thanksgiving. >> thank you for joining us tonight. and so it begins. bargain hunters are in search of the best deals in town. we're joined live inside the best buy on gun highway in tampa. i know it is loud so that means a lot is going on in that store.>> there is here q can see hundreds of people waited all day long. many since early this morning -- there is , and as you can see hundreds of people waited all day long. many since early this morning. shoppers are making a mad?to start their holiday shopping. the doors fly open and it is a sprint to get the best buys here at best buy. shoppers want to grab the door busters and make sure they get what they came for. >> you have all of this stuff and it has been less than 5 minutes. iran to write to it and found

>> throughout the day crowds formed outside the store, lines of people waiting for the door to open. >> have you ever been out shopping this early before?>> no. >> first time in your thinking? >> i had a good time. >> what is so important that you needed to get here at 5 am? >> the 4k ultra tvs. i feel like everyone comes for tvs. >> wedded to come today? >> for sales. already. >> did you eat already? >> i ate before i came. >> best buy not one of the many stores that have stopped the trend deciding they would go back to the traditional black friday as the start of their holiday shopping season. sums shoppers say it doesn't matter -- some shoppers say it doesn't matter . >> it is just another day in the life expect some say it is a tradition they plan on

>> you can see how busy it is right now. this best buy will be open until 1 am. as many as 3 dozen retailers opened their doors today. for any information you need snow head over to our website. >> it looks busy but organized and that is a good thing. the weather is beautiful this thanksgiving day. let's check in with our meteorologist . >> a little bit on the one side, upper 70s and low 80s foro tampa. polk county 76 degrees. as you look off to the east a little more in the way of scattered cloudiness out there, but max defender 8 confirming our dry pattern continues. there is not a drop of rain on site this afternoon or evening for something else may likely develop. you will want to keep that in mind. a lot of people will be out there for black friday sales. at 8 pm we're at 70 degrees.

we will have passing clouds out there. by midnight temperatures are not changing staying in the middle 60s as we start going through time. right now 75 tampa. 77 plant city. we will watch for fog to develop later on tonight. it could be a foggy start to the day. will talk more about that as well as a complete check of your we can forecast straightahead. a holiday where we gather and give thanks in the dining room there are many moms and dads spending their day in a child. >> making dinner is the last thing on their mind so buccaneers great, mike alstott is doing the cooking, trading in his helmet for a chefs had today. melanie michael joins us to show us how the father of 3 is helping parents on this holiday . >> reporter: good evening to you and happy thanksgiving. on introduced you to a little sweetheart -- i want to

she is 10 months old and she just got a brand-new heart. as she recovers at the john hopkins all children's hospital , her family staying here at the ronald mcdonald house. thanksgiving was cooked by mike erin nicole alstott. sometimes in life biggest reason to celebrate comes in the tiniest the packages. for someone's whose career was all about delivering the ultimate gift on the field, mike alstott knows what it is like to give thanks for the >> that is what the thanksgiving season is all about . being thankful for our blessings, our health and what not but again praying for each other and being together. >> for mike in a cold alstott, their kitchen game is strong and they know handling the cooking duties on a day like this when parents need it most, that is the true meaning of this holiday. >> i am thankful for so many things in my life. i'm glad i get to do this for people.

blessed. >> so on a day which is all about gratitude a message from one father to another, the greatest gift that runs past the gridiron is the one that scores the ultimate touchdown. it is the gift of life. >> for us it is a time of need were we didn't even know we were going to do for today. this is been great. best >> as you can see baby alyssa is doing so well. thank you to ronald mcdonald house and to mike and nicole for making the best thanksgiving dinner ever. the baby and her family will be at the ronald mcdonald house through december as she continues to recover from her heart transplant. a local deli owner opened her doors to feed those less fortunate for free.

