ferguson. but exactly what and how? a seven-day march that kicks off today as some places try to get back to business. back in the game, maybe. see how a new ruling could affect ray rice's football career and we hear from his wife in a new interview. new and alarming, a report on the rise of the surge of near misses between commercial airliners and drones. could the flying robots bring down a passenger jet? in time for the holidays, get rid of all your old parking tickets. at the same time, you can do a good deed. that's behind one city's latest idea. it's high noon in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we start with weather this hour and the clean-up effort under way in new england after a major snowstorm. wednesday's storm produced the fourth largest outage in new hampshire's history. in maine, officials say 2,000

homes are still without power. warming stations have been serving those without electricity. the power should be on later today. >> we've had businesspeople coming in for water, hot showers, get a hot cup of coffee, check up on storm updates, power updates. >> as for today's weather, the cold temperatures sticking and here in the northeast. temperatures will be from 5 to 15 degrees below average. on sunday, a plunge of arctic air is going to drop down from canada. by monday, the temperatures will be 15 to 30 degrees below average in many spots from montana all the way to the great lakes. raphael miranda is here with some explaining to do. what are we expecting? >> it's rough out there. we have a lot of places dealing with windchills that are painful right now. in the northeast, windchills in the teens and 20s. it gets better over the next few days but the opposite across the intermountain west and interior sections of the northwest. billings right now feels like 18 degrees below zero.

it gets worse throughout the day today. no relief in sight. that cold blast will continue to sink south over the next few days. we have some good weather news, though. first of all, no major storms in the center of the country or across the northeast. and california is getting rain. of course, no one likes to see rain over the weekend. but this is rain that they desperately need. extreme drought conditions for the entire state of california. now we're seeing some significant rainfall in northern california, especially around san francisco towards redding, eureka and crescent city. that will continue to stream in through the afternoon. later on today and tomorrow, the warm-up continues for places like chicago. 50s today. 40s tomorrow. and rainy out west tomorrow. there's your sunday forecast. showers from san francisco to los angeles. they don't like rain during the weekend. but we'll take it at any time. here in the northeast, melting the snow in the suburbs of boston tomorrow. in the 50s. the trend continues on monday as well.

high temperatures nice and warm in the northeast. 50s and 60s down to d.c. but look what's coming our way. 8 degrees, your high in minneapolis on monday. that cold surge sweeps across the nation again early next week. even here in the northeast, talking about a very cold day coming up on your tuesday. so lots of ups and downs over the next few days. >> welcome to december. thank you very much, raphael. we have breaking news to share this hour from an atlanta suburb. a nightmare has come to an end for a young boy in georgia who's been missing for nearly four years. the boy who has not yet been named was rescued by police last night after he was found miles from his home. wxia's ryan kruger is joining me from outside the house where he was found in jonesboro, georgia. what do we know about this case? >> reporter: here's the interesting thing, alex. i've spoken to several neighbors here. they've all said they saw the kid out here quite frequently. in fact, they saw him always out

here doing yard work. the other day, one neighbor saw him sweeping off the roof. they didn't think anything of it. they were told by his father and his stepmother who lived here that they were homeschooled. so they never thought anything of it. last night, police showed up, they received a call about the missing boy, missing for almost four years. they checked the house, didn't find him. so then they left. shortly after that, two or three hours later, they get another phone call from the child's mother and she gave them one final clue that the police really needed. she said that she believed the boy was being kept in a false wall. whenever police checked the house one more time, sure enough, they tell us they found the boy behind a false wall. in fact, the family had tried to camouflage the wall. they put towels there, are possibly a linen closet to make it blend in with the rest of the house. >> it is just extraordinary. ryan, we've been showing pictures of the reunion with his mother.

i want to double-check. the man and woman living in that house are his biological father and stepmother. does it appear that it was some sort of a domestic problem? >> reporter: that's what we're hearing. the child was gone for four years. the mother lives out of state. she had to actually travel to clayton county just outside of atlanta to come pick up the boy. so it was something along those lines. that's what we're hearing. neighbors are telling us they moved into this house about six months ago and as i said before, they saw the boy quite often but they were told he was homeschooled so they didn't think anything of it. >> is there any indication of physical abuse? did these neighbors say he looked in good condition, good health or did they describe him any way to you? >> reporter: actually one lady -- her son plays with the boy all of the time. and she said the boy never mentioned anything.

she never thought he was in distress. we saw him when he was being reunited with his mother in that video we're showing you. the boy looked skinny but that's difficult to tell. he may just be a very skinny young man. >> ryan kruger, thank you very much for this breaking news story and bringing us the latest from jonesboro. the naacp is beginning a seven-day 120-mile march from ferguson to missouri's capital in the wake of this week's grand jury decision in the michael brown case. and we're seeing new video of the damage done to one of the city streets hardest-hit areas by monday night's violence after the grand jury announcement. msnbc's richard lui is in ferguson for us. richard, how badly were local businesses affected by what happened on monday night? >> reporter: alex, good day to you. two things to consider today that will help the businesses, first thing is the weather. it is around 58 degrees right now. it hit the teens earlier in the week. second thing that will help, we

just learned today that the road will be open, a majority of florissant from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local. if they couldn't get access, the customers to these businesses, those that might be open weren't getting customers during those hours of the day that the road was closed because it was difficult to enter those areas. how hard were they hit? well, the estimates are very early in at the moment. some have locally said it could be in the millions. but the dellwood mayor that's adjacent to ferguson said, 10% of my business district was destroyed. i just had the opportunity to see a great portion of that area that the mayor was talking about. and it is stark. what you're seeing in this daylight, although the weather is good, in this daylight and what should be a normal day are those businesses that are burnt down next to businesses that are still boarded up. and you can't tell if they're open, alex, until the doors actually open and then you see that the lights are on inside and a customer or two may come

out at that time. so the governor is saying here, alex, that there's over $600,000 available for many of the cities in this area to get 0% interest loans. but the damage overall could be much more than that. >> you could imagine considering what we witnessed on monday night. i want to talk about something we addressed earlier today. the naacp's march to missouri's capital there. what have you learned about the goals of that march? >> reporter: first off is to educate. the idea behind what the naacp is saying is there is a gap between the reality and what is believed. and so when i was speaking with the president and ceo, cornell brooks, this is what we told me about what the objective is. >> what we'd like to have happen here is to literally rewrite history such that ten years from now, 15 years from now, young people in high school and college will look back on this time and say to themselves and read about this time and

conclude young people in this day ended racial profiling. that's what this is about. >> reporter: and so the idea behind that here, alex, is through the teach-ins that they will have all along the way of those seven days and the rallies, that they will be educational. >> how confident are they they can bring about some real change? >> reporter: it really is a hopeful march when we look at the journey to justice that will take seven days. cornell brooks expressing that he hopes for his own children that they will grow up in a different space, a different understanding of what this not indictment means to them right now. as they gather the hundreds and thousands they're hoping to get along the way, they hope that it's putting out more individuals that can share this idea of what the naacp says needs to happen. >> yeah, always does start with education. richard, i know thanksgiving fell in the middle of when the

rioting began on monday night and where we are today. did that have something of a calming effect on the aura there in ferguson? >> reporter: that's a really good question. we look at the arc just within the last week. this is the first weekend since the nonindictment came down, since we saw that flashpoint of violence in the evening on monday. then it started to tick down as we moved towards the holiday, thanksgiving. and it was very quiet. then after the holiday, yesterday we had a new type of demonstration, those die-ins where the protesters were walking into malls and businesses and just lying down trying to give an economic protest. so the question is today will the energy increase because the weather is better, it's not as cold as i was describing before, because now the holiday has allowed some resting and perhaps we'll see more out and about on a saturday night. that's the question today.

