>> that's awesome. >> rub elbows in there with her. >> all rooting for stanford in the game tomorrow. >> of course. from space eventually, too. a lot of reaction to the kyle rittenhouse verdict, nothing on all counts. that wisconsin jury aquits the teenager for killing two protesters during a racial justice rally last year. >> the move by minority leader kevin mccarthy that made democrats wait a long time for the vote to go their way.

and thousands of giant sequoias wiped out by wildfires. the new eye-opening numbers on one of the oldest things on earth. the news at 5:30 starts right now. good evening. and thanks for being with us on this friday. >> not guilty on all counts. that's the decision of a dozen jurors in kenosha, wisconsin. kyle rittenhouse, the teenager who shot and killed two people and injured a third is free tonight. nbc's jay gray joins us live from kenosha with reaction to this verdict. jay? >> when the verdict was announced and finally that news made it outside the courthouse, the steps were filled with protesters, those supporting kyle rittenhouse as well as those wanting to see him spend the rest of his life in jail. looking now a few hours later, just a handful of people left on

the courthouse steps here, and it is mostly quiet across kenosha right now. >> not guilty. >> five times. >> not guilty. >> the court clerk reads allowed. >> not guilty. >> the jury's verdict. >> not guilty. >> kyle rittenhouse breaking down as he is cleared of all five charges after killing two protesters and wounding a third during a march in kenosha. >> he wishes none of this would have ever happened. as he said, when he testified, he did not start this, and we're thankful in more ways than one. >> the town more than a year later is still tense. >> people have a right with the second amendment, i'm a veteran, people have a right to carry, to defend themselves. >> and still divided after today's decision. >> there's no way that you can justify on the streets of

america that an individual can carry an automatic weapon, an ar-15, and shoot and kill anybody under any reason. >> admittedly after the verdict, police patrolling the streets, an uneasy tension, hanging over kenosha. and those police spill out and around the courthouse right now and i can tell you some of the streets blocked off during the trial have been reopened, trying to get back to life before all of this. >> i'm sure it's going to take some time. jay gray, thank you very much for the update. appreciate it. a lot of mixed emotions out there. meanwhile, president biden returned to the white house today, he was asked for his reaction to the rittenhouse verdict. the president said, we need to trust the jury system. >> well, look, i stand by what the jury had concluded. the jury system works. and we have to abide by it. >> we have emotionally charged verdicts like this, it's challenging to look at both sides equally.

let's bring in retired santa clara county judge cordell. thanks for joining us this evening. how do you separate emotion here from justice? how much are hard is it for the judge, the jury and all of us in the public tonight? >> it's very difficult to do. but what is important to understand is what the law is and how it was carried out in the courtroom. the burden was on the prosecutor and the prosecutor tried to convince the jury that kyle rittenhouse was an active shooter, and they failed to do it, primarily because kyle rittenhouse's defense was self-defense. in wisconsin, the law requires that when a self-defense claim is raised, the prosecutors have to disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. in most states, it's just the opposite, if you claim self-defense, the burden is on you to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was self-defense. and also, what happened in this case is that there was a jury instruction that said in this

case that the jurors had to look at what happened through the eyes of then 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse. so it wasn't in hindsight, they had to assess the reasonableness of his actions, and decide whether or not his belief that he had to use self-defense was reasonable. and apparently, the jury bought it. >> you bring up some very clear points. we appreciate it. people are quick to point out the racial overtones of this case. was that an issue for the jury itself? >> you know, it's hard to say that that was an issue specifically, when i know there was at least one, there was only one african-american on the jury, and they were, this incident happened as a result of a protest, and it was a peaceful protest because the only person who shot anyone and killed anyone was kyle rittenhouse, was in the wake of the shooting of mr. blake, and he was shot seven times in the back by a police

officer. so with regard to race, you know, every part of our legal system has bias in it. in this one, i saw the bias really on, from the judge. i saw a judge who was very biased in favor of mr. rittenhouse, and really against the prosecution. and there were just a lot of indications that this judge was really in rittenhouse's corner. and that bias was just absolutely improper, inappropriate, should never have been there. >> it's interesting you bring that up. can you give us one example of how that judge in your opinion was biased? >> oh, sure. i mean there are many of them. the judge raised his voice, yelled, but only at the prosecution. the judge actually made his own objections, helping the prosecution. there were times when he made, he had everyone in the courtroom applaud one of the defense expert witnesses who happened to be a veteran. so and there's an optic, and i

