Is nbc nightly news with brian williams. Good evening. Ray rice has won his appeal with the nfl. Hes been cleared to play in the nfl, but right now hes a man without a team. It was ray rice with the woman who is now his wife in that elevator Surveillance Video so violent we will no longer air it in its entirety. So violent it caused national and public outrage and led to a huge conversation about abuse. At the time ray rice was a running back for the baltimore ravens, that was before his indefinite suspension from football. And that has now been overturned. Big story during a big football holiday weekend. Its where we begin tonight including a portion of an exclusive interview with rices wife. Nbcs Kristen Welker starts us off this evening. Reporter embattled former ravens running back ray rice is cleared to play and can sign with any Team Effective immediately. Late this afternoon former u. S. District court judge barbara s. Jones serving as an arbitrator overturned the nfls indefinite suspension of rice calling it arbitrary. Rice and the Nfl Players Union has argued he was being punished twice for the same offense and that he should be reinstated. The nfl first suspended rice for two games in june upon learning about the incident in the elevator. And then suspended him indefinitely in september after tmz sports released graphic Surveillance Video showing rice punching his thenfiancee. Nfl officials argued they hadnt seen the tape and that it wasnt consistent with what rice had initially told them about what happened. Today, the judge decided after careful consideration of all the evidence, i am not persuaded that rice lied to or misled the nfl at his june interview. In a statement, rice thanked the judge and his wife and said i made an inexcusable mistake. I am thankful there was a proper appeals process in place to address this issue. A spokesperson for the nfl said the league respects the decision to reinstate rice and acknowledged ray rice is a free agent based on judge jones decision he will be eligible to play upon signing a new contract. But its not clear a team will make him an offer. Is it worth the distraction . Is it worth the media scrutiny . Coaches are very obsessed with minimizing distractions. With ray rice theres going to be an unknown. The Nfl Players Association called the decision a victory. Meanwhile, it is a setback for commissioner Roger Goodell whose leadership has been called into question because of his handling of this and other Domestic Violence incidents. Still, ratings, sponsorship and attendance havent taken any major hits, brian. Kristen welker starting us off tonight. Kristen, thanks. As we mentioned we have a bit more on this topic tonight. Its in the form of an upcoming nbc news exclusive. Ray rice and his wife janay are telling their story for the very first time on television. They sat down with matt lauer for a wide ranging interview. In it janay rice opens up about her anger towards her husband immediately after that brutal assault that weve now all seen. Because weve only seen you months after the incident. Yeah. And i cant imagine that you were that calm when you started to realize exactly what happened in that elevator. Can you describe those emotions . I was furious. We came home and we didnt talk the entire ride well, i didnt speak to him the entire ride home. He tried to talk to me. I didnt want to hear anything. I just knew he hit me. And i was completely over it. I was done. Didnt want to hear anything. I just didnt want to even entertain him, anything that he had to say, any explanation. Of course in the back of mind and in my heart i knew that our relationship wouldnt be over because i know that this isnt us and its not him. This is part of whats going to be a twopart interview, an exclusive with ray rice and janay rice. It airs this coming monday and tuesday on today. This friday after thanksgiving long ago became known to all americans as black friday, the way its always been known to retailers for the huge volume this day brings in every year. This day was a bit different for a number of reasons this year, but it appears the numbers didnt disappoint. Tom costellos at a mall outside washington, d. C. For us tonight. Tom, good evening. Reporter hi, brian. In fact, talking about a 4 increase in Holiday Spending this year. Yesterday was probably the best day for bargains, but today a lot of people seemed to be blinded by price. At retailers nationwide today the crush was on. Chaos, frenzy, even fighting. This is the most dangerous to black friday shop. Reporter its Serious Business to this woman in muncie, indiana, who kept a video diary for us starting yesterday. We obviously did not have thanksgiving dinner today because we spent the whole day planning black friday. Reporter for her black friday is a twoday event. The turkey dinner can wait. But it turns out black friday specials arent always so special. Consumer finance website nerdwallet. Com found plenty of examples. At Gander Mountain a spider womans jacket at 109 same price on november 6th. Kmart ham illton toaster oven was the same price in late september. They can call it a special price or a great deal or a doorbuster, but it doesnt necessarily define that this is the best price given all yearlong. They havent done it before. Reporter for retailers its a bit like fishing. Use flashy bait to lure them in and hook them with other deals and get them to spend more. Research shows theres even a color