hey, everybody, i'm jacob soboroff. "nbc news daily" starts right now. ♪♪ today is tuesday, december 26th.

2023. striking back, the u.s. carries out a new round of air strikes in iraq where mill at that particular times have been targeting american troops including three injured in a christmas day attack, what we're learning about the latest escalation. waiting for the ball to drop. law enforcement nationwide is on high alert this week ahead of new year's eve celebrations, how tensions over the israel-hamas war are raising security concerns here in the u.s. dashing through, the holiday travel rush is far from over this week it's expected to be one of the busiest ever on record. what you need to know, whether you're hitting the road, or taking to the skies. and, sick of it. covid, flu, and rsv cases are on the rise, and millions of americans are sick. our doctor is in. how you can feel better fast. but we begin with the u.s. striking back after a christmas day drone attack on american troops in the middle east. president biden returning to the white house today after ordering retaliatory strikes against iranian-backed militant groups.

the response coming hours after three u.s. troops were hurt at the erbil air base in northern iraq, one of those troops is now in critical condition. there have been more than 100 attacks on u.s. troops based in iraq and syria since october 17th. correspondent aaron gilchrist is live at the house. aaron, what's the biden administration saying today about these retaliatory strikes in iraq? >> reporter: jacob, we are getting background information about how these strikes came together yesterday, the defense secretary has said that the strikes on these iran-backed groups were proportionate and necessary given their attack on facilities in northern iraq early yesterday morning, on christmas morning. we know from a u.s. official that president biden convened his national security team while he was away at camp david with his family. there was a secure call that happened involving the national security adviser, as well as the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, they were tasked with

presenting the president with options, immediate response options that could be executed on the people responsible for injuring these american soldiers and assaulting this base in northern iraq. after those options were presented there were some discussions with the national security advisers, and the president, and eventually the president gave the order around 8:00 last night for those strikes to be executed in iraq and within maybe 40, 45 minutes we saw the results of that with the department of defense saying that the facilities that they targeted were demolished and that they were likely some deaths among the people who were responsible for the attack on those american facilities. jacob? >> aaron, when it comes to iran, a united nations nuclear watchdog says the country is ramping up production of nearly weapons grade uranium, what's the white house saying about iran and the big picture threat from that country now? >> reporter: i think the administration has been very clear that it understands that iran may not be directly connected to any specific

individual act that has happened in the last two months or so since hamas attacked israel. but iran has its fingerprints all over everything that's been going on. it has been funding, supplying, training hamas. we've seen these activities involving hezbollah in northern israel, we know that iran has been supplying and funding work that hezbollah has been doing as we've been watching these attacks from drones and missiles in the red sea, impacting commercial trips moving through the area, we know that houthis are iran-backed as well. it's very aware iran is a key player what's happening in the middle east right now but iran is not trying to start a direct war with the united states, and so it hasn't acted unilaterally, specifically on any of these things but the u.s. maintained it will keep a military presence in the region, as a deterrent to all these smaller groups that may have this backing from iran. jacob? >> aaron gilchrist at the white house, thank you. as the israel-hamas war shows no signs of deescalation,

prime minister benjamin netanyahu's top adviser is meeting with advisers at the white house in washington, d.c. it comes after netanyahu joined the front lines in northern gaza, telling soldiers not to stop, as he reiterates his vow to fight until hamas is destroyed. nbc news foreign correspondent josh lederman is in tel aviv, israel for us. josh, what appears to be goal of today's meeting between top israeli and u.s. officials over there in washington? >> reporter: well, jacob, i just spoke with an israeli official here in israel who told me there are really three priorities for ron dermer's meetings in washington today, one, israeli u.s. cooperation. they also plan to talk about the current state of progress in this war. but they also plan to talk, according to this israeli official, about the day after hamas is ultimately defeated, which has been the israeli goal here all along. and so both the u.s. and israel are trying to portray this as a

