breaking overnight. flames engulf los angeles, blistering winds are fueling the fast-moving wildfire in the

pacific palisades, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate their homes from malibu to calabasas. school districts canceling class, as firefighters work throughout the night to battle the flames. we have the latest from the fight. meteorologist angie lassman is tracking if there's any relief on the way. the house pass as new immigration crackdown for the first act of the year. details on the new legislation named after laken riley, the student killed last year by a migrant. could president-elect trump use military force to acquire the panama canal and greenland? we're live with the new threats this morning. why meta is unfriending fact checkers. and from the avengers to the anchor chair. how scarlett johansson is helping out on the "today" show. it's wednesday, january 8. "early today" starts right now.

good morning. glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. we begin with breaking news out west. dangerous winds are fueling explosive wildfires across southern california, prompting evacuation orders for tens of thousands. a brush fire broke out in the pacific palisades tuesday morning, exploding in size to some 3,000 acres. officials say it is still 0% contained and already burned multiple structures. though they don't know how many yet. according to the los angeles fire department, a 25-year-old firefighter suffered a serious head injury while fighting the fire. the severity is unknown. >> people are panicking, and it's a parking lot. >> i rushed over here to pack my belongings, and i got the evacuation orders. >> over 200,000 customers are currently without power in and around l.a. county. meanwhile, near pasadena, the

eaton fire has torched around a thousand acres so far. and near sylmar, the hearst fire ignited overnight, it has already devoured about 100 acres. jennifer bjorklund has more. >> reporter: as darkness fell, the firefight intensified as the epic southern california winds blasted this pacific palisades inferno downhill toward the ocean, taking homes and lifetimes of memories with it, before hitting the beach. this is a "baywatch" lifeguard stand inflamed. governor newsom declares a state of emergency after a day of chaos that saw 10,000 households evacuating, many of them abandoning their cars in a huge traffic jam. with just one way in and out of that canyon, those cars were in the way and had to be moved fast. >> the gist of moving them with

bulldozers was an emergency situation. you got to get those fire resources through, and they do what they have to do to be able to facilitate that. >> as the water exits the bottom of the drop tank it gets carried away by the wind and never really reaches the ground. there really is no point in putting people at risk if that firefight isn't making a difference. >> reporter: for a community that has been through it before many times, this is the biggest wind-driven event many have seen in their lifetime. jennifer bjorklund, nbc news, los angeles. and the dangerous fire conditions continue today. nbc meteorologist angie lassman is tracking it all for us. good morning. and the winds are supposed to worsen overnight? >> the worst of the winds are expected through the day today. we'll see the potential for peaks of 100 miles per hour. we have the red flag warnings, 19 million people included in those. here are the current fires, the

hearst fire and the eaton fire. all of those fires creating smoke plumes that are showing up on our radar. winds 45-95 miles per hour expected. these worsening conditions are going to continue not just because of the wind but humidity levels dropping to single digits. you can see it's not just that specific region. of course under the extreme risk. but we've got the critical risk stretching down basically to the border. so extreme fire behavior across this region once again today. >> angie, thank you. new this morning, the republican-led house has passed the laken riley act. the strict border measure putting pressure on senate democrats to support the legislation when republicans bring it to the upper floor for an initial vote. it would have been riley's birthday. the nursing student was 22 years

old when she was killed by a man who was in the u.s. illegally from venezuela. jose ibarra was found guilty of riley's murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. the bill would change federal law to require i.c.e. to issue detainers and take custody of people in the country illegally who commit theft-related crimes, including shoplifting. let's turn now to the transition of power. in a wide-ranging news conference, president-elect trump laid out a dramatic agenda, threatening a takeover of greenland and the panama canal. mr. trump also wants to rename the gulf of mexico, saying the gulf of america has a beautiful ring to it. chris pollone joins me. the president-elect seems focussed on expanding the united states. >> reporter: that's right, frances. good morning to you. this, of course, is not the first time that president-elect trump has floated some of these ideas. but, at this latest news conference, he refused to rule out usg military or economic force to take over other areas. mr. trump says the u.s. needs to

control greenland and the panama canal for national security. >> the panama canal is vital to our country. it's being operated by china. china. and we gave the panama canal to panama. we didn't give it to china. we need greenland for national security purposes. people really don't even know if denmark has any legal right to it. but, if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security. that's for the free world. i'm talking about protecting the free world. >> reporter: donald trump jr. arrived in greenland yesterday, visiting the island that his father showed an interest in buying in 2019. it is a territory of denmark and a source of rare earth minerals that power smartphones and electric cars. leaders say the island is not for sale. president-elect trump threatened to use economic force to annex canada. he says the u.s. subsidizes

