Transcript of Top Story with Tom Llamas - November 29 | NBC News NOW

Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom. We begin tonight with the Northeast and Midwest feeling the power of that dangerous winter storm. Just hours ago, a state of emergency declared across parts of New York state, where at least one city is forecasted to get up to 70 inches of snow or more. In nearby Pennsylvania, a new video shows plows working against that mounting snowfall. Some drivers pushing their vehicles through piles of powder, others appearing to lose control completely. This car is seen sitting in a ditch along the side of a road in Erie. In Michigan, late Thursday night, officials say the perilous winter weather helped trigger this 15 car pile up. Multiple injuries reported in one side of the highway completely shut down. The storm hitting as millions of Americans are expected to head home over the next few days from their turkey Day celebrations. So far today alone, at least 2,000 flights have been delayed. Nbc's Andy Lassmann is standing by for us with a live look at the forecast. But we're going to begin tonight with NBC News Aviation Correspondent Tom Costello, who leads us off. In Erie, PA, it's piling up fast.

Lake effect snow from cold Canadian air moving across Lake Erie, blinding snow trapped drivers, down the power lines, no flights in or out, cars at a standstill at the New York, Pennsylvania state line. Police say weather contributed to a 15 car pile up with injuries near Grand Rapids, Michigan, late Thursday. Tonight, MBC's George Solis is in Buffalo. New York's governor has declared a state of emergency for communities along Lakes, Ontario and Erie. Because of that massive snowstorm, some areas, just like this one, bracing for up to 6 feet of snow. The system comes before heavy Thanksgiving return traffic is expected on Sunday. At airports today, 2,000 plus flight delays. After the FAA says it handled a for a number of flights Sunday through Thanksgiving. I'd heard about the weather, but it seems like we're getting out ahead of anything that might be a problem. American captain Phil Spizzieri polling a 737 into JFK. We have Lots of 7-3s that are running all the time, and Airbus and multiple different fleets, and they need to be up to speed at all times. So in addition to safety, it's just to keep this airline going. The brunt of the weather will be coming in next hour and lasting through the morning hours.

United's meteorologist on full storm watch with airport de-icing operations certain to expand over the coming days. How far in advance of a weather event do you decide to delay or cancel a flight? We want to have the best information available, so we'll try to make that decision as close to flight time as possible. Meanwhile, after heavy snow in Colorado, a warning of the risk of avalanches large enough to injure or kill you. All of it foreshadowing a potentially dangerous weekend ahead. Tom Costello joins us now from Reagan National Airport, just outside of Washington, DC. Tom, as far as holiday travel goes, we have yet to see the worst of it. Is that true? Yeah, that's right. I mean, listen, we're going to see on Sunday and Monday, families all rushing back, right? They want to get the kids back at school, and parents want to get back to work. And so that's going to be a very busy day on the roads and also in the air. The TSA and the FAA expecting 3 million passengers on Sunday, maybe even more. Consider this, last week, they had a delay rate of only 1.2% across the entire airspace.

So we'll see if they can keep it up this weekend with all this weather moving in. Tom Costello, just outside of DC. Thank you. For more on the weather, let's get to the forecast with NBC meteorologist, Angie Lassman. Angie, break it down for us. What are the trouble spots you're watching this weekend? Simply put, Allison, across the Great Lakes. That's where we're going to be watching for all that snow to continue piling up. A lot of the same spots that have been dealing with the snow for more than 24 hours now. Here's where the alerts are, seven million people downwind of those lakes where we're expecting the worst of the accumulations of snow, where in some spots, maybe two to four feet, but in Others, we're talking more than 70 inches of snow. At this point, we've already seen more than two feet of snow in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania. And of course, we've got a long way to go. This is going to be something we deal with through the next couple of days. And for a bigger chunk of the country, it's the cold air that's going to get your attention. Waking Sealing up tomorrow in Chicago, just 12 degrees, a wind chill of 1 degree.

