That explains why no one pulled the emergency brake. A tour bus carrying caribbean tour bus passengers. 20 peop 12 people killed, 20 injured. All that plus strength in numbers. Rose mcgowan gathers accusers together for a candid conversation about the Metoo Movement. An officer dragged half a mile by a suspect, after a traffic stop gone wrong. And jingle bell jackpot. More than 5 500 million up for grab, as lottery fever sweeps the nation, just before christmas, today, december 20th, 2017. From nbc news, this is today, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to today. Thanks for joining us on this wednesday morning. Big allnighter in washington last night. They did pull an allnighter, didnt they . We have the House Speaker to talk about what the congress is up to. Well get to our top story. The most sweeping rewrite of the nations tax laws in decades, just a final house vote away for landing on the president s desk for signature. We will talk live to House Speaker paul ryan in a moment. First, Kristen Welker with the latest. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. The white house and lawmakers on capitol hill are celebrating today, after the Senate Passed that landmark tax bill overnight. But one final step does remain. The house has to vote again today, after that unexpected setback, that was not only embarrassing but caused a delay. Still, the bottom line, this bill is expected to pass and make its way to the president s desk. Mr. Trump on the cusp of his first major legislative achievement. This morning, President Trump and the gop are on the brink of a huge victory, after an overnight senate vote. The tax cuts and jobs act is passed. Reporter a 5841 vote along party lines, giving the green right to republicans sweeping rewrite of the tax code. If we cant sell this to the american people, we ought to go into another line of work. Reporter the president calling it the biggest in history. The final vote repeatedly interrupted by protesters. Democrats venting their outrage. Its not tax reform. It is a heist. What a disgrace. Thats what this bill is. Its an absolute disgrace. Reporter chuck schumer, the top senate democrat, also blasting republicans for talking during his speech. We believe youre messing up america. You can Pay Attention for a couple of minutes. Reporter the senate vote, coming just hours after republicans heralded the passage of the house bill, with Speaker Paul Ryan presiding. The report is adopted without objection to reconsider is laid upon the table. Reporter ryans gavel falling off the desk as he made the announcement. And the house bill hit a roadblo roadblock, of a Senate Parliamentarian said that three didnt comply with budget rules. Forcing the senate to make minor changes before it could pass. With those provisions eliminated, the house will have to vote on the bill again today, before the legislation heads to President Trumps desk. What does the gop mean for you . Corporations get the largest tax cut, slashed from 35 to 21 . That rate will be permanent. While most americans will also see lower rates, the cut for individuals will expire in a decade. The bill repeals the obamacare individual mandate and scales back popular deductions like the one for skattate, local and property taxes. Democrats argue it benefits the wealthy and hurts the middle class. Its a looting of america. The wholesale robbery of the middle class. Reporter the new nbc news wall street journal poll shows the bill remains unpopular. 41 of americans calling it a bad idea. Republicans insist it will change minds. It will increase takehome pay. Reporter in a statement, Sarah Sanders called a historic vote towards tax reform. Saying the white house is looking forward to the houses final vote today. Lawmakers have one final hurdle before they begin their christm christm christmas breaks. The government runs out of money on friday. And with fights over disaster relief, they could be heading towards a shutdown if they dont find a resolution. Kristen welker, thank you. Were joined by the House Speaker, paul ryan. Good morning to you. Good morning, savannah. You looked almost giddy when you banged that gavel and voted on tax reform. You worked on it for a long time. The biggest tax cut here, the rate is going to corporations. Their tax rate goes from 35 to 21 . As i understand the argument of your colleagues, youre counting on corporations to take that money and put it back into the economy, hire people and raise wages. It wasnt work if they dont do that. Is that correct . The studies show us thats what does happen. But first of all, savannah, dont forget that we tax american captiorporations at th highest rate in the world. As a result of that, were losing jobs. Were losing jobs overseas. And american businesses are becoming foreign companies. They call them inversions. Were seeing a rash of companies relocate overseas. This is what youre trying to fix that. The rate goes down, and the idea is that the corporations will spend the money on workers and jobs. Correct . We say that the corporations, not only are we going to let you bring your money back from overseas, were going to tax you with a rate thats on par. But were going to give an incentive of investing in american jobs. You can write off investments by hiring more people when you purchase blnew plants and equipment. Workers benefit, wages go up, more jobs occur. We need to put the American Economy in a better Competitive Position to compete and get faster Economic Growth. This is a tax cut for families, as well. It is. And let me jump into this. The biggest tax cut is for corporations. Ceos have said, candidly. Im looking at a list of ceos who say they dont plan to reinvest. They do stock buybacks to line the pockets of shareholders. Let me quote michael bloomberg. He said, ceos arent waiting on a tax cut to jumpstart the economy, a favorite phrase of politicians who have never run a company. Its pure fantasy to think that the tax bill will lead to higher wages and growth. Ill ask you plainly, are you living in a fantasy world . I would compare that anecdote to surveys of the businesses, the National Business manufacturers that show the majority of businesses will do what we say, reinvest in the workers. Reinvest in the factories, pay people more money, higher wages. Let me pin you down on that. Workers benefit on this through higher wages. Its not a question of if oop. T its a question of when. I want to drill down on this point. The wall street journal recently had a conference of ceos. And gary cohn, the white house adviser, asked are you going to reinvest this money if tax reform passes . Let me show you what happened. If the tax reform bill goes through, do you plan to increase investment . Your companies investment, just a show of hands if the tax reform goes through . Why arent the other hands up . Gary cohn saying, why arent the hands up. Corporations are sitting on a ton of cash. Why arent they raising wages and creating jobs now . About 3 trillion of that cash is trapped overseas and cannot come back into our economy to be reinvested because of our tax laws. You remove these barriers to investment in our economy. You give businesses an incentive to invest in america, in their factories. And thats what we do. So, look. Savannah, the tax rate before this bill passes is 35 . Thats the highest in the industrialized world. The rest of our competers tax their companies at 22. 5 . Ireland is 20. 5 . When we tax businesses at higher tax rates than our foreign competitors are taxing theirs, were losing and theyre gaining. Whats more important is american businesses are moving overseas. Theyre not even American Companies anymore. This is a trend that has to be reversed. And we know that if we fix these tax laws, we will get reinvestment back in this economy. The anecdotes i will tell you every study under the sun shows us, you lower the tax rates, you will see growth in america. A lot of people will be counting on that and hoping for that outcome. You have a long time budget hawk. I remember you in 2012, doing Campaign Events in front of that deficit clock. And its estimated this tax cut is going to cost 1. 46 trillion more to the deficit. I know the theory is, if you have more tax growth, you get more revenues into the coffer and that reduces the deficit. Let me put a fine point on it. Are you saying that the growth youre going to get from the tax cut will equal the amount it would cost on the deficit side so its a wash . So youre not adding to the deficit at all because of this . Nobody knows the answer to that question. Thats in the future. What we do know is this will increase Economic Growth. Let me say it this way, savan h savannah. People are living paychecktopaycheck in this country. Another group of this country are one check away from living paychecktopaycheck. We havent had a threestep growth in the economy since 2008. That means stagnant wages, flat living standards. You have to get Economic Growth so people can get ahead in america. Thats what were doing. The average tax cut for the median family of four will be 2,059. 