>> ihrew it back, i didn't a judicial bombshell. anthony kennedy annoues his retirement from the high court. immediately igniting battlespe among scial interests as makedent trump prepares to his second pick for the supreme court. >> get ready for some wicked weather over the next few days, including scorching temperatures today and upwards of 210 million americans being affected on friday. >> bidding fairual to the controversial father of one of the most famous families in all of entertainment. >> staying safe asea wed into the 4th of july fireworks season. the warnings that could save your life. >> and one more thing. do not try this at home. or on a freeway. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm phillip m'ma. >> melissa rehberger.

a bombshell from the supreme court justice anthony kennedy nouncing he is retiring effective at the end of july. president trump now poi today appoint his second supreme court justice possibly moving the court farther to the right. the news reverberated through the country with advocator civil, lgbt and abortion rights among others, warning the vacancy puts progress at risk. the new york daily news perhaps capturing their sentiment with this front page. many democrats are already demaioing any confirm hearing be delayed until after the midterm elections, setting the stage for a heated political battle. nbc's blayne alexander brings us more. y >> reporter: frs he was the critical swing vote on the supreme court.ho justice a kennedy announcing he is retiring. a major shake up that cld open the door for president trump to fundamentally change the mheeup of highest court in the land. >> a man who is displaying great vision. he displayed tremendous vision

andremendous heart, and he will be missed. >> reporter: president trump praising kennedy while lready making plans to choose his successor. >> and we will begin our search afor new justice of the united states supreme court that will immediately. >> reporter: this will be the second supreme court nominee for president trump. last year he picked justice neil gorsuch to replace conservative tonin scalia, a lateral change. but kennedy appointed by ga president r became known as a moderate conservative, siding withat consees on the second amendment and voting rights, but also favoring gay rights and abortion rights. >> now, if you get somebody on the court instead who is much more inclinedowards a conservative jurisprudence, some of that might pivot back in the other direction. >> reporter: moments a kennedy's resignation letter was released, republicans urging a m quick conion for his replacement. >> we will vote to confirm justice kennedy's successor this fall. r: but democrats not

in such a rush. >> this is the most importantsu eme court vacancy for this country and at least a generation. >> reporter: an intense political battle brewing over the future oonthe na highest court. blayne alexander, nbc news, washington. >> in a blow to organized labor, the supreme court has ruled that government employees cannot be forced by states to contribute to a union they don't belong to. the ruling gets ridf the so-called fair share fees that nonunion members pay to unions whool represent them inctive bargaining negotiations in more than 20 states. the 5-4 decision overturns a 41-year-old precedent. >> that 5-4 vote on unions is making people more nervous given justice kennedy's decision to retire. his announcement suddenly shined a light on some of the most divisive issues of the day viewed through a new lens. as nbc's stephanie gosk tells us, it will surely electrify this fall'sel tions. >> reporter: within an hour of the announcement, the national

association for abortion right posted a message. roe v. wade was in danger. >> i think if the trump administration gets their way and rams this justice through by any means necessary, women will suffer. >> reporte while evangelicals who have been advocating against abortion since the controversial ruling wasade more than 40 years ago, see the first real opening for their cause in a long time. >> this is a very, very big day. as a matter of fact, we would think it's a h the culture of life. >> reporter: the head of the family research council which is antiabortion and against same-sex marriage posted this. justice kennedy's retirement will turbo charge the evangelical vote. for people feel strongly about issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, affirmative ction just to name a few, the news is nothing short of a tectonic shift. >> we believe we should go back to god's design which is one

man, one oman marriage. >> reporter: it is greeted with jubilation on one happened andig ou fear on the other. >> this puts the lgbtq community in square shot of having a lot of our rights rolled back. >> reporter: while the legal defense fund, branch of the naacp took to twitter, predicting that a solidlyns vative court would have an enormous impact on civil rights and undermine progress made toward greater racial justi and equality. some supreme court experts are calling kenned s retirement the ultimate rally cry. and the cry is loudoun both sides. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. >> new charges this morning in that deadly attack charlottesville, virginia when a car plowed into a crowd that was protesting against the white nationalist rally there in august and killed a woman. the justice department has now charged the driver, james alex fields, jr., with dozens of deral hate crimes. he fashions life in prison if convicted. >> we turn now t terrifying moments aboard a jetblue flight

