Giving. This is nbc nightly news with kate snow. Good evening with the avalanche of hollywood travel just beginning, and so Many Americans headed to airports this week, a massive power outage at the worlds busiest hub is having a big impact tonight. The power went out at Heartsfield Jackson International airport at atlanta. Thats a live picture from outside the departures area. It left thousands of passengers trapped on planes and inside the darkened terminal. Authorities were quick to say it was not criminal or an act of terror, but more than 800 flights now into and out of atlanta have been cancelled. More than 500 delayed. We begin with nbcs morgan radford. Reporter today, a full ground stop at atlantas Hartsfield Jackson airport left 100 aircraft parked on the runway. I personally thought it was a really big i dont know, terrorist attack or something crazy because the power was out and phones stopped working. And that was quite frightening. Reporter as flights were diverted to other airports, passengers were trapped on the tarmac, waiting on board for hours after an electrical issue took down power in the airports massive terminals. Inside, thousands of passengers waiting at their gates in complete darkness. Some of the stores here are just pitch black. Yeah, but thats been going on for the past few hours. Reporter the blackout couldnt have come at a worse time. Todays outage could very well impact through the holiday season. Its really going to be determined by how long the powers out. Reporter a Holiday Travel season where 51 Million People are expected to fly on u. S. Airlines between december 15 and january 4th. Thats almost two million more than flew at this time last year. Atlanta, the worlds busiest airport. I have no idea what im going to do. Im not even sure if i am going to get out of atlanta today. We might have to sleep here tonight. Reporter morgan radford, nbc news, new york. In california today, thousands of firefighters battled what has now become the second largest wild fire in that states history. Trying to prevent the massive blaze from sweeping into more communities in Santa Barbara county. Steve patterson has the latest. Reporter firefighters strike back. Directly assaulting the monster blaze consuming so much of southern california. The massive thomas fire burning since december 4th, has killed two and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses. It grew even larger overnight threatening some 18,000 homes. This is insane. Its the biggest fire ive ever been on. Reporter but this morning, a break in the weather, red flag winds finally dying down, giving crews a small window to act. With weather conditions favorable, firefighters are now going on the attack, trying to pair down hot spots like the ones in this canyon right behind me. More than 8500 fire personnel have been fighting the fire since it began. Ny are exhausted this. Team from utah has been on the front lines since a few days after the fire broke out. Working 24 hour shifts. You ever seen a fire like this . No. Weve been on big ones, not like this. Not with all the homes. Reporter many have been away from families for weeks. Well get them home for the holidays is the goal. Reporter those affected by the fires showed gratitude to the first responders. The smile and thanks and thats really all we can do right now. Reporter and so did some of the areas more famous residents, oprah tweeting, god bless every firefighter and their families. And katy perry sending a big thank you to the firefighters and first responders. Meanwhile, dead was the final journey home to san diego for fallen firefighter cory iverson, people paying their respects. In a battle raging into its third week, firefighters now hope theyve turned a corner. This fire is devastating. More than 100 million in damage so far, part of this home reduced to rubble. The fire is now 40 contained, but it is still so large and its still growing. Kate. And it has been so long, steve, thank you. To get a sense of Lasting Impact these wild fires can have, joe frier traveled up the coast to santa rosa, north of san francisco. A Community Left scarred by a devastating fire back in october. Reporter in californias wine country, the flames are in the past, but are returned to normal is still far in the future. Jennifers family wakes up earlier these days for the 35minute drive to school. See you later. Reporter a trip that once took just three minutes. Have a good day. Reporter theyre still attending their old school even though their house burned to the ground forcing them to move to another town. People have repeatedly said why dont you just put your kids in school there . And i said because the kids in school there arent going through what my kids are going through. Reporter here at Hidden Valley elementary in santa rosa, a quarter of the students lost their homes. And in this kindergarten class, nearly half are fire victims. Yet most returned, including the son of matt park, the schools psychologist. Its about trying to get back to some kind of normalcy. Reporter in all the fires steroid more than 64 homes. Fire