a stunning political showdown in tennessee, republican lawmakers expelling democratic colleagues after a protest over gun restrictions on the chamber's floor. president biden blasting the move a bombshell report about

clarence thomas. the supreme court justice in the hot seat for accepting luxury trips from a republican mega donor. why it's raising new ethics concerns plus the surprising new way to tackle the mental health crisis turning teens into first responders and michael j. fox pulls back the curtain about his bat with parkinson's after being diagnosed at 29. it's friday, april 7, "early today" starts right now. and a good morning to you. i'm cori coffin. >> i'm phillip mena. we begin this morning with what some would say is the calm after the storm after the severe weather with threat subsides over the mid atlantic. it left over 3 million under flood alerts in the southeast as heavy rain is expected from east texas to alabama rainfall rates in mississippi could reach up to two inches per hour with four to five inches total expected this comes after deadly storms and tornados tore throughout

midwest earlier this week. a senior member of the supreme court is receiving renewed scrutiny following a major report on the years of expensive gifts that he received from a major republican donor. for more on all this we go to brie jackson in washington good morning to you. outline for us what as's in thee reporting. >> reporter: there is new attention being brought to the conduct supreme court justice clarence thomas, on thursd, a report from pro publica revealed that for over two decades, justice thomas has been the recipient of lavish trips and vacations funded by businessman harlan crow. nbc news has not independently confirmed this reporting according to the article these trips were not disclosed by thomas this report has raised questions about thomas' ethics several ethics law experts told pro publica that a law passed after watergate would have required thomas to disclose these significant gifts.

crow, who's known as a republican mega donor met thomas after he was appointed to the supreme court in 1991. crow said in a statement he has never discussed pending legal cases with justice thomas. now these revelations have also prompted renewed calls from lawmakers for accountability on thomas as well as the supreme court as a whole last yeaomas was the subject of criticism after he close to not recuse himself from cases about the 2020 presidential election that were brought before the court, even after it was revealed that hessis wife gn thomas was involved inefforts to overturn the results. democratic congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez on twits are thursday called for the impeachment of thomas and called the degree of corruption described in the pro publica report as almost cartoonish.

meanwhile, dick durbin called for holding supreme court justices to an enforceable code of conduct and says his committee will act on this issue. but with republicans in control of the house, any potential investigations into thomas seem like they will stall in congress cori >> yeah, it could drag on for months looks like this is just beginning. thank you for your reporting now to the stunning developments at the tennessee state capital. the republican majority in the state house seeking the expulsion of three democratic members after they participated in a gun safety protest. the two members who were ultimately expelled, justin jones and justin pearson are both black the effort to expel gloria johnson, who's white, failed by a single vote. our priscilla thompson is in nashville. >> reporter: outrage in nashville. in reaction to republican-led efforts to expel three democratic lawmakers from the

state legislature. >> i declare justin jones of the 57th representative district expelled from the house of representatives of the 113th assembly of the state of tennessee. >> reporter: the three democrats in question, state representatives justin jones, gloria johnson and justin pearson were accused of disorderly behavior following their participation in a demonstration on the house floor last week. >> we need action! we need action >> reporter: they joined advocates calling for stricter gun safety measures following the mass shooting at the nashville private school that left six people dead on march 27 their chants with the bull horn from the podium in the house well led to the showdown >> we called for you all to ban assault weapons. and you respond with an assault on democracy >> reporter: while tennessee's constitution allows for any member of the state legislature to be expelled with a two-thirds vote, it has only happened three times before demonstrators filled the halls of the state capital

but arguments from democrats did little to sway the republican super majority >> this does not seem like america. this is a signal of authoritarianism and it is very dangerous. >> reporter: the republican speaker of the house says the actions were about the rules >> they did break rules by going to the well and showing that they were at the well, they were speaking, they pulled out a bull horn and rolled out of order before there was a recess. >> reporter: but protesters here told us they felt the vote was a distraction from the urgent issue of gun violence. >> what's happening in tennessee right now is abhorrent, and our legislators are not listening to what we are saying >> reporter: and as for what happens next, the counties can appoint interim representatives until a special election is scheduled, which is something that the governor will be required to do and once that special election is upon us, all of these expelled lawmakers will have the

