the wildfire threat intensifying overnight in california. firefighters working to keep the blaze under control. a hearing scheduled today five days before president trump takes office. who's in the hot seat? breaking overnight, a dramatic escalation in south korea. we're live after the president was detained over that controversial martial law order. to see or not to see i.d.? . the texas law requiring age verification on adult websites goes all the way to the supreme court today. and just like that, "sex in the city" fans are barred from the show's most iconic stoop. what led the owner to make the change? it's wednesday, january 15th. "early today" starts right now. thanks for joining me so

early. i'm frances rivera. southern california residents are facing another round of hurricane-force winds. firefighters are working to keep the deadly blazes under control in these extreme condions. the death toll has risen to 25, and there are 37 people missing. 88,000 remain under evacuation orders, and 89,000 are still under evacuation warnings. workers have begun to restore infrastructure along the pacific coast highway. but residents must still wait to return until it's safe. the massive blaze is now 18% contained and has devoured 23,000 acres. crews have reached 25% containment on the eaton fire which has burned more than 14,000 acres. robert kovacic shows us more. >> reporter: we are here behind the barricades in mandeville canyon, one of t most exclusive neighborhoods not just

in los angeles but in all the nation. power is out in the pacific palisades, and the national guard is out trying to prevent looters and trying to prevent people from coming in toto lear if they have a home left standing. we have seen construction crews in malibu beginning to clean up the toxic waste in a recovery that will take years. we have also seen federal investigators in the hillsides trying to determine the cause of this fire. is it possible that a small, nine-acre brush fire, perhaps started by fireworks on new year's day is responsible for the devastation that would begin here six days later? but the cause right now has to take a back seat. if you want to call this a brush fire, if you want to call this a wildfire, you have to remember that it burned into los angeles. this is sunset boulevard. neighborhoods here, all the way down to the beach, have been completely destroyed. and then consider the acreage charred. right now, it could cover the

island of manhattan almost twice over. in mandeville canyon, california, i'm robert kovacic, back to you. lawmakers will hear from pam bondi, who is nominated for attorney general, marco rubio and john ratcliffe. the only cabinet pick to have had a hearing so far is defense secretary nominee pete hegseth. overnight, senator joni ernst announced she will be supporting hegseth's confirmation. unless there is a surprising turn in the gop, this likely clears hegseth's path to the pentagon. but his hearing did have some tense moments. garrett haake has more from the capitol. >> reporter: president-elect trump's embattled pick to lead the pentagon, former fox news host and combat veteran, pete hegseth, making an impassioned pitch for the job. >> it's time to give someone

with dust on his boots the helm. my only special interest is the war fighter. >> reporter: arguing he's the target of false attacks. >> there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us. >> reporter: but hegseth facing a grilling from senate democrats, including over a 2017 sexual assault allegation. police investigated, but no charges were filed. the local prosecutor saying, quote, no charges were supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. >> you've admitted that it was consensual, were you still married and just had a child by another woman. >> completely false charges against me. fully investigated, and i was completely cleared. >> you have admitted that you had sex while you were married to wife two after you had just fathered a child by wife three. you've admitted that. now if it had been a sexual assault, that would be disqualifying to be secretary of defense, wouldn't it? >> it was a false claim then, and a false claim now. >> we need somebody who's going

to go in there, fight for innovation, fight for change. i think you are that person. and i appreciate your willingness to sit here and listen to some of these undignified attacks. it's ridiculous. >> reporter: democrats also going after hegseth's past opposition to women in combat roles. >> you will have to change how you see women to do this job well. and i don't know if you are capable of that. >> reporter: in a positive sign for hegseth, iowa's joni ernst, a combat veteran, previously seen as a hegseth skeptic appearing more supportive. >> will you support women having the opportunity to serve in combat roles? >> my answer is yes. exactly the way that you caveated it. yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high. >> reporter: trump transition officials tell me th were extremely pleased with hegseth's performance. remember, he can only afford to lose tee republican votes if