which way will this turn? will it go back to what it was before or are we seeing the bottom end of that arc? >> we'll wait and see. thank you very much, richard lui. overnight, hosni mubarak was cleared of conspiring to kill demonstrators during the 2011 uprising that eventually led to his own ouster. the 86-year-old is still serving a three-year sentence under house arrest for embezzlement. to beijing, the people's congress passed an official ban on smoking in all public spaces on friday. the new ban includes offices, public transportation and also bans outdoor tobacco advertisements. violators of the ban will be forced to pay the equivalent of just over $30. a 6-year-old boy in washington is being hailed as a hero and for good reason. alex was at the dining room table with a friend when his buddy started choking on his meal.

alex jumped right into action. >> i grabbed my hands together and pushed it so he could breathe again. >> he just jumped right in there and took care of business. >> once the ordeal was over, alex's buddy had this one request -- >> he said, can you please stop doing it? >> i'm sure alex's friend was also very grateful. black friday could be setting records. we'll bring you the latest numbers. and a new trailer for the latest installment in the star wars saga just came out. why is it already creating controversy? e volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. hurry into the sign-then- drive event and get a five-hundred- dollar black friday bonus on select new volkswagen models.

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the shooting of michael brown is only the most prominent of a string of recent police-involved deaths across this country which have sparked outrage. eric garner, killed by a chokehold in july, achi gurley,

unarmed, shot and killed last thursday by a police officer in a darkened hallway of a brooklyn housing project, and then just last weekend, 12-year-old tamir rice, shot and killed within seconds of being approached by a cleveland police officer after he was seen in a park holding what turned tout obout to be a gun. gentlemen, i'm glad to have you both here. marquez, you first, my friend. you've been in uniform, maybe even been in circumstances like the officers in these four cases where it's important to note, no one's been indicted nor convicted of a crime at this point. but are there protocols or reforms that you think could be in place to prevent these deaths? >> well, there definitely needs to be a national discussion and movement towards a shift in the

paradigm of current modern-day policing. when you have this overaggressive policing that is occurring throughout the nation. and then you add into that the unwillingness to have an open and honest discussion about the role that race plays, especially in these police interactions, then you end up with these results. there needs to be a national movement beyond even discussion that involves community and the acknowledgme acknowledgment of the role that race plays in these situations. >> police have different reactions to different situations. does the mindset of a police officer as a whole need to be changed in this country? >> absolutely, alex. that points to training and rethinking how we train police officers. if you think of the case of tamir rice, two seconds from the moment the police arrived, he was shot. what if he had been given 15 seconds or 30 seconds or got forbid a minute. he would still be alive today. that goes into training.

social psychologists tell us, we all have implicit biases, especially in this culture of race. if we can train officers to take just one moment more to think about, am i making the right call here in this moment, is my life truly in danger, we wouldn't have this statistic of black teenagers being 21 times more likely to be killed by a police officer versus white teenagers. >> but to push it further, despite what you just said, marquez, is this a white versus black issue or is this a police versus civilian issue? can you break that down? >> it's a combination of both. but let me start by saying although we can always have additional training, these shootings and these incidents that we're seeing have less to do with training than to do with other social, socioeconomic, racial issues that are going on. when you have a police force or a law enforcement agency that won't even acknowledge the fact that race plays a role in not

only enforcement decisions but regulations of police departments and how they're implemented, then you really are at ground zero for it. so there needs to be an acknowledgment of it first and foremost before you can move past it. but there is a racial component in law enforcement and policing throughout this nation. >> did you see that when you were on the police force? marquez? >> absolutely. absolutely. it has always existed. it has always been addressed -- these shootings are just the most recent shootings. but we can go back through time and find a similar pattern of incidents that have occurred. just as outrageous and egregious. and most unfortunate that end up with the same result from a justice system that cannot operate effectively without the acknowledgment of law enforcement and a shift in the paradigm from law enforcement. >> there was a fascinating article in "the new york times," dorian, a couple of months ago

in which it talked about the lasting effects of stop-and-frisk. you have young black and hispanic men who say when they see each other out in public, they don't shake hands for fear it looks like a drug deal, they don't go out in groups together, they'll break it going into a store because someone may suspect what they're doing. they don't go out at night for fear of interpretation or they're worried about going to their friends' buildings. the list goes on and on. what is the long-term impact of this on these communities? >> loss of freedom, loss of being a citizen, of being able to walk out your door and not fear the police and not fear if you might not make pit back alive. that is essentially a loss of freedom that most citizens take for granted in this country. people change their behavior based on the fear of policing which police, as taxpayers we pay to serve and protect, not to keep communities in fear. so we need long-term structural change and how police officers

especially in communities of color that keep people fearful and scared of the police. >> it starts in the home. i've been told by many a parent who say, this is part of how we have to raise our children, we have to say, you must be aware of this out there. >> i and my older brother, we were trained by our mother to -- whenever a police officer stops you, if you're in the car, make sure your hands are visible. there are all these things that black parents have to teach their sons and daughters these days that whites and others can take for granted in terms of police interactions. >> it is extraordinary. marquez, there have been numerous deaths and abuses in the past always followed by calls for reform. and it happens again and again. in your years with the nypd and since, have you seen any improvement? >> no. as a matter of fact, it really appears as if we're going backwards in as far as addressing police and community issues, addressing law enforcement issues and addressing justice issues.

a lot of people will tell you the system is broken. but you really have to examine those comments. is the system really broken or is the system in a place where it can be easily manipulated to get the end result you need or want or desire? so there are larger questions than just the conversations that must be had and just the community input that must be included in these conversations, even beyond what president obama suggested the other day, that we have this national movement towards some sort of reform or understanding about what's going on. but to answer your question directly, there has not been an improvement because we are not really effectively addressing or dealing with the issues of race, socioeconomics, class, et cetera, that have a direct impact on how policing is done in different communities. >> this journey for justice that begins today, seven days, 120-mile march from ferguson to the state's capital in missouri, can it have some sort of an impact like those groundbreaking ones of the civil rights era? >> absolutely. the fact that we are having this

discussion right now shows the role of protest over those 100 days while we were waiting for the non-indictment, as it turned out, of darren wilson, activists every day would show up and offer peaceful protests. this is an example of sustaining that momentum, of keeping this on the agenda in ferguson and around the country. we have to put the spotlight on policing. we can't let it slip off the radar when the next big issue comes up. so protest works. everyone doesn't like it. but as you pointed out in terms of the '60s, it kept the issues of racial justice on the national agenda and in communities across the country. that's what this protest is aimed to do. >> dorian warren, marquez clifton, thank you both so much. the dreaded parking ticket. i'll tell you about the one city turning that nuisance into an act after charity. and we have answers about black friday next.

