Goldblum share their personal connection to the landmark and a special collaboration paying tribute to the new york icons. Special it the word. Its wednesday, november 27, 2019. Heres todays eyeopener. Two systems pummeling the u. S. With rain and snow and wind. Anxious to get home for thanksgiving. Millions of Holiday Travellers battle the elements. A mess. Airports, a huge issue, the wind. Flight in two hours, got to make it. Out of control wildfire. Heavy downpours could trigger mudslides. Burning under some of the toughest Fire Fighting conditions. A rock climber took a scary fall our el capitan. Happy to be mostly okay. The New York Times reporting the president knew about the whistleblowers complaint before he released aid to ukraine. Sheofs whats happening in polls . Everybody said, thats really [ bleep ]. The e. Coli outbreak blamed and romaine lettuce blamed on seven states. Sparking a massive fire at a Chemical Plant in east texas. Medical ecac saixs under way. All that. And papa johns turning heads. Over 40 pizza the last 30 days its not the same pizza. 40 to make sure . And all that matters. Your countrys stupidest tradition took place once again i. Hereby grant you a full and complete pardon. When he heard the news, Paul Manafort said [ gobbling sound ] on cbs this morning. Shock of the decadee in college basketball. Top branched duke stied with austin in overtime. Hes got it theyve got a timeout and dont use it yes the lummer jackes have done it. The biggest win in Program History captioning funded by cbs all the blue nan auk duke fans are grieving. In the fetal position but will feel better. Tony not at the able. Where is he . Top of the Empire State Building. Tony, going anywhere today for thanksgiving, might be a little tough for you to get around especially in the upper midwest and on the west coast. Its been snowing all night in minnesota and a powerful storm with Hurricane Force gusts pounding california and oregon. Well show you the worst conditions on that in a moment. First, lets go to the 86 floor of the Empire State Building here in new york city because tony depopal is there now. How does it look . Tony dokoupil. Reporter its beautiful up here. Man, it is beautiful. Im always reminded it is bigger and better in person than it could ever be in your memory. Like it doesnt fit in your mind. The sun is coming up over there. The buildings still sparkling and a golden glow and the building is looking better than in decades. Eave been all over this place. Amazing from top to bottom. Its offer popular views for 80 years of course but the views go the a little better, because workers finished a multimilliil dollar renovation opens for the public, drum roll, please, this morning. Today. Ahead we take you inside the xperience include be an Interactive Museum and concludes in the 102nd ob observatory floor above where i am here now. Cbs news climate and weather contributor give us a check of the weather. How are things looking for the parade . A concern. Because winds could gust close to around 40 miles an hour. Could be worst. Ive been here at negative 20, felt like. Tracking two systems across the country now. One across the great lakes. One on the west coast. Show you the graphics. Well go through. First storm zooming into the great lakes, heavy snow on the north side. Wind gusts around chicago today over 40 miles an hour. Big storm slamming into the west making its way towards the south. Talk about the great lakes low. Thats going to be moving east. Watch out for flight delays in chicago, although not really raining there now. Gusts over 40 miles an hour during the day today. That will slide to the east and to new york city tomorrow. We are concerned about the parade. I think winds will flirt with that criteria of around 34 miles an hour and probably as high as around 40 miles an hour or so. Concerned about that. On the west, a big storm slamming in likely to bring at least two feet of powder to the ski resorts. All i can do is dream about being at any one of those ski resorts in the west. A ton of powder. A great ski season. Not dreaming of anybodys condition. Ours here is fantastic. Beautiful. The Empire State Building has its own zip code its so big. The micro forecast is beautiful and getting more beautiful as the sun comes up. Couldnt be better up here. Thank you. For now back to you in studio 57. We got it. Hope Mother Nature is kind tomorrow for the parade. And balloons. Flanning year long. Thank you. Weather at ground level could bring misery for millions of thanksgiving travelers dealing with heavy snow in upper midwest. Holiday traffic jams and powerful winds that could disrupt flights. Snow blamed for at least one deadly crash and the storm moving now towards the northeast. Don dahler and kris van cleave watching travel trouble today. Don in minneapolis. Start with you. Good morning. How much snow do you expect there . Reporter good morning. Well, some areas are expecting up to a foot, but i think here in minneapolis, probably have about six inches. Really difficult to tell, though, because the wind keeps swirling. Ofthe snow around. Minneso minnesotans now to do deal with it. About 800 snow plows out clearing the way for buses and commuters but its caused a problem among a lot of people and Holiday Travel plans. This is the troubling view for thousands of drivers around the country. A near whiteout. Dozens of spinouts and the crashes reported across thousands of miles of interstates. Many of which were shut down for safety. Was here stranded, cant get to the locations where we can be with our families for thanksgiving. Reporter interstate 70 in eagle county, colorado, was shut down for hours after a tractortrailer jackknifed. Two