the race to solve a mystery in the sky.

we're live with the high-tech quipment heading to the east coast, aimed at finding an answer once and for all about the mysterious drones across the region. the fight to extradite the ceo murder suspect heats up. luigi mangione could be indicted as early as this week, paving the way for a move to new york. a weekend of extreme weather. a rare tornado ripped through california, while an ice storm freezes over the midwest. our meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking what's in store for the week ahead. apple is dialing up big changes for future iphones. the new devices expected to join the fold. and the packers pummel the seahawks on sunday night football, while the bills and lions give us what could be a super bowl preview. we've got the highlights on this monday, december 16th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera. there are growing calls for action across the northeast

about this mysterious drone sightings. new york's governor saying this has gone too far after the new york stewart international airport was forced to shut down its runways briefly because of drone activity. nbc's brie jackson joins me now. good morning, brie. governor hochul is one of many lawmakers calling for federal help. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right. governor hochul says federal partners are sending a drone detection system to new york. she did not give specifics about the system, but new york senator chuck schumer asked for what's known as a robin radar system, which can provide 360 coverage in 3d and can identify the type of drone for up to one mile away. >> if the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on. and that's what the robin does. our local peopleho have questions about these drones

should not have to shake an eight ball to get an answer. >> reporter: now these sightings are happening across the country. two men were arrested in boston for flying drones dangerously close to logan airport. an fbi official says they've received thousands of reports over the past few weeks, but less than 100 warranted further investigation. white house officials say in many cases, people are seeing airplanes or recreational drones, and the pentagon says there is no sign of a security threat or foreign involvement. but people want more answers. and many lawmakers are calling on federal agencies to provide a briefing on what's being done. frances? >> brie, thank you. now to breaking news, a 16-year-old boy in new mexico has been charged with murder after four of his family members were found dead in their home. it happened in the small town of belen, 33 miles south of albuquerque. the boy turned himself in, and police say that he told the dispatcher that he had, quote,

killed his family. a gun was found inside the home. the our victims are two adults and two teenagers. it's not clear if the suspect has a lawyer yet. now to the ceo murder investigation and the fight to extradite luigi mangione, it intensifies as an indictment could come this week. >> reporter: the fight to extradite luigi mangione to new york intensifying, with a source familiar telling nbc news that this week a grand jury could be asked to hand up an indictment against the man accused of murdering united aircraft ceo brian thompson. >> we expect that to be issued any day now. the second that happens, i'm issuing a warrant for extradition. >> reporter: the possible indictment intended to strengthen the manhattan district attorney's case for extradition, by making the charges official, as questions remain about whether mangione

will go willingly or fight it. >> we're going to continue to press forward on parallel paths. and we'll be ready. >> reporter: in a pennsylvania court, mangione's attorney vowed to challenge extradition. but, in the days since, high-power new york defense attorney karen friedman agnifilo has joined the team and declined to comment on the matter. the pennsylvania department of corrections says a team of new york attorneys visited mangione on friday. if he waives extradition, what then? >> he would then be transferred to new york state pretty immediately. so if he fights it, all it would do is delay the inevitable. the only hope in a case like this for an argument to work would be if there literally was no evidence connecting him to new york state. >> reporter: mangione is due back in court later this month. but the manhattan district attorney says we could see him face a judge as soon as tuesday, if he decides to waive extradition. back to you. >> thank you. robert f. kennedy jr. will be the next trump cabinet pick

to visit capitol hill. the nominee for health secretary will likely face tough questions from senators as he's under scrutiny for past comments about vaccines. and the "new york times" reported that a lawyer helping rfk jr. petitioned the fda to revoke the approval of a polio vaccine. >> say good-bye to your smile and say hello to polio. you know, i would laugh if it weren't so scary. this is a man who wants to stop kids from getting their polio and measles shots. he's actually welcoming a return to polio, a disease we nearly eradicated. >> senator mitch mcconnell, a polio survivor, saying efforts to undermine public confidence in proving cures are dangerous. kennedy's team responded to the times report saying the polio vaccine should be available and thoroughly and properly studied. at least 11 people have been confirmed dead after a cyclone hit mayotte off the coast of southeast africa. but, because of the widespread

