>> oh! >> wait! itta today i'm announcing thatne w zealand will ban all milita style semiautomatic weapons. >> breaking news tow y. aland's prime minister taking swift and sweeping action to rein in all weapons used in last week's terror attack as the funerals ofhe dozens killed continue to take place. i endorsed him at his request, and i gave him the kina of funeral he wanted, which as president i had to approve. i don't care about this. i didn't get thank you. that's okay. >> make that four days in a row that president trump obsesses over the late senator john mccain. and todayhere are new indications that this could be the day the mueller report comes

out. plus gas prices are skyrocketing with americans spending an extra $135 million a day on fuel. we'll introduce you to the man who deced to test lea laws at one pet store with a hefty steer. and just out this morning, the new crash test ratings for some of the most popular pickup trucks. plus, is this texas man going a little overboard presidential candidate beto o'rourke? just wow. "early today" startsight now. gom morning. marlie hall. >> and i'm frances rivera. we start this morning with breaking news from new as burials continue for the 50 people killed at shootings in o mosques, prime minister jacinda ardern is taking urgent action on gun reform. >> today i'm announcing that new zealand will ban allli ry-style semiautomatic weapons. we will also ban all assault rifles. we will ban all high capacity

magazines. inshort, every semiautomatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on friday will be banned in this country. >> while a proposed ban and gun buyback program will be submitted to parliament during the first week of april,we thes ons have already been reclassified to require a police permit, and the primeinister sa submitting an application would be a fairly pointless exercise. gunowners have been given a wind of amnesty to turn over any illegal weapons. ice he new zealand p association has congratulated the government for taking desive action, and the minister of police had this to say. >> i want to remind that it is a privilege and not a right to own a firearm inzealand. we know that there are many gunowners with legitimate reass for owning firearms, especially in our rural and provincial communities. this work is not directed at them. >> in the uni reaction to these developments

has been somewhat muted from the rit, but many onhe left have been applauding the swift delopments. congresswoman ocasio-cortez says sandy hook happened six years ago and we can't even get the senate to hold a vote on universal background checks. bernie sanders says this is what real action to stop gun violence looks like. and he urges the united states to follow new zealand's lead. boeing continues to face intense scrutiny this morning over its troubled eairliner. fbi is now joining the growing investigation into the n37 max and how it was certified to fly the first place. it comes after a pair of deadly s claimed over 300 lives. tracie potts has the details from d.c. tracie, good morning. >> frances, good morning. this is a new develoent, the ct that a federal grand jury may now be looking into not the accident but how thatlane was united d to fly in t states, raising questions about

whether this was more than just a regulatory issue, but possibly criminal activnsy and questio being asked whether there was something there. reme it was just yesterday that we heard from pilot captain chesley sullenberger who pointed out the fact that boeing was involved in the process, working on some of its ownplanes, and the transportation secretary has asked the inspector general for which he calls an objective and detailed audit of how that process played out. in the meantime, the boeing 737 max 8 and max 9 are grounded in the united states until they can verify safety. >> all right, tracie. and shifting now to thisle mu investigation here. there is growing speculation that the special counsel is nearing the end of that. we've known it could happen any >> rite. and there was an interesting hit there was a filing deadline for the muell team and they asked the court, mueller asked the court for an 11-day extension, saying they are going to be very busy in ming days, given some hint

perhaps that maybe they're wr ping up this investigati and getting ready to report. something president trump says he looks forward. to. >> yeah. and the question is whether that becomes public or not for all of us. thank you. the first amement is front and center at the white house today. president trump is set to sign an executive order this afternoon promoting free speech on college campuses. the president has flexed his first amendment rights a week, much to the chagrin of even some in his own party. he firer yet ano round of criticism at the late senator john mccain during an event in ohio. nbc's kristen welker has the details. >> reporter: preside trump again taking aim at the late senator john mccain. >> i endorsed him at his request, and i gave him the kina of funeralhe wanted, which as president i had to approve. i don't care about this. i didn't get a thank you. that's okay. the press keeps what do you think of mccain? d whyou think? not my kind of guy, but some people like him, and i think that's great. >> reporter: the stunning new

attack on mccain nearly seven ofnths after his death par five-minute rant, including about that unverified steele dossier on mr. trump and russia. >> john mccain got it. he got it. and what did he do? he didn't call me.r he turned it o the fbi hoping to put me in jeopardy. and that's not the nicest thing to do. >> reporter: the president's attacks sparking another rebuke from meghan mccain. >> he wod think it was hilarious that our president was so jealous of him. >> reporter: but now joined by a growing chorus of criticism from republicans, senator johnny isakson slamming the president comments as deplorable. and this from senator mccain's close friend lindsey graham. >> i think the president's comments about senator mccain hurt him more than they hurt th legacy of senacain. i'm going to continue to try to help the president. >> in his mind, john mccain is the person that somehow triggered the mueller investigation.th an is where he goes with this, and that is the core of