that gets us to open our wallets. Red. We love a sale. We love the shopping. We love the crowd. Wonderful. I came in for one thing, came in for ugg boots but came out with hat, scarves reporter look at all this. Yeah. Its pretty bad. Reporter a recent creditcards. Com survey found 75 of those surveyed admitted to making impulse buys. Consumer psychologist kit yarow. People that are really crazy for the bargain actually end up spending more money than people that arent. Reporter in muncie, indiana, falina fryberg finished shopping and finally got her turkey dinner. And retailers are determined to prevent something they call showrooming. Thats when people literally come to the mall or store, check out the product in the store then they go home and try to buy it online cheaper. Retailers are trying to match prices so they convince people to buy here and now, brian. Tom costello with the masses in virginia for us tonight, tom, thanks. In some places black friday collided with the still potent anger over the events in ferguson, missouri. Some shoppers in their hunt for a deal found themselves confronted by protesters who marched from the streets into the aisles on this busiest retail day of the year. That story tonight from nbcs ron allen. Hands up dont shoot reporter st. Louis mall demanding justice for Michael Brown and more. Black lives dont matter, black friday shouldnt matter. Not one dime reporter urging shoppers to shut their wallets and focus on issues like injustice and poverty instead of buying more stuff and best bargain. It needs to be pushed a bit. We need to get peoples attention. Reporter Stores Closed security gates, shoppers tried to take it all in stride. You can shop and learn a little bit about civics at the same time. Reporter it must be close to 100 people. So far the police are staying back letting them do what they want to do. And there havent been any confrontations. But several Hours Later Police briefly shut down the st. Louis gallaria mall. The call to boycott black friday spread on social media, twitter hash tags. Hands up, dont shop reporter today burst into life in shopping meccas like new yorks herald square. Demonstrators in the aisles of macys, the Worlds Largest store. And on the streets of chicagos magnificent mile. Getting the best sale is just silly when peoples lives are being wrecked every single day. Reporter in oakland, protesters stopped trains in and out of San Francisco for over an hour. But in ferguson where hundreds of businesses, many familyowned, struggle to recover from months of unrest, anita says a boycott is misdirected. I feel that the business didnt have anything to do with what happened. And when you hurt the business, you hurt people that have jobs. Reporter a day of protest and prayers for the family of Michael Brown, set to attend a vigil in florida were the parents of trayvon martin, a day after tweeting a picture of their thanksgiving, an empty chair at the table. Here in ferguson there are few other obstructions reported at area stores and shopping malls, but no damage, no violence and no arrests. Brian. Ron allen who has covered the story there in ferguson throughout for us. Ron, thanks. There was a chaotic and dangerous situation early today in austin, texas, where a gunman targeted several government buildings and police before he himself was taken down following the shooting rampage that was largely captured on video. We get the story tonight from nbcs jacob rascon. Theres something bad, bad going down in austin, texas tonight. Reporter when corina pressed record on her phone, shed already heard three or four bursts of gunfire. [ gunfire ] in the video Austin Police cruisers race to their own headquarters where the gunman was shooting at an officer. The sergeant at approximately 2 33 a. M. Returned fire, upon returning fire the suspect went to the ground. Reporter thats when officers noticed what looked like a bomb in the shooters van. And after dragging him away, they noticed what looked like another bomb on the shooter. Potentially an ied suicidetype vest that is known to be used around the world. Reporter Police Identify the dead gunman as 49yearold Larry Mcquilliams and say he targeted the federal courthouse and mexican consulate, which he also tried to burn down using camping stoves. Police say the shooter fired more than 100 rounds in ten minutes in what might have been an antigovernment attack. When you look at the National Debate right now about immigration, that certainly comes to mind. Reporter in the end there were no bombs and no other casualties. Just a stunned public. What happened . Reporter and downtown austin on lockdown. Jacob rascon, nbc news. Tonight, we are coming to the end of a very nasty week of weather. In the northeast more than 100,000 customers are still without power after the thanksgiving eve snowstorm. And in the middle of it all one family went into crisis mode when two boys went out to play in the snow and went missing. We get our report tonight from nbcs miguel almaguer. Reporter the northeast whiteout wiped out power across pockets of the region. So much snow in New Hampshire and maine, frozen power lines snapped. Some 300,000 lost power during the holiday. Been pretty hard. Reporter today, from as far away as toronto crews scrambling to help. No lights, no heat. Many Spending Black friday in the dark. In upstate new york, a critical situation, this the desperate scramble to save two boys buried under six feet