our report from nbc's ron allen. >> it's a murder. and it's a horrible murder. >> reporter: marta mcbride has no doubt her daughter was an innocent victim of a brutal crime. the 19-year-old was killed last november by a shotgun blast to her face. theodore charged with murdering mcbride admits firing the gun and even called 911 afterwards. >> i just shot somebody on my front porch with a shotgun, banging on my door. >> reporter: the case has been compared to trayvon martin by george zimmerman who was found not guilty. waver has claimed he felt threatened, defended himself and did not intend to kill mcbride. >> my client had a strong defense. >> reporter: it all began just after midnight on a saturday. police say mcbride crashed her vehicle into a parked car. intoxicated and injured, she walked away. then nearly four hours later, mcbride wound up six blocks away at waver's house. prosecutors say he picked up a shotgun, opened the front door and shot mcbride a couple of feet away through a locked screen door. analysts say the defense wil

forecasters warn of high surf, dangerous rip tides and nbc ron allen is live on long island beach, new york. looks like you got good waves there, ron? >> yeah. warnings here no swimming, water hazard. you shouldn't be in the water. they are probably up and down this beach. there are no lifeguards yet. early in the morning. you can see a few yards out, there are at least two surfers out there already. in this direction down the beach, there's about a dozen more. a big surfing area so people are going to be coming out despite the signs that say no swimming and taking a chance because they like these waves. right now, the wind is kind of calm so the waves aren't kicking up, but as the storm moves further north from the south, we expect this to pick up. they are concerned about storm surges. they concerned about some beach erosion. not huge amount of it, but something, nonetheless. on a normal fourth of july holiday, this beach would be packed with people. later today? maybe not. the big concern in this part of the country is rain. we have already had two nights of torrential downpours wit

joining us from long beach, new york, nbc correspondent ron allen. those waves are crashing right behind you, ron. >> yes, they are. they've gotten much bigger during the course of the day since we've been out here. we're almost at high tide. not quite. they could get even higher. earlier, there were surfers out there but not anymore. it's been raining here for the past couple of hours. pretty steady rain. and as i was looking don t inin beach, i was counting. i counted about seven people in addition to myself on the beach here. but there are still lifeguards in position down there. you can probably see if we sweep the camera in that direction, the lifeguards are on duty but there's nobody in the water, and that's good for them. but they'll be here until the afternoon. but there's still a concern about how much rain we're going to get and how quickly it's going to happen here. in this part of the state and others along the coast, still flash flood warnings in effect. some going to the evening hours. some forecasts say the rain should stop around 6:00

ron allen is live in long beach, new york. you've been watching those conditions as they evolve this morning. ron, you're saying the people are preparing, but some of them are still getting out there into the water? >> reporter: indeed, rich. it's a bit early. i think i felt a raindrop a little while ago. the clouds are building above us and dark over in that direction especially. a lot of people down here enjoying the morning. there are joggers and walkers along the boardwalk up there. behind me you perhaps can see surfers out there in the water. what you can't see perhaps is a sign over here that says no swimming, the beach is closed because of hazardous conditions. but those conditions are what the surfers live for. rough seas and rough water. they have been out here since basically the crack of dawn and they are trying to get out there and get as much surfing as they can before the rain comes because everyone expects here is heavy rain. the last couple of nights in this new york area, heavy downpowers and thunderstorms and

ron allen for us there on long beach. ron, thank you.'ve been reporting so far, arthur, thankfully, left no casualties, no serious injuries. minimal damage so far in its path. north carolina's governor telling us a short time ago that there are about 44,000 homes and businesses without power right now. joining me now, the very latest on those outages in north carolina, lee freedman, spokesperson for duke energy. lee, i understand you just got back from a helicopter trip surveying some of the damage. what did you see? >> you know, we really didn't see too much damage on the lines. that's what we were up in the helicopter for. but i've been driving around all day, too, and we were assessing damage. as for a lot of my teammates here. and right now we have about 6,000 people without power. and that's down from a high of 22,000 last night. >> wow. >> and we expect most of those people to be with -- to have their service restored by today. some people may have to wait until tomorrow. >> it sounds like you've got them back online pretty quickly

ron allen, we'll leave it there. thank you.on allen on long island, new york, for us. >>> the early look at the damage in north carolina after hurricane arthur came ashore. an update on that when we come back. ♪ ♪all day and all of the night - the kinks♪ ♪all day and all of the night - the kinks♪ yoplait. with a smooth and creamy taste your whole family loves. it is so good all the time. >> before arthur hit, counties were put under mandatory evacuation orders in north carolina. we learned from sarah dallof that access to northern portions of dare county, access is no longer restricted. access to hatteras island, however, is still shut off until further notice. warren judge is the chairman of the dare county board of commissioners. he joins me now by phone. warren, first of all, what are you hearing, what are you seeing in terms of damage there in dare county? >> early indications, craig, are in the northern part of dare county are very encouraging. we have experienced very little in overwash. we've had -- we have a few hot spo

