Clots. We should note again these clots are rare. Less than 1 in a million. Still, there are signs that the Biden Administration may be giving up on the j j shot over fears that too much damage has been done to it reputation. During todays briefing, jeff zients said that the white house has enough Vaccine Supply to meet its goals without that oneshot j j jab. Our Vaccination Program was never built on one vaccine. We have plenty of Vaccine Supply of pfizer and moderna. There are tens of millions of doses already out in the country of moderna and pfizer ready to be administered. Now as weve talked about, all adults, all individuals 16 and over are eligible for a shot. So we have plenty of Vaccine Supply to have all adults get vaccinated. Joining me, weve got shannon pettypiece, Heidi Przbyla is here in washington, and with us from miami is nbc news correspondent sam brock. The cdc Advisory Panel have been meeting throughout the day. I know youve been watching it. What are the takeaways and what are we expecting, when are we expecting an update from the fda on this issue . Geoff, the headline so far, theres been no crush of Additional Data showing theres increased risk of these blood clots, these rare blood clots that we saw in a handful of individuals and that is why, geoff, the expectation remains that most likely this pause will be lifted with some kind of a warning, potentially on the groups that it may be at the highest risk, as well as some advise for doctors in terms of how they should spot these types of risks and how they should treat them. The question is about the issue of Vaccine Confidence and what the implications are of this once once Johnson Johnson is back out on the market. While polling shows that Vaccine Confidence has remained steady, the questions that were being raised in this meeting were about this particular vaccine. Were minutes away from hearing from Johnson Johnson officials themselves, but certainly this is a concern given that despite what the Biden Administration is now saying, we know from our own reporting that many states were hoping to use this vaccine, this onedose shot to treat some of their most vulnerable populations and that confidence in this vaccine is critical for developing countries that are relying on the Johnson Johnson vaccine to reach much of their population, geoff. Because its one shot and doesnt require supercold storage like moderna and pfizer. Shannon, over to you. Whats the word from the white house on this . Reporter i asked the cdc director today on this press call they did with reporters, you know, if things go as heidi was suggesting they would where a pause is lifted and the warning is placed on the vaccine, what place does it have in the u. S. Vaccination program . You have two vaccines out there that dont have this warning that you are telling us that you have plenty of supply for. The cdc director said that while she didnt want to get ahead of the meeting, she Still Believes that theres a place for this Johnson Johnson vaccine even if it does have a warning, even if it carries the rare risks because of the benefits you were talking about, geoff, with that single dose, without having to require that cold storage. And there are people who might not get vaccinated otherwise or at least not get fully vaccinated if it requires two doses or if it requires, you know, going to a certain area that they cant easily access. There appears there will be a place for the j j vaccine going forward, but The Big Question Next is production. They continue to have these Manufacturing Plant issues that could take weeks, if not months, to resolve. And, shannon, youve been focused on this as part of our team. Whats the administrations strategy for handling the Vaccine Hesitancy issues arising from all of this coverage of the j j vaccine . Reporter there were indications we are getting to a bit of a hesitancy point before this. The administration has been pretty lockstep in their messaging around this, that these risks remain rare, that this is the fda Process Working as it should. It identified risks early on. Its evaluating the risk and the benefit. They said this is a good sign, they are addressing the signals. But theyre saying theyre doubling down on their message about getting the facts out to people any way they can, on social media, through their doctors, to let them know the facts out there about the vaccines effectiveness and its safety. Sam, youre in florida where i understand that the pace of vaccines is slowing significantly. What are you hearing there . Reporter it doesnt seem to be geoff, good afternoon a supply issue. It seems to be a demand issue. Jackson health has the largest footprint down here in miami. They are very large. They have certainly been very proactive in trying to reach people in disadvantaged pockets of miami. If you go to their twitter account right now, youll find a pinned vaccine update. Theyve been spending months vaccinating and trying to protect this community. As a result of lowering demand, theyre going to be rolling up the program soon. It starts with the first doses. That ends next week, and within a month after that, no more vaccinations within this pillar, important epicenter where people were getting vaccines in this