blake mccoy, nbc news. >>> we'll take a short break here. we're back in a moment with raging infernos. the race to stop dozens of major fires burning across 11 states. we'll be right back. >>> a growing threat across the west >>> a growing threat across the west tonight. nearly 60 major wildfires burning across 11 states. one of the most dangerous in oregon growing to nearly 10,000 acres. ash and smoke from it shutting down more than 70 miles of a major highway. some mandatory evacuations are in place and an air quality alert is in effect for much of the northwest. >>> one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports took a scandalous turn today with a report that the including this family home. >> i dig through this rubble with all my friends here who came up to help and we find little things and i'm just like, i remember that. that's so karen. that's so vir gle. >> spreading danger across the west and just getting started. steve patterson, nbc news los angeles. >>> when we come back here tonight, the teen on a mission to preserve the histori

we get more from nbc's blake mccoy. >> reporter: as police worked to clear the streets, protesters in st. louis turned violent for a second night. >> okay. oh my god. someone just smashed the window at blueberry hill. >> reporter: smashing the window was two dozen businesses in a popular suburban shopping district. chaos in the darkness, leading to a handful of arrests. a stark contrast to larger, peaceful rally that had taken place earlier. >> we do not condone this. and i'm probably speaking for a lot of us. >> reporter: this mexican restaurant was among those vandalized. what do you think? >> this is really bad. you know, it's sad. for me. >> reporter: since the acquittal of former police officer jason stockily friday and the 2011 killing of anthony lamar smith, protesters have been looking to disrupt, going into neighborhoods, shutting down busy commercial districts, and a shopping mall. why target busy commercial areas like this? >> so that everyone can understand that there's a -- that there's pain. and until everyone feels the pain, then there's no sense of urgency to address i

>> blake mccoy in st. louis, thank you. >>> let's turnover seas now to a frightening attack on american students at a train station in france. the young women burned by acid, the latest incident involving an increasingly common and dangerous weapon. we get details now from nbc's ann thompson. >> reporter: the brazen attack happened in front of this tran station in mar sigh france. a 41-year-old woman throwing hydro caloric acid on four boston college students. identified as charlotte kaufman, kelsey, michelle and courtney, all juniors. the students were treated at a hospital and released. police arrested the attackers saying she has a history of mental illness. krug, who was hit in the eye, posting on facebook they are anticipating a quick recovery. and asking for prayers for their attacker, writing, mental illness is not a choice and should not be villainized. >> we are very proud of the girls and how they have acqu acquitted themselves throughout this difficult ordeal. >> reporter: they say there are 150

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nbc's blake mccoy has the details. >> reporter: matthew phelps and lauren married just ten months agobut in a harrowing 911 call this weekend, phelps says he may have killed his new wife. >> i have blood all over me and there's a bloody knife on the bed. and i think i did it. >> okay, do you think she is beyond any help? >> i don't know. i'm too scared to get too close to her. >> reporter: raleigh police altered the caller's voice, department policy, but you can hear phelps explain he woke from a dream to find his wife dead. he blamed cold >> i took, i took more medicine than i should have. >> reporter: he said to help him sleep. phelps has no criminal record. he worked for a lawn service after graduating from bible college. >> she didn't deserve this. why? >> reporter: on monday lauren was remembered at a memorial service for her kind heart. her husband now charged with murder makes his first court appearance later this morning. for "early today," blake mccoy, nbc news. >> just ahead, the term watch dog just got taken to a whole new level. >>> plus what do you think is the most beaut

nbc's blake mccoy is there. >> reporter: just after sunrise, silence in st. louis. a call for peace and justice. >> we wanted to keep it strong and powerful, just show them that our presence is powerful. >> reporter: it's at night that things have sometimes turned the violent. on friday, agitators pelted the mayor's home with rocks and paint. >> someone just smashed the window. >> reporter: saturday two dozen businesses vandalized. last night more storefronts smashed in. you'll pray for them to get peace. >> yes, i will pray have been quick to help clean up. >> this is what st. louis is. it's people helping people. it's not what happened last night. >> reporter: more than 140 people have been arrested since friday when a white police officer was acquitted in the 2011 shooting death of a black man. u2 and ed sheeran both canceled concerts here this weekend. the national guard remains on stand-by. state and local police are out in force. >> we remain in control. this is our city. we're going to protect it. >> reporter: here on damaged storefronts you can see volunteer

