tonight first video of gary giordano on his release from jail in aruba. the case of robyn gardner's disappearance is coming to a crossroads. the release came a few hours ago. he will fly back to the u.s. in the morning. jackie bensen with the latest on all this. >> reporter: aruba's top prosecutor says giordano remains a suspect. he says he will begin the process of bringing him back to the island immediately if he wins a court appeal tomorrow. after more than 100 days behind bars, much of it in prison, 50-year-old gary giordano, thinner, grayer seen here in the backseat of his lawyer's suv was released and free to go home.

his attorney told the associated press, gary is happy to be out of prison but he feels something could go wrong and he could be back in prison. sources say he will spend the night in a hotel and first fly to miami and possibly to new york you wednesday morning. three months of searching have failed to locate the body of robyn gardner of frederick. prosecutors believe her death was foul play and that giordano was involved citing conflicting statements and his travel insurance policy on gardner. >> the high court will hear my appeal tomorrow, wednesday november 30th in chambers. a ruling is expected shortly afterwards. if a new order for detention is given we aim to file a request for mr. giordano's with the u.s. authorities. >> reporter: gardner's friends are worried.

>> he gets to come home and robyn doesn't. >> reporter: gardner's cousin released a statement on the release. needless to say our family is very disappointed that even after all that time we are no closer to finding out what happened to robyn we trust that the fbi and the aruban authorities will investigate her disappearance. any effort to exdraw diet giordano back to aruba could take months. >> we'll follow developments overnight and have the latest at 4:30 in the morning. there will be a live report on the "today show" in the morning. the east coast rapest will make his appearance in a virginia court tomorrow. dna links him to rapes and attacks on 17 women from virginia up to new england. thomas had been in custody in connecticut since march. he was just extradited to prince william county today.

he faces several life sentences if he is convicted in virginia. now to the first look at metro's solution to the escalator situation. the first escalators were unveiled tonight. jane watrel was among the first to catch a ride. >> reporter: they are impressive. part of metro's $150 million plan to fix or replace 200 escalators and elevators. it's one of the most heavily travelled in the metro system. at times, the foggy bottom metro station's escalators could tax the most loyal of riders. >> the mornings and afternoon both were backed up to half a mile in. >> frustrating? >> frustrating. >> reporter: but that should now change. for the first time in over a decade three new escalators have been installed for a smoother ride. >> it looks great.

they had problems in the past but they seem to be pretty operational now. >> reporter: the transit system has had it is problems. 75% of the escalators are 25 years old. last year four people were taken to the hospital after the escalator threw people off. in february the foggy bottom escalator buckled causing a woman to foul backwards. >> i have been there that day. i had left earlier and it happened efrds. that was scary. >> reporter: metro officials will plan a wednesday news conference to mark the new escalators, creating criticism on twitter. one tweet, wow, you fixed a few escalators years behind schedule. let's celebrate and have a press release and create a reason to raise fares. but regulars are thrilled. >> this is good especially for handicapped people.

i see them struggling when the escalators are not working. it's a good thing. >> reporter: there are 588 escalators in the metro system. reporting live at foggy bottom i'm jane watrel. back to you. >> thank you. the nation's third largest airline is trying to reassure passengers despite financial troubles. american airlines filed for chapter 11 bankruptciy protection. it says will the be business an usual and passengers should not be affected. the bankruptciy filing is bad news for investors. american airlines stock fell 80% today to 26 cents a share. in syracuse, new york, the university's head basketball coach briefly addressed the firing of bernie fine and the investigation that has begun there. three men have come forward alleging that fine sexually

abused them as boys. >> my assistants work for me and i have absolute aon what they do in the basketball program. what they do outside the program i have little if any control over adults. >> bernie fine denied all of the accusations. he has yet to be criminally charged. heading outside. what a difference a night makes. in some places is it 20 degrees colder out there. >> this is the way it should feel at the end of november. but that's not the way it has been feeling. ten days in a row with temperatures above 60 degrees. and a couple in the 70s. snow in the mountains of west virginia earlier. still going on in indiana and ohio. the rain continues to move up to the north and behind it we have cooler air coming in here. and that will stick around for a

