on the broadcast tonight, outrage here at home and around the world over the video of u.s. marines in afghanistan. tonight, the fallout begins. not so fast. in mississippi, a judge stops some of those controversial pardons issued by a prominent governor on his way out of office. the first blast of 2012. for a lot of folks in the lower 48, two storms have gotten together and are winding up and it looks likwinter is really under way. an eye on the prize. a truly inspiring story. one young woman's remarkable success despite overwhelming odds like her current living conditions. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. if you have a combat veteran in your household or your family, perhaps they can tell what you happens over there. what happens to young men who volunteer for duty at 18 years of age and find themselves in withering daily combat, fighting an insurgency in an unforgiving place. sometimes over multiple combat tours. while that's some of the context of what the u.s. marine corps is dealing with right now, it doesn't begin to address or explain the pictures that the u.s. secretary of defense today called utterly deplorable. it's a web video showing american marines urinating on the bodies of the enemy and providing commentary along the way. it is a terrible and potentially disastrous image for the u.s. around the world. we begin tonight with this

widening problem for the pentagon. our correspondent there jim miklazewski on duty tonight. jim, good evening. >> reporter: brian, the marine corps has one word for this video, disgusting. the four marines in the video have been identified. two are in custody at camp lejeune in north carolina. the other two were previously assigned to other units. tonight, one of them may even be back in afghanistan. the video first posted on the internet sent shock waves around the world. it shows four u.s. marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead militants. at one point the marines can be heard joking about their antics. they were part of a sniper team deployed to afghanistan. they returned home to camp lejeune last september. two are being questioned by naval investigators. within hours after the video surfaced, came an avalanche of condemnations from top-ranking pentagon and military officials.

at the state department today, secretary of state hillary clinton called the video deplorable. >> it is absolutely inconsistent with american values, with the standards of behavior we expect from our military personnel. >> reporter: there is deep concern this video could create a serious backlash against the u.s. military in afghanistan. president hamid karzai today called it an insane act and demanded those involved be severely punished. this afghan fears the marines' actions could undermine any u.s. peace efforts, and quote, increase the misery in our country. the taliban has already pounced on the controversy. >> the enemy gets a vote here, too. we've already seen them react with statements about how offended they are by this and how they might lash out as a result. >> reporter: but how in a military unit as disciplined as the marines, could this happen? >> these people are in day-to-day brutal combat.

they're young. they turn into animals if you're not careful. >> reporter: the four marines face serious criminal charges, including desecration of remains. if court-martialed and convicted, they could face jail time. >> incredibly troubling story out of the pentagon. jim miklazewski reporting for us. thanks. there is more to report on the big story out of mississippi where a nationally prominent governor sometimes mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, issued dozens of pardons to convicted criminals, including murderers on his last days in office. late last night, haley barbour, the former governor offered an explanation of sorts, but with outrage growing over this unprecedented action a judge has said not so fast. our report from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: the anger in mississippi over governor barbour's decision to grant those pardons and early releases will not go away. >> i just can't understand what was going through haley

barbour's mind. >> reporter: mary's brother was killed 20 years ago by joseph osmond sentenced to life in prison. after working as a trustee at the governor's mansion, he's just been pardoned and free. >> as if nothing happened. as if my brother does not matter. as if these victims do not matter. >> reporter: of the more than 200 convicts granted pardons, there were 21 murderers, eight sex offenders and more than 50 others convicted of armed robbery, assault, kidnapping and other violent crimes. in a written statement issued last night, barbour's office pointed out approximately 90% of those who received clemency were no longer in custody and a majority had been out for years. the statement said pardons would allow the offenders to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses, as well as hunt and vote. district attorney michael guess

says a big problem with pardons is they free convicts, allow them to buy guns and clear their records. >> i believe that the public has a right to know whom they're hiring, whom they are associating with, whom they are entrusting their children. with. >> reporter: at the state capitol, democrats are drafting legislation that would require the governor to consult with police and families before pardoning violent criminals. >> these victims need to be heard. their families need to be heard. >> reporter: a judge halted the release of any more prisoners until barbour's pardons can be reviewed. mark potter, jackson, mississippi. perhaps it serves us right for all the reporting we did on all the warm winter weather of late. we knew we would have to pay some day and a lot of folks gne. it's a howler in the chicago area tonight. more like winter in chicago. as usual, weather channel meteorologist mike seidel is right out there in the middle of it. mike, good evening. >> reporter: hey, good evening, brian. in most winters, this would be a

blip on the radar, but this season is anything but typical with temperatures averaging in the 50s and only two inches of snow in chicago until today. it's the first snowstorm of the season for the windy city, hitting the chicago area with the white stuff. the city's department of sanitation was ready, putting half of its snow-fighting fleet on the roads before sunrise. for some here, snow is a welcome sight. >> i can do without the cold, but the snow i love. >> reporter: others would prefer the recent warm weather with temperatures as much as 30 degrees above average. >> i don't particularly like the snow. but i'm glad that for this to be the windy city that it happens in a rough winter. i'm grateful for that. >> reporter: from minnesota to as far south as kentucky and everywhere in between, the winter blast wreaked havoc on early morning commuters. in kansas city, traffic was snarled with low visibility as accidents piled up on the highways.

