Morning News NOW Full Broadcast – November 28

Mar 12, 2024

good

morning

, I'm zinc lassenwa instead of Joe fryer and I'm a Savannah seller right now on Morning News Now, deals and steals this

morning

, millions of shoppers logging in looking for great Cyber Monday deals and a Much-needed spending relief at a time of record inflation has overtaken Black Friday as the biggest shopping day of the season and shows no signs of slowing down, but are the discounts really worth it? We've got coverage from the team on what shoppers can expect this morning as well. In Georgia, in that high-stakes Senate race between incumbent Raphael Warnock and his Republican rival Herschel Walker, we'll tell you about turnout so far at the polls as both campaigns make their final pitch for votes to stir in a shocking display of challenge throughout China.

Morning protesters clash with police and fresh calls for long-serving leaders to resign as outrage grows over the communist country's zero-coverage policy. We'll bring you the latest and a voice for the voiceless during this National Native American Heritage Month. We will explore the unique relationship between indigenous peoples and climate change with a filmmaker who hopes to bring native culture into the conversation more about the project destined to change the world. It's a really cool series that we'll have a live conversation about later. great time to see you absolutely and happy thanksgiving happy to see you happy everything happy holidays artificial cyber monday exactly happy cyber monday that's where we start today cyber monday 2022 and it could actually be the biggest online shopping day of all time, right on The holiday shopping season is already off to an impressive start for online retailers after a record-breaking Black Friday with online sales surpassing nine billion dollars for the first time today alone.

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Shoppers are expected to shell out roughly $11.2 billion online, but that increase in purchases also comes as inflation is driving prices up 7.7 percent from last year. This morning we've got a

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breakdown including information on where you can find the best deals from YouTube game show host Gadget, what the heck is that Steve Greenberg, but let's get started. with NBC News business and data reporter Brian Chung Brian, it's good to see you, so you're inside an Amazon facility right now in Robbinsville, New Jersey. I understand the workers are on break right now, but how busy it has been there this morning.

Yes good morning. Sinclair, good morning Savannah, there's a lot going on here at this facility in Robbinsville, New Jersey, there are conveyor belts and sorting machines and people already folding those iconic boxes, all because of the order fulfillment we saw on Black Friday and many orders there. If Amazon said it was a record Black Friday, tens of millions of shoppers bought more items compared to the previous Black Friday, so again you can see a lot of activity here in these facilities and it will continue to happen throughout the day and is more likely to happen. It was expected due to the expected Cyber Monday sales as well as for what it's worth.

MasterCard said Black Friday saw in-store sales increase by 12 percent year-over-year. E-commerce sales are up 14 year over year, which bodes well for continued volume this Cyber Monday. Monday, which will keep many other facilities around the country like this one very busy. Yes, continue with the volume. I'm sure those facilities will be busy as the day goes on and Brian, I know you've kept us informed all weekend. Black Friday for small businesses. On Saturday and today, Cyber Monday and inflation don't seem to be slowing spending as a whole, but families are still struggling with high costs from coast to coast, so how exactly are shoppers coping in this moment?

Yes, certainly, and once again there is a big cloud coming when it comes to shopping. this particular holiday season is the fact that prices on average are 7.7 percent higher than this time last year and while I only gave you some statistics on how volumes are higher this year, think in that in terms of dollars that doesn't necessarily mean that that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get more gifts on that budget because everything in general is more expensive, so I've talked to parents, for example, who mentioned that they're going to have to make tradeoffs when trying to recycle. toys, maybe from last year, so they have more budget to spend on larger items, this year in some cases they are also choosing to buy for a smaller number of family members, sorry maybe for some of those extended uncles , but again higher prices are causing some families to make some compromises this holiday season, absolutely a lot of changes coming this year and Brian, I know if you've waited until today to shop, there may be some changes, some differences, what you need to know and what we should be on the lookout for.

Yeah, well, the first thing you need to know is that if you maybe turned down a deal on Black Friday, it doesn't necessarily mean it's over. Cyber Monday will have the opportunity for you to maybe find some things online, but not necessarily just online. Remember that there are a lot of price matches you could do at companies like Target and Best Buy, so if you see something online, maybe try taking it to your local store to get it in person too and remember that it's not necessarily a script. , only This weekend many sales are likely to spill beyond Cyber Monday too, so if you miss the boat here, it's not the end and there are some things you might not even get a good deal on. offer today or for the rest of the season.

