it's the final monday of 2020, and late last night president trump reversed course on the coronavirus relief bill, but when will millions of americans in desperate need see that money we're live in washington new details surrounding the e. christmas day explosion that rocked downtown nashville. in the wake of a shopping season like no other, the wave of returns is about to begin we've got the tips that will save you time and money. the playoff picture becomes more clear after a big week 16 in the nfl. plus, a look at some of the

good news stories of 2020 that helped keep us going "early today" starts right now good morning, i'm philipp mena. >> i'm michelle fischer. a wave of relief after president trump unexpectedly signed the pandemic package after calling the measure a disgrace last week and sending the government on the brink of a shutdown, mr. trump reversed course signing off on the deal from his mar-a-lago estate sending a life line to millions of americans. he demanded congress cut back on wasteful spending and he renewed his call for increased direct payments from $600 to $2,000 per person but the standoff over stimulus payments could trigger a congressional showdown today joining us now from d.c. is chris pollone. good morning, chris. could the president be setting up the ultimate loyalty test for his party? >> reporter: certainly looks like that, michelle. it looked like the president was

looking for a way to claim victory after essentially blowing up a deal that his own team had negotiated on and signed off on. he was under increasing pressure and in signing the spending bill mr. trump said both houses of congress have agreed to vote on raising stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 a vote is scheduled in the house but it's unclear whether mitch mcconnell will hold one in the senate while many republicans oppose raising the payments, democrats agree with the president and are using it to pressure republicans. chuck schumer tweeted, the house will pass a bill to give americans $2,000 checks. no democrats will object will senate republicans? the bill signing comes as the president remains focused on trying to overturn this year's election results and he's starting to get some pressure to give that up from his own allies

"the new york post", front page stop the insanity in an editorial urging the president to save his legacy and work on the runoff race in georgia. >> lots going on on capitol hill as always. experts are warning that the coronavirus pandemic will get darker before we see brighter days more than 19 million americans have contracted the virus. that's 1 out of every 17 people. with the death toll over 333,000, that means one american has died out of every 1,000. despite cdc warnings to stay home, the tsa screened more than 1 million travelers the day after christmas. nearly 10 million americans flew in the past 10 days. the cdc projects after another holiday surge, the u.s. could surpass 400,000 covid deaths by mid january. as the vaccine rollout continues, a new york health care provider is under

investigation for potentially giving out unauthorized doses. according to the state health department, parcare may have fraudulently obtained and given out vaccine. they offered it on a first come first care basis on social media. a vaccination effort is underway in europe. it's a shot of relief for 450 million people health care workers, the elderly and leading politicians get some of the first doses across the nation south africa has 1 million cases as a new strain spreads. it's believed to be much more contagious molly hunter joins us from london molly, what efforts are being taken to contain that mutated strain there >> hey, michelle good morning look, much more contagious is

the headline according to early data it's supposed to be possibly up to 70% more contagious. they're under a tier 4, basically a national lockdown. the worry is that it's spreading. it's been detected in france, spain, sweden, japan, canada, parts of canada, all linked to u.k. travelers in japan, they are banning all foreign nationals. more than 40 other countries are banning u.k. flights but the big news is what the cdc announced last week and today it starts at heathrow at london's heathrow airport, any traveller heading to the u.s. from the u.k. will have to show proof of a negative covid test they have to show up with hard copy, electronic documentation, then once at the airport the airlines have to confirm those test results passengers who refuse can't get on the plane flight traffic down a ton from this time last year, 90% in

fact most british nationals have been barred from entering the u.s. since last month there are 15 flights from heathrow to the u.s. the first of this new rollout. we'll see how it's going you can bet they will be pretty empty flights. >> we appreciate the update, molly. we're learning new details about the christmas day explosion that rocked nashville. three days after the incident which left three people injured and dozens of buildings damaged, authorities say they know who is responsible. police have identified 53-year-old anthony quinn warner he died in the blast and acted alone. here's nbc's dan sheneman. >> reporter: on christmas day a blast shook downtown nashville >> we've come to the conclusion that an individual named anthony warner is the bomber, and he was present when the bomb went off