community. Broward health is another. Im standing at a fema site where folks will be trickling in by the thousands to get vaccinated. I had a couple exchanges with folks over here that were waiting in line earlier today. They all seem to know people within their Circle Of Friends or family who are hesitate about getting the shot and i asked why. Heres a couple of those exchanges. What worries you guys . What would keep you up at night about this . That we also have if people dont get vaccinated, the we wont get control of the virus and then we have issues that we might have to continue this, wearing the masks, getting back our liberties. It is a worry because for those of us who have been vaccinated, were doing our part, were proactive. For those who dont want to get vaccinated, i feel theyre a little bit more lax in their commitment to getting over covid. Reporter the most eye opening thing for me so far, it was true today when i interviewed a woman from peru, also while i was in louisiana, theyre all seeing same thing, theyre seeing full icus in their home countries. Theyre not able to get access to the vaccine and they come here and its a god send to get this, to get a shot in their arm. They cant understand why so many folks are resistant to do this. That global perspective is enlightening. Were fortunate here to have this level of access. Other people across the world are not and theyre all jealous and are doing whatever they can to get here so they can be inoculated. Geoff . Its not so much a supply issue any longer. In the time we have left, heidi, i want to talk about this pause to the j j vaccine. Europe has dealt with this. Based on your reporting, is there anything instructive in terms of the way in which the eus version of the cdc has dealt with this that might influence how domestic regulators handle it . Thats exactly what were expecting. We will follow the footsteps of europe, put it back out on the market with a warning and when you listen to the officials who were talking today about Johnson Johnson, they said that they thought this pause was helpful because these types of clots are not treated the same way as a standard clot using heparin, for instance. It is a different demographic. Its younger women, were talking about, when we looked at the clustering, it was women ages 30 to 39. Even in that group, geoff, it was exceedingly small. 11 in a million in terms of the numbers here. They say that this pause was good for that so they could communicate with doctors, communicate with the public. And then on goes that Warning Label that will allow doctors to look for potential signs as well as patients and that they hope that even if they do see these rare cases, now that the awareness is raised, that the numbers will be extremely small. Maybe even smaller than the numbers of the Clotting Disorder in the general population. That was another one of the interesting observations that was made in this meeting today, geoff. Heidi przbyla, shannon pettypiece, and sam brock. Thanks to the three of you. With me now is dr. Michael osterholm, the director of the center for Infectious Disease research and policy at the university of minnesota. Its good to see you, sir. Heidi laid it all out for us. When you do the costbenefit analysis, what do you think, should the fda resume the use of this j j vaccine . I think it has an Important Role in our program, a single dose and one that is more stable in terms of how you hold a vaccine over time such that it should be used. I think the message thats being missed today by everyone, were not Out Of The Woods yet in this country. We have 22 states that have Immunization Levels lower than michigan and we know whats happened in michigan. So we have to emphasize not only do we want this vaccine, but were not over with this virus yet and we need to do everything we can to get as many people vaccinated in many parts of the country. Lets talk about that. In new york city, Vaccination Centers are open to walkins, and demand is slowing in places like florida. Where are we at this point . Anybody who wants to get a vaccine will be able to get one soon if they havent already . First of all, everyone can get a vaccine right now. Thats an important point to note. The problem is, many people are not getting the vaccine. Part of it is the perception that, in fact, the pandemic is kind of over. Were seeing this lull in cases. Dont forget weve been here three times in the past year after seeing big increases in cases, we see a lull that lasts for several months and then its back again. As i just noted a moment ago, we have at least 22 states that have lower Immunization Levels than michigan where weve already seen a crisis. Today we have 70 children seriously ill, hospitalized in michigan with this virus. So weve got to keep emphasizing its not over. Number two is, the vaccines are very safe. Even the j j vaccine, clearly emphasize that a risk of a bad thing happening to you is much higher getting the disease than it is getting the vaccine. We need a fullcourt press here to continue to keep getting people vaccinated or we will be back to seeing more states like michigan happen throughout the country. What about the threat posed from overseas . Im thinking about how the pandemic