Things like winter clothes and boots are always in demand because guess what it's cold about, maybe wait until after the New Year to get those things right. Helpful information Brian Chung, thank you and now let's bring in Steve Greenberg, Steve, it's a pleasure to have you with us. This morning, I mean, we just talked about the impact of inflation on holiday shopping this year, how expensive everything is, so how can we shop smart this Cyber Monday? Well, there are so many great tools when it comes to shopping smart. Know if you're using Camel Camel Camel or Price Blink or one of the other apps that you can download that really help you compare prices to see and get alerts when deals come in because you're working on your computer.

Because it's a cyber day, there are so many cool and really fantastic apps that can really make a difference. There's the PayPal dropdown, like I said, price, blink, camel, camel and so on, and even things like uh centally, which again makes it easier to get. automatic coupons and all that again to lower the prices even more than they're already lowered today and let's talk about some specific offers, we can find out what are some of the best ones that you're seeing so far. Well, I'm seeing a lot. cool stuff when it comes to, for example, Alexa-enabled devices.

I hate to say its name because it wakes up everyone's Alexa, but it's offering 70 off and 60 off Blink and Ring home security devices, even things like the American Girl doll that never goes on sale. I see prices on dolls and accessories at 30 off and ATT is giving away free new iPhone 14s when you trade in $130 so there are some great deals there, a Samsung uh 50 58. inch Crystal UHD 4K is 37 off a target, which brings the starting price down to under 400 so these are really great deals price wise and again it's about knowing how to take advantage of it, review it and just to be safe, don't click on the links that just received, make sure you go to the retailer's website, verify that you're on the retailer's actual website, you know, check for spelling mistakes because again, hackers and bad guys who want to scam you, they try to put some names nearby like, instead of Best Buy, it will be Best Buys and if you click on that, you will fall into a bad wormhole, so wow, that's major, be careful please.

Yeah, that's great advice, so Steve tells us what are the ways we can make sure we don't do something like that, checking the name, which is great, anything else, URLs like that go to the retailer's website yourself. instead of taking with a click, you know something that you have been caught and that you have, you can click and go directly to the Target site, the Walmart site, what you know, go directly to Amazon, don't click on a link of sale that has been sent. to you via your email and again once you are on the site just double check to make sure the URL looks legit, if it doesn't look legit go back and start again because again you are putting in your information. credit card there and try to use your credit card and not your debit card because there is more protection with a credit card than with a debit card.

Great great advice, Steve Greenberg, thank you very much, happy shopping, happy shopping, look at my Christmas sweater. I love it. Merry Christmas, thanks Steve. and now on to The Hectic Holiday Travel Rush More than 2,500 flights were delayed yesterday severe weather in the Northeast and other parts of the country caused headaches for Americans returning home on one of the busiest travel days of the year here's NBC News correspondent sambrock With Savannah Zinclair's last good days, we always knew the weather was the compared to 6,500 on Sunday, so certainly a big improvement there the worst airports are Reagan. Newark and DCA in Washington DC, of course, on the east coast, are more affected by those weather patterns in some context, although under normal circumstances, when there are weather events, there are between 100 and 150 cancellations per day for domestic airlines in It was in the top 100 on Sunday, but we're looking at 170 or so, but it was the first time all week it's happened, which means it's a pretty strong testament to the fact that airlines have handled this test after a crisis massive at the Memorial.

Day and slow improvements throughout the year, but certainly in terms of absolute volume. Thanksgiving was going to be something of a litmus test to determine whether or not airlines could handle the situation in the future. We know that they have hired more pilots. We have cut their flight schedules. Apparently that has worked for the most part, but now you can't control Mother Nature. The next step in all of this, of course, will be the Christmas vacation experts, which you'll want to book about 21 days in advance, so if you're planning to fly on December 22 December 23, within just a couple of days you'll reach that three week window, so book as soon as possible, because for those who hit the roads there are about 49 million people and they did get a little respite, which is that gas prices dropped a little bit to around 3.55 cents a gallon versus 370 380 just a month ago, so one silver lining is that there were so many people driving in parking lots on the highways up and down the east coast, but that weather really slowed things down, but at least they were paying less in pop, which is the latest here in Miami.