Temperatures as far south as Atlanta, topping out into the '50s, but '30s are on tap right near freezing for folks across the Midwest. Ellison. The FBI tonight is investigating a string of hoax bomb threats, also known as SWATing, the latest targeting several Democratic members of Congress, including nearly all of the members of Connecticut's Congressional Delegation. Senator Chris Murphy says his home was targeted while he celebrated Thanksgiving in what appears to be a coordinated effort involving multiple members of Congress. It all comes just a few days after similar threats were made against President-elect Trump's transition team. Nbc News senior, White House correspondent, Kelly O'Donnell is traveling with the President-elect and joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida. Kelly, talk to us about these new threats and where the investigation stands. Do we have any idea who is behind this? Do they think it's one individual or one group? We don't have a We don't believe on that yet. The FBI says it is working with state and local authorities. President Biden, for his part, was asked about this today, and he said the FBI is working it hard, trying to get to the bottom of it.

What we know is what you described as this range of incidents that are bomb threats and attempts to try to instill fear, but no actual explosives or devices. Reports that sent police officers across at least three states, if not more, going to the homes of officials who are either an elective office or are selected for potential cabinet positions or advisory roles to President Trump. Some of them were a block of Democrats, including the Congressional Delegation in Connecticut, also in Rhode Island, and then another group that are all attached to President Trump's incoming team. This is a growing phenomenon of e-mailed and social media delivered messages that produce this phony hoax of a report swatting is another term for it, where calls are made of an emergency situation or a high-risk situation, and federal or typically local SWAT teams descend on someone's home. That can go sideways, and there have been incidents of that in the past where things get dangerous. None of that here, but as you can get a sense of it, it causes anxiety and a lot of police response. But because of the electronic nature of it, they hope to be able to unwind the source of who is sending these messages.

Ellison? Kelly, before we let you go, I do want to ask you about some of the other news that we've heard coming out of Washington and the fact that President-elect Trump has announced this plan to enact that blanket 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico. I know President Biden has addressed that. Walk us through what we know about that right now. President Biden has said he hopes that his successor, President-elect Trump, will rethink that. He thinks it's counterproductive. We know that President-elect Trump likes to talk about tariffs. It's been a central part of his economic plan. He has talked about levying those against partners in Mexico and Canada, our closest neighbors, as well as other countries like China. What we don't have a real specifics, but it certainly prompts a response from other leaders. We've already seen that. It is something that some of the advisors to President Trump say is about negotiating to try to get a good position, to try to get a concession. As opposed to it being a specific, clear, determined plan to enact tariffs. He's talking about it. At this point, he's using it as a tool. Kelly O'Donnell in Florida.

Thank you. Moving overseas now to Ukraine and the escalating war. Tonight, the country's power grid under what officials are calling a massive attack. Hundreds of thousands of people left without heat amid freezing temperatures. All of it comes following intense retaliation from Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to Ukraine's of American missiles. A barrage of Russian missiles and drones raining down on Ukraine yet again, plunging more than 700,000 homes and businesses into darkness and forcing civilians to run for cover. We are fed up with all of it, this woman says. It's not the first time Russia has focused its attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure at the same time winter is beginning.. It was very loud. There was an explosion, followed by five other explosions, Irina explains. There was a strong smell as if something was burning. We were confused, but we could not even come out. Everything was under rubble. Energy workers are scrambling to repair damaged facilities, working around the clock, even though they know the same facilities will likely be targeted in the days and weeks ahead.. He works at a turbine unit. Even though there are missiles close, he and his coworkers stay to make sure Ukrainians won't freeze to death without electricity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the latest strike was a complex and retaliative military one. A rebuttal, he says, to Ukraine's use of US-made missiles inside of Russia. Ukraine refusing to back down, fired back into Russian territory, setting an oil depot ablaze. The Tet for Tat strikes not fundamentally changing the course of the war. Ukrainian officials say they are still outmanned and outgunned, and Russia is now making the fastest battlefield gains since the early days of the full-scale invasion. For now, the US still backing Ukraine, but time could be running out, and many Ukrainians are anxiously watching President-elect Donald Trump, who announced retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg as his US envoy to Ukraine and Russia earlier this week. Kellogg has previously proposed plans to force peace talks and in the war by withdrawing US weapons from Ukraine. When asked about possible end of war plans, like giving up some territory in order to join NATO, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy told Sky News this. No one has offered us to be in NATO with just one part or another part of Ukraine. That's for once. The fact is that it is a solution to stop the hot stage of the war because we can just give the NATO membership to the part of Ukraine that is under our control.