all of his anger. r orter: all of it comes as the president also escalates his feud with the husband of his senior adviser kellyanne conway. >> i don't know him. he is a whack job, no question about it. but i really don't know him. i think he is doing a tremendous disservice to a wonderl wife. >> reporter: george conway has been blasting the president for months, including again accusing him of having a narcissistic personality disorder. and kellyanne conway defended the president wednesday, telling politico you think he shouldn't respond when somebody, a nonmedical professional accuses m of having a mental disorder? conway didn't respond to our requests for comment. marlie hall? >> kristen welker, thank you. >> over the past several days we heard president trump making a few misleading comment l abou the senator mccain, and now the mccain institute at arizona state university is setting the reco straight. here's what the president had to say about a key program for veterans. >> mccain didn't get the job done for our great vets and the.

and they knew it. that's why when i had my dispute wie him, i had such incredi support from the vets and from the military. the vets were on my side because i got the job done. i got choice and i got accountability. - countability meaning >> well, the truth is that senator mccain originally co-sponsored the choice act alongside senator bernie sanders and it was signed into law by president obama in 2014. senator mccain fought for years for an expansion of the program which mr. trump signed into law in may. it's named after three veterans who served in congress, including mccain.>> nd over the weekend, the president claims senator mccain was last in his class. he actually graduated fifth from the bottom at the naval academy before going on to becwar hero in vietnam. if you drive, you may have noticed gas prices are surging for the first time in months. nationwide, the average price of regular unleaded is up to $2.58 a gallon. that's up 35 cents in thewe pas

sieks. the states with the biggest price hikes are in themidwest. michigan, ohio, and willinois. t's causing it? analysts point to the turmoil in venezuela and the switch from winter to summer s. they expect higher prices to continue into april and perhaps even memorial day. a suspect is behind bars. a nashville police officer lucky to be alive this m ning after he was dragged through the street saturday by an atv driven illegly during an s.e.c. basketball tournament. that whole ordea was caught camera. police say the atv driver 30-year-old walteross was involved in a hit-and-run. sergeant john rek was attempting to stop him. sustained some injuries from the incidents but spoke about his quick recovery. >> much better. i feel good. good to be back in the office and tetting back normal. >> the suspect has been charged with assault. what you're abo to see may be disturbing. it's unbelievably terrifying new video showing the fatal impact

when a car crashed into a public transit bus in ohio. the bus was crossing an intersection. the car was speeding away from a police traffic stop at over 100 miles an hour and ran a red ligh when itlammed into the bus. the impact pushed the bus into a guardrail and set off an explosion in the vehicle, killing all three people inside, but no one on the bus was seriously hurt. we are continuing to follow the historic disaster unfoing in the midwest. river flooding has persisted throughout the central united statesto triggered bys and snow melt. the town residents of of craig, missouri had to be evacuated. the missouri state h patrol said a temporary levee was breached and the town was taking on water. >> all righ bill karins is here with our forecast. any relief in sight? >> they're not getting any rai there for the next week, but the spring flooding will go well into april because there so much water and still a lot o snow to melt. today is washington, d.c. philadelphia flood watch.

8:00 a.m. this evening until evening.s about 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. the bigger issues that will be travel problems on the i-95 corridor. the airports will have signifant delays. it will be windy and heavy rain. isolated totals of the two inches. d on top of all this, we're going get snow on the high country. the adirondacks will get it white and green mountains and even some areas of central new york too. keep that in mind during travel in new england the next 24 hours. now here is a cldaer look at the ahead. well, beautiful day today areas of texas all the way through the southeast. temperatures in the 60s and 70s. very co aortable. it's chilly morning and it's going to stay that way all day with that raw raind wind running through the midatlantic region and new york this afternoon. the weekend forecast will look a ligile more spr and feel that way too. we'll give you those details coming up. >> i can't wait to hr than. all right, bill, thank you. in today's quick hit, sony released new photos of tom

hanks' mr. rers from a t upcoming film to celebrate what would have a been fred rogers' 91st birthday. the film hits heaters in ayvember. cvs ss it's now selling cbd products in eight state including top kashlgs creams, spray-ones, lotions and salves. >> you're not a multimillionaire use no one won last night. saturday's jackpot $625 million. just between us, you know what's better than mopping? anything! at the end of a long day, it's the last thing i want to do. well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. it's an all-in-one so it's ready to go when i am. the cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. and the pad absorbs it deep inside. so, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. plus, it's safe to use on all my floors, even wood. glad i got that off my chest and the day off my floor. try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee

