here's blayne alexander. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: it was the most sacred of spaces at st.y magdalene church. 60 children were poised to take their first communion saturday. >> this sacrament. >> reporter: when suddenly a man approaches the priest, whispering in his ear. moments later, father nicolas dupree stops the service. a suspicious person opens the back door. members immediately confronted him and led him outside, calling police. authorities say he was armed with a gun. inside, the video shows clergy members ducking for cover. altar servers scrambling to safety as police rush in. guns drawn, checking for any additional threat. >> please get ahold of your child. go slowly. >> reporter: the suspect was a 16-year-old white male, police say, dressed in all black. he was arrested and taken to a hospital for mental evaluation, charged with terrorizing and two counts of juvenile gun possession. incredibly, police say there were no injuries. >> hallelujah. >> reporter: the scars were clear. and there's a shocking similarity to yet another close call last week at a pittsburgh

blayne alexander, nbc news. >>> the new jobs report is out. the u.s. economy adding 175,000 jobs in april falling short of expectations, and the unemployment rate ticking up to 3.9%, but experts say the slowdown in job growth could help ease inflation and lead the fed to cut interest rates this year. >>> an unmanned chinese spacecraft blasted off for an unexplored part of the moon today. jackie mackey frayer was at today's launch and reports on the new space race. >> reporter: it's one of china's most ambitious space missions yet, to the far side of the moon to bring back samples of lunar rock from a space never explored. we're roughly a mile and a half from the launch site. you can feel the ground shake as they have liftoff. if this mission is successful, it will mark a first. the unmanned mission called chang'e-6 marks a major milestone. china's goal, to put chinese astronauts on the moon by 2030. "all countries should explore, develop, and use outer space peacefully," said this mission official adding, "there's no need to worry too much about compet

here's blayne alexander. ♪♪ >> reporter: it was the most sacred of spaces at st.y magadelene church in abbeville, louisiana 60 children were poised to take their first communion saturday. >> that this sacrament -- >> reporter: when suddenly a man approaches the priest, whispering in his ear. moments later father nicholas dupree abruptly stops the service. [ screaming ] as chaos erupts. according to church officials, a suspicious person opened the back door. members immediately confronted him and led him outside, calling police. authorities say he was armed with a gun. inside, the video shows clergy members ducking for cover, altar servers scrambling to safety as police rush in, guns drawn, checking for any additional threat. >> just get a hold of your child. go slowly. >> reporter: the suspect was a 16-year-old white male, police say, dressed in all black. he was arrested, then taken to a hospital for mental evaluation, charged with terrorizing and two counts of juvenile gun possession. incredibly, police say, there were no injuries. >> hallelujah. >> reporter: bu

blayne alexander, nbc news. >>> we're tracking a new threat of severe weather tonight. there are reports of a tornado in westmoreland, kansas, in the topeka area, and there is a chance of more flooding like they're seeing across the state after the storms of the last week. al roker is following it all. how bad will be the weather be? >> well, lester, right now, we've got some very serious active conditions. we've got tornado watches, but we've also got tornado warnings now in parts of nebraska and in kansas. we're going to be watching this continually through the evening. the strong storms, we've got at least 8 million people at risk, strong tornadoes, damaging hail up to 2 inches from sioux city all the way down to wichita. baseball to softball-sized hail. tomorrow, the next system comes in. the threats from nebraska to kansas, from hastings all the way down to midland and abilene, could be strong tornadoes as well. again, that 2-inch hail risk all the way to midland, up into dodge city. flood risk from omaha to austin, because lester, we're talking upwards of 5 inches

. >> i want to bring in nbc's blayne alexander who has been following this case extensively for us. nbc's justice and intelligence correspondent, ken dilanian. also here former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, glenn kirschner. okay, blayne, so what happens now? >> reporter: chris, basically what this means is that this portion of the georgia election interference case that we thought was over, that we thought was already settled with the judge's decision is not over. it's now just kind of moving on to part two. what this means is that it's going to be going before a panel of appeals court judges. now, i think it's important to point out you showed that dramatic moment when fani willis testified on the stand for the better part of two hours. we heard from nathan wade. we heard all of this kind of bombshell testimony. that's not going to be the case here. this is a much more buttoned up process before the appeals court. each attorney is going to get 15 minutes or so to argue their case. it's not going to be in front of tv cameras as has everything else we've seen in fulton c

with us now, nbc news correspondent blayne alexander in atlanta. msnbc national correspondent yasmin vossoughian. msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin and charles coleman, former prosecutor in brooklyn, new york, who is an msnbc legal analyst. so, blayne, what can you tell us about the move by the georgia court of appeals this morning? >> well, jose, i think the bottom line of this is that this kind of long almost side show that has been taking over the fulton county trial for the better part of the first half of the year is not over. it is now just entering round two. so what we learned is that the georgia court of appeals has agreed to hear an appeal on this. you'll remember, of course, just a reminder to our viewers, this was the issue we were talking about in fulton county, fulton county district attorney fani willis there on the screen was accused of financially benefiting from a personal relationship which she was having with her then special prosecutor nathan wade, who you see walking into the courtroom right there. well, at the end of -- in

joining us right now, we have nbc news correspondent, blayne alexander, political reporter at the "atlanta journal-constitution," and msnbc contributor, greg blue stein, and msnbc legal analyst, catherine christian. blayne, we're going to start with you, and get to the news out of fulton county today, donald trump's appeal of a decision to keep d.a. fani willis on his election interference trial, it is going to be heard. remind us of the ruling he's challenging and what happens now? >> well, what happens is the issue that many people thought was closed and over and done with in this georgia election interference case is now going to stretch on for a little bit longer. it's certainly not going to carry a lot of the drama, quite frankly that, it brought the first time. this is the allegation that fani willis was improperly benefitting financially from a personal relationship that she had with former special prosecutor nathan wade. the judge ruled that she could stay on the case, the case could proceed uninterrupted as long as nathan wade resigned, and he did that day, and scott mcafee said h

