nbc's kristen dahlgren is watching from here in new york for us. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. big changes to tell you about. we just got the numbers in. what we are seeing is really the end of black friday as a behemoth shopping day. not because retailers are struggling but it is now a two-day event starting on thanksgiving. we are seeing a change in who's coming to the stores. people shopping online and on their smartphones in record numbers this year. even with doorbusters dwindling the hunt for the deal was still on. >> the best time to be shopping now. >> i got here as early as i could. >> $200 boots for $39. cosmetic kits less than 50% off. >> reporter: shoppers spent $9.7 billion on black friday, down 13.2% from last year. add in thanksgiving day shopping and sales rose overall, 2.3% from the same two days last year. >> all in all it was a good, safe two days and a good number on the sales standpoint. >> reporter: according to the national retail federation, holiday sales are expected to be $602 billion this year. hitting

kristen dahlgren, nbc news, new york. >>> up next here tonight, the olympic dream for these americans. it's a family affair. >>> perhaps you saw it. a show in the evening sky in parts of the midwest the other night. hundreds of people reported seeing it. a bright, colorful light moving through the sky. scientists say it was probably a very large meteor or piece of space debris. >>> from hawaii, take a look at this, an unusual look inside an active volcano. this photo, released by the u.s. geological survey, shows a lava lake in the crater on the kilauea volcano. while it may look relatively small, the lake is actually 160 feet below the rim of the crater. >>> just 40 days now from the start of the 2014 winter olympics in russia. and u.s. speed skaters around the ice in utah this weekend to determine who will make the team. among them a brother and sister from the chicago area who are hoping to keep a family tradition alive. i caught up with them recently at their practice oval in milwaukee. >> we live, eat, breathe, do everything skating. >> reporter: like most olympic hopefuls, nancy

here's nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: a phoenix detective is being hailed as a hero tonight for jumping in when he heard a fellow officer under fire, not knowing the suspect was the same man wanted in a brazen cop killing just days before. >> because he responded, we have two officers that were involved in this ordeal and they're both alive. >> reporter: according to officials, the suspect's deadly crime spree started two days before christmas in atlanta when the man with a black mask, pattern jacket and semiautomatic handgun made off with money from a customer at an atm. that same day 300 miles away in mississippi, officials say the suspect hit another bank then ambushed responding officers. >> when he engaged those officers, he seemed to have gotten into a firing position or firing stance similar to someone that has a background in tactics. >> reporter: a 38-year-old husband and father was killed. his partner severely wounded. and a massive man hunt began. then saturday more than 1500 miles away in phoenix, arizona, authorities say a man who fit the description of the suspect

kristen dahlgren is joining me with more on this. good morning to you.s behind this decision. >> reporter: good morning, alex. a controversial comeback. a&e suspended phil robertson following his interview with gq magazine in which he compared gays to drunks and terrorists. and said blacks were happy before civil rights. now the network has decided to bring robertson back to the show releasing a statement that says, "duck dynasty" is not a show about one man's views. it resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family, a family that america has come to love. as you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness. in the meantime, lbgt released this statement in response, "phil robertson should look african-american and gay people in the eyes and hear about the hurtful impact of praising jim crow laws and comparing gay people to terrorists. if dialogue with phil is not the next steps, then they have chosen profits over african-american and gay people, especially its employees a

kristen dahlgren is in the orange room to tell us more about it. >> good morning, lester.e term affluenza. now they're outraged by it and lashing out with a huge outcry on social media. the gruesome accident last june left four dead and nine injured. >> there's another child in the ditch. oh, my god. >> reporter: for many, what's happened since is the real shock. 16-year-old ethan couch was driving nearly twice the speed limit at three times the legal blood alcohol level when he plowed into a disabled car. many stead of the 20 years the prosecution was seeking, a ft. worth judge gave the teenager probation after his lawyers pointed to affluenza, a sense of entitlement that made the teen unable to see right from wrong. >> the consequences are he's taken away from his family, he's taken away from all the things that he's been given. he's not going to have the truck to drive, he's not going to have his xbox, alcohol or drugs. >> it was astonishing to see the defense successfully argue because he was rich and was allowed to get away with things before, he would have no prison

