president-elect donald trump takes office. the ntsb investigation continues this morning into a new year's tragedy in texas where two small planes collided in midair, killing three people. the accident rained down debris on a small town north the texas. janet shan lmlian brings us mor >> reporter: a horrific scene in the aftermath of a midair collision. >> i've got a heavy cloud of smoke on custer. >> reporter: one of the two single-engine planes fell from the sky and became a fireball at a mini storage facility late saturday afternoon. >> i don't know that new year's any chance they could make it. >> reporter: the other crashed onto a busy road. >> one of them came pretty much straight down. the other one had a little control but he was coming down. there was no stopping it. >> reporter: three people dead. they have not been identified. ntsb says both planes were flying under visual flight

control tower. charles drexler was at his storage locker and saw the planes collide. he took this dramatic video as he ran to one of them. >> i saw the initial impact. i knew that they were going very fast. there's no way they could have survived. i mean, i know that they did not suffer. >> awful to see. that was nbc's janet shamlian reporting. this morning new information in the search for the missing plane that disappeared over lake erie late thursday. it was carrying six people including a family of four. a bag possibly belonging to the pilot of the plane has been found. a passerby fished it out of the lake erie water and when he looked inside he saw the i.d. of what appears to be the missing plane's pilot john fleming. the good samaritan handed the bag to police, who confirmed they are investigating the contents of a bag in connection with the search. recovery efforts continue in the hunt for the missing plane. those efforts now include skilled dive teams, water, and aiar

dakota access pipeline delivered a high-flying stunt during the minnesota vikings game. they flew a massive banner urge is u.s. bank, the owner of the stadium, to divest from the pipeline. the stunt didn't interrupt the game but some spectators were moved just as a precaution. today is black monday in the nfl. five head coaches have already been fired, including these guys. rex ryan, jeff fisher, chip kelly, gus bradley, mike mccoy. and last year's super bowl-winning head coach gary kubiak of the denver broncos, he's expected to step down later today citing health reasons. according to nbc sports there's growing chatter t current head coach of the new orleans saints, sean payton, may be headed west to los angeles. certainly a big day ahead for nfl fans. so keep it right here. thousands of brave men, women and children all around the world dived into freezing waters to ring in the new year in the annual polar plunge. from those in scotland jumping into waters with

racing through 25-degree weather to jump in, the 42-degree waters, more power to them. way to get the blood flowing and wake up on this new year's. severe storms and tornado threats in the southeast. nbc meteorologist bill karins has our details on this first monday. >> it figures, you think about the beginning of the new year, talking about maybe a blizzard or a big cold outbreak. but it's severe weather, severe thunderstorm watch issued for the dallas-ft. worth area, toward waco, storms tracking across the southeast. later this afternoon we have a chance of isolated tornados from federal louisiana, southern mississippi, through southern portions of alabama. 20 million people at risk in these severe storms. isolated tornados are a possibility. that's a look at the big weather story of the day. here's a closer look at your day ahead. you can see it almost looks like a springtime temperature map. temperatures very mild. 60s and 70s throughout the he

another story today, freezing rain over areas of central pennsylvania this morning into areas of central jersey. careful out there early. frances, eventually the cold air is going to return. it's starting to show up in montana. it will be back later on this week. >> just in time for everybody to head back to school and work. all right, we'll check with you a little bit later on. just ahead, $100 million kickback scheme busted. new laws across the land plus high times in hollywood or should we call it hollyweed. you're watching "early today." almost there. i can't reach it. if you have alligator arms, you avoid picking up the check. what? it's what you do. i got this. thanks, dennis! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. growwwlph. it's what you do. oh that is good crispy duck.