. >>> nbc's blayne alexander is in atlanta for us, so what's happening there? >> reporter: this certainly won't make the case move faster. essentially what we learned is that donald trump and codefendants are now going to have an appeals court hear their position, their attempts to try and get fani willis thrown off the case. you'll remember a fulton county superior court judge said she can stay on the case, as long as wade resign. the georgia court of appeals is going to be hear that and trump will have another opportunity to get her thrown off the case. it's important to put in perspective, we have seen other matters related to this georgia interference case go before the georgia court of appeals, most notably mark meadows. he was trying to get this whole thing move to federal court. the appeals court said we'll hear the case, and then they shut down the request. just because of course it's going to be heard before the appeals court doesn't guarantee an outcome. certainly it is good news for trump and his team that it is going to be heard for appeal today. ch

let's go to nbc's blayne alexander joining us in georgia, where she's been talking to voters in that 2024 race. what are you hearing from these voters about their plans for election day, blayne? >> reporter: well, ana, we're just outside of atlanta, we're in gwinnett county, a suburb of metro atlanta. i want to set the scene for you and let you know why we are here. this, of course, is one of our seven deciders counties, a key county to watch in the key battleground state of georgia. this is a fast-growing area, the most diverse county in the state of georgia. and it is a place where according to the county gop chairman, this has the largest republican voting bloc of any county in the state of georgia. so, certainly a place they're watching very closely, but it is also has gone blue in the past two presidential elections. you can see why a shift either way could really make a big difference here. and it is with that backdrop that we sat down and talked to five different voters and people involved in the republican party here to find out, one, if they're paying attention to this trial

blayne alexander has the details. >> reporter: marijuana has been listed among the world's most dangerous like ketamine, testosterone or tylenol with codeine which would allow it to be more easily studied for medical benefits. the possession and distribution of it is still a federal crime but would recognize it as a drug less likely to lead to addiction. >> what does this mean for incarceration rates in america? >> hopefully it means a step closer to lowering those rates. >> reporter: 70% of marijuanas believe it should be legal. nearly half of states have legalized it for recreational use. but tonight one opposition group says the cannabis industry has lobbied heavily to sell demonstrablely harmful products. >> no one should be jailed. >> reporter: president biden has already pardoned thousands of marijuana offenders. and the move could garner political support this election year, particularly among young voters. it still has to go through a public comment period. >> who said president biden is not pro business? with that, i wish you all a very good night. ari is up next. make sure to tu

joining us now from gwinett county, georgia, nbc news correspondent, blayne alexander, and in kent county, michigan, nbc news correspondent, shaquille brewster. i know you guys were sent out this morning with a mandate to talk to voters about what they think about the criminal trial that donald trump is facing. i'd love to hear that. i also want to know from the extensive reporting that you two have been doing in battleground states about the election for probably about a year now. what you think voters are going to be looking to when these presidential debates happen, what do you think that they need to hear. blayne, i'll start with you, from both donald trump and from joe biden. >> well, you know, katy, it's interesting, and i can answer in two parts. for the people i spoke to, these are people who are very very loyal to donald trump. they're people who maybe started out this election season going for ron desantis, a couple of people said that nikki haley was the conversation among their friends. then when they exited the primary, they all fell in line. they're sporting the party, and d

thank you so much, blayne alexander, for that insight. on sunday, msnbc films presents "battleground georgia" 9:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc. >>> that does it for us today. see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. >>> good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern and 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin this morning with breaking news in the presidential race. just hours ago, president biden challenged former president donald trump to join him for two presidential debates with new terms. take a listen. >> donald trump lost two debates to me in 2020. since then he hasn't shown up for a debate.acting like he wano debate me again. well, make my day, pal, i'll do it twice. pick the date. i hear you're free on wednesdays. >> joining us, monica alba and vaughn hillyard and amna nawaz, an msnbc contributor. so, monica, the president just accepted an offer. what is he now proposing? >> reporter: we understand that former president

nbc's blayne alexander in gwinnett county, georgia.heard this before, donald trump, 77-year-old billionaire, has a penthouse apartment on 5th avenue and a castle by the ocean, he's martyr and a victim of american society and some people feel they share that with him. >> as we heard, a lot of young black men, rev, lot of people still nuclear secrets, then lie to the fbi and don't return them. try to influence the outcome of the election by paying hush money at the last second to a porn star, come on, this is ridiculous, by the way, the report's not ridiculous, i'm so glad and grateful for blayne because we get an insight into what these republican voters are thinking but this whole idea that donald trump is, like, suffering for our sins when in 2019 when all of us around this set said, if he loses he'll run for president again to protect himself from future prosecution, so he can say, we said that five years, this whole idea of people going, wait, now, why are they bringing these lawsuits now? they're bringing the lawsuits now because t