ravaged debris still litters many of these neighborhoods for many homeowners, rebuilding will still take another one to two years. Just crazy. Reporter june and jamie clark lost their house of 38 years. Unlike most of their neighbors, their lot has already been cleared, but the rebuilding process is now a fulltime job. You know, this is like running a marathon and were a mile in. Reporter as the holidays approach, theyre slowly settling into their temporary home, a rental. Christmas is going to be really hard because normally its pretty much wrapped around our home. And i just tell people that im living a day at a time. And thats really what it is. Reporter still, look closely around this town, youll find decorated trees standing tall in the places where homes once surrounded them. The sign of resilience. I think christmas this year is going to be about being together. Being a family. Reporter embracing what the fires could not destroy. Jill frier, nbc news, santa rosa, california. News tonight involving msnbc host chris matthews. A spokesperson for msnbc, part of our Nbc Universal family confirms that a female employee was paid a settlement in 1999 after she accused matthews of making inappropriate jokes and comments about her in front of others. The daily caller first reported on the payment saying the employee was paid 40,000, an amount msnbc disputes. Msnbc said in a statement, quote, in 1999, this matter was thoroughly reviewed and dealt with. At that time, matthews received a formal reprimand. Matthews did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A new fight over emails has broken out. President trumps lawyer claiming that emails from the president s Transition Team were improperly turned over to special counsel robert mueller. But muellers team is pushing back. Kelly odonnell with the latest. Reporter President Trump back from a weekend at camp david as his frustration over the russia probe surfaced in a new way. Mr. President , do you believe your Transition Team emails were improperly taken . Not looking good. Its not looking good. Its quite sad to see that. So my people were very upset about it. Reporter surfaced in a new way with a charge made by the president s Transition Team. Against special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Claiming prosecutors improperly obtained thousands of transition staff emails now being used in the russia probe. I cant imagine theres anything on them, frankly, because as we said, there is no collusion. There is no collusion whatsoever. A lot of lawyers thought that was pretty sad. Reporter election season to the inaugural, the trump transition worked in this governmentowned building using governmentprovided email service. But under the law, Transition Teams are not government agencies. Most of their funding is private. A trump transition lawyer protested to congress. Claiming, career staff at the federal government General Services administration unlawfully produced the Transition Teams private materials including emails bound by attorney general. White house officials stayed out of it. Thankfully im not in communication with the lawyer. Reporter when we have obtained emails, we have secured either the account owners consent or appropriate criminal process. Credibility is a target for trump allies who seized on mueller removing from his team a senior fbi agent who exchanged antitrump Text Messages with another agent during the campaign. While muler is widely represented i do not at all believe that mr. Muellers has been compromised or his investigation. Reporter some republicans sound an alarm. I think these conflicts of interest jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. Reporter tonight when asked, the president told us again he is not going to fire special counsel mueller, but President Trump declined to talk about his phone call today with vladimir putin. The kremlin came out first saying putin called to thank the cia for providing intelligence russia used to stop a terror plot to bomb a cathedral in st. Petersburg. And then later the white house did acknowledge the call and said President Trump sees it as an example of good cooperation. Kate. And kelly, big weeg this week, the tax cuts vote is to happen. Senator john mccain is dealing with cancer treatment. Is the white house worried about his absence . Reporter well, we talked to the president about this tonight, and he says, of course, he is concerned, of course looking back, the president and senator mccain have had a tense relationship at best, but note the different tone from the president. I did speak to senator mccain and i wish him well. I wish john well. Theyve headed back. But i understand hell come if we ever needed his vote, which hopefully we wont. But the word is that john will come back if we need his vote. And, its too bad. Its a tough one. Reporter the president was referring to the mccains going back to arizona. Tonight mccains office has not discussed his plans. Kate. All right, Kelly Odonnell at the white house for us. Police in australia said today they had arrested a man and charged him with