cal perry, over to you. at a stop by a stretch of highway that can get congested during travel days. are you at maryland house? there's a pete's coffee in there that used to be my old stomping grounds. give us a sense of the scene. there's a gas station there. what are people telling you about that? >> reporter: as somebody who knows the area, you can vouch for this. you can live all over the country but feel like you have always lived on i95. you are right, traffic is starting to back up. there's an accident north of baltimore. no one will be surprised by that. this is one of the busiest travel centers on the east coast. we are expecting a 30% increase every single week headed into this summer. people are trying to get home. the interesting thing about this memorial day is the way that everybody's schedule has changed. not everybody has to be in an office tomorrow. i had a chance to speak to brian kelly, he is known as the points guy, about how everyone's schedule is changing. take a listen. >> what people

thank you so much, cal perry.'s take a look at today's other top stories, including some new reaction to president biden's $6 trillion budget proposal. last hour, chairman of the budget committee telling me why he's not worried about inflation. >> what the biden budget does is finally after decades and decades ask questions in the right order. the questions we always ought to be asking is what do we need to do for the american people? what do we need to do to keep our country prosperous and thriving and provide an equal opportunity to everybody? what we've been doing is saying, what can we afford to do? and the answer is, no, we ask the questions, what do we need to do for the american people and how do we resource that? how do we get it done? >>> meantime, congressman matt gaetz under fire today after saying this about the second amendment at a georgia rally. >> the second amendment is not about -- it's not about hunting. it's not about recreation. it's not about sports. the second amendment is about maintaining,

joining me is cal perry in cheyenne, wyoming.a hardship assignment to be out there in beautiful wyoming. of course, a difficult story in that this is the center of vaccine hesitancy. what are officials dealing with there? >> reporter: it's a hard assignment because this is a rural, beautiful place, adding to the vaccine hesitancy. people think, i'm not going to be around people. i live on a ranch. i don't need the vaccine. that's something that people here talk about. the other thing that's going on is i think people are aware the folks who wanted the vaccine have gotten it. now it's about reaching those people who maybe are on the fence. we see this across the country, not just in wyoming, but across america. listen to what the county health official told us about his strategy in reaching people. >> there's one group that is totally dead set against it. you are not going to convince them. there's another group that just has some hesitation. they may not be sure that it's fully safe. they may have heard misinformation about it. w

s national park is where we find nbc's cal perry. i know that you spoke to some fans earlier.ans feeling? >> reporter: yeah, people are happy to be back. they're happy that these stadiums are going to be at capacity they're at 36% now. here are the teams currently available for 100% seating -- >> reporter: here is who is going to next. the baltimore oraliers on june 1st. the dodgers will open june 15th. they are ten games up in first place. this is your dodger update. the other thing that's happening on the field is that we are seeing the vaccinations really take hold. at least 16 teams now have vaccinated at least 85% of their players and staff. that will allow them to lose the masks in the dugout and travel differently. as you mentioned, the fans are happy to be here. we spoke to a couple on their way in. take a listen. >> definitely. i think it's awesome to see parks getting full again. get the fan experience back. >> i like the reduced, to be honest. it's so much easier to get out of here. i'm happy it's getting safer, though. you know what i mean? the selfish side is thin

cal perry is outside the maryland house travel plaza on i95. , that plaza. ron allen is in queens, new york. ron is at a popup vaccination site. cal, you are at the busiest travel plaza on east coast. what traffic is the rest stop seeing? what are folks telling you? >> reporter: this is one of the buiest places on the east coast. increasing by 30% every week. we have our first gas line. people are waiting in line for gas. not too bad, 10, 15 minutes. it's only 11:30 in the morning. this will get worse. i know you are familiar with this area. the dmv will see 3 million people hitting the road over the weekend. life has changed. schedules have changed. not everybody has to be back at work tomorrow. we see people spread out their travel. expect it to get busier throughout the day. this area feeds d.c., philly, maryland, beaches out east. it's not a surprise this is one of the busiest spots in the country. >> folks are filling up the tanks as gas prices hit a seven-year high on average. mr. allen, let me come to you. this weekend, new york city's pu