Let me send it to you Sam Brock, thank you very much and let's see more on this with a check in your Morning News Now, the weather Michelle Grossman. good morning and happy cyber thanksgiving monday all things yeah yeah happy happy all around. Hello guys, it's a pleasure to see you. I'm happy to see you both and we have a busy weather week. We're looking at a powerful storm system moving across the country so we'll be keeping an eye on that for the next three days or so and tomorrow we'll see the possibility of some pretty strong severe storms so we'll talk about that.

We're going to start on the cold side first, although we are seeing heavy snow in the mountains in the west. Rain at lower elevations, where you see the green being the rain along the Pacific Northwest coast, the blue being the snow falling, so that's going to be the big story today Heavy snow in the mountains, we can see up to two feet in some spots at higher elevations, those levels will begin to drop over the next day or two. We're also seeing really gusty winds, winds gusting over 55 miles per hour. time the snow is going to blow up so we're looking at a rough ride maybe you're coming back from your Thanksgiving celebration today you're going to have some problems out west now as we head into tomorrow we have very cold air seeping in behind this cold front Frigidaire temperatures in the 10 and 20 degrees that cold frontit's going to interact with very warm air there's also a lot of moisture from the Gulf and that's why we're worried about a severe weather outbreak and by that we mean long track tornadoes really strong tornadoes, also hail, they could be the size of a ball baseball and also very gusty winds, winds gusting over 75 miles per hour, so that's the story tomorrow, you need your tornado plant in place in the parts of the lower Mississippi Valley in the western Ohio Valley, so this will move Eastward as we get closer to Wednesday, we are not expecting severe weather on Wednesday in the east, but we are expecting very heavy rain, so let's start on the snowy side.

We are seeing winter warnings across the west. in the winter storm warnings winter storm warnings winter storm warnings and again we could see up to two feet of snow in some places, which is great

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for the snowpack where you see the pinks and the purples, that's where We expect the highest snow, there is also a lot of wind. once you head south, the southwestern parts of the Four Corners, we will see winds gusting up to 55 miles per hour, so that alone causes some rough travel, but this is what we really want to highlight tomorrow 12 million atThere is a risk of severe weather winds with gusts up to 75 miles per hour and long-tracking tornadoes.

A very large house is also possible, so where you see that red, the orange parts of Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, this is where we are most concerned about the severe weather that we will have. We're talking about the afternoon hours, the evening hours and then, unfortunately, it could continue into the evening hours and that's when it becomes particularly dangerous. There's also a lot of rain expected, which could cause some flash flooding and parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, where you see those brighter colors, the oranges and also the yellows, some reds as well, we could see the heaviest rain and that could cause flash flooding, so this is the problem here, it's a temperature contrast, we have very cold air with temperatures from the west in the 30s and 40s at some points below zero today and then later on we are warm, we are about above average, so temperatures close to 60 degrees in some places, especially in Texas, we are going to be in the 60s and that will help some of the tomorrow there will be storms, so look for tomorrow we will drop to below freezing temperatures in Salt Lake City, which is 13 degrees below normal, just 14 in parts of Montana 23 degrees in Rapid City and then a lot of heat ahead of this cold front that will cause a problem.

Tomorrow, guys, we'll be watching this very closely, we'll talk about it in the next hour, and of course we'll talk about it more tomorrow. Okay, Michelle sounds great, thank you very much. Sure, and now back to Georgia, where early voting has begun for the long-awaited Senate runoff between incumbent Rafael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Yes, the Democratic incumbent received 35,000 more votes than Walker in the Nov. 8 general election, although it wasn't enough. To reach the 50-vote threshold required in the state of Georgia to win the race outright and that has resulted in this runoff, Republicans are now backing Walker in hopes of a last-minute surge of votes.

The Trump-backed candidate has faced a series of scandals across the country. his campaign NBC News senior political editor Mark Murray joins us now for more on this. Mark it's always a pleasure to see you, so I want to say that we are already seeing this rush of voters heading to the polls in this runoff, now that we know that control of the Senate has already been decided so tell us what is at stake here for why this is still a big problem is a big problem because it's a six-year term and you're absolutely right the previous general election ended up deciding that the Democrats were going to keep control of the United States Senate no matter what ends up happening in this runoff next week, but this is the difference between Democrats having 50 Senate seats and Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote or Democrats having a 51-49 majority and of course being able to keeping this and winning this Senate seat for a six-year term and one of the biggest battleground states in America and Georgia is always a big deal and Mark, particularly the Georgia Democrats, including Rafael Warnock , were presenting a petition to a judge in the state of Georgia. for an extra day of early voting for the runoff and they got their wish.