opportunity to run again if they choose and they could potentially be reelected. back to you. >> all right, priscilla, thank you. if and when he runs for reelection, president biden will face an unexpected challenger. attorney robert f. kennedy jr. has filed a statement of candidacy with the infect. he's the son of robert kennedy, jfk's brother who was assassinated during his run for president. president biden is widely expected to seek reelection, but the only other democrat to anno marianne williamson. turning to the middle east where tensions are rising. israel has launched a series of airstrikes in lebanon on the gaza strip it says it's targeting spots

like tunnels they say hamas was responsible for a round of rockets fired from lebanon into northern israel earlier thursday. this marks the largest conflict between israel and lebanon since 2006 french president macron is urging his chinese counterpart to use his clout for good by negotiating peace with vladimir putin. china has put forth a 12-step peace program for ukraine but haslargely been rejected by th west and kyiv. what are they ultimately hoping to achieve here? >> reporter: good morning, cory, macron is officially there in beijing to try to bolster trade ties between china andfrance but at the same time, he's trying to convince xi jinping to act as a peace broker in the war in ukraine, during their first joint press conference on

thursday, president macron asked xi jinping to bring russia back to reason and bring everyone back to the negotiating, negotiating table, but xi jinping kind of maintained his neutral take on the war in ukraine. china has assumed since the start of the invasion by saying more generic things like china and france have the ability and responsibility to safeguard world peace and has called for the whole of the international community to show restraint. but at least he said that china is ready to join france, to issue a joint call for negotiations to resume as soon as possible. now the two leaders are expected to meet and hold one last private dinner together of the one last chance for president macron to ask xi jinping to bring russia back to its senses as he said yesterday cori, phillip? >> claudio, thank you. a special grand jury will

meet monday in akron, ohio to determine whether charges will be filed against eight police officers who fatally shot jayland walker, a 25-year-old black black man, unarmed and hit with 40 bullets last summer the grand jury's work will be conducted in secret, unlike a trial jury the special panel will listen to evidence and vote on whether to bring formal charges we are in for another round of rain. nbc meteorologist michelle grossmann is tracking that downpour for us. good morning >> happy friday. yeah it's going to be a wet start for many in the gulf coast into the southeast. that's going to last a couple days we have a frontal boundary draped over the area showers and storms along the front. we do have a flood watch where you see the green and a warning in the red that frontal boundary draped here bringing in the gulf moisture

you could see lightning, too where you see those brighter colors, that's where we're seeing the heaviest rain falling. you'll need the rain gear today. there's that nearly-stalled front moving to the south and east prompting showers and storms, mainly heavy rain across th90s in parts of florida and showers for new orleans. mobile and montgomery. all right, guys, we made it to the weekend almost we're going to take a look at that forecast in just a bit. >> we'll check this. a lot of people have weekend holiday plans. we're back in just a minute as new numbers suggest a hiring cool down on the job front but first how w students are lending g a helping g hand lendining a helpining hand a be .

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teenagers who see their peers struggling with their mental well-being can now turn it a new program teaching them to be first responders when dealing with a mental health crisis nbc spoke to a couple students involved >> reporter: jamie gore plan and kayla o'rourke are juniors they are trying to find a balance between sports, honors classes and prepping for college. >> i've notice add ld a lot wit friends that school has had a very big impact on mental health >> reporter: it's a big responsibility which kayla says can be extremely hard to handle. >> you don't have time for yourself that was probably when my mental health was struggling the most >> reporter: they took a training program during their sophomore year it's a course run by the national council for mental well-being that teaches students how to spot the warning signs of a mental health crisis >> what we saw was an

opportunity to support our young people with the information they need and the skills they need. to have talking about mental health not be such a challenge they're turning to their friends for support. but we want those friends to be equipped with the right information to know that they can do something and not feel alone. >> reporter: mental health trends in teens have worsened over the last decade with over 40% of teens reportedly feeling persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, according to the cdc and more than 20% of students seriously considered attempting suicide. the program is actively working to combat those numbers. >> the goal is that they use those skills to support either themselves or to support someone they care about. >> reporter: student hostage the courstudents are to look for friends in need and connect with an adult. >> if you notice a friend not

