Ju a massive explosion. All nine passenenrs were killed. Were there as investigators try to piece together what caused this crash. All bets are off. Two of the countrys largest Fantasy Sports websites ordered to cease and desist in new york. The e mpanys vowing a fight. It the beginning of the end for an industry already with tens of millions of players and growing every day . The. And 30 down, 20 to go. Als crosscountry quest to hit all 50 states in a week goes south, literally, and with eight more states on the rokerthon to do list al is swamped today, wednesday, november 11th, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good momoing, everyone. Weweome to today on a wednesday morning its veterans day. Willie is in for matt this good to be with youou we have some of the countrys great veterans groups represented out on the plaza and well spend a good deal of time with them. Al will be, too. Rokerthon 2 has a veterans day theme, too. And hes starting out there, too, in the waders. Yes, good morning. Do they make me look fat . They are very slenderizing. Thank you very much. Got this nice e ttle cinched belt but were s sexcited. As you mentioned, well be going throughout the south and into the southeast and stopping at a lot of great military installations and saluting our veterans and our military as rokerthon rolls on. Als well past the Halfway Point. All downhill from here, al. See you the rest of the morning. Now lets move to todays top story, the Republican Debate, eight top candidates facing off ananas promised we saw a aery different bush on the primetime stage and donald trump was up for his usual sparring. Weve got all the angles cord and well talk with senator marco rubio and lets begin with Peter Alexander in milwaukee. Peter, good morninin reporter good morning to you. Certainly no runaway winners or losers here. Good moments for all the campaigns and most all of them claiming victory. No major missteps and in a field that remains as big as it is wide open. Here in wisconsin the birthplace of the gop, the leading contenders clashed, first on immigration, targeting Donald Trumps plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. Come on, folks. We all know you cant pick them up and ship them across back across the border. Its a silly argument. We have no choice. We have no choice. Even having this conversation sends a powerful signal. They are doing high fives in the Clinton Campaign right now when they hear this. Reporter later on military spending. I know that rand is a committed d olationist. Im not. I believe world is a stronger and a better place when the United States is the Strongest Military power in the world. Marco, marco. How is it conservative how is it conservative to add a illion dollar expendndure for the federal government . In a serious and substantive debate on the Fox Business Network frontrunner ben carson fended off questions abo reporter discrepancies in his life story. Thank you for not asking me what i said in the tenth grade. I appreciate that. I have no problem with being vetted. What i do have a problem with is being lied about. With so much at stake there was plenty of personal sniping, too. You should let jeb speak. Reporter bush cking trump. What a generous man you are. Repepter trump dismissing kasich. Built an Unbelievable Company worth billions and billions of dollars. I dont need to hear from me, believe me. Dont have to hear from him. Reporter and fiorina trading jabs with trump over this exchange over vladimir putin. Were on 60 mimites, both both stablemates. I have met him myself, not in why does she keep interrupting everybody . Ted cruz flubbed an agency on five agencies he would eliminate as president , the department of commerce, the irs, department energy, the department of commerce and hud. Noticeably absent any confrontation between bush and rubio and the anticipated showdown between trump and carson never materialized as both frontrunners seemed to struggle with policy specififi, carson on combating isis. So we have to be saying how do we make them look like losers because thats the way that they are able to gather a lot of influence. Reporter r f course, one of the nights most popular targets was hillary clinton. She shared her reaction overnight on twitt posting a clip from the recent benghazi hearing where she appeared at best unimpressed by the you a sense of just how much is at stake in these debates at this point, beginning today ben carson a a donald trump, savannah, get secret service protection. All right. Peter alexander, the Campaign Rolls on. One of the most heated exchanges, as you said, came over immigration, and trumps vow to deport 11 million illegal immigrants. Some on the stage said thats a gift to democrats and we spoke with senator marco rubio and we asked him if the handling of that issue is alienating the latino vers. You know, thisis belief that the community is in favor of illegal immigration is false. Its just not true. Hispanic communities are deeply impacted by illegal immigration and theres millions who have come legally or have relatives that are waiting to come legally. So i think all americans want to see our immigration system work better, be realistic and responsible about what you do with people who are already here illegally, but you he to bring illegal immigration under control. We are a sovereign country. We are entitled to c ctrol who comes here, how they come here and when they come here. Week, we read in the New York Times is prepariri an allout assault on your campaign, his superpac reportedly spending up to 20 million to do so and you wasted no time fundraising off of that story. What do yoy make of that, and do you think that hes inadvertently helping your campaign in this way by saying marco rubio is the target, the one we should be worried about . Well, obviously if were attacked were