again, so this is metro atlanta, cherokee county, and atlanta proper. now, officials have not said whether they think these shootings at three places were connected, but police did note tonight that the shootings took place at three spas, three massage parlors, where the majority of the employees are asian. police say all four victims who were shot and killed at the second and third locations appeared to be asian women. now, police say they have not yet identified a suspect or a motive. but again, nbc's affiliate in atlanta is confirming just within the past few minutes that a suspect is in custody in connection with these crimes. it is important, of course, to note here as context that this news, this breaking news comes tonight at a time when hate crimes targeting asian-americans has skyrocketed, not just in the last year, but specifically within the past few weeks. that can't be far from our minds as we absorb this developing story out of atlanta. joining us now on the phone is nbc news's atlanta-based correspondent blayne alexander who is following

our victims -- in atlanta, they were all asian. in atlanta, they were two white and two asians. we will have to do forensics on the firearm. >> it was the only weapon you found? >> yes. no other weapons were located in the weapon. >> do you have a sense of how many times he shot, how much ammunition? >> i don't have that information. >> is there any reason to believe other similar businesses should be concerned today? is there still a threat? >> he was acting alone in my opinion. there's no indication anyone was working with him. we are confident that's not a problem. >> he said he was on his way to florida. you believe he would have engaged in additional acts of violence? >> he made a comment to that effect, that he was headed to florida and he was going to do similar acts in that state. >> the issue was he wanted to destroy what had been -- >> it sounds to me like -- these locations, he sees them as an outlet, something he shouldn't be doing, and an issue with porn and he was attempting to take out that temptation. >> he visited both of those indications? >> i'm unaware if he

massacres at three separate atlanta area spas. moments ago, officials there wrapping up a news conference. they said it's too early to say whether this is a hate crime. they said the suspect may have frequented these spas. the mayor said they believe the suspect was on his way to florida when they caught him. here is what we know at this hour. eight people were killed, six of the victims were asian women. the fbi is now involved. today, police departments across this country are taking steps to make sure the asian communities remain safe. >>> it's a busy hour on the hill. the government's top doctors are making a house call. they are testifying as we speak. in a few moments, the cdc director's stark warning about one of the covid variants ripping across the country. >>> right now, the secretary of homeland security is testifying before a house committee. his message so far about the increase of migrants crossing our southern border. all of that coming up. we start with that breaking news there in atlanta. police say the suspect, 2

atlanta's new mayor will take the oath of office in just a few weeks. despite the gop's efforts to divide and exclude in the state democratic mayor-elect andre dickens says he wants to unite and collaborate. he joins me now from atlanta. good evening, mayor-elect dickens, and congratulations. as you know, national action network, my civil rights group has an office in atlanta and everybody there, reverend sailor and they've told me you were going to win, and you did so congratulations. as i mentioned, the georgia so-called election integrity act, which clearly targets voters of color, passed this year. the law allows republicans to restructure county election boards and take over boards they say are underperforming. at least six counties have gone through redistricting. for example, the spalding county board of elections went from having a black democratic majority and black election supervisor to a white republican majority. how could these and other voting -- voter suppression tactics impact the city of atlanta in the future? and is there anything you

this was a hearing scheduled before the massacre in atlanta. the committee says the last time there was a congressional hearing focused on anti-asian hate was in 1987, as far as they can tell. what are the overarching concerns you are hearing? what's come out of this hearing? >> reporter: the concern is more than about just education and awareness. it's about action steps. that's what we are hearing from lawmakers right now as they make some of the opening statements. that's what we expect to hear based on some of the testimony that we have gotten an early look at from daniel day kim as well as john yang from aajc, of course senator tammy duckworth as well. i want to play you sound we heard from congressman steve cohen. >> congress sees you, we stand with you. we will do everything in our power to protect you. any asian hate did not begin with the covid-19 pandemic and will not end when it is over. all the pandemic did was exacerbate prejudices that have a long and ugly history in america. it's an execution for some to act on those. >> reporter

atlanta police department is on the scene. we are getting word about many passengers who have gone out on to the tarmac. we're getting some video in here right now showing you a rather chaotic scene. pretty frightening for folks there. i'm joined by nbc news senior producer jay blackman. what do you know about this incident? >> government official tells me this is -- this is a senior government official that the passenger's gun was discovered after checkpoint in their accessible property. the passenger then grabbed it and accidentally discharged the weapon at the checkpoint. so, this was -- sounds like it was a mistake. the first -- of this year, there were more guns discovered in passenger luggage than ever before, so that was a record. it's just that people bring guns to airports, and as captain cox said earlier, most of the time, they are discovered and they're sent on their way. >> okay. jay, i need you to reiterate because the audio was a little sketchy at the beginning of when you joined us. so you're saying that somebod