. >> let's go live now to the scene where nbc's kristen dahlgren has the latest. kristen, it's been about 4 1/2 hours since this derailment. what are the numbers coming in right now and in terms of cleanup or cost, where are we on that front? >> reporter: right now we still have the four dead and 63 injured. they say they have checked and rechecked. they don't believe that there's anyone else unaccounted for. take a look down here, and you can see just how difficult of a scene this was to get to. there's a steep hill. there's that one car that's just inches away from the river. so a really difficult extrication for the officials that were first on scene here. they actually had to shore up the train, use air pillows, giant air pillows to lift those cars off of some of the victims. so that's just how horrific it was here. we're told that they believe three out of the four deceased were thrown from the train. so witnesses really describing -- one gentleman who was walking his dog out here and saw the aftermath said it is something he will never forget. the investigati

let's get right to nbc's kristen dahlgren, live at the scene of yesterday's accident. and kristen, senator chuck schumer, who was just speaking at the end of the conference said when he heard about the speed of the train, he gulped. is that the headline out of this press conference? >> reporter: yeah, it really is. and what senator schumer just said is from preliminary reports. it doesn't look like there was anything wrong with the tracks or the signal. so he said it really comes down to either a problem with the locomotive or an issue with the operator. and so, yeah, you look at that train going 82 miles per hour, even in the 70-mile-an-hour zone that comes before this curve and then taking that curve at 82 miles per hour. another headline out of it, six seconds before the train came to the stop, the throttle was released to zero. and then five seconds before it came to a stop, the brakes released to zero. so they're looking into exactly what happened at that point. they don't know the initiating event that caused the throttle and the brakes to drop to zero at that poi

nbc's kristen dahlgren is at the scene of the crash. kristen, what's the latest there? >> reporter: well, like you said, we're waiting for the ntsb to brief us so we can get the latest update on numbers, and also, really, their investigation is well under way now. they've been on scene for several hours. they're looking at a few things. they're trying to come up with the train's black box so they can get some of the data that was recorded by that. they have been throughout the day, investigators here in new york talking with the passengers who were on board that train. also with the conductor and the engineer. we also heard from the governor of new york earlier, and he said that it appears at this point like it was either speed or operator error. this is an area of the tracks that the train goes around a pretty severe curve. usually trains would slow down from 70 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour. it was pulling into an area where a station. and so the train should have been going much slower than we're hearing from people who were on the train who said it appeared to

. >> nbc's kristen dahlgren is live at the scene for us. kristen, it seems as if all arrows are pointing to the speed for investigators to look at when it comes to how that train was navigating the turn. >> reporter: yeah, it does. and what it may come down to in the investigation, thomas, is the black boxes. they have now been recovered from the front and the rear cars of that train. they'll be sent to washington, d.c., where that data will be downloaded and analyzed. and from that they should get more information about how fast it was going and whether or not the brakes were hit as it went around this turn. take a look, though, at some new video that we've obtained. this is home video taken really just in the minutes after the crash. it shows just a massive rescue operation under way. the train operator in those minutes after told the mta investigators that he did what's called dumping the brakes. that the normal braking system wasn't working so he tried this emergency procedure in which you hit all of the emergency brakes on all of the ca

kristen dahlgren has a look at what you can expect. >> reporter: after black friday scenes like this,shop from the comfort of their computers. >> i would much rather shop online than deal with black friday crowds. >> the orders go in. you know it's going to be shipped in a timely manner, and you don't have to deal with the hassle. >> reporter: retailers like target are rolling out the red carpet for cyber monday shoppers. >> over 100,000 items will be on sale or on special deal at target ko target.com. our offers will go live in the middle of the night. the amount of people that stay up and immediately start purchasing is pretty awesome. >> reporter: small businesses are also getting some skin in the game. >> if the customer wants, we can locate a town with a heart, star or house. >> reporter: a. heirloom is offering a 20% off coupon, a sale that pays off as shoppers search for that perfect personalized gift. >> cyber monday is the equivalent of one month's worth of orders. we will probably see about one board sold every three minutes. and then with peak activity, one board being sold

nbc's kristen dahlgren has been following this story over the last 24 hours or so. i know there was a news conference at the hospital just a short time ago. what do we know about the survivors? >> reporter: yeah, hi there, chris. that was from st. barnabus hospital, just one of the hospitals where patients were taken yesterday. the latest from them, they still have nine patients in the hospital there. three had to undergo surgery. there are still seven in the intensive care unit but they do expect a few to be discharged today so that is the good news, that some will be getting out of the hospital, at least, as the investigation really in full swing here. take a look down here and you can see the train. they have righted some of those cars. they brought in these massive cranes. they were able to right some of the cars, put them back on the track. they're working on getting two more now. they put a sling under them, lift them up, place them back on the track to stop any possible fuel leaks but also to help them get access for their investigation. they have now recover

