construction around here. thanks for joining us. nightly news is next. 68 million americans in the path. a massive system on the move tonight from west to east and a wild weekend ahead during one of the busiest travel times of the year. deadline surprise. with just days to go, the white house makes a big change to the health care law and it affects a lot of americans. damage control. late word from target tonight. what the company is doing after a massive data breach that has millions of customers on edge. and making a difference. the image of a young boy that moved so many people. now a young man inspiring others and paying it forward. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. i'm lester holt sitting in tonight for brian. on this friday before christmas, millions of americans are on the move. tonight it looks like a lot of grand holiday plans are running smack into the teeth of a big winter storm cutting its way across the country. from freezing rain and snow in the country's midsection, a tornado threat in the south to floods and ice storms in new england, some 68 million americans could be impacted on this critical travel weekend. we are already seeing some of the impact tonight. chicago's o'hare airport is experiencing more than 750 delays today. that's where we begin tonight with nbc's john yang. john? >> reporter: good evening, lester. it has been a messy day here at o'hare with 95 million americans expected to hit the road this holiday weekend. it is that the travel rush and the impact of the weather are just beginning. in topeka, kansas, and several other states today, roadways turned dangerous as light

drizzle quickly changed to ice. in washington state, a ten-car pileup. the massive storm covers at least 35 states and carries with it a little bit of everything -- heavy snow from oklahoma to wisconsin, as much as ten inches predicted through sunday. possible tornadoes with the highest risk tomorrow from texas to tennessee. flash flood watches across 11 states from texas to new york. ice storm warnings in parts of northern new england, even as record warmth is forecast elsewhere for sunday. as high as 80 in south carolina and 70 as far north as new york. >> what really worries me tornado-wise about this situation is, one, people don't usually expect tornadoes in december. two, they are going to be, in some cases, farther north than people expect them. >> reporter: it all adds up to potential travel misery from coast to coast. >> temperatures will be falling. >> possibly a couple of thunderstorms as the front makes its way through the area. >> the bridges, overpasses,

power lines, going to hang a lot of ice up there. >> reporter: already today flights leaving denver had to wait for de-icing before taking off a. this morning 15 inches of fresh snow outside the national weather service office in flagstaff, arizona. in chicago, just getting to o'hare was a challenge. >> it did take a while to get here because of the rain. >> reporter: in wisconsin a green bay packers tradition. about 600 fans shoveling out lambeau field for ten bucks an hour. here at o'hare, they are bracing for a messy weekend. a mix of rain, snow, and freezing rain. lester? >> thanks, john. janice huff joins us tonight from the weather center. how is this going to play out? >> the timing couldn't be worse for travellers with this being right before christmas. the storm is just getting going in west texas with heavy rain now moving into central sections of oklahoma. they've got ice storm warnings in effect for central oklahoma tonight and tomorrow. could see as much as a half inch

of ice there. in the meantime, here is the tracking and the timing of everything. thunderstorms will start to break out around midnight saturday just west of dallas, and heavy rain will start spreading into the ohio valley, parts of southern illinois. all the ice will spread from oklahoma into central sections of missouri as well. then we'll see thunderstorms setting up early saturday morning just west of memphis and moving eastward into tennessee, parts of alabama. this is where we could see the possibly tornadoes on saturday evening and that pushes to atlanta on sunday evening. meanwhile snow from chicago to the great lakes and the ice storm across northern new england with record high temperatures on sunday around new york city close to 70 degrees. lester, back to you. >> janice huff in new york with us. janice, thanks. now to the late word from retail giant target after a massive data breach that exposed up to 40 million customers to identity theft. tonight the first lawsuit has been filed. target's ceo is apologizing and the company is in full damage control mode, assuring shoppers they won't be held responsible for any fraud.

