west coast of the united states. the rally. the dow cracks 13,000, but what does it really mean for millions of americans struggling to keep their heads above water and gas in the tank these days? and a time bomb for baby boomers. a big health warning tonight about what they're calling a silent epidemic and how it can escape detection. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. it didn't take long for the issue that loomed so large in the last presidential election to find its way to the headlines in this election. religion. the president's religion, the religion of his challengers, especially mitt romney's mormonism, was front and center again today, helped along by the remarks this morning on live television by the son of the most famous preacher in america. we have two reports tonight, before we hear from peter

alexander on the campaign trail in michigan. we begin with nbc's andrea mitchell in washington on this change in the tone about the conversation about religion today. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. rick santorum has been firing up the republican base by accusing president obama of having, quote, a phony theology. he says he's not questioning the president's christian faith, but he has reignited a hot debate over religion and politics. rick santorum says he's not talking about religion but about president obama's environmental policy. >> the government gives him the drugs -- >> but then santorum brought up the president's controversial former chicago pastor, the reverend jeremiah wright, on fox news last night. >> he went to reverend wright's church for 20 years. you can question what kind of theology reverend wright has. but he says he's a christian, he goes to a christian church now. >> reporter: the comments are red meat for some conservatives. >> it's about some phony ideal,

some phony theology. oh, not a theology based on the bible, a different theology. >> reporter: and others are now picking up the theme. on "morning joe" today, evangelist franklin graham, reverend billy graham's son, fast doubts on whether president obama is a christian. >> by your definition, he's not a christian? >> you have to ask him. i cannot answer that question for anybody. >> but you do not believe he's a muslim? >> no. >> categorically not a muslim? >> i can't say categorically because islam has gotten a free pass under obama. >> reporter: two years ago, the president visited an ailing billy graham. at the national prayer breakfast three weeks ago, he spoke about it. >> reverend graham started praying for me as he had for so many presidents before me. and when he finished praying, i felt the urge to pray for him. >> reporter: today, the white house dismissed franklin graham's comments saying the president had just talked at the prayer breakfast about the importance of faith in his life.

mitt romney's faith was also questioned today by franklin graham. >> most christians would not recognize mormonism as part of the christian faith. >> reporter: the last time he ran for president, romney tried to put the mormon issue to rest. >> a person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith. >> reporter: presidential candidates have often had to grapple with religious prejudice. >> there's been in issue in american history except for race that's as hot as religion in american politics. >> reporter: and no way to predict how it will affect voters this year. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the comeback kid, mitt romney, the next president of the united states of america. bring it on. >> reporter: this is peter alexander on the campaign trail in detroit. facing next week's crucial primary here in michigan, mitt romney tried to refocus the campaign on the main argument,

that he's the best candidate to fix the american economy. >> how can we have a president -- this is what i don't get -- how can we have a president whose tax policy is to raise taxes? >> still in what's become a neck and neck republican race, rick santorum is threatening to derail romney's path to the nomination. >> if he loses, it changes the entire psychology of the race. suddenly the talk will not be the inevitability of mitt romney as a presidential nominee, but there will be huge doubts. >> reporter: romney's senior advisers dismiss santorum for creating, in their words, a controversy a day. and in arizona, romney has dispatched his wife across michigan who today acknowledged her husband's debates are stressful, even on her. >> i decided it would be much better if i could just do the debating from this point forward. we've heard enough from mitt. it's just enough. >> is he serious. fiscal conservative? really? santorum voted to raise the debt ceiling five times. >> reporter: like romney, ron paul is also trying to halt santorum's momentum with these ads.

