>> tom costello, thanks. >>> now to two major battles on capitol hill, one of them the long delay of hundreds of military appointments just resolved while new funding for the war in ukraine is still held up. here is peter alexander. >> reporter: tonight, a dramatic reversal after months of single-handedly blocking more than 400 military promotions for some of the country's highest ranking officers, alabama republican senator tommy tuberville is backing down, abruptly lifting his hold. >> i'm releasing everybody. i've still got a hold on i think 11 four-star generals. everybody is completely released from me. >> reporter: tuberville had been facing bipartisan backlash for holding up the nominations for months in protest of the defense department policy that allows service members to be reimbursed for travel costs related to getting an abortion. still, there is another clash in congress that is threatening one of president biden's biggest foreign policy priorities. ukraine. ukrainian president zelenskyy's top aide today warning without more u.s. military aid, ukraine faces a big risk o

while southwest airlines has agreed to pay a huge fine after its holiday meltdown of last year tom costello is at reagan national airport tonight. tom, where do things stand? >> reporter: yeah, lester, right now flightaware is reporting more than 4,000 flight delays nationwide more than 550 cancellations. that number will grow through the night. all of this as millions of americans are preparing to kickstart what the airlines say will be one of the biggest if not the biggest record for holiday travel in the radar crosshairs today some of the nation's busiest airports boston logan hardest hit with 20% of flights canceled following faa ground stops and delays new york jfk, laguardia, chicago o'hare and atlanta feeling the ripple effect of the rain and wind >> i have to fly so do what i have to do to get home >> instead of going from charlotte, north carolina to florida we're going to dallas, texas and then to florida. >> reporter: today's storm a stress test before a record 39 million people start flying wednesday through january 2nd and coming the same day southwest airlines agreed to pay th

full swing just as millions are on the move, and we're tracking storms moving into the southwest tom costello is monitoring it all from reagan national airport. so, tom, how is it looking tonight? >> reporter: flightaware reports about 4,000 flight delays nationwide today. that's really just because of the sheer number of flights, a very big number, only about 80 flight cancellations or so nationwide, but we do expect we could see a very big, heavy air travel day again tomorrow on this massive travel day, it's all about volume planes and passengers with airlines and control towers yet again managing near record numbers 2.6 million through tsa checkpoints thursday, more expected today with long, but mostly fast-moving lines. >> so far it's nice because i'm here early and so no problems >> 30 to 45-minute delays. >> reporter: the national faa command center watching every flight, tower, and weather report >> as soon as something happens in the airspace, we react immediately. >> reporter: the good news, good flying weather across most of the country, the flightaware misery map today highlighted

as officer brace for one of the busiest weeks of the year, tom costello takes us exclusively inside thesa as it gears up for the holiday rush >> reporter: 3:00 a.m. at dfw and the first tsa shift is clocked in >> ticket please >> reporter: as the early bird flyers queue up. up since 1:00 a.m., gabriela ocampo, ten years on the job and air force veteran robert bailey >> take your rach take your boof >> next two, side by side. >> reporter: to expedite screening, dog teams often sniff along passenger lines for any whiff of explosives, allowing passengers to keep io keep inte sho their shoes on, while tsa officers rotate. a second look for checked bags >> we're not personally going through every bag, because technology takes care of a lot of this stuff. >> reporter: and 2023 is set to break another record >> do you have anything breakable, fragile >> reporter: guns. officers have detected more than 6300 guns it year. 93% of them loaded most passengers say they forgot to properly check it in a tsa-approved case. the airports with the most gun confiscations, atlanta, dfw, houston, phoenix, an

