areas, reaching into the mid-90s today, 100 tomorrow. the heat advisory continues through sunday. fourth of july is looking nicer with low to mid-80s and cooler in san francisco. one hot spot over here for traffic, still this crash west 80 at gillman. we have three vehicles, a semi. we have chp on the scene. now we have a buildup on the bay bridge but that's just traffic. the "today" show is just ahead, but you can get more local news right now with a brand new newscast live on roku and other streaming platforms, not to mention nbcbayarea.com. >> here we are, friday. that's it right here on "today in the bay." have a great weekend. stay cool. it is getaway day for the long holiday weekend. >> one of the busiest in years including right here on our plaza, and we will tell you why. it is june 30th.

ready or not, tens o this is "today." ready or not, tens of millions of americans headed out for the fourth, and record crowds. in the airports and on the roads. severe storms and sweltering heat and smoke-filled skies are a travel concern and we have everything that you need to know before heading out of the door. landmark ruling, the supreme court's watershed ruling striking down race-based admissions for college campuses. >> i think this is a huge step back >> at least our kids can be based on their achievements and merits alone. >> this morning, the immediate impact on millions of students what it means for businesses across the country the court about to rule on two other cases today. verdict -- >> the defendant is not guilty. >> the school security officer accused of failing to intervene in the parkland school shooting

is cleared of charges. >> we have our life back after 4 1/2 years. >> families of the fallen outraged. >> his inaction contributed to the pain of our entire community. >> inside of the jury's decision straight ahead. strike two actors in hollywood now prepared to join writers on the picket lines. what it means for your favorite shows and movies. the need for speed. nascar gearing up for the historic speed through the streets of chicago. >> we will be doing 120 miles peper hour thrhrough the s stre and d you will f feel it. we're there life and let's go karoling. karolg is one of the biggest stars and this is one of the biggest crowds we have ever

seen. let's get ready to dance into the weekend on "today," juneh, >> can savannah guthrie and hoda kotb from rockefeller center 30th >> if you are not excited for the holiday weekend, we are so excited. it's friday. we had to come out because we have not seen a crowd like this in a really long time. >> yeah, this is definitely roo rivaling our harry styles crowd, and people are out here all night long, and for good reason. they want to see karolg. >> and guess what, karol g is coming. we have a packed plaza, and the nation's airports and roads are

packed too roughly 40 million americans driving to their fourth of july destinations good news for them gas prices are down 70 cents from last year >> and at the airports more than 40 million americans are flying and we have talked about the horrible delays, but what they are calling a misery map looks to be in decent shape. >> maybe they should rename it. and several areas are expecting record highs today, but the big story is air quality with more than 110 million people under alerts because of that wildfire smoke from canada. things are hit so hard in

like colorado, trying to enforce them, but in this case, the high court in a divided ruling has ruled in favor of laurie smith, that graphic designer who as you mentioned said he wants to make wedding websites but hasn't made any thus far. she fears being fined under colorado's law which applies to all public accommodations which says as long as you're holding your business out to the public you have to treat everybody equally, which means you can't discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, that violates her right to free speech. she has said in interviews she's happy to make other types of websites for gay individuals, it's not just that she doesn't want to discriminate. she says in particular when it comes to marriage, that's something that she opposes. now, of course this is a court that has largely ruled in favor of those who have made religious freedom type of arguments before, but we should note this is a different type of case. this is on first amendment grounds. so it doesn't depend on the fact

that she has a religious objection to it. she could have actually objected to it for any reason as long as it's about her free speech. now, one of the things we're going to be looking for as we dissect this opinion is where is the line? how does the court decide that she, as an artist, has that right? but what about a florist? what about a wedding caterer? those are businesses, again, open to the public that cannot discriminate, one of the things that certain liberals on the court brought up at oral argument, how are you supposed to handle a situation in which somebody decides they don't want to serve an interracial couple? discriminates on the basis of race, everyone gets their arms around that situation. that doesn't pass muster. but in this case how is it different, how is it different in the case of somebody who wants to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation versus race. that's what we're looking for. the high court has ruled in her

favor, and now we'll see what happens next. savannah. >> we have six ideological conservatives, in dissent, once again, sotomayor, kagan and jackson. in history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class. this goes back to what you were talking about, laura. the question presented whether or not a wedding website was an act of free speech, you can't compel someone to say something thaw don't agree with or off the shelf product, like a pair of shoes or something that you could buy, if you put those for sale, you have to sell them to everyone, under public accommodation laws. the court is clearly saying, this is an exercise of free speech, and this wedding website designer cannot be forced to put

out a message she does not agree with. >> and there was a lot of debate about whose speech is it, right, a lot of the members of the court, particularly justice sotomayor said, wait a minute, isn't she doing what the couple want? clearly justice gorsuch on behalf of the majority is saying, no, when she makes that website, it's her free speech, it's her creative unique art, that she's putting out into the world, not the couple's. i think that's a meaningful distinguishing factor here, as we think about, again, how is the court drawing these lines? how is the court going to sort of figure out where the rules of the road are for other businesses that may not want to serve gay couples? >> well, it's interesting because on that point, in the majority opinion, it says the state of colorado had suggested that mrs. smith's offer speech for pay, it's not creative expressive speech but the justice goes on to say, well, many of the world's great works of literature and art were created with an expectation of

compensation, and that does not mean they are not privy to first amendment protections here. >> and, you know, it's interesting, this is really a sequel to another case that we saw, some of our viewers might remember about five years ago there was a cake baker in colorado, and it was a similar type of argument, he said i want to bake cakes but i don't want to make them for gay weddings. in that case, the court actually did something of a punt. they decided not to reach some of the weightier issues they're going into today on the first amendment, and they sent it back down on different grounds. so, they didn't go into it. and here today, they have gone all the way. which is interesting just to note how the court's progression has really evolved over the years. >> and actually, that's a subject that sotomayor visits extensively in her dissent, how this court has changed so much now that the members of the court have changed. let me bring in kelly o'donnell, our senior white house correspondent into this conversation. when you talk about, of course, the political ramifications of not just this decision, standing on its own, but in light of the

decision, the water shed decision yesterday on affirmative action, kelly. >> reporter: well, certainly i would expect from the white house they will note today's date, june 30th, a final day of pride month, and that this decision coming at that time is particularly painful to the lgbtq community because of what the concerns are about how this could be employed in other states, how it could be interpreted, and at a time when support for gay marriage is at the highest that it has been, a ruling like this brings about a lot of concern about how this will impact the everyday lives of gay americans. tapping into your conversation with laura, i was in the courtroom for the oral arguments last fall for this case, and one of the things that justice ketanji brown jackson talked about, is if we talk about the creative expression of the person who does not want to provide the service she gave the example of old-style photographs where people are in costumes.