hope people get a chance to see it, where kyle rittenhouse is leaning over to look at something, and with the judge, they're both together to look at something, it may have been a piece of evidence, you never see that in a courtroom. judges never allow themselves to get even that close proximity to a defendant. someone who is on trial. or anyone on the witness stand. so there were the optics, there was the demeanor of the judge, the words of the judge, the rulings of the judge, that all showed i think a lot of bias there. and jurors are very influenced by how a judge looks at a case. >> interesting to bring up. final question, would this be a different outcome if it was in california or really any other state? >> yes, there would be a different outcome. because in wisconsin, the burden is on the prosecution to prove that there was no self-defense. and in other states, california, the burden's on the person claiming self-defense to then prove it so it would have shifted it entirely so i think

this would have been a very different case in california, and i hope in california, we wouldn't have trial judges like judge bruce schroed ner this case who demonstrateed so much bias for one side. >> retired santa clara judge, we appreciate your time. we appreciate your perspective on this friday night. nightly news picks up our coverage. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. nightly news picks up our coverage on in the verdict. gabe guiterrez is in kenosha talking to jacob blake's family, the man shot by police last year which prompted the protests in kenosha. starting at 6:30. democrats are celebrating today after passing president biden's sweeping build back better spending package, the vote is after months of drama and after a top republican took the floor for hours overnight and finished this morning. we have more on happened. >> the build back better bill is passed. >> celebration on the house

floor this morning. as democrats finally passed president boyden's $1.75 trillion build back better act. >> this bill is monumental. it's historic. it's transformative. it's bigger than anything we've ever done. >> the package includes funding to fight climate change and bost investment in the nation's social safety net, from child care and universal pre-k, to lowering cost for health insurance and prescription drugs. one democrat sided with all republicans voting against the bill. after the nonpartisan congressional budget office projected it would add $160 billion to the deficit over a decade. >> stop this madness. >> but the cbo's tax revenue estimates are smaller than the treasury department projections. convincing holdout democrats the bill will ultimately pay for itself. >> this is a bill we should pass. >> heated debate ran late into the night.

minority leader kevin mccarthy pushing the vote to this morning. with a record-breaking eight and a half hour speech. >> it's all right. i got all night. >> this bill is too extreme. too costly. and too liberal. why are we afraid of debate? >> democrats periodically heckling throughout. >> the bill faces stiffer opposition in the evenly divided senate, president biden vowing to back the final version. >> i will sign it period. >> even if it loses key components like paid family leave, to win passage. >> president biden had his annual physical today, and during a routine colonoscopy, temporarily transferred power to vice president kamala harris, making her the first woman to act as u.s. president, however briefly. >> thank you. you've heard the warnings now. your holiday gift list might be out of stock or just late to ship. san francisco-based williams

sonoma says its shelves will be a bit bare as it deals with transportation-related shortages. that clus its properties like pottery barn and west elm there's not much progress at the ports. the port of long beach now open 24 hours a day, but the port says whole nights can go by without a single truck arriving. truckers say the port's strict rules are to blame. the trucking companies say there's a shortage of truckers. despite the fact average pay is up 22% since the start of the pandemic. >> it's not the money that is the problem. that's not what is challenging. it's a generational and cultural divide really where there's this narrative that being a professional driver is a low skill, low wage, low education career, and that is simply not the case. >> trey williams will be one of mi guests this week, talking about the supply chain. you can watch it right here after "meet the press" sunday morning at 9:00. up next, taking a toll on the earth's largest trees.

the number of giant sequoias that have been wiped out by wildfires in the past two years. a lab error cost $800. i'm consumer investigator, responding to those cases next. >> and tracking some drizzle tonight. i'll show you when these clouds kick out of here, and the much colder weather come our way.