lester >> all right tom costello, thanks >>> up next, the inspiring mission to save a national treasure. the threatened joshua tree >>> finally tonight, the mission to rebuild one of america's most beautiful national parks by planting seeds of hope. liz kreutz reports >> reporter: they look like something out of a dr. suess book california's iconic joshua trees but as we drive into the mohave national preserve -- >> as far as you can see out here. >> reporter: all around us, devastation. >> brought a tear to my eye while i was driving in, because it's just -- it's such a loss >> reporter: over the past three years, two massive fires exploded in this area, killing an estimated 2.5 million joshua trees this used to be one of the densest joshua tree populations in the world, but now everywhere you turn, it looks like this, these skeletal trees charred, burnt to a crisp. and it goes on like this, mile after mile after mile >> the plant will kind of come out and fall into the hole. >> reporter: now erin knight is leading an ambitious project to save the trees are you scared that there could

here's tom costello. >> reporter: on the busiest pre-christmas air travel day, heavy volume and that california rain have led to 3,000 flight delays nationwide. ground delays in los angeles and dallas >> you guys have smoke coming out of one of your engines >> reporter: on wednesday, a mid-air emergency as smoke filled the cockpit of a southwest flight following a bird strike. >> southwest 554, we have a bird strike we've lost the number one engine >> reporter: the plane made a safe landing back in new orleans. in all, nearly 2.7 million people are moving through tsa checkpoints today. >> this is nuts. and it was before 6:00 a.m. >> reporter: this time of year, every airport has its own challenges chicago ord, the giant of the midwest, if weather goes bad here, it can be a national choke point. dallas-fort worth is american airlines' headquarters and major hub. from here, worldwide, 6,000 flights. the busiest single runway in america is right here at reagan national in washington, runway one. here in baltimore, if the weather goes bad on the east coast, bwa can feel the east coast sq

with just five days until christmas, tom costello takes us exclusively inside the tsa as it gears up for the holiday rush. >> jackets have to go through the x-ray, okay >> reporter: 3:00 a.m. at dfw, and the first tsa shift is clocked in >> come on, guys i.d. and tickets, please >> reporter: as the early bird flyers cue up -- >> i just need your i.d. hold on to your ticket >> reporter: up since 1:00 a.m., tsa officer gabriella ocampo, ten years on the job >> hands by your side. keep walking. >> reporter: and air force veteran robert bailey >> all right, do me a favor, take your boots off. the alarm, okay? >> reporter: 80,000 people are coming through dfw today, 2.5 million through checkpoints nationwide >> next two, side by side >> reporter: to expedite screening, dog teams often sniff along passenger lines for any whiff of explosives allowing passengers to keep their shoes on while tsa officers rotate through multiple jobs all day to stay alert and focused. i.d. checks, body scanners, carry-on luggage x-rays, and a second look for checked bags >> we're not personally going in every

tom costello now with our exclusive report. >> reporter: it's a common complaint.t suddenly costs hundreds, even thousands of dollars more. stacey lupul says it happened to her while buying a car for her son. >> somewhere between us signing on the computer and us waiting in the lobby and having the papers printed out, they added that $4,000. >> reporter: $4,000 for an extended warranty she specifically said she didn't want. >> i asked the questions and i was lied to. >> reporter: the federal trade commission says it receives 100,000 similar bait and switch complaints each year. customers charged for unwanted products, services, and hit with so-called junk fees. >> all too often, it's members of the military and active service members that are most targeted by these practices. >> reporter: to target the scams, the ftc has a new cars rule requiring dealers to provide a vehicle's actual price and cost, spelling out optional add-ones, and prohibiting dealers from adding bogus add-ones like duplicate warranties, oil changes on evs, or unwanted subscriptions. >> this rul

tom costello, nbc news. >>> at the southern border, we have now seen three straight days of record crossings by migrants entering the country. the republican governor of texas is sending migrants by air from the border to chicago sparking a war of words. here's guad venegas. >> reporter: tonight texas governor greg abbott releasing this video of state officials flying roughly 100 migrants from the texas border to chicago after chicago officials started finding busses that made previous trips. abbott writing, until biden steps up to secure the border, we will continue to provide overwhelmed texas border towns with much needed relief. abbott blames biden's border policies. for the record numbers of migrants. chicago's mayor firing back. >> they're just dropping off people anywhere. do you understand how raggedy and how evil that is? >> reporter: meanwhile, migrants are still arriving in eagle pass, texas. with massive crowds in this field. over 12,000 migrants per day crossing the border for three straight days now, the highest daily numbers ever recorded three dhs officials tell nbc news. a r