canada. outgoing prime minister justin trudeau reresponded by saying, quote, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that canada would become part of the united states. mr. trump posted this photo on his own social media overnight and recently has been joking that canada is the 51st state. he gave very few details about how he would carry out these plans. >> chris pollone, thank you. new details this morning in the vegas cybertruck explosion investigation. officials say the suspect used artificial intelligence to help set off the new year's day explosion outside the trump hotel. law enforcement officials say matthew allen livelsberger searched chatgpt for information on how to put together an explosive, and how fast a round needs to be for the explosives found in the truck to go off. in a statement, a spokesperson for open a.i., the owner of chatgpt said it was saddened by the revelation its technology was used to plot the attack. federal prosecutors in new york have filed court documents

alleging they have uncovered, quote, additional criminal conduct by new york mayor eric adams. prosecutors did not include exact details in the latest filing. but adams, who was charged with five criminal counts last year has maintained his innocence. he is the first sitting new york city mayor to be indicted on criminal charges. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ today on capitol hill, americans will get to pay their respects to our 39th president. jimmy carter will lie in state all day at the capitol rotunda. the former president was honored yesterday with a private service where congressional leaders and vice president harris delivered eulogies. >> he lived his faith. he served the people. and he left the world better than he found it. >> tomorrow at the national

funeral, president biden will deliver the eulogy, which was a personal request from president carter. all right, the south could see some snow today as frigid weather sets in. nbc meteorologist angie lassman is tracking it all for us. and they are not used to these temperatures, angie. >> no, they are not. we've got 35 million people under winter alerts across basically texas stretching into the tennessee valley. those are the spots over the next couple days that are going to see a wintry mix, difficult travel. rain, snow, ice on the table. tomorrow morning, the dallas metro area, that's where we'll watch for likely snow and ice. farther south it will be the rain you'll have to deal with closer to the coast as we get into friday. but moving a little farther north to atlanta, wintry mix up into the tennessee valley and appalachians. we'll see that heavy snow. by the time we get to saturday, the light to moderate snow works across the mid atlantic and northeast. let's see what's happening in your neighborhood. 25 degrees in omaha with mostly

sunny skies for indianapolis. chicago.to the low 20s for richard cohen, the husband of meredith vieira died on christmas eve at the age of 76. cohen lived with multiple sclerosis for more than 50 years after being first diagnosed at age 25. he wrote multiple books about his health and publicly spoke out for people living with chronic illness. chronic illness. he and ♪♪ [cough] meta checks out. why they are ending fact checking. y they are ending fact checking. we all want you to feel better. [cough] puh-lease!

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facing a lawsuit filed by his sister accusing him of years of sexual abuse. the suit alleges that the abuse took place at the family's missouri home when ann was 3 and sam was 12. and it happened several times per week. the plaintiff also says it caused severe emotional distress, ment anguish and depression. ann altmann has made sexual assault allegations against her brother in the past, but this is the first time she's taking legal action. a statement was released saying that all of the claims are utterly untrue and that the situation causes immense pain to the entire family. it also says ann altmann suffers from mental challenges. we look at new rules for meta. >> reporter: new fallout after

the mega move to eliminate fact checking on the world's biggest social media platform. >> we've reached a point where it's too many mistakes and too much censorship. the fact checkers have been too politically bias and destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the u.s. >> reporter: it's a shift after donald trump's first win. meta will now rely on community notes. in other words, user input, similar to what elon musk's x platform does as part of a broader move to loosen up how meta moderates content. it will lift restrictions on hot button topics like gender identity and immigration, allow more politics into people's feeds and remove the team from california to ruby red texas. all days before trump takes the white house. >> the recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. >> reporter: it's a political evolution for meta after they suspended mr. trump's account in

the wake of january 6 and months after the president-elect accused zuckerberg of plotting against him, calling for life in prison if zuckerberg did it again. after trump's win, zuckerberg traveled to mar-a-lago and donated to the inauguration fund. >> meta, facebook. i think they've come a long way. >> will you be directly responding to the threats that you have made in the past. >> reporter: some critics concerned. >> fact checking is not censorship. >> reporter: what do you see as the trump factor? >> this is very obviously a political decision. >> reporter: over the next four years, the trump administration will set key policy on topics like anti-trust and a.i. and as meta has pushed into the world of artificial intelligence, nbc news has found chatbots that seemingly violated meta's policies on religious or real-life figures.

we found some two dozen chatbots ranging from hitler to jesus christ and taylor swift. they are continuously improving detection measures. >> thanks to hallie for that report. still to come. the fourth hour of "today" gets an assist from an avenger. and all the fun of working on snl without the grueling schedule. a first look at the 50th anniversary documentary. the 50t anniversary documentary. ♪♪ the bare minimum. anti-dandruff shampoo made with only nine ingredients. no sulfates, silicones or dyes. and packaged with 45% less plastic. giving you outstanding dandruff protection. and leaving hair beautiful and moisturized. major dandruff protection, minimal ingredients. job done. head & shoulders bare. as the people you love get older, their risk of severe flu and covid goes up. last year, those viruses hospitalized nearly 1 million people 65 and older.

