making up for lost time one day after the blackout at the nation's busiest airport shut down flights from coast to coast. i'm justin finch working for you with a look at how local airports are now catching up. and early morning fire leads to heartbreak. a mother and three children are dead. other family members are badly hurt. we have a reporter standing by outside of the home. and temperatures are warming up. unseasonably mild as we go through this afternoon and it's not just today. wait until you see tomorrow's forecast before we cool back down. >> news 4 midday starts now. good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4

>> i'm molette green. a worst-case scenario to start this busy holiday travel week. >> that's right, the lights are back on at the airport in atlanta, and passengers around the world will feel this impact for days. >> yes. that includes people into and out of our areaa. >> an underground electrical fire plunged atlanta hartsfield jackson airport, that is, into darkness and bringing the world's busiest airport to a standstill. >> earn wveryone was just kind shocked and kind of went on with it because we saw it would come back really soon. >> but it wasn't really soon. it took over 11 hours. around midnight the lights came back on and the damage is done. news 4's justin finch is live now at reagan national airport where travelers are feeling the impact and there are

flights left to reschedule. >> that's so right, eun, reagan looking a lot smoother now than it was some hours before. this had all of the makings of a holiday nightmare. we're talking about a week out from christmas, crowds here showing up early to get a jump on travel and only to find out their flights are cancelled and there was no flight for them at that point booked in sight. where things could have gone wrong, they went really right. we saw people who were inspired to be kind to each other. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: at this delta check-in counter, just as frustrations teetered toward crescendo -- ♪ ♪ >> the sound of strings, a man with his bow and violin breaking into christmas carols to bring a smile to someone he saw could use one. >> one of my fellow passengers started to cry because their flight was canceled yesterday and they had to go

hours, so i said let me see what i can do. >> many in this long line at reagan's delta baggage drop-off and this one snaking in front of check-in are passengers whose flight status this morning are in limbo. >> my son is flying to atlanta or was or i don't know. it is so confusing. >> reporter: sunday's power blackout in atlanta's airport, the nation's busiest forced delta alone to ground some 300 flights today, many early flights. >> we're trying to start a family vacation and we have to deal with this. >> what's this been like? >> stressful. beyond stressful. i just want to get home. >> tara and her 8-month-old baby girl shia were supposed to be in the atlanta area by now, but it could be closer to tomorrow. add to that, she's down to a few bottles or diapers. >> as to who has thrown the most tantrums? >> definitely the mom. definitely me.

ground to and from atlanta and the recovery from the backlog could take days which means this guy might need a call back. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> oh, for goodness sakes, call back the violinist! everyone was smiling when he was playing earlier. more good news, mom and baby are home with family until their flight situation are figured out, but for you if you were traveling at some point this week it may be smart to call ahead, check in with your carrier and make sure the flights are looking okay. delta and other carriers were waiving transfer fees as a result of the blackout. i'm justin finch, news 4. back to you in the studio. >> go around to the different airports where people are. >> all morning long, crews are repairing a water main break and the 12-inch main burst near

adelphi road. fixing it could take hours and this morning some lanes were shut down because of the break. a man who was hit by a red line train this morning is expected to survive his injuries and that's according to d.c. fire. >> metrotransity police say the man intentionally got into the path of a train at the cleveland park station this morning on the single track for a short time. now to our weather for this part of year pretty balm toe start the workweek. >> i know. we needed a jacket earlier, but when your kids come home from school they may not be wearing coats at all. sheen a how warm will we be today? >> i like this. >> we are talking about unseasonably mild temperatures and 48 degrees, but we will be getting into the 50s and keep in mind the normal high this time of the year is 46 degrees and we're already above that. we have the clouds around and it will not matter as we go through the day the numbers will still

through the afternoon and mid-50s is where we should be through much of the area, but if you think today are unseasonably mild, wait until you see tomorrow's forecast and that will come along with the pretty good weather, and we'll talk about the next rain chance and also, we'll take a close look at your travel forecast, guys. >> thank you, sheena. the holidays are in full swing. >> but as you leave, christmas, we want to make sure you're able to drive safe. >> family and friends killed by a suspected drunk driver want people to think befo. he was at the intersection of rockville pike and congressional lane when the driver hit him and then took off. police caught up with the man and arrested him for dui. >> he is suffering and it's not just the family and friends. it goes on and