tom costello has the latest on the investigation. of arlington, virginia. it was about 8:00 last night when this house just exploded in an enormous fireball that shook the entire area. people in the surrounding area for blocks heard and felt this incredible glass the bottom line is this started in the afternoon police got a call here that somebody at the residence was firing off a weapon. they found that individual firing off a flair gun, 30 to 40 rounds they asked him to stop they tried to approach the house. called in a s.w.a.t. team. they were involved in a standoff in front of this house for a good portion of the evening. then at 8:00 as they were trying to make contact with them, suddenly the entire house exploded nobody, believe it or not, nobody on the outside was injured, despite the fact that police were on the front yard and the suspect inside of that house is still unaccounted for they don't know much about the suspect at this point. neighbors say that he was kind of a strange person who sometimes acted in a rather bizarre

let's bring in nbc news correspondent tom costello. tom, what more do you have on this recall?y single tesla that is out there, but this is important now, you will not have to take your tesla into the shop to get something done. instead, this is an over the air and internet software push and upgrade that you will get. some users say they're already getting that upgrade. it went out as early as last night. this has to do with the auto steer portion of auto pilot. some folks apparently drivers have been completely relying on auto steer, auto pilot, not on highways, where as you saw it can still have deadly consequences if not used properly. but on side roads and the like, and so now this is an immediate push, a software upgrade, to the auto steer function. the idea here is to add more alerts, more visual clues, to alert the driver that he or she needs to be paying attention, needs to be engaged, not to be completely reliant on auto steer. and if they don't do that, then auto pilot would shut down. importantly here, tesla's ceo elon musk put out a post on x saying that the company

tom costello at reagan national airport for us. how are things looking for today? >> reporter: well, i'll tell you, the airports and the airlines are thanking their lucky stars this is not a major snow event. rain they can handle. we do have delays and cancellations. according to flight aware, they have about 500 delays nationwide. that's going to grow by the hour and 370 flight cancellations. over the weekend, we had a big weekend for delays, 10,000 delays over the weekend and roughly 200 flights canceled over the weekend. no surprise, you heard it from al already. laguardia, boston, jfk, reagan airport where i am, toronto also expected to feel it. and the faa is suggests we may see ground delays or stops at critical airports, including the new york, new jersey airports, as well as philadelphia, boston, d.c. reagan where i am, also san francisco. this is a big week for travel. 2.8 million people flying every single day. up 16% over last year. so, you can expect we will see a lot of people as the week moves toward the weekend, a lot of people will be in the nation'

joining me now is tom costello from arlington. great seeing you. we expect a news conference from police in a couple hours. in the meantime, we have seen police, fire investigators as well as alcohol, tobacco and firearms investigators on the street scanning and looking for pieces of debris. behind me, you see the police tape and the destroyed house is on the other side of the police tape. take a look and a listen to what happened at 8:00 p.m. last night. >> reporter: yeah, the entire house just absolutely blew up. it came up off the foundation, and then it all seemed to settle back down again. police had been on the scene since the afternoon on a report that somebody inside had been firing a flare gun, 30 to 40 flares. police responded and the s.w.a.t. team was outside trying to talk that individual out, and it all ended at 8:00 when that entire house blew up. amazingly, police were on the front yard and no police officer suffered serious injuries, and the other person on the other side has not been accounted for. some of the neighbors in the area

