the inflection point between alarming and exciting. in electoral politics. that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. good evening. that does it for us want to. see you again tomorrow. "first look" is up next. breaking overnight, a police officer in tacoma, washington, has been skilled in the line of dooult. the deadly shooting led to an overnightstandoff between the suspect and authorities. plus, residents in alabama and tennessee are assessing the damage after deadly storms swept through. search and rescue teams are still combing through the destruction. zblrvelgt and protesters in charlotte, north carolina, took to the streets overnight angered by the news that an officer who fatally shot a black man in september will not be facing charges.

♪ good morning, everyone. it is thursday, december 1st. we begin with the trail of devastation in the wake of more than 30 tornadoes that have touched down in parts of the south over the past two days. as of right now, there are at least five confirmed deaths and dozens of injuries across tennessee and alabama. this video you're seeing is from polk county, tennessee. that's where officials say a husband and wife were killed in their mobile home. the tornado damaged at least 50 homes, a fire station, and a post office. >> my husband said get in the closet and lay down. i live in the little house next door to this post office i worked at 20 years. i looked out and all this stuff was done. >> i screamed at my husband saying there's a tornado coming, get the kids, grab the kids. so we grabbed the kids and we

run to the bathroom. >> meanwhile in alabama, the governor there has issued a state of emergency. three people were killed when tornadoes tore through the northern part of that state. these pictures are from the community of rosalee. nbc's jacob rascon spoke to a man who lost two nephews and a niece. we caught up to him trying to salvage whatever he could. >> this is your family. >> yeah. >> tell me about them. how do you remember them? how do you hope to remember them? >> just good people. that's about all i can do. >> thank you. >> just heartbreak there. in eastern tennessee, the numbers are hard to take in the

wake of fast h-moving wild fire. there's john and janet summers of memphis, who haven't been heard from since monday. they were on vacation with their three sons who are in a band together called renaissance fair. according to the hospital, they're in critical but stable condition at vanderbilt regional burn center. michael reed is still look for his wife con stance, his daughter lily, who's 9, and his other daughter chloe, who's 12. we'll check in with bill karins for the latest on the weather situation there in just a bit. well, we're following breaking story overnight out of washington state, where a tacoma police officer has been shot and killed, and police remain in a standoff with the suspect. officials say the officer was responding to a domestic call friday afternoon when the shooting took place. he was taken to an area hospital

for surgery, where he later died. dozens of police officers gathered at that hospital to salute their fallen colleague as his body was taken from the facility. officials tell our nbc affiliate in washington that a few hours after the officer was shot, several shots were fired in the area of the home where the standoff is now taking place. they add that they were able to get adults and children out of that home and believe only the suspect is still inside. we'll bring you more details as they develop. well, protesters have once again taken to the streets of charlotte, north carolina, after prosecutor there is decided not to charge a police officer over the fatal shoots of a black man. more than 100 people gathered at police headquarters, demanding justice for keith lamont scott, who was killed in september. the demonstration was mostly peaceful, though several scuffles broke out with police. four people were arrested. brently vincent shot scott in an apartment complex parking lot after he stepped out of a

vehicle holding a gun and did not put it down. the prosecutor defended officer vincent's action, while an attorney for scott's family says questions still remain on whether he actually had a gun in his hands. >> i'm fully sfieled and entirely convinced that officer vincent's use of force was lawful. we cannot know what mr. scott's intentions or reasoning were that day. what he saw was a man who had drawn a gun when confronted by police, exited a vehicle with a gun in hand, and failed to comply with officers who command him at least ten times to put the gun down. >> at the end of the day, whether he had a firearm in his hand or not, that's not the key question in terms of determining whether or not keith scott should have lost his life. it's whether or not that officer should have pulled the trigger and extinguished his life based

on everything as a whole that occurred during those moments. >> according to rray, a team of 15 career prosecutors made that decision unanimously. and the jury has begun deliberations in the trial of former south carolina police officer michael slager. he's charged with murder in the death of walter scott following a routine traffic stop in north charleston in april of last year. this cell phone video of the incident, which shows slager shooting scott as he ran away, shocked the nation. yesterday the judge also granted the prosecution's request for the jury to also consider voluntary manslaughter in addition to murder. the defense had no objection to that. during closing arguments, the defense made the case that officer slager was in the right. >> who attacks a policeman over a bright light? this is not about a brake light. it's about the felonious conduct