rami pastrami cooked for those less fortunate. they cooked all the thanksgiving fixings. the owner says she wanted to get back in honor of her father . >> he was around a lot of people that didn't always have a place to go that were aware from home -- away from home. years later he rented a hall. right before he passed away he thanksgiving day and it was everything to him so it was just time. it is one of the busiest days of the year from all of tears -- volunteers at the metropolitan ministries. they serve meals to about 6000 people in need across tampa bay. that is 1500 pounds of turkey. they tell us the families they

krist along with dozens of volunteers fed 50 families of the society of sand venting the paul. he explained the reason he was out serving others. >> we have so much to be thankful for.

have duty and obligation to do onto others. it is just the right thing to do. >> afterwards he spent time speaking with families and veterans. local families are going out to community radio. >> [ video playback ] urging the gap at night of exceptional lyricism. artist came into the radio station to perform some of the original work. the shows run from midnight saturday until 3 in the morning. a massive overhaul at the va is long overdue to help

in the new administration. coming up next we talked to one man who's name has been submitted to donald trump's transition team to help make it happen. zero really can be a hero. get zero down, zero deposit, zero due at signing, and zero first month's payment on select volkswagen models.

rva dedicated to serving veterans, is a pipe dream or can it become reality? as the president-elect that's

congress are getting behind the former navy commander to become the new secretary of the va. >> john wells is knowledge -- is now an attorney that battles the va. his name was admitted for the targeted team. he was grilled about the issues the va is facing. just curious, how did he do? >> i think he did okay. we asked him a lot about some of the issues we have trained and wants to drain from the swamp employees that don't put veterans first. family members and employees exposed for decades. >> if you could chat if you look at the camp lejeune situation they have granted coverage for 8 different diseases for disability when in

additional diseases that the va is ignoring. >> he would also expand agent orange benefits. >> getting coverage for the blue orange navy folks and also other victims of agent orange. >> while struggling with the va over agent orange benefits, rob of clearwater found he was 12,717 on appeals list. nationwide 450,000 cases our backlog. they are trying to figure out whether these physicians lack medical backgrounds. >> have to be qualified in the job they do. >> something else that needs to change, policies and regulations that conflict with one another and confuse employees. >> i'm an attorney and have -- have been an attorney for a long time. i read some of those regulations and i don't understand it. that is why we need to do a

>> kevin asked of the va to change his marital status, fix they should've taken one day dragged on at the va for 9 years. >> serve the veterans. that is what the va is supposed to be doing. somewhere along the line they lost sight of that. taxpayers spent $1 billion to come to the conclusion that it is too hard to have a common computer system linking the va with the department of defense. he reje veterans started at the department of defense to begin with. >> i just think people aren't thinking clearly up there. >> no. we have a lot of them. what about the backlog on these cases? what is the plan? >> he proposes to temporarily higher -- temporarily higher retired va judges. e-filing cases making the tracker --

and get things right the first time. he told me that in 70 percent of these cases they are kicked back to the va because of mistakes made by the agency. that is unacceptable. >> will the bulldog is on it now. if you have a problem that you would like steve to investigate you can call target 8. the helpline one 800-3380 8. the helpline 1-800-338-0808. a little bit warm for this time of year but we're certainly not complaining. other than that picture-perfect day. in the tampa bay area there is the view from tampa from the hula bay restaurant as we start to lose our last of daylight. it is expected to be a fairly quiet night down the road but we are going to call for a little bit of patchy fog to develop, but no rain.

we have we had one 100 of an inch of rain and long-term the pattern would stay fairly dry. as we get toward middle of next week that could change just a bit. right now max defender 8 confirming clear skies all over our area and certainly all over the sunshine state as well. good news there. if you're headed out and waiting in those lines as we head into black friday, at 9 pm we're at 71 degrees partly cloudy. watch out for a few areas of patchy dense fog. during the morning we are mild and 64 71 is where we fit in odessa. these numbers will cool a little more slowly. this is thanks to some slightly added moisture in the area. that's enough to give us that fog threat tonight. 70 inverness. 71 brooksville and dade city. 76 arcadia. 76 north port. those dewpoints have been slowly rising, nothing really outrageous here but we're seeing low 60s. slightly more humid.

