on our broadcast tonight, not so fast. a judge has blocked part of that controversial law in arizona. what happens now, and did it go too far? 100 days now after the oil well blew. is the gulf getting any better? and 900 miles away, another crisis involving oil and water. wild west. out of nowre a fast-moving fire that's eating up homes. also tonight, are the rules of cpr about to change? also tonight, are the rules of cpr about to change? "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening.

it was just about to take effect, the only law of its kind in the country and now a big part of arizona's controversial immigration law has been stopped in its tracks, at least for now. even though it was a state law, the federal government had gone after it to stop it. president obama criticized it and people have left arizona because of it, especially the provision that would make people on the street prove their immigration status to law enforcement officers who stopped them. it was called un-american by some and a last resort by some arizonans. we have two reports on the immigration fight tonight beginning with nbc's lee cowan in arizona. lee, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this is being held as at least a partial victory for opponents of the law including the obama administration who argued all along that it was unconstitutional. what it means as a practical matter in arizona is that the state now cannot enforce the portions of the law that it thought had the most teeth. just hours away from

enforcement, arizona is standing down. the tent facility expected to house those arrested as early as tonight under the new immigration law may now be largely empty. and police training on how to enforce the law has now been put off. >> they are going back to the drawing board again. >> reporter: the federal ruling blocked key portions of the law, not because they would lead to racial profiling as some suggested but because they could interfere with the enforcement of federal law. blocked is the requirement that officers check the immigration status of those they think could be in the country illegally and the portion that makes it a crime not to carry, quote, alien registration papers. arizona's governor says those may have been key to the law when she signed it, but the fight is far from over. >> they need to step up -- the feds do -- and do the job that they have the responsibility to do for the people of america and for the people of arizona. >> reporter: the federal government admits the system is open but says in a patchwork of

state and local policies would ultimately be counterproductive. today's ruling may quiet some of the planned protests against the law that some feared may be even bigger than these last week. it came as welcome news for jose. he has been here illegally for ten years and had been preparing his children to move back to mexico. >> just explain to the kids something happened with the legal situation for the mother and me. >> reporter: while some were relieved, others fear the crackdown may come anyway. >> i'm worried for my family. i'm worried for my friends. i worry for my people. >> reporter: there are those who worry about a backlash from those angry that the court undid what the people of arizona largely approved. still, the hold is temporary and lawmakers who wrote the bill are confident it will eventually prevail on appeal. >> we have adopted federal law. we have not contradicted federal law. >> reporter: now, brian, most people think any appeals of this

will probably take a long time. for now, this hold on arizona's new immigration law will likely last at least several months. brian? >> lee cowan starting us off in phoenix tonight. lee, thanks. to our justice correspondent pete williams we go. pete, two questions. number one, why did the judge rule the way she did? and what are we looking at next? >> reporter: this is a victory for the obama administration. the judge agreed with the justice department's main attack on the law that it crossed a constitutional line on how far the states can go. judge susan bolton said the law would require police to do so many more checks on people accused of being here illegally that it would overwhelm the government and divert attention from catching terrorists. she said it would mean widespread detention for people here legally while their immigration status was checked. so the judge concluded that the arizona law would interfere with federal immigration law which the states are not allowed to do.

her ruling did note that 18 other states are considering following arizona's lead. she said that would burden the federal government even more. now the state can go to the federal court of appeals in california and try to get the hold lifted. if that doesn't work, arizona could try to get the u.s. supreme court involved but that could take several months at least, brian. >> okay. pete williams rounding out our coverage for now from our washington newsroom. pete, thanks. it was 100 days ago the people of the gulf coast were just getting ready for the summer tourist season. working on the fishing grounds, some drilling for oil. we got word one night that a big rig had gone up in flames. we later learned it was a bp rig called the "deepwater horizon." we did not know then that it would change life in the gulf. tonight, the oil is no longer billowing out. there is a temporary cap on the well, but look at the damage. 630 miles of coast land coated with oil. a third of the fishing grounds will be closed indefinitely. that right there is a way of life. our own anne thompson has covered this virtually from day

