that's deputy pr. and they know it's going to be a good day and just one act of kindness. and that goes a long way. specifically, when there's someone in uniform, it's my way of saying thank you to the community for helping mold who i am, and i hope i can return the favor. i'm alexis perez rojas, and i'm proud to be homegrown. hey, let's go somewhere fun with aa. let's go for a night on the town. no kids. let's go for a weekend away. okay, let's bring the kids. but first, let's get today, friday, december 20th, 2024. against the clock. congress is scrambling to reach a deal to avoid a government

shutdown. but what happen it is that miss that deadline? we have the latest from washington and explain how a shutdown could impact your holiday avplans. a driver plows a car into a crowded christmas market in germany. we learned the driver has been arrested. we'll tell you what we know just ahead. double trouble. if the shutdown does not mess with your travel plans, the weather might. we're tracking a wintery mess on the busiest weekend before the holidays. and happy holidays. the world's largest rodent, how it's turned into the gift of the holiday season. we're not just talking for little kids but everybody. we'll tell you what's bebehind e craze. >> might be a rodent theme this week. we've got it all here, but we are going to start with the clock ticking on capitol hill to avoid a government shutdown. >> funding will run out just a few hours from now. one option house republicans are

considering is separate votes on separate stand alone bills. but house majority leader steve scalise says no final decision has been made. a stripped down spending bill was rejected by the full house last night. the ridge that will bipartisan plan was scrapped on wednesday following objections from president-elect donald trump and from elon musk. >> a government shutdown could impact millions of americans, especially if you are flying for the holiday. christine roman also have more on that in a moment. but let's start with our correspondent, ryan nobles. ryan, has there been any prprogress this point ahead of tonight's deadline? >> reporter: it's a good thing you're coming to me every hour, because things are changing, and now hour,

because things are changing, and now the proposal is to repackage those three plans we were talking about in the form of one bill, and house speaker mike johnson is now confident that they can pass this package through in time to avoid the government shutdown. listen to what the speaker told reporters just a few minutes ago. >> we will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster vivictims alover the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays. >> reporter: so let's recap what the house republicans would like to do. they would like to do a bill that extends government funding, that would be the continuing resolution, to keep the doors open. but then also add into it more than $100 billion in disaster relief, $10 billion in aid for

farmers. this package would not include a raising of the debt ceiling, which is something that president donald trump has asked for. now, this is something republicans feel confident in. republicans think that they can pass. so far, we're told that democrats have not been looped in at all. that's not to say democrats couldn't potentially support a package like this. the thing they were most concerned about was the raising of the debt ceiling. so there is a path to avoid a shutdown, but a lot has to happen between now and midnight to make that a reality. >> that's for sure. so christine, let me turn to you. say if hypothetically there is a government shutdown, they don't know what ryan said and don't come to an agreement tonight, what does that mean for real people? >> it's estructive. the government workers, many of them, wouldn't get a paycheck. so there's that pain for so many of those folks there. there are some fda food

inspections that wouldn't happen, but usda inspections would happen for meat and the like. furloughs for hundreds of thousands of workers. all the businesses that rely on them going to work and working would be starved of their paycheck, too. expect longer wait times at airports and you could see some national parks closed. if you get social security, you would still get that check deposited. medicare and medicaid still happens. the u.s. postal service has its own budget. but if you are filing for a new social security card, there's nobody to handle that. if you want to call the irs for questions about your tax return, you're going to have long wait times or wait until it's over. and if you want a new passport or a firearm permit or any number of things the government has to permit, you're going to have to wait until this is over. >> clearly an impact on the american people. and house speaker mike johnson has been under a lot of pressure during these negotiations. is his hold on the gavel

potentially at riskhere? >> reporter: very much so. some of the lawmakers are expressing some dismay with the way johnson handled this situation. even though he's won the confidence of his conference to be the next speaker of the house, he still needs to win a vote on january 3rd. that means 218 votes. it would take just a handful of republicans to walk away from supporting him as speaker to doom his prospects as the leader of the republican party house o representatives in the next congress. the big caveat here, does he still have the support of donald trump? if he does, he likely holds on to the gavel. if not, all bets are off. >> i'm assuming they need the support of donald trump for everything they laid out this evening. thank you both. and we are following breaking news out of germany. there are reports that a car has crashed into a crowded christmas market. >> it's happening in a city about two hours west of berlin.

