>> there you go. really tight glove. i'm shocked and incredibly disappointed. this has been an awful week for virginia. >> chaos in the commonwealth. the state of virginia engulfed in political crisis with the governor, his lieutenant, and he attorney genera all democrats, all undfire. and the next in the line of succession, a republicxi. new 's governor defies president trump and withdraws the national guard from the border. calling out the commander in chief by accusing him of, quote, charade of border fearmongering. it's all the rage. it doesn't get you high so why the crackdown on the popular cbd oil derived from cannabis. police are cracking down on the waze traffic app. what they want removed and don't

want drivers to know. soap opera legend'sheusan lucci'th scare and a warning for women everywhere. "early today" starts right now. good thursday morning. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances ri chaos is rocking virginia as scandals trigger a dangerous domino effecn the state's top democrats. the state's attorney general, markherring, also admitting that he too appeared wearing blackface. meanwhile, governor ralph northam clings to power as the calls for his resignation grow stronger. and lieutenant governor justin fairfax now dealing with his owo ntroversy involving a sexual assault allegation. geoff bennett has the latest from richmond. >> reporter: in the former catal of confederacy, two scandals reopening old wounds on race and a claim of sexual assault, throwing the commonwealth's leadership into crisis. virginia attorney general mark herring now admits he too once wore blackface. erring, in a statement of apology, says in 1980, he and a group of college friends put on at he called wigs and brown

makeup to a attend party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, just days after governor ralph northam apologized for hisfa own black scandal. this racist photo on his med school yearbook page.ha no now denies being in the photo while recalling and regretting having darkened his skin to dress up like micha jackson for a contest in 1984. >> i'm shocked and incredibly disappointed. this has been anwful week for >> reporter: those scandals sending shock waves as the woman accusing lieutenant governor justin fairfax of broke her silence. dr. vanessa tyson, a college profesr, saying in a statement that 2004 encounter with fairfax, which she says started as consensual kissing, turned into a sexual assault. tyson says fairfax has trieddo brane as a liar to a national audience in service to his ambitions. fairfax releasing a statement of his own, saying, i cannot agree wi description of events that i know is not true.

>> i personally have not for anybody's resignation. i don't plan to. n i justeed to learn what's going on and just ask people not to rush to judgment. >> reporter: virginians fed up as the scandals siral. >> it'ery difficult to find anybody to look up to as carrying the mantle for the commonwealth. >> reporter: and this morning governor northam is still refusing calls t step down saying he wants more time to clear his name. he may get his inwish, s as how both of his successors are now facing scandal. frances. >> geoff bennett, thank you. president trump praised the u.s. and its allies in their fight against isis.ea heng to a room of more than 70 officials atlobal coalition to defeat isis, mr. trump said officials would announce next week thatth 100% isis caliphate have been liberated. late lastear the coalition announced that isis held 1% of the lands in syria and iq even though earlier this month intelligence officials reported otherwise, claiming that isi was still a threat. new mexico's governor is drawing a line in the border

battle. michelle lujan grisham is ordering the withdrawal of national guard troops, challenging presiclnt trump's m that there's a crisis at the u.s. and mexico border. in a fiery rebuke, the governor said, quote, new mexico will not take part in the president's charade of borderfearmongering. meanwhile in an nbc news exclusive, hundreds of migrants with new caravan have arrived at the u.s. border. but according to customs and border protection officials, u.s. agents in the small town of eagle pass will only process 20 or less asylum seekers a day. and there are reportedly no plans to beef up the number ofh officer w's can administer the first steps towards seeking asylum. hou docrats are undeterred by president trump's warning in the state of the union. they shrugged o the president's threat against what he called ridiculous partisan investigation, announcingro sweepings into the trump campaign and beyond. nbc's tracie potts joining us now from washington t break it all down for us. tracie, good morning. it appears the democrats areg play hardball here. >> reporter: exactly. in some cases upping the ante.

for example, matt whitaker, the acting attorney general is supposed to testify on capitol hill tomorrow. judiciary committee has issued a subpoena -- or is going to issue a subpoena in case he doesn't show or in case he doesn't answer questions. they say it won't be necessary if he shows up for that hearing. then the house intelligence committee revamping the russia investigation. that republican shutdown last year, reopening that, sending 50 interview transcripts to the s fb russia team, and also now expanding to include thepr ident's personal finances. here's the chair of that committee. >> his effort to discourage any meaningful oversight of the administration, that's a non-starter. we are not going to be intimidated or threatened by the president. >> to say that we can't do that is to say wul s't do our constitutional duty. it's to assert an executive pre-eminence that one would think he might wt to be a dictator. he cannot escape nor should any

pr cident escapegressional oversight. >> reporter: now, at least onei repu says that subpoena is a dangerous precedent. there are other committees looking int the president's finances. in fact, ways and means is slowly considering whether or how to get access to the president's tax returns to seer if there any conflicts between his job and his former business, the trump organization. the president says all of this is just unfair. here h what said about that russia investigation o capitol hill. >> he's just a political hack who is trying to build a name for himself, and i think that's fine because that's what they do. it's called presidential harassment. >> reporter: and there are a number of other committees not look pg at thesident personally but also at his policies on gun control, onddhe east, and the impact of the government shutdown. so you're right, phillip. democrats here gearing up, and some of these investigations aim squarely at president trump.

