Controversy. Why they say she shouldnt lose her job. And strand on top of a car. Several puppies rescued after the horrifying accident. On the roof with several puppies in it. Police finally able to pull that van over and get the puppies to safety. What the folks inside the van are saying today, april 18th 2015. Announcer from nbc news this is today with lester holt and erica hill. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Welcome to today on this saturday morning. Im erica hill. Im Peter Alexander for lester this morning. Sheinelle jones and dylan dreyer are here today. We have the band back together on the saturday morning. Coming up today, the interesting controversy behind the picture of Michael Buble after he was accused of body shaming a woman with this photo. We will talk about it coming up in the orange room. Does it change things in miami . Everybody is wearing shorts like that in miami. And the hash tag. Lots to talk about there. We want to kick off with the top story. The nasty weather in houston. The roads looked more like rivers at times. The flash flooding dropped a lot of rain in a short amount of time. This round of storms is not letting up anytime soon. Dylan is tracking that for us. Good morning. Good morning. That is the problem with flash flooding. A lot of rain in a short period of time. We saw 3 to 4 inches of rain falling in a short period of time of time. Now the heavy rain moving into southeastern louisiana. Along the system here that is where we will see more showers and more storms redevelop today. We do have widespread scattered showers and storms. In the area in red from nebraska to southern texas over across the gulf coast, this is where we could see an isolated tornado. We still have the threat of heavy downpours and some large hail and damaging wind gusts. Tomorrow an area in orange in little rock and jackson, mississippi and northern louisiana. That is where we will see winds up near 65 Miles Per Hour hail 2 inches in diameter and the possibility of a tornado. With the heavy pockets of rain, we could see an additional 3 to 4 inches of rain in the heavy downpours. We have an additional 3 to 6 inches of snow in the ski resorts where we picked up 3 to 4 feet of snow. The ski season continues out in the denver area out in the rockies and rain continues all week across the gulf coast. Cant catch a break. Thank you, dylan. Here is other news now to the race for the white house. A big weekend for New Hampshire. President ial hopefuls are there for the high profile summit. They are touting credentials and taking aim a Hillary Clinton. We have Nbcs Kristen Welker at the white house. Reporter good morning, peter. The candidates are in New Hampshire this weekend with the primary close to 300 days away the goal is to stand out without doing harm. That can be a tricky task in a state known for moderate and Tea Party Republicans with the motto of live free or die. They are off and running in New Hampshire. Slow news day. Everybody is good . Reporter many gop hopefuls have not officially announced yet, they started to court the famous voters. The best days of the couple try country are ahead of us. Reporter florida freshman senator marco rubio. People who still think the ideas from yesterday will propel us tomorrow. They never have and they never will. Reporter and rubios friend is jeb bush. Im not kidding a conservative one. Reporter this summit the first in the nations first primary state is the type of venue that can allow candidates to get an early foot hold. I think honestly in todays 24 7 media twitter culture, the most important thing is for the candidates not to ma they are focused on touting their records and taking shots at Hillary Clinton after it was pointed out clinton did not tip after her chipotle visit. That is a lot of chipotle my friends. Reporter now there are more speakers on tap today, including rand paul and scott walker and Mike Huckabee who will announce his plans next month. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton will campaign on monday and tuesday in New Hampshire. Kristen welker thank you. Turning to the latest fallout after reserve sheriff deputy in oklahoma accidentally shot and killed a man. There is plenty of controversy after he faced a public apology on today yesterday. Gabe gutierrez has more. Reporter the pressure is mounting on the Sheriffs Office. Protesters calling for an independent investigation. Look around us. You know people are here. They want answers. Reporter this after reserve sheriff Deputy Robert bates publicly apologized to the mans family he shot and killed. Irate rate this as number one of the things i regret. Reporter his family says we appreciate bob bates apology. Unfortunately, it will not bring eric back. On april 2nd bates a 73yearold Insurance Broker was back up in the sting operation. In an exclusive interview, bates told matt he meant to pull his taser and instead fired his gun. Can you stand up and show me . You bet. My taser is right here on the front tucked in a protective vest. My gun itself is on my side normally to the rear. People are going to look at that mr. Bates, and say how could you make this mistake . You must believe me it can happen to anyone. Reporter bates Attorney Says it is known as slip and capture. Dan smolden represents the family. I dont think it can happen to anyone. The Sheriffs Office repeatedly said he has had training. Reporter now a pr Campaign Launched called were listening. We want to give as much credibility to the situation as we can. Reporter an internal review of the reserve Deputy Program is under way and the office insists bates was properly trained, it is still searching for the gun records. For today, gabe gutierrez, tulsa, oklahoma. A scary scene in california when a gas line exploded on