on our broadcast tonight, tired pilots. an important story this evening just as millions are flying. it's about exhaustion in the cockpit and because of a terrible crash the rules are about to change. doing the math. how the gridlock in washington over paychecks and taxes is hitting home in real america as in americans' take-home pay. on the road. mitt romney's bus tour across new hampshire and his talk with our own chuck todd about the negative ads, the competition and how he thinks he can close the deal with voters. and making a difference for people during hard times and the best friends who stick by them. how one woman's good idea has grown since we first aired her story.

"nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. it was a terrible night three years ago. the first word of a plane crash just outside buffalo in some bad weather. then we learned 50 people had died. but much later during the investigation we learned the crash really didn't have to happen. we learned a lot about the crew flying that aircraft. they flew for cogan, a regional carrier carrying people under the continental logo. it was a tragic combination of errors, lack of experience and suspected exhaustion. it was bad enough that now the f.a.a. has stepped in to change some old rules governing pilots and affecting the safety of every one of us. and, by the way, here's a look at the stakes. a live graphic showing all the commercial flights currently flying over the u.s. tonight. all those passengers on all those planes and all the folks waiting for them at home make

this an important story. it's where we begin tonight. tom costello covers aviation for us. he's live at national airport in washington. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. the science has come a long way here. understanding sleep cycles and what flying through multiple time zones all hours of the day and night can do to you. applying that science the f.a.a. has come up with the first rule change in 50 years. it was nearly three years ago that 50 people died when a regional airline crashed on approach to buffalo. pilot error was cited as the cause but the crash highlighted long distance commuting, gruelling work schedules and pilot fatigue -- factors thought to have contributed to crashes going back decades. now the rules are changing. >> this is a big deal today. it's a big deal because for 25 years, people have been talking about this and haven't done a dang thing about it. >> reporter: the new f.a.a. rules set a maximum duty day for pilots of 9 to 14 hours depending on where and when they

are flying. maximum flying time would be 9 to 10 hours. pilots will get a minimum of ten hours rest time between flights, two hours more than the current rules with an opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep and at least 30 consecutive hours of time off per week. and something else. regardless of how far they have commuted on their own, pilots will be required to state that they are fit to fly, a statement of personal responsibility that veteran pilot john cox welcomes. >> jet airplanes move very quickly. so a successful pilot must always be ahead of the airplane. and when you're fatigued, that's harder to do. >> reporter: the airline industry initially opposed an early draft of the rules but today said it supports changes that are science-based and will improve safety. it's the families of the buffalo crash victims getting the credit. beverly eckert, a 9/11 widow died in the buffalo crash. today her sister was in washington.

>> i think that our efforts really went a long way to pushing this through. not just for ourselves, but for everyone who flies and in the memory of all those people who died. >> reporter: the pilots union is praising this new rule. they and the airlines now have two years to work out all their scheduling difficulties, if you will, before they have to apply this rule and make it official in two years' time. one group of airlines is getting a pass. the cargo carriers said this would be way too expensive for them and so the f.a.a. essentially exempted cargo carriers but all the c.e.o.s of cargo airlines are encouraged to come aboard voluntarily. brian? >> talk about a group working hard this time of year. tom costello starting us off in national in washington. tom, thanks. now to the fight in washington over the payroll tax cut extension. with ten days left including christmas and new year's before the cut expires there is no sign that either side is ready to move. we are covering the story from two angles tonight including the

latest from washington, but we'll begin with nbc's ron mott on the worries about less money in paychecks now hitting home. >> reporter: with the nation's lawmakers headed home for the holidays and no resolution on extending the payroll tax cuts, families like the blanfords in southern california are facing a financially uncertain new year, fearing smaller paychecks starting january 1st. >> it would make a tremendous impact. we are putting our 18-year-old through college right now. with the economy out there as it is today, i look out for the next three and a half years and wonder, is there any way we're going to make it? >> reporter: today the white house used social media to gauge concern about the latest political fight that puts workers in the middle asking how an average $40 drop in pay every two weeks would affect americans and their families. it means a full tank of gas, a week's worth of groceries, denise writes. mark says, it means i can afford to buy my prescriptions without having to sacrifice the health of myself and my family. >> reporter: here in herald square is shoppers continue

