janet shamlian joins us from the courthouse just outside of philadelphia. janet, what's the latest on what's happening right now? >> reporter: well, bill cosby's attorneys are objecting to the admittance of what's called hearsay evidence. as you described, that is her previous deposition and her statements to investigators at the time of or shortly after the alleged crime, that she was sexually assaulted by bill cosby in his home in 2004. cosby's attorney saying this is denying him due process, that the accuser should be here to make those statements so they can cross examine her. however, legal precedent has it that hearsay actually is involved in these cases. so the judge has a decision to make here, is there enough evidence to go forward with a trial. they are currently reading some of these statements that have been previously brought up, as you indicated, in the civil trial that was settled out of court but late last year documents from that trial were made public and that is when these criminal charges were filed. again, they did take a ten-minute rece

janet shamlian is in louisiana tonight. janet? >> reporter: kate, good evening. the southern storms have been relentless. tonight, it is louisiana in the cross hairs. thousands of homes like this one in the flood zone. the lake charles area has been especially hard hit by this dangerous flash flooding. one car swept off the road and under a foot bridge. more than six inches of rain in the region since midnight in some areas, ten inches. in lafayette, interstate 49 shut down in both directions for several hours but despite the conditions, some drivers still trying to make their way through the rising water. the storms also battered new orleans where for a second day some events were cancelled. tonight 20 million americans are under the threat of more severe weather and flooding and thousands of homes are like this one, without power in the water and more severe weather on the way. kate, back to you. >> janet shamlian, thank you so much. >>> in iraq a big anti-government protest and occupation inside the heavily protected green zone in baghdad is over tonight. but

nbc's janet shamlian has late details from texas. >> reporter: this haunting video shows the moments of explosions. in the small town of west texas, a massive blast at the city's fertilizer plant. 15 people were killed, including a dozen first responders. 200 were hurt. hundreds of buildings ripped apart, including houses, apartments, schools and a nursing home. more than three years later officials now say the fire ahead of that blast was intentionally set. a preventable criminal act. >> we came to the conclusion after we ruled out all reasonable accidental and natural causes. >> reporter: one of the largest investigations in atf history, three years and 400 interviews that have cost more than $2 million. and it's ongoing. a $50,000 reward authorities hope will lead to an arrest. >> it is the most difficult type of determination to make. in other words, every little other piece of cause and origin has to be eliminated. it's very difficult and painstaking. >> reporter: initial findings by the u.s. chemical safety board faulted the company for failing to prevent the fire. and regulato

janet shamlian in charleston for us tonight. thanks. >>> we move on to politics now and more tough talk today from donald trump who found a sympathetic audience at at annual biker event in washington, d.c. known as rolling thunder. kelly o'donnell was there and has our report. >> reporter: revved up with an unmistakable swagger and a deafening sound. that gave this annual mission to washington, d.c., its name. rolling thunder. today the tribute to american prisoners of war and those missing in action turned political. this was not a campaign rally. >> rolling thunder. look at all these bikers. do we love the bikers? yes, we love the bikers. >> reporter: but donald trump made it feel like one. >> we can't have hillary clinton be our president. that i can tell you. >> reporter: trump, who did not serve in the military, plugged into this national veterans gathering to say that he and not hillary clinton would better provide for veterans' needs. >> thousands of people are dying. hard to believe even, of our vets, our most cherished

janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. >>> all right. so picture this. a passenger travel in a pneumatic tube at nearly the speed of sound. a company called hyper loop successfully tested the futuristic hyper loop system. it uses magnetic levitation or maglev technology and it raced down the track going from 0 to 60 in 1.1 seconds before being stopped by a patch of sand. the goal is to get to 400 miles an hour in two seconds. the expected top speed is 750 miles per hour. and the company's founder says the test shows that the technology already in use can be used more cheaply. their goal is to have a full test of the sled in the tube by the end of the year and passengers by 2021. fasten your seat belts, folks. >>> three separate car bombs killed 93 people in baghdad. isis has claimed responsibility for all three attacks. this marks the deadliest day for the iraqi capital this year. more than 160 people were also wounded. the largest attack came in a crowded outdoor market where 63 people were killed including multiple brides-to-be who were getting ready f

