♪♪ giorgio, look. the peanut butter box is here. ralph, that's the chewy pharmacy box with our flea and tick meds. it's not peanut butter. i know, i know. but every time the box comes, we get the peanut butter. yes, because mom takes the meds out of the box and puts them in the peanut butter. sounds like we're getting peanut butter. yes, but that is the chewy pharmacy box. ♪ the peanut butter box is here. ♪ ♪ the peanut butter box is here ♪ alright, i'm out. pet prescriptions delivered to your door. chewy. good morning to all of you. it's 10:00 is a.m. eastern, i'm alex wit. this morning roads are finally reopening in buffalo a week

after a once this a lifetime blizzard pummelled the city. we'll take you live to buffalo, where the thashl guard is stepping in to help. the severe weather ignite ing a southwest airline meltdown leaving passengers stranded in airport terminals. the chaos stretching into another day with thousands of flights cab selled so far. we'll bring you a live report from the busiest airport in the country. also this hour, fresh fallout surrounding george santos, who admitted to fabricating his resume. we'll take a closer look at why a new york prosecutor is looking into the matter. and an update from the vatican this morning on the condition of pope benedict. we'll bring you the latest reporting on his situation. and the countdown to the new year is on. organizers for saturday's new year's eve celebration in new york city will hold their annual confetti test this morning before releasing 1.5 tons of confetti at midnight on new

year's eve. we begin with our top story this morning, a major travel meltdown as passengers looking to dwet home after the christmas holiday are still stranded two days before new year's eve. and the situation among passengers has grown pretty intense. an oakland bound flight was forced to turn around after passengers began fighting. passengers on board were given $300 and put up in hotels for the inconvenience, but what a mess. and buffalo, speaking of messes, now recovering after the historic snowstorm that triggered many of these travel delays. the national guard now stepping this to help with the snow removal. and they are going door to door for wellness checks. joining us with the latest, nbc news correspondent marissa par live from buffalo, new york. blayne alexander is joining us

from atlanta. also with us here in studio is meteorologist angie lasman. welcome all. we're hearing that other airlines are now stepping in trying to help with this meltdown. what can and are they doing to help? >> reporter: they are trying to cap their prices right now. s basically to make it affordable, so that the many thousands of people stranded and not able to take southwest flights can buy another flight on their airlines and make it back to their destination. delta, american ask united have said they are going to cap their air fares in select cities, in areas where the cancellations are hitting travelers theest and try to make it possible for them to book other flights. this speaks to the difficulty for the passengers not just the ones stranded, but for many they have already made it back home, but they have done so already shouldering untold, unaccounted for expenses we have talked to some people who had to take

buss, trains, rent cars and then book flights on different carriers. sometimes that can amount to thousands of dollars in unplanned expenses. so southwest is really trying to speak to that today. last nugt we heard from another executive who apologized profusely, as many doing all week, but those who had expenses like this, whether it was from oh travel, hotelings, expenses from their time being stranded could submit those receipts online and try to get reimbursements. that's something they are opening up. also another portal where people can get reunited with their luggage. we have seen those images of piles and piles of bags unclaimed. southwest is trying to help reunite those people with their bags. >> yesterday we saw a guy in baltimore whose one bag was in denver. another bags was somewhere in that pile. so that has to be a hugely frustrating thing.

very quickly, are you hearing from people that they are done with southwest airlines or are they going to give them another chance? >> we have heard a healthy mix. there's a fair share of people who are frustrated. people who walked by, even my live shot and said i hate southwest. to let people know they are done with that. a couple people saud woo booking somewhere ls next time. but the people in line, a couple people said we're just try ing to get home. at the end of the day, we're trying to get home. the people working at these counters are doing the very best they can. so they were forgiving. one thing i want to point out is as you see southwest behind me, there's the not a huge line. that's because a majority of the flights out of atlanta are cap selled. so when you walk past the ticket counter, it doesn't tell the story of what a troubled state it is for today around the country. >> i have one word for you. yikes. thank you so much. let's go to marissa. describe the scene in buffalo because roads are finally

