on the broadcast tonight, what happened? an incredible talent is gone. there are new details about how she died. what investigators found inside whitney houston's hotel room. what we know about her behavior in those final days and the music she leaves behind. robbed at knife point. a justice of the u.s. supreme court has become a victim of crime. critical shortage. a life-saving drug for children in very ort supply, and tonight the scramble to find more before time runs out. the comeback. a clean sweep and so much more for the voice that won the night and then some. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. she was an extraordinary artist born with extraordinary gifts. now sadly, while her family deals with this crushing blow, her fans react around the globe simply by playing her music, the name whitney houston joins a long list of thoroughly talented artists who entertained all of us, lived hard and died young. tonight as her body makes the journey home to newark, new jersey, where it all started for her, the investigation continues into how the end came in a hotel in beverly hills on the eve of the industry's annual celebration. we begin tonight with nbc's kristen dahlgren in los angeles. >> reporter: after a life lived on stage, police say whitney houston's death came alone in a bath tub on the fourth floor of the beverly hilton hotel.

the singer found under water by a member of her staff saturday afternoon. >> when first responders arrived on the scene, she was unconscious and unresponsive. >> reporter: they tried cpr, but couldn't save her. the coroner confirms prescription pill bottles were found in the singer's room. toxicology test will take another six to eight weeks. >> you might have a suspicion, but the person could have suffered a heart attack or embolism or something. no matter what medications they're taking, until we run a tox, we are not going to speculate. >> reporter: in hollywood, there is plenty of speculation two. days before her death, some say the star who is known for years of drug abuse, was acting erratically. >> she definitely had alcohol. you could smell it on her. >> reporter: that night, she took the stage, a hoarse rendition of "jesus loves me." she left looking disheveled, a far cry from the whitney in november who talked about a comeback with "access hollywood". >> i'm matured. i'm looking forward to the years to come.

good years. >> reporter: her family is described as inconsolable. her daughter was rushed to the hospital sunday and later released. her ex-husband bobby brown arrived in l.a. to a crush of paparazzi. despite the intense focus on her death, around the world, houston's life is being celebrated. from the grammys last night where jennifer hudson offered a moving tribute. ♪ and i will always love you >> reporter: to houston's elementary school that now bears her name in newark, new jersey. >> she inspires everybody at the school. i believe she inspires everybody. she inspires me. >> reporter: in los angeles this afternoon, her body began the final trip home. a huge public funeral is being planned in newark on friday, as the investigation continues here in los angeles, where she died. one other note, brian, whitney houston's music is back on the top of the charts, but consumers

are reporting a huge price increase when they go to buy. >> kristen dahlgren from the beverly hilton, thanks. we learned today justice breyer of the u.s. supreme court was the victim of a robbery at knife point late last week while on vacation. our justice correspondent pete williams is at the supreme court tonight with more on this. pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, we found out today this happened last thursday while justice breyer was vacationing with his wife and some friends in the caribbean. he owns a house on the island of nevis in the west indies. according to a spokesman last thursday night about 9:00, a man with a machete broke in and stole about $1,000 in cash from justice breyer, his wife and their house guests. justice breyer who is 73 was not hurt and neither were any of the others. the man ran away. local authorities have no suspect. they say this was part of a string of recent robberies there

the justices are no strangers to this kind of crime. in 2004, david souter on the court was mugged while jogging near his home here in washington. in 1996 ruth bader ginsburg's purse was snapped walking home from the kennedy center. >> pete williams, thanks. president obama unveiled his budget for the upcoming here. this being an election year, the chances of a $3.8 trillion plan becoming law as-is are being judged at just about zero with the fight over taxes and spending grinding on as it has for the past three years or so. our political director chief white house correspondent chuck todd at the white house tonight with more on this. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. here is what today was, the president's opening bid. how he thinks the government should collect some $3 trillion in taxes and how it should spend $4 trillion.

here is what it wasn't, the likely budget. the president conveniently has a swing state in his backyard, and he traveled to virginia to unveil his 2013 budget. >> i will not read it to you. it's long and a lot of numbers. >> reporter: what he did, sounded the same populist theme he's been using these last few months. >> we can settle for a country where a few people do really well and everybody else struggles to get by or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot. >> reporter: the president focused most on areas where he wants to spend money, $350 billion for job creation, including the community college training initiative he highlighted today. $476 billion in transportation and infrastructure rebuilding. $141 billion for the areas of the government that focus on research and development.