janet shamlian has more. >> reporter: this video shows the moment of the explosion. >> are you okay? >> i can't hear! >> reporter: in the small town of west texas, a massive blast at the city's fertilizer plant. 15 people were killed, including a dozen first responders. 200 were hurt. hundreds of buildings ripped apart, including nursing home. more than three years later, officials now say the fire ahead of that blast was intentionally set, a preventible criminal act. >> we came to the conclusion, after we rule out all reasonable accidental and natural causes. >> reporter: one of the largest investigation in atf history. three years and 400 injures and cost more than $2 million. and it's ongoing. a 50,000 dollar reward authorities hope will lead to an arrest. initial findings by the u.s. chemical safety board failed the company for failing to prevent a fire and groups for not preventing a hazard. the town was almost unrecognizable. piles of rubble and a crater 12 feet deep and it was no accident, heartbreak for those trying to rebuild their lives. janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. >

nbc's janet shamlian is live outside the court house in norristown, pennsylvania. janet, what's happening inside that courtroom? >> reporter: jose, good morning to you. as of about ten minutes ago, the hearing had not started yet. it was scheduled to start at 9:30 eastern time. the unknown at this point is whether andrea constad is in court. we saw bill cosby come in 45 minutes ago. a few minutes after his attorneys. he was guide by an assistant but looked strong, was wearing a suit. when he exited his suv he waved to a crowd of supporters here. this is a preliminary hearing. it is the very first time bill cosby is appearing in court on criminal charges. today a judge will decide whether there is evidence enough to go forward with the trial and the bar is fairly low here. the prosecutors will lay out a case but only a shell of a case. and if andrea constad is not here today, they will be able to read into testimony her comments from her deposition back in 2006 when she accused bill cosby of drugging her and then sexually assaulting her at his home in 2004. that was

janet shamlian is at dfw.ld's busiest airport in atlanta, second day in a row but let's start with blake mccoy at chicago's o'hare international airport. blake, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, jose. i've been here pretty much consistently for the last two weeks since the travel nightmare began here two weeks ago. this is the best i've seen it, believe it or not. let's take a look at what the airport looks like right now. you can see travelers coming for the memorial day holiday. look at what they have been preparing for. look at all of these empty rows in the security line. unnecessary today. that's because they have every checkpoint open and things are moving very quickly. in fact they have tripled the number of dogs here at o'hare from 4 to 12 which can keep the lines moving much quicker. the dogs would normally be in the center lane. they haven't had to bring the dogs out at all, so it has been very smooth sailing here at o'hare so far. they have added additional workers on top of those extr

janet shamlian is outside that courthouse. we're saying we're waiting for cosby to pull up there, go inside in a few minutes. tell us what exactly we can expect to be happening in that courthouse today. >> good morning. essentially this is a preliminary hearing to determine whether these charges will go to trial. essentially the prosecution is going to lay out its case against bill cosby. and that will lie heavily on the words of his accuser andrea constand and her testimony previously that she was drugged and sexually assaulted at his home in 2004. now constand and cosby settled out of court a civil suit in 2006 and their testimony, their depositions in that case were supposed to remain sealed. but last year, a federal judge unsealed part of them and after they became public, the current district attorney here kevin steel, filed felony sexual assault charges against cosby. cosby tried to have this thrown out on the grounds he had what's called a nonprosecution agreement when he gave that subpoena. however, the appeals court s

