let's go to the hill and tracie potts this morning. what will we expected to hear today? >> reporter: once she is sworn in she'll say why she needs $28 billion next year. we look at a summary of where they want to spend more money. the biggest increase is for immigration. remember all the kids who crossed the border without their parents? there's massive backlog of cases, they want to create more courts and hire more judges to deal with those. they want an increase for prisons, for grants to states and local communities for things like body cameras and some of that money is going to deal with the aftermath of police actions like we saw in baltimore. baltimore's mayor is now requesting a civil rights investigation. a full investigation to see if there are any patterns of violations in her police department. same thing that they did down in ferguson. and don't forget terror related activities. millions of dollars she'll be asking congress for today to deal with that situations like we saw in garland, texas, and the fbi trying to track people before it becomes a problem. all

nbc's tracie potts with more on what paul is hoping to accomplish and what happens next. >> reporter: aaron, he was probably to trying to get some attention and he did that. after all, he is running for president. he was also trying to draw attention to the fact that he and some other lawmakers don't think that the usa freedom act is the best replacement for the patriot act. in ten and a half hours, he tried to make that point. interestingly it was seven democrats and three republicans who joined him. not quite a filibuster. he didn't put off any votes but i drew attention to the issue. you ask what is next? it is up to the senate and the house have passed this usa freedom act that would leave our phone records in the hands of our phone companies and not the government. that's already passed the house and in fact they're planning to pack up and go home today. it's really up to the senate. their break is supposed to start on monday, so they do not have a lot of time to deal with this. if things go as planned, debate on that usa freedom act should start some time later today. >> tracie

tracie potts nbc news washington. >> now to the art world. two art pieces have broken world records. picasso picasso's painting sold for $179 million at christies in new york. that is nearly $37 million more than the previous record. alberto ja ka menty's sculpture sold for a cool $120 million. >> someone has been involved in another shooting. according to police zimmerman was injured yesterday in a shooting involving a man. they say he did not fire any shots. video of the scene shows a bullet hole in the side window of his truck. jimmerman was hit in the face with glass and debris but has been released from the hospital. police say zimmerman had a road rage encounter last year in the man. no one has been arrested or charged in yesterday's incident. >>> caught in camera a tour bus exploding into flames. the new york city bus was headed to boston. the driver smelled smoke and pulled over. all 47 people on board were evacuated. traffic was backed up for miles. so far no word on what caused that fire. time to get down to business with landon dow

tracie potts live for us in washington this morning. there is a spirited debate going on among lawmakers for the need to increase u.s. troop levels. >> here in washington on this memorial day not everyone agrees whether or not that needs to happen. we just found out this morning 15 new air strikes by the syrian air force against the islamic state but some argue the air strikes are simply not working. as rolling thunder veterans mark another day in the capitol, washington is debating how to defeat the islamic state. john mccain insists air strikes are not enough we need boots on the ground. ash ton arterkartder disagrees. >> we can give them training and equipment. we obviously can't give them the will to fight. >> reporter: the iraqis have gained ground since isis took ramadi but it's now the size of a small european country. >> we are losing. there is no doubt about it. >> reporter: even democrats worry air strikes alone ant working. >> clearly isis has gained momentum. >> reporter: some worry isis could get a nuclear weapon. >> we don

tracie potts is live for us in washington. there is a spirited debate in washington right now. >> there is. and here in washington on this memorial day not everyone agrees whether or not that needs to happen. we just found out this afternoon 15 new air strikes by the southeastern air force against the islamic state but some lawmakers argue the air strikes are not working. >> reporter: as rolling thunder veterans mark another memorial day in the nation's capitol, washington is debating how to defeat the islamic state. >> we need to have a strategy. there is no strategy. >> senator john mccain insists air strikes are not enough. we need boots on the ground. defense secretary ash ton arter disagrees. he says the problem is iraqis don't want to fight. >> we can give them training. we can give them equipment. we obviously can't give them the will to fight. >> reporter: the iraqis have gained ground since isis took ramadi a week ago but the islamic in syria is now the size of a small european country. >> we are losing. >> reporter:

nbc's tracie potts has the latest on that ruling. tracy, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. june 1st is the deadline to reauthorize the law that supports that program. it's nope as -- known as section 215. and the federal appeals court said the way that it was applied the program that the nsa was using is illegal, collecting bulk data your phone records, mine and everyone else's and then using that database to search when they have evidence that someone outside the u.s. is trying to contact someone inside the u.s. for possible terrorist activity. the panel said it's unwarranted, unprecedented and could lead to the government collecting your bank our medical records and social media. how do they tweak that law in a which that will satisfy the laws and satisfy the public? that's what the lawmakers are working on. what they have come up is the usa freedom act. some say it's not strong enough. they'll be debating it and likely voting on it in the house next week. >> tracie potts on the hill, thanks. >>> we're seeing ye

