we are not switching operations to anything but life-saving right now. it's all about life-saving and evacuations. >> and close to two dozen fires remain burning. surreal images of the postal truck delivering the mail. neighborhoods, homes and businesses completely wiped out. >> to the economy, where president trump is touting tax cuts and infrastructure. >> we want lower taxes. bigger paychecks. and more jobs for american truckers and for american workers. it's happening. fraternity brothers, now criminal defends, charged in the hazing death of an lsu student. and taylor swift's latest release, could be big. very big.

"early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. >> a dire situation in california as the state is rav s aged by wildfires. officials are saying at least 23 people have been killed and hundreds remain miss iing. nbc's joe fryer has the details on the devastation from santa rosa. joe? >> reporter: good morning, phillip. you can see the path the fire took in this santa rosa neighborhood. behind me, those houses are okay. but when you look in a different direction, it's a different story. a lot of destruction. that goes on and on. and with the winds picking up overnight, firefighters are working hard to make sure more neighborhoods don't suffer the same fate. this is what it looks like as a sonoma county deputy races to safety, narrowly surviving flames that are turning parts of wine country into a wasteland. >> it's all gone. >> reporter: june and jamie clark lost their home of 38

years, narrowly escaping themselves. >> i don't know why i woke up. but if i hadn't, within ten minutes, we would have been gone. >> reporter: propelled by hot, dry, diablo winds, several fast-moving fires are scorching northern california, with some firefighters battling more than flames. >> we have a dozen guys in our department, that have lost their homes. >> reporter: more resources are on the way, with thousands more evacuating. and authorities are dealing with hundreds of missing persons reports, complicated by destroyed cell towers. 3,500 homes and businesses have burned to the ground. drone footage captures the scale of the devastation in santa rosa. row after row of addresses without houses. yet, a postal worker is still seen delivering mail. with the region stifled by smoke, officials are seeing the worst air quality ever recorded in parts of the bay area. as for the clashgs, despite

losing everything, they're grateful they survived. >> god is with us. it could have been way different. >> reporter: one thing they know for sure, they plan to rebuild. joe fryer, nbc news, santa rosa, california. i want to turn to scott cohn, also reporting from santa rosa this morning. going to be a crucial next few hours there. >> that's right, frances. the diablo devil winds that joe was talking about, are kicking um again. you can't feel it here. but up in the hills, where the fire is raging, the wind speeds are supposed to be higher and higher. that's supposed to continue through at least mid-day. that's a huge test of the little bit of progress that firefighters made yesterday. the tubbs fire, the big fire in sonoma county, is 10% contained, up from yesterday, where it was not contained at all. now, it will get a test. and the winds are supposed to

continue through today. then, they died down a little bit. and they come back over the weekend. and so, it's really a constant battle here. in a series of fires that really are now at historic levels, with 23 people dead and thousands of structures burned, it is among the deadliest and the most destructive fires in california history. and that's saying something. >> scott, thank you. back here in the east, the president is pushing his top legislative agenda, pitching his tax plan to truckers in pennsylvania. as the president tries to persuade legislate that would change the tax code for three decades. as the commander in chief decides to side-step congress and take another key legislative issue himself. and for more on this, we go to tracie potts. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. let's start with tax reform. the president went to pennsylvania, standing in front of that big truck you saw there.

truckers were tax reform. he's not only trying to sell this idea to the public. but also, to the decisionmakers here on capitol hill. there's expected to be some pushback, some reluctance even within his own party about how to get this done. the president saying that people who are upper class, who may not get tax breaks, are telling him to give it to the middle class. >> it is time to take care of our country, to rebuild our communities, and to protect our great american workers. it's about time. we will cut taxes for everyday, hard-working americans. and our great congressmen, congresswomen, all the people we're working with. all i can say is, you better get it passed. >> reporter: so, putting the pressure on congress. today, we'll hear from house

speaker paul ryan. in a few hours, he has a major speech on tax reform. perhaps to fill in the missing details. the president has promised he will use the power of his pen, that was his tweet, to do something about obamacare today. he is expected to sign an executive order that would allow small businesses -- reportedly allow small businesses to ban together and buy plans that don't meet obamacare standards. phillip? frances? >> thank you. the president is speaking out about the iran nuclear deal, continuing his disparaging remarks about the obama-era agreement. >> it was one of the most incompetently deal drawn. they got a path to nuclear weapons very quickly. >> all of the comments come as the president could decertify the agreement as soon as today. white house officials briefed members of congress, leaving lawmakers our international

