very good tuesday morning to all of you. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. right now, another mass shooting

in america. this one on the campus of michigan state university in east lansing. police say the gunman opened fire last night in two locations on that campus. we know three people are confirmed dead, five remain in critical condition. in an update earlier, officials confirmed all of the victims are msu students. one student sharing her harrowing experience in the classroom, hearing the shots ring out. she talked earlier on the "today" show. >> someone was yelling there was a shooter, and everybody needed to get down on the ground. and at that moment i thought that i was going to die. i will never forget the screams of my classmates. they were, like, screaming in pain for help. >> awful. officials are also revealing some new details about the 43-year-old suspect. they say he had no affiliation with the university. he was found about three hours after the initial shooting, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. ahead, what we're learning about

the investigation and his possible motive. also this morning on capitol hill, senators are being briefed right now, in fact, about the string of aerial objects shot down this weekend as they demand transparency from the biden administration about what in the world is happening in our skies. this as the pentagon says the u.s. has recovered electronic sensors from that chinese balloon downed ten days ago. what that could can reveal about china's motivations and capabilities. plus, toxic fears after a train derailment in east palestine, ohio, required the burning of train cars carrying flammable gas to prevent a catastrophic explosion. residents reportedly complained now about a burning sensation in their eyes, dead fish turned up in rivers and one woman says her hens and rooster died suddenly. ahead i'll be talking with a hazardous materials expert based in ohio about what is happening out there and the lingering safety concerns. but on this very busy tuesday, we start with the shooting on the campus of

michigan state university. it is the 67th, digest that, 67th mass shooting this year according to the gun violence archive. my friend msnbc's vaughn hillyard is covering this story for us and joins me in the studio. and i want to bring in chris watts, a msnbc national security analyst. 67 mass shootings in 45 days. it is absolutely stunning. let's get to what we know about the investigation and any possible motive for this gunman. >> we're talking about what is essentially a small city. we're talking about the campus in east lansing of michigan state university, 50,000 students, more than 400 buildings, 530 acres here. for more than three hours into the dark hours of last night the students in the wider community at large did not know where this gunman was. he opened fire just before 8:30 a.m. -- >> p.m. >> p.m. in an academic hall. two individuals were shot and

killed there. several other victims. then he went to the union hall. there is where there is one individual who was shot dead. we know now that three individuals were deceased. five are still in the hospital here. all eight of them are students at michigan state university. this -- the individual, the police are now saying, was tracked down thanks to a tip into the police after they disseminated that photo of him. he was found with what they say was self-inflicted gunshot wounds a couple of miles from campus here. but these -- it was very troubling last night, s.w.a.t. teams brought in, drones, canines as chaos ensued. >> there was a mother of one of these smu students who said my daughter suffered through the oxford high school shooting that was about a year and a half ago there in nearby oxford, in michigan. how does msu go about trying to help students now? >> oxford high school, 30 miles away from the campus of michigan state, you leave high school and go to college and you're facing yet another mass shooting situation here.

and that's when you're talking about how do you stop this, i mean, that's an existential question everybody is facing. but in the meanwhile, you're going to hear stories like take a listen to this one student here and her campus last night. >> after i heard those gunshots, my classmates in the back of the classroom started to scream for help. and my other classmates jumped into action and trying to help everyone. if it weren't for my classmates helping everyone, i don't think that we would have all made it because immediately someone was, like, we need to break open this window, we need to break open this window. >> alex, we're talking about an academic hall. we're talking about the student union here on a major public university campus. and this gunman, authorities are saying, has no apparent connection, was not a student himself, even at the university, 43 years old. there are so many questions as to the why and what led him here

to this campus. we know eight students were wounded, three of them deceased. >> yeah. so as we look for questions and answers, clint, right now we have law enforcement officials saying they're processing this crime scene. what does that look like? and when it comes to motive, to vaughn's point, i mean, since the suspect has no affiliation with the university, law enforcement are doing what, digging into his background, but how do they try to put this all together? >> yeah, alex. i think that's what surprised me the most of all that this morning was when i was listening to the press conference, the description of this individual, a man in his 40s, no seeming connection at all to michigan state, at least that anyone has found yet, why would he undertake this attack, why would he pick these locations, why would he do it at night? it just -- it seems like there is no real motive at this point, which is quite alarming, i think, for law enforcement because they're trying to provide safety, trying to predict where things might happen, trying to put safeguards in place. when the attack at this point seems so very random, it is hard

