a double dose of destruction as winter weather hits higher elevations out west, dumping overer 4 feet of snow in some spots. the same system sparked flash floods in southern california. now over ten million americans are bracing for a winter wallop. >> back home and back on the court. how brittney griner spent her first few hours in the u.s. after nearly a year in russian custody. >> the holidays are here and grinches are on the prowl targeting your deliveries. now police are getting creative to nab porch pirates. >> now you can truly get

anything delivered in a new york minute the big apple gives the green light to marijuana delivery. and the nfl picture play-offs starts coming into focus. who the has punched their ticket plus all the action from week 14 it's move monday, december 12. "early today" starts right now >> good morning and thanks for joining us on this busy monday i'm vinita nair. >> i'm frances rivera. a massive winter storm wreaking havoc across the west. bringing blizzard-like conditions from washington into california more than four feet of snow fell in parts of the sierra nevada. some areas had zero visibility, including a 70-mile stretch of interstate 80. lake tahoe ski areas were grateful for the snow, but not for the wind that rocked lift chairs and ground some operations to a halt like at palisades resort in metro areas, rain, flash flooding and strong wind pummelling millions.

streets flooded in los angeles, with some places seeing up to half an inch of rain per hour. now the powerful system is making its way east, passing through the great plains let's turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins who was tracking the storm. good morning >> good monday morning to you. california needs it. we need the rain we need the snow but we don't want to have the disruptions that come with it, or any of the disruption that happens, especially any mud slides and debris flows. right now the storm is still plaguing us. it's still drifting. you can see the little spin. the moisture plume through the rockies. still plenty of snow coming down the highest totals were around the lake tahoe area, soda springs, 5 feet of snow. tahoe, donner, it's 46 inches. even ketcham, idaho got a good dose any ski area in the west has had a ton of snow to start their seasons. it's been an epic beginning. the tahoe area alone, 7 feet in 12 days. so the forecast continues to have all of this winter weather

heading into the plains. we're going see the worst today in the rockies tomorrow is when the storm really breaks out. we're going see a blizzard, areas of wyoming and montana they're going have 60-mile-per-hour winds and up to 2 feet solve snow. we're not done yet >> 'tis the season for all this weather. bill, thank you. we're learning new details about wnba star brittney griner's release negotiated at the top level and resulting in the release of a notorious arms dealer. as priscilla thompson reports, griner's ordeal has brought a new spotlight on the dozens of americans imprisoned by foreign governments. >> reporter: a new photo brittney griner and her first moments of freedom >> she called everyone over to take photos with her that shows you the kind of woman she is >> reporter: posing with wife cherelle and u.s. ambassador roger d. carsons, who was with her on that 18-hour flight to texas. carson spent months working on the team who negotiated her freedom. >> she jumped on the plane and went right to saying hito everyone, making a personal

connection, shaking hands, saying thank you. >> reporter: carson says he thought she'd want some space. >> and she said no, i want to talk i want to relate to people and i found someone who was just absolutely wonderful kind, generous, interesting, and above all authentic. >> reporter: as the nation celebrates griner's return, the exchange of russian arms dealer viktor bout for her release continues to face fierce criticism from some republicans. >> the trump administration was always very clear. we weren't going to trade bad guys for celebrities because it creates the wrong incentives for the bad guys. >> reporter: the white house says a national security assessment found any risk bout's risk might pose is manageable. and that negotiating griner's release has shed light on what it could take to get another american held captive in russia, paul whelan out too. charged with spying, which whelan and the u.s. have denied. >> we're more informed we have a better sense of the context here, where the russians' expectations are and we're going keep work at it. >> griner now vows to fight for whelan and others as she returns