exercised by mr. scott, not mr. slager's decisions. >> you're going to hear the instructional self-defense and reasonable force. the defendant must be without fault. he must be in imminent danger. he must have no other way to avoid danger. how do you avoid the danger of walter scott running way? you stand still. >> slager testified in his own defense on tuesday, saying he feared for his life, claiming that scott wrestled away his taser during a scrum and pointed it at him. slager faces 30 years to life in prison on the murder charge. manslaughter is punishable by 2 to 30 years behind bars. jury deliberations will resume this morning. all right. president-elect donald trump rolled out two nominations to lead his economic team yesterday. former goldman sachs partner steve mnuchin for secretary of the treasury, and billionaire investor wilbur ross for commerce secretary. yesterday, mnuchin outlined the

biggest tax change since ronald reagan, slashing the top business rate of 35%. >> any reductions will be offset by less deductions is so that there will be no tax, absolute tax cut for the upper class. there will be a big tax cut for the middle class, but any tax cuts we have for the upper class will be offset by less deductions that pay for it. we're going to cut corporate taxes, which will bring huge amounts of jobs back to the united states. >> what do you think you can get to on that? >> we're going to get to 15% and bring a lot of cash back into the u.s. >> but there is a clash between the president-elect's early cabinet choice and the outsider rhetoric he employed on the campaign trail. after promising to drain the swamp, three of his top appointments will be coming directly from congress, while another, elaine chow, is married to the senate majority leader.

trump is already considering goldman sachs president gary cohn for a top job. treasury nominee steve mnuchin spent 17 years at goldman sachs. shares of the investment bank giant soared 4% in trading yesterday, closing at levels the stock hasn't seen since december of 2007, before the financial crisis. president-elect trump has been highly critical of goldman sachs as recently as three weeks ago when he featured footage of ceo lloyd blankfein in his closing argument ad, invoking the global power structure that has robbed our working class. those are his words. and trump bashed his opponent's ties to the company so frequently that even his supporters adopted it as an

attack. >> name one who had a million dollar judgment against you. >> donald trump -- >> self-funded. >> that's right. not you. >> so you like rich people who buy politicians? >> where's your goldman sachs jacket at? well, there are more people angling for a role in the trump administration, including form e alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee sarah palin. nbc news reports that the trump supporter is in early contact about a job. source did not suggest a specific position, but it seems she's leaning towards secretary of veterans affairs, given a video her son-in-law posted to facebook yesterday. >> a mother who stayed up nights worrying if her child would make it home, she knows we want nothing more than to serve our great nation. >> we can't wait for d.c. to fix their bureaucratic blunders. this bureaucracy is killing our vets. >> trump transition officials declined to comment on what

position, if any, palin might be considered for. other choice include scott brown and jeff mimiller. one of the biggest challenges for donald trump during the campaign was building trust on foreign policy. now as incoming head of state, he's conducting diplomatic relations of his own according to a readout of his call with the pakistani prime minister. pakistan's official news agency reports that the leaders spoke early this week, in which trump reportedly told him he was ready and willing to play any role to find solutions to the outstanding problems. trump also reportedly told him he's a, quote, terrific guy, that pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people, and that he would love to come to a fantastic country a fantastic place of fantastic people. the president-elect asked the prime minister to please convey to the pakistani people that

they are amazing and all pakistanis i have known are exceptional people. the trump administration confirmed the call. they didn't dispute any of those quotes. on election night, donald trump promised to have a friendly foreign policy. >> we will get along with all other nations, willing to get along with us. we'll have great relationships. we expect to have great, great relationships. >> so here's the thing. in 2012, trump was highly critical of pakistan, tweeting, when will pakistan apologize to us for providing safe sanctuary to osama bin laden for six years? some ally. and this tweet, get it straight, pakistan is not our friend. we've given them billions and billions of dollars, anticipate what did we get? betrayal and disrespect and much worse. vice president-elect mike pence was back on capitol hill

yesterday. he held several private meetings with congressional leaders, including senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house speak paul ryan. the three men reportedly addition cussed the presidential transition as well as the upcoming legislative agenda. >> we've got a lot of work to do on behalf of the american people. we're extremely excited about this work. we're now just coordinating our plans to make sure we hit the ground running. >> my word to the members of the house and senate is buckle up. president-elect donald trump is ready to go to work on day one. >> while in washington, pence also met with former secretary of state condoleezza rice, who had been a vocal critic of donald trump during the election. all right. one of the victims of this week's attack at ohio state university is describing to nbc news what unfolded. 27-year-old education student kerry was hurrying to class when people began screaming and running. she told nbc news she locked eyes with her attacker,

