multiple wildfires rage on in southern california. the death toll rises as the devastating flames burn entire towns to the ground. nbc meteorologist angie lassman will have more on when the battered region could see relief. president-elect trump faces sentencing this morning for his conviction in the new york hush money trial. what mr. trump has to say about the proceedings just ten days ahead of his inauguration. commanders in chief gather to honor o of their own. they mourn jimmy carter before he was brought to his final resting place. and there's no gold at the end of this rainbow. try orange. notre dame puts themselves in college football's title game with a gutsy performance agagait penn state at the orange bowl. and the hodabration reaches its tear-filled end.

we reach the end of tributes for the "today" icon. it's friday, january 10. "early today" starts right now. thank you for being up early with me. i'm frances rivera. much of the southern california landscape is now painted in ominous shades of orange and gray as multiple infernos continue to rage across the region. at least ten people have been killed, and officials are warning that exact number won't be known until investigation teams can access the areas burned. nearly 180,000 residents have been forced from their homes, where flourishing neighborhoods once stood. ashes now lay. an estimated 10,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. >> oh, man, like, this is a whole shock. a whole shock. i've never seen nothing like this before, like, from the ell to even how the sun is red. it's, it's the worst thing i've seen.

looked like a bomb just went off over here. that's the only way i can describe it. >> president biden said that he is committed to paying for all the firefighting efforts through the federal government for an unprecedented 180 days. he's also sending some c-130 tankers to tackle the flames. the palisades fire, the largest of the wildfires, is just 6% contained and scorched nearly 20,000 acres. that's about 31 square miles, bigger than the island of manhattan. and the eaton fire has torched nearly 14,000 acres and is still completely uncontained. on thursday, the kenneth fire sparked near west hills, burning 900 acres into ventura county. fire crews have stopped the forward progress and evacuation orders there have been lifted. many los angeles area schools are closed again today due to air quality issues. and over 250,000 remain without power this morning. let's turn now to morgan chesky, who starts off our coverage.

>> reporter: while crews say they have made significant process, uh, progress rather, in certain aspects of the firefight, there is no one that is out of the woods at this point in time. for a couple reasons. number one, the sheer scope of these multiple fires burning simultaneously. number two, that is what led to all of this. the wind, that incredible wind that we saw play out tuesday night into wednesday morning, gusts approaching 100 miles per hour, fortunately, they have subsided somewhat, but that red flag warning, so telling. that lasts until friday evening at 6:00 p.m. and i had a crew tell me today that, until that expires, until those winds die down for an extended period of time, this is an incredibly active firefight that should keep everyone on guard, because a single ember can travel upwards of two miles before landing on a home,

starting an entirely new fire, an entirely new blaze. and that is why there is such incredible concern tonight from fire crews that are now being reenforced from arizona, from washington state, from oregon. all coming to california, because there is simply not enough manpower to handle this kind of historic generational disaster thawe're seeing playing out, play out in real time. i did have a chance to embed with one team today who took me to a home not far from where we're standing. the roof fully engulfed. and what was heartbreaking was to see the crew connect to a nearby hydrant and not have enough water pressure to make a difference. unfortunately, that has become the unfortunate norm in a lot of these areas. and that is why water tankers have been sent he to try to reenforce that fight as well as aircraft. but, again, there is only so much you can do when you have a fire of this scale that has proven to be deadly.

and unfortunately, officials say that death toll may only be rising. so tonight, with less than 24 hours to go until this red flag warning is lifting, is lifted, there are prayers, countless ones, across this southern california area, hoping that the worst could finally be over here. we'll send it back to you. >> okay, morgan, thank you. and that's the hope as we look at the conditions. and with the winds still whipping through the region comes the risk of more fire spread. angie lassman is tracking those fire alerts for us. >> good morning to you. we still have elevated winds, especially this morning. that's where you'll see 50-plus mile-per-hour gusts across this region. we've got 17 million people under red flag warnings. one kind of positive trend is we do see relative humidity values coming up just a touch. we could still see those as low as 5%. so still windy. still dry across this sasame region with all five of these fires continuing to burn.

gusts right now 73 iles per hour from th closer to the coast, maybe 20, 30 mile-per-hour gusts. but, again, we'll see those strong winds start to weaken as we get to the second half of the day today. bubut that fluctuation of those winds is going to continue as we gear up for the potential for additional santa ana wind events as we get late into the weekend and into next week. >> thanks so much, angie. this view from space shows the magnitude of the fire in altadena. just part of the fire zone. and, for so many returning home, there was little or nothing left. gadi schwartz spent the day in altadena. >> reporter: in altadena, desolation and eerie silence, punctured by gas lines still spewing fire. in the destruction, there was a search for anything with meaning. this is everything you own. >> everything. and then, you know, now, we're just trying to find something.