tracie potts is live in washington. tracie good morning. >> reporter: two separate initiatives. that's coming out of what is a drone conference in atlanta, from the faa administrator. you might recall back in february, they put out proposed rules for dealing with drones under 55 pounds. well, those rules have drawn in more than 4,500 comments from members of the public. from hobbyists who want to fly their drones. from businesses. there is a big push by business to get these rules in place. restaurants and delivery services. and others. surveyors and realtors and journalists like us who wants to use the drones throughout the united states. the faa has seven requests so far to certify drone use. they are concern about safety. remember the drone we saw crash on the white house lawn. the proposed rules say that the operator has to keep the drones in line of sight. they are also concerned, not only about the market but also able possibly interfering with aircraft. that's why the proposal would keep them five miles away from airports. we'll see what the faa administrator has to say a

nbc's tracie potts live now from capitol hill with more on this and the things are headed to the supreme court. >> reporter: looks like they are. this is the second time that the federal court has said no at least for now. this was not deciding the merits of the case though. what they looked at was an emergency request by the obama administration to go ahead with that immigration plan while it was working its way through the courts. at least in those states that did not object. and this three-judge panel said no it would be too confusing and that the federal government is supposed to apply its policies uni formally across the states. 26 states sued led by texas. there are demonstrations on both sides. reaction this morning, texas governor abbott said that what the president is trying to do is unlawful. reaction from the white house. they say that this three-judge panel misinterpreted the facts and they still insist that the president trying to keep five million undocumented workers in this country by putting them on the back burner essentially for deportation is fully consistent with the

nbc's tracie potts reports that lawmakers note they need a new way to pay for the repairs. the question is now. >> see the holes in the end of the beam? >> virginia bridge engineer shows us what happens when 45,000 cars a day drive over a bridge for 30 years. water and salt water pass through that joint on a regular basis. and that causes the corrosion of the steel beams. >> the federal highway administration considers one out of every nine bridges in the u.s. structurally distinguisheficient meaning it needs repairs, maintenance or replacement. and like the i-35 bridge in minneapolis that collapsed if 2007. congress is considering another short-term fix. former transportation secretary ray lahood calls that a joke. >> you raise $1 billion a year. >> some think it doesn't make sense with more fuel-efficient cars. >> you have a million car as year going to alternative fuels or some fuels that are paying nothing. >> one group is proposing a short-term, half-cent increase in the gas tax. >> it amounts to $3 a year per person. the average driver. and it gives us until 2016 to c

nbc's tracie potts has a look at how lawmakers and military leaders are trying to stem the problem. >> reporter: good morning, aaron. the problem is they don't agree on how to do it. do you fight isis in iraq and syria as some have said? do you leave it to the islamic community here to try to make those inroads that the government can't? some are saying that. or do you raise security as we have seen or do you rely on state and local police to help deal with this? what we do know is that the department of homeland security secretary jeh johnson said over the weekend that one of the big issues here is how well isis uses social media. in other words, they're claiming responsibility for things like the shoot-out in garland, texas, when they didn't necessarily plan it, but they inspired the lone attackers who authorities believe that. any lone wolf can strike at any minute. however, they're not diskourning americans from going out to big events and from doing thing. senator cory booker of new jersey said the problem is that our social media as he put it is laughable. but jeh johnson said

tracie potts, thank you. >>> the faa has approved use of more than 200 pound drones for farmers. they will hover above farms spraying pesticides on to the crops. some farmers are using approved drones with cameras to check the health of their crops from the air. >>> it is one of her biggest presidential campaign pledges. hillary clinton says she will fight for comprehensive immigration reform and said she'll push for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. and the president's actions led to bitter standoffs with republicans over other policies. clinton was quick to slam her republican opponents for offering what she calls second-class status for immigrants. >> make no mistakes, today not a single republican candidate announced or potential is clearly and consistently supporting a path to citizenship. not one. >> now clinton's event comes as her campaign launched an online counteroffensive over a controversial new book. that raises questions about foreign donors to the foundation. bill clinton defended her saying quote, people should live to be as honest as she is. >>>

nbc's tracie potts live on capitol hill with details on who's calling for u.s.s on the ground. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, aaron. john mccain certainly is. the senator and vietnam vet says not only is our strategy not working he says we don't really have a strategy. and that to defeat the islamic state we have got to get more boots on the ground. soldiers, special forces who can go in and figure where we need to target those air strikes. defense secretary carter though says as you heard that the issue is not so much needing boots on the ground and they are not looking at doing that. but that the iraqis don't have the will to fight. they don't want to fight isis despite the training and equipment that we're providing. they have gained some ground after the islamic state took over ramadi, but what isis holds in syria and iraq right now is about the size of a small european country. complicating things the politics the sunnis who aren't fully incorporated into the iraq government and gravitating toward or not willing to fight against isis. making thing

tracie potts is following developments. anyone making headway right now? >> reporter: well carly fiorina showed up outside a hillary event, asking the question how do we trust mrs. clinton? she talked about the e-mail, benghazi. she talked about those foreign donations that the clinton foundation has received. inside hillary clinton was talking about women and equal pay and slamming republicans saying how can we turn things back over to the same party that crashed our economy? rick santorum is now joining the race. he also spoke about clinton saying working families don't need a president tied to big government and big money. this comes after bernie sanders jumped in on tuesday. so a couple of new republicans out there. and then rand paul was in chicago taking a bit of a different approach, talking about the african-american vote and black lives matter. he quoted malcolm x saying that if people want equality and justice they can't wait for government to give it to them. they have to take it. >> tracie potts on capitol hill this morning, thank you. >>> a de

nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. good morning, tracie. what can we expect from the faa's announcement today? >> reporter: two separate announcements at that drone conference in atlanta. that are likely to follow up on what they're already working on the proposed rules for drones under 55 pounds. those came out, the proposeal in february. since then, alex, they've had more than 4,500 comments just in the last couple of months about these rules. the business community, the drone industry they're very eager to see these rules in place. reerlts and surveyors and journalists like us, even restaurants and delivery services who want to use these drones. but as you said there are safety concerns. we saw one crash on the white house lawn when it got out of line of sight of its operator. that's one of the proposed rules that they have to keep it in line of sight. and there are also concerns about commercial aircraft. what happens if they get too close to a plane in the air? there are also rules that are dealing with that. so the faa is hashing it o

>> tracie potts, thank you. >>> it's 4:47 this morning. the u.s. guard academy class of 2015 will receive a sendoff from their commander in chief. the president will deliver the keynote speech. the president also spoke at the academy's 2011 commencement. congratulations. >>> and this afternoon, the first lady and former senator elizabeth dole will honor the people who care for the service members and veterans. more than 70 caregivers will be welcomed. dole's foundation is calling them hidden heroes and highlighting the enormous responsibility they take on every day. the guests will meet with members of congress about what can be done to make sure our service members and veterans have the support they need. >>> hillary clinton is fielding direct questions from the press for the first time in weeks. clinton is trying to focus on the middle class issues central to her presidential campaign. but she's still dogged by questions about her use of private e-mail while secretary of state. >> well they're not mine. they belong to the state department. as muc

nbc's tracie potts is joining us live from capitol hill. good morning to you. why is this so difficult for congress? >> reporter: well, it's one of those things, angie, they keep kicking the can down the road. they have done it nearly a dozen times in recent years. and now that federal highway trust fund that provides the money is about to run out of funding again at the end of the month. it's on a long list of things that congress is trying to deal with before they get out of town. i just did a search this morning. just within ten miles of here we're on capitol hill hundreds of bridges in this area in bad need of repair. there are 600,000 nationwide. and many of them are set to last they're built to last about 50 years. the average age is 42 years. so you can see why there are so many bridges in desperate need of repair and there are a lot of options here. some people want to raise the gas tax. keep in mind every time you buy a gallon of gas, 18 cents goes into that federal fund to repair highways and bridges. some people want a temporary increase in that gas

"today in the bay's" tracie potts is joining us live from washington, d.c. this morning.c tracie, this investigation actually goes back over several years. good morning. >> it goes back over a decade, sam and laura. good morning. it was done by the inspector general. they took a look at how many people work at the irs, but willfully and that's the key there, willfully did not pay their own taxes. nearly 1600 over that time period. and even more shocking to some, only about a quarter of them were fired. the law says if you work for the irs and you don't pay your taxes you get fired. the commissioner can waive that. apparently in most cases people were not fired or resigned or retired. but in many cases they got promotions and bonuses while they were not paying their taxes. so this is now become a concern with lawmakers here on capitol hill. the irs responds that people were disciplined either suspended or other disciplinary action even if they were not fired and that of the 85,000 people who work at the agency this amounts to about 160 people a year. still, certainly a big

as nbc correspondent traci potts reports it looks like that's about to change. >> reporter: these areqi troops getting weapons provided by the u.s. as many as 8,000 have gathered in an area standing by for orders to liberate the city taken by the islamic state. >> no number of air strikes to assist the forces on the ground will help if they're not going to seize and hold the terrain. >> reporter: it comes as isis takes over major parts of iraq. americans died here to free it from hussein. >> first memorial day in 14 years that the united states has not engaged in major ground war. >> reporter: defense secretary carter says when the iraqis could fight they ran away. >> many of us are disappointed. many of us are upset. many of us are frustrated. it ultimately highlights the fact that men and women in the military are willing to defend our nation. >> reporter: but proud of the sacrifice made by americans and now it looks like iraq may be willing to do the same. we have seen that the announcement came on iraqi state tvered this morning. tracie potts, nbc news washington. >> joe biden rea

nbc's tracie potts is on capitol hill with a look at what's at stake. >> reporter: pat, the senate'sng called back for a rare early session on sunday afternoon just hours before the patriot act is set to expire and the obama administration is really pushing them to get something done. there is a plan on the table a replacement, the usa freedom act, already passed by the house. but there's some pushback on that in the senate especially from majority leader mitch mcconnell. they left town without dealing with it, now they're coming back early just hours before this critical deadline. we're hearing from loretta lynch, the attorney general who says national security could be at risk because it's not just the nsa and bulk phone collection that would expire but critical tools they use to tract terrorists. so we wait to see what will happen sunday. will they pass some sort so short term solution? might they come up with another solution? if not what happens on monday to those tools that are used in the fight against terror? back to you, pat. >> thanks tracie potts. >>> there's big mystery s