destruction, a top government official told local tv that he expected the death toll to run into the several hundreds, perhaps even thousands. it is the strongest storm to hit the area in nearly a century. the cyclone has now struck mozambique on the african mainland, causing damage to homes, schools and healthcare facilities. no word yet on casualties there. now to another pending disaster overseas where at least one person was killed yesterday when a russian oil tanker carrying thousands of tons of oil split apart during a storm, spilling oil into the kerch strait between russia and crimea. a second tanker also sustained damage in the same storm and was equipped with 14 crew members on board. all on the second tanker were rescued and safely brought to shore. let's turn to claudio lavanga. good morning, claudio. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right. that russian oil tanker literally split apart when it

was caught in a storm in that strait that separates russia with crimea. while the ship was navigating there, there is footage posted on social media that allegedly showed the bow of the tanker detached, sinking into the sea while waves are crashing over the remaining main deck in those stormy seas. well, now, right after that russian tanker sent out the distress signal, a massive rescue operation was launched. 50 rescuers, helicopters, tugboats rushed to the scene. in the end, one person, as you mentioned, has died. but they managed to rescue the remaining 12 crew members. they were sent, taken to a hospital. and two of them at least are said to be in serious condition. now a second oil tanker, also ran into trouble because of that storm in the same location in the same strait, and they sent out a distress signal after it sustained serious damage and ran adrift. now we've learned in the last few hours this morning that all

crew members were safely rescued from that second tanker. well, now, both tankers are believed to be carrying more than 4,000 tons of oil products. so now russian authorities are trying to mitigate the risk of oil spills. at the same time, they opened an investigation on, over whether there were safety regulations that were broken that may have contributed to both incidents, frances? >> claudio, thank you. a rare, violent tornado hit northern california over the weekend, damaging homes and businesses north of santa cruz. our dana griffin reports. >> reporter: a rare tornado in northern california. >> ah! >> reporter: flying debris raining down saturday as frantic shoppers take cover. this ring camera in scotts valley, california, capturing the ef-1 funnel touching down. >> let's go home. let's go home. >> reporter: drivers caught off

guard. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: vehicles pummeled with broken branches. several cars picked up, flipped over by the storm's force, including this cal fire battalion chief's truck. it appears he had to kick his way through the windshield. and this driver just yards away captures the final moments of the tornado, ripping through trees before it starts to dissipate. at least five were injured, one person in critical condition, according to officials. >> it bass pretty much chaos at the moment when i arrived there. >> reporter: across the country, 11 million are under winter weather alerts. near omaha, dangerous, icy weather has turned deadly. a 57-year-old woman killed in a collision, according to the sheriff's office. more than 500 crashes have been reported, including this one captured on ring video. >> there goes my car. >> reporter: spinning out of control in front of a woman, visibly stunned. across the midwest and west coast. >> damage looks pretty disastrous. >> reporter: communities are cleaning up after a

nerve-wracking weekend of winter weather. >> it's odd to happen in such a small community. you never think it will happen where you are, you know? >> reporter: dana griffin, nbc news. all right, let's see now and take a look at the weather for the week ahead with nbc meteorologist michelle grossman. what are you watching? >> well, we're watching both coasts are wet. we're lookoking at sw and rain on the west coast and same story on the east coast. we're looking at snow falling in the interior parts of the northeast and rain falling as well. some of it is heavy. in the west, sort of the same story. high-elevation snow. the cascades and northern rocky also see snow and heavy rain along the coast. also looking at the chance for rain from the great lakes to the ohio valley to the tennessee valley. even the south central states will see wet weather. where you see the darker colors are where we are expecting the highest amounts of rain. anywhere from 5 to 15 degrs above average. the west stays active today.

we're going to keep it active over the next several days as well. two powerful systems will move onshore. in the northwest, higher elevation snow. plenty of sunshine throughout the middle of the country. and notice the east is wet once again. we're looking at rain from new england all the way down through portions of the mid atlantic through the south central states and could chance for storms in places like dallas, shreveport, little rock and memphis. all right, that's your monday forecast. >> okay, thanks so much, michelle. dressed in all white, the packers iced the seahawks on sunday night football. jordan love found romeo dobbs.