republicans focused on the lack of details on taxes and deficit reduction. >> somebody asked me if this budget was dead on arrival. i said it's not dead on arrival, it's debt on arrival. >> reporter: white house aides acknowledge they are punting income tax reforms in favor of recycle ing old proposals that tax the wealthiest americans. including eliminating the so-called bush tax cuts. >> we will not continue to costly tax cuts for oil companies, investment fund managers and those making over $250,000 a year. we can't afford it. >> reporter: the only new tax reform in this budget, adoption of the so-called buffet rule, requiring folks earning over $1 million to pay a minimum rate of approximately 30%. the republicans senate leader charged the president budget is not a good faith effort to address the country's fiscal issues. >> president obama released a budget that isn't a budget at all. it's a campaign document. >> reporter: this is the heart of the argument you're going to hear between the two parties, not just in the battle for

presidency, but battle in control of congress. we have a hard deadline at the end of this calendar year, the expiration of those bush tax cuts. something has actually got to budge this year or taxes could go up on everybody. >> chuck todd at the white house tonight, thanks. overseas, greece is cleaning up from a night of violence. some awful fires and fights after the greek parliament passed an austerity bill a lot of greeks are furious about. stephanie gosk is in athens for us tonight. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the greek parliament did exactly what the euro zone wanted them to do. they passed these budget cuts so they could get a much-needed $170 billion rescue package what they didn't do was convince the tens of thousands of people that hit the streets that this was in their best interest. riot police last night faced off against an angry mob on the steps of parliament. dodging rocks and fire bombs.

responding with billy clubs and canister after canister of tear gas. as parliament approved this slashing of government jobs and dramatic reduction in minimum wage, athens burned. stores were trashed and looted. flames engulfed dozens of building, including an historic cinema, which today was still smoldering. the cleanup began early, but there will be lasting scars. >> the answer isn't to break everything here. is to fight against the government without burning and destroying the city. >> reporter: it's hard to imagine how destroying small businesses like this one could be a solution to greece's economic problems. >> something like 2,000 euros, equipment, imac, mac books, and everything is ruined right now. >> reporter: it's becoming a vicious cycle. this country needs help from the

euro zone, but the only way it gets that help is with budget cuts. the cuts lead to this. the government has failed to explain the crisis to the public. this member of parliament told us -- >> they're not completely aware if they're suffering because of the crisis or suffering because of the medicine, which is the measures of austerity that we've been passing. >> reporter: and there is likely more economic pain to come. >> it doesn't help greece that just the kind of more competitive economy that it needs. >> reporter: the fear in greece and all over europe is that the fires will keep burning. the rescue package is not a done deal. european finance ministers are meeting in brussels on wednesday. some want to ask greek officials directly how they plan to enact some of these reforms. brian? >> stephanie gosk in athens tonight. scary weekend there over the weekend. there were attacks today on

israeli diplomats in two separate countries. israel is blaming iran for both of them. in india, a bomb exploded in an israeli diplomat's car. the former soviet republic of georgia authorities found a car bomb before it went off. no one was killed in either incident. iran denies any tie to this. tensions are high between the two countries. in london today, al qaeda's most senior man in europe was freed on bail. he's believed to have inspired some of the world's worst acts of terro not limited to 9/11. considered a security risk, he was held for six years, never charged with a crime. a court ordered him released. there is more on this store on nbc nightly news.com. back in this country, washington state is now the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage. the governor signed the bill today. it takes effect in june. opponents say they will begin collecting signatures on a referendum to overturn it.

still ahead as we continue, desperate hours for children who need life-saving medicine. why a badly-needed drug is in such short supply and what is being done to find more of it. then later, that voice on the way to superstardom.

we have disturbing health news tonight. imagine being the parent of a sick child with a form of cancer that's very dangerous, but very

treatable at the same time with the right medicine. then imagine how you'd feel being told you can't get the medicine because of a sudden shortage. our chief science correspondent robert bazell has our report. >> reporter: these are two of about 3,000 children around the country whose lives could be in danger because of a sudden shortage of a common inexpensive drug. >> up to now, we've been able to dodge a bullet. we are very worried this is going to become a very acute and severe problem very soon. >> reporter: the children have a rare kind of leukemia, a.l.l., that is almost always curable. a critical part of that treatment is a drug called methotrexate. there is only about a two-week supply left in the entire country. parents are scared and furious. >> i can only hope supplies last it's just not for my son, it's for the next family that walks through the doors of this hospital also. >> reporter: the methotrexate

shortage is due to problems at this plant in ohio, shuttered voluntarily because of manufacturing and quality control problems, but many say there is a bigger issue. this is one of several shortages of relatively inexpensive drugs, mostly cancer medications, that cropped up around the country in the past few months. many doctors charge companies choose to make profitable drugs while cutting back on the older ones. >> a lot of these medications don't make a lot of money for drug companies because they've been around a long time. they're generic. >> reporter: the faa is urging companies to increase production. but has no an enforcement powers. as this current crisis shows, decisions about which drugs are manufactured and in what quantities can have huge impact on the most vulnerable of patients. robert bazell, nbc news, oakland. up next, more evidence of a link between diet and memory loss, and a little more about last night and who hit the truly high notes.