nbc's janet shamlian is covering all that for us live from outside houston in tomball, texas. on a very key holiday weekend here, janet. >> reporter: it's no holiday here for people in tomball. let me show you some of what's going on here. this is what we're seeing over and over again, the sheriff's department going out and bringing people in who've been cut off from this road by the high water. their homes are not necessarily flooded, but they cannot get in or out. so if they want to go to the store, if they want to do anything, they've got to rely on the goodness of strangers wo who have a boat or from the harris county sheriff's department who has been here 24/7 working to try to help people in this neighborhood. you can see -- i don't know if you can -- guy, are you able to see the vehicle down there in the water? this water is going down very quickly, richard, but that is like no consolation right now for the people in these neighborhoods who are having to deal with the water and the problems. and it's not like this has never happened here. it was five weeks ago that hous

nbc's janet shamlian is outside the courtroom in norristown, pennsylvania, and has the latest for us.preliminary hearing to determine whether this felony case of sexual assault will go to trial, and will rely heavily on the words of his accuser andrea constand. constand claims cosby drugged her and sexually assaulted her at his home in 2004. constand and cosby settled a civil suit in 2006, but last year a federal judge made portions of their depositions public at which point the current district attorney filed these felony charges. bill cosby tried to have the case thrown out saying that he had a non-prosecution agreement when he gave that deposition, but the appeals court denied that. couple of things could happen. cosby could waive the hearing, at which point it would be set for trial immediately. that seems the least likely on could decide there's not enough evidence to proceed, however the bar is fairly low here for them to go forward see andrea consta take the stand, however she would be subject to a rigorous cross-examination by cosby's attorneys. there's also the possibility th

janet shamlian, nbc news, myrtle beach, south carolina. >> and we're getting, i guess, remnants of bonniet, impacting our area? >> yeah. >> that's why it's so dreary outside. and this forecast has been tricky for you guys. >> oh, my gosh, you sat next to me and i was like what is going on with this forecast because bonnie right now is tropical depression but hanging out between myrtle beach and charleston. so it's going to hang there until we can get something to push it out and that's not going to happen until thursday or friday. so it's just going to kind of be meandering around the south carolina coast. unfortunately we're stuck in this pattern here, nothing like s but again, wer going to get rain and clouds. get to the forecast you can see it's a little hazy. i did see a little brightening of the skies just outside the nbc studios as i was walking in, so we're having a little bit of sunshine. you're finding more sunshine if you're along i-81. and, again, that's where some instability is going to increase. so right now we've got two systems we're watching. we've got what is -- what was

janet shamlian in new orleans, thank you.trump big foreign policy speech. as we go to break we bring you president obama's take on how world leaders are treating him in the final months of office. >> somebody said to me, mr. president, you're so yesterday, justin trudeauo replaced you, so handsome and charming. he's the future. i said, justin, just give it a rest. it comes to small business, she's in the know. so strap yourselves in for action flo! small business edition. oh, no! i'm up to my neck in operating costs! i'll save the day! for plumbers and bakers and scapers of lawn, she's got customized coverage you can count on. you chipped my birdbath! now you're gonna pay! not so fast! i cover more than just cars and trucks. ♪ action flo did somebody say "insurance"? children: flo! ♪ action flo cut! can i get a smoothie, please? ooh! they got smoothies? for me. ooh! they got smoothies? find fast relief behind the counter allergies with nasal congestion? with claritin-d. [ upbeat music ] strut past that aisle for the allergy r

janet shamlian is in dallas. kerry sanders is at atlanta.lake mccoy is at chicago's o'hare airport. blake, set the scene there. how is it shaping up today? >> good morning. like the rest of the country, passengers are being hold to arrive two hours before their flights. the fear of god put in these passengers because of what we saw a week and a half ago with that cot nightmare. when people are arriving this morning, they are finding no lines. these folks walking up, finding a pleasant surprise. the wait is only about 45 seconds, a minute maybe. this is great for the fourth busyiest travel day. since that cot disaster a few weeks ago, they've added a lot of workers. they've also tripled the number of dogs from 4 to 12. those dogs are able to keep these lines moving much quicker. illinois' senator called on the tsa chief to resign if the wait times did not improve here in chicago by this weekend. it appears his job is safe, if this keeps up. i'm going to send things to my colleague kerry sanders at atlanta's hartsfield-jackson airport. how are