nbc's tracie potts live for us in washington this morning. tracie, there's a spirited debate among lawmakers about the need for increasing u.s. troop levels. >> this morning we learned that they launched 15 new air strikes. washington, lawmakers argued that air strikes simply are not working. they're not enough. >> we need a strategy. that's no strategy. >> he suggests that boots are not enough. don't think we need boots on the ground. the problem is iraqis don't want to fight, they don't have the will to fight, despite all the training and equipment that we've been providing for them. isis recently took ramadi, although the iraqis have gained some ground. the areas they've taken in syria and iraq now amount to about the size of a small european country. >> clearly isis has gained momentum. >> we do not wait until they get it before we take action. >> some say that it's not a question of the military. >> e with still have a lot of work to keep the pressure to fully incorporate and peel the tribes away. >> complex politics in the middle of a wa

nbc's tracie potts live on capitol hill for who is calling for u.s. troops on the ground there. >> reporter: good morning. john mccain is one of them the senator and vietnam veteran said we won't win this with air power alone. we need special forces and others in there to identify where to strike the islamic state. but you just heard secretary of defense ash carter saying that boots on the ground isn't the answer. that the concern is that the iraqis essentially don't want to fight despite the training and equipment that we're giving them trying to encourage that. now, there have been some gains after the islamic state took over ramadi, but still what they have right now in iraq and syria is about the size of a small european country. >> tracie potts on the hill for us. thank you. >>> one woman remains chained to the ship belonging to the shell oil company. she is protesting the company's plan to search for oil. this is happening north of seattle. now, one protester who was chained to that ship left yesterday. the ship is part of a fleet that will help

nbc's tracie potts is live on capitol hill with a look at what's being done to try to solve this problem. >> reporter: good morning, aaron. people on capitol hill are wondering do you hit them hard overseas in iraq and syria, do you get local police involved to track isis sympathizers in this country? how do you get to this group that's so adept at using social media. listen to what dianne feinstein saying talking about their influence right here in the united states. >> you know isis now has a presence in 11 states. it's a force that we really haven't seen before. and we have to begin to cope more seriously with it. and that includes social media. >> reporter: and it includes trying to make inroads with the islamic communities here on capitol hill. is some say they can -- some say they can get the message out much easier than the federal government. we have raised the security level at 3,000 military bases, after what happened in texas. more of a general threat to recruiting stations and bases. >> tracie potts, thanks. >>> tomorrow a federal appeals court is set to hear arguments over f

>> tracie potts on capitol hill, thanks. >>> it is outrageous that america is the only country in the developed world that doesn't guarantee paid leave. >> that is presidential candidate hillary clinton calling for guaranteed paid family leave and she tweeted she gave a few moms a phone call to wish them happy mother's day. women voters are seen as a decisive part of the electoral headed into 2016. >>> 5:32. tomorrow a federal appeals court will hear appeals over governor mcconnell's corruption hearing. it will about an hour. and legal experts say the fact he's remained free during the appeal may see it as a close call. >>> the former jimmy carter cut short a trip to guyana. he was not feeling well yesterday and he was returning to atlanta. the 090-year-old was -- 90-year-old was there to observe the national elections happening today. the team from the carter center remained in that country as international election observers. >>> two weeks after a powerful earthquake a lot of people in nepal can't return to their homes. more than half a million buildings are damaged there. the earth

nbc's tracie potts is live now at capitol hill with more on what paul accomplished. what happens now? >> reporter: well the senate has to take some action or hopefully will take some action to try to resolve this. rand paul brought attention to himself. keep in mind he's a presidential candidate. do we renew the patriot act, let it expire or replace it with something else? he was talking about what the house has passed the usa freedom act. they have passed it. they voted and frankly they're planning on doing a few more votes and leaving in the middle of the day. it's really in the senate's court now. there are some senators who do not want this replacement that would allow phone companies and not the government to hold on to your phone records. it would restrict how the government could search those files at the phone companies. senator mcconnell wants it to go another five years but that's unlikely to happen. their break is supposed to start on monday to do something. meantime the justice department is telling the nsa you may have to shut this down quickly if they d

. >> tracie potts has for. >> reporter: iraqi troops gathered. shia and sunni working together. as of this morning they're launching a major offensive in an war province to liberate the city taken by the islamic state. >> they're not going to help if they're not going to seize and hold the terrain. >> reporter: isis takes over major parts of iraq including ra mahdi for americans died to free the country from saddam hussein. >> first memorial day in 14 years that the united states is not engaged in a major ground war. >> reporter: defense secretary ashton carter says when the iraqis could fight, they ran away. >> many of us are disappointed and upset and frustrated. it ultimately highlights the fact that men and women in the military are willing to defend our nation. >> reporter: proud of the sacrifice made by americans. and now it looks like iraq may be willing to do the same. the announcement also came on iraqi state tv early this morning. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> an astonishing number of people have died in a heat wave in india. at least 500 people are dead. the