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gahmom washed our clothes.idly losing credibility as handymen. one wash with tide pods and we're right back where we started. we look like catalogue models! who trusts a clean handyman anyway? yeah! turns out it was just dirt left there by our old liquid detergent. that's gross! they had built up a respectable, dingy character over the past couple washes. we earned that dinge! look how good we look! we can't look this good! dinge is the dirt the bargain detergent can't get to. tide pods can. it's got to be tide. not deceiving you. it really does say "hollyweed." pranksters made their way up to the hollywood sign and changed it for the world to see. police are investigating the incident as a misdemeanor trespassing crime and many are looking at it as perhaps homage to a new law that went into effect in

>> >> just as those pranksters changed the hollywood sign alaska became the latest state to legalize marijuana, starting the new year on a high note. california's new laws one of several in the country that have officially gone into effect, from the minimum wage raising, to new laws covering conceal and carry statutes, to providing proof for service dogs, nbc's pete williams has it all. >> reporter: the new year begins in california with a ban on holding cell phones while driving. they must be mounted and can be used only for functions that require a single tap or swipe like answering a call. philadelphia becomes the first big city with a tax on sugary sodas. 1.5 cents an ounce, that's 64 cents for a 16-ounce green. california imposes tougher gun laws. it's now illegal to sell most

current owners must register them. under a new law in maine, doctors cannot prescribe more than a seven-day supply of painkillers such as vicodin or perk coset, or a 30-day supply for chronic pain, intended to reduce opioid abuse. in colorado it's a crime to misrepresent a pet as a service animal. the state says untrained pets interfere with real service dogs. drivers in boston begin the new year with a lower speed limit. 25 miles an hour, down from 30, to reduce traffic deaths. in alabama, no more common-law marriages. getting married to celebrate the new year will require a license and at least a brief ceremony. pete williams, nbc news, washington. leading the news, 2016 was one of chicago's bloodiest years in the past two decades. police said there were 762 homicides in the city in 2016. that's far higher than the previous year's 485 homicides.

on saturday, hundreds of people marched silently in the city carrying crosses bearing the names of the victims of those homicides. they hope to bring attention to the awful violence plaguing their communities. a dozen people have been indicted in a massive medical scheme in texas. according to "usa today," the plot involves doctors, pharmacists, and marketing pros who designed a sham study to illegally obtain up to $100 million. federal prosecutors allege a dallas-based marketing group arranged bribes for doctors to prescribe specific drugs to military families covered by the federal health insurance program tri-care. the group allegedly said the study was approved by tri-care when it wasn't. ronda rousey is taking time to decide her next move. her mother says she wants her daughter to retire after rous rousey's stunning 48-second loss to amanda nunez friday night in vegas. the bout was heavily promoted to be rousey's return to the spotlight after time off, but it only served to shock millions after her

mocked across social media after that devastating loss, there are those like kobe bryant offering support posting, instead of clapping for ronda rousey's defeat, give her a standing "o" for putting the sport on the map. imagine being a trin but having your birthday on two separate years. that's what happened with arizona twins everett and sawyer, born on new year's eve and new year's day. the fraternal twins arrived 11 minutes apart as many welcomed in the new year. one brother will forever be able to say he's a year wiser than the other. are you one of the millions in line for a pay raise in the coming days? plus a new law gives employees legal permission to avoid checking work e-mails when you're off the clock. we'll tell you where next. -without the need for fillers. your concert tee might show your age...

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time for today's quick hits. the force is still with the "star wars" this new year's weekend as the movie raked in $64 million. it currently ranks as 2016's second highest grossing film. second was nbc universal's animated comedy "sing" pulling in almost $54 million. rounding the top three "passengers" with $21 million. later today the obama administration is expected to announce the president's plans for his farewell address as the nation's 44th commander in chief. the "chicago tribune" has reported the speech would take

however, the white house has yet to comment on the president's planned remarks. as you can imagine the blame game being waged between mariah carey and the producers behind her disastrous new year's eve performance. the pop singer's representative says the production team "set her up to fail." but an audio producer tells the "new york times" "everything worked perfectly." not commenting on what nontechnical issue may have been involved. stock markets in the u.s. are closed today as part of the new year's day holiday. but our man in london is keeping an eye on what's moving your money, cnbc's steve cedric, happy new year to you. >> yeah, happy new year. the dow turned in a 16% return including dividends in 2016. it was matched by a strong performance by the dollar as well. it's been up about one-third since 2011 and many analysts expect it to continue rallying in 2017. that's good news for anyone buying imported goods but bad news for exporters who cte

