get stressed out if they work nonstop, said the staff member. so we bring them out in shifts it's wednesday, november 27th, 2019. this is the "cbs morning news." whiteouts and blackouts. two storm systems pummelling the u.s. with snow, wind, and rain bringing headaches to thanksgiving travelers. where an airport was plunged into darkness and what to expect in the days ahead. massive explosion in texas. flames light up the sky after a plant blows up. and open invitation. democrats move ahead with the impeachment inquiry, giving president trump the opportunity president trump the opportunity to attend a hearing next week. captioning funded by cbs good morning from the studio 57 newsroom at cbs headquarters here in new york. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green.

it is getaway day as millions of travelers will be hitting the roads and skies to get to their. y weather in some states is alreroto travel plans. just look at the scene at denver yesterday. all that snow and ice caused highway headaches. some cars were stuck while others lost control. in vail one person was killed when a tractor-trailer jackknifed and was hit by two other trucks. crews hastily worked to clear snow on runways and taxiways at denver international airport. hundreds of flights were canceled there. meanwhile, san francisco was hit with a major rain storm. some busy highways were forced to close because of severe flooding. the storm caused widespread power outages including at oakland international airport. and take a look at interstate 405 in los angeles. the busiest highway in the u.s. was jam-packed with travelers rushing, if you will, to get out of town.

meteorologist evelyn taft of our los angeles station kcbs has your latest travel forecast. good morning. we are looking at an active weather pattern for getaway day and the rest of our thanksgiving holiday. tracking a storm over the west. we are talking wind, heavy rain, and snow. we could see another storm coming in right behind it on sunday. otherwise, we're looking at another storm system headed toward the east. and it's this storm system that could bring rain, snow, and wind which could put a damper on our thanksgiving day, especially for the macy's thanksgiving day parade. if wind gusts get to 34 miles per hour or above, balloons will be grounded. they won't fly. at this point, though, we're looking at 22 mile-per-hour gusts. so we're hoping things will stay that way. as we get a look at temperatures across the country for our thanksgiving day, you will see temperatures in the 50s and 60s for the east. for the midsection of the country, 20s and 30s. for the west, numbers mostly in the 50s.

if you're shopping for black friday, we are expecting quite a warm forecast. from houston to birmingham and atlanta, we're expecting 60s and 70s. the southeast in the 80s. again, very cold conditions across the rest of the country. a wintry forecast coming our way for sunday. if you're planning ahead and getting back home on sunday, rain and showers expected for new york city, 49 degrees. as we check in with baltimore, rain, chicago, rain, denver, 30s and dry. and san francisco, 58 with rain. i'm evelyn taft, cbs news. there are breaking developments out of jefferson county, texas, where there's a report of a plant explosion. this video was posted on twitter by our beaumont affiliate, kfdm, showing a massive fire. it's not clear what type of facility was involved. homes had windows blown out miles away from the plant. so far there's no word of injuries. this part of texas near the

louisiana border is a major hub for the oil and gas industries. firefighters in southern california are expected to get help today against the cave fire. it's only about 10% contained. rainy weather is in the forecast today, and it could help drench the flames near santa barbara. that could bring the risk of mudslides and flash flooding. so far the fire has burned more than 4,300 acres. evacuation warnings are posted downhill from the scorched area. to florida where president trump held his latest rally. during his remarks last night he wasted no time blasting the house democrats' impeachment inquiry. mr. trump told supporters the probe is falling flat with voters, and complained that democrats launched the investigations for political purposes. laura podesta is here in new york. this is all coming as there are new developments now in the impeachment inquiry. >> reporter: that's right, anne-marie. the new developments include two new transcripts released from previous closed door depositions, and we're also looking ahead to a hearing next

week held by the house judiciary committee. so things are moving at breakneck speed because house democrats want to vote on articles of impeachment by end of year. president trump railed against the democrats s and the impeachment inquiry last night in his new home state of florida. >> their sinister plans are failing at a level that nobody thought even would be possible. >> reporter: polls showing support for and against impeachment have remained steady since october, but the president says he's winning. >> you see what's happening in the polls -- everybody said, that's really bull [ bleep ]. [ cheers ] >> reporter: the house intelligence committee saw a dozen witnesses publicly testify about the president's dealings with ukraine. yesterday it released two more anscripts from closed door depositions. white house budget official mark sandy said two people resigned partly because crucial military aid to ukraine was kept on hold. will you participate in the