Local Republicans say the move is meant to benefit Warnock's campaign, so what kind of turnout have we seen so far? It's really fair to say that early voting gives an advantage. Well, for one candidate or another, we end up saying that Democrats generally employ early voting and particularly in-person early voting more than Republicans do and this is important to many Democrats who believe that it is important to be able to cast votes beyond simply voting. on Election Day and this was a big problem because the Warnock campaign and the Democrats wanted to have a Saturday so people could vote early and in person and because of the new laws that truncated the period of this runoff date, I was in doubt.

If we would end up having early voting on Saturday, but Democrats were able to petition and get it done in places in some of the larger counties like Fulton County, just outside of Atlanta, let's talk now about what voters say they like. matters, of course, that's what really matters and what it really comes down to in an election, which is why NBC News exit polls show that the top issues in Georgia were abortion for Democratic voters and immigration for Republican voters. Will those issues be enough to get people back to the polls to presumably be voting again or do you expect to see a drop in voter turnout in this runoff historically in Savannah, we've always seen a drop in voter turnout and remember who knows that he just came out of a general election where people vote for more than just in this race and in the runoffs there are usually fewer people who end up participating, although in particular when Warnock and John Ossoff ended up winning the runoff of 2021, the drop between the general election and the second round was not that steep at all, but So you are absolutely right, people are trying to get any motivating factor to make sure that people end up participating because participation is everything In this runoff, turnout is always lower than in general elections, turnout is everything and Mark, I know we know the Democrats.

We have already secured a majority in the Senate, which is not new, but has this changed the way the two candidates, Warnock Walker, are campaigning? This is basically basically the general election race again, so we've seen both candidates. attacking each other's character in past controversies, we've seen Herschel Walker, the Republican challenger, talk about Joe Biden and inflation, so it's basically like we have all the discussions from the last month or basically repeating them again, practically the same ads. running we ended up watching last month okay Mark Murray as always we appreciate you thank you very much and now due to the growing backlash facing former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party the 2024 Republican presidential candidate recently dined with a controversial musician, yay, previously known. like Kanye West and a white supremacist, and while Trump has faced criticism and condemnation over the dinner, members of his own party have largely remained silent.

NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitale has yet another reckoning for the Republican Party after former President Donald Trump dined with a white supremacist at his Mar-A-Lago club Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes rapper Kanye West took Fuentes, a neo-Nazi, to dinner with Trump, who says he didn't meet him after Silence from Republican leadership the strongest condemnations coming from Those Republicans are likely to challenge Trump in 2024. I hope one day we don't have to respond to what former President Trump has said or done in this case. It is important to respond. It is very worrying that former Trump ally Chris Christie calls him another example.

Due to Trump's terrible lack of judgment, he issued a statement and said he didn't know who those people were, but in any case, you know my focus will be on investigating the current administration as it comes when the Republicans are ready to take control of the House and step up oversight, we're going to investigate 40 to 50 different things, including Covid-19 funding and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, veteran veterans deserve this first and foremost, plus issues more controversial like Hunter Biden's laptop, but while the GOP's game plan is to establish who will lead the charge, we're not going to get America back on track Top Republican Kevin McCarthy is working to win the 218 votes he needs to become speaker of the House of Representatives, a handful of Republicans who promise they will never vote for McCarthy toughen their task and yet the fact is what the alternative is here, I think he will get 218 votes on January 3, But even as Washington looks ahead to 2023, a key race remains in 2022.

Georgia voters flocked to the polls this weekend in that Marquee Senate runoff, more than 90,000 votes already in the running. November's midterm early voting numbers remain a win here, still essential even though Democrats will already retain control of the Senate and lawmakers have a long list of things to do before closing the book on this reform. Congressional elections, the protection of same-sex marriage, and government funding. Democrats hope to address next month Ali thank you very much this week on Meet the Press Colorado Governor Jared Polis spoke about the latest mass shooting in his state and how the nation needs to address gun violence.

