, death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least one heart disease

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tomorrow. our meteorologist for our extended forecast. >> and we have seen our mobile doppler radar storm ranger working hard on top of san bruno mountain. a live look right now. showers pushing through but so far most of the bay area has seen less than an inch, higher totals in the peak mountains, the interior, 0.5 inch in fremont and san rafael and santa rosa. storm ranger is is scanning heavier spots through santa rosa, clearlake, pushing this down a little bit further to the south bay rain in milpitas, sunnyvale, san jose along highway 101. so far we can expect to keep this rain pretty much through the evening hours and because it is a colder system up through parts of the north bay and the santa clara mountains we do still have wintry conditions expected and a lot of those advisories in place through tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. the rain is expected to continue today. we get winds 1520 plus miles per hour.

we will get breaks right around now and 3:00 bus there is a chance to see thunderstorms, rain, grapple because of that cold air system. once the system makes an exit we get lots of sunshine but that leaves behind a lot of cold nights heading into wednesday, thursday and friday. that's our break from the rain and notice on saturday and sunday we do see the return of another system, this one also looks like a cold system that's gonna bring with it not only rain but also the chance of more snow not only to the sierra but higher elevation mountains. >> thank you so much. our free nbc bay area app is handy to sister. get custom forecasts sent to your smartphone. also alerts when the rain is headed your way. headed your way. and we will be ♪ ♪ ♪

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more flooding and that would mean more concerns, more on helping you prevent a mold outbreak. >> mold is nothing to brush off. when it's left unchecked the insurance information institute says mold is destructive to your home and possessions and worse the damage it causes generally isn't covered by homeowners insurance. specifically floods. the best advise we found is to take two immediate steps after a flood. disinfect and dry out asap. hears why. fema says mold growths can form on a damp surface within 24 to 48 hours. to prevent rapid and possibly destructive mold you have got to thoroughly clean all hard surfaces such as flooring, moulding, wood and metal furniture, countertops and sinks with water and dish detergent. here is a cdc shopping list, bucket, brush, soap, also safety

tools like gloves, goggles and a mask. they are especially important if you see signs mold is already growing, don't touch it or breathe near it. after a flood the environmental protection agency says proper drying is essential. turn on exhaust fans, bring in box fans, consider using a dehumidifier. it's best to keep your home's home depot between 30 and 60%. the government says full drying can take days or weeks. remember could be preventing a mold outbreak that could destroy your home. good luck. >> good tips. that does it for this edition of the fast forward. again, stormranger scanning the bay area. live on top of san bruno mountain. mountain. gee i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪♪ with skyrizi, most people who achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months... had lasting clearance through 1 year.

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today on "access daily," joining us in studio, sofia -- >> "access daily" starts right now. >> welcome to "access daily" from universal studios hollywood. i'm kit hoover with mario lopez. i am dressed forward. you are not. spring is almost here. >> this is my navy, my light navy. i'm ready for spring. >> you are ready. speaking of spring, we've got great tv on the way. first up, it's the return of "yellow jackets," nominated for seven emmys last year, including outstanding drama. season two is here. here's a cathdchup.ss2501