meeting among friends where they're going to trade notes and talk strategy together. but it's clear there is a lot of tension right now because the u.s. has been disappointed that israel has not, so far, taken the kinds of steps the u.s. has been asking to limit the civilian casualties as we continue to see these disastrous strikes by israel in the gaza strip, killing hundreds of people, additional evidence of destruction in rafah and other parts of the gaza strip. that is something that the u.s. wants to see curtailed as it urges israel to move into a new phase of the war that involves a lot less of these large scale attacks. >> there was this, josh, extraordinary moment where families of israeli hostages still held by hamas actually heckled president netanyahu -- prime minister, i should say, in israeli parliament yesterday, holding signs saying things like, quote, what if it was your daughter? almost unbelievable to see, but in the context of all this, i mean, totally believable. this growing internal pressure in israel is coming as egypt is

now pushing for a new truce. where do these negotiations stand? how do these families fit in? >> reporter: there hasn't been a lot of sign of progress, to be honest with you, on these negotiations. the egyptians have this proposal, it's kind of a multi phased approach, but in the first phase potentially you would see 40 hostages released in exchange for a multi-week pause in the fighting, but hamas says, look, we're not interested in anything but a full, permanent cease-fire, chen we'll talk about releasing hostages, there doesn't seem to be a deal imminent. when you talk about how the families fit in they have been really ramping up the pressure as you point out in a very pointed way to netanyahu, but the prime minister is continuing to say, look, my goal is also to bring the hostages home and i believe that military pressure on hamas is what worked the first time in getting some hostages out and we'll continue to work again. there's a real divergence of opinion here in israel about what strategy is actually the most effective to bring those hostages home. >> there was also this evacuation order sent by israel for sichbls, josh, in central

gaza. they asked them to head to the southern city of rafah today where the border crossing is, which is already overflowing with displaced civilians, what can you tell us about life right now for displaced gazans and particularly what's happening with humanitarian aid? is it reaching them? >> reporter: well, as israel has been trying to clear out hamas from the gaza strip, starting at the north, and working their way down, they've essentially been squeezing the civilian population into a smaller and smaller area. so you have rafah, normally a city of 300 or so thousand people, now with many times that, and now people being urged to go even farther south, some humanitarian aid is trickling in through the egypt border and now through the israel border, but aid groups say it is far insufficient for the dire humanitarian needs that exist, really, across the gaza strip right now, jacob. >> josh lederman in tel aviv, josh, thank you. with just five days to go until new year's eve, and millions of people expected to gather for celebrations, police departments around the country are stepping up security, and tensions over the israel-hamas

war have led to clashes between protesters and police, that's including here in new york city. just yesterday, there were six people arrested in the city in what -- a series -- during a series of protests, i should say, planned around the holidays, nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk joins me now from times square right here in new york city, and steph, i've been watching you all day out there in times square where thousands of people are expected to be for this ball drop. what's the latest from security officials, and what are they concerned about the most? >> reporter: well, you know, jacob, we've been talking about an increased security threat since the war began in gaza, and of course that just continues through the holiday season. we've talked about increased security at synagogues and at mosques, but also large gatherings, and here in new york city there have been a lot of them. you may have noticed when they lit the christmas tree, and around the christmas tree, the last couple of weeks there have been increased security presence and that's certainly going to be the case here in times square, the kinds of things we've been seeing for years will be in

place, bomb sniffing dogs and police officers as well as in uniform as well as plain clothes police officers, the concern from the fbi, the department of homeland security, is -- what they really worry about is that someone, a lone actor would target a group of people. they don't have any other specific threats and the specific threat would be a time and a place that they know of at this point, but they're asking law enforcement across the country to be extra vigilant this holiday season, jacob. >> people from around the world gather exactly in that spot you are every year around this time. i know you've been talking to some of them, steph, what are they telling you? >> reporter: it's pretty festive here, as you can imagine, people who are here for christmas, people who will be coming in the next couple of days certainly to be here for the ball drop, and although we have been discussing these security concerns, people don't seem all that fazed by it. >> we've seen police walking

around, driving around, they've been making sure that everybody's okay, and we haven't been encountering anything that seemed uncomfortable or dangerous. >> as long as you just look at your surroundings and make sure you feel comfortable, that's all you can do. >> reporter: so really, just be aware. you know, they still want people to come to new york, people, certainly cities in chicago, d.c. for their big events want people to still attend be just be aware of your surroundings, which i think people will be and there will be plenty of law enforcement on the streets to report to if you see something that doesn't look right. >> says it all over the subways in new york city, if you see something, say something. stephanie gosk, in times square, the cross roads of the world, thanks, steph. it is time for today's cnbc money minute. one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world, is adding a new owner, and d.c.'s new aqua man movie is sinking at the box office. nbc -- cnbc, excuse me, julia

