scott mcgrew has been looking over those numbers this morning in the newsroom. he joins us now. scott? >> well, good morning. that number really that jumps out to us, ginger, in this report is the unemployment rate. it jumped to 3.8%, the highest that it has been since february of 2002. the biggest job losses were to men, particularly white and asian men, wall street largely seeing these unemployment numbers go as good news because the fed's been trying to slow the economy down to fight inflation. but slow it down gently. and today's numbers are a sign they're having some success with that. >> if you ask fed governors throughout history about 3% to 4% unemployment, especially with these inflation numbers, they would definitely say we're in a goldilocks scenario from a fed perspective. so i think that we might actually going to be experience a soft landing, a very rare soft landing, so it's all good news. >> the unemployment rate aside, the economy saw a gain of 187,000 jobs, the third month in a row, though, that we were under 2,000. as far as industries, ginger, health care, hos

scott mcgrew is following developments out of washington and will have the update in the next half hour. >>> when it comes to making it in the bay, there is new evidence the pause in higher real estate prices may be over. a new study analyzing zillow data lis san francisco for going above the asking price and san jose is coming in fourth. typically this is an indicator of supply not meeting demand. vallejo homes are selling for an average of 1% above asking. and across the nation the rate of home selling above the listing price now the highest it's been in about one year. >>> the niners fans will be happy to clear the air for you right now, because this one is one of the very best teams in pro football right now. >> certainly showed it yesterday. this is with the home opener against the new york giants. as ginger was telling us, fans braved the not so great air quality to watch another dominant performance. brock purdy threw for more than 300 yards. rookie seventh round draft pick caught his first touchdown, and christian mccaffrey had a touchdown. the niners crushed the second half, be

. >>> scott mcgrew joins us now. scott, these are shocking allegations here. chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, right? >> the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. they are just allegations at this point. bob menendez deserves his day in court. but to have the held of the foreign relations committee allegedly taking money in exchange for giving information to a foreign government is jaw-dropping. you saw those photographs that the prosecution included, including money on top of a jacket with his name on it. the fbi found those gold bars as well. the indictment says he actually googled how much is a kilo of gold worth. now, menendez is a democrat, and that fact really deflates the accusations republicans have made without any evidence that the justice department has been, quote, weaponized against republicans. at a house hearing earlier this week, republicans accused attorney general merrick garland of going easy on the prosecution of hunter biden while at the same time unfairly prosecuting donald trump. garland says he's not invo

scott mcgrew is following it and will join us for an update in our next half hour. >>> a live look at the oakland coliseum. its future still far from certain with the a's, at least one foot out the door. but now one minor league soccer team wants to be a part of its next chapter. the roots started in oakland about five years ago and now play at cal state east bay in hayward. the team is looking into building a smaller-scale stadium on a nearby lot at the coliseum complex. you may remember, the a's now own half the coliseum site and recently suggested it's not interested in selling. today oakland leaders will discuss a possible lease agreement with the roots, along with oakland soul women's soccer team. they tell the east bay times they hope the plan can fall into place within two years. >>> let's get a look at the forecast on this tuesday morning. >> today is going to be a little cooler and it won't stick around for too long. let's go outside. i want to show you this new camera angle we have looking at the bay bridge. drivers coming into the city right now. some dense fog to watch out

. >> i was thinking scott mcgrew was growing some pumpkins at one time in his garden, and i'm finding out how hard it is to grow a pumpkin. it is not that easy. and to see them grow them that large. >> there's a lot of secret things they put into their soil as well. >> i don't know those secrets yet. >> you could have marcus sing. >> i don't think that would work. >> i'm not going to go for that one. >>> we have a little bit of rain in our forecast going into next week, so changes ahead. we'll be watching that come in as well. let's get you started this morning as we take a live look out there at richmond san rafael bridge. it's going to start out partly to mostly cloudy. you're noticing the visibility is slightly lower from the smoke drifting in, and temperatures stay cool with upper 50s, headed for mid-60s. what happens in the morning is we have high pressure up above and that causes the dry air to sink back down, with the light wind. it creates a lid or cap over the bay area. then we get that smoke coming in and temperatures have cooled off overnight, so cold air sinks down to the