in the meantime let's turn to kristen dahlgren on the seen in the bronx since after the accident.e waiting for the ntsb press conference. they now have the black boxes from the train, from the front car and rear car. downloading, looking at, analyzing that data. what they hope to find out from that is the answer to that big question, how fast was it going and were those brakes applied when, how. we're waiting to get any of that. we hope to get it in the 4:00 presser. you can see what's going on. it's been a busy day today. they have righted all of the cars that were flipped over. they've got just two left on the tracks here. they'll be presumably moving those out like they did with the rest of them. they are looking at those cars. they have been raking underneath it. i don't know if you can see through the trees, they are working on raking and seeing if there's anything that they can pick up that came off the cars that gives some type of idea of what happened. and so they are continuing their investigation here. they had hoped today to talk to the conductor and engineer on the tra

nbc's kristen dahlgren is north of new york city in scarsdale, new york. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. yeah, we're beginning to see some people slipping and sliding around here. take a look. you can probably see the snow piling up on the roads faster than the plows can get to it. we're just north of the city. there's a winter storm warning in effect until 6:00 a.m. for an awful lot of people, there's a lot more of this ahead tonight. from missouri to maine, the massive storm dumped snow. 1,000-mile swath stretching through 23 state, more than 100 million people in the storm's path. for some, it turned deadly. car crashes in missouri claimed three lives and dozens of accidents were reported across several other states. in indiana, state police issued a travel warning. near indianapolis, firefighters had to rescue the driver trapped in this multivehicle crash. this car was stopped at a light as the first two cars collided. >> they hit each other in the intersection and spun out. one hit us and the other one went behind us. >> reporter: for

nbc's kristen dahlgren joins my with the latest from the bronx.t do ntsb investigators hope to find? >> reporter: hi there, andrea. they now have really a three-pronged investigation going on. first those black boxes you talked about from the front car in the train, also from the rear car in the train. they are downloading data, analyzing it. they hope to find how fast it was going and whether or not and how brakes were applied if they were malfunctioning in some way. also doing you can see here uprighting those cars and moving them off. they will be taking a look at the cars. also taking a much closer look at the track to see if there was any issue with the track, with the signaling. then they are going to be talking with the conductor and the engineer. it's been widely reported that right after the accident, the train's operator said he tried to apply the brakes, that they didn't work. he did what's called dumping the brakes, an emergency maneuver to hit all the emergency brakes on the train at once. this was a sharp curve where the train is sup

nbc's kristen dahlgren is north of new york city in scarsdale, new york. >> reporter: good evening. yeah, we're beginning to see some people slipping and sliding around here. take a look. you can probably see the snow piling up on the roads faster than the plows can get to it. we're just north of the city. there's a winter storm warning in effect until 6:00 a.m. for an awful lot of people, there's a lot more of this ahead tonight. from missouri to maine, the massive storm dumped snow. 1,000-mile swath stretching through 23 state, more than 100 million people in the storm's path. for some, it turned deadly. car crashes in missouri claimed three lives and dozens of accidents were reported across several other states. in indiana, state police issued a travel warning. near indianapolis, firefighters had to rescue the driver trapped in this multivehicle crash. this car was stopped at a light as the first two cars collided. >> they hit each other in the intersection and spun out. one hit us and the other one went behind us. >> reporter: for many people, this is the third storm system in t

nbc's kristen dahlgren is live for us in scarsdale, new york. r: you know what, things are getting worse. we moved from manhattan up north into westchester county. and this area is expected to get more snow than manhattan. and things expected to get worse as we go through the day here. right now, just a little bit sticking on the ground. the roads are relatively clear. but things are slick out here. people walking on the sidewalks are using caution. shopkeepers are out trying to shovel. this is a huge storm and it's affecting some pretty big cities. it's estimated more than 100 million people will in some way be impacted by this storm. we're already seeing some airport delays. we're here at the scarsdale train station, metronorth trains still running right now. but a lot of people still feeling the effects. there's already been at least one fatal accident in michigan reported in association with this storm. if you are headed out and you're anywhere from, say, ohio up through the northeast, you need to use some caution out there. >> kristen dahlgr