boorstin, hey. >> hey, jacob, apple appealed the decision today that pans imports of the series 9 and ultra 2 models of its watch. the tech giant had to stop sales of the watches after the u.s. international trade commission found their blood oxygen monitor violated the patent medical technology company mossimo. after the biden administration declined to veto that ruling. british billionaire tim rad cliff agreed to buy a 25% stake in the manchester united soccer team, sending an open letter to fans today asking for time and patience to return the storied club to success. radcliff will take responsibility for the team's business operations. and aqua man and the lost kingdom, a slow domestic opening, the film wrought in just over $28 million, that's the fourth lowest debut for the d.c. extended universe. that $28 million estimate is less than half of the nearly $68 million opening that the first aqua man earned back in 2018. back to you, jacob. >> blame me. did you see it?

i didn't see it. >> i didn't see it. >> so it's our fault. sorry about that, d.c., sorry about that, aqua man, julia boorstin, thank you so much, appreciate you. what you need to know before you take gifts back to the store for a return or exchange. not going to want to miss that. plus, the post christmas holiday travel scramble is fully under way, will the weather under way, will the weather cooperate when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis takes you off course. put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when i wanted to see results fast, rinvoq delivered rapid symptom relief and helped leave bathroom urgency behind. check. when uc tried to slow me down... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc caused damage rinvoq came through

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sorry to say, but christmas is officially over and millions of people are right now at this minute racing to get home from the holiday and heading out for new year's. the tsa screened more than 12 million people over the christmas holiday weekend. while airports worked to avoid a meltdown, the weather caused issues in the midwest, extreme fog flight delays in chicago, and in nebraska drivers dealt with white-out conditions and icy roads. what's happening out there today? meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking the winter weather, we start with nb's maura barrett at chicago o'hare international airport. maura, you have been there all day. how is it looking? you said the lines were not very long earlier today when i was talking to you. what are you hearing from people who are catching a flight right now? >> reporter: jacob, it's definitely busy here today, but it's moving really smoothly. i'm looking again at the screening lines, boarding ten minutes again, while there's a lot of people around me it's not

the shoulder to shoulder, packed, can barely move, you're in a pack of sardines feeling here at o'hare, at least not yet this week, it is moving very efficiently, i actually spoke with some travelers heading out for a new year's trip, college friends trip to tokyo. they were pleasantly surprised, take a listen. like being crazy for the holidays? ? definitely. >> really. >> are you surprised by it? >> is there a reason for that? something weird happen? >> usually the day after christmas, it's crazy. but -- >> we're bumping into someone constantly, it was pretty bad. >> reporter: we met anxious travelers, given we saw 300 cancellations from southwest over the weekend, because of that severe fog, but the weather has cleared up here in chicago, for the most part, so, again, things running pretty well, that's not the case, across the country, as there is some severe weather coming through with freezing rain, in the plains, and in the midwest, we're seeing

about 3,000 delays according to flightaware, and 80 cancellations, nothing like last year, the biggest points of consolation, denver, atlanta, and l.a.x. right now, so that's, we anticipate that to change a little lit this afternoon as the storms rolled through west as well, jacob. >> i'm sure there are people watching us getting ready to hit the car and hit the road, driving either today or later this week. what do they need to know? >> reporter: i think the big thing they want to look out for is that freezing rain, the snow, we saw some pretty nasty videos of trucks spun off the road in nebraska, even more across the plains, given the icy roads, really treacherous conditions, especially as aaa projected about 100 million people took to the roads to travel for the holidays this year, they will be making their way back or out for other new year's trips to other parts of the country throughout the week. travel analysts do say the best time to get on the road, and try to avoid those icy conditions would be in the morning, when there's less people on the road, really avoid anytime between