is really out of control in places like india. There are variants running rampant in brazil. What threat does that pose to the u. S. Based on where we are right now in the life of this pandemic . Make no mistake about it, these are the darkest days of the pandemic right now. Last week, the World Health Organization reported more cases for the week than any week since the began pandemic begun. Ontario are in serious challenges with the virus. Yes, youre right, this is a huge issue internationally. The thing that is concerning about whats happened internationally that directly effects us, beyond the humanitarian aspect, is that these variants, these mutated viruses come out of the kinds of infectious problems that we see right now in places like india, even sweden. In that sense, they do potentially have an impact on how well our vaccines work here. So its our real need to make sure that we are trying to reduce transmission everywhere in the world not just from humanitarian reasons but also for the security of our vaccines. Everybody should get that vaccine and continue to wear a mask. Dr. Michael osterholm, thanks for your time this afternoon. A quick programming note, dr. Anthony fauci will join ayman mohyeldin. New data on the impact that Remote Learning has had on some of the most vulnerable students. And later, it would be the first major tax hike on wealthy americans since the early 1990s. How the president plans to pay for his 1. 5 trillion American Families plan. But first, well go live to atlanta where students at historically black colleges talk to msnbc about the impact the Chauvin Trial is already having on their futures. What it looks like for me is advocating for laws to be changed, advocating for a system of accountability to match. Y toh. Wright brothers . 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But even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. Although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. Now as youre thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. Quick show of hands, how many of you were surprised by the verdict . So all of you were surprised in some way that it came down guilty. How many of you were relieved . Three of you. Racial injustice in Law Enforcement has been an issue since the founding of our republic. But as some pointed out, its not necessarily that the racism has gotten worse. Its that the video has gotten better. And the next generation of leaders, many of them now students at some of the countrys most prestigious Historically Black Colleges And Universities have come of age with a video of far too many of these incidents seared into their minds. With ten minutes of that video of george floyd being suffocated to death under Derek Chauvins knee, until the guilty verdict was read, many of them said they wouldnt bring themselves to bring they heard that word, guilty. Joining me now is Blayne Alexander at morehouse college. Not only did you talk with the students about the verdict, but you also talked with them about their continued push for systemic change. Tell us about it. Reporter absolutely, geoff. This was a fascinating conversation. Im at morehouse which you know very well. You have a very tight concentration of schools and for so many students that i spoke to, this has been a defining moment in their college career. I was struck by two things, one, the fact when you think about the situation surrounding george floyd, from the video coming out last year to the protests that so many of them actually took part in here in atlanta, of course to the trial and the verdict, this is something that really has had a profound impact on them, but it starts much earlier than that. As you mentioned, so many of these students kind of share the unique distinction of coming of age, unfortunately, watching case after case that looked very similar to this one. They were barely teenagers, for example, when Trayvon Martin was killed. After that, they saw the death of Michael Brown and philando castile. All of these things followed them throughout adolescence and they said it impacted them going forward. Take a look. Do you feel hope from this verdict . Do you have hope that this will bring about change in police reform, this will bring about change in society . It gives me hope. I think were going no the right direction. But a lot of people get caught in this moment and realize we have a lot of work to do. I think its imperative that we remain vigilant. Now the job is done, we got what we were working for. Society is changing. Were on the right path, kind of sentiment. But we dont want to get, you know, complacent. Reporter what was notable to me about that conversation is that three of those four students that you just heard from are graduating seniors. They are getting ready to go out into the world, graduation is just a few weeks ago. And they all told me without question that what they have seen here with the george floyd case, but also the series of events that really defined their childhood is going to shape their footprints going forward. Its got a profound impact on the career paths theyre choosing. One man said hes interested in politics and wants to develop policy to stop this from happening again. Its going to make a big difference