of snow. Me and my cousin were building a fort in the snow. And the whole top of the fort just fell on us. Im thinking reporter an unsuspecting snowplow driver dumps snow on top of 9yearold jason and his 11yearold cousin elijah. I couldnt move this whole part of my body. Reporter trapped for four hours, the boys struggled to survive. Motivating each other to like not go to sleep. Keep yelling. Reporter from snow to black ice a 50car pileup near niagra falls. In cleveland, slick streets stranded dozens in blinding lake effect snow. Heavy snow in new jersey toppled trees. Rod boarden lost his vehicle, a falling power pole almost took his life. This humongous flash and the next thing i know i heard this crash. Reporter while the cold seems here to stay, at least theres less snow in the forecast. Good news for everyone headed home. Miguel almaguer, nbc news, new york. Still ahead for us on this friday night, a contender for the least loved holiday dish and the good people of minnesota do not want the blame for it. And later, the force awakens, at least the trailer has awakened. Our very first glimpse of the new star wars movie. Share her passions. Ho lovo grandma mary has atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. That puts her at a greater risk of stroke. Rome . Sure before xarelto®, mary took warfarin, which required monthly trips to get her blood tested. But thats history. Back to the museum . 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Reporter when the seemingly urbane urbanites at the new york city chose eat states recipe for its United States of thanksgiving feature, the grape salad, broiled with sour cream and pecans optional was picked the favorite in the land of 10,000 lakes. Apparently it comes from a minnesota born heiress. The times wasnt expecting 10,000 protests. We dont have grapes. We dont have pecans. We dont broil them together. I mean, its just from mars. Reporter the grapes of our wrath fired back the minneapolis star tribune. Minnesota nice, nonexistent on facebook. I cant wait to have grandmas grape salad at thanksgiving said no one from minnesota. Ever. Opined one. I have lived through 74 thanksgivings, both in minnesota and wisconsin, and have never even heard of grape salad much less been served it, grumbled another grape griper. The times public editor replied saying the paper had committed an epic recipe fail adding that food is really regional, not statebystate. 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Here we go finally here tonight, after a holiday thats all about being thankful for what we have while it can also be about the excess of what we have, we get a reminder tonight about those much less fortunate. A california pastor decided to walk a mile in someone elses shoes. And what he discovered on the streets may have changed him forever. His story tonight from nbcs harry smith. May that be our prayer reporter it all started as a kind of stunt. Pastor rick cole surprised his congregation this fall when he told them he was going to live on the streets. It was a way to bring attention to the homeless. In turn, raise money for a Citywide Program in sacramento that provides shelter and food for those who have little or nothing. Cole raised the money in a matter of days, but he felt compelled, somehow, to stay on the streets for two weeks. I walked past people that stayed in some of the places of homelessness, and really almost not even notice them. Not considered their plight and whats going on in their life. Reporter unrecognized by his new neighbors, the pastor spent his days looking for food and worrying about where hed sleep at night. He didnt preach. He didnt proth letize. He just listened. Whats it like to be homeless . I think i began to experience how people ignore others. I became the one ignored. People walk by me like i didnt exist. Reporter which for cole was a life changing experience. Until then cole perhaps pitied the homeless. But he honestly lacked compassion for them. It might be like, man, those people just need to get a job. They need to get themselves out of the hole they dug for themselves. Reporter holes he found that were filled with addiction and mental illness, bad breaks and bad decisions. Who was he not to help . They mattered to god. They mattered to me. Now im trying to figure out why they didnt matter to me before. Reporter the poor are blessed, he says, until he lived among them pastor cole didnt know they would be a blessing to him. Harry smith, nbc news, sacramento. And that is our broadcast for this postthanksgiving friday night. Thank you for being here with us. Im brian williams. Please join us for nnightly news this weekend. Join me here on monday. In the meantime, have a good weekend. Good night. Cameron diaz wedding bells . Breaking holiday couples news. Now on extra. Cameron and bengie, ga ga and taylor, soefy and joe, who will be the first to the altar . Inside the marriage race. Brooke shields opening her explosive new Mommie Dearest memoir. She was tragic, but she was stunning. Her first time with dean cain, her rocky marriage to andre agassi. Jamie foxx and the now annie how he got Chris Christie to bust a move. Republicans love to dance with me. Our Everybody Loves raymond reunion. So great looking, for christs sake. I like you tonight. And total mayhem at the mall. Black friday, today weve got the ultimate traits to steal a fortune. 30 . Plus, bikini and christmas elves, the entertainment capital of