at sdjfk's airport t evening. it was supposed to fly to los angeles, but just before take off, a s.w.a.t. team stormed the plane as it sat on thec tar after high jacking alert from the cockpit. triggering panic among the passengers of cosse. nbom costello tells us it was just a false alarm. >> reporter: the coded message from the jetblue pilot to air traffic control, high jacking in progress. >> copy? >> reporter: witn minutes police had the plane surrounded. stunned passengers told toth pu r hands up. >> everybody had their hands upp made aretty dominant presence. >> reporr: while the pilot assured the passengers it was a miscommunication, a heavily armed s.w.a.t. team boarded the plane to be sure. >> it was scary because it never seppen to me before. >> reporter: onenger taking to twitter, honestly thought we were going to die. i'm alive. it all started when jetblue lost

contact with the tower before take off. unable to communicate, the pilot meant to type in and transmit a four-digit code he was having radio problems. insteacc heentally typed in the four-digit code for high jack. >> it's a key pad entry into a small rectangular box and it's a four-digit de. and the pilot just inadvertently entered one wrong digit. >> reporter: finally word it was all a false alarm. >> radio malf rction. orter: no high jacking. a three-hour delay before the nightly flight to l.a.m costello, nbc news, washington. >> all's well that ends well. it is a race against time as fresh flooding temporarily lted the search for 12 missing boys and their soccer coach. they have been trapped i an extensive cave complex in thailand for six days now. thai navy divers have been working their way through six miles of pitch black underground caverns.

an onslaught of water level rises 6 inches every hour in some areas. now a u.s. military team and british cave experts are joining the thai g ernment's rescue efforts to find those young boys. as worried parents continue to wait. turning now to some extreme summer weather, clean-up is underway in eureka, kansas after a tornado touched down on tuesday injuring at least eight people. the twister wiped out ten homes and destroyed dozens of others, littering the streets with debris, downed trees and power lines. more than a thousand residents still remain without power. andge dus heat wave is expected to broil the central and eastern u.s. into the first week of july bringing temperatures topping well over the 90s and being stream humidity. oh, joy. >> yeah, that really is the big story of today. so many of the country, i see that map behind you there, bill. good morning, b the way. >> good morning. a lot of heat, buddy. >> it's on. february when we were complaining about the big cold, we pronably would have traded for this. some of you. pick your poison. all right.

let's get into the numbers for today. the hottest areas are going to be up in areas headed towards kansas city. ou have excessive heat warn ings a lot of advisories. kansas city will feel like 110. denverit 101, big deal for you. dallas near 101. by the time we get to friday afternoon we push the heat to chicago feeli like 101 and starts the slide to the east. nashville heading up towards 100. new orleans 104 it will feel like. as we head towards the upcoming end, it arrives on the east coast. look at detroit feeling like 107 on saturday.f that's kind gros. memphis 107 and by sunday it will peak in areas of northeast that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now here's a closer look at your day ahd. ait in the heat has to the northeas we're dealing with heavy rain and thunderstorms. localized floing in central new england this morning. heaviest rain is now through mid-morning. it will exit thisafternoon. how about 103 in wichita. we'll talk more about the rain in the northeast that will

cause problems withni the morng commute. >> all right, thank you. >> qn today'sck hits, dozens of sky divers in california jumpeder from more than 16,000 feet in the air as they got into formation to spell out the word, peace. see that? >> beautiful. chick-fil-a employee in austin, texas is being hailed as a hero for saving checking customer. surveillance video showed another customer tried to help until t employee springs into action and successfully administers the heim l maneuver. >> if you're hungry here's an easy snack to grab and go. dunkin' donuts rolling out the donut fries starting july 2nd. churro-like fries with sin man and sugar. we'll be right back. oh don't... it's early 90s sitcom star dave coulier... cut...it...out! [laughing] what year is it? as long as stuff gets lost in the couch,