in the st. louis area there were hundreds of accidents and three deaths reported. as severe as midwest winters can be, they're nothing compared to what cordova, alaska, has been dealing with. 176 inches of snow since november. a record for that state. back east, concord, new hampshire, residents were digging out from their first significant snowfall of the season. while in new york city, on the "today" show plaza, they were dealing with the elements. >> will you hurry, it's pouring out here. >> oh, my goodness. >> what are you doing out here? it is a major windstorm. >> it's crazy out here. >> reporter: this cold air will continue to blow east tonight and tomorrow, as temperatures fall. more snow around the lakes tonight into northern new england tomorrow. a very windy day tomorrow in the northeast. more delays at the airports as temperatures plummet into the weekend. though this does signal a bit of a change in the pattern of recent weeks in the northern

tier, we don't see any significant note on the weather maps that we are goaling to deal with anything like we dealt with the past couple of winters, arctic air and blockbuster snowstorms. still not on the radar at this point. >> still incredible. mike seidel, thanks. on the campaign trail, the extraordinary battle over mitt romney's tenure as head of the private equity firm bain capital continued, despite effort from some heavy hitters on the republican party to put a stop to it. ron mott is with us from columbia, south carolina, tonight. good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian, good evening to you. political push came to shove today here in south carolina about what many considered to be mitt romney's achilles' heel, whether he put profits ahead of people when he ran a powerful venture capital firm. the sniping over mitt romney's tenure as ceo of bain capital. >> when mitt romney came to town. >> reporter: dramatized in a 27-minute documentary and tv

ads, as well as by two opponents, sparked an intense fire fight within the republican party, with one candidate effectively declaring a cease-fire, while another stays on the offensive against the front-runner. >> are you attacking bain or asking questions? >> i'm asking questions. i'm shocked how defensive they are. >> reporter: today former speaker newt gingrich didn't retreat, expressing surprise at the criticism aimed at him for questioning one of his party's hallmark positions, pro-capitalism. >> there is counterpressure among the elite about raising questions. the american people have the right to know, and people who run for high office have an obligation to be transparent. >> the vulture capitalists. >> reporter: texas governor rick perry who described bain as vulture capitalists dropped the term from his speeches. >> i love capitalism. free market capitalism in the state of texas has created over a million jobs. we understand how capitalism needs to work.

>> reporter: as the race moved to south carolina this week, whispers about romney's business past became full-blown attacks. >> newt and perry blew it. >> reporter: prompting prominent conservative voices from rush limbaugh to several wealthy republican donors to push back hard. today romney defended his work at bain and job losses that occurred. >> i think any time a job is lost is a tragedy, for the family, for the individual that loses the job it's devastating. >> reporter: jon huntsman and rick santorum were critical about dismissals about bain. >> we cannot afford to have our nominee be an issue in this race. >> reporter: huntsman went a step further with romney's pink slip comment. >> when you have a candidate who talks about his enjoyment of firing people. who talks about pink slips. makes comments that seem to be so detached from the problems that americans are facing today, that makes you pretty much unelectable. >> reporter: when confronted today by radio talk show host

laura ingraham, rick perry said if this is a fatal flaw, it's better to talk about it in january when he is the candidate than in september when he could be the nominee against president obama. >> ron mott in south carolina, thanks. former first lady laura bush made some news when she told a crowd in sarasota, florida, she and her husband the former president urged jeb bush to get in the race and run for president this year. former florida governor decided not to and hasn't endorsed a candidate. he's been focusing a lot of his time and attention on education. laura bush also told the crowd she's having trouble getting 43, the former leader of the free world, to pick up his socks around the house. up next here as "nightly news" continues. revisiting a remarkable american family and the two little girls they rescued from an epic disaster. tonight, so much has changed. later, millions are suffering in this tough economy. wait till you see what one teenager is up against.

two years ago today, disaster struck haiti in the form of a massive earthquake. we were there by the next morning. witnessed the destruction, got to see the outpouring of aid that followed, but the suffering continues, of course. as of today, two years later, just half of the mountain of rubble caused by the quake has been removed. rebuilding has been painfully slow. more than 600 schools have been rebuilt or repaired. 100,000 temporary shelters replaced homes wiped out. amid the misery, stories of kindness and love, we learned about one after we arrived to cover the quake two years ago. a man chased me down to tell me

about children in an orphanage he was concerned about. nbc's ron allen pursued the story and met an american man frantically searching for two little girls he was in the process of adopting from haiti. tonight, ron revisits that story and that family. >> reporter: in suburban nashville, there are two little sisters, part of a brand-new family. with their adoptive parents mike and missy wilson and three brothers. >> i love you. >> i love you. >> reporter: they're adjusting well to a completely different way of life. >> i'm tia. >> reporter: we actually know them pretty well. we met tia, now 6 and naika now 8 after haiti's massive earthquake. the wilsons were in the process of adopting them. >> the epicenter is exactly where the girls were.