going out into the world soon. You have morehouse college, Clark Atlanta university, the auc has been at the center of the activism Civil Rights Movement for generations, you have the civil rights era, the antiapartheid movement, and now you have the current era thats focused on the excessive and sometimes fatal use of force against black men and women. Do the students have a sense of where they fit into this overall push for social and Racial Justice . Reporter they absolutely did. And i think that history is with them today. One of the young men i spoke to said that this is something that essentially has been handed down through generations. He talked about his grandparents being part of the Civil Rights Movement, he talked about his parents watching what happened with rodney king and the rodney king verdict. He almost kind of feels like this is his unfortunately his turn. This is what hes carrying right now. But he did Say Something very profound that hopefully, while hes hopeful, hes still cautious, he hopes this will be something that ends and allow them to move on to another chapter, geoff. Thank you for that reporting. Joining me now is carmen best. Shes an msnbc Law Enforcement analyst. Chief, there are informal talks going on in congress to put together a police reforming bill that both sides can agree on. There appear to be two main sticking points. One of them is the issue of qualified immunity. Democrats want to get rid of it, republicans want to reform it. Can you explain to us what qualified immunity is and where you stand on this issue . Absolutely. Im not an attorney, but ive been in Law Enforcement for almost 30 years and retired as a police chief of a major city. Im very familiar with qualified immunity. Especially, it gives Public Servants immunity from conviction on Civil Rights Cases where theres a violation of policy and not a violation of law. And it doesnt have those servants held personally liable in those cases. And so many people are wanting that particular qualified immunity to go away simply because they feel like if officers feel more personally liable for anything, the action that they take, they will be less likely to have these violations that occur. And one of the things that weve heard from republican lawmakers is that if you get rid of qualified immunity, its going to be harder to recruit good officers, its going to be harder to retain the officers already on the job. You think that holds up . Is that true . I think there is some validity to that statement, that because its new and different, that officers might feel a little vulnerable to their personal liability. And so it may be more difficult to recruit folks, not impossible, of course. I wouldnt say its overarching, that nobody will come into the profession. But i think that people will think about it a little further before they do. But that said, there are ways that they can compromise on these issues to make it sort of a Middle Of The Road compromise, so we can both have fairness and equity, but also have some level of accountability on the officers as well. Lets talk about another issue, because democrats also want to change section 242 of the u. S. Code which right now requires a jury to decide whether an officer acted with willfulness in order to convict. Willfulness means theyre intentionally doing something that the law forbids and that can be hard to prove. Where do you stand on that . Intentionality is very difficult to prove. I dont believe we need to have that in the courts of law. Some states dont have that. If the willful act or intentionality is very difficult to prove, but if in fact they engage in activity which a reasonable officer should not have engaged in and it violates the rights of others, theres a potential for them to be held liable. And some other provisions in the democrats bill, they want to ban choke holds, noknock warrants, create a National Database of police misconduct, require body and dash cameras. Is any of that controversial or do you think thats a reasonable, commonsense approach . I think its all very reasonable. Look, ive been in policing im retired now. But ive been in policing almost 30 years. And many agencies have adopted a lot of those requirements already. Many agencies dont have choke holds, many agencies dont have noknock warrants. So we do need to have consistency and continuity across the nation so that the level of enforcement is the same. And so i think these are very reasonable things to do. And as a police chief, i would have loved to have seen a database where if an officer had been in trouble elsewhere, we can know that right away and not bring them into our organization. All of these make sense to me. It gives more transparency and will provide better public safety. Chief, appreciate your time. New information were just getting from the judge in the Derek Chauvin trial. We knew chauvins sentencing would be in eight weeks, but we now have a date. June 16th at 1 30 central time chauvin will learn his fate and the judge is using some of this time not only studying the Sentencing Guidelines but also outlining five aggravating factors that prosecutors say could mean even more time in prison. Coming up, another groundbreaking moment in space travel. For the first time, a recycled rocket was used to launch astronauts. And details on the American Families plan proposal. America families plan proposal what happens when we Welcome Change . We can make Emergency Medicine possible at 40,000 feet. Instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. We can create new ways to connect. Rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. 