18-year-old abdul razak artan and he said, i'm going to kill you. she said, quote, artan let out a war cry. she ended up with 12 stitches after being slashed in the arm. she tells nbc news she cside herself very lucky. still ahead, major league baseball and the players union strike a deal to avoid a lockout. plus, we're learning more about a tragic plane crash in colombia. those stories and more when we come right back. the first rule of being a viking.

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he wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. with his army shirt looking all nice. and then people just say, "thank you for serving our country" and i'm like, that's my dad. male vo: no one deserves a warmer welcome home. that's why we're hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. i'm very proud of him. male vo: comcast. welcome back and good morning. if you are just joining us, new details give us glimpse into the final moments before the plane crash in colombia that killed

all by six of the 77 passengers on board. according to the associated press an audio recording between the plane's pilot and the control tower suggests that the aircraft ran out of fuel before the crash. the pilot can reportedly be heard on the audiotape repeatedly requesting permission to land due to a, quote, total electrical failure and lack of fuel, before slamming into a mountainside about eight miles from the airport. while authorities are not singling out any one cause for the accident, the associated press reports that investigators at the crash site haven't found traces of fuel. some were surprised to find no signs of an explosion or fire, which is further evidence that fuel was running low. and for the brazilian soccer players who lost their lives on the flight, tributes where the team was supposed to play in the first round of a south american championship playoff last night. also yesterday evening, thousands of fans turned out for

a vigil at the team's home stadium in brazil. three of the six surviving passengers were players. meanwhile, colombia's congress has approved a new peace deal with the farc rebels. the accord ends 52 years of war, which has left more than 150,000 dead. the deal is a revision of a previous agreement which was unexpectedly defeated in a public referendum. the opposition led by former president and current senator maintains it is still too lenient. all right. lest get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. so wet around here. >> yeah, lot of rain. about time. it actually quieted down too. we had 11 reports yesterday of tornadoes. in two days, we had over 30 tornado reports. that's a huge outbreak for the end of november. we had these pictures. this is the one we had the three fatalities. this is a small town. this is literally their main street. the main drive through town, that's where the baptist church

was destroyed, the gas station, the plaza where they go shopping was destroyed. that looked like it was a pretty powerful tornado as it went through. at least an ef-3, probably winds somewhere about 150 to 180 miles per hour. again, today is a lot quieter. all the rain from yesterday is on its way out. still raining good in northern new england. still have a little bit of showers left over in providence, boston, through cape cod. it is snow in northern maine. that's where they're holding on to the cold air. this was a really bad rain for areas of all the ski resorts, who a lot of them had just been opening, making snow at night. they got a lot of rain out of this. not what you wanted to hear if you're a big ski lover. now, northern maine will get it. this is snowmobile country. they'll get half a foot to a foot around caribou. we're looking at temperatures in the 60s in the middle of the country. around gatlinburg, they picked up about 2 to 4 inches of rain. that was a blessing. that's great for the firefighters down there. hopefully that'll get even

better in the days ahead. there's no more rain in sight. at least in the next two or three days throuout areas of the south. >> all right. those devastating picture, just cannot get over them. >> tornadoes just destroy everything like this. crazy. >> awful, awful. still ahead, the new york knicks outlast the minnesota timberwolves thanks to some late-game heroics by carmelo anthony. all the highlights next with louis in sports. ♪ i want a hippopotamus for christmas ♪ ♪ only a hippopotamus will do at the united states postal service, we deliver more online purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. and more hippopotamuses, too. ♪ so whatever your holiday priority, our priority is you. for your pet, to do the best you should know more about the food you choose.