while. i'll show you what to expect for the rest of the week and the weekend in just a minute. >> vice president joe biden is in iraq tonight. he went on a surprise visit to mark the last month of the war there. he is meeting with iraqi leaders to talk about future military cooperation and the amount of assistance the u.s. will provide to iraqi security forces. the u.s. forces have to be out of the country by december 31st. 9-9-9 doing fine. >> that was herman cain on the campaign trail. he is staying put for now but has doubts about the future of his candidacy. he denied a claim by a woman who had a 13-year extramarital affair. but he is looking into whether it creates too much of a cloud over his campaign to move

forward. marion berry wants to stay on the d.c. council for a third term. he has represented ward 8 since 2005. his campaign platform includes job training, placement and development. analysts expect the four-term councilman to keep his seat. the democratic primary is in april. the d.c. council is considering changes to a law that allows people to impound vehicles with expired registration tags whether they are registered in the city or not. after a number of complaints the city no longer arrests drivers for the violations. now advocates say the council should eliminate the power in favor of a fine. police say they need the ability to tow to keep the illegal vehicles off the road. drag racing could be the cause of an accident that killed a 27-year-old man in beltsville.

the park police say that he was on his way to work when he was run into by the driver of a dark colored mercedes. the car went off the road and he was killed. his friends and family are devastated. >> about 20 years. >> what kind of guy was he? >> one of the nicest guys you ever want to meet. friendly an kind. >> park police say that the driver of the mercedes was racing someone in a silver lexus. they are asking anyone who saw the cars to contact them. it is not clear why a train everything started rolling on its own in prince george's county this afternoon. a safety device derailed the engine before it could do more damage. no other cars were attached to the engine and no one was injured. still ahead, he calls himself a real life superhero and there is video of him stopping a suspected stabber. the judge in the conrad

murray case explains why michael jackson's doctor had to be given the maximum sentence. the caps take to the ice with a new coach. not something special anywhere -- [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies. it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone.

take a look at this, a guy in seattle dressed as a superhero getting a handshake and thank you from the police.

he calls himself few liks jones and he helped catch a stabbing suspect. recent hi he witnessed a fight and used pepper spray to break it up. he was arrested. a judge today gave dr. conrad murray the maximum sentence in his role in the death of michael jackson. and the judge did not hold back on explaining himself. stephanie stanton reports. >> the court makes a determination. >> reporter: dr. conrad murray had no visible reaction as the judge gave him the maximum sentence. >> the court has determined that the appropriate term is the high term of four years imprisonment. >> reporter: the 58-year-old cardiologist got a stern reprimand in court when the judge spoke for 24 minutes.

>> he has absolutely no sense of remorse absolutely no sense of fault and is and remains dangerous. >> reporter: during the hearing a jackson family attorney addressed the court. >> we are not here to seek revenge. there is nothing you can do today to bring michael back. >> reporter: murray did not speak but his attorney asked for leniency. >> i do wonder, though, to what extent the court considers the entirety of a man's book of life as opposed to just one chapter. >> reporter: a plea that had no impact on the judge who threw the book at murray. afterwards the members of the jackson family were glad it's over. >> i think we got a fair trial. thank you, fan, thank you very

much. >> reporter: under california's sentencing guidelines, murray is expected to serve about two years in the county jail. stephanie stanton, nbc news, los angeles. the world of comedy is remembering patrice o'neal tonight. he died today from complications from a stroke he suffered last month. he was best known for his role on the nbc tv show "the office" in which he played a warehouse worker. he was 41 years old. you know, when you work in live television some things sometimes it is out of your control. >> brankruptcies -- you will forgive us we have a fire alarm announcement going on here. nothing so special any more. we have an announcement going on in the studio. >> that's the way it was on

nightly news tonight as he read the top story, the fire alarm went off in 30 rock. it was a drill but kept going for much of the broadcast. it was corrected by the time it aired here in washington. you know, two weeks ago, a similar event happened during our 11:00 news. >> we have a fire alarm going on here. >> like the alarm on nightly, that one turned out to be a drill. but you notice how cool our partner is, not fazed even a little bit. >> what else can you do? >> just one foot in front of the other. >> we never know if it's not a drill. how do you know? >> until later. >> that's the problem. >> exactly. >> it's not a drill the temperature out there. >> no. 49 degrees at the end of

