major rulings hang in the balance. the high court gearing up to issue major decisions on issues

like affirmative action and student loans as the term winds down. a new battle in the fight for abortion rights. why one state trying to protect license plate data from being weaponized the secret is out. we'll tell you all about hush trips, a growing travel trend amongst remote workers. and for those of you looking to hang ten, this baby seal is showing us how. it's tuesday, june 20th. "early today" starts right now. good morning, i'm frances rivera. >> i'm phillip mena. as the supreme court's term winds down, the country is waiting with baited breath on multiple decisions that could greatly impact education in america. we go to brie jackson in washington. brie, good morning. looking at the calendar, there's only ten days left in june. what are we waiting on from the court?

>> reporter: overrule the past there's still a few cases that are being watched with close eyes. one of those is a case concerning affirmative action. the group students for fair admissions, which was founded by anti-affirmative action activist edward bloom brought a case against harvard university and the university of north carolina accusing the schools of discriminating against white and asian-american applicants. when this case was argued in front of the conservative-leaning court at the end of last year, the justices signaled an openness to ending affirmative action on college campuses. another major ruling will be on the fate of president biden's student loan forgiveness proposal. the plan would forgive up to $20,000 a year for certain borrowers and was challenged immediately by several states upon its introduction last august, as well pass two individual borrowers who claim they would be excluded from the plan. this will likely be the final challenge that the proposal

faces after biden vetoed a bill earlier this month that would have overturned it. as of the affirmative action characteristic the roberts court voiced skepticism over the plan's legality when it was argued. >> brie jackson starting us off from washington, thank you. youtube has removed a video from presidential candidatete f what itt calls vaccine misisinformrmation. ththe platfoorm said m monday tt took k down a 90-minute-plus interview between robert f. kennededy juniorr and rightht w pupundit jordan peterson from peterson's channel. kennedy, who is challenging president joe biden for the democratic nomination has long held an anti-vaccine stance. in a statement, youtube said it violated their policy which prohibit the content that alleges vaccines cause side effects. kennedy went as far to call them

election interference. the full interview can still be seen on peterson's twitterage. house republicans are trying to clamp down on public availability of u.s. military records. a bill introduced byhe house appropriations committee would prohibit any funds from being used to release information about current and former military members. the new proposal would require the filing of a freedom of information request to get the desired information. and that could take years to fulfill. this bill follow as number of incidents in which the pentagon erroneously released the private information of republican politicians who are former service members. the clock is ticking to avoid another tragedy at the site of the "titanic" disaster. a submersible and its crew are still lost in the depths of the ocean. it is owned by ocean gate, which

does research and offers tourist trips to the wreckage of the "titanic", for $250,000. on board, there's a pilot and four passengers including billionaire hamish harding who flew on jeff bezos' blue origin, and a pakistani businessman is on board with his son. the sub was last heard from sunday morning and only has enough oxygen for 96 hours. the navy and coast guard are asking private companies for help. sonar buoys were dropped into the sea listening for any signs of life. there's one state prohibiting the tracking of women who may be coming to get an abortion. >> reporter: if it feels like you're being tracked, it may be because you are. at red lights, going in and out

of the office, on your smartphone. but what if you could be tracked seeking a legal abortion, simply by your high sense plate? >> i don't think people realize how much of their personal data is collected. that their whereabouts are tracked. >> reporter: that's why the illinois secretary of state is backing what he says is a first of the nation bill to outlaw sharing or selling license plate data for women seeking abortion. who has access to license plate trackers? >> a number of private and public entities have this personal sensitive data. >> reporter: data he fears could be weaponized as some states try to criminalize helping someone get an abortion, even in a state where it is legal. three other states are passed laws aimed at protecting health data from such efforts. >> when they travel, whether it's to an abortion clinic or the grocery store, we need to make sure this data is protected. >> reporter: illinois right to

life director opposes abortion. do you think this bill is necessary? >> i think it's unnecessary. they're trying to create a narrative around what the pro-life movement may or may not be doing. >> reporter: she says her organization is not trying to criminalize women seeking the procedure. is the right-to-life movement tracking license plates of women? >> no. >> reporter: absolutely not? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: has it been done in the past? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: is it to be done in the future? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: illinois planned parenthood ceo jennifer welch is not convinced. >> patients need to know that when they come for health care that information won't be shared with anybody, law enforcement, activists, anybody else. >> reporter: data collection and privacy. a new frontier in the nation's fight over abortion rights. anne thompson, nbc news,

