tonight the monster snowmaker dumping up to 6 feet of snow around the Great Lakes on one of the busiest travel days ever unrelenting snow pounding Western New York and Pennsylvania cars either trapped on roads or skidding off of them look at that people told to stay home don't travel unless you absolutely have to all of it as fans helped dig out Buffalo's Stadium ahead of tonight's Bills game holiday travels smashing records today in the air and on the ground so how smoothly did it go plus that stowaway who snuck onto a Delta plane to France
now detained again on another flight we'll tell you why The Firestorm over president-elect Trump's pick to lead the FBI critics blasting cash Patel as unqualified the promises he's made to purge the agency inside look at how stores are gearing up for Cyber Monday this shipment facility the size of 26 football fields millions of items come into this building and millions go out and there's good news tonight families made permanent our cameras are there as one judge grants adoption after adoption with so much to be thankful for this is NBC Nightly News with hie Jackson good
evening we are coming on the air with that Arctic blast dropping a ton of snow in the Northeast and Midwest and it's not just the temperature but the timing here that's br brutal highways and runways buried on what's expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the year I want to show you this cars stranded in Watertown New York you see that where they're getting more than 3 feet of snow this weekend in Buffalo just hours before the Sunday Night Football kick off you see the scramble to shovel out the Bills stadium thanks
to the help of some very motivated fans forecasters are now warning of more snow stretching into tomorrow and even for people well south of this system like in Georgia and Florida freeze alerts are now in place all of it making travel tricky even dangerous as millions of us head home or try to after Thanksgiving we've got team coverage tonight starting with George siss outside Buffalo tonight A life-threatening monster storm hitting in the Great Lakes region blizzard-like conditions from Ohio across New York travel treacherous nearly 4 ft of snow in counting sometimes I shovel steps off
it looked like complete white out you couldn't see anything in front of you the roads you couldn't even see nothing so much snow it even shock residents used to Big Winners this snow appears to be more a lot more dense a lot more heavy you know it's heavier and just my snowblower won't even move it a nightmare in neighboring Erie County Pennsylvania 2 the governor declaring a disaster emergency for communities already buried in 2 and 1/2 ft of snow with more on the way officials there with this dire warning my message to the public is
simple uh don't travel stay home stay home stay home and it's not just snow bitter cold sweeping the Plains and Southeast in the days ahead back in Western New York on football's biggest weekend heavy machinery and fans rushing to dig out High Mark Stadium here ahead of tonight's Bills game some fans braving the elements and getting here hours ahead of kickoff to dig out their tailgate spots we we just get ready got to dig out all the gear and we knew it was coming eventually so just got to get ready and George is joining us
now from outside High Mark Stadium George the snow is still coming down but the game is still on right yeah that's right hi and we're deep in this tailgate Zone these fans spending hours trying to clear out about 2 feet of snow here from the stadium now it's looking like that snow might taper off by kickoff but that cold yeah that's sticking around hie George stoie stay warm thank you also tonight the record-breaking holiday travel Rush leading to massive crowds as millions of people drive or fly home so how did the nation's airports do Maggie
veso reports tonight a record smashing post Holiday Rush hitting its peak with the nearly 80 million Americans traveling for Thanksgiving now racing home jamming the roads and the skies if you are worried about crowds please do not go here congest mounting around major cities like New York and Chicago oh my God all these people are everywhere why don't they go home where are team got caught in the holiday traffic firsthand this traffic has been bumper to bumper like we are crawling meanwhile with TSA predicting by the day's end a record three million people will have
taken to the skies how have you all at American Airlines been able to keep things moving and keep everything on track for us it really starts with a uh solid plan building a schedule that we know we can execute we start planning for the holiday Peak even during the height of the summer our teams were training on deicing even in the midst of uh record summer heat the historic Holiday Rush colliding headon with an early winter weather blast and marred by a bizarre headline overseas where a source tells NBC News the Russian woman who mysteriously
stowed away on this Delta flight from New York to Paris last week to the captain uh we just wait for the police to come on board caused a disturbance yesterday on her return flight to JFK The Source confirming she was removed from that plane by French authorities and remains in their custody it's unclear when she'll be returned to the US where tonight a record holiday travel Rush rages on Maggie is joining us live from Chicago O'Hare and Maggie not to jinx it but it seems like Airlines have pretty much managed to avoid a travel meltdown