what if the person who was the photographer, the artist there wanted it to only be white people in that photo when they're wearing costumes, like the old wild west or something like that, could you sell that? and justice thomas was talking about the fact that this is about public accommodation, it's different than a hotel where you must serve all people, can't discriminate against anyone based on their status, or a restaurant, and that distinction you've been talking about, what is the creative message behind this website that laurie smith wants to be able to provide and how will that be different? and a lot of discussion is a save the date message on a website the property of the couple getting married, or is it somehow a creative expression of the person doing it? and justice sotomayor writes this is discrimination based on message, not status. there are a lot of concerns about what this will mean for larger implications, and so often with a case like this, it's looking at very specific

circumstances, the free speech argument, the artist involved, dealing with what is public accommodation under our laws. but the implications are so much broader, and certainly will be perceived by many americans who won't know the specifics of what was argued in this case and what really brought about this clear ruling from the court 6-3. we would expect the white house would want to comment about this and to try to find other ways to be supportive of the lgbtq community. certainly when it comes to the issue of free expression, first amendment rights are among the most sacred and certainly we got that impression listening to the arguments in court. and at the same time, trying to make certain that there is no discrimination against persons who are different in any way, or are in a minority status. this case will have long implications, savannah. >> kelly, stand by. i should mention to our viewers, we await another huge decision from the supreme court which is meeting at this hour, releasing decisions on the final day of its term, that decision has to

do with president biden's plan to forgive student loan debt, to millions of college students, and former college students, so that hangs in the balance as well. but for the moment, we are discussing the case that came out just a few moments ago, where the court has ruled that a wedding website designer in colorado, who said she did not want to design wedding websites for same-sex couples as a matter of conscience, because she does not disagree with it, the court has upheld her right not to do so citing the first amendment. and going to danny cevallos, our nbc news legal analyst, who joins us. i'm reading from the opinion, justice gorsuch saying first amendment protections belong to all, not just the speakers whose motives the government finds worthy. colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance. >> the threshold issue here was always is designing a website a sale of a product, or is it speech? and once the court determined

that it was speech, the path was clear to conclude that speech cannot be compelled. and that's exactly the issue here. the web designer's argument from the outset was a distinction between, i am not discriminating against the people who come to me. i'm discriminating in the sense that i am not choosing to endorse their message. their message conflicts with my religious beliefs, and as laura jarrett pointed out. it doesn't have to be religious beliefs, it's really about compelled speech. the argument by the web designer was always that, look, this isn't discrimination against people, it's my choice not to speak about a message. and the liberal justices ketanji brown jackson, and sotomayor, saying this is a slippery slope, a distinction without a difference. very quickly someone can say for example i do specialized photographs and while i will serve an interracial couple or a

muslim couple, as soon as they ask to be in the photograph and i say, wait a minute, i don't do photographs of interracial couples or anything else i don't want to do a photograph of, you can see how very quickly the -- considering serving a particular customer can quickly become discrimination disguised as an argument against compelled speech. >> well, that is the big question, and one of the, as you note in the oral arguments, was debated by the justices at length, how far does a line like this go? what kinds of goods and services can be denied by citing a first amendment right in a person's matter of personal conscience? i want to turn jennifer mascot, clerked for justice thomas and just kavanaugh, who joins us, an assistant law professor at george mason university. how do you view this decision so far? >> well, interestingly again today we have six justices in the majority like we did yesterday in the harvard and unc cases, and so a clear majority here. different from yesterday,

actually, there's not a separate opinion among the majority justices. they clearly seem to be all aligned, not only on the reasoning like they were yesterday but also without need for further explanation. i think that's because in the framing of the opinion at the beginning, the justices are trying to explain and give a sense of the scope here. that ms. smith came in and said she was willing to work, obviously with all clients regardless of background, and would not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics. but in this case the court was conceiving of this as a pure speech case, they used that phrase in the opinion they see this law in colorado as one that would have operated to force ms. smith to produce messages with which she disagreed as a religious matter. that was clearly important to the justices here. just like in the past that the court has decided that school districts cannot, for example, compel people to pledge to the flag, or salute the flag, here colorado cannot force someone to put a message on a cake that is squarely in disagreement with their religious beliefs.

>> former law clerk, two of the justices involved in today's decision, jennifer mascot, stand by there, and turning to a legal analyst carol lam. as always, when you have a supreme court decision, immediately as you digest it you say what's next? where's the next line? how far does this go? and, of course, we'll be grappling with that for many years to come. >> we will, inindeed, and this is fodder for lots of lawyers and lots of trials in the future. i think it's very important to note that the majority opinion makes it quite an effort to say this is really limited to this case and the facts of this case. it then goes on to sort of criticize the dissents for what they say are sort of flights of imagination, all these hypotheticals, and they say those cases are not this case, you know, don't talk about providing chairs, don't talk about not providing services to people that we're not talking

about here, you know, the law, the way jurisprudence goes in the courts is you are only supposed to decide the case in front of you at that moment, and not decide other cases. as danny has pointed out, there does appear that there will be a slippery slope here, there will be a lot more legal challenges to other providers of services in the future who say, you know, this is a work of art, this is my speech, the way i tie the bows on the chairs for a wedding is, for example, a form of expression, a form of my speech. the majority opinion here says, don't go there, that's not what we're deciding today. >> carol, thank you so much. i'm going to turn to laura jarrett. so pick up on what we were talking about before. i'm looking at justice sotomayor's dissent, you use this word, this case is the sequel to the case five years ago regarding the colorado baker. and sonja sotomayor says what a

difference five years has made. the difference, is you have three new justices on the court. it's pretty clear what she's saying right there. >> the makeup of the court is so different and the tone these justices have used in today's decision and yesterday's on a affirmative action, it's striking. these are justices that clearly are so far apart, and really sharply divided on these important social issues of the day. normally, you know, that might happen behind the scenes, it's playing out in public in writing in these decisions and really powerful ways. and, the justice sotomayor is making sort of a large argument, sort of the parade of horribles that she lays out, that will flow from today's decision. but it's interesting, just gorsuch is very honed in on the idea that the state of colorado stipulated, which means it agreed, to a number of things, and i think that that might have tipped the scales in this case. he writes here, savannah, the

parties have stipulated that ms. smith seeks to engage in expressive activity. it's pure speech. i think that that's a really powerful thing. because if the state hadn't stipulated to that, if it hadn't stipulated to the idea that she's making customized ar, if it hadn't stipulated to the idea he's the a public accommodation. she's not a restaurant. she's not holding herself out to the public in that type of way. certainly, she's offering her services to everybody. but if the state hadn't made those stipulations, i think this might have been a different case. >> it brings me back to law school, laura, where sometimes it's how you fashion the question, and by defining this in colorado, acceding to the fact this is a case about free speech, in some ways that ended up being decisive to the outcome here, let's go to kelly robinson, president of the human rights campaign. reading from sonja sotomayor's dissent, some services may be

denied to same-sex couples, the majority vehemently denies that this decision stands for that. >> this is a dangerous decision, and what it does says that places of public accommodation can turn away a good or service for custom work. the gay couple can be denied custom wedding cakes, custom websites, that's a dangerous precedent to set. what i also want to say is that it does not undermine other nondiscrimination protections guaranteed by bostok, it's important to make that clarification, when people are going about their day, going into different public spaces today, when they're applying for appointment at different places, they know which rights are protected and which have been compromised based on this decision. >> thank you so much, going to kelly o'donnell who continues to watch, and once again reminding folks we await another decision having to do with student loan debt forgiveness. kelly o'donnell, you've been reading through the majority opinion and the dissents. >> reporter: yes, and i think you reminded our viewers that

