a winter storm whips across the country. the midwest buried by blizzards and the northeast braces for heavy rain. the latest headaches for holiday travelers coming up. the head of homeland security making an emergency trip to texas as we learn new details of what led to the death of a second migrant child fears government shutdown heads in to the new year. no, it's not ghostbusters or aliens, what cast a erie blue city. icut of the competition, we will hear from the first person to cross antarctica alone.

"early today" starts right now. good friday morning. >> a severe winter storm is causing problems on travel plans for millions holiday travelers. areas of the dakotas down in to kansas face blizzard warnings and over a foot of snow. >> they are asking for the public's help, after a semi hit a trooper's car and fled on the highway. >> in the upper midwest, the first major snowfall of the year. >> it's great to see snow in minnesota. >> reporter: that snow created bad road conditions andin north the holidays. this will take you another day off of that. so, i will only have four days home. >> reporter: in new mexico ko-- snow storm shut down the highway. while some of the country diggs out, the other parts hope to dry out.

storms roll through texas and in austin, two people were saved in a water rescue, in houston, the city is forced to deal with widespread flooding and power out acknowledge -- power outages, more rain and snow is in the forecast. >> good morning, so, how bad is it and where is it at this hour? >> right now, we are dealing with winter weather advisories even though the snow is tapering off in parts of the northern plains. we have strong wind that will drifting snow. now, that's a new winter weather advisory, that is for northern new england. that is because we look for icy conditions as the precipitation, there's a lot of it coming in to the area. you can see heavy rain to southern louisiana, sweeping across mississippi and alabama, this is the big flood threat that we are watching as it trains along the area. the front extends all the way to the northeast, snow in new england and heavy rain and that

will impact the travel delays as we go lou the day today. >> a lot of problems. thanks, bonnie. >> a transformer explosion in new york lit up the night's sky, turning it bright blue. it was an erie scene from an alien invasion movie. the light could be seen around the city and even from new jersey, the blast sparked a brief fire, causing power outages and temporarily shutting down laguardia airport. the airport is back u and no on. >> we are officially a week in to g sign of compcompromise. the senate adjourned until monday. that means it will stretch in to the new year, when the dms will take control of the house. meanwhe, new to poll shows that president trump is taking the lion's share of the blame for the shut down. you see 47% there blaming the president and 33% say it's the

democrats in congress's fault for the latest on the impass. let's go to nbc's scott mcfar lynn. so, scott, this had shut down is headed in to the new year. >> reporter: yeah, philip, good morning, it will most certainly go in to the new year. that means for federal workers the uncertainty will go in to the new year. congress has punted solving in over the weekend or in to early next week. they are not going to do so. no formal proceedings or formal votes scheduled. so the debate over the shutdown and the border wall is happening on social media. ity trump tweeting several times -- president trump tweeting several times democrats don't want ns and the president, a political victory. the house democratic w.h.i.p. tweeting that the president's quote temper tantrum has caused the furlough of federal workers

and they are not optimistic that it will end any time soon. >> this is the president's shutdown. he said that it would be his shutdown. the senate voted 100-0, i don't see a scenario where the government opens up until a new congress is sworn in. >> and this morning the national treasury employee's union that represents hundreds of thousands of workers has asked the administration to expedite back pay to the furlough workers once it's resolved saying had their financ ill hhill had. >> many are living paycheck to paycheck, they need that thanks. >> the head of homeland security will visit the border after a second migrant child died in u.s. custody. earlier this week, there was new measures ordered for detained

children, including more strict medical screenings and meanwhile, we are learning more details about the little boy that passed away in custody on christmas eve. it was confirmed that he died of a flu. we have more. >> reporter: days after his death in the custody of u.s. customs and border protection, these are the first images of the 8-year-old boy. nearly 2,000 miles from the hospital where he died, his mother is insa that the family desperate to escape poverty in gaut mall a when -- in guatemala, when he and his father started their trek to america. border agents logged 17 welfare checks between december 2 notic child was coughing and appeared to have glossy eyes. by 11:48 tnight, he was dead. with them promising sweeping changes including secondary medical checks on all children,

