llamas in new york. stay right there. more news on the way. re news on. a student and teacher dead this morning after another school shooting. this time in madison, wisconsin. police saying the suspected

shooter, a teenaged girl, is also dead and attended the school. the latest details on the tragedy coming in overnight. tiktok appeals to the supreme court to stop a ban that could go into effect in just a few weeks. and a case capturing renewed attention, the menendez brothers await a decision on the resentencing in the murder of their parents. our lester holt has an exclusive sit-down with the new d.a. who's set to make the final decision. >> reporter: lawmakers set to get a new briefing today on mysterious drones found flying in the northeast. the white house and federal officials saying so far they've found nothing anomalous, as the president-elect claims without evidence the government is hiding information. but, in denver, there's no mystery about these lights in the sky. one team of hobbyist pilots takes us inside the preparation for their holiday drone show. it's tuesday, december 17th. "early today" starts right now. . good morning. i'm frances rivera.

we begin with what's become an all-to-familiar occurrence in america. a school shooting. this time in madison, wisconsin. three people are dead, a teacher, a student and the suspected shooter, who was a 15-year-old girl, and also a student at the abundant life christian school. authorities say it appears she shot herself. at a press briefing late last night, police say it's not known how the suspect got the gun. >> we are certainly speaking and talking with the parents who are cooperating, to determine if they were gun owners, and if they had guns. but, at this time, we're still talking with them. there's been a long conversation. we appreciate them cooperating with the investigation. >> six other people were injured, incncluding two studen who are in critical condition this morning. as our jay gray reports, the shooting has rattled the local community. >> well, what i heard was, ambulance, ambulance, squad car,

fire engine. >> reporter: first responders rushing to abundant life christian school in madison, wisconsin after reports of an active shooter inside. >> the protocols are simple. stop the killing, stop the dying, find out who's doing this. and the officers did that. they did that adamantly. >> reporter: officers quickly identifying the suspected shooter, a juvenile, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound while medics rushed to the victims. as news spread across the community, parents scrambled to get to the k-12 campus. >> i bolted out, called my husband, and he made his way over here. >> reporter:r: nervous families directed to a reunification center just a few blocks away. students transferred there on city buses. bethany hyman's kids among the survivors. >> it's the world that we live in. and god is good. god is gracis, and my kids are safe. my family's safe. >> reporter: safe, but like this

community, struggling. >> the tragedy of all, what the other kids have seen, kids saw this and heard t this. i mean, right before christmas? >> reporter: the season and their city, likely forever changed. jay gray, nbc news. lawmakers may get more answers today about the drone sightings overnew jersey. the house intelligence committee will be briefed by the fbi and cia. krone detectors have been deployed to new jersey where the governor says they have found little or no evidence of wrongdoing, but president-elect trump is among those calling for more information to be made public, suggesting without evidence the government or military know more than they're sharing. >> the government knows what is happening. look. our military knows where they took off from. our military knows. and our president knows. and, for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense. i can't imagine it's the enemy, because if it was the enemy, they'd blast it out, even if

they were late, they'd blast it. something strange is going on. for some reason, they don't want to tell the people, and they should. >> the white house says they have not identified any national security or public safety risk. tiktok is now taking its battle to the supreme court, asking the justices to block a law that would ban the app for millions of americans. the bipartisan measure would require tiktok's chinese owner to sell the platform to an american company or face a ban, starting january 19th. that's the day before president-elect donald trump takes office. it comes as tiktok ceo met with president-elect trump at mar-a-lago yesterday, according to a source familiar with the meeting. tiktok is asking the supreme court to act by january 6th. president-elect trump's pick for house secretary visited capitol hill. robert f. kennedy jr. met with senators who will decide if he will be confirmed or not as he faces tough questions on his