impeachment hearing next week? now the house judiciary committee will begin the next phase with its own public hearings next week. >> they've already received subpoenas to appear. >> reporter: the president joked about the inquiry while hosting the traditional pardoning of thanksgiving turkeys. he's complained in the past about not being involved. >> you have a kangaroo court. >> reporter: that will change as president trump and his counsel are invited to attend next week's hearing. chairman jerry nadler is also expected to invite legal experts to discuss the constitutional grounds for impeachment. but it's unlikely president trump will attend next week's hearing because he'll be in london for a nato summit. he has until sunday to let congress know if he or his counsel will show up. >> laura podesta here in new york. thank you, laura. >> thanks. the cdc has discovered more illnesses due to romaine lettuce tainted by e. coli. that number is now up to 67 nationwide with people in 19

states affected. 39 of those people have been hospitalized, and six have developed a form of kidney failure. nobody has died, though. the youngest person to be sickened is just 3 years old. the lettuce came from salinas, california, so people are warned not to eat romomaine from there. the same strain of e. coli has now sickened people three years in a row. a major tunnel in hong kong is back open this morning after being closed for two weeks. the cross harbor tunnel was shut down when anti-government protesters blocked the approach and set fire to the toll booths. the tunnel links hong kong it comes as the week-long siege of a nearby university appears to be winding down. a search of the campus found only one woman still there. she's reported in weak condition. a university official said it's unlikely that any other protesters remain. meanwhile, city leader carrie lam is offering no concessions after surprising wins by pro-democracy candidates in

sunday's local elections. november is pancreatic cancer awareness month. it's estimated more than 56,000 americans will be diagnosed with the disease this year. nearly 46,000 of them will die from it. dr. jon lapook explains how an extraordinary group of patients is receiving a new treatment. >> reporter: three years ago, arnold simon's doctor told him he had advanced pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver. >> i asked what my prognosis was, and she said four to six months. >> reporter: he's a rare survivor known as an extraordinary responder. he had a dramatic response to chemotherapy, and his tumors completely disappeared. >> and i just had a scan last tuesday, and i was all clear. >> reporter: dr. elizabeth jaffe at johns hopkins believes figuring out why arnold simon is all clear will provide clues to treating others. to do that she's using a new approach with a collaboration called the convergence institute.

>> we needed more than just cancer biologists. what we really needed was to bring together experts from other fields. >> reporter: now experts in physics, mathematics, and other fields have joined the fight. that includes astrophysicist alexander soleil. he used a decades' worth of computerized data to use a telescope to create a map of over 200 million galaxies. >> this is like the google of the sky. >> reporter: this is not a night sky. it's cancer viewed on the cellular level. soleil and his colleagues are using the same approach that helped them map galaxies to explore the interactions between cancer and the immune cells that fight them. >> that's the battleground. >> reporter: he hopes examining extraordinary responders like simon will help researchers figure out why his immune cells were able to kill the cancer. >> it gives me goosebumps. working on this was exciting and all the things that i learned that can save lives. >> reporter: and beat one of the deadliest cancers if the stars align.

dr. jon lapook, cbs news, new york. coming up on the "morning news," authorities in michigan risk their lives to rescue a man from a burning van. and proud mary. singer tina turner has a message for fans as she marks a milestone. this is the "cbs morning news." unpredictable crohn's symptoms following you? for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection or flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. pems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. talk to your doctor today,

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the "washington post" reports on a new study that shows americans are dying at a younger age at alarming rates. the study published in the "journal of the american medical association" says the u.s. has seen increasing mortality and falling life expectancy for people age 25 to 64. researchers say death rates have suicide, drug overdoses, liver disease, and dozens of other causeshave been rising over the past decade for young and middle-aged adults. the highest jump in death rates from 2010 to 2017 has been among people age 25 to 34. the "washington examiner" says the supreme court set a date to take up a controversial abortion case during the 2020 election year. the high court will hear oral arguments about a louisiana abortion restriction on march 4th. it will re-examine a 2016 supreme court ruling that overturned a texas law requiring doctors providing abortions to have admitting privileges to local hospitals.dee ng, loui passed a similar restriction

that was upheld by an appeals court. that means the supreme court will hear the case again, but this time with two new justices nominated by president trump. and "people" says singing legend tina turner celebrated her 80th birthday by posting a video message to her fans on social media. >> i look great. i feel good. i've gone through some very serious sicknesses that i'm overcoming. so it's like having a second chance at life. i'm happy to be an 80-year-old woman. >> love to hear that. in her recent memoir, tina turner revealed that she suffer aid stroke in 2013. she was also diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and received a kidney transplant from her husband the following year. earlier this month, turner attended opening night of the "tina turner musical" on broadway. still ahead, protests add chaos to the holiday air travel. hundreds of airline caterers are staging demonstrations