justice sotomayor is reading her dissent in court, that's part of why there is a delay in hearing the outcome of that second case. part of what she talks about here is that public accommodation laws are also intended not to just bring about equal treatment for all different kinds of categories of americans, she cites those with disabilities, for example, but also to ensure equal dignity. so that people who might be in that group, and part of what she talks about is those who are disabled, and how sports arenas, for example, have had to provide accommodations so that if you are in a wheelchair you have access to that. and part of that is the dignity that comes with being able to participate without feeling discrimination in a public setting. and she talks about how the first amendment is not intended to give a business the opportunity to opt out of serving those who are otherwise protected against discrimination. and so, her dissent, much like we saw with the case yesterday, with affirmative action, which

speaks about larger implications in american life, and what this can mean, will certainly be something that people who are concerned about this opinion will want to read and explore a bit more. the court she says reaches the wrong answer in this case because it asks the wrong questions. that's part of what she is trying to get at here, that this company has never provided a wedding website, and has never had its actions tested under colorado's law. that's part of what she explores here. she's arguing this is looking for a case to have the opportunity to publicly announce that because of her religious views and the use of her free speech and creative artistry in a website, that she would publicly announce that she is against gay marriage, and to be able to support as she says god is calling her to do, traditional marriage. the justice also writes in here, how that kind of an environment can lead to other concerns, where she even raises this

specter of social system of discrimination created an environment in which lgbt people were unsafe. invoking the name of matthew shepherd, she says who can forget the brutal murder of matthew shepherd, targeted by two men, tortured and murdered. she's trying to make that case if people are not treated equally at a place of business, there are other ramifications that come from that in the absence of being treated equally and the dignity she argues is intended in the law about public accommodation. savannah? >> kelly, thank you, continue listening if you could. laura jarrett is with me now. as we have this moment. we have justice sotomayor reading parts of her dissent from the bench, and it's worth opening up the curtain. you have been there on decision days, as have i. it used to be not all that common that justices would read portions of their opinion, or read their dissents, it's become more and more common in recent years. and it does speak to something i

think you raised earlier, which is the tension that appears between the lines, and sometimes, you know, overtly on this court. and sure seems like that's what's happening at this hour as justice sotomayor is reading parts of a passioned dissent. >> she went on for 20 minutes on the affirmative action cases and she has obviously read dissents before when she's been passionate about issues and this one is clearly no exception. but it is worth noting that they're doing something in these opinions when they're talking to each other that is different in kind, the barbs that were traded between justice thomas and justice jackson, the newest justice on the court yesterday, in footnotes, quite remarkable. i don't mean for it to be inside baseball but i think it does show that even on the court with these justices, these nine justices with lifetime appointments, these social issues of the day, which are

debately hotly elsewhere are debated amongst the justices on the court as well. so we will await to see the student loan decision on the president's student loan forgiveness program, the next decision we are waiting for, the final one of this term, which, again, could likely prompt a lot of strong feelings. people have very strong feelings, borrowers, more than 40 million americans hold some student loan debt. so it's a program that is wide in scope, and we'll see whether, in fact, the court allows it to go through. it's one of those decisions, savannah, that could come down in any number of ways. the court could decide to let the program go through because the people that sued, that states that sued, they can decide that they don't have standing. so even if these justices don't agree with the president's plan to forgive all that debt, if the states don't have standing, then the program would be allowed, or the court could decide, you know what, the president didn't have authority to this. this is a lot of money, something with a lot of economic

and political significance and so we're going to strike it down. and so we await to see what the court does as soon as justice sotomayor wraps up bench. >> she writes in her dissent when the civil rights and women's rights movement sought equality, some public establishments refused some claimed based on sin veers religious -- the brave justices who once sat on this court, decisively rejected those claims. so, again, when you're talking about tone, and it is true that it's sometimes the battle of the footnotes and that's how we can see where the divisions are among the court when you see a big landmark case such as this one, going back, laura, to this student debt relief case that we await right now you just touched on it, so folks who are tuning in, can understand, there's a hurdle, before you sue on something and you say i don't agree with this program, i don't -- you know, it's not constitutional for this reason or that reason, the first hurdle is do you have any business being in court at all?

that's the issue with standing that you so often hear about, and here in the debt relief cases, both of them present real issues of whether or not these plaintiffs are properly before the court at all. and if the court decides they aren't, then the case goes ahead, whether or not -- excuse me, the program goes ahead, whether or not the justices like it or not. >> that's right. and there are different groups here. remember, we have two borrowers that sued who wished they had gotten covered under the program. and then we have six red states that do not want the program, and have sued on slightly different grounds. but trying to say that allowing the program would go forward would hurt their coffers, and so, again, we'll see how it breaks down. it could be the case that they don't think that the borrowers have standing but they do think the states have standing. as long as you have one, that's all you need to have standing and then once you get into court and you can prove i've actually been harmed, then the issue is going to the merits. on that one the secretary of

education invoked a a post-9/11 law, called the heroes act. the issue is whether it was specific enough. did it give the secretary of education a specific enough authority to go through with this program, or did the court think, you know what, this is so big, so vast and so important, you really need explicit congressional authorization to do something like that. that's what we're going to be looking for to see exactly how the case breaks down there. >> absolutely. and we await that decision, which would be the final decision of the term. our legal analyst danny cevallos joins us now as well. if you take a step back and you look at how this court has changed, the ideological makeup of the court, you go a year ago, we have the dobbs decision overturning roe v. wade, we have yesterday's decision on affirmative action, while not overruling past presidents, comes very, very close in terms of severely limiting how race

can be used at all in terms of admissions processes by colleges and universities, what are your thoughts as you think about where the court is right now in american life? >> certainly, one thing that has happened with the court is that it's become unbelievably predictable, which i think is an unfortunate by product of the divide between the conservative and the liberal justices. one would hope that each justice would look at each case with their own fresh neutral eyes. but certainly there are criticisms to be leveled against the court that it has become ideological, and because the majority happens to be of one particular block, now we're seeing a lot of decisions that tend to go that way. however, we still have some cases that we're waiting on, where you might see -- i rather think on the standing issue, you just discussed with laura jarrett, there is a possibility the court might find in favor of the biden administration on the standing issue and may conclude that the states did not have standing to bring this case.

