hey, jimmy, i'll watch tonight, [ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" -- a holiday tradition. macy's larger than life balloons are ready to fly in the annual thanksgiving day parade. hitting the road. millions of americans are traveling this weekend despite pesky delays and pricey fares. and wild turkey. find out how this bird ran afoul of the law. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a very happy thanksgiving to all of you at home.

one of the highlights of this holiday will no doubt be the 85th annual macy's thanksgiving day parade. the balloons are inflated, soon the crowds will be gathering and nbc's michelle franzen is live along the parade route. good morning to you. it is starting to get a little more crowded. >> reporter: happy thanksgiving to you, lynn. we have a great start here. and here's a glimpse of the giant balloons taking their place today joining in the parade, one of the biggest to join the parade today, the newest one is sonic the hedgehog along with paul frank's jilius monkey. they will be joining hundreds of performers and volunteers who work year-round to make sure this tradition and latest trends go off without a hitch. the weather is beautiful, crisp, november day. we have sunny skies and the

winds are minimal. that's a big change from yesterday. during that balloon inflation night, another tradition where hundreds of new yorkers turn out to see those balloons take shape. but all the crew, all their hard work paying off this morning. as those balloons get ready to join the parade and the celebrities, tough broadway rockettes in line here as well as ceelo green and mary j. blige to name a few. more than 3.5 million turning out along the parade route, but the best seats could be at home. more than 50 million get ready to celebrate today. >> michelle franzen for us in new york city. thank you so much. have a great thanksgiving. and a reminder for you, if you are watching from home, the 85th annual macy's thanksgiving day parade hosted by our own ann curry and matt lauer kicks off at 9:00 here on your nbc station. if you are one of the estimated 42.5 million americans traveling this morning, hopefully you have made it to your destination, but

chances are it is easier to navigate the terminals today than yesterday. john hang has more on one of the busiest travel days of the year. >> reporter: on the road, rails and in the air, the crowds and lines started to build early and continue to grow throughout the day. >> i do this every year. you know what? you just get in the mindset that you have to go and do this, and you just keep a gooded a attitude and do what you need to do. >> reporter: more people are traveling -- >> i have never traveled on thanksgiving weekend so it is new to me. >> reporter: and prices are up. airfare prices are up, hotel prices are up. including at the pump, up an average 50 cents a gallon from thanksgiving last year. they're feeling the holiday rush on rails as well. >> if there was a super bowl for amtrak, this would be. we move approximately 77,000 people every wednesday.

today we'll probably move about 134,000 people. >> reporter: and most of the planes are more than 90% full as travelers try to get home for -- >> the food. no, no, i'm looking forward to hanging out with the family and, you know, catching up with everybody. >> reporter: but only after catching a thanksgiving ride. john yang, nbc news at o'hare airport in chicago. in other news we have disturbing new details in the child sex abuse scandal at penn state. the attorney for jerry sandusky has confirmed to a local news report that one of two new allegations being investigated involves one of sandusky's own family members and at least one involves a minor. in an e-mail to the media sandusky's attorney called the allegations ridiculous and unfounded, noting both were started after the initial report from the grand jury in this case. here's a look at the other stories making news early today in america. an iowa college student is in

hot water after apparently breaking into a mcdonald's to grill up some food. not a smart idea. surveillance cameras were rolling as the suspect cooked himself a burger and fries. he turned himself in after media outlets began showing the footage of the break-in. and this man learns no good deed goes unpunished. this man's iphone was stolen after he agreed to make a call for a chief thief. shocked by the brazen robbery, the victim stood frozen before running to his car to chase the suspect. he was not able to catch up. floodwaters in eastern pennsylvania left one driver in desperate need of rescue. the stranded motorist was forced to climb on top of his car to escape rising water. once spotted, rescuers used a raft to carry him to safety. finally, one turkey in georgia may have escaped the dinner table all on his own. police placed the bird in the back of a squad car after it wandered into a convenience store. the animal was kept there until animal control officers arrived.