1:00 and 5:00 p.m., that's pretty much consistent, they say, for the rest of this week, especially as travel experts predict everything to get even busier come thursday and friday at the end of the week. jay cob. >> it is still before 1:00 and 5:00 p.m., i believe, in chicago, it's time for you to get back out on the road, and to get home. maura barrett, thank you very much, good to see you. michelle grossman, maura mentioned blizzard conditions in the sfral central plains. >> it is in the northern plains, the central high plains as well and we're seeing dangerous, treacherous travel, blizzard conditions, winds gusting up to 35, 55 miles per hour, slick conditions and whiteout conditions with the blowing snow, could see some power outages as well. travel troubles over the next two days, possible delays in minneapolis, we heard from maura that we have some in denver, cleveland, d.c., charlotte, possible as well, and then by tomorrow we're going to see the storm system moving off to the north and east, talking rain

along the east coast, that causes slowdowns on the roadways and could cause slowdown at the airport as well. we're seeing low -- we could see that tomorrow, saw fog earlier today, boston, new york city, philadelphia, d.c., down to charlotte, could see some likely delays tomorrow, with periods of rain, and also areas of fog, so this is what the storm looks like right now on the backside of this system, you see the blue, the snow is falling, the whiterably blue or the lighter blue, where we're seeing the heavier snow falling and we're still seeing blizzard conditions there and we're going to continue to see that. tapering throughout the evening hours and notice the pink and purple there, we're seeing freezing rain, so difficult to travel on, nearly impossible so we're going to watch in portions of north dakota into the northwestern part of minnesota as well, and we have rain stretching from the upper great lakes to the southeast, heavy at times, where you see those reds, the oranges, the yellows, that's where we're seeing the heaviest rain falling, localized flash flooding. winter weather advisories, ice

storm warnings, blizzard warnings for portions of south dakota, kansas, nebraska into colorado, and that is where it's particularly dangerous to travel on this tuesday. then as we go throughout the time here, the system is moving to the north and east, and we'll see the snow and wind continuing for the plains, the rains continuing for the mid-atlantic to the southeast and then by tomorrow we're talking about soaking rain in new england, also in portions of the northeast, this could last into thursday, so we're concerned about the creeks and also the streams, and we could see quite a bit after rain, two to three inches in some spots. >> coming up, a migrant caravan making its way to the u.s.-mexico border, believed to be the biggest in more than a year, how already overwhelmed year, how already overwhelmed law en ♪ (cheery music) - they get it. they know how it works... and more importantly... it works for them. - i don't have any anxiety about money anymore. - i don't have to worry about a mortgage payment every month. - it allowed me to live in my home... and not have to pay payments. - [narrator] if you're 62 or older and own your home, you could access your equity to improve your lifestyle.

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this is "the fast forward." i'm janelle wang. the san francisco company x, formerly known as twitter, must go to court. that's a call from a federal judge after musk's company allegedly withheld bonuses from employees. as ginger conejero saab reports, x motioned for the case to be thrown out but did not succeed. >> reporter: twitter's attempt to throw the case out did not succeed. the federal judge said the plaintiff had enough for this complaint to move on in federal court. here in california and not in texas as the company also attempted to argue should be done. the key to these allegations

stem from promises that were made to twitter employees who stayed with the company through musk's acquisition of twitter back in october of 2022. the judge ruled that the plaintiff has plausible breach of contract under california law. they allege twitter orally promised to pay each employee a portion of the bonuses in twitter's 2022 performance bonus plan so long as the employee was covered by the plan and stayed with the company in the first quarter of this year. he claims he was a senior director at the company which he stayed in that role until may of this year. he says he did what twitter asked, but never received his bonus. the judge ruled by allegedly refusing to pay him his promised bonus, twitter violated that contract. the lawyer says -- one of the

key parts of the case is can oral promised be binding? that's what the federal judge says. we will see it being litigated. x no longer has a media relations department. they have not commented on the ruling. ginger conejero saab, nbc bay area news. here are other stories. the main street ferry terminal is close to completion in alamedia. there's a greater earthquake danger in napa than previously throughout. oakland is expecting above average rain this spring. they are encouraged to clean sidewalk gutters. to adopt a drain, you must go online to oaklandca.gov. the city will lend out tools

nose clean out drains. volunteers will get rain alert updates on their phones. a quake fault in napa is more powerful than known. it caused a 6.0 quake in napa in 2014. research shows the fault stretches nine miles farther north than previously thought. it runs north of san helena. it can produce a 7.0 earthquake. the main street ferry terminal in alamedia is almost done. this follows more than two months of renovations. it closed to undergo repair and replacement of the aging infrastructure. the reopening of the terminal means weekend trips on the seaplane route will come to an end saturday. the terminal will reopen january 2nd. a gloomy day around the bay. the incoming clouds might mean more rain. here is kari hall with an update.