for a very specific reason. the court and federal courts in general, this is not a typical standing case, this is a standing case where it seems like one of the parties engaged in a strategic move to leave out the party that did have standing, mohela, and bring it on behalf of the states who did not have standing. look for the justices to possibly surprise us here and possibly you may see a ruling for the biden administration by this conservative majority on the issue of standing, which technically doesn't reach the merits. >> that's the missouri higher education loan servicer in one of the states that sued. but as you're pointing out it's the states that sued and not the loan servicer, that gets technical there, but that's one of the issues of standing that the court will grapple with. on the larger issues i want to go back to kelly o'donnell at the white house. because, you know, you can't talk about this in a vacuum, it obviously happens in a political context, we saw that democrats felt that their fortunes at the

ballot box were quite enhanced by the dobbs decision and now we have the affirmative action decision. how is the white house handling some of these decisions and what is the strategy there? >> certainly, all of these things have political implications for the biden white house, if we are looking at a campaign year, and believing in -- as one part of what the administration stands for. they have to put it in the calculus of how this is playing platically. when we look at things like the student loan case, the outcome today, the administration has said they believe they are on the right side of the law. we'll see what happens here. we also can look at the fact that the president's approval rating among younger voters went up after he embraced this policy and argued that there was a real need for student loan relief to try to help young people who have been burdened by this weight of debt and all the complications that come with it

of the original amount that one borrows to pursue their education and how over time that balloons, and how given the pandemic and all of the other economic concerns of inflation that that is really an oppressive thing for many americans, and so he wanted to provide this relief, 10,000 under certain circumstances, 20,000 when people meet qualifications, including pell grants and it includes 43 million americans. those who might benefit from that are certainly tuned into this policy and the outcome today. we saw among younger voters who can be very important for democratic candidate in particular the president's approval has gone up. so that's something he wants to try to maintain. we know younger voters are among those who are often the least likely to -- or the most likely to stay home, not engaging on voting day, even though they might be very politically active. that's part of it. they're looking at ways to try to deal with the repayment that's scheduled to resume. we'll see what happens again with the outcome here.

but a lot of that is tied politically to the president, including the policies as well. >> kelly, jumping in here, we actually just received this decision, we're waiting for on student loans, the department of education versus brown, this is the case i'm reading, that's the one that has to do with the individual borrowers who sued, this is a quick read just of the holdings. we will continue to digest it in terms of the reasoning. but it says that the respondents, the people who sued here, have not established any injury that they suffered is actually traceable to the plan. they lack standing. we've had this whole discussion. if you're at home, you understand what this means. they're saying the court has no jurisdiction to address their claim. if that hold, this is for one of the cases i'm looking at right now, if that holds, that would mean the student loan forgiveness program could go forward. but, again, we continue to digest it. and it's a pair of cases. so, the one case was a set of states that had sued to stop this student loan forgiveness plan from going forward. the companion case where two

individual borrowers who either received no debt forgiveness or not as much as they hoped to get, they sued. in that case that's the one i just read where the court has held that they do not have standing. they do not belong in court. they are not properly before the court, and therefore the court will not weigh in on the merits of that claim, which as i turn to laura jarrett in this particular case, would mean the student loan forgiveness plan goes forward. >> it's interesting they did this one first. this is the easier case. two borrowers who didn't get relief under the president's proposed plan but want relief. one doesn't hold student loans, she has privately held loans, she doesn't come under the plan. the other one wanted to get a bump for having -- to get a little bit more money. under the plan you can get up to $10,000 if you reach a certain income threshold, then you can get an additional $10,000 if you won't to school on a pell grant.

taylor didn't go to school on a pell grant, and he didn't get that additional bump. that's why he sued. under both of these arguments these are people whon't with aed to get their loans forgiven. what the court is dismissing them for not having standing. if they got their way, nobody would get any forgiveness. if the actually injunction that's blocked this plan was actually to stay in place, since nobody would be covered that's why they're dismissing it, because you have to be able to have the harm that you're saying in court, you have to be able to have it redressed in some way. if nobody would get any coverage then obviously that would defeat the whole purpose, since they want to get covered. that's why it's interesting they did this one first. >> we have the second case now, laura. i'm actually going to let you step out here and read it really quickly. i will say that first case was a unanimous decision by the court. it says the state of missouri

has standing to challenge. on the first case, laura explained it pretty well, that was the easier case to dismiss. now we've got to read the second case, the set of states suing to stop this debt relief program. we have to see if they have standing. if they do have standing, whether or not the court finds that the biden administration had the authority to have this debt relief program. >> and it appears those two questions are answered. and, the state of missouri, the court appears to have concluded, does have standing. even though the argument was made at oral argument that this -- the real harm was through mohela, that student loan servicer. the court has decided that the state of missouri does have standing but it appears to have also decided on the second issue whether the text of the heroes act authorizes the secretary's loan forgiveness program and it appears to conclude that the text of the act, federal law does not authorize the loan forgiveness program. in other words, this came down to really two words, to modify

or -- excuse me. the power of the secretary to modify does not permit the basic and fundamental changes to the scheme designed by congress. so, in other words, when the biden administration attempted to modify as it was given power to, it did not have the power to do what it sought to do, in essence, this was too much. this was more than a modification. >> i want to turn to laura, if you're ready at a talk to me about this, laura. it's certainly, in reading it, seems like the court may be striking down the student debt relief program with regard to this case that the states brought. i'm just reading it myself. but it says this is all leads the court to conclude that a mass debt cancellation program is one that congress would likely have intended to do itself, and in such circumstances the court is required -- the agencies to point to congressional authorization. this goes to the issue if you're

going to do something huge like this the court says it's congress under our constitution that's supposed to do it, not some federal agency. that seems to be what the case hinges on here. >> the upshot is that this plan is not moving forward for the biden administration. all it takes is one person, one entity, one state to have standing, which in this case it's decided that it does, and then it reached the merits. on the merits, you're right, savannah, the court is saying they did not have clear congressional authorization for this. they looked at the statute and they said it's not going to work for you here. now, that doesn't mean, we should be clear, that the biden administration couldn't go through a different regulatory process. it always had that option but it didn't take that route. instead it went through a different process in order to make this plan go through faster. and i think it's worth noting that, that this is not to say that you can't have your student loans forgiven forever if the biden administration decided to go through that much more arduous process, it could do so. but that does seem unlikely at

this point. we should also mention that this plan was about a one-time forgiveness, a lump sum to lop off your bill. it's not about the payments that have been on pause, largely since the beginning of the pandemic, in march of 2020 remember, under the trump administration all federal loan payments were put on pause. the idea there was to give some people a little bit of breathing room during covid to help make sure you weren't in an economically tough position. those payments, regardless of what happened here today, are set to resume this fall. and so it was really two pieces here, the plan that the court was evaluating had to do with lump sum payments that were going to be lopped off of the bill. but the general repayments for many people, who may not have gotten enough relief under the president's plan, those are set to resume this fall, and, again, the headline here is that the president's student loan forgiveness plan, the larger plan which affected more than 40 million borrowers will not go forward. >> and it seems the court is

saying they just went too far in interpreting this, same statute by the way that under the pandemic had the trump administration pausing loan repayment, the biden administration then continued that pause, and then last summer, august of 2022, the biden administration had attempted to use that same legal authority that says you can pause in a time of emergency to say, you know what, for that same reason we're going to cancel it and forgive this piece of debt all together. that's where the court said that was a bridge too far. so let me turn to kelly o'donnell. because, essentially, what this court is saying is, if you want to do this, that's fine. but you need to go to congress. you can't try to an end run and do it some back door way, and override the power of congress, the constitution requires that congress weigh in on a matter of such significance. >> reporter: in some ways, savannah, the court is concludes its term with a very clear message about executive authority. and this conservative court is

