16 states head to the polls today for what could be the make or break moment for the republican nomination. polls showing donald trump with a commanding lead heading into super tuesday. but nikki haley is vowing to fight on we're live with what the coast-to-coast contest could reveal about the main event in november breaking overnight, a series

of explosions spark a massive fire in michigan inside the race to contain the flames the calm before the next storm. parts of california still digging out from the biggest blizzard of the season our meteorologist angie lassman is tracking when the next round is expected to hit more turbulence for boeing more issues with the 737 max in the wake of january's scare on board an alaska airlines flight. dartmouth's men's basketball team will decide whether to form a union today. it's super tuesday, march 5th. "early today" starts right now good morning, thanks for being with me. i'm frances rivera it is a pivotal day in the presidential primaries millions of voters will head to the polls for super tuesday. 16 states and american samoa are holding their nominating

contests, a key test of the party frontrunners brie jackson joins us from d.c hi, brie former president trump is going into super tuesday right after another win. >> reporter: that's right, good morning, frances so overnight, donald trump won the republican caucuses in north dakota nbc news projects the former president will receive all 29 delegates, even if trump were to win every single state today he would not reach the 1215 delegates needed to win the nomination that could happen as soon as next week. but, nikki haley is determined to keep fighting >> the media's been like all over themselves trying to figure out why i'm not getting out of this race. why does she keep fighting what's she doing well, first of all, when 70% of americans say they don't want donald trump or joe biden i'm going to keep fighting >> reporter: there's also down-ballot races to keep

watching, the race to fill the seat of the late senator dianne feinstein. on the ballot are three democrats, adam schiff, katie porter and karen bass. and also republican steve garvey and in texas, you'll find out which democrat will challenge senator ted cruz in november congressman colin alred is a former nfl player, his top competitor appears to be state senator roland gutierrez who represents uvalde. and in north carolina, they will pick their nominees for governor the leading candidate for democrat is state attorney general josh stein, and the republican frontrunner is trump-backed lieutenant governor mark robinson. today will be the biggest preview yet of what we can expect to see in november. >> thanks for setting the stage for us, brie thank you. donald trump's name will appear on the colorado ballot in

part because of a victory in the supreme court. the justices deciding states cannot kick the former president off the ballot here's laura jarret. >> reporter: the u.s. supreme court dealing a final blow to states trying to ban former president trump from the ballot. in a unanimous decision, the justices effectively leaving it up to voters to decide if the former president returns to the white house. mr. trump praising the ruling. >> the voters can take the person out of the race very quickly. but a court shouldn't be doing that >> reporter: the justices rejecting a colorado state court's ruling, finding mr. trump ineligible to be president under section three of the 14th amendment, a largely untested clause of the constitution passed after the civil war, disqualifying those who engage in insurrection from holding public office again. an elections official in maine and a judge in illinois later doing the same, banning the republican frontrunner from the ballot in those states in light of his actions on january 6.

ruling from the high court now ending all similar efforts to disqualify mr. trump from the ballot >> while most states were thrilled to have me, there were some that didn't and they didn't want that for political reasons. >> reporter: the justices saying that patchwork of different rulings across the country cannot stand finding responsibility for enforcing section three against federal officeholders and candidates rests with congress and not the states but at the same time, the three liberal justices accusing their conservative colleagues of going too far by ruling congress must enact new legislation in order to ban a presidential candidate. writing, this ruling will make it harder to bar an oath-breaking insurrectionist from becoming president. conservative justice barerett cautioning this court should turn the national temperature down, not up while the justices did not get into mr. trump as actions leading up to january 6 and the

attack on the capitol that day, they will soon be forced to confront that issue head on when they address whether he's immune from prosecution at all in the special counsel's january 6 case next month back to you. >> laura, thank you. breaking this morning, police in clinton township, michigan are asking residents to stay inside and stay away as a fire at a nitrogen plant distributor turned dangerous they're raising concerns about possible toxic fumes several nearby buildings caught fire as well there are reports of injuries to bystanders and firefighters. the cause of the fire is not yet known. there's more breaking news out of nashville, tennessee where a single-engine plane crashed on the side of an interstate according to police, all five people on board were killed. the pilot had requested an emergency landing at a nearby airport, saying they were experiencing engine problems federal investigators have