views on vaccines. here's garrett haake. >> reporter: donald trump's pick to be the top federal health official, long-time vaccine skeptic, robert f. kennedy jr. making his first capitol hill appearance as the president-elect held his first news conference since winning the election. what do you say to people who are worried that h views on vaccines will translate into policies that will make their kids less safe? >> no, i think he's going to be much less radical than you would think. i think he's got a very open mind or i wouldn't have put him there. >> reporter: kennedy has pushed discredited theories that have linked vaccines to autism. and an advisor had petitioned the fda to revoke proval of the polio vaccine. >> you're not going to lose the polio vaccine. >> reporter: kennedy pressed on whether he supports the polio

vaccine. trump asked directly if schools should mandate vaccinations, pivoting to covid. >> i don't like mandates. i was against mandates. mostly democrat governors did the mandates. >> reporter: but school vaccinations are decided by states, limiting the direct influence kennedy or trump could have. the president-elect's press conference called a tout a $100 billion investment from softbank which he claims would create 100,000 new american jobs. he's kept a low profile since his victory as tech titans and foreign leaders have flocked to florida to see him. >> the first term, everybody was fighting me. in this term, everybody wants to be my friend. i don't know. my personality changed or something. the biggest difference is that people want to get along with me this time. >> reporter: judge juan merchan rejecting a trump attempt to throw out his conviction in the new york hush money case on presidential immunity grounds,

the decision preserving the criminal conviction for now. mr. trump expected to appeal. trump also told reporters he sees ending the war in ukraine as more complicated than settling the conflict in the middle east, insisting that both presidents putin and zelenskyy have to be willing to make a deal. >> and our thanks to garrett for that report. the woman who allegedly flew as a stowaway from new york to first is back in custody after another alleged incident. two senior law enforcement officials tell nbc news that svetlana dali cut off her required ankle monitor and fled to the u.s.-canadian border where she was picked up by canadian authorities. she will be in court today in buffalo and is expected to be sent back to new york city to face charges tied to her jfk airport stunt where sheyi saided tsa security and boarded a flight to paris. kobayashi says she

has no idea about the media information. she returned from mexico to the u.s. on sunday. her family reported her missing on november 12. her father later died by suicide in los angeles where he had travelled to look for her. kobayashi went on to say, my focus now is on my healing, my peace and my creativity. now to an incredible rescue caught on camera in arizona. it shows a deputy leaping into action to save a man from a house fire. the body camera footage shows the officer running toward the burning home when he hears the homeowner screaming, trapped behind a locked door. the officer tries to kick it in before ripping the steel door from its hinges and safely rescuing the man. both the deputy and the man were treated for minor injuries. you might want to keep an umbrella handy this morning. let's turn to nbc meteorologist angie lassman who's tracking another round of rain for the east coast. >> weave 've got showers in the forecast. active in the northeast to the

southeast. out west we've got another system we're watching too. but the cold front that's bringing us that leftover rain today, that's going to be out of the picture. we'll see some of that rain across the northeast. but then we'll watch this new system bring a potential for wet and snowy weather across the midwest and ohio valley. this is going to eventually work east tomorrow. another round of rain across this region. a good dose of rain in some spots across the tennessee valley. one to two inches in some locations, and the higher elevations and parts of northern new england could pick up about a half of a foot of snow here over the next couple of days. meanwhile, out west we have plenty plenty of winter alerts. we'll see the potential for torrential rain across parts of washington. we'll watch for the flooding and snow threat. this works to the east as we get into 61 degrees in

philadelphia. washington, d.c., mostly sunny with a high of 63 today. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. >> okay, angie, thank you. one of america's most iconic animal also soon get legal recognition. a bill to officially designate the bald eagle as the national bird will head to president biden's desk after passage in the house on monday. though the bald eagle has been used on the great seal of the united states since 1782, it has never been specifically designated as the national bird under u.s. law. coming up, bitcoin soars to a new record. and an interview with the new d.a. who could decide the fate of the menendez brothers. t fate of the menendez brothers. . ha ha. haha! then he switched to mucinex nightshift. mucinex is uniquely formulated to leave your system faster, so you wake up ready to go. uhh, hank!

