the surprising new numbers on the southern border the first week end since title 42 was

lifted guns in america, the growing divide over assault weapons despite the rise in mass shootings in the country. providing critical maternal care for mothers of color, how one group is saving lives in and out of the delivery room. blasting off into the final frontier, one woman was getting a once in a lifetime opportuniny to heaead to space strap in, it's monday, may 15th. "early today" starts right now and good morning to you, i'm jessica layton. >> and i'm frances rivera. it is a critical week for the white house. title 42 has ended and a potential debt default inching closer as the 2024 election begins to take shape president biden heads overseas to japan on wednesday for the g7 summit nbc's chris pollone is in washington, d.c. with more chris, good morning. let's get started with the debt ceiling negotiations how might the president's travel impact these negotiations? >> reporter: frances, jessica, good morning the president says not at all.

speaking with reporters in delaware yesterday the president said he still plans to go to the g7 summit in asia on wednesday, aides negotiated over the weekend with congressional republican leaders to try to hammer out a deal on the debt ceiling. obviously the warning from treasury is that if a deal is not reached by june 1st it could be catastrophic for the u.s. government the two sides are negotiating over basically republicans are asking for budget cuts and the white house wants a clean debt limit increase yesterday the president said that he believes there will be a meeting with those congressional leaders possibly tuesday and he is projecting confidence >> i've learned a long time ago and you know as well as i do it never is good to characterize negotiations during a negotiation. i remain optimistic because i'm an optimist, but i really think there is a desire on their part as well as ours to reach an agreement. i think we will be able to do

it. >> reporter: as i said, over the weekend aides for both congressional republicans and the white house met to kind of hammer out the beginning part of this deal, maybe both sides will be able to bring it home on tuesday when they meet. >> chris, this is all unfolding with a backdrop of the 2024 presidential election. so how does that impact these negotiations >> reporter: so politics hangs over everything, right obviously neither side wants to own a default, it could be catastrophic for the u.s. economy. neither side wants to own that if it does get to that dire point. both sides want some sort of win they can point to, again, republicans are looking for some sort of budget cuts going forward. the president may in some ways agree to some of those in order to get this debt limit increase. the president and democrats probably want to push off the next debt ceiling vote for about two years, otherwise -- in other words, after the 20 this election, frances. >> chris, thank you. well, the city of buffalo on

sunday marked the one-year anniversary of that mass shooting at a tops supermarket the racially-motivated massacre left ten people dead and wounded three others back in february the shooter was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to murder and other charges. the families of many of the victims who spent the last year pushing for the u.s. to enact stricter gun laws. in a "usa today" op-ed on sunday president biden honored the victims and called on both the federal and local governments to pass an assault weapons ban. last year's buffalo shooting is one of the many incidents of gun violence in america involved an ar-15 sault rifle. according to an nbc news analysis of data, 12 of the deadliest mass shootings in the u.s. since 2006 featured the use of an ar-15-style we willen. while ten states in the u.s. as well as d.c. enacted bans on

semi-automatic rifles, despite the recent spate of mass shootings in the u.s. public opinion on assault weapons bans remains evenly split an abc news "washington post" survey from february found that support for such bans slightly dropped. let's turn to the southern border where crossings have plummeted since the end of title 42 the department of homeland security says the number of migrants stopped by border patrol has fallen by about 50% since the covid era restrictions were lifted. some migrants in el paso told nbc news that rumors spread quickly that the best time to arrive was before title 42 expired. now asylum seekers must make appointments on an app before entering and those that cross illegally could face criminal charges and be banned for five years. president biden on sunday called for more help from congress. >> how are things going at the border, sir? >> much better than y'all expected >> are you confident that the

numbers have peaked, that they will continue to go down >> they have gone down, my hope is that they will continue to go down we have a lot more work to do and we need some more help from the congress as well. >> the rush of people who arrived last week is straining cities like new york where the roosevelt hotel in midtown, manhattan, is being reopened as an emergency shelter. florida governor ron desantis stepped into a trump-shaped void in the hawkeye state. the likely 2024 republican contender spent the weekend traveling through iowa, that's the first state in the gop primary. this came after former president trump canceled his appearances due to the threat of some severe weather. nbc's alley ie rafa has more. >> reporter: the signs this weekend said desantis 2024. >> we must reject the culture of losing that has affected our party in recent years. >> reporter: the florida governor ramped up his veiled attacks on the gop's front runner former president rump.