i used to live in atlanta. i've flown through that airport thousands of times, literally, at this point in my life. you've got a lot of different terminals. you have a lot of people moving through those terminals and we are receiving video and watching it right now, you think about the panic that ensued subsequently after either hearing these gunshots or hearing to take cover. how do you handle a security situation like this? when you're in an airport? >> well, first officers on the ground, they've got to get control. they've got to get to the source of the shot. stop that. if it's just an accident, it's quickly stopped. make your announcements, get other officers there, make sure no one was hurt when they were rushing away. somebody get trampled or knocked down. but you know, it's strange to say, yasmin, but it's a good sign that people are reacting to a gunshot by getting away. quickly. they're not standing around to be curious. you know, it really is bad to be curious when you hear a shot. or an explosion. g

you are seeing in atlanta and here in oakland. we understand that the problemce crimes. you are seeing in atlanta and here in oakland. we understand that the problem is the top to the bottom. we see the top doing it but the local community groups and people on the ground trying to bring unity, but in the local legislation level, they need to follow suit and support us in those ways. >> all right. mar margaret, daniel, amanda, thank you. much more to cover. next, we'll dive into what is fueling the rise in hate and how domestic terrorism and hate crimes overlap. later, i'll talk with two members of congress about what their role should be in addressing this alarming crisis. also, we'll devote time to sharing your stories and experiences with hate in america. and advice on how to stand up for your neighbors. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas or abdominal discomfort? taking align can help. align contains a quality probiotic to naturally help soothe digestive upsets 24/7. try align, the p

enterprises, a company in atlanta. she was a bookkeeper, but soon caught the eye of her boss, billy corey. >> there were some people working there that weren't really doing their jobs, and she told him she could do their job and her job. i think he fired them and she did their job. >> it was back in the'80s when dani jo and diane first teamed up. best friends and confidants. dani jo was a cosmetologist with a front row seat to diane's brilliant career. >> she loved crunching numbers. and along with billy corey, i think she learned how to wheel and deal. >> she rose through the ranks. and with her boss'blessing became president of the company. hiring, firing, and calling the shots. >> she would say, i don't want to hear about the labor pains, just show me the baby. >> jay grover was a vice president at diane's company. >> when she started in business here in atlanta, there were not a ton of female executives. >> no. absolutely. and i think that's what -- one of the things that really set diane apart. i mean, she was a -

there's one in atlanta. and the airport police in atlanta is handled by the atlanta city police. they have a major or assistant chief who is in charge of the airport detail, and it is really time for those two leaders, the federal security director at tsa and the airport atlanta pd commander or the atlanta chief to speak to the public and say, what happened? because you've got, you know, just really millions of travelers on the biggest holiday weekend in the country and this is not good to cause this stress around the country and people have to travel. so, in other words, clarity of what happened. everybody can deal with it. the public will deal with it. whatever it is, we've been through awful terrorist attack, we can go through an accidental shot or even an on-purpose shot with someone who's being sought, but they need to spell it out. don't have all these questions. what happened? is there someone you're seeking? is there someone you're seeking to arrest? leverage the public to help you here. just quiet this thing down, because it's not really good to leave it hanging in the a

the brutal murders in atlanta. the latest in an unrelenting cycle of violence against asian-americans, and other marginalized communities. with this lethal combination of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia. an entire hour dedicated to addressing why this is happening, what is fueling it, and how we fix it. margaret cho, amanda nguyen, and daniel wu are here as they use their starpower to stop asian hate. and we have expert advice on what you can do to counter hate in your community. "american voices," hate on the rise, starts now. >>> it is the question, we'll work to answer over the next hour. how do you solve a problem, as big and complex and deeply rooted as hate in america? just this week, a new report from the intelligence community warned of the growing threat of homegrown extremism in our country. saying, specifically, that racially-motivated extremists are those most likely to carry out a mass-casualty attack. and in 2019, the fbi reported 7,300 hate crimes, in america. that highest in decade, targeting black