Now to the Middle East. The ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah is growing more fragile, as both sides accuse the other of violating the truce just days after it's gone into effect. The IDF releasing video that it says shows Israeli forces striking a suspected Hezbollah rocket launcher in Southern Lebanon yesterday in response to, terrorist activity from the militant group. But both Hezbollah and the Lebanese army say Israel is the one violating the agreement. It's the first air strike from either side since the troops went into effect on Wednesday. The deal gives Israel 60 days to withdraw its troops from Southern Lebanon. But when that withdrawal is expected to start and when people can finally return home is still unclear. Israel issued a new warning today telling citizens not to return to dozens of villages in Southern Lebanon. Nbc news international correspondent Matt Bradley joins us now from Beirut. Matt, when this truce went into effect, the understanding was troops would still be, Israeli troops would still be in Southern Lebanon, but they began pulling back. But in terms of rockets going across the border, that was supposed to stop immediately, right? Has this truce already collapsed?

Yeah, and that was a violation of the truce. The Israelis have said that Hezbollah is violating the truce on their side by bringing people back to some of the military installations that they said the Israelis said are off limits. So both sides have verbal ammunition saying that the other is violating the truce. And yet, Ellison, despite everything you're seeing, the truce still stands. We're about a couple of hours away from the 72-hour mark, three days since that truce came into effect, the cease-stopping of fire. And now it looks as though despite the fact that we're seeing some growing pains, we're seeing some problems and complaints and violations, it looks as though both sides are really determined to keep this intact and to keep peace across that border. The Lebanese military, they're the ones that are really going to be enforcing this ceasefire deal, if that's a fair way to describe it right, at least making sure that Hezbollah dismantles its military facilities and doesn't rebuild in the south. As we mentioned before, making sure that Lebanese civilians don't go home too soon. How confident are Lebanese officials that they can pull this off? What's Israel to say about that aspect?

Well, despite the fact that the military here is very weak, it has a lot of esteem from the public. The fact is the military will be doing this in cooperation with UNIFIL, which is the United Nations interim force in Lebanon. They've been policing that border for decades, but neither group, the military nor UNIFIL, were able to prevent Hezbollah from rearming after the 2006 war. They weren't able to keep Hezbollah from moving up to the border, which is where they were when all of this started. They Basically, they had that same mission that they have this time back in 2006, and it didn't work. There's more skepticism on the Israeli side that the Lebanese military will be able to even hold up a hand against Hezbollah because Hezbollah is just so much stronger than the Lebanese military, and that the United Nations force there will even be able to do anything because they also don't have the mandate to use powerful force to stop Hezbollah. Matt, a lot of people still wondering because Hezbollah started fighting Israel along this border after we saw Israeli troops go into Gaza following the attacks inside of Israel on October seventh.

Is there any indication that this ceasefire could impact talks that have stalled between Israel and Hamas and maybe bring an end to the fighting inside of Gaza? It's a great question, Allison, because you remember, it was only a couple of months ago that it was thought to be the other way around. There would be a deal in the Gaza Strip, and that that would then cause Hezbollah to stop fighting because as you mentioned, Hezbollah was attacking Israel, as they said, in solidarity with Hamas on October eighth, the day after those October seventh attacks. Well, now, diplomats want to see this done the opposite way. They want to see this deal done here in Lebanon, secure, and hoping that That could be a blueprint for a deal in the Gaza Strip. We're already seeing some movements on this. Joe Biden has said he supports it. Even Benjamin Netanyahu has come out and said he supports some peace in the Gaza Strip, though not, he says, an end to the war. Then at the At the same time, we've now seen the Egyptians stepping to the fore. They're sending a delegation to Israel, trying to present some security deal.