so just think, please think before you drink and put those keys in. >> family and friends say redler was a popular server and bartender at a restaurant in bethesda. they describe him as a people person who could make anyone laugh and smile. d.c. police are trying to figure out how a toddler got a hold of a gun. according to the police report the toddler and another child were playing with a gun when it accidentally went off. this happened inside an apartment building on pomeroy street. bullet hit the girl in the leg. she is expected to be okay. no word on how the children got the gun or if anyone will be charged. three people are dead after their plane went down on its way to frederick, maryland. the single-engine cessna crashed saturday night. the people onboard were on a cross-country trip from kansas city. one dog also died and a second dog survived. federal investigators aren't s

down. today, if you are caught speeding through a red light at lee highway and german town road in fairfax expect to get a ticket in the mail. enforcement on the southbound side started this morning. up until now violators were getting warnings. this is the seventh red light camera in the city of fairfax. today deliberations are starting back up in the first trial involving inauguration day protesters. there are six defendants in this case. they face numerous charges, including engaging in a riot and property damage. those defendants have argued that the charges are overarching and this is an attack onny fr f speech. two defendants did not do any damage, but say all were covering their faces and cheering on this damage. hurricane harvey destroyed everything they owned. three months later, we'll see how texas families are facing and faring a week before christmas. >> homeowners in

california don't know if their houses will survive until the holiday. a look at how the wildfires are impacting christmas plans and gift giving this year. toyota says it plans to offer an electric version of all its cars and suvs by 2025. that announcement comes after the automaker said last week and it's in talks with panasonic to develop safe and energy-efficient rechargeable batteries. toyota aims to sell 5.5 million hybrid and electric cars by 2030. if you're scrambling for a last-minute tech gift. don't count on picking up a pair of apple's air pods. reportedly major chains like best buy, walmart and the carriers like at&t are sold out of the wireless headphones until the new year. this is, of course, a repeat of what happened last year. apple didn't have enough supply to go around. analysts say this year it's more likely an issue of demand than technical issues. all those people with the new iphone x, right? >> wit

crews are trying to get a handle on these historic wildfires in southern california and they're grateful the winds have finally calmed down a bit, and for the first time red flag warnings which have been in place since the fire started were lifted overnight. just a little relief there and the threat is far from over. >> absolutely. that fire only about 45% contained and with more

evacuation orders are still in effect. >> as nbc's steve patterson report, it's not the way you want to spend the week before christmas. >> reporter: this morning marks two weeks since the blaze broke out. more than 8500 fire personnel now on the front lines, some working 24-hour shifts to stop the flames from spreading. the thomas fire scorching 270,000 acres is now larger than the size of new york city, destroying per than 1,000 properties. it's also killed two people including 32-year-old firefighter corey iverson, thousands lining highways on sunday to pay their final respects on his way to san diego. >> they've been showing their support including oprah who tweeted god bless every firefighter and their families. meanwhile, places like downtown santa barbara have become ghost

under evacuation orders and businesses are taking a big hit right before the holidays. >> all my friends are buying gift cards because there haven't been places open to shop. >> the firefighters are getting the break they need with the forecast calling for lower winds. >> it definitely improves fire emissions aircraft. >> as residents face week three of relentless smoke, ash and flames they're hopeful blue skies are on the horizon. msnbc's chris matthews was accused of inappropriate behavior by a woman working on his show in 1999. "the daily caller" first reported chris math us made inappropriate jokes and comments about a female employee who was an assistant producer on his show. msnbc released a statement saying the matter was investigated at the time, and matthews received a formal

reprimand. the investigation found the comments were not a proposition. the woman received a payout to leave the company. the nfl is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against the owner of the carolina panthers. "sports illustrated" reports jerry richardson made sexually suggestive comments to women and directed a racial slur at a black employee. s.i. also reports four former panthers employees received financial settlements due to richardson's inappropriate workplace comments. after the article was published, richardson announced he would sell the team after this season. ♪ ♪ >> inside the 10 and the end zone. touchdown! >> you heard it there. the crowd at fedex field went wild as the team was able to eventually beat the arizona cardinals. not always a pretty game. carol maloney was there for

