jo ling kent, nbc news, los angeles. >>> as republicans try to find the votes for their latest attempt to appeal obamacare, a war of words continues between the sponsors of the bill and a late-night tv host. but who is correct when it comes to a key part of the bill regarding coverage for pre-existing conditions? nbc's kasie hunt has a reality check. >> reporter: republican senators fighting over the facts of their new healthcare plan with a late-night comic. >> am i not understanding the part where state was be allowed to let insurance companies price you out of coverage for having pre-existing conditions? >> reporter: senators bill kaz idy and lindsey graham insists their bill meets the jimmy kimmel test, guaranteeing affordable coverage for people like kimmel's son billy born with a rare heart defect. >> we're going to give flexibility to cover sick people, but sick people will be covered. >> reporter: so who is right? theresa bohanon would like to know. her son dean was also born with a rare heart condition. >> it's almost crazy to me that you not only have to worry about your chil

jo ling kent, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: hey, hey, we are seeing the winds really pick up. and we are completely soaked, kate. what we have here is a pretty serious band from hurricane irma. this is a community that's been prepared for being in the eye of the storm. they no longer are, but as a result, they are very well prepared. so, as these tree lines come down. they see palm fronds flying through the streets. also the streets are completely abandoned here because there's a curfew in place until 10:00 a.m. on monday. we also have been seeing police come out after they've been suspended from these high winds. and they're also taking a look to make sure that there isn't too much debris flying around here. but what we see are some street signs coming down, hundreds of thousands of people without power. and the light has really changed over the last 30 minutes. it's gotten significantly darker. as the hurricane moves in parallel to where we are right now. and this is usually a major thoroughfare. and if you head

jo ling kent, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: hey, hey, we are seeing the winds really pick up. and we are completely soaked, kate. what we have here is a pretty serious band from hurricane irma. this is a community that's been prepared for being in the eye of the storm. they no longer are, but as a result, they are very well prepared. so, as these tree lines come do

. >> nbc's jo ling kent reports on accusations that the company is paying women less and denying them promotions. >> reporter: google is facing a major lawsuit on behalf of all women who have worked at the tech giant over the last four years. three former employees, kelly ellis, holly pees and kelly wazuri says google discriminates by systematically paying them less than men and denying them promotions. they're seeking a class action lawsuit, saying google's failure to pay female employees the same for substantially similar work habe >> these women are taking a risk about their careers, and i think they are showing great courage, but they are doing this because they feel that there's a wrong that needs to be righted. >> in an e-mail to nbc news, google denied the claim, saying we disagree with the central allegations. we have extensive systems in place to ensure that we pay fairly. if we ever see individual discrepancies or problems, we work to fix them. google's workforce is 69% men and 31% women. earlier this year the labor department sued google also alleging compensation data reve

jo ling kent with the details. >> reporter: biggest toy store chain in the world. ♪ >> reporter: now facing a very grown-up problem, filing for bankruptcy and $5 billion in long-term debt as foot traffic slows down in nearly 900 u.s. stores. as online giant amazon continues retail conquest, top toy seller in the u.s. >> this is a challenge that toys "r" us is having along with a lot of bricks and mortar. lot of competition from the digital world and they're feeling it. >> reporter: toys "r" us says will keep stores open this holiday season, change the experience, interactive spaces for parties, live product demonstration and place for kids to unbox toys and test them out. personal touch helps miracle mile thrive. >> retail is about personal connections at this point. you can get all the selection in the world online. when you get in-store is a personal experience tailored to your child's specific interests and needs. >> reporter: putting customers at center of the shopping experience online and off, nbc news, los angeles. >>> there's more to tell you about tonight. coming up next, ho

thank you so much jo ling kent out in l.a. >> all right. and watch for more on this developing story tonight and every night. nbc nightly news with lester holt is ahead at 7:00 right after news 4 at 6:00. >>> now to another story that has moved a lot of people today. emmy winning actress julia louise-dreyfus has announced she has breast cancer. the star of veep on hbo announcehe tweet. the 56-year-old got her diagnosis earlier this month, one day after she won her eighth emmy award. in her louise-dreyfus said she is one. she has great health insurance but that is not the case with all women. many are not so lucky so she made a plea for universal health care. >> hugh hefner will be buried next to marilyn monroe in los angeles. that according to multiple media reports. hugh hefner said once he owed his career to marilyn monroe. the play boy founder bought a crip for $75,000. he made a center fold. both their careers took off after that. he died at his iconic play boy mansion yester >> reporter: this is at least the second time -- [ laughter ]