our correspondent is following it closely for us. danielle, i know this is a developing situation. what do we know? >> reporter: good evening. we know there's an extensive police operation in place right now at the christmas market. this is a city west of berlin, and we cannot show you video just yet, because we have not verified it. but there is video circulating online showing a car going very fast, plowing into a crowd of people at this christmas market. there would have been dozens, if not hundreds of people there. at the time, this is a very famous christmas market, reportedly hundreds of thousands of people come every year to this market in germany. now, according to local media, mvr, at least one person was killed.

again, this is just coming in, and officials are trying to really figure out just what happened and try to paint the picture and get an idea of how many people have been injured, as i say. dozens of people were in that very spot when that car plowed into the crowd. asp is reporting that 60 to 80 people would have been injured now. the german interior minister, nancy pfizer, said last month there was no concrete indication of a danger to christmas markets this year. the reason being, there have been, of course, incidents in the pastst. think back to december 2016, this is december 19th, in fact. an islamic extremist attacker plowed through a crowd of christmas marketgoers with a truck at the time. 13 people dead, injuring dozens more. the attacker was killed days later in a shootout in italy.

we understand now that the driver in this case here, according to local media, has been arrested. again, we still don't have a full picture of what just happened. the information is coming in as we speak now. we'll be updating you thought the night. >> we know there's more to come. and here this the u.s., they are beefing up security around christmas markets. danielle, thank you. let's turn fro the roads to the air. the holiday rush is definitely on. >> more than 119 million people are expected to travel more than 50 miles from home in the u.s. this holiday season, and at our nation's airports, the tsa says it expects to screen nearly 40 million people through the new year. >> all this comes as winter weather threatens to up end a lot of holiday plans. our correspondent is at the miami international airport. and also with uscairns. gaud, how is the holiday rush where you are at the airport? i'm seeing lots of folks behind

you. >> reporter: kate, zinhle, it's been busy but not chaotic. earlier this morning, i was in san antonio and you couldn't fit another person in that terminal. they expect 3 million passengers through the holiday period here in miami. of the 40 million the tsa expects to screen through january 2nd. miami international has a lot of passengers that are doing layovers, others going back home. most of them today tell me that they expect the airport to be busy because of the date, and they were aware of the possibility of a government shutdown, which they say does worry them. here's the two passengers i spoke to earlier today. [ inaudible ]

>> reporter: and that last passenger had to take another flight on the 25th. he was worried about that. i should say the tsa administrator did share a message indicating they are prepared to have workers, tsa workers get through this holiday season, even if there is a government shutdown, ing that 59,000 of the 62,000 employees are considered essential. so they are prepared to keep it flowing. but if the shutdown extends, we could passengers to wait longer periods of time. kate, zinhle? >> thank you, gaud. there's been some messy weather in the northeast whochlt is impacted? >> we have the volume and the snow. a bad combination. newark, 40 minutes, jfk, 81. check out logan. boston is reporting almost three-hour delays on average right now. we had a ground stop for a while. it is snowing hard in boston. that's problematic.

the new york airport, more light snow. now this heavy batch of snow, almost out to the cape. you head southwards down towards plymouth, but this could be like a quick four inches of snow in some cases, right there in the heart of the rush hour. we have 12 million people, including the boston area. buffalo, erie, cleveland,d, you' gesome snow during the evening and through tomorrow morning. this is the additional snowfall forecast. this area here, boston southwards, that's up to about two to four inches. that's probably going to be the worst travel spot. the weekend is cold, but at least it's better than right now. >> thank you both. still ahead, rebuilding after hurricane helene. how some families are able to return home just in time for the holidays thanks to the kindness of strangers. of strangers. the lavish way i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms... ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms.