nbc's janet shamlian is there with more. >> reporter: explosions. amid a massive fire, rocking houston today. >> like a bomb. >> reporter: starting in a home the blaze quickly engulfed a neighboring industrial building. inside, ammunition, and drums of chemicals that blew up like fireworks. >> the explosion, that was big. you could feel it. it shook the ground a little bit. >> reporter: with billowing smoke spewing hazardous material into the air, authorities sent out an urgent shelter in place order. people urged to close windows and stay inside. >> we don't really know the product of combustion at this time. what we do know is that it appeared to be petroleum based, and pesticides can be also included. >> reporter: more than 600 students evacuated from a nearby elementary school. the fire went to four alarms, with almost 200 firefighters on the front lines. fighting the flames amid high winds, and flying debris. >> that thing flew over and that's when a big ball of fire erupted and we just felt the heat. >> reporter: the still smoldering aftermath

we begin with janet shamlian outside of houston in texas. >> reporter: lightning strikes across southeast texas and days of torrential rain, triggering flash flooding and heroics like this, police officers brave rising waters to save a woman from her sinking car. no holiday for homeowners like jennifer clark and daughter raylynn who could leave their house only by boat. >> we are surrounded by water. >> reporter: so are many as creeks spilled over the banks. the sheriff's department has had plenty of practice performing these type of rescues. it was just last month that the houston area saw historic flooding. >> i've lived outside of of cypress for 38 years. it's never been like this. >> reporter: more than 50 children had to spend the night with teachers in the elementary school due to floodwaters. parents were able to pick them up today. >> it took the toll on everybody in the community. >> reporter: severe storms and heavy rain tore through wichita kansas where an 11-year-old boy is missing after fall into a fast-moving creek and debris swept through another town. >> i looked at my hus

nbc's janet shamlian has more. >> reporter: explosions amid a massive fire rocking houston. >> a bomb. >> reporter: starting in a home the glaze quickly engulfed a neighboring industrial building. inside ammunition and drums of chemicals that blew up like fireworks. >> explosion was big. you could feel it. it should around a little bit. >> reporter: with smoke spilling hazardous material in the air, a shelter was placed and people were ordered to stay inside. more than 600 students evacuated from a nearby elementary school. the fire went to four alarm with almost 200 firefighters on the front line. fighting the flames amid high winds and flying debris. >> that thing flew over and big ball of fire erupted and zone. firefighters say it's a miracle no one was hurt. >>> officials are trying to determine what chemical exploded. meanwhile, residents are being told to avoid runoff from the fire. >>> spacex successfully launched a falcon 9 rocket overnight from cape canaveral in florida. it was part of a mission to send a japanese communication satellite into orbit. the first stage of the roc

. >> that was nbc's janet shamlian. officials are trying to determine what chemical explode and residents are being told to avoid runoff from the fire. >>> spacex successfully launched a falcon 9 rocket overnight from cape canaveral in florida. it was part of a mission to send the japanese communications satellite into orbit. the first stage of the rocket also successfully landed in the atlantic ocean on board a uniquely named ship called of course i still love you. yeah, that's the name of the ship. successfully landing on that area was a major priority of the mission because it was if second successful -- the second successful landing for spacex. they weren't optimistic due to the higher rate of speed that it would be falling. >>> arsenio hall has filed a lawsuit against sinead o'connor, after she accused him of supplying drugs to prince. she made the allegations in a recent facebook post who said that he got his drugs from hall. according to the associated press, hall's lawsuit calls the accusations fabricated lies.