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it may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. don't take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. help protect yourself from another dvt or pe. ask your doctor about xarelto®. to learn more about cost, visit xarelto.com or call 1-888-xarelto any adult in the country can now get that covid booster shot. this afternoon, the cdc expanded eligibility to anyone 18 and older. no more rules there. 18 and older, you get that shot. that makes it easier for millions of people to get those doses. even for states that have already done that, like california. the federal rule changes makes it easier to get shots at pharmacies like cvs, walgreen's and walmart. the cdc today also urged anyone 50 and older to get the booster shots ahead of this expected

winter surge. it is friday. happy friday, everyone. and that means it is time for our weekly money saving lightning round. >> i like lightning round. our consumer reporter chris chmura is here with us. what is the lightning round? we do it fast? >> storm the stage. >> give some people some money back. >> let's talk about a $28 order for legging, the company delivered the wrong size, well, she sent them back and expected a replacement. didn't happen. our team got susan the correct size. wrong color. but she was okay with that. still a $28 win. kevin in san francisco rang us up. here's the deal. he said he wanted a covid-19 test lab to refund him $800. he expected it. here's why. he said the lab didn't give him the results of the family of four's covid-19 test in time for a flight. that's a big deal. and they had to get tested again, at a different company, on the spot, for $200 each. kevin's complaint to the first lab, it went nowhere. but we landed him his $800. okay, speaking of covid-19,

more and more people are getting boosters and you can, so we made a video about how to walk you through that whole process. how it work, hunting down an appointment and updating your record and you can see it on our web site and streaming channels and youtube page. just look for the how to play list. bottom line, you don't have to drive to bakersfield like i did when i got it. >> i remember that. >> yes. >> i might actually be able to get it locally. >> sounds good. >> thanks. >> have a good weekend. >> you too. >> you as well. tonight, on nbc nightly news, the cost of care is leaving americans in financial ruin. sherry richmond never expected to be her husband's care-giver but after he had a stroke, she had to sell the house and empty the 401(k) to survive, some states pay full time caregivers under medicaid requirements. but she did not meet the requirements. >> did you ever expect to finds yourself in this situation? >> absolutely not. >> i was 54 years old.

i didn't even have the knowledge of medicare, medicaid, what do you do, when there's no income. life was good. never would have thought that we would be facing reality smack in the face. >> on nightly news, a deeper look at spousal care income and what couples can do now to plan for abing at 6:30. the past couple of years of record wildfires have been especially difficult on california's giant sequoia, the largest trees on earth used to survive our wildfires, but climate change and drought have made the fires burn hotter and longer. and the past two years, about 14,000 giants have died. nearly a fifth of the sequoia population. but here is something interesting, low intensity fires can be good for the trees, the heat opens their cones up, so their seeds can spread, and the recent fires, if they weren't so hot, but they were so the hot they killed the seeds.

and the sequoia national forest is considering now planting seedlings. >> heart breaking. beautiful trees. this weekend, are you guys ready for some sun? >> she's good with it. >> you bretter bring it. >> we will -- you better bring it. >> we will deliver on that. and the next several hour, be careful, especially in contra costa county, with areas of fog and low visibility and drizzle. i got through the traffic somehow this afternoon. but it was just intense out there. a lot of folks heading to wherever they are, maybe some early thanksgiving plans, to just kind of get tucked in and get ready for next week. so again, be careful for that drizzle tonight with some slick spots on the roadways. and let's show you how that cloud cover, yes, the cloud cover, it is going to clear out and it has been a little dreary for you, you will see this, 11:00, we still got the clouds, but then as you roll through tomorrow morning, right there, it starts to move on out and we should start with a lot of sunshine as we move through tomorrow. i only see a little bit of some

patchy fog to start. so if you've been trying to get your holiday vibe on, you haven't quite felts it yet, but you want to wear the heavier jacket, maybe even pull out, yes, the scarf, i think tomorrow morning the weather will cooperate. to kind of make it feel like it is going to be thanksgiving next week, and if you're pitting up the tree or holiday decorations, probably get you in the spirit too. the number, 48 for the south bay. peninsula, 49. look at this, tri-valley, 45 degrees. and north bay, 34. san francisco, 49. and the east bay at 44. here is the good part. we start off this cold, and then as we head through the day tomorrow, bright sunshine, moving in with this area of high pressure. now, on saturday, it is going to bring us some wind on the backside of this, in the mountains, 20 to 40 miles an hour. but we've had some on and off rain recently so we're not expecting extremely high fire danger but traveling in the mountains, watch out for the win, otherwise we're setting ourselves up with that sunshine. so as we roll through tomorrow's forecast, here is the deal.