going to respond but ultimately we cant control other peoples campaigns. If they decide that attacking us is the way forward, they have a right to make that decision. Its wrong. Its not going to change my campaign. My campaign is going to continue to be about the future of america and what we need to do to ensure that the 21st century y is a new american century. Does it help your campaign . Well, i think there are a lot of people turned off by that kind of attack. People are more interested in what are we going to do if youre elected president and how youre going t tturn the country around and what names you can call your opponents. Everybody runs their campaign. Im going to run mine. For joining us. Thank you. Chuck todd joins us and Nicolle Wallace who served as Communications Director for george w. Bush. Good morning. Good morning. Not a ton of fireworks in this debate, but there was something radical, policy. Talked about taxes, spending, immigration. Who did that benefit the most, chuck . I think it benefited i think it hurt the two frontrunners because donald trump and ben carson struggleded when it came into policy details. I think it helped people like last night rand paul for the first time he got his voice out there. You understood what he represented in this wing of the party. Marco rubio, he never got challenged at all last night. He got to sort of stay on script. On immigration. Totally ducked the immigration issue. Jeb bush and john kasich were trying to show they could get tough on trump and to see one of back off who, of course, whose name was on a big immigration, tells you how concernenerubio is, doesnt want to touch the third rail. And a lot of his opponents were trying to label him as a moderate. Ted cruz paid him a backhanded complimenta formidable moderate. Do you think thats a tact thats going to work . Do you think hes vulnerable . Rubio is always basking in the afterglow of his debate performances so the fourth morning of the cycle where we see him taking a victory lap. The problem is last night they all looked good. I i ink the clear winnereras fox business who made a strategic decision to allow for a rising tide to lift all boats. The two candidates who went into last night, b bush with his three previous debate performances and ben carson with the holes in his bio. They were able to fix their campaigns problems with the wait format played out last night. Chuck, lets talk more about jeb bush. Donors concerned, many of his supporters concerned why is he so low despite all the resources he has at his disposal . Do you think he held them at bay and said, guys, it will be okay . Good way of putting it. He held them at bay. You cant say he dominated. He did well, a moment in russia where donald trump was struggling to defend this whole almost he s srted bragging that hes hell be pals with putin, and everybody pounced on him and jeb bush pounced on him and Carly Fiorina jumped in and pounced on him better, you know, sort of took a moment that jeb bush was having a good moment at and carly stole it from him and sort of was stronger that. To me was sort of jeb bush all night. He was good, i agree with nicole. He helped himself a little bit but its more he helped keep the develop tours at bay. I dont think its standout. Do you think the stage is set and everybody hangs in until the votes get cast because why not . I sort t look at it at that. There were times last night you just felt like youre anticipating the cruz and bio by the way, Marco Rubio Ted cruz slipped in this little sugar that he hit, a coming attraction of an attack on rubio, a big florida thing, the one thing i noticed. You can tell thats coming. And the fireworks were around the fissures in the republican party. A big divide in the republican carter, governor kasich and jeb bush believe in a more pragmatic approach saying you cant round up 11 Million People and send and trump is running on the central plank, find them, send them back and let the good ones pack in which his policy people say is unworkable. And a big divide on foreign policy. Rand paul who says we should be isolationists and americans are sick of war and rubio represents the more traditional republican plank which is we need to lead the world. The fireworks, if any, were around the big issues that divides the party. And the prize goes to that who threads the needle. Get them to to the general election. In two days. Lets go to ohio now where this morning investigators are a deadly Small Plane Crash in akron when it sparked into an apartment compmpx and burst into flames. John yang joins us. Reporter good morning. The scene behind me behind the trees and this about the seven passengers who died along with two members of the flight crew. They were employees of a Property Management firm, a commercial firm based in boca raton, florida. They were on a trip looking at properties to buy. They started their day yesterday in cincinnati, went to dayton before trying to come here to akron. Report of a plane crash. Reporter invesesgators worked into the night to secure the crash scene. I can see an explosion. Can i see fire. I just heard this big loud noise,e,nd the plane kind of like felelout of the sky and duplex. Just a massive explosion. Reporter sorting through the twinengine jet that plowed into a small Apartment Building in a busy neighborhood. I iwas abnormally low. I saw the blue flash from the power lines and then a second, two seconds later, a big plume of smoke. Reporter miraculously no one on the ground was hurt, but Authorities Say there were no survivors on the tenseat charter play. Beth blakelys sister diane was on the doomed flight. You never think Something Like this is going to happen to your family. Reporter this flightaway photo is reported to be the very plane that crashed. Preliminary reports said it was coming from dayton, ohio and