>> blake mccoy there in st. louis. u. >>> now, let's take a look at some other stories making headlines this morning. while the president is spending the day at his golf club in new jersey, large crowds are expected to flock to the capitol for two separate events. one in support of the president and the other against. the pro-trump rally dubbed the mother of all rallies calls on demonstrators to express their love for the america first agenda. meanwhile, fans of the hip-hop duo insane clown posse are holding a march to protest against the fbi and the department of justice who recognize the fans known as jugalos as a gang. >>> the cleveland indians' record run has come to an end after a gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to kansas city royals overnight. but the indians have won on another front. their 22-game winning streak is now major league baseball's longest in more than 100 years. that just a few wins away from the longest streak ever in the majors. the 1916 new york giants, they won 26 straight. the indians are now setting the

blake mccoy is in st. louis this morning with more. ake, good morning. >> reporter: craig, good morning. the proest the it is turned violent after 1,000 protesters surrounded the home of st. louis's mayor. they lou red paint and rocks at the home, breaking several windows. that's when police officers moved in disperse the crowd. it is not believed the mayor was home at the time. yesterday and overnight, ten officers were injured, 32 protests arrested. they were protesting after the acquittal of a white police officer in the 2011 police shooting of a black man, anthony lamar smith, following a high speed chase. the officer claims self-defense and said he saw smith reach for a gun. he waived his right to a jury trial. on friday, a judge sided with the officer. now, this case does have echoes of ferguson, with accusations of a coverup and evidence planting. that's why we've seen officers out in force here from the beginning, determined not to let things spiral out of control like they did in ferguson in 2014 following the killing of michae

i'm blake mccoy, in st.is, for nbc news. >>> britain's terror threat level is down from critical to severe after police arrested two men in friday's explosion on the london subway. security video shot before the blast shows a man carrying the same type of supermarket bag in which the bomb was found. 90 minutes later an explosion sent a fireball through a subway car, injuring more than two dozen people. authorities arrested an 18-year-old refugee from iraq and a 21-year-old believed to be from syria, both men were fostered by a british couple. neither suspect has been charged. >>> today is the first day of national hazing prevention week. experts say hazing takes advantage of a young person's need to fit in and be accepted. right now, 14 fraternity brothers are facing criminal charges in the hazing death of timothy piazza at penn state. authorities say piazza drank a dangerous amount of alcohol and fell several times at the beta theta pi house. the brothers waited hours before calling 911. piazza's parents we

>> blake mccoy in st. louis, thank you. >>> president trump is at his club in this morning, preparing to meet with world leaders next week at the united nations. this morning, he is dealing with foreign policy challenges. a new missile launch by north korea and the terror attack in london. let's check in with kelly o'donnell. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, sheinelle. the president spoke by phone with britain's prime minister not long after the london terror incident, but his twitter diplomacy is being called into question after it appeared he might have shared some insider information. with a big foreign policy week coming up, friday, the president was center stage, embracing his role as commander in chief. surrounded by a show of american might, both to celebrate an air force anniversary and to send a message to adversaries. >> the regime of north korea, which is once again shown its utter contempt for its neighbors, and for the entire world community. >> reporter: after the provocative missile

blake mccoy is there for us on this sunday morning. blake, with a good day to you, so what happened that the tone changed so drastically? >> reporter: well, alex, at about 9:00 the protest organizers told people, all right, we're done, go home, good job on staying peaceful. but a few people hung around, a fewa agitators and police had t move in after they started bashing in windows. there's about a dozen businesses with boarded-up windows this morning. this is about 20 minutes outside of downtown st. louis. protesters never announced that they were going to be coming this way, instead keeping their movements unpredictable and leaving business owners unprepared. a second night of protests turned violent, leading to smashed windows and damaged store fronts. >> it's heart breaking. my wife runs the cafe, she works hard and works hard to make this place so it feels like a part of the community and so it hurts. pe people obviously should be able to protest but this is not the productive side of that. >> reporter: protesters filled the street

blake mccoy, thank you very much. >>> west houston which has been another focal point. it is potentially an area that we may see the president at tomorrow as he heads to the greater houston area and also to louisiana. garrett haake is there. the president is talking about this out on twitter already this morning. >> yeah, that's right, hallie. the president weighing in on what has been evident here on the ground. a lot of recovery here in houston, but still plenty of work to be done. the president tweeting this morning about his visit expected over the weekend. he said texas healing fast thanks to all the great men and women who have been working so hard, but still so much work to do. we will be back tomorrow. and there is a lot of work to do, hallie. we have seen crews coming back into the neighborhood this morning. folks coming back to their homes to tear out their houses and start throwing out their furniture and start the process of rebuilding. they will continue. the help they're expecting or should expect from the administration could come in the form of ask from