to the u.s. with new passion and purpose. and with the u.s. state department estimating some 50 americans are still wrongfully detained abroad. back to you. >> all right, priscilla, thank you. the man accused of building a bomb that killed 270 people in lockerbie, scotland is in u.s. custody. the suspect, a former libyan intelligence officer seen in this new booking photo is expected to appear in federal court in washington, d.c. today. 34 years ago, authorities say a bomb packed into an unaccompanied luggage brought down a plane it crashed down in the small scottish town of lockerbie, killing everyone on board and another 11 people on the ground. the flight was traveling to new york, and 189 americans were among the victims. milwaukee police are investigating a bomb threat that forced patti labelle to rush off the stage in the middle of a concert. video shows security quickly escorting the iconic singer off the theater stage just a few songs into her show. the whole theater was evacuated. no one was injured, and no

explosive devices were found the theater says it's working to reschedule the show. the basketball world is remembering a legendary player and coach paul silas he was a two-time all-star as a player and won three nba titles in his 16 seasons as player. in 1980, silas began a long coaching career with the hornets, bobcats and cavaliers and he was lebron james' first professional head coach. silas' son stephen followed in his father's footsteps and is currently the coach of the houston rockets. michael jordan said silas had never ending positivity and called him one of the all-time great people in basketball paul silas was 79 years old. time now for sunday night football and two teams battling for play-off position. the dolphins played like fish out of water in the first half but quick 60--yard strike to tyreek hill brought miami back into the game. the chargers were able to run out the clock from there, padding their lead with field goals and picking up a crucial win, 23-17 it was hard-hitting battle

in buffalo, where josh allen found the end zone through the air and on the ground. the jets put up a late fight, but the bills took home the win, 20-12. the jets loss, plus the chargers' win means los angeles holds the final wild card spot in the play-off picture and the bills hold the number one seed and a first round bye. >> tom was 23 years old when brock purdy was born. throwing a pair of first half touchdowns as stanford ran away from the buccaneers 35-7 now the rookie making a veteran play early in his nfl year. >> second and down, off the fake to jamaal williams goff going deep, wide open touchdown on his first nfl reception. the rookie >> williams injured his knee in january and in december. he scores a touchdown with his first career catch the lions roared in the face of the division-leading vikings to

take home their second straight win. detroit beats minnesota 34-23. and the lions on the hunt for a wild card spot in the nfc play-offs with just four weeks to go, and the eagles became the first team to clinch a place in the play-offs after their dominant win over the giants let's check back with bill karins who is track rain and snow in the forecast hey, bill. >> give you the timing of this mess that's going to head into the plains the blizzard warning later 11:00 p.m. in most areas and some of these blizzard warnings go all the way out to thursday morning this is a long duration event for friends in nebraska, especially south dakota. watch out for severe weather out of this. it looks like we could get isolated areas of kansas today tomorrow is we could see some strong storms and even severe weather in areas, especially louisiana. maybe even a chance of isolated tornadoes. of course that will be of grave concern as we go toughout thhrd6

inches of snow school delays are expected and we have this big storm in the middle of the country. it's coming for the east coast friday i'll tell you what that means, coming up. >> okay. we'll be ready for it. thank you, bill. fast forwarding into your monday, the removal process for the final confederate monument begins today the statue will be relocated to the state's black history museum and cultural center. we'll see if red hot inflation is finally cooling because of the release of the november cpi report tomorrow the fed will kick off a two-day meeting with which economists predict will end with another rate hike. today the president and first lady are traveling to arlington, virginia where they will participate in a toys for tots event witthh e mamarine cos sosorted foror families s in ne. we're e back in a a minute in a any small s space. no batteries and no outlets needed. wiwith one firirm push, no batteries and no outlets needed. smsmall spaceses gives youou 4s of continunuous freshnhnes.