romney and his allies continue to hit at santorum. >> santorum voted to raise the debt ceiling five times. >> romney and his allies continue to hammer away at santorum. >> america is drowning in national debt, yet rick santorum supported millions in earmarks. >> reporter: but they're burning through money. romney spent three times what they raised. today, santorum brushed off the latest attacks. >> you may hear commercials, rick santorum a big spender, but they never once talked about how i voted for any increase in an appropriation bill. why? because i never did. >> reporter: and it was all eyes on rick santorum ahead of tomorrow night's debate in arizona. the santorum campaign tonight, brian, is downplaying expectations, with one adviser telling me this debate is important, but it's not the end-all, be-all for their campaign. now to the economy, one of the more substantial issues the voters will be deciding on this election year. today on wall street for the first time in almost four years, the dow jones industrial average touched that 13,000 mark before

backing off a bit by the closing bell. blue chips finished the day up almost 16 points at 12,965 in the end. so what does a sizable rally on wall street mean for the rest of the country? our report from nbc's john yang. >> reporter: the last time the dow broke the 13,000 barrier, barack obama was a freshman senator, lehman brothers and aig were still in business, and facebook had fewer than 100 million users. the index has jumped 6% in the eight weeks since new year's day and nearly doubled since bottoming out in march 2009. with nearly 165 million americans invested in stocks, mostly through 401(k) retirement accounts, that's likely to boost consumer confidence. >> a more confident consumer is one more likely to spend, and

they're willing to look to the future with a bit more optimism. >> i'm unimpressed with the stock market. if the wall street fat cats get richer, that doesn't affect me or my friends. >> reporter: rising stock prices may not mean much to consumers struggling with rising gas and food prices. given all the head winds in the economy, rising energy prices, still concerns about europe, you can't say that 13,000 dow is an all-clear signal. >> reporter: analysts say the biggest hit may be at the pump with forecasters predicting a nationwide average of $3.95 per gallon by memorial day, higher in big cities. >> it impacts everything. it's just not the car. >> reporter: there are other troubling signs. 1 in 5 home owners owe more on their houses than they're worth. and a new poll out today finds abquarter of americans owe more on their credit cards than they have in savings. >> we're growing, but there's not a general sense of prosperity in the country. >> reporter: as the economic recovery struggles to maintain momentum.

you want to know the impact of those rising gas prices, consider this -- analysts say the 18.5 cent increase in the last 30 days has cost american households, $26 billion. brian? >> john yang in chicago. john, thanks. as we learn today, there's a good chance at the hugt of the presidential campaign this fall, the u.s. supreme court is going to consider a case on the contentious issue of race and affirmative action, and it could change american law on this topic once again. our justice correspondent pete williams at the supreme court for us tonight. pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, the court's agreement to hear this case puts the issue of affirmative action very much in doubt at the nation's colleges and universes. the justices agreed to hear a challenge to the admissions policies at the university of texas at austin. a white high school student, abigail fisher sued claiming that affirmative action kept her out. she said her grades and test

scores were better than those of many minority students who were admitted. nine years ago, the supreme court said colleges and universities could consider race to make classes more diverse, but the court is more conservative on this issue now, with the departure of sandra day o'connor who wrote that decision, replaced by samuel alito. the court will likely hear this case in october or early november, just as voters are preparing to go to the polls or cast their absentee ballots, brian. >> pete williams at the court where this will indeed be a contentious case. pete, thanks. overseas tonight, we have news from three separate hot spots around the world, starting with iran. it is now saying it will strike first against its enemies if it feels threatened. just this week, they've been using military vessels in their own show of force on the water. in syria, government forces again bombarding the city of homs. there are reports today of at least 100 more dead, including children. international red cross is trying to negotiate a cease-fire

to allow in food and medical supplies. finally, in afghanistan, angry protests against america after a terrible mistake. american soldiers were reportedly cleaning out a library at bagram air base, apparently not realizing they were throwing out religious texts, including copies of the koran until afghan staffers saw what was happening. by the time the books had been discovered, they had gone to the incinerator. the commander of nato forces has quickly apologized for this. well, we mentioned this next story at the top of the broadcast. there's a report tonight that the first of the debris from the earthquake in fukushima, japan, has arrived on our west coast. first word of this story broke earlier today. all we have for hard evidence, in addition to what people have seen for themselves and examined, are some still pictures sent to king tv, our nbc station in seattle.

