another plane crash, this time in toronto. a delta jet turning upside down during landing. 18 people are hurt, but everyone survived. the trump administration's efforts to shrink the federal government hits hundreds of faa workers.

cuts at homeland security, the cdc and emergency management sparking nationwide protests on presidents' day. russia and u.s. officials in saudi arabia officially sitting down today to begin their peace talks in the russia-ukraine war, but, will ukraine even be invited to the table? we are live with the latest. a horrific murder investigation in upstate new york. police arresting five people in the torture death of a trans man. his family now speaking out, as his community demands justice. and they're the unsung masters of the green in augusta, georgia. black caddies who spent nearly 50 years working for some of the best golfers in history on this tuesday, february 18th. as "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm jessica layton. and we begin this morning with a terrifying scene at toronto international airport. where a delta airlines plane

coming from minneapolis overturned during a scary crash landing. as you can see here, the plane is upside down on that runway. everyone survived, but 18 people were injured. this, of course, follows a series of aviation incidents in north america that has so many people on edge. nbc's jay gray begins our coverage this morning. >> reporter: the delta regional jet out of minneapolis apparently started to have problems during landing at pearson international airport in toronto, skidding across the runway, then rolling over. >> my friends rushed there first. and then he saw the crj, the crj's crashed on the runway, so i was, like, yeah, i got to go check it out. the next thing i saw basically is the crj plane basically flipped on the runway. >> reporter: 76 passengers and four crew members all survived. >> first and foremost, there was no loss in life. and this is in due part to our

trained professionals, our first responders at the airport. passengers were quickly taken to local area hospitals. at this time, we do not know of any of those passengers having critical injuries. >> reporter: the right wing was ripped from the plane during the crash. >> that's what they're going to look at to start with. where's th wing? and how did it leave the airplane? >> reporter: former pilot john cox says wind gusts at the time may have been a contributing factor. >> with it being that gusty, i think it's possible the wing may have touched the runway due to a gust. if that's the case then the rest of this makes sense. >> reporter: the investigation is just beginning. jay gray, nbc news. new this morning, concerns over privacy at the social security administration. nbc news confirming that the acting commissioner of that agency has left her job after clashing with elon musk's doge

team. two sources familiar with the situation say she refused to give access to some sensitive government records. a white house spokesperson says the agency will be led by a career social security anti-fraud expert until president trump's nominee is confirmed. hundreds more federal jobs were cut this weekend, including at homeland security and the faa. here's nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: with alarming real-world incidents, the crucial public safety faces a test as the federal workforce is under scrutiny and hit with job cuts. president trump's department of government efficiency and elon musk's doge team continue to make cuts, including at the federal aviation administration. close to 300 faa employees terminated this weekend, according to a union that represents workers there. 28-year-old jason king was at faa for eight months.

when you were doing your job at faa, did you believe you were helping to make the public safer? >> i truly did. >> reporter: king, an army veteran with a service-related disability says he worries cuts could be too deep. >> even for the people that are still there, theheirorkload has drastically increased. and i think that's where a big part of my concerns of public safety comes in. >> reporter: other federal job cuts may also be linked to public safety. 400 layoffs at homeland security, including 200 positions at fema. the federal emergency management agency. hundreds fired from the centers for disease control, including about two dozen who support outbreak response, according to agency sources. protests across the country turning this presidents' day holiday into a day of action. from the winter chill of albany

to sunshine in orlando. >> we win! >> reporter: the west coast to the nation's capital. >> the people are going to feel it eventually. >> reporter: meanwhile, an employee affiliated with doge is expected to seek access to an irs system that holds sensitive information. trump advisor steven miller insisted americans' personal financial data will be secure. >> i give you complete and total assurance on that point. we are talking about performing a basic anti-fraud review to ensure that people are not engaging in large-scale theft of federal taxpayer benefits. >> our thanks to kelly for that report. u.s. secretary of state marco rubio continuing his visit to saudi arabia today, meeting with officials on negotiations to end the war with ukraine. it is the first formal meeting between top u.s. and russian diplomats in two years. but these talks exclude

ukrainian officials, including their president, volodymyr zelenskyy. european leaders also holding an emergency meeting in paris after the trump white house said they, too, would be excluded from these negotiations. nbc's matt bodner joins us now. matt, what is the latest, and where do we go from here? >> reporter: jessica, good morning. the trump administration has signaled very clearly that they want to end the war in ukraine. but their approach has set off alarm bells in ukraine and across europe. not only has the white house stated publicly that several of ukraine's key demands for peace negotiations are, quote, unrealistic, but also that ukraine will not be present for today's talks. this in itself marks a departure from previous policy, mainly from the west, that nothing will be done concerning ukraine without ukraine. president volodymyr zelenskyy in an exclusive interview with "meet the press" over the weekend said ukraine would not recognize any u.s.-russia deal