i mean, i don't care, like, my kid found a teacup, half a teacup. broke. she, she was thrilled. you know. i mean, what else can we get, man? it's gone, bro. >> reporter: as the flames descended at 4:00 in the morning, rupert garcia tried to fight back. >> this tree caught on fire. embers are flying all over the place. >> reporter: one ember even scorching his cheek. at what point did you realize i'm not going to save the house? >> with my son-in-law grabbed me like this and said no, we got to go. > reporte wow. >> i was like, no, man, i can't go, bro. 51 years, man, i been in this house. >> reporter: shortly after rupert was forced to leave the neighborhood, we spotted a horse alone and trapped in an inferno and ran to get help. this as this firefighter jumped into action. we met up with garrett again, and learned the horse survived.

but across the way, jose shows us what was the garage full of landscaping tools he had just invested in. now his livelihood along with almost everything else gone in an instant. so often we hear they escaped only with the clothes on their back. >> i didn't get anything. look at my shoes. these are my house slippers. >> reporter: that is the shared and terrible reality. >> you work hard for your american dream. and -- >> reporter: for so many in a community, who came face-to-face with these flames. gadi schwartz, nbc news, altadena, california. just a few hours from now, president-elect donald trump is due to be sentenced for his 34 felony convictions in the new york hush money case. the hearing coming just ten days before his inauguration. nbc's chris pollone joins me from d.c. hi, chris, good morning. the president-elect tried up until the last minute to stop today's sentencing. >> reporter: hi, frances, good morning. that's absolutely right. president trump's lawyers asked the supreme court to intervene.

but, in a 5-4 ruling, the court decided not to step in. the court said the sentencing should not be much of a burden to the president-elect. the new york judge has made it clear that the sentencing will not include any prison time. the court said he could address any issues he has with the case through appeals. and last night he said that's exactly what he will do. >> well, they called for an appeal. and, as you know, they acknowledge what the judge said about no penalty, there's no penalty. but we're going to appeal anyway, just psychologically, because frankly, it's a disgrace. >> reporter: a source with knowledge of the proceedings told nbc newews what we can expt today. they say both the prosecution and defense will be given a chance to speak if they want to. president-elect trump is expected to attend virtually, and he can also address the court, if he chooses to. then judge juan merchan will deliver his sentence. this all comes as a federal appeals court has ruled that special counsel jack smith can

release his final report on interference in the 2020 election, but he must wait at least three days to allow for appeals the during this window, president-elect trump could ask the supreme court to block that report, frances. >> all right, chris pollone, thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ former president jimmy carter has been laid to final rest, buried next to his wife rosalynn in his hometown of plains, georgia. just hours before, his casket was in washington, eulogized by family and friends, led by president biden, who praised carter's example of leadership. >> jimmy carter's friendship taught me and through his life, taught me the strength of character is more than title or the power we hold. it's the strength to understand

that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect. >> all current living presidents attended the ceremony. both former president ford's son and the son of carter's vp walter mondale, read tributes their fathers had written. let's get another update from nbc meteorologist angie lassman who's covering a winter storm that could bring heavy snow to the south. >> you're exactly right. snow, ice, rain on tap and more than 100 million people under these alerts. here's what we've got through the day today. heavy snow from michigan stretching down to tennessee. we've got freezing rain that we'll watch across the southeast and some of that additional rain for folks farther south. by tomorrow most of this wraps up. the system exits the coast quickly. but before then, we've got the potential to pick up multiple inches of snow. specifically across the tennessee valley. on top of that, travel will likely be difficult across the southeast, considering we've got the potential to see

snow, too, for nashville and member advice. we head to the upper 30s for shreveport. mostly sunny skies and a high of 46 degrees in houston today. and that's a look at your forecast, frances. back to you. >> thanks so much, angie. coming up, college tuition is actually dropping at some schools. but first, what we can expect from the final jobs report of joe biden's administration, set to be released in just hours. t to be released in just hours. 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, minimaingredients. 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. so if someone you love is older, talk with them about vaccines. ♪♪ vicks vapostick provides soothing non-medicated vicks vapors. easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try new vaposhower max for steamy vicks vapors. the final jobs report of president biden's administration is due out in just a few hours. so what can we expect? let's turn to cnbc's karen gilchrist. good morning, karen. >> good morning, frances. happy friday. yes, markets are squarely focussed today on the december jobs report.