>> today is a spare the air alert. we get more clouds coming in. that means that some of us will need to limit time outside with the high amount of pollutants in the air. tomorrow, rain coming back and some mild temperatures with rain and more breaks by the end of the weekend. as far as temperatures, we will see highs in the upper 50s and low 60s today. staying dry today but as the rain comes in, it will be slightly cooler for parts of the north bay with upper 50s expected and then temperatures in the 60s elsewhere. we will look at our seven-day forecast and more about the rain, that's coming up in 30 minutes. >> thank you, kari. a story we are following. a commercial fire on christmas morning. the building will be demolished. one of the businesses was a dance school. an instructor started a gofundme to help replace the business. as of right now, it's raised

just over $25,000. that does it for "the fast forward." we will be back in 30 minutes with more news and weather. your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve memory. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. depend keeps you drier than ever... so you can say yes to more than ever.

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done settling? ask your rheumatologist for rinvoq. and take back what's yours. abbvie could help you save. why are we the only birds heading this way? and take back what's yours. migration is... stay close and everything will be alright. [ gulp ] i'm okay. yeah, no. hold on! [ quack, quack ] here are some of the stories making headlines right now, kremlin critic and opposition leader alexei navalny confirming his arrival at an arctic prison yesterday, navalny's team has not had contact with him since december 6th after he was moved

from moscow. a spokeswoman for navalny confirmed his move to the prison colony nicknamed the poor wolf over a thousand miles away from moscow. he's been in prison since 2021. police confirming representative marjorie taylor greene was the victim of an incident. she says i was just swatted on christmas with my family here. swatting happens when someone makes a false report of a crime in progress to draw police to a certain location. police confirmed a call was made to the suicide hotline claiming a person shot his girlfriend and was threatening to kill himself at green's address. greene's local security liaison decided officers were not needed and the police response was then cancelled. the power ball jackpot climbing to an estimated $685 million. the top prize still up for grabs since no ticket matched all six numbers on christmas. no one has won the power ball jackpot on christmas day since 2013.

# the next drawing is tomorrow. and there's a new migrant caravan, coming from cuba, central america -- coming as senior members of the biden administration will meet to address the record breaking number of migrants at the border. correspondent sam brock joins us now from miami. sam, you've been following this, what more do we know about the migrant caravan and when might it arrive at the u.s. mexico border? >> reporter: sure looks like, jacob, it's going to be a matter of weeks, k if you were there to go from the border to el paso, it's about 1,800 miles. you're talking about a two, three, maybe four mile trek unless there's some form of transportation assistance involved there. as far as the numbers on the ground, jacob, we just heard from organizers of the caravan, now up to 8,000 people, from

6,000, just a few days ago, not exactly clear as to what the time frame was for the additional 2,000 people. if it continues to sort of mushroom and grow, could be 9, 10,000, 11,000 by the time they make it to the u.s. border, easily constituting the largest migrant caravan to the u.s. in recent years and of course the humanitarian crisis that's playing out right now continues to really stretch the seams of what the united states has in terms of resources, that is something that's at play here over the high-level talks with u.s. officials. >> sam, meanwhile the secretary of state antony blinken, and alejandro mayorkas will be in mexico city to address this growing number of migrants arriving at the border. what are we learning about the agenda for those meetings? >> reporter: here's what we know, it's roughly at 1:00 eastern standard, noon local, it's a closed door meeting and the president of mexico has been open about the fact he's going to be asking the united states for some sort of aid package for countries where these migrants

are fleeing from. be that guatemala, venezuela, cuba as you mentioned, in addition to pulling back u.s., cuba, bilateral dialogue, he wants to see a relaxing of sanctions against cuba and venezuela. there's been a little bit of progress there in recent days. as far as how this is going to play out, you know, there's certainly a congressional pact that has to be agreed to before you can even talk about getting aid to places like israel and ukraine, and the fulcrum, the center point of all of it is reform on the immigration front, not just funding for staffing, jacob, and security reenforcements, but also policy reform, things like raising the threshold for what qualifies someone to be able to apply for asylum in the first place, all of this is going to be discussed, no doubt, in that meeting tomorrow. >> and president biden, of course, in a predicament, having promised a fair and safe and humane immigration system, a departure from the years of the trump administration, and a lot of folks in the immigration advocacy community are seeing

