petraeus resigns, the stunning announcement by the director of the cia who happens to be one of this nations's most celebrated military veterans stepping down as he discloses an extramarital affair. and cliffhanger, everybody's taxes could go up on january one, unless there is a deal the cut spending and raise taxes on the wealthy plus, a rare show of emotion the day after the election. and scaling back one of of the nation's landmark civil rights laws. and making a difference, look who is helping the folks hardest hit on the east coast, the same folks who know the most about what it is like. nightly news begins now. good evening. he is the most prominent and best-known general of the modern era, david

petraeus as a four-star u.s. army veteran petraeus, with so much over the combat strategy over the past ten days. a four-star veteran, when rumors surfaced he may be stepping down as head of the cia, some speculated he was running for president. instead, he announced he would step down because of an extramarital affair. at a time when the cia was under fire for all it didn't know about the attack on benghazi, it is a huge step for the newly re-elected president, and a profound personal failing for an officer who has given so much to his country. we begin tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell who broke the story, in our d.c. news room. >> reporter: good evening, his resignation because of an extramarital affair sent shock waves through the administration and everyone who knew his record of stellar service. the cia has been under fire, but

this had nothing to do with benghazi or politics. it was entirely personal. he was a four-star, the best known warrior of his generation, leader of combat forces in iraq and afghanistan before his commander-in-chief asked him to retire from the military and leave the cia. >> i have no doubt that director petraeus will guide our intelligence officials as they continue to adapt. >> i feel deeply if confirmed, to continue the endeavors which so many have given so much. >> reporter: but today, he announced after being married for 37 years, i showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in the extramarital affair. such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and a leader of an organization such as ours it was a stunning fall from grace, david petraeus had rocketed to the top of the military, a distinguished cadet, who married holly, the daughter of the military academy

superintendent, father of two a doctor from princeton superintendent, father of two including a son who recently returned from active duty. >> as you notice, my wife, holly, is with me here today, she has hung tough. while i have been deployed since 9/11. >> reporter: holly is a part of the finance bureau, working there with elizabeth warren. >> financial readiness is essential to mission readiness. >> earlier this year, david petraeus was the subject of another biography by paula broadwell. another west point graduate, a doctor he met at harvard >> when i was in kabul, i would do a lot of interviews on runs. >> reporter: nbc news confirmed that the fbi opened investigations into whether or not broadwell had access to e-mails or other computer information. the white house learned of the situation wednesday, say sources. officials say petraeus called and asked to see the president thursday, acknowledged the situation and offered to resign. the president asked him for 24 hours to consider the situation.

today, while juggling the economic speech, he called and thanked him for extraordinary service to the united states for decades, and wishing him and his family the very best. at this difficult time >> from their perspective, the trust simply was lost. and you can't have a cia director when there is not perfect trust. >> reporter: diane feinstein called it an enormous loss, saying i wish he had not done it, but i understand. i respect his decision taking over, the highly respected deputy, michael moral. feinstein will hold intelligence hearings on benghazi next week, but now, petraeus will not have to testify general petraeus is not under investigation, and they don't expect the inquiry will reach criminal charges, we tried to reach paula broadwell, unsuccessfully. andrea mitchell with us here today, and u.s. army colonel,

jack jacobs. jack, it is impossible to be a member of the military establishment. it is impossible to be a journalist who has covered these wars going back ten years and not know dave petraeus, as you and i both do, soldier, scholar, princeton, his wife is as much a member of the military families, as much as david. with active duty and yet, this staggering incident. >> yes, this is something held both in a high regard, making a tremendous contribution to the defense of the public. i have known general petraeus since he was a cadet at west point when i was teaching in the department of social sciences. and his wife, holly, was the daughter of the superintendent, general nolton

exceptional people, making great contributions, making it all the more painful. >> when you're a cia director and something like this happens in your personal life i guess it makes you vulnerable and perhaps even blackmailable. >> yes, there is another lesson here, too, when there is bad news, the best time to get it out is at the very beginning. bad news doesn't get better with age. i am surprised the president took 24 hours to accept the resignation, dragged out, it would have been much, much worse. it's the best thing for the country thank you, the news about general petraeus, overshadowed what was the president's first appearance since his re-election tuesday to talk about this fiscal cliff, and what to do about it. chuck todd was more >> reporter: good evening, brian, for two years, the house republicans have clashed over the debt, postponing any agreement, hoping the voters