that does not include ukraine in the process. western allies are also looking at these talks in riyadh with great skepticism and great concern. french president macron convened a meeting in paris to discuss trump's surprising moves with russia. macron did speak with trump before those meetings began, but no read out of that call or statement detailing its specifics were published. uk prime minister keir starmer, who attended the paris meeting yesterday said the uk was prepared to send troops to ukraine as a security guarantee for kiev as part of any potential cease-fire agreement. we're going to have to see what comes of today's u.s.-russia talks. but the mood in europe is that america has already entered into negotiations from a position of weakness, providing russia with key concessions before negotiations even started. jessica? >> and the world is watching. matt, thank you. new this morning, new york governor kathy hochul will convene a special meeting later today to discuss new york city

mayor eric adams. hochul's statement read in part, the alleged conduct at city hall that has been reported over the past two weeks is troubling and cannot be ignored. this follows a string of resignations in city government with four deputy mayors stepping down. two sources familiar with the matter tell our new york city station that they resigned because mayor adams asked them to refrain from criticizing the trump administration. the justice department last week requested prosecutors drop corruption charges against the mayor, leading the u.s. attorney in charge to also resign. the south is bracing for yet another round of storms, this time with snow, as crews in kentucky race to rescue those still trapped from last weekend's deadly system. parts of the region have been ravaged by deadly rain, flooding and tornados. the death toll rising to 14, 12 dieing in kentucky alone. one woman barely escaped the

water as it rushed through her home, rising as high as the gutters on her house. she spoke to nbc's shaquille brewster. >> i felt like i was going to die, really. we ended up going to the attic. >> were you trapped here? >> absolutely. >> some 300 roads are still closed, making rescues more challenging. and we don't know how many peop are still trapped. angie lassman joins us with when and where the next storm system will be striking. >> we've got another busy couple days ahead of us as the system is going to emerge and work its way to the east. can you see the winter alerts we have up. 50 million people including winter storm watches and warnings across the mid section of the country and extending out east. plenty of snow currently working across the plains. kansas city, wichita waking up to that. you can see the heavy snow, ice and rain developing over the plains.

by the time this is all said and done, we'll have significant snow and rain specifically across the south. we'll see some of that rain, a couple of inches. and then the icing potential is there as well. notice by the time we get through wednesday, a lot of this works offshore, and we'll start to see some of this snow wrapping around and leaving us with snowy conditions across parts of the great lakes as well as the mid atlantic. when it's all said and done, snowfall through thursday. springfield, up to a foot is possible . we head to the low 3 for lubbock. dallas and shreveport top out in the 50s. rain in houston today. that's a look at your forecast, jessica, back to you. coming up, why southwest airlines is rolling out its

first mass layoff in that company's history. but first we're back in a minute with a disturbing murder investigation in upstate new york. the suspects accused of torturing a transgender man. of torturing a transgender man. okay, y'all. i heard mielle's kalahari melon and aloe vera line is changing the game. up to five days of moisture and no wash days in between? let's see about that. day two, headed to work, but i feel like i'm about to drop a hit single. all the cuties are at the run club. good thing these curls are curling. can you believe this is day five? i think i could go even longer. up to five days of lasting moisture. endless possibilities. imagine what you could do in five days. ♪ ♪ if you went on a road trip and you didn't stop for mcdonald's, that wasn't a road trip. it was just a really long drive. ♪ ♪ when you see what it's really like when our skin touches wool... you see why we need downy free and gentle with no perfumes or dyes.

it not only makes your clothes softer, it is gentle on your skin. it breathes life into your laundry. leading the news, a disturbing discovery in some hard-to-reach terrain of boulder county, colorado. search team located the body that matches the description of a missing colorado university student. 18-year-old megan trussell last seen on february 9. they are working to determine a cause of death. now to a disturbing ca out f upstate new york. police arresting five people they say tortured and abused a transgender man until he died. his devastated mother and sister are speaking out. nbc's antonia hylton has more. >> reporter: chilling new details in the murder of sam

nordqvist, a 24-year-old transgender man from minnesota allegedly tortured by these five people in upstate new york. >> the facts and circumstances of this crime are beyond depraved. no human being should have to endure what sam endured. >> reporter: investigators say nordqvist was subjected to repeated physical and psychological abuse for weeks, inside a motel room in hopewell that led to his death. >> this is one of the most horrific crimes i have ever investigated. >> reporter: his family said nordqvist traveled from minnesota to new york hoping to connect with his girlfriend, precious. >> i had a bad feeling off the start that it wasn't going to end well if he came out here. and he wouldn'listen to me. because thought that he was in love with this woman. >> reporter: on thursday, nordqvist's remains with found in a field in neighboring yates county. >> torture. . >> torture.