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the man convicted of killing two teenage girls in delphi, indiana, has been sentenced to 130 years in prison. 52-year-old richard allen received the maximum sentence. the judge said the murders ranked up there with the most hideous cases she's presided over. he was convicted in the deaths of abby williams and libby german. maggie vespa joins us now from

delphi, indiana. maggie, the families of these two girls spoke today. what did they say? >> reporter: yeah, a number of them spoke in court and we had some after court, as well. basically what they told the judge, once the gag order was lifted when they were really pleading for that maximum sentence that they got, libby's mom told the judge, she would be 22 and she should still be here, and so many what ifs. she doesn't get to fall in love and have babies. a grandfather saying it's like losing a limb that will never grow back, and asking allen, will you ever own up to the choices you made that day? again, this is 130 years in prison. 65 years per murder of the two teen best friends in 2017. the judge handing down that maximum sentence, blasting allen in court. as everyone was coming out of this emotionally charged hearing, our affiliate wthr, spoke to abby's uncle.

>> this still ain't justice. nothing is going to bring her back. this is a little closure, a step forward. >> reporter: everyone is talking about, we heard one sound bite from the sheriff earlier today saying everyone is talking about the word closure, saying people have been telling me you must be so happy about the sent tense. he said there will never be closure in this case. this doesn't bring the girls back. another reason everybody is not ready to use that word, allen's team said they plan to appeal this case. they have to file that notice within 30 days. so this could drag on for quite some time more. back to you. >> maggie vespa with the latest, thank you. a new report says some big names in music abused covid relief programs during the pandemic. several famous artists, including chris brown and lil

wayne are accused of spending the money on luxury shopping and private jets. valley castro has more. >> reporter: big names in entertainment like lil wayne and chris brown facing scrutiny for spending millions in covid relief money on themselves, according to an in depth report by business insider, which reviewed account ing documents. the reporting says they were awarded money from the shuttered venue operator's grant. >> it is thought that it would be something that would help the local concert venues, the small-time artists who are just getting their start. >> reporter: but in the case of little wayne, business insider reviewed documents showing he received $8.9 million in relief funds, spending $1.3 million on private jets, another $450,000 going to clothes, ingter cancel

partied at a nightclub but billed $88,000 for a concert that never happened. chris brown receiving $10 million, including for his birthday party's dance floor, nitrogen ice cream and -- >> rental couches. not what they had in mind when they approved this money. >> reporter: going on to say that an almost $10 million grant to d.j. marshmallow's company went straight into his pocket. the grants were awarded based solely on revenue. >> it would not be surprising that this was entirely legal, but it violates the spirit of

what these targeted for. >> reporter: the artists did not provide comments. this wasn't the only pandemic era relief program facing scrutiny, as many became a target for fraud. experts estimating the payment protection program helped to keep small businesses, was robbed of at least $80 billion. >> i think there's plenty of blame to go around. the program's design left itself susceptible for fraud. >> reporter: experts say celebrity spending like this, even if it didn't violate laws, would encourage others to take advantage of these programs. >> you see people get thing money who didn't really need it, you can see where people used that internalized and justified maybe, kind of pushing the maybe, kind of pushing the bounds for applying advil liqui-gels are faster and stronger than tylenol rapid release gels. ♪♪ also from advil, advil targeted relief,

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store here in downtown san francisco covering up some of the damage that their storefront got from last night's officer, involved shooting. they're just finishing up boarding that last panel there. but take a look at what the storefront looked like a couple hours ago. there appeared to be at least ten bullet holes that shattered the very thick glass of their front window. steps away from here, there are chalked circles where more than a dozen evidence markers were. this morning i was told that these specifically indicate shell casings. so this is what we saw this morning from a rather bizarre series of events that began last night. police say around 630, they responded about a block away from where we are now, because a driver drove on to a sidewalk and struck two pedestrians. the driver appeared to be in pursuit of a bicyclist, who was also hit around sutter and kearny streets. that bicyclist fled on foot. now, the driver took some of the property and put it in