reopening, at least it looks a little better. >> reporter: it really is night and day comparing yesterday to today. so this time yesterday, there was still packed snow on top of the roads, even the main ones that had been plowed there was still the driving ban in effect and the airport was closed. but all of that has since reopened. the driving ban scaled back down to a travel advisory. you can see probably a bunch of cars behind me. the highways are reopen as of midnight. so getting around here, the airport finally back open. the railway and people out and about probably catching up get ing their provisions. ask when they were hunkered down got on low supply. people catching up on the thing thas missed over the last week. >> you can about imagine going to the grocery store is hugely important at this point. can you imagine? canned goods are one thing, but

fresh stuff. for days, this is super concerning with local officials describing challenges with all the first responders. they were unable to reach people dealing with any kind of emergency. to what extent is the city back up and running properly in that department and really just in general? >> reporter: right. so in that way, things have really changed as well. the snow melt is a huge part of that. obviously, there's no hr precipitation coming down. if anything the snow is melting and turning into a situation where we might have some flooded basements, but just to go back to the way things were. there was a time when first responders were unable to get through the streets let alone to people's homes. as we have talked about the driving ban has been lifted because the main roads and most of the residential streets have been plowed through. now this next step is trying to dig out the sidewalks that lead to people's homes. we know there's a lot of volunteer efforts to help out

with that, including the national guard. you mentioned how the national guard is going from door to door, not just shoveling out sidewalks and trying to make sure they can can get to people's home, but you mentioned doing welfare she can czechs. something that's been sad is when we talk about the death toll nearing 40 in the area, a lot of them died as a result of maybe being outside. two, being inside without heat or being stuck in their car stranded without access to shelter. so what they are doing right now is for people who are either unaccounted for or maybe they haven't been heard from, they are really going through as carefully as they can to make sure that everyone inside of those homes, particular homes that don't look like they have had any traction outside or any signs of people coming in and out. no footprints and no shoveling, they are really trying to make sure that everyone inside is accounted for. that really is a grim process. but this terms of next steps, one of the things that they are looking towards is trying to

reunite car owners with their cars that were abandoned. we talked about the rows and rows of cars that were lined up on roads. so that was a task for the city to try to tow those to yards. and now owners who had to abandon them have to go and track them down. but in the grand scheme of things, i'm sure that is a preferable situation. if it you're leaving with your life, i know there's some grateful people. even if it means a little heart ache trying to find their car. >> thank you so much for that. so angie, let's talk about a couple things. the forecast today in buffalo and also the potential for severe storms today and kind of a mess out west, what can you tell us? >> this is all gearing up for the holiday weekend. we'll see a lot of people traveling we talked about the travel mess. let's focus on buffalo. there's some good news when it comes to the temperatures. the bitter cold is moving out. today we're in the mid-40s. this number is well above where it should be for this time of year. so 46 degrees.

not just buffalo. it's most of the eastern half of the country. 70s in louisiana. and into tomorrow, more of the same. 55 degrees for buffalo. nearly 20 degrees above normal for this time of year. that means snow melt. that will be helpful. it's days like this, even through saturday, sunday and monday, we duoback down to the 40s for folks that are trying to clean up this buffalo, but we are thot back down to freezing. and much of the country is going to see a pleasant warm-up. we'll be well above average as we get into your saturday, sunday and monday. the one thing to note, it's quite utah right now. there's no precipitation. she's right. your satellite and radar doesn't show a lot of thinking. as we transition into the next couple days and into the weekend, we'll have some more rain. now there was initially a minor concern for some flooding. it looks like that will be limited. we're thot expecting a lot of rain in the buffalo area. maybe half an inch by the time saturday comes around. it will be a little bit better

when it comes to just the snow melting and them getting backen on their feet. . we could see some elevated levels. a different story towards the south. we'll see heavy rain and the potential for some of those severe storms too. >> angie, thank you so much. my thanks to all of you. a week from today on january 5th, the united states will start requiring negative covid tests for travelers from china, hong kong and makhi. we're hearing reports after the country lifted its strict virus restriction this is month. data from the chinese government is unreliable. the with me now to discuss it all is mike memoli.