janet shamlian is in myrtle beach, south carolina, following the coastal threat. the beaches there are okay. is there a danger, any warnings there? >> reporter: the current is a little rough, and they're asking people to be careful. but frankly people are just going to come out today, chris, because as you can see it's gorgeous and the past couple of days have kind of been a washout here. the concern is that this system is so slow moving that it's dumping rain wherever it goes. yesterday here on the beach the reason people are enjoying it so early right now is that the lifeguards were so concerned about riptides that people could only go up to their knees in water. it's a memorial day washout for millions of americans. tropical depression bonnie making its way up the east coast on sunday, hitting the carolinas the hardest, with drenching rains and flooding. a section of interstate 95 south of charleston submerged. authorities finally shut it down after too many drivers tried to go through it. in georgia floodwaters submerged not only streets but homes. and while th

janet shamlian is following it all for us from charleston, south carolina, and has this report. >> reporter: a weekend washout, bonnie coming ashore near charleston as a tropical depression. a drenching for the south carolina coast. >> the water was so high to where that it was almost covering the mailboxes. >> reporter: a portion of interstate 75 south of charleston impassable. so many driving through the high water, officials flienlly closed a stretch of the road, all on a busy holiday weekend. >> just a few passing szczurs in mirtdle beach, although the sun did come out, the lifeguards only ayou loed surfers in the water beyond their knees because of the droung rip currents. >> i'm very concerned about my kids being out there. i get nervous when they get further than their knees. >> reporter: rescuers tonight still searching for a 21-year-old man who went missing in rough surf saturday in north carolina. the remnants of the storm will move slowly up and inland along the east coast into monday. weather as the death toll now rises to five and floodwaters forcing a mandatory evacuation in r

janet shamlian, nbc news, atlanta. >> so cute. >>> 7:23 right now is your time.e that landed a man in handcuffs. the controversia l ♪ ♪ maxx life in store and online. find brands you love at prices that work as hard as you do. >>> some took sight seeing in apple a bit too tar. they were arrested after clooimiclooim i climbing on to a bheeam on the brooklyn bridge. they claim they wanted to watch the sun advise arise and take s pictures. they're charged with trespassing. >> current do that. >>> it's wet and soggy. tom is tracking when you will finally be able to put away the umbrella. >>> he killed a park police officer and left a family heartbroken. the controversial ruling that could lead to his release. >>> major changes if you right marg oig o >>> we have breaking news at 7:30. csx train has derailed in northeast d.c. on rhode island avenue near the metro station. sources tell news 4 that several rail cars have overturned, at least one is leaking some sort of hazardous fluid. d.c. fire has closed rhode island avenue in that area. metro has suspended red line s

janet shamlian, nbc news, dallas. >>> coming up, hard at work. volunteers putting the finishing touches on a memorial and the close connection to 9/11. >>> temperatures are going to warm into the 80s and 90s. we'll talk about the warming trend coming up. ♪ hey! ♪ they go ooh ooh. ♪ hey! ♪ they go oh-ooh-ooooh. ♪ sitting, watching, waiting, wishing. ♪ ♪ i tell you one thing, you never knew it. ♪ ♪ at the back of the bus ♪ there is so much to give, so dream big. ♪ ♪ yeah. ♪ and when they screaming get out, get out. ♪ ♪ all i wanna hear is get down, get down. ♪ ♪ yeah. ♪ and when they screaming get out, get out. ♪ ♪ all i wanna hear is get down, get down. ♪ ♪ get down, get down. does your mouth often feel dry? multiple medications, a dry mouth can be a side effect of many medications. but it can also lead to tooth decay and bad breath. that's why there's biotene, available as an oral rinse, toothpaste, spray or gel. biotene can provide soothing relief and it helps keep your mouth healthy too. remember, while your medication is doing you good, a dry

