breaking overnight. another deadly night of destructive storms. severe weather sweeps across the southeast, unleashing tornados,

heavy rain and hail. angie lassman is tracking the hardest-hit spots and where the system is heading next. america and israel's widening rift over rafah. president biden warning that the u.s. will not send offensive weapons if israel goes ahead with its planned invasion. we are live with the growing tensions between the close allies. stormy daniels back on stand. the fireworks expected at donald trump's hush money trial today. and chevy leaving the malibu in the dust. why it's the end of the road for the sedan. and the knicks outpace indiana. they take a two-game lead. we'll have the playoff highlight. it's thursday, may 9. "early today "early today" starts right now. good morning. glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. we begin with the latest onslaught of vicious weather, this time pummeling the south. at least two people were killed in tennessee and another in

north carolina. and a possible tornado touched down south of nashville, leveling homes, and multiple people were injured there. but officials don't have an estimate of just how many yet. >> something you see out of a movie. the twister, metal wrapped around everything. your house is gone. you have nothing left. you have nothing left. i have my clothes and my crocs on my feet. that's it. i have, it's all gone. just everything is gone. we had to scream for help. and then finally, they came with chainsaws and was able to dig us out. >> according to the national weather service, there were 13 reports of tornados in seven states. in huntsville, alabama, residents were warned to seek shelter as a twister touched down. >> and millions remain in the path of more severe storms. angie lassman joins us with the latest. >> we're not done with the severe threat just yet. today will bring us another chance for stronger storms to

develop. and already this morning ramping up across the tennessee valley. notice where you see the tornado watch across this region. tupelo in the center of that. but we've got thunderstorms working through the region. lots of rumbles of thunder, lots of lightning and a whole lot of rain. flash flood warnings are in effect across this region. and we turn our attention to the south through the mid atlantic today and tonight. we've got scattered storms through the great lakes. but the severe threat is from texas to new jersey. the main risk is strong winds as well as that hail. tornados are on the lower side. but it's really something that we'll be watching for, isolated at least. we've got strong winds expected for dallas, shreveport, montgomery, all the way into parts of georgia. that's where we're expecting the strongest of the winds. by tomorrow we do see the steadier rain work into the northeast and a few chances for thunderstorms across parts of the south, frances.

>> still so much to watch. angie, thanks. druonald trump's hush money trial will continue today in new york. stormy daniels will be back on the witness stand. she will face more cross examination from trump's defense attorneys. the former president is expected to have a political ally by his side today. a spokesperson for rick scott confirms to nbc news that the florida senator will be in a courtroom saying that he will reveal his reason for being there later this morning. meanwhile, donald trump was handed a legal victory in his georgia election interference case. a court has given mr. trump permission to appeal a decision from marthach, that kept d.a. f willis on the case. d.a.'s office declined to comment. there is a remarkable turn in the u.s.-israel relationship. president biden saying the u.s.

will halt weapons shipments to israel if the netanyahu government launches a full-scale invasion of rafah in the south of gaza. the president broke the news in an interview with cnn where he also admitted that american bombs have killedinnocent gazans. for more on this, let's go to brie jackson in d.c. talk about the significance of this. >> reporter: frances, good morning. this is by far the harshest rebuke of israel by president biden since the war broke out on october 7th. on tuesday, the u.s. decided to pause a chance for a 3500 bombs to israel. half of those being one-ton bombs. the president now revealing that's not a one-off, but america's rafah policy going forward. let's take a listen to what he told erin burnett on cnn. >> civilians have been killed in gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers. i made it clear that if they go into rafah, they haven't gone

into rafah yet, if they go into rafah, i won't provide the weapons that have typically been used to deal with that, to deal with rafah. >> reporter: a massive attack on the city could have devastating consequences in a war that has already killed at least 35,000 palestinians. the president saying he won't even supply artillery shells for a push into rafah. this all comes as the diplomatic r momentum is building after hamas accepted a cease-fire proposal earlier this week. cia director william burns is back in cairo this morning for further talks to try to seal the deal. u.s. officials tell nbc news that israel wants rafah to be excluded from any agreement. although an israeli official is denying that claim. the state department said yesterday that a deal for a cease-fire and to release hostages is within reach. fr frances? the war in the middle east