not comfortable with a movement of executive authority as you're describing, needing congress to take these actions. in part of the opinion it says to waive or modify does not mean completely rewrite, and that the precedent needs to be respected this that way. so, the white house is commenting on this. as we talked about there's a lot of political implications for president biden, for democrats and the administration here. and so what we've just learned from white house officials is while we strongly disagree with the court, we prepared for this scenario, and the president will have more to say today. he has not had anything on his public schedule, so that's an indication that the president will be making comments. we saw him do that yesterday as well. the president will make clear he's not done fighting yet. we saw that as well with affirmative action yesterday and he will announce actions to protect student loan borrowers. this is a policy area where the white house is able to, again, scrub the regulations, look for

ways they can take action that does not require congress. that may, again, be subject to the courts down the line. and he'll be making it crystal clear to borrowers, and their families, that republicans are responsible for denying them the relief that president biden has been fighting to get them. that is a reference, of course, to they could have gone to congress if they believed that that would have resulted in new legislation to provide this kind of student loan relief. and so when you look at what the court is saying executive power has its limits, that's to be expected with a conservative supermajority court like this, the white house had said they believed it was within the law, the court views it differently, and so now this will have, again, sweeping ramifications for americans who hold this kind of debt, the political discussion will certainly ramp up because of this. there are those on the conservative side who have felt all along that this action was unfair to those who never sought higher education, but as taxpayers would be shouldering the cost of this, or those who did get loans and paid them back

as required by that loan contract. so, there are strong feelings around this, and certainly the president and his team, we expect he's been being briefed as these opinions have been coming down, they've had time, certainly, to analyze what they thought the different options for the court would be. certainly, now we will see what the president has to say and what steps come next after this very significant ruling. savannah? >> to be clear, this affects up to 43 million borrowers. however, none of them have ever yet seen this debt relief because almost as soon as announced it was challenged in court and put on hold. if it has gone through it would have been up to $400 billion in costs to give this debt relief. let's turn right to brian cheung, our business reporter, and brian, i'm -- this will have a huge economic consequence, student loan debt is a pervasive issue, a pervasive problem, but it seems today the court has made clear that they feel it's a problem for congress to deal with. >> reporter: yeah, as you

mentioned, savannah, this was a program that as some applicants had already filed with the department of education to ask for that forgiveness before it was shut down because of the court proceedings. when we talk about the numbers here, you mentioned yes, 43 million borrowers could have been impacted by this but ultimately there could have en about full cancellation for about 20 million of them. now, interestingly when the department ofducation opened up the portal in the fall last year they took 23 million applications, 16 million americans were already approved as of the tally earlier this year. now, for what it's worth at the kind of micro level, for individual households, this could have been savings of a few hundred dollars per month, depending on the type of degree and the type of debt you were taking out. but for what it's worth, again, this would be so impactful for a lot of americans that maybe hadn't been excited about the prospect of having that extra money as a cushion, which could have been very impactful for a lot of specifically low income and in many cases minority families. the open question here is what happens with payments going forward.

there was the freeze on payments since march 2020, as a result of the pandemic. and what's interesting is that as a result of the debt limit agreement from earlier this year the biden administration is not allowed to further extend the pause on student loan payments. but, there has been interest from the administration, knowing the risk of the outcome of this supreme court case, about trying to transition payments back once they restart later on this fall. so, what could this look like? we'll have to wait for the department of education to weigh in. one possible solution here could be, for example, restarting the interest payments as is required, come september. but at the same time allowing for a grace period by which any sort of missed payments would not have an impact on your credit score. that could be one way the administration would transition this. the big takeaway for americans, trying to figure out, what does the supreme court case outcome mean for me? it means some payments will resume later on this fall, savannah. >> brian, thank you, stand by. turning back to kelly

o'donnell, this has always had a political context to it, especially august 2022 is when this debt forgiveness was announced, and was -- the biden administration of course accused of handing a freebie, giving a freebie to young voters before a crucial midterm election. >> reporter: so much of that has played out as being very potent in the political sphere. young people who saw this as an opportunity to have a little more control over their finances, have been motivated by this, as i mentioned earlier the president's polling numbers among younger voters have gone up after this decision was -- or this policy was first embraced by the biden administration. and, we see that some of his more favorable ratings are among the 35 under age group. on the other side there's been a fierce sense of anger and frustration from those on the conservative side, those who did not attend college, or went a trade school route or were not qualified for this kind of relief for whatever reason about that tax burden you mentioned, the $400 billion potential costs

shared by all americans. the administration has argued there is value to the broader society to reduce some of that weight of debt on those borrowers because then they have money available to spend in businesses, to use to buy a home, all of the things that are the engine of our economy. that's a fertile ground for debate. and certainly, the administration will look for other ways, one thing, for example, is we know there's already some plan in the works for a grace period for repayment when those student loan payments are set to resume after that long covid break, so people have been under these rules, have not had to make those monthly payments for a considerable amount of time now. and so even that adjustment alone will certainly have financial implications for those borrowers if they've had the benefit of that money they might have put aside for student loans being available to them month by month. this will be a big change. and so part of what we will be looking to see from the white house today are what plans or

programs can they offer to give either some more time, or a grace period, or those kinds of things. so there's a political argument to make, there's a practical one, in implementing this, and then there's the court saying go back to this case, is there a new way to approach this from congress? that seems quite unlikely in the current makeup with kevin mccarthy as speaker, and with not having the kind of margin in the senate that the administration would need to try and put this forward in the traditional way the court is saying, through legislation. >> well, kelly, you bring me right to the point i want to wrap up our time with, laura jarrett on this very issue, because if you take a step back and look at what's been happening, you know, administrations prior to this, going back decades now, many administrations have sought to use executive power to do things that they cannot do via congress because of this paralysis that we see in congress, and time and time again you see the court saying, look, you can't go the easy way, you can't go that back door way, not when it regards

something as significant as this. but, i think it really underscores the tension there, that when you have congress essentially not functioning on some of these major issues of the day, administrations of every political party have tried to use other means to get their agendas through and the court has consistently said not so fast. >> this is the court saying there are no legal shortcuts. as much as you would want this type of program to go through, you have to go about it the right way. and it's worth noting here, the court is very much cued in, justice alito here cued on what we have discussed before, the perceptions of the relationships on the court, and at the very end of the opinion, i want to just point out, he writes reasonable minds may disagree with our analysis. in fact, at least three do, meaning his other more liberal colleagues, we do not mistake this plainly heartfelt disagreement for disparagement. it's important that the public, not be misled either. any such misperception would be

harmful to this institution and our country, and so it just strikes me, when we have two major decisions, with these social issueses, this is how the court wrapped up its term. >> interesting that justice alito is trying to say, all is fine, this is just what reasonable minds do, they disagree but do so respectfully. laura jarrett, thank you. much more on nbc news now and tonight on nightly now to "today. i'm savannah guthrie this has been an nbc news popu that's teasing special report >> we've got a trailer. >> we are so excited so get outside and join this crowd. >> wow >> the biggest crowd we've ever had here