one. she's in venice harbor, louisiana, tonight. anne, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. as crews zero in on finally killing that well, the people who live around the venice marina here are not looking backward to the first 100 days but instead are looking forward to the next 100 and worry their plight could soon be forgotten. bright orange blotches mar the gulf coast on this, the 100th day. from the air, the oil is now tougher to spot. federal officials say they see only light bands and very little crude east of mobile bay, alabama. they promise they won't move a skimmer or piece of boom for now. >> we are keeping all of our response assets online until this well is killed. >> reporter: it's what happens after that that worries plaquemines parish president billy nungesser. >> we're worried that we are going to be caught with our

pants down. that they're going to leave here, that the coast guard is going to allow them to pull the assets out of the parish. >> reporter: over the past 100 days as much as 5.2 million barrels of oil spewed into the gulf, almost 20 times more than the exxon valdez. more than 3,500 pelicans, sea turtles and other wildlife found dead. oil is suspected. bp has paid $256 million to people who lost income and profits because of the spill. today, three environmental groups released a plan to rebuild louisiana's oil-tainted coastline. >> what we can do is make the coast more resistent to future spills and that is a lot of what the restoration program will do. >> reporter: the five-year plan calls for restoring barrier islands, using river diversion to bring much-needed sediment and using sediment to fill in cuts and restore land bridges. making these wetlands spill

resistent comes with a price. the groups want congress to come up with $2 billion for projects already approved but they say to truly make this coastline healthy it could cost up to $20 billion. they want bp to make a down payment of $5 billion to get the effort started. to return the coast not just to the way it was, but the way it should be. tomorrow, national incident commander thad allen will hold what's expected to be a tense and difficult meeting with the parish presidents here in louisiana to talk about how to downsize this massive response once the well is killed. brian? >> anne thompson, thanks. as we thank you for your continuing coverage throughout. there is another oil cleanup under way in this country tonight in michigan following a leak in a pipeline. it is calling attention to an environmental danger we don't often think about -- the 200,000 miles of oil pipeline that

criss-cross this country. more than a hundred spills reported every year. our own kevin tibbles with us from battle creek, michigan, tonight. kevin, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. from the banks of the kalamazoo river outside battle creek, as you can see there is a thick coating of oil on the water here. the boom stretches right over to the other side and you can smell it, brian. oil is in the air. the canadian pipeline company enbridge is bringing in some 200 extra employees to fight this oil spill. the epa is also doubling its efforts here. now, they are trying to stop the oil from making its way to lake michigan about 50 miles away from here. so far, they are saying that they are very confident that they can do that. they are confident they can keep it out of the drinking water, but they are warning people to stay away from the banks of the kalamazoo even though it's a recreational area because it's toxic. we have seen today muskrats coated in oil, ducks and geese. they said we can come through

the woods here to take one picture which is what i'm going to do here. if you can follow me in, this is where they are skimming. the oil is coming up, coming into the skimmers and they are bringing it on shore here. what is happening now, brian, they say they are going to be here approximately for the next month so they can clean this up and get it back to the recreational use it was before. it's going to take a month. they have ten of these locations up and down the river. back to you. >> kevin, thanks for that. an up close look in battle creek, michigan. now to california where a fast-moving wildfire that seemed to come out of nowhere has burned 40 homes and is threatening another 150 more tonight. with us tonight from kern county, it's about 75 miles outside l.a., our own kristen welker. kiss -- kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening,