is continuing to spark conflict on college campuses across america. graduation season is off to a shaky start with scores of arrests just yesterday. and there was another showdown between educators and lawmakers on the hill. here's liz kreutz. >> reporter: across college campuses nationwide, another tense day as more universities crack down on pro-palestinian protests ahead of graduation. at george washington university, police using pepper spray to disperse a crowd of demonstrators there. at umass amhurst people arrested after refusing to leave their encampment while protesters continued to barricade themselves in the school of design. this comes as k through 12 administrators were grilled. >> what are you doing to keep student safe? and how can we stop this?

>> reporter: new york city school chancellor david banks pushing back on the line of questioning. >> if we really care about solving for anti-semitism, and i believe this deeply, it's not about having gotcha moments. it's about teaching. you have no raise the consciousness of young people. >> they're pushing forward now. >> reporter: meanwhile, an investigation is under way at ucla into the violence that broke out after counter protesters attacked a pro-palestinian encampment last week. according to law enforcement forces who spoke to the los angeles times, police are using photo recognition technology, similar to what was used after the january 6 attacks on the capitol to identify the counter protesters. at nearby university of southern california, a police chopper circled overhead as graduation ceremonies got under way. the school canceled its main ceremony due to safety concerns. >> i think for administrators, myself included, there's a lot of tension, how do we make sure

we pull this hoff with minimal disruption. >> reporter: pedro pedronogueisa once a protester. >> my message is educate, educate others, engage in dialog. i know it's hard. but don't just talk to the people you agree with already. >> our thanks to liz for that report. president biden made another campaign visit to wisconsin where he announced a new $3.3 billion investment by microsoft to build a new a.i. data center in racine. it will create construction jobs and permanent jobs. the center is going to be at the same site where in 2018 donald trump announced a $10 billion project with a company called foxconn. the plan was later drastically scaled back. president biden accused his

predecessor of failed promises. >> he raises hundreds of milliof dollars to promise a project that never happened, foxconn was just that, a con. marjorie taylor green tried to introduce a motion to vacate speaker mike johnson, a prospect that did not land well with her colleagues. >> declaring the office of speaker of the house of representatives to be vacant. [ booing ] >> the house overwhelmingly rejected green, voting 359-43 to kill the motion. after the vote, speaker johnson thanked his colleagues for defeating what he called a misguided effort. >> hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined

the 118th congress. it's regrettable. it's not who we are as americans. we're better than this. >> i'm really thankful for president trump's support. he put out a statement today. >> repor >> the rules allow for her or anyone else to make another attempt at a later time. ben crump will hold a press conference in florida over the fatal police shooting of a u.s. airman. ben crump accuses the sheriff's deputies who killed roger fortson of entering the wrong apartment in fort walton beach. he was face timing with a woman who says there was loud knocking on his door, according to crump. he saw no one there and went to arm himself. that's when the door was broken in, and he was shot. an independent investigation is under way. now to an update to a story that rocked the mlb.

federal prosecutors say the former translator for baseball super star shohei otani has agreed to plead guilty to bank and tax fraud charges. he faces charges for funneling $17 million from the dodger star's account to pay for illegal sports bets. he's also said to have falsified tax statements. he faces more than 30 years in prison. all right, you got big plans for mother's day? let's get back to angie lassman for an early look at your weekend forecast. i was hoping for a picnic outside in the park. i don't know if i'm going to get that, right? >> you might have to take a flight, frances, or maybe a long drive. i'll get to that forecast for mother's day in a moment, because there is, unfortunately, some rain for some of our moms as we celebrate. we've got storm-free conditions across the middle of the country. that will be a welcome sight for folks who have had a repeated performance of strong storms over the past couple weeks. we've got plenty of warmth out west. it will be quite warm and sunny