. >>> scott mcgrew continues our coverage now. student loans come due over the weekend on sunday, and that won't stop just because the government shuts down. >> some people had been hoping for a reprieve, they will not get it. after three years of suspended loans because of the pandemic, payments are back. that was part of the demands president biden agreed to back when the government was close to default back in may. as he negotiated with speaker mccarthy to raise the debt ceiling, biden promised not to delay payments further. americans will start paying about $60 billion a month collectively between an average of $400 to $600 a month individually. you should have gotten your first bill in the mail. the government says there will be an on-ramp. if you miss a payment in the first year, they won't report you to credit agencies. but it's better to make a payment. >> most definitely. and certainly this will have some effect on the economy. >> $60 billion a month is going to be spending somewhere else, a payment on a new car, the fami

our scott mcgrew is following this back and forth in washington. he'll have it all for us as he breaks it down in the next half hour. >>> continuing our coverage of the sinkhole repairs, repairs remain in effect all from the rupturing of two antiquated water pipes sunday night which sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of water cascading through the neighborhood. there's no timeline yet on the reopening. >>> we take a live look in downtown san jose. getting started with your wednesday, a nice, chilly start. cinthia pimentel has a look at the forecast and what we can expect today. it is nice and cool. >> it is. typical september morning where we run out with a jacket but then lose it by the middle of the day. this morning, something i want you to be careful on the roadways, once you get to school or work, is that fog that's hugging most of the marin county coastline through san francisco and areas of patchy fog through the east bay. 50 in novato, 57 in half moon bay. santa rosa, good morning to you. once we do mix out of these early-morning clouds,

scott mcgrew wonders if ronald reagan were a candidate, he night not be there either. >> it's an interesting thought experiment, isn't it. reagan is considered an icon of the republican party, but would reagan fit in with today's republicans? reagan was vehemently anti-soviet, would never have accepted russia's invasion of ukraine, and was markedly pro immigration. here's political sign cyst nolan higdon. >> the republican party and the country have changed greatly since the time of ronald reagan. and i would argue that the country has gone further and further to the right. there's a case to be made that ronald reagan would struggle in today's republican primary. let's not forge he gave a couple million migrants a pass to legal immigration, an anathema to the rem party now. he also had supported some abortion rights legislation at the state level. so there's a lot of things that changed in the party where reagan simply wouldn't fit in in today's republican party. >> video of the republicans' first debate last month, seven candidates who will debate this evening at the ronald reagan president

. >>> we want to bring in nbc bay area's scott mcgrew. the governor has expressed his condolences on a very personal level, but there's also business. >> we need to think about what the time line on that is going to be. he needs to wait long enough to be respectful before naming feinstein's replacement. on the other hand, he needs to hurry up so that california continues to be represented in washington, which is really struggling to function, i will remind you. and this is the second time that newsom will be appointing a new senator from california. kamala harris became the vice president. i think that's instructive, though, to this time line. kamala harris officially resigned january 18th, 2021. this is her letter of resignation she sent the governor. newsom appointed alex padilla late they're very same day. obviously, harris' resignation not a surprise, but we also have to imagine the governor was prepared for senator feinstein's passing. whoever he appoints the interim senator would serve out the rest of feinstein's term. then there wo

. >> scott mcgrew joins us now. a lot of that increase coming at the gas pump. >> transportation costs are an important part of the family budget, really the second biggest expense behind housing. gas prices way up this month, month to month, 10% since last month, at least nationwide. when we do measure month to month, overall prices were up about a half a per ent is, a little more compared to july. if you strip out energy and food, prices grew just 0.3%, mild enough that we think the fed will continue to plan to skip the next interest rate hike. food prices are still generally high, especially at restaurants, but some categories are coming down -- chicken, milk, butter all less in august, the price of eggs down 18% in a single month. so all in all we're doing better. inflation rates well off their 9% highs, but poll after poll says washington is just not getting the credit. a "wall street journal" poll shows 67% of americans don't approve the way president biden is handling inflation. another big threat to our econ