It looks as though there's movement on this, but, Ellison, it is shrouded in pessimism, the same pessimism that has beset these negotiations for the past year. Excellent reporting. Matt Bradley in Beirut. Thank you. Today, a Canadian family is overjoyed by the return of their son. The haiger had been lost in the wilderness for more than 50 days. Nbc Stephanie Gosc has this report. Sam Banastic flashing thumbs up in a British Columbia hospital. It is nothing short of miraculous that he ended up there. According to the police, the 20-year-old left on a solo hiking trip in early October. His destination, Redfern Kyla provincial Park, deep within the Canadian Rockies. This time of year, the weather is unpredictable, and temperatures often plummet below zero. How difficult is it to survive this time of year in that place? Well, if you don't know how, it would be extremely difficult. The wild terrain home to dangerous predators, black bears, grizzlies, and wolves. Large packs of wolves with well over 100 wolves in the packs, and they are very active hunters in that area. Banastic was supposed to return October 17th, but he did not. Instead, the outdoor enthusiast found himself in his own version of the popular show, alone.

Bone-chilling cold. Winter's coming. This land is as wild as any in North America. Survivalists are left by themselves in the wilderness to brave the elements and the animals. Chrisley bears. I need to see Mount Lion. Some seasons set in Western Canada. Banastic really was alone. Fortunately, Sam had experience in hiking and being in that environment, so he was able to survive. And then he moved to a valley where he built another camp and a shelter in a dried-out creek bed. Eventually, wandering out of the woods on a desolate forestry road seven weeks later. The police say he was treated for smoke inhalation and frostbite, eventually reunited with his family. Here they are at the Buffalo Inn, where guests are invited to enjoy the beautiful snowy world of British Columbia from indoors. Stephanie Gosc, BBC News. Still ahead tonight, a holiday tragedy, a Chicago area community experiencing a line of duty death for the first time in decades. What we know about the person accused of killing a detective. Plus, the burglar who got way more than he bargained for, why the church pastor who confronted him wasn't going to back down. And dashing for deals, shopping on the menu for millions this Black Friday.

But will the Amazon worker strike impact your list? We'll be right back. We're back now with a group of Native American scientists who are leading a push to solve cold cases. They've launched a forensic team that's dedicated to solving cases involving missing or murdered Indigenous women in Montana. As Morgan Radford reports, it is already helping families get closure. Growing up here on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Northwest Montana, Haleo Miso watched for years as community members went missing. Their case fell through the cracks of the justice system. So she decided to take matters into her own hands, starting the first Indigenous-led forensics team in the nation called Oakemi Forensics using the latest in forensic technology in the lab at the University of Montana. Basically, we'll be putting our DNA samples into this. And combing for clues with her team in the field to help families with missing loved ones find closure. If you weren't doing this now, would anyone else be doing it? I don't think so. We just have so many cases that are unsolved. Cases like Aaron Pepian, who we first met back in 2021. This is where police believe Arden went in the river?

Yes. Today, he's still searching. What we're looking for today is evidence to see if there's any bones or something that we may have missed. Have you ever thought about giving up? No, not ever. His daughter, three-year-old Arden Pepian, went missing in April of 2021 while she was under the care of an uncle who said she disappeared while he was practicing shooting near this river. He later pleaded guilty to negligent endanger. I know that if I see her or if there's something there, When they find her, I'm not leaving because she's been there for that long alone. Arden is one of more than 4,000 cases of missing or murdered Native Americans that have gone unsolved, which is why Omiso says this is just the first of many searches she and her team plan to do, all no cost to the family. Haley's Indigenous, and she's from here. Yes. Does that make a difference for you in having someone like her handle this case? A little bit. It's I'm glad that we have natives that are out there that are doing this stuff, and I'm proud of them. Does this case have special significance for you? Yeah, for sure.