in louisville here's nbc's cal perry. >> tripped me up was laid me off of work. to go back out and get one more. >> were you laid off because of the pandemic >> yes, i was. >> reporter: jimmy moore has struggled with addiction for 20 years, and the pressures of the pandemic proved too much he relapsed. >> family members have pulled away because they ain't got jobs either and it's hard to find any kind of income at all and addiction has went through the roof i mean that's my next best friend and that's the only thing i know reporter: substances abuse has spiked nationally. a silent epidemic inside a pandemic >> the number of calls especially from young people in crisis isolated in their homes and feeling the unrest and uncertainty of the future. >> reporter: from september 2019 to september 2020 drug overdose deaths went up by 29% across the united states. but in kentucky the increase was 50%. seven county services in louisville helps those struggling with in patient and outpatient care. these days they're doing the best they can in a world no longer conducive to

cal perry spent the weekend in wyoming. thanks to both of you. >>> this morning, police in several cities are dealing with the aftermath after a spree of gun violence this weekend. six people were killed during a shooting at a birthday party in colorado springs. it happened early sunday morning. investigators say the gunman who took his own life is believed to be a boyfriend of one of the victims. in new york city, three people were shot, including a 4-year-old girl after a gunman opened fire in times square. this one happened in broad daylight. police say the victims' injuries are not life-threatening. gun violence in new york has jumped 83% since this time last year. in missouri, two people were killed, three people were hurt in a shooting friday. one witness in missouri describing a, quote, full out gang war. this all comes as the president urging congress to pass legislation to end the epidemic of gun violence. meanwhile, just a few hours from now, president biden set to speak about the economy. how will he use last job

cal perry is in cheyenne, wyoming, this morning.hot? what are they saying about why they are not? >> reporter: look, it seems to be three groups of people. people desperate to get the vaccine right away. people hesitant to get it but willing to get it depending on the evidence that they are presented. the third group of people of which health officials seem to not spend time on, people who say they absolutely won't get the vaccine. the middle group of people can be persuaded that they are focusing on. listen to what this man is thinking about. >> i kind of want to watch and see maybe as it progresses. i can't say as it gets better. but you hear stories of side effects and -- i don't need a side effect. >> reporter: are you hearing similar things from your customers? >> yeah. a lot don't want to get the shot. >> reporter: as far as public health officials are concerned, we had a county administrator tell us there's an easy way and hard way. the easy way is everybody gets vaccinated. the hard way is for people to get sick. that is the

msnbc correspondent cal perry in arlington, virginia. reagan national airport of course.ures from virginia, reagan, okay it's early. >> i'm a little like you, actually. i was telling the crews this morning like i'm up and nobody else is. like come on, america, let's go. we've got some weary travelers. it's a very sad looking crowd this morning. look, we're going to have at least 2.5 million people taking to the air. we can show you stats this year versus last year. compare that to just over 300,000 a year ago. we're almost to pre-pandemic levels this year over two years ago, still down about 30% on the number of flights, but a staff for you low capacity over 81% for flights going out this weekend. we've seen stressful passengers. we have over 2,500 incidents of unruly passengers since the year began. it is a concern for the faa. also going to be difficult when you land. the rental car situation is very bad across much of the country. these rental car fleet guys sell their cars every year. they sold 100,000 vehicles last year. they're having trouble replacing those vehicle