friday. Sheinelle has more on that. Good morning. At least 11 people are hurt in a gas pipeline explosion that left parts of a highway near Fresno California closed. Look at this blast. Eyewitnesss say flames shot well over 100 feet in the air. Four people are being treated at a nearby burn center. The bad weather dylan mentioned earlier is being blamed for a plane stuck on the tarmac for hours. The passenger says they were told they could leave the plane, but not connecting flights. The passengers who remained were bussed to denver. The airline says it was forced to park the plane due to lightning. Police in ohio got an unusual call for help on the interstate on friday. It happened when the drivers spotted a speeding van with a cage full of puppies. That is when the 911 calls came in. A black minivan with a cage on the roof with several puppies. The police say the family surrendered the puppies. They did not want to keep them. They transported them so they did not have to put them down. They were taken to an Animal Hospital for care. And jarret stoll was arrested friday at the mgm grand hotel pool on suspicion of possession of cocaine and ecstasy. He is dating erin andrews helped to win the stanley cup in 2012 and 2014. Things got ugl nhl playoffs. A brawl broke out in the closing minutes of the game between the canucks and flames on friday. All ten skaters squared off until officials got the game under control. The fight lasted more than two minutes and 132 penalty minutes presented to both sides. Canucks won, 41. They have game three tomorrow. They were saying tastes great. Less filling. Very passionate about that. No doubt. Sheinelle thanks. Dylan is here for the forecast. What is that . The beer commercial back in the day. Lets talk about the storms we will see through the middle of the country today and along the gulf coast where we have the chance of damaging winds and large hail. Frequent downpours. We have a bit of snow leftover in the rockies west of denver. Elsewhere, a nice day across the northeast. Temperatures in new york city will be the warmest they have been in a very long time. 78 degrees for a high. It is cooling off a bit across th a good saturday morning. A warm day, a nice days feeling like summer, 7881 this afternoon, a little gusty at times with winds gusting near 20, 25 Miles Per Hour. Then tomorrow its going to be a little cooler mainly sunny skies. Monday the rain is back. Youll need the umbrella 68. Tuesday partly cloudy. Wednesday, thursday friday calm conditions into the 50s and 59 on friday. Have a great day. S your latest forecast. Dylan, thank you very much. We are learning more about the tow Company Employee who was the recipient on the wrong side of the rant by espn reporter Britt Mchenry. Gina is a single mother and has no ill will toward mchenry. Now the towing company is defending mchenry. Jacob rascon has more. Reporter Britt Mchenry is a sideline reporter for espn. Im in the news sweetheart. Reporter in the towing Company Office in arlington, virginia. In a trailer, honey. Reporter mchenry is caught berating the clerk. A college dropout. Reporter again. And again. Reporter lose some weight baby girl. Reporter espn has suspended mchenry for a week. Not long enough many tweeted. Even after the reporter apologized. Firebritt trending. A change. Org petition has thousands of signatures. Among those who forgive the reporter is the towing company that released the edited video saying in a statement, neither the clerk or company have an interest in seeing mchenry terminated. The company itself doesnt have the best reputation and an f rating with the Better Business bureau bu. According to our station in washington they get more complaints about advanced towing about all other towing companies in the city combined. Parking enforcement is contentious by nature. Some pointing out espn handed down harsher punishments for milder outbursts against each other. No education. No skill set. Reporter mchenry may have said it best herself on facebook days before the incident. Quote, take the high road and be nice to people. For today jacob rascon nbc news. I want to know what the woman on the other side is saying. Not that it is okay to say things like that. They were both saying mean things. The video was edited. I can say i put in a number of calls to the tow company. One of our main questions was can we see that full video. What else is on the tape . How did it start . She was being taunted to. You can be that way. We would all be upset with the cars being towed. To say hurtful things to the actual person. Bad situation for sure. All right. We have spoken. You know who everybody wants to speak . The royal baby. They want anybody in the royal family to speak. The great baby wait is on. The duchess of cambridge could give birth in a matter of moments or in a days. For all you know the kids make up their own mind. Anticipation is building leading up to the arrival of the prince or princess. We have Kelly Cobiella outside Buckingham Palace with more. Reporter good morning, erica. The Party Decorations are coming out. The souvenirs are already selling. The duchess is due some time between now and the end of the month. The royal routine this time around will look a lot like it did for the birth of Prince George. Its all over but the waiting for kate and the rest of us. The only hints about her due date are on the no parking signs outside the hospital. A twoweek special event. A royal rerun. Just like with george, the worlds cameras will be focused on the wing of st. Marys hospital. A tweet and email will tell us shes there in labor. Prince george was the first monarch to have his birth tweeted to the world. This time we will refresh refresh h for kensingtonroyal. The rest will happen just as it has for decades. The