On the case. Heres Homeland Security correspondent jeff pegues. I want the American People to know that we are taking every possible step to keep our homeland safe. Reporter flanked by his National Security team, today, president obama assured americans that while there was no credible threat, Law Enforcement officers across the nation were working overtime to keep it that way. For the 25 Million People expected to use airports over the next few days, that security will be visible, like here at Los Angeles International airport, where heavily armed officers are on patrol. But nationwide, some Airport Police officers complain security is blind to the so called insider threat. At many airports some workers do not routinely go through security. The American Alliance of Airport Police officers is calling for mandatory screening for all airport employees. Marshall mclain is with the organization. You and i, when we travel on screened. Why not have employees screened as well . Reporter the department of Homeland Security says it is reducing Access Points for employees and looking into mandatory screening. Secretary jeh johnson were evaluating whether more is necessary right now. Thats something that i and tsa has been focused on as recently as today. Reporter several thousand officers will be on duty in new york city along the thanksgiving day parade route. On the rails, heavily armed police are along amtrak routes in the northeast. To show the system is safe, secretary johnson took the train this afternoon. But the bottom line seems to be that americans should go about their business and enjoy the holidays. But, jim, Law Enforcement is advising people to be vigilant, especially in public spaces. Jeff, thank you. 42 million americans will be traveling by automobile. Transportation correspondent kris van cleave now on what theyll be facing. Reporter its expected to be the busiest thanksgiving holiday on the road since 2007. Erin misar is driving from rochester, new york, to durham, north carolina. Our gps all of a sudden added another hour on to our travel time, so that was super unexpected. Reporter just as those 42 million americans hit the road, the National HighwaTraffic Safety administration reported a sharp spike in traffic deaths for the first half of 2015. 16,225 people died up over 8 from last year. If the trend holds for the year that would be the sharpest percentage increase since 1946. The biggest reason, almost half of those killed in Passenger Vehicles were not wearing their seat belts. Backseat passengers are a particular concern as theyre less likely to buckle up, and 22 states do not require it. This dash camera shows they are still very much at risk in a crash. Dr. Jim hedlund studied backseat passenger behavior. It takes a second you dont have to think about it. Its cheap, its easy, and it may save your life. Reporter plummeting gas prices, the lowest on thanksgiving since 2008, may also be a factor in the rise in traffic deaths, says aaas tom calcagni. The more people that are on the road and the more people that are driving longer distances, the greater the risk. Reporter one trend aaa has noticed, more people leaving on tuesday. Jim, aaa hopes that makes the drive on wednesday less terrible. Kris van cleave on this getaway wednesday. Thank you. From the rockies to the great lakes, snow, ice, and rain are expected to create rough sledding on the roads tomorrow. Overnight, snow fell across the west. Carter evans shows us where it really piled up. Reporter in californias sierra nevada, a foot of new snow made driving treacherous. So dangerous out here you really want to get your chains on so you can make, you know, the safest drive up there. Reporter the prewinter storm covered roads in oregon and brought 50mileperhour wind near lack tahoe. Further east in colorado, the wind snapped utility poles. And in washington state, hurricaneforce winds splintered trees and knocked out power, according to resident vin chawla. It was rocking. We had probably three or four large branches hit the house, went outside, looked up, and saw branches flying, hitting neighbors roofs. Reporter along the california coast, king tides up to eight feet deep flooded San Francisco streets, and huge waves pounded coastal buildings in san diego, providing a scary show for diners in this restaurant. But misery for some is paradise for others. California ski resorts are seeing three times their normal snowfall and their earliest opening in 10 years. Carter evans, cbs news, los angeles. In chicago tonight, there are calls for calm following the release of a graphic video showing a white Police Officer fatally shooting an African American teenager. This happened 13 months ago, but the officer was not charged until yesterday. Reporter two more Police Dash Cam videos of the october 2014 incident have just emerged and while neither sheds much light on the shooting, one shows a different angle. 