the charts with a song and video that cmt yanked over allegations of racism and gun violence >>> steven romo takes us inside a program serving queer kids and the kids of queer parents. "early today" starts right now >>> i'm vinita nair. >> i'm j justca leighton jessica layton in just hours, former president trump will be heading to the capitol facing charges for the third time this year for more on this, we go to drew petramoix in washington. we know trump's already been arraigned in new york and miami. what does it look like in d.c. today? >> reporter: good morning, jessica and vanita the former president begins in new jersey, making his way from bedminster to washington ahead of his scheduled 4:00 p.m. hearing, following an indictment the hearing will be overseen by a u.s. magistrate judge, trump's ventua eventual trial has been assigned to judge tanya chutkan who has been presiding over a number of trials related to january 6. he is pushing for the trial to be held somewhere other than the nation's capital he said it would be would be ir himpossible to get a fair trial in d.c. and suggest

steven romo, nbc news, lisle, illinois. >>> when we come back, there's good news tonight, about this police officer's act of kindness and the teen who will never forget it. >>> there's good news tonight. so often, the good news doesn't get as much attention as the bad, so every saturday, we highlight the many people who spread joy and help others these are just some of those stories this week. this is 15-year-old gabriela hernandez, wearing her dress for her convince keens yara, a rite of passage and celebration for latina teenage girls but there was someone who couldn't attend. her grandfather. so, she went to him for a special surprise >> hi, grandpa >> oh, my god. oh, my god oh, my god >> reporter: and an even more special dance. in georgia, that's officer eric colleran, about to surprise 16-year-old ke'onte davis. someone called the police on ke'onte after he went door-to-door offering to do yard work for money to buy a playstation. >> first thing that came out of the young man's mouth is, "sir, am i in trouble? i said, "absolutely not. >> reporter: so, officer colleran did this.

i'm valerie castro >> i'm steven romo former president trump on thursday stood before a judge for the third time thisyear an pleaded not gylfuilty to chargeo trying to overturn an american election the judge warned trump about the consequences of speaking out about the case for more on this, we go to brie jackson in washington. break it down for us what happened on the nation's capitol on thursday? >> reporter: good morning, steven, valerie. less than a mile away from the u.s. capitol, the site of one of the most infamous moments in u.s. history, foermer president donald trump entered a courtroom to face charges in his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election he arrived to the courthouse just before 4:00 p.m special counsel jack smith was also present in the courtroom as he was in the arraignment in the classified documents case in june no cameras were allowed inside the building, but reports say trump appeared to avoid eye contact with smith after the judge entered the courtroom, trump pled not guilty to the four counts brought against him by the grand juryhe counts following thh

"early today" starts right now >> good morning, i'm valerie castro >> i'm steven romo a lot to get to this morning we begin with former president trump who on thursday stood before a judge for the third time this year he pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to overturn an election a trial date won't be set until the end of the month but the judge warned trump he risks being taken into custody if he seeks to influence potential witnesses in the case. alice barr has more. >> reporter: former president trump standing before a federal judge for a 27-minute appearance now etched in history. the former president entering his own not-guilty plea to four felony counts on charges he conspired to defraud the government he once led and sought to overturn an election he had lost, sitting in the front row, roughly 15 feet away, special counsel jack smith, who led the investigation and accused the former president of spreading lies about a stolen election that culminated in the deadly january 6 capitol attack. before returning home to new jersey, mr. trump was defiant. >> when you lack atook

nbc's steven romo has the details. >> reporter: on a recent fishing trip, tampa's mayor, jane castor,ng in a pig catch >> it was approximately 70 pounds >> reporter: but this was no fish and the street value was about $1.1 million >> reporter: the mayor was fishing off the coast of the florida keys with her family in late july when she came across packages of drugs floating in the water. >> closer we got i realized it was a bale of cocaine. >> reporter: castor, a former tampa police chief says she quickly identified the contents. >> and so i could see from my days or years in narcotics, i could see they were tightly-wrapped kilos of cocaine, so we pulled it up onto the boat >> reporter: the package eventually passed on to border patrol which posted this photo >> i just surmised it either fell off a boat or dropped out of a plane or somebody ditched it if they saw customs coming towards them who knows where it came from >> reporter: authorities say just in the month of july, bales of cocaine and marijuana were found in the water around the florida keys at least three other times. all d