We also heard from Dr. Anthony Fauci about his career. and the legacy he leaves behind. Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd has the summary. Do you think this has to come from the federal level? Is there anything else the state of Colorado can do on your mind? Well, we are certainly going to make a difficult decision. look why the red flag law was not used in this case in the super shooter king case what can be used to advertise better make available add different parts to make sure it is used when it should be used but of course the response needs to be national as well, so yes, it should be looked at at the federal level, but that doesn't mean excluding mental health issues when looking at the rhetoric being used in the political arena and how that can instigate these acts of violence, assuming that If you are chair of the oversight committee, you have an investigation that you can focus on.

If there is only one, I know you have many that you want to do. Which one is it? Well, we're going to investigate 40 to 50 different things that we have. the capacity we will have 25 members on the committee and we will have a staff close to 70. so we have the capacity to investigate a lot of things and let's face it, Chuck, for the last two years, the Democrats the house oversight committee did not has investigated anything in this administration, we believe that hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars have been wasted in the last three years, so it spans two administrations in the name of covid, we want to have hearings on that where Are you in this now?

I mean, everyone is always curious about where it is. I have a completely open mind about it even though people say no. I have a totally open mind about it, but if you look at the preponderance of evidence that has been accumulated by an international group of highly respected evolutionary missionary virologists who believe that, and have written peer-reviewed papers, about it, Although the evidence strongly suggests that this is a natural occurrence of the jump of a virus from a bat to an animal species and then to a human being, this is not the case. It's been definitively proven, but the evidence for it is pretty strong.

Do you think our politics are so divisive that someone in your position simply can't succeed anymore? I'm very worried about that Chuck because through all the crises I've been through. I have never seen the intensity of the divide now and if you look at the principles of Public Health it just doesn't make any sense how there could be a divide where ideological principles or ideological leanings cause people to make decisions that havean impact on their lives and the lives of their family are welcomed back to China this morning police are cracking down on protesters following an unprecedented weekend of demonstrations in several major cities, people have been coming out to the streets to protest against the country's strict zero policy, the man in a rare display of dissent.

I have even asked President XI to resign. NBC News foreign correspondent Janice Mackey Frayer joins us now from Beijing for more. This wave of protests first of all, well, it was extraordinary to see protests in China, protests in multiple cities happening simultaneously with a common cause. You see, zero greed has been the common denominator here, everyone has been living under this system for three years of restrictions. three years of surveillance monitoring testing quarantines and anger against the system has been growing leading to a deadly apartment fire in northwest China's Xinjiang province ten people died and were widely blamed uh were coveted measures in the building Accusations that exits were blocked, that emergency crews could not reach the building and that it took three hours to put out the flames.

Officials have denied this but are still investigating and in Xinjiang they have been on lockdown for more than three months. This anger has been seeping in, that was the trigger that people expected there to be some change in the zero greed policy after the 20th Party Congress last month and when that didn't happen, they just needed a spark to break Janice, we also. We know that among those briefly detained by the police was a BBC journalist. Tell us what happened to you and what the BBC says about it. In Shanghai there were protests for three nights, so they began as candlelight vigils for the victims of far away Xinjiang.

Eventually those protests became a little more lively, that's where we saw some protesters calling for Xi Jinping to resign, a very bold move in China, so tempers started to flare against Lawrence, who is a BBC photographer, being detained. , seemed to have been kicked. and the officers beat him and pushed him to the ground, they released him a few hours later, the officials told the BBC that they were removing him from the scene of the protest for his own good so that he would not be caught because the cases are in the Upload here an explanation that the BBC didn't take very seriously and demand to know why a credentialed journalist was treated that way, something we all want to know and much of this video is so disturbing and Janice you mentioned Covid.

How challenging are these protests to the country? the country's leaders and it is likely that they really listen to the protesters well, the riots pose a challenge to jimping and the leadership, Zirakova's politics is her signature politics, so no They are in no position to seriously go back on any of the measures. There are also concerns that it could trigger a larger wave of cases. Over the past three years, the government has invested abundant resources in building mass testing infrastructure in quarantine centers and sending people to hospitals. What they have not done is increase vaccinations. Likewise, foreign vaccines are not yet approved here, so what is left is a population that has little experience with the virus and also a large number of older people and vulnerable people, vulnerable people who remain unvaccinated, for example.