seattle struggled against the pack all night long and lost geno smith to injury in the third quarter. green bay gets their tenth win of the season in convincing fashion, 30-13. earlier in philly, the steelers and eagles fought the battle for pennsylvania. despite the 27-13 loss, pittsburgh still punched their ticket to the playoffs. and, in a potential super bowl preview in detroit, josh allen found himself on the right side of a high-scoring epic. the mvp candidate guided the bills to his second-consecutive 40-plus point performance. despitite five touchdowns from jared goff, buffalo's defense did just enough to bring an end to the historic win streak, 48-42. "early today" is back in a minute with big changes reportedly in the works for the

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apple is looking to, for ways to rev up iphone sales and could pin its hope on a new type of device expected to join the fold. karen gilchrist is here with the new report. good morning, karen. >> hey, frances. good morning. reports are abounding about what we can expect from the latest editions from iphones and other apple products. and this is all part of the plan to rev up sales and really bring about some more major change after incremental changes over recent years. but chief amamong them could be new foldable iphone and potentially laptop. this is according to reports from "the wall street journal," saying that this new product could come to the table by 2026. now this would be a new model that apple had not previously targeted because it didn't quite meet their requirements for efficiency and various standards

for apple, but it does look like the technology could be moving closer in that direction for a foldable device. and this would be aimed at those who don't want all the elements of a pro phone but some of the things we typically take away from apple products. we're looking at thinner models and also maybe horizontal camera display which could augment video production. apple has so far been reluctant to pursue foldable devices, but it's something we could see going forward and competition heats up with sales falling to the likes of samsung and huawei. back to you, frances. still to come, a hat trick for moana at the box office. and who says life isn't fair? a bevesiomlod tc is returning for a new generation. we have your first details after this.

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do i hear people? >> those aren't people. >> you guys, we got this! whoa, whoa, whoa. bring it on. >> "moana 2" knows the way to stay at e top of the box office. the animated sequel took in another $26 million in its third weekend at number one. "wicked" repeated as runner-up with $22 million, and "kraven the hunter" underwells with a $11 million debut. bring them to the movies so we can get our stuff done. >> there's nothing better this time of year, the candy, the popcorn. now to a long-awaited update on one of tv's favorite families. a revival of malcolm in the middle is coming to disney+.

frankie munoz posted a video. and we check in on their family nearly 20 years after the show ended. a premiere date is yet to be named. ketanji brown jackson achieved a le-iflong dream. and which state nks as the worst for driving? changing progs and services. i realized i could be successful in a civilian career. we stand by warriors and advocate for their needs going forward. they were by my side in the hospital, and they're still with me today. through our programs, community and advocacy, we're proving anything is possible. learn more at wounded warriorproject.org/connect

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cheer to the ultimate honor for a packers fan. jose diaz balart has a little good news to kick off your week. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: christmas is in the air. ♪ ♪ that's ay veteran and musician, wayne hoyt. lifting spirits aboard a recently-delayed flight out of atlanta. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: even giving the tiniest toddlers a reason to dance. >> music just brings a smile to everybody's face. with all the crazy stuff going on, it's nice to be able to just share a little joy. ♪ oh, what fun it is to ride ♪ ♪ ♪ [ applause ] . >> reporter: the holiday celebrations started early at

cardinal glen children's hospital in missouri. firefighters putting on a light show, giving santa a boost up so the kids inside could get a closer look. ♪ tis the season to be jolly ♪ >> reporter: the crowds below singing their hearts out. jimy williams is a former patient who cameack this season to bring some holiday cheer. >> i think it really just shows how other people really do care about what you're going through. you're not alone. >> reporter: and, talk about a field of dreams. the green bay packers honoring a military mom during a recent game. she founded a group called support the troops wisconsin, sending about 17,000 care packages to our troops overseas during the past 17 years. >> why do you do this? >> i just couldn't imagine going to mail call and being that one person who didn't get a care

package. i get these amazing thank you notes, telling me that what i did was important to them. when they are the ones that we are thanking with these care packages. and i'm grateful e every day th my kids came home. >> i guess it's fair to say that you're no secret santa, you're the real deal. >> i'm very honored to be able to do this. so, if i can send them a little something that will make their christmas a little nicer, knowing that they're away from their family, that's why you do it. >> how great is it to hear and see these stories especially during the holiday season. our thanks to jose for that. and thank you to you for starting your morning and your week