authorities say if the turkey is not claimed, it will be sent to a bird sanctuary. dodging a major bullet there. for a look at your national and regional weather, let's go to bill karins with your thanksgiving day forecast. >> if it doesn't turn out well, i know where to find another. >> that's terrible. >> a side of gluten or something in there. good morning, everyone. i hope your morning is off to a great start. here's what we are dealing with as far as the radar goes. we are looking at some showers and rain moving up through central california. just a little bit of wet weather there between san francisco and sacramento. near redding we have had light rain, but this storm system is starting to die out a little bit, actually. the worst of the travel is not this morning but late today. another pretty sizable storm is going to be coming into the pacific northwest. right now radar is picking up showers, but this has a punch to it and it will blow snow levels,

too. if you are traveling through the passes later tonight into tomorrow morning, that's where it will be difficult here. we have winter storm warnings for those higher elevations. the cities, just a rain event for you. this is just one day after another. we have had pretty big storms lately. the rivers are pretty high, and we'll get another slug of moisture and rain on saturday into sunday. so there's going to be one day that we may get a break, and that could be friday afternoon. here's the first storm system that's weakening. there's the next one that's coming onto the map. it is a pretty good punch of moisture with it bringing chilly air with it on the backside. the thanksgiving forecast, on and off showers this morning, but the heavier rains later tonight in the northwest. just showers in san francisco, hopefullyornia is not bad either, temperatures still on the cool side. san diego with highs in the upper 50s to lower 60s.

well, the friday shopping forecast is coming up. >> thank you, bill. germany joins in on bad news, and why you probably weren't thankful for your turkey day grocery bill this year. plus, one woman is getting these celebrities to join her at the breakfast table. coming up, chiefs get a new quarterback, duke and kansas go down to the wire and what does the nhl and the macy's thanksgiving day parade have in co common? you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. a tragedy on this thanksgiving after a small plane carrying three adults and three children crashed into a mountain in arizona. the debris field, about 40 miles east of phoenix, could be seen in the rugged terrain where law enforcement officials say one child has been confirmed dead

and there are no signs of survivors. after 33 years of rule and months of bloody demonstrations, yemen's leader ali abdullah saleh has agreed to step down. he's the fourth leader to lose power in the arab spring uprising this year. one scene is the hair-apparent to news corp's business, james murdoch resigned from a series of positions overseeing his father's english newspapers. his first public resignation since the phone-hacking scandal broke. and the first family pitched in at a food bank at the nation's capital handing out fwroshry bags full of healthy treats for needy families ahead of this thanksgiving day. u.s. markets are closed for the thanksgiving holiday but he's an early look at how they ended yesterday. the dow closed at 11,257 after dropping 236 points. the s&p slid 26 points. the nasdaq lost 61. let's take a look at overseas

trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei lost 149 points but in hong kong the hang seng was up 70. as many of you give thanks today, some nervous traders will be checking on the latest developments overseas. understood scoring the severity of europe's debt crisis, experts are calling yesterday disappointing sales of german bonds, quote, disastrous. europe's most stable economy could be undermined by the spreading economic crisis. on the street, financials are the greatest exposure to european debt were hit the hardest. jpmorgan dropped 3.5% while citigroup was down 4%. meanwhile, pushing the price of crude down sharply, china's weakest manufacturing report in three years fueled fears of dwindling energy demands. one of the day's few bright spots came from farm equipment maker deere, a 20% jump in sales drove up their quarterly profit 46%. where else, moody's warned

washington that the nation's drop credit rating could be in jeopardy if congress backs off automatic cuts triggered by the super committee's failure to slash more than a trillion dollars from the nation's deficit. microsoft has signed a nondisclosure agreement with yahoo! allowing it to take a closer look at the struggling search engine's books. the latest sign microsoft could be a potential buyer if yahoo!'s board decides to sell. finally, if you were in sticker shock at the checkout after your thanksgiving grocery shopping this year, you are not alone. the price of a thanksgiving dinner has climbed by the highest amount in 20 years. not good news there. coming up, the chiefs pick up kyle orton and the nhl represents. plus, a thrilling finish between duke and kansas at the maui invitational. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. it looks like a nice thanksgiving day, the exception the pacific northwest where it's going to be stormy all weekend long. your forecast is coming up.

you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports the blue devils were the big ones after they took it down to the wire with a win over kansas. here's fred roggin with a look

at all your sports headlines. >> good morning, happy thanksgiving. it may be thanksgiving, but last night felt like march madness. maui invitational, final between duke and kansas down to the wire. elijah johnson knocked down the three to give the jayhawks the lead. duke came back, tyler thornton from the corner, biggest shot of his college career. blue devils on top 63-61. after a kansas turnover, thornton again, the shot clock winding down, threw up a prayer and it was answered. duke is a perfect 15-0 in hawaii. they won the tournament 68-61. on tuesday memphis needed double overtime to squeak by tennessee. yesterday not quite as fortunate. georgetown tied it in the final seconds forcing overtime. clark had 17 in the first half and finished with a team high 26. he buried the three-pointer late. georgetown pulled off the upset 91-88 in o.t. football didn't take long for kyle orton to find a job.