his car and drove away. officers then began their investigation and identified a security guard at the dior store as a suspect. around 130 this morning, they approached the guard outside the dior store, and that is when things took a fatal turn. acting chief david lazar mentioned there was a firearm found on scene. he believes that belonged to the suspect. that firearm is now evidence. we saw two tow trucks taking two vehicles away from the crime scene this morning. one was a marked sfpd patrol car with a shattered back window, the other a black suv also with a shattered back left window. police confirm one of the vehicles towed was one they believed was used by the suspect. police say a key person who can help in the investigation is the bicyclist. they have id'd that person as a hispanic male in his 20s. if you know anything about this investigation or anything that can help it, you are asked to

contact san francisco police. in san francisco, ginger conejero, saab, nbc, bay area news. turning now to news from the alameda county district attorney's office. today, we learned the da's office is dismissing charges against an officer involved in mario gonzalez's death. gonzalez died in 2021 after three officers pinned him to the ground. well, now, officer eric mckinley will no longer face involuntary manslaughter charges. the da's office says it dismissed the charges as a result of inconsistent statements from a forensic pathologist expert back in october. a court had previously dismissed charges against the other two officer notably, today's move comes after voters recalled former da pamela price. small prop plane made an emergency landing in the east bay today. the scene an old runway at alameda naval air station field, which has been closed for years. the flight tracking website flightaware says the cessna 152 took off from palo alto at 930, headed for petaluma. but then the pilot says he had equipment trouble, turned around and needed to land

quickly. no injuries. federal records show a flying club owns that plane. get ready for more rain and clouds this weekend. meteorologist kari hall has our forecast as we take a look at what's happening out there in the pacific, as well as the approaching storm system, we can see the scattered showers that are just ofoffhe coast and will be moving into the bay area on saturday morning with some hit or miss showers. not all of us will see the rain, but it will be cloudy and at least some spotty showers into the afternoon. and then on sunday, we start out with a lot of clouds and possibly a little bit of rain, but we will see waves of rain coming through between sunday and monday as well as christmas eve. but then we are looking at a break in the activity on christmas day. we are going to see a lot of changes here over the next few days, and we'll take a look at our 7-day forecast in just a few minutes. all right, kari, thanks very much. now, a follow up story that will eventually pinch families monthly. state regulators approved pg&e. s latest electric rate hike request. the utility tells the

mercury news monthly household rates will go up more than $3 a month on average. this new hike follows four previous rate hikes this year alone. the utility says it needs more money to upgrade the power grid and connect new customers. that new hike will show up on your bill starting in 2026. and that does it for this edition of the fast forward. i'll be back in 30 forward. i'll be back in 30 minutes with more asthma. does it have you missing out on what you love with who you love? it's time to get back out there with fasenra. fasenra is an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks and can also be taken conveniently at home. fasenra helps prevent asthma attacks. most patients did not have an attack in the first year. fasenra is proven to help you breathe better so you can get back to doing day-to-day activities. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems. serious allergic reactions may occur. get help for swelling of your face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop asthma treatments without talking with your doctor.

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dancing in the par... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound)

here are some of the stories making headlines. >> a computer science student has made history, graduating from george mason university at just 15 years old. he is the youngest person ever to graduate from the university with a 4.0 gpa, as well. he started at george mason at 13 years old after getting his associates degree in computer science from a community college. here's what he had to say about the whole experience. >> no one knew when i was younger. i always just tried to put in -- i can't go to any parties or anything, because my dad would have to drive me there. >> he will be returning to campus to finish a masters degree this spring. after that, no shock, he says he plans to pursue a ph.d. >> he's so you can. what were you doing at 15? >> we weren't doing all that. >> very impressive. congratulations to you. if you like him are feeling

lucky, it could be a good day to buy a lottery ticket. the mega millions is up to $825 million ahead of tonight's drawing. it's been more than 100 days since someone won the jackpot. >> if there is a winner tonight, they'll take home the seventh largest prize in the history of that game. the food and drug administration is out with new rules about which foods can be labeled as healthy. the agency says the updates are to help shoppers make better choices. now to qualify as healthy, it has to contain dairy, grain, fruits, vegetables or protein and fall below certain limits for added sugar, salt and saturated fat. some yogurts or snack bars are now off the list. this is the first update in 30 years. americans are suing syria. today, the syrian americans a updated a lawsuit filed in washington, d.c. against the syrian government and the assad

