Voice of a killer. A chilling new clue in the murders of two indiana teenagers. A recording on one of the victims cell phones capturing what could be the suspect. Will those three words and this photo lead to an arrest . And not alone . Nasa reveals the discover of seven earth like planets. Some that could support life. The remarkable find that might answer the great mystery of the universe today thursday february 23rd, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a thursday morning. Im matt lauer and we have mr. P. M. In the a. M. As we welcome lester holt. How are you . Im great. Glad whether this was the first time weve ever done this together. I dont remember anchoring in this chair. I dont go left well. That was your trouble in basketball. Are you like me bows these planets. Im fascinated by that. I wonder if somebody is there looking down saying do you think anybody can live on that planet . Little while. Lets start with our top story. Protesters clashing with police in california. It happened overnight. They were upset by this video, showing an offduty Police Officer, pulling a gun on teenagers. Kateie beck is in anaheim. Reporter several videos have surfaced. They not only show the officer drawing his gun by firing a single shot. Its sparked prot h dozens of arrests. Now, the citys mayor is demanding a full investigation. Overnight, cell phone video posted to social media, capture the altercation in anaheim. An offduty Los Angeles Police officer scuffling with a 13yearold boy near the cops home, quickly escalated. And ended with the officer pulling his gun and firing his weapon. [ gunshot ] reporter nbc news does not know happened prior to the start of the recording. In a statement, it says the officer had ongoing issues with teenagers walking across his property, apparently to get to a school nearby. Nbc news is not naming the teenager, who said he was walking home from school, when he heard the officer curse at a teenage girl who walked across his lawn. The teen said he was defending the girl. He started calling her names. Like cussing at her. And i said, hey, thats not how you treat a woman. He came at neck, like my shirt. I thought i was going to die right there. I thought he was going to shoot me because he was, like, mad. Reporter the teens mother said she was told by police, her son was arrested for threatening to shoot the officer. In reality, he was saying, im going to sue you. You keep hitting me. Youre hurting me. Im going to sue you. Sue you. Reporter outrage over the altercation, pouring into the streets overnight. Hundreds of protesters blocking traffic on local streets, carrying signs and chanting. Dont choshoot the kids. Reporter mris released statement that reads, investigators are aware theres a video of the incident. And will review all video in this case. The 13yearold boy in that video and other boy were arrested and released to their parents. As for the offduty officer, he remains on administrative leave, which is standard procedure. The plans to say more about at a press conference later today. They say they promise to have an impartial investigation. Matt and lester . Katie beck in anaheim this morning. Thanks very much. Lets turn to politics and the wave of protests at town halls across the country, growing even larger. Angry constituents taking their frustrations directly to lawmakers. Our Political Team has it covered, starting with nbcs Peter Alexander at the white house. Peter, good morning. Reporter lets get this right. Good morning, lester. It remains to be seen if this anger and outrage is an isolated moment or the start of a movement. More republican lawmakers feeling the heat. Another round of fiery, inyourface town halls. The latest flash point, arkansas. Thousands of constituents teeing off about the republican partys plans to repeal obamacare. And the senators support of President Trump. Overnight, more fierce confrontations. Do your job. Do your job. Reporter a raucous crowd of senator, tom cotton. Constituents coming out in force to defend obamacare, the Health Care Law republicans are threatening to repeal. And hammering cotton for supporting President Trump. If you call yourself a christian man, are you making the right decisions for these kids, while you are supporting the policies of a man who wants to grab women by the [ bleep ]. Reporter the angry protests, organized and organic, strpreadg across the country. In louisiana, the line formed two hours before the doors open to face republican bill cassidy. Despite providing no evidence that anyone was paid, the white house is blaming professional protesters for the chaos. It is a loud small group of people, disrupting things for media attention. Just because theyre loud, doesnt mean theyre many. Reporter Hillary Clintons sp im mary story from fayetteville, and im not a paid protester. Im dont care if anybody is paid or not. Youre all kansans and i want to hear from you. Reporter tensions over immigration reach a boiling point. And Rex Tillerson and head of homeland security, john kelly, are attending meetings in mexico, after the mexican president abruptly canceled his trip to the u. S. Because of President Trumps plan to build a wall. And this weeks new immigration and deportation policy. Conservatives are gathering for cpac the Political Action conference. This year, team trump. Kellyanne conway, Reince Priebus and steve bannon, all speaking today. With President Trump on tap for tomorrow. I love you. Thank you. Reporter its the same event that candidate trump skipped last year. At the rivals lashed out, arguing he wasnt a true conservative. I have an experience of meeting people who portray themselves one thing but are something else. If you dont want donald to be our nominee, i ask you, come