♪ we could have had it all ♪ rolling in the deep >> her fans were quietly holding their breath until it was clear she had her voice, but from the first note, it was clear adele was going to go after it and she did. she chose her classic, the break-up anthem of the decade, "rolling in the deep" and delivered a stunning performance to thunderous applause in the hall. she sparkled and she just about walked away with the whole night. six grammys, including record of the year, song of the year, album of the year. there were a lot of callbacks to the past including the beach boys, 50-year veterans. mccartney and his friends. another emotional high point was glenn campbell's performance. he's on a farewell tour after

his recent alzheimer's diagnosis. this happened during the affectionate and raucous standing ovation, two women seventh row on the aisle were spotted sitting there texting. they were slammed on twitter for being rude, but one of them said in her own defense she was busy tweeting out her love for glenn campbell. tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the famous televised white house tour given by first lady jacqueline kennedy. seen by 80 million viewers back in 1962. tonight the kennedy library has released a trove of materials including parts of the script for the tour, which became a pop culture phenomenon. among the other papers released, documents from her work restoring and preserving the white house. the project that preceded that tv tour, even a sketch of the hairstyle she planned for her now-famous trip to france during which the president of the united states famously introduced himself as the man

who accompanied jacqueline kennedy to paris. the stunner medical story of the day may be this one. a study published by the american academy of neurologists says older people who take in over 2,100 calories a day have more than double the risk of a kind of memory loss called mild cognitive impairment. the more calories older folks consume, the more likely they are to have it. the condition mci for short is often the interim step between memory loss and an early alzheimer's diagnosis. it's why doctors so often emphasize good physical shape is so often the key to a longer life well lived. on the eve of valentine's day, a romantic spontaneous scene at poolside. you may remember matt grevers from the olympics in beijing. he was a silver medalist in the backstroke, an event he won saturday in missouri that's when he decided to take the plunge. he proposed to his girlfriend annie chandler of the usa national swimming team.

she said yes and she swam in her next event. when we come back, those extraordinary gifts we mentioned earlier in the broadcast. the sound that put whitney houston in her own category.

whitney houston's death this weekend raised questions about what happened to a life and career that were once so promising, but for the most part and for now in this immediate aftermath, mostly people are remembering the music she left behind. our report from nbc's mike taibbi. ♪ and the rockets red glare >> reporter: of the countless singers who performed the star-spangled banner, only whitney houston's rendition before the 1991 super bowl could turn the anthem into a pop chart hit. ♪ o say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ >> reporter: her voice had such power. she had range across three octaves and the ability to infuse each syllable with credible emotion.

>> that's the gospel training she comes from. how to make you feel the songs in your bones. >> reporter: feel anything, said kelly price. whose idol sang impromptu duets with her at a pre-grammy party last thursday night. >> you could dance to her like you could cry to her, get married to her, make babies to her. you could do it all. >> reporter: mostly, for the tens of millions worldwide who bought her albums, singles and music videos, you listened. ♪ and i will always love you >> reporter: even the rarest human gifts change. they end. whether or not whitney houston's substance abuse had anything to do with it, her famous voice had changed. >> people said her voice is not what it was, none of our voices are what they were. hers had changed and she was

working her way back. >> reporter: work alone couldn't head off the inevitable. >> every singer's voice has an expiration date. there were no plans at the time of her death for an album. ♪ i had no hope >> reporter: in this song from her last album sung at the 2009 american music awards, houston showed even with her voice hitting limits, she could deliver something special. ♪ i crept down some more but i did not crumble ♪ >> reporter: in the end she did crumble, but that voice will remain unforgettable. mike taibbi, nbc news, los angeles. ♪ thank you, thank you i love you! >> that's our broadcast on a monday night. thank you for being here with us as we start off a new week. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. i'm raj mathai. for so many people, pets are family members. a man mourning the brutal attack on his dog. the small dog was stomped to death. happened in broad daylight and san jose police are searching for clues. it happened at winchester and colonial. in s j