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e new homeland security secretary heading to guantanamo bay. this as the president faces another setback in his attempt to end birthright citizenship >> a judge temporarily blocking the administration's buyout offers. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is set to meet with house speaker johnson today as president trump defends his gaza proposal. we're live with the latest in the backlash to the plan. we are two days away from super bowl lix. and the bookies are taking more than just bets on which team will win. we look at the surging popularity of the parlay. and, miss the dying art of cursive? the national archives has a project that lets the public

preserve the writing and history at the same time. it's friday, february 7th. "early today" starts right now. welcome to friday. and good morning. i'm frances rivera. homeland security chief kristi noem is heading to guantanamo bay today. president trump has said he wants to send tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants to the notorious prison camp in cuba. some have already been flown there, all expected to be gang members. it comes as trump faces a new setback in his push to end birthright citizenship. a second judge in two days blocking that order. the u.s. district judge in seattle put the order on hold nationwide for the duration of the lawsuits brought by four states and an immigrant rights group. the justice department is appealing the ruling. now to the latest details on the effort to slash federal funding. by the end of today, the u.s.

agency of international development is expected slash its workforce to about 290 workers, down from more than 5,000. that's according to two sources familiar with the plans. meanwhile, community health centers that rely on federal grants say they are still struggling to access funds after the white house briefly called for a funding freeze last week. three health clinics in virginia have been forced to close. the hhs says it is working to expedite resolutions. and a senior government official says at least 60,000 government workers accepted a buyout offer to resign. but a judge has put a hold on those plans. here's peter alexander. >> reporter: just hours ahead of the white house deadline, a federal judge paused the trump administration from implementing its yout program for all federal workers. that buyout offer, part of the president's campaign pledge to save taxpayer money by slashing the federal workforce. but labor unions went to court

to block it. now the judge has put the buyouts on hold until monday. a senior administration official says more than 60,000 federal employees have accepted the offer. that represents more than 2% of the federal government's civilian workforce. officials here previously said they expected 5% to 10% to take the buyout. >> what president trump and elon musk and this entire administration is trying to do is make our bloated bureaucracy here in washington run like a profitable business. >> reporter: and the trump administration is ramping up pressure to take the buyout. an e-mail to all eligible federal workers obtained by nbc news warns those who do not could lose their jobs. reading in part, at this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position. the president touting progress on his pledge to slash spending. >> we got rid of woke over the last two weeks. >> reporter: and praising elon musk and his department of government efficiency, including

its effort to dismantle usaid. >> they can't believe they're getting caught. i have great respect for the people who are doing it. elon musk is helping us on it. and he's pretty good. >> reporter: the "washington post" reports doge employees have gained access to highly-restricted government records on millions of federal employees, including treasury and state department officials in sensitive positions. and the white house confirms a doge staffer approved by a federal judge to access treasury department payment systems has resigned. after "the wall street journal" asked about his links to a dedeleted social media account that advocated for racism and d eugenics. memeanwhile, federal workers ar in limbo. alfonso mccree accepted the buyout offer. >> the timing couldn't have been any better, but there was also that concern of, like, well, this is kind of weird, is this actually legal? >> reporter: while holly, who asked we don't use her last name, did not. >> i'm glad i didn't take the

buyout at all. i don't trust that the administration will keep their promise. >> reporter: meanwhile, musk's x profile now reads white house tech support. and democrats are slamming his effort to down size the federal government as illegal. >> what we are seeing unfold is an unlawful power grab by an unelected and unaccountable billionaire, puppet master who's pulling the strings of house republicans and apparently the trump administration. >> reporter: but republicans are applauding musk's cost-cutting mission. >> i think it's very popular with the american people. trump derangement syndrome is a virus the democrats have had for years. it appears it has translated into musk derangement syndrome. backlash mounting over president trump's plan to take

over gaza. he added he would not send in american troops as part of the rebuilding plan. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu rejecting the need for american troops. netanyahu is set to meet with white house speaker mike johnson, who called trump's gaza plan a bold move that should be considered. for more, let's bring in raf sanchez. good morning, raf. >> reporter: frances, good morning. following relatively rare push back by republicans in the house and senate, president trump now saying his controversial plan for gaza would not require american boots on the ground. that is raising new questions about how this proposal would actually work. but the president is saying that under his plan, israel would hand control of gaza to the united states after the war is finished. now, under international law, israel can't simply hand somebody else's territory over to the u.s. but it is also raising new questions about this fragile cease-fire in gaza. right now, talks are under way

