and get this, his team won a national championship this year. one other remarkable note. you might remember during the trial of the man convicted of pulling the trigger, after young rodriguez testified, he went over to the gunman, shook his hand and told him he forgave him. now that's a story in forgiveness. good night. sky high. soaring prices at the pump have the white house considering a drastic measure. closing in. the deadly fight for libya puts the civil war on a bloody path to tripoli. sudden impact. devastation in the south from a deadly tornado, and more extreme weather on the way. and open arms. making a difference, with just and open arms. making a difference, with just the right touch. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. if you haven't filled up the tank yet for tomorrow's commute to work, you're going to be in

for quite a shock. not since hurricane katrina ravaged the gulf coast in 2005 have gasoline prices in this country shot up so quickly. the national average for a gallon of regular gas tonight is $3.50. that's up almost 40 cents from just a month ago. and some parts of the country are already looking at $4 gas. the dramatic rise, of course, is being driven by the unrest in the mideast, and today the white house signaled it's considering emergency measures to try to bring gas prices down. california is feeling the most pain, and that's where we start tonight with nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: from new york to illinois to california, sticker shock. >> it's a ripoff. $4 a gallon? i spent $65 to fill up my car, it will only last me like a week. >> reporter: $4 a gallon is a bargain in some california cities. >> it's frustrating. it's only going to go up more. >> reporter: in the golden state gas prices spiked nearly 50 cents a gallon in february alone.

michigan, up 38 cents. illinois rose 34 cents. and in new york the jump at the pump was 28 cents a gallon last month. fear from ongoing turmoil in the middle east contributing to the rise in prices, but not the only factor. >> we're seeing demand increases, not only in the u.s. but throughout asia, africa, and south america that are all contributing to higher crude oil prices and consequently higher gasoline prices at the pump. >> reporter: those higher gas prices came as many were starting to feel better about the economy, but now any extra cash may be going right into the the tank. >> i think it's crazy. >> reporter: jason king spends $40 more a month on gas. >> pretty soon i'm going to have to start thinking about riding a bike or other means of transportation, definitely. >> reporter: in fact, those skyrocketing prices have some giving up the road for the rails. metro use in los angeles, up 10%.

and across the country commuters are using the latest technology, smartphone apps and social media, to find the cheapest gas, anything to save a buck. >> everybody i know is trying to carpool and fill up the car as much as possible. >> reporter: gas prices hit a high in february, but in the weeks ahead spring is when prices typically rise the most. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. >> and as we mentioned at the top of the newscast, the obama administration is weighing options to bring some relief to those soaring pump prices. nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house now. he's got more on that for us. mike? >> reporter: good evening, lester. the president is coming under increasing pressure to do something that's been done only twice in 35 years, and that is tap into this country's strategic petroleum reserve. today the president's chief of staff signaled mr. obama is willing to take a controversial step, if the price at the pump continues to soar. >> well, we're looking at the options.

there's the issue of the reserves is one we are considering. >> reporter: that would be the strategic petroleum reserve, more than 700 million barrels' worth stored in a series of underground caverns on the gulf coast, on hand in case of emergency. with turmoil in the middle east driving up the cost of crude, many fear new damage to a still-fragile economy. the president's allies are urging him to tap the reserve, claiming that would bring down the price of gas. >> we are now unquestionably facing a physical oil supply disruption that is at risk of getting worse before it gets better. >> reporter: some experts disagree. >> releasing some oil from the reserve right now is not going to address the real problem. the real problem is the wave of turbulence and uncertainty that is rolling across the middle east. >> reporter: republicans call for more domestic production with one possible obama opponent in 2012 going further. >> this administration's policies have been designed to

drive up the cost of energy in the name of reducing pollution. in the name of making very expensive alternative fuels more economically competitive. >> reporter: and lester, while officials are leaving open the possibility of tapping into the reserve, they believe there is enough excess production capacity around the world to ride out this spike of oil price and get by without tapping into that oil reserve. lester? >> mike, thank you. of course, it's what's happening right now in libya, a major oil producer, that's fueling the surging gas and oil prices. the battle for the country has raged for weeks, and tonight the fighting is intensifying, while also drawing closer to gadhafi's hometown. nbc's stephanie gosk reports. >> reporter: in tripoli an ecstatic pro-gadhafi crowd celebrated with gunfire after state tv reported that victory would soon be theirs.