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> back here at home have you seen my $100,000 eyes?stion being asked by famed underground rock band. >> one of the trademark eye masks and an iconic photo vanished. thieves are likely to blame. nbc biay area with more. >>> the missing eyeball looks recycle like it. except it -- the iris is blue and the hat on that one is black. >> reporter: there's an eye out for mr. blue. one of four eyes a band called the residents is well-known for. >> this is for the residents, there is the iconic piece. >> reporter: flynn is the band's co-manager. he loaned the mask and a 16 by 20-foot version of this photo to the contemporary art center in cincinnati. they were part of a touring exhibit called "spectacles: the music video." >> it traveled to new york, australia, seattle. on the way back for me and it disappeared. >> reporter: he says he was not at his san francisco flat when fedex sent a delivery alert on may 8th. >> i checked with everybody, and basically nobody was in the building when fedex claims that it was delivered and signed for. >> repor

nbc's tracie potts is live in washington for us this morning. so, tracie, what is the pentagon doing to thwart any possible isis attacks here at home? >> first of all, they're getting word out and they have raised security at military bases. the concern may be there may be some recruiting at military stations, but they don't know who and they don't know where. there are more i.d. checks and vehicle searches on 3,000 military bases this morning after isis claimed responsibility for the deadly garland, texas attack. they put the pentagon amid more general and growing fear of home grown terrorists. >> really, terrorism has gone viral. >> reporter: isis not planning, but inspiring lone wolf attacks right here in the u.s. >> you do it, we take credit for it. >> reporter: the fbi is taking another look at whether they're watching the most likely suspects, but admits it's impossible to track thousands of isis improvisers. >> it's a force that we really haven't seen before. and we have to begin to cope more seriously with it. >> reporter: but leaders dis

from washington tracie potts, nbc news. >>> somebody's getting a very satisfying last laugh on 2016's first whacky dustup. it's called "domaingate" and we'll tell you how it started. republican candidate for president carly fiorina never registered the web domain name carlyfiorina.org. somebody else did. they made a site criticizing her for layoffs at her company. she was asked about that -- a lot -- even by nbc's chuck tothd. so she then bought chucktodd.org as a joke. now someone has bought hillaryclinton.net. guess from that site takes you? right to carly fiorina's campaign site. fiorina's campaign tells buzzfeed it's not behind that prank but somewhere somewhere is smiling about this mess on the interweb out there in cyberspace happening right now. is. >> well yoen if i can top that. chuckbell.com was taken by a realtor in oregon many many years ago. outside, what to expect for today? we will have showers around there's a possibility for a rumble or two of thunder. a chance of it being warmer than this tomorrow. today's highs low to mid-80s with an off and on shower chance across

tracie potts has a recap. >> reporter: it started with 285 of the nation's best spellers.e quite young. >> definition please? >> reporter: many of them anxious. and a few kind of funny. >> may i have an easier word please? mm-hmm. >> that's not right. >> reporter: emotions run high whether you get it wrong or right. it's a lot of pressure for a kid. number 132 had to let off some steam. it came down to ten. then just two. gokul venkatachalam an 8th grader from missouri. >> nunatak, n-u-n-a-t-a-k- >> correct. >> reporter: and vanya shivashankar. her sister won six years ago. her final word? >> scherenschnitte. s. s-c-h-e-r-e-n-s-c-h-n-i-t-t-e. scherenschnitte. >> correct. >> reporter: both so good the bee ran out of words and declared a tie for the second year in a row. now, before last year the last time we saw a tie in the spelling bee was back in 1962. more than 50 years ago. tracie potts, nbc news washington. >> how do you run out of words. >> when you get to scher en whatever it is. you run out of words. >> they don't want a tie. they want a clear winner i bet. >> they

tracie potts with a look at what's expected today. >> reporter: good morning. she's here in a few hours to talk about the budget, about money. but in that budget we get a sense of what her priorities might be for the next year. some of the money will be used for things like the aftermath of baltimore, civil rights investigations, baltimore's mayor has requested one for her department like they did for ferguson. more money for prisons and for brants for body cameras. but the biggest chunk is going to be fighting immigration, specifically dealing with a lot of the issues that came up when children crossed the border without their parents. and the civil rights investigations and terror which is under the justice department's purview. $106 million to help make sure that suspects are -- they keep an eye on suspects like those in garland, texas, last sunday. eun? >> tracie potts, thank you. >>> today we expect to learn how security agencies plan to stop white house fence jumpers. the secret service, the national park service expected to approve temporary spikes for t

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> it might not seem like there are a lot of bridges and overpassesn jose. look at this map. on it you can see bridges and overpasses in the san jose area the green ones are structurally sound. each red mark indicates a bridge or overpass that is not structurally safe. >> here is san francisco as well. a lot of red on both sides of the bay. there you see san francisco and the east bay. >>> to napa where we had the quake last night. napa county, its fair share of bridges. a few have been deemed structurally deficient as well. >>> a cry for help via youtube. a women with extreme anorexia trying to raise money for the medical help that could save her life. it actually could be too help. >> nbc bay area's peggy bunker has the woman's plea. >> i'm suffering from an eating disorder. it's a very severe kind of anorexia. >> reporter: rachel wasn't always this way. she used to be fit, happy and healthy until she developed severe anorexia ten years ago. she has been to three treatment centers. her husband of ten years quit his job to stay home and care for her.

tracie potts has more. >> reporter: aaron, yeah, "the washington post" and the associated press are quotingrces saying that that announcement could come as soon as today. let's clarify because the pattern and practices civil rights investigation that they would launch is different than what they have already got going in baltimore. they wouldn't be looking at a specific case or they wouldn't be looking at specific officers. they'd be looking at the entire department to see if there's some sort of pattern of civil rights abuses. this is actually an investigation that baltimore mayor stephanie rawlings-blake requested to help restore confidence in her police department. our affiliate up in baltimore got a comment from the police commissioner saying he welcomes this. that they do have fewer lawsuits and complaints but they need to prove that to the public. there were a lot of hints from loretta lynch the new attorney general about this last week and we can see an announcement as early as today. >> tracie potts, thank you. >>> the man who flew a gyrocopter on to the capitol lawn heads to court.