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President biden will mark his first 100 days in office with an address to Congress Next week and hes expected to lay out the next phase of his economic agenda, the American Families plan which focuses on issues like childcare, family leave and Free Community college. The white house says it wont release any specifics ahead of his speech. But sources familiar with the planning tell me theyre considering some sort of wealth tax to offset the cost of the proposal which ballparks at 1. 5 trillion right now. The white house is framing it as an investment in what they call Human Infrastructure and that follows bidens 2. 3 trillion american jobs plan. And the first part is still in the Negotiation Stages over on capitol hill. Joining me now from capitol hill is nbc news correspondent leigh ann caldwell. Weve also got with us Washington Post senior washington correspondent philip rucker. President biden talked about this on the campaign trail, right, he wants to create an economy he says that works for working people. Help us understand how he would use this sweeping new social Spending Program to do that. Well, geoff, hes been talking a lot about infrastructure the last few weeks, but the white house and the president are making this argument that infrastructure is more than roads and bridges and tunnels and airports. It has to do with getting people the skills they need to do the jobs of the future. Building childcare programs, universal prek, Free Community college. All of these domestic programs that will lift those people into working and middle classes to give them a better shot at a better job to better help their families in the long run. Theyre looking at the impact of the pandemic over the last year and realizing that this year in this country has exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor in america, that a lot of wealthy people did just fine through the pandemic. But working people lost their jobs. They were no longer working in restaurants or in airlines or what have you and really suffering. And so this is a program that the Biden Administration is putting into place to try to lift people up and fix some of those chronic problems in our economy. Lets talk about how they propose paying for it. One of the ways the white house is looking at paying for this, im told, is by raising taxes on the wealthy, for instance, taxing Capital Gains as ordinary income, at a top proposed rate of 39. 6 . I dont have to ask you how republicans are receiving that because theyre pretty wedded to the trump tax cuts. How is this landing with democrats on the hill, this proposal so far . Its relatively new, but not unexpected, right, geoff . Democrats have known that theres going to be two components of the Tax Increases to pay for the two components of bidens infrastructure plans. The corporate one and then the personal wealth tax as well. So the majority of democrats are likely going to support this. Senator ron wyden, the top democrat on the finance committee, has a similar proposal. We know that senator warren and sanders have been wanting to increase taxes on the wealthy. But the ones were going to be watching are the moderates, people like senator joe manchin of West Virginia who has an issue with the Corporate Tax rate increase. He hasnt come out specifically on this latest biden proposal. But were going to be watching to see if this will be something that he could perhaps support. And theres other that is are less vocal as well that are moderates like senator kyrsten sinema. If they decide to pass this without republicans, theyre going to need, as you well know, all 50 democrats in the senate, geoff. Phil, for all of the focus on bipartisanship, President Biden has said that he wants to work with republicans if theyre willing to work with him on this. Hes open to compromise. If Democrats Use reconciliation, that Budget Process where they would go it alone and use democratic votes alone, if they do that, do you think the president will pay a political price for that . Are voters more concerned about the issue about whats actually in the bill . Geoff, its hard for us reporters to predict how things would play out in the future. But i have to tell you, i would imagine voters would be much more concerned about what did the government do for me, how did the law change, how did my taxes change, what programs are available to me, rather than how the law got passed. I dont think they care so much that it gets passed through reconciliation or some other measure. They care what the impact is on their lives. That being said, if President Biden were to be able to put together a Bipartisan Coalition that included a number of republican lawmakers behind this package, i think it would make it a much more Selling Piece of legislation to the general public, thats a good Talking Point