allies scrambling. andrea mitchell has more. >> reporter: multiple administration congressional and diplomatic sources tell nbc news, president trump has decided to tell congress, iran is not complying with the spirit of the landmark nuclear deal. >> we will be announcing that shortly. >> reporter: the decision to be announced friday, goes against the advice of his top advisers. james mattis, when he asked if the deal is in america's national security interest. >> that's a yes or no question. >> i do. >> reporter: the sources say the white house will present that as a larger strategy to crack down on iran's missile program. >> a nuclear deal that actually works would be good for everybody. this one has serious flaws. >> reporter: still, despite the president's campaign programs to scrap the agreement -- >> we get nothing. we get nothing. this was a deal at the highest level of incompetence.

>> reporter: the president will not withdraw from it. so, critics say he will just talk tough to satisfy his base. >> this is more of a political maneuver than a strategic decision. >> reporter: iran's president, told his cabinet, the u.s. decision will make america the rebellious state. last month, rohani telling lester -- >> no one will trust america again. >> reporter: britain's prime minister and other allies have warned the president that his policy will weaken the deal and signal it's a waste of time to negotiate with the united states. >> andrea mitchell, thank you. now, bill karins, who is watching the crucial conditions out west. >> so much dry vegetation. it was a really wet winter. and we had a dry summer. sometimes those are the worst fire seasons. and this is a peak time for conditions. you get development out there in these areas. the population keeps growing. you get in the hills and the winds kicking up with the wet

weather and the vegetation that dries out. red flag warnings with gusts of 30 to 40 miles per hour. currently, the gusts are the worst in the valley and in some of the hills around santa rosa. we have pinpointed where the firers are located. the gusty winds today, and decreasing during the day. hopefully that will help the

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fortified.tored. replenished. emerge everyday with emergen-c packed with b vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good everyday? emerge and see. a spacex falcon 9 raockets launched into space. it launched from kennedy space center in cape canaveral, florida. the unmann ened rocket was used before. reusable rockets will revolutionize space exploratioe. the president of the united states is wading into the nfl protest debate for sure.

using these words against the man who started the movement last year, colin kaepernick. >> i watched colin kaepernick. and i thought he was herbaterri. and then, it got bigger. and the nfl should have suspended him for one game. and he would have never done it again. they could have suspended him for two games. and suspended him for the season and you would never have had a problem. >> still, some conservatives believe that the president may be overstepping his boundaries, with rush limbaugh saying, i'm uncomfortable with the president of the united states being able to dictate the behavior and power of anybody. that's not where this should be coming from. that's not useful or helpful for any employee to be forced to do something because the government says they must. >> a group of new york city subway riders got so irritated by one passenger, actually threw him off of it. the belligerent man shouting racial epithets as he was

sipping an alcoholic beverage. the incident was caught on video here. the man was claiming to be a lawyer and nyu grad. so, they booted him off. one woman hurled her cup of soup at him. maybe pumpkin soup. it's yellow or orange. he tried to get back on the train. but, we see a whole lot of stuff on new york city subways. >> oh, yeah. >> that's something else. >> yeah. i'm glad somebody turned their phone on. he was in the wrong. he paid for it. you can tell. >> i prefer to have a performer or dancers. >> and nobody makes eye contact, either. this guy must have been really out of line. >> headsets. the phone. don't look at anybody. a cautionary tale for anybody who has rented an airbnb. and ten fraternity brothers facing criminal charges in a deadly hazing incident. you're watching "early today." every morning, i thought i had to make a choice.