to know how you would prevent something like this. separately, in terms of the crime scenes right now, they're just trying to make sure they capture all of the evidence that is available. and, you know, we should note they got to make sure this isn't connected to any sort of larger plot, no associates, there doesn't seem to be an indication of that. law enforcement wants to make sure there is no extenuating circumstances are potential risks that come from this shooter. so, really a bizarre situation it looks like so far, alex, why this person would conduct this attack and i have to say this is several times just in the last few weeks we're seeing the shooter do a horrible attack just, insane murder, you know to some degree, and then turn the gun on himself. we saw that in los angeles and that was another shooter that was very atypical of what we have seen in past shootings, an older man, older gentleman in that case. so really strange occurrences over the last few weeks with these shootings. >> the fact that they located

him, the suspect, after that citizen tip, could that be an avenue for trying to figure out more details about who the gunman was going through that citizen potentially? >> i think so, alex. i think we'll see lots of reports probably coming in the next few hours of individuals that had seen this gentleman or he was known to them. early reports that i've read, you know, suggest he did have some sort of relationship with firearms issues in the past. so if that's the case, i think you'll see a lot of reports coming in. just note that so many times over the last few years we have seen individuals, usually men, conduct attacks for reasons where we really can't get to the bottom of it. you can go all the way back to the las vegas shooting a few years ago, christmas day bombing, remember, in nashville, fast-forward to just a few weeks ago in los angeles, this is a disturbing pattern in our country where the motive, we just actually don't know sometimes in the end why this is occurring. >> yeah. wish we did. vaughn hillyard, clint watts,

thank you both so much. let's turn to capitol hill, another top story with the growing mystery over those flying objects being shot out of the sky in fact at this very moment all 100 senators are receiving a classified briefing on these mystery objects. they have been shot down over a three-day period. the latest on sunday over lake huron. and coming nearly a week and a half after that chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of myrtle beach. lawmakers on both side of the aisle are dialing up pressure on the biden administration to provide more details. >> this is not usual. you don't shoot things down over american air space. we've never done that before. we have done it four times in the last few days. >> we're asking the president please tell the people what you know and what you don't know and what the plan is going forward. >> we definitely need more information. of course i assume that they have it. if they don't have it, we need to know why. >> good point right there from the senator. we have reaction from capitol hill, mike memoli joins us from

the white house, nbc's courtney kube is in brussels traveling with lloyd austin, and i'm joined by mark polymopolous. let's get to what we know so far about the all senators classified briefing happening right now. what are they allegedly going to be told? >> this classified briefing for all senators is just getting under way now. there have been four objects that the united states has shot out of the sky within the last few weeks and senators want answers. they're frustrated by what they see as a lack of transparency, a lack of communication from the biden administration on what in the world is going on right now. they're asking questions right now such as what are these objects who is sending them, they would like to see images of them, they want to know if the objects are new or have they been around for a while and shooting down of the chinese surveillance balloon has enhanced sensors to detect them, who is in charge, what is the

policy to decide what objects get shot down and what don't? we're aware of five briefers going to be in that room. and i'll list them here, melissa doubten for homeland defense, there is lieutenant general douglas sims of the joint chiefs of staff, general glen van herk, morgan myrrh, deputy director of national intelligence and shawn kirkpatrick at the department of defense, according to our colleague frank thorp. a lot of this comes back to the simple question, what is congress going to do about it. gary peters who chairs the homeland security committee in the senate, said there will be probing questions of senators, he's gotten high interest from his constituents wanting to know what is going on here. the white house hasn't said a whole lot, other than to say they have no indication these are extraterrestrials or aliens. that's not satisfying to a lot of senators. and jon tester, the chair of the appropriations subcommittee for defense who controls the pentagon's purse strings, said