she's there in atlanta. on top of the visit to the cdc, in a few hours president biden and vice president harris will speak to asian american leaders in georgia. jeff bennett, what more do we know about what the president and vice president's message is going to be to them? >> reporter: i'm told that they want to convey their support. this will be the first joint trip by the president and vice president. this visit had been scheduled as part of their so-called help is here tour to tout their $2 trillion -- nearly $2 trillion covid relief package. this trip was already on the books. it was understandably -- the focus was transformed in light of the shootings here in atlanta earlier this week. the bulk of the trip now, both the president and vice president will spend at emory university, meeting in private with asian american community advocates and elected leaders. they will hear them out. beyond that, the president will deliver remarks at around 4:00 p.m. eastern, in the 4:00 hour. i'm told the president and

joining me is atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms. she met with president biden and vice president harris yesterday during their visit. thank you for being on, as always, madam mayor. let me say, first, what can you share about the latest in the investigation? especially -- you just heard congresswoman chu calling it a hate crime. can we call this a hate crime yet? >> thank you for having me, reverend al. by all appearances, it appears to be a hate crime as i look at the legal definition of a hate crime in georgia. a hate crime can be charged based on race, it can be based upon sex and national origin. now, we know that the murder charges and the aggravated assault charges will carry the stiffer penalties, but i think for purposes of recognizing what happened in metro atlanta this week, i think it's important that hate crime charges be brought. and i do hope that prosecutors will consider that. although the penalty will only be two years for a hate crime, you have to remember, reverend al, i know that you know this, but the audience m

we've had two weekends in atlanta in the last month with more than a dozen shootings. and as i sat on the senate floor this morning and listened to my colleague, my brother, my friend, senator reverend raphael warnock, call upon our better angels, exhort the people to seek peace and call for public policy that brings us together and lifts us all up, that brings justice where there is violence and murder and that unites this country with common purpose, love and compassion, i felt moved that we have such a voice speaking on behalf of the people of georgia at such a moment as this, when that's precisely the message that's called for. we have to be resolute and determined in the face of violence. and we have to recommit to loving each other and defining this country based upon that mutual love and compassion. >> you know, most first speeches by freshman senators are completely ignored by the news media, but you and senator warnock became instant stars in the senate by determining the power structure of the senate and giving the power to the democrats. so there's a real sp

joining us now, atlanta's mayor keisha lance bottoms. mayor, more than half the residents who can get the shot haven't. who are you reaching, why aren't they, and what's your strategy? >> it's very disappointing, stephanie, there is hesitancy obviously across this state right now. you have to remember this is still, in so many places in the state, still a head state, so we know there is hesitancy on the far right, but also many minority communities are still very concerned about the vaccine, and we know the historical context of those concerns, of longstanding dissonant trust of vaccines, so we are continuing to educate people. i've been fully vaccinated as well as my husband, my mother, and two of my teenagers are fully vaccinated. and so it's going to be important for trusted voices in our community, whether it be elected officials or ministers or teachers, and in this case, the vice president of the united states speaking directly to our communities, letting people know that it is safe and in their best interests to receive this vacci

he was arrested driving south about 150 miles from atlanta. officials say 6 of the 8 victims appear to be asian and police are investigating the possibility that the attacks were racially motivated. this comes amid an increase in attacks on the asian community since the coronavirus pandemic. the new york police department says it will deploy counterterrorism in the city out of abundance of caution. we will keep following this story all morning and bring you any new developments as they happen. >>> let's go now to the white house and coronavirus with the white house aiming to distribute more than 2 million doses of covid-19 vaccine in the next week. that would be a new record in the u.s. fight to contain the coronavirus. states are expected to receive more than 16 million doses of the three approved vaccines. that is slightly higher than what they got last week. federally administered program such as mass vaccination sites and community health centers will receive most of those doses. the increase in supply comes as more states lift their eligi

in fact, the city of atlanta did not pay that ransom. and their systems were down for months and-ing -- not computerized falls in reports and processes for months. but they did not pay. it was later confirmed by the u.s. justice department that atlanta would not pay the ransom that the hackers demanded. they confirmed that. the justice department confirmed that when they later announced federal criminal charges against two men, two young iranian men who were charged with running that cyberattack for ransom scheme that shut down atlanta for all of that time. in fact, it was a pair of indictments. both in federal court and georgia and federal court in new jersey, two federal indictments charging that iranian hacking crew with holding up the city of atlanta and also newark, new jersey and the port of santa diego and the colorado transportation and calgary and canada and the hollywood presbyterian medical center and smaller hospitals and health care companies and nebraska, illinois, this huge long list of entities sort of large and small tha