nbc news correspondent tom costello covers aviation for us. asons why next year could be even more interesting and possibly centered around elon musk. >> reporter: that's right. elon musk, of course, owns spacex, and spacex right now provides the only way american astronauts can right now get to space on an american rocket. and america's future hopes and dreams for space depend on spacex. >> we have liftoff. >> reporter: that rocket roar and cheering coming from south texas in november -- >> separation. >> reporter: -- was for a much-improved second test of elon musk's starship, after the first starship exploded shortly after liftoff. this time, all 33 engines fired in perfect unison. while the booster was lost in the spectacular explosion three minutes after launch -- >> and as you can see, the super heavy booster has just experienced a rapid, unscheduled disassembly. >> reporter: the uncrewed second stage climbed 92 miles high, well into the space, before self-destructing. >> we got so much data, that will all help us to improve our next flig

here's nbc news aviation correspondent tom costello. >>> it's a high stakes, high-pressure job. 2023 has been a year of close calls involving both pilot and controller error, including this one in austin, when a controller cleared a fedex plane to land just as a southwest plane was departing. >> southwest abort. fedex is on the go. >> reporter: one big problem -- controller fatigue. 77% of facilities are understaffed, leading to mandatory overtime. medical issues forced neil burke to retire this year. >> we're tired of working six days a week. we're tired of ten-hour days. >> reporter: nbc news has obtained internal faa documents, first reported by "the new york times" detailing controller's own anonymous reporting of mistakes and exhaustion. among the entries, many employees can be observed sleeping on the job. "if i had not been fatigued, i may have been able to recognize the aircraft lined up for the incorrect runway sooner." "and i pray no one dies due to controller fatigue." also included, isolated cases of controllers using alcohol and illegal drugs while on position. one

nbc news correspondent tom costello has more. >> reporter: on the busiest pre-christmas air travel day, heavy volume in that california rain have led to 3,000 flight delays nationwide. ground delays in los angeles and dallas. on wednesday a midair emergency as smoke filled the cockpit of a southwest flight following a bird strike. the plane made a safe landing back in new orleans. in all nearly 2.7 million people are moving through tsa check points. >> this is nuts and it was before 6:00 a.m. >> reporter: this time of year every airport has its own challenges. chicago ord, the giant of the midwest, if weather goes bad here, it can be a national choke point. dallas-fort worth is american airlines headquarters and major hub. from here worldwide 6,000 flights. the busiest single runway in america is right here at reagan national in washington. runway one. here in baltimore if the weather bad on the east coast bwi can feel the east coast squeeze between d.c. and new york. here at denver international airport the de-icing trucks are ready. one good colorado snowstorm could slow air travel t

nbc's tom costello is reporting from reagan national for us, tom. >> reporter: hey, chris, listen, if you are flying today or tomorrow, these are the busiest pre-christmas air travel days, travel up about 6% over a year ago. it's not going to be record setting. not like thanksgiving, but it's going to be very full. what that means is, no, there will not be a lot of elbow room, extra room on your plane. virtually every seat is going to be taken. 114 million people are going to be driving over this extended period. the roads are also going to be full. the good news is we've got good travel days today, anyway, with very few delays or cancellations because we have such a blue sky day. in all, remember the rule from the tsa. no liquids or gels, more than 3.4 ounces. one bag, one carry on, and try to get here early because i'll tell you, the morning rush is very busy indeed. we saw a long line this morning at 7:00 a.m., and then it dies down, of course, because we're in the lull between banks or pushes of customers, and then it comes back again in the late afternoon to early evening. it's g

nbc's tom costello covers aviation for us. what have you got for us, tom?x days a week as we are facing record numbers of passengers in the air right now. there's a self-reporting mechanism controllers have to report when they may have made a mistake or there was a close call, and now some controllers are taking to that site to report drug and alcohol abuse, even sleeping on the job. it's a high stakes, high pressure job, and 2023 has been a year of close calls, involving both pilot and controller error, including this one in austin when a controller cleared a fedex plane to land just as a southwest plane was departing. >> southwest abort. fedex is on the go. >> reporter: one big problem, controller fatigue. 77% of air traffic control facilities are under staffed. leading to mandatory overtime. medical issues forced neil burke to retire this year. >> we're tired of working six days a week, we're tired of working ten-hour days. >> reporter: nbc news has obtained internal faa documents, reported by "the new york times," details controllers' anonymous reportin