and that he parished in the bombing. >> reporter: investigators used dna evidence to zero in on the 63-year-old warner the motive is still under investigation. police believe he acted alone. >> there's no indication presently that anyone else was involved in this crime. >> reporter: the bomb left a massive crater, more than 40 buildings and businesses damaged. >> i saw the biggest flames i've ever seen. >> reporter: nashville police officers credited with saving lives by clearing the area talked about it for the first time sunday. >> once we made contact with everyone we could and made sure that they were getting out of the building is when we started to move down. >> reporter: the blast left three people injured, no one was killed >> it was god. i'm not going to shy away from that i am a spiritual person and so i truly believe that when i do this job i'm led by that voice.

>> reporter: the officers giving thanks the christmas day bombing wasn't worse dan sheneman, nbc news we turn now to an update on another holiday weekend tragedy. police in rockford, illinois, say a u.s. army special forces member has been arrested after he allegedly shot and killed three people and injured three others at a bowling alley. duke webb has been charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder webb tried to disguise himself and attempted to hide his weapons when officers arrived on scene. motive was unknown but the police chief is said it is believed to be random. the victims were three men ages 73, 69 and 65. plenty of team fighting for playoff positions on the second to the last day of the nfl season the packers and titans battling under the bright lights and white snow of sunday night

football despite the conditions, aaron rodgers turning up the heat on offense. he threw for 4 touchdowns including this one to brown. green bay ran away with it in the second the packers plow past the titans 40-14. justin herbert broke the league's passing record with his 23rd dime. they got a 19-16 victory over the broncos. down in dallas the cowboys kept themselves alive in the race for the nbc east andy dalton threw three touchdowns not only pulling dallas out of a first half deficit but blowing past the eagles en route to a 37-17 victory. that cowboys win eliminates the philadelphia eagles from playoff contention if washington beats philly next sunday, then washington goes to the playoffs clinching the division if they lose, then it will be the winner of the cowboys/giants

game that decides who goes to the postseason. nbc meteorologist janessa webb joins us with a look at the week ahead good morning, janessa. >> reporter: good morning. good morning,everyone. we have a little bit of unusual weather happening right now across los angeles we have a major squall line that is causing rainfall rates of an inch per hour. this will be round one and then this storm system is going to develop into a larger storm that will go coast to coast throughout the rest of the week. that's why winter weather alerts, they expand across the plains this morning. this is all heightened due to that system that's coming out of the west winter storm watch in place for omaha all the way intoith the cn place for the upper midwest.

mid teens to lower 20s we'll take a look at your week ahead coming up. >> sounds great, janessa thunk. when we come back, which soccer legend was named player of the century only 20 years into it. isturizers. south korea's most innovative. and even the $400 french cream. olay regenerist faced 131 premium products in 12 countries, over 10 years. olay's hydration was unbeaten every time. olay. face anything. less sick days! cold coming on? zicam® is clinically proven to shorten colds! highly recommend it! zifans love zicam's unique zinc formula. it shortens colds! zicam zinc that cold! it shortens colds! (chilno-aughs)

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tonight, try pure zzzs all night. unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. in today's quick hits, the music city bowl between missouri and iowa is canceled after a rise in coronavirus cases on missouri's team. cristiano reinaldo was named the player of the century at the globe soccer award the 35-year-old beat out the likes of messi and his agent was named agent of the century >> stef curry took it. curry made just five threes in

sunday's one point win over the bulls. >> still the best year of all times. that proves it one of the things that proves it. just in time to celebrate a new year's eve lori lock lynn will be released. her husband is still serving a five-month prison sentence he will be released in april of 2021 still to come on "early today," the moment that a play full dog brought a soccer team to a halt for some belly rs. > a popular pain relief product. "daniel deal" got me some sweet savings on my insurance. daniel... state farm offers surprisingly great rates to everyone. sure you do, tell you what. i'm not supposed to do this, but i'll letcha try the chunk honey. oh...i'm good. but here's the deal, great rates are kinda our thing. you wanna meet the queen? ahhh i'm not dressed for that. when you want the real deal...

