scotus strikes down affirmative action, sending shockwaves through the american education system

we'll explain just how far the fallout from this decision could stretch. are hazy days here to stay michelle grossmann breaks down why we're seeing more smokey skies and how long the pattern could last ten dead, thousands hurt and no repercussions for travis scott. two years after the deadly concert. national geographic magazines will soon become a thing of the past. the iconic publication pulling copies off the rack. we break down what led to the magazine's fall. and get ready to straight the fourth of july a behind the scenes look at what it takes to light up the city skyline. "early today" starts right now and we made it to friday good morning i'm jessica layton >> grad ylad you made it with u. i'm frances rivera smoke from the canadian wildfires continues to blow toward the east coast. a code red was issued for all of

pennsylvania, where everyone was urged to limit anytime outdoors. nbc meteorologist michelle grossmann joins us to help explain what's happening in our skies. we've seen smoke from california wildfires before, but not like this >> hi there, guys. part of the problem is there are over 500 wildfires burning in canada many over 240 are out of control or labeled out of control. we have a couple pieces of the puzzle here, why it's coming down to the u.s. an area of low pressure funneling the smoke down and an area of high pressure, we've been talking about it for weeks and weeks. it's keeping the gulf coast states really hot and trapping the smoke. it's sort of a traffic jam in the atmosphere where the smoke is not going anywhere. another piece of the puzzle, we're not getting the strong winds pushing the smoke out. we have the area of low pressure that will continue to fun it will in until it moves, it will move we'll see the area of low flesh

control today. we'll see the smokey days once again today, the midwest, great lakes getting a bit of a break today, but the mid atlantic, southeast and interior northeast where we're seeing the smoke stay in place. the weekend looks better as the winds shift out of west. >> those fires are still burning. this is our second round here in the northeast. can we expect this to keep happening all summer in >> summer yeah >> yeah, we can unfortunately. when we get the flow out of north we'll see the haze over our area q we can contend with this. the wildfire season is may to october. >> thanks. the oppressive heat has taken an extreme toll on mexico. authorities there say there have been at least 112 heat-related debts so deaths this year most of the deaths have happened

during this current heat wave with temperatures soaring over 105 degrees. the landscape of education in the united states has been forever changed by the supreme court. in a landmark decision on thursday, the court voted on a 6-3 margin to strike down affirmative action, ending the long-standing consideration of race as a factor in the admissions process it came during a challenge to the policies by harvard university and north carolina led by conservative activists. laura jarret has more details on the court's major ruling >> reporter: a landmark decision from a bitterly-divided supreme court, rejecting the use of race as we know it in college admissions chief justice john roberts leading the 6-3 majority to conclude programs at harvard and north carolina violated the law, involved racial stereotyping and

lacked meaningful endpoints. >> the polarizing, stigmatizing and unfair jurisprudence that allowed colleges and universities to use a student's race and ethnicity as a factor to either admit them or reject them has been overruled. >> reporter: praised there from the architect of the lawsuits, as the decision quickly began to set in on college campuses >> this is a really disappointing decision, not only for me but for every student on this campus and any student who's planning on applying to college in the future. >> this has immediate impacts. >> reporter: the schools were accused of giving substantial preferences to black and hispanic applicants while discriminating against asian students >> their personality score is biassed against asian-americans. >> reporter: since the late 1970s, the court had allowed schools to use one's race as a plus factor in admissions.

the justices offering starkly different views. justice jackson writing, with let them eat cake obliviousness, they pull the rip cord justice thomas firing back quote, experts and elites have been wrong before. the stakes are too high to gamble >> we will comply with the court's decision, but it does not change our values. >> reporter: the path forward for colleges is still murky. they may consider an essay from a student about the impact of race on one's life, be it inspiration or discrimination or otherwise. justice sotomayor calling the essay suggestion an attempt to put lipstick on a pig. now colleges are left with a new world order, navigating how to recruit minorities and comply with the law >> for those that don't want to visit their own systemic barriers that they've presented, we're putting them on notice they want to continue those

legacy admissions programs, we're going to challenge them. >> our thanks to hawralaura flat report >> both president biden and vice president harris decried the court for striking down a widely-supported policy. meanwhile, republicans cheered the decision with a former president calling it a great day for america. kelly o'donnell has more >> reporter: a new fight president biden firing back at the supreme court. >> we cannot let this decision be the last word >> reporter: emphatic that discrimination still exists. and when asked if the justices are a rogue court, the president with this striking attack on the conservative majority. >> this is not a normal court. >> reporter: going even further on msnbc >> finding it just so out of sorts with the basic value system of the american people. >> reporter: the vice president in new orleans >> it is about being blind to

history. being blind to data. being blind to empirical evidence about disparities >> reporter: a majority of americans, 53%, say affirmative action programs without quotas are still needed, according to an april nbc news poll but the republican 2024 class says the high court got it right by removing racial preferences gop frontrunner, former president trump, writing this is a great day for america. we're going back to all merit based, and that's way it should be and this praise from senator tim scott. >> this is the day where we understand that being judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin, is what our constitution wants. >> reporter: in ukraine, dasha burns with mike pence. >> the supreme court just struck down affirmative action. what is your reaction? >> there may have been a time, 50 years ago, when we needed to affirmatively take steps to

correct long-term racial bias in institutions of higher education. those days are long over >> reporter: the bide administration says it's been working behind the scenes for months to prepare new guidance for colleges and universities to navigate this changed admissions landscape. >> kelly, thank you. nearly two years after being identified, authorities have arrested a january 6 participant accused of assaulting a d.c. police officer 37-year-old taylor toronto was arrested thursday near the home of former president obama, according to a law enforcement official police added that multiple guns and materials to make explosives were found in his car. toronto, who has posted videos of himself at the capitol on january 6 is the subject of a lawsuit from the wife of d.c. police officer jeffrey smith, who died of suicide after the attack on the capitol. the u.s. is considering supplying ukraine with cluster munitions two senior government

