live in atlanta, chris pallone.>> thank you very much for that. >> all right, and thank you for joining us this morning. i'm an early morning "hit- and-run" in the east bay---- with the evidence left on scene. that evidence is a jaguar...that a driver smashed into a thrift >>> an early morning hit-and-run in the east bay with the evidence left on scene. that evidence, that jaguar a driver smashed into a thrift store. police want the know-how this happened. >> a woman in the south bay hails a cab late night and wakes up in the driver's home sexually assaulted. the one piece of information investigators see as critical as they look for the person responsible. >>> a brand new use of force policy pushed through the san francisco police commission. why the new outline directly defies the wishes of the police union in some cases. "today in the bay" starts right now. >>> good thursday morning. thank you very much for joining us. i'm sam brock. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. thanks for joining us this morning. we'll get to tha

nbc's chris pallone has the breaking details. >> reporter: debbie reynolds was the quintessential hollywood star, appearing on stage and screen for nearly seven decades, now in a twist befitting a true hollywood tragedy, reynolds has died at 84 while mourning the death of her also beloved daughter, carrie fisher. in this video from tmz, an ambulance is seen leaving reynolds' son's home wednesday afternoon. she was there making funeral arrangements for her daughter. ♪ it's that song and film that made debbie reynolds famous back in 1952. singing in the rain cast the 19 dwrld alongside song and dance veterans gene kelly and donald o'connor in what would come to be known as the classic movie musical. the el paso, texas, native had won the miss burbank beauty pageant four years earlier, and a talent scout quickly signed her to a contract. ♪ often cast as the wholesome innocent, reynolds starred in more than 20 films in the 1950s and the '60s. tammy and the bachelor gave her a hit song. the unsink al molly brown brought an oscar nomination. >> nothing's going to get me down. >> reporter: but as

i'm chris pallone. >> thank you, chris. >>> maybe you want to stay here and live large. head to 94027, one of the priceyest zip codes in the united states, 38 are here in the bay area. >> you would act surprised. housing prices here are ridiculous. according to property shark, the most expensive zip code in the bay area as laura mentioned is for agent they are ton, that zip, 94027, the median home price in atherton $5.4 million. palo alto is eighth, los altos ninth, los altos tenth. >> the most expensive in the hamptons in new york. >> exactly. we'll start memorizing these zip codes. big changes coming to one of the bay area's biggest police forces. a new direction just improved for san francisco's embattled police department. >> reporter: an out-of-control car crashes into a business here in the east bay. the actions the drivers took afterwards that has piqued the interest of law enforcement. >> reporter: campbell police say this taxi driver sexually assaulted a woman and thnow the say they don't believe she's the only victim. that story coming up. - hi, it's me. [imita

. >> "today in the bay's" chris pallone from atlanta, the largest airport in the country, to show us travellers can expect heading into the holiday weekend. chris? >> reporter: hi, sam and laura. we're expecting that there's going to be 103 million americans according to aaa heading out on a trip of more than 50 miles away from home. of course, the vast majority will be driving. aaa says about 93 million people will drive, an increase of 1.5% over last year. if you think you're going to find some relief at the airport, probably not. they are estimating that this week 6 million people will fly through american airports. that's up anywhere from 2.5% to 3.5%. the skies could be much more corroded than they were last year. now, locally at san francisco international, they were estimating that from the period of thanksgiving through new year's day they were going to see more than 6.5 million passengers going through there. that's an increase of more than 5.5%. you're seeing a lot of traffic out at sfo as well. what's driving this? mostly the economy. aaa says gas prices remain relatively

chris pallone, nbc news. >> well, new year's eve is one of the busiest nights of the year for uber, the ride hailing company expects to provide more than 15 million rides tomorrow night. that's about three times more than last new year's eve. uber says you should expect to pay the most between midnight and 3:00 a.m. and this year, uber is doing something different. it's going to let you know the cost of your ride up long airport lines, but do you know what goes on behind the scenes to get you through security quickly and safely? amy cho takes us inside a tsa operation center to see how workers keep the lines moving. >> reporter: if you have ever waited in a long line at an airport, well, this is where they try to fix that. there's the operation center where they're constantly tracking up to 29 busiest airports in the country. this screen over here shows the average wait times at the 29 busiest airports. you can see green means good, red means bad, yellow in between. if you're looking for specific numbers, this screen here tracking the average weight time at dulles airport. the wait time

chris pallone taking a look at the last-minute rush. it seems like everyone has a secret strategy. >> i got here really early. i knew it was going to be crowded. >> to finish up the last-minute holiday shopping when time isn't on your side, many say having a plan is the key. >> get up early, get out, get in the stores. avoid the lines. do what you can to get in and out. >> the national retail federation projects aer will spend nearly 656 billion dollars this holiday season, an increase of 3.5% over last year. and those shoppers will spend an average of $935 on gifts. many hunting for bargains. >> i love being able to go in and say, hey, you saved $100. i'm like, yes. it's all about the savings for me. >> believe it or not, a stunning 20% of holiday shoppers will wait until christmas eve to hit the stores. >> doing all right, considering i haven't started. >> some say they thrive under the pressure. >> i guess it would be slightly stressful, but the fun is more the fact that we have waited until the last minute, so it's kind of the oh, g