I have an eight-year-old and a three-year-old. So when I first came out to search for Arden, it hit me pretty hard after that, going home and just being able to hug my son and knowing that Erin can do that. When you're searching your own land and being around people that you know, it's harder. We're here people. We're natives. We're here. And we're always going to be here. Morgan Radford, Blackfeet Indian Reservation, NBC News. A dramatic confrontation unfolding at a California Church on Thanksgiving, an axe-wielding intruder, breaking in only to be met by the church's pastor, who happens to be a skilled martial artist. Jody Hernandez from our NBC Bay Area station has this one. The windows Hours of Antioch's Family First Church are boarded up tonight after a scary early morning break-in. Church pastor nick Neves, responded to a burglar alarm in the wee hours of the morning, only to come face to face with the intruder who had used an ax to smash his way in. And I shouted at him to stop and that the police were going to be on the way. And he ran and I grabbed a hold of him, and we ended up wrestling in the parking lot of the church.

Little did the burglar know Pastor Neves is trained in martial arts. I like to stay fit, and I studied in some jiu-jitsu and some kickboxing and have a mixed martial arts background. And so it was very helpful to be able to grapple with this gentleman without having to do much harm to him. After 12 to 15 minutes of wrestling, the burglar ran out of steam until police arrived. I was able to pin him to the ground. He got up and tried to get away several times, but basically just trying to wear him out. I thought I could outlast him. Because it could have gone totally different direction, and we thank God that it didn't. Jeff Straather is a longtime member of Family First Church. He's incredibly thankful his pastor wasn't hurt. We're very thankful to God that he's our pastor and not our enemy. The 46-year-old pastor says the church prides itself on helping others. In fact, they just provided groceries for 130 families in need. He says the intruder never didn't need to steal. It was just ironic that if he would have just come a couple of days earlier, he would have been able to be blessed and get some food and be cared for.

But he decided instead to smash windows and desecrate property and do something that's going to hurt the ministries. Pastor nick says he hopes the burglar changes his way and chooses good over evil. In Antioch, Jody Hernandez, NBC Bay Area News. Still ahead tonight, Rising from the Ashes. Notre Dame Cathedral, one step closer to its grand reopening. Our first look inside, nearly five years after that unthinkable fire. We're back now with Top Story's news feed, and we begin in Chicago, where an Oak Park police detective has died after being shot in a Black Friday incident. Detective Alan Reddins was responding to a report of an armed person leaving a bank when he was shot by a suspect and later died at a hospital. The Department remembering Reddins as a natural leader and devoted father of a 19-year-old son. Overseas renewed violence in Syria as rebels make their way into Aleppo and clash with government troops. Rebels launched a surprise attack on Wednesday, seizing towns near Aleppo and killing dozens of civilians. Civil War has plagued Syria for over a decade under Shah Al-Assad's regime, but this marks the first major offensive since a ceasefire four years ago.

And a beloved landmark returning to life. New video showing the fully restored Notre Dame Cathedral five years after a devastating fire ripped through its iconic spire. Among the brand new furnishings and gleaming white stone are 8,000 organ pipes. French President Emmanuel Macron got a first look this morning and called it a once in a century project. The cathedral opens to the public on December seventh. We're going to turn it now to Money Talks and what consumers need to know this Black Friday weekend. Shoppers already turning out in record numbers signaling good news for the economy. Nbc news business and data correspondent Brian Cheung has the details. This Black Friday, millions headed to the mall and in a throwback, even lining up. Kicking off a Black Friday weekend that's expected to break records. Over the holiday season, shoppers are expected to spend almost a trillion And early indicators show strong spending, as shoppers spent over six billion dollars online yesterday on Thanksgiving. A new record. We were one of the first persons here, actually. In person, it just feels like that, nostalgic. I want to get out the house, too. I need to touch grass. It points to a resilient American consumer.

But shoppers are a little choosier these days. We've been shopping together since 2004, I think. Like Ariella Chafrin and Arlie Klein, who are regulars at Westfield Garden State Plaza. When we met them mid-trip, they said 50% off would get them to the register. If the deal is right. If the deal is right. Yeah. That's our motto. That's our motto. If the deal is right. But when we followed up. There's no door busters. Just the regular 40% off You can find that online. Other shoppers, even empty-handed. You've been here for how long already? I want to say two hours. Two hours, and you don't have any bags so far. No, I'm nothing. Why? Because the sales have just been bad. Shoppers are also clicking and tapping their way to deals. Amazon broke records in its Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend last year, despite a make Amazon pay strike that organizers plan to bring back again this year. But initial numbers for this shopping weekend, pointing to an economy getting a holiday boost, thanks to the American consumer. And when it comes to those that are going to be shopping for those deals throughout the weekend and into Cyber Monday, experts tell us that today, Black Friday is the best deal to score a TV.