there will be hearings going forward. >> thank you so much. guys, we're going right now to that news conference and that is where secretary austin, chairman milley are talking about this very issue. let's take a listen. >> -- first shot missed, second shot hit. so, the most important thing for the american military is to protect the american people. we evaluate the risk, we evaluate the risk of the balloons or not, kinetic threat or not, yes, no, are they a threat to civil aviation. all of those things we go through carefully. we determine what the debris field is likely to be with one of these platforms landing on the earth's surface or in the water. we go to great lengths to make sure the air space is clear and the backdrop is clear up to the max effective range of the missile. in this case, the missile landed harmlessly in the water of lake huron. we tracked it all the way down. and we made sure the air space was clear of any commercial civilian or recreational traffic. we do the same thing for the

maritime space. we're very deliberate in our planning. north com does that with the pilots themselves. we're very careful to make sure those shots are safe. that's the guidance from the president. shoot it down, make sure we minimize collateral damage and we preserve the safety of the american people. >> are you confirming the other three objects were also -- >> i'll use the word object. that's what everyone is using. we'll see. they're not recovered yet, as you know. number two, three and four not recovered yet. number one we are recovering and getting a lot of stuff off that. two, three and four not yet recovered. they're in difficult terrain. the second one off the coast of alaska, that's up in some really, really difficult terrain in the arctic circle with very, very low temperatures in the minus 40s. the second one is in the canadian rockies in the yukon, very difficult to get that one. and the third one is in lake huron, probably couple hundred feet depth.

we'll get them eventually. it will take some time to recover those. >> to dmytro. >> to courtney kube who is standing by for us in brussels. let me ask you in general, we're not getting much new. give me a sense of how much of a conundrum this placed on not only the biden administration, but those two officials we're listening to, the top officials in the dod. >> reporter: that's right. so remember these are two people inside the room when they're doing the -- making the -- having the discussion about what to do. so, back to the very first one of these objects, this high surveillance chinese spy balloon, they were in the room with the -- on the phone with the head of north com, norad, the general, and ultimately and other members of the joint staff and senior dod officials, and they made the decision not to shoot that first one down initially because of the concern of people on the ground. only to come back several days

later and make a recommendation saying, look, if we can shoot this down over the ocean, there won't be a -- we expect a low if no collateral damage and the president concurred. they have been in the room for the three follow-on objects. not balloons necessarily but objects. we don't know what they are. they're the ones making the recommendation to shoot this down. now that there is more and more scrutiny over this decision, when we're hearing about things like the high price of a side winder missile being used, now we know that in fact on the record from general milley that one of the missiles missed and landed in lake huron, now that there is more and more scrutiny over the actions, these are the people that have to be answering the questions about why they made the decision to shoot these things down. two other things that general milley said, we know they have not been able to get to recover any of the three follow-on objects. that has not changed at this point. but he also seemed confident that ultimately they would be able to. he seemed to say that it may take some time, but they believe they'll be able to get to the wreckage. to get a sense of what these things are, we don't know what

they are, who they belong to or what their mission was. >> for sure. mark, we did get an update from norad this morning on the chinese spy balloon saying that crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site there off the coast of south carolina. bit the underwater recovery activities those are limited. there are still few answers about these other three objects that have been shot down, you know. courtney is giving us as much as they know. but there is not a lot. we know the white house press secretary had to stress there are no indications of aliens or extraterrestrial activity. but why do you think it is that we still have so few details about these objects, given we haven't been able to get our hands on them with the debris field, but why don't we know more? >> i think, first of all, exploitation takes time. last thing that anyone wants to hear is that patience is in order except that patience is in order because the community wants to get this right. the stakes are too high in terms of particularly our bilateral relationship with china. one thing i find interesting is

that clearly we're going to find things if we recover the wreckage of with, three and four, we're going to be able to exploit that. the other part of this, this is why i get a sense the administration is still -- this is a still a bit of a mystery, we have intelligence collection against china. we have signals intelligence, human intelligence. and that would be telling us if these were actually of chinese origin. and so i think that briefing today, you know, with senators, is going to be pretty telling. at the end of the day, you know, in the intelligence business, sometimes we have to say we don't know yet, but it is really important that we get this right. the stakes are too high. when i say sometimes patience is in order, that's frustrating, but that's the case here. >> it is interesting, you say something that -- since we don't know some things, it does tell us something. and i get that point there. mike, to you, given that mark says the stakes are too high, talk about any plans, if there are any for the president to address this with the american