over the atlanta spa shootings. his first stop is cdc headquarters coming as the administration announced a loosening of guidance for schools due to promising data about transmission rates in the classroom. in new published guidelines, the cdc calls for three feet of social distancing in schools as long as masks are worn and community transmission in general is not high. this could pave the way for more kids back in the classroom. obviously, three feet cuts the amount of space you need to find to see how big of a classroom you need. the white house covid response team is holding a briefing where it is discussing all of this guidance. they have to address concerning news about an uptick in cases in parts of the country. that comes as the biden administration is marking 100 million vaccine doses administered since he took the oath of office. they have achieved a major goal early. some public health experts are warning that it's not clear who is winning this race against time and the variants. the vaccines or the sprea

blayne alexander is in atlanta. kristen, this is a mostly ceremonial event with the irish prime minister. what do we expect to hear from the president? >> reporter: well, i think we can expect to hear him address the shooting off of the top of this event. chuck, i wouldn't be surprised if that's the first thing that we hear from president biden. and he will likely echo what we heard from vice president harris earlier today, in which she condemned hate crimes against asian-americans. she stressed the fact that there is still no known motive in this instance. chuck, she did make that point because these shootings, and the victims of these shootings, do include asian-americans, and she reaffirmed the fact that this is an administration that condemns any behavior, and it comes in the wake of reports that there has been an uptick in anti-asian sentiment. >> okay. >> reporter: so i think that's the type of tone that you can expect to hear from president biden, chuck, when he addresses this in a short time from now. i also

right, in atlanta. and so we expect that we would not have look warm statement saying this is what i support, but that they would come out strong, just as salesforce led the way and cede we are against this, this is not what we're going to stand for and move forward in our state. when i think about the bills that happened, in many ways the republicans, it's like a jedi mind trick on some level you're saying you came up with bad legislation that we know is rooted in racism, it was rooted in the big lie and now we're saying, we're not going to do it that bad. we'll offer this much voter suppression. they should be unequivocal around a couple things, one that they're completely against these bills, two, that they're going to divest in those elected officials, those republicans and those elected officials who stand and continue to push voter suppression and three that they're going to also support hr-1 and the federal legislation to make sure that all voters in the country have some expanded protection. >>

he was arrested driving south about 150 miles from atlanta. officials say six of the eight victims appear to be asian. this comes amid an increase in attacks on the asian community since the coronavirus pandemic. the new york police department says it will deploy counterterrorism officers to asian communities in the city out of abundance of the caution. a lot going on with this concern about hate crimes, willie. >> yeah. let's go down to atlanta where we find blane alexander. good morning. are the police saying yet what the motive may be here? obviously people drawing a lot of conclusions based on who these victims are. what happened and what do police know about why it happened? >> reporter: good morning to you, willie. police are not quite yet saying what a motive is or releasing a motive. but they're saying they're not ruling anything out. so they are investigating a number of things. among the things they are looking at is the possibility of whether this was a hate crime, whether this was racially motivated. we do know that police are cont

a shocking murder at atlanta area spas on tuesday. robert aaron long is in custody after officials released footage showing him at three locations. rodney bryant was asked about a motive. >> we have received a number of calls about is this a hate crime. we are still early in this investigation. we cannot make that determination at this moment. >> the georgia shootings do follow a wave of unprovoked attacks across the country of people of asian descent. president biden has just been briefed. vice president kamala harris also addressing the terrible shootings. >> we don't know, we are not yet clear about the motives. i want to say to our asian communities we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked all people. >> and the shootings condemned. >> i want to mention what happened just a few hours ago in atlanta in which several women were killed, including, we believe, four women of asian descent. we are horrified. >> counterterrorism agents were sent to atlanta out of new york city out of an abundance of caution. i

but in that atlanta attack in the spring of 2018, there was a twist. that hackers broke into the computer networks maintained by the city of atlanta. they effectively shut down almost all of the municipal networks the city maintained, but the hackers in that attack weren't just messing with people like the hackers had been apparently in texas. in 2017 and again in 2019. when the hackers broke into atlanta's networks and essentially took control of all of them and stopped atlanta from being able to use any system from people paying their parking tickets to people applying to jobs to police filing their reports for arrests and stuff, when they were shut down in that attack in atlanta in 2018, what those hackers wanted was not just to mess with people, they wanted money. last week one of the shocking stories in the news and in u.s. politics, a real surprise, was the announcement by democratic party rising star keisha lance bottoms, the very charismatic, very talented mayor of atlanta, georgia. her announcement late last week that she wouldn't seek reelect