>> we have a new term coined this morning, presidential harassment. tracie, thank you. president trump meanwhile is lanning to introduce a new women's empowerment initiative this afternoon. women's globale development and prosperity initiative, and it will be led by ivanka trump. it's said to help bring economic security to 50 million women across the world by 2025. the president's daughter, an adviser, has hailed then p as a nonpartisan and generous approach to women's empowerment. it will draw from a $50 million starter fund and will team up with private companies including ups and walmt. one of the democrats hoping to unseat president trump 2020 is apologizing yet again over her heritage claims. senator elizabeth warren is embroiled in a new scandal surrounding past claims of native american ancestry. ie renewed controversy coming just before warre expected to formally announce her white house bid on saturday. nbc's peter alexander has more. >> reporter: ezabeth warren watching the president at the state of the union, but her own quest for the white house is

again facing rough rrain. "the washington post" revealing this 1986 registration card for the texbar, showing for the first time in her own handwriting warren identified herself as american indian. i am not a member of a tribe, and i have apologized for not being more ssitive to that distinction. >> reporter: the massachusetts democrat under fire over the issue for years after citing family >> i consider myself as having a american background. that's what i said. that's what i >>am. reporter: of claiming native american heritage to advance her career, which she denied. president trump repeatedly targeting her with racial taunts. >> hopocahontas. >> reporter: even daring her to take a dna test, which she did. >> what do the facts say? >> the facts suggest that youso tely have native american ancestry. er >> reporter: autrage from some cherokee leaders, she apologized.

>> that was peter alexander reporting. maruana may be legal in some states, but there is a new crackdown on a key chemical that derived from the plant. cbd is gaining a lot of popularity. people are using it everything from anxiety to sleep to health, inflammation. although it doesn't get you high. but some cies are now saying not so fast here's nbc's. stephanie go >> reporter: at the flower power coffee house in brooklyn, the hottest new thing used to be cbd. >> cbd is like the. be >> reporter: infused in just about everything, coffee, tea, pastri and. candy >> i'm a little bit of a nervous person. it just calms me down. >> reporter: but nowk new y city has told businesses like this one to stop serving food with the cannabis extract uil it is deemed as a safe food additive. >> i have a lot of customers alling me all day long complaining. >> reporter: cbd is a derivative of the cannabis plant, but eolike the chemical thc does not makee high.

people claim it as a kind of cure all, helping with ailments ranging anxiety and depression to pain and even acne. but the only fda approved use of cbd is as a prescription drug fo epilepsy. >> we have to do the science. that's what's distressing for me as a scientist. it's now just accepted pretty much everywhere that cbd is going to cure you of whatever ails you. >> reporter: federal drug laws have made cbd difficult to study because the dea classifies it as a sked eun one narcotic alongside heroin and lsd. new york city follows ohio and maine, which have made similar moves restriktng food sold with the extract. raising health questions about a product that is only becoming more and more popular. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. veterinarians i montana a responsible for saving one of this cat's nine lives.uf was found completely tried in the snow and unresponsive lasrsday afternoon and taken to an animal hospital. after being treated withrmome

water, heating pads and a heated cage, the cat regainedns ousness. she completely recovered and was sent home with her grateful owners that rnoon. >> that cat is not going to want to go outside anytime soon, especially with the temperature coming ourway. here's bill karins. >> if i'm in montana, i want to be an indoor cat. all right. let's get into it. we are watching winter storm warningsust expanded into areas like kansas city. blizzard warnings from fargo into western portions of minnesota. this morning is the worst o ithe ic missouri and eastern portions of oklahoma. then it will be on the move. blizzard conditions developing on the back side of the storm later today. heavy sw develops i wisconsin. heavy rain throughout the ohio valley.ll fiby the time we get to tomorrow, this mess sweeps through the northeast and awe quiete end after this storm. here's a closer look at your day ahead. you can see our temperatures. kansas city, the cold air moving in at the same time we've got

the rain coming down. that's why we've expanded our ice stormic warnings. accumulations possible up to a half an inch in some spots in missouri. we're also gng to see an incredibly warm day in a few spots. e lot of record highs will broken today. details coming up. >> boun >>. rock legend ozzie osborn isi in the hosl recovering from complications with the flu. the news comes days after he was forced to cancelour dates. his wife tweeted this is the best way toim get on a quicker road to recovery. on his official website, ozzie apologized to fans and promised to ce to tour with judas priest once he recovers. >> we need the prince of darkness back outthere. still to come, a school bus flips on its side, and it's all caught on camera. plus why police are cracking down on the popular waze traffic app. what they don't want you to know, next. and he said ♪ ♪ girl, you take care of me ♪ ♪ you are my thera♪y