all support him. outgoing president biden will deliver a farewell address to the nation tonight. two people familiar with the plan tell nbc news the oval office speech will reflect on his time in various political offices and leave americans with a message about the country's future. you can watch at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on nbc. and today, there will be a hearing at the supreme court where some of the arguments may not be suitable for work. the court will hear both sides of a free speech case out of texas to decide the fate of an age verification law that impacts adult websites. let's turn to chris pollone. good morning, chris. what problem to these sites have with this law? >> reporter: frances, good morning. basically, this texas law requires that adult websites take steps to verify that users are over the age of 18. violations could lead to fines

of up to $20,000 per day, plus a $250,000 fine if a minor sees the material. some websites like porn hub chose to take their content completely offline in texas. an industry group called the free speech coalition has helped take this fight all the way to the supreme court, arguing that this content is protected by the first amendment. critics also say the law also exposes people to privacy and security risks. a similar law was struck down by the court 20 years ago, but texas argues there are less-intrusive ways to verify age now. meanwhile, in a separate case we're all waiting to hear the justices to decide the fate of a platform possible for all ages, tiktok. it could be banned in the u.s. this sunday unless the chinese company divests of their u.s. assets. bloomberg had reported that the app had discussed selling to elon musk, but tiktok said we

cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction. a group of senators introduced a bill to extend the deadline for a sale by 270 days. president-elect trump says he opposes the ban of tiktok and asks the supreme court to extend the deadline. frances? >> chris pollone for us, many will be watching. thank you. new this morning, the sec is suing elon musk. they say he failed to disclose his active stake in twitter and got to buy shares at artificially low prices. he saved at least $150 million in share costs. later he would buy the social media site for $44 billion. a lawyer said his client has done nothing wrong and accused the sec of harassment. musk himself called the agency a totally broken organization. breaking overnight, in a second attempt, authorities in south korea have now

successfully detained president yoon over his botched declaration of martial law. yoon, who was impeached last month is the first south korean president to be arrested in office. nbc's claudio lavanga joins us with more. good morning, claudio. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right. authorities in south korea said that in the early hours of this morning, hundreds of police officers arrived at the president's residence, where he's been holed up since the beginning of december after he was impeached following his declaration of martial law. now outside, they were met by thousands of people, some critics, some supporters, including lawmakerers om the president's people power party who claim and argue that this arrest warrant was illegal. but this time, unlike what happened the first time they tried to arrest him, his security guards did not challenge them. so, in the end, they managed to take him away for questioning. well, as you mentioned, this makes him the first south korean president to be arrested while he's still in office.

and now he faces charges of insurrection, which is one of the crimes for which south korean presidents do not have immunity. now president yoon issued a statement, saying that he still considers this investigation illegal, but he decided, he said, to cooperate to prevent an unsavory bloodshed. let's turn to our top story, the dangerous winds in california. an already-tense moment made worse with the winds overnight, angie. >> you're exactly right. those red flag warnings are going to stay in effect through at least wednesday afternoon. we'll continue to see 10 million people included in these. santa clarita, stretching to the border. we've got humidity levels down. no rain in sight. and those ramped-up winds that we have been expecting from this santa ana event, that particularly dangerous situation for the red flag warning lasting across this region. overnight, we saw a bit of a lull with those winds. those are going to ramp back up.

45-65 miles per hour when it comes to the peak gusts. we'll see those kind of subside a bit as we get into the later parts of today. and then overnight tonight those will come down, 15-35 mile-per-hour winds expected in the higher elevations. meanwhile, chilly temperatures have settled in across much of the east. 0 degrees for minneapolis, 2 below in chicago. 7 degrees for cincinnati and these temperatures will continue to be on the cool side of things, running 10-20 degrees below average. a high of 2828 ist. louis. new york city hits a high of 33 degrees. milder, i should say, conditions across p charlotte. full sunshine in raleigh. upper 50s in jacksonville.