kristen dahlgren live on the scene for us in the bronx. thank you so much.ned, we will be speaking to governor cuomo here at the bottom of the hour. >>> well tu will turn now to th status of the government's health care website. the administration had set a self imposed deadline of november 30 for fixing the site's performance. kristen welker is at the white house for us. are they feeling confidence that it's working the way they said it would? >> they seem to be confident, certainly more confident than they were several weeks ago. they held a conference call with reporters earlier today, officials who had been working on this site including the man put this charge of feof fixing healthcare.gov. they say the site can hold 50,000 users at one team. that was their stated goal. they say that means that every day it can sustain about 800,000 users and then the other big metric here is that according to the administration, it's functioning at about a 95% success rate. so they feel like that is a vast improvement. republicans today, though, t.j., fanned out on the

kristen dahlgren has more. >> one police officer shot and killed and another wounded. while we are waiting more details later this morning it seems the suspect's crime spree has come to an end. the fbi says they believe this is the suspect they have been searching for, a man seen here in a black face mask and patterned jacket, the same clothing worn in two separate robberies. >> the bank surveillance photos are a match. >> reporter: officials say the suspect robbed a bank of america in atlanta monday morning. first demanding money from a teller and then when unsuccessful officials say the suspect approached a customert at an atm. that afternoon police say the same man robbed a bank shooting and killing a police officer and wounding the officer's partner in what is being called an ambush-style attack. >> he seemed to have gotten into a fire position or firing stance similar to someone who has a background in tactics. >> reporter: overnight the fbi released a statement saying they believe the same suspect was killed in at shootout with a police officer after trying to ro

kristen dahlgren is here with more. capturing headlines for some time now. >> absolutely. jameis winston is here in new york with the awards ceremony and even though prosecutors have made their decision, his attorney's accuser is questioning the investigation and that call not to file charges. >> reporter: as jameis winston posed with other heisman finalists in new york his accuser's attorney was holding a press conference calling for an independent investigation of the case and the tallahassee police department. >> this doesn't strongly ring of an investigation of rape victim rather than a rape suspect, i don't know what does. >> reporter: winston was accused of sexually assaulting a woman last december. >> no charges will be filed. >> reporter: last week, prosecutors said there isn't enough evidence to charge the star quarterback. citing, among other things, the accuser's memory lapses. authorities recently relieved a 911 call from the woman's friend the night of the alleged incident. >> she is very like shaken up and

. >> nbc's kristen dahlgren, thanks for the update. coming up, what's if john boehner steps down as speaker of the house. what happens if he does not? we'll talk next what happens to the gop after obama care. that's next. there are seniors who have left hundreds of dollars of savings on the table by not choosing the right medicare d plan. no one could have left this much money here. whoo-hoo-hoo! yet many seniors who compare medicare d plans realize they can save hundreds of dollars. cvs/pharmacy wants to help you save on medicare expenses. talk to your cvs pharmacist, call, or go to cvs.com/compare to get your free, personalized plan comparison today. call, go online, or visit your local store today. call, go online, or visit your local store today. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare. this is the creamy chicken corn chowder. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too

nbc's kristen dahlgren is here with more. good morning. >> good morning, erica.s is for a good cause, to benefit wounded warriors. instead of competing, the teams will cooperate, all fighting together to complete what has been a more difficult trek than expected. three teams, almost 200 miles across some of the world's harshest terrain. famous faces like prince harry and actor alexander skarsgaard leading teams of wounded warriors to the south pole in the bitter cold. >> it's minus 30. apparently it's plus 30 where you are. >> reporter: after five days of harsh wind and brutal conditions, organizers decided the race had gotten too dangerous. >> over the last couple days i felt a little uncomfortable with some of the stress being placed on the team members as a result of very harsh terrain conditions that we're encountering. >> reporter: that doesn't mean the trek is over. far from it. in fact, there are still almost 70 miles to go. so teams will now work together to make sure 12 servicemen and women who once faced life-changing injuries will stand on the south po

. >> kristen dahlgren has the latest on the investigation.hat's the update on the two people in control of the train who are being interviewed here? >> reporter: yeah, the conductor and engineer, ntsb had planned on speaking with them today. we don't know if they've been able to do that. they will hold a briefing at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. we should know more then. let me show you what's going on here right now. you can see those cars have now been righted. there are just two of them left here on the track. they've been move the back on the tracks and moving them away from here. that will let investigators have access to look around them and see if there's anything peculiar about the cars to see if they can recover any type of information about what may have happened and clears them out so they are able to look at the tracks to see if there's anything that may have contributed to that as they are still waiting to speak with the engineer, waiting to hear the results of that. and they are also talking to witnesses, people who were on the train

