wasn't a good fire. so if you want a richard fire. that's the fire you got to have. and when we're at scouting events and we see the big fire we built and the smoke coming up, we all talk about richard. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for it's monday, february 22nd. coming up on "early today," breaking overnight. camille cosby forced to testify. the last-minute bid to stop today's deposition related to sexual-assault allegations against husband bill cosby. super tuesday a week away, the shrinking field pass the candidates spinning as they shore up support and money. a prayer vigil 24 hours after a shooter went on a rampage. new detail on this the kalamazoo killing spree.

finish in daytona 500 history. the ultimate battle of wits and endurance. chess like you've never played it before. and one of the coolest white house meetings ever. "early today" starts right now. i'm dara brown. breaking overnight, overruled. camille cosby, wife of bill cosby, is being forced to morning. late sunday night a massachusetts federal judge denied an emergency motion to delay the deposition of bill cosby's wife. compelling her to answer questions related to sexual assault allegations against her husband. this is the latest of several motions lawyers for mrs. cosby have lost seeking to dismiss demands she be deposed in the civil case against her husband in which seven women claim he defamed them by denying their sexual assault allegations. mr. cosby has repeatedly denied the allegations made by dozens of women accusing him of sexual misconduct or assault dating back to the 1960s.

women suing him in massachusetts claiming they defamed his character. it was a whirlwind weekend for the presidential candidates with a close finish in nevada and a tight fight for second in south carolina. in the end hillary clinton and donald trump took the top spots in their respective races. the south carolina win rockets donald trump ahead with 67 delegates. ted cruz and murks a distant second and third. for the drams hillary clinton gained 22 in nevada giving her 67 to bernie sanders '52 ' 52. the south carolina primary, clinton leads sanders by 29 points going into saturday's matchup. crossing paths the republicans head to nevada for tomorrow's caucuses. most national polls show trump in front by a large margin but the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows cruz edging up to donald by 2 points. all are trying to position themselves best this week

week's super tuesday where 13 states hold over 1,000 delegates on both sides. jeb bush is the latest casualty following south carolina's heated race. marco rubio received a shot of adrenaline edging out fellow senator ted cruz by a razor-thin 1 percent and getting the endorsement of nevada senator dean heller. donald trump topped them all. nbc's katy tur has the latest. >> it's beautiful. thank you. >> reporter: donald trump's grip on the nomination is getting tighter. and he knows it. playing to a crowd of more than 5,000 in atlanta. >> we won with everything. tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people. just won. >> reporter: trump sweeping all of south carolina's congressional districts, banking all the state's 50 delegates. despite marco rubio's high-present file endorsements and ted cruz's focus on evangelicals. a voting bloc trump clinched, 34% to cruz's 26%. exit polls showing like in new

trump's voters decided on him months ago, meaning his myriad of controversies and outrageous statements didn't matter. and ninetieth doer his inconsistencies. flip-flopping again, republican hot-button issues like funding planned parenthood. >> planned parenthood does a lot of good, a really good job in a lot of different areas. but not on abortion. so i'm not going to fund it if it's doing the abortion. i am not going to fund it. >> reporter: the same exit polling showed nearly half of south carolina voters did not decide until the last minute and they mostly did not decide for donald trump. going forward since the field is winnowing he's going to have to gain, not just maintain, support. if this crowd is any indication the campaign is confident they will be able to do that. >> katy tur reporting. hillary clinton held on to a thin margin in nevada against bernie sanders. the campaign instagramed this photo captioned, a quiet moment before taking the stage. but after that it was anything but quiet. nbc's kristen welker has more. >> reporter: hillary clinton

>> is this a great night or what? >> reporter: after a decisive victory in critical nevada. >> some may have doubted us but we never doubted each other. >> reporter: for bernie sanders, the loss is a big blow. courting african-american voters at a baptist church in south carolina. >> brothers and sisters, we can do a lot -- >> reporter: and it was black voters who largely delivered clinton's victory. choosing here by a whopping 76% to 22%. after she aggressively engaged them. and rallying with congressman jim cleburne and morgan freeman, who released a new ad -- with us. >> reporter: there were also obstacles she must overcome. latinos chose sandishes by single digits. younger voters picked the vermont senator by. >> we will do well when young people, when working-class people come out -- >> reporter: both candidates looking forward to south

lead and super tuesday, when 12 states will be in play. >> if she wins big in south carolina, as some people think she will do, then she's going to have tremendous momentum going into next weekend and the super tuesday states. i think it's just a real problem for bernie sanders. >> that was nbc's kristen welker. the latest in the standoff between apple and the fbi over apple's refusal to help investigators gain access to the i phone of one of the san bernardino shooters. last night fbi director james comey released a statement defending his agency's request saying, "we simply want the chance with a search warrant to try to guess the terrorist's pass code without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. that's it. we don't want to break anyone's encryption or set a mooster key loose on the land. maybe the phone holds the clue to finding more terrorists. maybe it doesn't. but we can't look the survivors in the eye or ourselves in the mirror if we don't follow this lead."

