So why did the jury just find the officer not guilty . A fact check at whole foods. And then ed sheeran here live for a Perfect Performance, today, december 8th, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today. Its friday. Nice to have youc with us. Its friday. Were so happy. And we have ed sheeran with us. Its going to be a great day. But we have a lot to get to and its a tough time in california. Those worsening wildfires there. A new one has now roared to live near san diego while crews in and around los angeles struggle we want to get to nbc correspondent Miguel Almaguer. Miguel, good morning to you. Reporter savannah, good morning. Some 500 structures have been destroyed. This is the scene thats been playing out in this community. The fires can travel for miles and wipe out neighborhoods still standing. This morning, six fires are now burning out of control up and down the Southern California coast. Firefighters being stretched to the limits, pushing in to day five of battling the blazes. Extending from Santa Barbara to l. A. With a birdseye view, here is the northern most blaze. The thomas fire has made its way all the way to the pacific ocean. Reporter the thomas fire in Ventura County, just a few hours north 115,000 acres of land, nearly 500 structures damaged or destroyed. Fire Officials Say gusty winds and dry conditions could keep firefighters on the ground for at least another week. The neighborhood now blackened and charred. Its not just the wind but visibility. Firefighters are having a difficult time tracking these fires and they are all on the move. The fastmoving fire leaving Patricia Hampton and her family just 20 minutes to grab their most cherished belongings. The ash was so thick and the fire was huge. Reporter counties beyond just the city light and now a new blaze, the lilac fire, burning rapidly across san diego. Thick, black smoke billowing above. Already thousands of acres on fire there. A state of emergencyor evacuations and road closures in effect. A Mobile Home Park and other structures destroyed by the fastmoving flames. Extreme weather that were facing. As a result, were seeing extreme weather behavior. Reporter dozens of horses were killed while hundreds of thoroughbreds were evacuated to the nearby del mar fairgrounds. More than 6,000 personnel are fighting fires and fatigue. The battle to save the golden state red hot and far from over. The santa ana winds will now weaken in sunday. Thats the good news. The bad news is, they will become more erratic pushing these fires in multiple directions. They cannot catch a break in Southern California. Hoda, savannah . Thank you. Were keeping an eye on the first snow of the season for millions of people from dylan is in for al this morning. From texas to new england. Hello. Houston is 31 degrees so its a very bizarre situation. Baton rouge has only seen measurable snow 23 times and right now is the 23 times. Heres the snow from southern texas which extends 2,000 miles up into new england. We have Winter Weather advisories and winter storm warnings in effect. This includes the suburbs of atlanta where well see delays at the airport. Winter we had they ared advisories, too. Weve got the cold air on the western side of this storm system. So the immediate coastline of north and South Carolina, thats all rain. But you go inland a little bit where the air is colder and were going to see that snow continue to pile up. So lets take a look at some of the snowfall estimates were expecting. Jackson, mississippi, about 2 inches of snow. These purples and where we get into the 4 to 4inch range and into virginia we could see 4 to 6 inches and new jersey, up to 4 inches. I say a widespread 2 to 4 inches into boston. Keep in mind, a lot of this will accumulate on the grassy surfaces because its been so mild lately that the roads will be, for the most part, okay but its time to get the training wheels on. Its hard to imagine how wide of a swath this is. Out of nowhere. Dylan, thank you. Now to a major shakeup on capitol hill. Al franken announced that hes stepping down because of allegations of Sexual Misconduct against him. He was not the only lawmaker to resign on thursday. Kasie hunt is on capitol hill for us. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Senator al franken bowing to intense pressure within his own party and stepping asi against President Trump on his way out. On capitol hill this morning, a dramatic fall from grace. Senator al franken now on his way out. In the coming weeks, i will be resigning as a member of the United States senate. Reporter at times defensive. Some of the allegations against me are simply not true. Others, i remember, very differently. Reporter and also reflective, arguing hes earned a reputation as a champion of women. I know theres been a very different picture of me painted over the last few weeks but i know who i really am. Reporter and taking a parting shot across the aisle. I, of all people, am i weawa that there is some irony in the fact that i am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of Sexual Assault sits in the oval office. Reporter its a stunning end to the politicale former snl star who became a punch line. I know this photo looks bad but, remember, it also is bad. Franken apologized to Leanne Tweeden and tried to keep his job. But when a seventh victim came forward, his party turned on him. Do you think it was the right