2,000 if youre living paychecktopaycheck, is a tax cut here. Were trying to give relief to americans. Doubling the child tax credit. Lowering rates across the board. Were making it so simple that almost nine out of ten taxpayers can do their taxes on a refofor like a postcard. We need Economic Growth. We need people who are living on the margin, living paychecktopaycheck. You point this out, in addition to getting the economy growing faster and getting people in higher paying jobs, we have to control our spending. We have more work to do. We have to go after spending control. But you also have to have Economic Growth. Those are the twin things that get the debt down. Grow the economy, cut spending. This will grow the economy and we have to get back to cutting spending. Im almost out of time. I want to ask you about Sexual Harassment this has been a time of reckening in my economy. In your line of work, in congress. You have accepted, asked for the resignation or retirements of colleagues, democrat and republican who have been accused of sexual misconduct. My question to you is about the president. President trump has been accused, as well. Three accusers asked for a congressional investigation. They want you, they Want Congress to look into whether the accusations against the president are true. Would you support such an investigation . As you know, the person in charge of that committee, trey gaudy, has given an articulate response. Those are criminal matters. I would invite you we do ethics investigations. I would invite you to talk to the white house. Let me get at the other issue youre talking about. You know this very clearly because it happened in your industry, in your studio. Its happened here in congress. Lets take this moment for as seriously as it is, and not make it a partisan thing. What im trying to do this with democrats, we need to make sure this moment is the cultural changing moment it needs to be. And that means, not only do we have to change our laws, not only do we change the way disclosure and transparency works. Not only do we change the way the laws work going forward, but we need to change the culture. Lets not make it a partisan food fight. Lets see this issue and give the issue the respect it deserves so we can change the culture so were not having this story a year from now. And thats why were taking this seriously. Were going mandatory training. Were going to bring out reforms at the end of this week to show how Congress Gets ahead of this problem. Victims will know where theyre going to go. And the laws and transparency are where they ought to be. It should not be a partisan issue. The White House Position on the president s accusers is they are all liars. Is that your position as well . I dont know what all of the accusations are. Im focused on fixing congress. Im focused on my job, where i work, making this institution safe. I want my daughter to be able to grow up in an economy to go into a work, public or private sector, where hes not being harassed, where shes being embauered. Im not focused on other stuff. Is the government going to stay open . Yes. The government will stay open. Well check that box. Appreciate it. Merry christmas to you. We have more to get to this morning, including the investigation into that deadly amtrak Train Derailment in washington state. Officials have already determined it was speeding at the time. Now, they want to know if something or someone was distracting the engineer. Gadi schwartz has the latest on all this. Gadi, good morning. Reporter good morning. Ntsb Officials Say there was one other person in the cab with the engineer when this crash happened. A conductor in training, trying to familiarize themselves with the brandnew line. And now, investigators are looking into the possibility that the distraction may have played a role in this crash that killed three people and injured more than 70. Twisted metal and crumpled cars. Evidence of the forces that tore apart this commuter train and the lives of 85 people onboard. As accident investigators comb through the wreckage, new questions about what could have caused the derailment on the lines First Official run. Everybody is going left and right, up and down. To wake up to looking up at the seat of the opposite row up in the air. I see peoples legs on the car beside me and it was horrible. Reporter this seahawks fan was taking the train home from the game. Train is safer. You run into Something Like this. It hits home. It was bonechilling to see the train, like, eerie, that my husband was on that. I dont know how anyone walked away, actually. Reporter nearly 100 people were taken to hospitals. At least three people were killed in the crash. Ntsb investigators say theyre working to recover Additional Data from the onboard cameras. They learned from the black boxes from the trains brakes were tripped as it went 80 Miles Per Hour into a 30mileperhour curve. It looked like the emergency brake was activated when the accident occurred. Rather than being initiated by the engineer. Reporter the Safety System known as ptc, designed to prevent such accidents, had not been implemented on the new line. Ptc is positive train control. Its and overlay system that allows the technology to communicate and enforce things such as speed restrictions. Reporter at least some of the crew had been doing practice runs for two weeks before the crash. Investigators say the engineer had done the route before. Under amtrak policy, he wouldnt operate the train unless he was qualified and familiar with this territory. Reporter but some communities along the route had long warned about the danger of running highspeed trains through the area. Warnings they say, amtrak did not heed. And its important to note that back in 2008, Congress Passed a law requiring all trains to have that critical safety function, that positive train control, by the year 2015. But Train Companies said they couldnt do it in time. That deadline was extended, to the end of next year. Savannah . Ho hoda . Back to you. 7 18. Lets go to al with the weather. Lets show what we got going on right now. We have severe thunderstorm happening through the southeast. Could be some flooding. Windy conditions in southern california. Good news is, these are not the drier winds. But theres a little more humidity to them. Biting windchills in the northern plains. Brisk in the northeast. Were watching that storm system coming out of the rockies. Well look at that, what it means for your travel in the means for your travel in the holidays comin you can now reserve a car online and carmax will hold it for you up to seven days, for free. You come in when its convenient i know this because im from seven days in the future. Now dont be frightened, seven days in the future is a glorious place. After all you had two good hair days in a row. Perfect. Right out of bed. And this car you reserved on carmax. Com is still being held for you, for free. Pretty sweet. Or as we like to say from seven days in the future. Ah. We still say pretty sweet. Its basically the same. Good morning. Im first alert meteorologist krystal klei. Today temperatures that you experience in the morning about the same through the rest of the day, as well. Only mid to upper 40s which is mild for this time of year. Low 40s would be average. Feelslike temp may be cooler from time to time as we get breezy in the afternoon. 43 for west chester. Allentown, 42 this afternoon. A mix of clouds and sun across the region. We are dry. 47 for berlin and for stone harbor. Look at that mid 40s wilmington to smyrna. And thats your latest weather. Her. Guys . Al, thank you. Coming up, the accusers leading the Metoo Movement, including rose mcgowan, come together for a candid conversation. And christmas in bethlehem. An eyeopening look at the birthplace of jesus then and now. First, this is today on nbc. Streaming and gaming are only as good as your internet. So get the best internet with the 100 fiberoptic network. With fios gigabit connection you get the Fastest Internet available with download speeds up to 940 megs plus tv and phone for just 79. 99 per month online with showtime and multiroom dvr Service Included with a twoyear agreement. Switch now and get out of your contract with up to a 500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. Get our best new offer. Go to getfios. Com just ahead, hackers able to drain the balance on popular gift cards before you even use them. How to protect your money. A new rossen reports coming up. And with five days before and with five days before christmas, very and with five days before christmas, very this holiday, the best gift you can give, is your time. Volunteer at neighbhorhoodofgood. Com. State farm. This i can do, easily. I try hard to get a great shape. Benefiber® healthy shape is a clear, tastefree, 100 natural daily fiber. Thats clinically proven to help me feel fuller longer. Benefiber® healthy shape. This i can do a dogs big life, is measured in wags. And when you feed your dog natures recipe, you fuel the wag with our premium recipes like chicken, sweet potato and pumpkin. Natures recipe. Fuel the wag. Daddy did you get my surprise . Its the Little Things that make life rich. Ritz. Its time forweet, the holidays. Ab. Holla back holla hey. Hurry in to old navy for up to 75 off the entire store. Get last minute gifts for just 3, 4, and 5 bucks at old navy. Good morning, im korngs corns. Its a few minutes im rosemary connors. Its a few minutes before 7 30 on this wednesday. Meteorologist krystal klei is tracking a bit of a chilly start through our day. Yeah, temperatures arent terrible, but theyre not as perfect as yesterday. Were around 48 degrees in philadelphia. 41 in pottstown. 