What for Xi Jinping there are only difficult decisions ahead as they navigate these next few days with the expectation that there will be more protests. Just tough decisions. Janice Mackey Frayer stay safe. Thank you, thank you and let's stay in the international headlines this morning. Iran's state media is calling for the US to be kicked out of the 2022 World Cup NBC News foreign correspondent Molly Hunter joins us now for more on this good morning Molly Sinclair Savannah, good morning to you That's right, a little World Cup drama unfolding off the field, which is why Iranian state media this morning called for the United States to be expelled from the World Cup because over the weekend the US Soccer Federation temporarily changed the flag of Iran on social media, it was in a graphic of the pace of the group B qualification that they removed the emblem of the Islamic Republic in the center of the mark now that the graphic has been removed and US soccer says in a statement that They did so in support of women in Iran fighting for basic human rights.

Now in Italy search teams have recovered at least seven bodies, including a three-week-old baby. Following deadly weekend landslides in the resort town of Ishia, officials have now confirmed that at least five people remain missing today and are feared buried under rubble from the landslide that pushed mud and debris to the cars towards the sea. Really dramatic images, even collapsing. buildings and finally a look at these images after two years of break due to covid, Rio's gay pride parade is back in action, it was a carnival atmosphere on the city's famous Copacabana beach, loud music , rainbow flags waving and the theme of the 27th Pride Parade there was courage to be happy.

Pretty impressive photos, guys, and what if they encouraged you to be happy? Molly, thank you very much. Welcome again. Veteran police officers across the country are choosing to resign from the force, leaving many departments severely understaffed. NBC News correspondent Ron Allen spoke. with former officers about why they choose to turn in their badges, did you always want to be a police officer growing up, always yes, definitely, Dusty Steele served for 11 years, several as chief in the small Blue Mound Texas Police Department, um, I think It's time to move on, but in September of this year he'd had enough, turning in his badge and storming out of a city council meeting.

Why did you decide to quit in my situation? in the last three years and not only were there no increases, you know, our budget was reduced by about 20 percent, the mayor defended the cuts by saying that all city departments were affected, but it wasn't just about the money , says the steel, but also from the lack of appreciation, did the work change? Over the years, yes, it seemed to become more difficult for police officers, media scrutiny and when an officer makes a mistake, that officer could be killed or end up in jail for the rest of his life in the years since the death of George Floyd. deaths and other high-profile incidents protests demanding police reform and the coveted pandemic studies show police reduced their staff by three percent Resignations nationally increased by 42 percent in 2021 compared to 2019.

More Of a dozen departments we contacted said they were understaffed and many Facing retention and recruiting challenges did not feel like my victims were getting the justice they deserved. I started. I wouldn't call it going downhill, but mentally I was, you know, like annihilated joy. Kohangi walked away from the police after 15 years. In northern Wisconsin and on many sleepless nights, there have been many cases where prosecutors did not follow through with what you did after you made an arrest. Yeah, that got really frustrating, so when I woke up I was wondering why I was doing this, so if I can.

I won't change the job, I need to change, you know, I was putting a lot of effort, I guess, into trying to do decent things and not much, you know, there's not much return, I guess not much, not even the minimum, you know, thank you in life , Jody. May turned 20 in suburban Illinois and retired earlier than she expected last December. She says she found the racially charged anti-anti protests especially disheartening because her family is multiracial. My wife is mixed race. I have mixed nieces and nephews. You know, they called me a racist and they called me you know other things and I hope you die and all that kind of stuff and you know it hurts me a little bit would you encourage young men and women to become officers?

Yes, I am one of the biggest supporters of achieving it. Young to be a police officer Tyrone Dennis left the Atlanta police force after 16 years, like many retired police officers, for a higher-paying job related to law enforcement. He is director of public safety for St. Louis schools and runs a nonprofit that tries to improve policing. community relations you're going to have to go into some of these communities and recruit people within the community to be police, we need to go downtown and anywhere to recruit people from different walks of life, a recipe for policing which he believes could keep more cops on their toes and help bolster the country's Thin Blue Line Ron Ellen NBC News now to an NBC News investigation into an alarming trend of dangerous drugs like fentanyl being delivered through Uber connect without the driver or even know who I spoke to a grieving mother who has a warning for other parents about the risks since she's a baby it's been nine months since Ann Portillo lost her daughter Alex I've really been taking things minute by minute um day by day oblivion Alex was in recovery for seven months but died of a fentanyl overdose just two days after his temporary release from a sober house needing to be quarantined for greed 19.