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so dad slayed the problem with puffs plus lotion, instead. with lotion to soothe and softness to please. a nose in need deserves puffs, indeed. some of the most popular pickups are getting safer. the institute -- the insurance institute for highway safety has awarded the fordf- 0 and the nissan titan its highest rating in a passenger side test. the dodge ram also earned a good ratingun the toyotaa scored the only poor rating of the 11 trucks tested and poorlyated headlights kept all of them from

qualifying for the top safety pick award. leading the news, an inside look at the future of 911 emergency response. the new game-changing technology allows todispatcher not only pinpoint your location, but also give first responders eyes o the scene before they even arrive. here is nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: when a call came into 911 after a boat crash in south carolina laste'onth -- >> in a boat crash on archers creek. ab>> whets on archer street rchers only bridge on creek? >> archer's street? >> reporter: dispatchers sent first responders to the wrongor bridge than a mile away from the crash. >> we have someone missing. >> reporter: ling 28 minutes of valuable time that mallory beech's family says might have saved the 19-yr-old. it's not first t time first responders have been left blind, unable to loce cell phone callers. but there is technology that could change that. it's called 911 eye, c and locate you when you call 911 on a cell phone. it's been used in europe for

years, and now is coming to the u.s. i'm in manchester township, new jersey, the first in the nation to use the system. for this demonsation, all they know is i'll be calling with a simulated emergency, but they don't know where i am. i call their dispatch center. >> i don'tnow where i am. >> what i'm going to do is send a link to your cell phone. it's going to come to your text message. >> as soon as i click the, link dispatch can see my exact location. >> you're right in the wood line behind the field. >> reporter: and they can also see what i see, accessing my phone's cara, so the dispatcher can assess t scene realtime. >> can we get a bird in the air for a trauma victim. >> they send a medevac chopper. >> it took them just a few gnutes to pinpoint my exact location using t on my phone. is this technology a game changer? >> it is absolutely a game changer. this is t most precise way to share information with law enforcement in realtime.

>> and at a cost of less than $10,000 a year to police departments, this may be just what the future of 911 looks like kristen dahlgren, nbc news, manchester township, new jersey. still nuahead, theal explanation for a mysterious sight over los angele i and what a name? a whole lot of money when it comes to the royals. the bets in place for prince harry and meghan markle's fir that's next. that's actually pretty. surprised? it's called always discreet boutique. it looks and fits like my underwear. i know what you're thinking. how can something this pretty protect? hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly turns liquid to gel for incredible protection. so i feel protected and pretty. always discreet boutique. new color. new size. as staying at a disney resort hotel.

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so rick, explain to the audience what a stunt double does. >> actors are required to do a lot of dangerous stuff. cliff here is meant to help carry the load. >> trending this morning, quinton tarantino'ns once u a time in hollywood. the trailer dropped on wednesday and already has over five million views. it's the ninth film from tarantino and hollywood star a-listers leonardo dicaprio who play rick dalton and cliff booth, a washed up actor and his long-time stunt double. the film is set to hit theaters in july. when you havera leo and together in the same movie you can't go wrong. >> under quentin tarantino's t rection too, and mar robbie. that's going to be a good one. a royal baby is on the way and there is aot o buzz on royal watchers who are already making bets on the newest name for the little one expected this nspring. it's surprising that some of the favorites include diana and victoria for a baby girl or

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good morning, everyone. i'm. eun ya >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. developing overnight, bannedke new zealand a major step following last week's deadly terror attacks on two mosques. >> what kind of weapons are banned and how the country plans on making sure the new law is followed. heavy rain

news 4 begins with a storm team 4 weather aler >> spring has arrived. but wouldn't you know it? so have the storms. we're in weather alert mode this morning, as rain, the most we've seen in weeks, will spend the

day pummeling the d.c. reon. we heard the morning forecast from chuck. be >> it is 4:00 a.m. t grab umbrella as you use caution behind the wheel today. there's concerns about flooding. some will impact the roads. >> jack taylor is keeping the eye on the commute. let's start with chuck bell. how much rain are we talking, chuck? >> easily an inch or more. localid amounts, up to two inches possibn . and coming relatively short period of time. it's starting to rain out there. look at the slug of moisture across southern virginia and northern north carolina. that's coming our way. and there's a front that will enhance the rainfall amounts in thear middle of the day. heaviest rain from late morning until 5:00 or 6:00 this evening. no rain but starting to see wet pavement. it's a chilly one, o.