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> we want to show you more of this new video of president obamat arlington national cemetery on this memorial day. the president placed a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier and paused for a moment of silence thereafter. we are expected to hear from him a little bit later on this morning as he will address military members and their families. >>> in washington police have made an arrest after a suspicious vehicle with a pressure cooker inside of it was left near the capitol building. officers noticed the device and smelled gasoline so they called in the bomb squad. the bomb squad destroyed the pressure cooker which can be used as an explosive device. this all took place just blocks away from a memorial day concert at the capitol. nobody was hurt. the virginia man whom police arrest sd now facing charges related to driving without a license. >>> this morning in cleveland a judge arraigned 58 people during rare holiday court proceedings. it's the legal aftermath following protests from the acquittal of a city police officer accused of shooting

tracie potts is joining us live with the latest. >> reporter: good morning.y're working on it lawmakers have come up with something called the usa freedom act that they think essentially be tweak -- will tweak that law to allow the program to continue, but satisfy the courts and satisfy the public. people who are concerned about privacy. they don't have a long time to deal with it though. that law expires june 1st so they have less than a month to make the changes and get them approved so that this program can continue. the nsa, the government has argued that building that database by collecting all of our phone records allows them to search for contacts between overseas terrorists and people in this country. but the aclu sued and said that it was an overreach. the court said it was unprecedented and unwarranted and could lead to the government collecting other records. like your banking records. other records like your medical records. so right now lawmakers are trying to make some changes to that law. they have got a few weeks left. the house is supposed to

thank you very much, tracie potts live from washington, d.c. >>> we stay in the nation's capital. has been booked and charged with driving without a license. this after a bomb squad found a pressure cooker inside of his car. israel shimeles was arrested around the time that the bomb squad blew up the cooker. investigators say that shimeles left that cooker inside his car on the national mall right near the capital building. tons of people around. officers said he smelled gasoline coming from the car before calling for backup. officials say they didn't find anything else suspicious in the car. it's unclear if shimeles will face additional charges. >>> new details this morning on a deadly storm system barrelling through texas and oklahoma. this morning we have learned three people were killed in the flooding and tornados. one person died when heavy floods washed over san marcos, texas, and at least eight people are still missing. two people in oklahoma were killed in the storms. one of those victims was a firefighter. >> yes, plenty of heroism in the middle of the weather. one of th

nbc's tracie potts live from capitol hill with more on how this might be headed to the supreme court. >> reporter: yes, getting a lot closer, aaron. what the government was seeking here was to lift the stay so they could go ahead with that plan. putting these deportations on the back burner until it works its way through the courts. the three-judge panel said no. two of them did, one dissented saying that this is really not for the courts to decide. arguing it's for the president and congress to decide. so now the fifth circuit has spoken, but not on the merits of the case. they'll be hearing that and discussing that later this summer. 26 states sued, led by texas. what the president is trying to do here is unlawful. aaron? >> tracie potts, thank you. >>> hackers have stolen irs records from more than 100,000 people and they used those records to steal refunds. irs commissioner john koskinen said an extremely sophisticated organized crime syndicate is behind the theft. lawmakers are pressing for answers as to how the irs could have allowed data to be vulnerable. right now, the irs say

. >>> tracy potts on the hill for us. >>> a u.s. senator indicted on 22 counts of corruption wants his trial moved here to d.c. he said virtually none of the alleged counts occurred in his home state of new jersey. a new poll shows the majority of people in new jersey who heard about the charges think he's probably guilty but 2/3 say he should have a chance to clear his name before resigning. >>> george zimmermann is out of the hospital after being shot at in florida. zimmermann is the former neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed trayvon martin in 2012. the shooting involved the same man on a road rage attack last year. >>> we have this developing story out of california right now. two people shot and another assaulted, this is near the campus of the university of california santa barbara. take a look at the scene here. this is in the same area where a guy went on a killing spree last year. we know all three, though hurt today are in the hospital right one of the men is believed to be a suspect. that according to police.