nbc's cal perry is there with more, and i'm also joined by former cdc director dr. tom frieden. cal, what is going on? >> you know, stephanie, there are plenty of vaccines. when we spoke to the county health administrator, he basically said in his mind it's helpful to divide people in three categories. people who desperately wanted the vaccine and came out and got it. in the middle category, people willing to think about it, look at the evidence. and finally the people who will not get it. that middle group is key, people on the fence. we met john yesterday, who basically said he was on the fence but basically felt pressured to get the vaccine. >> how did you come to the decision to get vaccinated? >> it's going to happen, more force than anything. work, at the data center, it's kind of -- i'm sure it's going -- sooner or later e. it's going to be the way they want to go. either you're vaccinated or you don't work and you don't travel. >> you felt like it was inevitable, you had to do it. >> yes. >> if you didn't feel like that, would you have gotten it? >> no. >> vaccine mandate

with me now, covering this for us, my friend cal perry at reagan national airport and shaq brewster, who's got the best assignment in the biz. those glasses. come on, shaq, in miami, florida. gloating. and you can just tell cal is angry underneath that mask there at the airport. cal, i'm going to start with you on this one. american airlines announcing it's not yet resuming serving alcohol in economy. what more do we know about this decision, and also, this uptick in passenger confrontations happening on planes right now? >> reporter: yes, so, american airlines is actually following southwest in this policy. southwest said they were going to bring back the drinking in economy class, but they're delaying it at least until the end of the summer. now we hear american doing the same thing until at least september 13th as they say the number of incidents is fairly outrageous, 2,500 acts of unruly passengers since the beginning of the year. 1,900 of them having to do with masks. on the left side of your screen is an incident on southwest airlines. that flight attendant there had two teeth k

that's where cal perry is. hat ranks near the bottom per capita actually vaccinated adults. joining me is former acting cdc director dr. richard besser. cal, you are out there. the reason we picked wyoming is because it's a state that it's near the bottom. what have you learned on the ground there as to this? how much is just environmental where because of the sparseness of the state, the virus has never been as front and center there as it has in other places? >> reporter: look, i think that's part of it. you are finding that people who don't want a vaccine are looking for a reason not to get one. people who wanted it, have gotten one. officials are focusing on that middle group, people that could be persuaded. there's a group of people here in -- it's not just wyoming, it's around the country -- who don't want the vaccine. take a listen to what tony told us. we visited a feed store here in cheyenne, which is a requirement here in wyoming. here are the reasons he gave. >> so many people we know come in the stor

. >> cal perry, over to you in wyoming. what are you seeing and hearing from folks there about why the vaccination rate is so low, and what are they doing to change that? >> all of the things that the guests are mentioning here are in play here. the j&j pause, i think, hurt things here in wyoming. it gave people who were on the fence a reason not to get it. if people are looking for a reason not to get it, they can find it pretty easily. you don't have to go obscure corners of the world anymore. you can flip to fox news to find a reason not to get the vaccine. what you have is county officials trying to concentrate on the folks who are on the fence. two pieces of sound for you, jeff. the first is that county official on that strategy. the second is one who was resistant to getting the vaccine but did, anyway. take a listen. >> there is one group totally dead set against it and you're not going to convince them, but there is another group that has some hesitation, they have some questions, they may not be sure that it's full

now businesses are seeing a surge in customers nbc's cal perry has more. >> reporter: francis, what aerence five days has made here in nashville. friday we saw a lifting on the mask mandate the bars have been packed. for people like bartenders across the city, it's literally been life changing listen. >> i think it's going to be wild i think it's going to be one of the busiest summers we've seen in a while people are ready to go out and have everything back to normal my favorite part about being a bartender is meeting new people, seeing different personalities, hearing their stories. it's just the best part about it we can finally get our lives back and our jobs back. >> reporter: one of the unintended consequences is now there is a labor shortage when it comes to bartenders and servers and other folks in the service industry the city is hoping video of people packing the bars will bring people back in the cities. >> what a concept, bellying up to a bar and sitting next to a stranger. >> forgot what that was like sometime soon. >> good enough. >>> next on "early today," the body camer