of the game. >> no playoffs this year, but still plenty of pride for the redskins this sunday, a battle with the arizona cardinals here at fedex field ends with a 20-15 skins victory. right out of the gate, unlikely standouts. first drive, anthony, linear, a sack and a fumble and then sameson crowder into the end zone and making a name for himself, scores a touchdown in his first game with the team. a defensive fight to the finish ends with the skins staving off the cards. >> winning makes you feel like you're on top of the world and losing is the other extreme. there's no in between in this league and that's what makes it such a roller coaster and the final result is what it's all about at the end of the day and just so glad to have that win. >> two games to go and the next one here at home and while si

losing one is. at fedex field, carol maloney, news 4 sports. >> we have a win there eun. the redskins will take on the denver broncos next sunday, christmas eve. >> we're playing for pride to end the season on the high note. game is at fedex field at 1:00 ♪ ♪ and despite the cheering inside the stadium, there were protests outside of fedex field an a group of native americans gathered yesterday. they say they feel the team's name is offensive and pushing the name to be renamed for the red hawks. the group called the rising hawks coalition was formed a year ago. >> i would see this mascot everywhere, a krik car carric cf

whole lot of headline. >> le wrong james made a message to president trump using his shoes. he wore one black and one white shoe with the word equality in capital gold letters. after the game james told reporters, quote, we're never going to let law enforcement dictate how beautiful and how powerful we are. >> james has been an outspoken critic of the president since he took office. lots of cheers when pittsburgh steelers fans saw injured linebacker ryan shazer watching the game from a luxury suite. two weeks ago shazier, i don't know if i'm saying it right. he suffered a back injury that initially left him without feeling in his leg. he had spinal fusion surgery, and doctors let him out so he could watch his team play the patriots and i'm v

>> it could have been a different ending, but to see him up and around and smiling is great. >> the things you love most about the holidays can put your family at risk. the disaster insurance companies say is more likely to happen this time of the year. >> plus we have an update on a viral video from the summer. ♪ ♪ we're checking in with the pastor who played on even after hurricane harvey floo

-ahh. -the new guy. -whoa, he looks -- -he looks exactly like me. -no. -separated at birth much? we should switch name tags, and no one would know who was who. jamie, you seriously think you look like him? uh, i'm pretty good with comparisons. like how progressive helps people save money by comparing rates, even if we're not the lowest. even if we're not the lowest. whoa! wow. i mean, the outfit helps, but pretty great. look at us.

about a terrible situation to our north. four people in the same family killed in an overnight house fire. just so sad. >> it's awful. the victims include three young children. investigators say that fire appears to be suspicious. let's get right to katherine craig from craig from our sister station in new york. >> reporter: here in brooklyn it is a tragic day. a mother and three young children were killed in a fire. the house that you see here, a mother and father, their six children moved into it only seven months ago. the youngest child killed, a 3-year-old girl, her 7-year-old brother and 11-year-old brother perished in the fire. the fire broke out around 2:20 this morning. the house that you see here are on east 14th street in a neighborhood called sheep's head bay here in brooklyn. the father and the

teenage son and also a teenage cousin who was spending the night here all jumped out of windows to escape flames and paramedics rushed them to a hospital and there are two other teenage boys and they managed to escape the fire and the husband and wife we learned from their rabbi emigrated from israel and they lived in other parts of brooklyn as their family grew, but we're learning they moved into this house only serve months ago. as you can see a very busy scene with firefighters, fire investigators and marshal, and the fdny commissioner is here and it is being investigated what exactly started the fire. we'll send it back to you. >> thank you so much. it's been more than three months since hurricane harvey slammed into southern texas. nbc's tammy lightner shows us there is still a lot of work to be done coupled with a good deal of frustration. >> reporter: it's chaos in the harding family house. for the last three months eric,