these negotiations are the opposite of that, sam brock, thanks so much for following that closely for us. the hottest year ever recorded, as "today" co-anchor al roker reports the warming planet is fueling a lot of climate extremes. >> reporter: 2023, the hottest year ever on earth. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: a year of climate and weather extremes, in the u.s., the number of billion dollar disasters tallied 25, more than any other year. a siege of atmospheric rivers, lashed the west coast through march, destructive flash floods swept through parts of california, burying the sierra, under 60 feet of snow. and brought a historically dry talari lake back from the dead. when spring arrived so did the tornadoes, the strongest and most devastating twister of the year was a ferocious ef-4, tearing through rolling fork, mississippi, carving a 59-mile path across the state, and

packing winds as high as 195 miles per hour. just days later, a two-day tornado outbreak, spawned the third largest outbreak in u.s. history. in june, wildfire smoke was choking the big apple, making it seem like a mars landscape, shrouding iconic landmarks like the statue of liberty and empire state building. both chicago and new york had the dubious distinction of worst air quality in the world during that hazy week. as northern cities suffocated, southern cities broiled, under relentless days of dangerous heat. at the end of july phoenix hitting a record 31 straight days of 100 degrees or hotter. the previous record, just 18 days. more than a dozen u.s. cities recording their hottest summer on record. the tropics lit up in late august, when hurricane idalia rapidly intensified over the gulf of mexico, striking north

florida as high end category 3 with winds of 125 miles per hour. fueled by record warm sea surface temperatures, the fourth most active in history. by november, the brutal heat plaguing the u.s. was now broiling the southern hemisphere, the heat index in rio de janeiro hitting an astonishing 138 degrees, the highest ever recorded there. and for the third year in a row, deadly tornadoes ripped through the south, just days before christmas. >> oh, my gosh, whoa! >> reporter: 2023 experiencing so many extreme weather events we couldn't include them all here. climate change driven weather, leaving its mark, all around the globe. al roker, nbc news. >> mr. roker, thank you very much. there are signs pointing to a promising outlook for the u.s. economy in 2024, nbc's christine romans shows us what items are getting cheaper and what that means for the year ahead.

>> reporter: instead of the lump of coal many americans expected, some christmas cheer. prices actually fell in november from october, that hasn't happened in three years. and the persistent gloom about the economy that gripped many americans this year may have broken, at least a bit, consumer confidence now the highest in months. >> when we ask consumers what do you think about interest rates for next year, they believe that they will be lower. the mortgage rate is falling, and certainly for anyone looking to buy a home, that's really great news. and then finally, we believe that consumers are much happier about the fact that inflation is not as intense as it used to be. >> reporter: that survey found consumer's expectation for a recession in the next 12 months the lowest it's been all year. what's your letter grade for the u.s. economy heading into 2024? >> it's a solid "c," maybe even a "c" plus. >> reporter: mortgage rates are falling, now well below 7. prices falling on critical

holiday spending items, airfares, car rentals, gasoline, toys, tved and sporting goods. president biden touting that wages are now growing faster than inflation. on wall street all three major indexes are up dramatically for the year. still, the national mood has been fragile, home affordability the worst in a generation and inflation so improving has left a deep scar on americans' psyche. >> people don't have short memories, they remember losing their jobs in 2020. they remember how hard it was to find new ground. >> reporter: in the new year the challenges for many will be student loan payments and those holiday credit card bills coming due, and the biggest risk, the unexpected that could affect the economy in ways we don't foresee. christine romans, nbc news, new york. now to a new medical advancement that could help the thousands of als patients who have difficulty speaking, talk with just the power of their