brian. as you can see behind me, this fire rages on. the biggest challenge for firefighters now is the wind which is expected to pick up later on this evening. firefighters are trying to save as many homes as possible, but for some it is just too late. >> yeah. i thought i was going to die. i thought i was going to be consumed in flame. >> reporter: george plesco managed to escape the fire but he lost almost everything he owns. his home and 25 years' worth of memories. it's now reduced to smoldering rubble. >> i have buried my mom, my dad, my wife of cancer and my son that was 25 years old in a motorcycle wreck. so i had a lot of pictures here, you know, memories. it's all gone. >> reporter: his sister helen came to help. >> i never expected this. never expected it. >> reporter: plesco's home was one of about 25 structures destroyed in old west ranch near

tehachapi. the fire moved so quickly there was little warning for homeowners to get out. 150 homes are under threat and hundreds of families have been evacuated. jessica garcia had only moments to escape with her dog sweetheart. >> our dog was frightened and scared. i was scared. >> reporter: 800 fire personnel are battling the blaze on the ground and in the air with planes dropping fire retardant. the biggest challenge is very dry brush and erratic winds. a second blaze is burning fiercely to the north in tsequoa national forest, also destroying several homes. the dual fires leaving governor schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency. firefighters have a long way to go to contain the blazes. as for george plesco, there was a bright spot amidst the rubble of his house. >> here, kitty, kitty. >> reporter: he found one of his beloved cats alive. one of the few things he can hold onto right now. >> come here! >> reporter: now together the fires scorched more than 15,000

acres. no injuries have been reported. the cause of both fires is still under investigation. brian? >> kristen welker on the job for us tonight. here we go again in california. kristen, thanks. overseas tonight, at least two americans the victims of the plane crash outside pakistan's capital, islamabad. the deadliest plane crash ever in that country. 152 people, most of them pakistanis were on board the flight from karachi. the plane went down in a rainstorm. it was an airbus. there were no survivors at the scene of the crash. back in this country, congress took action to fix what many have called a very unfair gap in federal sentencing rules for crack cocaine as opposed to powder cocaine based initially on the theory that crack was more dangerous. because of the disparity in sentencing, tens of thousands of mostly young minority crack users have spent years in prison because of it. today, congress passed

legislation to narrow that gap. the president is expected to sign it into law. when our broadcast continues here in just a moment, are they about to rewrite the rules of cpr? tonight what you may have learned in cpr class that some are saying you no longer need to worry about. and later, he plunges into the water when no one else would dare. now we hear his story from the day the "deepwater horizon" blew up. on" blew up. with my friends even with an overactive bladder. i don't always let the worry my pipes might leak compromise what i like to do. i take care with vesicare. because i have better places to visit than just the bathroom. (announcer) once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle, and is proven to reduce frequent, sudden urges and leaks, day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare.

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nothing beats prevacid®24hr. just one pill helps keep you heartburn free for a full 24 hours. prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn with prevacid®24hr, all day, all night. nothing works better. in health news tonight here on this broadcast last night we reported on a nationwide epidemic of awful bed bugs, especially here in new york city where bed bug complaints have gone up 40% in three years' time. in some parts of this country they are up 500%. well, we learned today the city of new york is hiring a specialist. they plan to spend half a million dollars raising awareness and, they hope, getting rid of the bed bugs. the rules of cpr may be about to change.

two major studies are out today that question the way millions of us learn to administer cpr in an emergency. now, most experts all agree the most important thing to do is call 9-1-1 immediately. it's the next part that's in dispute. today's studies say concentrate on the chest compressions and, here's the change, don't concentrate on the mouth-to-mouth component. that's not the way red cross teaches it, at least not yet. they still teach mouth-to-mouth as part of cpr. again, while the most important thing is saving lives we asked robert bazell to walk us through it from red cross headquarters here in new york. >> reporter: brian, millions of people are familiar with annie, the mannequin used to train for cpr. the compressions are done in the middle of the chest, 100 per minute. the current guidelines say that after 30 compressions the guidelines say you stop and give two breaths.

and then resume the compressions. but the studies out today say the compressions alone are just as good as compressions with breaths. surveys show that people are reluctant to put their mouth on a stranger. current guidelines from the american heart association and the american red cross say that people who are not trained in cpr should do chest-only compressions and the heart association is reconsidering guidelines this november. meanwhile, everyone emphasizes that any cpr is better than none and that if you haven't and you possibly can, you should take a cpr class at your local red cross or heart association office because you could very well save a life. brian? bob bazell at the red cross in new york. we want to let you know there is more information about the new cpr studies. it can get confusing. in an attempt to clear it up we put it on our website for you. that's nightly.msnbc.com. when we come back here tonight, the letter to the president we all got to see today for the first time that sure seemed friendly enough at the time.