how can somebody be so evil. >> reporter: authorities have charged precious, kyle sage, patrick goodwin and emily motica with second degree murder with depraved ndifference. goodwin was previously convicted of sexual abuse of a minor. >> they can rot in hell. >> rot in hell and die. >> reporter: new york governor kathy hochul calling the case sickening in a statement, adding there must be justice for sam nordqvist. community members gathering for a vigil. >> we seek justice and face this enormous grief together. >> reporter: the district attorney and state police say there's no evidence of a hate crime, writing in a statement on sunday, sam and his assailants were known to each other, identified as lgbtq plus, and at

least one of the defendants lived with sam in the time period leading up to the incident offense. >> just because you are part of the lgbtq does not mean that you're supporting that t and that q, and you're protecting that t and q. >> reporter: briton is a community organizer, he, too, is trans and from a town not far from where sam was found. what does this case represent to you? >> it just reminds me and honestly puts in the forefront the times that we are living in. the hateful rhetoric and how this is not a trans issue. this is a human rights issue. >> our thanks to antonia for that report. still to come on "early today," the truffle shuffle is finally making a comeback. the goonies are returning to theaters, four decades after finding the treasure of one-eyed willie. g the treasure of one-eyd willie.

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people who ate yogurt had a lower rate of tumors. snl 50 was the most-viewed telecast in five years. and kate middleton and prince william shared portraits to instagram created by the royal couple and their three children made during a family art session for the royal foundation. session for the roya foundation. y'all. i heard mielle's kalahari melon and aloe vera line is changing the game. up to five days of moisture and no wash days in between? let's see about that. day two, headed to work, but i feel like i'm about to drop a hit single. all the cuties are at the run club. good thing these curls are curling. can you believe this is day five? i think i could go even longer. up to five days of lasting moisture. endless possibilities. imagine what you could do in five days. ♪ [tambourine by eve] ♪ imagine what♪you could do ♪

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heartbreak and betrayal using her lyrics to address machismo and sexism. she was honored with the billboard latin music award for lifetime achievement. she was 77 years old. now to the mural at one of the world's most legendry golf clubs dedicated to a group of men whose story you may not know. nbc's pricilla thompson has more on their enduring legacy in augusta, georgia. >> i'm going to be your caddie for the day. >> reporter: for years, it was jim dent who carried the bags of glove legends. choosing the clubs that might lead them to a masters win. we're at forest hills golf club today. but, as a teen in the 1950s, dent joined augusta national's all-black caddie corps that players were required to use and

began learning the game of golf upon a course he wasn't allowed to play. racism and discrimination, did you experience any of that? >> oh, sure, it didn't bother me. >> reporter: instead, many local black caddies focussed on reading the greens, becoming experts of the course and the secret weapon for golfers like arnold palmer and jack nicklaus, inspired by it all, he decided to take his swing, turning pro in 1966. going on to win a dozen senior pga tournaments. what do you feel like that first job as a caddie gave you? >> it gave me everything i own. if i didn't learn how to do caddieing, i never would have been golfer, and i never would have made the little money i made, you know? >> reporter: in the 1980s, augusta national began allowing outside caddies. and the black caddies all but vanished. now 85, dent reflects on the

irony of that original rule, rooted in racism. so you all learned. >> by caddieing. >> reporter: and, when the time came. >> it was easy. >> reporter: you were ready to take your place out there. >> yeah. >> reporter: claiming their spot in a storied tradition as masters of the green in their own right. pricilla thompson, augusta, georgia. >> i'm jessica layton, have a great tuesday. i'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning. tomorrow morning. with dupixent, stay ahead of moderate-to-severe eczema. as you welcome the feeling of touch with clearer skin and less itch. the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, helps heal your skin from within. severe allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for face, mouth, tongue or throat swelling, wheezing or trouble breathing. tell your doctor of new or worsening eye problems, like eye pain, vision changes, or blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma or other medicines

without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent. caused the wing to separate from the aircraft because with that wing it took the landing gear with it, and that caused the aircraft to roll over. right now at 5:00. terror in toronto. a delta plane crash lands and flips upside down on the runway, injuring 18 people on board.