44 in wilmington. Warmer farther south. Areas like dover near 50. Rehoboth beach is 51 degrees. Today well see a mix of clouds and clear out there. We are going to track those temperatures really not doing much. Kind of sticking right where they have been throughout the rest of the day with temperatures in the 40s for your highs. No wet weather to contend with for the morning commute. Jessica boyington keeping an eye on the roads for us. Yes. Thats a good thing. Were watching 76 at gloucester city, cameras at Market Street in jersey. This is the southbound side. Coming off of the 42 freeway. It turns to 76 before the split before you go to the walt whitman bridge or 676 area through camden, thats where this is. A disabled vehicle to the lefthand shoulder. You see traffic still getting by the scene. And watching 95, too, slow southbound moving toward center city, around cottman avenue with a 31minute drive time. Happening now, crews are handling a water main break this is in philadelphias Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. This is sent in by an nbc10 viewer. This area is by 18th and rittenhouse near barclays restaurant. Well keep you post. It is holiday crunch time at post offices like this in tallyville, delaware. Today is the deadline for Priority Mail. Priority express deadline is friday. Were back. 7 30. Pan down, would you . Yes. Its the lovely Rockefeller Christmas tree, wednesday morning, 20th of december. Tminus five days. Five days. Lets start with the headlines, starting with the battle over taxes and your money. The report is adopted without the objection to reconsider is laid upon the table. Tax plan approved. The tax and jobs act is passed. The controversial tax bill is passed in the senate, now headed back to the house after an embarrassing snag. Paul ryan weighing in on the big win for the trump administration. We need to put the American Economy in a better Competitive Position so we can compete and win jobs and get faster Economic Growth. This is a big tax cut for families, as well. Amtrak investigation. I see peoples legs underneath the car on the side of me. And it was horrible. The ntsb looking at whether the engineer was distracted at the time of that deadly derailment in washington. It looks like the emergency brake was automatically activated when the accident was occurring, rather than being initiated by the engineer. Taking names. Nikki haley sends a strong message to the general assembly. The u. S. Will remember those who oppose President Trumps controversial decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capital. Caught on camera. Whoa. Shocking body cam footage shows a Police Officer being dragged on the side of a car, after responding to an overdose call. The vehicle reaching speeds up to 60 Miles Per Hour. The driver, in Police Custody this morning, charged with attempted murder. And a frozen rescue. Come on. A new jersey pup saved after falling in an icy pond, thanks to some rope and quickthinking officers. Today, wednesday, december 20th, 2017. He was all right. We move through a candid conversation between some of the women who have accused powerful men against sexual misconduct. Stephanie gosk is here again this morning. Reporter weve heard their stories for months. Now, new York Magazine got them together for a round table, moderated by one of the most public voices in the movement to stop sexual misduconduct, rose mcgowan. My peace with all of the people are complicit. Reporter eight women with different stories. But a shared experience. Its the first time in history, women have been believed. Shouldnt we all be enraged. I dont mean just the women in this room. Shouldnt everybody be . Reporter new York Magazine brought together the faces of a movement. And its tough being called a liar. Its very difficult to stand up and say, this is what happened and have, like an administration, saying im lying. Reporter with Harvey Weinstein accuser rose mcgowan who says the hollywood mogul raped her, leading the discussion. I would challenge the media to stop using the word alleged. I will, too. Reporter weinstein has repeatedly denied any accusations of sexual assault. Mcgowans account triggered other women to come forward with stories about the movie exec. I had selfblame until those women came forward and were published. Then, i kind of felt like, wow, things are shifting. I can share this experience. I stayed silent for a long time because i didnt feel there was a safe environment for me to be able to have voices. Reporter two of the women on the panel accuse President Trump of sexual assault. I found anger when the Metoo Movement came up and all of these other men were being brought down. What happened to trump . Mr. President . Reporter trump has denied any wrongdoing and denies having met the women. Do you really think that change is happening . Yes. Reporter rebecca cori says louis c. K. Asked him to watch while he masturbated. Im getting death threats. Im getting free hate every, single day. Reporter louis c. K. Issued a statement, responding to multiple allegations. Writing in part, these stories are true. The power i had over these women is they admired me. And i wielded that power irresponsibly. This is the takeaway. Reporter two of the women accuse John Hockenberry a longtime host of public radio, of a pattern of harassment. So suki kim broke the story. The host is sending me inappropriate emails for a year. I did file a compleaint. Hockenberry was let go in washington. In a statement, he wrote, in part, i should have been more aware of how the power i wielded over others, coupled with inappropriate comments and communications could be const e construed. I have no excuses. Its about unfair employment practices. Youre one of the top dogs in this particular field. You have power to make or break peoples careers. Reporter mcgowans conversation comes amid her intense back and forth with meryl streep. It started when mcgowan called her out on twitter for working with weinstein. Streep responding in an online statement, stressing not everyone knew, including herself. After streeps response, these posters started popping up around los angeles, with streeps image, and the phrase she knew across her face. Its unclear at this point who is putting the posters up. But it is toxic right now in hollywood. It is. For sure. Steph, thanks so much. Lets switch gears and check the weather. Time for us to look at whats happening as far as travel for the holidays. That storm is coming out of the pacific northwest. The snow is starting to lessen. As we move forward, starting with today, were looking at difficult travel for the mountain passes through the cascades. I80, i90 having problems. We move ahead to thursday. The storm will be on the eastside of the rockies. Denver looking at problems. Chicago, looking at problems. I80 and i90 travel going to be dicey. On friday, steady rain from dallas to detroit. Gusty winds. Cincinnati, chicago, detroit, all hubs. On saturday, stretching from boston all the way down to atlanta. Heavy rain, possible travel delays for the heavy rain and strong winds will continue to track it for you. Good morning. Im first alert meteorologist krystal klei. Today temperatures that you experience in the morning about the same through the rest of the day, as well. Only mid to upper 40s which is mild for this time of year. Low 40s would be average. Feelslike temp may be cooler from time to time as we get breezy in the afternoon. 43 for west chester. Allentown, 42 this afternoon. A mix of clouds and sun across the region. We are dry. 47 for berlin and for stone harbor. Look at that mid 40s wilmington to smyrna. And get that weather anytime you need it. Check out our pals at the Weather Channel on cable. Coming up, theres time to shop. But what about to ship . You need to ship those pants. Whats it going tong to cost yo make sure your holiday packages arrive on time . Good one. A surprising first for one of the holiday seasons most icon iic songs. Plus, a rossen report for anyone giving a gift card this year. The security flaw that could mean your balance is zero. First, a journey to the first, a journey to the birthplace of jesus, where more people shop online for the holidays than ever before. clapping and the United StatesPostal Service delivers more of those purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. because we know, even the smallest things are sometimes the biggest. Even the smallest things my wish was a clubhouse, but we call it the wish house. People visit National Parks from all over the world. Food tastes better when you dont have to cook it. He was just supposed to be my dog. I dont know why. vo were proud that, on behalf of our owners, the subaru share the love event will have donated over one hundred fifteen Million Dollars in just ten years. Get 0 financing for 63 months on select models. Plus well donate 250 to charity. Whole blendshair by garnier. Ishing care. Legendary olive haircare. Infused with Olive Oil Olive leaf extracts. It softens and shines for naturallybeautiful hair. Garnier whole blends legendary olive. Find every blend at walmart. When heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. Im singing in the rain, just singing in the rain what glorious feeling im happy again, just singing, singing in the rain. Mmmm. Small mccafe, smoothies, frappes and shakes are still just two dollars every day. So when youre on the couch bingewatching episodes nine through eleven, indulge in a cool creamy treat. Hit pause and head over to mcdonalds now. Its raining men the weather girls its almost christmas dad. I just finished months of chemo. But i dont want to talk about months. I want to talk