janet shamlian, myrtle beach, south carolina. >> in the meantime, a memorial day forecast that looksike it's summer. >> yes. we're jumping ahead. temperatures starting to rise into the 80s and maybe even low 90s and then towards the end of the week we're talking a chance of upper 90s around the bay area. we'll show you a view around sunol and it's something that we'll have to watch as the hume t humidity begins to drop. meanwhile, we're seeing rain of 2 to 3 inches per hour and more than a foot of rain and a bit of a break as we have heavier showers that push off towards the gulf coast. a chance of severe thunderstorms today but no chance of that here. notice the lack of clouds off shore. a sign of strengthening high pressure. you get sinking and warmer air aloft that prevents any clouds under this ridge of high pressure. as it strengthens, temperatures will climb a little bit today and then more so as we head into tuesday. on the coast, still some relief from the heat is found with a weak sea breeze and inland valleys, highs soar. fog around the golden gate bridge. 64 degrees right

we have janet shamlian with the round up in texas. good morning. >> sheinelle, good morning. a collapsed road here washed away in the city of brenan. this is one example of the roads washed away after the damage here after relentless rain and flash flooding. the focus this morning is shifting southeast as a tropical depression threatens the holiday weekend. >> reporter: all eyes on the southeast. >> will it make landfall? possibly or hug the coast. >> reporter: as the season's second tropical depression takes aim and an increase danger of rip currents and rough surf. across texas, relentless rain. >> 20 inches of rain. >> reporter: leading raging waters and flooding homes and stranding drivers. rescuers working around the clock. police in conroe working to save a woman who drove around a barricade. throughout texas, two dead and three feared missing. believed to be swept away in vehicles. relatives say 21-year-old darren mitchell posted this picture of his truck filling with water before he disappeared. his caption, all i wanted to do was go home. alan meier wants to clean up

nbc's janet shamlian joins us live from raleigh, north carolina. anet, there's a political backdrop to this in north carolina. the governor is running for re-election this year. going to be a very tough race for him. so this fight as escalated today in a big way. take us through what happened and why it's happening right now. >> well, let's talk about the political implications that you mentioned first. he's a republican running for re-election. he's facing a democrat who is the current attorney general, which is why the attorney general was not a party to this suit today. he said he does not support house bill 2. when loretta lynch announced that counter suit against north carolina and the governor, you heard her say that they were possibly withholding funds from the state department of transportation here and the education department. that's where the rubber hits the road, as they say. $1.4 billion due this year to the university of north carolina. $800 million in student loans to college students in this state. people here are very frustrated and

janet shamlian, how does it look today? >> reporter: it looks like it's going to rain again today. the thousands of people who have traveled here for jazz fest are hoping that is not going show is scheduled to go on. saturday, wow, what a different story. torrential rain and thunderstorms. by late afternoon, festival organizers called it a day, canceling the rest of the performances. among the artists who didn't get to play, stevie wonder and snoop dogg. insisting the show had to go on, guess what they did? they found venue notice french request rt and went and played surprise concerts there. texas got pounded specifically east of dallas and the community of lindale. about 70 to 80 home there is damaged by a suspected tornado. for today, jazz fest is on. the threat of severe weather is diminished. we are expecting more rain here but the warnings have turned to watches and in terms of rain, just one to three inches, hopefully. back to you. >> janet, thank you. let's hope they get a bit of relief there. arrest orders for anti-government protesters. baghdad under a state of emergency

nbc's janet shamlian is at myrtle beach, south carolina, for us. morning. i want to take off the jacket and join the beachgoers. take a look down the beach. it looks beautiful right now. a lot of these people traveled here for this weekend especially. checked into hotels, spending money. saturday and sunday turned out to be something of a spoiler with bonnie. really not the intensity. she was more of a rainmaker. and talk about heavy rain. just south of here along interstate 95, they got slammed. they closed a portion of that interstate. imagine doing that on a holiday weekend. 22-mile backup of vehicles. imagine being stuck in that kind of traffic. look at it this morning. it is glorious. and people here are hoping to salvage at least a little part of their weekend. i want to mention texas as well because they had devastating flooding there. and they've been having it for weeks on end. the brazos river, the san jacinto are so full, they can't handle it anymore. any more rain is going to push that over its banks. the death toll in texas is now up t