people. >> well, this is one of the many questions we have been asking of the white house, when we might hear from the president addressing a lot of confusion in this country. think about this, these three objects were downed on sunday. what a bigger story this might have been if it were any other sunday but super bowl sunday. you know this, i know this, we're hearing it from our friends and family, the questions that the american people have about this. and it is a moment where the president could potentially offer some clarity, but one thing to keep in mind is the posture of the white house in situations like this. the first reason why we may not have heard from the president yet is because of the lack of information. you want to send to the president out to speak to the american people when he can offer new information and some clarity and we got an important detail from general milley about the three objects downed over the weekend. they're all unrecoverable at the moment. one is off the coast of alaska in treacherous weather conditions. another in the canadian rockies, mountainous terrain. and the other hundreds of feet under water. the white house would certainly want to put the president out

only at a moment when he can speak at greater clarity about the situation. there is also the question of diplomatic sensitivity. the chinese reacting strongly and wouldn't want the president to potentially escalate this even further by making a comment that could trigger a response from the chinese. >> point well taken from all four of you. thanks so much. coming up, we're going to be watching for updates on the michigan state investigation, we're going to bring those to you as members of another community, parkland, florida, mark five years since the massacre there. how they are grieving and honoring the 17 victims today. plus, former vice president mike pence's new argument to avoid testifying in the special counsel's probe into donald trump. the legal case his lawyers are making. and former president trump officially has a rival in the republican presidential primary. his former u.n. ambassador nikki haley. >> even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in america. >> what her entrance means for the race next. t her entrance mer the race next.

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we have got some breaking news in the 2024 race for the white house. just this morning, former south carolina governor nikki haley officially announced her presidential campaign with this video. >> republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. that has to change. the washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. it's time for a new generation of leadership. >> this makes haley the first person to formally challenge former president donald trump for the republican nomination. let's go to ali vitali, she's on the road, making her way to south carolina and joins me now on the phone. ali, welcome. what more did nikki haley say in this video release and is there any reaction from the trump camp? >> yeah, alex, nothing says back on the campaign trail like doing the live shot from the back of the uber on the way to the airport. that's where we are right now as

we have been so many times before as the 2024 season starts to officially kick off. because you're right, nikki haley is the first person to officially challenge donald trump in the 2024 republican presidential primary and it is striking if you watch that this video, the way she's detailing not just her own biography and her south carolina roots, which are definitely going to be important, especially as south carolina remains a very important early primary state for republicans, but also the fact that she is making this argument frankly for electability. in that clip you just played, talking about the fact that republicans have not had a winning message on the popular vote front yet in the last seven out of eight elections as she says there. and then also at other points in her own rollout, she talked about the fact that she has won multiple elections in her home state and then also detailing the role she played on the world stage. so trying to tease out all of these different aspects of her bio ahead of an official

announcement that comes tomorrow in south carolina. there we expect more of the traditional pomp and circumstance from haley as she officially gets into this. but, look, the electability argument is important, but it is in direct contrast with former president donald trump who already has been highlighting some of the, you know, inconsistencies you can say between things that haley said in the past. for example, the idea she at one point said she wouldn't run for president in 2024 if trump himself were also running. now we know that's the exact circumstance that we're in, trump has already highlighted that, and you know it is going to be probably a punching match because he is someone who does not hesitate even from someone who comes from within his own administration. >> he'll punch at everybody. ali vitali, appreciate that. meantime, someone else who may get punched by former president trump, mike pence is trying to resist a subpoena.

politico was first to report that pence plans to argue legislative privilege citing his former role as president of the senate. that is according to a source familiar with his plans. joining me now nbc news senior congressional correspondent garrett haake. it is not executive privilege, it is legislative privilege. explain this argument and how it relates to his former role in the senate. >> we may see both arguments used. we reported last week that former president trump wants to try to make an executive privilege argument to prevent pence from testifying, saying that any conversations that the two men had would be covered by executive privilege. he's got a mixed message on that. you'll recall that the house committee was able to win some arguments in court over documents, for example, arguing that it is the current executive who holds that privilege. pence's attorneys are now going to try a different tactic. they're going to say that the speech and debate clause, in the constitution, appies to mike