i'm steven romo. >> glad you're with us i'm frances rivera in alaska four navships were respondeto a dozen chinese and russian military vessels this is the latest close call between the u.s., chinese and russian mill tears abc's aaron gilchrest starts us off. >> reporter: it is called an incursion and happened here near the aleutian islands of alaska 11 military ships from russia and china patrolling the waters according to a statement from both alaska senators adding four american navy destroyers were sent t to shadow thehem until ty left the area. what is the u.s. signaling to russia and china by putting destroyers in the water near their exercises >> well, i think it was, again, an attempt to countersignal that we are aware of their presence and have military power in the region >> reporter: the patrol never entered u.s. waters according to u.s. northern command, confirming to nbc news that air and sea assets conducted operations to ensure the defense of the united states and canada. it is the latest aggressive maneuver by the chinese military after this close call between chinese

i'm steven romo.ja coast the famously sunny shores of southern california lashed by tropical storm hillary millions of americans brace for an onslaught of rain we are tracking where the dangerous storm is moving next. >>> president biden heads to hawaii this mornin

let's bring in steven romo with more on this. > reporter: ellison, we heard quite a bit back and forth from the parties in this case. in this new interview with sky news, dancers there talked about the broader need of transparency particularly in the entertainment industry, plaintiffs also addressed lizzo's response, her denial to these allegations, it felt like victim blaming to them. they also addressed just the allegations listed in this lawsuit. so many of them. sexual hear rasment, hostile workplace, religious harassment. racial discrimination. this sounds outlandish because it's outlandish as it sounds. they say what went on was unacceptable. they felt the need to come forward. they spoke more. >> our biggest reason in coming forward with this is to just kind of give people a voice and let them know that you can stand up for yourself and speak out to no matter the caliber of artist or status that the person may have that you're speaking out against. >> the only thing we have heard from lizzo about this, she posted on instagr

steven romo joins us now. let's start with houston, what happened there?, vicky, that southwest incident in houston imagine being one of the passengers on that plane, flames shooting out of one of the engines, caused by a mechanical issue. that flight took off at 7:00 p.m. heading for cancun, it was forced to turn back to houston. once it was back in houston it made a successful landing at houston's hoby airport. >> the pilots are trained specifically and frequently to deal with such a situation, so it's terrifying for the passengers, but it's something that pilots deal with on a regular basis in training and the passengers' lives were not in imminent risk. this is an abnormal situation. but it's one we're train for. >> reporter: that plane has been taken out of service according to the airline and a different airplane came to finish the flight. the faa is investigating. >> you hear the air traffic controllers. what about this other case, the flight from miami to chile, forced to make an emergency landing. a tragic ending for that one. >> reporter: another

steven romo spoke to one survivor who lost four loved ones. >> reporter: the grief is still fresh for i forget. it's hard to accept it all again. >> reporter: her parents died in the hawaiian wild fire as they tried to escape the flames. >> they left at the same time. >> they left at the same time, but only one of the cars made it out. >> reporter: holly's brother was in a car ahead of them but the smoke was so thick they got separated. >> we kind of spent the day like looking for my parents, like he -- i went to all the shelters and the hospitals. >> reporter: her brother eventually going back to lahaina, only to find their remains in that burned out car. >> i remember just hanging up because i could hear his voice cracking. >> reporter: the aftermath is keeps them from setting the funerals. >> when you don't have the remains, we don't want to have to push the date back. >> reporter: like so many picking up the pieces, holly's dealing with a great deal of trauma. >> one of the only pictures i took, you can see the smoke getting thicker on the side. >> reporter: living day by day, not

we are definitely waiting to see what she and the other parties involve have to say. >> steven romo,ed out, coming up, why it happens and how you can take the weight off your mind and yourbo dy >>> welcome back. many today's daily health, no secret that stress can impact our food choices, that's why we have terms like comfort food or emotional eat zblg it can lead to longer term effects like weight gain. joining us is stephanie mansour. kelly, let me start with you, can you talk about the psychology of stress eating? we all -- i think most of us do it, why. >> it's a protective mechanism in our brains, when we're stressed we often seek comfort foods because they trigger a release dopamine. they help to boost our mood. the challenge, though, when that's the only thing that we have to cope with our stress, so the goal is not to get rid of that mechanism but to make sure we have variety of ways to cope with stress. >> you got to grow the self-care tool box. gaining weight is not a bad thing, but if it's linked to stress not ideal, stephanie, why does our weight sort of fluctuate when yo

steven romo, thanks. >>> well, a little more than a year after the u.s.ave an abortion, we're learning new information about how the decision may be impacting the national job market. "nbc news daily" morgan joins us now. i know you got to look at a new study from indeed hiring lab. they're examining how companies actually changed their policies for employees after roe was overturned. how has this actually impacted hiring? >> it's so interesting. a few universities jumped in on this study. it looks at companies that decided to look for help. company that would cover the cost of traveling out of state to get an abortion. they saw the an 8% increase. you look to the right of that line where it says 2022, people clicking on job postings compared to those that didn't offer it. it was roughly equal to 12% increase in actual wages, dollar to dollar bills. it was especially in female-dominated jobs, nursing and dentistry and childcare is what researchers reported. especially in states where it became illegal. but there was a down side. if you look at the screen.

