even cool places out in space. >> reporter: a final frontier this astronaut isn't done with yet morgan chesky, nbc news, houston. >> nice to have him back that's "nightly news" for this friday. thank you for watching i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night >>> i'm raj mathai. next on "nbc bay area news tonight," a tense rescue 40 feet in the air after two workers hit a power line. >> i was very scared. i didn't know what was happening. >> the race to bring them to safety and what tool they had with them that helped save their lives. >>> also, san francisco mayor london breed not holding back. >> i don't shy away from a fight. >> my in-depth chat with the mayor who is fighting for her job and calling

morgan chesky, nbc news >>> when we come back, there is good news tonight. how one mission is giving so many people new hope and a new outlook on life. ♪ >>> there's good news tonight about a ten-minute surgery that is changing lives. a team of doctors giving those in need new hope and the gift of sight for eye surgeon dr. lloyd williams, this moment when the bandages first come off says everything. after a life-changing eye surgery, this woman is seeing again for the first time in years. that moment repeated over and over again as people who had surgery the day before adjust to the light what is that moment for you? >> when i first saw it happen, i thought i could do this for the rest of my life and never feel like i waste admin. >> reporter: there williams, an ophthalmologist at duke university has travelled with the himalayan cataract project for a decade on a mission to cure blindness. the latest trip in december to south sudan in africa, a country with the highest rate of blindness in the world. dr. williams worked alongside two local surgeons >> for th

lester >> all right morgan chesky, thank you. joining me now is carmen bess, former seattle police chief, and nbc news analyst chief, we're glad you're with us today the officials in houston are calling this a lone wolf-type situation, which generally implies no one could see it coming is there some typical trigger in these kind of cases that you look for? >> well, certainly any indication that there's animosity toward the people of the church or the religion or some other thing can often be an indicator, but sometimes there are no obvious indicators of why a person does these types of heinous things >> so, typically, how do you work a case like this? >> well, they're certainly going to look at her history. she has an arrest history, a misdemeanor, of course, some mental history issues, anything that they can gather or garner from her family >> all right well, chief bess, we thank you for coming on, offering some insight tonight. >> thank you, lester >>> another major story we're following, the massive winter storm on the move to

morgan chesky, nbc news. >>> we are starting the new week off with a new storm system making its way toward new england and the east coast. nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking how soon we could see some snow. >> we could see some snow in the new york city area by tomorrow morning. we have a lot going on with this storm. we have a warm side, a cold side. looking at heavy rain early in morning, strong storms, that's going to lead to flash flooding the heavy rain. you can see pink and purple showing up on the map, that's where we could be seeing hail right now. we have tornado watches, severe thunderstorm warnings. lots of warm air coming off the gulf impacting these storms. waking up to many alerts, 30 million under winter alerts where you see the white into portions of the northeast, new england and flood alerts because we are looking at heavy rain continuing throughout the day. severe risk, 10 million people at risk for severe storms, damaging winds, winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour, could see some hail and ltsalso the chancf a tornado or two. the reds, oranges and y

morgan chesky has the latest >> go, go, go, go!orter: chilling new details about the shooter at joel osteen's lakewood church in houston where a gunfire sent people running for cover >> boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and i yelled mom >> reporter: police identified the shooter as 36-year-old genesee moreno and say she was carrying an ar-15 with the word palestine written on it. police say they also found anti-semitic writings during a recent search warrant. >> we have uncovered some items. we do have some anti-semitic writings that we have uncovered during this process, but, like i said, we are 24 hours into it. >> reporter: investigators say a dispute between moreno and her ex-husband's family, some of whom are jewish may be related to the shooting. at the church, witnesses say the shooter was wearing a trench coat and opened fire almost immediately, after walking inside >> the first thing that i thought, i thought i maybe will die. >> reporter: police confirming moreno entered the church with her 7-year-old son, and was armed with

a baseball superstar, but this slugger spends his spare time in a very different lane here is morgan chesky. >> it's belted to left center field home run >> reporter: mookie betts is in a league all his own with a swing that's pure baseball >> gone! >> reporter: and swagger in another sport entirely, where three strikes is celebrated >> bowling's in my blood. >> reporter: you really did pick up a bowling ball before a baseball >> yeah, way before. >> reporter: that's right. the l.a. dodger, seven-time all-star, and two-time world series champ says some of that baseball success started in a bowling alley. >> bowling is so complex. you have to be creative a lot of visualization when it comes to bowling, just like baseball. >> reporter: he credits the sport with keeping a competitive edge, even wowing fans at the world series of bowling. >> 300 game! >> reporter: rolling so many perfect games since. how often are you calling and saying hey, babe, leave the bowling alley? >> every day >> reporter: he and his wife brianna now using both sports to give back, creating the 50-50 foundation to help