officials tell nbc news. an official announcement could come as early as next month. more than a hundred countries, though, have banned the use of these cluster munitions, but the u.s., ukraine and russia have not. let's go live to ali arouzi. can you explain what are these cluster munitions, and why are they so controversial? >> reporter: good morning. so cluster munitions are surface to surface warheads that explode and disperse multiple bombs over a wide area, making the destruction much wider than a single round they can pierce armored vehicles or fragment and disperse, making them lethal to personal. they've been banned by 111 countries, including many u.s. allies and they're dangerous, because they're not very precise they go over a very wide area and very often when they do land

they don't go off, making it very dangerous for civilians that may come across them, because it could maim or kill them and, as i mentioned, many u.s. allies, including the uk, germany and britain have banned their use. but the united states, ukraine and russia still use them. >> so how is it that the weapons could possibly help ukraine on the battlefield? >> reporter: well, because this is really an artillery war and these munitions can be used in existing artillery systems that the u.s. and other allies have provided the ukrainians, and the ukrainians say by getting these munitions, it will significantly narrow the numerical artillery advantage the russians have over the ukrainians, after all, russia has more artillery than anybody else in the world. >> all right, ali, thank you kristine king ferris, the last surviving sibling of martin

luther king jr. has died her brother was assassinated in 1968, and she worked tirelessly alongside his widow, coretta scott king to preserve the civil rights leader's legacy she was a founding member of the king center in atlanta and wrote two children's books about her brother and a memoir published in 2009. kristine king ferris was 95 years old. in north carolina, a new housing complex built for teachers has broken ground. >> the three apartment buildings in eastern bertie county will cost $800 a month. a local principal tells our north carolina affiliate that teacher turnover has been a big problem there. but with these cheaper apartments they hope to attract and retain educators they scheduled to be finished in june of next year. a lot of parades a lot of picnics let's see how it's going to turn out there with this really big weekend coming up. let's turn to michelle

grossmann, who's tracking it all. >> hi there, guys, a big weekend and the weather remains a big story. we're going to see the heat and humidity continuing for the gulf coast states hot into the tennessee valley, ohio valley. 64 million americans impacted by a heat alert we do have excessive heat warnings from nashville, new orleans. we are looking at temperatures soaring once again into the triple digits. look at tulsa, 100 today, 102 in memphis. hot to kick off the weekend. we're looking at temperatures near the 100 degree mark in nashville, birmingham, ten degrees above normal for birmingham, and warm into the hol holiday. rich richmond, 93 we're also concerned about air quality, 114 millionmidwest, grt

lakes, mid atlantic into the northeast. 87 in philadelphia 86 in cleveland. 91 in chicago. the hot conditions continue. we're going to see how long it's going to stick around and take a look at the fireworks forecast in just a bit. still to come, maryland going green this weekend with the start of recreational pot sales. and travis scott avoidids s inindictment in texas. whwhat t the da saidid about the decicision t the da saidid aboue decicision anan all-in-onone cleaningng l with hundrededs of s scrubbing s strips- ththat absorb b and lock dirt awaway, for a mop p and bucketet clean inin half the e time. momop smarter r with the n w swififfer powermrmop. trtry killing g bugs the worrrry-free wayay. not t the other r way. zevovo traps usese light not t the other r way. to attttract and t trap flying i insects not t the other r way. with no odor and no mess. they work k continuoususly, soso you don''t haveve to. zevo. soso you don''t haveve to. people-fririendly. soso you don''t haveve to. bug-dedeadly. soso you don''t haveve to. hi. i use fefebreze fadede defy p. and i use this.

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myles miller from our new york city station has a behind the scenes look before macy's fourth of july fireworks show >> reporter: from this clandestine spot in new york harbor, 50 pyro technicians are loading in 60,000 shells for the macy's fireworks show. >> the fireworks are performers now. instead of just being your average red, white and blue, this year the fireworks have some dancing >> reporter: this year to celebrate the country's 247th birthday, there's a special synchronized american flag fireworks display. >> it's a mile-wide, waving flag as i said, some of the fireworks have some action to them so this creates the red and white stripes that will cascade down from the sky above. >> reporter: the countdown is on for an unfour-gettable show. >> it's going to dance across the sky of new york city on the fourth of july >> reporter: the fireworks range in diameter from two to ten

inches some weigh up to 30 pounds and can shoot 1,000 feet into the sky. the fire prevention inspectors are on hand to inspect every show loaded onto the barges. at 4:00 on the fourth of july, boats and a tugboat will guide these barges to the east river for the spectacular show the best place to watch this year is along the east river between east 26th street and 40th street. >> we like to say, if you've got a clear vision of the sky over the east river, you'll have an opportunity to see our show. >> reporter: and what a show macy's will put on >> it's going to be married to a track of patriotic music celebrating and honoring america. >> do you store your catsup in the fridge or the pantry i didn't even know this was a thing. it's a social media fight, though and heinz uk settled the debate tweeting catsup goes in the fridge seem as majority of pimozided

with the company when it went a step further and polled 13,000 votes, it was made clear to refrigerator eight after opening. >> where do you put yours? >> refrigerator. >> always. some restaurants have the bottles on the table or in the packets. the votes are in we asked whether you'd taste or toss pepsi's cola-infused catsup it turns out most of were you not willing to mash up the taste. it's coming one-day only at chase field yankee stadium, comerica park and target field on the fourth. whether you have it or not, we know you s

"top story" tonight. i'm tom llamas back in new york. stay right there, more news on the way. ews on the way. the scotus strike down sending shockw t