but outside libya's capital the fighting tells a very different story. gadhafi's forces are engaged in pitched battles with well-armed rebels who are, despite what the government says, still firmly in control of every major city in the east. today pro-government militia unleashed an arsenal of heavy weapons. helicopter gunships, artillery, and anti-aircraft guns. >> all i saw is bombs and bullets, and we were trying to escape and come back. i was begging everybody to like give me a ride. it was really scary there. >> reporter: gadhafi's army ambushed the rebels in the small desert village of ben jawad, forcing them to retreat. even with today's setback, the opposition says it will march all the way to tripoli. but they will have to pass through surt, gadhafi's hometown and stronghold. and the mostly inexperienced force is already taking heavy casualties. at a nearby hospital the wounded are pouring in.

before now the doctors here very rarely treated gunshot wounds. now that is almost all they see. the intensive care unit, with only modest equipment, is overwhelmed. it isn't just fighters that are getting hurt in this violence. it's also innocent civilians. this little boy is just 10 years old. he left his house when he heard the shooting, and he got caught in the crossfire. there is nothing you can really do, is there? >> nothing. >> the fighting continues to the west as well. gadhafi's forces tried again and failed to take the town of misrata. and in zawiyah, just 30 miles from tripoli, heavy shelling and gun battles continued for a third day. evidence of gadhafi's failed attempts to take the city center litter the streets. still, his troops have not retreated. tanks ring the outskirts of town. across the country the fight may not be going as well as the government says, but it is also far from over. stephanie gosk, nbc news,

ajdabiya, libya. from the fight for libya to the thousands fleeing the country now, many international refugees in camp cities on the border with tunisia. today, thanks to the u.s. military, hundreds of egyptians were flown out and nbc's anne thompson was on board for their journey back home. >> reporter: this is the final leg of a refugee's journey home, tunisia's yurba airport. today some 4,000 international workers who escaped the violence in libya thanked their hosts as they slowly left their final transit camp. now they are tantalizingly close, about two football fields away from the airport. but they are still going to have to endure hour after hour of waiting, line after line, and four more stops before they can get on a plane. to move this global village of evacuees from africa and asia is an international airlift. german, swedish and american military come to help. four u.s. flights take egyptians home to cairo. >> on the flight last night i

was on we had people clapping hangs, singing songs, waving their egyptian flags. >> reporter: 82 egyptian men are welcomed in arabic. >> [ speaking foreign language ]. >> reporter: by marine major adam leffringhouse. these are weary and wary travelers. some have spent three years in libya and don't want to talk. the c-130 heads over the mediterranean sea, the flight crew avoiding libyan airspace to complete the mission. >> there's no mission that we'd rather be doing than coming out here and helping these guys. >> reporter: as the plane lands, 82 men become little boys, anxious to get the first look at cairo. [ applause ] "thank you," says one man, as they help unload their blankets and suitcases and brutal memories. >> translator: the libyan army took bribes to let people through. and some people were beaten and died. >> reporter: tonight they are home, refugees no more. anne thompson, nbc news, cairo. back in this country, we are

in the grips of another brutal winter storm. from florida up to maine, this weather maker is bringing heavy rains, flooding, and blizzard conditions in some place. it also turned deadly in louisiana, where a tornado took the life of a young mother. nbc's rehema ellis reports. >> reporter: it was a terrible storm. this dramatic video captured on a security camera. four tornadoes with winds gusting up to 135 miles per hour ripped through several communities along route 10 in southwestern louisiana on saturday. 1,500 people were forced to evacuate their homes. the area hardest hit is rayne, 50 miles west of baton rouge, and home to about 8,500 people. [ sirens ] 12 people were injured. 21-year-old jalissa granger was killed. authorities say she died while sheltering her 1-year-old daughter as fierce winds brought down a tree on top of their home. >> i think it was total chaos, to be honest with you. >> reporter: louisiana's governor declared a state of