even cool places out in space. >> reporter: a final frontier this astronaut isn't done with yet morgan chesky, nbc news, houston. >> nice to have him back that's "nightly news" for this friday. thank you for watching i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each [cheers and applause] >> kelly: welcome to "the kelly clarkson show," everybody. we are breaking format a little here. we are not starting right off with music. all this winter weather and if i'm being very honest single-parentness has taken a toll on my voice and body. no worries. we pretape some very special kellyokes for really fun moments like this. let's get to it. here's me and my band y'all with and people's "i can't stand the rain." ♪♪ hey, window pane ♪ ♪ do you remember ♪ ♪ how sweet it used to be ♪ ♪ when we was together ♪ ♪ everything was so grand ♪ ♪ now that we've parted ♪ ♪ just one sound ♪ ♪ that i just can't stand ♪ ♪ can't stand the rain ♪ ♪ against my window ♪ ♪ bringing back sweet memories ♪ ♪ i can't stand the rain ♪ ♪ against my window ♪ ♪ 'cause he's not here with me ♪ ♪ whoa, empty pillow ♪ ♪ where his

here's morgan chesky. >> touchdown confirmed at 6:17 a.m. central time.ng straight out of a movie, but back on earth, astronaut frank rubio's been loving life out of the limelight. >> it's really been good to get home and be back with my family and, you know, get outside. >> reporter: especially after being stuck inside the space station. rubio's six-month mission doubling after his ride home, a russian spaceship, sprang a coolant leak. the proud father of four doing his best to keep family close. >> they got a lot of facetime, you know, video conferencing out of me. >> reporter: the trip making rubio one of nasa's most frequent flyers orbiting earth just shy of 6,000 times added up, and nasa says the voyage logged more than 157 million miles, begging the question, what's on the playlist? >> i love the simon & garfunkel station, but then i would also listen to a lot of '90s pop, so quite the dichotomy there. >> balanced guy. >> yeah. >> reporter: the helicopter pilot and surgeon put on his scientist hat in space conducting hundreds of experiments. work he

nbc's morgan chesky has the latest from houston. terrifying ordeal here inside houston's lakewood church where pastor joel osteen said they serve about 45,000 people each and every week. this shooting happened just before the start of a spanish service. witnesses say this woman armed with a rifle walked inside and opened fire. two officers are credited with fatally shooting her after a shooting that left this church community shaken to its core. >> okay a sunday service interrupted by a terrifying sound in a house of worship. gunfire blasting through lakewood church's spanish service. the pastor pausing only to hear more shots ring out. the chaotic scene unfolding after police say an unidentified woman armed with a rifle and wearing a trench coat walked inside and opened fire. >> a shooting at lakewood, two people down. we need an ambulance. >> reporter: a young boy in critical condition, another church goer shot in the leg, two off-duty officers are credited with fatally shooting the suspect. >> the suspect is down. >> reporter: po

very much remains an active investigation as they dig deeper into finding a potential motive. >> morgan chesky on the ground for us, morgan, thank you. >>> israeli forces are zeroing in on the southern gaza city of rafam where more than one million are seeking shelter. >> new video from the israeli military, this shows the moments that two freed hostages boarded a helicopter from gaza back to israel. let's bring in raf sanchez, he's in tel aviv, israel. raf what do we know about that hostage rescue mission? >> reporter: kate, the israeli military says special forces stormed into an apartment building in the southern gaza city of rafah at 1:49 a.m. local time, they used explosives to breach the door, they killed three hamas armed gunmen and rescued the two hostages you can see on your screen there. they were both kidnapped from the same kibbutz. they spent 129 days in captivity. inside of gaza. but earlier this morning, they were reunited with their families at a hospital here in the greater tel aviv area, they're said to be in good condition at this point. but the israeli military also launchi

nbc's morgan chesky joins us from houston. morgan, what more are you learning?n active investigation. we do no federal investigators have been involved in the early overnight hours gathering evidence we believe at a home that could belong to shah shooter about a half hour from the scene of the crime. keep in mind, this church serves upwards of 45,000 people each and every week. police say they -- the shooter walked in just before 2:00 p.m. yesterday right before a spanish service was set to start, and that's when this woman opened g incident that has shaken this church community, ana, to its absolute core. a sunday service interrupted by a terrifying sound in a house of worship. gunfire blasting through lakewood church's spanish service, the pastor pausing only to hear more shots ring out. the chaotic scene unfolding after police say an unidentified woman armed with a rifle and wearing a trench coat walked inside and opened fire. >> a shooting at lakewood, two people down. we need an ambulance. >> reporter: a young boy in critical condition, another church goer