welcome both. what's the thinking on the white house' decision to require these tests from china? >> there are really two concerns that public health officials and people in the biden administration are trying to address with these new rules. fsts china has scaled back, the case counts are rising. all travelers from china will be required to provide that negative test from within the previous 48 hours. it's not just travelers from china. also travelers through seoul, south korea, toronto and vancouver, which are also major tran sut points for passengers coming from china. the hope there is they will weed out some of those who might have the virus. but the second concern is one that's eep bigger on the part of the administration. and that is that china is just

not a trusted partner when it comes to being transparent about not just the spread of covid, but potential new variants. and that's why the administration is expanding their travelers testing program to seven airports. that allows passengers coming into those airports voluntaily, be swabbed and allows officials to trace a new variant that could be originating in china. it was a year ago we were deal ing with the peak of the omicron surge and the biden administration wants to make sure we don't see a repeat of that. they want to know what's on the horizon and this is a step in that direction. what the administration really wants is china to be more cooperative. they offered assistance to the government to try to deal with the new spread. they say the chinese government has been ub responsive. >> even offered vaccines. it's remarkable that they haven't been responsive. dr. hilton, your thoughts on this testing and whether or not it's going to be effective?

>> we have to look at our practices. what's the difference in allowing sunshine to come out of quarantine on i day zero versus day five? and currently the united states is that you can come out of isolation after day five without repeat testing to guarantee that you're not infected. what we do know is persons will continue to be positive after five days of being positive from covid-19. and so this idea of what we need to do is go back to the basics. we change that in december of 2021. we remembered that when we lifted masks and said everyone can get on airplanes. i'm in cancun. when i traveled, i was nearly the only person on the plane that had a mask. so we have to really think about not what's happening in china but what's happening locally and how to increase that testing from seven airports to being

more inclusive of the entire united states. we know that covid-19 does not care. >> i'm right there with you with regard to wearing a mask when traveling. i was the only one on the plane. go ahead and look. i feel better wearing it. that having been said, let many ask you about the tripledemic. we have been seeing the holiday season. give me a sense of what you think we'll look like in january dealing with all of these things. 23z. >> some people say it's a backlog because we don't report over christmas. it's been over 1,100 americans have died from covid-19. and on december 22 nds, we logged 1400 americans dead from covid-19 alone. historically, last year we had double those numbers. and we could think we cut that down by 50%. but if that's the true marker, then we can anticipate 2,000 to

3,000 americans dying a day from covid-19. and we know we have a worse are rsv and influenza season this year. i cannot stress enough the difference between last year and this year is that masks have largely been lifted. people are not boosted like we were back in december when everyone was going to get their latest vaccinations. and it does not have to be you. last sumer nearly 50% of all persons who died from covid-19 were less. it's not just the old people who are dying. so think about that and make conscious decisions. >> thank you very much for giving us a lot to think about. i appreciate that. and by the way, mike memoli, nice work. following the president in st. croix. you got the good gig there. >> wish you were here. >> another time. straight ahead, more calls firefighter investigations into george santos accused of lying about everything from his educational background to his religion. now the legal trouble he could

be facing. and later the troubling new cdc data showing teenage overdose deaths have surged a record 133% in 2 years. what is driving the deadly speak and what schools are stocking up on to fight back. d what schoolsp on to fight back

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now to the legal trouble for george santos, who is accused of lying about his background.

he say he was just embellishing his resume. the district attorney, a fellow republican, says she is looking into george santos' stunning fabrications and inconsistency saying in a statement that no one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it. the new york attorney general's office said last week it is looking into a number of issues surrounding santos. nbc news has tried to reach george santos for comment, but we have not gotten a response. he apologized for embellishing and said he made mistakes. with us to talk about this is ryan nobles. welcome. republican leaders on capitol hill have been notably quiet about santos, but with calls for investigations and potentially asking for his resignation from some krutic, at what point do they have to do or say something? >> it's a great question. it's likely that we won't see them make any kind of decision or move on george santos until they return to begin the next

session of congress on january 3rd. there's a lot on the line here, in particular for kevin mccarthy, who would like to be the next speaker of the house. there's two complicating factors for mccarthy when it comes to taking serious action against george santos. there's the simple margins between republicans and democrats. there's only a few seats that separate the two parties. it you were to lose or force george santos to resign, that would be one less republican vote on a lot of key issues. the other factor is that mccarthy is jet to lock up the speaker's race. he needs 218 votes to do that. there are at least five republican members of the house who said they will not support mccarthy for speaker. because democrats get to vote in the race, that makes the situation more complicated for him. and santos has pledged his vote to kevin mccarthy. so he needs him to be seated in the congress on january 3rd if he's to be assured that speakership. it's likely that george santos will be seated in congress ask then these investigations play out whether they be in nassau