would deliver the clarity. wellthey delivered the status quo, and both sides delivered the same message, it is time for compromise. in front of a campaign-like backdrop, to deliver the plea for bipartisan ship before a friendly audience, the president laid down a marker with the republicans on the so-called fiscal cliff in the white house. >> the american people voted for action, not politics as usual, to focus on your jobs, not ours, in that spirit i invited both leaders to the white house next week to build consensus. >> reporter: earlier in the day, speaker john boehner also sounded a kumbaya theme. >> i am proposing a fiscal cliff together to be averted >> reporter: that gets its name, because at the end of the year if congress does nothing, bush taxes expire, the payroll tax

cut expires, emergency unemployment benefits end and $984 billion in automatic cuts and defense and domestic budgets are triggered. they estimate that would cause the economy to take a significant hit, raising unemployment to 9.1% by the end of next year. but the real political sticking point is taxes. the president called on congress to make tax cuts for people making less than $200,000, and making less than $250,000, and drew a line in the sand. >> i refuse to accept any approach that is not balanced. and on tuesday night, we found out the majority of americans agree with my approach. >> reporter: the president was referring to the tuesday exit poll which indicated nearly 60% of voters would support higher taxes on the wealthy.çó and while john boehner hinted at some taxes going up, he also listed some conditions. >> and it is not like there is money in social security or medicare. this has to be dealt

with, so everything, everything on the revenue side and on the spending side has to be looked at. >> reporter: now brian, the white house says that social security shouldn't be a part of these negotiations. but i can tell you, republicans won't participate if social security is not. >> all right, chuck todd in the white house, thank you. there is a video of president obama getting wide circulation. it shows him tearfully addressing campaign staff at headquarters in chicago, at the end of a long and grueling campaign.ñr he tells the young staffers they are better than he was at their age. he tells them their experience will send them on their way for life. >> what you guys have done, the work that i'm doing, i am really proud of that. i am really proud of all of you. and -- and what you have just done? well, not allowing much time for

sentiment or reflection, the president woke up to this, this morning. the bloomberg business week, the reminder that the job he just got often ages people early. later today, supreme court saying it will plunge into a racially charged issue, whether to scale back the voting act, one of the most successful civil rights acts passed. our justice department correspondent, pete williams has more. at the court for us tonight, pete, good evening >> reporter: this is already looking at affirmative action, now it is considering whether or not to gut the voting rights law. here is the question, simply stated. has racial discrimination in the south gone away to the point that the key part of the voting rights act passed 47 years ago is no longer needed to assure access to the ballot box and to

give minorities a fair shot at getting elected? >> well. to ensure them the right to vote. the law was signed by president johnson in 1965 as martin luther king jr. watched and renewed four times since then, most recently in 2006, signed by president george w. bush. but with an african-american in the white house and more minorities in state houses and congress challengers say it is outdated. >> this is based on criteria that came from the 1964 presidential election. it is 47-48 years old. and the south has changed in that 48 years. it is not current, it is not relevant anymore. >> reporter: it requires states with a history of discrimination at the polls to get federal permission before changing any rules to the elections, no matter how small. the law applies to nine states, mostly in the south, and several others, nationwide, cities,

counties and other government areas ruling on a challenge to the law three years ago the supreme court sent a warning to congress that it needed to be updated. the new challenge comes from a part of birmingham. some of the proposed election changes have been blocked. but civil liberties groups say discrimination lives on in new forms in most areas covered by the law. >> what we've seen is the effort to block or dilute the minority voters has been more persistent. and adaptive >> reporter: the fact they agreed to hear the case is the sign the majority is prepared to greatly scale the law back. >> pete williams, at the supreme court in washington, thank you. when we continue along the way on a friday evening, frustration, and now real outrage with power still out for hundreds of thousands of people, 11 days after the big east coast storm.

a brief look at recovery in the harbor where the statue of liberty was re-lit after hurricane sandy hit days ago. they had to improvise this after the lighting was crippled. but think of this, after the power was out, that is the only amount of light around for hundreds of thousands of people there is still no electricity for thousands almost two weeks after sandy hit. for some, patience has turned to meltdown, nbc's stephanie gosk has more. on the power struggle tonight, good evening >> reporter: good evening, brian, well, the people who live on this street say the long island power company, lipa, showed up immediately to work on the downed power lines but have not been back since. and some say they could be in the dark until thanksgiving.