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degrees, we're expecting to see at least 30 degrees higher by the hot point of today, the high 90s, tomorrow in the 100s. and of course this is danger for wildfires. case in point, this is a brush fire overnight in san jose on fuller avenue not far from 280 and 87. the fire department was able to put it out before it spread to any homes. time to get a look at those temperatures. how are we looking? >> we are under a microclimate weather alert due to the inland valley temperatures headed to the 90s and triple digits today. we are going to see mild weather along the coast and in san francisco. tomorrow is when we reach the peak, and take a look at fairfield, 103 degrees, los gatos headed for 99 degrees. it's still pretty hot on sunday, but we are going to see some of our coasting temperatures coming down a few degrees, staying nice and cool. as you make your way down the peninsula into the south bay, it makes it into the low 90s and we will see temperatures cooling off for the holiday.

>> thanks, kari. make sure you check on your elderly neighbors. we're going to have another local news update in 30 minutes

coming up, ready, set, travel.

the tsa gearing up for what is expected to be its busiest day in years after a week full of delays and cancellations >> everything was just going wrong. millions facing another day of smoke alerts and record temps. what can you expect this holiday weekend? we're live with the latest. then worth the white the firefighter and his wife whose dreams of starting a family came true after discovering a newborn in the station's safe haven baby box. >> i opened the box, and there she is as soon as we locked eyes, that was it i was in love with her. >> just ahead, the whole family joins us live. plus, hit the road our sneak peek at nascar's first ever street race, transforming chicago into a raceway. >> you will have the acceleration areas and heavy braking areas. >> what it could mean for the future of racing. and packed plaza karorol g. is here andnd so is e crowd. we are ready to start the

weekend off right. ♪ >> today, friday, june 30th, 2023 ♪ >> today is my birthday, and we're celebrating with karol g >> colombia. >> puerto rico >> and venezuela ♪ >> we love you, karol g. >> we're here to see karol g. >> here to celebrate our anniversary with karol g. >> we love you, karol g. >> okay. al is over there doing the conga. we are fired up. it may very well be our biggest

crowd in 70 plus years of "the today show." the fans are ready to go. >> they have been out here since last night we have been comparing this to ricky martin. >> and she's so lovely our crew is talking about how lovely, the whole team is. quick note, we lined up another amazing concert next week from k-pop sensations twice. they will get their turn on our plaza wednesday morning.e l >> the plaza is getting a workout. airports will be pushed to the limit today as well. a record number of travelers heading out for the holiday weekend. weather and staffing continue to be issues. tom costello is at reagan national tom, good morning to you how is it looking? >> reporter: if you are flying united airlines, listen up it's been a rough week for

united they lost about a quarter to a third of their flights this week due to cancellations at this hour, 5% of united flights are canceled nationwide as they try to get back up on their feet or back up on their wings i should say denver continues to be the most affected airport to your point, 2.8 million people expected to go through tsa check points today that will rival the november 2019, thanksgiving, 2019 numbers. if it goes over that, we will set an all-time record for airline passenger travel get there early is the advice. don't forget to have your id ready as you get through the tsa check point. that will keep things moving along. it is not only, of course, about flying we have 43 million americans driving. the good news there is we're all paying $1.30 less per gallon on average than a year ago so a little bit cheaper at the gas pump, and you'll a lot of company on the nation's roads.

if you are flying, though, back to the airport, do expect it will be a busy day as all of the airlines are operating at full throttle planes are full. if, for some reason, your flight is canceled, chances are you may not be on the next flight because they, too, are full. of course, the weather is on the minds of travelers, leading to haze in cities across the northwest. al is here with that and our weekend outlook. >> we're looking at, especially in the northeast and the mid atlantic states, moderate to unhealthy air from detroit, new york, all the way down to raleigh. that will dissipate over the next 24 hours. the ohio valley, the risk for severe thunderstorms, problems in new york, chicago omaha, denver airports st. louis and nashville worse. denver to baltimore on i-70. we have also got heat waves developing now on the west coast

and in the central plains down into the gulf. severe weather for this afternoon into this evening all the way to lexington, kentucky chattanooga as well. dangerous winds and tornadoes possible tomorrow an enhanced risk for st. louis, for tornadoes, possible hail damage, and then moving into sunday, more problems from d.c. to indianapolis again, strong winds, damaging hail and tornadoes possible. so some severe weather making its way right into the july 4th weekend. >> thank you, al. fall-out is growing from yesterday's landmark supreme court ruling that struck down the use of race as a criteria for admissions harvard and the university of north carolina violated the constitution by using affirmative action in their admissions policies. the world of nascar is gearing up for a historic holiday weekend. the signature cup series hosting its first ever street race

the action is taking place in chicago where jesse kirsch is testing out this track this morning. good morning. >> good morning. get ready to start your engine we are on the actual track right now, going at a crawl. but this is the official pace car. right in front of us, this is the start and finish line. i want to show you something, though, because when you are looking at this, it might seem like we are in the middle of any other racetrack, but we are actually in the middle of downtown chicago, transforming for a high-speed weekend when you think of nascar, you might have something like this in mind, souped up cars flying around an oval racetrack the sport shifting in a new direction. chicago's iconic lake front transforming to host the first ever street race from nascar's marquee cup series

>> one block and you are like, all right, something is going on then you get closer and you are like, oh, man, this is wild. >> one of 40 drivers racing this sunday on a 2.2 mile track on windy city roadways. >> there is actually some elevation dips here probably for drainage or water drainage. >> yeah, it slopes. >> so, yeah, we will be doing over 120 miles an hour right here you're going to feel that. >> nascar senior vice president ben kennedy took us for a slower spin thursday on the unfinished tight turn track. >> you will have heavy acceleration areas and heavy braking areas. areas. >> street racing. >> he comes across the line. >> it is already in motor sports like formula one, which has seen its popularity surge in the u.s. >> is this something you need to do to keep up? >> it's something that's really been a part of our bigger plan at nascar, but this is really an opportunity for us to bring

nascar to our fans in chicago. but then also introduce it to a lot of new people. >> i think we will see a lot of really tight racing, with the tight walls, especially. >> sunday's race and another tomorrow, both airing on networks owned by nbc news' parent company speeding through the park, home to president obama's historic 2008 election night now auto racing history. >> michigan avenue will have race cars on it. >> it's crazy. it's insane, yeah. it's always bumper to bumper and you don't get to 5 miles an hour and they are going to be racing. >> nascar says up to 50,000 people could be at the races this weekend then all of this goes away and the traffic comes back. >> thank you you can catch the racing excitement on the streets of chicago sunday 5:00 eastern right here on nbc and peacock. >> that's pretty cool. new music dropped by olivia