i remember that helpless feeling of we're never going to see them again. >> let's go get this done. >> reporter: mike flew to haiti and found the girls safe. about a week later, the u.s. finally began giving american families adopting children permission to bring them home. for the wilsons, that meant tia could leave immediately, but naika's case was further down the list. it took weeks to get her home and months before she truly believed she was a member of the family. >> i made it my mission at that time, i'm going to get this little girl to trust us. >> reporter: now she does. >> she is a mama's girl. >> reporter: two years later, the wilsons still have quiet talks about haiti. >> every now and then out of the blue, they'll say something about, you know, the day the earth shook. i want them to remember those things and how they felt, but i don't want it to be something they dwell on either. >> reporter: wilsons work for a christian nonprofit. they led armies of volunteers to haiti at least a dozen times. building dozens of new homes. setting up a feeding center for children.

both your girls came from places like this. >> they're mud huts. >> reporter: their journey is not complete. eventually, the wilsons plan to live here and open an orphanage they're building, inspired, they say, by their two little girls. ron allen, nbc news, port-au-prince. >> up next for us, the maestro who had enough when a cell phone was drowning out the symphony and he spoke for all of us.

funeral services were held in los angeles today for raymond johnson who lived an amazing american life. drafted out of howard university at the start of world war ii, he became one of the famed tuskegee airmen. and was awarded the congressional gold medal for his service. he went on to become an attorney and civil rights activist. he died on new year's eve at the age of 89. looks like we have another piece of space junk to look out

for. this will be the third in five months, by the way. this time it's different. it's a russian spacecraft and at 14 1/2 tons, it's one of the largest and heaviest ever to plummet uncontrollably to earth. it was just launched in november on a mission to mars. an electronic glitch left it inert in space. russians are assuring the world only about 20 or 30 of the heavier chunks are likely to survive reentry to earth's orbit. the latest forecast has this thing crash landing sunday or monday. perhaps over the indian ocean, potentially close to madagascar. if so, they'll have to move it-move it, but we all know a lot more information will be coming as the weekend approaches. there is a reason why before all live performances these days, movie theaters, stage performances, concerts, people are warned to turn off their cell phones.

it's incredibly annoying. it distracts those around you. it can kill a performance. last night here in new york, it did, in fact, kill a performance. it was the new york philharmonic at lincoln center. it was mahler's ninth symphony during a crucial portion at the end. that same ring tone started going off. the conductor alan gilbert couldn't take it any more and stopped the concert. today he explained why. >> the symphony ends incredibly quietly. there was literally no way we could go on so i stopped the music and i asked the general vicinity where the sound was coming from, please turn off your cell phone. i had to ask several times and it didn't stop. >> the offending phone owner seemed paralyzed at first. it kept ringing, but he finally dialed in and turned it off. the conductor was applauded for what he did. the concert was finally completed, and the musicians reportedly were paid overtime for having to stay late last night. up next here this evening, a

remarkable young woman getting national attention for good reason.

for most kids, excelling in school is tough enough, even in

the best circumstances. tonight we have the story of a teenager in new york who is dealing with chaos on the home front. at the same time, she's in the running for one of the biggest academic prizes there is. our chief education correspondent rehema ellis has her story. >> reporter: 17-year-old samantha garvey is trying to grasp the news. >> it's unbelievable. it doesn't seem like it could happen to someone like me. >> reporter: this high school senior is a semi finalist in the intel science competition, with a shot at the $100,000 prize. >> she says, oh, i feel great, mommy. i feel wonderful. you feel better now? you know why? because i won, mommy. >> reporter: samantha's achievement is stunning because it comes amid family turmoil. her grandmother died, her parents were in a car accident, and while on disability fell behind on the bills. then on new year's eve, the whole family was evicted from

their home. >> i'm homeless. i live in a shelter. this is the second time in my life, but this has always been a motivator. >> reporter: was there ever a time when you wondered, can we get past all these tough times? >> of course. there are times you sit there and wonder, are things going to get better? in the long run, you have to be optimistic. >> reporter: she stays optimistic by staying busy with advanced biology, calculus, statistics, italian and violin. >> there is no one more deserving. she has been not only my student, but a research collaborator. >> reporter: she hopes her research project on sea life helps her win the scholarship and moves her closer to her ultimate goal. >> i'm going to college making a better life for myself. >> reporter: ranked 4 out of 400 from her senior class and pulling in top honors, samantha is well on her way. rehema ellis, nbc news, brentwood, new york.

incredible story to end our broadcast on on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, will the lights stay on in the city? the 49ers may be ready for their big playoff game this weekend, but will pg&e be ready tee? good evening, everyone. >> the countdown to playoff football continues tonight at candlestick park. the aging stadium, one of the oldest in the country is returning to the national spotlight after last