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it is built on competition. can you be your authentic self? >> it's a real dream come true. >> it was everything. i loved that show. i was on it. >> live from new york. >> live from new york. >> live from new york. >> live from new york. >> just in time for the golden anniversary. fans will be able to go behind the scenes of studio 8h in the new documentary, snl 50 beyond saturday night.

each episode will focus on a different aspect of the legendary variety show, including one entirely dedicated to the iconic cowbell sketch. it streams exclusively on peacock, starting january 16th. and i completely forgot about that one gap where lorne michaels was not there for five years, and they did a whole episode in this docuseries about that whole time and him coming back. >> i'm so excited about this, especially when you see they did a whole thing on the cowbell sketch. you know there's so much behind the scenes. now to a member of the five timers club trying her hand at a different nbc show. she will co-host the "today" show with jenna bush hager from january 21 to 24. the stint will come two weeks after hoda kotb's upcoming departure from the iconic morning show.

taraji p. henson, keke palmer will co-host. we are sad to see hoda go. but it will be fun no see the rotating cast of folks getting to hang out and chitchat. >> it will be fun for scarlett johansson going to work with her husband. i'm sure they have totally upside down schedules. landlords taking advantage of renters, and north texas braces for a winter blacht. 1 me 65 and older. that's nearly 1 million moms, dads, favorite uncles, and grammas. if someone you love is 65 or older, talk with them about vaccines, they're not just another number. feeling backed up and bloated? good thing metamucil fiber plus probiotics gummies work harder for your digestive system. with fiber to help promote gut health. and probiotics to help relieve occasional bloating.

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landlords avoid competition. real page denies that and is seeking to have the civil suit dismissed. the u.s. government is suing experian, one of the biggest credit reporting companies accusing it of mishandling complaints and allowing errors to appear in credit reports. experian called the suit unfair, vowing to fight it in court. "early today" will be right back. back.od" lle gh you've got a pepto predicament, ace. you overdid it on the loaded fries. undo it with pepto fast melts. ♪ when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, ♪ ♪ upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ when you overdo it... ...undo it with pepto bismol. downy light adds a subtle fresh scent to your wash. it doesn't overwhelm like: it's campfire leather musk overload. because downy light is gentle and balanced. it's a nature inspired scent, to breathe life into your laundry. it ain't my dad's razor, dad. ay watch it!

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in size since it sparked tuesday. now torching roughly 3,000 acres. it is still 0% contained and has devoured several structures. according to the los angeles fire department, a 25-year-old firefighter suffered a serious head injury while battling the blaze, and there are reports of multiple burn victims. the eaton fire broke out near pasadena. and overnight the hearst fire near sylmar ignited. it has already spread around 100 acres. now to north texas where a winter storm could drop a year's worth of snow tomorrow. up to six inches could accumulate, just as football fans travel to dallas for friday's cotton bowl. the long horns will take on the buckeyes. and fans say they won't be stopped by freezing rain or snow. >> even if it takes us, like, seven hours driving, i'd rather do it and get there than not get

to go at all. >> the weather conditions should not impact kickoff. at&t stadium is equipped with a retractible roof. the future is here. at least in las vegas. the consumer electronics show is in full swing, featuring cutting-edge technology that could soon be in our homes and offices. nbc's brian cheung takes us to the showroom floor. >> reporter: yeah, hello from las vegas. can i introduce you to a friend right now? this is digit over here, a humanoid robot able to carry these totes, up to 25 points, pick them up, as you can see, with, i should add, fantastic form and bring it over to another part of, can you imagine a warehouse or other types of industrial or business applications here. so super cool stuff. it's very humanoid like. basically the same dimensions, height, everything else that a regular human can do. this is the future that we're seeing here at the consumer electronics show where a.i. is making everything smarter. and right here is one exact

applications on a business level of how different types of companies are scaling and using this technology to perhaps take out redundant work in their warehouse. we've seen a.i. incorporated into pizza ovens, self-robo taxis. >> so cool, those legs kind of creepy. groundbreaking research for parents. vicky nguyen dives into a study on the impact screen time has on kids and their brains, plus useful tips for parents on how to manage screen time effectively. something you don't want to miss and something i need so badly in my household. my household. thanks for waking up have you ever dreamt of getting two of your fav wendy's items for 7 bucks? like a spicy chicken sandwich, dave's single or... 10 piece nuggs? well today's the day your oddly specific dream comes true. pretty good dream. twfavs fr just 7 bucks? tta be wendy's.

parts of southern california under a state of emergency as