president biden breaking his silence on the pro-palestinian protests continuing to grip the nation. more on his remarks, plus new information about tuesday's arrests at columbia university. wicked weather moves to texas, as an outbreak of tornados shows no signs of stopping. the latest on the devastation.

an uproar in the sunshine state, as boaters are caught on video dumping trash into the florida coast. how the community and lawmakers are reacting. a crucial victory just in the nick of time. the knicks are moving on to the next round of the nba playoffs, after toppling a hated rival. we break down all of thursday's action. and meet d.c.'s brick master general. how one man's miniature recreations of the capital city are letting him build his own path, with no instructions necessary. it's friday, may 3rd. "early today" starts right now. good morning, glad to be with you. i'm frances rivera. a nypd officer did fire a gun inside hamilton hall at columbia university on tuesday. the d.a.'s office confirms. it happened while cops were clearing the building of demonstrators. the d.a. says it was on accident and nobody was hurt. no students were in the

immediate vicinity. the incident is under investigation. let's go to brie jackson in washington, d.c. president biden spoke out about the protests, so what did he have to say? >> reporter: he started his remarks off by praising peaceful protests before contrasting them with the recent scenes of chaos on campuses. take a listen. >> violent protest is not protected. peaceful protest is. it's against the law when violence occurs. destroying property is not a peaceful protest. it's against the law. vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. none of this is a peaceful protest. >> reporter: now we should note that the only graduation that has been canceled so far is usc for fear of disruptions during the ceremony. the president's remarks came after more than 200 people were arrested at ucla, when police

cleared an antiwar encampment on university grounds. now in defense of the police action, the ucla chancellor said the site had become, quote, a focal point for serious violence, as well as a huge disruption to our campus. now you'll remember that same tent city came under violent attack from pro-israel protesters the day before. the overwhelming majority of protests, they have be with peaceful. but there have also been high-profile clashes and university building takeovers, like the one we saw at columbia. now all in all, more than 2100 arrests have been made in connection with pro-minute campus pro-palestinian protests. students are calling for an end to the war in gaza and for universities to divest. hamas says it is sending a delegation to cairo for further talks. egyptian and american mediators

have reportedly signed the compromise in recent days. the islamist group has insisted on a permanent cease-fire, while israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says an invasion of rafah in the south will happen no matter what. the hush money trial of former president trump is back in session this morning at 9:30 eastern. on thursday the courtroom saw testimony from stormy daniels' former lawyer and another hearing on a potential gag order violation by mr. trump. >> reporter: so we started off the day with a gag order hearing forpotential violations of a gag order by the former president of the united states. the hearing began at 9:30 sharp for potential violations involved, statements made about michael cohen, one made about david pecker and one made about the jury. when it comes to michael cohen, the former president is essentially calling him a liar, untrustworthy, saying on multiple occasions that the prosecution brought up, when it comes to the jury, it was made

up of 95% democrats and david pecker, him saying he was a nice guy. it seems like juan marchand is in favor of holding the president in violation of the order saying that 95% of the jury is democrat. the last time the decision came in, it was seven days after the hearing took place. we'll have to wait and see how long it takes with these potential gag order violations. let's talk testimony. you heard from keith davidson. the attorney for karen mcdougal as well as stormy daniels. just weeks before the november 2016 election. there was direct from the prosecution followed by cross examination from the defense. some of the big take aways there, they were trying to discredit not only keith davidson but witnesses like michael cohen and stormy daniels, saying cohen was a

liar, that he couldn't be trusted. stormy daniels was out to advance her career, i would say and painted keith davidson as someone who was an ambulance chaser amid celebrity culture. we'll have to wait to see who takes the stand as a witness. now to a massive headache for drivers in the northeast this weekend after a fuel tanker crashed sparking a highway inferno in connecticut. a truck carrying 8500 gallons of fuel crashed into a car, sparking the massive fire. miraculously, no one was seriously injured. that stretch of i-95 is closed down while crews demolish a bridge damaged by the flames. now to austin, texas, a city reeling from the worth outbreak of opioid overdoses in almost a decade. call centers flooded with panicked 911 calls which were up 1,000% this week. our reporter is embedded with

the ems teams racing to the calls. >> we have two overdoses right now. >> reporter: wow, right now. for austin emt randy chabra, it's been a harrowing week. in a typical day, how many overdoses do you get called for? >> three, maybe five. >> reporter: what does that number look like this week? >> i think we're up to 73 over three days. >> reporter: a more than 1,000% spike in overdose calls, likely caused by drugs laced with fentanyl unbeknownsted to users, at least nine people have died of suspected overdoses since monday, amid a flood of hospitalizations and 911 calls. >> this morning it's been like 15 people that's been, that's been, i guess they smoked something that was bad. >> can't get into the front seat. the mother's passed out. >> do you need a narcan kit? >> reporter: paramedics protectively handing out more than 400 doses of narcan in 48 hours, which can reverse an