pence because the only constitutional role of the vice president is to be the president of the senate. and that's the role in which pence was acting on january 6th, so they think they can make an argument that says anything he was doing in that capacity would be protected by the speech and debate clause and therefore the executive branch, in this case as special counsel appointed by the justice department, can't ask him about it. it has not been tried. i'm not aware of any other circumstance in which a vice president has been subpoenaed. this is a novel legal argument. but it shows the lengths that pence and his team are interested in going to do prevent him having to testify in the january 6th matter. >> to that point, i mean, i guess an a for creativity. we'll see if it works. we'll count on you to figure it out for us, garrett haake. thank you so much. we're still keeping an eye, very close one on the michigan state campus as officials are starting to piece together what led to that terrifying shooting that left three people dead. we're going to have the latest on that investigation. and the country is marking a heart breaking milestone. five years since the parkland

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issue and how everyone thinks we left it in high school and never did i think this would happen, excuse me, directly the next day. >> wow, an emotional michigan state university student there reacting to the mass shooting overnight. law enforcement says later today they will be sharing the identity of those three msu students who were killed. five injured students remain in critical condition. but this is not the first mass shooting to impact many of the students on that campus. as michigan congresswoman slotkin noted earlier. >> the most haunting picture of last night was watching the cameras pan through the crowds and seeing a young person wearing an oxford strong sweatshirt. the sweatshirts that were handed out after those kids lived through a school shooting 15 months ago, and we have children in michigan who are living through their second school shooting in under a year and a half. if this is not a wake-up call to do something, i don't know what is. >> and as we are having this conversation about mass

shootings in our schools, today marks exactly five years since the massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. but even after this shooting, and many nationwide, republican leaders in florida are planning to move forward on legislation that would make it the 26th state to allow individuals to carry concealed loaded guns anywhere without permits. supporters call it constitutional carry. let's go to nbc's sam brock in parkland, florida, for us. i don't know, sam. this is remarkable that this community marks five years since this tragedy, but give me the outlook on moving forward on the measures to try to keep their community safe. >> reporter: yeah, alex, there is absolutely, good morning, some optimism here that the policies and the laws that came out of that tragedy at marjory stoneman douglas five years ago will be exported to other states and perhaps the federal government. i'm talking about things like raising the legal age of purchasing a firearm to 21 years old, the red flag laws that have been exercised, some 9,000 times

just in the last five years. if you think about it, representative moskowitz was saying if only 1% of those averted a mass shooting that won 90 of them. these families didn't have a day, they didn't have an hour to try to honor their loved ones and process what is happening without another mass shooting happening in another part of the country. and if i were to ask you how many mass shootings do you think happened so far this year, the figure is actually close to 70 and it is february 14th, valentine's day. think about that for a second. now, stand with parkland is a group of parents and spouses who lost loved ones who came together. they helped to craft this legislation. that is giving them some energy. but i spoke with linda beagle shulman, the mother of scott beagle, a teacher, who ushered students into his classroom as the violence was raining down, he saved their lives, he was executed in the hallway. how she described it to me, every single day there is some form of a reminder.

she tries to take it her anguish and put it in a box and keep a lid on it but it comes out every now and then. here is how she characterizes her emotions. >> i don't have the ability. i can't pull up the ability of denial right now that it has been five years. and i tell you it is like, okay, fine, i've done my five years, i've done everything i can possibly do, i'm going to continue on the path of gun safety, you know, reasonable gun safety. i'm going to continue on the path of, you know, the memorial fund, but, okay, scott, it is time to come home now. it is just time to come home. i've done five years, it is time to come home. >> reporter: alex, there will be a memorial built in the next several years just a few miles from where i'm standing on a 150 acre preserve honoring those lost his lives. that's going to be going up in the next three to five years.