for him. Ultimately, i think they care about how it impacts their lives. A group of senators came out with their counterproposal. The price tag doesnt tell the whole story. Give us a sense of what is in it and what is the guiding approach for these republicans. You point out the price tag doesnt tell the whole story. If you take out the Transportation Infrastructure Components of the biden plan, its not that far off from what the republicans proposed yesterday. Their plan they think they want to stick to traditional transportation infrastructure, roads, bridges, ports, water. They do accept broadband as a component of infrastructure as well. But these republicans, they say that and they admit that this is not going to get passed into law. But theyre using it as a starting place for negotiations. So they are signaling to the white house that they want to be involved in the discussion. How theyre going to pay for it, they dont give a lot of specifics, but their opposed to any sort of Tax Increases and thats going to be one of the biggest sticking points even if democrats decide to do a smaller transportationfocused infrastructure bill, if they decide how to define infrastructure and that component, leave the Human Infrastructure for another bill, they still have to agree with republicans on how to pay for it. Republicans and democrats are very far apart. Were still in the Posturing Phase of this infrastructure push, it appears. Leigh ann caldwell and philip rucker, thanks to you both. Coming up, why scientists in california are intentionally setting small forest fires in order to prevent bigger ones. And more than a year after most u. S. Schools shut down, new data shows some of the most vulnerable students have been left behind. Left behind. Youre in the right place. My seminars are a great tool to help young homeowners who are turning into their parents. Now, remember, theyre not programs. Theyre tv shows. You woke up early. No one cares. Yes. So, i was using something called Homequote Explorer from progressive to easily compare Home Insurance rates. Was i hashtagging . Progressive cant help you from becoming your parents, but we can help you compare rates on Home Insurance with Homequote Explorer. Guess what. The waiter doesnt need to know your name. That Delicious Scramble was microwaved . Get outta here. Everybodys a skeptic. Wright brothers . More like, yeah right, brothers get outta here its not crazy. Its a scramble. Just crack an egg. Its a scramble. These are the people who work on the front lines. They need a network thats built right. Thats why we created verizon frontline. The advanced network and technology for first responders. Built on americas most reliable network. Built for real interoperability. And built for 5g. Its americas 1 network in public safety. Verizon frontline. Built right for first responders. Thousands of women with Metastatic Breast Cancer, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. Ibrance with an Aromatase Inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr , her2 Metastatic Breast Cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. Ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed Disease Progression versus letrozole. Ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. Ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. Both of these can lead to death. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. 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Nervive contains B Complex Vitamins that nourish nerves, build Nerve Insulation and enhance nerve communication. And, alphalipoic acid, which relieves occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. Live your life with less Nerve Discomfort with Nervive Nerve Relief. New data out of the Largest School district in virginia underscores what weve seen over the past year, Remote Learning during the pandemic has had a disproportionately negative impact on middle and High School Students of color and those in need of additional resources. In fairfax, virginia, students whose first language is not english, those who qualify for free or reduced Price Lunches and students with disabilities are receiving lower grades at higher rates, thats according to a Washington Post analysis. Across the country, parents now face the difficult decision whether to have their children repeat a grade. In 17 states, families might not even have a choice. Joining me right now is former education secretary john king and we should note, hes running for governor of maryland. Hes joining us today in his capacity as a former teacher, principal and education secretary. Thanks for your time this afternoon. Lets start here, tennessee is one of the most recent states that enacted a law that if a third grader cant read at grade level, theyre going to be held back until they can. But with so many students falling behind, give us a sense of the impact you think this could have on students and families across the country. Well, were very worried about students falling behind as a result of covid19. A big factor here is the lack of internet access. In maryland where i live, there were more than 200,000 households before covid that didnt have reliable internet access. So thats certainly been a challenge for schools. Its