the cross examination from the government is, count on it, going to be brutal shep. >> scott cohn workingial for us scott, thank you. >>> speed, agility and attention to detail. sounds like the makings of a great ballplayer, right? well, that's what amazon officials say they have been working on with their delivery drivers and warehouse employees. the company ramping up for a holiday rush, annd they're aimig to get all your packages delivered securely and on time. >> reporter: this is the last stop your holiday package will make before it's delivered amazon delivery stations like this one in central new jersey have increased by more than 300% since 2019 as the company races to keep up with pandemic-fueled online buying. the blue vans, officially known as delivery service partners, lining up a week before black friday, gearing up for the avalanche of online buying holiday e-commerce is forecast to be a record $212 billion this year. >> it's their super bowl and they are really excited to be out on the road to deliver to customers. >> reporter: this site can handle 50,000 packages daily for

>> scott cohn in california tonight. >>> a wave of strikes, food service workers tess air in phoenixstrike today. same story in philadelphia, where workers at the windom hotel staged a walkout last week and workers at john deere last week struck a deal after a month on the picket lines. >>> will these strikes have a lasting impact the author of that article, david, thanks for being here tonight. why now for and how long do you expect this wave to last >> i think you're seeing them now for a couple reasons one there's been long-standing problems in the economy for decades with wages, benefits not being good enough, you know, with bad schedules and the like. then you have the covid economic, which really, really crushed a lot of workers and made them work incredibly harder, or in risky situation while they saw their corporations making record profits. so workers are frustrated, but right now they have some power, because there's a very tight lake market workers are -- they want to seize this opportunity to try to improve the quality of their jobs. >> let's talk about that when you say

scott cohn, thank you.the travel woes rough weather in parts of the country. nbc meteorologist janessa webb is talking about the weather. >> i have been watching this forecast all week and concerned 24 hours ago. today the forecast has changed and will be a quick moving system causing delays. great every cleveland area into the northeast why if you are in d.c. new york city to the boston area dealing with widespread rain. the great news is by tomorrow morning this is out of here but the winds behind the front and lake-effect snow is causing a problem. look at the delays that we can continue to see across boston to the syracuse aefr yeah. it's going to be cleveland, snow and wind for your early morning commute tomorrow. an early flight going to be dealing with cancelations. boston with the rain and wind. the rest of the area from snaetd, nashville, d.c. shower just hitting the roadways still a little bit dicey for the higher elevations into northern new england from boston to buffalo. travels across i-95 ear

nbc's scott cohn is in the bay area with more on this. we are here in san jose and you can see what we see. $5.09 a gallon for regular at this station and not as if we have to go far to find this. this is common everywhere. the statewide average in california, $4.67 and higher than hawaii. it is not that great anywhere you go. $3.41 the national average today. a year ago we were paying in the neighborhood of $2 a gallon on average nationwide. the same basic phenomenon you were talking about with ron. the demand for fuel has come back as the pandemic subsided. supply has not met that demand. and the ultimate result is the prices coming to gasoline. that creates some enormous pressures on the white house, now from both sides of the aisle. >> when fuel is in a crunch everything is dominos. we can put our finger on the scale with something called the svr, the strategic petroleum reserve. we need immediate relief at the gas pump and the place to look is the strategic petroleum reserve and why i urge the administration that tap that reserve, ge

admitted to her role in one of the key pieces of evidence that prosecutors have presented cnbc's scott cohne the courthouse in san jose, california, with the latest. scott. >> reporter: kelly, court just wrapped up for the day, we expect elizabeth holmes will leave anytime now as she begins and the court begins and the jury begins the long thanksgiving break with no court tomorrow elizabeth holmes launched a media and wall street stardom began in 2013 when theranos announced a joint venture with walgreens for in-store testing she acknowledged today in her first full day on the witness stand that the company was beset with a lot of big issues right arn that time as she was becoming a star. she claims she never approved marketing materials that she thought were misleading, including when the company sent around some altered documents. that was one of the most stunning revelations in the government's case, equally stunning today, elizabeth holmes owned it it was the white collar equivalent of a smoking gun in the prosecution case, a scientific report on the merits of theranos technology shown

nbc's scott cohn is joining us from san jose, california.ia, late friday new mexico became the third state to open booster shots to all adults taking its lead from california. so what has the response been now that everyone qualifies for a booster? what is california doing to reach the unvaccinated? >> reporter: yeah, california, colorado, and new mexico, alex, now trying to get boosters into everybody, and if this is any indication, this county vaccination site in santa clara county, home to san jose and the heart of silicon valley, it might be having an impact. now, this is a site that is giving vaccinations, original vaccinations, vaccinations to children who only recently became available 5 to 11, and then also the booster shots, but we are seeing some sizable traffic here. so maybe that's working. the message from california officials now to providers is don't quibble, even if people are not technically eligible for the boosters according to the cdc and fda guidance, let them get them if they want them, and then the message to the publi

