republican mike pompeo, west point graduate, army veteran, lawyer and tea party republican who took on hillary clinton over benghazi. >> how come no one has been held account to believe date? >> they could not find a breach of duty. >> ma'am, i'm not asking what the arb did, i'm asking what you did. >> reporter: pompeo helped mike pence with the debates and said edward snowden deserves the death penalties. >> he's hardworking, he understands the agency v >> reporter: with republicans running the senate, donald trump's aides believe these nominees will get confirmed because democrats won't be able to challenge a new president so early in the administration. lester? >> andrea, thank you. as we head into the weekend, millions are watching the weather. a deadly blizzard sweeping across the upper midwest, a big winter blast in the middle of fall, and there's more trouble on the way that could impact holiday travelers. we have it all covered starting with nbc's blake mccoy.

conditions sweeping across large swathes of the state, wind gusts over 70 miles per hour as many are getting their first dose of winter weather. >> we're not talking about the light fluffy stuff. we're talking about what they call the back-breaking snow. >> reporter: road conditions are treacherous. >> i'm expecting a two hour and fifteen minute drive to turn into a five-hour drive. >> reporter: already today, more than 300 crashes and two deaths in minnesota blamed on the storm. >> if you get by these strong winds -- >> reporter: in sioux falls, south dakota, people woke up to this and warnings to stay indoors as long as possible, school canceled. in colorado, the storm wreaked havoc with a 20-car pileup thursday shutting down part of i-70. two people killed in that state. the storm has intensified as it moves east. 52.million americans currently under some sort of warning or advisory. more than a foot of snow in some areas. for much of the country, this is expected to be a

winter than we've seen recently. here in chicago, this is one of 19 massive salt piles placed throughout the city. they've been stocking up. >> it is payback for last year. it was a very mild winter last year, we had below-normal snow. not this season. >> reporter: this winter storm brings behind it a burst of cold air. and a message -- winter is coming. blake mccoy, nbc news, chicago. nbc meteorologist dylan dryer is here on the blizzard and the next wave to come. what's it looking like? >> well, they're likely to continue across minnesota with some areas picking up 20 inches of snow. as the storm moves eastward we are going to see cold air cross over the relatively warmer great lakes. that's going to turn on the lake-effect snow machine. first across michigan on saturday, then through the eastern great lakes as we go into sunday and monday where we could see some significant snowfall totals, especially across upstate new york.

at just an additional one to three inches through the upper midwest, the focus will shift to upstate new york where we could see more than a foot of or a foot and a half of snow, especially in syracuse and watertown. that will kick off what will be a very tricky travel week leading up to thanksgiving. another storm system develops across the rockies on monday. as this moves eastward we are looking for heavy snow through the upper midwest on tuesday with storms stretching through the we could see several delays at airports through the midwest down through the gulf coast with heavy rain and strong storms. so a lot to keep in mind for those traveling for their thanksgiving holiday, lester. >> dylan, thanks very much. in tennessee, scary moments today when a school bus crashed and rolled over on a highway off ramp near nashville. students were evacuated through the bus's emergency exits. 23 were taken to the hospital, thankfully none with life-threatening injuries. in california, something went

land at an airport in the bay area. the plane crashed into a house north of the half moon bay airport, killing one person and injuring another. the cause not yet known. some startling numbers tonight from the cdc about the number of sports injuries. there are more than eight and a half million every year, mostly with people under 25. concussions are among the most dangerous and tonight we're learning about a new approach to treating them that challenge what is we've always told works best. >> reporter: as a catcher, elijah fitch is used to getting hit by foul balls, but when the 16-year-old took a baseball to the head -- twice in one game -- he couldn't shake the dizziness and headaches. were you scared when it happened? >> is this going to be, like, the rest of my life? am i going to go back to normal? >> reporter: turns out elijah had a concussion, the type that affects balance. >> for that type of concussion, the way to get better is by movement. >> reporter: doctors

they can affect your concentration, your balance, your sight, cause ongoing headaches, nausea, and even affect your mood. the type of concussion dictates the type of recovery. >> having some form of activity is going to be important in probably at least four or five out of those six different types of injuries. >> reporter: new research finds physical exercises as well as brain exercises can help patients recover faster. one study found children who exercised within a week of getting a conio symptoms a month later compared with those who rested. when dr. collins prescribed elijah active recovery for six weeks, his mother was initially skeptical. >> it's going to work. >> i thought just the opposite of it. i wanted him to rest and get his strength. >> keep your head still. >> reporter: but vision exercises helped the teen's eyes and head work in sync again as well as physical exercises.

dizziness disappeared thanks to a game-changer approach to treating young athletes. >> good luck, okay? take care. >> reporter: nbc news, pittsburgh. still ahead tonight, putting her hopes in the future. the teenaged girl who gets her dying wish to be frozen in time in the hope of one day waking up and being cured. also, the strange massive sight that appeared in california not getting your best sleep? could be you've got the wrong bed. enter sleep number... she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore. you can both adjust the bed for the best sleep of your life. save $500 on the queen cse mattress with sleepiq technology. hurry, ends sunday.