and for starters here tonight, we thought we would ask our own experts on this if this could possibly be that same debris. so with us here in the studio, our chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson, and veteran nbc news foreign correspondent ian williams, who's been based on the pacific rim and who, by the way, spent over a month reporting in and around fukushima. both with us here in new york tonight. welcome to you both. anne, first environmentally, we've been talking about the mass and its traveling speed. could this be that? >> well, it's possible, but highly unlikely. at least that's what noaa says. there's a scientist in seattle, or washington state who believes this is debris from the tsunami, in large part because there was a buoy that was made in japan. but noaa says these buoys have washed up on the coast for many, many years and for this to be tsunami debris, it would have had to travel almost in a direct line for 23 miles a day for it to hit the west coast.

the debris is coming but it's not supposed to reach our shores until early next year. >> ian, on the west coast of the u.s., if this is not it, it will get here at some point. is there any way it couldn't happen, given the volume of what you saw roll into the sea? >> the statistics are staggering. by some estimates 500,000 buildings were either destroyed or damaged by the tsunami. just to give you an idea of that, that's equivalent to half the buildings in the entire city of new york. by some estimates, the tsunami generated the equivalent of a whole year's worth of trash. now, the japanese have done quite a good job in cleaning up the mess of what was left of those villagers but what they have created are mountains of debris. in those mountains, possibly toxic material, and disposing of it -- burning it, burying it -- that could take years. >> it's a mystery discovery on the west coast. and as we say, if not now, certainly some of it will be getting here in time.

thanks to both of you for being with us here tonight. a breakthrough for patients desperately waiting for life-saving cancer drugs. tonight, the fda says it has a solution to some critical shortages we've been covering. and later, the simple act of teaching young people to fish, making a difference on dry land for a lifetime.

>> we are back as promised with health news. that's been branded as a silent epidemic among baby boomers. a virus a lot of people don't know they have, and the routine tests you get at the doctor that may not show it. our chief medical correspondent dr. nancy snyderman has our report. >> reporter: beverly's diagnosis of hepatitis c came five years ago after a visit to her doctor. now at age 56, every day is a struggle. >> i'm always tired, nauseated, very weak.

fatigued. >> reporter: more than 3 million americans are infected with hepatitis c. even more alarming, 1/2 to 3/4 don't realize it. >> we want to find hepatitis c before the patient develops cirrhos cirrhosis. cirrhosis means the liver is severely injured, has scar tissue and is not working the way it's supposed to work. >> by the time scar tissue is found, the liver is damaged so badly it often leads to cancer or a need for a transplant. hepatitis c is spread primarily through iv drug use, blood transfusions before 1992 when screening for the virus began, and by sexual contact. and it kills, causing 8,000 to 10,000 deaths per year. there's no vaccine for hepatitis c like there is for its cousin hepatitis b. but a simple blood test can detect the virus, and there are medications for treatment. >> if you need to call me, leave me a message. >> reporter: unfortunately for

beverly, her body cannot tolerate the drugs and she may soon be placed on a transplant list. >> it's how we treat you and how likely you are to respond to treatment. >> reporter: her case is not rare. that's why doctors recommend that patients in their 40s and older be screened for the virus. >> the only way to find it is to go after it and look for it. so everybody should be, adults, should be screened for the hepatitis c virus. >> obviously screening all these baby boomers is going to be quite an undertaking, but experts say finding this virus and treating it and changing lifestyle is still less expensive than the cost of treating liver cancer or liver transplant. >> while we have you, another story has to do with the drug shortages we've been covering. >> we've been talking a lot. methotrexate, a drug for pediatric cancer, a stop-gap measure today from the fda. they said right now they're going to bring in emergency samples from australia. and another drug used to treat

ovarian cancer, bring some medications in from india. it is a crisis. we're just a couple of weeks away from running out of this drug in this country, but nonetheless, until we figure out the manufacturing glitches in this country, it really is a stop-gap measure. at least good news for now. >> anything to get it to patients. doctor, thank you as always. up next here tonight, for americans wondering where winter is, a lot of folks are having way too much of it.

