the man at the center of a murder trial that defined an era has died. the rise and fall of o.j. simpson captured the attention of the nation. from football hero and hollywood

star to defendant. charged with the brutal murders of his ex-wife and her friend. a look back at his tumultuous life. a civil war-era abortion law takes center stage in the 2024 race for the white house. how the president is taking the fight to arizona over its near-total ban on the procedure and pink thening the blame on h republican rival. rashee rice turning himself in after that high-speed crash in dallas. she says they're never, ever getting back together. end the workweek with a smile. the brave young boy living out a dream of blackingecoming a poli officer. lice officer. good morning, glad you're with me.

newly-minted super bowl champion rashee rice is out on bond this morning after turning himself in to police overnight. the kansas city chiefs star is facing several charges, including aggravated assault, after that high-speed crash in dallas last month. his surrender coming less than 24 hours after police issued an arrest warrant. rice and his attorney have said they are cooperating with authorities and that rice takes full responsibility for his actions, which police say injured four people. now to the latest in the race for the white house. vice president kamala harris will be traveling to arizona today. it's not only a key swing state in the election, but it has also become a battleground in the fight over abortion rights. brie jackson joins us now. hi, brie, the biden campaign is betting big on this issue and on arizona. >> that's right, good morning, frances. president biden's campaign has launched a major media blitz in arizona that includes a new seven-figure ad buy. the campaign says it is

targeting young, female and latino voters on tv and online. after arizona's supreme court upheld a strict abortion ban from the civil war era, president biden has been highlighting that former president trump has taken credit for the overturning of roe versus wade. that is the key message in this new ad. >> because of donald trump, millions of women lost the fundamental freedom to control their own bodies. and now women's lives are in danger because of that. the question is, if donald trump gets back in power, what freedom will you lose next? >> the former president says abortion access should be handled at the state level and that he opposes the arizona ban. mr. trump is accusing democrats of trying to distract from other issues. polling from "the wall street journal" earlier this month shows americans prefer mr. trump on the economy and the border, while president biden has the advantage when it comes to

abortion rights. now later today, vice president harris will be in tucson, where we can expect to see her link this abortion ban to donald trump and the republican party. frances? >> highly-charge the issue there, thank you, brie. house speaker mike johnson is traveling to mar-a-lago today where he will deliver remarks on election integrity alongside former president trump. speaker johnson gave few details when pressed by nbc news earlier this week, but a source in his office said among the topics of discussion will be legislation to prevent non-citizens from voting. american government workers have, based in israel, have been ordered not to travel outside of major israeli cities, as tensions between iran and israel and the ou.s. are at their highest since 1979. claudio, good morning. what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning,

frances. on thursday, the u.s. embassy in jerusalem warned citizens to pay extra ascettention. it instructed u.s. government employees and families not to travel outside the greater area of tel aviv and jerusalem. concern has been growing since the u.s. has warned that iran may carry out a significant attack in israel in retaliation for that airstrike against an iranian consulate building in damascus, syria last month. according to reuters, quoting an iranian intelligence officer, whatever response iran is going to give will try to avoid a wider escalation of the war in the region, and also reuters it reporting that a u.s. official

is quoting a u.s. official saying that the u.s. still believes iran will carry out an attack, but it will not be so that it will drag the united states and washington into that war. now on thursday, the white house said that it told iran that the u.s. was not involved in that airstrike in damascus last weekend. also warned iran not to use that as a pretext to escalate the conflict in the wider region. >> claudio, thank you. o.j. simpson, all american football star and movie legend who was later acquitted of murder has died at the age of 76 after a battle with cancer. our jay gray has a look back at his life. >> reporter: a heisman trophy winner, a nfl hall of fame running back. o.j. simpson will be remembered most for something he could never run from. born orenthal james simpson in 1947, he was raised by a single mom on the rough side of san francisco.