working to woo back customers who are understandably on edge. we get our report tonight from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: tonight target is offering a 10% discount to its customers. but it may not be enough for angry, frustrated shoppers who aren't mincing words on the retailer's facebook page. one writes, thanks for failing us, target. others say they can't get through on the phone to cancel their target issued credit card known as red cards. this is about the worst customer service i have ever seen. completely ridiculous. target said it will increase capacity online and in call centers. while more customers are finding suspicious charges. >> they were all way more than i would spend in one go. over $60, $80, $90 and a couple were declined. >> reporter: there are signs of trouble among loyal shoppers. >> it scares me to death. i shop at target almost daily. >> reporter: in an e-mail to

customers, target expresses regret for the inconvenience and ensuring steps are being taken to help prevent incidents of this kind in the future. >> the clock is ticking. every second counts in terms of people going into their stores. having people not trust your store enough to spend that money really will not bode well for that retailer. >> reporter: financial experts point out that the latest data breach is really a wake-up call for everyone. here are tips for people who believe they are victims of fraud. cancel your card or change your account number. if you think your identity may have been stolen, put a freeze on your credit report so no one can open a fraudulent account. and remember, credit cards are safer, but if you have to use that debit card, choose the credit option instead of the debit option. avoid using the four-digit pin. cash is really the safest. but credit and debit cards are here to stay. consumers, banks, and stores will all have to find better ways to protect them. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york.

you can include president obama in the millions of americans getting away tonight for their holiday vacation. the first family is heading for hawaii. before he left the president held his last news conference of the year. a long one to close the book on a pretty tough year. political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd was there. he joins us tonight from the white house. hey, chuck. >> reporter: hey, lester. from the first words he uttered it was clear the president wasn't just looking forward to the hawaii vacation, but getting this entire year in the rearview mirror mirror. he was peppered with questions about low poll numbers and was asked if he believed this was the worst year of his presidency. there were questions he simply deflected. instead he tried to sell the idea that 2014 will be a better year for him, the country, and the economy in particular. he did hint he was going to reform how the nsa gathers phone and internet data, but he didn't announce anything official. his most substantive answers were on health care. he called the website rollout his biggest mistake of the year but defended the changes his administration continues to make

arguing they do not under mine the credibility of the law. bottom line, and we can all relate to this, the president had that "it's my last day before vacation, and i can't wait to leave" demean nor about him. >> a lot of us get that. chuck todd, thanks very much. and about that latest change, the one chuck mentioned, that affects people who receive cancellation notices, nbc's kristen welker explains how it works and why there is pushback. >> reporter: the latest last-minute change by the obama administration -- millions of americans who got cancellation notices from their insurance companies now have the option to buy cheap, bare bones policies and could opt out of the coverage all together without penalty. >> you could argue you may as well have delayed the mandate. >> that's not true. we are talking about a specific population that received cancellation notices from insurance companies. >> reporter: that population?

an estimated 3.5 million people, some who were forced to buy more expensive plans because their policies didn't comply with the new law. now those with cancelled plans can apply for a hardship exemption and get catastrophic coverage. that's a basic plan which was originally only available to people under 30 and those with serious financial hardships. today, backlash from the insurance companies. >> by allowing these people to be able to purchase coverage that's separate from the marketplace or opt out all together could result in higher costs for consumers purchasing coverage. >> reporter: there was also confusion at a sign-in center today in silver springs, maryland, where workers scrambled to make sense of this latest change. >> it can be challenging as different parts of the law change on a weekly basis or sometimes even on a daily basis. >> reporter: the white house says it has beefed up staff at call-in centers across the country to help people navigate the system. there are now 12,000 trained representatives at 17 sites.

still, the rocky health care rollout has pushed the president's disapproval rating to its highest point ever. today he attempted to turn the page. >> when you try to do something this big affecting this many people, it's going to be hard. >> reporter: now on wednesday a group of democratic senators who are also facing political pressure because of the rocky rollout of the health care law urged the president to make this change. it only took him one day to comply. mr. obama announced today more than a million people have now enrolled through the exchanges. lester? >> kristen welker at the white house, thank you. overseas tonight to london where all 52 of london's famous but aging west end theaters got inspections today after the ceiling collapsed at the apollo theater last night. these photos were taken by one theater goer. you can see plaster and planks of wood and the mayhem as people ran for the exits. 79 people in all were injured.

