president biden facing off with congress during his last state of the union before the

election. protesters, cross-party interruptions and major announcements. our team in d.c. joins with the top moments from the big night. one of those announcements, a seaport to get more aid into gaza. israel and the u.n. responding to those plans. how long the ambitious plan could take to complete. potential answers unearthed from the ashes. what we know about the possible spark that started the largest wildfire in texas history. anxiety, envy, embarrassment and more. inside-out 2's new slate of emotions already wreaking havoc. check out the sequel's new trailer. end endless swipers, a virtual version of you can go out on a first date. it's march 8. "early today" starts right now. good friday morning to you. i'm frances rivera. president biden has delivered his final state of the union of this term. his message was the union is strong and getting stronger.

as he tries to make the case to americans to keep him in office for another full term. nbc's brie jackson joins us now from d.c. this address could easily double as a campaign speech. >> that's right, good morning, frances. the president said he wanted this speech to wake up congress, but it also seems like it was meant to energize voters. the president promised to fight for reproductive rights. he asked voters to send him a congress that supports a right to choose and he will restore ro roe versus wade. he was heckled a hot by republicans, especially on the issue of immigration. >> the bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we've ever seen. oh, you don't think so? oh, you don't like that bill, huh? that conservatives got together and said was a good bill? i'll be darned.

that's amazing. the border patrol union has endorsed this bill. the federal chamber of commerce, yeah, yeah. you're saying no. look at the facts. i know. i know you know how to read. >> and president biden also drew a sharp contrast between himself and donald trump, mentioning trump at least 13 times, but never by name, only referring to his predecessor. the president also addressed an issue that has been a big topic on the campaign trail, his age. >> in my career, i've been told i was too young. by the way, they didn't let me on the senate elevators for votes sometimes. not a joke. i've been told i'm too old. whether young or old, i've always been known, i've always known what endures. i've known our north star.

the very idea of americans, that we'reall created equal, deserves to be created equally throughout our lives. we've never fully lived up to that idea, but we've ever walked away from it either, and i won't walk away from it now. >> and after the address, house speaker mike wrojohnson spoke t reporters and said he was disappointed by the speech. he called it completely hyperpartisan. former president trump also responded on social media and said there was tremendous misrepresentation and lies in the speech. president biden spent 33 minutes speaking with people in the chamber after he wrapped up his state of the union address last night. frances? >> okay, brie, thank you. an alabama senator, katie britt, gave the republican response to the state of the union which she delivered from her kitchen table. >> the american people are scraping by. while president biden proudly proclaims that bidenomics is

working. goodness, y'all. bless his heart. we know better. >> britt painted a much darker picture of pic picture of the country which she claimed was much more dangerous than it was a year ago. the president planned to build a seaport for emergency assistance into the gaza strip. claudio, good morning. what will happen now after president biden's remarks? >> reporter: good morning, frances. the ongoing humanitarian crisis in gaza was one of the most anticipated subjects of the president's state of the union. some felt he needed to win back those democrats who had been disappointed or even angered since the start of the war. let's take a listen to what he said about that.

>> i'm directing the u.s. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the mediterranean from the coast of gaza that can receive large shipments, carrying food, water, medicine, temporary shelters. no u.s. boots will be on the ground. a temporary pier will enable a massive increase for the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into gaza avevery day. >> reporter: now the port had take a few weeks to be built. and once that's done the humanitarian aid will be first gathered on the island of cyprus, which is about 200 nautical miles away so israel can monitor or screen the shipments before they're taken to this new pier. they welcomed the idea. the initiative was also praised by the united nations

reconstruction and humanitarian coordinator for gaza who said that he welcomes the idea of building a new port because of the humanitarian assistance delivered right now was simply not enough. >> claudio, thank uvalde, texas lashing out. a report announced missteps but cleared officers of any wrongdoing, saying there's no evidence of lack of training. >> my daughter was left for dead, left for dead. and you said they did the right thing? >> how do you live, how do all of you live with yourselves? how do you go to bed at night? and you wake up every day. >> the city's report comes about two months after the justice department harshly criticized

the quote cascading failures of responding officers. disturbing new revelations this morning after the autopsy of the gunman who killed 18 people in lewiston, maine last year. our erin mclaughlin reports the tragedy's sending shockwaves through the military. >> reporter: new analysis shows brain damage likely contributed to the erratic behavior of maine's deadliest mass shooter. robert card is seen in this chilling miss body cam footage. >> they're scared because i'm going to freakin' do something because i am capable. >> reporter: captured months before the army reservist opened fire, killing and wounding people at a bowling alley and bar in maine. after days long manhunt, robert card took his own life.