tom costello now on why this was a significant year for the future of space travel. >>> we have liftng coming from south texas in november. it was very much improved second test of elon musk's starship after the first start ship exploded shortly after lift off. this time, all 33 engines fired in perfect unison. nasa in america have strapped their dreams to that spacex rocket. that next flight will be early next year. then, late in the, air-ness is artemis extra knots will loop around the moon. in 2022, and artemis test flight orbited the moon with no crew. >> that is the spaceship that will take the artemis two crew to an orbit around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. this is a nine-day mission, a quarter of 1 million miles just to get there. and this ship is nothing like -- neil armstrong and buzz aldrin. it is much more advanced, much more elevated. >> already, the training at nasa johnson space center. -- victor glover, mission specialist christina cook, and canadian fighter pilot jeremy hansen. >> i'm most looking forward to paving the way for the future. back to

tom costello has more. >> reporter: good day.dened off several blocks around this house, absolutely went up in a massive, enormous ball of flame. and as you would expect, it shattered nearby glass windows. the bottom line is, police say they were here because somebody was firing a flare gun from the house in the hours before this house exploded. they believe a single person was inside at the time. amazingly nobody outside the house was injured. >> oh. >> reporter: the massive explosion was caught on camera, literally blowing a home to pieces in arlington, virginia. >> we need all fire apparatus. the house is exploded, i believe. >> i was laying in my bed and just it felt like we got attacked. >> reporter: police were already at the scene moments before the blast. officers were trying to access the property and execute a search warrant. >> come out with your hands up! >> reporter: a s.w.a.t. team had responded to the home hours earlier after receiving reports of shots fired. officers determined that someone inside had actually dis

nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: good day.n-hour days, six-day weeks, just as we're facing record numbers of passengers in the air right now. there is a self-reporting mechanism controllers have to report when they may have made a mistake or there was a close call and now some controllers are taking to that site to report drug and alcohol abuse, even sleeping on the job. it is a high stakes, high pressure job. and 2023 has been a year of close calls, involving both pilots and controller error, including this one in austin, when a controller cleared a fedex plane to land just as a southwest plane was departing. >> southwest abort. >> fedex is on the go. >> reporter: one big problem, controller fatigue. 77% of air traffic control facilities are understaffed, leading to mandatory overtime. medical issues forced this man to retire this year. >> we're tired of working ten hour days. >> reporter: nbc news obtained internal faa documents first reported by "the new york times," detailing controllers' own anonymous reporting of mistake

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nbc news correspondent tom costello takes us inside the tsa as it gears from the holiday rush. >> jacketso through the x-ray, okay? >> 3:00 a.m. at dfw and the first tsa shift is clocked in. >> come on, guys. i need ticket please. >> as the early bird flyers queue up. >> i just need your i.d. hold onto your ticket. >> reporter: up since 1:00 a.m. this tsa officer ten years on the job. >> keep walking. >> reporter: and air force veteran robert bailee. >> do me a favor, take your boots off there, okay? >> reporter: 80,000 people are coming through dfw, 2.5 million through checkpoints nationwide. to expedite screening, dog teams often sniff along passenger lines for any whiff of explosives, allowing passengers to keep their shoes on. while tsa officers rotate through multiple jobs all day to stay alert and focused. i.d. checks, body scanners, carry-on luggage x-rays, and a second look for checked bags. >> we're not personally going in everything because technology takes care of a lot of this stuff. >> reporter: and 2023 is set to break another record. >> ma'am, do you have any fragile or bre