it is a place where they can celebrate those who live, not how they died, but make no mistake about it, everyone invested in this community knows there is a lot of work left to be done. alex? >> and it is perpetual anguish that these families have to suffer through. thank you so much, sam, for that. this morning, we're following the growing alarm over the health and safety of residents in one eastern ohio community, nearly two weeks now after a major train derailment forced them all to evacuate. so the train was carrying hazardous materials when it derailed on february 3rd. this in the town of east palestine. days after the derailment, they tried a controlled release burning the chemicals on the plane. this plume of smoke could be seen above as the chemicals burned. residents were warned ahead of time, stay away, since the chemicals could be deadly if inhaled. a week ago, residents living within one mile radius of the crash site were given the all clear to go home. there have been numerous concerns and headlines about the

aftermath. according to npr, a growing number of reports about people experiencing a burning sensation in their eyes. and animals falling hill, and a strong odor lingering in the town. nbc news learned an estimate 35d 00 small fish have been killed and other residents are reporting chickens or hens are dying. let's go to ron ailen in the studio about all this. we know some business owners and residents, they have filed a lawsuit, right? >> multiple class action lawsuits claiming -- >> negligence. >> claiming negligence, damage, and also demanding medical screening and monitoring for an indefinite period of time. because they're concerned. thereis a lot of fear, a lot of emotion. this happened at 9:00 at night on a friday night, a huge loud explosion, a massive crash scene, huge plumes of smoke, governor told them a week or month ago that they had to evacuate, a matter of life and death in no uncertain terms.

they're sending their kid backs to school, trying to get on with their lives, and there are reports of dead fish and so forth. the environment alt officials continue to say they're doing monitoring on the air and water and it is safe. the company norfolk southern says they are there. they say they have provided about a million dollars in aid to evacuees for food, clothing and shelter. they have given the local fire department a quarter of a million dollars to restore gear that was destroyed by all this. they're reaching out to business owners in town to see how they can help. will that satisfy everyone? probably not. again, this is a small town, 5,000 people live there, and there is this massive scene there. there are chemicals, are they deadly or not, you know, again, they're saying it is safe, but it is just a terrifying thing to live near for the foreseeable future. >> i can imagine. ron allen, thank you for that. right now to a hazardous materials specialist and former

battalion chief with the youngstown fire department. he knows that area but has not assessed the train derailment site itself. you heard ron say the officials are saying it is safe. do you think it is safe when you have people saying my eyes are burning, my pets are getting sick, my hens, roosters, they're dying, you find fish downstream, 3500 of which are dead. do you think it is safe? >> well, let's look at the chemicals involved. you had vinyl chloride, you had ethylene glycol monobutals, that carries heat rash type symptoms, skin irritation, respiratory type problems. the ethylene is well known to kill fish and algae. you look at the chemicals themselves and there could be a problem. the epa is concerned enough to where they have invoked the

super fund act to get this cleaned up so they're admitting there is something wrong and that they got to get cleaned up and as of earlier today i heard that there was a possibility the epa indicated there is a possibility that in order to get train going, they buried some of the toxic chemical underneath one of the tracks. so, you know, these are things that are popping up and, again, you're -- >> so, hang on. you're citing things that you know the epa is putting out there. what is the disconnect between local officials who are saying it is safe to go back. >> if i lived in that town and they told me i could come back and mind you, they said, you can come back and if you think you want your house tested, give this number a call. no. i wouldn't be going back in my house until somebody was there

that was testing it. and somebody that the federal government or the ohio epa got in there to do it. this company that is going around and testing from what i'm understanding is somebody that norfolk southern has hired. well, you got the fox guarding the hen house there. >> right, right. >> there is a lot of push to get the train running and, in fact, within moments of them lifting the evacuation, trains are running back through palestine again. >> so, how long could this present a problem? health-wise for locals? >> you don't know. you already got people in west virginia shutting down their water intake from the ohio river. there are a lot of people who pull their drinking water from it. if they did bury this, this could be percolating up for years. we still don't know if there is the leveled caused by the vinyl chloride, you had one heck of a cloud.