However, you might want to wait until Cyber Monday to get the the deepest discounts on things like electronics and also apparel. And don't forget to use cashback cards and use price-matching policies to make sure you're truly getting the best bang for your buck this weekend. Back to you. Brian Cheung, thank you. And for more on the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season and the best deals to shop this weekend. I want to bring in Wirecutters Anne-Marie Conti. She is going to break down all of the deals that are looking good and could be looking good in the days ahead. Today, Black Friday, Monday, it starts early online, not just for in-store, but Cyber Monday, also is supposed to be really big. What are some of the early deals that you're starting to see? Are they panning out? We are seeing so many deals. I think we have over 1,200 deals on our deals page right now, and all of them are completely vetted. We price track every day of the year to make sure that we only pick the best deals, and it's just overflowing. I think the reason for that is really that a lot of the pandemic supply chain has really leveled out, and so we're just seeing great prices on great products.

I do think we will see a little bit of it dip over the weekend and then pop back up on Monday. Okay, so in terms of things to watch for, I've heard people always say Cyber Monday is when you want to pay attention. If you're trying to get something for a tech relative or if you yourself need to update some gadget, is that still the rule here? The wisdom is a little bit outdated. We are seeing a lot of tech right now, and I don't think that retailers wait until Monday. I think they want the dollars as soon as possible, so they really pop that now. And then if it doesn't sell out, we'll resupply for Monday. What are some of the best deals you're seeing right now in the tech space? Oh, my gosh. I am absolutely coveting this Technivorm, MochaM Monster coffee maker. It is beautiful. It makes an excellent cup of coffee. It made some of the best coffee in all of our coffee maker testing, and it comes in multiple colors. So it really does look beautiful on your countertop. There's a model that comes with the glass carafe, and there's also one that comes in stainless steel.

So whatever works best for you in your kitchen, perfect. And in terms of TVs? Oh, my gosh. So I know that the door Buster, I'm going to run in and grab a TV, and it's going to be a crappy TV, but it'll be 50 cents. That doesn't quite happen anymore. But a little bit counterintuitively, there's a brand called Hisense that may not be known to everybody, but actually makes a really quality TV at a great price. So at the price that we're seeing it now on sale, it's even better deal. And in terms of computers, what are we seeing there? So the MacBook Airs, we are seeing multiple deals, multiple specs. As you know with tech, when a new item comes out, often the older tech gets discounted. But these MacBook Airs are great for most people. So now is a really good time to buy if you're in the market for one. Anything if people are shopping for teens, teen daughters needing jeans, that thing, clothes that you see? We are seeing a lot of great clothing sales. And I think that the gene testing that we do is really to ensure that it fits a variety of people in a variety of sizing.

These page jeans that we are seeing, they have a beautiful amount of stretch. It's a luxury denim, and it's a great piece for multiple body types, so we're really happy with that. I'm also interested here about the practical home gadgets that you've seen, which I think air purifiers have maybe been popping off. Then also, I keep getting ads for fit in your wallet, charge your phone on the go thing. Those seem to be a hot stocking stuffer. They definitely are. I bought them for my family last year, and it was my tween's favorite gift was a phone charger. The travel card, it'll fit right in. It'll give you almost a full charge and really just keep you going throughout the day. That's amazing. We had that air purifier up earlier that we can take a look at again. That looked like a pretty big drop-down. This is worth the money? It is worth the money, and especially now that we're seeing wildfire season, it's affecting a lot of different areas of the country. It's really important to have in your home for when the air quality issues start to dip a little bit. Good stuff.

Wirecutters and Marie Conti, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. For Tom Yamis, I'm Ellison Barber in New York. Stay right there. More news is on the way. Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media.