about years. Treatments have gotten better, so. Im hoping for good years ahead. Thats thanks to Research Funded by the american cancer society. The same folks giving me free rides to treatments, insurance advice, and a place to stay during chemo. I need that stuff like you dont know. And now that you do, please give at cancer. Org. From our cazy delicious family to yours. Crave those crazy squares welcome back in this morning on our special series holidays in the holy land a journey to where it all began. Keir simmons was in jerusalem on tuesday. Now, hes made his way to the birth place of jesus, bethlehem. Reporter behind the Christmas Tree there is the church of the nativity, where they say jesus was born. In a moment, were going to take you inside because many christians come here, especially after a year like this, of so much bitterness and so much division, to find healing. Healing in that story of a little boy, born in a stable, who brought hope to the world. The birth of jesus. A 2,000yearold miracle in bethlehem, the bible says. And after two millennia, main street hasnt changed that much. This may be where the Three Wise Men arrived in bethlehem. Yes. Actually, this is one of the oldest streets when the three wisemen came to bethlehem. Reporter its now called . Star street. Reporter we travel into the desert. Good to see you. I meet bethlehems amateur astronomers, to find out about the wise men. They came on camels, from the east, following a bright star. Traveling through the desert, that would have been a best place for them to follow a star. Of course. Reporter they were the astronomers of their day. They were experts of astronomy. They were using astrology. Reporter that strikes a blow for science. Translator if a star just appears we cant conclude it was an earthquake, a birth or a death. Thats just mythology. Reporter back in bethlehem down. Frankincense and myrrh. Frankincense. Reporter wow. Look at that. So expensive. Reporter this is a gift from kings for a few baby. Reporter and the third gift . I dont have any. Reporter you dont have any gold . Its the message of peace that bethlehems mayor says he hopes to preserve. This is the church of the nativity. You enter through this tiny doorway. But once inside the detail is exquisite. Its beautiful. The message of peace, went from this place. Reporter from such humble beginnings, this Incredible Church and incredible story. Built some 1,700 years later, above what is to be the stable. For the last 2,000 years, this has been a land beset by conflict. Bethlehem flanked by a war that israel built to section off the west bank. How tall is it . Its 50 feet. I hope it will be the first Christmas Tree in the world. Reporter at its center, just once a year, a symbol with a different message. And this year, this Christian Palestinian family will again gather around their own little tree. Do you like christmas . Yes. Reporter why do you like it . You celebrate together. And we have fun. And we play games. Reporter the numbers of christians dwindling, as peace in the region remains elusive. I feel sad. I see families leave every year by the dozen. Reporter but the christmas message is as strong as ever. That little child who was born every year. He gives us hope. He gives us hope that a Better Future will be coming. Reporter and next week, well continue our series with a look at the search for the truth behind the bible. Savannah and hoda, i think of my grandmother. My catholic grandmother, who never missed church and never got to come here. And i hope weve given folks a chance to have a little piece of this so they can carry with them through christmas. She would have been so thrilled for you, keir, that you got to see it. Thank you so much. What a journey. Were going to head over to dylan dreyer to see what she has coming up in the orange room. Good morning. And why new technology on and why new technology on facebook is creeping out a lot afi sure had a lot on my mind. My 30year marriage. My 3month old business. Plus. What if this happened again . 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Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made eliquis right for me. Ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. Take guinea pigs. Theyre not pigs at all, nor are they from guinea. Or take this haircut. I may look all business, but look out. But theres a party going on back here. Kinda misleading, isnt it . Well, at carmax, you dont have to worry about being misled. The price online is the same price in the store, which is the same for everyone. Even guinea pigs. Its only fair mr. Biscuits. Only fair. Carmax music sting whoo testis this thing on . huh . Cmon your turn mmmm. Where do pencils go on vacation . loud speaker pencilvania pencilvania laughing frosted just right. Crunch in every bite. Kelloggs frosted miniwheats. Feel that tingle of a cold sore only abreva can heal it in as little as two and a half days when used at the first sign. Abreva starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. Abreva acts on it. So you can too. See ya. Take care. So probably take it at night. And if you have any questions, the instructions are here in spanish as you requested. Gracias. At walgreens, how we care will change over time, but why we care remains the same treating everyone with the care and attention they deserve. Walgreens. Trusted since 1901. Welcome back, everybody. Facebook just brought out something new that may not be sitting well with a lot of people. Dylan has all that in the orange room. Good morning, guys. Facebook has been using facial recognition for years. Now, theyre taking that feature a step further by alerting users when theres photos of them out there, even if they arent tagged in them. The social Network Knows your face so well, theyll find the photo and present you with the option to ignore it, tag it yourself or even report it. Facebook says, our goal in building these future c feature really to manage their identity on facebook. People dont know what to think of this. Fred tweets, this is cool and creepy at the same time. Ryan posts, it sounds creepy but i like the idea that we will easily detect imposters. We asked on twitter, what do you think of facebooks facial recognition feature . 80 disapprove, 20 approve. There is a setting that allows you to opt out of the feature. At first, i didnt like it. If someone is posting a picture with your name attached to it, you can say, thats not me. Hasnt that train left the station when you join facebook and they have your name and picture . Straight ahead, a rossen reports on how hackers can use reports on how hackers can use your gift gua its the final days of the ford year end sales event. Im on top of the world, hey. Its your last chance of the year to get our best offer of the year zero percent financing for seventytwo months, plus an extra onethousand cash back across a full lineup of ford cars, trucks and suvs. So hurry and save big on americas bestselling brand. Its the final days of the ford year end sales event with zero percent financing for seventytwo months plus an extra onethousand cash back see your ford dealer before jan 2nd and save. This i can do, easily. I try hard to get a great shape. Benefiber® healthy shape is a clear, tastefree, 100 natural daily fiber. Thats clinically proven to help me feel fuller longer. Benefiber® healthy shape. This i can do its raining men the weather girls its almost christmas dad. Youre so cold, come in whats wrong . Its dry. Your scalp . Mine gets dry in the winter too. Try head and shoulders dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp and. Keeps you up to 100 flake free head and shoulders dry scalp care daddy did you get my surprise . Its the Little Things that make life rich. Ritz. How the world treats and defeats childhood cancer. And she ate ice cream, oh but im not supposed to tell that part. Sorry. Visit stjude. Org or shop where you see the st. Jude logo. Find one of six color changing characters spoons inside specially marked boxes of big g cereals. It appears more training is in order. See star wars the last jedi now playing. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. A dogs big life, is measured in wags. And when you feed your dog natures recipe, you fuel the wag with our premium recipes like chicken, sweet potato and pumpkin. Natures recipe. Fuel the wag. Good morning iempt cor. Im rosemary connors. A few minutes before 8 00. Meteorologist krystal klei is tracking a dry, cool day lady. Cool day. Well start with temperatures, feeling like 30s in allentown, reading, pottstown. For the rest of us really 40s, mostly low to mid. 41 is what it feels like in philadelphia. Numbers arent going to climb much as we go through the rest of the day. Conditions stay on the dry stooid siside, and temperatures stay in the 40s. A mix of clouds and sun through rest of today. Jessica boyington is watching the roads. What are you seeing out there . Right. What were watching is here at 76. Cameras at market. It actually froze here. Over in gloucester city, we have a disabled vehicle into the lefthand lane. Im also watching the schuylkill expressway for a crash thats right around there, the westbound side. Slow going coming out of soil philly. Back to you. Thanks. Today the Pennsylvania AttorneyGenerals Office will appeal the decision to dismiss charges against brandon bostian. Bostian of the engineer during the deadly Train Derailment in 2015 in philadelphia. Reports show the crash was accidental. Today theres a coat drive to help hundreds of hurricane evacuees from puerto rico. The group will collect winter clothing at the organizing center on 8th street. You can drop off items from noon until 9 00 tonight. Part two of operation st. Nick happens today. Mt. Holly Police Officers will deliver christmas presents to families in need. Well have another update in about the 25 minutes. Remember, you can join us every morning from 4 00 to 7 00. Its 8 00 on today. Coming up, breaking overnight. The tax cuts and jobs act is passed. The Senate Approves the gops sweeping tax overhaul, setting up a major victory for the trump administration. Its not a question of if. Its a question of how much they benefited. What a disgrace. Thats what this bill is. Its an absolute disgrace. Were live at the white house. Plus, hacked for the holidays. I can write software thats designed to go after a website and pull the card pins one at a time. How gift cards from one of the biggest retailers could be vulnerable to hackers, leaving the balance wiped out. Jeff rossen investigates. And third times the charm. Rebel wilson stops by studio 1a to tell us about how shes back and hitting the right notes in the new film, Pitch Perfect 3. Today, december 20th, 2018. Weve got a senior class trip here on the plaza. From farmville, virginia. A happy birthday to aunt sherry. Where is aunt sherry . Right here. What are you celebrating . Its christmastime and our first time on the plaza. Weve got teachers on the loose on the plaza. Merry christmas in new york city. I think you traveled the farthest to see us. All the way from south africa. Who is turning 80 . This lady. Those teachers look like fun. I want to hang with them. I was just thinking that. Welcome back to today. Nice to have you with us on a wednesday morning. Smackdab in the middle of the week. The historic republican tax bill, ready to land on President Trumps desk with one snag to clear up in the house first. Nbcs chief white house correspondent, hallie jackson, with the latest. Reporter good morning to you. And after a very late night here in washington, a very big morning for republicans and for donald trump, who is on the verge of his first legislative victory. Overnight, the Senate Passed the biggest tax overhaul in a generation. That sets up the final step, that house vote today, after a surprise delay yesterday. Still, despite criticism from democrats that this bill benefits the wealthy, gop leaders are not waiting to take a victory lap. Paul ryan laid out his partys thinking to savannah an hour ago. You lower the tax rates, make us more competitive, youll see faster Economic Growth in america. Reporter republicans are making the bet that businesses will reinvest the money theyre saving back into the economy. Corporations get the largest tax cut, slashed from 35 down to 21 . Thats going to be a permanent cut. And while most americans will also see lower rates, the cuts for individuals will eventually expire in about a decade. The bill repeals the Obamacare Mandate and scales back popular deductions. But it does increase the child tax credit. The bill is expected to be sent to the president s desk midday today. After that, dont forget about the other deadline congress has to deal with. By friday, they have to figure out how to avoid a government shutdown. We will have plenty to ask the president during what we expect to be his Yearend Press Conference at the white house. A bus carrying passengers on an excursion in mexico, flipped over on tuesday, killed 20 people and injured 20 others. U. S. Officials are working with local authorities to determine whether american citizens are among the dead. Royal caribbean cruises says passengers from two of its ships were on the bus headed to the may mayan bruin ruins. If youre trying to find that perfect gift for christmas, perhaps stocking stuffers, we have a suggestion. How about lottery tickets . 5 500 million is up for grabs. Tonights Powerball Jackpot is at 269 million bucks. And friday nights megamillions is 247 million. If theres no winners, it will go up and up. It can turn into a merry christmas. Santa, no need to stop by. Were fine. Exactly. Got the morning boost . This time, we want to share two acts of kindness that went a long way. A woman saw a homeless man who didnt have a coat on a cold day. She drove to a store, got it and delivered it to him. Put it on him. She went around front. She zipped it up. And then, the grateful man gave her a big hug. Beautiful, thoughtful, generous. Her kids were in the car watching. Mom doing her thing. We have another one. This one from ft. Worth, texas. He saw a Police Officer eating alone. He went over and all he wanted to do was say hello. Take a listen to what the little boys mom says. He wanted to give you a hug. Okay. Thanks. After giving the officer the squeeze, the little boy ran back to his mom. Isnt it about the little tiny acts of kindness that makes you want to do one. Doesnt feel tiny for the person who is a recipient. Still ahead on this wednesday morning, five days left. What you can do to get the holiday packages to their destinations on time. And yes, what it will cost you. Your guide to holiday tipping. Who is expecting one to how much to give. First, a look at Megyn Kelly Today. Hi, megyn. Today, an 8yearold boy has 13 surgeries and over 300 hospital visits. As it turn out, he may never have been sick at all. His mother is now under arrest and his father joins us in an exclusive, today. All right, megyn. Thank you. All that plus a timely rossen reports. Im jeff rossen. Gift cards. Real popular around the holidays. But now, weve discovered a new security flaw at one of the countrys biggest retailers. Where hackers would drain your card down to zero before you ever use it. How to pr once. Chocolate was the best thing you could ever give her. And it still is. Kay jewelers presents levian chocolate diamond jewelry. A spectacular collection with stunning chocolate diamonds and rare gemstones. At kay, the number one store for the chocolate shell love forever. Every kiss begins with kay. cough its just a cough. If you could see your cough, youd see just how far it can spread. Robitussin soothes in seconds and delivers fast, powerful cough relief for hours. giggling robitussin dm max. Because its never just a cough. Even if you dont buy one from us. Because maybe youre already buying a car somewhere else. Or maybe you want to shop around. Or, maybe you dont want to drive a car at all anymore. Like, maybe you want to ride a camel into the dessert and take a deep hard look within. Just figure some stuff out for awhile. Thats cool. Whatever your plans for buying a car, carmax is the place to sell your car. Okay, lets do this, tina, tchicktchick. Here we go, tchicktchick. I believe in ya tina. Cmon now. Ah, we can just hang out here. Its time forweet, the holidays. Ab. Holla back holla hey. Hurry in to old navy for up to 75 off the entire store. Get last minute gifts for just 3, 4, and 5 bucks at old navy. Its almost christmas dad. Its raining men the weather girls hi. Hi. When heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. The unique formula with nourishing almond oil leaves skin smoother moisturized for 24 hours. Enjoy smoother skin and now try new Oil Infused Lotions moisturize with indulging scents welcome back. This morning on our rossen reports series, hacking your holiday. An urgent warning for everybody buying gift cards at a popular retailer. National investigative correspondent jeff rossen is here to explain. Reporter good morning. Five days left until christmas. This is when gift cards get popular because if youre a lastminute shopper like i am, theyre an easy present. Everyone loves them. You cant go wrong. But this morning, we are exposing what a Cyber Security expert calls a serious flaw with nordstrom gift cards. The expert came to us saying he and others could hack nordstrom and gain access to the gift cards, draining them down to zero dollars before you can use them. Before you go shopping, dont worry, were about to show you how to protect your money. Gift cards are big business right now. According to the National Retail federation, americans are expected to spend nearly 28 billion on gift cards this year alone. But what if your card was compromised and the money on it, completely wiped before you ever went shopping . Cyber security expert jim stickley has come to us with an urgent alert. Telling us, hes cracked the code with nordstrom gift cards. He can hack in and drain all of the money. I have ten nordstrom gift cards here. Youre saying you can hack these. Not only can i hack those. But the cards that are for sale, i can hack those, and drain the funds from them. Reporter how . I can write software thats designed to go after a website and can pull the card p. I. N. S. Reporter its flying through p. I. N. Numbers. Reporter hes discovered a few problems with nordstrom gift cards, including short eer p. I. Numbers, and no protection from bats. Were not showing you how he does it. But within minutes, the money on that card could be jogone. If you were a criminal, what could you do . I can start making purchases with nordstrom. Or theres sites that will buy the card from you. I can sell the card to third parties and make money off the bat. Reporter did you try this at other retailers, as well . Nordstrom had a flaw in their design that allowed this to work. Reporter and he says thieves can take it further. Snapping simple photos of gift cards on racks. Once