official paper rushed to the gates of Buckingham Palace and awaiting crowds. People have been excited about royal babies since way before henry viiis time. There have been bells and firing of guns and celebrations in the streets when a royal baby is born. Reporter like with george the grandparents will pay a visit. The new royal and his parents will pose for pictures and off to Kensington Palace where they await with the grandmother. The big difference this time big brother george. The princes parents will have two children under 2. Prince william said the first is a life changer. The second is a game changer. And we still dont know if we will see Prince George in front of the hospital the day or the day after kate gives birth. They say he is a bit of a handful. They may wait until the new baby enters the home. We are talking game changer at this point. Can you imagine the handoff with the queen . What do i do with him . You think she changes diapers . Michael buble posted a picture on innstagram that has many talking. Sheinelle is in the orange room. The picture was taken by bubles wife. You see him in the foreground and the woman in black shorts in the background. It is the caption with some people saying he body shamed the woman. He said there is something about the photo worthy of instagram. Followed by myhump and and pickoftheday. And one wrote im tired of the people pictures post shaming other people for how they look andres. The next person how anyone thought it was body shaming when it said beautiful butt that was clearly complimenty complimentary. Anyone who knows me knows i would never miss interpret the message. What do you think about this . You can let us know orangeroom. Guys . My first reaction to the photo was and i think this all the time when i see people on the streets of new york city. How do you sit down when your shorts are so short . Sheinelle and i talked about this. That is my first reaction. I could never wear shorts that short. I think the bottom line people feel whether she wanted to look like that or wanted her cheeks to hang out, he should not have done it. Im usually better served not saying anything here. Sheinelle, thank you. Wiseman, alexander. We will catch up on the stories that made attention this week to the movie trailer that back now on the saturday morning with the down load. We covered a lot of stories from the tulsa, oklahoma deputy charged with manslaughter to the employee stuck in the cargo hold. We start the week with the race for the white house. Im hitting the road to earn your vote. It was hardly a surprise announcement. It went full speed ahead when Hillary Clinton threw her hat into the ring. She is taking a new approach the second time around. Hillary clinton has barely been seen. Jeb bush poked fun at clinton for the road trip to iowa. And Hillary Clinton arrived for the first public event, it setoff a stampede of photographers. What is your strategy . Im having a great time. Cant look forward to anymore than i am. Senator marco rubio is in the race. I announce my candidacy for president. One major player who has yet to say he is running or not. New Jersey Republican governor chris christie. I have been the front runner before. It is a bullseye on your back. Im fine where i am right now. Im sorry. Police officers in the shot light this week. A tulsa, oklahoma deputy charged with manslaughter after killing a fleeing suspect. He claims it was an accident using his gun instead of a taser. A rate this as number one of things i regret. And dash cam video captured a Police Officer taking down the armed suspect by hitting him with his patrol car. The suspects crime spree started when he committed theft at 7 eleven and drove the stolen car to the walmart and stole a rifle. A flight for a baggage handler in the cargo hold as the plane took off. A steady knock for help. A panicked voice just beneath their feet. 911. Hello. Im stuck in the plane. The caller, an employee who loads bags on the plane, told authorities he took a nap. A stunt who flew his gyro copter to washington. Doug hughes carrying 535 letters, one for each member of congress. This is not good people. Also making headlines, Gisele Bundchen strutting down the runway one last time. All of the models wearing shirts with giseles face welcoming back the star. And the force is with them. The trailer for the star wars movie. Chewie, were home. Honestly, i got goose bumps hearing the music. It is nice for a new generation. Dont send any hate mail. I love my princess lei braids thanks, mom. The cinnabuns on the ears . Yeah. The cab driver taking me home is watching it in the corner. We have a break coming up. Still to come on today, will 7 26. Good morning, everyone. Im ted greenberg. A summerlike start to our weekend. First alert meteorologist Michelle Grossman is here with a nice saturday forecast. Michelle . Good morning. Definitely need the shorts and short sleeves. Its going to be near 80 this afternoon. Were looking at temperatures a little chilly to the north and west 48 downtown 48 in lancaster, but 57 already in philadelphia, 55 in dover and 54 in melville. This afternoon up to 79 a warm breeze in place. Grab the umbrella for monday. Quiet tuesday, wednesday, thursday but cooler by friday 59. Breaking news in the investigation into a violent love triangle. Just within the past two hours, Philadelphia Police tracked down the suv they had been searching for since yesterday. The white Dodge Durango with a damaged exterior was found in the fern rock section of the city. Police will be checking it for evidence. Investigators say it is the same suv seen on this Surveillance Video and they believe it was used in a hit and run that cost a woman one of her legs. That crash happened in nicetown yesterday. When the victims relatives went