floor ever since hurricane harvey flooded their suburban home. >> this is bedroom, living room, kitchen, kinding room. >> wow! >> you may rememberer eckharding eric harding, the piano he loved so much still works. >> it kind of became this little piece of hope for some reason. >> reporter: nearly 900,000 texans were affected by the storm. for many, recovery has been painfully slow. >> right now we're in that initial recovery phase. it's going as fast as any of us would like in no, not really. >> reporter: fema says part of the challenge is the massive scale of damage which stretches roughly 41,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of maine. >> but we are making progress each and every day. >> reporter: a recent survey found nearly half of affected residents say they aren't

getting the help they need. >> we did have enough to get a deposit for the place and we had enough to get a couple of cars and a tv, and bedroom safe and that's as far as the money took us. >> reporter: the port arthur home was a total loss. the family had to be airlifted out one by one. >> imagine not knowing where you're going to go. >> the singletons left port arthur and they're renting an apartment in ofausten. >> i went back twice and it's still a mess. i got sick the last time i went back. i would never go back. >> for the hardings, even though they can be crowded, they're grateful to be together and home for the holidays. >> tammy lighter in nbc news, texas. >> i know it's a long road away from those folks recovering from the hurricanes.

been three months. we've moved on, but they're still dealing with moving on, you know? >> all right. sheena parveen is with us to tell us about the forecast and much warmer than this time last week. >> wait until you see this afternoon. tomorrow afternoon, i mean, this is the kind of weather where if you don't like the cold, hurry up and take advantage of it and it will be unseasonably mild as we go through the afternoon hours and we're already warming up right now so we have those warmer than normal afternoons in the forecast. our next chance of rain won't be until we head back into the weekend. so most of this week is looking great for travel until we get to friday night so remember that, watching for a wet or white christmas. we have computer models that are showing both. some of them are showing colder air here and maybe some snow showers and others are showing the warm air here and maybe just rain for your christmas, but we'll look at that as we get closer, as well. currently we're in the upper 40

haes s and warrington is at 52 degrees and we'll keep rising. prince here is available for adoption at the humane alliance. we're looking at temperatures in the mid-50s. get out and enjoy the weather and by 7:00 p.m. we'll be around the low 50s. radar is nice and dry, too. it will stay like this through the overnight hours and we're also watching these temperatures. normal high, 46 degrees and today we're in the mid-50s and tomorrow we're around 60 degrees, well above normal for this time of the year. wednesday, we do drop back down. thursday, we're back around where we should be this time of the year and we go into the week and it will be back around the low 60s for saturday, but there is that rain chance coming into friday. this will mostly be friday night. any holiday travel looks good until friday night. that's when the rain approaches and we'll take a look at more travel and we're coming up with

together on a common cause. why the russian president is publicly thanking president trump. plus you don't want unnecessary pills in your medicine cabinet. where you can go to safely dispose o

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transforming our power grid and the way we think of energy... ...to move from "what if" to "what's next." dominion energy. we have breaking news coming in to news 4. a dramatic amtrak derailment in washi

overpass in tacoma, washington, in the morning rush. all of the cars stopped below. >> yeah, we have information from nbc news, tom costello, the 250 people were onboard the plane and that's what -- the train, that is, that's what he has reported so far, but we don't have any reports yet, confirmation of the number of injuries and fatalities. you can see interstate 5 down there where the traffic is backed up and it's just -- this image is striking, eun, with the train, part of the train dangling over that. >> and apparently, it fell down on to the highway, and what we know at this point is that this was the inaugural ride of the amtrak cascade high-speed line in washington state. it apparently runs from vancouver, canada to eugene, oregon. apparently, interstate 5 there is completely blocked by the

different vantage points. you can see this is from the behind area. no word what caused this crash or derailment, i should say, but some passengers were seeing on social media reporting that they heard crumpling, that there was chaos and of course, a lot of fear and we're still trying to work to get information about the passengers onboard to find out if anyone was hurt. >> these are live pictures right now of that train car completely off the tracks and on to the highway below is really stunning to see. >> there is a major emergency response, as you can only imagine. amtrak only saying so far that they are aware of the situation. again, we don't have any word yet. this is ongoing. this is very fluid right now. no reports of how many people are injured or killed in this incident, but of