we want to go to jo ling kent in ft. lauderdale this morning. we have flooding and other damage. what do you have now? >> reporter: savannah, we have brand-new numbers in broward county. 230,000 people now going without power. we have just stepped outside where we have been taking shelter. it would seem very large sustained winds here, you can see some of the local structures here. this stop sign was turned 180 degrees in the other direction. it is now down and facing the street. we're going to take you down this very busy thoroughfare here. it's isolated today. it's starting to flood a little bit. you can see more signs drifting in the wind here. you can see here, most of the debris in ft. lauderdale, palm tree fronds, branches, trees splitting in half. what we expect to see as hurricane irma makes its way up towards fort myers, very huge bands of rain. it feeling very much we're getting pelted in the face. come with me over here. i want to show you, this is cal caller calvary chapel, one of the beg mega churches here. the sign has blown down. as mariana mentioned we're not in t

let's go to jo ling kent. she's standing by for us in ft. lauderdale. jo ling, what have you got? >> reporter: we have water rising here. we are in a lower lying area of ft. lauderdale but the water is coming up, it's gathering in these lower lying areas. let's go back here, i'm going to show you what's happening on the streets here. broward county is not in the path of the eye of the storm as you know, but there is a serious curfew in place here. the idea is to make sure that first responders do not have to answer calls of emergencies as these winds continue to pick up. what we see here, though, is we have a downed tree, i will take you over here, that has just come down here, you can see the branches falling here. what we see is this is creating problems not just for this area, but we've also got power outages, about 100 some plus people in broward county do not have power. and we also know that in miami-dade county over 200,000 people do not have power. this is part of the reason why. we were just on the "today" show earlier -- be careful, caesar, it's mushy -- we saw a transfo

nbc's jo ling kent shows us why one company is dropping the labels. >> when a new company sets up shop, so much of who brought in the early customers is about the brand. this san francisco startup is redefining that. the ceo co-founded brandless which ships everything direct to consumers. each item is priced at $3 or less. the idea, eliminate the brand tax including advertising, retail space and distribution. >>> if people understood what things cost versus what people pay for them, they'd be rioting in the streets. >> i see maple syrup there. how much is that? >> 3 bucks. >> $3. but maple syrup is probably twice, if not more. are you telling me that difference is brand markup? >> it's not just brand markup, it's basically a system. it goes from the supplier, then they have to pay a distributor to get into their retail outlet. then the retail outlet get a markup. >> her products are only sold online. main i organic, gluten-free. >> this woman orders ahead. >> i think $3 you might be worried about quality. what am i getting for $3 but i was really surprised. >> brandless keeps prices do

more from jo ling kent. >> reporter: geerng. a tragedy in yosemite national park. one person has been killed and injured another in the height of hiking season. yosemite search and rescue are on the scene assessing the situation and the national park does remain open for visitors. and lester we'll be back after the break. >>> we're back now with some surprising health news from doctors about food allergies. they're commonly diagnosed in kids, but researchers say there's been a dramatic increase in cases first diagnosed among adults when foods they've eaten all their lives suddenly become dangerous. nbc's kristen dahlgren has our report. >> how are you today? >> i'm real good, thank you. >> reporter: going out to eat isn't easy anymore for marvy siebs. >> so, i would like the chef's salad, please. >> reporter: three years ago she had an allergic reaction so severe she spent two days in intensive care. >> i couldn't breathe, i couldn't swallow. my tongue was swelling. >> we need to do a skin prick test. >> reporter: doctors gave her an allergy test. the results were

jo ling kent is in ft. lauderdale. jo, good morning. >> reporter: hey, matt, good morning again to you. what we're seeing is the skies darkening, the winds picking up here in ft. lauderdale. take a look at these palm frons usually sustaining a lot of wind. they have come down and they are blocking the roads here in ft. lauderdale where there is now a curfew, according to broward county sheriff, until monday morning at 10:00 a.m. you can see the velocity of the wind there. we are not in the eye of the storm here in broward county, but this county has been protecting itself since the beginning. they thought that they might be in the eye of the storm so they shut everything down. there was a curfew that went into place last night around 4:00 p.m. i'll show you what that means for folks here in ft. lauderdale. that means there is not one person on the streets as the water continues to gather here. we've seen some emergency responders coming in and out when the winds are down, but right now they have decided not to take eme

we want to go to jo ling kent in ft. lauderdale this morning. we have flooding and other damage. what do you have now? >> reporter: savannah, we have brand-new numbers in broward county. 230,000 people now going without power. we have just stepped outside where we have been taking shelter. it would seem very large sustained winds here, you can see some of the local structures here. this stop sign was turned 180 degrees in the other direction. it is now down and facing the street. we're going to take you down this very busy thoroughfare here. it's isolated today. it's starting to flood a little bit. you can see more signs drifting in the wind here. you can see here, most of the debris in ft. lauderdale, palm tree fronds, branches, trees splitting in half. what we expect towards fort myers, very huge bands of rain. it feeling very much we're getting pelted in the face. come with me over here. i want to show you, this is cal caller calvary chapel, one of the beg mega churches here. the sign has blown down. as mariana mentioned we're not in the eye of the hurricane, but ft. lauderdal