a court order to help investigators access encrypted data on the phone, arguing it would endanger the privacy of millions of its customers. reuters is reporting some victims of the december 2nd attack plan to file a legal brief in support of the government's request. 14 people were killed, 22 others were wounded in the mass shooting. uber has confirmed that jason brian dalton, the man accused of saturday's deadly shooting spree in calla kalamazoo, michigan, was a driver for the company. "uber is horrified and dalton did not have a criminal record. one man identified as derek said he rode with dalton after the arrested. >> i kind of jokingly said to the driver, you're not the shooter, are you? he gave me some sort of no lons,

no and i said, are you sure? and he said, no, i'm not, i'm just tired. and we proceeded to have a pretty normal conversation. >> authorities say there is no obvious motive for the shootings and police have recovered a 9 millimeter handgun and other evidence from dalton's car and home which they say was related to the shootings. in total six people were killed. a 14-year-old girl was originally pronounced dead over an hour when she suddenly squeezed her mother's hand just as doctors were preparing to remove her organs for donation. she was rushed into surgery. hollywood is suffering from a stunning lack of diversity in tv and film roles according to a new study from the university of southern california. researchers looked at more than 100 films and 300 series from 2014 and 2014 and found female characters filled only 28.7% of speaking roles in films.

were gender balanced. 28.3% of speaking characters in films and series were minorities. only 2% of speaking characters were identified as lgbt. nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with your monday forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning. very warm weekend. a lot of record highs. now a rainstorm in the south. heavy rain this morning just north of houston. also northern louisiana and arkansas. eventually this rain is going to push into mississippi and alabama. that's where you need the umbrella. the heaviest rain in montgomery, mobile, especially north of mobile. possibility of 2, 3 inches. that's storm one. storm two behind that is going to be a bigger storm toward the middle and end of the week. that storm, mostly a warm storm, could give us severe weather tomorrow in areas of the deep south along the gulf. thunderstorms will head through the mid-atlantic region on wednesday. mostly a rain event. if we're going to get snow, illinois, indiana, michigan the best chance. the back side, snow showers.

but as that storm begins to move to the north it will draw in some colder air so below-average temperatures middle of the week in the deep south and a good chunk of the eastern half of the country will be chilly by the time we head into next week orleans, through montgomery, alabama. amazing, last full week of february and not talking about any big snow storms, just rain. >> rain starting off on a damp thanks so much. much more ahead on a monday, including sportscaster erin andrews heads to civil court in her peeping tom case, seeking $75 million. get ready to meet 106-year-old virginia mclaren. she tears up the internet.

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welcome back. participatings on board a minneapolis mega bus were forced to evacuate after the bus suddenly burst into flames outside of chicago yesterday afternoon. ironically lucas peterson, the "new york times" frugal travel columnist, was on board and tweeted a play by play of the journey. which started with an issue causing the bus to turn around. five minutes later a tire blew forcing the bus to the shoulder. a short time later he tweeted, update, the bus is on fire. then, update, the bus exploded. luckily there were no injuries and mega bus says it is fully cooperating with authorities. at least 129 people are dead in multiple bombings in syria, attacks which isis is claiming responsibility. this as the united states announces that it and russia have agreed to a provisional agreement on a cease-fire in the war-torn country. erin andrews heads to court

civil trial against a marriott hotel in nashville relating to a 2008 incident where a man videotaped her undressing through a peephole in her hotel room. andrews is suing for negligence, emotional distress, and invasion of privacy and seeking $75 million. survived barrett pled guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. dreams do come true. just look at 106-year-old virginia mclaurin who dreamed of visiting the white house and meeting the president. well, she's finally got her wish. >> virginia mclaurin? >> hi! >> how are you? >> i'm fine! >> oh, it's so nice to see you. >> it's an honor. >> you want to say hi to michelle? >> yes! >> slow down now, don't go too quick. she's 106. >> no, you are not, you are not. >> well, you've got to slow down. >> oh my goodness. >> thank you. >> i want to be like you when i

>> you can. >> she's dancing. come on. what's the secret to still dancing at 106? >> keep moving. we're so happy to have you here. and look at those nails. >> nails are all done. >> whoo, whoo, those nails. >> yes, sir! i thought i would never live to get in the white house. >> well, you are right here. >> and i tell you -- >> you are here. >> i am so happy. >> we are happy to have you. >> a black president. >> look at him right there. >> a black wife. >> that's me. >> yes! and i'm here to celebrate black history. >> that's exactly right. >> that's what i'm here for. >> that's right. >> we're glad to have you here. >> you have just made our day, you know that? that energy, man.