like we've seen in past years right yeah Al hi exactly we haven't noticed the hair travel nightmares of holidays gone by in Airlines saying they've learned from those mistakes basically updating their technology adding extra staff and in a lot of cases extra flights to get all these passengers where they want to go hiie Maggie vesa Thank you new Fallout tonight over president-elect Trump's controversial pick for FBI director cash Patel a trump loyalist who has previously pledged to dismantle the agency the big question tonight will the Senate confirm him and so far at least some allies
are sounding supportive Ali Rafa is with the president-elect in Florida tonight President elect Donald Trump's pick of Hardline loyalist cash Patel to lead the FBI sparking mixed reaction he represents the type of change that we need to see in the FBI I will vote no and I will organize not just my colleagues but the American public Patel says he'll return the agency to its rightful Mission protecting the American people I am honored to be here in support of Donald J Trump despite holding several positions in the first Trump Administration Patel is facing criticism for a
lack of experience as well as his controversial positions we will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep State Mr Trump's pick underscoring his dislike for the current FBI director whom he appointed Chris Ray whose term isn't set to end until 2027 apparently has demonstrated too much Independence and objectivity in the job for Donald Trump Ray now faced with the choice to either resign or wait to be fired the
FBI reacting in a statement saying director Ray's Focus remains on the men and women of the FBI the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for Patel's Senate confirmation could be an uphill battle while many Republicans agree with his goals for the FBI others have previously said it should operate free of presidential influence the news capping a busy few days at maral Lago after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent Friday night making his case against Mr Trump's plan to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico in an effort to curb
the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs into the US Ali joins us now from South Florida allei Mr Trump has already chosen his daughter's father-in-law that's Jared kushner's dad to serve as ambassador to France we're talking about real estate developer Charles Kushner and now there's another announcement with Family Ties that's right the president elect picking his other daughter Tiffany's father-in-law Lebanese lawyer mad bulos as his senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs hie Ali Rafa Thank you new pressure tonight for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after the release of a propaganda video of
an American held hostage in in Gaza Hala garani reports from Jerusalem tonight the release of this video of 20-year-old American hostage Idan Alexander held in Gaza by Hamas my name is Idan Alexander reigniting calls for a ceasefire deal his mother today meeting Israeli president Isaac Herzog there are negotiations taking place behind the scenes he said and it can be done the first time when I watched video I was I was shocked you know shaken but finding hope in the video his mother telling me she pleaded with the Prime Minister yesterday to make a deal so
I ask him please bam Netanyahu be strong for for the country be strong for Israel and release them talks had been stalled but there are signs of movement with the Hamas delegation traveling to Cairo this weekend to discuss a possible framework while President Biden says an effort involving Qatar Egypt and turkey is in the works we are doing everything we can to get those hostages home safely to their families in Gaza meanwhile the attack on a car killing three World Central Kitchen Aid workers is making a dire humanitarian situation worse the IDF claiming one of
the men was directly connected to the October 7th attacks World Central Kitchen denying it has any knowledge of those allegations it alongside the United Nations announcing a pause in Aid deliveries because of safety concerns with starvation taking hold in parts of the strip according to Aid groups desperation leading some to breaking point three people were crushed to death Friday trying to buy a few loaves of bread Hala garani NBC News Jerusalem the situation nearby in Syria getting worse fast tonight as Rebel forces there launch a surprise attack to try to topple the government Matt Bradley's
tracking this from neighboring Lebanon and Matt this is a big escalation that's right H Syrian rebels launched a surprise offensive against the regime of Bashar al- Assad in response the regime and its Russian allies have fired air strikes against the Syrian cities of Aleppo and idlib and that's killed more than a dozen civilians this according to a uk-based human rights organization so the offensive was led by a group called hayat taham an islamist militia that had been Affiliated to Al-Qaeda more than 300 people have been killed so far it's the biggest threat to the Assad