showing up to practice and failing tests realize these are the signs i should be looking out for. >> what's one thing that stuck out to you from the training >> how to deal with someone who could be considering suicide i never knew what you were supposed to say to someone, oh, are you thinking about killing yourself you don't want to try to avoid the question could you be saving their life, potentially. >> reporter: they say the program has helped them learn to manage their own stress. >> i've definitely found this year compared to last year i'm in a much more improved headspace. >> reporter: what does the future look like when more people have access to this training >> we want to make mental health first aid as common as cpr when people feel connected they will feel that they know that someone in their circle has the skills to get them to that next step >> reporter: nbc news. new data from the department of labor is painting signs of a slower job market. the figures published on

thursday show unemployment claims in the u.s. rose to 228,000 for the first week, for the week ending april 1 ma the number is still higher than the 2019 average of 218,000 claims today's release of the march jobs report is expected to provide more clarity on the state of the hiring market in a solar system far, far away astronomers have stumbled upon a never-before-seen black hole they discovered the oddity after images were accidently discovered by the hubble telescope. scientists say this one actually creates stars instead of swallowing them. the space agency says it's leaving behind a 100,000 lightyear trail of new stars and was likely formed millions of years ago. >> i want to watch the movie that comes out of this new discovery. >> it is incredible. it flies in the face of everything we've known about what a black hole is and does.

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♪ ♪ >> to deny that part of me that wants to continue to go on and do things is to quit >> i won't accept that >> michael j. fox is coming back to the future with a return to the big screen and that was our first look at the legendary actor's upcoming docum documentary that follows his life and career while battling parkinson's disease and will be on apple tv.

he was so famous in the mid '80s, top of it show and "back to the future. >> i can't say enough about him. that's documentary we've needed. in today's news by the numbers, the housing crisis, the good, the bad and the truth. the u.s. homeless population jumped 25% since 2017. >> only about 181,000 emergency shelter beds with available for an estimated 421,000 home husband people nationwide. as of january 2022 >> and the truth is baby boomers secured the largest share of the housing market last year they grabbed up 39% of all homes. millennials saw the market share drop from 43% to 28% >> and the good. a study from the urban institute estimates by the year 2040, 70% of new homeowners will be from the hispanic community >> also the good, almost the

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pilots staying there nbc boston tells us more >> security calling in saying 45 minutes ago, two delta pilots had people claiming to be fbi agents barge into their room and handcuff them to the bathroom. >> reporter: this is chatter on boston police radio as officers responded to the revere hotel just after midnight upon wednesday. it was where a military training exercise was allegedly taking place by a team of special operations army soldiers assisted by fbi agents who a few hours earlier were given information and ended up knocking on the wrong hotel room door inside, two guests who sources say were pilots for delta airline, one of them placed in handcuffs in the bathroom after being questioned, with agents believing it was an actor. but it was all a misunderstanding in response to the blunder, the u.s. army special operations command said that the safety of civilians in the vicinity of our training is always our number one concern.

we're reviewing this serious incident with our partners the federal agencies working on what the army said was essential military training in boston that isis meant to enhance soldiers' skills to operate in unfamiliar environments, but certainly not one that should have involved innocent guests at a hotel >> that is pretty alarming i would hate for it to happen to me i'm sure mistakes like this do happen, but it's pretty scary. >> our thanks to oscar for that report certainly is scary >> mistakes like that shouldn't happen i don't remember a time when room service even gets it wrong. you got the united states army and the fbi on this. >> a federal operation, why is it happening in civilian places. >> and for the two pilots, too starbucks customers are espressoing themselves with a latte of complaints. the problem is the olive oil drinks some complimented the addition

other people shared their issues with stomach problems. they're calling those drinks laxatives. starbucks unveiled the line in february the company has not responded to nbc news' request for comment. but, you know, i always thought that regular coffee can be a laxative some people like to drink it because the taste and the caffeine but the olive oil edition, can't speak to that. >> i need to understand more about this i know it was inspiration from italy there, maybe just a tiny bit? i don't know >> well, good luck with those stomac

right now at 4:30, violence on the streets of san francisco. community members are pushing for more safety measures, after the death of a top tech executive, and now we're learning about another high profile attack on a former san francisco fire commissioner. >> plus,