louis nbc's blake mccoy is there for us. good morning. >> you can see windows boarded up after being smashed in overnight. protesters never announced they were coming to this neighborhood about 20 minutes outside of downtown st. louis keeping their prochlts unpredictable and leaving business owners unprepared. a second night of protests turned violent. >> my wife runs the cafe and she works hard to make this a place that feels like a part of the community. and it hurts. people should be able to protest. but this is not productive. >> reporter: protesters filled the streets of university city, a suburb st. louis popular for its restaurants, shops and bars. what started as a maesful demonstration earlier in the day turned ugly as night fell with a handful of protesters clashing with police. nine of them left in handcuffs. protesters still angry over the decision to acquit white police officer jason stockly in the 2011 shooting death of anthony lamar smith after a high speed chase. stock li defended his actions after the verdic

nbc's blake mccoy is there. >> reporter: things got ugly early as protesters clashed with police on the streets of st. louis. >> no justice. >> no peace. >> reporter: some promising more unrest. >> we are going to shut this city down. >> reporter: police have responded with a show of force tonight after a judge's decision to acquit former st. louis police officer jason stockley in the shooting death of anthony lamar smith. smith was shot dead after a police chase in 2011. stockley claimed he saw the suspected drug dealer reach for a gun but only the officer's dna was found on the weapon leading to allegations that it was planted. officer stockley can be heard on dash cam during the chase say he's going to kill smith. in issuing his decision today the judge said he couldn't say that the state had proved every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. >> the verdict has created frustration and anger for many in our community. >> reporter: smith leaves behind a young daughter, his family spoke through an attorney. >> they were shocked. >> reporter: the case has echos of the 2014 unrest

let's start with blake mccoy who is in port arthur. the waters are starting to go down. talk to me ant the problems that officials are anticipating now. >> well, katie, this is one of the last remaining flooded areas in the city. it does flood frequently. not normally this much, but you see a lot of houses, the cars, half submerged. right now the biggest concern that authorities are facing is that everyone got out on time. now that the water is receding, they're going door to door and knocking on the doors, making sure everyone is okay. we're told they have done a full sweep and they're doing a second sweep to make sure. so far there has been zero deaths in port arthur has a result of the storm. two of the healthers are open here. we are making some improvement here as the city begins to clean up. >> mariana, the city is having a ton of issues, it is being cut off by most of the rest of the areas because the streets are flooded out, and there is no running water in the city limits. tell me how residents are cop g coping. >> the line behind me is the line of people at thi

nbc's blake mccoy is there. what are you seeing this afternoon there, blake? >> reporter: craig, this is a community that's finally moving from emergency mode into recovery mode. here you can see one of the final neighborhoods that remains under water. that's because this is a low-lying area that's prone to flooding anyway. so it's one of the last flooded communities. we have seen emergency workers going door to door, prying open those doors to make sure there is no one inside. thankfully no deaths in port arthur reported. i see a lot of cars actually on the roads today. people are getting out and about to go back home, check on the damage. also the big box stores like walmart, home depot, they have started to open up so people can start repairing the damage to their homes. you can see some horses here being brought out, presumably from a low-lying area that was flooded. and if you look right here, i want to step back. you can see the waterline was right up here at the start of the day. and it's all the way down there right now. so that's how quickly the water

blake mccoy joins us live from port arthur. give us an update. >> reporter: stephanie, good morning. this was one of the hardest hit areas because it was one of the last areas hit by the storm, the third landfall. right now the water is starting to recede in the city. this neighborhood behind me is one of the last neighborhoods in the city that still has water in it because it's a low lying neighborhood prone to flooding anyway. you can see a significant amount of water here. as we've driven around town to places flooded yesterday, all bone dry. there is an improving situation on the ground in port arthur. you can see how far the water has gone down this morning. look at that, 6 inches since the sun came up this morning. things are on the up and up. there are three shelters open and people started to return home. the water and sewer fully functional and power starting to be restored. i want to show the refineries because you were talking about those being offline, they are still offline but they are going to be opening soon. th