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on payday loans. the move wouffect millions of people, specifically millennials. the pro action is known ability to repay. it requires lenders to make sure that people borrowing are in a nancial position to pay off that loan. payday loans are known for their exaordinarily high interest rates. consumer advocates argue that by removing this restriction, the consumer financial protection bureau will put borrowers at risk for mounting debt. a school bus lost control and flipped over with students inside. it happened inci kansas . watch the bus is making its way down an icy road. right there. it rolls over on the street. three students were inside at time. they got minor bumps and bruises and were sent home early. city officialsill bereating the icy roads this morning. school officials will have an early relea all that bad weather they're having. >> hope they had seat belts in there and they were fastens. are you one of the 100 million people around the world using the waze app? popular google traffic app to go in a new

direction. the app is taking heat for giving away something officers don't want drivers t know about. ron allen has the story. >> reporter: that waze app under fire for providing certain information many drivers use every time they get on the ad. waze works by encouragingen passgers and drivers to report accidents and traffic ahead so drivers can get wherein they're faster. but police warn that alerting drivers where they are, their locations, is irresponsible and dangerous. google owns the crowdsource gps navigationsystem, and the nypd sent the tech giant a cease and desist letter warning, posting the locations of dwick cints may be considered criminal conduct. the nypd says dwi checkpoints, officers, locati and speed traps are life-saving enforcement tools. so helpi drivers avoid them could actually be dangerous for others on the road. google says safety is a top ndiority informing drivers about upcoming speed traps allows them to be more careful and make safer decisions on the

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>> all right. delta airlines and coca-cola are catching some heani this m for what some people are calling creepy in flight napkinsat aime getting passengers to make a love connection onboard. the napkins featured a spot for passengers to write their phone number and then pass it along to their, quote, plane crush. some passengers were not too flattered by the gesture. one flyer tweeted pttyure no one appreciated unsolicit the phone numbers. the company issue statements. delta said they missed the mark with this one. and coca-colasays, we sincerely apologize. american airlines has aan in app where you can chat with other people onboard. that's creepy too. >> that's why you put thes earbn so you don't have to talk to anybody. all right. beyond plane hookups,nd i'm talking way beyond here, in case erapist, howex about your favorite one? 90-year-old sex therapist is teaming up with an unr,kely characll in the name of love. >> welcome to the druth show with dr. ruth westheimer, coming

to you from. new york ci >> hello. you are on the air. >> all right. for you young people, you may not have any clue who this person is. back in the '80s, hundreds of people would call dr. ruth on her hotlineor asking sex advice. well, now she will help get a whole new generion of lovers here and their connections thanks to mr. peanut. people can tweet or call the crunchtime hotline with all of thr burning questions. they are set to release a video next ome of her respons tuesday. you're right. we were talking about this. putting two and to together, dr. ruth and mr. peanut. i don't even want to try to make a connection with this. >> it's nuts. >> therego you just ahead, trading heartbreak for hot wings. how hooters is h ye to cheerou up on this valentine's day. you're watching "early today." people everywhere

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good morning, everyone. i'm e yang. >> i'm molette green, in for aaron this morning. >> we're tracking developments from virginia, where the attorney general is coming under fire for wearing black face. >> that makes all three of the topeaders embroiled in scandal. in the weather department today, going to be a cloudynd a

news 4 today starts now. >> good morning, everyone. i'm eun yang. >> i'm molette green, in for aaron on assignment in richmond this morning. >> what an assnment it is. the three top ranking officials

embroiled i scandal. he will join us in the next half hour with the latest. we want to beginith a check on the commute and the forecast. let's begin with chuck bell >> it will be drizzling in the hizzy today. nothing is strong enough to bring u rain o clear us out. we'll in the middle of things today. highest chances of rain will be on theouth side of the area. the coolest temperatures will be to the north. a lot o stuff going on but it adds up to nothing outside. cloudy skies everywhere. and periods of mist, light rain or drizzle possible th highest chances of having rain or drizzle will be in the eouthern half, where temperatures couldlose to 60 today. northern maryland, stuck in a lot of clouds, may not have much of a rain