there are eight people dead in the atlanta area after a horrifying spree shooting last night at three different locations, three different spas. the suspect is in police custody and we know some of the victims' names. delaina ashley yaun, xiaojie tan, daoyou feng, paul andre michels. seven out eight victims were women. six of the eight were of asian descent. south korean consulate in atlanta confirmed that four of the eight victims were ethnic koreans and don't know the nationalities. the rampage began around 5:00 p.m. yesterday at young's asian massage in acworth. four people were killed there. and about 45 minutes later, officers responded to gold spa in at least atlanta where they found three women killed. while officers were on that scene, shots were fired across the street at aromatherapy spa, found one woman killed there. police arrested 21-year-old robert aaron long following a manhunt yesterday evening charging him with eight counts of murder and a count of aggravated assault. this story you might recall breaking just as we got off the air last night and in the hours that foll

we are going to keep it moving because we have the atlanta mayor with us. she just met president biden and vice president harris today. i know it is a hard time for you, for your city. i know you're busy. thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> first, what can you tell us about your meeting with the president and vice president? >> well, first of all, to have the president and vice president in atlanta, the home of the civil rights movement in america, i thought was just very symbolic in so many ways. and then to sit in the room and hear from our aapi leaders, it was a combination of sadness, frustration, tangible recommendations and then righteous indignation. this community has endured so much. but what's very clear is this community is our community. and you have the president and the vice president be able to listen and also speak to some of the things that this administration has already done in less than 60 days, that was encouraging, but it was important to hear from these leaders directly. and i think we all walked away with

and that's been reinforced by what we saw in atlanta. and of course we do not have a causal link at this time. we done have a motivation. but chris, when you look at the context in which so many of these incidents have been reported you start to see a pattern and you start to see why the asian community is feeling so much pain right now, especially asian american women. >> jo ling kent who's been reporting on this throughout, thank you, jo, for making a little time with us tonight. i appreciate it. >> thanks. >> i want to bring in democratic congresswoman juddy chu of california. first chinese-american woman elected to congress. chairs the congressional asian pacific american caucus. a lot of folks i talked to today there's a real visceral and raw sense of anguish and fear in the wake of yesterday, particularly because it comes on the heels of this past year. how are you thinking about what we're seeing here? >> well, we were shocked and heartbroken when we heard about the deaths of these eight people, six of them being asian women. we t

is that also a problem among atlanta police? >> well, what's happening here, i mean, there's several things that are at play. one, we have to make sure that we positively identify them, and again, this is in fulton county, where we have a number of bodies in fulton county in our morgue. and secondly, we have to make sure we reach the next of kin because if we have not reached the next of kin, we certainly don't want to release their name. but we understand that the language barriers are real. i don't believe that is an issue with this case. but certainly, it's something that we're always sensitive to. >> let's talk about security. have there been any changes in the security posture of atlanta police regarding asian communities and asian american communities due to the uptick in violence that we have seen around the country, and after this, will there be? >> yes, we have increased patrols in areas that we know have several asian-owned businesses. we have also reached out, we spent the past day or so reaching out to several leader

. >>> right now, a stop the hate rally is under way in atlanta. it's honoring the eight victims of this week's deadly spa shooting. and it comes as we're learning new details about the timeline of that tragic event, chilling new surveillance video shows the suspect entering the first of the three spas more than an hour before the shooting began. both the president and vice president in atlanta yesterday, meeting with local leaders and condemning the surge of anti-asian violence across this country. >> whatever the motivation, we know this. too many asian-americans have been walking up and down the streets and worrying, waking up each morning the past year feeling their safety and the safety of their loved ones are at stake. >> well, our nbc news team is joining us from the white house with more on biden's plan to stop these hate crimes, but first, over on capitol hill, a leading democrat is joining the call for a potential change to the legislative filibuster. senator diane feinstein, in just a moment i'll be talking with lawrence o'donnell and wh