overdose before it's too late. the dea says fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for young americans. >> my girl! like she died. she died of an overdose. >> oh, no. >> of fentanyl. >> [ bleep ]. >> reporter: those on the front lines in austin worry outbreaks like this could be the next wave of the crisis. >> my fear is that it's just the start. that what's next? >> reporter: the fear that it becomes just unmanageable? >> right. the fear that we have no ambulances left, and that we still have overdoses occurring. it's happened on monday, where you would go and it's not one person. it's four people. right? what happens if it's ten people? >> reporter: priscilla thompson, nbc news, austin. now to the unrelenting round of storms plaguing texas. on thursday, a massive tornado was reported outside of abilene. one resident caught the terrifying twister on camera as hail hammered down.

>> nme officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for some residents along the san jacinto river. and more than a dozen schools are closed today. crews have performed numerous rescue operations. the state's governor expanding the disaster declaration to include 59 counties in areas at risk for flooding and severe weather. that declaration now covers 88 total counties. for more on all this, let's bring in nbc meteorologist angie lassman. good morning. >> hi, frances, good morning. >> the rain was the story yesterday with stronger storms developing too. check out how impressive these rain totals have been. 9 inches plus. livingston, about 8.5 inches. really some good, soaking rain in this area, so the point where we've got a lot of swollen rivers. that means moderate flood stages

for these rivers. no surprise that we have these warnings in effect. we've also got flash flood watches in effect for 6 million people mala people, lasting into this evening. we've got two trouble spots that we're going to closely watch. parts of kansas stretching north. parts of texas well. the hail is the biggest threat. we'll still see the potential for some of these strong wind gusts. we can't rule out a tornado or two, but specifically golf ball-sized hail for san angelo and abilene, stretching into parts of texas, like lubbock. that's going to be on the table here as we get through the afternoon and evening hours. a lull as we get into the weekd but gearenin for charlest. much cooler for new york with mid 60s on tap.

and that's a look at you ar forecast, frances. the olympic flame is sailing across the mediterranean sea this morning. it is aboard a 19th century sailing ship which left italy for marseille earlier their week. five days from now the flame will begin its epic journey across france before crossing the indian and pacific oceans ahead of the olympic games in paris on july 26. "early today" is back in a minute with the new turmoil for brittany spears after an altercation at a los angeles hotel. and a video of florida botesers dumtsing trash into the ocean. g trash into the ocean. with my best friend. [sfx: gasp] [sfx: spilling sound] nooo... aya... quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty absorbs spills like a sponge. and is 2x more absorbent so you can use less. bounty, the quicker picker upper. wanna know a secret? with new secret outlast, you can almost miss the bus... but smell like you didn't.

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the music city after throwing a chair from the rooftop of eric church's bar last month. the chair landed just feet away from where a few metro police officers were standing. authorities responded to an incident involving britney spears at the landmark chateau marmot hotel in los angeles early thursday. sources close to the singer say she got into a fight with boyfriend paul solis but went home with her security team and is safe. they responded to a report that she threatened hotel employees and they said that she was crying and screaming. spears took to social media saying she twisted her ankle and paramedics showed up at my door illegally. this comes after the pop star and her ex-, sam asghari, settled the terms of their divorce two and a half years after she was released from her 13-year conservatorship. spears' representatives did not

respond to request for comment. the l.a. fire department did not identify her as the subject of a 911 call but confirmed paramedics responded to the hotel. florida authorities are searching for a group of people caught on camera dumping trash into the water off boka inlet. emilie ikeda has the uproar on social media. >> reporter: this morning, an investigation is ramping up into a rowdy group of weekend boaters seen dumping trash into the water waters off bokca raton. >> i couldn't believe it. >> reporter: watch as they throw two garbage cans of trash into the water. they wave to the camera, operated by a local boating content creator, who called out the behavior in a video that's racked up hundreds of thousands of views and generated a blistering response from the public. >> this has become a worldwide

story. i mean, the world is watching this. >> reporter: the florida fish and wildlife commission telling nbc news its investigation is ongoing and that several suspects have already been identified. >> we are identifying the suspects that involved in the illegal dumping of trash in our marine environment. those involved would like to step forward and identify themselves, you can call us. >> reporter: investigators say they're working with the state attorney's office to identify any potential charges in the incident. the boaters reliving a boka bash. they say we do not condone this behavior by any means. it's appalling that they had the audacity to clap at the drone filming them dumping their garbage. >> they should be cleaning this up. >> reporter: their actions also upsetting many in the community. especially those who use the

waters regularly. >> you know, i scuba dive here. and if we mess up on the size of a fish that's like a $5,000 fee and possibly days in jail. it's major. so we're all really careful. they should have some consequence like that so people around them don't do the same. >> such a shame. all right, still to come, the first theorie series come td in the playoffs. ies come to an d in the playoffs. series come to in the playoffs. come to an end in the playoffs. why always the couch? does he need to go to puppy school? get his little puppy diploma? how much have i been spending on this little guy? when your questions about life turn into questions about money... there's erica. the virtual financial assistant to help you spend, save, and plan smarter. only from bank of america.