also been a challenge in high needs communities that they havent been able to provide all of the professional development for teachers around online or hybrid learning. I worry, though, that Holding Students back actually could make the situation worse. What we need to do is figure out how do we help students catch up and accelerate their learning. One way to do that would be to mobilize a national tutors corps to provide intensive support to students. Another would be to provide enriching Summer Learning experiences this coming summer. And give us a sense of the bottleneck that would happen in certain districts, particularly ones that struggle with class sizes that already too big. There certainly may be students where the family and the school might agree that the student isnt where they need to be. But on the whole what we dont want is to have a whole generation of students who have been kept back a grade. We know from Research Evidence that students who are retained often have a worse view of themselves and often what happens for them in school is nothing changes. They get the same experience that they would have if they hadnt been retained. What we really need to do is make sure were providing Additional Support tutoring some, mentoring relationships and were supporting our teachers who have worked so hard to try to help students continue to learn. But they need more support. Yeah. How should parents think about Summer Enrichment opportunities, especially when parents themselves are burnt out. Lord knows the kids are burnt out from having sat at the Kitchen Table for the last year and a half on these zoom courses. How should people approach Summer Enrichment in a way thats edifying and it doesnt feel like a chore . Yes, so important. The Research Evidence suggests that Summer Programming works best if you combine the academic supports with stuff thats superengaging for students. Think about arts programs, athletic programs, opportunities for students to be outdoors, s. T. E. M. Robotics. What we need to do is have engaging summer experiences, the kind of experiences that affluent students often have. We need to make that available to all students. The good news is the Biden Administration through the American Rescue plan has provided 130 billion, nearly, for School Districts around the country to address these needs. But we got to make sure that we help students reconnect with peers, adults at school, so that theyre ready for next school year. Former education secretary, john king jr. , thanks for your time this afternoon. Coming up next, inside an extraordinary effort by scientists to prevent California Wildfires using fire. Stay with us. That Delicious Scramble was microwaved . Get outta here. Everybodys a skeptic. Wright brothers . More like, yeah right, brothers get outta here its not crazy. Its a scramble. Just crack an egg. 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Im noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92 of Colon Cancers even in early stages. Tell me more. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Ill do it. Good plan. Three, two, one, zero. And liftoff. Four astronauts are on their way to the International Space station after a successful launch from Kennedy Space center this morning, which you just saw it right there. Now the spacex Crew Dragon Rocket made history as the first ever crude spake craft to ever be used and also marked the third manned mission for elon musks private aerospace company. The astronauts are set to dock at the Space Station tomorrow morning and stay for six months. And theyll join seven people already onboard, making them the largest crew to occupy the station in over a decade. Itll be so crowded two of the astronauts will have to sleep without beds and sleep instead with tethered sleeping bags. And thats until four astronauts who arrive last november return to earth next week. California is gearing up for an intense wildfire season and a group of scientists are beating Mother Nature to the punch by setting their own fire. Researchers from uc berkeley are setting a blaze to an Experimental Forest in the sierra, nevada, and they say they want to thin out the forest to keep it safe in hopes it can withstand a natural wildfire without endangering thousands of californians. Joining me from vacaville, california, is nbc news correspondent jacob ward. Jacob, explain to us how this works exactly. Reporter well, im standing right now in the site of the lmu fire, which was one of the biggest fires in california history and year after year weve used that kind of language because we keep breaking records. Now scientists are thinking we need to start Fighting Fire With fire. High in the sierra, nevada, mountains we watched this Team Set Fire to the forest floor. As a news crew used to record breaking fire seasons, it scared us to death. So i look at this and think this can get out of control at any moment, but you look at this and this and think differently. Rob york is a professor at forestry at uc berkeley. Were going to keep an eye out. Reporter his office is this Experimental Forest in Northern California where his team studies the benefits of fire. Its not that we dont want fire. Its that we want the right type of fire. Reporter