nbc's tom costello takes us exclusively inside the tsa as it staffs up for the rush. >> reporter: withast still recovering from the flooding and heavy wind that disrupted travel earlier in the week, california that's feeling mother nature's fury flooding, heavy winds, rain soaked highways and runways on wednesday, the flight aware misery map showed delays in red extending from lax up to sfo and locked in with heavy fog. >> coming down like buckets. >> but for most of the country, long lines, but relatively clear skies. >> we are going to boston logan. and it's been fine so far. >> reporter: no repeat of last year's christmas meltdown when southwest cancelled 17,000 flights. though there was a disruption for travellers in new orleans yesterday, flights delayed after one southwest plane turned around midair after a bird strike. >> you guys have smoke coming out of one of your engines. >> reporter: the aircraft returned safety. for most passengers, things are running smoothly. >> walk through one at a time, you're good. >> reporter: today, tsa check points across the country expect to scr

to space in 2024 including the first humans in a flyover of the monday since the days of apollo tom costelloup humanity's next step toward the stars >> three, two, one we have liftoff. >> reporter: that rocket roar and cheering coming from south texas in november. >> there's separation. >> reporter: was for a much-improved second test of elon musk's starship after the first starship exploded shortly after liftoff nasa and america have strapped their dreams to that spacex rocket that next flight will be early next year. then late in the year, nasa's artemis astronauts will loop around the moon. in 2022, an artemis test flight orbited the moon with no crew. that is the spaceship that will take the artemis two crew around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years this is a nine-day mission a quarter of a million miles just to get there. and this ship is nothing like apollo that carried neil armstrong and buzz aldrin. it is much more advanced, much more automated already they're training at nasa's johnson center. >> i'm most looking forward to paving the way for the future back to the mo

after a federal investigation into serious, even fatal, crashes involving tesla's autopilot system tom costello with a consumer alert >> reporter: the recall comes after a series of horrific accidents involving tesla's autopilot feature. >> look at me. look at me >> reporter: including this one in the florida keys in 2019 >> right there right there in the bushes. >> reporter: dillon angulo was seriously injured. his girlfriend naibel benavides leon died after they were hit by a driver, who told police he'd taken his eyes off the road while relying on tesla's autopilot. four years later -- >> this mentally and physically has really destroyed my life. >> reporter: today's recall involves nearly every tesla in america. to update the autosteer function, which government investigators say is intended for use on controlled access highways without cross traffic requiring attentive drivers with their hands on the steering wheel at all times. >> there are too many drivers that are kind of overrelying on the tesla technology >> reporter: the recall won't require owners to visit the dealer. instead, tesla

. >>> coming up on the "today" show, one giant leap into 2024 tau tom costello will tell us what to expectker with what else is coming up this morning >> on the third hour of "today" some impressive moms, an inspiring mountain-climbing mom of seven, then the mom who created her own hair care line rooted in her latinx heritage. and a green thumb at a plant store. all this and more coming up on the thir >>> the white house making a diplomatic push in the gaza conflict, advisors meeting with israeli officials in the

nbc's tom costello has that story. hey, tom >> reporter: good morning. so, we've been reporting that air-traffic controllers are overworked, not getting enough rest, they're exhausted, and now some are reporting colleagues have turned to drugs and alcohol, even falling asleep on the job. >> we'll wait for that >>> then an annual tradition we're about to reveal the short list for "time's" person of the year it's like the college football thing. you could be surprised who's on, not on the list. we'll get to that in a minute. >> >>> still ahead, >>> hoda, you spent the weekend with oscar winners >> julia roberts rolers? to tellu want a new iphone? a better plan is verizon. (dad) no way they'd take this wreck. (carolers) ♪ yes, they will, in any condition. ♪ ♪ get iphone 15 pro and ipad and apple watch - all on them! ♪ (mom) please forgive him. (carolers) ♪ it's all good - just a little awkward. ♪ (soloist) think we'll wrap this up. (vo) for a limited time, turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se -