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bundle of joy came into their lives. >> there you go! >> meet baby zoe, vincent and katie's precious bundle of joy a sweet little girl they call their own miracle. >> it is a gift from god is all it is. there is nothing else to explain it. >> nearly six months ago, vincent showed up to work on a day that would change his life forever. he's a firefighter in florida and was pulling his regular 24-hour shift. at 2:00 a.m. an alarm went off he recognized the sound immediately. a newborn had been placed at his station's safe haven baby box, a device that allows a mother in crisis to safely and anonymously surrender a child. vincent said the moment he opened that box his whole world changed. >> i opened the box, and there she is i picked her up. she wasn't crying. as soon as we locked eyes, that was it i was in love with her. >> vincent's training kicked in. he helped deliver the baby to

the local hospital he handed her over to the medical staff, along with a special note i wrote on the note, hello, my name is vincent. i worked for the fire department for the last eight years me and my wife have been trying to have a family for the last decade now given the opportunity, we would like to adopt this baby. >> vincent and his wife katie first met in the navy and got married in 2018. for years they struggled with infertility. >> we just wanted to be parents and be able to care for a child. so when he said it was a baby dropped off in the baby box, i mean, my head started spinning. >> the couple was already registered to adopt in the state of florida two days later, they were able to take the baby home from the hospital. >> i picked her up, and i looked at her she looked at me and she smiled, and that's when i knew that i was in love and that was with my

daughter >> you are her new parents. >> and then in april, the adoption was finalized. >> our family was complete. >> for us to not have to worry and for her to be our daughter legally was -- was amazing. >> zoe's parents say their daughter is perfect and already full of personality. >> she is the happiest baby. >> she's really nosey, though. she does like to see what's going on at all times. >> the couple has not been in contact with zoe's birth mom but want her to know she is loved beyond words. >> we needed each other in her moment of crisis, and the way that we were able to help each other was through that baby box. >> a beautiful blessing well worth the wait >> never in my wildest dreams would i have ever thought that i would be a dad to a baby, let alone a baby girl. >> we never want to take that

for granted. we want to be the best parents we could be. >> and vincent and kate, your beautiful little zoe you guys, families are formed in the most unexpected ways you never know what one day will change your whole lives. will you describe just the moment when you knew that your of three >> i think it was probably the day we finalized our adoption because, you know, of course, before we finalize, anything can happen and we have experienced that in the past so when that judge said, you guys are a family, we kind of -- afterwards, we looked at each other like, we're a family holy guacamole, we're a family >> it's so amazing first of all, this is just an extraordinary little baby. you can just see that. she is a truly special little

babe yes, we're talking about you when you locked eyes with her, and we see it in the picture, you holding her. >> yes. >> you two are locking eyes. it feels like divine destiny. >> it definitely does. god put her in our lives and gave us the opportunity to adopt her. even now, you know, when she's up at night and i feed her, i keep her longer than i should. we stare at each other all the time it is one of my favorite things to do, to watch her. >> talk about how bad you wanted a child. you tried for years. you signed up with adoption agencies you had your home checked out. you were on foster care lists. you were doing all the things. was there a time there when you thought, i guess this is not meant to be. no one is coming knocking? >> yes oftentimes we would feel that way. and we kind of would get really

discouraged. and then, you know -- >> we'd sit down and have a conversation like, we know we want a family, but is this the way we will be able to have our family so we're like, let's just try a little bit more. let's just try a little bit longer. >> can we hold her we were just going to grab her anyway. >> hi, little girl. >> one of the things i think is so touching also about your story and one of the reasons you're coming here is to say thank you to the birth mom and to let her know this sweet baby girl is so loved. >> yes, yes. that was our only reason for doing any of this, was to let her know that her daughter is taken care of and that we love her and that she will be cared for for the rest of her life. >> the birth mothers are real heroes and they do the most generous thing in the world, and that's by giving you what is now a beautiful, beautiful family. >> al wants to come in. >> oh, my goodness

thank you so much! >> here you go. >> hello, sweet girl. >> a little something. >> wow look at that one >> vince and kate, this was meant to be. >> yes. >> i'm so glad for you i'm just holding this baby i can see why you never wanted to let her go. i will give her back eventually. she is just a bundle of love. >> beautiful. >> so glad you found each other. >> yes thank you. >> she's so curious. >> right >> she's amazing >> we say it all the time, she's perfect. >> she wants two crazy aunties at "the today show," here we are. >> al, a check of the weather. >> okay. i will do it in a baby voice oh, so cute. record warmth through the gulf

coast. good friday morning. i'm meteorologist kari hall. we are under a heat advisory that begins at 11:00 for the inland areas. temperatures will reach the triple digits for morgan hill and concord reaching 100 degrees. much hotter in the north bay with low to mid 90s. we are seeing milder temperatures for san francisco near the coastline. as you make your way inland, that heat will be dangerous and peaking tomorrow. but it will cool off in time for don't forget, it is time for our "start today" body challenge. we will add upper body strength training to the mix. scan the qr code if you haven't joined our community, sign up and join our members walking their way to

better health. >> i'm overcome. >> i just found three rattles on the couch. >> those were craig's. >> best time of the morning after that. >> we have a lot to get to today and obviously karol g. outside olivia rodrigo overnight dropping the first single of her upcoming album she describes it as a single a a heartbreak you can dance to. it is called vampire and comes with a music video ♪♪ ♪ >> hey, guys we have a special announcement mark your calendars. olivia rodrigo will be here friday, september 8th as a part of the citi concert. we are en fuego.

>> we're rocking it. >> artists are lining up to get out there. >> they want to be here. they're showing up >> look at that crowd. >> all right i'm sorry. >> that's really sad. >> the next time i say, it's lit. hit me over the head "the summer i turned pretty" the cast joined us earlier this week the trailer dropped for season 2, giving an update. also, if you listen closely, there is a sneak peek of "back to december". >> i should be celebrating with conrad and jeremiah, but they won't text me back anymore because you made things messy. >> hey, jeremiah >> i'm coming with you.

♪ so glad you made time to see me ♪ ♪ how's life ♪ >> you were my best friend we hooked up and then you hooked up with my brother and everyone expected me to act like that was fine and i wasn't. >> i'm sorry >> hooking up with the brother wow! >> it's a lot. >> teen drama. season 2, nice people. they were just here. that's dreaming on july 14th taylor's version drops friday. another special announcement to make big first ever people's choice country awards we exclusively reveal little big town will pull double duty and host the debut awards ceremony people's choice country will be held at the grand ole opry that's where little big town was inducted in 2014 it will be a two-hour extravaganza we invite you to watch right here. >> let's go down there and do it. >> let's go! >> come on all right, guys. just ahead, we're about to see firsthand why karol g. is an

icon the number one black female pop star on the planet, her crowd is enormous it may be the biggest we've ever had here a can't miss crowd on the plaza. but first a check of your local news and messages. good morning. 8:26. i'm marcus washington. travelers across the country are frustrated after delays and

cancellations affecting thousands of flights in the lead-up to the fourth of july weekend holiday travel time. this is expected to bring in more than 150,000 passengers to sfo today alone. while most airlines have recovered from this week's weather-related issues, united airlines still has been struggling. yesterday they cancelled 14% of their flights. aaa projects more than 4 million americans will be flying to their destination today, 150,000 expected to pass through sfo. time for a look at the forecast for us. >> it's going to be hot for the inland areas. you can change the temperature with a short drive across the bay area. for the inland valleys, it's going to be dangerous heat going into the weekend. we peak at 100 degrees for tomorrow and still really hot on sunday. make sure you stay hydrated and limit time outside. for the fourth of july, temperatures will be coming down. look at san francisco, low 70s

throughout the weekend. marcus. >> we'll have another local news update in 30 minutes.