17yearold Laquan Mcdonald is on the ground dying from 16 Bullet Wounds as the police, including the officer who did the shooting, stand around. The release of Police Videos sent protesters into the streets overnight and this afternoon. City officials and mcdonalds relatives have called for calm, but there is frustration that it took more than 400 days to charge the cop Jason Van Dyke. Do you think the powers that be wanted this case to just go away . I think so. Reporter Howard Brookins is on the city council. When the victims appear to be underprivileged or minorities, that it takes a long time for justice to come their way. Reporter for now, officer van dyke is being held at the his lawyer is dan herbert. Hes really fearful for his whats going to happen to his wife and kids. But hes hes hanging in there. Reporter van dyke has had 18 citizen complaints against him in 14 years, including allegedly Excessive Force and racial epithets. None resulted in discipline. And herbert says the tapes dont tell the entire story. His client, he said, felt mcdonald made a threatening gesture. Can i see those threatening gestures if i looked at the tape closely . You cant see what my client saw. Reporter van dyke will next be in court on monday when a judge will decide whether to grant him bail or keep him in jail, jim, in the custody of the cook county sheriff. Dean reynolds covering for us tonight in chicago. Thank you. The cbs overnight news will be right back. Together we can help them with three simple words. My name is chris noth and i will listen. From maine to maui, thousands of High School Students across the country are getting in on the action by volunteering in their communities. Chris young action teams of High School Students are joining volunteers of america and Major League Baseball players to help train and inspire the next generation of volunteers. Carlos pea its easy to start an action team at your school so you, too, can get in on the action. Get in on the action at actionteam. Org. cause youll be in my heart yes, youll be in my heart from this day on now and forevermore. Shouldnt we be theirs . Visit your local shelter, adopt a pet. Youll be in my heart no matter what. Cbs cares. If you were a hippie in the 60s, you need to know. Its the dawning of the age of aquarius. Yeah, and Something Else thats cool. What . Osteoporosis is preventable. All osteos preventable . Right on if you dig your bones, protect them. The u. S. Commander in afghanistan said today American Forces violated the rules of engagement when they mistakenly bombed a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders last month. The airstrike in the Northern City of kunduz killed at least 30 civilians. More now from david martin. Reporter it was one of the worst accidents of the afghan war, and it was caused by what general John Campbell described as a perfect storm of mistakes, committed by Americas Elite Special operations forces. This was a tragic but avoidable accident caused primarily by human error. Reporter after nearly five days of nonstop fighting in the city of kunduz, american commandos were holed up in a Police Station with afghan troops. The afghans requested a strike on a nearby government building which had been taken over by taliban fighters. An ac130 gunship was called in by the american ground commander. The gunship was given the coordinates of the government building, but its targeting system zeroed in on an open field instead. The air crew visually identified the closest structure that resembled the government building they were supposed to strike. They did not know it, but that building was in fact the hospital run by Doctors Without Borders. Before opening fire, the gunship provided the coordinates of the target to a command center at bagram airfield. The command center knew those coordinates belonged to the hospital, which was on a no strike list, but nobody put two and two together. The gunship opened fire. Someone from Doctors Without Borders called bagram to report the attack, but by the time the command center realized the mistake, the gunship had already ceased fire. All this happened at a time when the american combat role in afghanistan had supposedly ended, and under the new rules of engagement, the american ground commander did not even have the authority to call in that strike. Some of the commanders involved in the strike have been relieved of their duties, and now face possible disciplinary action. Jim. David martin at the pentagon, thank you. In the northern iraqi city of sinjar, kurdish fighters have discovered tunnels used by isis fighters to survive u. S. Airstrikes. It reveals an underground city with electricity, plenty of food, and stacks of ammunition. All of this was built up during the year isis controlled sinjar. Kurdish forces retook the city two weeks ago. One of the two russian airmen shot down after venturing into turkish airspace yesterday was rescued today by syrian allies. The other was killed by the militants on the ground. The survivor denied turkeys claim that it gave repeated warnings before firing on the russian plane. He said he never heard one. Holly Williams Joins us now from istanbul. Holly, a lot of finger pointing but for the time being at least it seems cooler heads are prevailing. Reporter thats right, jim. This looked like a very dangerous situation just 24 hours ago. We had an american nato ally shooting down a russian warplane after it allegedly strayed for just 17 seconds into turkish airspace. We had a dead russian pilot, and we had the russian president , vladimir putin, threatening serious consequences. Today, though, it is very clear that all of the players in this drama, including the u. S. And nato, want to avoid a conflict. The turkish president , tayyip erdogan, said today that he did not want to see an escalation and russia said that it would not wage war against turkey. So a crisis has been averted this time, but that doesnt solve the underlying problem the u. S. , russia, turkey, iran, and other countries have all taken sides in syrias war, and they are all now being drawn deeper and deeper into the conflict and perhaps closer to a conflict with each other. But for the time being no escalation. Holly williams reporting for us tonight from turkey. Thank you. Today, the