red hot and stormy for the red, white and blue. severe weather threatening fourth of july celebrations across the country, while

millions bake under record-breaking temperatures we are tracking the impact on your holiday. a block party takes a tragic turn in baltimore as gunfire erupts, killing two people and hurting over two dozen others. the city's mayor now vowing to find those responsible. thrills turned to chills at a north carolina amusement park after a massive crack was spotted on a roller coaster. the terrifying video that shut down the ride. there's more to your morning cup much joe than just the caffeine, researchers spill the beans on the unexpected benefits of coffee. and a grand adventure for a grandmother and grandson, their record-breaking quest to visit all 63 national parks. it is monday, july 3rd "early today" starts right now good morning, of course, i meant to say, yes, july 3rd, that's right, i'm vinita nair. i'm getting ahead of myself, i'm ready for the holidays.

>> and i'm jessica layton. on the eve of the fourth of july coast to coast extreme weather is making it harder for many of you to celebrate a nascar race and cubs game were delayed in chicago, 3 or more inches of rain fell in 90 minutes causing flash flooding throughout the city. that severe weather is impacting the northeast now. meanwhile, heat alerts continue from coast to coast across the south, parts of arizona are under an excessive heat warning this morning, highs could reach over 115 degrees. >> millions of americans are attempt to go navigate the airlines and potential severe weather as they try to get away for the long fourth of july weekend. for more on this we go to nbc's brie jackson who joins us this morning from washington. air travel records were already broken at the start this have weekend. what are flyers dealing with now? >> reporter: good morning, vinita as you alluded to the extended fourth of july weekend has already been a milestone for travel this is the first year that u.s. air traffic for the holiday is

expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels with aaa projecting that roughly 51 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home in the coming days. during this period all eyes are on the airlines in the hopes that potential travel disasters of years past can be avoided scott kirby ceo of united airlines which has dealt with a number of disruptions ov the last month said in a note to the company on saturday that the carrier has already made a number of changes in order to ensure travel is smooth over the busy holiday one thing that could throw a wrench into people's plans is the weather. the storms that belted the country with rain and wind are set to continue through the rest of this week now, despite these potential threats, no meteorologist brian jackson tells nbc that any storms that are likely to form are likely to be not as potent >> thank you. baltimore is searching for

answers and suspects after a block party ended in gun violence shots were fired just after midnight on sunday, two people were killed, an 18-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man. more than two dozen others were injured and most of them are teenagers. baltimore's mayor is pleading with the public to come forward with information >> somebody knows who did this i don't care if it's the parents, the brother, the wife, the girlfriend of those who are responsible. we need you to say something we need you to treat this as if someone had taken the life of your son, your daughter, your father, your brother >> baltimore police say more than one shooter was involved. they believe shots were fired from at least four different guns no arrests have been made. treasury secretary janet yellen will meet with senior chinese officials on her trip to beijing later this week. a senior administration official told reporters that yellen's visit is meant to deepen and increase communication between the global powers, but they don't expect any major

breakthroughs. this comes after secretary of state antony blinken met with chinese president xi jinping later -- just last month yellen heads to china this thursday. florida governor ron desantis is taking heat from fellow republicans over a new video attacking a rival. the video posted by the desantis war room twitter account on friday criticized former president donald trump for his past support of the lgbtq community. fellow republican candidate chris christie on sunday called out desantis for posting the video adding that both he and trump are trying to divide americans. recently declared candidate will herd echoed christie's cespedes amounts saying they wish they would focus on other issues. the el dorado county sheriff's office responded to a call saturday about a plane crash at lake tahoe. nearby boaters were able to rescue the passenger of the plane. >> reporter: john raleigh has

seen a lot during his time on the water. >> when i see any incident on the water i go over and ask if they need help. >> reporter: lake tahoe beautiful, but in an emergency he says time is precious. >> i was just watching the water and my wife and a passenger said a plane crashed. it looked like a boat it was so big. when we got there the fuselage was vertical, it was standing like that and the wings were out. so i thought probably they're dead because a plane crash, and then two heads popped up. >> reporter: the ntsb and the faa are investigating confirming the single engine piper pa-28 went down saturday with two people on board. >> i just went right in and saw the plane going down, so by the time we got them on my boat, the plane was gone it was that fast. >> reporter: raleigh said one

man was bleeding from his head but the other man seemed okay. people in other boats helped them care for them as they got them to first responders on shore. >> i asked them when i got there, hey, are you guys okay? and they said we're lucky to be alive. i go, yeah, you're lucky get on the boat. so they -- they realized that they were given a second chance. >> they are lucky. our thanks to leanne for that report. the unrest in france has entered week two and there are signs that protests are dying down french authorities reported a relatively quiet sunday night and monday morning, but so far over the six days more than 3,000 protesters have been detained after the fatal police shooting of an arab teenager in a suburb of paris. let's bring in our nbc news foreign correspondent claudio lavanga. good morning let's start with why the protests erupted initially. >> reporter: good morning, jessica. the victim was a 17-year-old