was about two miles fromomhe Akron Airport when it clipped utility lines and crashed into the building. Debris damaged another building. Heavy fire. We have a lot of wires down. Reporter paige mcvay was snapchatting with a neighbor when the plane went down. Oh, my god. I didnt know what was going on. I was hoping to good no one was in there and no one was hurt. Reporter a resident of this mplex was having lunch about her son whwh she got the call saying her apartment was destroyed. Beth m ntgomery lost all of her possessions, including her cast. Once in a while ill break down and cry, but im still here, and thats whats most important. Reporter one thing the ntsb whether tuesday was rainy and low clouds all day. Savannah, willie. John yang in akron, ohio. John, thanks. Weve got breaking news overnight from the uninirsity of online threats against students leading to some increased of nerves. Nbcs jacob rascon is there for us this morning. Jacob, what can you tell us. Reporter savannah, good morning. Have apprehended the suspect who made the threats who promised to come to campus and shoot black students, this after a night that for many here has been terrifying. The threats werereade anonymously in a social media watched as some black students were leaving campus because of many classes were cancelled, and some dorms and sororities were on lockdown, thihiafter a week of major changes at the university. Of course, mass protests leading to the president and chancellor stepping down. Campus police and other Law Enforcement have been ououin force, but now as i said have apprehended that person who made the threats and said he was not found or near campus at the time. Back to you. Jacob rascon, thank you. Cracking down on online fantasy football sites, saying they constitute illegal gambling. What does that mean for the popular sites that are changing the game . We like football. If youve watched any footballllt all this season, youve probably seen the commercials, Fantasy Sports contests where some armchair quarterbacks are winning big. Theres 5 milln on the line. But now in new york state it may be game over. On tuesday new york citys attorney general sencease and desist letters to fan duel and draftkings, two major online Fantasy SportsCompanies Saying their operations constitute illegal gambling. This is a play as much us a want whenever you want fantasy league. The Attorney Generals Office telling nbc news its clear that draftkings and fan duel are the leaders of a masasve multibillion dollar scheme intended to evade the law and fleece sports fans across the country. Both companies have each spent more than 100 million in advertising, and earlier this year fan duel annoced it was signing up 20,000 to 30,000 players every day. The more money and more winners than any other site. A spokesperson for draftkings released a statement saying fafaasy sports were not t mbling but a game of skill, and new unfortunate example of a State Government stifling innovation, technogy and entrepreneursp. This is just the latest action taken against the ininstry. In october nevada gaming officials ruled that Companies Like fan duel and draftkings should be considered gambling, leading some to say its a safe bet more states will follow suit. At minimum. If its allowed to continue youll see a lot more disclosure and a lot more warnings. I think the days of daily Fantasy Sports as wewenow it are numbered. Both companies have the option to take this matter to court. In a statement fan duel accused new yorks attorney general of seeking Media Coverage saying, quote, we have operated openly and lalaully in new york seveval years. The only thing that changed is the attorney generals mind, end quote. Full disclosure, nbcs Parent Company comcast and nbc sports are among the investors in fan duel. Savannah . Willie, al rokerthon 2s adventure is rolling on as hes going for the Guinness World all 50 states. On tuesday al hit eight states across the midwest. So its 30 down, 20 to go, with eight more states on todays schedule alone. Just look at these numbers. Al has covered more than 15,000 miles so far with the help of 10 modes of transportation, including boats, wagons and, yes, the wiener mobile and along the way hes crossed time zones 11 times, takeke23 selfies and spotted 21 goats. Hmm. Al, let check in with you. How is it going this morning . Im here at your weather wall. Yeah, i know. Very impressive. I was very impressed. So far weve not seen any goats this morning, but its e ely, and d ats the good news. Unfortunately, we are seeing a lot of snow out st. Weve got a potent storm to talk about. On one side snow and the other side severe weatatr. This is at Denver International airport, and they have seen the snow coming down, and, in fact, its going to keep coming and start moving to the east. Lets show you where were setting up. Right now on the radar. Look at that snow coming across the front range from denver all the way on up and looking at all of that moving east. Weve got winter storm warnings, blizzard watches, a real mess. 20 million peoplplaffected by this in parts of colorado, kansas on into nebraska. Strong winds will be developing with it as well, and then ahead of the same system weve got severe storms with damaging winds and tornadoes possible. Snowfall amounts, look at that. We could be looking at really a big tornado outbreak from illinois into parts of arkansas. Infall amounts, we expect to see anywhere from 3 to 5 inches locally. Thats whats going on. 30 seconds. To the kwwl viewing area today and very strong winds tonight through friday. The main threat today will be damaging winds as storms concern with storms, and we may have a few tornadoes develop, especially to the south of interstate 80, where the greatest threat rain tracking and that is your late weather, and were her as the Honey Island Swamp in