you and i probably think of forests the same way, as a dark, shadow environment. It turns out this is what its supposed to look like, 300 feet of visibility in every direction. I would get a sunburn here if i didnt wear a hat. That is the role of fire in making a healthy forest. Heres a 1915 photograph from the sierras. Heres the same place in 2002. Photos show that fire has always been part of california. But 20th century humans began Fighting Fires and too well. This is a forest that hasnt burned in years. Its lush and green, but that makes it a ticking time bomb. Most of californias forests look like this, and drought and high temperatures in 2020 turned all this fuel into the worst fire season in modern history, burning a record 4 million acres and destroying thousands of homes and other buildings. The fires turned bay area skies in apocalyptic orange, sent plumes of smoke all the way across the continental u. S. Experts say socalled prescribed burns could prevent those mega fires. The governors new budget sets aside A Billion Dollars toward Wildfire Prevention and specifically calls for prescribed burns. When people are driving down the road up here and the forest and they see the smoke i want them to think oh, cool thats a prescribed fire. Reporter researchers here just finished burning this portion of the Experimental Forest. This is actually the effects we intended and like to see. Reporter how do i know the difference between this and the devastation of a wildfire . This looks damaged in a bad way. If you look up at the over story trees, our big trees here, theyre green and theyre fine. Were not going to see a lot of damage in our overstory trees. Reporter in fact the soil here is better for the new trees than it was before the burn. Are you beginning to learn we shouldnt put out every fire all the time . I can we can get there with more education and people using fire and getting used to it. Reporter the question now in a state with nearly 40 Million People can we afford to give fire the natural fire cycle the land needs each year . Geoff, this is not a groundbreaking idea. In fact, native californians have been Setting Fires for centuries because they know when this stuff burns away all this green begins to come back. The problem, of course, is native californians would then move on from the places they set the fire. We dont do that, right . We build homes in the path of the flames. So the real question is whether modern civilization and the natural fire cycle can actually coexist. Literary Fighting Fire With fire. Jacob ward, thank you for that reporting. And that does it for me this morning. Eamon moy dean picks up our coverage next with an interview with dr. Anthony fauci. Stay with us. N interview with dr. Anthony fauci stay with us we kept going. Working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. And help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. So when it comes to your business, you know well stop at nothing. ac dc Back In Black so when it comes to your business, Back In Black i hit the sack ive been too long. Applebees irresistabowls are back. Dig in for just 8. 99. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Which shows will you be getting into tonight . How about all of em. Netflix. Cuz xfinity gets you really into your shows. When someone burns for someone who does not feel the same. Oh, daphne. Lets switch. From live tv to sports on the go. Felix at the finish you can even watch your dvr from anywhere. Okay, thats just showing off. You get all of this with x1. So go on, get really into your shows. You need a breath mint. Xfinity. Its a way better way to watch. [typing sound] i had this hundred thousand dollar student debt. Two hundred and twentyfive thousand dollars in debt. Ah, sofi literally changed my life. It was the easiest application process. Sofi made it so theres no tradeoff between my dreams and paying student loans. Student loans dont have to take over for the rest of your life. Thank you for allowing me to get my money right. Good afternoon, everyone. Im Eamon Mohyeldin in new york. We begin with Breaking News this hour. An independent cdc panel is meeting right now to discuss the future of the Johnson Johnson vaccine on hold in the United States because of concern over rare blood clots. The panel is pouring over research to decide whether to keep the pause or to let people continue to receive the shot. If it finds the benefit outweighs the risk. Dr. Anthony fauci is here to talk about what the scientists on the panel could decide and a lot more as the nation enters what President Bidens calls the next phase of the vaccination race. But first lets get the latest from nbc news correspondent heidi presbola. Reporter good afternoon, eamon. The panelists say they were taking a wait and see time out. Now today theyre saying we waited but we did not see. We did not see Additional Data showing that this rare side effect, this blood Clotting Disorder is anything but that, rare. The highest numbers they cited were in women of 7 cases per million women. That is the reason why were expecting most likely the option here theyre going to choose is what the European Medicines Agency did, was that its okay to put this back out, to end the pause but put