homeland security secretary will visit the u.s./mexico border but for philippe's family, a hope for a better life, turned to grief. caught on camera, a quick thinking police officer in illinois narrowly avoiding disaster. swerving out of the way to avoid slam engine to a speeding commuter train. we have more on this and what caused this near crash. >> a close call captured on dash cam. a police officer in illinois, heads down the street when a train seemingly comes out of nowhere. going about 50 miles an driver m in the blue suv barely squeaks by. >> that is wild, that is wild. >> it's not until the commuter train is passed that the safety gates finally start to come down. >> you never expect something like that. ever. i mean, you know, one of the things you depend on are those signals. crossing is going down. sdpl . >> illinois's metro said that a

short in the equipment caused the problem. >> i hope they are taking a long look in to it and making sure it's as safe and secure as possible. >> reporter: most accidents at railroad crossings are caused by drivers attempting to go around safety gates. >> oh, he is going through, one, two. >> reporter: but technology and the reduction in the number of crossings has cut fey tal i-- c fatalities in half. the police officer knows how lucky he is. i have bought tons of raffle tickets, i thought i was not born with luck at all. little did i know, i had luck. herer is all my luck being used all at once. if i never win anything again, i am perfectly fine with that. no injuries were reported from the heart-stopping incident that could have had a much different ending. >> today, we are saying goodbye to america's oldest world war ii

veteran and the oldest man in the u.s. richard overton has died, he was at pearl harbor, o okinawa askand he served on vars islands. he was hospitalized with pneumonia and died in a rehab facility in austin. he was 112 years old. >> a life wellyou, sir. our meteorologist joining us again. what is it looking like out there, bonnie? doesn't look like much on radar across areas of the northern plains and the midwest. but the winds are strong enough that we have winter weather advisories happening right now, a flood emergency situation in parts of louisiana and mississippi. notice the frequent lightning, there's seven inches of rain on the ground already and the rain is coming. dangerous conditions, especially in the overnight hours.

these advisories will per assist through the daylight time, be careful. if you are flying, expect delays. new york, boston and atlanta, all due to the precipitation as the front works further to the east and where the rain is follalling, it's warm. with the 50s and 60s to the south. >> if you are driving again, please be careful further to the south on i-10 and in to mobile, jacksonville, anywhere in that region, that rain will keep coming. >> all right, thanks for the heads up, bonnie. in today's quick hits, lebron james has been selected as this year's associated press male athlete of the year for the third time. sears may be down to the

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the wall street roller coaster throwing investors for yet another loop on the heels of wednesday's historic gen the fi hours of trading. the dow saw a huge swing, following a 600 point drop earlier in the day. leading the news, an urge ant man hunt of a suspect believed to have gunned down a police officer. we have more on the victim, officer ronald singh, who was an

immigrant himself. >> reporter: in tiny newman, california, the overwhelming loss. >> i do not want to be here today. >> reporter: is very much sinking in. >> ill give anything not to. >> reporter: the emotional plea from the police chief helped to find the man who killed the 33-year-old officer, ron singh. >> my department is hurting. we are struggling through this. >> reporter: singh had just taken this to h toe later, he w down in a traffic stop. singh immigrated from fiji, dreams of becoming a police officer, driving 2-1/2 hours each way to the kaacademy, poli releasing the images of a suspect, and not naming had him. >> this had suspect, unlike ron, who immigrated to this country lawfully and legally, this suspect is in our country illegally. >> reporter: authorities have launched a state--wide search. >> reporter: please, help us find this man. and bring him to justice.

justice to save a town no longer whole of. nbc news. >> a public vigil for the officer is planned for tonight. well, how are you spending new year's eve? nasa's new horizon spacecraft has big plans the team that brought us close up pictures of pluto will be looking naming a icy object. that is 4 billion miles from earth. it's the furtherest that humans haveet to happen soon after the stroke of midnight, as 2019 begins. ev party's are expensive now, wait until those are available. hear from the first person to trek across antarctica solo. and mother nature took its toll, the unbelieve cost of disasters in 2018. rebekkah: opioids has taken everything