first up on msnbc, new developments in the deadly rampage in atlanta. we know the identities of the victims. spa shootings. their families reeling and searching for answers. >> you can't say that this isn't racially motivated? you don't kill eight people on a bad day, let alone one. >> the president and vice president addressing the nation speaking forcibly against the shooting following a meeting with asian american leaders in atlanta. >> words have consequences. it's the coronavirus, full stop. >> scapegoating asian americans. people with the bigst

this afternoon biden and harris met with asian american leaders in atlanta and afterwards they spoke out about the attacks, acknowledging motive hasn't been established linked to race, it hasn't been labeled as a hate crime for example, asians in this country have indeed been increasingly targeted. >> they have been attacked, blamed, scapegoated and harassed. verbally assaulted and physically assaulted. words have consequences. it is the coronavirus. full stock. the investigation that we had today with the aapi leaders and that we are hearing across the country is that hate and violence often hide in plain sight. that has to change. we cannot be complicit we have to speak out. >> six out of the eight people killed tuesday night were of asian. seven were women. the shootings took place in businesses owned by asian americans. the shootings took place as violent hate crimes against asian americans has risen dramatically. >> all eight of the victims at three locations have been identified ranging from 33-74. we will have much more ahead later this hour on their lives. president biden had

now, it's something more to the forefront given what has happened in atlanta. there has been no official motive named by authorities here. bring us up to speed with the suspect now charged with murder in the shootings in atlanta, when do we expect to see them in court? what are your latest forces, whether additional charges, like maybe hate crimes, could be on the way? >> reporter: and, i want to pick up on that very point where you and joe left off. that's talking about the potential motive. you know, law enforcement have said all along, it's still too early to kind of determine the motive. overnight, we got a strongly-worded statement from atlanta police, essentially underscoring that point, making it clear the investigation is still very much in the early stages and that they are still continuing to dig into what motivated this shooting and saying they have not ruled anything out. that means race has not been ruled out as a factor as well. all of that, of course, comes after we watched that news conference about 24 hours ago now where we heard officials from

the tour championship is set to be held here in atlanta in september. they said they're going to keep it in atlanta but also said in a statement they support the right of all americans to vote. steph? >> blayne, thank you. >>> let's dig deeper with columnist and editor of "the new york times" and co-anchor of "squawk box" on cnbc. they say georgians should not he weigh in on morality but that's not what this is about. what they said is risk management, haven't they decided staying silent will hurt their bottom line a whole lot more? >> this is a business decision and what's so remarkable about what happened over this past week is republicans have always loved big business and free markets until the big businesses turn against them on issues, in this case social issues. democrats have often hated big business, of course, unless they are with them on issues like this. so here we are. yes, businesses ultimately are not political. they're political party is profits and when you look at where we are as a country, and i think what a lot of these businesses ar

president biden and vice president harris traveled to atlanta after the killings of eight people, six of whom were asian-american women. and while motive has not yet been established linked to race, asians in this country have indeed been increasingly targeted. >> they've been attacked. blame, scapegoated, harassed. verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed. it's been a year of living in fear for their lives. we've always known words have consequences. it's the coronavirus, full stop. the conversation we had today with the aapi leaders and that we're hearing across the country is that hate and violence often hide in plain sight. it's often met with silence. that's been true throughout our history. but that has to change. because our silence is complicity. we cannot be complicit. we have to speak out. >> six out of the eight people killed on tuesday night were of asian descent. seven were women. the shootings took place in businesses owned by asian-americans. the shootings took place as violent hate crimes and discrimination against asian-americans has risen dramatically. >> ind

president biden and vice president harris took their first joint trip since taking office to atlanta. the trip was planned as part of their tour promoting the america rescue plan but postponed that and instead the president and the vice president shifted their plans deciding instead to meet with leaders of the city's asian american and pacific islander community to discuss tuesday's attack and the rise of anti-asian hate crimes across the country. the meeting was held in private. we will be speaking with one of the community leaders who was in the room a little later this hour. we have encouraging news about the fight to protect voting rights in the state of georgia we will get to tonight and we will be speaking with one of the activists leading the fight. the president and the vice president in atlanta to the headquarter of the cdc announcing they have met their goal of administering 100 million vaccine shots 40 days ahead of schedule. it is an amazing milestone but if you are a parent you might be more excited about the news the cdc broke itself later today. the cdc updateds it guid