checking items off their gift lists, many unaware that when the bills come due next month, there could be less money to pay them. and that could put a damper on the holiday a spirit for some. congress, they argue, is the grinch. >> that's 3.5% to 4% of my income alone. it's going to affect quite a lot. >> it is a lot. it means a lot to me. >> reporter: you did a girls' trip? sharon brought her girls to new york from virginia and she's frustrated with washington gridlock. >> i don't think fair is in their vocabulary. they just talk fair, but they don't act fair. >> reporter: for some long-term unemployed, the clock is ticking. with no action, 2.5 million jobless could lose a critical safety net by february. ten days to go. patience is wearing thing across the country. in miami -- >> i'm squeezing hard right now. i've got my car insurance. i've got rent. >> reporter: in atlanta where a single mom looks for work. >> come walk a day in my shoes trying to get a job. >> reporter: a walk that could be more taxing in the new year. ron mott, nbc news, new york. >> now about those lawmakers. kelly o'donnell is with us from

capitol hill tonight with an update on what's going on or not going on there. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. with no breakthrough to tell you about, today became a battle of political appearances. first, speaker boehner invited cameras in to see his team at work saying they are ready to negotiate a one-year deal, an extension of the unemployment and tax benefits. president obama phoned boehner and had his own photo on taking a holiday shopping trip to the pet store, buying gifts for his daughters who are in hawaii while he's stuck here in d.c. aides say the president told boehner they must have the two-month extension first as insurance. then they can work on a one-year deal. the wall street journal surprised everyone with tough words for republicans saying they have blown this, calling it a fiasco. brian? >> kelly o'donnell on the hill tonight. thanks. the justice department announced today it has settled lending discrimination charges

against the defunct mortgage lender countrywide which steered black and hispanic customers in this country into more expensive subprime loans, even when they qualified for prime mortgages. then they charged higher fees and rates to more than 200,000 minority borrowers. bank of america which took over countrywide in 2008 will now pay $335 million in a settlement. the largest ever for a case like this. on the campaign trail today, ron paul is your leader in iowa with 13 days to go before the iowa kau suss. -- caucuses. analysts say his strong organization there could deliver a win and that could rattle the gop establishment. meanwhile newt gingrich had a run-in with protesters from the occupy des moines movement. they exchanged words as the group followed him down a stairwell at the state capitol building. then there is the candidate who, as former governor of the neighboring commonwealth of massachusetts, is the frontrunner in the next contest

in his part-time home state of new hampshire. nbc's chuck todd talked to mitt romney today one on one and is with us tonight from ashland, new hampshire. part of the news is you got to talk to mitt romney who had been pursuing a strategy of not talking to the media largely. >> reporter: yeah. we were able to sit down with him a couple of times today. look. he's been the on again, off again frontrunner all year long. but there is no state that's more make or break than new hampshire. this three-day bus trip is part of a strategy to make romney more accessible to voters and the press, including two separate interviews with nbc news today. he's no less cautious and wouldn't take sides on the payroll tax cut. >> i'm not going to throw gasoline on what is already a fire. >> reporter: but he was dismissive on its effect on the economy. >> this is not going to turn the economy around. it's a very helpful feature for families. >> reporter: romney struggled to persuade republican primary voters that he's conservative enough. >> coming from massachusetts