his way out? football. a college star at usc, he was drafted by the buffalo bills, where he had a record-setting nfl career, including the league mvp. he retired as one of the best to ever play the game. and for o.j., the spotlight never dimmed. >> nobody does it better. >> reporter: transitioning into a successful career in tv and movies. he was inducted into the pro football hall of fame in 1985, the same year he married his second wife, nicole brown. the couple had two children, but apparently a rocky marriage that included allegations of domestic abuse. nicole brown simpson filed for divorce in february of 1992. and just over two years later, she and a friend were found murdered in her home. five days after the deadly attack, driven by a former teammate, simpson led officers on a low-speed chase across los angeles, threatening to take his

own life before eventually surrendering to police. he was charged with murder. the court proceedings, dubbed "the trial of the century" >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> reporter: lasted nine months. >> we find the defendant, orenthal james simpson not guilty. >> reporter: on live tv. >> justice was not served. >> reporter: searching for that justice, the goldman family won a sichl suit. simpson ordered to pay more than $33 million. he returned to court multiple times over the next several years for traffic violations, even pirating cable tv. but it was a las vegas robbery in 2008, simpson saying he was taking back stolen personal property, that ultimately sent him to prison. >> count one, conspiracy to commit a crime, guilty. >> reporter: sentenced to 33 years, he served just over nine before being paroled in 2017. jay gray, nbc news. now to the severe weather that has been moving up the east coast.

at least one tornado was confirmed in northern florida. video shows the moment the tornado swept through a neighborhood in st. john's county causing damage to several homes. as the system pushed to the north it caused serious flooding in charleston and savannah. let's get an update on the forecast now from nbc meteorologist angie lassman. good morning, angie. >> good morning, frances. friday is here, but we're still dealing with the same storm system that you mentioned wreaked havoc over the country. we're looking at just some heavy rain in some spots, but mostly those pesky showers that are going to leave you with a difficult commute across the northeast. 7 million people under flood alerts. those are likely to expire as the rain works out. before then we'll see additional rainfall, and on top of that melting snow, that will leave us with the potential for flooding concerns across new england. this system will be sticking around through the rest of the day today, as far as the rain

showers are concerned. but it eventually lifts into canada and leaves us with some quieter conditions, except for parts of northern new england as we get into tomorrow. meanwhile, on west coast, we have our next pacific storm we're looking at. look how gorgeous it will be for saturday. nice day for most of the east coast. a couple swers for theho kansas wichita ends up at 75 degrees, and denver dealing with mostly sunny skies. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. >> okay, angie, see you in a bit. "early today" is back in a minute with a new tool from meta to help protect their kids online. and no more bad blood? and no more bad blood? huge.

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taylor swift is ready to fill that blank space on tiktok. despite the bad blood between the company and the record label. let's get to arabile gumede in london. i heard you singing during the break some taylor swift songs, now you'll be able to do it with your tiktok feed. >> look, what you want to do is tell the world about this? i might have to go on a tour. who knows? is it a blank space or blank check? she's a newly-named billionaire. this ultimately means she could be in line to receive some money. the ultimate gripe that universal music group had with tiktok was that there was no compensation given for music played on tiktok. some of taylor swift's songs being put back on tiktok, could that change things ultimately?

does that mean she's gotten money on board? all the questions are still at play. some of the other universal music group members like drake have not actually been put back on tiktok. those songs are still not available. and even some of the music videos and songs that taylor swift has with other artists also not on tiktok. many questions still at play, but -- >> i think i lost you right there. arabile, i know, with those silent feeds on tiktok. i get it. keep it up, thank you. meta is rolling out new tools to protect children from so-called sextortion scams. scand >> reporter: after mounting criticism that enough isn't being done to protect children, meta is introducing new tools to

prevent sextortion. tiffany davis is meta's global head of safety. >> we will be using technology and signals to identify potentially suspicious sextortion accounts and try to prevent them from messaging with minors. we're focussed on intimate images. >> reporter: she gave us an exclusive look at how it would work. if a user receives a nude image, it would be blurred at first. they'll also get this message, don't be pressured to respond. they will be given an option to unsend. the tool automatically turned on for users under 18. they'll direct them to a service called take it down. the announcement comes after this stunning moment request mark zuckerberg on capitol hill. >> the whole thing is a dog and pony show. >> reporter: mary was there. just hours after her son was a victim of sextortion on facebook he took his own life.