again, biggest in the state, atlanta, atlanta suburbs. you're seeing right now, actually -- let me just confirm, adam, is this it for fulton? we have to check on that. if this is it, then what we've said at the start of the night, the democrats in fulton county, do they get to that biden number and al qaeda it. what you're seeing right now with what appears to be all or close to all of the vote in fulton county is warnock a little bit more than a point better than joe biden's number. and the perdue race, ossoff at 72.9, biden at 72.6. i think this is key because in this county in november, ossoff was under 70%. he was 69 and change. so ossoff ran about three points below biden, or if you will, perdue ran about three points above trump in fulton county back in november. where you saw the most pronounced split ticket voting was in suburban portions of fulton county. you saw it in roswell, alpharetta, buckhead, that's where the most voters went out and voted biden and then voted republicans for the senate. what you're seeing here with what a

i start with the entertainment industry in atlanta. i think a lot of people perhaps don't know this, but the entertainment industry in atlanta, according to georgia tech, atlanta's adult industry brings in $240 million in annual sales which has a greater economic impact than all the sports teams in atlanta. and the city ranks fifth in the country for highest number of strip clubs per 100,000 residents. so the booty to the polls video really met people where they are. how much of an impact do you think these videos have had on get out the vote? >> it's lard for hard for us to. get your booty to the poll is not a huge organization. it's me and my friend paul fox who decided to do something. just the two of us and didn't have the budget to find the numbers' chup impact. i think it mattered. people have come to me said i wasn't sure i would vote and are going to vote. oh, since get your booty to the poll, my husband wasn't going to vote. saw the dance and now is going to vote. i know it's made some impact. i think a collective impact. it h

we're in the city of atlanta. the warning came through at 10:20 this morning that there was a tornado warning and later the national weather service was able to confirm that a tornado did touchdown on the ground. we are still waiting to get reports or understanding of just exactly what sort of damage was caused by the storm, but as you see right there, atlanta is a place where there are a lot of trees where when winds come through it's not unlikely and you see a number of trees blown down and that's certainly something that we can expect. to tell you a little bit about the area that where this tornado warning was called. this was a populated place in atlanta, we know that it was headed toward peach tree street headed toward midtown atlanta and those were the places where people were being told to take cover immediately and what we are waiting to see right now, craig, is just how much, if any, damage was done. >> blayne alexander for us there in atlanta. thank you. we turn now to the funeral for andrew brown jr. it

, created by former atlanta mayor hartsfield was built around the idea that atlanta's economic future was really tied to the city's commitment to, you know, diversity and racial progress and so, you know, to have a company like delta, which was certainly pressured by black activists like the new georgia project, black voters matter, fair fight, et. cetera to weigh in on this voting rights legislation, those activists now tell me they're disappointed. i just saw, you know, la tasha brown tweeting. >> it's not just good citizenship. it's not just because you're locate there had and a pay taxes there and maybe you get contributions to some of the politicians. it's more than that. you look at dell a draft and ups and home depot and coca-cola and there are many others. georgia is a really big hub for american business. these are people who draw not only their workers, like your mom, but their customers from that base. the reason i'm a delta loyalist is because i worked for cnn for 12 years and cnn was an atlanta company. so there's a million reasons why these companies need to be on the ri

the air, president biden is in georgia, his motorcade now making its way to the cdc headquarters in atlanta. in this hour the president will join vice president harris at the cdc where they will receive an update from health officials leading the fight against the pandemic. we are expected to see and hear from the president in about 15 minutes. we're going to bring that to you when he speaks. the visit comes as the cdc just issued new guidelines that could get a lot more kids back to school in person. federal health officials now say students need to remain only 3 feet apart as opposed to 6 feet as long as everyone is wearing a mask. that is a major policy change of interest to so many parents and so many kids who are eager to close the laptop on telelearning and get back to the classroom. we'll have much more on that in just a moment. >>> the president's visit to atlanta was originally scheduled as part of the white house's help is here tour, touting that $2 trillion rescue plan, and although the main focus of the trip has turned to the aftermath of that deadly shooting rampage, the presid