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wonder what he will or won't do regarding the menendez brothers' 35-year-old murder case. nbc's lester holt sat down with the new d.a. in an exclusive interview. >> reporter: how would you describe the amount of pressure you're feeling in the menendez case? >> you know, it's not pressure. >> reporter: the job, leading the nation's largest district attorney's office. >> i nathan hockman -- >> reporter: nathan hockman was swept into office amid a voter backlash against what critics saw as soft on crime policies of his predecessor, george gascon. and rising violent crime. your predecessor is referred to as a progressive. what does that make you? >> what it makes me is common sense. i reject the extremes. the decarceration which predetermines that certain crimes and certain criminals would not be prosecuted, not withstanding the facts and the law. and the other extreme of mass incarceration.

>> reporter: hockman, a republican turned independent vows to operate from what he calls the hard middle, including in his approach to the menendez case, in which the previous d.a. asked a judge to resentence the brothers, who were currently serving sentences of life without parole for the 1989 murders of their parents. >> the pace is expeditious, because we have a january 30th hearing. and i'm reading thousands of pages of confidential prison files. >> reporter: hockman, not tipping his hand as to where he may land on the case. but confirming personnel changes among the teamhat led the resentencing effort. have you removed people who were directly involved in the menendez case? >> so, one of the people is actually no longer, will no longer be with the office. and i will be speaking to everybody who's ever touched the menendez case in the d.a.'s office. >> reporter: we refer to them as the menendez brothers, assuming they're always a package deal. in your view, as you do your review, do you leave open the

possibility that their cases could be handled differently that they would be split? >> you're correct. there is an erik menendez and a lyle menendez case. there's two victims, jose menendez and kitty menendez. we'll look at each victim separately, which is what the law demands us to do in reaching the ultimate decision over resentencing. >> reporter: have you thought about what message it would send if were you to endorse resentencing in this case? >> it's not so much a message but a precedent. because the precedent of whatever we do in this case will apply to future cases that we deal with, with requests for resentencing. we have to be consistent. >> r reporter:o you wish this was not on your desk? >> do i wish it was not on my desk? you know what? you're dealt the cards you're dealt with in this life. and, if the menendez card has

been dealt, it's a card that we will deal with. >> and our thanks to lester for that report. still to come, what could be more popular than one wicked movie? two wicked movies. find out the change that has been made for good to the sequel of the blockbuster musical. sequl of the blockbuster musical. come on, let's's go! get off your— (donkey hee-haws) citrusy. ahhhhhhhh! (crash) touchdown! (♪♪) mountaaaain dew! (♪♪♪) skincare can start in the laundry room. that's why i always recommend all free clear for sensitive skin. it's free of dyes and perfumes. it's a key part of my self-care routine. and is gentle for my skin, and her's too. for an effective clean that's gentle on skin, all you need is all free clear. (vo) struggling with moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis? that's gentle on skin, talk to your doctor about #1 prescribed entyvio, offering two maintenance options, including the entyvio pen. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, potentially fatal brain infection

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welcome to the white lotus in thailand. >> everyone runs. but they get there, only to find more pain. >> trouble is about to bloom again in paradise in the first trailer for season three of the white lotus. the latest iteration of the dark comedy features carrie coon. among the guests checking in to the thailand location of that fictional resort. it premiers pre-/- s pre-/- p.