join us. Reporter now, the white house hopes this years conference helps fire up the conservative base. Back here this afternoon, President Trump will hold a listening session on human trafficking, where women and girls are sexually exploited for profit, here in the u. S. And overseas. This is an issue that is important to ivanka trump, who helped push behind the scenes for this meeting to happen right away. Matt and lester . Peter alexander at the white house. Thanks. Protesters taking aim over the president , to rescind federal guidelines that allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. Hallie jackson has more on that story. Reporter good morning. This morning, when asked for a response to the protests, a seniorin clear his position has always been to leave this decision up to the states. But now, fallout from that decision is coming fast and fierce. Shame on trump. Protect trans students. Reporter overnight, backlash building. Outside of the white house, protests against the new administrations latest move, reversing an obamaera order that let Public School students use bathrooms that match their gender identities. Transgender rights advocates, furious, calling the reversal cruel and heartbreaking. About 150,000 teenagers in the u. S. Identify as transgender, according to a Ucla Law School study. I can pick a word. Reporter this woman worries about her young son. As a vulnerable child, he deserves to go to School Every Day and feel safe and be affi affirmed as who he is. Reporter but in letters to the Supreme Court, and the administration now arguing president obamas interpretation of a federal law called title ix, to protect transgender kids, doesnt hold water. The president made it clear throughout the campaign, he is a Firm Believer in states rights. Reporter more than a dozen states protect transgender students. 13 others sued to block the obama administrations order. You dont want to be mingling young boys, young girls, on school trips and showers. Thats a violation of privacy. Oh, say can you see reporter the singer who performed at last months inauguration, and whose sister is transgender, how asked the president to meet with them to talk about transgender rights. What we hope to establish ac enlightening president mp like for a transgender to live, in a world that may not be as comfortable and safe or accepting. Or accepting, as we would hope and need. Reporter despite this uturn, the departments of justice and education, say theyre committed to protecting lgbt kid students, from discrimination, bullying and harassment. And education secretary betty devos backs this move 100 . Despite reports she wasnt originally fully onboard. This could undercut the case of a virginia transgender student, which heads to the Supreme Court next karnaki is with us. Candidate trump said this bathroom rights issue should be left to the states. But when asked about this, this is what he said. Heard was from a commentator yesterday. Saying, leave it the way it is. Right now. There have been very few problems. Leave it the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble. What he said then is not what he did yesterday. Why . It has a lot to do with the base that elected him. President trump ran as the candidate of protector of evangelical christians. Jeff sessions is one of the first republicans to come over and endorse trump. And Jeff Sessions had decisions coming up. This is not an area Jeff Sessions wants to go in. And donald trump chose to go along with that. Is that the reason for the timing . Or is the timing tied to the fact that cpac starts today . Conservatives around the country coming for a victory party. You got th if youre pleasing Jeff Sessions, youre pleasing the conservative base. Let me get your take on the contentious down hall meetings. This is reminiscent of what we saw with the tea party in 20092010. It cost democrats control of the house. Are republicans watching this, thinking, we may be going in the same direction . Republicans are in a real bind here because theyre thinking back to the tea party. Theyre remembering what happened in the midterms in 2010. They see the polls, Donald TrumpsApproval Rating not good. Are we in trouble in 2010. At the same time, they remember the campaign. They remember thinking that donald trump was committing political suicide in front of him. And he won. And they wonder and see the polls showing Republican Voters are still overwhelming with trump. They wonder, is their base more in touch with donald trump than with them. And that pulls them back. And the accusations that some of the protesters are being paid. Does that work against the president . Believes in the idea of galvanizing his base. Just talking to his base. Creating a reaction on the other side and trying to get his base to react to the reaction. Steve kornacki, appreciate it. Programming note tied to politics. Were going to take this show on the road. We will be live on capitol hill next tuesday. Thats ahead of President Trumps first address to a joint session of congress. House Speaker Paul Ryan will join us live exclusively. And well take you on a first of its kind live tour of the capitol in some places youve never seen. Thats today on the hill, tuesday. There was a huge Powerball Jackpot drawing. Onelafayette, indiana, matched all six numbers. That ticket worth 435 million. Its the tenthlargest Lottery Jackpot in u. S. History. Just because you didnt win the main prize doesnt mean you there were several 1 million and 2 million winners. I say it like its nothing. They are 10, 13, 28, 52, 61 and the powerball is 2. All right, lester. Get ready to put your space geek on. The stunning discovery in the search for live beyond our solar system. Nasa says seven earthsized planets that