. >> joining us from the southern border in eagle pass, texas, is nbc's morgan chesky, also with us, ehner and an msnbc political analyst. morgan, give us a reality check, what's happening at the border? >> reporter: yeah, chris, there's been a shifting few months here. the record numbers of migrants coming across that we saw grow in consecutive months in late 2023 has since tapered with that new year. important to note it's a seasonal dip in numbers because of weather conditions. what we have seen change is the ongoing back and forth between the state of texas and the biden administration. a lot of that centered around this park behind me, shelby park, chris. that is this area about 47 acres right alongside the rio grande that the state national guard has taken over because according to governor greg abbott, the biden administration was not doing its part to enforce proper border policy, and just yesterday, he led a group of republican governors here standing in solidarity with governor of texas, and here's more of what he had to say. take a listen. >> this area we are in right now w

morgan chesky is live in texas, it looks like a mess behind you. what's going on?chris, it's tragic in every direction you look in the texas panhandle. canadian incredibly hard hit. dozens of homes were burned there. we've moved south to fritz, texas, which suffered from a different fire. this is one of the structures that were burned: authorities tell me this is the windy deuce fire, 160,000 acres strong, and we know it's only 30% contained. meanwhile, that large smoke house creek complex now a million acres, only 3% contained. the wind is fierce right now in the texas panhandle as it so often is. and that's one of the main concerns. i want you to hear what one of the park superintendents here overseeing some of the wild fire fighting had to say about conditions. take a listen. >> the wind is changing. that's one of the things that happens around here in the panhandle of texas, it's always windy. these winds do concern us. there's a lot of area that's burned. there's a lot of unburned area around here. fuels that are still available to pick up. as these winds chan

morgan chesky is live in dallas. the student has been out of the classroom for the better part of a year now. what was the decision? >> reporter: yeah, chris, i want to read you the judge's words exactly here saying that the district's policy, that being barber hill district outside of houston does not prohibit or discrimination against male students who wear braids, locks or twists, adding that the crown act does not render unlawful those portions of the dress code. those were the judge's words earlier today, just a short time ago, in fact. in the case of daryl george, this 18-year-old high school junior who hasn't been able to sit in class with the rest of his classmates because the district says even though he wears his hair up in locks, if it's let down, it would violate the school's policy and so in turn, he is now suspended, and the judge siding with the district saying that their stance on that does not violate texas's crown act, which was enacted back in september of 2023 to try and prevent race-based hair di

>> reporter: nbc's morgan chesky is on the border in eagle pass, texas. >> crossings here are down at the moment, but firefighters tell us they've been overwhelmed, especially after seeing migrants drown while trying to cross the rio grande >> can any of you even count the number of body recoveries you've been a part of anymore? >> i lost count. >> i'm hoping that the federal government will cut a deal and completely stop this madness. >> reporter: one conservative republican telling us he's fine with the gridlock. >> could that mean like a government shutdown in the near future >> well, it could be as far as i'm concerned. i mean, most of my voters would love to see this place shut down because they don't think it works for them. >> reporter: but speaker johnson with a different view >> what would you say to americans concerned that congress isn't able to do basic functions? >> well, it's just simply not true. we're governing here sometimes it's messy >> ryan, let's circle back for a second. what happens now with that separate senate bill with aid for ukraine, israel, and taiwan >> r