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you do your best thinking when you are not thinking all. >> ever. >> aquaman who has earnings is to flip to the top of the box office yet again. the weekend's new release, stan and olli is about the legendary comedy duo of laurel and hardy at the end of their career. >> john c riley is able to do

all things comedy and drama. great actor. the recent indonesia eruption and tsunami was a reminder that mother nature has not gone easy on us. nbc's kerry sanersesindonesia, another eruption and tsunami after a wave of destruction this weekend killed a year of seemin back-to-back-to-back natural disasters. in overall, an economic loss of $55 billion. from the record setting wildfires, nearly 200,000 homes destroyed, record people killed and a billion dollars in damage. to the strongest hur wayne in 26 years. >> i'm kerry sanders, hurricane michael, 155 mile per hour winds

making land fall in mexico beach. >> the eye has come aashore, to the east of us. scientists warn as global temperatures the to rise, we could see more extreme weather. just like was exped here. facing human >> butch in mexico beach, undeterred. >> do you wonder about rebuilding here with what mother a long time that this would be. >> the human misery, that lingers for years. kerry sanders, nbc news, mexico beach, florida. >> really striking when you see it all put together like that. >> i have to be honest, it's hard to stay positive when you hear scientists are saying, it's with us for the rest of our lives, we will be seeing images of this, we can only hope to

band together and get through it and do what we can to slow it down. >> just ahead, the man that hiked across an ♪ there it is the coffee ring,

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rain we are watching as the system trains in like cars on a railroad track. it will continue to bring a lot of precipitation. we see seven inches on the ground already. >> have to be safe out there. thank you. just ahead only in louisiana, this is a pot of gumbo, you have never seen before. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. making wrinkles look so last week. rapid wrinkle repair® pair with new retinol oil for 2x the wrinkle fighting power. neutrogena® take prilosec otc and take control of heartburn. so you don't have to stash antacids here.... here... or here. kick your antacid habit with prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn.

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end of the globe, where this man made history. >> kind of my letter to the worl for to dream big, and be inspired. >> he is now the first to go coast-to-coast on the continent solo, without assistance, he started the adventure november 3rd and on christmas, decided to make one final drop, sprinting 80 miles and a 32 hour stretch. >> something just came over me, i was like, you know what? i wonder if i can go for it all in one crazy big push. the 54th day of his journey, he reached the finish line. >> when i arrived there, i was extremely exhausted, just over come with joy and emotion. tears streaming down my face to an audience of zero. >> while in thailand he was injured by a fire with burns covering nearly quarter of his body. that doesn't top him from

finishing triathlons. >> i'm on the summit of mt. ever sem -- everest. >> this is out of the box. >> another adventurer is trekking the the canontinent an near the end. but colin oh, brady can now say he did it first. >> it's impressive. but he documented every single day on instagram. so, even out there, by himself, can't live without the gram. >> that's right, it's all about marketing, right? >> a major milestone for fiona, the nearly 2-year-old hippo weighs nearly 1,000 pounds. gaining weight may not be difficult for a lot of people, not for me, but it is for fiona the hippo, she was only 29 pounds when she was born six weeks ago and she was premature and she was born at the cincinnati zoo. >> i'm sure she loves everyone knows she weighs a thousand

pounds. >> fans kicked off the independence bowl with the largest pot of gumbo in the world. it earned the spot in the guinness book of world records. 983 pounds of shrimp. and 590 pounds of cat fish. they sold 11,000 bowls of it duringhe proceeds will go to thehat prov.

it is the last friday of 2018. >> wow. >> take a live look outside right now at the golden gate bridge. beautiful shot there to start out our weekend. the weekend starts on friday, so here we go. thanks so much for starting why you are morning here with us on "today in the bay." i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm kira klapper. laura garcia is off this morning. it seems like the weekend because we work saturday and

sunday. vianey is in for mike. you literally never take time off. >> we are going to start out with very cold air this morning as we see what's happening around the bay area. here is a look