tonight authorities say they found no other problems at the other theaters. in syria we have been reminded all this week of some of the horrors of the nearly 3-year-old civil war. chemical weapons, barrel bombs, a growing refugee crisis. tonight our correspondent in damascus tells us there is another deadly consequence of this war. starvation. and we should tell you it's hard to watch. [ screaming ] >> reporter: starving children, images from the suburbs of damascus under siege, sending a desperate message. they are hungry for any meal. thirsty for clean water. in this neighborhood, 11 women and children reportedly died of hunger in just one month. this activist lives here. >> as you can see, this is one of the main streets. the assad shelling and bombardment didn't leave anything. we have over 8,000 civilians

left living. >> reporter: in another suburb where hundreds died in a chemical attack last august, people are cut off and face hunger so bad they use rotten seeds to make bread. >> the assad regime is using starvation as a weapon of war. this is something much, much worse than sarin and using chemical weapons. >> reporter: this mother says there is not enough food for her child. no sugar, no rice, nothing. an estimated quarter million civilians are going hungry on both sides of this war. communities in northern syria have been cut off by armed rebels. >> trying to persuade the government and the opposition groups to allow us to go where the needs are. so far we have not been able to. >> reporter: they are desperate for bread. just a few miles away we saw

bakeries filled with bread. markets full of fresh produce. controlled by president assad in this part of damascus, families are struggling. everything is more expensive. but at least they have food. in the suburbs under siege, people make the most of the little they have using a bike to recharge batteries, relying on firewood for heat. as the fighting drags on, leaving the innocent trapped, hungry, just trying to survive. keir simmons, nbc news, damascus. still ahead tonight, the countdown to a high stakes, high risk mission in space. and up next, the underground mystery that has baffled a big american city. a lot of folks wondering what lies beneath.

a there is something weird

going on underground in one of america's big cities. underneath the streets of seattle something is standing in the way of progress, but what is

it? nbc's joe fryer has our report. >> reporter: in a city known for a giant needle that stretches toward space, everyone is now talking about a massive machine stuck beneath the ground. >> the fact that so many people are focused right now on something underneath the streets i think is fascinating. >> reporter: they call her bertha, measuring 57 feet in diameter, she's boring a tunnel beneath seattle to replace an aging road along the water front. 1,000 feet into the 9,000 feet journey, bertha came to a grinding halt. >> we are puzzled about what's preventing us from moving forward. >> reporter: there is speculation about what stopped bertha from boring. >> it could be jimmy hoffa, it might be the sasquatch. >> spaceships? >> it could be ancient egyptians for all i know. >> reporter: it brings us to the museum of history. so the answer might be in this room. >> the answer might be in this very room. >> reporter: historian lorraine mcconnachey takes us back to the blue collar roots back in the

mid-1800s. >> where bertha is now was water. >> reporter: today it's buried by layers of fill leaving some to bonder if bertha's road block comes from seattle's past. >> it could be a locomotive. it could be a steam engine. it could be a boiler. we really don't know what's under there. >> reporter: the process is underway to figure out what's down there. but getting there won't be easy. in fact, it could take weeks to solve the problem. they're currently digging wells to reduce pressure around bertha so it's safe for crews to go down and explore. because bertha is so deep, odds favor a natural blockage like a glacial boulder. >> once we get down there, if it is a boulder, we've got equipment and tools to break it up manually. >> reporter: for historians captivated by the mystery bertha's lesson might be that sometimes you have to look back before moving forward. joe fryer, nbc news, seattle. we're back in a moment with

an emotional homecoming today and answers for one family after so long.