other semis slammed into it. One of the drivers was killed. To understand a sense of the danger people face, we went with driving instructor jeff anderson. Were seeing a lot of people sliding off of roads and highways, why is that . They overcorrect. They forget i have to stay calm. Its human nature to run away from a problem, to hide, to close our eyes. We cant do that. We need to focus where are we going, keep our line of sight where it is we want to go, and thats how we get there. Reporter the storm slammed minnesota last night dumping upwards of ten inches of snow across the state. Go to the other side of the car and put your backpack in. Reporter the Devine Family in eden prairie made their escape just before the storm hit. Dont want to be caught in the roads and also the traffic. We figure that theres going to be a mass exodus. So were trying to get on the road before all of those other cheeseheads make their way to wisconsin. So reporter as the storm moves northeast, authorities are saying just take it slow, and be aware that these snowplows are out trying to clear. Give them wide berth. Also, you have to call ahead. Make sure no cancellations at airports and check on road closures. Its not the kind of storm you want to be stranded in. You dont. One of the travelers out on the road, our transportation correspondent kris van cleave in boston ready to face thanksgiving traffic from boston to d. C. Kris, are you sure you want to do this . Reporter no. I feel like i lost a bet. But were doing it. We and, you know, more than 49 million other americans are going to cram into vehicles, are going feel way too small by end of the journey and drive somewhere for thanksgiving. With all the weather out there, that trek to your thanksgiving dinner is going to be anything but easy. Giant thanksgiving storms are pummelling roads across the u. S. And snarling air travel with thousands of delays and cancelations. Its busy. Theres delays all over the screen. Reporter rain and wind will bear down on parts of the east and west coasts as traffic hits its peak this afternoon. More than tripling drive times in atlanta, new york, los angeles, houston, and boston. People should be extra careful. Reporter Massachusetts State Police have stepped up patrols. Lieutenant anthony deer knows thanksgiving means more cars, more traffic, and more accidents. Watch this vehicle here. This white one. Twice hes crossed over and jerked back. Just did it again . Yes. Reporter we spotted this suv swerving on the massachusetts turnpike. License, registration please. Reporter the driver glen holmes got a warning. He was heading to thanksgiving in connecticut. What was going on there . I was trying to adjust the volume on my audible. Reporter on the rails, this is amtraks busiest season. College student jada heinz is heading to old bridge, new jersey. Bostons really hectic to get home for thanksgiving. Reporter tsa expects a Record Number of flyers. 2. 7 million today alone. United airlines Ceo Oscar Munoz says planes will be fuller in part because of the granded 737 max. It is going to be a little patient and empathy goes a long way always. Reporter patience and empathy. Here is the look at our drive. About 440 miles between here at Copley Square in boston and washington, d. C. Now, weve got the truck all loaded up. We are going to be going mostly down interstate 95, which, of course, is the busiest and most congested freeway in the country. On a good day it should take seven to eight hours. You can check in throughout the day and see if its a travel dream or misery. Checking in throughout the day. Kris i think you won the bet, because, listen. Think of all the good friends youre going to meet along the way. Think about that. Reporter thats a great way to look at it, gayle. Were going to make all kind of new friends today. Yes. Youre welcome. Thank you, kris van cleave. See you tonight. Thanks a lot. An explosion at a Chemical Plant in texas prompted evacuations that stretched over half amile radius. Doorbell video shows the moment of the explosion. Witnesses say it was felt miles a away. Police say there is extensive damage throughout the city. The company that owns this plant says three people have minor injuries. The fire is still burning in port nasius, 85 miles east of houston. Michelle choy of khou reports khou, reporting from the scene. Reporter good morning. The sun has risen you can see the thick black smoke behind me. The plant where the explosion happened produces Chemical Petroleum products. Crews are on the ground monitoring air quality pip the exact cause is still under investigation. Video posted to social media shows how intense the flame was. People living in port neches heard a blast shortly after 1 00 a. M. The explosion blew out windows of homes several miles away. This part of texas is a major hub for oil and gas industries. The company that owns the plant says on its website it employs more than 200 people. Reporting for cbs news this morning. A new report could challenge one of the president s key defenses against impeachment. According to the New York Times the president released the ukraine aid hes accused of withholding for political gain only after he knew the issue was the subject of a whistleblower complaint. At a rally in florida last night the president once again slammed the impeachment process. Hes been invited to appear at a public hearing next week and the white house says theyre reviewing the invitation. Traveling with the president , in west palm beach, florida. What else are we learning . Reporter good morning anthony and good morning to everybody. Two new transcripts released yesterday from closeddoor testimonies and we learned that there was tension within