>> the time for excuses is over. >> reporter: desantis even taking advantage of mr. trump having to cancel a saturday night rally in des moines due to weather. >> thank you all for coming out. >> reporter: making a surprise visit there himself. >> i think florida and iowa is a source of hope we're going to have a chance pretty soon to make sure that's done in every state in this country. >> reporter: desantis, however, has still not declared but nbc news has learned he will have to soon his political staff set to move into a new base of operations monday according to two sources. a move that will cost enough money to trigger disclosure requirements and the need to file candidacy paperwork with federal election officials within 15 days this weekend his super pac rolled out endorsements from 37 iowa state legislators the former president countering that by announcing the support of 150 iowa elected officials. >> we will make america great again. >> reporter: kept from the gop's key early state by the weather mr. trump called into a far

right conference at his south florida hotel hosted by his former national security adviser michael flynn whom he filed early in his administration for lying to the fbi. >> general flynn is so general, he is a man, he took abuse like nobody could have handled. >> reporter: the f former president vowing to bring flynn back into his administration if reelected. >> we're going to bring you back >> reporter: the latest primary polls show the former president leading desantis in iowa by nearly 20 percentage points, but gop activists in the state insist there's still room for someone other than mr. trump >> thank you abortion continues to be a major issue in the 2024 presidential race. gop candidates nikki haley is breaking away from some of her fellow republicans' stance on the issue. senator tim scott who is exploring running for president next year has recently endorsed a federal 20-week abortion ban haley was asked about this on cbs face the nation and declined to endorse a federal ban saying

it was unrealistic when a senate filibuster would likely stand in the way of passing it. >> why not talk about the fact that we should be trying to save as many babies as possible and support as many mothers as possible i think the media has tried to divide them by saying we have to decide certain weeks in states, yes at the federal level it's not realistic, it's not being honest with the american people. >> republican presidential candidates have struggled to find consensus on abortion. the people of turkey on sunday went to the polls to cast their vote for president but with the winner yet to be declared the country might go back to the ballot box sooner rather than later. for more on this we go to claudio lavango in rome. where do things stand after the big election day >> reporter: good morning. with 99% of the votes counted now it doesn't look like that any other candidates reached that 50% threshold needed to win the presidential elections

outright on the first round so the two main contenders will have to face a runoff on may 28th they are the apparent president of turkey, erdogan who has ruled over turkey for the past 20 years first as a prime minister and then as a president, becoming more and more authoritarian, especially after the 2016 failed coup attempt which led to a crack down on the opposition on free speech, and the other rival is the leader of the opposition who promises or pledges to bring democracy back to turkey and to repair the economy which has been battered by high inflation and devaluation. >> so incredibly close we know that president erdogan has been in power for more than two decades in turkey. why at this point in time is he seen as vulnerable in this race? >> reporter: there are thee main

factors that may keep erdogan from being confirmed as president. one is the young people's votes who may want change after 20 years of growing up with the same leader, also the high inflation which has led to a rising living costs and the third is the criticism that erdogan faced as a leader after the aftermath of the earthquake in february which killed more than 50,000 people on the border with syria he was heavily criticized for his delayed response in the aftermath of that earthquake. >> claudio, thank you this morning for that report. a stormy monday ahead. nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking those storms good morning, michelle what parts are we talking about? >> we are talking about the south. we will see continued moderate to heavy rainfall there, all due to a front that's parked across the area, it will be parked there over the next couple of days we had rain over the weekend there as well. adding to the rainfall totals there, that's going to increase the flood risk once again in portions of texas, could see 1 to 2 inches on top of what has

already fallen as we go throughout the rest of today we will see the chance for a few showers and storms along this front, not expecting widespread severe weather, could see a few gusty thunderstorms. by tomorrow afternoon thunderstorms fire up across the southeast. we will see this continuing to be draped across the area. looking for a better chance for stronger storms there. we are talking rainfall in spots where you see brighter colors, reds, oranges, yellows that's where we are expecting the continue vley into thealantonios christi and 84 in houston. it's a stormy start for many, we will talk about a heat wave, too, in the west we will talk about that coming up. >> thanks so much. we are back in 60 seconds with the nonprofit thatat's helping

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mark has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries. the number of pregnancy related deaths rose up to 41%in 2021 racial and ethnic disparities drive the numbers up further for black women maternal mortality is 2.6 times higher than white peers zinhle essamuah spoke with moms working closely with doulas to get better care. >> her first pregnancy in 2021 was traumatic. >> everything that could go wrong went wrong. >> reporter: she went into labor early at 24 weeks and had a serious infection. >> doctors used the big words thinking you would know but i didn't it was my first time. >> reporter: the st. louis native had support from a doula,

robin lloyd. >> ms. robin would stop them hey, stop, let me talk to her and she would tell me exactly what it meant. >> reporter: birthing doulas are trained nonclinical professionals who support clients through labor, delivery and postpartum. >> we all are going through the same thing. >> reporter: the doulas offer one-on-one education. >> no question is a dumb question. >> reporter: and group courses for expectant and new moms she credits robin for helping her get through it all what are you feeling >> i'm very grateful very grateful for her. because if she wasn't there i don't know what would have happened >> do you think you would be here and your kids would be here if you hadn't had a doula? >> not at all. no. >> reporter: the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists finding doulas improved outcomes for women in labor, they're especially critical for black women who are three times more likely to die