let's get to the hill where we find nbc's tracie potts this morning. >> reporter: good morning. she's asking congress here today for $28 billion for the justice department. that's for investigations the fbi, the immigration. a huge budget and they have a lot of priorities in that budget. now, of the increase where she wants more money, the biggest chunk of that is for immigration. she's asking for a 40% increase in that budget to deal with the huge backlog of cases. they need to hire more judges and create more courts. a lot having to do with the unaccompanied minors kids who came across the border without their parents. so the senate appropriations subcommittee will look at that today. some of the money she'll be asking for her -- are for prisons and police body cameras, for civil rights investigations like the one requested for baltimore's police department. don't forget the fbi dealing with terror. trying to track down suspects before situations like we saw in garland, texas, last sunday. >> tracie potts on capitol hill. thanks. >>> within weeks we'll find out if former penns

nbc's tracie potts joins us live with a look at what the faa has planned.morning. >> reporter: good morning, aaron. two initiatives at a drone conference in atlanta. we'll hear that in a few hours. from the faa administrator. the faa already has some proposed rules out there. they launched them in february and since then 4,500 comments have come in from the public from people who use drones as a hobby and from business leaders. this industry could be a billion dollar industry and they are itching to get more drones out there, but they've got to wait until the government puts these new rules in place. the proposed rules would be for drones under 55 pounds. of course safety is a really big concern. we saw that drone that crashed on the white house lawn. security is a concern. but also commercial aircraft that are already out there, they want to make sure that these drones don't interfere with those. so the proposed rule are in place. the faa said we could see the rules finalized by the fall. but today in atlanta two big new initiatives that the faa will be an

nbc's tracie potts has the story this morning in washington. good morning, tracie. >> hi betty. >> you can see why some of them are in need of dire repair. >> the holes in the end of st. beam. >> reporter: gary shows us what happens when 45,000 cars a day drive over a bridge for 30 years. >> water and saltwater pass through that joint on a regular basis. that causes the corrosion of the steel beam. >> the federal highway administration considers one in nine bridges across the u.s. are structurally deficient, meaning it needs significant repairs or maintenance like this one. the i-35 bridge that collapsed in minneapolis in 2007, with highway funds depleted, congress is considering another short-term fix. former transportation secretary ray lahood calls that a joke. >> if you raise the gas tax ten cents a gallon, which is what i'm recommending, you raise $1 billion a law. >> some think that doesn't make senses with more fuel efficient cars. >> they have almost a million cars a year going to alternative fuels where some fuels are paying nothing. >>

tracie potts is joining us live in washington, d.c. tracie, this investigation actually going back over several years. >> yes, it's going back over a decade, sam. the inspector general says the 1600 -- nearly 1600 people either claimed too many dependent or filed late or in some cases claimed the first time home buyers credit when they didn't buy a home at all. the law says if you work for the irs and you evade taxes then you get fired. but that only happened to about a quarter of these people. according to the report, some retired and resigned, but most of them got other disciplinary action, some sort of reprimand or suspension. many of them, the reports says, got promotion and raises and bonuses from taxpayer money while they were not paying their taxes. that is certainly drawing the eyes of not only taxpayers but lawmakers here on capitol hill who want to know more about how this is happening at the irs. sam? >> all right. tracie potts live from washington. thank you so much. >>> more missing money now. this time in san jose. the inv

tracie potts joins us now. >> the obama administration says national security is at stake.atriotic act runs out on sunday. lawmakers aren't here right now to do anything about that but they're coming back and they're coming back early. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has called a rare sunday afternoon session to try to deal with this literally hours before the patriotic act runs out. we've been talking about the part of the patriotic act that deals with bulk collection of your phone data. however, there are other parts of the patriotic act that have tools that are used for national security. for example, being able to trace burner phones of suspected terrorists. attorney general loretta lynch says that's a key tool and if the patriotic act runs out, they won't be able to do that. so they're worried about other things in this law that they use on a regular basis. lawmakers will be back on sunday trying to work this out. there's disagreement right now in the senate on whether or not to let the patriotic bill expire and whether or not to approve the freedom bill. >>> it

tracie potts is live in washington.there's no way we could spell some of those words. >> reporter: i can't even say some of those words. once again, these really smart kids from proven they can keep spelling until there are no words left. it started with 285 of the nation's best spellers. some quite young. >> definition, please? >>. >> reporter: many of them anxious and a few kind of funny. >> may i have an easy word please? >> that's not right. >> reporter: emotions run high if you get it wrong or right. it's a lot of pressure for a kid. number 132 had to let off some steam. >> thank you. >> reporter: it came down to ten then just go gokul venkatachalam an eighth grader from missouri. nunatak. and vanya shivashankar an eighth grader from kansas. this is her fifth bee. her sister won six years ago. scherenschnitte. >> both so good the bee ran out of words and declared a tie for the second year in a row. >> so we saw it last year but before that there hadn't been a tie in more than half a century and there was some discu

"today in the bay's" tracie potts is live in washington, d.c. this morning with more. good morning, tracie. >> hey, good morning. he's going to face-off today with a harvard professor and conservative think tank here in washington to talk about how do you fix this poverty problem in america. we've been digging in to some numbers. the numbers in california, about 15% of people are living below the poverty line according to the census bureau. the numbers are bigger for children, about one in four or 2.1 million california children are in poverty. half of them extreme. a lot of it has to do with income. we've also learned that the number of homeless students are the percentage went up year over year, 13%. that's a big issue that the schools are now having to deal with. and poverty not having money also leads to kids being hungry. 2.4 million of them in california. notice thooat's more than below the poverty line. president obama sits down the with the academics to see if they can come up with solutions on how you fix things. >> childhood poverty is such an issue issue. tra