arrived at the scene jury selection begins in the trial of james crumbley. he is charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent his son's school shooting ethan crumbley killed four classmates in 2021 and is currently spending a life sentence his mother was found guilty of the same charges her husband is facing now the jury will decide whether he failed to store the gun safely more fires continue to rage in the texas panhandle, now claiming two lives the smokehouse creek fire, the largest in the state's history was only 15% contained as of yesterday. >> we're not used to the conditions having lined up like they did this week with the high winds and the low humidity for such a long event. it was all just lined up to be the perfect storm. >> burn scars from the blaze are now visible from space this satellite image shows the

city of fritsch before the wildfires, and now blackened earth. authorities say the cause of the fire is under investigation. but a new lawsuit alleges xcel energy, a utility company, is to blame for the smokehouse fire. according to the suit, a wooden p pole that wasn't properly inspected snapped off at the base, causing the power lines to hit the ground and ignite a fire xcel says they are cooperating with the ongoing investigation now to steve patterson who has details on a different type of disaster. the snowstorm that pummeled the sierra nevada. >> reporter: an entire region digging out, in the aftermath of a winter weather thrashing >> we woke up to a lot of snow yesterday, and it never let up >> reporter: this weekend the storm of the season unleashed a life-threatening assault on the mountain west, dumping five to ten feet across the rooegion an

spa spa spawning whiteout conditions >> it felt like we were swimming through the snow >> reporter: an avalanche crashed on the road. thankfully, no one injured the region's major thoroughfare, interstate 80, shut down for kay days, stranding drivers for hours. the road finally reopening the blizzard bringing snow totals to more than 7 feet in several communities, with winds gusting up to 190 miles per hour in the highest peaks >> it was full on. it was definitely some pretty quinn tense periods of whiteout conditions >> reporter: today relief. blizzard warnings lifted for the first time since last week >> this really turned out to be a storm. we were all kind of laughing, and we were like, eh, it's snow, we've got this and then snowmageddon. >> reporter: snowmageddon did come >> reporter: the storm moving out, allowing residents to catch their breath ahead of a few more inches of snow predicted right around the corner.

steve patterson, nbc news, truckee, california. and while those storms start to relax out west, the east coast is bracing for its own system let's bring in nbc meteorologist angie lassman who's tracking the latest good morning, angie. on our side, not so much snow but the rain >> yes, exactly. you've got it right, frances good morning to you. busy across the east we've also got one other system that we are going to track you heard steve mention. it will bring a little snow to folks out west, but we've got a whole lot of rain. we've got a couple of systems across the east, one coastal low bringing rain across new england. another system stretched from the midwest to the south as we go through the day today we could see general thunderstorms across parts of the south. but it's the heaviest of the rain that really starts to ramp up as we get into tomorrow north carolina to maine could see some of that, and we will have the potential to see the flash flooding while it will likely be isolated, it still could be impactful, especially for

commutes thursday where he're still dealg with that rain up to four inches, that's why today and into tomorrow we'll be watching for the potential for isolated flooding. that's a look at what you could see across the northeast for flooding concerns for tomorrow out west we do have a couple alerts still in effect rain and additional snow that we're tracking there nothing like what we saw over the past weekend, but still, some additional snow and r to raleigh showers on top from new orleans to mobile and up to atlanta. that's a look at your forecast >> thank you after you hit the polls this super tuesday, you can snag a free treat courtesy of krispy kreme. they are giving out two fr

free doughnuts even if your state isn't voting today you have to use the code twosday. they are encouraging everyone to vote while sweetening everyone's day. we have a new insight into the 737 max. and don't stop believing how much a sopranos fan would pay for a piece of memorabilia the sky high price on the booth from that final cut to black boo from that final cut to black. but a little metamucil everyday can help. metamucil's psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down and also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. lighten everyday the metamucil way. feel less sluggish & weighed down after just 14 days. sign up for the 2 week challenge at metamucil.com want the power of 5 serum benefits in 1? olay super serum