. >> scott mcgrew says the president's appeal came as some leaders skipped the meeting. >> that's right. it was not surprising that russian leader vladimir putin wasn't there. his country may be one of the permanent members of the u.n. security council, but he hasn't left russia in quite some time. what was surprising was the other missing leaders. that gave biden center stage but also perhaps showed the weakening influence of the united nations. here's biden with ukrainian president zelenskyy and the russian ambassador listening on. >> russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize ukraine without consequence. but i ask you this -- if we abandon the core principles of the united states to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected? if we allow ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? >> zelenskyy also speaks today, and afterwards he'll travel to washington to meet with members of congress. now, in the midst of all this, a fight brewing between two of our allies, canada and india. yes

i'm scott mcgrew. one of the most interesting uses of artificial intelligence is art. you probably know you can ask services like dalli or mid journey to make all kinds of interesting pictures just based on key words, and entirely from scratch. another interesting tool comes from adobe. so you see the potential right away. take a picture, say this man that's on a bicycle, and you can add yellow lines to the road, simply by asking for them. but the thing that really struck me was generative fill. the picture might not be big enough, to ask the computer to guess what a wider shot would look like. it looks what it has and guesses what the rest of the picture should be. ashley still is vice president of adobe. we're going to be showing the viewer a number of these examples. but the artist who is watching, would say hold on, i can do this. i can do this in photo shop. i don't need a computer to add a yellow stripe to the road. >> sure. so first of all, thank you so much for having me. great to be here. and actually, millions of our customers are saying this is amazing. >> o

. >> scott mcgrew, he's always said he's the most union president ever. >> now he has the bona fides. no other president in american history has actively joined a picket line during a strike. video here of the president greeting union members outside a gm parts plant in michigan, wearing a baseball cap with the uaw logo. i will say this was a short visit. he's still in the area in michigan, but we're not sure if he plans to visit another site. from picking up the bull horn to greeting strikers and walking with them 11 minutes 52 seconds until secret service took him back to the car. but it's 11:52 more on the picket line than any other president in history. >> you've heard me say many times, the middle class built the country. that's a fact. so, let's get going. we have a hell of a lot more to do. >> the president will leave detroit in about 20 minutes bound for the bay area. he should be at moffett field just before 4:00 this afternoon. then he's going on to atherton for a fund-raiser at the home of billionaire couple mark high singsing and liz simons. we expect air force one just be

. >> scott mcgrew joins us now. federal officials leveled those charges late last week. this is the first time we've heard from the senator. >> yeah. he says americans should wait for all the facts before passing judgment. he says he has no plans to resign his office. the justice department accuses menendez and his wife of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and using the senator's influence to enrich several businessmen as well as the egyptian government. here's the senator responding this morning. >> to those who are rushing to judgment, you have done so based on a limited set of facts framed by the prosecution to be as salacious as possible. remember, prosecutors get it wrong sometimes. sadly, i know that. >> menendez said the money found in his home, nearly a half a million dollars in cash, belonged to him, saying he would withdraw his savings from time to time and bring it home. he did not address the gold bars found in his home, and he took no questions. menendez returns to washington tomorrow along with the rest of the senate and the house. we expect

they don't have a lot of time to do it, scott mcgrew. >> they have a lot to do. good morning. funding for the government runs out at the end of the month when the next fiscal year starts. so either congress has to come up with all the numbers or it can delay the problem with a continuing resolution or cr. on the house side, when it returns from summer break, there will be an enormous amount of pressure on kevin mccarthy, the speaker. it will come from the far right wing of his party to make big budget cuts even after he made a promise not to in this meeting last spring. but the senate won't agree to any of that one way or the other. and the government would shut down if that all took place. the argument this time does not affect the debt ceiling but a failure to fund the government by september 30th would cause the government to run out of money. mccarthy told "fox news sunday" he is in favor of a short-term funding plan. >>> former proud boy enrique tarrio will learn how many years he'll spend in prison today for the attack on the capitol. prosecutors asking for 33. generally

scott mcgrew continues with the next steps. >> good morning. the next step may be to find something specific to impeach biden for. that is presumably the point of this inquiry. here's the speaker a short time ago. >> i am directing our house committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into president joe biden. this logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the american public. that's exactly what we want to know -- the answers. i believe the president would want to answer these questions and allegations as well. >> in his announcement, mccarthy alleges biden lied about what he knew about his son, hunter's business dealings, that joe biden at times spoke to hunter biden's business associates by phone, and that those business associates paid hunter biden millions of dollars. hunter biden did make millions of dollars, many saying he was not paid for his business acumen or talents or knowledge but because of his close proximity to joe biden both as a vice president and as president. but rep