22 states plus the district of columbia, in 2017 they'll see minimum wages increase across the board. some small, florida on the 1st of january went from $8.05 to $18. $8.10, but still it's better than the federal minimum wage. and which country was it that can allow their employees now to not look at their blackberries and mobile phones? it's france. yes, there's a new rule coming in, the right to disconnect for all companies who hatch 15 employees or more, you don't have to look at your phone outside of office hours. they have a lot of out of office hours because they only work a 35-hour week. back to you. >> lucky french. steve, thank you so much. just ahead an update on the ailing 90-year-old queen of england. saying good-bye to one of the original characters from the hit tv show "m.a.s.h." you're watching "early today." you got it.

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holiday weeks. the palace says the queen is doing better but her absences always put the spotlight on her royal successors. >> there is a role for the younger generation of royals to play, not least because the likes of william, kate, and harry are very, very popular. not just in britain but in america and across the world stage. >> reporter: as for the queen, she may not appear in public again until after her holiday vacation is over in early february. her fans will just have to wait. matt bradley, nbc news, london. still ahead, a warning about energy drinks for our military men and women. plus a simple act of kindness from nba superstar steph curry goes a very long way. we'll tell you about it when "early today" comes back. little dakota's nose was quivering in fear. because it knew an ordinary tissue was near. the fiery tissue left her nose sore and red.

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right now on "today" b, teen killed. in her own home. plus, a gunman opens fire inside a new year's eve party nightclub. it's a rainey start to 2017 where the roads will be wet as you begin your day. >> and, yeah, season ending loss. the redskins players reacting to their final defeat that ended their playoff chances for good. >> hello. good morning, everybody. i'm aim

>> i'm adam. we've got you know, you get us this morning. >> an extended sunday 37. >> this is an extended sunday. but tom, man, outside this morning, rain drops falling on our head. >> you probably woke up hearing it on the roof. everything is wet around the region. we had rain coming in after midnight. you can look there and see it is advancing from the southwest heading into the northeast sweeping a across the carolinas, west virginia, virginia, the district and maryland heading off to the north and east. it is coming into some colder air up in pep pen. there's a little bit of freezing rain there, but we don't have any of that here. this is still raining pretty hard here across most of maryland. there in the dark green, moderate rain. yellows, moderate to heavy rain here. but it tapers off into northern virginia at least temporarily. temperatures are well above freezing. reagan national is at 42. back to you on. >> tom, thank you very mu

upper marlboro.. >> molette green joins us. >> we know a man found along pennsylvania avenue late last night is dead this morning. right now, maryland state police believe that 61-year-old donald easter could have suffered some sort of medical emergency and passed out just about 10:30. witnesses saw him in the northbound travel lane of the stretch in prince georges county in upper marlboro. there is also some evidence that the south chesterfield virginia man was struck by a car. but if you have any information about this incident, the maryland state police crash team would like to hear from you. that is the latest. back to you, angie. >> thank you. 4:28 right now. this morning, a mother is wrestling with the fact that she will never see her daughter again. police in howard county say early yesterday morning, b the mom heard scuffling in her 16-year-old daughter's m.

her daughter's name is charlotte. they say when the suspect, a teenage boy whose name police have not released shot charlotte zemba and her mother. the mother has been released from the hospital. one man who knew charlotte and taught her self-defense says he is struggling to make sense of this all. >> she's never -- whatever she does, this is -- there's going to be some peace that she's going to remember her friend, charlotte, and that this happened to her. >> police say it's still unclear if the suspect had any connection to the mother and daughter. we have a major development this morning in the nightclub attack in turkey. the islamic state now claiming responsibility. the group released a statement this morning. this new information comes as a massive manhunt is under way in istanbul for the man who opened fire inside that packed nightclub on new year's day. police have not released the