county, it's potential that the new york attorney general looks into this. maybe even a federal prosecutor in long island will take a look at this. that will have to play out before any real action is taken with santos or if there's some move to force him to resign. but in the short-term, i think we need to be prepared for the idea that congressman-elect george santos, despite his controversy, will likely be a full on congressman when the calendar turns. sglu thus you're 100% right. thank you so much for that. let's go to the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the southern border. the decision to keep title 42 in place for the next six months has only added to uncertainty facing migrants who crossed into texas or waiting on the mexico side of the border for an opportunity to make their case for asylum. shotgun they are unable to do with the public health measure in effect. let's go to sam brock from el paso, texas. sam, what options are left for

these folk who is are in limbo waiting to make their next steps? . >> reporter: good morning. this is a representation of mum heart ache. . this gentleman showed me the bus tukt that he has to get out of el paso, to do to go to another city. he's fearful once he gets on that bus, there are internal check points. and that's totally legal. so there's concern it you take a bus out of town, they are going to be apprehended. they can present themselves to border protection and hope any of the countries blocked from seeking asylum there's going to be an exception for them. but probably not. it will mean expulsio so what are the options? they were out protesting. and asking for some sort of temporary status because their options are dwindling. they are living here on the

streets. it was again in the 30s this morning. it's starting to warm up now. but as you see over my shoulder, these folks here were sleeping on the street. there's been makeshift encampments for weeks in talking to the local congressman. there's always been a crisis, but what we have seen in the last couple months in her lifetime, she's from here, has crossed the bound are ris or notion of what would be a level of crisis they have never seen before. this bus is set up so people can go inside and get warmth. they think we need to reorient we understand this crisis. here's a portion of our conversation. >> we can't keep doing the same thing over and over again, which is address immigration and migration as a border-only issue. we can't keep doing the same thing. >> how would you describe it? >> this is a western hemisphere crisis of historic proportions.

>> reporter: for those that thought keeping title 42 in place would stop that, they are seeing more than a thousand encounters per day in the el paso area. that's even with title 42 in place. clearly this problem is not going to subside. congressional action is needed. >> i'll tell you this report and the visuals you're providing for us, it's not going it leave our minds any time soon. with us now to take a closer look at all of this is republican strategist susan del percio. let's listen to what was said on read out and why this didn't gain traction during the campaign. >> whether there was media on

the north shore or the north shore with grant or reporters at news day, they did look into these issues and do their best to investigate and explore these issues. nfortunately, this was not considered a high profile race. and contentious election year, very contentious race for golf author. we couldn't get a number of these issues on the radar. that was very untrnt. >> so he was saying it was out there. it just couldn't breakthrough everything else that was happening during the campaign. what are your thoughts on that? >> i think locals know what's going on. they feel for a lot of folks thought it was a long shot that it was impossible, but when you have $700,000 to lend to your own campaign, things tend to change. i think fundamentally, we have to look at campaign finance reform. i know that this is not what people are talking about, but

when you talk about follow the hundred, who is investigating in our campaigns. what's where's the dark money coming from? it puts a spotlight on citizes united. that's where we do not know who is funding our campaigns, whether they are foreign or domestic. and if we actually talk about george santos as the poster boy of all of a sudden having all this money that he was earning $55,000 a year on one return. and then two years later he was earning $3.7 million to up to $11 million. wheres was that money coming from? that's what we need to talk about. we need stronger newspapers at the local level, but we need to examine our our campaign finance laws. >> the nassau county da is looking at this. also the toesh general looking into all of these issues that you're bringing up. but my question from a political standpoint, what do you think

republicans should be doing? is that different from what republicans will do about it? you heard ryan nobles report that kevin mccarthy needs this guy's vote to become speaker. that's his number one goal at this point, it would seem. what about the voters of new york district three? >> to the last question, they should not have george santos, but they are stuck with him. that's the way the law is. when you ask how republicans are handling it, i think it's important to break it out to local republicans and national washington republicans. because locally, quite a few people have spoken out asking for the investigation. and as more information comes out, i think we have to look at the donors and the clients, which are one in the same of george santos. so that's how he's passing

through the money. those donors are also on the hook and probably getting calls from law enforcement, which is in turn putting pressure on the local politicians because they also are big donors to local politicians in nassau county. thousand when you look at the federal level, it comes down to power and kevin mccarthy wants to become speaker. he needs the santos vote. it's that simple. and he will stay silent. but there is a lot of pressure coming out of nassau county. republicans against george santos, even though they can't say flat out he shouldn't be seated. >> the electorate has spoken, but did they know what they were speaking about when they voted for him. let me talk about title 42. the arizona republics editorial wrote an op-ed arguing it was wrong and not solve the border