inaugural run of this train. 250 people possibly onboard as reported by our nbc tom costello. this derailed near olympia. >> again, if you are just joining us, you are looking at live pictures of an incredible train derailment in washington state that happened during the morning rush hour. apparently, this train derailed on interstate 5 near tacoma, washington. this traffic camera showing that one train car dangling from the overpass and falling on to the highway before. you can see all of the traffic there backed up right now. tom costello from nbc news reporting there were 250 people onboard and no word on the extent of any injuries. we just know first responders have to treat this as a major event. so they're going to be on the scene and they'll try to find the passengers and that train is down on to the highway and we don't know what's happened to the train behind

there must have been a ripple effect on the track as that one train fell down off the overpass. >> obviously with this being a launch today of a new high-speed service and a lot of excitement and anticipation over all of this and the disaster happens during the morning rush with part of the train derailing on a highway overpass near tacoma, washington, this morning and the first pictures of the scene tell the story of just how awful this is and it's going to take a while before we get all of the information, but we can tell you that the traffic on i-5 backed up as you can see from the images there with the train derailment happening on with the train falling on to the overpass. >> we're going to be working for you to find out more about this derailment in washington state. stay with news 4 and the nbc

latest and we'll get numbers and how this will affect the rest of the day. we'll keep you posted. stay right here. moving on now to other news of the day, president trump's national security address today is expected to include some tough talk on russia. one day after he and russian leader vladimir putin had their second phone call in four days. >> president trump called putin thursday to thank him for his praising of the handling of the economy. putin called the president yesterday after the cia reportedly provided information about an alleged terror plot. nbc's lucy cavanaugh reports. >> reporter: according to the kremlin, this info from the cia helped prevent anis lambic state attack on a number of crowded sites including a landmark orthodox christian church, and russia's security service said in a statement on friday that it had detained seven members of islamic state supporters and sees a significant

explosives and weapons as well as extremist literature. it was not clear when the cia provided the tip. we don't have any details on what information the cia sent to the russians, and it was not immediately clear where the plot originated or how the cia learned of it. the agencies do consider themselves to be something of adversaries, but they do also occasionally cooperate and count count counter terrorism issues and the service warned the fbi that an immigrant from russia, an immigrant, and two years later, he and his brother detonated homemade bombs at the boston marathon. that said, the u.s. intelligence agencies including the cia tried to sway last year's presidential election in favor of mr. trump. sunday's conversation between the two presidents marked the second time they've spoken in a week. lucy cavanaugh, nbc news, london. i want to go back now to the

breaking news out of the seattle area? is that what we're doing? we'll bring the information a little bit later. first we'll go to a break. >> all right. generosity comes in so many forms especially this time of year. >> we're about to introduce queue to a girl they call amazing grace. what a lovely title to have. >> i like that. >> and the stranger is pitching in to help her breathe a little easier. >> such attitude she has, so positive with what she's going through and she's so strong and a fighter and i just want to help them. ? we have breaking news just coming into news 4. you are looking at live pictures at a dramatic amtrak derailment in washington state. you can see from these images. the train derailed on a highway overpass and that train coming right off the overpass on to the highway and we're bringing you mucmore from theh s with advil's fast relief, you'll ask, "what pulled muscle?" "what headache?"

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a florida girl is battling a rare syndrome that affects only 200 people in the world. nbc's nadine young has more on how the community has helped a family when they needed it the most. >> reporter: things haven't always been easy for the wigman family. >> my husband had a stroke a couple of years ago, and so he was our only income so trying to bring down the bills has been hard. >> reporter: and their daughter grace best known as amazing grace, has rubidoux syndrome, a rare disorder affecting her boneses. grace has had 28 spinal surgeries with 13 more on the way. >> i feel weak. >> because of holes in the air ducts and insulation the air-conditioning unit was cooling the attic more than the home. >> any stale air is not good for her, and so it makes her breathing hardernd

rate increases, and her oxygen goes down. >> reporter: when ron from veteran air heard about amazing grace. >> after helping people for help and stuff we were able to install a brand-new duct and system, thanks to the distributing in new york heating and cooling. >> reporter: a two-day job, a $7,000 bill completed at no cost. >> it was one of those things seeing grace, such the attitude she has is all positive and what she's going through and she's strong, and she's a fighter and i just wanted to help them. >> the love and support that we've had has just been overwhelming. >> with amazing grace by her side, relying on her faith, knowing there are people looking out for them. >> there is good, and that people care. >> that was nadine young reporting. grace's mom says with all of the support she's received she wants to pay it forward and help someone else in need. we want to go back to that