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welcome back. time now for sports, where major league baseball has averted a potential lockout after reaching an accord on a new five-year collective bargaining agreement with its players union. the deal agreed to about three hours before yesterday's midnight, reportedly hinging on detalts regarding a new luxury tax system. the deal still needs to be ratified by the owners and players. russell westbrook continues to dominate this season. just the second player in league history to enter december averaging a triple-double. kept up those stats last night, recording 35 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 126-115 overtime win against the wizards. westbrook, who drained a game-tying three-pointer with eight seconds to play in regulation, scored 14 of his 35 points in ot, where he locked up his fourth straight trim-double and passed lebron james for

sixth on the all-time list. anthony towns with a career high 47 points last night. a 20-3 run by the timberwolves in the fourth quarter leaves the game tied at 104-104 in the final seconds. >> wiggins on him. single coverage. anthony fakes, puts up the jumper, puts it in with 2.3 remaining! >> but don't count out melo. he sinks the jumper with two seconds. the knicks hang on for the win. lest go to chicago. the bulls' dwyane wade turning on the spin cycle to get through the laker defense and score in the second quarter. the fancy moves aren't enough. l.a. wins 96-90. and in boston, the celtics' isiah thomas sinks an over the back board circus shot after drawing a foul in the fourth quarter against the pistons. unfortunately, that one doesn't count. detroit wins it 121-114. still very cool to look at. and in phoenix, the hawks'

dwight howard should probably stick o being the big man after grabbing a defensive rebound. howard dribbles the ball down the court, looking to pass to a teammate, but ends up throwing the ball straight off the back board. the suns win it 109-107. perhaps the highlight of the night came on the collegiate court during indiana's upset win over north carolina with less than 5:00 to play in the first. the hoosiers' josh ends up with a steal and throws it up to o.g., the monster alley-oop. slam number 13. indiana defeats third-ranked unc 76-67. >> that was some good stuff to watch. >> yeah, just unbelievable. he can just slam the ball. >> okay, louis. thanks. still ahead, nancy pelosi fends off a challenge to be re-elected house minority leader, but the votes seem to have revealed a democratic division. plus, thousands rally in miami to bring political change to

cuba following the death of leader fidel castro. those details and more coming up next. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt. it is the bottom of the hour. we're starting with this morning's top stories for you. breaking news overnight from washington state. a standoff under way right now in tacoma after a police officer was shot and killed while

responding to a domestic call. officials tell our nbc affiliate in washington that a few hours after the officer was shot, several shots were fired in the area of the home where that suspect is now holed up. there was also this poignant moment this morning of officers saluting their fallen colleague outside of the hospital where he died, louis. and this morning, five people are dead as tornadoes ripped through the south. this is what's left of the only shopping center in rosalie, alabama, where three people were killed. in tennessee a husband and wipe lost their lives after torns tore through their mobile home. at least 50 homes, a fire station, and a post office were also destroyed. dozens were injured across two states. and the other disaster we're following from tennessee, those wildfires that are now being blamed for at least seven deaths. there are many more injuries, and people are still missing. 700 homes and businesses have been destroyed along 17,000 charred acres. the white house says president obama has spoken to the state's governor to express concern and

to offer support in the wake of both disasters. house minority leader nancy pelosi won her eighth term leading the democratic caucus, fending off her toughest challenge yet in her re-election as house minority leaders. pelosi easily beat ohio representative tim ryan's upstart bid yesterday, but her 134-63 margin of victory signalled some discontent with her leadership. now, after her victory, pelosi looked toward the future, but ryan appeared less than confident in who will lead his party into the future. >> we have a responsibility, and we embrace the opportunity that is presented. we know how to win elections. we've done it in the past. we will do it again. >> who is the future of the democratic party? >> well, i haven't thought about

that. >> is it nancy pelosi? >> well, you know, yeah. i mean, to some extent, this is our leader. this is who our caucus chose. we're going to support them. >> liberal senators are taking aggressive approach to president-elect trump's top administration picks. for the first time, senators elizabeth warren and bernie sanders put out a joint statement reacting to the choice of steve mnuchin for treasury secretary, calling him, quote a wall street insider, they said. during the campaign donald trump told the american people he was going to change washington by taking on wall street. that is not the type of change that donald trump promised to bring to washington. that is hypocrisy at its worst. in a separate statement, warren described mnuchin as the forest gump of wall street. but she saved her strongest