crisis. she wrote this. the biden administration has failed everyone when it comes to immigration. he promised humane reforms and orderly processes. instead biden has left a border catastrophe to simmer with dire consequences with border cities and americans truly concerned over drug trafficking. so my question to you. what exactly is the biden administration's policy when it comes to immigration and border issueses because it would seem as though they are essentially keeping trump era poicies in place. >> first of all, the biden administration was trying to remove title 42. it was the courts that said we're going to keep it in place. i do think that that opinion piece has a lot of heat to it. we as a nation have to come to terms that there are two issues when it comes to immigration. we have 11 million people in this country that are living in the shadows. it is what mccain and the gang of eight was trying to solve. what do we do with those

individuals? we have to decouple it from the crisis at border. s that completely different sense of where we need to actually address. when you have the congresswoman talking about a western hemispheric issue, she's not wrong. the fact that we have so many asylum seekers coming in from nicaragua, people from peru, it's because there are increasingly authoritarian and socialist governments basically heading up these nations and while we have been spending so much time looking at other parts of the world making sure that democracies do not go unravelled, we have the biggest crisis at border. i would encourage the biden administration to say what are we going to do with the 11 million people that are here. that was the purpose of immigration reform under george bush. and what do we do about future immigration flows and how do we solve our western hemispheric problems. when the people reach the border, that's the crisis. but that's not where the stem of

the problem occurs. >> a huge questions yourself posing there. i hope we get big answers. thank you both. good to see you. thank you to the colleagues of jamie raskin who are sending him good wish this is morning after he revealed yesterday that he has been diagnosed with what he called a serious but curable form of cancer. raskin, a prominent member of the january 6th committee, and former impeachment manager, said he will undergo chemo for a large lymphoma. the 60-year-old expects to be able to work through the treatment and shared his thoughts last night with my colleague chris hayes. >> we're getting it early enough that if i take well to the chemo therapy, which starts this week, and i go through all of my six is sessions then i'll be in good shape. >> we should note the diagnosis

comes almost two years to the day after raskin's 25-year-old son died by suicide. when we come back, what the vath san can is saying about the health of pope benedict. we're going to bring you a live report, next. ing to bring you a report, next what do you think healthier looks like? cvs can help you support your nutrition, sleep, immune system, energy ...even skin. so healthier can look a lot like...you. cvs. healthier happens together. (bridget vo) with thyroid eye disease... i hid from the camera. and i wanted to hide from the world. for years, i thought my t.e.d was beyond help... ...but then i asked my doctor about tepezza. (vo) tepezza is the only medicine that treats t.e.d. at the source not just the symptoms. in a clinical study, more than 8 out of 10 patients taking tepezza had less eye bulging. tepezza is an infusion. patients taking tepezza may have infusion reactions. tell your doctor right away if you experience high blood

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prayers continue in vatican city for pope benedict. benedict, the oldest pope ever elected and the first pope to resign in more than 600 years, citing declining health conditions, looking frail in recent months the vatican reporting yesterday his condition had greatly deteriorated. pope francis calling on the world for prayers for his predecessor yesterday. joinings now from rome is molly hunter. we're learning more about his condition this morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: that's right. i just want to be clear for a little bit of context. you hinted at it. this is a man who has not been terribly well for the last ten years since he reresigned and made history resigning as the first pope in 60 0 years. he's struggled with his speech and looked frail. we last saw him meet pope francis in august and he was

having a hard time expressing himself. so we know his health has been tailing. the vatican said his ageing a revated his condition. what has chapged is yesterday we saw pope francis publicly acknowledge that he was very sick. he said let's ask the lord to comfort him and sustain him in this testimony of love to the church to the very end. he said he is very sick. then pope francis tweeted. let us pray together for pope benedict. let us ask the lord to console him and this witness of love for the church. the world's faithful to continue their prayers in a very public way. now just a couple hours ago, we did get an update from the vatican press office. we saw a little bit of optimism. the pope emeritus was able to rest.