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new this morning, new yorkers goeearing up for a holl daze under the guidelines, dispensaries can fill orders from warehouses while they set up their stores. payments must be made online and customers will be required to show id. it is the must wonderful time of the year, but package thieves, also known as porch pirarates are stealing some of that holiday cheer now many police are fighting back with plans to catch the crook red-handed >> reporter: it's holiday cheer upended by holiday crime across the country, porch pirates are stealing packages right from your doorstep whether it's in oklahoma city, rock island, illinois, or austin, texas, where this thief even tried to make away with halloween decorations. and the last year, 79% of americans had a package stolen the problem most severe in california's bay area. which is why campbell,

california police, like many departments across the country has gone on offense. putting gps tracking devices inside of bait packages to track down thieves from here dispatch will tell you where to go to find the stolen package? >> absolutely. basically, the package will move they'll get an alert the package will have a ping it will tell us the direction. >> officer magee shows us how it works with a demonstration >> it looks like a regular package with a shipping label on it your normal priority mail express sticker. >> reporter: after the package is placed tonight porch, our producer puts it in his car and takes off. >> okay, let's go. >> often they're going want to know the fruits of their labor, and they're going to stop somewhere. so you can trace the line here so looks like they found their landing spot in the parking lot. >> reporter: the gps device brings the cops straight to the crooks. >> it's they think it's a typical car stop once we start talking g about t

papackage and what they ststolee look on their face is priceless. >> since you started there is a drop in thefts. >> absolutely. >> reporter: there are ways to protect your holiday gifts >> leave delivery instructions >> reporter: video monitoring company ring recommends signing up for alerts so you know when your package is delivered and getting your order sent to a secure location. but if that doesn't work, law enforcement may be watching. thinking crime in particular affects a lot of people. it's a thorn >> reporter: making sure your treasure makes it under the tree nila charles, nbc news, campbell, california still to come, a successful space mission. an historic splashdown for nasa and what it means for getting crews back to the moon and "saturday night live" delivered a thfaer of the bride reunion wiwith some susurprising gueststs anand knowing g that we are c covered, anand knowing g that we are c covered, it simplififies life.. withth my plan f for $0 a monthth, i know i c can get the cacare i needd to live mymy best lifef.

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i'm engaged again. >> father of the bride part 8, that's right three decades and seven divorces later, annie is back and ready to give marriage an eighth shot. >> annie, what makes you think i can afford an eighth nancy myers style wedding. i'm financially drained. >> but daddy, i'm you're little girl. >> your 52 >> steve martin and martin short revising a classic with his father of the bride spoof. there were surprises by kieran culkin who played the brother plus selena gomez as the wedding singer too. all right. nasa's artemis mission ended with a splash. the orion capsule dropped back down into the pacific ocean yesterday. the mission was to test nasa's ability to turn astronauts to the moon nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: and there it is high over the pacific. >> reporter: 12:40 p.m. eastern

time, 300 miles south of san diego. >> splashdown. >> nasa's uncrewed artemis mission came to a spectacular bulls-eye landing in the pacific ocean. >> the latest chapter of nasa's journey to the moon comes to a close. orion back on earth. >> reporter: bobbing in the water, the orion spaceship that will one day carry astronauts back to the moon, wrapping up a 25-day mission >> three, two, one, boosters and ignition and liftoff of artemis i we rise together, back to the moon and beyond. >> reporter: it began at florida's kennedy space center on november 16th as the most powerful rocket ever built came screaming to life. a 268,000 mile test flight an upclose high resolution flyover of the lunar surface, and stunning new photos capturing orion, the moon and the earth far off in the distance then 40,000 miles beyond the

moon, further than any human-rated spacecraft has ever traveled before hiding back to the moon and a slingshot return to earth in 2024, nasa plans to fly astronauts on a lunar test flight followed by the first humans to land on the moon since apollo the artemis milestone coming on the 50est anniversary of the last apollo landing. it may look just like the old apollo space capsule, but orion is bigger. instead of carrying three astronauts, orion can carry four a critical test of a new heat shield to ensure future astronauts survive reentry orion approached the earth at 25 times the speed of sound its shield heating up to 5,000 degrees, half the temperature of the sun. the view looking out an orion window. >> this is the moment of truth. >> reporter: to bleed off speee, nasa dipped d the spspacecraft f the atatmosphere