>> scott cohn for us.to alter safety guidance and destruct that could be seen as political interference. dr. kavita patel. thank you for joining us on this. let me start with what we're learning about the trump white house and the cdc as well. so repeatedly, you have here undermining the agency's covid planning efforts, political reporting this. white house adviser scott atlas encouraged to steer the federal response away from the cdc. what is your reaction to that? >> not surprised at all and this is just the tip of the iceberg. that came out from that congressional testimony, incredibly compelling. i read all of it because it felt like i was reliving and these are people that i knew and had worked with personally and i was hearing bits and pieces of well, we're not allowed to do that or i'll get in trouble if i say that. i thought, that's crazy. these are cdc career staff and that was validated in what we saw in the coverage from the testimony. i truly believe so much more will come out and at some point

effective today, that's all no more scott cohn is outside the courthouse. >> reporter: free britney became a global movement. and now they couldn't be happier. >> she can live her life the way she wants to live it >> i'm speechless. it's been a long time coming i've been yelling about this since i was 14 years old. >> reporter: here's britney on twitter in the last hour freed britney, the new hashtag i love my fans so much her attorney addressed the crowd, saying this win is about more than just one very famous conservatee. >> they're looking at this conservatorship and conservatorships generally with an eye toward passing legislation to ensure that people are not abused. >> reporter: the turning point game in june with britney's extraordinary testimony by phone about what she called an abusive conservatorship, controlling everything from her rehearsal schedule to her birth control. in september, her father's conservatorship was suspended. no comment yet from that camp today. and matthew rosenguard says he wants answers from jamie spears, from britney's management firm, and others about th

nbc's scott cohn is where it hurts right now, in san jose, california. that's the state with the highest gas prices in the country, scott. is there any indication that these numbers are going to drop anytime soon? >> the short answer to that, alex, is no. if you are in one of those parts of the country where you're paying the average $3.41, think you could be in california where prices behind me are not at all uncommon. dle 5.09 at this station for regular. state-wide average is $4.67. a lot has to do with the high taxes in the state, but there are just a number of factors at play. and you look at just how fast prices have risen. that $3.41, again, the national average, that's more than a 50% jump from a year ago. what's going on? part of this is a positive aspect, and that is that the economy is strong, demand has come back as the pandemic has receded. and so there is great demand for gasoline and other forms of energy. and supply is just not keeping up. but that means that we're going to be looking at prices like these at least through the holiday seaso

so let's go to nbc's scott cohn, who's joining me once again from san francisco international airportter: you know, it's definitely busy, alex, and it's busy in a way that we really haven't seen it in quite some time. they started setting post-pandemic travel records beginning on friday, and that's likely continue to accelerate as we get close to the thanksgiving holiday. the forecast from aaa says that 53.5 million americans are expected to travel during this holiday period. that's up 13% from a year ago in general. it's up 80% as far as air travel is concerned. but remember, last year at this time, we didn't have a vaccine, we still have a lot of places enforcing travel restrictions. that's all gone now and people are looking forward to getting back to their families and getting back to some of these traditions. now, the concern about the tsa comes out of numbers that came out about a month ago, that said that only about 60% of tsa workers were vaccinated and there were comments then from the union representing those workers that if that vaccine mandate that goes into effect tomorro

but again, nbc's scott cohn is in the real pressure point there, san jose, california. t. so what is it that's causing the surge at the pump? >> reporter: yeah, alex, it's painful. $5.09 a ga unleaded behind me. we're seeing the rate of this rise, look at that national average again, $3.41. a year ago, we were paying in the $2 range. what's causing it? it's basic supply and demand. we're driving again, going back to work. that's the demand side. the supply side hasn't matched that. and there's competing demand for refined products like heating oil leading to a pretty complicated economic picture. >> i think that gas prices, high cost of energy, are certainly one aspect of why inflation has risen in the last year. and certainly part of it is the fact that the economy is booming. americans are getting out and about. vaccine shutdowns have basically been in the rearview mirror. and americans are just -- there's tremendous pent-up demand for gasoline. >> reporter: energy prices, the biggest factor in that huge inflation jump that we saw earlier this week, according to govern

