the air quality will also be improved throughout friday, saturday and sunday. up next, nightly news. >> happy thanksgiving, folks. on our broadcast tonight, the ripple effect on the busiest travel day of the year. on our broadcast tonight, the ripple effect, many all eyes are on. another delay in the rollout. a hollywood secret life. if it sounds like something out of the movies, that's because it is. and country roads. a man and his truck and a delivery route like none other in america. nightly news begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with brian

williams. god evening. it's almost here, but a lot of folks are legally going to have to work for it these last few hours before thanksgiving. it's because of a powerful storm in the east take its time sliding to the north, seen here from space, and big enough and hitting enough airports in cities to affect air travel from one end of the country to the other. take a look at the number of aircraft in the skies, just about 6,000 flights. a lot of them running way behind. the rush is bad fluff without the storm. and to be sure, it has hardly affected everybody. this is phoenix, arizona. this picture won't help at all if your flight into philly just got canceled. we begin with tom costello at the airport in washington. good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. cold here. we've had thousands of delays. those numbers expected to build a bit throughout the night.

but high wind, heavy rain, some snow, it's been a truch russ day of travel for many people. tens of millions of people on the road. and for many, it's been bumper to bumper. in charlotte, some folks got out, making a mad dash for the airport. up and down the east coast, weather has dominated the local newscasts. on the i-95 traffic map, a lot of green, but also red delays around washington and philly, including a deadly crash early this morning on a flooded section of i-76. >> what i'm going to do is, he should be here within a half hour. >> reporter: in new york, highway help trucks have been out all day while amtrak trains and stations are packed. meanwhile, with freezing rain, airports as far south as knoxville were going heavy with the de-icing today.

icy rain and high winds lit up the misery map today. new york, d.c., atlanta, the most affected airports. on my flight, the wind made for a very bumpy ride. the turbulence really picked up. >> the aircraft is leaving on time. >> reporter: on the ground at jet blue's command center, it was mainly smooth sailing on their plights. >> this area is some of the most challenging to operate in. >> reporter: heavy snow fell in upstate new york leading to power outages in rochester. even more snow in western michigan. but beautiful in denver and san diego. while back at the pittsburgh airport, chad returns from a business trip. >> i was able to get an early flight out. i was happy to be home. >> reporter: just in time for thanksgiving. a little bit of good news also.

if you're driving, gas prices are down 49 cents from their peak. so a little more change in your pocket. nice time of year for that to happen. >> tom costello starting us off. thanks. and to the weather center we go. janis, everybody wants to know when we can say good bye to this. >> new england is seeing the heaviest rain right now. back through upstate new york we're even seeing a little bit of light it snow. but otherwise we're on the southern end of the storm. it will continue to exit the area as we go through the rest of this evening. but then we have to deal with the winds. and we're expecting gusts around 34 miles per hour here in new york city in the morning. that as a big concern for the macy's thanksgiving day parade

large balloon. they won't be able to go up if the wind's in excess of 20 miles per hour. 15 in new york city. you've got to layer up. as we track the storm system, there's still going to be lake-effect snows across the great lakes, back into michigan, parts of upstate new york. otherwise the weather's pretty quiet across the country as we go through thursday. it should be nice and sun ony i most spots. on sunday, you'll find t temperatures in the 40s. and it's dry and sunny, that's good news considering what so many people had to deal with to get where they're going. let's check in on the chances that the balloons will get clearance to take off and be allowed to fly in the macy's

thanksgiving day parade. this is inflation night right along new york's central park where they blow the balloons up on thanksgiving eve. stephan stephanie gosk is there for us. >> reporter: you have people coming out here the night before checking out the balloons. you see snoopy looking pretty good. all sorts of characters. joy and the balloons, helium filled. right now they're good, but it could be difficult tomorrow morning. there have been accidents in the past with high winds. that's what the forecast is calling for tomorrow. and there are some rules that say that if there are sustained winds of 23 miles per hour you or more they will have to ground this entire fleet. that decision isn't made until just before the parade begins at 9:00. but children everywhere, don't

despair, that other great draw for the parade is not in jeopardy. santa claus isn't afraid of a little wind. >> rainy cold night along central park. balloons or no, the parade will come on tomorrow morning. even before all the problems with the health care website, the obama white house has been counsell counting on a surge of signups this weekend and beyond. the idea was to hear the president tell it, thanksgiving dinner table, families would discuss it and persuade those young, healthy family members to sign up. now the hope is any kind of surge won't crash the site which is working better, but it's still fragile. there's a new set back for small businesses trying to sign up their employees. kristin welker has more on that end of the story.