for folks in that region. as we get into your saturday, some of those cool showers will linger around the great lakes as well, and that mother's day does look a little soggy across parts of the heat is on for san antonio with an san hhigh of 97 degrees "early today" is back in a minute with why chevy is pumping the brakes on the malibu. ping the brakes on the malibu. hmm, what about these? (♪♪) looks right. [thud] [rushing liquid] nooo... nooooo... nooooooo... quick, the quicker picker upper! only bounty absorbs spills like a sponge.

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mirror soon. good morning, sylvia. >> good morning, frances. this could be the start of a new trend, and a significant one, when it comes to streaming wars. disney and warner bros. are teaming up to provide a triple play bundle with disney+, hulu and max. ho however no pricing or launch date has been revealed yet. elsewhere, general motors has announced that they will stop making the famous chevrolet malibu. the production is expected to come to an end later this year, as the car maker is focussing on a new model. they'll focus on shchevrolet bo, which is an electric car. it was perhaps an adaptation to the new time. >> okay, sylvia, thanks. still to come, indiana finds it hard to keep pace in the big apple. we have all the playoff action right after this. ghafr is .ofacon [birds chirping] for nourished, lightweight hair,

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coming up on the halfway point of this fourth quarter. brunson. oh! jalen brunson! deadeye! >> after being sidelined for over an entire quarter with a foot injury, jalen brunson battled back to do what he does best for the knicks. new york took game two over the indiana pacers on wednesday, behind those clutch late buckets from brunson. indy will look to rebound from their two-game deficit as the series heads to their home court on friday. just before the game, denver's nikola jokic took home his third em mvp title, averaging 26.4 point, 12.4 rebounds and nine assists per game. joker becomes the ninth player in nba history to win the award at least three time. now we have the nuggets, who are down two games to the

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our steven romo spoke to those who are setting up shop at disney parks. >> reporter: some remote workers are turning disney world into their remote office. >> here's how i averarrange my disney travel around my job. >> reporter: everyone from freelance journalists to lawyers sharing from where inside the park they can plug in and get to work while also mixing in some time to visit cinderella's castle. matt richardson has been working remotely from disney for two years now. >> what's important to my employers, that i get my work done. >> reporter: he lives about a thousand miles away from orlando but realized he could still enjoy his favorite parks and create digital content while also maintaining a job at his tech company. >> i wanted to take a trip down to disney as things were coming back. and i kept working. i just, i opened up my laptop. i kept the e-mails going, and it made me realize that i don't necessarily have to be in my

home in ohio to get work done. >> reporter: and there's a whole system to it. on disney blogs, you can find the best places to whip out that laptop and peruse spreadsheets before hopping on space mountain. >> there are a few spots at disney world that are great for working, like the lobby of the wilderness lodge. >> reporter: california's disneyland also getting into the action. >> i come to the park to do the work. i live pretty close to disneyland, and i have a magic key, which is like the annual pass here. i'm able to go pretty frequently, and i'll spend time during the day working as i need to. >> reporter: caleb graves is an attorney and makes the most of his daily down time with disney distractions. >> you can finish a meeting and go watch some storm troopers. that's definitely an option. >> reporter: but not everyone thinks you should be able to work from a galaxy far, far

away. dr. stefan meyer with columbia business school supports remote work but says workers should be careful not to take advantage of their employers. >> you know, what is kind of accepted? what is okay? remote work. what is just giving flexibility. and what is like slippery slope into now we're just taking more days off and phoning it in on a ride. >> reporter: for caleb and matt, though, they're just hoping to add a little more magic to their work day. >> that feeling of comfort, a little bit of nostalgia, great music. it's a happy, fun environment to be in. >> and our thanks to steven for that report, coming from right here at 30 rock. thanks for waking up with "early today." cem fran

powerful storms and tornados continue to barrel across the country,