one of the comments i made, you basically move to town to get a railroad open and it was spurred by a video that someone posted i think from darlington, pennsylvania, there was a black cloud over his house and black fallout coming down on to his yard. and i'm looking at it and saying, my god, this looks like one of those nuclear winters you see in these apocalyptic disaster movies. and i thought, yeah, basically, yeah, that's what we did. we nuked this town with chem tal chemicals and they're rushing to get the railroad through. that's what precipitated my comment. i never in my 39 years dealing with hazmat has ever seen them detonate cars like this to do what they did. they said they did it to prevent a worse problem. well, one or two cars exploding causing one or two other cars to explode, what is the difference between doing that and what they did dumping everything into a trench and burning it off? i don't see the difference. and these people don't have the financial means to get a lot of

this stuff done themselves. because of the fact that these were hydro carbons, it is going to leave a film ever in their homes and cars and they shouldn't be responsible for cleaning it up. their town was just fine until norfolk southern had their accident. it is up to norfolk southern to make these people whole. like the guy said, it doesn't smell right to him. he lived in the town for probably his entire life. if his town doesn't smell right to him, he's right. it probably doesn't. >> i'm glad we have given you your time to air your thoughts. you're clearly an expert and i thank you for weighing in. i hope a lot of other officials have been listening to you here today. thank you. yesterday on reporting of accusations of hazing at the new mexico state university men's basketball team, we mistakenly showed footage from the wrong university, the university of mexico. we regret the error.

coming up, dramatic rescues from the rubble of the earthquakes in turkey more than a week later where aid worker are focusing now. and the latest from eastern ukraine where richard engel is talking to people on the front lines of the new russian offensive. on the front lines of the new russian offensive. >> the mayor and his team arrive with aid. he tells us he's encouraging people to get out now. then that's incoming, he says. we're leaving. then that's incoming, he says. we're leaving. hi anna, this position is all over the place. subscriptions are down, but that's only an estimated 15% of their valuation. how'd you know that? the company profile tool, in thinkorswim®. yes, i love you!! td ameritrade. award-winning customer service that has your back. when you shop wayfair, you get big deals for your home - every day. so big, we'll have you saying... am i a big deal? yeah you are, because it's a big deal, when you get a big deal. wayfair deals so big that you might get a big head. because with savings so real...

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it has been over a week since the devastating quakes that hit turkey and syria. but there have been a few glimmers of hope in the search for survivors. look at these amazing pictures coming from two different cities earlier today. a teenage boy and girl were both saved by rescue teams after spending nearly 200 hours buried beneath rubble. but search crews must now make the tough call about how long to keep searching as the number killed has now reached over 35,000 across the two countries. let's go to nbc's kelly cobiella joining us from southern turkey with more on the recovery efforts there. how are they caring for the many victims of the earthquakes there? >> reporter: well, it is tough, alex. you know, there are more than 19,000 people being treated in the hospitals right now across the region and there are all sorts of concerns, health concerns because of the sanitation issue here. so many homes were destroyed, a lot of people still living on the streets, sleeping in their

cars, living in tents, with little access to toilets, no access to running water. there is also an issue with hospitals. lots of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. the hospitals that are still standing are overrun. many of them. so the turkish navy has turned some of their ships into field hospitals. and they say that is where some of these people who have been rescued from the rubble are being taken for treatment. we spoke to one man at the hospital -- at one of those naval hospitals today who said he badly broke his leg on the very first day when he was jumping out of his family's home, out of a second story balcony, and he looked for a hospital for three days. he went to three separate hospitals, the fourth -- three were destroyed, the fourth told him that they just couldn't treat him, they didn't have the space. and so they sent him on to this naval hospital. some of that is being remedied, these days.

there are some teams from belgium as well as spain who are setting up field hospitals in the region. but there is another issue when it comes to hospitals and aid distribution really, alex. we talked to some aid organizations who say everything has to go through the central government. and that sort of is slowing things down, making it very -- much more difficult to get aid, tents, blankets, et cetera, to people on the ground. alex? >> it is a tough story to be reporting. thank you for that update, kelly cobiella. meantime, more than a dozen ukrainian cities have come under heavy attack as russia launches its much anticipated new offensive in eastern ukraine. this comes as russia's invasion of the country nears the one year mark. nbc's richard engel reports on what he's seeing from the civilians on the ground impacted by these increased attacks. and a warning, some of the images you are about to see may be disturbing. >> reporter: russian troops are throwing everything they can at their new offensive in eastern