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this was the scene last night at l.a.x. in los angeles where workers from lsg sky chefs which contracts with american airlines blocked traffic to demand better pay and health care. there were multiple arrests there. workers also demonstrated in san francisco, new york, dallas, and minneapolis. on the cbs "money watch" now, a key trade meeting is expected today, and a luxury department store is offering some rare discounts. marc liverman is at the new york stock exchange with that and more. good morning, marc. >> reporter: good morning, anne-marie. well, today investors will get a second look at third-quarter gdp and pending home sales data for october. meanwhile, the only notable company set to report earnings is construction giant deere and company. stocks closed higher tuesday led by retailers and other companies that rely on consumer spending. the dow was up 55 points. the s&p added 6 points, and the nasdaq gained 15 points. today trade ministers from

the u.s., canada, and mexico are expected to meet in washington to discuss the deal to replace nafta. the trump administration is working toward a compromise with house democrats to make changes to the usmca. at issue are the pac's labor, environmental enforcement, and drug pricing provisions. any changes would have to be approved by canada and mexico before the agreement can be finalized and sent to congress for a vote. the faa says it plans to maintain control of certifying new boeing 737 max planes even once the planes return to service. typically the plane maker is responsible for routine activities such as certifying individual planes. boeing, however, has been under scrutiny following two deadly crashes involving its 737 max jet. both crashes have been attributed to an automated flight control system. the faa grounded the fleet earlier this year. new data reveals chicago has

seen a significant increase in the cost of ride shares over the past year. a "reuters" analysis shows the price increases predominantly affect chicago's low-income neighborhoods. those areas typically have a higher demand for carpool rides. a new law requires ride share companies to reveal fare data. and black friday shoppers, listen up. barney's is offering deep discounts. according to "bloomberg," the company is having a rare clearance of luxury brands for black friday weekend. clearance sales will average 30% to 35% off starting today. the move follows barney's decision to liquidate. the retailer filed for bankruptcy in october. barney's opened in new york in 1923. anne-marie? >> well, i guess that's good for some black friday shoppers. but when it comes to barney's, i think you might need to cut a little bit deeper for me. pretty pricey. >> for sure. for sure. >> marc liverman at the new york stock exchange.

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with love, california. here's a look at the forecast in some cities around the country. ♪ look before you text. a man at a subway stop in buenos aires fell off the platform all because he was distracted by his cell phone. a passerby saw what happened and came to the man's rescue, pulling him back on to the platform. he was treated at the scene by emergency personnel and is expected to be okay. i'm sure just a little embarrassed. coming up only on "cbs this morning," a special broadcast from the top of new york's

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stormy weather'ies this morning giving. heavy wind and rain and snow slamming the west coast while another storm packing rain and gusty winds is heading east. high winds could ground those famous balloons at the macy's thanksgiving day parade tomorrow in new york city. and president trump slammed the house democrats' impeachment inquiry during a rally in florida. he told the crowd yesterday that the investigation was deranged. mr. trump's words come as the house judiciary committee sets its first impeachment hearing for next wednesday. and now to the story of a family with a lot to be thankful for this thanksgiving because of a team of quick-thinking doctors. dean reynolds reports. >> reporter: you would never

know it to look at rio farr today, but he's been through an awful lot in his 18 months of life. when he was born he nearly died. >> he was making a face like he was crying, but there was no noise coming out. >> reporter: his airway was almost totally blocked. a team of nurses and doctors tried repeatedly to insert a breathing tube without success. and while an emergency tracheotomy eventually stabilized rio, a doctor had to tell his parents, holly and patrick, what their baby's severe condition meant. >> he drew like a little scale, and it said mild, moderate, severe. he was talking about brain damage. >> and that's when he said, we may have to help you guys make a really tough decision. >> reporter: a day later, though, rio somehow began to respond without detectible brain damage. he was m t hospital of los angeles and into the hands of dr. christian hochstim. >> his vocal cords were almost completely fused, and there was

a tiny hole he was able to breathe through. >> reporter: a condition that occurs in only one out of 10,000 births. but surgery successfully enlarged the airway, saved his life, and gave rio a voice. months later, the tube in his throat is gone, his breathing is great, and his parents can hear him. for his family now, even his cries are a song of celebration. and his smile all the more reason to give thanks. dean reynolds, cbs news. so coming up only on "cbs this morning," a special broadcast from new york's empire state building. tony dokoupil will be on the 80th floor with an exclusive sneak peek at the iconic building's major new renovations. plus, we'll take you behind the scenes and show you some of the secrets of the skyscraper including how its famous lights change. and actor jeff goldblum joins us to share his deep connection to new york city and what the building means to him. that's the "s mornws" for t.

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