washington state, downed by high winds. and the region, especially oregon, is getting hit yet again with yet another storm. >> the snow is piling up and doesn't seem to be letting up. >> reporter: and tonight, new york has issued a snow alert. salt trucks at the ready. and the east coast is next up to experience these dramatic temperature drops that have seen elsewhere as this system is expected to have a firm lock on much of the nation until monday or tuesday. brog o? >> are are a lester? >> all right, janet. for more on where this cold wave is headed and what to expect in the coming days, let's bring in al roker who we should note is in the middle of a marathon forecast we'll have more on later. al, good to see you. thanks. >> thanks so much, lester. so the polar vortex still causing big, big problems. record lows last night. and tomorrow that arctic air continues to cause problems. afternoon highs chicago, 30 degrees, 19 degrees below average. denver 36, dallas 47. daytona beach 67, ten degrees below average. big snowstorm coming into the pacific northwest. we're talking six to nine inche

you. >>> in washington, a shake-up at the pentagon, the civilian boss of all the men and women in uniform. defense secretary chuck hagel, a decorated combat veteran himself, made a surprise announcement that he is stepping down. while it was called mutual, word around the pentagon resignation was not his idea. our report tonight from nbc correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: less than two years on the job, a somber chuck hagel flanked by president obama and vice president biden, announced today he was calling it quits. >> i have today submitted my resignation as secretary of defense. it's been the greatest privilege of my life. >> reporter: the white house and pentagon claim after a series of three recent meetings with the president, it was hagel who offered to step aside. but senior defense officials tell nbc news hagel was forced to resign. as the war with isis exploded in iraq and syria, the white house appeared to lose confidence in hagel as he questioned the administration's strategy. after president obama called isis the junior varsity of terrorists, hagel warned the

correspondent peter alexander with us from our washington newsroom tonight with more. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. federal officials are calling on the japanese company takata and five major auto marriages to expand their recall to recall those equipped with takata air bags. this affects ford, honda, chrysler, mazda and bmw vehicles generally with model years 2008 and before. it affected cars mostly in areas along the gulf coast with high temperatures and humidity, but the government says it's making this new move after learning about two incidents outside those areas. officials say drivers should keep wearing seat belts and can continue to drive until their vehicles can be repaired. if takata and the automakers do not follow through, the government says it will force them to. brian? >> peter alexander in our d.c. newsroom live tonight. peter, thanks. >>> now we go to the middle of the country. ferguson, missouri, and this tense stand-by period waiting the grand jury decision of the white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager

now eligible to play upon signing a new contract. carl. >> kristen welker in washington, d.c. tonight. kristen, thanks. you can watch more of matt lauer's interview with ray and janay rice this coming monday on "today." >>> ferguson, missouri is still picking up the pieces tonight after days of protests rocked that city. at the same time anger over the decision not to indict officer darren wilson continues to be on display in communities across the country. that story tonight from nbc's ron allen. >> reporter: today, it's finally back to business as best they can in the heart of ferguson. declared a crime scene by police, these streets were shut down all week. some of the worst violence happened here after the grand jury decision not to indict officer darren wilson. >> i'm comfortable. i'm excited about opening up. you know, this is where we want to be. we want to be in this community. >> reporter: most still operating with boards covering windows. many family-owned small businesses with massive losses struggling to survive. >> i believe the worst of it is over. >> back up! back up! >

personnel and inspected their bags. sally jenkins, a "washington post" sports columnist broke the story and said as many as six teams were targeted this weekend. >> when an extremely popular prominent american business like the nfl when there's evidence there may be painkiller abuse, when there are these sorts of allegations, it's the dea's job to stet up and get involved in that. >> reporter: the searches were triggered by an investigation into an alleged prescription drug violations by nfl teams outlined in a lawsuit filed by former players six months ago. the nfl has sought to dismiss the suit. retired super bowl winning quarterback jim mcmahon said the nfl culture led many players like him to addiction and failing health. >> a lot of these guys in this lawsuit have bad kidneys, they have bad hearts. we just don't know what all these medications we're doing to our bodies. >> reporter: an nfl spokesperson said our teams cooperated with the dea and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found. another off the field headline for the nfl in a year filled with them. r

. >> reporter: low ceilings, rain and fog brought cancellations to new york, philly and washington. >> weather always impacts holiday time. it's either raining or snowing. >> and as the rain starts to turn to snow in a lot of areas, the roadways are getting a little dicey. >> reporter: on the highways snow on i-81 with multiple accidents in pennsylvania. the state lowered the speed limit on several highways. while on i-95 heavy rain made for slippery conditions. nbc news producer jay blackman spent the day driving from d.c. to new jersey. >> it's been raining and snowing a little bit. the visibility's been pretty awful. so we're going pretty slow, but we'll get there at some point. >> reporter: 41 million americans are driving this thanksgiving. cheaper gas is one big reason. meanwhile, late in the afternoon bad news at the airports. with snow flying, flight aware's misery map showing red delays and cancellations spreading. and thanksgiving is just hours away. so if you have decided to fly tomorrow instead of today, consider yourself lucky. tomorrow should be the least traveled day of the year