>> reporter: today's announcement is technically problematic because it comes a few days before the deadline in which the president said the website would be working well. and now on the eve of thanksgivi thanksgiving, a new problem. the white house chose to release more bad news about healthcare.gov. the administration announced small businesses will have to wait a year before they can use the federal website to enroll their workers in health insurance through a program called shop. those with 50 or fewer employee also have to seen up the old-fashioned way. >> small businesses will be able to enroll directly through a shop plan and get qualified tor a tax kritd aftcredit after the. >> reporter: most small businesses already use brokers and agents.

>> you need to talk to your agent and figure it out. and that's daunting and insulting, and it adds to an uncertainty that's already a problem in this sector. >> reporter: republicans pounced. john boehner released a statement that reads in part, the president bit off more than he can chew with this health care law and small businesses are now forced to bear the consequences. some acknowledge today this latest set back makes it tough for them to defend it. >> you know, disappointment. we'll have to get past it because the overall project is too important to allow ourselves to be discouraged. >> reporter: but at the steakhouse in new york city the own says he's lost. >> it's a disaster. and very confusing. it's scaring not only individuals, but it's scaring companies. in my opinion, it's a jobs killer. >> reporter: now the administration says tech experts will work through the holiday

weekend to try to get the website moving smoothly by december 1. the goal was to have 50,000 users at one time. officials say they are on track to do that. still ahead for us tonight, spy games. the admission from the billionaire producer behind pretty woman and fight club and a string of other films about his double life. and later, wide open spaces, an old pickup and the remarkable postman on the longest delivery route in america. our game yesterday!merica.st of asthma doesn't affect my job... you were out sick last week. my asthma doesn't bother my family... you coughed all through our date night! i hardly use my rescue inhaler at all. what did you say? how about - every day? coping with asthma isn't controlling it. test your level of control at asthma.com,

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broadcast. >> reporter: he's a legendary hollywood producer, everything from pretty woman to fight club. to the current hit, 12 years a slave. he also produced denero in the king of comedy. but he now concedes what hollywood has long suspected. he was aes raley spy. >> i did this for my country and i'm proud of it. >> reporter: his country is israel, where he is still a citizen and an undercover agent. >> james bond, wow. very exciting. >> he told me that he was an israeli and that he, of course, would do these things for his country. something with the little, the things that trigger -- >> reporter: biographers say

that those that trigger things were a secret program israel has always denied. he was first recruited to build the military by perez. he says his business partner was the late actor and director sidney pollack of tootsie fame. they needed to appoint somebody to head up this relationship, which is mostly covert, clandestine. and they found a young man who was a very outgoing, very successf successful. >> reporter: he is celebrated as a hero back home. >> he's always remembered his country, remembered his roots. >> reporter: and now he has finally come in from the cold. >> it definitely has an argo quality. and it has a little bit of a

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♪ tracy when i'm with you something you do bounces me off the ceiling ♪ last night we did a story about a woman named happy last night we did a story about a woman named happy thanksgiving. we went on to say hippy parents have fun with names instead of opting for conventional names like tracy. we heard from several tracys

overnight insisting they weren't traditional. from morgan to chapman, that are thousands of tracys out there. say nothing of the cities and towns named tracy in at least six u.s. states and more in canada and france. last night's tracy mention was specifically aimed at our own tracy, tracy lyons among the great and completely unconventional tracys of all time. lindsey vonn has talked about her injury. she has a partial acl tear in her right knee. she said normally she'd stop competing to have it repaired. but she's hoping to compete next week. she's the most decorated female skier in the history of the sport. >> in february when i crashed, i had a lot of time.