activated, draining those cards, too. This is my gift card. We put 50 bucks on it. This is the packaging it came in. You are saying, just like this, you can hack it. Babsolutely. Thats the card number. And theres a three digit p. I. N. Reporter this is how its sold, with this being shown. Yeah. Plain as day. Reporter he gets to work on my card. Thats easy. There it is. Reporter telling us, hes drained the funds. But did it really work . I take the gift card to nordstrom, checking to see if hes actually drained it. I want to see how much is on that gift card . Zero. Nothing, nada. Reporter thank you very much. Happy holidays. I call nordstrom to tell them what we found. Hi, this is jeff rossen calling from nbc news. A security expert came to us and said he found what he calls a flaw in the nordstrom system with gift cards. Hes able to hack into the system and literally drain all the gift cards down. He wants to show you how he did this so you guys can fix the problem. Reporter nordstrom declined to meet with us in personal. So, we connected the retailer with the security expert by phone. He walked them through the problem and how to fix the flaw. Nordstrom telling nbc news, our customers are always our top priority. If we learn they were negatively impacted by an issue with our gift card systems, wed work quickly to take care of them. Adding, we have a number of gift card security controls in place. And a team of experts that regularly test, review and enhance those controls. Securing gift cards to protect your money this holiday season. And i have some good news to report. Since we connected nordstrom with our expert in the piece, they have now fixed the problem. So, some good news there. Okay. What can you do to protect yourself and your gift cards no matter what the company . Weve seen racks like this Grocery Stores and pharmacies. You shouldnt buy gift cards from the public racks. Buy them in stores where they keep the cards behind the counter where theyre secure. That way thieves cant walk up, turn it around and copy down the numbers. If you can buy the gift cards online, thats even better. If you have to buy them from the rack, theres Something Else i want you to look for. Make sure, the bar code, fine. You see that p. I. N. Number there . If you see the number exposed, move on to another rack. Dont buy that card because that is exactly how the hackers can get in. Not worth the risk. A lot of times you have to scratch it off, right . Yeah. Exactly. If its been prescratched, dont get that one. I have the 50 gift card that was drained down for you guys. You got it. Thank you, jeff. Good advice. Time for whats trending. Look who set his alarm early, mr. Lester holt. I dont know. I have no idea. Youre going to be around. Im going to be on the plaza. Thats what im here for. Would you like to trend with us . Absolutely. Heres whats trending. National signing day for college football. The voice, by the way. Should i say who won . People dont know. People maybe they dont know. And a good time in four words. There was an article in the chicago trib that caught our eyes this morning. Should you be best friends with your spouse . Best friends. The article pointed out that a life coach said that so long as you make your partner a priority, its okay to have strong other great friendships. I was just curious with everybody in a longterm relationship. Do you consider your spouse, lester holt, to be your best friend . And carol is watching right now. I think in terms of who do you tell your most intimate secrets to, its generally your spouse. I think my wife is my best friend. Would she say the same . Hang on a second. She just texted me. No. She says, youre my besty, savannah. Im so slow on texting, shell get it next wednesday. But i think she would say the same thing. We have conversations that only we would have with each other. Yeah. Dylan . I think so. Brian and i were friends before we started dating. I love brian. But i like him as a friend to hang out with and to laugh with. Thats important. I thought you had a reaction. You werent sure . I feel like ive had a best friend who ive known for a lot of my life. And i adore joel. But i would consider her to be my best friend. She knows everything from all the that life. Yeah. And i think if you have one person for everything, sometimes you end up not getting what you need when you need it sometimes. I think different people provide different things. Deborahs my best friend. But i have other good friends, you know, you can really share other things with. I agree. What about mike . Yeah. I would say mike is my best friend. But i have other best friends. If i want to complain about mike, i have to talk to other people. Not that you ever do. Not that i ever do because he is a dream. A dream boat. We did ask our viewers what they thought. And 77 say their spouse is their best friend. There you have it. It makes sense. Pop start. Dont give away the voice. Im not saying anything about the voice. Lets start with exciting news from two actresses. First comes from mindy kaling. She has welcomed her first child, a baby girl. She gave birth on december 15th and his named her daughter katherine. She opened up about her pregnancy to willie geist on sunday today. She was really excited to be a mom and hoped to be a fun mom. Im sure that wont be problem for a comedienne to live up to. And eva longoria is expecting. Her rep has confirmed that her and her husband are expecting a baby boy. Longoria is four months along. This will be the couples first child together. The couple got married in 20 16. Our congratulations to mindy and eva. And mariah carey, her tune has made a huge milestone. When the song was released as part of an album in 1994, it did not meet the requirements to make billboards hot 100 chart. Since then, the rules have changed. Despite the songs popularity, it has not been enough to make billboards hot 100 top ten list. Until now. This week, the song is number nine on the hot 100 chart. And upon the news, mariah carey told billboard, i never thought we would talk about this happening. But im thankful to everyone who embracing this song as their holiday tradition. This marks careys 28th hot 100 top ten hit. Got all that . And finally, star wars reviews and spoil verse been running rampant since the movie came out since the weekend. No matter how hard you may try, it seems impossible to block or avoid the craze. Linmanuel miranda said, i just got this text. You can see, someone texted lin a tapless photo of kylo renn. The anonymous texter must have realized his mistake. Sorry, right number. Lin responded back, with myrerr christmas and may be force be with you. We are calling it a dilly dilly click today. Complete with our own graphic and everything. For weeks, youve been calling medilly. Dilly. And that annoying nickname comes from a bud light commercial. Take a look. Jeremy, you are a true friend of the crown. Dilly dilly. Heres to the friends you can always count on. I never knew thats where it came from. Stop laughing. I had no idea. Is that where you got that . Dilly dilly. Thats where it started. I have no idea. Al moved into this dilly dilly craze online. He tagged me in a post. A house, with dilly dilly proudly displayed on the lawn. His post al, stop laughing. His post actually caught the attention of bud light and they tweeted dilly dilly dylan dreyer. Now, its official. Im going allin on dilly dilly. Yes. That was awesome. I know. I cant fight it anymore. And the fourth hour, switching to beer in your honor. Dilly dilly. Thank you. Lester, thank you. Youre going to be our elf for the toy drive, right . This was easy. I was nervous. We want you to come back. Now, we move to al. Dilly dilly. Dilly dilly. Lets show you what we have happening. Strong storms making their way through the southeast. Brisk weather turning colder on the northeast. Look for a biting windchill in the plains. Snow in the plains, as well. Windy conditions through southern california. Hopefully it does not cause sroblems for firefighter good morning. Im krystal klei. Today temperatures that you experience in the morning going to be about the same through the rest of the day as well, only mid to upper 40s, which is mild for this time of year. Low 40s would be average. We do get breezy in the afternoon. 43 for westchester, an allentown 42. Mid 40s wilmington to simm. Rush, with christmas five days away, its not too late if you have packages to mail. The time is almost up and it will cost you. Kerry sanders is at a dhl facility in florida with what you need to know. Reporter good morning, savannah. Overnight shipping for many of us, for other procrastinators is a god send. And here at dhl, along with all the other overnight shippers say, if you dont have your pockage pock a packages in this stream, you better get them there asap. You only have one other choice. And thats santa claus and his eight reindeer. This morning, if your packages are not here or here or here by now im praying it makes it on time. Reporter you need more than divine intervention. You need to get a move on. If we didnt procrastinate so much, probably would be a little better. Thats what most of us do, isnt it . Reporter certainly, a lot of us, theres still time to get a gift to your granddaughter by christmas eve. But youll pay a big premium. If youre lucky enough to find a fingerling, one of this years hottest gifts for 15, friday is the absolute deadline. Dead it to the post office by then. Ship it priority express and it will cost you 32. 