school and work on monday. brian? >> tom costello, national airport in washington. tom, thanks. >>> once again tonight meteorologist janice huff is in the weather center with an update on the reach of this storm. janice, good evening. >> it's already starting down in north florida. jacksonville seeing flooding rains coming down at the rate of three inches an hour. and yes, it will stretch from north florida, up the eastern seaboard in the next 24 hours. that heavy rain band will move north towards eastern north carolina from wilmington up to norfolk, virginia, maybe as much as 3 to 4 inches of rain tomorrow morning. then snow begins. over the mountains of west virginia through washington, d.c., around new york city, north and west towards boston. some of these areas may receive more than a foot of snow from the berkshires, parts of southern new england and back into the lower hudson valley of new york. safe travels to you and everyone, brian. >> all right, you do the same, janice huff in the weather center, thanks. >>> we'll take a break. still ahead tonight, what it felt like

about the death of michael brown blocked traffic in washington, d.c. and then there was this. five players of the st. louis rams put their hands over their heads in a don't shoot pose right before their game against the oakland raiders. nearly a week after the grand jury decided not to indict officer wilson. ron allen is in ferguson tonight and starts our coverage. ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening n. a letter, officer wilson resigned after saying that staying on the police force was putting his fellow officers at risk but many say after what happened it would be impossible for him to continue working and perhaps even living anywhere near hill. >> darren wilson, 28 and recently married to another ferguson police officer expecting their first child is no longer with the police force. he has been getting death threats according to his attorneys and he made his decision to offered to minutes after hearing from the police chief that others could be in danger. the chief would not go into details about the threats. >> were there threats to the department and him as well. >> oh

of commercial space flight. he joins us now from our washington newsroom with more. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, lester. it appears one of the pilots was able to parachute out and was injured, the other did not get out alive. they both worked for scaled composites, which built the spaceship. tonight the ntsb is launching a team to investigate what went wrong. in mojave, california, this afternoon, disaster, the burnt and broken remains of virgin galactic spaceship two, the experimental craft that was supposed to take paying customers one day into low earth orbit, fell to the ground. >> just a big puff. a big white puff. immediately at that point i knew that something had went really horribly wrong. >> possibly two patients. one doa. >> we found one person who had obviously was deceased immediately. the other was transported to the hospital. i do not have the condition. when left here it appeared to be major injuries. >> reporter: today's mission was meant to test a new engine design and fuel mixture. it was earlier this year when we were in mojave for another test fligh

washington, d.c. for us tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. in fact, talking about a 4% increase in holiday spending this year. yesterday was probably the best day for bargains, but today a lot of people seemed to be blinded by price. at retailers nationwide today the crush was on. chaos, frenzy, even fighting. >> this is the most dangerous to black friday shop. >> reporter: it's serious business to this woman in muncie, indiana, who kept a video diary for us starting yesterday. >> we obviously did not have thanksgiving dinner today because we spent the whole day planning black friday. >> reporter: for her black friday is a two-day event. the turkey dinner can wait. but it turns out black friday specials aren't always so special. consumer finance website nerdwallet.com found plenty of examples. at gander mountain a spider woman's jacket at $109 same price on november 6th. at k-mart, a hamilton beach toaster oven was the same price in late september. >> they can call it a special price or a great deal or a doorbuster, but it doesn't necessarily define that this is th

has died following last week's shooting at a washington state high school. 14-year-old shaylee chuckulnaskit succumbed to injuries obtained in the shooting. earlier today a service was held for another victim. two students remain hospitalized. >>> canada has announced it will stop issuing visas to people from west african countries, at least those at the heart of the ebola outbreak. meanwhile, in this country there is good news for the only u.s. patient still battling the virus, dr. craig spencer who contracted the disease while treating victims in guinea has been upgraded to stable condition. and nina pham was reunited with her dog bentley. the pet had been placed on quarantine when the nurse contracted the virus. >>> here at home the virus is still ravaging parts of west africa. despite the risk u.s. doctors are still heading to the front lines. it's an assignment that means weeks or months away from family and an uncertain welcome when they do return home to the states. here's nbc's joe fryer. >> reporter: dr. foucle is making the most of his weekend with his 2-year-old daug

. strong gusts tore through power lines in washington state. and a stunning aerial shows a massive dust storm rolling through colorado as more states prepare tonight for the dangerous cold. now the cold has arrived in golden, colorado. we are going to see temperatures below zero tomorrow morning. we are going to bottom out at about 1 below tomorrow morning topping out only around 7 by tomorrow afternoon. that cold will stretch down into texas tomorrow, too. then on thursday it's going to start spreading east into the midwest where temperatures will be running about 15 to 25 degrees below average and then eventually it makes its way to the east coast, from new york city down to atlanta, temperatures will be modified a bit, but still pretty chilly. that's about 15 degrees colder than what we would normally see this time of year. >> dylan dreyer, golden, colorado tonight. dylan, thanks. >>> the president is in china for a gathering called the apec summit. but with the world's most powerful leaders all in the same place at the same time, the real action was often on the sidelines. our white