shoppers heading back to the malls today after the madness of black friday. it triggered chaos in some stores. miguel almaguer has more for us. how crazy did it get? >> reporter: we saw a real spike in people getting outside the door. a lot of people tell us they make these black friday shopping experiences because they're looking for those deep discounts. others do it purely for the sport. as you know, the crowds come out every single year and they have gotten bigger and bigger over time. while they're not quite keeping pace with the online shopping we've seen, it is still big business, the brick-and-mortar stores say sales have been up about 5%. they're making a lot of money. this weekend, too, folks will be out in force. >> because it's beyond bargain hunting. there were arrests made on black friday. is this the new norm? >> reporter: i think it may be. we've seen more arrested every year. in california, two women were

arrested inside a kohl's were literally fistfighting inside the baby aisle. we'll probably continue to see this. police have said it can be a dangerous situation when you have crowds lined up at a front door who all brush in at the same time. it's scenes like those we probably will become more experienced with as time goes on. >> online shopping is up more than 14% on thanksgiving. it's up 8% on black friday. best buy's website crashed because of all that traffic. it doesn't seem to be enough, though, to keep the crowds away. can you imagi can you tell me a little bit about store profits? >> reporter: store profits are up about 4%. not keeping pace with online shopping. people who online shop go out to the stores afterwards. we're seeing a reversal of some trends. we hear that folks are doing online shopping to find prices to comparison shop. and then actually going inside stores to try things on, to test the material out.

so folks are doing a little bit of both. but those brick-and-mortar stores are still making big money over this weekend. >> okay. nbc's miguel almaguer, thanks so much. what pope francis hopes to gain from his rare visit to turkey. (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. this is the equivalent of the and this is one soda a day over an average adult lifetime. but there's a better choice. drink more brita water. clean, refreshing, brita.

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and get a $150 credit for every smartphone you switch! hurry in and get it all on america's largest, most reliable 4g lte network! verizon. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." former baltimore ravens running back ray rice could be a step closer to getting back out on the field after taking on the nfl, an arbitrator ruled late friday that rice can return to the field immediately. rice was dropped from the team earlier this year after he was caught on tape hitting his then-fiancee in an elevator. the key question remaining, will a team pick him up? nbc's kristen welker has been following this story. kristen joins us with the latest. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon, alex. with only about a month left in football season, you're absolutely right, the key question, will ray rice return to the field? meanwhile, reaction is pouring

in to the ruling. now we're hearing from his wife for the very first time. a second chance for ray rice, once suspended indefinitely by the nfl for knocking out his then-fiancee in an elevator, he's clear to sign with any team after an arbitrator overturned the nfl suspension on friday. his victory comes as his wife janay rice is speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with matt lauer, a conversation taped before friday's decision. >> we've only seen you months after the incident. and i can't imagine that you were that calm when you started to realize exactly what happened in that elevator. can you describe those emotions? >> i was furious. we came home and we didn't talk the entire ride -- well, i didn't speak to him the entire ride home. he tried to talk to me. i didn't want to hear anything. i just fu ne knew he hit me.

and i was completely over it. i didn't want to entertain anything he had to say. of course in the back of my mind and in my heart i knew our relationship wouldn't be over because i know this isn't us and it's not him. >> reporter: the big question centers on rice's professional life now. will another team make him another offer to suit up? >> coaches are not happy with distractions. >> reporter: rice argued the nfl was punishing him twice for the same offense. the nfl first suspended rice for two games in june upon learning about the incident in the elevator and then suspended him indefinitely in september after tmz sports released the graphic surveillance video showing rice assaulting his wife. nfl officials argued they hadn't seen the tape and that it wasn't consistent with what rice had initially told them about what happened. >> but the judge in her decision said, rice had the videotape,

rice had the videotape and the nfl never asked him for it. >> reporter: janay rice told espn that she and her husband are relieved by the decision. and in a statement ray rice said, quote, i made an inexcusable mistake. i'm thankful that there was a proper appeals process in place to address this issue. meanwhile, a spokesperson for the nfl said the league respects the decision to reinstate rice and acknowledged, quote, ray rice is a free agent based on judge jones' decision, he will be eligible to play upon signing a new contract. now, this is a setback for commissioner roger goodell who's come under a lot of scrutiny for his handling of this and other domestic abuse cases throughout the league. >> kristen welker, many thanks for that. the federal investigation into the michael brown shooting continues in the wake of the no indictment decision against officer darren wilson. will the grand jury's decision and the outrage in ferguson affect the investigation? former federal prosecutor seth rosen th nthal is joining me no.

what are the possible federal charges involved here? >> well, the first charge and the most likely charge that's under consideration is the use of excessive force. and federal law prohibits police officers from using -- from intentionally using more force than reasonably necessary to address the situation. so that is the legal standard that federal prosecutors will be using to evaluate whether officer wilson violated michael brown's civil rights. >> how tough is that to prove? >> it's a very difficult standard. as you may recall, the attorney general himself, eric holder, made an announcement in the wake of the local grand jury's decision in ferguson and said, listen, the federal standard is a high standard. it's a difficult standard. the question is, as i said, whether when officer wilson fired on michael brown, he knew at that moment that he was using

more force than he reasonably had to in order to control the situation. and if you have credible conflicting accounts about whether officer wilson had a reasonable fear of michael brown, then federal prosecution is exceedingly unlikely, if not impossible. and the question then becomes whether all of the evidence really comes on one side of that equation, whether all of the evidence shows that there could have been no reasonable fear of a threat from michael brown. >> the description you're giving me, sounds like you have to be a mind-reader to get inside darren wilson's mind as to what he was thinking. so will there be charges forthcoming? what are the chances of it? >> well, i can't really opine on whether or not there will be charges forthcoming because i just don't know the evidence that well. but, listen, the federal government is going to take an independent look at the

evidence. i actually know the prosecutors who are looking at this. and they've been doing this for a long, long time. and they are not going to be influenced by what the grand jury did in ferguson. they're going to look at the evidence independently, they're going to have to reinterview witnesses if that's necessary, take an independent look at the evidence and they're going to decide whether the evidence is sufficient to meet that standard that i talked about before. >> how much does the environment in ferguson and around the country influence any decision? look at all the violence, all the protests, all the outcry about this. >> as a prosecutor, that can't influence your decision. obviously what's happened is unfortunate, but you've got to take a look at the evidence and gauge the evidence in the face of the legal standard that applies. and that's what prosecutors have to do. that's what they're duty-bound to do. they can't be influenced by what's taking place on the ground in ferguson. they have to look at the facts of the case.