. >>> scott mcgrew has been staying on top of this as well. act, he just dropped a new special episode of his poas "sand hill road." scott spoke to russell wald at stanford. they discussed congress tackling a.i. and explained why this is so different from what the senate normally does. and you can find that episode wherever you get your podcasts. >>> meanwhile, governor gavin newsom is back in san francisco today. he's actually one of the headliners for day two of the dream force conference. newsom is joining salesforce founder and ceo mark benioff for a conversation about the future of california and the state's leadership in a.i. technology and innovation. that was scheduled to start at 3:00 today, but it was pushed back until 5:00 tonight. so, it starts in about 20 minutes. it's an especially important conversation for san francisco, because mayor london breed has been trying to turn this city into a hub for the emerging technology. just last week, governor newsom signed an executive order directing the state to study the potential uses and

scott mcgrew says union votes are crucial to the president's re-election efforts. >> both democrats andublicans are battling for that working man and working woman's vote. a few years ago, a union member would have been guaranteed to vote democratic and his boss probably voted republican. but that trend has really disappeared. biden has positioned himself as a pro-union president. he claims the most pro-union president in history. he met with workers this morning as part of the labor day celebration. >> let me tell you what we're celebrating. we're celebrating jobs, good-paying job, jobs you can raise a family on, union jobs. wall street didn't build america. the middle class built america. and unions built the middle class. >> now, president biden himself has not been in a union as far as we can find. he went straight into law out of college and law school. but other presidents certainly have been. ronald reagan was union president as head of the screen actors guild in the late '40s and early '50s. unions have had a brilliant resurgence lately. u.p.s. workers just negotiated a new cont

i'm scott mcgrew. our other top story this midday, our continuing coverage of those racist text messages that rocked antioch's police department. a recent admission by contra costa prosecutors may ultimately impact a number of criminal cases. this morning, we're listening just how much of an impact it will have on a current criminal case. nbc bay area's ginger conejero saab was in the courtroom when the judge's ruling came down. she has the latest. ginger? >> reporter: scott, you're right about that. we're learning just how much impact the violation of that racial justice act can have on some criminal cases. one of those criminal cases is being heard right now upstairs outside this contra costa county courthouse. court resumed moments ago to hear new witness testimony, even if it is in the post-pretrial phrase. in a special circumstance murder case that involves four defendants. reason this case has been getting more media attention is those four defendants are also the subject of racist text messages

here's scott mcgrew who says union votes are crucial to the president's reelection efforts. >> both democratsand republicans are battling for that working man and working woman's vote. a few years ago, a union member would have been guaranteed to vote democratic and his boss probably voted republican, but that trend has disappeared. biden has positioned himself as a pro union president. he claims the most pro union president in history. he met with workers this morning as part of the labor day celebration. >> it's labor day, let me tell you what we're celebrating. we're celebrating jobs, good paying jobs, jobs you can raise a family on. union jobs. wall street didn't build america. the middle class built america, and unions built the middle class. >> now, president biden himself has not been in a union, as far as we can find. he went straight into law out of college and law school, but other presidents certainly have been. ronald reagan was union president as head of the screen actor's guild in the late '40s and early '50s. unions have had a brilliant resurgence lately. ups workers just negot

. >> scott mcgrew is here. >> conservative media. good morning to you.x and the journal have gotten less conservative lately, many would agree. murdoch's son has discussed a more balanced role for both. just today the journal's editorial board asking what donald trump is so afraid of after he refused to participate in the second presidential debate, and we will be watching that. we will also watch ukrainian president zelenskyy in washington, and he's asking for more weapons. zelenskyy would very much like to use our system that we are phasing out but would be deadly on the battlefield. ukraine already has the vehicles. general charles brown has been approved by the senate as the next chairman of the joint chief of staff, replacing general milley. here's trump making brown the head of the air force. and the senate went around the block, and tuberville has been blocking promotions. everybody in the video, note, by the way, in business attire. yesterday, pennsylvania senator, john fetterman, a democrat, presided over the senate in shorts and tennis shoes. t