people begin with an assumption that perhaps you are not as conservative as they are. as they get to know me and look at my record they will recognize, no, i'm conservative. >> reporter: he maintains his support for a health care mandate in massachusetts is essentially a conservative position. >> there were two options in my state. one was to continue to allow people without insurance to go to the hospital and get free care paid for by government. the alternative to that we had as an option in our state was to say people who can afford to buy insurance themselves should do so at personal responsibility. it's more conservative in my view than something given out for free by government. >> reporter: he says his opponents are wrong when they accuse him of being a persistent flip-flopper. >> i'm going to say to you that obviously the place where my change was most significant in people's minds was with regard to the issue of abortion. have i become more conservative over the last 20 years? absolutely. >> reporter: he said republicans need to be clear about wall street reform. >> the challenge we have in my party sometimes is we talk about deregulation and people assume we mean getting rid of all

regulation. well, that's not the case. >> reporter: when walking into romney's part of the bus first thing you notice is a romney campaign banner, but not for mitt. his dad george. >> my dad was a man of unquestioned integrity. he said exactly what he believed regardless of the consequences. i want that to be my model. >> reporter: he acknowledges the mormon faith he learned from his father could be a liability. >> i don't know the reasons i lost iowa last time. but i recognize for some my faith is at issue. >> reporter: of course, brian, i did ask him about the gingrich complaints about all these negative ads and the super pacs. i'll tell you, here's what romney said. he said, if you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's going to come from obama's hell's kitchen -- his word -- is going to be a lot hotter. gingrich responded harshly saying, quote, i'll tell you what, if he wants to test the heat i'll meet him in iowa next week, one on one, 90 minutes, no

moderator. and so it goes. brian? >> all right. chuck todd at the american legion post on the campaign trail tonight. thanks. we have an unusual story tonight to report about what the army thinks really happened in the case of a young private whose body was found in a guard tower in afghanistan in october. danny chen, an asian-american from the chinatown section of new york city had committed suicide but the military's investigation further found that chen had been the target of ethnic slurs and physical attacks at the hands of his fellow soldiers. tonight eight of them have been charged with manslaughter and other serious crimes for allegedly driving danny chen to take his own life. with more citizen video coming out of syria these days during a very bloody week, the obama administration is using very strong language about what is happening there, accusing president asad's government of mowing down its own citizens. more than 200 are now dead there it's believed since monday. we'll take a break. up next as we continue on a

wednesday night, on the ground in afghanistan with americans in uniform and some of them are now openly gay. many said that would never work, but were they right? later, the outpouring of support and help since our story aired about a woman whose idea is making a difference for people and their pets who are all trying to survive these hard times.

tomorrow will mark one year to the day that president obama signed the repeal of the u.s. military policy known as don't ask, don't tell, banning openly gay and lesbian service members. just today a sign of the times. two women shared the traditional first kiss after the u.s.s. oak hills returned to home port in virginia. sailors and their families buy dollar raffle tickets for the chance at it. those two women happened to win it. critics said changing this law would never work in the real world of combat. tonight, nbc's jim maceda takes one measure of the change on the ground with some of america's

troops in afghanistan. >> reporter: task force bulldog, on patrol in eastern afghanistan. it's the kind of combat unit that would implode, critics warned, if don't ask, don't tell were repealed. >> get ready to move! >> reporter: but the chaos they predicted if openly gay and lesbian soldiers served in close quarters during combat never happened. >> i don't think anything's really changed at all. >> reporter: staff sergeant chris bostik is on his third combat tour, a squad leader. >> every one of my soldiers know i'm gay. they know who i am and what i stand for. >> reporter: how do his straight buddies see it? >> if you want to fight for our country, i don't care what you do. >> reporter: the repeal divided the military when a year ago president obama lifted the ban on gays, lesbians and bisexuals serving openly. now soldiers from grunts to top brass, even u.s. marines have embraced the law. so far, no reports of incidents

like hazing or gay bashing. behind front lines at large bases like bagram airfield, groups of gays and lesbians meet publically. a coffee hour unheard of only months ago. >> is it easier to be a soldier? >> definitely. just knowing you won't be kicked out or have difficulties because of what you say. >> reporter: 13,000 gays were discharged during don't ask, don't tell. the old stigma runs deep. half of this group of gays asked to conceal their identity, worried about reaction among peers. but hundreds, perhaps thousands of gay soldiers have posted their own coming out videos on youtube, often to their own families. >> dad, i'm gay. >> reporter: this phone call home by airman randy phillips based in germany to tell his parents he's gay went viral. more than 5 million hits. erin jones, a navy petty officer now tells anyone who asks that she's lesbian.