now, let me say this, there are two different investigations going on. there is one investigation which is a criminal investigation which focuses exclusively on the shooting of michael brown. there is also a much broader civil investigation taking a look at whether the ferguson police department has engaged over a period of years in a pattern or practice of violating citizens' constitutional rights. that investigation will probably take longer than the narrowly focused investigation of the shooting of michael brown because it's going to involve more than just an analysis of that particular incident. and if that investigation shows that there is reasonable cause to believe that a pattern or practice of constitutional violations has taken place at the hands of the ferguson police department, then the justice department will get involved and will either file a lawsuit or negotiate a settlement agreement with the ferguson police department trying to make sure that going forward the ferguson police department engages in

constitutional policing. >> how about this? do you ever encounter political pressure to get something done, considering the outrage and the way things have played out across this country? >> i have never been in the front office of the justice department. so i can't say that i personally have ever -- >> you heard about it? >> -- experienced political pressure. but sure, there's political pressure that is brought to bear. but t at the end of the day, the folks at the justice department need to look at the facts. and if the facts show that officer wilson intentionally violated michael brown's civil rights, then an indictment will follow. and if not, then no indictment will follow. >> seth rosenthal, we look forward to having you on again. thank you so much. let's go to politics now. congress returns from its thanksgiving break on monday. the first item on the house republicans' to-do list could be a response to president obama's decision on immigration.

a bill could come to the floor as early as next thursday. joining me now, lauren fox. with a good day to you, glad to have you here in studio for a change. let me get to what jake sherman has written, quote, the leadership team is considering trying to pass a government funding bill that could target some immigration enforcement funding or they might directly respond to it in a stand-alone bill. >> we're going to be watching closely on what they decide. before the thanksgiving break, there wasn't consensus about how they were going to move forward. a lawsuit is certainly on the table. that's something that house speaker john boehner has talked about, something he's done when the president's extended his executive orders elsewhere. so certainly something that we might also see. but i think legislation is certainly possible by the end of the week. >> now, if they are considering an immigration bill -- at least they're considering and want to move on it, would that be proof that the president's strategy is

working to a degree to get action done? >> it will depend on what exactly the house republican bill will be. it will probably focus on things like border security and things like visas for high school workers. but the more comprehensive pieces that the president really wanted to move forward, like what to do about the 11 million people here that are undocumented, that remains to be seen. >> how about the mainstream republicans you speak to? are they concerned about the reaction, the backlash to the president's taking executive order on this? >> appropriators like hal rogers have been saying for a long time, we can't defund the executive action, the agency that issues these visas would continue to operate. i think republicans in the mainstream really don't want to see some kind of funding war over this. they would much rather see house republicans take up a comprehensive immigration bill, pass it and move on. >> i want to ask you about secretary of defense chuck hagel submitting his resignation earlier this week. who are the front-runners you're

hearing about to take the spot? >> one of the most interesting is jeh johnson. one of the interesting things there, if he moves over to d.o.d., we'd see a major house with senate republicans on who they would move into dhs because the president's executive order on immigration has been so contentious. that makes his rise a little bit tougher. we're also hearing about names like ash carter who's been at the pentagon for a long time. those are some of the top contenders at the moment. >> lauren, thank you. today is small business saturday. it's time to get out and visit your local mom-and-pop shops. why this is so important to the economy next. and the new trailer for the latest star wars movie is out. here it is. >> the dark side. and the light.

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many of you brave the malls today, there's a call for mom-and-pop stores to shop small. small business saturday is upon us again, the day when main street stores across the country try to get their share of the holiday dollars. j.j. ramburg joins me now. nice to have you back. i guess the question first out of the gate here, how can the small businesses compete with the shopping malls where you just park your car, you have dozens of opportunities in one area? >> small businesses offer great

customer service and a curated selection. you know the people there. they're going out of their way to help you pick presents and gifts, especially today. >> you've been a huge proponent of this. do you expect to see higher sales at the small businesses this weekend as compared to last year? >> i do, absolutely. absolutely. it's been incredible to see how this has grown in the last five years. really it's just an awareness for people, an awareness that, go to your neighborhood store. if you don't go there, it may disappear. and they have some great gift there is and great deals. >> there's nothing more depressing than driving down your neighborhood street and seeing empty storefronts. small business certainly has an advantage of being local and being right there in the community. do you see bigger discounts at these types of stores? >> in some cases, particularly today, small business saturday,

a lot of these stores are offering discounts, deals, entertainment. you might get some wine. they're staying open late. but, again, there are discounts there. but what you really go to these businesses are is the service and the selection. >> internet, how much do these small businesses rely on that as well? what's the impact? >> it's interesting. we've been doing this series going around main streets all across america and more and more of these businesses are getting people in because of the service and then people are going home and buying from them on the internet because they found that great selection. >> do you have a certain kind of business that tends to do better on small business saturday? >> it all depends. toy stores do great, clothing stores do great. the people really getting the word out there to their community and the communities that are supporting them will do really well today. >> i know this is all in terms of the p.r. about today. but the hope is this extends into december and the holiday shopping season. do you see a cause and effect? >> yeah, in these main streets,

we've seen people who have taken this campaign and taken it year-round. so they have small business saturday every saturday or every month and they've had events all over -- all around the year. >> we have these things -- we have thanksgiving and you have black friday and we have cyber monday and small business saturday. there's also giving tuesday coming up. that's a big deal for us here at msnbc. it is giving tuesday's third year. we're involved as a network and a company. how can people get involved in that, j.j.? >> it's really neat. giving tuesday is a day to step back for a second, stop thinking about the gifts that you're giving, the toys and kids and go out and give a donation to a cause that you care about. >> that's what we should also do on tuesday. j.j. ramberg, thank you so much. good to see you. >> you, too. >> we invite all of you to take part in giving tuesday. you can go to givingtuesday.org and watch j.j. ramberg tomorrow

and every sunday in the mornings at 7:30 a.m. speaking of giving back, i've got the story of one kentucky city that has turning the hassle of a parking ticket into a philanthropic opportunity. wow! go power...oats! go! made from oats cheerios! cheerios! go, go, go! go power oats! go! cheerios! go power! go...power! yayyyy!

shoppers this holiday season should remember to feed the meter or risk getting that dreaded parking ticket. but one kentucky city has decided to turn parking fines into a positive opportunity. instead of paying the penalty with money, the lexington parking authority is accepting food donations which will go to those in need. joining me is the parking authority's executive director, gary means. gary, i've been saying all day, i love this story. this is great. tell us how exactly this program works. >> thanks for having us on. we've been really excited. basically you can pay for a meter violation with ten cans of food. >> so that's just a meter violation. and that would be the parking ones.

but if someone has a registration that's expired or your inspection certificate is expired, does that fall into the category, too, or not? >> no, we're just going with meter violations. this is our first try. we've been overwhelmed with great success. >> that's good. how about the food? where does it go? >> we're working with god's pantry, they're a great program here in central kentucky. we've already loaded out about ten or 12 boxes, about 1,200 cans of food already. >> that's excellent. how did you come up with this idea? i know you're just starting out but do you think you'll consider doing it again? >> well, it's been successful so far. we've heard of a couple universities around the united states that have done things like this. the city of boston does a toys for tickets program. but we just kind of catered it to what we felt would work best for us. we're giving it a try and it's been great so far. >> is there anything you don't accept? does it have to be just canned

foods? >> we prefer canned foods. definitely we don't want anything expired. but some people have brought extra things and we've seen that along as well. but canned food is what we're asking for. >> you get a parking ticket, bring ten cans of food and that clears your parking ticket? >> exactly. even if it's an old or expired citation, we'll let you knock that off, too. >> nice, gary means. this is a good story. we wish you the best of luck with it. hope you do it again next year. thank you for your time. >> thank you, alex. blaming the poor for being poor, the author of a new book gives us an angry personal appeal on why this has to stop. . you think it smells fine, but your guests smell this. eliminate odors you've gone noseblind to with febreze fabric refresher. smells good. so you and your guests can breathe happy.