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working with hartenstein. screen. brunson lines it up. bingo. three. divincenzo drives, kicks. brunson! >> nothing but buckets for brunson. on thursday, the knicks shook off their heart-breaking game five loss earlier in the week with a thrilling series-clenching win over the 76ers. despite blowing a 22-point lead

early in the game. b brunson's 40-point effort brought an end to philly's season. new york advances to the semi-finals where they will come face-to-face with an indiana pacers squad. indy toppled the bucks clenching their first playoff series win in a finds itself bounced from the first round of the finals. >> what an exciting series it's been. i know there's heartbroken philly fans out there. we've got one in the studio with us. we'll see about next year. now to one football coach who's about to have more than just georgia on his mientd. on thursday, the university of georgia approved a new ten-year, $130 million contract for bulldogs coach kirby smart. the two-time national champion

becomes the first cfc coach with an annual payday of $13 million. he stands as the highest-paid coach in the sport passing dabo swinney, lincoln riley and nick saban. what a bpayday he got. >> the future is bright with lots of money there. coming up, a season of laughs is coming to a close. two familiar hosts closing out snl's 49th run. paramount has big decisions to make. '6 has big decisions to make. '6 [car door shuts] [paparazzi cameras] introducing, ned's plaque psoriasis. ned, ned, who are you wearing? he thinks his flaky red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. ned? otezla can help you get clearer skin, and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis.

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scientists observed a wild orangutan appearing to treat a wound with a medicinal plant. they saw the animal chew the leaves before applying it on like a bandage. snl is closing out season 49 with maya rudolph and vampire weekend and sabrina carpenter. "early today" will be right back. e right back. schwarzkopf dare to tell your story with keratin blonde by schwarzkopf. lighten your hair up to 9 levels and protect it from breakage with our bond enforcing system. let your hair tell your story. schwarzkopf keratin blonde. what story will you tell? sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ (whisper) air wick. how far would you go to control the fragrance in your home? there's an easier way. try air wick vibrant, with 2x more natural essential oils for up to 120 days

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>> this is my lego studio. >> reporter: the long-time lego lover building a business brick by brick. >> was it just for the love of it? >> just for the challenge of it. how can you possibly build that out of legos. >> reporter: even the famous ben's chili bowl. >> little napkin holder to the soda machine. even a little hot dog. >> reporter: the tools of his trade tucked into bins lining his basement. >> oh, here. >> reporter: all of these matched by color, totally coordinated. >> reporter: by his estimates, near 100,000 lego pieces in all. but what you won't find, any kits or directions. polis builds as he goes, like he did for his first big sale. >> i've always loved dulles airport. >> reporter: you have? >> the airport itself offered him $10,000, if polis could move it. >> i had to tilt it on a 30

degree angle to get out of here and saw the railings off of my stairwell to get it out. >> reporter: it's a business. it's also a passion for you. >> it really is. >> reporter: with more coll commissions coming in, each click a connection. >> when you miniaturize everything, scale it down, it makes it more human, more personal. >> reporter: personal for everyone. >> i can't let you leave empty handed. >> reporter: even us. >> something i whipped up for you. >> reporter: hallie jackson, nbc news, washington. >> that is so cool. good for him. now to a new generation following in the footsteps of the past in birmingham. more than 700 students marched from a church to a park to commemorate the historic children's march. the original took place back in 1963 and marked a turning point in the civil rights movement. 1,000 black students from across birmingham skipped school that day to march into the pages of history. >> my hope is that they felt the

energy. they felt the fun, and that allowed them to be open to the truth, to the history, and to feel that they have the capacity to do just as those young people did 61 years ago today. >> the birmingham civil rights institute has spearheaded commemoration marches for seven years now. so the next generation of leaders is ready to fight for that change. and those are their faces right there as we cheer them on. we're cheering on friday, right? thanks for being with us for "early today." i'm frances rivera, have a great weekend and great cinco de mo,ay

devastation in the lonestar state. tornados touching down in texas overnight ast overnight ast ran /