. >> scott mcgrew joins us now. a lot of people thought this case had been settled? deal fell apart. the prosecutor has been elevated by the justice department to special counsel, and he has indicated in court papers he will charge hunter biden with falsely filling out a form when buying a handgun. he claimed he was free of illegal drug use when he very much was not free of it. hunter biden has already acknowledged it happened as a collapsed plea deal. biden's lawyers says because biden has continued to follow the rules set in the plea deal, the deal should still stand. we should expect the federal indictment later this fall. >>> pence warned his fellow republican the future of the party and the future of american democracy rests on republican voters, and who they vote for, the fate of american freedom, he called it. he said the gap between traditional republicans and populists is unbridgeable. i will play a sound bite. it's long, and, of course, while pence is trying to make a historic critical point, somebody's cell phone rings. >> the republican voters face a choi

scott mcgrew spoke with chuck this morning. >> sunday marks the last "meet the press" with chuck todd at the helm. chuck joins me from washington. chuck, "meet the press" is nbc's longest running program. fidel castro has been on "meet the press." you hosted for almost ten years. what sticks out for you? >> well, look, i often joke when you're introduced as the moderator of the longest running television show in history, the goal is not to be the last moderator, so i achieved that goal. you want to pass the baton. so i want to get that out of the way. it is now kristen welker's burden to make sure she's not the last moderator of the longest running show in the history of television on the planet. the nine years that i was the kus tocustodian of this chair, f them are the most tumultuous years i've covered in politics. not since the '50s have we been this polarized and uncertain in our direction and maybe not since the 1850s. so it is one of those -- and i think it's one of the reasons why i was ready to take a breath and take a pause. there's only so many rides on this roller coaster

. >> scott mcgrew, the president has positioned himself as a friend of the working man and woman. >> woman, happy labor day to everyone. biden has been a politician for most of his life, since 1970, but he comes from what he calls a hard life. his dad was a used car salesman, he's identified with union laborers, often bringing up his hometown of scranton, pennsylvania. here he is in scranton a few years ago. the president is going to be back in pennsylvania today giving a labor day speech to union laborers, scheduled to begin in about 45 minutes at sheet metalworkers local 19 hall in philadelphia. i will say this president is very consistent in his tardiness. we'll see if the president says anything about the looming strike by united autoworkers. a massive strike scheduled for later this month against all three of the big automakers, which would be devastating to the economy. the president, presumably, will side with the union, but to what degree. >>> over the weekend the president and first lady inspected the damage, met with families and first responders in florida, accompanied by

. >> scott mcgrew, i know he will face a lot of questions about all sorts of investigations. >> all sortsinvestigations, which i suspect he will not answer, questions about the hunter biden prosecution, questions about several investigations into donald trump. what we may have forgotten as americans is the department of justice tries to be as independent as possible, both from congress and the white house. in prepared remarks delivered ahead of time, garland's opening statement this morning will focus on that, that the doj and its employees pursue justice, not politics. garland is going to say, quote, i am not the president's lawyer. i will also add that i am not congress' prosecutor. the justice department works for the american people. meantime, in the house, a failure to move anything forward and avoid a shutdown at the end of the month. five republicans refuse to vote in favor of a defense bill. >> on this vote, the yeas are 212, the nays are 214. the resolution is not adopted. >> the failure was an embarrassment for speaker kevin mccarthy. it was, after all, a republican bill, and a

. >> scott mcgrew, thank you. >>> new this morning, former 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick sendingletter to the new york jets, apparently saying that he still believes that he can play in the nfl. his letter posted to social media by a rap artist and later verified by nbc sports sources, requesting consideration for a spot on the team's practice squad. the jets to have a huge hole right now in the lineup after aaron rodgers' season-ending injury. kaepernick has not played at any level in seven years and has previously been able to latch on with an nfl team. for years, supporters claim the league shut him out, but critics call his letter nothing more than a publicity stunt. >>> trending this morning, legendary san jose band has just been nominated ar an emmy award for their special with amazon prime. the documentary film follows the band's rise to stardom. los tigres have sold 60 million albums and won seven grammy awards and nine latin grammys since starting together back in 1965. nice to see. >>> well, bay area fans, get ready. an a-list comedy duo is set to arrive next year. >> e

. >> scott mcgrew is joining us.hink that the senate and the house both would be working hard this morning really trying to put a stop to this shutdown. >> you would think noah would not take a day off from building the arc. congress is take ago day off, returning tomorrow. the government runs out of money at the end of the month. the problem is there are a small number of republicans refusing to let appropriation bills progress, because they say the government needs to stop spending so much money. that has frustrated people in their own party who want to keep the doors open. >> the arsonist that lit their house on fire, they're whining about their house burning, they're going to want credit for putting the fire out and then set up a gofundme to get paid for what happened. this is really disingenuous. >> the first major test will come tomorrow when the house votes on a defense appropriations bill. remember, our sailors and soldiers don't get paid if the government is not open. the bill has failed to pass twice. >>> d