. >> tracie potts is live in washington with the latest on decision 2016. orning, tracy. >> good morning, sam and laura. fiorina showed up out side a hillary clinton campaign event in a very important state as we start to track this race, still 529 days away but there's a lot of campaigning happening. >> if you're hillary clinton and you lost south carolina last time, here's the strategy. hit the local bakery and slam republicans on the economy. >> are we going to hand over our country once again to the people and policies that crashed our economy before? >> if you're carly fiorina polling at 1%, a different strategy. show up out side clinton's speech and hit her weak points. foreign donations, e-mail, and benghazi. >> how can we trust mrs. clinton? fiorina's got company, rick santorum just announced he's joining the crowded field of republican candidates. he also targeted clinton. >> working families don't need another president tied to big government or big money. >> reporter: in chicago rand paul took a totally different approach going after republicans'

"today in the bay's" tracie potts is live in washington, d.c. this morning with the latest. good morning, tracie. >> good morning. what happens when that drone gets out of sight of the pilot? we know sometimes it crashes on the white house lawn but in most cases, businesses think they can do that safely and that's why they've been pushing the faa to take a look at it. two big announcements coming out of the drone conference happening in atlanta today. we expect that the faa will say they at least now want to study that. amazon is there. google is there. almost 600 other companies very interested in the faa beginning to relax these rules or create a move so drones can operate safely and legally in this country. the proposed rules that are under way are separate from the announcement we will get today. they got over 4500,000 of public comments on that and the faa tells us those rules may be in place as early as this fall. >> all right, tracie potts live from washington, d.c. thank you very much. >>> taking a live look outside this morning. overlooking san bruno mountain. christ

"today in the bay's" tracie potts is joining us live from washington, d.c. this morning. , the white house is pushing hard to keep this going. >> reporter: they are. the administration, sam, says that it could be a national security disaster if the patriot act expires and there's nothing to replace it. now, there is something to replace it. the usa freedom act that the house passed, it would keep the phone records with the phone companies, but keep some of the other tools that are used to track down terrorists effective. however, not everyone in the senate likes that or is willing to vote for it, including majority leader mitch mcconnell. he's the one calling everyone back early on sunday to try to deal with this. we also heard from loretta lynch, the new attorney general. he says that this is a threat to national security because some of those tools like tracing burner phones, temporary cellphones, are essential to tracking terror suspects. they'll lose all of that, not just the bulk data collection. if the patriot act goes dark at the end of this weekend. so just hours b

"today in the bay's" tracie potts is joining us live in washington, d.c. this morning where senator rand paul just stopped talking a few hours ago, tracie. >> he did, sam and laura. we thought he might still be auk thing this morning but he cut it off just before midnight. the house voted and they're leaving today. the senate is supposed to be leafing for their break starting on monday. there should be some debate later today, we expect, on this patriot act replacement after that long speech last night. >> i will not let the patriot act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged. >> reporter: it went on -- >> i think we can obey the constitution and catch terrorists at the same time. >> reporter: -- and on and on. >> my voice is rapidly leaving. my bedtime is long since past. >> reporter: with nonadministrations outside and helpful conservative republicans and liberal democrats inside. senator rand paul spoke for 10 1/2 hours, finishing just before midnight. >> i relinquish the floor. >> reporter: not technically a filibuster and not long enough to post

. >> tracie potts is live on capitol hill where washington is trying to figure out how to deal with the growing threat. good morning. >> hey, they are especially p enwhy hear concerns about recruiting stations but there's nothing specific and nothing credible, so they raise security at all our bases. there are more airksid checks o 3,000 military bases this morning after isis climbed responsibility for the deadly garland, texas, attack. nothing specific but the pentagon raised security amid a more general and growing fear of homegrown terrorists. >> really terrorism has gone viral. >> reporter: isis not planning but inspiring lone wolf attacks right here in the u.s. >> you do it and we take credit for it. >> reporter: the fbi is taking another look at whether they're watching the most likely suspects. but admit it's impossible to track thousands of isis sympathizers. >> it's is a force that we really haven't seen before. we have to begin to cope more seriously with it. >> reporter: leaders disagree on how. >> i think the best strategy the u.s. could employ to defeat this is actually def

. >> tracie potts is live in washington, d.c. this morning.hite house is pushing hard to keep this going. >> they are. the administration says there are some critical tools in the patriot act, aside from that bulk collection of phone records they need to track down terrorists. we heard it from spokesman josh earnest from the white house saying that the squabbling, as he put it going on here, is creating an unnecessary risk. we heard it from loretta lynch, the attorney general, warn that they could handicap national security if there is no resolution here. so here's what's happening this weekend. the patriot act expires at the end of sunday, just a few hours before that. the senate has now decided to come back early. they've been called back early by majority leader mitch mcconnell to try to work this out. what's on the table? the usa freedom act to replace it, and it would allow the phone records to stay with the phone companies but also preserve some of those tools that are used by investigators to track down terrorists. so we wait until sund