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each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better. a search is under way for a missing ohio state football player. did concussions play a role in his disappearance? the close calls between drones and planes on the rise. we're going to ask an expert if a drone can bring down a commercial airliner.

and food for thought about how hard it is to be the working poor in this country. what it's like to live hand to mouth. good day to all of you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." businesses in ferguson are recovering from the unrest earlier this week. we're seeing new videos of the damage done. it may be hard to tell but many businesses are indeed open for business. my colleague, richard lui, is in ferguson for us. can you give us a sense of how badly local businesses were affected over the week? >> reporter: i was just speaking with a young mother who was coming through this shopping mall very close to where the main strip is, we're about a half a mile from where most of the damage happened. she said -- it's about 61

degrees, by the way, alex. folks are out here going out to shop. so that's the one side of the argument as we see some of the shops open on florissant now because they opened up the main strip at 7:00 a.m. this morning. it's going to be open until 5:00 p.m. local time. that's the longest period of time in recent days. that could therefore increase some of the receipts. flip side, they're taking a walk and a drive in that area, and it is stark. you're looking at burnt-down businesses. reminds me of what i saw post-rodney king where you look at it three days later and you can't believe the damage. we probably won't know, though, alex, until monday, full day of work, all the structural engineers can get out there. all the estimators can get out there. next week may tell us. >> you're putting it in rodney king context. i remember that so, so very well in los angeles. i talked just a little while ago with msnbc contributor dorian warren about the long-term impact of the problems between police and the community. let's listen to what he said.

>> loss of freedom, loss of being a citizen, of being able to walk out your door and not fear the police and not fear if you might not make pit back alive. that is essentially a loss of freedom that most citizens take for granted in this country. people change their behavior based on the fear of policing which police, as taxpayers we pay to serve and protect, not to keep communities in fear. so we need long-term structural change in how police officers especially in communities of color that keep people fearful and scared of the police. >> do you get a sense from people you've talked to that that is the case? >> reporter: i was just down there by canfield apartments speaking with a father. he brought his daughter down. he grew up in that area until he was 17. now lives in atlanta. he came back. i said, how do you feel about what has happened this week since you're back for the holiday? and he said, you know, i'm surprised. this has been going on since august.

i asked him what his daughter thought because she was there with him at the shrine there for michael brown. he said, she's surprised, too, trying to understand what this means. you have those still trying to put this together. they may take months if not years to figure out what it means for them. but there are really two sides to what you're asking here. one side might say, it's been over 100 days of protests and demonstrations, it's not working, why are you doing this? the other side will say, well, if you think back to the civil rights movement of the '60s, if you look at the duration of the naacp created over 100 years ago and what they've been trying to do, when is too much or too long? that's what you're seeing, that dichotomy coming together. i was speaking with the head of the naacp. and he did not necessarily have an answer to that, alex. but he is looking forward to today and, again, that journey to justice which should be starting anytime right now. >> thank you so much, msnbc's richard lui there in ferguson

for us. moments ago, we heard word from the president on guantanamo bay as more detainees could be on their way out of the prison. the news comes from a new "wall street journal" report confirmed by nbc news. according to the report, those transfers could happen in the coming weeks. nbc's kristen welker is joining us from the white house. kristen, the president's remark was in passing. but what did he hear and where was it said? >> reporter: well, alex, president obama was shopping with his two daughters at politics and pros, a bookstore here in washington, d.c. he was there for small business saturday. someone asked him about guantanamo bay, about closing it. and he said, quote, we're working on it. here's the very latest that we know, alex. according to a senior administration official, that person confirms for me that before the end of the year, the obama administration will transfer more prisoners from guantanamo bay. this official also tells me there is now a renewed focus on getting prisoners out, especially with republicans set to take control of congress.

republicans, as you know, have consistently blocked president obama's efforts to close guantanamo. now, just last week, the department of defense announced that six guantanamo detainees had been transferred out of the prison. this brings the number of detainees at guantanamo down to 142, that's from a high of nearly 800 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. the republican chair of the house armed services committee, buck mckeonkeon, slammed the re releases arguing the detainees could just rejoin the battlefield. administration officials counter that and say it's inaccurate and they point to the fact that 90% of released detainees don't return to fight. now, this renewed focus on guantanamo is also shedding more light onto president obama's decision to replace defense secretary chuck hagel. by law, the defense secretary has to approve any prisoner releases. one administration official tells me that there is deep frustration here at the white house that hagel didn't move quickly enough to certify the release of detainees.

but one defense department official pushes back against that and tells me that while hagel is still in office, he will continue to review transfer cases in the same manner he has been doing. now, of course, the main roadblock has been republicans. they are set to take control of congress. and the thinking is it's only going to get more difficult to release detainees once they officially take over control of congress. >> kristen, how difficult is it to decide where the detainees go? . >> reporter: it is incredibly difficult, alex. that's another main roadblock. the administration has to determine, one, that they are going to not return to the battlefield once they're released and, two, that they will be monitored to some extent, that they're being released to a country that is going to partner with the united states to make sure that they don't return to the battlefield. so that is one of the key factors that has complicated this process over time. the defense department would argue one of the factors that makes making one of these decisions fairly lengthy.

but still the debate continues. obviously as we saw today, president obama out shopping on small business saturday. it is something that a lot of people are focused on right now. alex? >> i think he goes there every year on small business saturday. it's a great store. >> reporter: i think you're right. >> he's definitely gone there before. thank you very much, kristen welker. let's go to the nfl now where former baltimore ravens running back ray rice could be headed back to the football field after taking on the league. an arbitrator ruled late friday that rice can return to the field immediately. rice was dropped from the team earlier this year after he was caught on top hitting his then-fiancee in an elevator. for the first time in a "today" show exclusive, janay rice is talking about what was happening. >> i was furious. we came home and we didn't talk the entire ride -- i didn't speak to him the entire ride home. he tried to talk to me. i didn't want to hear anything. i just knew he hit me and i was completely over it, i was done. didn't want to hear anything.

