we begin our story in south philadelphia, a traditiona trade collar italian neighborhood. >> philadelphia is for reasons as diverse as the people who live here celebrated in equal parts for its cheese stakes, rich history and many, many a rocky movie. here in south philadelphia lies a gem of a restaurant called victor caf eight. cafe. it's as rich in history as the city itself. established in 19 alien by greg de stephano's grandfather. it's as philly as it gets. part of the last rocky movie was filmed here. >> tell me what you like about it? >> you don't get lost, if one of our sporting teams wins an event, it's such a celebration. it's such an underdol do underd. we're fighting for a lot of things here. >> describe what somebody from philly who's middle class feels like to you? >> what is middle class? families who are struggling to make payments, getting their kids into some kind of a school. >> it's common throughout the u.s. but philadelphia's story has a unique twist. in the last 40 years the city has lost a quowrl quarter of its population, and 40% of that population los loss was th

i want to take you to south philadelphia where the transformation is most obvious. ♪ >>> philadelphiaeloved for reasons as diverse as the people who live here. celebrated in equal parts of its cheese steaks, its rich history, and many, many a rocky movie. ♪ >> here in south philadelphia lies a gem of a restaurant called victor cafe. ♪ >> it's as rich in history as the city itself. established in 1918, by greg's grandfather. it's as philly as it gets. part of the last rocky movie was filmed here. >> what do you love about philly? >> i love the smallness of it, where you don't get lost if something great happens. it's such a celebration. it's like we're an underdog city, we're fighting for our respectability. we have a lot of great things here. >> describe what somebody in philly, who is middle class feels like to you. >> i mean, what is middle class? it's families that are just working hard, struggling to -- you know, make their payments. getting their kids into some kind of a goot school. >> it's common throughout the u.s., but philadelphia's story has a unique twist. in the last 40 y

. >>> on the streets of south philadelphia, a security camera pointed toward what looks like a lovely neighborhood. pay close attention to this guy coming down the steps out of this building. >> [ inaudible ]. >> this guy who's flailing his arms walking down the sidewalk is yelling at this guy on his phone who's on the passenger side of that big truck that's parked on the side of the road. that guy ain't having it. he starts yelling back. doesn't hang up his car. >> i can't understand why they're fighting. they're in the city of brotherly love. >> there is no love between these bros. the screaming continues. the guy on the phone looks like he scared the other dude off. the dude went running. looks like he ran back inside. >> yelling at the guy in the truck. and as soon as the guy in the truck got out, he realized that's a mountain. >> it is a big dude. what they say, speak softly and carry a big stuck. he grabbed a baseball bat. >> oh! >> and he didn't waste a second. he used it. >> yesp p p. but this big guy takes down baseball guy and you hear them smash into that car. this thing ai

you know, when we look at schools and cities in philadelphia, in chicago, in new orleans, in, you know, in new york,nies, in la, and in places across the south, you definitely see what some scholarships called a resegregation . >> i am familiar. >> what we are having now. >> familiar with the school district of philadelphia we see many black and latino students not graduating. what's behind this? >> i don't -- not graduating. i think there are a lot of things behind -- >> the gradration rate is low. >> i don't know. for me, he would have to that you can about what resources and not just money. i think money is important but, also, what energy, what investment, what is happening, how much excitement, how much exitment is being shown to the school district in philadelphia. i would say it's very little actually over the last 40 years or more. >> do you think people felt brown versus board of education would be, if you will, a magic bullet to solving societal issues? >> i think we are always looking for that but yog that's going to come with policy. but until we who practice policy can implement those policies in ways that we show the spirit and

spring storm system flooded states from the plains to the deep south and now up into the mid-atlantic region. neighborhoods outside of philadelphia recorded almost 7 inches of rain overnight. flooding in the florida panhandle might have caused a gas explosion at a jail. the blast shook the ground, killed two people and injured 250 people. opinions cola got more than 9 inches of rain overnight on top of what they had already gotten the day before. look at this scene in baltimore this morning where two days of heavy rain opened up a mass of sinkhole. this is baltimore, not florida, usually more known for sinkholes. cars dropped 75 under the rail tunnel. dulles recorded the most rain ever in a single day. flooding has forced evacuations in laurel, maryland and stranded drivers were stilli being rescud this morning. the forecast calls for another day of heavy rain but this time farther north, new england. there will be rain in much of florida. msnbc will have updates throughout the day on conditions up and down the east coast. and, yes, there's a lot of travel issues. now my first read of the morning. if you want to talk to anyone in

storm system that brought tornadoes to the south and the midwest earlier this week have now caused torrential rain and flooding in the northeast. this is philadelphia. flooding in the florida panhandle is suspected as the possible cause of a deadly gas explosion at a jailhouse. and heat, drought, and strong winds are feeding a wildfire in southern california. we have a team of correspondents covering the extreme weather. >> reporter: more than 700 firefighters have built containment lines to protect the homes along the foothills east of l.a. smoldering brush could re-ignite at any time so captain louis delarosa and his team are digging them up and dousing them with water. >> i'd say we got pretty lucky. we had the people in the right place. they got in. they took aggressive action safely. and they at least slowed it down. kind of lessened the intensity of it. >> reporter: the fire grew from 20 acres to over 1,000 in just a few hours. liz brown has been fighting fires in california for 20 years. what allowed this fire to get so big so quickly? >> the wind-- you have dry fuels, low humidity, hot weather, and in this case, lots of wind. >> reporter: o