and as chris pallone reports, the wildfires are now blamed for killing 13 people. >> for people in tennessee's great smoky mountains, moments of anxiety and anticipation. >> there is something still there. >> as they get to check their homes and businesses for the week. for caroline, good news indeed. >> i'm all the way up to the back, but none of the house. i mean, it smells like smoke, but it doesn't smell bad like smoke. >> thank you, lord. >> officials say at least 1,000 structures throughout gatlinburg and surrounding towns were damaged and destroyed by fire. and now 13 people are confirmed dead. >> we have one person that passed away that not as a direct result of the heart attack, i think they were fleeing from the fire. >> state and local leaders are defending themselves from questions over whether they waited too long to order mandatory evacuations. >> there's only so many was you can notify people. mass notification. we can go door to door, which we did do. >> what we're getting into is folks who don't know the area. leaders assess the response, we're learning about the >> we're 82 y

chris pallone has a look at reynolds life and legacy on the big screen. >> debbie reynolds was the quintessentialollywood star appearing on stage and screen for nearly seven decades. now in a twist, ho reynolds has died at 84 while mourning the death of her beloved daughter carrie fisher. in this video from tmz, an ambulance is seen leaving reynolds son's home wednesday afternoon. she was this making funeral arrangements for her daughter. it was that song that maim reynolds famous in 1952. 'sing in the rain" came to be known as the classic movie musical. the texas native won the miss burbank beauty pageant four years early. he was quickly signed to a contract. often cast as the wholesome innocent, she starred in 20 films in the 1950s and '60s. tammy and the bachelor gave her a hit song. the unthinkable molly brown brought an oscar nomination. >> nothing is going to get me down. >> but her personal life suffered. a high profile marriage to eddie fisher brought two children but it ended in a bitter divorce, the first of three failed marriages. when movie roles diminished in the '70s, reynolds took

chris pallone takes a look at how police plan to keep everyone safe. >> with one day before the big annual party at the cross roads of the world, visitors to new york like this group from florida seem undaunted by the threat of terrorism. >> we want to wake up in the city that doesn't sleep. >> as workers put the finishing touches on stages and barricades, city leaders say saturday night, visitors will be able to relax and enjoy themselves. >> going to have one of the most well policed, best protected events at one of the safest ven venues. >> taking unprecedented steps to keep revelers safe, hoping to prevent a runaway truck attack like what happened this year in france and germany. they'll use 65 trucks loaded with sand as barriers and another 100 vehicles as blockers. a record 7,000 officers in uniform and under cover will watch over the celebration. >> everybody knows that the eyes of the world are upon times square on new year's eve night, so there will be >> visiting for her tenth time, rose says fear would never keep her away. >> no place like it. >> police have visited more than 3,

. >> yeah, nbc's chris pallone takes a look at the last-minute rush to buy gifts. >> it seems like everyone has a secret strategy. >> i got here really early. >> to finish up the last-minute holiday shopping when time isn't on your time, many say having a plan is the key to keeping your sanity. g the stores, avoid the lines. do what you can to get in and get out. >> the national retail federation predicts americans will spend nearly $656 billion this season, an increase of 3.5% over last year, and those shoppers will spend an average of $935 on gifts. many hubting for bargains. >> i love being able to go in and say you saved $100. i'm like, yes. all about the savings to me. >> believe it or not, 20% of holiday shoppers will wait until christmas eve to hit stores. >> doing all right considering i haven't started. >> some thrive under the pressure. >> i guess it would be slightly stressful, but the fun is more just the fact that we waited to the last minute. it's kind of the e oh, god, i need to do this now. it's sort of fun like that. >> this is fun. this is the greatest time of the year. >>

chris pallone, nbc news, new york. >> and even colder blast for next week. yeah, that's true. that's what we've got. take a look at the windchills. these are hour-by-hour. this evening, on the cold side. by 11:00, it's friday night. about. 21, leesburg. 21, giethers brg. 25 in the city. frigid windchills. tomorrow morning, waking up to windchills of 19 in gaithersburg. 25 in d.c. a very cold one. on saturday, too, and a lot of us have things, places to be and things to see on saturday. this is the windchill around 1:00. only in the twints in many areas. 39 by 3:00. 34 by 7:00. another cold night tomorrow night, and still talking about a cold sunday. sunday we'll have a lot more cloud cover. we're going to watch a system move through. i wouldn't be surprised on sunday to see a few flurries. not much of a system, but it will bring clouds. 51 on monday. system heads to our north. that gives us the warmer air. rain likely on monday. 47 on tuesday. next chance for snow, wednesday afternoon and evening. that's something i'll b not expecting much, but watching this one. this is the o