escorting his daughter to her first day of school "early today" starts right now >>> good morning, i'm steven romo a lot to get to. but we do want to begin with the historic weather event happening right now on the west coast. hilary becoming the first tropical storm to slam into southern california in decades rainfall totals have been shattered as river levels rise and crews are searching for one person who may have been swept away in the santa clara river. meanwhile, the roads are treacherous, especially in the mountains where mudslides continue to be a problem. here's nbc's erin mchlaughlin >> reporter: the powerful preview of the once-in-a-generation deadly storm that's smashingiy way f its way from mexico into california. hurricane hilary now a tropical storm, impacting california for the first time in 26 years >> we're battening do youwn the hatches. >> reporter: the california governor declaring a state of emergency. residents and tourists on catalina island near l.a. evacuating so many in the area terrified of the hours ahead. >> i'm afraid people might die >> reporter: that fear multiplie

. >> and i'm steven romo thanks so much for joining us. we begin with breaking news. seven people sent to a hospital in south texas after a shooting outside of a nightclub the hidalgo county sheriff's office says no one was killed, but two victims are in critical condition. an investigation is still ongoing there. >>> meanwhile, three people were shot and killed in southeast d.c. this weekend, two others were injured in the saturday night shooting the cause of that is under investigation. and anyone with information is asked to come forward. >>> lastly to orlando, where police say the suspect believed to be involved in a friday night shooting that critically injured two officers has now died. the shooting sparked an hours' long manhunt that suspect was killed saturday after exchanging gunfire with police the officers, by the way, are expected to make a full recovery >>> another major deadline looming this morning for former president trump's legal team his lawyers have until 5:00 p.m. to respond from a request from the justice department special counsel that could for

i'm steven romo. we begin this morning tracking tropical storm hillary 26 million people in its path are under flood alerts and hillary has already shattered rainfall records in southern california with river levels now soaring. crews have been searching overnight for one person believed to be missing in the santa clara river. governor newsom says his concern now is for people in hard to reach areas. >> i'm worried about some of the more rural and remote areas in the eastern part of the state, some of the more mountainous regions where people can be trapped or there can be debris that's where we're focusing a little more of our extra energy. >> and this is an example of some of those rural areas the governor was talking about, road crews got this video near san bernardino, mudslides are a major problem during and after storms in this region as we've seen so many times santa clarita city shared this video of a road crumbling away into the rushing water michelle grossman will join us with an update in j

free school meals for all kids but that has expired, leading states to figure out what to do next steven romo shows us how massachusetts just got a major win. all right pain of hunger can make learning much harder, which is why massachusetts is joining a small group of states signing on to a universal free school meal program >> it's a big relief, especially for families nobody wants to see a child go hungry and unfortunately for some of our children, that can be the only meal that they receive during the day >> reporter: governor mara healey signing the budget approving that program >> so their bellies won't be grumbling in this schools while they're trying to get work done. >> reporter: they want to save $1200 per student per year an issue that goes beyond state borders. childre children still faced hunger in 2021 >> there is that sense of pride. as a parent or guardian, what have you, that you don't want people to know that you're struggling to see this all happen and watch us collectively go through this, this financial crisis, this pandemic, watching people struggle, it's extremely heart

joining us nbc news correspondent steven romo and nbc news legal analyst danny cevallos. se claims. >> long time coming to say the least on this. first they have to fill out a questionnaire, they or their attorneys can do that. and submit supporting documentation, and then it's going to be a little more waiting. as we mentioned here, $2.5 billion, the largest settlement for abuse that we've ever seen in history. could be up to 80,000 former scouts who are involved in this process. individually they could get as little as a few thousand dollars. up to a few million dollars. that's a process overseen by former bankruptcy judge barbara howser. anne thompson spoke to her about the difficulty they have in actually putting a dollar amount on this abuse. >> reporter: what kind of settlements should the survivors expect? >> claimants can experience settlements ranging from a low of $3,500 to a high of $2.7 million. >> reporter: who makes the decision about what price tag you put on someone's pain? >> that's a loaded question in the sense of there is no dollar compensation that wil