so i had enough time to be sad, disappointed and then get motivated. i don't have time for that now. i have to be motivated. i have to be ready. and sochi is the thing that's driving me. if i didn't have sochi, i'd most likely have an acl reconstruction and be out for the rest of the season. sochi is what's at the forefront of my mind and keeps me going. >> the winter games begin in 11 weeks. in a town that welcomes good news, newtown, connecticut has good news. the nighthawks have gone 12-0. after a season dedicated to the victims at the grammer schoar so many of them attended. a few days back we brought you a report from richard engle in afghanistan, the story of a young boy badly injured in a

bombing. his home is far from his school, and his family have no way to get him to school in his wheelchair. thanks to the generosity of a nightly news viewer, that young man can now continue his physical therapy while attending the international school of kabul. and richard engle is planning to be with american troops in afghanistan. the pentagon is supplying 45,000 meals, trying to make shower that everybody who is deployed gets a hot meal. we hope you remember them all at your own thanksgiving table. turkeys are in the news generally tonight. starting with the annual turkey pardon at the white house. the turkeys chosen to be spared

g get to live their lives out on a farm. just like the americans eating them, turkeys have gotten bigger over the years. in 1980, the average live bird weighed 19 pounds, now they've ballooned closer to 30. the pizza industry reports that tonight is the second biggest day for pizza sales behind super bowl sunday. a charity last night. yes, that's taylor swift and bon jovi, but the most important thing to see here is prince william singing living on a prayer. we have put the entire video on the website tonight. hanukkah falls on thanksgiving this year. the first time since 1888. it starts at sundown and ends

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finally here tonight, as always, the holiday season is finally here tonight, the holiday season is the busy season for the u.s. postal service. says it's ready to deliver holiday greetings and gifts to 152 million addresses this season. and kevin tibble takes us to visit one man. >> reporter: as bleak as they are beautiful, these windswept flatlands, jim ed rises, does his 50 sit ups and kisses wife susan, a teacher, good-bye. he heads out into the elements as vital as the rain in this rural corner of america. >> good mornings, jim ed. >> no mail today? >> no bills.

>> as you've figured out, jim ed is the postman. >> do you hate junction mail more than die? >> yeah. >> it's also worth mentioning, jim ed has the longest route in the nation. 187 miles a day, 198 stops. a lot of miles on the ford ranger. >> you see? 295,000. >> 295,000 miles. still going strong. >> yep. >> reporter: jim ed says he's still going strong too. he sends about 9 hours a day sitting in the middle. don't try this at home. for this occasion he lets a beginner in the truck. >> neither rain nor sleet nor green horn. >> nbc. >> reporter: he sees deer,

coyotes, even rattlesnakes and families in hard times. >> i try to help out when i can, a lot of them. >> reporter: there's a lot of time to think on these dusty roads. and at 72, he even thinks about hanging it up. but not quite yet. >> i was raised on a farm, i guess that's why i like to work. i don't know. i worked from the time i was 3 years old till 18 when i lost my dad. >> reporter: going down the road means a lot more than just delivering the mail. nbc new, somewhere near mangum, oklahoma. i'm brian williams. we hope you can join us here tomorrow night. if you're eating or gathering with your family, we understand. most of all, please have a happy thanksgiving and please remember all those in uniform overseas. good night.

>> another rush is on. it could be a long journey for a lot of people. the night for the thanksgiving commute. a live look in emoriville. you see heavy traffic in both directions. oak 880. almost looks exactly the same. >> the junction of 280 and 17. this is in san jose. it's estimated more than 40 million caliifornians will be driving during this thanksgiving holiday.

>> be glad you're not headed to los angeles. more traffic than usual in l.a. it's a double mess tonight. from the roads to the sky, so far, roads have been pain free, thanksgiving commute here in the bay area, at least when it comes to travel. >> yeah. and everyone has been pleased when it gets to sfo. very few flight delays all day long. still at this hour, the biggest hurdle is going to be if you're planning on parking at the airport, long-term parking is full. much of the short-term parking is almost full. it's likely to stay that way for several days. keep that in mind as you drive to the airport. look over here at security. this is the pretty unbelievable thing, you can base cli walk up, hand them your boarding pass and get right on a plane. the two best words at sfo today could be found all over "on time." >> i actually expected worse.