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♪ ten current and former students at louisiana state university, are facing charges after an 18-year-old freshman died from alcohol poisoning. blake mccoy has details on this grim case of alleged hazing. >> one, by one, turned themselves in. charged in the hazing death of

maxwell gruver. the 18-year-old freshman found unresponsive at the fraternity last month. he died from acute alcohol intoxication. his blood alcohol level was 0.495 at the time of his death. the arrest report outlines a game called bible study, where pledges were told to drink if they wouldn't answer questions about the frat correctly. one is charged with negligent homicide. he targeted gruver and was most aggre aggressive. >> they're devastated. whether they're charged with a crime or not, devastated. >> reporter: this is the second high-profile hazing death this year to result in charges. the other at penn state. >> i hope these recent cases are messages to students and schools, as well, that clearly,

something needs to change. >> reporter: lsu's president calls gruver's death, devastating. the alleged behavior is in full violation of policies. as for his family, his mom posted to facebook. my son is dead now. you brothers will have to live with it every day for the rest of your lives. blake mccoy, nbc news. just ahead, details on taylor swift's very own social app. plus, a couple's airbnb nightma nightmare, involving a hidden camera. care part d prescriptions, switch to walgreens. we make it easy to seize the day, so you can get more out of life and medicare part d. just walk right in for savings that will be the highlight of your day. walgreens has $0 copays on select plans and 100 points on prescriptions. so, swing by and save today.

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and help make tomorrow possible. everybody is talking about this. last night at the b.e.t. awards, eminem did a four-minute freestyle rap criticizing trump. the president is not going to ignore something like that. trump clapped back with a freestyle rap of his own. a clapback. check this out. >> boom, boom, boom. >> china. >> boom, boom, boom, boom. hello. >> hello. >> who knew? >> that was entertaining. >> that was, for a lot of us. if you're a taylor swift fan, make sure your phone has some blank space. the pop star announced she is launching her own social networking app, called the swift life. swift shared a first look. trailer here. they will be able to interact

with her. and will have access to exclusive content, including photos and a new set of emojis. with a fan base, you know this is going to take off. >> yeah. she's one of the few people on the planet that could pull this off. i imagine it will have a huge following. you'll be able to connect with fans and with her. she'll pop in every once in a while. will throw in incentives and tickets. that's cool. got to get it right. one indiana couple's stay in florida turned into a nightmare, really, after they discovered hidden cameras disguised as smoke detectors in their airbnb can docondo. the host is facing charges. police found more videos, dating back to 2008. airbnb has banned him from that service.

and that's a nightmare. that's what you fear when you stay at a place that you're not really sure about. >> i'm kind of getting used to that, as far as looking for cameras around everywhere. you never know. we have cameras in our apartment. we have a babysitter. don't freak out. you might hear my voice because i can talk over it. but they're in plain view. this is a different story about hiding something like that. >> the guy told police, it's not activated. but they found pictures of that couple. i'm glad they found out. they got him. he's getting his due. >> got to be careful. just ahead, the boy scouts announce a historic change. and its intensifying a feud with the girl scouts. keep it right here. you're watching "early today." you know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy!

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fentanyl. mold closes another school in our area. a closer look at the potential health rhiisks for hundreds of stuntss. >> and local leaders call for a board member to step down after charges of child porn. >> massive heroin overdose sends 14 people to emergency rooms in south jersey. one of them shares a warning. >> good morning. this is nbc 10 news today first look at 4:00. >> starting your morning with rain on the radar again as you see there. that green glob, that's what that is. let's get to crystal with the first morning forecast. >> we're starting a look at cape

may. damp roads as you can see even though it's a dark picture. we've got rain coming down over much of our region this morning. this is radar and satellite. the green glob, this is all the rain that is falling over our area so scattered showers and over the night hours and there it is. it's coming down pretty good. most of this is a light to steady rain, not really looking at pockets of steady rain. now moving over the bay in parts of come ber haumberland county. but most of us again, this is more of a steady rain that's falling right now and it's going to continue falling for the morning hours. in the afternoon hours it will be more isolated showers than you see currently. as for temperatures, low 60s. 65 mehlville and 58 in allentown. these temperatures are not going to rise much today. we'll talk more about that coming up in a few minutes but now we'll go to traffic with

jessica boyington. >> starting on the schuylkill expressway around 30th street we're closed on the westbound side. you can see traffic is not getting by there. we have construction crew there and typically they clear this around 5:00. so we'll watch this for the next hour or so. hopefully they get it out of the way a little bit early. look at the other side of the schuylkill too. coming the other direction, average speeds into the 50s there. it's a little wet and that's why some of that is down. that total drive time, 13 minutes on the southbound side from wood haven to the vine and no problems on the blue route, back to you. all right. thanks for that. classes are cancelled today due to mold at another school in our area. this time in philadelphia's germantown area. 600 students at john b. kelly elementary will be out of the school. and we're expecting to be