decided to get a jump on the start of the holiday shopping season by opening up later this evening while others started earlier this month. according to the national retail federation, 140 million americans are expected to shop either online or in stores this weekend, and they're expected to spend big. an increase of nearly 4% over last year to more than $600 billi billion. shoppers elbowed twhar into macy's flagship store in manhattan at 8:00 last night, four hours earlier than last year. 400 million americans were expected to ditch the dinner table and go shopping on thanksgiving day. that's actually 2 million fewer than last year, still folks looking for a big deal. >> a tv for $229. that's big savings. >> some shoppers say they're staying away until after the holiday. >> we're noticing the gap is open. unreal. a day off would be good for everybody. better for everybody. >> i used to be a huge black friday shopper. midnight, i'm good with that. but 5:00 in the afternoon, that's sad. >> meanwhile the big crowd got out of hand in some places. in new jersey a walmart shopper was pepper sprayed and arrested after he got into a dispute with an employee. >> he was unhappy with the manager and the way the store was running the sale. >> across in southern california, a similar scene. a police officer was injured when agitated shoppers got into a fight. >> there was tensions that flared up, people that were cutting in line. >> and shots were fired outside a kohl's department star outside of chicago. shoppers inside continued to hunt for holiday bar against. now, if you're looking to stay away from the crowds this weekend, you can shop online. you may not even have to wait until cyber monday. according to shop.org, more than half of online retailers have already started their holiday shopping discounts. now, we have a territorial conflict bubbling over in east asia, and it threatens to pull the u.s. in. china says its air force is on high alert this morning after scrambling more planes to the east china sea yesterday. beijing is asserting kroefr over what it says is a new maritime defense zone, but china's claim over the territory is not recognized by its neighbors or the u.s. tara mergener is in washington with more. tara, good morning. >> good morning, anne-marie. the zone is controversial because it includes skies over islands in china and japan, the subject of a long territorial dispute. china's new push is making the region very volatile. china's news agency says fighter jets and early warning aircraft claim this new air defense zone over the east china sea. a chinese air force spokesman says it's a defensive measure after south korea, u.s., and japan flew through the zone without warning. beijing is demanding all aircra aircraft identify themselves before flying through. >> how are they going to enforce it? by shooting down a plane? >> analysts say there is no indication that china will use force to defend the area. last week beijing announce add knew air defense identification zones. it overlaps an area japan already says is theirs. despite the tension, the u.s. navy went ahead with its military exercises with japan near the contested area. the u.s. military says this week's drills are not meant to provoke the chinese. >> we planned this exercise a year ago, we're executing it almost exactly as originally planned. >> in the center of the defense zone is a cluster of tiny islands containing rich mineral sources. both china and japan claim the islands. and they have a trip including stops in china, japan, and south korea. an marie. >> tara mergener in washington. thank you, tara. an earthquake in iran killed seven people thursday. it struck about 40 miles from the country's only nuclear plant. iran says it wasn't damaged. iranian state television showed extensive damage to buildings and rubble in the street. homes in the area are not built to withstand earthquakes. >> and this weekend the obama administration faces a big test. americans who try to use the healthcare.gov website will find out if it works. meanwhile as dean reynolds reports, obama care has already changed health insurance for many workers. >> hey, nice seeing you. how are things going? >> as chief human resource officer for the largest drugstore change in american kathleen wilson thompson is at the forefront in a major shift in private health insurance. why is it that walgreens is doing this? >> we're in a competitive environmental and every year we look at our health care costs and decide what's best to provide the right level of coverage for our employees. >> reporter: starting this month employees begin choosing their own health care insurance. it replaces the old model in which walgreens made the selection for its work force. >> where we had two plans we'll now have five plans with five carriers. they'll have over 25 choices that we're going to provide to give them that flexibility. >> the approach is very similar to the public exchanges included in obama care. in both cases, the competitive nature of the insurance exchange is supposed to health restrain rising health care costs. walgreens still makes an contribution to their plea's health care but it's based on the plan the worker selects. the cost to the company should be more manageable and predictable as a result. >> it will save walgreens money, will it not? >> well, overall we're hopeful both our team members as well as the company will enjoy the benefit of this plan. >> reporter: critics of the private exchanges say workers facing the responsibility of choosing their own insurance for the first time may select the cheapest and wind up with inadequate coverage, and there is some anxiety