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even though it has been a tough year, there are still some good moments from 2020 that we want to remember nbc's kate snow, along with jose diaz vallart takes a look back at the highlights. kate >> reporter: phillip, every weekend on nightly news we end our broadcast with a good news story. even during this pandemic, my colleague and i have discovered a lot of good, amazing people making the world a better place. >> reporter: neighbors helping neighbors. putting their skills, however small, towards the greater good. >> reporter: greg daily is a newspaper delivery man who volunteers to get his older customers the essentials they need. >> you're a godsend. >> there are amazing people.

get a chance to help them out. >> reporter: karn teacher margaret norris uses her own money to deliver meals to her students. >> i want the families to sit down and look look prepandemic with things they would have purchased. >> reporter: americans found new ways to celebrate milestones. ♪ happy birthday to you >> to say here i do. >> i sit here at a convertible in a drive through wedding and can't help smile but how fitting this is to our relationship. >> music is what got us through. >> rob kenny dancing every day that his baby boy was in the nicu. >> anthony madu won a scholarship to the balance late theater after he was filmed dancing in the desolate streets of africa. >> campaigns of kindness, americans donating their stimulus checks. >> it's the right thing to do. >> to feed their neighbors. >> i'm going to take care of my

neighborhood if everybody takes care of their neighborhood we're going to be okay. >> this teacher donating his to take inner city kids to the great outdoors >> as our nation faced a historic racial reckoning. >> i'm sorry for the pain that our country is feeling right now. >> in minneapolis rose mcgee offered a shoulder to cry on along with a comfort pie. >> we all have something we can do, and we want to find what that is and tap into that na a positive way >> reporter: there were moments that had us at the edge of our seats. >> you're kidding? >> i'm really nervous about this one. i'm clicking it. congratulations! >> former sanitation worker got a message that changed his life, his brothers cheered him off. >> let's go! >> so did the rest >> it's not like i'm going to harvard, we're going to harvard.

>> cheers for dr. jasmine kudgi and sylvester, the mother daughter duo who graduated medical school together. >> study sessions together >> oh, yeah, all the time. >> russell audette who found his colleague to be a doctor. >> when i thought about smart people growing up i was like they usually are wealthy, don't look like me. >> despite the hardship, we did push forward with acts of service and innovation >> we can do this as long as we work together. >> in houston 18-year-old cap foley created his own mobile testing lab. >> people need help and i want to reach out my hand to help them. >> reporter: in california the couch family built desks for kids in need. >> we appreciate everything you're doing. >> when an 8-year-old in virginia needed a place to learn, this community rallied together to build her a backyard

schoolhouse. >> reporter: throughout it all we celebrated health care heroes. >> i was very scared but you've got to be brave to take care of people. >> reporter: finding ways to say thank you. >> at least i can do is make a couple meals for somebody. >> thank you >> see you next week. >> reporter: with gifts from the heart. >> reporter: to bring a little light to their day, too. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: and showing how far we've come together. >> reporter: as we close out 2020 it's really nights to remember some of the good that came alongside so much bad news. phillip. >> it is the good that gets us through. our thanks to you and jose as well. 2020 is looking like it will end with a few storms on the horizon. janessa has your forecast next an the hospital for 10 weeks, 1000s of miles from family. our driver kristin came along in our most desperate hour.

suzanne: bringing us home-cooked meals and gifts. andrew: day after day. we wanted to show you something. kristin: oh my god! andrew: kristin is the most uncommonly kind person that we've met. suzanne: thank you so much. relief from your worst cold and flu symptoms.le so when you need to show your cold who's boss, grab mucinex all-in-one... and get back to your rhythm. feel the power. beat the symptoms fast. to fight wrinkles? it's what i use! neutrogena®. the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists. rapid wrinkle repair® visibly smooths fine lines in 1 week. deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles... and other wrinkle creams goodbye! rapid wrinkle repair®. pair with our most concentrated retinol ever for 2x the power. neutrogena®.