mostly clear skies, the patching clouds -- passing clouds and nearly calm wind . if you are east of i 75 you stand a better chance of seeing reduced visibility by tomorrow morning. high pressure is still in charge. it is giving us an easterly flow. to the north that is where all of the active weather is located into new england and a present storm system moving into the pacific northwest giving them some rain and some wind . at home as a go through the evening just scattered clouds and areas of fog developing by sunrise tomorrow. the sunrise right at 7 am tomorrow. after we get past the fog it should burn off fairly ugly. by the afternoon sunshine mix with scattered clouds, there will be -- early. by the afternoon sunshine mixed

will be enough moisture ahead of it to give us a stray sprinkle. we don't have the type of moisture we need to give a substantial rain chances. on sunday we are close to average and mostly sunny. we play host to seahawks on sunday. 75 degrees and we will call it mostly sunny by the afternoon. picture-perfect lane conditions for our guys out a ray j. tuesday. those numbers will start to rebound. the next one looks to be a little bit more substantial. it could give us rain chances close to 20 to 30 percent. it looks like you have a better shot at seeing a few showers. coming up: the buccaneers get encouraging news at practice on thanksgiving day. it happen so quickly even some lightning players missed it.

night's rally for the bulls. -- bolt

it was business as usual this morning get ready for another difficult opponent for sunday and the seattle seahawks. the cornerback position is a topic the suspicion of the quarterback. a lot of changes we see her don't see depends on the health of rent. he left the game last sunday early with the quad injury. he is feeling fine according to conversation around the locker room. he was back on the practice -- the practice field on a limited basis.

working early so they could enjoy thanksgiving with friends and family. i'm sure there is a football game on the television. i asked some of the players about their favorite thanksgiving football memories. we will see noah spence who grew up in eastern pennsylvania and will was a detroit kid. see if you can guess which teams they were rooting for. >> i think maybe the eagles cowboys when they played back in the day. i can't really say it was my team but i'm with but that was probably one of my favorite. >> it is easy, the lines game. it didn't matter who they played. at the lines were playing on takes giving i was watching it. i hated football when i was little but it turned out pretty good for me. i was a kid most times i was outside playing football and stuffing my face. as i got a little older, old enough to be able to understand football barry sanders was one of the

hosting the vikings. us was a tintin game in the final minutes. this was intercepted by slight. massive mistake for the vikings. it sets up the winning field goal. the lands win is game 16 - 13 . they are in the first place in the afc north. if you blinked wednesday night you missed it. the lightning trailed the flyers 2 - one late in the 3rd when alex tied it seconds later callahan knocked down the game-winner. >> i don't think a lot of us were watching the play. it happen so quickly. it just changed our mindset to know, now your head protectively. play good defense of hockey. >> our old pal john is in town tomorrow night with the columbus blue jackets were

white rhinos at the zoo got in the thanksgiving spirit. who posted this video on their facebook page with the caption for -- from our family to yours we hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving . it looks like a rhinos have been enjoying a turkey that is stuff with grass. busy was closed in observance of the holiday however they will reopen with the start of christmas in the wild. you can find more information on wfla.com >> for all of those who will battle it out at the mall -- although they only say one in beefy are going to go to the mall or a brick and mortar store tomorrow. >> i go online. don't go anywhere lately news -- nightly news is next . >> we will be back here tonight after the football games . the colts in the steelers are playing right here on nbc. see you back here tonight and

hey! is this enough? a little more... grandma! there you go... there's no more room. oh look who's here! i know i had one more... hmmm... more. how's it looking? 20 more minutes... 8, 9... we need 1 more

we need more rolls there was a little girl, and she became friends with every animal she met. it's getting late, grandma should go. one more? in the end, all we really need more of, is each other. happy thanksgiving from publix.

tonight, working holiday. donald trump tweeting about a campaign promise, as new details and questions emerge about how often he's receiving intelligence briefings. giving thanks. the celebrati a abroad, as retailers work to get holiday shoppers off the computer and into their stores. fatal encounter. a teenager killed. a 62-year-old man charged with murder. what the suspect allegedly said that has the fbi looking into whether this was a hate crime. and virtual house call. the hi-tech health care trend that's spreading. telemedicine, even if your doctor isn't that far away.