he's lucid and alert and although his condition remains serious, the situation at the moment is stable. stable is very different than very sick. the statement continueses to say pope francis renews his invitation to pray for him and accompany him in these difficult hours. so clearly, the 95-year-old is in serious condition. we don't know exactly what that condition is, what kind of information we get from the office. we don't know if that's going to be regular. the other big question is we have not seen a current pope preside over a funeral of his predecessor. we don't know what that's going to look like. we don't know the funeral plans. we expect he will likely be buried, when he dies hundred dollar me. we expect that pope francis will prepseudoover the funeral. but unlikely a pope dying, which triggers a con clay, we have no playbook for when a former pope dies. >> you make very good points. i think perhaps the prayers are helping from around the world to

at least put pope in stable condition. thank you. prime minister benjamin netanyahu in the most right wing government in israel's history inaugurated today. he returns to power despite facing corruption charges. in an address to parolment, benjamin netanyahu he said the new government will focus on expanding jewish settlements in the west bank, something the u.s. have warned against doing. it's a hard line ultranationalist party and also raising concerns about possible infringement of lgbtq rights. his speech was interrupt ld from opposition leadership calling the leader weak. giving you a live look at times square. two days out from the biggest party of the year and minute was from a confetti test. we'll talk with the president of the times square alliance about how they are preparing for the first party of the pandemic era.

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- [reporter] one of the deadliest mass shootings in us history at pulse nightclub in orlando. - [barbara] walking into the building for the first time after the shooting, it was crippling, but it had to be preserved. if you are an ally of this community, speak out. there are more of us together than apart. it is the power of love in its rawest form. (classical piano music) love you. have a good day, behave yourself. like she goes to work at three in the afternoon and sometimes gets off at midnight. she works a lot, a whole lot. we don't get to eat in the early morning. we just wait till we get to the school. so, yeah. right now here in america, millions of kids like victoria and andre live with hunger, and the need to help them has never been greater. when you join your friends, neighbors and me to support no kid hungry,

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whether kids are learning at school or at home, your support will ensure they get the healthy meals they need to thrive. because when you help feed kids, you feed their hopes, their dreams, and futures. kids need you now more than ever. so please call this number right now to join me in helping hungry kids or go online to helpnokidhungry.org and help feed hungry kids today. the countdown is on for the final countdown of the year. in the next hour the organize etc. of the new year's eve celebrations will run the confetti trust throwing handfuls from the top of the just tas taste of what's to come on new year's eve when 1.5 tons of confetti will be released on the

streets below. joining me now is the president of times square alliance. tom, big welcome to you. this is exciting because this year's celebration will be the first to potential full capacity in times square after the two years of covid restrictions. so what's that going to look like on saturday night? >> we're very excited to welcome everyone back to times square on saturday night to watch the ball drop. we have a great team that works on the event year in and year out. they are really excited about us being back to full of capacity this year. >> i bet. give me a sense of what sort of crowds and crowd size you're expecting and how are thousands and thousands of partiers kept in line. and let me just share i once watched the ball drop from 7th avenue. i had to hang out in a sort of pen-like enclosed area. it z that still how it's done? >> yes, we have viewing areas. we work very closely with mayor adams' team, with the police

department, the greatest police department in the world, to create a safe environment for the crowds that come to times square. the viewers go into spectator areas. and it's controlled by the police department. they will come early. if the weather is good, we will see revelers already lined up to get in. >> that said, you mentioned the weather. it should be warmer on saturday, but there's a steady rain also in the forecast so what advice do you have for anyone who plans to head down to see the ball drop in person because the question is a sea of umbrellas safe for everyone or do you want people to wear the poncho things? >> umbrellas for a lot of safety reasons are not allowed in times square. ponchos are okay. there's a lot of good rain gear you can wear without having an umbrella. it gets in the way of people's

view. so wear a poncho. i'm the optimist. there's a 10% chance it won't rain tomorrow night. so we need the weather to event. >> i love your attitude. and thank you for the reminder about umbrellas. that's an important note. all of it a great conversation. have a great time. happy new year. thank you so much. and taking a turn right now, schools across america are dealing with a growing crisis. an enormous surge in teen overdose deaths. when many schools are providing on campus this is an effort to save lives. to save lives