and then slowing to a gentle splashdown at just 20 miles per hour navy chopper, boats and divers moving in to secure orion and bring it on board the uss portland >> this time we go back to the moon to learn to live, to work, to invent, to create in order to go on out into the cosmos to further floor. >> as for when we will actually learn which astronauts will be assigned to the lunar missions, nasa says it could make that announcement in just a few weeks. there are now 42 astronauts who could be eligible for a future lunar mission. and nasa says a woman and a person of color will be among the first to land on the moon, probably in 2025 or '26. >> what a coveted job. >> it will be here before you know it. how exciting thank you, tom bill karins is back after the break with the latest. and the storms are stoing el from reachihing airpoports.

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welcome back to "early today. this is going to be a busy week tracking this storm that's in the west now, all the way through the middle of the country, and then it's going to redevelop off the east coast this is the map for today. the storm is exiting the northeast. it is a separate one than hit the west the clouds will linger, mild weather in the south as we go throughout tonight and tomorrow, that's when the storm will blossom into a huge blizzard we're going see snowfall 1 to 2 feet in areas of the plains, travel almost impossible in some areas of nebraska and also wyoming. then we're going to deal tuesday with severe weather in the southeast. that will push into areas through alabama and mississippi, even heavy rain through tennessee. finally, by the time we get to friday, that's when the storm will plague news the northeast inland areas a better chance of snow, especially higher elevations be ah lot of the cities will be dealing with rainy weather a busy week to say the least. wt mess

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in today's top story, orlando airport is rung low on fuel severe weather disrupted fuel deliveries to the busiest hub in florida. airport authorities say while they do not expect to run out of fuel outright, they're recommending airlines have contingency plans. now to groundbreaking leadership in city of los angeles. karen bass has officially been sworn in as the first female mayor of l.a kamala harris led the ceremony in and featured performances from stevie wonder, and poet amanda gorman. mayor bass said her first order

of business will be to declare state of emergency on homelessness now to a teacher who is keying it cool unlike anyone else in his school district. he is rising up and leading by example for his students while he heads downhill with the u.s. national bobsled team. noelle walker has the story. >> reporter: the students at this elementary in dallas know freddie harris as coach harris the physical education teacher is teaching his pre-k through fifth grade students by example. harris has spent the last two years chasing a dream that recently became his reality. >> i made the u.s. national team. >> reporter: the usa national bobsled team >> i have a football background. but passed my football years i was trying to figure out what else can i compete on. how can i get to the olympics? i seen a video on youtube about bobsledding. oh, that looks like fun.

it's like a roller coaster i can do that kind of thing. >> reporter: after just two years of training, harris is competing at the elite level, training in lake placid. his position is called a pusher. so once you jump in, you're just along for the ride >> pretty much your head is down. and you're connecting with your guys very personal and you hold on for the fried. >> going like this. >> praying, crying, screaming, all of the above >> reporter: at up to 85 miles per hour, down an icy track. later this month, he'll go back to teaching. >> i miss my kiddos. i'm ready to get back to work. >> reporter: so as a teacher, what are you teaching the students through your experience >> i'm teaching them to pursue their dreams if there is something you want to do, that maybe no one else has done before, you could be that first person. dreams is just dreams until you put them into actions and they become reality. >> reporter: chasing a dreams is a slippery slope to success.

>> our thanks to noelle for that how amazing, hey, i want to jump into and does it so well. >> in two years. >> we're rooting for him

a winter wallop out west the blizzard burying homes in the california mountains while rain sparks flash flooding in lower elevations we're tracking the system as over ten million americans brace for more winter weather. inside brittney griner's journey home how she opened up on the long trip back to the u.s., plus, how she spent her first days in freedom. finding hope in the wake of total devastation. inside the recovery efforts one year after a deadly tornado tore through mayfield, kentucky 'tis the season for trouble. whar