the chiefs claim him as quarterback replacing matt cassle. hockey, the blues kept sidney crosby under wraps last night. held scoreless and penguins could have used him. peter angelo scored it in overtime. the blues won it 3-2. islanders blew a two-goal lead against the flyers. danielle briel scored and won the game in overtime. flyers rallied to win 4-3. did you see a trend here? caps and jets also needed o.t. chimera on the door step, a slam dunk, his second of the game. caps won it 4-3 in o.t. finally there will be ice in hand hat tan for today's thanksgiving day parade. the nhl has its own float. it features a hockey rink and 25-foot tall turkey as a goalie, all part of the nhl's first thanksgiving showdown tomorrow afternoon between the red wings and bruins. never has a float looked so cool. that's your early look at sports on "early today." truly have a great thanksgiving. i'm fred roggin. how celebrities are giving

back this thanksgiving day, and why the biebs' paternity test isn't good enough for his accuser. plus, millions of turkeys will grace tables across the america. coming up, meet the lucky ones that got a pass from the highest office. you're watching "early today. "

if you are just joining us,

a great thanksgiving day to you. we have a storm system out there, so one piece of advice is if you are traveling through snoqualmie pass up in washington state, late today into tonight you'll bet getting snow. that's the only word of advice. everyone else is dealing with occasional showers. it won't be all that bad. the worst of it is in washington state later today. as we go towards tomorrow, we try to get the storm system a little further inland. salt lake city to bouz zee will deal with snow at higher elevations. if you are watching us in you jean, oregon, participate in a 5k walk or run. cheer on the runners and enjoy goodies and other prizes. that's your pacific event of the day. >> thank you for the vote of confidence. >> you can go 3.2 miles, i think you could. >> maybe, maybe not. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. justin bieber may be heading back to the lab.

say it isn't so. the woman wants a dna test, just not the one he took last friday. the woman's lawyer tells the new york daily news she and her baby deserve to be present while the test is done. bieber stated repeatedly he's never met the woman much less had a backstage affair with her. kim kardashian and jennifer love hewitt joined kirk douglas wednesday at a thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. the l.a. event was hosted by the 95-year-old actor and his wife for the seventh straight year. hundreds of volunteers from the entertainment industry were also on hand. a chicago woman is taking her obsession with hollywood celebrities to new heights by creating movie star portraits out of pancakes. why not? she says each one can take hours to complete. there's the biebs. we love it. her specialties include ryan gosling, justin bieber, stephen colbert and kelly ripa. i'm impressed.

if that's how you get ryan gosling to show up -- >> my pancake skills are limited to the mickey mouse. it is cute. >> that's better than mine, sort of like a blob. this comes to us from washington, d.c. where the president made sure one pair of bird won't be anywhere near the sides of mashed potatoes and stuffing today. with the wave of his hand president obama saved two turkeys from becoming part of a thanksgiving feast. his daughters were in attendance, and the president continued a 20-year tradition granting a reprieve to the birds at the white house ceremony. the birds named liberty and peace are headed to george washington's home in virginia where a life of leisure awaits. we want lives of leisure, come on. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today." this is your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in belgium, all your disney favorites kept it cool. the annual snow and ice festival celebrates the 20th anniversary of disneyland paris with sculptures depicting disney greats. from "the lion king" to an ice scene from "peter pan" artists took more than five weeks and 440,000 pounds of ice for all the fairy tale sculpture scenes. the sculptures must be kept at 14 degrees to keep from melting. in paris the christmas, it was illuminated in holiday lights foregoing traditional lighting.

an international contest urged competitors to refresh the avenue with a more futuristic design. the winner dressed the 588 trees in rings of light that sport over a million l.e.d. lights. well, who said only reindeer had a hold on being santa's escort? in south korea one rudolph became a red-nosed reindeer and caught a cold. they improvised using sheep instead. shining on their day in the spotlight, the sheep dressed to impress in christmas capes and chiming bells welcoming children to an amusement park with santa. can you imagine explaining that to your 2-year-old? here's the deal, it is not usually sheep but we are going with it this year. >> just put a red nose on it with a marker. >> that would work fine, but he wouldn't understand so well. time for an early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. the arab league is holding an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in cairo to discuss

the crisis in syria. the united nations says at least 3500 people have been killed during an eight-month crackdown on civilians as syrian leader bashar al assad tries to stay in power. black thursday is apparently the new black friday. some retailers are trying to get a jump on the holiday shopping season by opening their doors before midnight. and the 85th annual macy's thanksgiving day parade in new york kicks off this morning at 9 a.m. you can watch it right here on this nbc station. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. new details in the penn state scandal as jerry sandusky's lawyer confirms one of the new allegations of sex abuse is from a sandusky family member. and matt, ann and al report live from the macy's thanksgiving day parade. now keep it on this channel

for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a wonderful thanksgiving.