down in the south bay, 68 in san jose. and right over to morgan hill, 69, and through the east bay, how about a 67 in antioch, 68 danville and fremont, 66. the peninsula, sunshine, light winds, 65 in san mateo and palo alto, 66. and san francisco, we got 60s here from downtown to ingleside and through the north bay, over to napa, 69, and mill valley, 67, and up to ukiah, also upper 60s. on my seven-day forecast, notice the chance here of some spotty showers on tuesday. only a 40% possibility, and we're dry on thursday. temperatures in san francisco, look very similar to our inland valleys. we go to 67 on sunday. and down to 60 on tuesday. you know what i'm thinking about? >> turk why i. >> leftovers. >> -- turkey. >> leftovers. >> the stuffing and the turkey and the bread and you kind of mash it together. >> i've never tried that. >> so good. >> really good. >> you can heat it up, too. >> i like the 11:30 p.m. snack. >> grave and stuffing, and just

pumpkin pie. >> yes. >> we got a week. >> how many day does we have? >> we got to hang on here. >> we are talking about food. up next, going viral. we'll show you the performance, that is getting the cal marching band a lot of online love. ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪

it's a sign of the times. for the first time, we're seeing black santas at disney theme parks. disney hasn't made any formal announcement about this, but we see them, plenty of tiktokers showing us videos of black santas at disneyland and properties in florida. disney and disney debut agriculturally diverse cast of erics to reflect the diversity of the surrounding community. you want to see this. a half time show by cal's marching band is not the kind of musical performance you would expect to go viral but their daying take on k-pop -- but their daring take on k-pop, or korean pop music, is getting a

lot of online love. ♪ >> do you recognize it come. >> no, what is it? >> the horns were playing the song "kill this love" "than you are younger than i am" and the only reason i know those songs is because of my daughter. "twas" and "red velvet" and a fight with the drum major and the crowd went wild for the k-pop choreographer and the band spelled out the band name in korean. >> and didn't you do time in korea for the olympics? >> i know all about it. >> and i enjoy it. >> at cal, the big game is tomorrow, the ax is on the line. have the golden bears been cleared to play? anthony flores joins us next.

all right, this is the one time a year where the bay area stop, and pays attention to college football. the big game is tomorrow. >> we're excited. one of the greatest traditions in all of college football and yes there is a covid concern for cal. here's nbc bay area's anthony flores from the farm. >> this has been a challenging season for stanford and cal. both have losing records. but tomorrow, in this stadium, each program can still reach one of its biggest goals of the season. beat their bay area rival, and

the 124th playing of the big game. >> one of the best rivalries in college football. >> this rivalry is as big as ever. >> a phenomenal rivalry and humbled to be a part of it. >> the big game, a tradition that first kicked off in 1892. >> i think the big game is one of the finest rivalries in all of college sports. and the history of it, the two institutions, it is just a really unique game. >> this year, there was some doubt if the big game would be played as scheduled after a covid outbreak in the cal program that forced them to play without two dozen players against arizona, then postpone last weekend's game against usc, following more positive tests on the team. >> it is stressful not being able to be with your team, and having to watch them on tv for the second time in my career at cal. but it is definitely a different experience and you know, i'm glad to be back with the team. >> most of cal's players who were in the covid protocol will

be back on the field for the big game. including quarterback who led cal to victory in 2019, the only win in the big game rainfally in the last 11 -- big game rivalry in the last 11 meetings. >> they play really tough, really hard and it will be a great game on saturday. >> cal needs to win the last three remaining games to be 6-6 and become bowl eligible. >> i appreciate the rivalry and what is most important is we go out and play well. >> at 3-7, the cardinals are playing for pride and to keep the ax, the big game trophy since 1933. >> and that's what we're focused on. try to keep the ax. it is our football team. >> kickoff is saturday at 4:00. at stanford, an thoens flores, nbc bay area. >> i love how mellow they are during the news conference and then tomorrow, rah. >> that's how it should be. >> i like how they say it. i want to keep the ax. >> there's something funny about

it. >> how are you doing? >> good. coming up at 6:00 now, she took the stand, elizabeth holmes testified in her own trial. how she's defending herself. more outrage today over the shooting death of a young woman here at the toll plaza. we'll hear from her family and the oakland mayor on safety changes that need to be made. also, did you know history was made for the first time in the united states? a woman took over as acting president. >> i think this sends a great message to the american people about what leadership looks like. >> the reason kamala harris held that title for less than 90 minutes and the message her childhood friend wants to send her. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening and thanks for being with us on this friday, i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. the jury ruled. kyle rittenhouse, not guilty. who shot and