30. U. P. S. Will send it next day air for 90. 81. And fedex will get it there with saturday overnight delivery, for 98. 60. But you run a risk. You can have uncontrollable delays. Case in point, atlanta with their issue at the airport. Reporter packaging pros recommend use a new or gently used box. Make sure theres no old mailing labels. And use shipping tape. If youre not one to panic if this is your attitude. It might not get there on time. But thats okay. Reporter youll be just fine. Theyll have a great christmas anyway. Reporter here at dhl, many of the packages you see here are heading to international destinations, which is visual proof that there is still time to make the deadline. Guys, even to china. Savannah . Good to know. Thank you, kerry. Just ahead, Pitch Perfect 3 star, rebel wilson. Yes. Hello, rebel. Hi, guys. First, your. Good morning. Meteorologist krystal klei is tracking a decent start to the day out there. Temperatures not as great as they were yesterday, but theyre also pretty mild. Were at 47 degrees in philadelphia and 46 in millville. 47 in lancaster. Lets go through the trend. As we get into the afternoon hours, we will stay in the mid to upper 40s and a breezy forecast today too. Jessica boyington is keeping an eye on the roads. Were watching 95 southbound where we have an accident off into the shoulder, at least part of its over into the shoulder. The rest of its up here where we have only one lane getting by on the southbound side. This Morning Police in bucks county say someone hit a bicyclist in Bristol Township and left them to die. The suspected car involved is a silver mercedes with front end damage. It is holiday crunch time at post offices like this one. Today is the deadline for Priority Mail and the priority express deadline is friday. Well have another update in about 25 minutes. Remember, you can get the latest with the free nbc 10 app. Michael im thankful that im alive and have a second chance. James im thankful for the help and the opportunity that i received. Darlene im thankful to be able to help people in crisis. Vanessa im thankful that addiction is treatable, and that help is available. Christie new jersey is experiencing a heroin epidemic fueled by opioid painkillers. But if you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, i want you to know we are here for you. This holiday season, choose help. Call 844 reach nj or visit reachnj. Gov. To find smarter solutions. To offer more precise and less invasive Treatment Options than before. Like advanced Genomic Testing and immunotherapy. See how were fighting to outsmart cancer at cancercenter. Com outsmart good morning, everybody. Its wednesday, december 20th, 2017. Five days before christmas. Beautiful day. People are screaming, mostly hoda. And you say lester . Yeah, look at that. Lester, collecting gifts for our annual toy drive. Hell be out here until nightly news. Hes going to stay out here. Hes going to have a lemonade stand. Hoda, you have good cheer. I have an incredible thing thats about to happen. First of all, i would like to know, who was first in line at the today show this morning . Was it you . Your name is . Sarah crawford. I have a proposal for you. I have three cards, labeled one, two, and three. Inside one is a prize. If you pick the right card, everybody in the entire audience is going to win something. No pressure. If you pick the right one, everyone in the audience is going to win something. Im going to reveal what the prize is if you pick the right one . I pick two because its my birthday and im a twin. Two. Will you open it . Is it blank . Every Single Person on this plaza is going to Pitch Perfect 3 on fandango. Wow. Everybody gets to go. You are awesome. Thank you. Every, Single Person. Good job, sarah. Wow. Thats amazing. What was on the other two cards . Ill show you. We wanted her we wanted her to win really badly. It was on all of them. Congratulations, though. Fake news. It was rigged. Thats fantastic. Yes. So fun. Speaking of Pitch Perfect 3 we have one of the popular bellas with us this morning. Rebel wilson. Yes. Then, do you struggle with holiday tipping. Who gets one . Does it have to be fun . Well walk through the answers. And a former white house chef that goes way back with jenna, shares his tasty recipe for a holiday maple apple tart. Well get some stories. Whats coming up on Megyn Kelly Today . We continue our series, women of faith. Powerful women embrace their faith. Then, were going holiday cocktails. Allimportant. Megyns month of merry. And this is day two of the sudafed benadryl combination. Well see if i make it to 10 00. Everybody together. Wait. You feel your thighs burning, lets show you whats going on. I dont have the strength. We almost lost savannah. Today, were looking at strong storms in the southeast. Biting windchills and snow in the plains. Brisk conditions in the northeast. And windy conditions in southern california. For tomorrow, red flag warnings go up, high fire danger because of the winds. Above average temperatures through the southeast. We have knsnow through the centl rockies. And sunshine in the eastern good morning. Im krystal klei. Today temperatures that you experience in the morning going to be about the same through the rest of the day as well, only mid to upper 40s, which is mild for this time of year. Low 40s would be average. Feelslike temp may be a little bit cooler from time to time, as we do get breezy in the afternoon. 47 for berlin and for stone harbor. All right. Its time to go around the horn. And you know, of course, were coming up on your holiday weekend. We have a lot of weather to talk about. You have to make sure you know what you need to know. Check out your nbc station. And of course, our friends at the Weather Channel on cable. And now, back to you guys. Made it around the horn. Way to go, al roker. All right. Were here with another star from the highly anticipated movie Pitch Perfect 3, the one, the only, rebel wilson. Shes such a fan favorite, fat amy. Heart and soul of the bellas. This time, rebel not only sings but adds action star to her resume. Check it out. Thats the ladder that will take you up. Do not focus on what im doing here below. Distraction coming up. Are you sure about this . Have i ever let you down . Dozens of examples spring to mind. Youre very unreliable. I dont think we have time to unpack that right now. Shh. Ill just see you up top. Nobody is going to die tonight, right . Yeah. Yeah. That doesnt help. Okay. Are you ready . I got my serious face on now. Its time. Lets do it. I love you. Youre one of those people when you show up, i just want to crack up laughing. Hi, rebel. Hi, hoda. How is it going . Awesome. I know you can sing and dance. What i was unaware of, miss action figure. Was my hidden ninja skills. Dont attack me in the streets. I can throw down if i need to. And youre no joke. No joke. You trained, right . Yeah. I fight ten men at once in sich perfect 3 you might think thats strange for a singing movie. But fat amy had to turn action hero to give the fans Something Different and bigger in Pitch Perfect 3. You trained with circumstaqu sole soleil. You know how to do karate. You arent kidding around. For the fight sequences in this film, i trained for three weeks. Yeah. It was really fun with the stunt guys. Its like learning a dance. By the way, so many things to love about you. I love this movie premiered in australia. And your entire family came out. Pretty much just so my family could attend. Who was there . My grandparent came out of hospital for it. My grandma came on her walking frame. Your grandma. Yeah, there she is. There they are. And my mum, we call her the mumarazzi. Shes worse than the paparazzi. Give me a nice smile. Rebel, come on. She was banned from the red carpet. Does she stalk other celebrities . No. Only the mumarazzi to myself. We learn more about fat amys past. Her past is dodgey. Thats an understatement. Yeah. If you think about it, what was this random australian girl doing in the middle of america . Why was she there . She was hiding out from her father, who is very dodgey. And then, when the bellas go on a uso european tour, the father tracks her down. These movies keep getting better. And theres a camaraderie among this group that you dont see. There is. You took the whole cast after it was over, on a trip. Yep. On your dime, to mexico. Santa rebel. Look at you people. Yeah. Santa rebel. We had been working now together for six years, three movies. And all of us girls were such good friends. We love working together. But also, hanging out, after the movies done. Whats your Favorite Song to sing during this one . This one is cheap thrills which was awesome. And were singing it to real military people and their families, yeah. Although, my bit in the song is kind of its just the bum, bum, bum, bum. Yeah. Sometimes you just have a lot of bums. In the songs. Rebel, we love you. This movie, you know is going to be another hit. Were going to talk with you a little bit more youre coming back with me and kathie lee. Were coming back with a nunchaku demonstration. What . Did they not tell you about that . Im glad to hear that. Pitch perfect 3 hits theaters on friday. Were going to answer all your questions about holiday tipping. First, this is today on nbc. Were back. 8 41. A tricky topic to navigate during holiday season. Who should you tip and how much . Here with the answers, Elliot Weiler the digital editor for Consumer Reports. Good