emergency and today surveyed the damage. >> literally what was a home before, now just pieces of wood just destroyed on that property. and you see debris scattered across several lots. so this storm did a lot of damage in a very short period of time. >> reporter: the weather channel's eric fisher is in rayne. >> in all, 60 homes were completely destroyed by this ef-2 tornado. roofs taken right off the top. in some instances owners' cars sent right down the street. >> reporter: the fierce weather system that pounded louisiana moved on and turned into heavy rain. in shelby county, indiana, outside of indianapolis, seven people were rescued from their house after it was flooded. in columbus, ohio icy roads made for treacherous driving, with reports of 60 traffic accidents in just 2 1/2 hours today. in buffalo, new york, roads were shut down because of heavy snow. all this with just two weeks before the official start of spring. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. we want to go now to the weather channel's mike seidel.

he is in syracuse, new york where it is really coming down tonight. mike, good evening. >> reporter: hey, lester. if you think you've had a bad winter, here in syracuse, where they average 10 feet of snow a season, they're closing in on 14 feet of snow tonight. you can still see it coming down. look at the radar. that snow and rain with this storm is pulling out. it will be out to sea by tomorrow afternoon. then we turn our attention to the next storm on tuesday. a foot of snow, wind, maybe a blizzard in parts of the central plains, severe weather and isolated tornados south of vista there, and the warm air. we'll keep an eye on oklahoma city, little rock, and shreveport. on wednesday more dangerous storms in the deep south. rain and the risk of more flooding in the saturated ohio valley. march is a month of extremes, lester, and on a single day on the weather map you can see just about every type of weather. we had that this weekend, and we'll have it again this coming week. back to you. >> mike seidel in the snow tonight in syracuse. thank you. we've got an important food recall to tell you about. two popular brands of skippy reduced fat peanut butter have

been pulled from store shelves in 16 states because it may contain traces of salmonella. we've put the product numbers to look for on our website, nightly.msnbc.com. when we come back from a break, the gadhafi connection. outrage over u.s. efforts to make peace and do business with libya before things got so ugly. later, making a difference. a loving touch when mom and dad aren't there to help. we'll be right back.

as moammar gadhafi fights to remain in power, we are learning new details about his alleged ties to the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103. the kirkt isdictator is accused

victims' families and former libyan government officials of being the mastermind behind the plat. and many are angry the u.s. lifted economic sanctions on libya, opening the doors for companies to do business with the regime linked to terrorism. nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isikoff reports. >> reporter: the message from secretary clinton was clear. >> colonel gadhafi's brutal attacks on his own people are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. >> reporter: that was last week. but less than two years ago, a very different tone with the libyan dictator's son. >> i am very pleased to welcome minister gadhafi here to the state department. we deeply value the relationship between the united states and libya. >> reporter: and less than three months later, president obama shook gadhafi's hand at the g-8 summit in italy. those images infuriate rabbi stephanie bernstein. >> it makes me sick to think that my government has been complicit in keeping gadhafi in power. this is michael and joe.

>> reporter: bernstein's late husband, michael, was one of 270 people killed in the bombing of pan am 103 over lockerbie, scotland. a libyan intelligence officer, abdel bassette al megrahi, was convicted in the attack, and u.s. announced claims that gadhafi himself ordered the bombing. that is something that frank anderson, who oversaw the agency's investigation, never doubted. >> there is no question in my mind that moammar gadhafi authorized the bombing of pan am 103. >> reporter: which is why bernstein says she is appalled by the eight-year effort by the west to make peace with libya, a policy driven by gadhafi's 2003 pledge to give up nuclear and chemical weapons. economic sanctions against libya were lifted in 2004. that led to new business opportunities in the oil-rich country, and some government officials later benefited. david welch was the senior u.s. diplomat working to restore relations with libya, then went to work for construction giant

bechtel. among his duties, developing business in libya. mark allen was a top british spy master dealing with gadhafi and later became a consultant to bp on a $900 million oil deal in libya. allen and bp declined comment. in a statement bechtel said the company's business in libya has always been in accordance with u.s. laws and regulations and that their work there began after the sanctions were lifted and before mr. welch joined the company. both firms recently suspended their operations in libya. >> it's absolutely disgusting. and i and other pan-am family members have said many times that doing business with terrorists is not only the wrong thing to, do it's bad business. >> reporter: bernstein's late husband investigated nazi war criminals for the justice department. she says he kept a small sign in his office. >> "the law sometimes sleeps but it never dies." >> reporter: a credo that she hopes will ultimately hold true for gadhafi. michael isikoff, nbc news, washington. up next here tonight, a

father's plea for an american student who vanished while studying abroad.