to try to get to phase two of that cease-fire. that would see a permanent end to the fighting in exchange for the release of all living israeli hostages. those talks are being mediated by egypt and qatar. and the egyptians are warning that president trump's proposal, which is meeting so much resistance in the middle east is actually undermining those negotiations. the president also signing an executive order imposing sanctions on staff of the international crimal court. you'll remember the court, known as the icc, issued an arrest warrant for prime minister benjamin netanyahu as well as israel's defense minister, yoav gallant. that met a lot of criticism in the u.s. and in israel. president trump now imposing sanctions on individual staff at that court in response. frances? >> raf sanchez for us, thank you. breaking overnight, a plane carrying ten people has gone missing in alaska.

the cessna caravan was heading to nome. it belongs to bering air. the nome fire department is doing an active ground search. a utility company has admitted that several videos suggest a possible link between their equipment and the deadly eaton fire. but southern california edison says they have not found broken conductors or evidence of fault energized lines. it killed at least 17 people. multiple lawsuits cite a video that shows sparks from a tower near where the fire started. now on a dangerous winter weather for tens of millions across the country. 20 states socked in by a mix of snow, sleet and rain. whiteout conditions in michigan and flash floods in hard-hit

charleston, west virginia. and there's more on the horizon. let's bring in meteorologist denise isaac who is tracking it all for us. good morning, denise. >> good morning, frances. yes, as you mentioned, we are tracking another area of low pressure, but today it's fairly quiet. for the exception of upstate new york where we do have a snow squall warning in effect from rochester to buffalo. we are traing an area of low pressure that will impact areas from the upper midwest to the northeast where snow will fall from minneapolis into detroit as well as new york. pretty much kind of copy and paste to the system we had yesterday. we'll be dealing with freezing rain, sleet across the mid atlantic and the potential for strong storms into the ohio river valley. by sunday, this system pulls away. but it will leave quite a bit of snow across boston to worchester and southern new hampshire. we could get 5 to 9 inches of snow. after a n the upper midwest,

it's snowing across bismarck with temperatures in the teens, while denver is seeing a high today of 59 with sunshine. frances, back to you. >> okay, denise, thank you. many school districts across the country are canceling in-person classes due to a late-season surge in flu infections. one district near louisville going remote for three days because more than 1700 students and 200 staff members were absent due to illness. this as vaccination rates among children fall, plummeting nearly 14% in five years. more than a million americans have been hospitalized with the flu this season. 11,000 have died. still to come, the

superstars helping "saturday night live" celebrate 50 years. and as millions put down bets for the super bowl, we look at how parlays are propping up sports betting apps. propping u sports betting apps. eddie, n. frasier, frank. frank? —fred, how are you? —fred! support up to 7 brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember, remember neuriva. did you know... 80% of women are struggling with hair damage? just like i was. pantene miracle rescue deep conditioner with melting pro-v pearls. locks in moisture to repair 6 months of damage. for resilient, healthy-looking hair. if you know, you know it's pantene. want a next level clean? swish with the whoa of listerine. it kills 99.9% of bad breath germs for five times more cleaning power than brushing and flossing alone. get a next level clean... ahhhhh with listerine. feel the whoa! no more gross cough syrup. we all want you to feel better. i want extra tv time or i'll walk! how about this? introducing the only kids soft-chew for medicated cough relief.

aaaaghhh! new mucinex children's mighty chews are mighty clever. the super bowl is just a few days away, and it's not just the chiefs and eagles with a lot riding on the game. americans are expected to place more than a billion dollars on bets. and for many it's more than on just what team wins with. >> aren't you too old for playing football until. >> what? >> they want somebody who can run at 40, not somebody who is 40. >> reporter: you've no doubt seen the commercials with lebron james and charles barkley. >> when you're betting on your favorite player it has to look like your favorite player. >> reporter: using a particular word, parlay. >> this is you and your first hunch of the season. >> reporter: the term might