regime since the Civil War there started in 2011 Middle East analysts have said the attack is exploiting the weakness of Assad's biggest backers Iran and Russia whose forces have been weakened by other Wars hie Matt Bradley thank you we are back in a moment with an inside look at how some of the nation's biggest stores are getting ready to ship your Cyber Monday packages one new facility the size of 26 football fields we're back with that record breaking box office weekend Disney's Moana 2 pulling in a massive $221 million over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend that's
nearly twice the previous record set five years ago but it's not just Moana both Wicked and Gladiator to are also keeping theaters packed setting another record for the biggest Thanksgiving period ever the grand total for all three $422 million stores are finishing up their final preps tonight for the biggest online shopping day of the year Cyber Monday many of them already investing hundreds of millions of dollars to build new shipping facilities and as Brian Chun shows us they're handling more orders faster inside this massive Walmart fulfillment center in Green Castle Pennsylvania so this is our
newest nextg fulfillment center 20 M of conveyor a belts race through a facility the size of 26 football fields I mean how many packages are coming through on a daily basis hundreds of thousands this Center opened just 6 months ago now ready for its biggest test yet is Cyber Monday like your Super Bowl it's the Super Bowl we plan all year for this event over 1,000 workers gearing up for what is still the biggest online shopping day of the year Cyber Monday over $1 13 billion expected to be spent and Walmart trying to capture as
much of that money as they can our business is growing Walmart US e-commerce sales have grown 22% in the last quarter this new facility part of a sort of supply chain arms race Amazon's planning on hundreds of new facilities and Target will invest $ hundred million into its supply chain over the next two years retailers are under more pressure now than ever to get more things to customers faster and Walmart says 95% of their us customers can get next day or two-day shipping thanks to facilities like this one using artificial intelligence and Robotics Walmart cut
down on the steps it took for a package to leave its facilities right down to the sticker this is where we're applying the shipping label to the Box oh I almost got clocked by so this is like a custom cutter for boxes that's right this is a small Factory a smart machine churning out boxes specked out just for you and we optimize the right size box just for that order the goal cut down on waste and time to get those gifts to you faster than ever our customers want speed they want great prices they want
value and convenience a cyber monday battle for your dollars playing out behind the scenes Brian Chung NBC News Green Castle Pennsylvania when we come back there's there's good news tonight about the special moments that Chang the lives of these kids forever let's sprinkle a little extra joy and start serving up these sweet family moments meet judge Randy Shelton that man you just saw right there dressed up for the holidays and our cameras joined him for the most joyful day of the year inside his Jefferson County Courthouse in Texas when nearly 20 children found their forever
homes the judge granting adoption after adoption perod everyone get on your feet today we're baking up something sweeter than cookies forever families we're here with the Connor family today this is Frankie Conor and this is Yolanda Connor this is Bren and the adoption is granted and rendered yay [Applause] [Music] is been a long journey they're ours and there's no more back and forth we love them so much and just happy that they can just be happy [Music] kids we have Miss KRA Francis are you asking the court to Grant this adoption yes the court will
find that all the requirements have been met and this is a lovely family and the adoption is granted and rendered [Laughter] [Music] yay my family means to me everything today our family is official I'm just glad that I am able people to do it for them they have given me the opportunity to be a mother because I didn't have any kids it's the best day of the year because we've got all these families and all these children and we're making the homes final and and permanent and it's just a day to celebrate well Baker Santa
is very very happy this is a sweet family I'll find that all the requirements have been met and the adoption is granted [Applause] yay today my family is loved today my family is complete Lea would you like to be adopted today your honor I have rested my case and I would like for the court to Grant this adoption well y'all are a very sweet family and I'm happy to Grant the adoption and we'll make it official yay [Applause] [Music] Lea means everything to me so it's nice to know that she's forever mine I just hope
that she always feels loved and wanted because I've always loved and wanted her cheers family means to me everything without family there's nothing now and I'm mama I'm glad that we finally made it to today and it's official my Family Means to Me Joy my family means to me everything everything that's what I live for my [Music] family so many with so much to be thankful for that's Nightly News for this Sunday stick around for Sunday Night Football I'm Hy Jackson for all of us here at NBC news thanks for watching and have a great
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