regime. that man and dozens of others allege they were tortured under the assad regime. he hopes it will help alleged victims hold government to account. in syria, the demise of bashar al assad's regime was marked by gunfire. >> they're describing this as a torture device. >> reporter: torture. this syrian american says he experienced it firsthand. >> they should be accountablble for what they did in syria. >> reporter: the 34-year-old is suing the syrian government and officials in the assad regime, alleging in part he was detained and tortured and forced to confess to crimes falsely. he was born in the united states and, at the age of 4, moved to syria, his parent's homeland. he says his first arrest was in 2011, a time of pro-democracy protests. he describes the facility's

conditions as inhumane. >> we had three times to go to the bathroom, and each time only 30 seconds. there's no shower. >> reporter: he alleges he was held for over a month, and after his release, he fled syria. >> i went to michigan with my uncles and stayed there for four months. i feel like i'm secure and can go back. >> reporter: when he did return, he was detained again and beaten, whipped, and threatened with electrocution. he recounted some of his experiences. >> one of the soldiers at the airport asked me, why are you transferred before i complete by words, he tried to kill me. he put his two hands on my neck and he pushed me to the wall, trying to push me down. and they took me naked. while they are doing that, they hit me with a pipe. i can remember one of the

detainees getting punished a lot, and i can't tell you all the details of this torture. >> reporter: the complaint was filed in 2022, with help for the center of justice and accountability. it now includes the testimonies of more than 30 other alleged former detainees. the federal suit, filed under the foreign sovereign immunities act, allows american nationals to sue state sponsors of terrorism. and now, with syria's government in flux, cja says keeping a record of the atrocities is more important than ever. >> we hope that the documentation we provid is considered in the united states, in syria, thousands of families

continue searching for the fate of their loved ones. some detained, others tortured. many still missing. he ultimately escaped assad's regime, but still awaits news about his missing relatives. the memories of hisdy detentio still close. >> for hundreds of thousands of mothers, when i saw my mom, when i leave -- we need justice for all of them. >> reporter: it's not just him seeking justice under that foreign sovereign immunities act. the family is also suing the syrian government after a family member disappeared in syria.

his family says he was traveling to the region to provide medical services. his daughter telling me yesterday his absence has been very traumatic for all of us, and she wants the syrian government and the assad regime held accountable. >> that seems to be a common theme right now. so many people with these terrible stories. >> a good reminderthat stories happening abroad have implications here at home. >> and they're our neighbors now. thank you for that reporting. let's switch gears completely. there is a cuddly new creature taking over the holiday shopping season this year. we'r're talking about the world largest rodent, the cappibara. merch is soaring. we take a look at what's driving the trend. >> reporter: they're some of the biggest little critters on

earth. >> i don't think they exist. >> reporter: and far less scary than the ones made famous in "the princess bride." we're talking capibaras, the largest rodent in the world. which can grow up to four feet long. they're fueled by social media hype from zoo trips around the world. >> come to me here to japan. >> reporter: to a viral song. ♪ ♪ even embraced by disney in the hit kid's movie. now, everyone wants their own, plush version that is. >> now we have a huge trend for capibaras. >> reporter: build a bear's version, viewed 1800 times. not to mention the $98 giant one. but all sold out for the holidays. not the one per customer

disclaimer. the rodent making an appearance on our colleague's christmas sweater. last year, the e swath, the lla, or the narwol before them. >> there's always been your core stuffed animal, unicorns, turtles, bears. but in the last i would say five to eight years, social media trends are the ones that have burst things onto the scene. >> porter: the trend, sometimes making it hard for the how industry to keep up. but with stuffies, they have to. with consumer research firms saying global sales sky rock etding from $1.3 billion in 2021 to $2.2 billion in the same frame of this year, not even counting the holidays yet. so what's driving it? in part, adultlts. some fueled by nostalgia.