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it helps stop stretching, fading, and fuzzing. that's what's up! we have an assistant locker room manager? help protect your clothes with new downy defy damage. good morning, friends. it's a fairly quiet start to the week we do have a developing storm system that's starting to brew across the midwest into the west right now and that will stretch into your wednesday afternoon. look at our temperatures they're really going to fall throughout the week for the upper midwest. back in the 30s to lower 20s in some areas by wednesday this storm system will expand and explode across the south. then we have a big-time weather threat to new year's eve to new year's. >> mother nature telling us to stay home.

when is thbee st time to start making those holiday gift returns? we'll tell you after the break for the whole family. trusted soothing vapors, from vicks unlike ordinary memory want supplements-ter? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. (chilno-aughs) we're making breakfast! (ding) yes, chef. chef, behind. thank you, chef. breakfast service is a wrap. is your sous chef a busser too? get your wins where you can. (ding) l'eggo with eggo we like clockwork.ht. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know certified dishwashers... ...use less than four gallons per cycle, while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. so, do it with cascade.

the surprising way to save water. we have a consumer alert to tell you about more than 400,000 bottles of excedrin have been recalled due to a manufacturing issue holes found in certain bottles of the medication which include the migraine cap lets, gel tabs, p.m. tablets and it includes a poisoning risk no injuries have been reported. now that the presents have been opened, so begins the post holiday crush. as nbc's dan sheneman reports,

waiting might be your best option >> reporter: soon, the holiday shopping season becomes the return season. >> shoppers need to be prepared for a totally different return landscape this year. >> why the different landscape the pandemic of course experts say consumers are doing more online shopping, that creates new challenges for returns. >> the purchases that you ended up returned and the holiday return rate is much higher than traditional and ecommerce returns is even higher because people bracket and byproducts that they end up trying in their home and they'll buy five or six of the same color and size and return all of them just to see what fits them. >> when it's time to return or exchange all of the perfect gifts less than perfect. sarah of retail me not has some suggestions. >> take a picture of your receipt. this way you have a good record of it and there's no chance

you're going to loset. i shoppers need to be prepared for a lag in refunds there will be an influx of online shopping this year which means there will be a lot of online returns. >> and shoppers with a chance to make an exchange in person, she suggests waiting until after january 1st, the lines will be smaller. >> make sure you know the return and know if you have to pay for return shipping, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. >> reporter: the experts have one more tip be patient dan sheneman, nbc news that's the most important part of it, be patient even though there is a pandemic going on, the crowds seem like they should be smaller than usual. that was not my experience. >> they're not smaller. >> there was a pooch on the pitch during a soccer game in bolivia. interrupted the match multiple times with a soccer cleat in its

mouth. it flopped like a true soccer player right there on the pitch. they took time to play with the dog. that one player there picked up the dog, care hid him off the field so that they could keep their game going >> new mascot for the team >> it is thanks for waking up

2 c1 2 b12 2 c1 2 b12 bb1 1 2 b12 right now at 4:30, testing travelers. the all-new requirement those from the uk now face across the u.s. starting today. we remain very concerned about the surge on top of the surge. >> fears of a post-holiday surge. the message about getting tested for the coronavirus. and right now, rain moving across the bay area. we have a live look outside. vianey arana timing out how long you'll need that umbrella. i hope you got one for christmas. "today in the bay" starts right now.