sound a little fancy but simply means stacking a series of bets that all have to be right. appealing to jamie mather who works in digital marketing and a couple of years ago caught the parlay fever. >> i made a little account called plunder the under. >> reporter: he created an alter ego on x, sharing tips on how to win big on sports with the parlay a center piece of that. wagering on custom combinations, from how many touchdowns saquon barkley might score, to whether travis kelce will propose to taylor swift. the key is all have to click to cash in. >> i think why they're popular big hit, the big lottery, you he know. i'm going to put eight plays together, you know, to try to win. i'm going to turn $10 into a thousand dollars, that kind of thing. >> reporter: in the simplest of

terms, if you put $10 on a 50-5. they can bank more on the parlays. it's tantalizing. >> parlays offer bigger odds, bigger payoffs. >> reporter: matthew barry has been in the gaming biz for a long time. but on a segment before sunday night football, he now routinely highlights his favorite parlays. >> it's a part of "football night in america." they're insanely popular. people love them. >> take multiple bets from a single game and combine them with a single parlay. >> reporter: draftkings even offering explainers. a same game parlays lets you

choose bets from the same game as it sounds, like the super bowl. fan duel says 90% are for 30 bucks or less with well over half no more than $5. but slim chances don't seem to scare betters. three of the 38 states, plus d.c. that allow sports betting, new jersey, colorado and illinois, offer some eye-opening numbers. in colorado, parlays made up the largest share of the pie of all bets in december 2024, tied with bets on just pro football. and even more revealing, in new jersey, parlays well outpaced any single sporting event with a much higher win rate, too. as for jamie mather, he says parlays have opened up gambling to a new generation ready to win. >> i think sport gambling back in the day was people who cracked their kneecaps and hiding in the corners and old men and things like that. now it's, it's become a younger game, a hipper game, you know. >> reporter: meaning more chances on cashing in. no matter how long the odds.

>> making an already-exciting game even more so. our thanks to sam for that report. still to come, the man at the garden who prepares to be the man at the superdome. find out what kendrick lamar has to say before his much-hyped super bowl halftime show. -hyped super bowl halftime show. 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. ♪ if you're frustrated with occasional bloating or gas, your body's giving you signs.

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plenty of ink has been spilled about the revolutionary war, but fewer americans can read it as cursive fades from our public grasp. hallie jackson shows us how thousands are helping preserve it for the tiktok generation and beyond. >> reporter: tiktok's cursive challenge. >> write your name without picking up your pen. >> reporter: introducing gen z to the lost art of long hand. but, if you want a real cursive challenge, you've got to go old school, like very old. i see the year, 1764. at the national ar chives, a ne project asks people to help transcribe these. pension records. from the very first veterans. if you can read them. in their, something. >> records.

>> reporter: of. something. something. >> it's hard to read. >> reporter: how do people do this? this is impossible! the archives asking, is cursive your super power? they've found 100,000 volunteers who are converting these records into a searchable online database to give more access to more people. >> it really connects you, i think, to the past and helps make these stories come alive for the new generations. >> reporter: the project, timed to next year's 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence, with its famous signatures. and at the archives, we coded another. i think that's george washington. along with a soldier who joined washington during the crossing of the delaware. >> it was snowing at the time. >> reporter: this cursive challenge flipping the script, proving handwriting is not yet

history. hallie jackson, nbc news, washington. "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon" brought back an adorable tradition ahead of super bowl lix, the puppy predictors. the pups parlayed their winner from how many chowed down from each bowl. one from the eagles and one for the chiefs. >> guys, it looks like, it looks like the chiefs are going to win the super bowl this year! >> this year, most of the pups went for the chiefs after incorrectly choosing against them the last two years. and coming up on "today", all the excitement from new orleans. we'll have team coverage on the final preparations and what to expect from sunday's big game. something you don't want to miss. and even if you are not rooting for the chiefs, wear red rooting for the chiefs, wear red todafor y he (♪♪) years of hard work.

decades of dedication. committed to giving back. you've been there, done that. and you're still here for more. so now that you're 50 or older, and at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia and ipd be proactive with capvaxive- a vaccine specifically designed for adults to help protect against pneumonia and invasive disease caused by certain types of pneumococcal bacteria. capvaxive is the only vaccine that helps protect against the strains that cause 84% of ipd in adults 50 or older compared with up to 52% by other pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. don't get capvaxive if you're allergic to the vaccine or its ingredients. tell your doctor if you have a weakened immune system. common side effects include injection-site reactions, feeling tired, headache, muscle aches, and fever. whether you've had another pneumococcal vaccine or not ask your doctor or pharmacist about capvaxive. (♪♪)