minds. researchers of stanford university developed new technology that could lead to game-changing advances in assisted speech devices. i got a look at the a.i. powered soft bare ware that's helping one patient think out loud. >> reporter: this is the sensor -- >> reporter: it might be tough to see but this tiny sensor, smaller than a coffee bean may soon lead to the next big advancement in assistive speech technology, it's part of a new brain computer interface or dci, developed by researchers at stanford university to translate brain waves into words, allowing an als patient with impaired speech to simulate speaking frlt first time. >> hello, how are you? >> we're really excited about how far we've come. >> reporter: dr. jamie henderson and his researchers worked to pin poit the specific regions of the brain responsible for speech. then, henderson performed neurosurgery, implanting the sensor into a patient's brain. as they try to speak, the brain fires off signals that are

captured by the device. then, with the help of a.i., they're translated into text on a screen that could be spoken by a computer. >> i have faith. >> reporter: we met up with pat bennett. >> bring my glasses, please. >> the first person to train with the software that's bringing a voice to her thoughts. how does it make you feel to see that the machine can understand you? makes you feel heard. >> reporter: since being diagnosed with als in 2012 bennett has lost the ability to use the muscles in her lips, tongue, larynx and jaws, making her speech difficult to understand, and forcing her to rely on writing notes to communicate. something she continues to do while working with the research team to perfect the software. >> reporter: when als impacted your ability to speak what was your thought process like? you knew it was bad.

speaking is everything human. >> reporter: the relatively slow progression of the disease in bennett case has made her the perfect test patient. she's been part of the clinical trial since march of last year. and has been able to provide invaluable feedback to the team every step of the way, something that may not be possible with a patient with a faster progression. >> what's really exciting about this is we think it's an opportunity to restore fluent conversational speech. >> reporter: after just four months of training, the sensors were able to translate 64 words a minute. that's three times faster than the previous record for a bci, and at least eight times faster than older versions of the tech that rely on eye tracking to type words. >> i think it really is the next stage, it really does demonstrate that we can elevate the performance to the point where it can be a clinically usable device. >> reporter: does it seem far away? >> i think we'll see these systems in people's homes within the next five to ten years. >> reporter: in that time, with

the development of a.i. language models like chatgpt, the software could become more accurate. >> one of the things that we noted in the study was the ability to distinguish between 125,000 words, with about a 25% error rate, which is too high, but as you use more and more sophisticated language models that number can come from 24% to 11% to even single digits. >> reporter: for now, though, the machine isn't perfect. >> i am nurse. >> reporter: but it's good enough to give bennett a sense of what might soon be possible. >> reporter: you're going to give a lot of people hope. can i show the camera that? that's the best outcome, hope. awesome. that was awesome. >> i really did love spending time with pat and it was remarkable to see it all in action. you saw pat trying to verbalize the prompts in front of her but dr. henderson says that's not necessary for the device to work. but if more brain power pat puts

towards speaking the more accurate the results will be, i want to say, again, pat, thank you so much. coming up, doctor's orders, if you're one of the millions of americans sick right now the doctor is in, what you can do to feel better fast, you're watching "nbc news daily."

i have a feeling some of you have been sniffing or coughing more than usual. at least 15 states are experiencing high to very high levels of respiratory illness activity, that means more and more people in those areas are heading to the doctor and the emergency room with a fever or cough or sore throat. the culprits seem to be the usual suspects, the year's strains of flu and covid and rsv, what kind of symptoms should you be looking out for and what can you do to feel better this holiday season? nbc news medical contributor dr. vin gupta, the man i've wanted to talk to all day, let's talk about these states with high levels of respiratory illness, where is all this happening and what can people do to stay safe? >> thanks, jacob, and happy holidays, we're seeing strain in hospitals in the southeastern united states and also in places like california, 80% of icu beds are full, evoking, frankly, the worst of the pandemic and we're

seeing the strain settle in to many parts of the country, not just covid, some rsv, but flu is just picking up. we should expect this is going to get worse the next three to four weeks before subsiding. >> can we talk about symptoms? the idea that we hear so many people coughing and sniffling and sneezing, just traveled here yesterday from california and it's like the sound track to my journey, how do you differentiate when something is really serious and maybe you need to shut stuff down for a little bit? >> glad you asked that, upper respiratory infections can cause congestion and cough, over the counter medications are geared to help provide some relief here, but when you really should worry if you have persistent fevers above 103, as an example, or if there's somebody with underlying medical conditions and say you're experiencing any type of shortness of breath, or fainting spells, that's when you need to seek medical attention, i'll lastly say on this point, critical, for somebody that is medically higher risk, 60 and older, or an underlying medical condition, to make sure that if