astronauts on board the international space station are tonight making last-minute preparations for an urgent space walk to repair a broken cooling pump early tomorrow morning. while space walks seem routine, this one is getting a lot of attention because the last time an astronaut walked in space, last july, he nearly drowned when his helmet filled with water. as a precaution nasa equipped both space suits with a water absorbent pad and a snorkel in the event of an emergency. the astronaut would breathe into the snorkel until they get back into the station. we'll have extensive coverage of the space walk tomorrow morning on "today". there was an emotional scene early this morning on the tarmac at los angeles international airport. a reminder that the emotional wounds of war last a lifetime

for families of those killed or in this case missing for 63 years. sergeant first class joseph gantz served in world war ii and went to fight in the korean war where he was taken prisoner by north korean forces in 1950. he died as a prisoner of war a year later. his family, though, never knew what happened. his wife clara, now 94, never remarried, never giving up hope she would one day see him again. his body was recently returned to the u.s. and his remains identified. today she was there, weeping over his flag-draped casket as he finally came home. >> i'm so happy. it's a closure. and he is dom coming home. i am very, very proud of him. he was a wonderful husband. understanding man. he always loved his wife. he was always taking care of his wife. we loved each other.

and that made our marriage complete. >> clara today remembering her husband joseph, finally home after 63 years. we're back in a moment.

finally tonight a story about an image you may recall. it's a photograph shot in 2007 that seemed to vividly capture the emotion of a child who lost a military father to the war in iraq. today that child is a young man who is drawing on his own experience to make a difference for other kids this holiday season. here is our national correspondent kate snow. >> reporter: he was only 8 years old when this famous photo was taken. christian received the flag from his father mark's casket. his mother heather by his side, comforting him. that little boy with the trembling lip is 15 now, a high school sophomore who loves lacrosse. >> now that i'm older i really understand not having a dad, like, the impact that had. a lot of the time during lacrosse games i can look over and see everyone else's dad and my mom just next to them. it's always a reminder there that i don't have him.

>> reporter: the holidays are particularly tough for christian and his mother. >> you find a new normal, new traditions, ways to get through the holidays. >> reporter: so this is their tradition now. picking out the perfect present for other military children. like connor and cooper bunting, whose father bubba was killed in afghanistan. >> it was neat to see my kids light up and be happy to get this package full of stuff. it wasn't even christmas yet. >> reporter: christian chose pint-sized lacrosse sticks for bunting boys. >> christian seems like a remarkable, remarkable teenager to want to give to other families like that. it's so special. because that's not something a lot of teenagers are thinking about these days. >> reporter: christian is passing on the kindness he received when a family friend, so moved by his photo, sent christian a gift. that gesture boomed into this. a group called a soldier's child

which gives gifts to children of service members around the holidays and on their birthdays. >> thank you! >> reporter: christian says giving to others helps him heal. >> i really just hope they feel like i did the first year i got it. just really nice inside. the thought of knowing that someone else is thinking about you over the holidays. >> people helped us when we didn't even know we needed help yet. and so it's always been important to us to kind of pay it forward. and that's just become part of his life. >> reporter: it's something his dad lived by too. >> christian, i love you. i can't say that enough. >> reporter: he would like what you're doing? >> yeah. >> reporter: he would be proud? >> yeah. he would be smiling. >> reporter: the power of one young man spreading the joy of the season in honor of his father. kate snow, nbc news, maryland. that's our broadcast for this friday night. thank you for being with us. i'm lester holt. i'll be here with you this weekend. brian will be back on monday night. have a good weekend, everybody. good night.

that breaking news involved shootings at northern california malls, two shootings happening in two different northern california cities. what you looking at now is the bay fair mall in san leandro off hisparian and e-14th near fairmont drive. we understand there's some sort of shooting activity at the mall but we don't have a lot of details right now from police at this point. good evening, i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm raj mathai. the shooting reportedly happened outside the entrance of that mall. once again, this is the bay fair

mall. next to the bay fair b.a.r.t. station in san leandro. see down below, police officers are stationed outside and keeping people from going into the mall. as for those inside, they are being held inside right now. for now, there are no reports of any injuries. as more details become available, we'll bring them to you. once again, this is the bay fair mall off 880 in san leandro not far from the bay fair b.a.r.t. station. we understand there's another shooting happening now, this one is happening in tracy, this is at the west valley mall. you can see there, there's some police activity in the parking lot. again, a shooting happening there, but very few details at this point. so we are going to continue to monitor the situation there and as soon as we know more, we'll bring it back to you. also, new at 6:00, some downtown san jose businessowners are threatening to fold up shop and leave. the reason, a spike in crime. but san jose police