>> you can all watch that interview monday on "today" only on nbc. an intense search is under way for a football player from ohio state university. family members say kosta karageorge walked out of his campus apartment in columbus on wednesday and never returned. nbc's kevin tibbles has this sto sto story. >> reporter: volunteers handed out fliers near the place where 23-year-old kosta karageorge, an osu senior, was last seen. >> we need help. instead of two or three people out looking for him, we want hundreds of thousands of people out looking for him. >> reporter: karageorge apparently left his apartment at 2:00 wednesday morning, telling roommates he was going out for a walk. the defensive lineman did not show up for football practice later that day and again on thanksgiving. >> his family is the world to him. to go missing on thanksgiving, that's why nothing really adds up. >> reporter: karageorge is a three-year member of the

university's wrestling team and this year, the 6'5", 280-pound athlete walked on to the famed ohio state football team. officials say shortly before leaving his apartment, he texted his mother. "sorry if i am an embarrassment, but these concussions have my head all expletive up." family members say karageorge has a history of sports-related concussions and they are worried he may be disoriented. >> he's never missed a practice, he's never missed anything really. he's always constantly in contact with his friends, with his family. >> reporter: the osu head coach released a statement saying, we pray that he is safe and that he is found soon. calling him, a hard worker on the field and pleasant off the field. osu is scheduled to play archrival, the university of michigan, later today. several former ohio state football players are offering a reward of up to $1,000 to anyone

with information that will help find their friend, number 53. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. black friday may not be enough for shop some shoppers to get a head start on holiday shopping because analysts say thanksgiving day sale es and the internet have quieted the impact of black friday shopping. but these crowds were surely rowdy in some areas. there was the usual jostling for products. today is small business saturday so small businesses are hoping to lure the holiday shoppers away from the chaos. >> 16 years now that we've all come together. >> very big discounts. some things that i found were even under $10. >> this is the most dangerous place to black friday shop. >> everyone's trying to find out where to go. >> it's been incredible to see how this has grown in the last five years when small business saturday was launched. really it's just been awareness for people, an awareness that, hey, go to your neighborhood store. if you don't go there, it may disappear and they have great gift there is and great deals.

there are discounts there. but what you really go to these businesses for is the service and the selection. more and more of these businesses are getting people in because of the service and then people are going home and buying from hem on the internet because they found that great selection. >> ibm says they rose 8% compared with black friday last year. a bit later on this hour, you'll hear from the author of a new book about what it's really like to try to live on minimum wage or tips. she tells us why these workers deserve compassion and not contempt. is that really mickey rourke? the actor like you haven't seen him in 20 years. with 90 calories. and is now aspartame free. yoplait light. it is so good; it's better than ever.

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michael brown's father attended a gospel prayer vigil along with trayvon martin's parents last night. those two families united by tragic loss met and talked

privately before the event. trayvon martin was shot and killed by george zimmerman in sanford, florida, back in 2012. michael brown was shot and killed by a ferguson police officer on august 8th. attorney benjamin crump represents both the martin and the brown families. good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> how did these two families come together? >> well, obviously tracy martin being from the st. louis area knew a lot about the michael brown situation and in fact the next day after he was killed, he was one of the initial people who called me and said his friends and family said, you need to get to st. louis, they need you. and it was shortly thereafter that michael brown's mother called a lawyer in my office to say that they wanted my help in getting justice for their child. >> so that's what drew you to both of these cases. you had one and then the other one came along, seemed a natural

happenstance for you. the brown family, can you tell me how they have reacted personally to the grand jury's decision not to indict officer wilson? >> alex, they are just heartbroken just as ms. mcspadden said, michael's mother, it was like they got -- it happened all over again. they felt the bullets when the prosecutor came and announced and pretty much such assassinated the character of their child in his statement. she was very emotional, mr. brown said he just felt empty. and, you know, they wanted the killer of their child to be held accountable. they at least wanted him to have a trial by jury. but they were just troubled beyond words by this decision. and it has taken an emotional toll on them in ways i can't even articulate. >> i can't even imagine.

the thing that absolutely broke my arm was seeing the thanksgiving table and the empty chair for their son, the first thanksgiving without him. a t-shirt that had his photo on it, as if to just signify their loss. this time of year, the sentiments and everything, has to make it even worse. >> yes, ma'am, and trying to explain to his younger siblings why he's never going to be at the table again, it was one of those things they had a tough time. but they're trying to do positive stuff. i know they attended the gospel event with tracy and sabrina, trayvon's parents, to try to tell people that we have to work to change -- get positive change and change the system so we won't keep seeing this play out in the way it's played out, alex. this process needs to be indicted. >> benjamin, on the heels of what you're saying right now, the naacp today began that seven-day march, the journey to

justice, from ferguson to missouri's state capital, calling for reforms in policing. the organization's president, cornell william brooks, spoke with me this morning. i want to play a little bit of what he said. >> we're seeking specific policy reforms, passage of the federal and racial profiling act. we're seeking body cameras on the uniforms of police officers. we're seeking a reform in the policy and practices of policing in this country so that they reflect a community policing model. >> you know what's great about what he was telling me is he's looking for details, for specific things that can effect change. how confident are you, benjamin, that things like the journey for justice will affect the kind of changes needed? >> well, i'm confident in this, alex, and i've said this in many speeches across the country and all these interviews. i believe the legacy for michael

brown, the proper legacy is to have this proposed michael brown law where all police officers are required to wear video body cameras so the next time they have interactions with citizens, it will be transparent. remember, one of the biggest things about ferguson was not just the fact that it was broad daylight, not just the fact that they left his body laying on the ground for four hours with blood running from his head, but it was the great mistrust and the lack of transparency that the people in that community and black communities all over america have with law enforcement and the prosecutor's office. so i think this michael brown law is one that can certainly impact things going forward in the future. and i have to say as a lawyer, alex, this whole system we have that needs to be indicted of the local prosecutor sitting in judgment of the local police department and the local police

officers, when they kill our children or people in our community, and they have this simbionic relationship, if the prosecutor indicts these police officers, it kills his other cases. it's an inherent conflict of interest. and we need special prosecutors to be brought in because if we keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, it's the definition for insanity. and we are just frustrated beyond records that this keeps happening over and over in our community, they sweep our children's deaths under the rug and the prosecutor comes in and says, we found that everything was appropriate. well, it's not appropriate. >> amen to that. what's next, have you talked about a civil case against the ferguson police or against

officer darren wilson, with the family? >> yes, ma'am, we have. and we're working with them on exploring all the legal avenues to get them some sense of justice. so civil is one part of it. but they really wanted the killer of their child held accountable. they wanted to have full justice and many, many times you see that there's a civil resolution but yet nobody ever goes to jail, nobody's ever held accountable for killing our children and it's not fair. >> benjamin crump, always a pleasure to talk with you. thank you so much. >> thank you. america's newest entrepreneurs cashing in on colorado's marijuana boom. it is the subject of a new documentary series. i'll tell you about it ahead.

want to give you guys a look at what's happening in the northwest corridor of washington, d.c. that is the politics and prose bookstore, a fantastic bookstore on connecticut avenue. and look who's doing a little

shopping on this small business saturday. it is the president. i'm absolutely positive he's been there before on small business saturdays or at least gone shopping there during the holiday seasons. he's taken the girls before. looks like he's having a great time. the president having fun at politics and prose and loading up on great books to have. we know he's an avid reader. we are getting new insight this weekend in the big business of legal marijuana in colorado. a new documentary series on msnbc called "pot barrons" shows business owners taking a risk to see another favorite kind of green, money. >> we just grossly underestimated the demand from the adult use consumer and specifically the infused products. >> this is hash oil combined with butter.