french citizen of moroccan descent and the fact that a policeman killed him during what looked like a regular traffic stop sparked a revolt that appeared to have been brewing in the suburbs of paris and other cities where descendents of immigrants and poor french citizens feel like they are discriminated upon by the police and the state rc it's not the first time that the suburbs? france erupt in violent rioting but it looks like they were and still are a powder keg where anger is always ready to explode and this time this was the episode that sparked it. jessica? >> what's injure sense about why the protests seem to be toning out of steam at the moment >> reporter: well, there may be a couple of episodes that calmed it down. in the early hours of sunday the protests appeared to have gone too far when the mayor of a paris suburb accused protesters of ramming a car into his house

and then set it on fire, lit it on fire, injuring the wife and his children he called it an assassination attempt, but what seemed to work in calming down the protests is the appeal from the victim's grandmother who asked the protesters to stop destroying things. >> claudio, thank you. the carowinds amusement park in north carolina had to hit down, the fury 325 roller coaster until further notice after a park goer cap too urd this video of a crack in a steel beam support you can see part of the ride shake as the cars on the track speed up the park hasn't said when the coaster will reopen. thousands of southern california hotel workers are on strike this morning. the walkout began nearly 24 hours ago. a union representing more than 32,000 workers is demanding stronger workplace protections

a $5 an hour wage increase and access to affordable health care benefits the strike also impacts 65 hotels the hotel association of los angeles says it is actively engaged in good faith collective bargaining. the south and the west still sweltering under record heat while the east coast is bracing for summer storms. nbc meteorologist angie lassman is tracking everything that could impact your holiday travel plans. angie, there's not a lot of good stuff on that board behind you. >> it's the middle of the country where you want to be today. a lot of people call them flyover states but they have the good weather over the next couple of days in the south we're dealing with really warm temperatures that goes for the west as well. 24 million people are under heat alerts let's look at some temperatures. triple digits reading to fresno, las vegas, palm springs headed to 115, a similar temperature places like phoenix later today. these numbers anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees above normal from where they should be we are going to see it continue into in the next couple days,

triple digits for las vegas well through this workweek and into your thursday and even friday we will finally start to see a bit of relief as far as temperatures are concerned. a little bit of relief for parts of the southeast although we are going to make it to the high 90s in tallahassee as well as raleigh, birmingham 94 degrees check out the storms that we could see later this afternoon this will interrupt your plans later today if you are going to be out and about, make sure places like washington, d.c., ric richmond, charlotte, you are getting alerts we will have the potential for strong to severe storms in those areas, including rapid city, that could include strong wind gusts as well as heavy rain leadin, mid 90s for shreveport, little rock, birmingham, all dealing with afternoon thunderstorms for your

day today. and that's a look at your forecast, ladies, back over to you. >> all right angie, thank you see you soon. still to come, the tsa reports a record-breaking number of holiday travelers. plus the new caffeine stud u ll want t to hear befofore you make thahat morning g coffee mymd all free c clear for m my laun. it's freree of dyess and peperfumes, for r a clean that's g gentle on s skin. if it totouches my s , i i clean it w with alall free clelear the e number onene brand recommendeded by dermamatologi. of holiday travelersrs. no, , great chececkup! [laughs] nanailed it agagain! keepep up the gogood work! for greaeat checkupsps, crest hahas you covevered becae crest pro-health protects 100% of your mouth for 24 hours. lolook, ma! nono cavities!! crcrest. ♪ it's s the most w wonderful time of f the year ♪ nonon-drowsy c claritin-d.. knocksks out your r worst alallergy sympmptoms inclulud nasal congngestion. withthout knockiking you out. feel thehe clarity a and mamake today t the most wowonderful titime of the e y. clclaritin-d.. you know that feelingg of having to rewash dishes thahat didn't g get cle?

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the people who draipg coffee showed more brain activity the researchers believe the smell or taste of coffee may help people feel alert regardless of the amount of caffeine. >> i believe it, it's all about that smell. >> i love that smell. portland, org's minimum wage that is increased to $15.41. while many praise the pay increase small business owners are finding it difficult to continue operations. thomas schultz has the details >> reporter: there's a bustle of activity at dan and louie oyster bar as workers prepare for doors to open. >> this was left in the till, casual labor. >> reporter: the co-owner is busy prepping the bar. but with minimum wage rising 70 cents saturday she knows money just got a little tighte >> we are still reeling from the hit we took for three full years and it still hasn't recovered all the way and so it's hard to pay people more money when you really don't have money. >> reporter: she says she wants wages to rise because housing

prices continue to soar, but increased pay may mean less staff. >> we have to bare bones it and hope that when the rushes come we have enough people here to cover the rush. >> reporter: representatives from the org afl-cio, the statewide federation of labor unions said in a statement that the uptick will positively impact more than 100,000 oregonians they say the rise is a significant milestone, some agree. >> it's nice to see people being able to have enough money to afford the things they need to live. >> reporter: but christopher westerner realizes there's two sides to the coin. >> to some people it's a good thing and to small business owners that are struggling, it's not a good thing. >> reporter: small businesses like this one which is struggling to compete with giant chains. >> we recently had a cook leave which i was paying $18 an hour and he left because he can wash dishes and it was easier at mcdonald's literally >> and our thanks to thomas for