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first seen on seinfeld and now coming to a mcdonald's near the fast-food chain will reportedly begin testing what it calls muffin toppers, as it s revats breakfast menu. the fresh baked treats will come three flavors. ue berry, lemon poppy, double chocolate for me for sure. >> sounds amazing, but when you hear muffin toppers, you eat enough of those you're going to start to get one for sure. won't take you long either. leading the news, the patriarch and manager of one of pop music's most famous families has died joe jackson's young sons would become the jackson 5 and michael jackn and sister janet would go on to become global super stars in their own right. in all, nine jackson children joined the family business racking up 27 number one singles. michael and janet cut ties with their father with michael revealing his father's physical abuse. joe jackson was 89 years old.ng >> follo week of emotional protests, an east pittsburgh police officer has bharged

with homicide in the shoot bein death of a teenager. he shot unarmed 17-year-old antoine rose, jr., three times in theack last week as had he and another teenager ran away from a vehicle during a traffst . prosecutors said ross feld was never threatened during the incident and acted with no justification. according to court documents, ross feld turned himself in and was released after posting $250,000 bail rather. nbc's jay gray tells us more. >> reporter: a day after his funeral. >> it's sad, hurt, confused. >> reporter: an east pittsburgh police officer has been charged in the shooting death of 17-year-old antoine rose. >> the evidence supports third degree murder. there is no doubt about that in my mind. tanslaughter, vol manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter. we think we sho right to argue murder in the first degree. >> reporter: officer michael mross feld on thob for just three weeks and formally sworn in just hours before the fatal shooting turned himself in

wednesday morning. his attorney saying he looks grward to clearing his name. ph process isng to work. >> reporter: cell one video shows rose gunned down a he was running away from a traffic stop. >> you do not shoot somebody in the back if they are not a threat to you. >> reporter: the 17-year-old was a passenger in a car matching the description of a vehicle involved in an earlier shootinge two guns w found inside, but investigators now say rose was notn involved ie initial attack and washe unarmedhe was killed. >> he was a passenger in a car of the. he found him self in the wrong place at the wrong time and in no way justified his murder. >> reporter: his grieving family and their attorney say that charges are a positive step in the ongoing investigation, but ilt enough. >> this f is holding out for a conviction and proper sentencing. >> reporter: thateg processs with the first court hearing in the case set for early next jay gray, nbc news. >> tough story to hear want to take a turn now to a

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♪ ♪ not bad at all. do you think they're ready for the big time? >> i hope they're not on the clock, though. >> these three ladies from the san antonio police department impressively lip synced dtiny child's song. issued to all police departments across texas, to fary have had a million hits. actually more. >> i'm glad. they're very talented. but like i said they're keeping an eye out, too. well done, though. all right. let's talk about the world cup. we a getting that much closer to the round of 16 and we are going to go first to the

sweden/mexico game. they looked pretty much unstoppable in this match. they cruised to a 3-nil they locked up their top spot in the group. for mexico, this embarrassing loss meant they were out of thef tournament thest two wins, unless, unless, the south koreans could come through for them and beat the defending champion germany. so, we go to that gamehich is happening simultaneously. the number one team in the world falls with that kick right there. the first time they are out of the first round since 1938. 2-nil was the final score there. both sweden and mexico advance. who will they play? let's go to group e. braz lookingtrong in their match against serbia. in the drivers seat for much of thegame. they win pretty easily 2-nil so it is brazil who plays mexico in the next round. finally check this out. penalty kick, look closely, the ball hit him, did you catch that? it hit the cross bar and ricochetted off of that, then hit the swiss goalieight in the head and right back into the net. >> that is a hard way to lose.

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