family of the late football great Frank Gifford revealed he had a degenerative brain disease known as cte. An autopsy confirmed it. Gifford died in august at the age of 84. Cte can result from repeated hits on the football field. Anna werner tells us gifford suffered plenty of them but one in particular stood out. Reporter it was one of the most devastating hits in nfl history. Future hall of famer Frank Gifford was leveled catching a pass against the philadelphia eagles. The play, which came to be known as the hit, sidelined gifford for more than a season. Disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or cte, confirmed what his family had long suspected after giffords 13year career taking numerous hits. He died of natural causes. Wife, Kathie Lee Gifford he never wanted to lose his dignity. He had seen so much of that through the years and thats what i prayed, that the lord would take him the way he wanted to go. Reporter researchers at Boston University told us today that 88 of the 92 former nfl players they examined suffered from cte, thats 96 . Dr. Robert cantu heads the Boston Universitys cte center. Sometimes it can be one horrific single injury, but mostly its repetitive head injuries. Reporter both the new york giants and the nfl said today they appreciate the gifford familys efforts to help advance understanding of cte. Jim, the nfl said it is not waiting for science but is working now to improve the safety of the game. Anna werner, thank you very much. Still ahead is thanksgiving eve. America gets ready to hit the stores. And at the white house, a fowl is that detergent was like half the price and well have to use like double maybe more im going back to the store . Yes you are. Dish issues . Get cascade platinum. One pac cleans tough food better than 6 pacs of the bargain brand combined. Cascade. It seems that every year, we have to watch out for different types of germs. Which is why its important for your wipes to kill a Broad Spectrum of germs. Lysol wipes kill 99. 9 of germs, including 8 different types of cold and flu viruses. To help protect your family. Its become a thanksgiving tradition. Most major retailers will be open tomorrow so americans can start their holiday shopping. Of course, many are open 24 7 online. Trenton, new jersey, is what the online retailer calls a fulfillment center, and the holiday rush is already in full swing there. In order to keep up, amazon has hired 100,000 extra Seasonal Workers. One of those is 20yearold zahmir ibezim, a College Student looking to save up money before he heads back to school in january. The money you make here, what are you going to use it for . Im going to use it to pay back school. So this is to make money to pay off some loans . Yes. Amazons hiring is a 25 increase from last year but they are the exception. Overall, Holiday Hiring is expected to be just slightly higher than last season. Fedex is adding 55,000 workers, roughly 5 more than 2014. Major retailers like macys and target will add the same amount of workers as last year. Andrew challenger is the Vice President of the Employment Firm challenger, gray, and christmas. Because so much of the Holiday Spending is now being done online, the jobs are changing. Now more of the jobs, instead of being in the front room, are moving into shipping and handling, into warehouses, and into the actual delivery of those products. Jeanette washburn, a mother of six, is working in the Amazon Warehouse for the first time. So its good to have a little extra cash . Absolutely. To do something thats just maybe a little out of the ordinary for the household. Do you want to do this full time . You know, if that was offered to me, i would consider it, definitely, but ill be back next season for sure. Last year, more than 20,000 of amazon Seasonal Workers were offered fulltime positions after the holiday rush was over. President obama continued a thanksgiving tradition today. [ laughter ] granting pardons to a couple of turkeys named honest and abe. That one is abe. The president thanked his daughters, malia and sasha, for joining him for the ceremony. He said, they do this solely because it makes me feel good, not because they actually think this is something i should be doing. The pope shares his biggest safety concern with our allen pizzey as he visits africa. Next. Pope francis arrived in kenya today, his first stop on his firstever trip to africa. Cbss allen pizzey is traveling with the pope. Allen, the spiritual leader of the worlds 1. 2 billion catholics is now in an area where there has been brutal fighting between christians and muslims. What is he hoping to accomplish . Reporter jim, i think the first thing he wants to do is bring the message of peace and reconciliation. Muslims can all sit down together, they should sit down together. Violence is wrong. Hell also talk about the environment, but that all comes back to his message that deprivation leads to terrorism. If youve got people who are deprived, theyve got reasons to fight, theyve got reasons for ethnic differences, thats a worry, jim. Early next week his itinerary takes him to the Central African republic, which is a war zone. Does he seem concerned about his own safety . Reporter as usual, the answer to that is no. Hes using open popemobiles and vatican officials, when you ask if hes wearing body armor, laugh as if thats preposterous. On the plane today, i asked if he was worried about the trip, and he said, to tell you the truth, the only thing im worried about is mosquitoes. When i said, me, too, he went like this and said, did you bring your spray, and smiled. And