>> okay, well there you go. >> you just want to hug her. just ahead an nba record and a competition that would test anyone's manhood. when 500 miles comes down to just four inches up next. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that i won't stop. until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms... ...such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have crohn's disease, tell your doctor as

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series "up for the job" kicks off with the internship at the san diego zoo. one of the boldest moves ever in the final lap of the closest daytona 500 ever at the checkered flag. >> and saves it, here they come to the line -- the closest finnish the daytona 500! bouncing off each other, unbelievable. >> i think denny hamlin. >> it's hamlin. >> the electrifying photo finish after 500 miles decided by .01 seconds. just inches in front of martin truex jr. and the checkered flag, denny hamlin celebrating his first daytona 500 victory. apparently hamlin has been dreaming about this for some time. his mom tweeted out this 1998 elementary school letter written by denny describing his dream of winning the daytona 500. dreams do come true. next to a record night on

anthony davis of the new orleans pelicans had a career night. davis scored 59 points and pulled down 20 rebounds as he joins shaq and wilt chamberlain as the only players to ever score over 55 with 20 boards. pelicans went on to beat the pistons 111-106. and finally to russia and an icy water chess tournament. russian winter swimmers say such a thing tests their physical and mental stamina. the frigid 41 degree heroin fight water temperature forced players to make their moves a little faster with each chess match lasting just about 10 minutes, brr. just ahead, keisha gets a little help from her superstar friends. danke schoen, celebrating 30 years of "ferrisbueller's day off." p hillshire farm. because it's worth doing right.

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a court battle over claims of sexual assault and battery. over the weekend marvel superhero movie "deadpool" took the top spot at the box office for a second week in a row. the big surprise was "the witch" breaking the top four. the sundance favorite made over nine times its budget beating out several high-budget movies. remember the 1977 disney classic "pete's dragon"? it's getting a technicolor upgrade this summer. the trailer released this weekend features stars howard and robert redford. chicago celebrating cult classic "ferris bueller's day off" 30th anniversary with a ferris fest including a re-enactment of the famous parade scene and tours of the sites used in the movie. that? >> i can't count, hundreds. bits and pieces. every time it's on you, watch it, you have to. >> it was our generation. >> bueller, bueller.

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...non-drowsy claritin, live claritin clear. every day. leading the news, in "the washington post" texas private colleges are saying no to guns on campus. despite a ruling by the texas legislature allowing concealed guns on campuses across public universities, more than private schools are remaining steadfast among them baylor, texas christian, and southern methodist universities say they won't be lifting gun bans.

"jeopardy!" we'll alex trebek is canadian you won't be seeing other canadians on the show. "currently precluded from accepting registration residents." several media reports say barring has to do with concerns over canada's online application process and privacy laws. other stories we're following today in a telemundo exclusive the wife of mexican drug lord el chapo is speaking out for the first time. she said she's not seen her husband since his january arrest and fears for his life. the two married in 2007 on her 18th birthday. the associated press reports the death toll has risen to 18 from a powerful cyclone that swept through fiji this weekend. the storm flattened villages, destroyed hundreds of homes, and cut off communications in the chain of islands. radioactive material that went missing from a u.s. oil field company in iraq last november has been recovered.

nine miles away from its original location. it is reportedly not damaged and radiation. in california a rescue teamworked for hours to pull a man out of a rental truck that interstate. the driver was trapped. he was conscious and moving when he was found. the drivers of the two other vehicles involved suffered minor injuries. guinness world records book may have another record to add after a unique convention on sunday. 138 mascots from across the nation gathered in philadelphia to do the electric slide. the costumed characters were brought together by a charity raising money to combat cancer and now they're awaiting word from guinness officials to see if they laid claim to the world's largest mascot gathering and largest mascot dance. celebrating birthdays, she's come a long way from e.t., drew barrymore turns 41 today.

is 57. dr. j, basketball hall of famer, julius erving turns 66 today. keep it here for more news, weather and sports. i'm dara brown along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today."

mark: an arraignment today for the uber driver accused of killing six people in michigan saturday. what police are saying about a motive in the case. lisa: a family gets closure after an army veteran is found dead. how they' re using his story to reach out to others who are struggling. mark: a group tied with major hacking scandals has allegedly found a local target. the cincinnati police department is handling a reported run-in with anonymous. [captioning made possible by wlwt-tv] >> from cincinnati' s wlwt, leading the way, this is wlwt news 5 today.