we have cal perry, laura barrett in doylestown, pa, also we have dr.quity. tsa reported the highest number of travelers on friday and we're also seeing it play out on the road. you're at one of the busiest rest stops on the eastern seaboard. >> furious about the weather. anyone that has been watching this weekend has watched me standing in the rain. people's worlds changed, not everybody has to be back at work tomorrow, not everyone will be back out in an office. a lot of people moved their trips to take trips this week because they can. this is one of the busiest spots on the east coast. 8,000 to 10,000 people would come through here every day. it's increasing 30% every week. the two hiccups are gas prices up $1.08. nationally compared to a year ago. the other problem is rental cars. they have prevented the fleets from refreshing their inventory. people are having difficulty getting their cars. we have heard horror stories about people renting uhaul's to drive around the island. >> where do computer chips go? basically everything that we use. alison,

let's go to cal perry. cal? >> hey, blayne, from the air to trains to on the ground, one of the weak links this holiday season could be rental cars. there's a run on rental cars and it's because, look, these rental car companies sell the cars once a year. they replenished their fleet. they're unable to do so. there's a semiconductor shortage and labor shortage means prices will be higher and it could be harder to find a car in warmer locations, las vegas or hawaii, where we heard horror stories of people having to rent u-hauls around the islands. another place to rent the car, florida, where we will find my colleague shaquille brewster. >> people are taking rental cars and planes to fill beaches like this. we're here on south beach in miami, florida, where you see it's fairly empty right now. last year it's because these beaches were closed because of the pandemic. this year it's because it's 9:00 a.m., so you can expect that to change. officials are preparing for pre-pandemic crowds to fill beaches like this. h

cal perry, thanks for your reporting. >>> and secretary of state blinken is in the middle east.traveling with the secretary. we will have more coming up next. we will have more coming up next when considering another treatment ask about xeljanz, a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than

we have garrett haake and cal perry joining us live. kevin mccarthy going very public about who he wants to replace cheney even though she technically still has the job. >> do you support elise stefanik for that job? >> at least i do. >> that says a lot about the path forward for the gop. >> yeah, the house republican conference is eager to get this vote done and overwith as quickly as possible. mccarthy playing brutus striking the final blow against liz cheney. it was mccarthy that spoke on cheney's behalf. talking about the importance of having a big republican party with room for all of these voices on issues like the former president now not so. and i think it is important to rem there are two separate votes here. at some point, possibly even days later there is a next vote on stefanik. so you have mccarthy pulling way ahead of the action that tells us that if we pick our metaphor about a civil war or battle, but house republicans made their choice. their the party of trump going forward. there is very few voices, and few trump agno

. >> while we wait for that, cal perry you're in a place that is now pre-pandemic, right?k like you stepped back in time 15 months because there are no more capacity limits, and no more mask requirements, big changes for businesses to navigate. >> yeah, we were here about a year ago, it was obviously a very different scene. national lost $470 million in a 16 month period. on friday they lefted that mask mandate. lifted the requirements for indoors, and people are out. it's impossible to get a restaurant reservation right now. take that and you have local businesses that still have to figure out the mask mandate for themselves including for employees. we're here in nashville. we spoke to the owner about how he will leave a mask mandate in place for a few weeks. i think some are waiting on it for various reasons and they just came out of nowhere and some thought they had more time to get vaccinated. we want to make sure everyone has plenty of time to cothat. >> 45 exact of people are ongoing. they are giving a free coffee if you show your card. the idea is to get people out,

joining me now is an nbc news correspondent cal perry joining us from reagan national airport in virginiathat was the first time i've seen it. so what's going on here? >> reporter: yeah, so it seems to be a combination of things. i spoke to somebody inside the industry last night, they really said alcohol and masks. we have this new batch of fines, the fda putting out fines every week. this video you can see is one of those altercations on a plane. wearing a mask, they escorted folks off the plane. this recent batch of fines, alcohol-related two of the five and three of the five mask related. and the mask seems to be a point of contention when it comes to the passengers. the mask mandate will remain in place. we heard today from the department of homeland security saying they will not hesitate to both levy fines and arrest people if the situation gets out of control. and those numbers are pretty staggering. 2500 reports of unruly behavior so far this year. we're used to 150 to 200 over the course of an entire year. so 500 a month is an alarming rate. all of this comes, of course, as we ap