numbers to look out for. economists are expecting the u.s. labor bureau to report that payroll, non-farm payrolls rose 155,000 in december. now that would be down from the surprise 227,000 recorded in november. but in line with the four-month average. but the devil will be in the detail with some economists expecting a slightly softer report due to seasonal effects, and all of this is going to feed into the fed and how they think about interest rates going nto 2025, with a stronger jobs report potentially leading to fewer rate cuts. now markets were a little anxious overnight with stock futures lower. but there won't be long to wait now until we find out what the actual read says with the report due at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. so frances, we'll be looking forward to that. back to you. >> thanks for the breakdown, karen. thank you. today the supreme court will hear arguments about whether

americans will be able to keep using tiktok. the popular app could be banned as soon as next week. bytedance has been ordered to divest tiktok to an american company or face a ban on january 19. today the justices will consider whether the law being used to enforce this ban violates free speech protections. it is unclear when a court will hand down a decision. still to come, a playoff weekend you can only dream about. notre dame and penn state kick off college football semi-finals, while 12 nfl squads try to earn the right to lose to the chiefs. n the right to lose o the chiefs. 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, because to you, they're not just another number. ststill livi with odors?

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state with that 54-yard touchdown pass from riley leonard to jaden greathouse. drew aler was picked off by christian gray to set up the go-ahead field goal for mitch jeter. the fighting irish advance to their first national championship game in over a decade. that's where they will fe the winner of tonight's cotton bowl. that will either be texas or ohio state. they play tonight in the cotton bowl. >> we'll see how that shakes out. and this epic weekend of football continues in the pros saturday. nfl wildcard weekend begins with the chargers and texans, followed by the third meeting this year of the steelers and ravens. the battered packers will look to avenge their loss to saquon barkley and eagles in philly, and two rookie phenomes will look to do the impossible. weekend action wraps up as jaden daniels and commanders head to

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data compiled by the college board shows in-state public university tuition is around 11 grand a year. that's a 4% drop in the last ten years. private university tuition is up 4% in ten years. though increases are slowing. tsa is spilling the tea on the widest-banned items found in airports. here's some of the highlights, a gun and a baby stroller, live snakes stuffed in pants, a vape pen in toothpaste tube and marijuana ck ed into a peanut butter jar. jeni's ice cream released the latest flavor. ream released the latest flavor. it every was, otherwise the flakes will come back. —he's right, you know. is that tiny troy? the ingredients in head and shoulders keep the microbes that cause flakes at bay. crobes, really? they're always on your scalp... but good news, there's no itchiness, dryness or flakes down here! i love tiny troy. and his tiny gorgeous hair.

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check out these pictures of the northern lights taken from the international space station. nasa astronaut don petit is known for his passion for photography. he managed to capture the aurora borealis flickering over the nighttime city lights. he did not say where on earth he captured the lights which he described as, quote, intensely green. intensely amazing, too. today is hoda kotb's final day on "today". mark barger has a look at her week-long hodabration. >> let's welcome out your sorority sisters. >> reporter: monday's gathering of 70 of hoda kotb's friends from her virginia tech days. >> i can't believe it, y'all, this is so crazy! >> reporter: was just the start. >> what is that? >> i got a shoe! >> where's that shoe from? >> it's from new orleans. >> reporter: of what's been a week-long hodabration on today. >> people have come from across the country just to give you one more hug.

>> reporter: an extended salute to kotb's seven years as "today"'s co-anchor with enough warmth and affection to overcome the cold. >> hoda, i'm so excited for you. >> reporter: it's been a week filled with celebrity well wishes. >> you have the biggest, most beautiful heart. >> reporter: as well as cherished memories. >> i'm holding my baby on mother's day weekend. including a tearful reunion with the ludwig family ame to know in 2016. >> live every moment in the moment. >> reporter: before they lost wife and mom erin to breast cancer. >> you have touched our lives in ways you have no idea. and we're just a small percentage of the people whose lives you've touched over your career. >> reporter: emotions leading g up -- >> i love you all so much. >> reporter: to a final show friday, that kotb admitted earlier this week will be hard. >> over the last month or so, i feel like i've said good-bye a thousand times. >> reporter: friday will make 1001. >> nobody wants her to go.

nobody wants her to go. >> reporter: keep the tissues at the ready. mark barger, nbc news. >> can you imagine what that's going to be like for her when she finally sits at home alone and soaks it in and turns off all those alarm clocks, right? in honor of hoda's last day at "today", they are dedicating the 8:00 a.m. hour to celebrate with tributes and surprises to conclude the week-long hodabration. and here's what hoda had to say about her final weeks at nbc. i've been hugged more in these last two weeks than i have in my life. i'm meeting people with signs and stuffed animals, and it means everything to me. >> and for the final broadcast of "today" with hoda and jenna, the la of "top

story." reporting from the pacific palisades. our continue coverage of the los angeles wildfires starts right now.