lauderdale is one of them, jo ling kent is there right now. >> reporter: savannah, the wind and rain are back with extra ferociousness. we heard a sign rip off of a wendy's we're in front of. we drove by this yesterday, now you can see this tree is completely down and uprooted. it came down in the storm here. there was a pretty brave squirrel earlier, kind of confused, climbing around here, wondering what happened to my tree. this is an example of the winds in the hurricane irma band that we are seeing in ft. lauderdale. this is a community, as we said before, that was very well-prepared. broward county evacuated, they are hunkered down here. yet they're still seeing this kind of excessive damage here along major streets. we do believe there will be significant damage. we've seen overall estimates for hurricane irma damage throughout florida to possibly be $120 billion, maybe $200 billion. so as these communities start to assess the damage on the eastern coast of florida, we do expect those totals to rise here. again, the winds and rain continue to pick up as outer bands show us stre

jo ling kent reports on how hurricane irma is expected to effect tourism in not only florida but the caribbean as well. >> reporter: good morning from miami international airport. you can see behind me the ticket counters are quiet because all 80 airlines were unable to operate during hurricane irma. this airport was shut down. that has had a pretty big impact on the local economy here in florida and throughout the region. coming up on the today nbc washington this morning, we're talk about what that means in terms of tourism, cruise lines, airports, hotels. it's been put on pause. we'll take you throughout the region and to the caribbean to show what's happening on the ground. all that coming up this morning on the "today" show. >>> now to our other top stories. we're working to learn whether a day-care worker will face charges after a 2-year-old boy died in her care. the woman was watching three small children yesterday as she was cooking. the 2-year-old boy slipped through a book door on to the aboveground pool deck and fell into the water. when she found him the woman tried perfo

. >> we've got jo ling kent back with us in ft. lauderdale. jo, what's the latest? >> reporter: hey, matt, the clouds are really moving in. the skies are darkening as the outer bands of irma come and make landfall here. of course, we're far away from the eye of the storm. you still feel the winds and rain picking up. it's doing significant damage here. you can see, we're out if ft. lauderdale and some big tree branches have fallen in the last couple of hours. in fact, we're following along with the broward county sheriff. they have issued a 10:00 a.m. monday morning. what they're saying with irma making landfall, you need to find the safest room in your house in broward county and get to it. you need to put your cell phone in safe mode to keep your battery recharged if you do need to reach emergency services and if your phone lines go down. take a look where we'll be. these streets continue to be empty. these winds are below 40 miles per hour. they've been patrolling to make sure that the debris is out of the roads. so far, we remain with power in this particular se

jo ling kent is with us from ft. lauderdale. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: the curfew here is still in place. 10:00 a.m. here. i'll show you some of these downed trees. this is the reason that the curfew remains in place. there were such high winds, tornado warnings in this area in the path of hurricane irma yesterday. now, ft. lauderdale just now waking up. you can see there's pretty significant damage here. and the reason that crews are now coming out to look at this and they're also saying please don't leave your home. because the majority of deaths in the aftermath of a hurricane are the injuries that happen after the storm occurs. we're expecting significant damage. there was an estimated $2 trillion worth of property in irma's path. we're hearing estimates from insurance companies that there may be claims of up to $50 billion. and the power here remains out. all of these folks here safely evacuated. some now trying to come back into the area as the police say be very careful where you go. and the reason is that the power all the way down t

jo ling kent is in ft. lauderdale. jo, good morning. >> reporter: hey, matt, good morning again to you. what we're seeing is the skies darkening, the winds picking up here in ft. lauderdale. take a look at these palm frons usually sustaining a lot of wind. they have come down and they are blocking the roads here in ft. lauderdale where there is now a curfew, according to broward county sheriff, until monday morning at 10:00 a.m. you can see the velocity of the wind there. we are not in the eye of the storm here in broward county, but this county has been protecting itself since the beginning. they thought that they might be in the eye of the storm so they shut everything down. there was a curfew that went into place last night around 4:00 p.m. i'll show you what that means for folks here in ft. lauderdale. that means there is not one water continues to gather here. we've seen some emergency responders coming in and out when the winds are down, but right now they have decided not to take emergency calls and respond to t

jo ling kent is in ft. lauderdale. jo, good morning. >> reporter: hey, matt, good morning again to you. what we're seeing is the skies darkening, the winds picking up here in ft. lauderdale. take a look at these palm frons usually sustaining a lot of wind. they have come down and they are blocking the roads here in ft. lauderdale where there is now a curfew, according to broward county sheriff, until monday morning at 10:00 a.m. you can see the velocity of the wind there. we are not in the eye of the storm here in broward county, but this county has been protecting itself since the beginning. they thought that they might be in the eye of the storm so they shut everything down. there was a curfew that went into place last night around 4:00 p.m. i'll show you what that means for folks here in ft. lauderdale. that means there is not one person on the streets as the water continues to gather here. we've seen some emergency responders coming in and out when the winds are down, but right now they have decided not to take eme