>> what's that? >> now at mcdonald's, your kids can get these with a happy meal. >> especially during 2020 and 2021 when we were feeling more isolated, we were looking for that way to connect and to have those social, emotionally intelligent toys. so that's been really trendy lately. >> reporter: sales of toys to adults are up. toy purchases for people 18 and over are up 8% in the last year in the u.s. and now creeping up on 20% of all toy sales. and the numbers are hard to find on stuffed animals, telling "time" magazine that almost 2/3 of buyers that purchase for them sels are between the ages of 18 and 24. now, many finding comfort in the 100 pound relative of the rat. brian chung, nbc news.

we have good newstoday. christmas has come early for some survivors of hurricane helene. >> after they lost everything in the storm, volunteers sprang into action, reminding us there's no place like home for the holidays. cathy park reports. >> reporter: helene tore through east tennessee this september. and today, some mountain communities are still unrecognizable. >> it looks like a desert to me. >> reporter: but others are coming back to life. days after the storm, they began rebuilding, at no cost to the homeowner, putting hands and harts together for residents whose lives were torn apart. >> it's too much. i lost my husband. the whole house, it was a pond. >> reporter: we first saw vickie hunter, stranded on the front porch as the home was swept away. >> this is my driveway here, and

the house was right there. >> if you had a chance to say something to jerry right now, what would you tell him? >> i love him. i wish he was here. >> reporter: carried by the strength of strangers, now just two months later, she's back on the land he loved. [ inaudible ] >> i've had so much outreach and love. >> reporter: that love spreading to other neighbors. what will the holidays look like for you? >> not the same. it won't be the same. but i got a big christmas present, this beautiful house. >> reporter: it a es a priceless gift that seems more like a miracle, a new home for the holidays. >> iove it. >> rereporter: cathy park, nbc news, jonesboro, tennessee. up next, making a list and

checking it twice. but not for santa. why writing your own list could be good for your health, coming up on "nbc news daily." >> but first, time for today's daily snapshot. take a look at this adorable giant panda cub at safari park in china, goes by the nickname that means baby girl and celebrated her 6-month birthday. her mother meng-meng, and she gave birth in june. the adorable cub has grown from 178 grams to nearly 25 pounds in just six months. they do grow really fast. i got to visit some of them once in china.

'tis the season to be jolly, right? but what if you're just to the feeling it this year? according to our next guest, there is a hackck for that. it's called a holiday joy list. >> if you need more joy, this is a really cool trick to get it. i make these seasonal joy lists. you can get them for all season or for one moment, and you just put on things that bring you joy. >> joining us now, liz mooney,

host of a wellness podcast and author of "100 days to change your life." liz, so good to have you. i'm an avid listener. you touched on it in that video, but what is a holiday joy list and why should so many people have them? >> so a holiday joy list is a powerful neuro science tool. so make a list with two types of things on this. things that you are intentionally adding to increase your joy, something like host a tv movie night or make cookies or take a walk with hot chocolate. but also, these are going to be things that you love about this season, that you want to prime your brain to notice during the season. for me, the sense of those pine cones at the grocery store, i love them. they're only this time of the year. so by writing them on my joy list, i'm tagging them in my brain as something to notice, increasingly likely that i will

notice them in the future and get to add that joy to my life. so increasing our joy by two different actions in our brain. >> i was noticing when we watched your video, i saw some of the things that i love too, like sipping on hot cider. so that all sounds great and i know the holidays can be a tough time for people sometimes. like if they're not in the jolliest move, maybe they had a loss this year. what do you suggest for those folks? >> there's two different things. i do think that i love the idea of priming your brain to notice joy, no matter what season of your life you're . i've personally experienced a loss reclenlt entrecently, so i right now. but i want to encourage people to skip the shoulds this holiday season. just because we feel like we shouldn't have a tree, i should be feeling holly jolly, watching these movies, those are not necessary for our lives. it's just adding pressure to