>> we need relief. >> reporter: 11 days after the lights went out in oceanside, long island, residents are angry. >> where is lipa? >> reporter: and the county's chief wants to put the military in charge of restoring power. >> lipa management has once again fallen down on the job. >> send in the national guard, we are fed up. >> reporter: the power company, lipa, says it can't restore power until flood-damaged homes are inspected. they were criticized for an out-dated emergency response last year after eye irene plan, some say, with no system to predict the situation. lipa did not respond to repeated requests for comment the new york governor has called the delay a failure. >> you have people without power for a very long time, it has gotten cold.

it is uncomfortable, yes, we're understanding but we're also impatient. and we want more and we want it faster. >> reporter: many new york residents are documenting what are sometimes dangerous conditions. 200 elderly tenants in this rockaway high rise were virtually ignored until today, when the national guard showed up. >> we are kind of under-played, i think this peninsula is very much forgotten about. >> reporter: across the river in new jersey, governor chris christie toured the damaged areas and asked the people without power to be patient. >> life will be back for most of new jersey, to normal, come sunday. >> reporter: at the center, they expected to restore power to the rest of their new york customers without flood damage by this weekend. >> five times the size, five times the amount of damage and customers affected.

it has just been an unbelievable effort to try to get the customers' power back. >> reporter: there are some energy experts that say the power grid nationally could be protected and improved, but it will be expensive. after this storm in places like this there is going to be a large group of people that say whatever the cost, it is worth it. >> we'll be doing some reporting on that power grid but it won't help the people in the dark, and cold stephanie gosk, thank you. on long island, new york up next here, knighthood to a man who is no stranger to royalty.

test

. kenneth branagh is now sir kenneth, thank you very much, queen elizabeth could have just lopped off his head with a twitch of her sword and lee macphail has died, the oldest member of the

baseball hall of fame. he and his dad were the only son and father pair in the hall of fame. he was 95. a recipient of the medal of honor died, colonel james l. stone, given the medal, for his bravery under fire by chinese forces while badly wounded during the korean war colonel stone was 89 years old. his death leaves 88 recipients of the medal of honor. and herbert carter has died he wind -- was one of the 33 original tuskegee airmen his death follows that of his wife of 70 years. herbert carter was 95. and up next, among the storm victims, it takes one to know what the others are going through. and tonight some of them are making a big difference.

finally this friday night, our making a difference report, think about how much the suffering on the east coast following hurricane sandy has reminded us of other disasters, from hurricane katrina, to joplin, now think of this.

the people in all three of those places are reaching out to help those suffering in those regions tonight. tonight, their story from janet shamlian. >> reporter: hundreds of miles from the despair, everything from diapers to batteries, collected from the people of louisiana, meant for people in new jersey. >> we know what they're suffering in new jersey, we just wanted to do something to help. >> reporter: the effort started simply, at first, just messages of support. like these from hurricane katrina survivors, images that quickly went viral, then, more help. >> some of the first people we saw down here were firefighters from new york, the new york police department and folks from new jersey. everybody came down here and helped us, it is time to help everybody back. >> reporter: there is a similar feeling from joplin, missouri, which was devastated by the tornado. even people living in the fema trailers, the community wanted

to help. >> it brought back a lot of memories. >> reporter: lisa dunn and her family lost their home, and relied on donations that poured into the city. now the tables are turned, as lisa delivers warm blankets and clothing to the jersey shore. >> we didn't know what to do or where to go, and people all over the country just helped us with supplies, and people to help. and how can you not pay that forward? >> reporter: tuscaloosa also remembered the kindness of people. after their tornado they're sending a truckload of medical supplies to staten island >> the very first amount of tarps we got, was the original donation from a woman in new york state. for us not to give that back, we couldn't sleep. >> reporter: and giving comes from all ages, these messages from the fourth-graders, sent with love, from the big easy to the big apple. janet shamlian, new orleans.

another thing, the mayor of new orleans told me today on top of a big benefit concert they're having in new orleans, they're sending trucks with food and chefs up here, because as the mayor put it, the people who were hit so hard deserve to do -- to eat good food the way they make it in new orleans, that is our broadcast for this week and for this friday night. thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, lester holt will be here with you this weekend. we of course hope to see you right back here on monday night. meanwhile, please have a good weekend. good night.

right now at 6:00 -- cooling down. light dusting of snow. jeff ranieri has your weekend forecast ahead. >> fund raising program for local schools takes a hit when some advertising is stolen. live in redwood city. i will have details on this coming up. >> just into our newsroom, new details on a possible suspect in a south bay homicide. good evening, thank you for joining us on this friday. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. we ago win with the weather. in the same week, record heat across the bay area to snow. mount hamilton got its first snowfall of the season today.