november at 11:00 at night would normally be a good thing but not when you have had the warm weather we have seen over the last couple days. right now it is cold. out there in chevy chase village. this is the united methodist church out there. he said it is cold out there. it is a bit on the chilly side especially when the wind blows and that wind is only 10 to 15 miles per hour but the wind is enough to give you that chill is going to make things feel colder. 66 is the high today just before 10:00 in the morning. right now at 49. the average high this time of year is 52 degrees. well above average today. 4/10 inch of rain. and a 22 degree temperature drop from where we were for a high temperature during the day yesterday. right now a dew point of 41 degrees. the winds are southwest at 16 miles per hour and it's that wind that is creating the wind chills. we have wind chills in the 30s

back in the west in winchester. the wind chill there around 34 degrees. the temperature at 43. 45 in manassas. we will see a chilly night tonight when you compare it to the past couple days. look at the numbers here. the current temperatures around the country. 33 in st. louis. 43 in jacksonville. where is the warm spot? boston at 53 degrees. that topsy tuvy weather. the cold air in orlando and the warm air staying up in boston before the front moves on. a few showers. we talked about twheez the upper level low. here is the front and all of the rain. that's why boston is still on the warm side. the backside, the cold side. there it is bringing in snow and again accumulating snow in indiana. the storm system itself moves

out tomorrow. we get sunny in the afternoon tomorrow. will the be on the chilly side but not that bad at all. tomorrow morning starting off cool. chilly breeze on the damp side. temperatures in the upper 30s to lower 40s. as we move through the day tomorrow, rather nice for late november. we will see sunshine later in the day. breezy and cool. 47 to 51 degrees. but once again that is average for this time of year. the next four days really nice. 52 on thursday, 57 on friday. that is a beautiful late november -- actually a december day. the weekend right now looking cool on saturday. >>

so the caps got a new coach. did it make a difference? >> so far, not so good.

even a new coach can't solve the problems for the capitals, at least not yet. there is no story bookending. his team outplayed from start to finish. part of the problem the two most talented offensive players did not register a shot on goal until the third period. the evening did start with hope. the fans sporting the old school dale hunter jerseys. scoreless in the first period. backstrom's seventh goal of the year. and the capitals feeling great. but later in the period. the guys just can want clear it out. and take another look at this thing. vokoun just can't get the puck out of there. and the game's tied at one.

same score in the second period. shooting from the right wing. vokoun can't corral it. staying with the play and wraps around the net and scores. vokoun can't get back to the puck. two times in a row. that's the problem. he collects his second goal of the week. hunter loses his nhl coaching debut. up next the big one. penguins at home on thursday. >> i thought you know the guys worked hard tonight. and you know, it was a tight game the whole game. they are playing well and they are good defensively. we had a couple break downs but i want them to get better and better every game and after every practice. by watching them live we have stuff to work on. >> i could play tonight and especially in the third period.

i think we made some hits. we did what we ask him to do and if we play the same way we will get success. >> taking on the penguins on thursday that will be a packed house for sure. college hoops, virginia upsets michigan in the big ten challenge. the terps are not so lucky. maryland hosting illinois and despite having the lead at halftime, the terps not able to get it done. you know who was getting it down? the fans. that's our intern, erik garmin. >> switch him over to decaf. >> always in the front row for some reason. a good game for the sophomore with the quick trigger there. this time he says i'm doing it deep and from the lane as well. he had 25. maryland led 35-31 at halftime. but the second half was a

difficult story. illinois starts pulling away. landing the three pointer. grabbing the lead for illinois. in the flow all game. racking up 20 points. great passing here. they get it to the big man for the easy dunk. maryland came within five points late in the game. illinois wins 71-62. afterwards mark turgeon says that the guys don't know how to win the close games yet. one final nba note the teams allowed to open their doors for the players on thursday. the training camp will

[ speaking french ] [ speaking french ]

movie buffs! this film is tres bien, but the interest rate on your checking account is le pew. interest on your checking? earn more with new high yield free checking at capital one bank. your interest rate will be five times the national average. five times the interest! and free atms at any bank. show's over folks. make your way to capital one bank. what's in your wallet? were you crying? yeah.

an elderly man walked into a sirius store and left an envelope for the store manager. inside a $100 bill and a note saying that he stole 20 bucks from a cash register from a cash register in the 40s and now he is returning it with interest. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies.

it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone.

featuring rickey minor [ cheers and applause ] captions paid for by [ cheers and applause ]