breaking news out of washington state. take a look. we have live images of a dramatic train derailment there. this is in pierre county in washington state, and you can see there, this high-speed train left the overpass and fell on to the highway below. at this point the county sheriff is reporting that there are injuries. we do not know the number of people injured or the extent of those injuries and nbc's tom costello reported earlier that 250 people were onboard this inaugural ride of the high-speed line called the cascade. >> as you can see, interstate 5 below blocked by the wreckage there, and that is a busy area, busy time of the morning for all of this to happen on the inaugural run of the high-speed service where the train hangs off of the overpass there and like eun said, the

reporting there are injuries and casualties. it's a mass casual tty event an we will stay on top of it throughout the day. >> we have sheena parveen, and we are enjoying the break from the cold because we know it will be back. it's winter. >> it always comes back. >> and tomorrow we'll have more sunshine and if you like the mild weather that's coming this afternoon, i know, me, too, it's going to be here tomorrow even more. so tomorrow's going to be a little bit milder than today, but this is unseasonably mild for this time of the year and temperatures are already warming up. some areas to near 50 degrees so get outside and enjoy it today and we'll stay nice and dry, too, even though we have clouds around, we'll stay dry and the next chance of rain won't be until the weekend and the good news is as you're traveling around this week and maybe your holiday travel and christmas travel, it's staying dry until friday night. we like to have the dry, warm roads. we don't want any issues out there th

48 degrees in washington. we have the clouds around parts of the area and we'll see a mix of sun and clouds and many areas will see sunny skies and partly cloudy. gaithersburg, and 48 in manassas. if you're exercising today it will be beautiful weather to do so and even tomorrow. tomorrow might be a little bit better by 4:00 p.m. and 55 degrees is where we'll be topping out at. by 7:00 p.m. feeling pretty good and low 50s. we'll take you through the next few days here and we go into time and by tomorrow we have a storm system developing in the gulf of mexico by tomorrow night. that's going to be impacting parts of texas and eastern parts of texas up into parts of new england we could have snow developing and starting to move in. that weather system slides into the carolinas and we go into thursday afternoon and evening and we have another weather system heading toward chicago. we could be see something airportel

locally, it's looking pretty good. we'll be sunny in the 40s for friday, and we'll be back around 50 with a very late chance for rain showers and this wouldn't be until friday night and it's pretty good most of the day friday and saturday we'll see the rain around the area. low 60s and cooler on sunday and next week, we are watching christmas day and it looks like we'll have a chance for rain and we'll be updating that. >> thanks so much. you have less than a week it figure out your gift list. if you're still stumped -- if you're stumped, we're going to run down the best options for last-minute shopping. we're working for you to get those gifts under the tree in time for christmas. what you need to know if you're mailing your presents. >> and we're staying on top of the breaking news out of washington state with those live images as that train hangs off an overpass. there are multiple casualties and fatalities reporting this happened just before 8:00 a.m. and back with much more o

welcome back to news 4 midday. we are following breaking news out of washington state. right now you're looking at an amtrak train derailment. that train car leapt an overpass and fell on to the highway below. we understand from the pierce county sheriff's office that there are multiple injuries and fatalities due to this

reported 250 people were onboard. we don't know exactly how many people dieded in this derailment or how many people are injured at this point. we do know that this was the inaugural run for this new high-speed line, and there was a lot of interest surrounding this inaugural run. >> very disappointing situation here. a mass casualty event. it's being called amtrak, of course, on the scene along with numerous emergency response teams trying to make sense of all of this, and we don't know what happened. we do know that there were 14 miles of new, upgraded track in that area, but not exactly sure what caused this disaster to happen. of course, we will stay on top of the developments throughout the day. >> stay with us right here on news 4. it's now 11:49. if you plan to ship your holiday gifts today, you are not alone. the u.s. postal service december 18th is the busiest day of the