circuit television shows him arriving at the club just after 1:00 in the morning armed with a long barrelled gun. police say it as to less than ten minutes to kill 39 people. dozens were hurt, including an american from delaware. he was shot in the hip, but is expected to be okay. turkey's president vehemently is condemning the statement. meanwhile, this was the scene in the southern brazilian state of s ao paolo after a man broke into gnaw year's eve house party and killed his ex-wife, their 10-year-old son and eight other people. he was carrying several firearms with him. the man was angry after the separation with his ex-wife. d.c. police are investigating how a rn

fell to his death. he fell off the dupont circle hotel early monday morning. they say he fell at least 10 stories down a boiler shaft and died. at this point, it is being investigated as an accident. two fairfax county families are starting the new year without a home. they were displaced after this fire at an apartment complex on george mason drive in skyline. 85 firefighters in total responded to the scene last night. it took about 20 minutes to get that fire under control. no one was hurt. the cause of the fire is still under investigation. right now, d.c. police mead your help finding this 11-year-old girl. breaniya todd was last seen yesterday. she's 5'11" with black hair. she has a mole on her left cheek. time now is 4:31. they were in control of their destiny, but the redskins will be watching the playoffs from home. tough one right there. >> i cannot believe

they lost a close game to the giants. do you call that close? >> it was closish. they had a chance at the end. >> their season is over, that's the bottom line. news 4 sports reporter carol maloney talked with the disappointed team. >> win and they were in. instead, a loss and a lost season for the redskins. an offense that weathered four sacks of kirk cousins came alive in the fourth quarter. a one-yard pass to jordan reed tied the game at ten. but trailing by three with 1:30 to play, kirk cousin's interception ends any playoff hope. redskins end their season with a 19-10 loss to the new york giants. >> just disgusting. it was despicable. >> that right there was just -- it's not football, so we've got to be better. we've got to come on back next year and do a better freaking job. >> it's over. we played a very good team today. we didn't get it done. just like that,

good-bye. hopefully we'll see you all next year. >> all i know is it's going to give me an edge. i'll go back to work this off season and have a hunger that has always been there, but certainly when the season ends this way, it will be there and it will be strong. >> now the team's focus moves to what players they keep. kirk cousins, pierre garcon are just a few of the players with expiring contracts and expensive contracts. >> we'll tell you what people are saying on twitter about missing off on the playoffs. >> from what i saw, we can't really tell everything they were saying. >> i know. >> this was a hard hit for so many people and they just wanted bragging rights for some time. >> give the giants credit. they played their starters pretty much the entire game. >> i was

for them. >> they stuck it to them. you never want to let a division opponent in the playoffs. we've got rain falling. it moved in after midnight. when you wake up this morning, everything is wet. all the pavement is wet. if you're heading into virginia, you'll be running into more rain. it's all advancing swefe ining northeast. a few lingering sprinkles in louden county and fairfax. the darker green areas, it's coming down moderately.now. frederick county, maryland, and into howard county north and west of there. it's a little bit harder coming down in the panhandle of west virginia. moderate showers there. temperatures are all above freezing. upper 30s, near 40. reagan national is at 42 degrees. so there's no freezing. you don't have to worry about any icing or anything. light showers continue, 10:00 a.m. still in the mid 40s. maybe a few passing showers. by 6:

ending. it will be damp and chilly, back into the mid 40s by evening. your four things to know in travel weather, that's coming up in about 10 minutes. it's a new year, we have a new president coming in. we are just weeks away from the inauguration of president-elect donald trump. >> he is now back in new york trying to fill his cabinet. . trump spent the weekend at a glitzy new year's eve bash. he originally spoke with reporters, once again casting doubts on u.s. intelligence reports that russia is wind the election year hacking. >> i think it's unfair if they don't know. i know a lot about hacking and hacking is a very hard thing to prove. so it could be somebody else. >> the house intelligence committee top democrat adam schiff says both parties are not questioning the hacking claim, saying the evidence is very solid. we'll break down what we can expect next with the prkt and how