joining me now cal perry in maryland at a busiest travel plaza and nbc news correspondent allison barbararing from visitors there and why rv camping is so appealing right now. >> reporter: yeah. so we have heard from a lot of a campers who said that they didn't get into rv'g or consider using an rv until the pandemic hit. but they say because of the pandemic something like this is now very appealing to them. i'm going to take my own little camera cell phone inside. this is the rv that we have been moving around with. you can see not a very big guy but there's tons of storage up here. we have a sink. a stove. a microwave with my producer's leftover breakfast burrito. a nice little shower, bathroom combo and two beds that push together why not a huge rv why a little guy but it has everything you would need to stay overnight and if you're nervous about taking an airplane or staying overnight in a hotel why this might be appealing. it is easy to see why people like this and really getting into it this year. >> i think with covid, you kind of just needed an escape and to be safe. >> wears mask

. >> reporter: for the news, i'm cal perry. >>> some of the america's biggest companies are teaming uplawmakers are pushing two bills which would limit early voting, add hurdles for people who want to vote by mail, and ban drive-thru voting. dozens of companies, including microsoft and american airlines, signed a joint letter, calling for elected leaders in texas to oppose any changes that would restrict eligibility voters' access to the ballot in a separate letter, more than 100 business leadsers in houston called the texas voting bills flat-out voters suppression. some of the strongest pushback we have seen yet from corporate america, as republican-controlled states pass voting laws in the wake of their 2020 election laws >>> a professional boxer accused of kidnapping a woman who said she was pregnant with his child. he's accused of injecting her with an unknown substance and throwing her off the bridge. that's just the sad beginning. tonight now he's facing multiple charges after a witness comes forward and tells all. >>> plus india's travel ban now in effect. the requirements peopl

nbc's ellison parry, and cal perry. and the fans in boston, fenway park reopened at full capacity. ark that's following their lead, apparently. look at the crowd behind you. >> reporter: yes, the nationals could get 15,000 in here today. they're still looking at about 36% capacity. they'll open up in about two weeks to 100% capacity. here is a list of the teams currently offering 100% capacity. the houston astros, atlanta braves, arizona diamondbacks, and the boston red sox which went to 100% capacity just the other day. in the next couple of weeks you'll see the baltimore orioles, your premier league team, i know that will upset everybody around me, so it goes. the indians and the reds, and on june 4, the philadelphia phillies. this is made possible by vaccinations, this is vaccination story. the majority of teams in the league have at least 85% of their players and staff vaccinated, that will allow them to get of covid protocols, specifically masks in the dugout. major league baseball hopes this is a bit of a trial run for july 4, alex. >> how are the stadiums returning for all th

our own cal perry talked to residents there dealing with the crisis. >> they laid me off from work ande more. >> were you laid off because of the pandemic? >> yes, i was. >> jimmy moore has struggled with addiction for 20 years and the pleasures of the pandemic was too much. >> it is hard to find any income at all and addiction is my next best friend. that's the only thing i know. >> substance abuse spiked nationally. a silent epidemic inside of a pandemic. >> the number of calls especially from young people in crisis, isolated in their homes, and feeling the unrest and the uncertainty of the future. >> september of 2019 to september of 2020 drug overdose deaths went up by 29%. in kentucky the increase was 50%. seven county services helps those struggling with in patient and outpatient care. they're doing the best they can in a world no longer conducive to human touch. >> the normal places that you would gather have turned into virtual meetings. you might be able to show up on the camera and fake it for awhile and then get off that camera and be alone again. we find that the individual