we're back now with a story that has a lot of people talking tonight, it's about a legal victory for a british teenager with terminal cancer who had a dying wish -- instead of being buried, she wanted her body frozen when she died so she might be brought back to life, even if it takes hundreds of years. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: the letter to a british judge from a teenaged girl suffering from cancer was heartbreaking. "i'm only 14 years old and i don't want to die, but i know i'm i think being cryopreserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up, even in hundreds of years time." after consulting with her family, the judge agreed. >> it was about respecting the wishes of a bright and intelligent and articulate 14-year-old. >> reporter: the unnamed teenager died last month, her body quickly rushed to the cryonics institute in detroit where it was frozen and placed in a supercooled container

another facility in phoenix says within a few minutes of death the body is packed in ice. technicians administer a cocktail of 16 different drugs and rush the patient to a facility where fluids are replaced with a kind of anti-freeze. the body is then placed in a special tank where the temperature drops to minus 320 degrees. >> at that temperature you can wait for decades or a century and you will be in pretty much exactly the same condition as when you started. >> reporter: hundreds of people have baseball great ted williams. but there's no guarantee the future medicine will ever be able to revive the dead and medical ethicists worry patients are clinging to false hope. >> the only people promoting this are the people who want to freeze bodies, mainstream science doesn't think anybody knows how to do that right now. >> reporter: the girl's father openly worried if she were revived 200 years from now, she may have no relatives, left in a desperate situation given that she'll still only be 14 and

but her dying wish was for a second chance at life. tom costello, nbc news, washington. we'll take a break. when we come back,

we're back now with a strange scene in santa clara, california, today, where a massive blob of foam came pouring out of an industrial building next to the airport today. the mystery foam spread through muc first responders for some time were unclear in what it was or how to stop it. people across the country were glued to the images on the internet, including our own miguel almaguer. >> reporter: at first glance in sunny santa clara, california, it's beginning to look a lot like christmas. but it's an illusion. that's not snow, that's a sea of foam. >> i mean literally driving down i'm like what's going on? i'm like the largest bubble bath ever. >> reporter: the suds

near the international airport. a fire retardant foam that discharged accidentally from a fire suppression system. but there was no blaze. >> the system functioned exactly the way the system is supposed to in the event of a fire and it filled the building with foam. that foam is now flowing out on to the street. >> reporter: the tidal wave of bubbles, officials say, not hazardous for people but dangerous to the environment. foam pouring down the street, blowing in the wind, swallowing cars and street signs, and enough to pedal through it. >> i don't know, it looked inviting. >> reporter: soon it had its own hashtag "foamnado" the suds taking over the streets and the internet. foam party in santa clara. kntv reporter michelle roberts is there. >> i did used to work in boston. it looks like a blizzard a little bit but we talked to the fire chief and he says he's never seen anything like this. >> reporter: tonight the bubbly is still in the streets but the party is over.

public. >> this is incredible. >> reporter: the cleanup now begins but the situation is fluid. miguel almaguer, nbc news. well, even the clean needs to clean up, but it's difficult. buckingham palace say the place needs a facelift, infrastructure work to fix plumbing, electrical, cables, heating, things that haven't been upgraded world war ii. it will cost british taxpayers $450 million over ten years. the queen will be able to live there during the rep separations but she'll have to move to a different part of the palace when her private apartments are renovated. when we come back, surviving the family food fights that will

. fair to say there's likely to be a little more tension than usual at some dinner tables this thanksgiving after the election. with that in mind, kevin tibbles tonight on how some families are going to extremes-to-keep the turkey and the politics separate. >> reporter: surrounded by loved

>> if i had a make america hat i'd wear it in. i wouldn't keep it on but i'd wear it in. >> then he'd be standing around saying "why hasn't anybody offered me a drink yet?" >> what do i have to do to get a drink? take your hat off. >> reporter: meet the stangfamily of kansas city. son and host mark with parents. on tuesday they'll be joined by 30 other equally opinionated relative which is calls for new rules >> put a sign up with a no and no politics today. >> following an intense and divisive election, passing the politics with the gravy just won't do. it used to be a battle between potatoes and stove top stuffing at turkey time. not this year. >> talk about other things like the brad and angelina divorce. >> yes, we should keep calm and carve the turkey.

this psychologist's recipe. >> recognize these battles aren't winning so don't engage. >> reporter: she says you should shift for the discussion, ask for the cranberry sauce and nod knowingly. otherwise you might end up like the cast in "home for the holidays." >> into the house, everyone, before we're in the evening news. >> reporter: there's one in every family and you know who you are. freedom of speech is a good thing. >> we're thankful that we are in a country that we can have differences and view them and not be persecuted for them. >> reporter: and that's what it's all about. oh, and this, too. nbc news, chicago. and that's going to do it for us on this friday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching, have a great weekend and good

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