janet shamlian is in north carolina.aven't been in touch to get reaction to this breaking news, but would you anticipate they would be, you know, negative about this development, or could it be a relief for the government in north carolina, that now it's out of their hands and a federal judge will resolve things? >> reporter: i don't think that it's going to be a relief. at least to the governor. and again, we have the 5:00 deadline. we're not expecting anything further from him today. to a lot of the people who live here and run businesses here and feel like this is a bad representation of their state, i think they probably are very anxious to hear what a court has to say and possibly believe that it will come down on their side, if your side is in fact being opposed to house bill 2. i don't think we're expecting to hear from the governor again today, again the 5:00 deadline. many that we spoke to said the time will come and go without any action. the governor could not overturn this law by himself. it would take an act

with the latest, here is nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: she's the mom, authorities say, helped her son, the so-called affluenza teen, escape to mexico to avoid being taken into custody. this morning, tonya couch facing two felony counts of her own. indicted for hindering the and laundering money she used in the failed attempt. >> her entire focus has been on protecting ethan, making sure he didn't see any justice done. making sure he was not accountable. >> reporter: ethan couch gained notoriety three years ago when he killed four people and injured nine in a horrific drunk driving accident. a psychiatrist testified couch, who was just 16, was unable to understand the consequences of his actions because he came from an affluent family. what's been called the affluenza defense. the trial sparked widespread outrage when the teen received what many considered a slap on the wrist. no prison time. only probation. then last year, back in the news. video surfaced, appearing to show couch playing beer pong at a party. that's when detectives say mother and son went on the run, fleeing to me

here's nbc's janet shamlian with the story. >> reporter: from the duchess of cambridge, kate middletonenim and spandex, skinny jeans are an often parody fashion favorite. ♪ everybody's looking at my tight pants i got my tight pants ♪ >> while some say you could never be too skinny, in wilmington, north carolina, apparently your jeans can be. >> it's a challenging situation. >> reporter: school board member jeanette nichols is leggings after a larger student was bullied wearing them. >> the teacher suggested she wear a longer top and the student replied you can't tell me what to do because it's not in the dress code. >> reporter: the policy change would ban the clothing with something that must, quote, cover the posterior in the entirety. >> it doesn't make sense. >> reporter: banning skinnies is not a good fit for many on social media. twitter is on fashion fire. if bigger girls are getting but ided because of their tight pants, ban the bullies, not the pants. stop body shaming females. but some support, too. whatever happened to modesty? >> clearly everyone is wearing them. not many p

for "today", janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. >>> want to look at a nightmare for travel going on at one of the nation's busiest airports. you're looking live right now at security lines at chicago's o'hare airport. officials say that shortage of tsa staff we've been telling you about is to blame. the problem was so bad last night, some passengers missed their flights, and american airlines had to provide cots for them to sleep on. the tsa struggling to get staffing levels back to normal in recent months, with more than 100 agents quitting each week. >> it'll be a long morning there. >>> fugitive on the fbi's most wanted list was killed last night during a wounded an fbi agent. the 35-year-old pendleton was wanted for murder in the shooting of an officer earlier this month. officials say pendleton fired shots at police. one agent suffered non-life threatening injuries. >>> police in great britain are calling for an investigation this morning after a fake bomb forced the evacuation of a soccer stadium. this happened just minutes before manchester united's last match of the season. the