>> i always felt like a part of me died every time i had to say, oh, my boyfriend, oh, this guy i have been talking to when i didn't mean that. >> reporter: even commanders like marine general james amos, once against lifting the ban, now support it. >> i'm a little bit more proud of my unit and my country for taking this kind of step. >> reporter: allowing soldiers -- straight or gay -- to excel as they always have in war, but now to do it freely. jim maceda, nbc news, logar, afghanistan. when we come back, we think it's the most anyone has ever paid for an apartment and a lot of people were surprised by who bought it.

♪ where is the love ♪ where is the love ♪ where is the love a gentleman named ralph macdonald wrote that song and a

lot of others including the bill withers classic "just the two of us." while fans know him as a world class percussionist he was often called the ghost for his behind-the-scenes work on songs like jimmy buffet's "margaritaville," his great echo beat on bowie's "young americans" and six paul simon albums. ralph macdonald, dead of lung cancer at the age of 67. this may go down as the height of excess, the extravagance, the poster child of the guilded age, a 22-year-old college student from russia has purchased what is largely considered the most expensive apartment in new york for $88 million. there's more. her primary apartment is in monaco, but she goes to school here and needs a place to stay when she's here. her father is a billionaire russian. the man selling the apartment, sandy wile, a new york financier has already agreed to give the

proceeds to charity. so on the upside, some lucky cause is about to get $88 million and a 22-year-old is going to get the apartment. last night we showed you the hyatt house in florida with 175,000 christmas lights. as we look at those who go big this season, tonight we bring you 34th street in the baltimore neighborhood of hamden where christmas lights are a local industry this time of year. all the neighbors in all the row houses try to outdo each other. you can read a book standing in the middle of the street from the reflected glow of the spectacular competitive light show. up next here tonight, dog people and other people working to make a difference.

it's time now for our making a difference report. tonight we have an update on a story we brought you last year at this time. a nonprofit group that's helping neighbors who are having tough economic times along with the pets they love. nbc's anne thompson updates us on dog lovers who are making a difference. >> reporter: it's been a year of special deliveries for marlo manning. bringing food and financial aid

to four-legged friends in massachusetts whose two-legged owners are trapped in the recession. only able to find part-time work vicky richards said she couldn't feed willy and tucker without marlo's organization, fairy dog parents. >> we're very grateful. >> oh. >> thank you so much for saving them. >> oh, you're welcome. >> reporter: we first told you about fairy dog parents last december. >> she saved snowball's life. she saved my best friend and kept us together. >> reporter: the response from "nightly news" viewers has overwhelmed marlo. when we met last year what shape was the organization in and what happened? >> we had enough money to help four more sponsor dogs before we were on the segment. afterwards we raised over $50,000 which helped 112 dogs this year. >> reporter: they come in all shapes and sizes and needs.

still fairy dog parents struggles to meet the growing requests, especially for high-priced vet care. >> the challenge is acute care on average is three times more of an investment for us, than any other sort of assistance. >> reporter: liberty has kidney disease. now the medicine she needs that nancy couldn't afford on her $800 a month social security check. >> the gift of libbey's life and many months of companionship and sharing, made her comfortable, too. more important than anything. >> reporter: tommy is 15-year-old rachel's best friend. >> we're just kind of like buddies, him and i. brother and sister. >> reporter: and they will grow up together because the volunteer program stepped in with vet visits and vaccinations. one more happy ending in this season of giving. anne thompson, nbc news, kingston, massachusetts. >> we continue these follow up reports tomorrow night. what happened after one american family reached out to another one that had fallen on hard times and offered them a new start? that's tomorrow night on making

a difference. that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com