>> we average 2,000 to 3,000 a day. >> joining me now is gary cohen, executive producer of "pot barrons." gary, i want to ask you about your choice of topic. why did you go there and why do you think it's important right now? >> this is historic. in my lifetime, there's never been anything remotely like it. basically i learned about the end of alcohol prohibition in the 1930s in school. and now we're living through the end of another prohibition. and i wanted to experience it as close and as up close and personal as i possibly could. so we got our cameras access to the innermost environments of where it's going down. it's been an exhilarating ride. hopefully it's compelling television. >> talk about all the hats you're wearing on this one. you're the executive producer, the writer, the narrator. what's the big takeaway? what did you learn from this project? >> this is a good thing. that's what i've learned.

i never thought prohibition was a good idea. but i'm a journalist. and i've approached this with as objective a perspective as i can. and this has proven to be a remarkable kind of "the sky hasn't fallen." people still wake up in the morning and go to work and yet they're selling an inordinate amount of pot. if you look at it in any detail, the market exists and has been served for 50 years. it's just always been a black market. now it's brought into a regulated, legal business structure and jobs are being created and taxes are being paid. it's just business as usual with a different product. >> you are perfectly teeing up a clip that i want to play for the show because it really highlights the business realities of the marijuana industry. so here it is. >> medical marijuana started years ago. and that's where the pot barrons began, building successful stores with loyal customers. but even pot lovers didn't predict the demand for recreational marijuana.

>> it's my first time ever in a dispensary. never seen anything like it. >> new jobs, new tax revenues and a new phrase, pot tourism. denver is now the amsterdam of north america and it's good for business. >> why do you think the predictions were lower than what's actually turned out to be the reality? >> i think it's a piece of human nature that if you think about makes sense. people lie to themselves about how much they drink or how much they smoke or whatever it is they're not supposed to be doing. and so when a pollster comes up and says, when was the last time you smoked or how often do you smoke or so forth, they underreport. so the polls are wildly off base in terms of how many americans smoke and how often they smoke. when they open the door, the business owners are anticipating a certain level of interest and they are overwhelmed time and time again. this lesson is borne out every time there's a new territory that opens up, every time a new

state opens up for medical marijuana or recreational. >> you mentioned denver as being this pot tourism capital akin to amsterdam. do you think we're going to start seeing public information commercials, commercials during the big super bowls, things like that, do you think it's going to become that mainstream? >> yes. it will take time. the precedent that makes sense to compare it to is the alcohol industry. and certain kinds of alcohol advertising are accepted and certain kinds aren't. there will be restrictions. but reason time, capitalism wins. >> is there a downside to anything that you saw from this? >> not that i've seen. honestly, to me, this is one of those good-news stories because there's nothing new about it. the only thing new is it is now legal and regulated instead of illegal. >> you have an invitation to

watch the premiere of "pot barons" right here on msnbc.

welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." 33 past the hour. time for your fast five headlines. we begin with this. one person is dead, another wounded after a shooting in a retail store in chicago last night. police say a man shot his girlfriend, a seasonal employee at a nordstrom location before turning the gun on himself. the man was dead when police arrived. his girlfriend was taken to the hospital in critical condition. police and volunteers intensifying their search for a missing 2-year-old boy in arkansas. the boy was last seen at his him last sunday. crews plan to search his neighborhood today and tomorrow. a study by the british government suggests that up to 13,000 people in the country are victims of trafficking. that is four times the previous estimate. the report comes as legislation on the topic is being debated in parliament. iconic mexican comedian

roberto gonzalez has died. he was on mexican television for more than 40 years. many came of age watching his shows in syndication. he was 85 years old. and then an incredible story of honesty in portland, oregon. a woman found a purse with thousands of dollars in a shopping cart. she returned it to its proper owner. >> it had over $1,000 in cash. over 30 to 40 gift cards are receipts and everything. i about had a heart attack. i got my 30-day notice on my birthday on the 20th. it's been hard financially. i have two kids. i'm doing -- i definitely could have used that money. but it wasn't mine. and i wasn't going to keep it. i couldn't live with myself. >> well, the owner of the purse gave the good samaritan 20 bucks as a thank you. pope francis is in the middle of a rare trip to turkey.

today he visited istanbul's blue mosque in a gesture of interreligious harmony, he prayed alongside a muslim cleric. >> reporter: even though this is not the first predominantly muslim country that pope francis has visited since he was elected last year, it is certainly the most important when it comes to interfaith relations. for a number of reasons. of course, turkey is secular by constitution. but 98% of its population is muslim. this is also the bridge between europe and asia and also this is the birthplace of orthodox christianity. so that's why the pope knows that every single gesture carries a particular aigs significan significance and is going to be monitored. that's why the gesture he made

in the mosque was significant, that moment of prayer, of silence that he observed along with the highest islamic authority here in turkey and of course he was promoting and fostering dialogue between the muslim and the christian communities there. but the main reason why he's here is to promote the dialogue between the orthodox church and christianity. and during a homily here in a catholic cathedral, he called for unity among all christians here in turkey and around the world. >> given that he's so aware of his every move and how it is interpreted, can you tell me how he's being received overall? >> reporter: well, there were some concerns that some muslim groups would protest his presence here, especially when today he walked into the greatest orthodox basilica and one of the greatest basilicas

into the history of musl. we heard about a small protest from women and children from an islamic party. there were about 50 of them carrying turkish flags and banners saying, no to european union, yes to islamic unity and calling the pope a crusader. >> thank you so much. one incident of alleged rape on a college campus is bringing to light a far more widespread problem, not just there but across the country. we're going to bring you that story. (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years.

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a zero tolerance policy was announced toward sexual assaults. the president has suspended all fraternity activity until january 9th. but a former student who says she was sexually assaulted talks to other sexual assault victims and she talked about how this has affected the school. >> we are facing a deeply kind of terrible thing that's happened within our community and that fundamentally undermines your trust here. >> nina buehrle joins me, and ana radakovich joins us as well. with a welcome to both of you. nina, what do you make of the allegations at uva? >> i think that they're holding themselves to a standard here that -- it's a college that is

based on the honor system. if you cheat, you are breaking the honor system. and it's unfortunate that they don't have rape as a part of the honor system. but this is a problem that's common cross campuses across the united states. statistically they claim one in four girls are getting raped, sexually assaulted at college campuses across the united states. recently the issue landed on the president's desk. the department of education has been trying to do something about it. unfortunately it's an issue that is really nationwide and we see it in the bill cosby allegations. it's related. girls and women are unlikely to come forward and report these events. they say 80% of these events are going unreported. and colleges are tasked with adjudicating these issues. and unfortunately the university

of virginia dropped the ball here. but it's not uncommon. universities are having this problem all over. >> you know what slays me is the governing board had to say, we adopt a zero abutolerance polic. anka, i want to talk to you about an article that was written on our website asking about whether or not it's time to ban fraternities as a whole in light of those campus assaults. she writes, the sexual assault stories are becoming too frequent, with too consistent a tie to the greek community. is it the time to finally put an end to the fraternity and sorority life? >> we need a social sex education starting in high school.