from a pregnancy related cause than white women her doula robin works with the nonprofit parents as teachers motivated by her life-threatening delivery. the nonprofit receives state funding making it possible to provide doula services for families cost free of the 320 families they serve, 90% are people of color and all of the doulas are black women. >> why is it particularly important for women of color and black women to have access to them >> i think access is the key we wanted to make sure that we had black doulas serving those families that resemble them. >> reporter: now she is expecting a baby boy in just a few weeks with robin by her side >> i'm going to be there. >> yes. >> you're going to have that support and not to worry >> reporter: zinhle essamuah, nbc news, missouri. the top baby names.

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we're back with the most popular baby names of 20226789 according to the social security administration olivia and liam topped the list. it is the fourth year olivia was the top name for baby girls and the sixth year in a row liam was number one for boys. but we have some other baby name news for you, we know that rih rihanna's baby, the couple named the child rizza. she currently expecting her second child i love that we talked about all the other baby names like emma, sophia, full of my daughter's class with girls with that name. >> emma is my best little friend, those popular names are

all over the place. a record-setting dog hit another milestone. this portuguese dog named bobi is the oldest living dog in the world. he just celebrated his 31st birthday, that's not in dog years. his owner told the guinness world records that bobi would have a traditional portuguese party with more than 100 guests but says bobi's secret to a long life is a calm and peaceful environment. look at that face. >> the sweetest thing. hopefully keeping the entire family there, just as happy throughout all those years together. >> look at that, 31 times 7, we will figure it out. when we come back nbc meteorologist michelle grossman has the latetest on some possib flooding in parts of the south. and the count down is on for the first consumer voyage to space, coming g up why v virgin galalactic is sendnding one e ee on a t trip that i is out thisi world.

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we are tracking lots of rain in the south, we have a stationary front that is draped over that area, it will bring showers, each some storms, some could be gusty. out west watching the heat continue, temperatures 10, even 30 degrees above normal for this time we will see records broken really nice in the northeast, enjoy it on this monday because temperatures are seasonal, lots of sunshine. strong storms in the rockies on wednesday. back to you both. >> michelle, thank you. coming up next, allison holker makes h her firstst pliu appepearance honorining her late husbsband twitchch lli intetense. ♪♪♪ bobold... ♪♪♪ rich.... ♪♪♪ intenselely deliciouous darkrk chocolatete. ♪♪♪ intenselely deliciouous darkrk chocolatete. ghghirardelli i intense dad. ♪♪♪ ghghirardelli i intense dad. mamakes life a a bite bettt. ♪♪ mamakes life a a bite bettt. dr. z!

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as brianna wilson of our mexico affiliatate explains shehe's blasasting off c close to home >> t three, two, onene. > firire. fifire >> repeporter: thehey've beeeen tatalking abouout t it foror yes now paying c customers may be flying out of f the e new mexico space portrt as early as late june, but before that happens jamila gilbert will have to chececk things out. >> it's exciting. >> reporter: she was picked up by the company to experience a trip from space from a cucustomer's perspecective. >> so much people have not had the opportunity to fly to space in all of human history, the number is microscopic, and getting to experience this just as our customers will is phenomenal. >> reporter: jamila is unlike other members of her crew or many of those who have taken virgin galactic test flights in the past, she is not a pilot, an engineer or even a scientist and less than five years ago she was working a communicications job

with visit las cruces then she got a job with virgin galactic's internal communications. >> never in a million years did i think i would have thehe opopportunity y to f fly to spa. >> welelcome you're c clear to ununstrap. >> repororter: jamamila will gee fifirst customerer experiencncee same three d days of traraining paying cusustomers s signed up r followed by a spacaceflight onoe fourth day not only does she get to take the trip of a lifetime, she gets to do it close to home. >> it is the ultimate transformational expererience to see earth from above just a little under an hour from where i grew up. >> and our thanks to brianna wilson for that report talk about perks of the job to be able to do that. >> it's amazing. >> from a career in communications and pr. this is the right place literally at the right time. >> we are in communications, we could go. >> go to space, too, right >> no, leave it to her allison holker boss made her first public appearance since the death of her husband steven

boss also known as twitch. she stood alongside her daughter wesley on the national alliance of mental health gala to accept the heart of a champion award in his honor. the dancer producer and father died back in december and since then his wife and kids from paid homage in a series of touching tributes what a beautiful and brave thing to be able to go and make these appearances and talk about the importance of mental health and mental wellness and checking on your friends. >> so important. >> his death opened up the conversation so much. >> after five months she finally became public because it was just so painful for her. i remember specifically it was december when we lost him and to see her smile in that photo and

defying expectations the shocking new numbers on the southern border the first weekend since titl