that report. still to come on "early today," nascar speeds through the streets of chicago for the first time we've got the highlights and something that no u.s. men's soccer player has done in the team's 107-year history. ♪inspirining music♪ ♪ starart your dayay with n nature madede. ththe #1 pharmrmacist recocommd vitamin and supppplement brara. wawant luxury y hair repaiar that doesnsn't cost $5$50? pantenene's pro-vivitamin formula repapairs hair.. as w well as thehe leading l ly bondining treatmenent. for softneness and resesili, withthout the prprice tag. as w well as thehe leading l ly bondining treatmenent. if you knonow... you knowow it's pantntene. (mnemomonic) most fraragrance plulug-ins jt smell like fresh bathroom. new w vibrant frfrom air wick can n truly elevevate yourur living spspace. with two t times the n naturl essentiaial oil itit's time toto raise youor fragrance expectations. vibranant from air wick. not flosossing well?l?

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turn 6, gragson into the tire barrier again and he's stuck again. he's wedged into the tire back in turn number 6 as everybody will race by to his inside. >> the slick streets of chicago played host to a nascar race for the first time the start of the race was delayed for weather and that had drivers slipping and sliding all over the course. now, in the end a new zealand shane van ginssbergen won the race in his first nascar start of the year. i have a 9-year-old little boy who was enamored by this over the weekend.

how are they racing through the streets of the city? pretty cool. >> i would love to see what that driver was saying as he was trying to get himself out. two of the nba's biggest names kicked off free agency by signing new deals to stay with their teams. kyrie irving agreed to a three-year deal worth $126 million and russell westbrook today a two year $8 million contract to stay with the clippers one of the game's top starts wants a fresh start. damien lillard requested a trade from the trailblazers after playing a decade in portland and becoming the team's all time leading scorer. moving along to history on the pitch for the u.s. men's soccer time. jesus ferreira didn't waste any time getting the americans on the board against trinidad and toe baying goe he scored three goals days after he had another three-goal performance in his last game he became the first men's soccer

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places like minneapolis, denver, new york, boston, washington, d.c. we will continue to see some of those showers possible, but look at the nice places, places lick los angeles 69 degrees, a little cloud cover but can't complain about that. >> i like your approach, look over there. >> just travel across the country. >> thanks, angie. when we return the grandma having a grand time trying to visit every national park. i used to o wait to rurun my d dishwasherr 'til itit was superer full. nonow— i runun it daily.y. weekdadays— weeeekends— you mighght think that's w wasteful, b but it's . eveven half loloads use 808% lessss water thahan handwashs. saving $ $130 on utitilities. cascscade. dare e to dish differenently. for peoplele who are a a lie intense e about hydrdration. neneutrogena®® hydro b boost lightweighght. frfragrance-frfree. 48-hour hyhydration. frfragrance-frfree. for thatat healthy s skin g. neututrogena®. for peoplele with skinin. feeleling...

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records while visiting every national park in the country gadi schwartz shares her travels. >> you said you forgot something. >> oh, i forgot my bikini. >> reporter: in her late 80s joy and her grandson came up with the crazy idea to visit all 63 national parks. >> everywhere we went there was something different. every park has some beautiful thing that the other park doesn't have and it's something to look forward to >> it sure is a lovely day. >> reporter: and they didn't just show up, see the parks and leave, they have taken some pretty wild excursions from zip lining, even white water rafting. >> it's one thing to go white water rafting in class 3 rapids in alaska by yourself, it's another thing when you're holding on to a 91-year-old woman who can't swim. >> reporter: but the seven-year journey was so much more than just a checklist. >> i don't know how to describe the feeling of watching old faithful erupt and then also watching that through the eyes

of somebody who waited 85, 87, 90 -- now 93 years to see such wonderful things i'm able to see the world through her eyes, slow down, be present and not just assume i'm going to be back one day. >> reporter: and what's a family trip without a little bickering here or there. >> what's your favorite thing to tell your grandson >> turn down the radio. >> i say crank up your hearing aid. >> reporter: it wasn't just fun memories they got out of this. joy broke a record, becoming the oldest person to visit every park. >> when you go through those gates you don't know what you're going to see, but it's going to be beautiful whatever it is. >> i realize she had a huge chapter that was yet to be written in her life. >> grandma joy, do you want to show the world what you can do with your new knees? >> yeah. here we will. >> reporter: joy giving her grandson brad a new outlook on life. >> life is so many more than

career, it is connection and experience and she has given that that perspective that i needed. >> reporter: joy just got her hands on her very first passport. >> and we're going to kenya for 15 days. >> we figured now that we've seen america from coast to coast and top to bottom that it's time to head overseas. >> reporter: they're not stopping with africa they have their heart set on every single continent and joy with a piece of advice for anyone who thinks they can't explore the world, too. >> there's beautiful things everywhere and you would be amazed at what you can see when just in the car seat. >> life is yours for the taking, your age is not a limiting factor >> and we want to thank gadi for bringing us the story of joy

a block party in baltimore turns deadly over the weekend. what police know about the mass shooting that kill