they're feeling any of those symptoms to get a diagnosis, early testing, jacob, leads to early treatment for covid and flu. >> what about kids? so many of us have little ones a at home. should we be giving our kids medicine, zyrtec or a cold, or keeping them home and letting them rest? >> probably just keeping them home and letting them rest. a lot of symptoms are causes by viruses, where it's a tincture of time and supportive care. it's also important for parents to realize, if they're waking up with a sore throat, to look into their mouth, see if there's any pus in their -- in the back of their throat, if they're not having a cough, the bad sore throat, maybe a fever and some pus in the back of their throat should evoke concerns for strep throat. that should prompt them to get an immediate test or an appointment with their pediatrician, again, early testing leads to early

treatment, even for kids, let me also say for adults here, jacob, critical, especially for those that are living in health care deserts, underinsured, test to treat.org, a free government-provided service, provides that telehealth consultation coupled with rapid delivery with paxlovid for covid o -- test 2 treat.org can give you that life-saving treatment within the comfort of your home and keep you away from the hospital. >> critical information, great to know, dr. vin gupta, thank you so much for being here and for you at home there is more for you at home there is more news ahead, you're [music playing] subject 1: cancer is a long journey. it's overwhelming, but you just have to put your mind to it and fight. subject 2: it doesn't feel good because you can't play outside with other children. subject 3: as a parent, it is your job to protect your family.

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with more concentrated power because the only thing dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz winter warriors with alka-seltzer plus. hi, everyone. this is "the fast forward." i'm janelle wang. making it in the bay. contradictions about the bay area real estate market. real estate brokerage site zillow said home prices in san jose will drop next year. they say houses are too expensive. buyers will look elsewhere and that will lead to a drop in prices. they are predicting a 6.1% decrease in home values, which is the biggest in any major metropolitan area. real estate agents in the bay area disagree. they say demand is constant. prices are actually rising. they increased by 5% in november. the agents expect that to

continue into 2024. we will have more in the 4:30 newscast. today is nice and chilly in the bay area. be ready for more wet conditions coming soon. kari hall has more in our seven day forecast. >> as we get started with this first day of kwanza, we will see sunshine and dry conditions with our temperatures in the low 60s. we have to monitor the air quality on this spare the air alert day. that means no wood burning. over the next several days, the rain will be arriving with off and on showers from wednesday all the way through saturday, with some breaks in between. as we see the drier conditions coming in for the last day of the year, into the start of the new year, we will see highs in the low 60s. for san francisco, that rain may be coming in as early as late tonight and we will have more updates on the incoming rain over the next few days.

you may have a lot of them. let's talk about holiday leftovers. not the food. what do you do with the piles of cards, ribbon and mountains of wrapping paper? we asked chris chmura how to deal with holiday waste. >> we will use guidance from the city of san jose. start with bows and ribbons. all bows and ribbons cannot be recycled. they can be thrown in the trash. or you can save them and reuse them next year. wrapping paper is easy to reuse. well, some of it. we understand, not everyone's unwrapping technique is conducive for reuse next year. it's okay. san jose says aggressive unwrappers can recycle most wrapping paper. don't worry about the tape. it's fine in the recycle bin. the shiny stuff, wrapping paper

that's shiny or contains foil metallic cannot be recycles. same for tissue paper. it contains the wrong fibers for recycling. you have three choices. reuse it, trash it, or compost it. boxes, they are generally recyclable. flatten them down. that saves space and helps with sorting at the recycling center. gift bags are a mixed bag. most are recycrecyclable. the shiny ones are the problem. they are partly plastic and not recyclable. you can reuse or trash those. >> very good information. thank you. it's the first night of kwanzaa. san francisco is beginning the celebration. they kicked off the 18th annual celebration. it started at noon at san francisco's city hall. at 6:00 tonight, there's a performance by vivian green at the west bay conference center.

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ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq i'm craig melvin. and this is dateline daytime on nbc. long would you wait to get justice for a friend? he killed her. he needed to pay for it. craig melvin (voiceover): they'd been college roommates, super close, until that terrible night.