to tissue from his brain was sent to the world-renowned cte center for analysis. he had evidence of traumatic brain injury, similar to those due to blast trauma, leading to questions about a possibille li. his family alleges for years he was exposed to low-level blasts, during his time as a grenade trainer at west point. the lab findings are concerning. adding they ad adding the army needs to do all they can to reduce injury. >> we need to better understand how we can help them. >> if he's making these threats, they need to get limb to the hoshim to the

hospital. >> we collectively noticed that card was exhibiting strange behavior. >> reporter: hean army spokesperson tells nbc news it's updating its guidance on blast-related injuries and plans to launch a safety campaign in the near future. back to you. >> erin, thank you. george santos made a surprise return to congress last night where he is hoping to get his job back, despite being expelled from the house last year he still has house privileges. during the state of the union he announced on social media that he is running for congress again in new york's first district. santos has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, including fraud. turning to the wufildfires that continue to scorch the panhandle in texas, xcel now admits that it could have started the fire. it is disputing claims it acted negligently in maintaining and operating its infrastructure. the company encouraged anyone

who lost property or livestock in the blaze to commit a claim to xcel energy. the fire has burned more than a million acres and claimed two lives. it's now more than 74% contained. and two adjacent fires are 96% and 89% contained. nbc meteorologist is tracking the weekend weather. good morning, angie. >> friday could be a little bum at th bumpy for us. up into parts of the midwest dealing with additional rain and snow across parts of the rockies. flood alerts up for 10 million people, including the metro area. birmingham, montgomery, going to see that last until saturday night. that alert will stay up with for us. we have a potential for stronger storms to develop, the gulf coast, that's where this bull's eye is. we've got hail and strong winds

as well as isolated tornados on the table for the potential this afternoon and evening. here's the storm system we're watching. it's going to push moisture into portions of the great lakes region. then we really start to see that moisture push and lift into parts of the mid atlantic and northeast. we will have a severe s dealingh rain. indianapolis to the 60s. minneapolis partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 40s. that's a look at your forecast. > aingngie thanks. >>the new project just broken

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a german grocery store is expanding its u.s. footprint. aldi is hoping to snag more shoppers in the next five years. that news coming as we're waiting for the february jobs report to drop. good morning, sylvia. >> good morning. indeed, aldi, the german super market chain has announced it will open 800 new stores in the united states. now part of these new stores are actually conversions of winn-dixies and harvey's, after aldi completed its acquisition of southeastern grocers. elsewhere, though, the big focus for the markets today is on that jobs report due at 8:30 eastern time. now market expectations suggest that we'll see a slow down in terms of jobs growth in the

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>> growing pains become a reality in the new trailer for disney and "inside-out 2". you've got anxiety, envy and embarrassment in the sequel to the flick. it hits theaters on june 14th. i love it, because you know what, we all have that. these kids have to deal with that and be able to translate it in animation form with cluhuckl, along the way. >> it won best animated film at the oscars, the previous one. this one has a lot to live up to. >> so funny. >> such a good way to put it. one actor moving to studio 8-h. nicolas braun will play jim henson. he contributed the puppet-led

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>> reporter: artificial intelligence now taking some of the guesswork out of dating, using how you speak and how you look to zero in on that perfect match. >> i focus on true attraction. the magical spark you feel when meeting someone special. >> reporter: iris dating uses the physical attraction that take your breath away moment. >> that instinctive reaction which you can say, when attraction is present, almost nothing else matters. >> reporter: the a.i. kbalgorit uses stock photos to find out what features you find attract t attracttive. then it matches you with a person once learn your preferences. it has nearly 3 million active users. for blake and maria, these profile photos sealed the deal. >> i swiped and it said instant

match. >> which means i already liked him. >> it took one day, one day, and i found the person i cannot live without. >> reporter: that was three years ago. now they're married and parents to baby connor. >> once you set your preferences, it's pretty accurate, and it gives you a few good options, so why not try it. >> we're about finding the real person who happens to be, you know, a person of your dreams. >> reporter: another app, with about 2,000 active users, applies the language of love to find your most compatible partner, but the first virtual date is not between you and another person but between your a.i. versions. >> in that process of onboarding, it creates an a.i. version of you that will then go on dates with other people's a.i.s. the founder hoping that it cuts out that awkward, getting-to-know you phase. >> are you serious? are you more casual?

do you use abbreviations? emojis? >> reporter: a recent survey of cosmo and bumble of 5,000 singles ages 18 to 42 found 72% agreed a.i. can be helpful, there's no replacement for human connection. what was missing that you thought a.i. needed to have a role in this to make it easier? >> i think dating app's lesast revolution was on photos, but what is missing is chemistry. >> reporter: the outcome for some, real-life, genuine relationships. valerie castro, nbc news.

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