. >> jo ling kent is in fort lauderdale er dale which could see winds at 120 miles per hour. gas shortages are being reported in the miami ft. lauderdale area. we're telling people evacuate, but can't get anywhere with no gas in your car. >> reporter: that's right. we're at the gas station right now minutes away from cloegsing. what you can see behind me a pump that's completely wrapped up. they are running low on gas but need to keep a reserve, they don't want the tanks underneath to float and become disconnected. the folks here are get being ready to close. we have a lot of people getting gas for their trip out. as they continue to prepare to evacuate. i'd like to introduce you to maria. you're about to leave. why are you leaving and evacuating? >> because we're on the water, we're on the canal and because of the surge. >> are you concerned about your property, what are you taking with you to make sure you've got what you need? >> the most important thing are our documents and our pets. >> reporter: what about getting gas? you're filling up -- >> we got lucky. it was very h

let's go to the gulf coast, the atlantic coast of florida, jo ling kent is in ft. lauderdale. she's been hanging around that area on the east coast of florida. wow, jo ling. you got a lot of water around you. where are you? >> reporter: yeah. we got a lot of water. we are off cypress creek road here in ft. lauderdale in a low-lying parking lot area, adjacent to a private airport. i want to show you, you've got the driving rain coming in, the winds really ramping up here. this is another outer band of irma coming at ft. lauderdale. as a result, people are still under curfew. they are told mott to not to go. broward county sheriff says get to the safest room in your house. you can see the rising water damage here. this water now is coming up near the engine. this is going to cost a significant amount of money to fix if that engine is flooded. it is also happening with the car next to it, this dodge right here. as the wind and water surges in, what we've seen today, ali, is the water go in and out. it's come in with the bands, it's left as the bands have left us. what we're feeli

lauderdale is one of them, jo ling kent is there right now. >> reporter: savannah, the wind and rain are back with extra ferociousness. we heard a sign rip off of a wendy's we're in front of. we drove by this yesterday, now you can see this tree is completely down and uprooted. it came down in the storm here. there was a pretty brave squirrel earlier, kind of confused, climbing around here, wondering what happened to my tree. this is an example of the winds in the hurricane irma band that we are seeing in ft. lauderdale. this is a community, as we said before, that was very well-prepared. broward county evacuated, they are hunkered down here. yet they're still seeing this kind of excessive damage here along major streets. we do believe there will be significant damage. we've seen overall estimates for hurricane irma damage throughout florida to possibly be $120 billion, maybe $200 billion. so as these communities start to assess the damage on the eastern coast of florida, we do expect those totals to rise here. again, the winds and rain continue to pick up as outer bands show us stre

jo ling kent is with us from ft. lauderdale. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: the curfew here is still in place. 10:00 a.m. here. i'll show you some of these downed trees. this is the reason that the curfew remains in place. there were such high winds, tornado warnings in this area in the path of hurricane irma yesterday. now, ft. lauderdale just now waking up. you can see there's pretty significant damage here. and the reason that crews are now coming out to look at this and they're also saying please don't leave your home. because the majority of deaths in the aftermath of a hurricane are the injuries that happen after the storm occurs. we're expecting significant damage. there was an estimated $2 trillion worth of property in irma's path. we're hearing estimates from insurance companies that there may be claims of up to $50 billion. and the power here remains out. all of these folks here safely evacuated. some now trying to come back into the area as the police say be very careful where you go. and the reason is that the power all the way down t

jo ling kent takes a look. >>> and jeff rossen shows you the touching ways kids are helping kids in the wake of hurricane harvey. >>> and don't miss ♪ the moments that connect us don't happen overnight. they happen one morning at a time, and one cup at a time. folgers, the best part of wakin' up. at carmax, we buy all the cars. uh, all the cars? all the cars. old cars? yes. new cars? oh, yeah. sports cars? indeed. a big ol' boat-like car? permission to come aboard! what about a car that's all (makes awkward car noises) hgnnnn-nn-nn-nnnn-ayy-ayyy i don't see why not. what about, let's say... oh, i don't know, a purple van with a painting of a wizard just shooting lightning out of his fingers riding a unicorn sneezing rainbows? definitely. just asking for a friend. yea, i figured. (whispered to camera) wow. ♪ sun to the farm ♪ ♪ to the seeds that you sow ♪ ♪ seed to the oat ♪ to get made to an o ♪ put in the good and the good will grow ♪ ♪ good goes around and around and around ♪ ♪ good goes around and arou