thing to do . I think it was. Reporter drawing a line in the sand on bad behavior. If roy moore, who denied multiple allegations of Sexual Misconduct with teenagers wins the Alabama Senate race next tuesday. This is not our best foot forward with roy moore and it will have, i think, longterm damage for the party. Reporter also in trouble this morning, republican congressman trent franks of arizona announcing last night he plans to resign next month amid an Ethics Committee against Sexual Misconduct. He acknowledged that he talked to former fle children saying, i deeply regret that my discussion of this option and process in the workplace caused distress. Franks is joining john conyers who has stepped down after thousands across the country have said, me, to. Th next to minnesota, the democratic governor will appoint someone to temporarily fill frankens seat. Savannah, hoda . Kasie, thank you very much. Were seeing new violence and protests in the middle east following President Trumps decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. Nbcs Richard Engel is right there in jerusalem in the thick of things. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, hoda. We are in east jerusalem. Behind me is damascus city, which is a maze of small alleys and streets. We were in the old city to cover palestinian demonstrations against President Trumps recent statement and while we were there we found ourselves in the midst of the israeli crackdown. Clashes this morning over jerusalem in jerusalem as palestinians left a mosque in jerusalems old city. Palestinians trying to demonstrate but Israeli Security forces were ready for them. Police are not allowing the protesters to move out of the old city. Breaking up the demonstrators with force. Pushing and shoving down the narrow allies. They are trying to prevent people from gathering and reaching the main street and trying to break up the demonstration. But before they are able to congregate, for the palestinians, this is their way of showing that to accept the israeli claim to jerusalem. Palestinians want this old city and its mosque to be the centerpiece of their future capital but President Trump seemed to rule that out, backing israel, which claims all of jerusalem as its own. And this isnt just the battle over real estate. For many muslims, this is an issue of faith and justice. Across the islamic world, this mosque is revered as protests have spread to turkey and pakistan and many other places where they believe President Trump is trying to give control to the islamic holy site to israel, a move, they say, they will fight for. There have been other clashes in jerusalem and other palestinian areas in the west bank. We spoke to israels Police Spokesman and he said expert Security Forces have been deployed here in jerusalem. He wouldnt say how many but its enough to contain the situation. [000 11 59;00] in the meantime, the crisis over a looming Government Shutdown has been solved temporarily. Nbcs National CorrespondentPeter Alexander has more. Good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. President trump is going to sign that spending bill today. The bottom line here, when it comes to the threat of a Government Shutdown, congress effectively kicked the can down the street until later this month. Capitol hill crisis averted, at least for now. The motion to reconsider is on the table. The joint resolution has passed. Reporter republicans avoiding a shutdown ahead of todays deadline passing a shortterm bill to fund the government but only for another two weeks pushing it to december 22nd, just before christmas. The votes coming hours after President Trump hosted congressional leaders, including Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi who bailed on an invitation just laste demands for money for opioid disaster and disaster relief. Compounding the challenge for republicans, their race to put a tax cut bill on the president s desk by chris. Also on the hill, just days after President Trump tweeted that the fbi was in tatters, the bureaus director Christopher Wray defended the reputation of the fbi. There is no finer institution than the fbi and the men and women who work there and are its very beating heart. Reporter in a politically charged hearing with republicans casting doubt on robert mueller. Meanwhile, congressman john lewis who was beaten for defending civil rights will avoid the ceremony. He says its an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum. The white house calling it unfortunate that lewis and another Congressional Black Caucus member wont be attending. Alater today, President Trump will head south for a campaignstyle rally and just days before alabamas senate election, roy moore is not expected to attend. The white house says the president will have a physical exam early next year, that the results of it will be made public. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders dismissed his health saying that his throat was dry. Savannah, hoda, back to you. Peter alexander, thank you. Also this morning, we are learning more about the victims and the gunman in a deadly shooting at a high school in new mexico. Nbcs Tammy Leitner is there. Good morning, tammy. Reporter goor still so many Unanswered Questions this morning. We still dont know if the shooter was a student at the school or why he did this. What we do know is that a small tightknit community has come together and is grieving the loss of two teenaged victims. Do we have contact with the school . This morning, police are trying to determine a motive in a deadly high school shooting. Sg i think im at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of that building right now. The windows shot out. I think the officers went inside. Description of the suspect . Anyone have description of suspect . Reporter two students were killed at this remote high school in aztec, new mexico. The victims were identified as Francisco Fernandez and High School Junior casey jordan marquez. She was a wonderful girl and i know shed be very happy that people are here to witnessed a very heinous and horrific act and there are two children who have been killed. Reporter the suspect also dead. Officials describing the shooter as a male but offering few other details. It happened early thursday as classes were getting under way. Shots rang out. [ gunfire ] terrified students and teachers hiding in classrooms, some behind locked doors. There was a lot of banging going around and the next thing we knew our teachers were yelling for us to get in the closet and that it was gunshots. These are places where we send our kids to be safe. Reporter some residents in disbelief. Others offering their condolences to the fallen. Im so grateful that you were out here tonight. So grateful for you to be here and support each other in this horrific event that has taken place in our school and i just want to tell my students, i love you guys. Reporter this Small Community now left to pick up the pieces. Classes have been canceled today. Authorities still have not released the name of the gunman or how he died. Were expecting an update in a few hours from the sheriffs office. Hoda . Tammy, thanks so much. Sad story out there in new mexico. Another check of the weather. Miss dylan is here. Good morning, guys. Taking a look at what is going on across the rest of the country, we have fires in the southwest. Instead of 80mileperhour gusts well see 60mileperhour wind gusts. Very poor air quality. Lakeeffect snow in the east and then snow from texas to new england. Thats a look at national weather. Your local forecast in 30 se good morning. Temperatures are cold and midto upper 30s. 38 in washington and there is a storm system pretty far down to the south by the time it organizes offshore, heres what it will look like locally, late tonight early tomorrow. Well start to have the snow moving at 8 00 a. M. For your saturday. Were going to be on the edge of this thing so by lunchtime it will clear out. Could see 1 to 3 inches around the district and less than one farther north and west. Dylan, thank you. Just ahead , disturbing video. A Police Officer kills an unarmed father and why the jury found him not guilty of murder. Amazon promises to slash prices since buying whole foods. But have they . First, this is today on nbc. P. But have they . Youll be coming up, zac efron is stopping by. And ed sheeran with a performance that will be perfect. S it does but theyre not all the same. Who knew . I had no idea. So she said, look for one thats shaped like a dental tool with a round brush head. Go pro with oralb. Oralbs rounded brush head surrounds each tooth to gently remove more plaque. And unlike sonicare, oralb is the only electric toothbrush brand accepted by the American Dental Association for its my mouth feels so clean. Ill only use an oralb. Oralb. Brush like a pro. I met bruce i saw on his lapel ches got a purple heart. E bruce we started talking about the service. I outrank him. chris [laughs] yeah. Meals on wheels reaches so many people. Its impactful beyond anything ive ever done in my life. bruce the meals and his friendship really mean, means a lot to me. vo through the subaru share the love event, weve helped deliver over onepoint seven million meals to those in need. Get a new subaru and well donate two hundred fifty dollars more. chris and bruce put a little love in your heart. People would stare. Psoriasis does that. It was tough getting out there on stage. I wanted to be clear. I wanted it to last. So i kept on fighting. I found something that worked. And keeps on working. Now . They see me. See me. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Never give up. See me. See me. Clear skin can last. Dont hold back. Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. Progresso soups are so full of magnificient and delicious ingredients. They print the label on a blue ribbon. I dont see any other blue ribbon labels around here. Except when im there, wearing the one i got for winning best at being the best. Progresso soup you simply must taste it. Im and im an emt. Erer when i get a migraine at work, its debilitating. If i call out with a migraine, thats one less ambulance to serve a community. I just dont want to let these people down. Excedrin migraine. Relief that works as hard as you do. Ito become dangerous. D for an everyday item new tide pods child guard pack. Align, press and unzip. 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. 7 26 is your time now on this friday, december 8th, 2017. Good morning to you, im eun yang. We can see our first snowflakes of the season today. This morning, vd. O. T. Is heading out to make sure the roads are ready for the flakes. Authorities will temporarily shut down parts of 95 in Stafford County to begin searching for pamela butlers remains