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leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. there have been a couple of these encounters lately. a bear attack near yellowstone national park has left one man dead, another man and woman injured. the bear, or bea in this case, went on a rampage through the campground about 4:00 in the

morning, smashing and tearing at tents. the victim who has not been identified was killed inside his tent. the two injured campers are being treated for campgrounds. a bear attacked the same campground and injured a man back in '08. if you are a nascar fan you know the name jack roush. he's a hugely successful racing team owner. now he's survived not one plane crash but two. yesterday he crashed his jet at an annual pilot's fly-in in oshkosh, wisconsin. he was injured but walked away and went to the hospital. he was almost killed in the crash of a homemade plane eight years ago. the roush team has a total of 260 nascar victories under their belts over the years. former first lady nancy reagan joined arnold schwarzenegger at a celebration honoring ronald reagan's birthday. reagan would have turned 100 next year. nancy reagan is 89.

schwarzenegger happened by his old ride, the motorcycle from "terminator" which was on display there at the reagan library and he couldn't resist the chance to get back in the saddle again. >> reporter: be wary of flowery letters from dictators if you get one. new documents unveiled by the national archives include a lovely letter from benito mussolini of italy to fdr congratulating him on taking office, talking about his esteem for roosevelt. that was in 1933. two years later the two were in a titanic struggle for europe and the world. up next, back to the gulf and a reminder that before there was an oil disaster there was a human tragedy. the night some heroes went to work and saved a lot of lives. tragedy. the night some heroes went to work and saved a lot of lives. when our clients' needs changed we changed to meet them.

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that night as they did during katrina, as they have in the oil cleanup. tonight, one rescuer's story from nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: it is what these teams train for, what they do. but little could have prepared anyone for the call that came 100 days ago. >> i just thought it was surreal. you don't ever expect to see. >> reporter: rescue swimmer kirk peterson was aboard the first helicopter sent to the scene. on the way, reports grew more dire by the minute. >> started progressing to rig explosion, rig on fire, 106 people in the water with injuries. it kept growing and growing. >> reporter: as they circled the blazing "deepwater horizon," it was immediately apparent they were flying into a full blown catastrophe. with the chopper running low on fuel, the 39-year-old father of two was hoisted onto the nearby supply ship that had now become,

by necessity, a hospital. hundreds of people were treated that night in the dark in what became a makeshift triage. some of the injuries were critical. 17 rig workers needed urgent care. in the black of night lit only by the burning rig beside them, peterson loaded survivors into rescue baskets that were then hoisted into choppers and headed to hospitals. >> this is the first time i have been out here since that night. >> reporter: he remembers working through the night, treating dozens more who were less seriously injured. >> i've got a job to do. i mean, the whole crew -- without them, i couldn't have done any of it. to single me out, i don't agree with. >> reporter: kirk peterson doesn't want the credit, says he didn't do it alone, but the fact remains he was a lifesaving link in the aftermath of tragedy. >> it's a katrina type of moment where it's going to be with me forever and ever. >> reporter: as it will be with the souls he saved. janet shamlian, nbc news, aboard the coast guard cutter "decisive" in the gulf of

mexico. that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you, as always, for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com live pictures here from san francisco where the streets are open again. this in just as a rally during arizona's immigration law. police tell us 20 people were arrested. this on the very day of the judge's controversial decision on arizona's law. we'll have an update in just a minute. first, a bay area bridge