feel a certain way. so i encourage people to make their own traditions. i have friends that just skip the holidays all together. they'll take a vacation to somewhere warm, and that works for them. we should be leaning into what feels good and satisfying for us. >> you talk about priming yourself to see the joyous things. you talk about that as a neuro science hack. i think you're alluding to the fact that our brains naturally look for the negative, right? so can you give us some other mental health tips during this time? >> the way that this works is because nur eurons that fire together wire together. so the more we're firing the neurons together, they will wire together to make us more primed for joy in the future. it will increase your baseline of joy without you having to work for it. otother things i love is just t cover our basics, to eat a really good breakfast with

protein and fiber so we have the energy to enjoy our days. take lots of walks to incorporate structural elements of our day, so we're not pressuring ourselves. we have a key to have the energy and mental health that we need to enjoy this season. >> yeah. we did get a little peek at your joy list. i love these ideas. it's not tough stuff,right? i don't know, for me, i've been thinking about dock them but i never get to it. but you're saying the intentional. >> be intentional, and these aren't necessarily things you're adding in. i have like, have a cheesy movie night. i love all the cheesy hallmark christmas movies. but also just to notice the things around you. so in new york, there's always christmas trees that are along the street and they make the whole air smell like pine. there's the christmas markets that you wander around a different street it feels so

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news conference is explaining how california aims to protect communities andarm animals from bird flu. the number of reported cases in humans nationwide is 70, about half of those in california. also, though, more than 300 dairy herds have tested positive in california alo in the past 30 days alone. just the scale and the fact that we raise our cows more outdoors than, say, some of the northern states where they might be in enclosed barns. so there's just movement and access, and they're connected. and that's really leading to the spread now. despite that, health leaders maintain bird flu risk for you and the general public at large is still low. nonetheless, they're advising people to avoid touching or interacting with wild, sick, or dead animals. they also advise us to not drink raw milk right now. earlier this morning, the college of american pathologists also held a virtual meeting discussing how this bird flu

outbreak is different from previous ones. the first official day of winter is tomorrow. it's sure going to feel like it. meteorologist kari hall has our 7-day forecast. we will see a lot of clouds in the forecast into the weekend, as well as some scattered showers as we welcome in officially winter on saturday. on sunday, it's cloudy with a chance of showers and also rain chances continue into monday. looks like we'll see some more widespread heavy rain on christmas eve, but then christmas day a mostly sunny sky and highs in the upper 50s and then rain coming back on thursday for san francisco. throughout the weekend it's going to be in the 50s with some off and on rain, maybe even some peeks of sunshine on sunday and next week. it's also going to be very active, with a chance of rain at least every other day in the forecast, but as of now, it looks dry on christmas day. kari

frustrated viewers who feel

companies left them holding the bag. our response team dives into each of those cases. here are some recent wins. all right. let me tell you about two of these. first, we're going to start off with emily in pleasanton. here's what happened. she took a flight, but it was canceled due to the weather. the airline refunded the ticket price, but emily was still short. 60 bucks in baggage fees for a flight that never took off. she tapped our team. after we reached out, the airline finally sent emily her 60 bucks. okay. next, let's talk about philip in oakland. he says he accidentally ordered two portable ac units. he only wanted one, so he followed the retailer's instructions and mailed back the unneeded unit to get his 206 bucks back. well, one month later, no refund. the store told him it was still processing it. philip asked us for help. we contacted the retailer. it then returned his 206 bucks. if you are having trouble with a consumer issue, let us know. you can snap the qr code on screen right now to fill out our consumer complaint form online. if you're looking to get

into the holiday spirit and for free, check out this vta will roll. its nearly 100 year old trolley car through downtown san jose. it's going to happen this weekend and next weekend. free rides between civic center and diridon stations. vta tells us the historic trolley car was built in italy in 1928, and it has been here in california since 1986. that's going to do it for this edition of the fast forward. we hope you'll join us again at 430 with more news. again at 430 with more news. have ae father-in-law lit up a room, but his vision dimmed with age. he had amd. i didn't know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga, like: hazy or blurred vision, so it's hard to see fine details, colors that appear dull or washed out,

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i'm craig melvin, and this is "dthe whole community.nbc.r craig melvin: it hit her town like a lightning bolt, the strange disappearance of carrie olson. it was scary. everyone loved carrie. it was so painful.