words for stephen bannon. >> donald trump has doubled down on racism and bigotry. he's got as his strategic adviser a person who's a white supremacist. >> wait a minute. there's no evidence he's a white supremacist. i mean, he obviously -- there's people who are white supremacists who support donald trump and who support breitbart or steve bannon. >> come on. are we really -- i mean, steve bannon has certainly associated himself with white supremacist. will you go that far? >> i don't know that you can say, though, he's a white supremacist. >> well, he's associated himself with white supremacists. is that close enough? this is a guy whose appointment is applauded by the kkk. what donald trump is doing is he's putting, so far, he has said he's going to go forward on bigotry and he's going to go forward on wall street insiders. >> and now to the battle of immigration with donald trump vowing to revoke president obama's executive action on

immigration. senator lindsay graham is preparing a bill to protect so-called dreamers. the bill would keep more than 740,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children from being deported. the protection was granted under a controversial 2012 executive order from president obama. senator graham, who was part of the so-called gang of eight a bipartisan group of senators who tried to pass comprehensive immigration reform in 2013, told politico, quote, the worst outcome is to repeal the legal status these kids have. whether you agree them having it or not, they've come out of the shadows. the south carolina republican says the legislation would be a bridge until a more comprehensive solution can be reached. hundreds have gathered in the streets of miami yesterday calling for freedom and democracy for cuba in the wake of fidel castro's death, as his ashes make their way to his final resting place. the demonstrators whork gathered in the little havana section of the city and include cuban kpiels and veterans of the bay of pigs operation, say their

goal was to shine a spotlight on the need for political change in their homeland. meanwhile, castro's remains began the more than 500-mile trek from havana to the eastern city of santiago yesterday. the route will follow in reverse the path castro took to overthrow the cuban government. as cubans mourn the death of castro, senator ted cruz, of cuban descent, took to the floor yesterday to chastise president obama and the canadian prime minister over their statements following the cuban leader's death. >> it seems the race is on to see which world leader can most fulsomely praise fidel castro's legacy while delicately averting their eyes from his less than savory characteristics. what is it about young leftists? what is it about young socialists? that they idolize communist dictators who torture and murder

people. fidel castro and all of their goons are not these sexy, unshaven revolutionaries in college dorm rooms on posters that make leftists go all tingly inside. they were brutal monsters. new details give a glimpse into the final moments of the plane crash that killed 70 people on monday night. the aircraft ran out of fuel before slamming into a mountainside. for the brazilian soccer players who lost their lives on that flight, tributes in colombia, where the team was supposed to play in the first round of a south american championship playoff last night. nbc foreign correspondent keir simmons reports. >> reporter: good morning. across this city they have been holding vigils, lighting candles

in the stadium behind me, where they were due to hold that football match. instead, they have held a memorial. it's capacity 45,000. it is not possible for anyone else to get inside. six people survived from the 77 that were on this flight. one player still in a coma. another has lost one leg. their standby goalie. so this brazilian side has been devastated. but what you are seeing here is people, alex, united in grief but also united by their love of this sport. one woman said to me she has been crying all day, but that if something good comes out of this, at the very least it has brought people together. alex? >> this whole thing is just heartbreaking. our thanks to keir simmons for that report. and u.n. ambassador samantha power says this since just last saturday, 20,000 people have fled aleppo on a, quote, death trip. this as unicef reports that

there are 100,000 children, quote, going through hell, in what remains of the rebel-held eastern section of the city. before moving on, we should warn you that some viewers may find the following video disturbing. a special u.n. voin says that at least 51 civilians were killed in air strikes while attempting to flee the latest fighting. the syrian army continues to gain control of rebel-held yars. reuters reports that the government is now fully in control of northeast aleppo. donald trump begins his thank you tour today in ohio, even running radio ads to promote the event in cincinnati. before that, he'll be in indianapolis celebrating carrier's announcement that they will keep about 1,000 jobs in the state of the 2200 that they had planned to send to mc. now, trump made carrier a focal point during his campaign, shaming the company and others for looking abroad to save costs. >> it's sad.