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quote, multiple instances of boeing and one of its top suppliers, spirit aerosystems, failing to comply with quality control requirements this investigation naturally comes after the incident in january, where a door plug panel blew out midair from a boeing 737 max. elsewhere, more bad news this time for elon musk. former top executives at twitter, now known as x, they filed a lawsuit against elon musk as well as the x corporation, arguing they are owed $128 million u.s. in unpaid severance. now worth noting that representatives of elon musk and x corporation were not immediately available for comment, frances >> sylvia, thank you we might not know for sure what happened to tony when the last episode of the sopranos cut to black nearly 17 years ago, but the new jersey ice cream

parlor where the episode was shot has now made a killing off tv lore, auctioning offer the bo off the booth where the family gathered for over $82,000 still to come, jamie foxx returns to tv, and things just got real for martin lawrence and will smith right after this will smith. right after this. listen to me, the hot dog diet got me shredded. it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters. wanna know how i get this glow?! i get ready with new olay indulgent moisture body wash. it smells amazing and gives my skin over the top moisture! from dull to visibly glowing in 14 days! ♪♪ see the difference with olay. mucinex nightshift starts working at bed time to fight your worst night-time symptoms.

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the character was most famously brought to the screen by matt damon in 1999 in "the talented mr. ripley." it looks amazing it's written bring the same guy behind shippendler's list you know what it's going to be like >> it looks visually very appealing. it's kind of cool that it's in black and white. movie theatergoers have a few months to figure out what they're going to do when the bad boys come for them will smith confirmed that the fourth installment had wrapped shooting he posted a pic with martin lawrence looking onto miami saying there's nothing but magic every time the two together. it follows 2020's "bad boy for life", which he reunited the duo. we'll see what this one has in

store for it they're always full of action and laughs, and i'm sure this one will be the same >> will smith could bounce back after the oscar slapping thing he's forgiven for all of that. the beat goes on for jamie foxx the oscar winner will be returning as host for the latest edition of "beat shazam. his daughter will return as co-host and deejay jamie foxx was hospitalized last april for a still undisclosed condition. nick cannon and kelly osborn replaced him he did say he could barely walk. sothis will be awesome to see him back on his feet with his daughter right there >> with a sense of normalcy. it's great to see a full recovery for him the union vote that could change the game for college athletes and next we're saying

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we're back with what you need to know "early today. philadelphia eagles' center jason kelce has announced his retirement after 13 seasons. he earned seven pro bowl selections and was a part of the team's first and only super bowl win. the denver broncos announced monday that they'll be releasing quarterback russell wilson following an are you ever two-year ride. wilson posted a message of prefecture to th prefec appreciation russell westbrook underwent surgery on his hand. the team hopes he'll return before the western conference playoffs in april. according to exprerts, yanke

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though we are working like full-time jobs, basically, by being on the team. >> reporter: the only way college athletes can get money for playing is through name, image and likenessd li some, like southern california's bronny james or lsu's libby dunne can wrack up big bucks that's why they decided to form a union. athletes have tried this before. >> some are seeking to perform a labor union. >> reporter: back in 2015, the national labor relations board rejected a bid for a union but now a shift. the nlrb is barkcking the bid.

since ivy league athletes don't get scholarships dartmouth is appealing the ruling, telling nbc news, unionization is not appropriate in this instances instan haskins has his sights on something bigger, overturning the whole system it challenges the term that we see so often in the conference of you guys being student athletes what do you make of that term? do you agree with it >> i mean, no. it's an old term it was used to kind of keep the athletes as students first and kind of de-emphasize the athlete part of it >> reporter: these rulings could put the entire ncaa on notice. >> it's a game changer there would be a fundamental shift from the model, from a model whereby rule the schools cannot pay the athletes, and that makes them amateurs

college players have a big role in terms of generating revenue, generating fund raising, admissions schools might rethink some of their numbers. >> reporter: the ncaa has not respo responded to our request for comment. schools like michigan aren't covered by the nlrb. >> and our thanks for that report that's our time here for "early today. thanks for being with me

it is the biggest day in the primary calendar voters in 16 states and one territory all heading to the polls this super tuesday nikki haley making what could be her last stand, as donald trump looks for a clean sweep. the u.s. pushing israeli officials for a cease-fire in gaza before the muslim holy month of