about whether a company's contribution will keep pace with costs over the long term. >> i think you have to look at the trends across america. every major employer is looking at this. >> reporter: the consulting firm accenture predicts that within five years, 40 million people will be enrolled in private health insurance exchanges. dean reynolds, cbs news, chicago. marissa alexander is home this morning after being released from jail. the florida woman invoked the "stand your ground" defense after she fired a warning shot during a fight with her abusive husband. a just rejected her claim. alexander was sentence odd 20 years in prison last year. now an appeals court said the jury was not instructed properly. she has a new trial in march. and there are now new questions about brazil's ability to stage the world's next summer. the construction worker's union says there were safety warnings before the accident. the collapse killed two workers and interrupted construction. well, coming up on the "morning news," honoring veterans. volunteers give thanks to servicemen and women as they celebrate the holidays. this is the "cbs morning news." ♪ [ female announcer ] let betty do the measuring and get a head start on delicious homemade cookies. visit bettycrockercookies.com for fun holiday ideas. betty crocker cookie mix. just pour, mix...love. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. he knows every beat, every note, and every word to danny's songs. 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[ male announcer ] progresso. surprisingly bold flavor for a heart healthy soup. here's a look at today's forecast the in some cities around the country. new york will be mostly sunny, a capitol hilly 37. partly sunny in miami and in chicago. partly sunny in dallas but clouds in los angeles. and time now for a check of the national forecast. the weather shouldn't be a problem if you're planning on hitting the stores for those black friday specials. it will be dry and chilly in the northeast and midwest. in the south it will be dry and slightly warmer. there could be light showers in southern california and rain in the northwest. in sports a crazy game between the pittsburgh steelers and the baltimore ravens. check out this kickoff return. the ravens' jacoby jones is flying down the sidelines. he could score, but he has to avoid steelers coach mike tomlin and gets tackled. then with just over a minute left, kraushing blow. le'veon gets hammered. ravens pull this one out barely, 22-20. and a wild first play. the cowboys' terrance williams fumbles the kickoff return and the ravens craig jenkins runs it in for a td. tony romo had another good night tossing for 200 yards. cowboys tame the raiders, 31-24. and in detroit it was like the packers were dreaming of turkey because they got the stuffing knocked out of them, and not having aaron rodgers certainly didn't help. the lions racked up 40 points. the parkers only managed 10. and a thanksgiving surprise for broncos fans. coach john fox is back. owner pat bolland sent a plane to north carolina and picked him up yesterday. fox is expected to return monday, less than a month after having open heart surgery. his first game will be against the titans on december 8th, but it hasn't been decided if he'll be on the sidelines or in the booth. and when we return, holiday controversy. a second chance for a pizza hut manager who refused to open on thanksgiving day. 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[ female announcer ] only with abreva. here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. washington, d.c., will be sunny today, as will atlanta and mostly sunny in st. louis as well. sunshine in denver also, but seattle will be mostly cloudy with a high of 51. and here's another look at this morning's top story. the black friday shopping frenzy is under way. 97 million americans will head to the mall or shop online today. retailers are expecting holiday shopping sales to rise nearly 4% over last year to more than $600 billion. and a number of stores opened their doors well before the stroke of midnight and have been welcoming shoppers throughout the early morning hours. trina orlando of our pittsburgh affiliate kdka, joins us nowfrom the mall at robinson which is just outside pittsburgh. trina, good morning. >> reporter: anne-marie, good morning to you. shoppers here at the mall at robinson have been at it since just around midnight. we're kind of going through a lull period right now. the first wave of shoppers are starting to make their way home or resting on benches and a new wave of shoppers are getting ready to come in. shoppers here are getting a good deal as they are around the country. the mall has gone all out for them. they have a cab service, and a place where shoppers can photo refuel which we can tell a lot of them need at this time of the night. as with many malls across the country, the mall of robinson is doing their deals in wave this morning so we're expecting to see a whole new wave of shoppers coming in in the next few hours to take advantage of those deals. back to you. >> i applaud those brave souls. trina, make sure you pick up something for yourself while you're out there. trina in robinson. well, a pizza hut manager who said he was fired for refusing to open his store on thanksgiving day is being offered his job back. the restaurant is in elkhart, indiana near indianapolis. he had been with pea stay hut for ten days and christmas and thanksgiving were the only two days the stores were closed so workers could spend time with their families and he said that's why he had to take a stand. >> i'm proud of what i did. i have no regrets. i had no idea it with us going to be so big. it's really cool that people are out there voigs their opinions and supporting me. >> pizza hut says he can come back to work but rohr says he's considering other johns. coming up, a preview of holiday shopping. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news." 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[ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. good morning and welcome to wusa9. today is black friday. november 29th. 2013. i'm jessica doyle. andrea roane and mike hydeck are off today. we have a ladies' morning. hello. >> yeah, kind of full. >> are you guys still full? >> barely fit into my dress today. jessica. >> maybe having that issue myself. suck in. monika samtani will have your timesaver traffic in moments. >> yes i will. >> got to focus on the -- and olga breese is in for howard bernstein and it's a economically one out there. -- chilly one out there. >> it's very cold. in fact i think a lot of folks were already out this morning and heading back out you definitely going to feel that chill. temperatures right now very much on the brisk and chilly side. we've had mainly clearing overnight and that's really let the temperatures drop down and winds are starting to die down as well. although the temperatures are in the 20s. city center near 30 degrees. it is feeling much colder than that. in fact, we are looking at temperatures that are feeling a little bit chillier the clicker is not moving me forward. but -- rest assured that our forecast for today is definitely going to be on the cool side. we will get sunny sunshine through midday into the afternoon. we'll see a little bit of cloud cover move in. but highs today well below average. monika? well, olga you know there's a couple of pieces of business i need to tell everybody. hov lanes are open today. it's a normal business day for metro. vre is on the s. schedule. neomark service today. other than that we're looking great out of southern maryland. you know that mall traffic is going to be what the focus is going to be especially the parking lots. be really careful. a lot of people heading over there in the middle of the night and early this morning. so you know just be very careful especially with pedestrians as well. route 4, route 5, route 301 everything is in good shape right now. across the wilson bridge as well. a live look outside and show you what it looks like first here at the national harbor and headed for the bridge and across into alexandria you will be just fine. back over to the maps, this time as to 66 where again hov restrictions are in effect today. the lanes are open right now on 95. we'll go there live if you're planning to head on the northbound side we'll go to stat 50. northbound side of i-95 looks okay but southbound side, you may find some accident activity right now in dale city and that has been there just for a little bit. back to you guys. thanks so much monika. of course thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to be thankful for the things we love in our lives and some people have a lot to be thankful for after cashing in on black friday deals. to get shoppers to spend more money. last year's sales on black friday totaled more than $11 billion. that made it the biggest shopping day of the year. this year got off to a good start too. as mo langhi reports, tens of thousands of people ran to fair oaks mall to get a jump on the savings. >> reporter: ferris mall opened its doors at 8:00 p.m. tonight and will stay open for 25 and a half straight hour closing at 9:30 tomorrow night. a person can do a lot of shopping in that amount of time. and for the most part shoppers are here for the deals. we've seen stores offering up to 75% off but for some, it's not just the sales that brings them out on thanksgiving night. >> i've been doing this for 15 years and it's just gotten to the point where it's more like the adrenaline rush. than it is looking for the superdeal. >> wouldn't you rather be at home relaxing and hanging out? >> i was there earlier. no time for shopping. >> people go crazy today and tomorrow. they really do and i'm part of it too. >> reporter: behind you is the chaos of the holiday shopping season. you found a nice little place to watch the game over here? you got your soda and you're just kind of hanging out camped out. what's your strategy right here? >> i am. just to hang out until my 13- year-old daughter and her friends are done shopping and my wife is also somewhere in the mall. >> reporter: are you afraid of the damage they're creating to the bank account? >> yeah very much so. but i don't think i have that much of a say so. >> around 11:00 p.m. last night the apartment was -- parking lot was about 80% full with 6500 cars. that averages out to more than 20,000 people mall staffers say. not all of the shopping was people around the nation though. right now on twitter the phrase wal-mart bites is trending. police in garfield, new jersey arrested a 23-year-old man who refused to leave a wal-mart and then allegedly attacked an officer. in a separate incident a police officer was injured and two people were arrested after fights in california at a wal- mart there. a tragic thanksgiving for a man on the job in wheaton. a construction worker fell to his death. it happened at this construction site near poplar run drive. montgomery county police are investigating. no foul play is suspected. police need your help this morning trying to find a missing man who went missing during thanksgiving. 67-year-old james myers was last seen along l. street yesterday. you see his picture right

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