tom costello for us, thank you tom, thank you >> al's here with a check of the weather.ello, al. >> hello and hello to you good news, other than the southwest and southern california, things are looking great today.e east under 26 million people from san luis obispo and just to the east of phoenix under flash flood watches. you can see no that rain is starting to fire up, especially los angeles in between there and santa barbara. so today, this strong storm slowly moves eastward. heavy rain and wind across southern california through tonight, through tomorrow night i should say now, we move into friday and you can see that heavy rain now stretching all the way into arizona. rainfall amounts, 1 to 3 inches possible in some of these thunderstorms. this rain spreading into the desert southwest we move into saturday, that cold pushes in across the plains and the great basin bringing in snow behind it. rain and snow for the central and southern rockies we do have a moderate risk for heavy flooding, possible mud slides, rainfall rates of an inch or more per hour from west of s

that's right, including the first humans on a flyover of the moon since the days of apollo. >> tom costello, a lot of this is centered around elon musk. >> reporter: elon musk owns spacex and spacex is the only way american astronauts can get to space on a rocket. america's hopes and dreams for space depend on spacextwo, one. >> reporter: that rocket roar and cheering coming from south texas in >> three, two, one >> reporter: that rocket roar and cheering coming from south texas in november -- >> we see separation. >> reporter: -- was for a much improved second test of elon musk's star ship after the first star ship exploded shortly after liftoff. nasa and america have strapped their dreams to that spacex rocket that next flight will be early next year. then late in the year, nasa's artemis astronauts will loop around the moon. a test flight orbited the moon that is the spaceship that will take the crew around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years this is a nine-day mission, a quarter of a million miles just to get there and this ship is nothing like apollo that carried neil arm

million are expected to travel this holiday season, the highest travel numbers since 2019 here's tom costello. >> reporter: on the busiest pre-christmas air travel day, heavy volume in that california rain have led to 3,000 flight delays nationwide. ground delays in los angeles and dallas >> smoke coming out of one of your engines >> reporter: on wincednesday, a mid-air emergency following a bird strike. the plane made a safe landing back in new orleans. in all, nearly 2.7 million people are moving through tsa checkpoints. >> this is nuts, and it was before 6:00 a.m. >> reporter: this time of year every airport has its own challenges chicago ord, the jiend of the midwest. if weather goes bad here it can be a national choke point. dallas-ft. worth is americans an airlines hid que headquarters a hub. from hire, 6,000 flights reagan national, runway one. here in baltimore, if the weather goes bad on the east coast, bwi can feel the east coast squeeze between d.c. and new york here at denver international airport, the de-icing trucks are e ready. one good colorado snowstorm could slow air travel

that normally quiet suburb happened just outside of the belt way of washington, d.c., and tom costello is breaking down what investigators say happened just moments before the blast. >> reporter: so police have cordoned off several blocks around the house that went up in a massive, enormous ball of blame. as you'd expect, it shattered nearby glass windows. the bottom line is police say that they were here because somebody was firing a flare gun from the house in the hours before this house exploded. they believe a single person was inside at the time. amazingly nobody outside the house was injured. the massive explosion was caught on camera, literally blowing a home to pieces in arlington, virginia. >> we need all fire. a house exploded. >> i was laying in my bed and then just it felt like we got attacked. >> reporter: police were already at the scene moments before the blast. officers were trying to access the property and execute a search warrant. >> come out with your hands up. >> reporter: a s.w.a.t. team responded to the home hours earlier after receiving reports of shots fired. o

tens of millions of travelers hitting our nation's airports, our highways nbc's tom costello is at hisst tom, how are we looking, buddy >> reporter: savannah just texted me asking for an update because she is flying today. so this is a busy, busy day. here's the thing almost every airport in the country, the morning push is around 7:00 a.m. so that's now gone through here. but take a look at an hour ago at reagan airport. super long lines this morning. this is being repeated at airports nationwide. nearly 2.7 million people go through tsa check points yesterday. we could be at or close to that today. you could not pick another better day to fly. great flying conditions except for the southwest. yesterday tremendous rain out in california that slowed operations into phoenix, into dallas, even today the faa is saying, yeah, we could have ground delays again at the following airports, phoenix, palm beach as well and watch dallas for the delays. on the nation's roads, most people are driving 104 million people, of course, over the course of the entire extended break listen, we will be look