ukraine. hitting more than a dozen cities. ukrainian military is fighting back hard. but is slowly losing ground. nato warned ukrainian is using up ammunition faster than western allies can provide it. we entered this town, where some have had enough. i thought it would get better, but no i don't, he says. he boards a bus for a safer village. others here waited too long. vera left her basement shelter to find food two hours ago. a russian artillery shell killed her. we just heard a big explosion. she has a son, 14 years old, she says. how long can we bare all of this? the mayor an his team arrive with aid. he tells us he's encouraging people to get out now. then, that's incoming, he says, we're leaving. he's saying that the incoming is getting a little too close,

things we should go inside. we're going to go down here to a bunker. there are people inside here. hello. >> how are you today? >> well, okay. okay. how are you today? >> reporter: this family has been down here for eight months. the mayor tries to talk them into leaving. to no avail. back outside, oksana has just given birth and is being evacuated to a hospital. maxim is two hours old, born as vera was killed. even the mayor's team paused for a quick peek. then another surprise. ludmila is here. we met her last week. she wouldn't let me leave her shelter leave her shelter until i sampled ukrainian hospitality. she's a former nurse. you delivered the baby? yes, she says, i had clamps and delivered the baby in the basement. they made it to safety far away

from the advancing front line. for the first time in months ukrainians are starting to lose ground and the russian offensive is expected to intensify in the coming days and weeks. up next, a long-brewing national tragedy. that's how "the new york times" explains staggering new data that shows 1 in 3 girls considering suicide, and what experts say we should do about the crisis. uld do about the crisis

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this morning shocking new cdc findings on the number of young people, especially girls, experiencing unprecedented levels of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. the cdc's most recent youth risk assessment survey found 3 in 5 teen girls are persistently sad or hopeless. the survey also found 1 in 5 girls said they experienced sexual violence within the past year, too. for more on this, let's bring in the direction of the cdc's division of adolescent and school health which released this report. doctor, it's a stunning report and i know you briefed reporters on the stunning findings yesterday, and something you said jumped out, you said for every 10 teenage girls you know,

one of them and probably more has been raped. can you talk about the factors contributing to the high number of troubles among young girls? >> i think it's really important to not ask the question what's wrong with girls. i think we have to ask the question what is happening in their environments that is leading them to be so open to experience that violence. in our data we saw it almost every type of violence, girls were on the receiving end of more violence than boys, so i think we have to look at social environments and try to understand what is leading to such high levels of perpetration. >> there was shocking findings to add to the conversation when it comes to teens that identify as gay, bi or struggling. 22% of them are concerned about

their mental health. >> we have to look at social environments. i think our lgbtq youth is experiencing sigma in their schools, communities and homes as well. i think we need to create environments that are inclusive support young people, particularly young girls and particularly lgbtq youth so their mental health is supported. >> let's get to the other societal factors, and the vice chair for new york's largest health system said the drop in teen well-being co coincided with the smart phones. >> i think when we are talking about social media, it's complicated because on the one hand social media provides a lot

of very needed information for young people, and an important source of connection. at the same time it does leave them very open to both cyberbullying as well as a real sense that either the way they are acting or look or the way they are dressing isn't enough. i think girls may be particularly vulnerable to those messages. again, when we are talking about social -- talking about sexual violence, we have to understand what messages are out there for boys that may be leading them to be more likely to be aggressive. >> doctor, what can we do? how can we help overall as a society. what about parents? what is the role they can play? >> i think every aspect of society has a role to play here. certainly parents can do a variety of things. they can look for signs and symptoms in their young people that their mental health may be suffering, so any changes in patterns of sleeping, eating,

behavior, to really stay involved in what is happening with their young people to know where they are, who they are with and what they are doing, to stay in touch with their friends' parents and know what is happening in their friends groups. what we have seen is schools play such an important role here. schools are really on the front lines of the mental health crisis. we hear from educators all the time that they are seeing the mental and behavioral affects in their classrooms, so we need to create school environments that support mental health. >> indeed. doctor, thank you for the conversation and the work you do. it's much appreciated. in the meantime, everyone, that does it for this hour for me. you can catch me on weekends at 2:00 p.m. josé diaz-balart picks up next. t nighttime relief, nyquil severe.

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plus, you can save up to 60% a year when you add comcast business mobile. or, ask how to get up to a $750 prepaid card. complete connectivity. one solution, for wherever business takes you. comcast business. powering possibilities. good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i am josé diaz-balart. this hour the 67th mass shooting