>> it always turns out good. i feel like it's been so long since season two. and we get to see another great destination in thailand. while we can't say this title has been changed for the better, it has certainly been changed for ood. the team behind wicked revealed that the second installment is now known as wicked for good. it takes its name from the beloved ballad from the end of the musical sung by elphaba and glinda. it cements its status as an award season frontrunner. wicked for good hits theaters in november of 2025. it's not that long that you have to wait for part two. >> for the big fans like my daughter, it is. i get what you're saying. >> a year is too long. >> it's so much better than

wicked two, right? and with the iconic song, most people say it's defying gravity. my personal favorite is for good. the lyrics are so good. when we come back, is a new potential gmail rival in the works? and bitcoin just crashed a new record high ahead of the fed's upcoming interest rate decision. coming interest rate decision. can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya... with rapid relief at 4 weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation. at one year, many people experienced remission... and some saw 100% visible healing of their intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. healing is possible with tremfya. ask your doctor about tremfya today.

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here's what's making headlines this morning. bitcoin has banked new record highs at more than $107,000 ahead of this week's federal reserve decision. investors expect interest rates to be lower, which would likely benefit the crypto currency. it's now up to 149% for the year. elon musk has hinted that he's working on a new e-mail service, called xmail. elon musk said it's on the list of things to do. superman writer and director james gunn giving people a

teaser with the man of steel film. and tomorrow, one of the earliest tablets of the ten commandments is set to go up for auction at sotheby's for $1 million. it is around 2 feet fall. the auction house says it's a rare example of a complete table that dates back to between 200 and 800 ce. to between 200 and 800 ce. now with odor blocker and it keeps our clothes fresh all day! [sniff] ooo imma be feelin it at work today. she smells so good i'm actually paying attention! smell unstopable. (background noises) hey! get off your— (donkey hee-haws) citrusy. ahhhhhhhh! (crash) show-off! (♪♪) mountaaaain dew! head & shoulders bare. clinically proven dandruff protection with just nine essential ingredients.

no sulfates, no silicones, no dyes. ♪♪ dandruff protection, minimal ingredients. job done. (♪♪) skincare can start in the laundry room. that's why i always recommend all free clear for sensitive skin. it's free of dyes and perfumes. it's a key part of my self-care routine. and is gentle for my skin, and her's too. for an effective clean that's gentle on skin, all you need is all free clear. denver's holiday spirit reaching new heights, as massive drone shows light up the night sky. angeline mccall from our denver affiliate saw the display first

hand. >> reporter: for us to look and see these lights against the dark sky, it takes preparation that starts when the sun goes down. >> these are the batteries. >> reporter: it takes less than two hours for the team to set up. led by the flight show's owner. >> we have 400 drones we always bring tra batteries. the complication is the animation design. i've always been a hobbyist pilot. but we've had our eye on the drone show industry for quite some time. colorado, especially, fireworks, don't get me wrong, love fireworks, kind of on their way out. drone shows are the next best thing. >> reporter: it's a safer option, more environmentally friendly, and it's not as loud. >> flying these shows and capturing people's attention and capturing people's imagination, it's just grown and grown and

grown. >> this is basically a list of every single drone. >> reporter: the pilot in control commands the show entirely from the computer. >> i think it's fun getting to go to different events and stuff and seeing the crowd's reaction and stuff, i think it's, yeah, it's a lot of fun, just like all the technical work and stuff. >> reporter: what we see in the sky is a reflection of the work and creativity to make this all happen. >> so this show very much heavily denver landmarks. you know, big blue bear, blucifer. union station. this is obviously geared and built towards the community of denver, so being able to build those is a lot of fun. and, with 400 drones, there is no limitation on what we can do. >> our thanks to angeline mccall for that report. love seeing those drones, especially with so many headlines about them. president joe biden and first lady jill biden hosted

their last white house hanukkah celebration. he said that jewish life is woven into the fabric of america and noted the grief that we feel since the october 7 attack. second gentleman emhoff planted a pomegranate tree at their official residence to honor the strength and resilience of the jewish people. coming up later on "today", vicky nguyen has last-minute holiday preparation tips. thanks for waking up

awaiting a verdict. after seven days of jury deliberations, a decision is reached in the murder trial surrounding the death of cash app founder bob lee. ahead, we hear from legal experts on the possible outcome we could see take s