♪ anytime you hear harry connick jr., it must be that time. we decided today it's the one place most of us would rather be. since mardi gras means fat tuesday in americanized french, and this being fat tuesday, they did what they do best in new orleans today. they'll be at it, in fact, all night long tonight. it's a legal holiday in the city of new orleans, mostly because they had the good sense years ago to know that nothing is going to get done all day anyway. while a lot of americans have been wondering where winter is, the answer appears to be,

sadly, in europe. it arrived late this year, but it's been brutal. with birth cold, rivers frozen solid, records amounts of snow and deadly avalanches of their own. upwards of 600 people have died so far across the continent. and now the temperatures are finally starting to warm up. new problems on the danube this week. gigantic chunks of ice broke apart, and with the melt, several vessels were destroyed as a result. what better way to get a great view of the northern lights we've been covering here all winter long than shooting a two-stage rocket up into it. scientists in alaska where the aurora borealis, the intense solar activity, has turned the nighttime into bright green. they're using a rocket to study how it's formed, how it affects communication signals on earth, especially gps. it was a landmark ever since it opened in 1928, and it came

down in violent, swift fashion today. the bridge over the ohio river that was for decades the primary link between ohio and west virginia came down in a beautifully executed controlled explosion early this morning. it was replaced years ago by a nearby wider, more modern span. and of course, all good things must come to an end. up next here tonight, a man who knows one thing to be true -- if you teach a kid how to fish, you can make an even bigger difference in a young life.

next at 6:00, exclusive video of a mountain lion encounter. and a fight over a building plan by a bay area rinlgs group and how logging on to facebook could land you in court. it has become a symbol of what it means to put your cares, your work and your worries away. the sign on the door that reads "gone fishing." well, tonight we had a man who took that sentiment and applied it to kids, who often have too much to worry about themselves. now he's making a difference in their lives. his story and theirs, from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: on a gray and blustery day up the palm beach county coast a group of teenagers is having the greatest time. >> keep the rod tip up. >> reporter: all of them guests of the florida fishing academy >> i love it. it's awesome. i didn't know anything about fishing before and now i do. >> reporter: the academy was

started as an after-school program by a former police officer and construction company owner, now a full-time boat captain and mentor. >> i set out for one goal, and that was to save one kid. now it's one child at a time, and we saved a lot. >> reporter: this woman says the academy saved her son donnie. >> if he was not fishing, he would be out on the street getting in trouble. >> reporter: since the program began six years ago, more than 4,000 students in low-income area schools have signed up for free fishing lessons. >> peer pressure. we know what that is, right? >> reporter: he also teaches life lessons. >> cigarettes can cause mouth cancer. if you think that's true, raise your hand? >> reporter: helping kids stay healthy and on the right track. on the boat, they also learn about safety and ocean conservation, along with the thrill of the catch. >> i get excited when i catch a big fish. if they catch a fish that's, like, three inches long, it's the biggest smile.

they love it. >> reporter: this boat is an important part of the program. it's the incentive. if you go to class, stay out of trouble and do some volunteer work, you get to spend the day out here. anthony says fishing keeps him calm. >> like, it puts me in my own would, my zone. it's, like, my time. >> reporter: his mother couldn't be happier. >> i would rather him go out shark fishing than hanging out with the sharks on the street. >> reporter: a fishing school that catches kids. all of them, keepers. mark potter, nbc news, riviera beach, florida. that's our broadcast on a tuesday evening. thank you for being with here with us. i'm brian williams, and of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. good night.

good evening and thanks for being with us. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. not in our backyard. a religious organization has plans to build a sanctuary roughly half the size of a target store in a walnut hills neighborhood. and although it was initially approved, tonight it's being challenged. nbc bay area's traci grant is live in walnut creek to explain why many people have tried to appeal the county's decision. traci? >> reporter: this is where reoriented is based right now and it has been for the past 37 years, but some members say even when they moved in, they knew it was too small. now some neighbors around here are hotly contesting the church's efforts to make more space. >> people will look back and say, what was the big deal? you know. but change is hard. >> reporter: karen welles is one of hundreds of members of sufyism reoriented, which packed a contra costra