chicago. secretary of state antony blinken yesterday met with chinese president xi jinping in beijing. no talks had initially been scheduled between america's top diplomat and the chinese ruler, but a 35-minute meeting came together just hours before blinken left china. we're joined live by josh letterman. what came out of blinken/xi meeting? >> reporter: well, the biggest thing that came out of this meeting, frances was the fact that it happened. it was not certain that secretary blinken was going to get any time with president xi during his visit to beijing. and the fact that they met, had that chance to really exchange views is being seen as a sign in the u.s. that this visit was able to stop the downward spiral in relations between the u.s. and china, that both countries have really been worried about. but it did not yield any major breakthroughs on the most contentious issues from trade to taiwan and the fentanyl crisis. in fact, secretary blinken came

away without something he said very publicly he had been seeking, which was an agreement from china to reopen conversations and diplomatic channels between the u.s. and chinese military, something the u.s. feels is extremely important to avert any potential conflicts in the future. secretary blinken telling our colleague, janis mackey frayer that that is a work from progress but calling it a good start. >> and blinken is now in london where you are. what's on the agenda so far? >> reporter: he'll be attend ago major conference of donors to ukraine helping to support ukraine's defense against the war that russia has launched there. he'll also have a chance to meet with his ukrainian counterpart as well as with the top british diplomat. he'll attend a reception with king charles. much of the focus of his diplomacy here in london will be on preparing for a major nato summit that president biden will be attending in lithuania. >> josh letterman, thank you.

the united nations has adopted a pact known as the high seas treaty, the first of its time. it creates a framework for protecting international waters. it governs things like fishing, mining and oil extraction. nearly 200 nations have signed the pact. the u.n. has a goal of protecting 30% of the planet's land and sea by 2030. tropical storm brett is brewing in the atlantic. nbc meteorologist angie lassman is tracking that for us. hi, angie, good morning. >> we are off to the races when it comes to hurricane season of course. well into june, and we have something that looks a little more like what we would see later in the evening. tropical storm brett just barely coming in at tropical storm status at 40 miles per hour. but it is expected to strengthen here in the coming days. look how it ends up at 40 miles per hour.

the good news with this trend, by the way, there is a lot of uncertainty. we will see it weaken as it approaches the caribbean sea. the lesser antilles should monitor this. there's tropical storm brett right behind it. a tropical disturbance does have a good chance of developing into a tropical depression because of the really warm waters that we're seeing, the warmest june temperatures ever. parts of the south will are the. that's a look at your forecast, guys, back over to you. >> all right, angie, thank you. being priced out of the housing market is becoming all

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we are back now with the growing struggle to buy a home these days. between high mortgage rates and low inventory, many are finding themselves priced out. it's fueling a boom in so-called build-to-rent properties. diana olic explains. >> reporter: single mom, she had planned to buy last year. but mortgage rates shot sharply higher. >> i found out i wouldn't have as much buying power as i would have had two or three months ago. and my monthly mortgage payments were too much. >> reporter: so instead, ashford turned to this brand-new community built specifically for renters. >> i don't have to worry about taxes on the home or if something breaks, you know. the landlord's responsibility. >> reporter: and an increasing

share of the landlords are now big builders, like this nashville-based partner as more americans, decide to rennot by necessity but by choice. builders put up 68,000 new single-family rental homes last year, a 31% increase. >> i think it's at the early stages. >> reporter: there are communities coming soon, entire communities built not for sale but specifically for rent. >> people that want a home but have now been priced out, due rising prices and rising mortgage rates are saying, well, i want a home. i'm going to rent for a while. it's created more demand for the rental homes.

>> reporter: and rent arers are demanding more, pools, dog parks, on-site maintenance and bigger back yards. but all that comes at a price. the average rent here is about $2200 a month. and single-family rents aross cross the nation are rising. >> that's what i need to think about, trying to save for a home while paying for rent is hard. >> reporter: for now, she's enjoying the new home even if it's not her new home. diane olic, south carolina. still to come finind out ho you can lilive on thehe irish c. ♪ohoh♪ ♪thenen you take e me by the ♪ ♪i i feel betteter again♪♪ ♪♪oh i feel l better nowow♪ (mnemomonic) most fraragrance plulug-ins jt smell l like freshsh bathroo.