We made sure he was in a good place where was sure. Alex was staying alone at her family's house in a closed area. community where the entrance was monitored by security and her mother one morning received an alert from the front door that it was an Uber with a delivery for Alex, she always used to order food and it wasn't really anything out of the ordinary, but it wasn't So. t food Alex connected with a friend online and bought fentanyl from him. He used Uber Connect to deliver it to her. Never in a million years would she think they were delivering a lethal dose of fentanyl, but that's what happened.

Uber Connect was created during the pandemic. A fast way to ship products with drivers unlike the postal service and other major delivery services. Uber Connect packages are not randomly inspected and drivers cannot open them. NBC News spoke with six former and current Uber drivers and they told NBC they have concerns about some of their packages. They are suspects and who, unknowingly, are being used as drug mules. This driver asked us to hide his identity and disguise his voice for fear of reprisals abroad. Uber says that using its services for illegal activities is expressly prohibited and that if a package looks suspicious, drivers are encouraged to take it. to law enforcement authorities in the Alex Portillo case, an Uber spokesperson confirmed that they provided information to law enforcement authorities in this investigation.

The man who allegedly sold and shipped drugs to Alex through Uber Connect. He now faces charges in connection with her death. What do you hope other families can know? or take away what happened to you and your family, keep a close eye on your children, your loved ones, our country has a serious fentanyl crisis. I would say just pay attention, there is a sobering warning and it is worth noting that police departments I spoke to say they have found suspects or unknown substances in Uber Connect packages as recently as January Chicago police confiscated a box of Band-Aids after an Uber Connect driver told an officer he opened it and found what he thought was methamphetamine, so drivers and passengers are encouraged to stay alert and that was a big deal. story to report, but absolutely excellent reporting, thank you Savannah and welcome back, we are celebrating National Native American Heritage Month by taking a closer look at the fight of indigenous peoples to stop the global climate crisis.

That's it, the award-winning series of reciprocity projects. spoke to several native communities about their relationship with the Earth and what is at stake for their culture listen it is the land of our ancestors we have always lived here being able to share what we have with other people it is medicine it really is medicine wow come on bring it to the reciprocity project producer, Tracy Rector, for more Tracy, it's great to have you with us this morning, thanks for taking the time, um, we kind of just had an idea of the answer, I think to this question from that little fragment that I saw it there, but it just expanded for us the type of connection that indigenous peoples have with their environment, which makes them real experts in many aspects, on how to manage climate change, how to combat climate change, for sure, good days, yes, you know, 80 of the remaining biodiversity of the Earth, so all beings, including plants and animals, are on landsmanaged and loved by indigenous people and that includes 36 of our forests and essentially indigenous rights are human rights that are solutions to the environmental crisis that is so fascinating and I know for those.

I am not sure how indigenous people are harmed by the current climate crisis. I know that many times underserved communities are the first to be affected. So how is it affecting the lands where so many native people live? That's so true. Neglected communities including local indigenous people are often the front line. communities for them because of the environmental impact uh we see this in the Amazon as an example with the invasion of agriculture, soy cultivation, beef farming, logging, mining in the Amazon forest and therefore the Indigenous peoples, on a daily basis, face these impacts and take care of the lands. that essentially really impact our lives today and for future generations, how is it possible to work with different communities to highlight different traditions and cultures here and what message do you ultimately hope that those diverse communities share what does that mean that the viewer should take away?

This series, yes, we started in April 2020 and, you know, we are trying to think about what are the solutions that we can talk about today and understanding that many solutions are in the hands of indigenous peoples, so we strive to try our first production. virtually, so all seven films are made with communities within their coveted virtually safe bubbles and the message that would have is that you know, trust the creatives, trust the communities, trust that people know what they want to talk about and listen , Tracy Rector. thank you so much, congratulations on this series, it's really something, we appreciate you joining us today, thank you, thank you so much and up to a third of the food that farmers produce is wasted because it doesn't look perfect, now some food entrepreneurs are. fighting back NBC News technology correspondent Jake Ward shows us how, what if I told you that on a typical American farm much of this beautiful crop never makes it to market and it's our fault we waste so much food because people There is a perception that, just like when you go to the store, you see a perfect piece of product and yet only part of what comes out of the ground looks the way shoppers expect, it's a shame because some of the most Organic farmer Curtis Lucero's rather strange-looking ugly eyes are here. also the tastiest, that's amazing, no one would ever buy it, you never know, according to a non-profit organization, around 418 billion dollars worth of food is wasted annually, that means around 90 billion lost meals every year.