morning. Should we tip . Is cash the thing you should do . Or if you want to give someone a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates, is that sufficient, do you think . We say navigate the food choices interestingly and carefully. People have different dietary restrictions. Maybe they drink. Maybe they dont drink. Gift cards are always good. Right. If you are going to go the casual rout cash route, go to the bank and get the crisp bills. This may sound weird, but sprinkle the money with a little bit of water and iron it on low heat. To make it look nice . Does it buy more . It all spends the same way. But you want that little extra effort to get that nice, crisp bill. Thats nice. Lets get into the nittygritty here. Sure. We have a list. The most Common People that get tipped at the holidays. Consumer reports surveys thousands of people. These are the people who matter the most of them. Housekeepers. Hairdressers. Nannies, trainers, postal workers, handymen, garbage workers. Housekeepers got the most. A hairdressers got the second. One service, the tip amount could match one service. Garbage collectors were the least likely to tip. But they got a 20 average. We learned that some towns dont allow their garbage collectors to take tips. Why . Maybe its just a rule. Postal workers, as well, cant take casual. But they can take presents, as long as the value doesnt exceed 20. Often, you have the teachers who take care of your kids throughout the year. You want to give them something nice. What should you give a teach centteacher . People brought a gift in when we were kids. Its more complicated. Some schools collect a group gift, which Consumer Reports says is a good idea. There can be a tit for tat or a bribe where you might want to give the teacher a little extra to make johnny rise to the top. Take some of it out and see if you can do a group gift from the entire class. A lot of people are counting every penny at the holidays. And they may not be able to tip. Is there a piece of advice you can give . Think of something from the heart. Often times the homemade gifts that arent food, but a craft project, maybe a coupon, that means a lot. Weve all gotten one of those gifts in our life at some point. It just matters. It feels like they really cared enough to do something, even if its not cash. Elliott, thank you so much. Just ahead, how to stress less amid the holiday chaos this season. First this, is today on nbc. Were back. 8 46. Todays hasslefree holiday. Were focusing on handling the stress of the season. It can add up in a hurry. Here to help is jennifer hartstein. Good morning. We love the holidays. Theres stress. There is stress. We want it to be perfect. And i think the fact is, thats just unattainable. If we can embrace the unattainable, the imperfection in the perfect, we can be okay. And its your first tip. You have to manage expectations. Your own and those around you. 100 . Its not youre not going to please everybody. Youre not going to make everybody happy. Everybodys going to have an upon. Recognize that you have to do what you think is best for you and your family and start there and just go for it. The number two tip you have is to keep the peace. This is not a moment to, like, get into your family issues. Its really not. All the songs are about peace on earth and godwill towards men. If we can keep that in mind during the holiday time and be practical about it. If uncle joe wants to have a political conversation and you know its going to start organizeme arguments, you say, no political discussions at the holiday table. And you pull them aside and say, we want to have a good time and feel good. Another big stress on the holidays is financial. Either people are feeling like they need to spend money that they dont really have and they feel anxious about that. Or they dont have the money and theyre worried about disappointing the kids or a partner or spouse. That to me is the hugest thing that the holidays can really bring up for folks. Its really overwhelming, especially if youre trying to please your kids and keep up with the joneses. You want to do the best you can. Pool resources and get one big thing, get lots of Little Things. But everyone is doing the best they can. Talk about that with each other. We have to be able to say no and be okay with that and tolerate the disappointment. And your kids have to learn that anyway. I feel like were doing the downer stuff. Thats why youre here. People get the holiday blues. They get the holiday blues. I can remember in my own life, the holidays are great, but it made you think my life is not where i wish it were at this moment. And that can be hard. Its a combination of, my life is not where i want it to be or you spend so much time focusing on the holiday, theres that letdown after and the holiday crash. So, reach out to people. Connect with people. Do it with other people. So that the letdown isnt so bad. And if youre feeling like youre not really where you want to be, setting what your goals are going to be for the next year or how youre going to connect with people in a way in a feels meaningful to you. You have to remember what its all about, what this means. Its about gratitude, connection, and family. If we go back to the basics, it will make the holiday much less stressful. Its about sweets, too. About candy and sweets. Jen, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Coming up next, speaking of sweets, a tasty holiday dessert from the former white house executive pastry chef with someone he knew pretty well in the white house walls. First, this is today on nbc. Welcome back this morning on today food. A real treat. Were whipping up a delicious holiday dessert for someone who has cooked for president s and dignitaries. He served as the white house pastry chef during the bush and obama administrations. Mrs. Bush hired you, correct . I was there at your tasting. We were just talking about that before we got here. All of the people who were at the white house and still there. Unsung heroes. You guys make it a home. When we see them, its like seeing family members. It is. Was this one of jennas favorites . Is this a new one . Her dad liked every dessert. My dad has a major sweet tooth. We have the ingredients. Sugar and the butter and the pie doug. A little maple syrup. Its the maple apple tart tartan. Savannah is just like me in the catchen. The blind leading the blind. Were going to make the care mel first. Sugar and water in there. You see the caramelized color. Ill set that down here. I better set it on this. There you go. Here, we have the caramel. That color. And its very important to really pack the apples in tightly. They shrink when they cook. If you dont have great. Please do. Ill supervise. Supervise. Thats a good role. Are we doing all right . Look how beautiful his is. Youre doing well. No problem. Thank you, bill. Even a second layer. Okay. It shrinks down. Youre using this cast iron pan. The cast iron is great. Its Old Fashioned but it transfers the heat and gives a nice Caramel Color to the apples. Should we put the butter in, too . That goes in the bottom. And the maple syrup. We have our tasters over there. How is it . Never had anything like that before. Were finished. Youre not kidding. Really good. Then, we have the pie dough that goes on the top. Its puff pastry. For people like us, you can buy this at the store. Buy the pie dough or puff pastry. And tuck it in nice like that. Look. Look what it look like when it comes out of the oven. Exactly. You cooked the apples and put this on top and put it in the oven. Yeah. Dont forget that part. Apples nice and colored, and comes out like this. Yummy. Its a little daunting when you have to flip something over. You flip it. Can savannah try it . Bill, if you can teach anybody to cook, its her. Theres nobody watching us, right . Probably not. No pressure, jenna. What if i ruin it. This is your time. You go like this. And flip the whole thing over. Dont break any glass. Im a lefty. Oh. You keep going. Leave it there for a second. Well let gravity do its work. I usually bang it, too, but with a glass plate. Was that not the right moves . Savannah, amazing. Oh, my gosh. Dilly dilly. So pretty. Isnt that beautiful . And we have a little whipped cream garnish. A nice, big dollop. I cant believe how good that is and how simple it was. Im shocked. When i saw the name of it, the tartan. I that it sounded fancy. Lets call it apple tart. Okay. One of the most fun things to do to go down into the kitchen and see these guys at work. I wish i had taken more lessons. So does henry. True that. The sweet spot, good morning. Tracking a clear day ahead. Temperatures are mostly in the low to mid 40s. Theres a look at satellite and radar. 95 were watching an accident. Back to you. Today we could learn more. Hundreds of puerto rico people in Lehigh Valley arent used to this cold weather. You can drop off items from noon until this evening. Get the latest with the nbc 10 app. This morning on Megyn Kelly Today a medical mystery. A mother guides her son through 13 surgeries. But his father says the child was never sick. Whats really going on . Then, a Hasidic Jewish woman settles for more. The ceiling she broke thats earned her a place in the history books. And our month of merry rolls on, with a gift that says, who is a good dog . What can it be . All that and more on Megyn Kelly Today right now. [ applause ] thank you very much, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you. Lc