. >> scott mcgrew is here. he's not here for the votes. >> i'm sure he would appreciate the votes. good morning. you're right, he can already count on california. we do have a primary coming up in march. there are two other candidates for democratic nomination. most americans would not be able to name them. and then in the general election, joe biden won california by 30 point last time. so he's here for the money, and most donors understand that. video of the president and vice president meeting monday with representatives of historically black colleges and universities. the president will land this afternoon and then it's off to atherton for a fundraiser at the home of billionaire couple mark heising and liz simons, and tickets start as high as $100,000. here is the full schedule for you. we expect air force one just before 4:00 this afternoon. he's in atherton starting at 6:30, then up to san francisco for the night. on wednesday, the president will hold a meeting with the president's council on advisers of science and technology and two more campaign receptions. before air forc

. >> scott mcgrew, the house failed yesterday, and you are giving us an ironclad guarantee, i understandss today. >> no progress today. 100% money back guarantee. by the way, this newscast is free. i can guarantee this because they went home. it's friday. i mean, yeah, it's about 9:00 in the morning on friday in washington, but it's still friday. not only do americans -- or members of the house not been able to fund the government, they haven't been able to do a continuing resolution, a temporary stopgap. they tried twice just to pass an $826 billion defense bill to fund the military and couldn't do that. the government will shut down a week from today. >>> the justice department just announced the indictment of a democratic senator, robert menendez, of new jersey on bribery charges. prosecutors will hold a press conference at 8:00 a.m. california time. it's not the first time the senator has been accused of wrongdoing. he went on trial sometime back on a totally different corruption charge, but it ended with a hung jury. >>> ukrainian president zelenskyy met with president biden yesterd

. >> not all world leaders, scott mcgrew. >> that's right. good morning.rmanent members of the u.n. security council, four won't show up. russia for obvious reasons. uk and france are apparently not coming. that's unusual. it does mean president biden will have the stage to himself, at least when it comes to powerful countries. video here of his address last year. but it also speaks, perhaps, to the weakening influence of the united nations at a time of crisis. president biden will speak a lot about the war in ukraine today. ukrainian president zelenskyy will be at the u.n. as well. zelenskyy will travel to washington after that. the other thing to watch at the u.n. today, the relationship between canada and india. yesterday canadian prime minister justin trudeau made a blockbuster revelation to the canadian parliament. agents from the government of india are suspected of murdering a canadian citizen in canada, he says. india denies this, but says they consider the sikh man who was killed a terrorist. so this comes at a delicate time, america's close ally,

. >> scott mcgrew, you think that the senate and the house would actually be hard at work this morning>> right, voting. no votes today. they're not in session. returning to the capitol tomorrow. the government runs out of money at the end of the month, and that is saturday. now, the problem, there are a small number of republicans who are refusing to let appropriations bills progress because they say government needs to stop spending so much money. that has really frustrated people in their own party, who want to keep the doors open. >> the arsonists that lit their house on fire, they're whining about their house burning, they're going to want credit for putting the fire out and set up a gofundme to get paid for what happened. this is really disingenuous. >> the first major test of the week will come tomorrow. that's when the house votes on a defense appropriations bill. sailors and soldiers may not get paid if the government is not open. this bill has already failed to pass twice. >>> we expect to hear something from democratic senator bob menendez today, the man indicted on bribery c