welcome back this friday morning.

we will make history here on our plaza. this amazing crowd that stretches for multiple city blocks is one of the biggest we've ever had and they're all here to see one woman, she's right here. karol g. good morning >> good morning. buenos dias! como estan >> we've had some big crowds i don't think we've ever had a crowd quite this big. >> we are a family we are a big family right here >> well, people slept on the street they're tailgating some guy is out there barbecuing sausages around the corner. we got a lot going on. >> the crowd is so big, uncle al decided he wanted another view al, where are you? >> we're on our platform where we can see everyone.

they're from 51st street to 48th street and i get to chance to say -- mi gente [ speaking non-english ] >> it's fantastic. >> so i guess i should do. let me do weather here. >> why not >> exactly what's going on for the weekend outlook, your july 4th outlook, severe risk. record heat out west the heat and humidity continue to develop sunday, sunday look for severe storms into the mid-atlantic record highs in the western half of the country good friday morning. i'm meteorologist kari hall. it's going to be heating up in

the bay area, especially away from the coastline. as you make your way out this morning, it's cool, but san mateo will reach 78 degrees. we'll see a high of 83 in hayward and 94 in dublin. we reach the peak of the heat tomorrow, 103 in fairfield and cooling down for the fourth of july. that's your latest weather by the way, we want to thank the new york palace for providing room and board for our hotel guest for today. >> al, thank you so much there is so many people that adore you. i just found a little girl hold on. hold on. she is 12 years old. her name is hannah. >> hi, hannah. >> hi! >> she's been crying the whole time

hold on. come with me, hannah come with me come with me >> hola! >> oh, that's so sweet >> awe hi, hannah >> hannah has been singing every song and crying while she's cr singing. what does singing. what does this mean to you, hannah [ speaking non-english ] >> we don't need translation we totally understand. oh, the best, the best. >> we're super happy i'm like this right now. you know that i cry for everything>> well, hannah, get like in a moment, i'm just going to start. >> well, hannah, get ready because there is a concert here for you and everybody else karol g. will be live. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

"today" is proudly presented to you by citi. >> all right let's go we are back. if you have not noticed, this crowd is so ready for karol g. >> the number one latin female pop star in the world. let's take a look at her many accomplishments. ♪♪ ♪ >> karol g. is a multiplatinum singer-song writer and two-time latin grammy winner, dominating the globe with 18 billion youtube views. ♪ including with nikki >> a hit collaboration, including with nikki minaj and shakira.

karol g. charted her story earlier this year, becoming the first female artist to debut at number one on the spanish billboard top 200 with "bonito." a feat followed on "saturday night live" and gracing the current cover of "elle" magazine ♪ >> and now the beloved international star is gearing up to tour again, filling u.s. stadiums later this summer ♪ >> but, first, karol g. is stopping off right here on "today's" citi concert stage. >> she's ready i don't know if the crowd's ready, but take it away. here's karol g.! ♪

♪♪ [ speaking non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ ♪♪

[ singing in non-english ] ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪

♪♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] >> don't worry happy! be happy >> and that is how you do it more music coming up from karol g.

plus, we will chat with the star about her historic success but, first, this is "today" on

welcome back we are so, so happy to have karol g. on our citi concert stage this morning. >> her latest album made her the first female artist with an all-spanish language album to debut number debut number one thank you for being here. >> thank you you are making dreams come true. no, all of you are my dream come true. huge >> the bonds you have with this audience, i mean, this is a huge

audience but the bond is with each individual, and you can just see that what does family mean to you >> it is like, i don't know, the last two years i think we have been through movement. as latinos, we are proud of all of us. and it's such an amazing moment for me it is my first time breaking records. >> karol g., when you were coming up, who was the artist you looked to and said, wow, i would like to be something like that. >> i have to tell that i was so nervous and i just saw most of it, i think like 25 shows and they are 10 and 20 years old i want to represent what i'm doing right now. so i don't know. [ speaking non-english ] it's my time i want to make it. >> all right

crowd. we're going to let you keep singing for this wonderful crowd. take it away, my dear. >> thank you ♪ [ speaking non-english ] ♪ ♪♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪

♪♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ ♪♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪

[ singing in non-english ] ♪♪ ♪ ♪

karol g. we will be right back

♪ ♪ oh, we are back. oh, we are back. we are still rolling this concert from karol g. is far from over. >> give it up for karol g. [ applause ] ♪ [ speaking non-english ] ♪

[ singing in a global language ] [ singing in non-english ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in a global language ] [ singing in non-english ] ♪

[ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪

[ singing in non-english ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ singing in non-english ] ♪

[ singing in non-english ] ♪ oh, my oh [ singing in non-english ] >> oh, my! karol g. karol g. >> amazing >> that was an incredible performance. wow! your fans are above and beyond if you wait -- wait. if you waited in line from midnight on, raise your hands. sleeping on the street for you. >> wow >> by the way, our crowd is big. we have a crowd. the nypd says there are 15,000 people packed in this little tiny plaza.

>> for you. >> 48th street and 49th street >> it is amazing. >> karol, of everything that's happened, when did you know you made it? your dreams came true. >> i don't know. for me just to share this time with you, and you are, like, having your time to share with me, that is when i feel that i made it. >> well, there are so many wonderful people we have a couple of seconds. stay right here. hang on. let's just say hi. raise your hand if you want to say hi to karol. what's your name >> christine >> this is karol. >> can i take a picture with you, please. >> i'll do it for you. who's got another phone? i got you. i got you. go. smile. i got are we ready hold on. here we go smile! i got you. you're the best.

karol, thank you so much we're having fun here. good morning to you. it is 8:56. i'm marcus washington. in just moments the man charged in a half moon bay mass shooting will return to court, accused of shooting and killing seven people back in january. san mateo county d.a. says this all started because of a workplace dispute over a broken piece of equipment. in a court hearing, dau waved his right to a speedy hearing. earlier this week, cal osha issued fines for both farms for health and safety violations. meanwhile, the bay area mercury is rising. the air is expected to reach

protecting yourself on the fourth of july. if you're planning to set off fireworks, the top safety tips you need to keep in mind. you need to keep in mind. what was hitting the top

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i'm jujust visitining. u.s.s. bank. ranked #1 1 in customomer satisfafaction h retatail bankingng in calififornia by j j.d. po. this morning on the third hour of "today," go fourth! the holiday weekend is