cal perry is with travelers in maryland. maura barrett in the suburbs of philly. be we're at arlington national cemetery where we're expected to see president biden in the next hour. cal, i got to go to you first. you are at one of the busiest rest stops in the region. besides people being absolutely furious about the miserable weather, what are they telling you? >> it's really sad this is the first sort of brilliant day of weather we had all weekend and it's a little bit of a grind today for folks. this is the day, obviously, when people are headed home. 37 million people hitting the roads over the weekends. about 2.5 million to 3 million here in the d.c., maryland, virginia area. gas prices have been on people's minds, about $1.08 higher than what we saw a year ago. as you said, this is a busy place -- it was a busy place during the pandemic. it's 8,000 to 10,000 people every day to come through this rest stop during the pandemic. it's increasing about 30% every week in the past month. today is no exception. we're also talking to people about their travel pattern

for what's happening in tennessee, let's go to cal perry who is in nashville. >> good morning.l 16 months there was no live music here in the music city. that has all changed and last friday there was a mask mandate lifted in the city as well as a capacity limit and now the bars and the restaurants have been packed all since this weekend. this is still the number one destination for all parties in america. the city is alive and they want tourists to come here. in addition to that, of course, they're keeping an eye on the coronavirus numbers. 45% of folks in this county have been vehiclesated at least one shot and they're trying to get that number up by running insentives. get a free drink if you show your vaccination card. it is to get the economy back up and running and get them spending money and get the city back on its feet. that's the latest from here from new york city and times square, my colleague, gabe gutierrez. >> hey, there, cal. good morning. this is the one-time epicenter of the coronavirus in the u.s. and it's hard to believe it's been more than a year since we w

so with that in mind i want to play a little bit of what our own reporters, cal perry, found out in wyoming. again, with her being from a family legacy of right wingers. take a look. >> you're not supposed to go vote your conscience to represent wyoming. you're supposed to represent wyoming. >> she basically stabbed us in the back with she felt it was the right thing to do. well, i didn't vote for her for her feelings. >> she's a traitor. >> why? what did she do? >> well, she's a republican and then she votes against the republican president? she's a traitor. >> professor? >> i mean, first of all, we need to look at wyoming as a state. so these folks that were interviewed pretty much represent a large swath of the conservative ideology of wyoming. but ari, you made a really interesting point that i think is necessary which bolsters joan's point. liz cheney is from a core republican party. the reagan, h.w. bush era as well. now we see the republican party has moved so far away from that foundation. i mean these are people who are willing to let go of their representatives because they don't

let's go from florida to virginia and cal perry who is joining us from reagan national airport.ageddon, right? how bad is this situation going to get this weekend? >>. >> i feel guilty now because i'll take where shaq left us and i'm going to bring us way down especially for those people who are traveling around looking for a rental car. look, the bottom line is this is emblematic of where we are as a country and where we are as an economy. they sell them annually and they replace the rental cars with new cars, but this year there is a semiconductor shortage and so that is not possible. the economy is changing and we have a run on rental cars especially when it's warm out and take a look at what the points guy had to say about it. >> some locations are a lot worse than others. right now in hawaii, you're lucky to even get a car. also in march, 18 out of 20 top rental car markets had sold out vehicles. so if you're going to those places where people are headed like hawaii and the southeast, be prepared and book in advance and it may not hurt to have a second reservation at a near

cal perry has been talking with some of liz cheney's constituents.s like the writing is on the wall in sharpie. could anything change the trajectory? >> it's highly unlikely. it's all but a forgone conclusion that elise stefanik will replace liz cheney and liz cheney will be ousted. it will happen wednesday in a conference meeting where one republican member has to make a motion of confidence against cheney. if leadership considers it of immediate importance, they can call a vote. a simple majority can vote her out. the writing has been on the wall for a while. the message that republicans are sending is that you can't be in party leadership if you contradict president trump. he is the leader of the party. liz cheney for actively debunking his falsehoods was not appreciated by her party. that's the reason it appears she has to go. >> it's the active debunking but it's what you hear from those republicans who want to see her gone is it's a messaging issue. she's not on message with where the rest of the gop is. here is congressman banks on that. >> an