. >> and scott mcgrew, the president has positioned himself historically as a friend of the working man about his father, right? >> exactly, from scranton, pennsylvania, exactly. now, biden has been a politician most of his life, 1970 is when he first came into office. but he comes from what he does call that hard scrabble life. he's identified with union laborers and often brings up his hometown of scranton, pennsylvania. these are live pictures from philadelphia. the president is back in pennsylvania today giving a labor day speech to union labor. this is at the sheet metalworkers local 19 union hall. we'll have highlights of the president's speech coming up in our midday news. >>> we're also going to watch and see if the president says anything about the looming strike by united autoworkers, a massive strike scheduled later this month against all three of the big three automakers, which would be devastating to the economy. now, the president presumably will side with the union, but to what degree? >>> over the weekend, the president and first lady inspected the damage and met with fa

we do want to head over to scott mcgrew in the newsroom. her passing is not a tremendous surprise.s a surprise that it happened overnight, but it wasn't a tremendous surprise that she would need to be replaced at some point and there were people who wanted to do that, even before she passed away. >> when she got ill she said that she would not run for another term, and so a number of very notable california politicians said when she's done, they were very respectful, when she's done, not if she resigns, but when she's done, we would like to be the next california senator, and those are three democrats, you've got katie porter from downtown south, adam schiff, and barbara lee, and then, of course, eric early is a republican. traditionally a republican does not win the senate. but these were people who intended to run in the 2024 senate race. we knew that already. the big question now is who becomes the interim senator. who does governor newsom appoint? it will not be, we understand, any of these people because he does not want to give an advantage to any of those candidates in the r

. >> scott mcgrew is joining us.e secretary of state in kyiv right now. >> right now with missiles, apparently, falling around. it's blinken's third trip to the ukrainian capital. he's there to get a first-hand account of how the offensive is going. slower than america would prefer, that's the foreign minister greeting him there. blinken will meet with president zelenskyy later today. biden made the same visit in february. reuters has reported the white house will announce a billion more in funding this week. nbc has not confirmed that plan, but it would bring the total to around $24 billion. >>> back here at home, president biden awarded the congressional medal of honor to vietnam helicopter pilot larry taylor. taylor had already been heavily decorated. the silver star, 43 air medals, a bronze star, two distinguished flying crosses, but a fellow soldier's effort to upgrade taylor to the highest award paid off yesterday. he flew an attack helicopter in vietnam, during one battle in 1968, not only did he use his helic

. >> scott mcgrew is here. be the routine refueling stop. >> it would be routine. he's going there for two reasons. in this case it is 9/11, it is september 11th and he is on his way to american soil to have that anniversary. a summit in india, the g20, and then the trip to vietnam interfering with the schedule. g20 summit really extra important because neither putin nor chinese president xi were there, and after that the president traveled to vietnam. vietnam, in turn, has elevated its diplomatic relationship with the united states to its highest level since before the war. the president of vietnam saying it was opening a new chapter. of course we will not forget the sacrifices made. president biden is visiting a memorial for john mccain. mccain was shot down on this spot october 26th, 1967, spent five years as a prisoner of war. when his captors found out he was the son of an important american admiral, they offered to let him go. mccain said no, not without all the other american pows. >>> candidate donald t

. >> scott mcgrew is joining us. got 18 days to come to an agreement to fund the government. >> if they just work office hours, it's 11 days. so it's really a lot of pressure. 18 days until the end of the fiscal year. there are a lot of signs the house will not get it done and the government will, indeed, shut down. president biden and the speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy, had a gentlemen's agreement on future spending, made back when they were trying to avoid full default. but while mccarthy pushed that deal through, it's not clear he has the power to convince the far right of his party to agree to a deal to keep the government open past september 30th. some republicans are pushing mccarthy to launch an impeachment inquiry against biden in exchange for their agreement to fund government operations. now, the problem with impeachment is, as of now, those who want to impeach biden do not have a specific crime in mind, or as the constitution puts it, high crimes and misdemeanors. there's no charge. many are suspicio

. >> scott mcgrew joins us now. the secretary of state is in kyiv right now. >> that's right.around, apparently. blinken's trip to the capital, he's there to see how the counteroffensive is going. here he is greeting the foreign minister of ukraine. blinken will meet with president zelenskyy later today. you recall president biden made that same visit back in february. reuters has reported the white house will announce more than a billion dollars in funding this week. nbc has not confirmed that plan, but it would bring the total to around $24 billion. president biden back here at home awarded the congressional medal of honor to vietnam helicopter pilot larry taylor. taylor had already been heavily decorated, the silver star, 43 air medals, the bronze star, two distinguished flying crosses. but a fellow soldier's effort to upgrade taylor to the nation's highest award paid off yesterday. taylor flew an attack helicopter in vietnam, and during one battle in 1968, not only used his helicopter to defend a four-man reconnoissance team until running low on ammunition, he actually lan

i'm scott mcgrew.