nbc's ron allen in long beach, new york. he's been there all morning monitoring the situation. and i'm told, ron, that you are with the long beach supervisor. of course their concern is that safety in the ocean right behind you. >> reporter: exactly. i'm going to let one of the experts answer all your questions about this situation down here. it's john scuden, the boef supervis -- beach supervisor here. he's been here 40 years. you've got surfers out there, is that safe? >> yeah, if you're experienced. when in doubt, don't go out. if it's too big for you, don't go out and wait for another day that's a little smaller. right now it's small, but it's going to fill in. >> reporter: we're getting some rain now for the first time. >> i don't know if it's associated with that or the front. really doesn't make a difference. we'll start getting -- the swell will grow as the day goes along. as the storm pops off the coast and we begin in a cone, the angle of the waves approaches. >> reporter: how unsafe do you think the situation here might become. >> you know, it depends on the person, o

nbc's ron allen is live along long beach in new york. long island south shore that is. ron, are people there preparing for arthur? >> well, like you said, we don't think the hurricane is going to get that close here. the problem here has been last two nights. heavy, torrential downpours and thunderstorms, which were pretty loud and very powerful. amazing lightning strikes recorded by people over the past couple of nights. as a result, things are really drenched. you look down at the boardwalk here, a new boardwalk because the previous one was destroyed by hurricane sandy. it's completely drenched. there are a few people out now. but later on what we expect here in this part of new york, if you look out in that direction you'll see the surf. and we expect a lot of surfers to come out here. this is surfer's paradise. of course, there's a concern about rip currents and dangerous tides and so forth. but again, this is the kind of weather that surfers like. and we'll see if the beaches get crowded. the forecast, i believe is for rain throughout the day tapering off before nig

ron allen is there for us.nd folks in new york aren't going to see anything to the extent of what sarah dallof is experiencing right now. but nonetheless, the preparing for arthur. >> yeah, this is a good time not to be in north carolina, but here. you can see the surf is very calm now, but there are still warnings about what will happen later this afternoon as the storm moves up the east coast and gets closer to here later in the day. we expect a lot of heavy rain. and that's the last thing this region needs after two nights of significant rainfall. in some parts of new york city, the rain was so torrential it was flooding the subways and they had to close them don for periods of time. up to two inches per hour. so that's what the situation is here. also we expect that there will be some surfers out here, swimmers perhaps because this is the kind of weather they like. but it's dangerous. there's concerns about rip currents, concerns about very strong surf. there could be some beach erosion because of that. aga

on the show earlier this morning bishop ron allen had something to say about that. >> marijuana and alcoholne or safer than the other, scientific facts prove marijuana is dangerous. stuart: what does dr. keith tableau think of federal legalization of marijuana? what do you think? >> i don't think that is going to happen any time soon that the feds will legalize marijuana. i think they should. most drugs should be legal and the revenue we raise should pay for treatment because marijuana is going to cause a lot of people have trouble with their mental health and we need to educate people. stuart: that is what i want to know about. you are a psychologist and you are telling us frequent use of marijuana at any age results in mental problems. spell it out, what problems? >> not for everybody. people can use alcohol, many dabble in cocaine, that is the truth but people think it is innocuous to use marijuana when i have seen people get depressed from it, become psychotic from over use of marijuana. i have seen people lose their motivation, i have seen people develop anxiety disorders from over use

stuart: that was bishop ron allen's thoughts on marijuana.e have a big story in the new york times that says flat out marijuana is not as dangerous as alcohol. this is the paper that was editorialized sunday. marijuana cannot lead to a fatal overdose. there is little evidence that it causes cancer. it is addictive properties are low in the myth that it leads more users to more powerful drugs has long since been disproved. fox news contributor and washington times online opinion editor monica crowley is here. should be legalized marijuana at the national level for recreational use? >> i have always opposed that. i read the article today and i think a lot of the points flat out wrong. one of their big arguments is marijuana is not a game with drug we have studies, countless studies that show in fact early users of marijuana in particular goal on to use the harder stuff. i don't think the united states should be in the position of legalizing yet another in toxicant. this country has enough problems without legalizing marijuana. stuart: as a poli

nbc's ron allen is there. ron, what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, matt. haz-mat teams are on duty. it's a very mysterious situation. it has a lot of people very upset. it's also a potentially dangerous situation. all homes have this green notice on the door. telling people that a volatile or an organic compound has been found in the basement. those strong odors, a gas-like feeling, coming from the sump pumps of several basements. residents have been told before returning they should have their homes tested. they left suddenly and without much warning. >> as soon as i walked in the house i said you've got to get the kids out. something don't smell right. >> reporter: that foul odor led haz-mat crews to evacuate residents of the fairlawn court homes last night. an investigation found strong readings for a chemical called hydrogen cyanide. according to the centers for disease control, often used for fumigation and industrial production of plastics, dyes and pesticides. rapid exposure can be fatal. >> as soon as i walked in the house with my meter, my meter w

this is a very, very bad ideal. >> bishop ron allen weighing in this morning on the free weed being offeredin berkeley, california, with an 18% poverty rate out there. ron, great to see you this morning. thanks for waking up early with us on the west coast. we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >>> coming up here, thousands of illegals pouring in across our border. texas congressman louis gomer is here. he says we're on the cusp of becoming a third world nation. he's here at the top of the hour. >> and he says sometimes freedom needs a little push. up next, meet the vet who kept on pushing until he saved his town's fourth of july parade. how did it go? we'll talk to him next. did you know a ten-second test could help your business avoid hours of delay caused by slow internet from the phone company? that's enough time to record a memo. idea for sales giveaway. return a call. sign a contract. pick a tie. take a break with mr. duck. practice up for the business trip. fly to florida. win an award. close a deal. hire an intern. and still have time to spare. check your speed. see how fast