in fact, in chester county, outside of philadelphia, heavy rains overnight left entire neighborhoods under water. the same is true in parts of the south. pensacola, florida, is just beginning to assess the situation after two feet of rain left massive damage to homes and businesses and officials say the flooding is possibly related to a deadly explosion at a county prison last night. we'll have more on that story in a moment, but we start this morning with nbc's kristen welker who is in baltimore, maryland with this road collapse there. kristen, as i understand, some neighbors indicate they have been complaining about issues there for a while. >> reporter: that's right. a few neighbors complaining that they had serious concerns about the retaining wall behind me that gave way last night, causing about eight to ten cars that fell 75 feet on to train tracks. one resident telling me she complained multiple times to the company that is responsible for the tracks, also to city officials. she says she got no response so there was a lot of deep concern throughout this neighborhood. here's what one resident had to say. take a listen. >> we've

philadelphia. >> america. >> you are. >> i got a good dollar tree in south philly. great dollar tree in south philly, great dollar tree in neptune. my one in neptune you can eat off the floor not that you necessarily want to do that. >> l brands by the way, 53 cents does beat by a penny, cut the top end of their range for a full year. still going to be a 1% gain this morning. >> look, we take our pulse of the economy every minute. dollar tree is good. wait a second, that means poor people are spending. l brands that's discretionary. we have to get away from the notion that every retailer who reports determines the strength of the economy. it's stupid. >> how about one, walmart? >> stick with that. >> i'm hearing great things about the walmart ceo being able to put through technology. they've underspent and a year from now walmart will look different. i'm not kidding. >> it's an interesting thing because for quite some time, in fact that was their strength. >> yes. >> they were well ahead of many of their competitors in terms of advances on technology. i'm talking in

new york city, philadelphia, d.c., national, chattanooga and again denver, not just denver, extending all the way south to midland today looking for more weather like that. unbelievable. also straight-line winds will be out there, heavy rains. flooding concerns as well. morning hours not looking good. and it's only expected to get worse, carol, by the afternoon. >> oh, man, indra. >> i'm staying put. i have no plane to catch. >> me neither. indra petersons, thanks so much. >>> ten years after being kidnapped from her california home, a young woman is finally back with her family. police say the woman, now 25, was abducted by her mother's ex-boyfriend who physically and sexually assaulted her. the victim says she was forced to marry her kidnapper and to have a child with him. the suspect is now in custody, but he was hiding in plain sight. he and the victim often seen together in town just 20 miles from where this woman was kidnapped. cnn's sara sidner joins us live from loss ngless with more. good morning. >> reporter: a lot of questions being asked about this case, especially from the neighbors who kn

philadelphia. the museum offered a $5 million reward for the return of the stolen artwork. >>> new orleans is known for jazz, cuisine and mystique, and lately film making. it's called the hollywood of the south. tax breaks are getting credit for drawing in the industry. >> reporter: the garden district is a famous neighbourhood. film trues are a common site in new orleans, and formerly those produced in california moved south. it office application companies tax brachts. louisiana is the top location for blockbuster movies. >> reporter: it's more than about cold hard cash. as the industry matured it led to jobs, opportunityies and established businesses run by local people. it's statement that the film industry created 14,000 jobs, equal to the state's seafood industry. few had anied in they would be so successful. >> there are businesses that started. they are servicing georgia canada, new york and china. >> one of them belongings to this man, starting a hollywood truck company. he has a fleed of 300. his success is down to incidentives. >> the industry affects so many different job titles, and it's one of the greatest economic development business incentives and sting u lant packages. >> t

philadelphia. that should improve over the next couple hours. also, expect delays in the chicago area. light rain continuing over the region. further to the south line is we're kind of in a summertime weather pattern now, getting the daily storms. st. louis, little rock, memphis, dallas to houston. i don't think tornadoes will be a problem. how does the weekend forecast shape up? as i mentioned today, numerous downpours out there, a few severe. into saturday, i don't think too many people will get their day washed out but even up the eastern seaboard to new england. finally, your mother's day forecast, apologies to the colorado and denver area, you have a snowstorm coming on sunday. can you believe it, snow in the middle of may. sorry, mom. in dnc.c. it looks like this, kd of foggy this morning. you're watching "morning joe." we're moving our company to new york state. the numbers are impressive. over 400,000 new private sector jobs... making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation... with 10 regional development strategies to fit your business needs. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup

philadelphia, new jersey and new york are now feeling the recommend navents of the same weather system that brought deadly tornado to the south just days ago. weather caused hundreds of flight delays and cancellations in much of the northeast. with dallas airport reporting the wettest spril april day on record. the relentless rain proving too much. some ended up feet from the train tracks below. >> we heard a large boom. about two seconds later, the waves sounded like this. >> i think of a sink hole, i think of florida not patriot more. >> reporter: meanwhile, across the south, residents just starting to wake up from tuesday's tornadoes are now coping with waist high waters from flash floods. in pensacola, florida, record rainfall left the streets forfeit for boats than cars a. terrifying moment for a woman trapped if her car on a flooded roadway. three water lean workers saw the distressed woman and sprung into action. >> all i could think about is i didn't want to see her die. >> reporter: with moments to spare, a successful rescue from the rushing water. >> thank you all, you all saved my life. >> anything we can do. >> i