i want to talk first about this latest update coming out from atlanta officials. how have people on the ground been reacting so far with this reluctance to call this shooting a hate crime? >> reporter: yeah, that's unacceptable to this crowd at this point. andrew yang was up on the stage earlier, former presidential candidate, current new york city mayoral candidate and he called this a hate crime. he said these people, these victims were targeted. the event organizer here tells me when he has a bad day, of course alluding to what the spokesperson said in the aftermath, he doesn't go out and murder a certain type of people. so definitely a lot of emotions here at this rally. while it has cleared out a little bit, it's still going on. at one point there were thousands of people here. senator chuck schumer was here earlier today speaking out against this anti-asian american sentiment we've seen in this country. there are rallies going on across the country, san francisco, columbus, in atlanta. here the event organizer tells me it is about taking back the power. at o

greg bluestein is the political reporter for the journal atlanta constitution. and he knows the state better than almost and also with me the first asian state senator in georgia's history and will be meeting with president biden later today. georgia is in the house. senator, you were actually on the floor calling for more help and protection for asian americans on monday, the day before the shooting. so is it fair to say you saw this coming? >> i think a lot of people have been asking me how i feel about giving these what they call prescient remarks the day before the mass shooting in atlanta. what i was actually trying to point out in giving the remarks, it wasn't a matter of looking forward to events that might happen, it was looking at events that have been happening not just over the past month or year but over the past decade. calling attention to the fact this is an overlooked issue and racism and violence towards asian americans need more attention. >> greg, it wasn't until last year that georgia it its own hate crime law. is there an appetite in the leg

. >> the mayor of atlanta on the spa murder spree that took the lives of eight people. the suspect has now been charged. and the question is, what was the motive? >>> plus, the biden administration says the number of people apprehended at the southern border is set to hit its highest levels in 20 years. the secretary of homeland security called it a, quote, difficult situation. question is, why won't he call it a crisis? >>> and democrats press forward with key agenda items like immigration and voting rights but with a slim majority in the senate and the filibuster getting in their way, the question remains, what are they going to do about it? it's "way too early" for this. good morning! and welcome to "way too early," the show that's really wondering if we could just spring forward to friday? i am kasie hunt on this thursday, march 18th. we'll start with the news. >>> the suspect arrested in the murder spree at three spas in the atlanta area has been charged. 21-year-old robert long faces eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault. police say he killed

. >>> president biden and vice president harris are going to atlanta. the chief purpose is to consult and console people after the shooting of eight, six of asian descent. there is new video showing the suspect walking inside one of the businesses. gets out of his car and walks in without any kind of drama or urgency to do what he was about to do. investigators are not ruling out a potential hate crime. we begin to get images and names of the victims. one major hurdle was finding family members. many of the korean victims have their families back in their home country. >> we are working with the republic of korea to make that verification. as soon as we are 100% sure and notifications have been made, we will release those names. >> outside of atlanta, the cherokee county sheriff, apologizes for saying the sheriff had a "bad day." he said -- joining me now is blayne alexander in atlanta, kristen welker and kim and tina ortiz jones, an iraq war veteran and two-time candidate for congress in texas. welcome all. while you wait speaker pelosi is leading the

vonn hill hard has more from atlanta. i'm curious about the reaction from people there. what have you found out? >> reporter: yeah, alex. the former president walked into the stadium seated in a suite quite a ways down the first base line. they never showed him on the jumbo tron the entire game, yet folks in the surrounding sections were turned around up there. moment is when he and the former first lady were participating in the so-called tomahawk chop. of course, this is insensitive, racist. there are a great number of native americans who push back, calling it a mockery of native americans. this is not a native american chant or a native american song, but this is, instead, about 40,000 plus fans for 30 years inside of atlanta braves stadiums have engaged in this chant. now, it was earlier this year the cleveland indians announced they were changing their names to be the cleveland guardians. last year the washington football club dropped their team name and now great attention and focus and pushback against the atlanta braves, particularly when the lights are brought

yesterday the mlb announced it will pull the game from atlanta. this comes after georgia passed a controversial voting law last week. this morning, atlanta's mayor keisha lance bottoms said there's still time for the governor to make things right. >> it's not too late for the legislature to go back and reconsider this. they are out of session, but the governor certainly can call a special session, have them reconsider this, make tweaks to it so that it is truly a bill that expands access to the right to vote. i think this is just the first of many dominos that will fall in this state, and we are all going to suffer because of it. >> now, this is not just happening in georgia. in less than five weeks, lawmakers across the u.s. have introduced more than 300 restrictive voting bills in just about every state. joining us now is kavitha davidson, a sports and culture writer for "the atlantic." and also coauthor of "loving sports when they don't love you back: dilemmas of the modern fan." welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> what is your sense of th