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as americans, there's one thing we can all agree on. the promise of our constitution and the hope that liberty and justice is for all people. but here's the truth. attacks on our constitutional rights, yours and mine are greater than they've ever been. the right for all to vote. reproductive rights. the rights of immigrant families. the right to equal justice for black, brown and lgbtq+ folks. the time to act to protect our rights is now. that's why i'm hoping you'll join me today

in supporting the american civil liberties union. it's easy to make a difference. just call or go online now and become an aclu guardian of liberty. all it takes is just $19 a month. only $0.63 a day. your monthly support will make you part of the movement to protect the rights of all people, including the fundamental right to vote. states are passing laws that would suppress the right to vote. we are going backwards. but the aclu can't do this important work without the support of people like you. you can help ensure liberty and justice for all and make sure that every vote is counted. so please call the aclu now or go to my aclu.org and join us. when you use your credit card, you'll receive this special we the people t-shirt and much more. to show you're a part of the movement to protect the rights guaranteed to all of us by the us constitution. we protect everyone's rights, the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression,

racial justice, lgbtq rights, the rights of the disabled. we are here for everyone. it is more important than ever to take a stand. so please join us today. because we the people means all the people, including you. so call now or go online to my aclu.org to become a guardian of liberty. right now, the number of teenagers in the u.s. overdosing on the opioid fentanyl is at a record high and that is why this year schools across the country from new jersey to san francisco to texas installed emergency overdose kits to battle the crisis. morgan radford is reporting on this. >> it's almost like those break in case of an emergency kits. put simply, these people, these

officials say they're taking the front line in the war against fentanyl into the schools themselves. they're stocking those kits which are stocked with an overdose drug. they're putting them in hallways and nurse's offices, even in school libraries. local leaders we spoke to say it's just the beginning when it comes to confronting this crisis head on. >> reporter: when tonya lost her son jj, he was 19 years old. >> he ingested cocaine and he had enough fentanyl in his system to kill 30 grown adults. >> reporter: a tragic story that's becoming increasingly common. overdoses among teens 14 to 18 surging 133% in just two years. the vast majority of them caused by fentanyl. a drug that's often found in fake pills made to resemble

drugs. that's why here at this high school in new jersey -- >> break the glass -- >> reporter: they're bringing a new solution to the students. is it almost like a fire extinguisher. you break glass if necessary? >> that's exactly what it is. >> reporter: they're installing 175 overdose kits across high schools county-wide. each one stocked with a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses. nationwide, 20 states have laws allowing schools to stock the drug, training staff and students on how to use it. >> we're going all hands on deck because it's just a predominant drug throughout our community. >> reporter: data is showing that the number of overdoses among teens is going up, but that drug use among teens is actually going down. how do you square that? >> that's because of the strength of fentanyl. just a few grams of fentanyl can

kill someone. and we think the fact that fentanyl is now being mixed in with the drugs that are being used is attributing to the higher rate of the deaths. >> reporter: those fatal mixes, the drug enforcement administration says often finding their way into students' hands through social media. >> people set up accounts specifically towards catering to people who are willing to buy drugs. >> online? >> yes, online. >> reporter: a chain of events parents hope to prevent any way possible. what about parents who feel like putting these kits in schools is just going too far? it sends the wrong message with drugs. >> kids who are allergic to peanuts, they have epipens in school. why not have it available? you don't know what's going on in the bathroom. you don't know what happened in the car in the parking lot. if this is a way to keep kids from dying, then so be it. >> reporter: a new tool in the fight against overdoses,

reaching a younger generation. >> officials tell us that this is just the beginning in a broader overdose prevention plan. ultimately they hope to see the same kinds of overdose kits really in any place where someone could have an overdose like buses, libraries, even public parks. if you look across the country, in california, the legislature is set to take up a bill in the upcoming session that would move the state from just allowing public schools to stock the drug, to requiring them to keep at least two doses there on hand, alex. >> extraordinary that we're at this place in society but thank heaven we're taking steps to help kids. thank you much. we have another hour of msnbc reports coming up including, insult to injury for the many people stranded across america. some passengers faced with buying extraordinary tickets just to get home.

listen to this, a one-way ticket from nashville to denver starting at almost $900. we're live at the nation's busiest airport at the top of the hour. busiest airport at the top of the hour will you make something? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. ♪limu emu & doug♪ it's nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. showtime. whoo! i'm on fire tonight. (limu squawks) yes! limu, you're a natural. we're not counting that. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪ the virus that causes shingles is sleeping... in 99% of people over 50. it's lying dormant,

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