>> i think it's a pr stunt all around to make parents think their kids are safe on met at that. overall, none of this is a tool that would have saved riley or the next child. >> reporter: why should parents believe that you care more about their child than meta's bottom line. >> i guess what i would them to know is i'm a parent. even if they have lingering doubts, it's not in our business interest for teens or anybody else to have an unsafe experience on our platform. >> reporter: even if nur bus in your business it has less users? >> yes. savannah sellers, nbc news, washington. still to come, love is back in the air in london. we preview the third season of "bridgerton," including a new team up between two families. team up between two families.

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it's good to see you. >> is it? >> something wrong? >> if a husband is what you seek, let me help you. are we not friends? >> friends. >> or maybe more, right? colin taking the lead in the search for a suter for penelope featherton. the latest installment of the historical romance series hits netflix in two parts. the back half on june 13th. we just found out there are four episodes each. that's it? we can see that in an afternoon. >> not enough for us. i am excited about penelope getting her moment to shine. so much of it has been her seeking love. and now to a franchise seeking to inject laughter. miramax and paramount announced

they're working on a sixth scary movie film. it spawned four sequels but has been a ghost since 2013's scary movie five. there's no word on whether anna faris will return or what movies the new sequel will target. it is set for release in 2025. those are the only scary movies i can watch. >> because they're making fun of it. we won't get it. >> exactly. >> next we're we might be able to find out the answer to this question. what would happen if cartman dropped a collab with kendrick lamar? a new collab is hitting theaters next july 4 weekend. the project which the studio called one of the funniest and most original scripts we've ever read will also be produced by the grammy-winning lamar and dave frise. who knew that kendrick lamar would have this connection with

south park putting this movie out there, too? high standards, though. >> but it will be funny. >> they say it will. the cdc issues a warning as measle cases rise in the u.s. and ancient art unearthed in pompeii. enart unearthed in pompeii. to 50 years with my best friend and my soulmate. [clanking] [gasping] nooo... aya... quick, the quicker picker upper! only bounty absorbs spills like a sponge. and bounty is 2x more absorbent so you can use less and get the job done with one. you've got a bit of your face on your face. bounty, the quicker picker upper. and get four rolls in one with the bounty mega roll. our longest lastng roll.

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just that. steven romo talked to this little hero about his very special day. >> what's going on? >> reporter: the first six years of life have already been tough for little kejuan. >> when he was born, seeing what he was going through, i was thinking he wasn't coming out the hospital no time soon. >> reporter: born with a heart condition which affects cardiac blood flow, he spent his first few years in and out of the hospital. >> 15 to 20 surgeries, but procedures of going under and everything, over 58. >> reporter: how has this been for you guys as parents to deal with all this? >> honestly, it was a really rough journey. we're all sleeping in pull-out beds and waiting surgeries. we just turn around and go home, you got to rush right back. >> reporter: despite the hard road he's already faced in his young life, his family says his passion has always been to ease the pain of others. >> i want to help people.

>> reporter: after hearing his story, the village of lynwood police department near chicago decided to make his dream come true, making him an honorary officer. >> how does it feel to be a police officer? >> good. >> i'm definitely excited. he's been talking about this since he was 2 years old. he wanted to be a police officer. >> reporter: with the help of the mayor, the department organized a ceremony to swear in the 6-year-old. c taking his job very seriously. >> he makes sure everybody buckles their seat belt when we're in the car and the child safety locks are on. >> safety first. >> safety first. >> reporter: soon he'll get to go on patrol with friends and siblings, spreading his enthusiasm and desire to help around the community. and he's already managed to score a second job. next month he says the lynwood fire department will let him take a spin on their fire truck. >> i want them to beep the horn. >> reporter: steven romo, nbc news. >> no doubt for him they will.

all right, if you ever took a mid-day snooze while on the clock, you're not alone. according to a new survey, one in three workers regularly nap during work hours. the survey found remote and hybrid workers were more likely to take naps during the work day than in-person workers. 52% of male employees nap at least a few times a year, compared to 38% of females. still to womcome on the "to" show. there's a girl dad who went viral about the one comment he always gets when he's out with his four daughters. he'll explain. maybe some of you can relate. thanks for watching "early today." i'm fr

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