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he left san diego to study for a semester in spain. and tonight, an american college student who always kept in touch with friends and family has disappeared, leaving few leads and many questions. we get more now from nbc's keir simmons. >> reporter: "missing," the poster says. austin bice disappeared more than a week ago. his family desperate for news. the san diego student was in spain as part of an exchange program. his father has flown to the country to help the search near the madrid nightclub where his son was last seen in the early hours of the morning. >> i just want to say thank you for all being here. it's hard for me to talk about it. but thank you. >> my dad is always doing this and i always wanted to -- i like driving. so i like coming out here. and this is fun. >> reporter: the 22-year-old here at home a year ago, helping out the driver in a charity effort, left america to look for more experiences.

he was writing a blog about his adventures. it talks about school and life in spain. "it should be a fun night," he says. that was the evening he vanished. >> the friends decided to go into the discotheque. it was a little late. he decided to go back home and he decided that he was going to walk home. and that was the last time that he was seen, heading -- heading north. >> reporter: he had been drinking and was on his own. he'd been in spain for just a few months. "he was very calm, very sociable," one of his new spanish friends says. no one has run us even good clues or bad clues, says another. thousands joined the facebook page as part of the effort to find him, and a europe-wide police report has been issued for the student. >> they have a lot of police force out there. they're working very, very hard. we just need to keep them out there and keep the volunteers out there looking for our son so we can bring him home. >> reporter: his dad says he will stay in spain for as long

as it takes to find his son, a young man who left america for an adventure and whose family now just wants to know he is safe. keir simmons, nbc news, london. in corpus christi, a coast guard rescue of a father and son, they were on a canoe trip when the pair encountered stormy weather and were stranded on an island until a coast guard helicopter swooped in and hoisted them to safety. up next, bonding with babies and the healing touch that's making a world of difference.

we all know how important physical contact is at the beginning of life, but parents can't always be there to hold their children who are in the hospital for an extended period. and that's where a corps of volunteers step in and they are making a difference, one hug at a time. jennifer bjorklund, from knbc in los angeles, reports. >> how are you doing today? >> reporter: phyllis is a volunteer cuddler. for babies in children's hospital los angeles neonatal emergency care. >> i missed you. i haven't seen you for a whole couple days. >> reporter: for the little ones who don't understand the words -- >> tell me about it.

you're getting so big and so strong. look at you. >> reporter: it is easier to tell them everything will be okay through the universal language, touch. >> yeah, sweetheart. i know. >> touch, whether it is just to cuddle them, spend half an hour to an hour, you know, every day, can change the outcome of those infants. >> reporter: how do you not just fall in love with all of them? >> you do. you do. >> [ speaking foreign language ]. >> reporter: michel's grandchildren are in france. ♪ so he sings to these little ones instead. >> you cuddle and hold them and you sing to them. it works like magic. >> reporter: magic the nurses don't always have time to create and relief for the parents who can't be here all the time and who always worry. >> it's a good feeling, and i know that she's in good hands. >> i've been attached to some babies because they were here for a long time. >> all right. do you want to go for a little ride? >> reporter: michel remembers

one boy who was a regular here for seven years. >> he's 20 years old now. yeah. i keep in touch. >> and is he okay? >> oh, yes. he's working at a fast food restaurant. he's okay. >> reporter: so when it's time to let go -- >> one of the greatest pleasures is to watch one of these kids make some progress and go home. >> reporter: and there are always new little faces. no one told them they need medical attention. all they know is they crave the kind of attention any baby wants, someone to hold them. >> as long as i am standing up and be able to do this, i will. i will. ♪ >> reporter: jennifer bjorklund, nbc news, los angeles. >> and that's "nightly news" for this sunday. stay tuned for a "dateline" special, a hidden camera look at how teens react when faced with bullyi at school. "my kid would never bully," a "dateline" special, coming up next. brian williams will be here tomorrow.