we have a situation where it's literally boys gone wild at the fraternity parties with the binge drinking and the disrespect for women. we have this whole rape culture that unfortunately is a casualty of the hook-up culture that has been going on at universities and fraternities for the last ten years. >> do you think specifically relative to the greek community that you're seeing a greater preponderance of these problems because of the parties and the drinking? >> you see rapes three times more in the fraternity system because i think you have the group herd mentality and these guys are sort of egging each other on to show their manhood and their masculinity. so that rape culture is sort of what we need to change. we need to change that mentality of the disrespect and dehum dehumanization of women. >> before the allegations came

out, uva's dean, did an interview with the school's news organization. let's listen. >> you said that students have admitted guilt to you? >> yes. >> why were the students not expelled? >> honestly, i feel like in the context of an informal resolution meeting, there's no advantage to admitting guilt. there's no need to admit guilt. they're not actually in a hearing proceeding. and i feel like if a person is willing to come forward in that setting and admit that they violated the policy when there's absolutely no advantage to do so, that that does deserve some consideration. that they're willing to say that, i've done something wrong, and i recognize that and i'm willing to take my licks and deal with it. that's very important to me. i think that shows a level of understanding of what they did that i don't see in a hearing necessarily. >> what's your reaction to that, nina? >> again, she's eating her words

now because it's been publicized and it's so outrageous. but the problem is that these issues are laid at the -- the responsibility is on the college and the university and they have these tribunals. they're nonjudicial and they're meant to adjudicate these crimes. and it's outrageous because a rape is a felony. and if a murder occurs on a college or a grand theft, you certainly wouldn't see them slapping the wrist of somebody and saying, go on your way, you've come forward and admitted this to us in a private setting so it's okay. in addition, university of virginia has, again, this honor system where if you cheat, you're out. so it goes to the issue, the question of how we look at rape and how we respond to these allegations. and this is why only -- less than 20% of women are coming forward because they're not taken seriously. and one thing i really want to

say here is that things are changing very dramatically, partly because of social media. women did not come forward for a long time. they're starting to come forward because of social media, because there's safety in numbers. and that's changed everything, in addition just the lessening of the stigma. so i think we're seeing kind of a third wave of feminism here where these women are starting to come forward as with the cosby accusers and saying, this happened to me and let's start to take this seriously. >> in terms of numbers, i want to say ta , this is one of 88 schools under federal investigation right now. >> this is a problem all over the country. and the problem is a lot of these universities don't want to lose their funding. so they actually encourage the students not to report it, which is criminal. >> which means maybe it needs to go outside. i believe the charlottesville police are involved with investigating these allegations.

you take it out of the campus police and put it in the -- >> if this would happen in any other situation outside of a campus, these people would be in prison. >> they'd certainly be investigated by local authorities. anka and nina, thank you so much. i appreciate your time. new and alarming, a report on the surge of near misses between commercial airliners and drones. could the flying robots bring down a passenger jet? goodnight.

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this week from the faa, a new and alarming report about the near misses between airliners and drones. the "washington post" reports since june 1st, commercial airlines, private pilots and air traffic controllers alerted the faa to 25 episodes where drones came within seconds or feet of crashing into larger aircraft. many occurred during take offs and landings at the busiest airports. this comes after the faa rules

is expected to will unveiled soon. linda was asked why poor people, like her, seem to make bad decisions. why smoke? eat fast food? her response, a 13-paragraph essay about exhaustion. it was on the huffington post. the responses poured in. did the donations, more than $60,000 in fact, and linda has a new book. linda joins me now with a big welcome to you, linda. it is an extraordinary story. the tone of which really fires up people. tell me how you became a member of the working poor. >> the same way everybody else did. i didn't have a job that paid very well. there are actually 45 million

americans that are at about that same income level. the way you get there individually doesn't matter. the trouble that we have is that there are 45 million of us. for me, it really was a question of the economy being kind of bad and the jobs didn't pan out. i never really worked my way up the ladder. the older you get, the more you realize that ladder is getting farther away. >> what's the biggest misconception about living in what you call bootstrap america? >> that we're lazy and stupid. we're not. people that have three jobs do an incredible amount of logistics in a day. people that work three jobs are not lazy. it is impossible to be lazy and stupid and survive in a service economy. >> here's a quote from your essay about the emotional impact, and here's what you wrote. nobody gives enough thought to depression. you have to understand that we know that we will never not feel tired. never feel hopeful. never get a vacation, ever.

what kind of toll does that take? >> i mean, just imagine never, ever getting a day off. the few times that you do, you feel so guilty about not being out looking for better or more work, that you can't enjoy it. it's not a life, it's survival. you can survive okay but you can't thrive. that's not the america we're trying to build. it's not the america we believe it nor the america that should stand. 45 million, one-third of the country, is living in these circumstances or close to it. the question that we're going to run into is how do we fix that? >> yeah. saying that, i think one of the most heartbreaking parts of this book, and i'm a mom of two kids, so when you write about your hopes for your children or the lack thereof, you say the likely scenario is they're going to end up working minimum wage jobs like you were doing. what does that do to you emotionally as a parent, to have no hope for your kids? >> you know, i actually don't think of it like that.

i think of one of my biggest frustrations in life is i expected i'd go to work and find something, and find fulfillment in the work itself. as we're developing these service jobs and as the service sector is growing, it's more likely that everybody is going to eventually spend some time in that industry. i want my children to not be so frustrated. i want them to know at some point, you'll probably have a job. it's not going to be great and you won't like it much. you should find fulfillment in art, literature and philosophy. don't work for it like i was raised to. we shifted that. it used to be that you identified with what you did for a living. you found your fulfillment there. maybe you had hobbies. now, it's becoming increasingly important that you become a whole person that has a job. when i talk about training my children to work, meaningless work, i'm talking, do not define yourself by the work you do or the work you can find in an economy where there's

increasingly not jobs available. that has nothing to do with your value as a person. >> wonderful sentiment from a mom to share with her kids. i want to also say you're a great role model in you've gotten yourself out of that plight to a degree. you have this book, and it's doing well. >> it is. while i'm definitely living one version of the american dream, the version i'd really like to see is instead of taking one of us and saying, this is shocking. you should write a book. what i'd like to see is everybody get back to the place where you go to work, put in a hard day's work and you have time to eat the dinner you earned with your family. if we can do that, we've gone back to the actual american dream. not one that promises great riches. america is a place where if you're willing to work hard and have talent, okay. the american dream is supposed to be that you can have a reasonable life and not have to

work insane hours. that's what we're supposed to do. >> linda, it's a pleasure talking with you. you're articulate and intelligent and thank you for sharing your story. that's a wrap. see you tomorrow. roughest, toughest cold symptoms. vicks nyquil severe. with maximum symptom fighting ingredients. ♪

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