this week a contestant took a shot at solving a puzzle and failed but fans say she was robbed morgan chesky wheel -- of -- fortune! >> reporter: the iconic game show "wheel of fortune" finding it self in a head spinning debacle eager fans are trying to solve. >> let's spin the wheel and see if we can get some more. >> reporter: in the final moments of tuesday night's show, contestant megan was ready to take on the bonus round. so she began rapid-fire answering. >> pink orchid >> reporter: but the ten-second timer ran out before she could guess correctly. >> pink. >> yeah, yeah. i'm sorry, that didn't work out for you. >> reporter: the right answer according to pat, pink orchid, but some fans think that's exactly what she said. >> pink orchid >> reporter: others argue that first guess was something orchid not pink listen listen closely o to a slowed-down version. >> pink orchid >> reporter: #pink orchid trending on x as avid wheel watchers voice confusion and even anger one fan saying honestly this feels like this woman got robbed out of her bonus prize on "wheel of fortune." another saying

morgan chesky for us there in austin. thank you. >>> also this morning millions across the northeast are doing something they haven't done in quite a while, digging out from a major winter storm. for some, yesterday's nor'easter was the biggest in years. al is already tracking that, but let's get to emilie ikeda who is in randolph, new jersey, this morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. it is hard to make out, but i'm actually walking in the sidewalk of this randolph neighborhood, buried by nearly a foot of snow, much like the rest of this community. other parts of the northeast saw even more even more snow, leaving millions today digging out from a brutal blast. after a bitter blast of snow shocked the northeast, this morning millions are cleaning up and shoveling out. >> plowing, shoveling, lovely day. >> reporter: the wintery mess the first significant snowfall some have seen in years. that all changed tuesday when they all saw over a foot of snow a white blanket also covering new york city, ending a record 744 day

. >> nbc news correspondent morgan chesky is down at the u.s./mexico border and julie tsirkin is on capitol hill. morgan, give us a reality check, what is happening right now at the border and beyond? >> reporter: we're starting to see a dynamic shift along the border here. we've seen enmassing of both texas national guard and texas dps here in eagle pass as a result. it has seen numbers drop quite precip us toly here and the numbers are picking up meanwhile over in arizona, no firm totals there yet, but this could be part of a bigger migrational shift and not just a seasonal dip here in eagle pass, but you'd think the concerns would leave this community and that's not the case, that's because of theon going debate in washington, many feel that eagle pass has been placed under a microscope and it's drawing the wrong kind of attention. this was right-wing convoy that visited over the weekend. democratic lawmakers saying at least one arrest took place in conjunction with that convoy when it was here and they also described armed men walking the st

. >> sahil kapur, julia ainsley, and morgan chesky, thank you so very much. >>> coming up, a month's of rain in a day in los angeles. >> backyard here is just getting wrecked. >> we're live with the state of emergency in parts of california as a massive storm system brings potentially historic flooding. >>> overseas, a new warning from iran after the u.s. launches strikes throughout the weekend in retaliation for the deaths of three u.s. soldiers in jordan. we're back in 60 seconds. you're watching "josÉ diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. Ée diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. next victims. ♪♪ you ready for this? ♪pump up the jam pump it up♪ there's nothing better than a subway series footlong. except when you add a new footlong sidekick. like the boss with the new footlong cookie. this might be my favorite sidekick ever. what? every epic footlong deserves the perfect sidekick. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a ter

nbc's morgan chesky is following the ongoing investigation. >> reporter: it was a sunday service cutnman's bullets rang out inside houston's lakewood church. what we're learning is not only did the suspect act alone, but had an extensive criminal history. authorities also identifying her as a 36-year-old who lived not far from houston and brought in her 7-year-old son when she started to open fire. coming up, what one witness saw when those gunshots rang out, later on "today." >> thank you, morgan. >>> 5:44 right now. we are following breaking news, overnight the senate passed a bill to send aid to israel, taiwan and ukraine. >> scott mcgrew, republicans, democrats coming together to support u.s. allies. >> at a very critical time. good morning. it passed with 70 yes votes, 22 of those yes votes were republicans. senate minority leader republican mitch mcconnell among the senators supporting the bill. it sets aside $95 billion to aid israel, ukraine and taiwan. senators pulling an all-nighter, passing the bill just before 5:00 a.m. washington time. >> today we make vladimir putin reg

and now, morgan chesky in dallas, and what more can you tell us about this ruling? >> yeah, zinhle, we know that both sides had a chance to speak to a judge for several hours today, and he came back siding with barers hill school district by saying that this specific policy that kept 18-year-old george out of classes for months now, and it does not violate the crown act enacted as recently as 2023 in an effort to hopefully stop race-based hair discrimination, and the school said for their part, because the crown act does not stipulate link, their own policy of the district that has kept george out of classes, and the judge agreeing with them, and we know that, zinhle, the family has planned to appeal here. the family is so emotional, they could not immediately address the cameras afterwards, but supporters of the family say that this is only going to elevate this issue to more people, and hopefully that the right decision can eventually be made here. i should point out, zinhle, that right now george wears his hair up, and the district says despite that, if he lets i