could potentially harbor life, all orbiting the same star, have been identified. Nbcs miguel almaguer, is at the Griffith Observatory in los angeles. He has more. Miguel, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. This is big news, not just for astronomers, but for anyone who wondered are we alone. With discovery of seven planets, we dont know the answer yet. But Scientists Say its just a matter of time. The seven newly discovered planets may be 235 trillion miles away from us. But we already know they are roughly the size of our own planet. Like earth, could and will now help to soon answer the question so many ponder, as we peer into the heavens. Anytime we find evidence of a habitable world, a world that might be like the earth, immediately leads to this deep question. Are we alone in the universe . Using a powerful telescope, launched into space, and those on the ground around the world, scientists found the star system they call trapis i. A group of seven planets. Their star, less than our son, could have the perfect temperature of hot and cold. Warm enough to heat the planets and cool enough for water to cover them. Its one planet. Reporter astronomers say in this decade or in the next, students like these will grow up knowing if life exists beyond earth. We might not be the only people in our galaxy or in the universe. The discovery not just a matter of if, but when. Reporter 40 light years away from earth, in todays space travel, we wouldnt reach the star system for hundreds of thousands of years. But we are getting closer to learning more about this new find thats at least half a billion years old. My opinion, this is the most exciting discovery weve had yet. Reporter for some this, is the discovery of a lifetime, as we search for new life trillions of miles away from our own planet earth. In this string of seven newly discovered planets, scientists are extremely excited about threeecause of their position to trapis i because they have the position to sustain life. How cool would that be if were not alone. Were all of similar ages. I was a fascinated young man. I had the Apollo Mission patches on my arms. Are you still following this . I remember watching the moon landing thinking, were going to mars in ten years. You know . 40 light years. That would mean the millennium falcon can make that in 12 p parsecs. Al knows everything in pop culture movie terms. All of this got us wondering how far the planets are from us. The distance between earth and mars, always changing. On average, about 140 million miles. By comparison, the newest discovered planets, that is 235 trillion miles from earth. It may sound like a lot. Scientists say in cosmic terms, its close. You take the turnpike to save some time. Got easy pass. Exactly. But im in pop culture. I know. I know. Thank you very much. All right. Todays top weather, we have all right. Todays top weather. Weve got a spring storm firing up. Weve got blizzard watches and stretching from dakotas all the way into wisconsin. On the other side of that storm weve got a risk of 39 Million People for Severe Weather, damaging winds, hail, tornadoes. We look at this firing up this afternoon. Snow across the plains in the midwest. Strong storms for iowa. As we look into friday, look for Severe Weather chicago, cleveland, on into indiana. Saturday light snow for chicago. Look at this, Severe Weather upstate new york all the way east of washington. Were talking about strong snowfall anywhere from the dakotas into wisconsin upwards of a foot to a foot and a half and heavier rain up from cleveland into new england. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning, everybody. Im storm team 4 chuck bell. What a pleasantly mild to the start of the day. Long sleeves but no heavy jackets this morning. Temperatures upper 40s to low 50s as youre planning out thursday today, plenty of sunshine later this afternoon with daytime highs getting up mostly into the low and mid70s, even warmer tomorrow. Todays high near 74. Tomorrows high near 76 but rain 80 chance of it on your saturday. Thats your latest weather. Lester. Al, thank you very much, sir. Coming up, a hollywood power shift. Up, a hollywood power shift. Ronan ferrell explores chinas influence on the big screen. But fst, this is today onir y29kwy ysty z29ktz zstz y29kty ysty in honor of lester being here, were asking a deep question on trending. If given the chance, would you want to know what youre future holds . I know this story is coming up. And good news if youre planning a jimmy dean delights frittatas. A delicious, savory egg breakfast, without all the bread and carbs. Made with real ingredients. An excellent source of protein to help power through your morning. Jimmy dean delights frittatas. Its my decision ito make beauty last. Roc® retinol, started visibly reducing my fine lines and wrinkles in one week. And the longer i use it, the better it works. Retinol correxion® from roc. Methods, not miracles. ™ with not food, become food . Thankfully at panera, ervatives, sweeteners, flavors, or colors. Panera. Food as it should be. Usic the best things in life are free by sam cooke heigh ho heigh ho heigh ho heigh ho its off to work we go heres to all of you early risers, whats up man . Gogetters, and shouldbe sleepers. Because the ones who truly change the world, are the ones who cant wait to get out in it. Announcer this is a news 4 today newsbreak. 7 26 is your time now on this thursday february 23rd, 2017. Good morning to you. Im eun yang. Im aaron gilchrist. Developing right now were following news of a Police Shooting in d. C. A u. S. Park Police Officer shot at a suspect in the southeast this morning. Police say the suspect rammed the officers car during a traffic stop. The officer was hurt.