. >> nbc's scott cohn is joining me from san francisco international airport. welcome to you. is something of an understatement. >> yeah, and actually, the rush, alex, is already under way. you can see it behind me, but they also, back on friday, they were reporting post-pandemic traffic reports here at sfo and throughout the bay area and elsewhere across the country. the forecast, according to aaa, is a lot of travel over the coming days. 53 million americans, more than 53 million americans, expected to travel during the holiday period. that's a 13% rise from last year overall, but an 80% jump in air travel over last year. of course, last year, there was no vaccine. there were still travel restrictions. now, people are coming back in force. and it's going to be a lot of people that maybe haven't traveled in the last year or so. and even if you have traveled in the last several months, there are things to be aware of, like the fact that they're still trying to do social distancing in the airports here at sfo, they have something like 15,000 new social distancing stickers remin

scott cohn is at the courthouse in san jose with the latest. scott?>> reporter: remember the hard of the government's case of the last 11 weeks or so was the insiders testifying about them telling elizabeth holmes bad news about the product and the technology and her essentially disregarding that and defrauding investors. as the defense case begins what elizabeth holmes herself is talking about the many successes that the company had good news that holmes received in the early years like the fact that they managed to actually miniaturize an automated process for toastsesting testing blood reduce errors. going back to 2007 another trial where they were able to they thought track the process of a drug in a patient's system another big deal and a potential to find markers in small samples of blood for accept sis, a most deadly hospital acquired infection. we were trying to help people where they were headed with the health she testified and that's what her idea was when she dropped out of stamford at 19 to found theranos by 2010 that i remember working w

tonight at 7:00 p.m., scott cohn will be live with what the judge decides next back to you. >> thanks get to mike now for a closer look at j&j mike >> yeah. now j&j's executing this proposing split into two companies from a position somewhat of weakness the stock lagged and the sectors in which it plays. s&p 500 here over the last year up 32% this is the farmpharmaceuticalsp and consumer staples is going to end up in the consumer staples area and depressed clearly defensive sectors is not in favor so that's not much of a surprise what they hope to do is get better valuations for the component pieces take a look at how they're valued j&j traded at a discount to the s&p and closer to big pharma than to consumer staples which retains the valuation premium. roughly the market trades for mainly because of big names like p&g and walmart that retain the premium valuations one reason that j&j thinks is a good idea is pharma business is probably faster growing and medical devices in there and trade way up here around 28, 30 times forward earnings and mixed together why they feel this one plus

scott cohn is outside the courthouse what do you have coming up in this soap opera?less hole position has the power of persuasion when it comes to racing money. how will she do with a jury? she will be back on the stand this morning and what to expect in elizabeth and what to expect in elizabeth holmes i care. its on the power to change the way we see things. that's coming up ♪♪ it inspires us to go further. ♪♪ it has our back. and goes out of its way to help. ♪♪ when you start with care, you get a different kind of bank. truist. born to care. ♪♪ at cdw we get your teams work in different places, in different ways and across countless different networks. so how do you get everyone on the same page? microsoft surface devices, orchestrated by cdw. they adapt to each user and deliver multi-layered security, so your workforce gets seamless experiences wherever they roam. for devices that fit your unique workforce, trust microsoft surface and it orchestration by cdw. people who get it. small businesses like yours make gift-giving possible. trust microsoft surface now, com

scott cohn is in san jose to tell us what to expect today. >> reporter: hi, becky it's her full day.ay. so, remember that a key to her defense against the 11 fraud and conspiracy counts she faces, she never intentionally deceived anyone that's what the testimony has been about so far. under friendly questioning from her attorney, she talked about the early successes, how they seemed to manage to miniaturize an automated blood testing system she said that was a really big idea about the work that they were doing on monitoring the progress of a drug in the bloodstream in looking for disease markers from tiny samples they were working on these things, she said, with some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies. contrast that to the government's case over 11 weeks, they had insiders saying she glossed over problems and lied to investors well, the defense says elizabeth holmes was a true believer in her company and technology until the bitter end >> in retrospec, do you think you spent a little too much dwelling on the positive things you testified about today and not enough ptending to t