. >> we start with ryan nobles and morgan chesky in eagle pass, texas. ryan, how would the migration changes work? what are the odds of it becoming law given what the speaker has laid down? >> there's no doubt that this is a pretty dramatic overhaul of the way the migration system currently works in the united states as you have already pointed out. it would lead to an automatic trigger of 5,000 migrants crossing the border over a seven-day period that would allow the white house and the administration to completely shutdown those migrations into the country. it also raises the standards for seeking asylum. also greatly expands the number of detention facilities and beds available to process these migrants. so it would be a big change but it's still not enough for these house republicans in particular that are taking their cues from the former president, donald trump, who basically want an all or nothing scenario here. they've said the standards should be in place where no migrants come across the border at any time to give the administration that level

morgan chesky is in fritch, texas. what are you seeing there? what's the latest from crews battling these fires? >> it's tough in every direction. fritch is affected by the wendy deuce fire, and the fire to the north of us is at 3% containment. the concern is now, kate, we did have a small snowstorm come this morning which a lot of people were excited to see because they thought it would help the firefight, but what's come with it after the snow has fallen is wind. that's a real concern right now because should it shift at all, it could open up a whole new firefight here and resources are spread so thin across this vast portion of the panhandle, bigger than rhode island here. it's about having the right people at the right place and that's incredibly tough to do. driving to this scene today, it was surreal to see fields covered in snow but smell the smoke from yesterday's wildfire. that is helping in certain areas, but more windy weather is really causing a lot of concern for everyone here. nobody is breathing easy right now. >> morgan, give us

nbc's morgan chesky joins us for more on this report. >> reporter: more than 24 hours after gunfire rangood mega church, investigators are painting a troubling picture of the woman that opened fire. she was 36-year-old moreno, telling nbc news she was carrying an ar-15 with the word palestine written on it. at her home, written materials with a clear message. >> we do have some anti-semitic writings we uncovered during the process. >> reporter: moreno had at least six prior arrests since 2005, including weapons charges. in 2016, authorities also placed moreno under an emergency detention order. >> she has a mental health disorder that is documented. >> reporter: and some of her family may be related to the shooting. she was wearing a trench coat and backpack when he walked into the church, and her 7-year-old son next to her. moreno was killed and the 7-year-old boy, critically injured. the off duty officers credited with saving multiple lives. inside the sanctuary, hundreds of churchgoers tried to escape. >> you never think it's going to happen to you. or your family until it happens to

morgan chesky has the latest for us this morning. hey, morgan.morning. >> reporter: hey, hoda, good morning. that anti-semitic material combined with the fact they saw the word on the rifle. and this is happening as we learned that the shooter's 7-year-old son remains in critical season after police say she brought him inside the church and then just started to open fire. more than 24 hours after gunfire rang out through houston's lakewood mega church, investigators are painting a troubling picture of the woman that opened fire. houston police identifying the deceased shooter as 36-year-old genesse ivonne moreno. telling nbc news she was carrying an ar-15 with the word "palestine" written on it. a search of her home yielding ingredients to make explosives and written material with a very clear message. >> we do have some anti-semitic writings that we have uncovered during this process. >> reporter: law enforcement records show moreno had at least six prior arrests since 2005, including weapons charges. in 2016 authorities placed moreno under an e

morgan chesky has details. >> reporter: a truly terrifying ordeal here inside houston's lakewood church says they serve 45,000 people each and every week. this happened before their spanish when witnesses say a woman walked inside armed with a rifle and opened fire. this morning two off duty officers are credited in taking her down after a shooting that has left this church community shaken to its core. a sunday service interrupted by a terrifying sound in a house of worship. gunfire blasting through lakewood church's spanish service. the pastor pausing, only to hear more shots ringing. the chaotic scene unfolding after police say an unidentified woman armed with a rifle and we aring a trench coat walked inside and started firing. a young boy in critical condition. another church goer shot in the leg. two off duty officers are credited with fatally shooting the suspect. >> suspect is down. >> reporter: police saying the wounded child arrived at the church with the female shooter, but won't speculate if officers who returned fire were the runs to strike that young victim. >> if it was, u