companies like carrier, general electric, motorola, mattel, and so many others are moving their jobs to mexico and other countries. and as you're standing here right now, many of these companies are negotiating to leave the united states. not going to happen. >> "fortune" magazine repord citing a source close to the company that trump called the company's ceo two weeks ago asking him to rethink closing the plant. the ceo explained the move to mexico would save the company about $65 million a year. trump reportedly countered by saying corporate tax rate reductions would outstrip those savings. ultimately in a statement yesterday, carrier confirmed they would preserve jobs for manufacturing gas furnaces along with some engineering and head quart else jobs and, quote, the incentives offered by the state were an important consideration. "fortune" reported that the company is going to get about

$700,000 a year in state tax incentives. that means it's paid for by the taxpayers of indiana. carrier went on it say this agreement in no way diminishes our belief in the benefits of free trade and that the force of globalization will continue to require solutions for the long-term competitiveness of the united states and of american workers moving forward. "the indianapolis star" reports, quote, carrier has been planning to shift all of its jobs to mexico, where workers would earn $3 an hour. the highest paid indianapolis employees make $26 an hour and can earn more than $70,000 a year with overtime. according to "fortune," some 1300 indiana jobs from carrier and their parent company will still go to mexico. "the new york times" reports the jobs saved rresent 0.2% of all

indiana manufacturing jobs, which have shrunk by 147,000 since the year 2000. yesterday the white house sought to further put the deal in its own context. >> i know the president-elect has indicated that he deserves credit for that announcement. i guess what i would observe is that if he is successful in doing that 804 more times, then he'll meet the record of manufacturing jobs that were created in the united states while president obama was in office. there were 805,000 manufacturing jobs that weren't just trekked or saved but actually created while president obama was in office. if we go to protecting job, there are more than a million jobs in the industrial midwest that were saved when president obama made the decision to rescue the american auto industry. in other big business, the

oil industry is getting huge boosts after opec closed a deal yesterday to cut production. cnbc's nancy hungerford joins us from london. good morning to you. if this oil production cut holds, and that's a big if bhauz opec has a particularly bad reputation for enforcing these cuts, what ends up happening to oil price over the next year? >> well, it's a very good question, ali, because yes, the deal is done, but now the hard work begins when it comes to making sure that all the opec members actually stick to that agreement to slash 1.2 million barrels a day in production. now, most analysts see oil prices hitting an average between $50 to $55 a barrel next year, but there is some disagreement, one of those reasons being concerns over compliance to this deal. analysts at rbc say that may not be such a big deal because a lot of these export nations are already at full capacity. they don't have much further to

go when it comes to pumping out oil. nevertheless, there are some concerns about u.s. shale producers coming back online. so keep an eye on the prices here, but nevertheless, it was a sharp rally yesterday. wti just below that $50 a barrel level now. also, a lot of attention around president-elect donald trump's treasury secretary pick yesterday. that's steve mnuchin, who was making the rounds in interview, giving insight into his policy priorities. at top of that list is a plan to privatize fannie mae and freddie mac. it could have big repurr cushions more the 30-year fixed term mortgages. >> nan circumstances great to talk to you. have a great morning. still ahead this morning -- >> everything is gone. >> she lost her mom to cancer,

and every picture, everything of her mom that they had left was in here. >> and that's just one of the families devastated by those tesee wildfires. but this morning, dolly parton, who also suffered a loss, is giving back to victims in her home state. we'll have details. oh, look... ...another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works... ...in one week. with the... fastest retinol formula available.

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now, i know many of you, like me, have been watching the wildfires that have affected the great smokey mountains around gatlinburg, tennessee, where i grew up. we want to provide a hand up to all those families who have lost everything in the fires, and to recover, we want to make sure the dollywood foundation provides $1,000 a month it all those families that have lost their homes in the fires until they get back up on their feet. >> that was dolly parton committing a thousand dollars month to families impacted by fires in pigeon forge and