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oscar-winning banshees of inisherin and dreamed of moving to an irish isle, you're in luck. people will be paid $92,000 to move to these islands. there's a catch. you have to spend all that grant money renovating a home. >> some of the islands are so remote, there's only like two people living there full time and no bridges or causeways to get there. you have to figure it out. you're not going to get severed fingers. if you watched this movie, you'd know about that. if you want to visit an isle without telling your boss, you're not alone. a new survey found nearly one in ten workers went on a hush trip. it's like a work-cation, taking advantage of remote work to travel the world without telling your employer. most traveling under the radar

say they did visit family or friends. others say they did it for a change of scenery or boost productivity. but basically, it's blurring your background or putting some random setting so no one knows you're out there having your little hush trip. but it makes sense. you have that flexibility. and you have to make sure your boss doesn't call you in for a one on one face-to-face and that your internet is still pretty good. >> or somebody rats you out. et tu, brute. there is a new piece of history on display. according to legend, this is the site where roman leader julius caesar made his very bloody end in 44 bc. the four temples were behind barriers, but as of today, visitors can now walk through that site and see the ancient structures up close. so if there's not enough history in rome, there's another thing to go see. i think that's incredible.

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redic! >> you need air conditioning for sure. 24 million people under heat alerts. they stretch from oklahoma to new mexico, including loot of a lot of texas. close to the record for this afternoon, houston could tie a record. tomorrow more of the same. we're not getting any relief. the only real relief, places like dallas, comes thursday as we hit the mid-d-90s.s. that goess for h houston, totoo. we'll be r right back.k. ugh. well, i swswitched to swiwiffer wetjejet, and d it's awesosome. it's a an all-in-o-one, that a absorbs dirirt and grime e deep insidide. and it helelps preventnt ststreaks and d haze. that a absorbs dirirt and grime e deep insidide. wetjetet is so wororth it. that a absorbs dirirt and grime e deep insidide. love it,t, or your money b . dr. z! we l love your s skincare vivi. ththanks! mymy daughter r has sensititive. same. trtry using alall™ free e clr as part ofof your famimily's laundry roroutine. it t tackles impmpurities withouout leavingg irritatating resididue for r a clean that's s gentle on n skin. alall™ free e clear. the e number onene doctor recommenended brandd for sensititive skin.. ♪

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the experience was caught on drone camera footage. can you see the pup there popping in and out of the water hopping from board to board. the baby seal clearly making friends with the pacific beach group riding the surf. >> that will certainly make you smile. we need it. we are boo-hooing. we are saying good-bye and good luck to our line producer, there she is there. doing her business, make being the magic happen. she's been with "early today" for over four and a half years, covering so much, election news, the pandemic, and doing it all with this huge smile. i'm not even kidding, a guiding light for us during the show and also behind the scenes. we have counted on her for so much, for her leadership and friendship. are those tears? don't mess up the makeup. >> we're going to miss her on this side of camera.

the control room will definitely miss her. the newsroom. her sense of humor. one. funniest people we know. we wish her all the best in this next chapter. there's no doubt she's ready to take on anything that this life has to offer. all the people you work with, there's several that, a handful that stand out, and you will never, ever forget. >> this girl right leer. here. >> the glue, the one who brings us food, the morale is always up because of her, and we can't thank her enough for what she's given our team. we've all been through a lot through the last few years. through it all, she was always there, always cracking jokes, and we thank her. like you said, as soon as we found out, we didn't want to know it was really happening, it bummed us all out. look at her there, having so

much fun in the newsroom. >> can i tell you, all of these things all of these things were orchestrated by lulu, coming out and taking pictures as a team. oh, i remember our ugly sweater party. that was lourdes. if there's a birthday, she's going to have the cake, decorations, signing the card. she's there. with her little hands. >> little. >> we all use that. these hour as a morning and night. >> calling to find out if the final bar is open. >> we will always toast to you, we love you. we will miss you. so, so much. this teams not going i

deadly tornados wreak havoc across the south. carving out a path