meanwhile janet shamlian is outside the state capitol looking at some of the fallout from this.g back to this interview with the governor yesterday, this is all happening at a time that north carolina was touting this big economic boost. they were hoping that that would be part of the conversation. and yet you have a laundry list of more than 300 businesses that have spoken out against this measure that's being backed by the governor. >> reporter: tamron, good morning. yes, on the ground here in north carolina, this is a story all about money. money in terms of education. the federal government has threatened to withdraw billions of dollars in education funds if north carolina does not back down from house bill 2 but it's also a story about money coming into the states, into the pockets of small business people all across this state. already a number of businesses have said that they do not support this bill and they are some of the biggest employers here. among them paypal, bank of america, apple, facebook, google, american airlines, hilton, twitter, starbucks, uber and so many

for "today", janet shamlian, nbc news, dallas. >>> let's get another check of the weather from mr. roker. >> remember the last half hour, dylan mentioning there could be a tropical disturbance developing. it is what we're watching. this is what we talked about yesterday. investigation area 91-l. there is a good chance in the next 48 hours, 80% chance this will become a subtropical or tropical system. it would be named bonnie. seventh time since 1980 a tropical system has formed in may. what it is going to bring is a lot of wet weather from norfolk down to daytona beach. high rip currents, a threat all weekend. rough surf and dangerous swimming conditions. we're also looking at a gorgeous day throughout the eastern third of the country. wet weather from the great lakes to texas, where we have a slight risk of strong storms. texas, oklahoma, nebraska and kansas. a few showers >>> good friday morning to you. meteorologist anthony slaughter here. no fog here on this friday. clear blue skies out in san francisco. that's the case. we have a few high clouds but temperatures back into the

cookouts across a large portion of the court, nbc's janet shamlian is dealing with tropical storm bonnie. >> reporter: it's become a spoiler not because of her intensity but because she's moved so slow. the rains flooded an interstate and there was bumper-to-bumper traffic for 22 miles. because of rip currents on some beaches, beach goers were allowed into the water only up to their knees. it's a memorial day washout for millions of americans. tropical depression bonnie making its way up the east coast on monday hitting the carolinas the and flooding. authorities final hly shut it dn after too many drivers tried to go through it. it flooded not only streets but homes. fewer rip currents has some vacationers afraid to go in the water. >> i'm very concerned about my kids being out there. i get nervous when they get further than their knees. >> reporter: rescuers are still searching for a 21-year-old man who went missing after swimming in rough water. in texas, another round of flashflash flooding. several communities had mandatory evacuations. among the deaths in texas, a national guardsma

janet shamlian is in orlando for us. good morning. >> tamron, good morning to you. invictus games, which he founded. what a gathering. 14 nations and 500 competitors. much of the attention focused on one very eligible young man. at the polo match, tickets going for an estimated $50,000 a piece, helping raise money for children affected by hiv in africa. battling the spread of aids was also an important cause for his mother, princess diana. he was just is it when his mother was killed in a horrific car crash in paris. he said seeing children who lost their parents due to aids touched his heart. >> i felt a profound connection to these children, we both emptines that could never be filled. >> he said all i want to do is make my mother incredibly proud. the arrival of the handsome and still very eligible prince harry for a royal visit has single women in florida literally atwitter, one posting operation mary harry is in full effect. this is not a drill. today, harry heads to orlando for the invictus game, international paralympic event he started. >> hey, prince harry,

nbc's janet shamlian is in dallas with more on this. janet, good morning to you. >> matt, good morning. investigators say the fire that killed a prominent dallas attorney is definitely suspicious. what's not as clear, was it a tragic accident or used to cover up a murder? it may be telling that authorities are now concerned for the safety of a judge who was working on the very same case. >> my name is eric moye. >> reporter: this morning, civil court judge eric moye says he's been told to arm himself after authorities fear he may be a target. authorities are concerned after prominent attorney edwin tobolowsky was found dead in his garage from a fire authorities say was suspicious. >> this was a hit, no question in my mind. this was a hit. >> reporter: friends of tobolowsky are convinced his death was no accident. >> can you imagine a scenario in which this could have happened? >> it just had to be criminal. it was disguised as a fire to cover a hit. >> reporter: the judge's office in a statement, saying he was made aware of this horrific