rate right now is about 77% they would like it to be 80% plus guys, back to you. >> all right tom costelloa lot of folks behind you there at that airport. thank you, tom. >>> all right. a lot of people with their eyes on the weather we have mr. roker. >> we have some back and forth about our weekend. in the west it is not great, if you are going home to arizona, for example. >> probably not, no. with 22 million people right now, we have flood watches all the way to san diego by storm, we'll probably see those flood watches further east and arizona, we're going to be watching that very closely you can already see that rain coming in from eureka. they are starting to see the heavy showers and thunderstorms. this is going to be a big one. a pacific storm sliding down the california coast heavy rain in the low elevations, higher elevations in the mountains. more rain to the flood threat. you can see all that heavy rain now moving in to arizona, phoenix, tucson. we look at flagstaff, and heavy rain as well and into southern nevada as well we do have a moderate risk of mudslides and debris flow

tom costello joins us now with more. tom? >> good afternoon.ntsb, from the local fire department, from the police department walking up and down this street looking for evidence that was blown from the house. behind me, behind the crime scene tape, that is what's left of the house. just a pile of debris and rubble. this started yesterday afternoon when according to police, the suspect inside started firing a flare gun off. 30 to 40 rounds. neighbors complained. police responded. they tried to get him to come out. he refused. s.w.a.t. arrived. they got into a standoff with this individual then at 8:00 p.m., the enormous explosion you saw lift the house off its foundation and came back down again and debris just went flying. amazingly none of the police officers in front of the house, none of them were seriously injured. nobody else was injured. we still don't know the condition of the man inside and we don't have a formal identification on him. however, some of the neighbors here, in fact, the consistent theme you hear from neighbors in this are

. >> tom costello has more on the explosion that could be heard and felt from miles away. >> good afternoonar-old james yu, who they believe died in this massive fireball, that we have now seen go viral on social media. this entire house just exploding at 8:00 last night. amazingly, nobody else was injured. no firefighters, no police officers, no residents, but they believe that man did die inside that house. this started yesterday afternoon when allegedly he was inside firing more than 30 rounds of a flare gun. police arrived and asked him to come out. he didn't. they then used tear gas on the house. he still didn't come out. a s.w.a.t. team responded and then at 8:00, this whole thing end with that massive explosion. the fireball ripping apart that entire house. today they are continuing to a forensics investigation. they want to make sure they understand what might have triggered that explosion. that's in concert with the police. no known criminal behavior new york city activity in his past they are awire ware of, but they do say they had made some allegation as of fraud that the fbi did

tom costello, thank you as always. >> and that's going to do it for us this hour. tonight, former congresswoman liz cheney joins rachel maddow to talk about the state of the republican party and her warning about donald trump getting back into the white house. that's tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. and make sure to join us for "chris jansing reports" every weekday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc. our coverage continues with "katy tur reports" right now. >>> good to be with you. i'm katy tur. the white house says it will not get sucked into the israel-hamas war, but escalating confrontations outside of israel could draw the u.s. in. the pentagon says a u.s. navy destroyer shot down three drones over the red sea amid another sustained attack on shipping vessels by iran-backed houthi rebels in yemen. more worrisome right now is whether the u.s. destroyer itself was a target. the defense department says it does not believe so, but it is not ruling it out. former cia director john brennan is here to walk us through what the u.s. can do and w

. >> all right, tom costello, thank you for staying on top of it for us. that's going to do it for us today. appreciate you joining me. see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. until then, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. >>> good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm jose diaz-balart. this morning, hunter biden speaks out on the republican investigation into him at the exact moment he was due to testify before lawmakers. >> for six years i have been a target of the unrelenting trump attack machine shouting where's hunter? well, here's my answer, i am here. >> all this just hours before the house is set to vote on launching a formal impeachment inquiry into president biden. meanwhile, for first time today, at the white house, the president is meeting in person with the families of american hostages taken on october 7th as israel wages its war against hamas. and breaking from the supreme court, it will hear a major case over a widely used abortion pill, we'll break down