Shoppers flooded stores across the country today as the holiday shopping season officially got under way and people rushed to grab Black Friday deals on electronics, toys and other merchandise.

More than 9,000 people waited outside Macy's Herald Square in New York City on Thursday night ahead of the midnight opening, according to The Associated Press. A Best Buy in St. Petersburg, Fla., had a line nearly 2,000 shoppers deep.

When Rachel Martin was given a slot guest-hosting weekends at All Things Considered, she took the opportunity to get a little holiday shopping out of the way. Needing musical stocking-stuffers for a few pesky relatives — her fiance's mom, for example, or her dad, who likes "Tchaikovsky and Johnny Cash" — she consulted NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, and asked him for some tips.

 Regional news from the KBIA newsroom.

Guy Raz reads listener reaction to yesterday's Thanksgiving Day story by writer Bailey White.

Egypt's military rulers named a former prime minister under Hosni Mubarak to head the new government. The move is likely to further incite the tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding the resignation of the ruling military council. And for the first time, pro-military protesters gathered in another of Cairo's squares.

Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited SeaWorld following the death of a killer whale trainer. If a Florida court rules in favor of OSHA, employees of SeaWorld and other parks like it will no longer be able to come into direct contact with whales unless there is a barrier between them. Guy Raz speaks to Tim Zimmermann, a correspondent for Outside Magazine, about the ongoing legal dispute.

Guy Raz speaks with Samer Shehata, professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University, for an update on why Egypt is experiencing more protests and on elections planned for next week.

Rival Palestinian leaders met in Cairo this week to discuss prospects for a reconciled government. For more than four years, the Palestinian Authority has governed the West Bank, while the militant Islamist group, Hamas, has ruled the Gaza Strip. But any government that included Hamas would face serious obstacles.

By the time it opened at 9 p.m. Thursday night for Black Friday, the Toys "R" Us in New York City's Times Square had a line snaking around the corner from its entrance on 44th Street. It went on for two blocks.

Angela Jenkins was there with two of her girlfriends and no kids. "I left my boyfriend with all of our kids ... by himself," she says with a laugh.

"You gotta do what you gotta do," Jenkins says.