kristen dahlgren has the latest on this. >> we are hearing a huge reaction from this this morning.people on both sides of the issue have been outspoken. in the end a short-lived suspension for the star as a&e announced the show will go on. >> reporter: for the hugely popular relate show. >> don't ever do! >> reporter: now controversial comeback. >> well, i guess we know what bradshaw means. >> reporter: a&e announcing it will renew "duck dynasty" this spring and launching a public service campaign promoting unity and tolerance they say are core values of the company. the move is a reversal from last week's suspension of star phil robertson following his good enough with gq magazine in which he compared gays to drunks and terrorists and said african-americans were perfectly happy before civil rights. the interview had outrage but the suspension also triggered duck dynasty fans to organize protests of their own. standing up for the beloved family patriarch by mailing rub ber du -- rubber duckies to a&e. >> everybody seemed to be talking about this. >> reporter: robertson did say last

we have kristen dahlgren with more. >> reporter: michael schumacher won 91 races and 7 world titlti. had michael schumacher is in critical condition this morning. the most accomplished driver in the formula 1 circuit fell and hit helps head skiing in the french alps. at the time of the accident, schumacher was skiing off-piste. he was not on the main slopes. doctors say he was wearing a helmet. he was air lifted to a hospital in france where he underwent emergency brain surgery. the hospital director gave a brief statement last night. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: his accident is tragically reminiscent of other skiing accidents that took the lives of natasha richardson and sony bono. doctors say right now they're only focussing on his current condition and can't predict the outcome but they say if he didn't have the helmet on he wouldn't be alive. >> thank you. happy new year to you. >> i took the family skiing in vale last week and the greatest thing is that you see about 95% of the slopes wearing helmets. as days gone by people didn't think they were cool and now they

nbc's kristen dahlgren is out getting her tickets and hopefully some for us as well. kristen, good morning. >> that's right. al, i can jump in and get you guys some. the line not very big right now but the excitement expected to build throughout the day. this is the second largest mega millions jackpot ever. the fifth largest in north american history of any kind. this has been building since october 1st. it rolled over 20 times. if you have one of these, you have to be thinking, could this be the one. >> now, let's see if we can make you a millionaire tonight. >> reporter: maybe you think you have a good chance of winning tonight's $400 million mega millions jackpot even though it's friday the 13th, you're feeling lucky. >> i have my notre dame on. luck to the irish. >> the odds are 1 in 259 million. which means according to tulane university it's 1,000 times more likely you'll be hit by a comet or asteroid. >> give me the money please. >> reporter: that person could get a lump sum payment of $216.4 million before taxes. >> i feel like you're limited in what you could

kristen dahlgren is here with our latest installment. good morning. >> good morning.haton't haveanhing, not even a home. but an organization called the empowerment plan is not just king se the homeless has a warmoat but swing how sometimes all someone need a chance. >> it w very colnd bitte and peoplere cruel. >> it was rough. it was really rough. i mean, i had no water to dnk for a couple of ds andeall thing to eat. >> what do you do? ere do you go from re? how do y pick yourself up? i felt like theres no w out. >> i was staying from house to hoe. and en i ended up goi to the shelter because that was my las rert >> did youver imagine you woul end up in ashelr? >> no, ma'am. it never crossed my mind at all. i went to private school. i had aartial scholarship. was a schol athlete. i dn't tnk iould ever be homeless. never thought that. >> so you don'tnow why someone ishomeless. you don't know why they end up in the shelter. everyone story i different. and a lot of thetime, we dehumanize them. >> reporr: 24ear-old veroca scott is the ceo and for of the empowerme an. anrg

kristen dahlgren is here with more. >> if you notice the girl's aisle it's all pink.toys, something like this probably comes to mind. >> she looks good with make up on. >> reporter: but the way girls play is getting a make over. >> girls are capable of so much more than the box that they're being put into in the toy aisle. >> reporter: 30-year-old debbie sterling is behind these viral videos. ads for a toy she invented called goldiblocks. an engineering set for girls. >> i felt it was important to give girls more purpose. ignite a new passion or interest and show that girls belong in engineering too. >> reporter: she was told it would never sell but now it's playing with the big boys. it's one of the top ten building sets on amazon for girls or boys. it comes with a series of adventure books about goldie, an inspiring engineer. >> it gives them the about to put together the story. >> reporter: but there's a big gender gap in science, technology, engineering and math. women make up almost half the work force but fill less than a quarter of jobs in those fields. goldieb