visit a post office today, but this isn't the last day to send your gifts. you have to hurry because tomorrow is the final day to ship by first-class mail by wednesday, and by priority mail service, and friday by priority mail express. >> did we mention christmas is one week away. >> the last week before christmas and so many of us still have so much more shopping to do, but fear not, retailers are coming to the rescue with plans to help santa deliver even on christmas eve. walmart is offering free pickup in store right up until 6:00 p.m. on christmas eve and the brick and mortar stores are gearing up for a last-minute rush as well on saturday. >> you will see a lot of last-minute deals and you will see a lot of last-minute promotions and not only coupon codes and cash back offers and you will see people in the store. >> the biggest procin

cards from your favorite online stores even on christmas day, you can do this. >> christmas morning if you have to. that's when the customer service comes into play. people appreciate it. the procrastinators need the last-minute pickup. >> it can happen to any of us. >> we're busy. in this season of giving, there are signs that santa is working his magic a little early this year. >> across the country people are spreading cheer in unexpected ways. >> nbc's kate snow has a look at these acts of kindness. at the brief encounter cafe in bellevue, washington, a brief encounter that meant a lot this week. after his usual breakfast, telling the staff when he was 7 his mom cooked at a diner just like it. >> then he signed a $3,000 tip for the staff and wished them all a better christmas. >> very excited and the boys back there like, n

>> another secret santa at a walmart in melville, new jersey. someone paid off $49,000 in layaway items for strangers. kimberly green had put thing aside for her nine grandchildren. >> whoever it is, i'm grateful. like, they're blessed. they've blessed a lot of people. >> reporter: and a lot of people made one girl's wish come true in edinburgh, texas. a teacher posted a little girl's letter to santa asking for a ball, food and a blanket. the food now flooded with donations. giving, coming in all forms this holiday season, in shawnee, kansas, this police officer handing out cash instead of tickets. >> i would like to give you that. >> thank you. >> reporter: elementary students in boone, iowa, were busy creating paper hugs and an army national guard staff sergeant about to be deployed overseas. >> you want dad toe come home? >> this santa had a secret identity. >> you all look at mommy really quick and tell her w

want. >> i want dad toe come home. i want a dirt bike. >> hi, guys. >> the naval officer home just in time for christmas. we're following breaking news right now. a devastating train derailment in washington state where part of the train completely derailed off the overpass and fell on to the highway below. the sheriff's office there reporting that there are multiple injuries and fatalities. >> this happened close to tacoma near seattle and we'll stay on top of these developments onir a

we are following breaking news right now. take a live look at these images. first responders in washington state responding to what is being called a mass casualty incident. the pierre sheriff's county office reporting multiple death xs fatalities in this train derailment. you can see right there from these images, that train car came off of the overpass and crashed on to the highway below. the traffic is completely backed up. >> yeah. this is soub this is southbound i-5 and rescue efforts are under way to get those folks off the train and to safety and of course, as we said we're hearing about multiple casualties and fatalities. this is going to be a scene that we will follow all throughout the day, online and on

>> and you can check our twitter and if you have the app we will send alerts to you as we learn more about the number of injured and the number of deaths in this terrible train derailment. it happened during the morning rush just before 8:00 a.m. >> the images are stunning and if you look at the pictures being posted on social media, the one train is almost crushed on the highway. you can imagine what that scene is like for first responders. >> we'll take a last look at weather, sheena? >> this afternoon we'll be on the mild side. 55 degrees and we will be dry. tomorrow 60 and normal highs, 46 degrees and we're back wednesday and thursday and rain moves in late friday, into the weekend and we are certainly watching the christmas day and we'll have more on that as we get closer, ladies. >> that's it for news 4 midday. we will stay on top of the breaking news out of washington state throughout the day. >> we are back on the air first at 4:00. get the latest news and weather updates any time with the nbc washington app. we hope you have a great day and we'll see you in the morning at 4:00 a.m.

♪ we're live in five, four, three, two, one. ♪ ♪ don't let me die ♪ hope you're ready for some pancakes ♪ ♪ stay back >> oh, you aif you were watchins last night, what a production and way to celebrate the holiday spirit. this is fox's "a christmas story live." i was cheering, my kids, we couldn't believe that it was live. i think it was by far the best live production i have seen. i was shocked that it was three