66 in orlando today. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you "early today" is back in a minute with what to expect from a key inflation report today. and why meta's ceo mark zuckerberg is telling employees to brace for an intense year. ee to brace for an intense year. ♪♪ the bare minimum. anti-dandruff shampoo made with only nine ingreents. 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. mirajoy: the overwhelming relief after miralax® helps you “go” miralax® works naturally with the water in your body. putting you in a supernaturally good mood. miralax®: free your gut to free your mood.

wall street is keeping an eye on a key gauge of inflation today, but first meta is gearing up for another round of layoffs. karen gilchrist is here with the details. good morning. >> good morning, frances. yes, meta is set to lay off 5% of its workforce as part after intense year of overhauls. mark zuckerberg saying this would target low-performing workers with a plan to quote, raise the bar on performance. now it's estimated around 3,600 staff will be affected by these changes, with workers in the

u.s. expected to be told next month, with those outside the u.s. told later. and this is all part of wider changes taking place at meta this year, including the scrapping of its fact-checking processes and rolling back of its diversity efforts. the stock seen at dropping 2% on tuesday's announcement. elsewhere, wall street is braced for the consumer price index for december due out later in the session today. now this is forecast to see headline cpi having risen not .3% on the month and 2.9% on the year. this follows the consumer price index which came in cooler than expected on tuesday. but markets still a little bit anxious after a hotter than expected jobs report on friday and certainly seen rising a little bit but with tech stocks weighing as we go into wednesday's session. back to you, frances. >> karen, thank you. still to come, a severance

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in new york, they say you're always looking for a job, a boyfriend or an apartment. this is where i've been. >> and, just like that, a generation of living out a "sex in the city" fantasy is coming to an end. on monday, the new york city landmarks preservation commission officially approved a request to install an iron gate on that west village stoop made famous by carrie bradshaw on the hbo show. the request came from the owner of the property who says tourists have damaged the historic brown stone. no word on when the fence will be installed. i love the chain, the signs

telling everybody to stay away. when it's a stoop, that's private property once you step on that. >> i'm sure it's noisy. if i lived there, too, i might be a little annoyed. >> around the corner, cornelius street. a big day for severance. they set up a pop-up recreation of the office from severance in the main course of grand central. fans got to see the stars of the show, including adam scott and zach cherry clock in and do a little work. series executive producer ben stiller was on hand. it's been too long, i am on the edge of my seat for this one. how fun to be on your commute and walk past adam scott. >> they would need monitors on the side to run the recap from

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top story. millions remain under red flag warning as extreme winds threaten to spread the massive blazes across southern california. firefighters are working to contain the deadly fires and keep new ones from sparking. the death toll has risen to 25, while 37 people remain unaccounted for. entire neighborhoods have been wiped from the grid, with more than 12,000 structures decimated. but, amid all the destruction, one community in ashes is fighting to preserve the past. gadi schwartz shares the good news. >> reporter: as the history of altadena is forever changed by fire, its character is being sketched by an artist without a home. for more than a half a century, altadena has been a beacon of light on the hill, one of the first places in the '60s to welcome black and brown families. it's the kind of places you find walt butler who spent his

blessed life to give away money and lose everything he has at the age of 83. >> the people in altadena is like one giant family. >> reporter: the community coming together, raising over $800,000. and his first thought? a food truck so he can give right back. >> getting a food truck. it's going to be funky. >> reporter: at a bookstore called octavia's bookshelf, today there's no room for books. only donations. >> we've just become this hub where people can come and get what they need. >> reporter: the store is named for altadena's famed science fiction writer octavia butler. decades ago, she wrote parable of the sower about a girl in the year 2025 facing an apocalyptic fire fueled by climate change. one passage going viral. as wind, as water, as fire, god is change.

you guys are the seeds of change. >> we hope so. >> yeah. we hope so. >> reporter: gadi schwartz, nbc news, altadena. >> powerful messages from those ashes. coming up on "today", how celebrities are stepping up to give back amid the california wildfires. >> what's it like to do this in your own back yard? >> i'm heartbroken for my city. >> our interview with jennifer garner and how she's helping families ahead on "today." thank you so much for being with me and watching "early today." i'm frances rivera. hope you have a great, safe wednesday. for now, your news continues right here on nbc and our nbc right here on nbc and our nbc ne 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.

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