The food system in the United States is incredibly inefficient. It's estimated that one in four pieces of food we produce here is wasted, but now a new generation of food companies is turning what we used to throw away in the kitchen at Sugi's Trash Pie in San Francisco. Overlooked ingredients are the star of every dish. it's in our name, we're pretty open about it, very, very honest, yeah, and I think we want people to know that Kayla Abe and David Murphy created this vibrant space to make it fun to eat discarded food, people come here and sometimes No.

They don't even know they're eating food waste, they're just here having a good time, so all these little babies have perfect, beautiful, usable meat. They have partnered with local farmers like Lucero to turn surplus crops into Zine. Our most important mission is to attract other restaurants to bring consumers and diners with us, but with a problem as huge as food waste, the solutions have to be just as big if we took all the inefficiency in the product market globally and we waved the magic wand and got rid of it, I see no reason why that supply of fresh produce couldn't reasonably feed a large part of the world.

Misfits Market is a direct-to-consumer service that purchases lower-cost imperfect foods in bulk and delivers them directly to homes. Nationally, the company hopes to surpass $1 billion in sales within a year, but that won't happen without changing consumer perceptions. How can you communicate to people who are used to perfecting perfect carrots and tomatoes that they should consider purchasing Misfit products like you sell People get very interested and mesmerized by Twisted.carrots that are intertwined or the heart-shaped potato and a lot This is a narrative the truth is that the planet is changing and we cannot afford to be so demanding there is less farmland there is less water we have to adapt to the climate eat this piece of fruit with a defect or not eat it, do not eat nothing at all, maybe it's just a matter of creativity and the right attitude, I think people are looking for solutions, and if we are trying to give people a starting point, the strange looks and good taste. of a sustainable future Jake Ward NBC News San Francisco welcome back There was a standing ovation at a performance of Hugh Jackman's The Music Man Revival on Broadway, but this time it was for someone in the audience: There were gasps and applause for Nicole Kidman after that she bit a hefty sum of one hundred thousand dollars for a hat signed by her former co-star Jackman during a charity auction after the show.

The auction benefited the charity Broadway Cares in response to Kidman's bid. Jackman said she wasn't surprised by her gesture. since she's one of the most generous souls, he knows super kind words, especially you know, I bet she could have gotten that signature for a lot less, yeah, but it shows, it shows, yeah, for a good cause and I bet a that people also gasp when she just "like" appears in the audience "wait a minute, you're here and you did great, thank you anyway, of course, very good, now let's end this hour with the sweet story of a little boy who may be the new one.

The biggest York Jets fan, here's NBC News correspondent Jesse Kirsch, incomplete and the Jets will win it every time we see this. Johnny Rosania gets some of that when you get ice cream, what's your option? I'm into chocolate chips, that candy earned this six. 20-year-old New York Jets superfan, nicknamed Johnny Ice Cream thanks to a deal with dad that's becoming an adorable viral sensation. My dad always takes me out for ice cream when the New York Jets win. How many times do you think my dad will accept it? He asked me for ice cream many times when Johnny, the Jets kid reporter from the official Atlantic Health system, asked rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner that blunt question in training camp 60 touchdown turns out Gardner had already hit six wins this year, all followed by a video of Johnny tackling the ice cream, oh what a nice bite, how's that ice cream we beat Pittsburgh?

He made me sit there and try to separate all the black and yellow sprinklers. No way, yeah, I didn't make it. John, you've had ice cream six times this year, actually seven. bowls of ice because he got two for the Buffalo win because it was such a big win this win deserves a whole ice cream pie hello everyone it's me Johnny again come on guys we're meeting Johnny's ice cream at the iconic Holsted Kids of Bloomfield, New Jersey. Coming after school he recognized him repeatedly. Do you know how many people have seen you eating ice cream?

I don't know about 8 million people crazy, that's crazy, that's just a Tick Tock approaching 9 million views, it's been pretty crazy, we can't go. anywhere without someone wanting a selfie of Johnny, now the Jets are rooting for Johnny too, honey, you can't back out of this deal, no of course, no, no, and believe me, I don't want the trust and the pressure from a couple of fans i definitely have a lot riding on the game jets Jessie Kirch NBC News Bloomfield New Jersey adorable kind of makes me want some ice cream that's so funny how much he loves it too cute but thanks for watching that makes it for this morning