that department that withheld u. S. Military aid to ukraine, and at that rowdy rally last night right here in florida, President Trump again insisted he has done nothing wrong. They take this perfect call, and they want to impeach your president. Reporter at a Campaign Rally in florida tuesday night, President Trump railed against the impeachment inquiry claiming it was falling flat with voters. You see whats happening in the polls . Everybody said, thats really bull [ bleep ] reporter new polls show support for impeachment at 50 , 43 are against. Those numbers which have remained steady since october suggest weeks of public hearings did little to change public opinion. That might change next week with a new round of hearings. The administration is reporter house judiciary chairman jerry nadler gave the president and his lawyers until sunday to decide if they will attend the hearing. So far the white house has refused to cooperate in the inquiry and blocked those in President Trumps inner circle from participating. Even though mr. Trump at one point tweeted he would actually like them to testify. Democrats say the white house froze u. S. Military aid to ukraine to pressure the country to investigate the bidens. Last week, sondland testified that i told him, quote, what do you want from ukraine . I said, i want nothing, this is a quote. I want no quid pro quo. Reporter President Trump made those remarks to his Eu Ambassador september 9th, but a new New York Times report says the president was briefed about the whistleblowers complaint in late august. So he would have already known there were concerns about a quid pro quo. Meanwhile, newly released transcripts from the only official to testify from the office that actually froze the aid revealed two white house officials resigned in part because of concerns about withholding it. In a new interview, President Trump distanced himself from rudy giuliani, denying he ever sent his personal attorney to ukraine to get dirt on the bidens on his behalf. Giuliani backed that claim telling cbs news the president never sent me to ukraine. However, the Eu Ambassador, gordon sondland, testified he worked with giuliani to pressure ukraine on those investigations because the president directed him to do so. Gayle . All right. Thank you so much. An elite professional climber is recovering this morning after a terrifying fall and rescue at Yosemite National park. Emily harrington was trying to scale el capitan which stands a towering 3,200 feet. Shes very lucky because she suffered only mine irinjury its and a mild concussion. We caught with her after the fall along with her boyfriend. Nikki battiste shows the incredible fight for survival. The worst definitely went through my head quite a bit, and i was really afraid. Reporter Emily Harrington knows the risks, but the fivetime u. S. Sport climbing champion slipped and fell about 40 feet while attempting to climb yosemites danger el capitan with only a rope for safety. I hit some things on the way down and got pretty banged up. Reporter harringtons team found her collapsed on a ledge in freezing temperatures. They worked on immobilizing her spine while trying to keep her conscious. A search and rescue crew got to them within 90 minutes to rush harrington to the hospital. It got really scary for a while. Starting to imagine what the rest of our lives might look like. Reporter the veteran climber also credits her climbing partner alex honold for helping rescue her. In 2017, honold became the first person to climb el capitan without a safety rope. Harrington had free climbed the mountain in six days back in 2015. This time she was trying to reach its peak in less than 24 hours. Just last year, two experienced climbers plunged to their deaths while scaling el capitan. This routes very, very challenging. Its really the top less than 1 of climbers can even attempt this route. Reporter professional mountain guide john cadrowski it says preparing for the highrisk climbs takes years. The mindset that goes into the climb, the planning that goes into the climb, all the details probably saved her life. Reporter harrington says the fall isnt going to stop her from trying to conquer the 3,200foot climb once again. Obviously climbing is inherently dangerous and risky, and we take risks when we do it. And im still going to do that. Reporter for cbs this morning, im nikki battiste. So glad emilys okay. I was going to say, im glad shes okay. Doesnt sound like shes changing her mind about trying nope. The boyfriend adrian was here and they always say its dangerous, they know it, but they love doing it. Black friday can be a boom time for scammers on line. Ahead, some of the warning signs to watch out for. Orce good morning. An active weather pattern as we head through the day looking at scattered showers. Could see an isolated thunderstorm with brief heavy downpours or even small hail. That is possible, but also catching some sunshine, as well. Along the coast upper 40s. Low 5os for the bay. Mid 50s inland. A cool day all across the bay area. A few showers for tomorrow. A break on friday. More wet weather into the weekend. Ahead well go back to tonight at the newly transformed Empire State Building. Were headed down to the 80th floor to see the final piece of this massive renovation. Ahead on cbs this morning, what visitors can learn about the world around them on their way to that amazing view. Everybody get new deals all day during amazons black friday sale. Low prices and Free Shipping on millions of items. Needs somebody to love the fun starts november 28. If you have moderate to thsevere rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. 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