acting as an agent for north korea. Trying to sell missile parts. It was the first arrest under australias weapons of mass destruction act, police said evidence suggested the suspect was in contact with highranking officials in north korea. Janice maci can frair has those details. Reporter this man is accused by Australias Federal Police as acting as an economic agent for north korea. Using communications to broker the sale of components for Ballistic Missiles to generate cash for the isolated regime of kim jongun. Hes doing it for a patriotic purpose. I think at the end of the day, he would sell whatever he could. Reporter 59yearold choy was living in australia for 30 years. North korea is a dangerous, reckless, criminal regime. Threatening the peace of the region. Reporter north korea has a long history of skirting international sanctions, and is widely suspected of using cyber crime to fund its Nuclear Weapons program that in november unveiled its latest threat. An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that pyongyang claims can strike anywhere in the u. S. Choy was under investigation for the equivalent to the fbi for nearly a year. Hell be back in court later this week in a rare case with high skates. Nbc news, beijing. This was a deadly day in pakistan where two suicide bombers attacked a church in the southwestern city. Security cameras captured the bombers walking into the church where one of them detonated a vest filled with explosives. Nine people were killed. More than 50 were wounded. The second bombers vest failed to detonate and he was killed by police. Isis claimed responsibility for that attack. A new era in this countrys relations with britain is emerging and it it may not be for the better. As President Trump prepares for the opening of a new u. S. Embassy in london, registrations with the uk are becoming increasingly strained. Matt bradley has more from london. Reporter londoners are calling it the sugar cube. A new embassy set to open just as the special relationship defined american and british diplomacy for decades turned sewer when donald trump decades this brand new billion dollar embassy next year, itll rank among the most expensive in the world. Thats a major longterm investment into a relationship thats been suffering lately. It started well enough, Prime Minister theresa may was the first leader to visit donald trump. She even invited him to a state visit to meet the queen. We are delighted that the president has accepted. Reporter but the honeymoon was brief. President trump has attacked may and belittled the popular mayor of london after a terror attack. Last month, the president retweeted antimuslim videos from a far right british politician whose facing hate speech charges. Retweeting from britain first was the wrong thing to do. Reporter and some british politicians are even demanding President Trumps invitation for the state visit be replaced by an arrest warrant for hate speech. If hes allowed to come to this country, now he should be treated as anyone else who breaks the law and charged with inciting racial hatred. Reporter even worse, something the president s behavior makes him an unfit partner. I think this is what should worry americans most, there are people in the intelligence agencies and in the higher levels of the state here who do not want to share information with the americans because they do not trust donald trump to either keep that information secret or to use it wisely. Now that will affect americans. Reporter Woody Johnson is the president s m bass dor to london, he said the special relationship has never been more special. He took the oath of office to defend americans and defend American Security and american safety. He takes that very seriously. Hes going to do it in his own way. Reporter even if his own way starts new feuds with old friends. Matt bradley, nbc news, london. Still ahead tonight, when your backyard is a farm. Why more people are planting roots in a new kind of community. Also bring on the tubas. The offbeat holiday tradition to get you in the spirit. Its a lot easier to make decisions when you know what comes next. If you move your old 401 k to a fidelity ira, we make sure youre in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. Oh and at fidelity, youll see how all your investments are working together. Because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. Just remember what i said about a little bit o soul things are just clearer. Im never gonna be able ill take a sick day tomorrow. On our daughters birthday . Moms dont take sick days. Moms take nyquil severe. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine. Ok, so with the awardwinning our customers have 24 7 access, digital id cards, they can even pay their bill beep bill has joined the call. Hey bill, were just phone hi guys, bill here. Do we have julia on the line too . k, well well just phone hey sorry. I had you muted. Well yea lets just phone so what i was thinking ok well well phone yeah lets just go ahead phone oh alright the awardwinning geico app. Download it today. It used to be living near a golf course was proof that youd made it. Then along came the millennial generation which sees the world a little differently. Forget the golf course address, more of them are moving into agrihoods, Kerry Sanders explains. Reporter just 20 minutes south of the atlanta, the family lives in a place that harkens back to simpler days. Chickens. Reporter their community is centered around a farm. Hey, hey. I want to get the kale. Reporter but they are not farmers, theyre part of a community known as an agrihood. Wash your fingers. Reporter for them its a way to enjoy natures bounty and benefits. We were looking for a local farm. Reporter why were you looking for this . I work in health care, and e all i saw was sickness and disease and understanding how important food was to Overall Health and well being. Reporter the families who live here pay 925 in yearly dues for shares of organic produce grown locally, not trucked in for hundreds of miles away and theyre surrounded by nature. Studies show spending anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes in nature a day drastically decreases your overall stress levels. Reporter there are now more than 100 agrihoods across the country, including a planned community sprouting up eight miles from ashville, north carolina, near scenic trails and a river. We have a fully functional four season farm that allows people to be connected with their food and with the farmer. So this is all of our lettuce mix. Reporter farmer justin says stainability is something that appeals to his millennial generation. I think were just caring more about where things come from. Reporter asser in the family in georgia okay, lets eat. Reporter a delicious homecooked meal tonight and every night that starts in their own backyard. Kerry sanders, nbc news, chath humany hills, georgia. Back in a moment with our first look at some new arrivals you wont to want miss. Yea, so, moms got this cold stuffynose nosleep i got it. Mouthbreather yep, weve got a mouth breather. Well just put on a breathe right strip and. Pow it instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone so you can breathe. And sleep. Go to breatheright. Com today to request a free sample. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. 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And a holiday tradition right here at 30 rock this afternoon. Hundreds of tuba players gathered on the rink under the tree for the 44th annual merry tuba christmas. The musicians came from all across the country providing some festive low notes at the height of this holiday season. Nice. When we come back, in this season of giving, well meet some secret santa burke at farmers, weve seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a swing set standoff. And we covered it, july first, twentyfifteen. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum people are fighting type 2 diabetes. With fitness. Food. And the pill that starts with f. Farxiga, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. Lowering a1c by up to 1. 2 points. Do not take if allergic to farxiga. 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Across the country so many people are spreading cheer in unexpected and extraordinary ways. Heres just a look at some of those acts of kindness. At the brief encounter cafe in bellview, washington, a brief encounter that meant a lot this week after his usual breakfast, a regular here left behind a note telling the staff when he was seven, he washed dishes and his mom cooked at a diner just like it. Then he signed a 3,000 tip for the staff, and wished them all a better christmas. Another secret santa at a walmart in milville, new jersey. Someone paid off 49,000 in layaway items for strangers, kimberly green had put things aside for her nine grandchildren. Whoever it is, im grateful. Like theyre blessed. They blessed a lot of people. Reporter and a lot of people made one girls wish come true in texas, a teacher posted a little girls letter to santa asking for a ball, food, and a blanket, the school now flooded with donations. Giving, coming in all forms this holiday season, in shawnee, kansas, this Police Officer handing out cash instead of tickets. I would like to give you that. Thank you. Reporter Elementary Students in boone, iowa, were busy this week creating paper hugs for a classmates dad, and Army National guard Staff Sergeant about to be deployed overseas. And this santa had a secret identity. Look at mommy real quick and tell her what you want. I want daddy to come home. Anticipate dirt bike. Hey guys. The naval officer home just in time for christmas. Dont tear up, dont tear up. That is nbc nightly news on a sunday night. Lester holt will be back in tomorrow. Im kate how much money do you think youll need in retirement . Then we found out how many years that money would last them. How long do you think well keep oooooohhh you stopped youre gonna leave me back here at year 9 . How did this happen . It turned out, a lot of people fell short, of even the average length of retirement. 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