gatlinburg, tennessee. let's turn o nbc meteorologist bill karins with the other big story, which is the aftermath of the tornadoes. whanc >> what a one-two punch. the historic fire in tennessee, to the tornadoes, which is rare for november. we had more pictures that came in yesterday. we even got a scare yesterday in atlanta. for a short period of time, we thought we had a tornado going through the downtown area. the wind was swirling, reports of funnel clouds. thankfully, there was not any significant damage. a scary time. in charlotte, north carolina, a little scare with some tornadoes yesterday too. in total, about 30 tornadoes in the last 48 hours. very high total for the end of november. today is quiet. that's good. we had about 2 to 3 inches of rain over the fire air whys in tennessee. that was good. today is a very quiet weather pattern. showers and rain exiting new

england this morning. northern maine is going to have some snow. the rest of the air whys is of new england will clear out during the day today. tomorrow looks good. the next system will bring rain to texas. looks like a rainy weekend in texas. now that this is the first day of december, the december outlook is out. we look like we're going to watch some cold air in the west to start december. that'll be the big weather story come next week. it does look like temperatures will be well below average for much of the west. okay this weekend, but then it gets much colder next week. it's about time. we just finished one of the warmest novembers ever in the country. it looks like the cold air will finally move in. still ahead, disturbing new details on the mystery surrounding a woman who was abducted and held for beervegs being dumped on the side of the road on thanksgiving. this morning, her husband is speak out. we're back in a moment. what are you doing right now?

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welcome back. tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the san bernardino, california, terror attack at a holiday party that claimed the lives of 14 people and left 22 others wound. syed far rook and his wife tashfeen malik carried out the attacks. activities are planned for to y today, including a rema'am brens ceremony. lest get the latest on the

hunt for two kidnappers who abducted california mother sherri papini. investigators say she showed signs of torture and starvation when she was found 150 miles from her home. >> reporter: six days after sherri papini was found chand and beaten, investigators have a better description of two hispanic women. >> both of the subjects spoke in spanish the majority of the time of her captivity. the suspects con sealed their faces. >> reporter: papini spent hours giving interviews to dectives. >> i will confirm that the suspects did brand her. >> reporter: what could that mean? >> maybe a method of torture. it could mean a way of control or exerting control over a person. >> reporter: her husband, keith papini, telling "people" magazine in a statement that his wipe's nose was broken, her hair

chopped off, her body covered in bruises from beatings, writing, she was thrown from a vehicle with a chain around her waist, attached to her wrists, and a being over her head. the same bag she used to flag someone down when she was able to free one of her hands. there are still so many unanswered questions. so far, no motive or information on where she was held for three weeks and why her kidnappers released her on thanksgiving day. investigators now working with a sketch artist as detectives compare papini's kidnapping to others in several states. while papini recovers with her family by her side, her husband crediting her survival with her will to stay alive. when we come back, a look at the stories happening in the day ahead. entists. compared to oral-b 7000, philips sonicare flexcare platinum removes significantly more plaque. this is the sound of sonic technology cleaning deep between teeth. hear the difference?

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tonight was the lighting of the rockefeller center christmas tree. that's right. thousands of people waited for hours in the cold just to go, cool. back to the hotel. the rockefeller tree lighting was like any other tree lighting. everyone helped for about five minutes and one mom had to

finish it by herself. >> as you just heard, the christmas season has arrived to new york city. >> five, four, three, two, one. [ cheers and applause ] >> that's gorgeous. the 84th rockefeller center christmas tree was lit just outside of this building last night. it will be on display until january the 7th. >> lucky to have that to look at every day. before wes to it over to "morning joe," we're going to get a check on the stories you'll be hearing about in the day ahead. it's now washington's turn to get into the holiday spirit. the president and first lady will light up the national christmas tree. >> meanwhile, president-elect donald trump kicks off his thank you tour today. the first stop is cincinnati, ohio, but before that, mr. trump and vice president-elect pence will appear at the carrier plant this indianapolis to announce the deal to save a thousand

jobs. and ceremonies will begin in hawaii today to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. the commemoration concludes next wednesday, december 7th, the day of the attack. wednesday, december 7th. >> that's a wrap for us on this thursday. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> this photo was everywhere today. trump and mitt romney were spotted having dinner here in new york last night. everyone is talking about romney's expression. take a look at this photo. got even worse when the spaghetti came and trump said ever seen "lady and the tramp"? let's just try it. >> trump and romney last night were dining at a