that's where we find blake mccoy. what's the latest where you are? >> reporter: at least this community is accessible, unlike beaumont which has been one of the huge problems there. here you can see one of the last remaining flooded neighborhoods here in port arthur. thankfully as the sun has been out for a second day, the water has receded quickly here. this is one of the last flooded neighborhoods. we drove around the city today, neighborhoods that were covered yesterday have now dried out. residents were able to return home. we spoke with the police today, they said they have 100% fully operational water and sewage, power is coming back online in this city. here in the last remaining flooded neighborhoods, you can see people with boats who have been coming. some of them with the fire department. some of them volunteers. they've been going door to door, prying them open to make sure there is no one inside those homes still. so far, we can report that there have been no deaths here in port arthur, texas, despite this being one of the hardest hit tow

nbc's blake mccoy is in there in st. louis. it sounds like city officials are preparing for more protests today. >> in fact, those protests have already begun, stephanie. about 150 protesters have gathered here in downtown st. louis. so far, these protests have followed a pattern. peaceful during the day and then when they go to break the protests up at night, that's what he about 100 or so agitators stick around and start causing problems. you can see here some of the windows that were bashed in last night. that's a sushi restaurant. a nail salon and another business. protesters came by and just kicked in those windows. really sad news for these business owners who have to come here today and see the damage that was left behind. over the weekend, some of the other places that were damaged. two dozen businesses in a neighborhood about 20 minutes from here were damaged. also, the mayor's house became a target on friday night with protesters throwing rocks and red paint at the mayor's house. all of this as you mentioned follows t

let's go to nbc's blake mccoy, who is in port arthur, texas, where the water is finally starting to recede. blake, what's the latest where you are? >> yeah. you set up the big picture quite nicely. it's been a dramatic improvement over the last 24 hours. this is one of the last remaining neighborhoods that is underwater. we've seen authorities, as you mentioned, go door to door, at one point opening up a door, plowing it in and forcing their way in to make sure that no one is inside of those homes. thankfully we have want had one storm related death since this all began. the power is working to be restored, but they do have sewer and water here in port arthur. and as far as the shelters, at the peak of this storm there were 4,000 people in local shelters here. they're down to 900 right now as people were able to return home. so there's very much a sense here that we're moving from the emergency phase of this into the recovery phase. >> but as we know from katrina and from sandy, years later it feels good to be able to go home, but people are going to go home to homes that are inundated by

. >> reporter: back in march, liberty's grandfather told nbc's blake mccoy, the number of tips didn't matter. >> i need one. one good one. that's what i'm half. >> reporter: nations is being charged on felony menacing and reckless endangerment. and the el paso sheriff's department is anticipating more charges in the coming days. reached out to his attorney but have yet to hear back. >>> now, to the anthem controversy in the nfl. a show of solidarity in green bay. >> players and coaches from the packers and the bears stood arm in arm, during the singing of other fans chose the stand with their hands over their hearts. the controversy of players kneeling derg tkneel ing during the anthem, was re-ignited by president trump who said players should be fired who don't stand for the pregame ceremony. he added, he thinks the owners are afraid of their players. >>> we have al here to look at the weather. good morning. >> we have another area of interest to look at in the gulf. it's 99 l, with a chance >>> good morning, everybody. a beautiful start to a friday morning. another plane load of fol

blake mccoy is in st. louis. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. things once again turned violent after nightfall. this is to a nail salon. 80 people were arrested here last night after smashing windows and attacking officers. rowdy and defiant protesters marching through the streets of st. louis for a third night in a row. multiple people arrested for damaging property and spraying an unknown chemical on officers. it caps off a weekend of other violent clashes between protesters and police. tear gas was used when protesters converged on the mayor's house on friday, throwing rocks through the windows with the mayor inside. two dozen businesses have their windows smashed the next might. why target businesses? >> to get attention. >> reporter: the majority of the protests have been peaceful, following the decision by a judge to acquit jason stockley after killing anthony smith. he says he saw smith reach for a gun. >> it was a threat to my life. i had to. >> reporter: u2 and head sheeran canceled their weekend concerts here. >> we have no patience fo

. >> blake mccoy on this story, thank you. >>> lots more to get to. i cluding the start of a whirlwind week for the president. he's in town for the united nations general assembly. his agenda is pack and will be dominated likely by the north korea crisis. nbc national correspondent peter alexander is live at trump tower here in manhattan. >> good morning to you. the president just moments ago making his united nations debut, arriving over at the u.n., just blocks away from his home here at trump tower. as we speak, he's now hosting a gathering focused on u.n. reform. this is an important week for this president. the world isn't just going to be watching, they're going to be listening. how will this president balance his america first vision with the u.n.'s world first philosophy. and all of this against the backdrop of north korea with the administration signaling that the time for a peaceful solution with north korea is running out. back home in new york this morning, president trump preparing to host the world at the united nations general assembly.