male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. on our broadcast tonight, is it a turning point? the news out of florida in the trayvon martin death investigation. on edge, as the world waits to see what happens next, richard engle gets rare access inside a place normally closed to the outside world, north korea. a new link in the autism mystery. the new research on what mothers to be have to look out for. d our tribute tonight to a game changer in our line of work, mike wallace. "nightly news" begins now. good evening. after a long period of emotional

protests, tonight, there are signs of movement in the case of trayvon martin, the young unarmed man who was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in florida. tonight, the special prosecutor in the case has reached a decision that should advance this case to the next step now. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's kerry sanders in sanford, florida. good evening. >> good evening, brian. there's no indication if the special prosecutor who was appointed by the governor, plans to file charges, but george zimmerman's legal team confirmed to nbc news that their client has set up a web page and is soliciting donations for funds to help fund the defense if one is needed. special prosecutor angela corey's office issued a short statement today that read in part, state attorney angela corey has decided not to use a grand jury in the trayvon martin

shooting death investigation and cautioned the decision should not be a factor in the final determination of the case. corey has two options. bring charges against 28-year-old george zimmerman in the shooting death of trayvon martin or stick with the state attorney's initial conclusion and announce zimmerman was unfear for his life that night and cannot be charged with a crime. >> whatever she decides, that's the end of the matter. there is no appeal from the prosecutor's decision to charge or not to charge. >> demonstrators today marched to sanford's police department. their sit-in closed the department for several hours until a surprise. several were invited inside to take a phone call from the special prosecutor. >> she didn't give us much details, but sort of seemed to hint that something will be coming very shortly. so we're very excited about that. >> we want an arrest. >> trayvon martin's family has been front and center with some of the nation's leading civil rights leader, all demanding an arrest.

their legal team said they're hopeful that a decision will be reached very soon to arrest george zimmerman and give trayvon martin's family the simple justice they have been seeking all along. george zimmerman's lawyers say they remain confident in his case. >> it's an indication that she's probably close to the end of her investigation. and i think it's an indication she's going to make the decision based on the law and the evidence. that's all it really tells us. >> the special prosecutor in the case has no deadline, but sources close to the case indicate that she could announce a decision as early as tomorrow. brian? >> kerry, thank you. kerry sanders starting us off in sanford, florida, tonight. now we turn to tulsa, oklahoma, where after a saturday easter weekend, two men suspected of a shooting spree that left three dead and two more injured were in court today. the rampage left the city shaken up and afraid that the attacks

were racially motivated. our reports tonight from nbc's janet shamlian. >> as an uneasy tulsa grappled with a shooting spree, that left three dead and two injured, 19-year-old jake england and 32-year-old alvin watts made their initial court appearance by teleconference at the county jail, facing first degree maurder and several other charges. they're held on $9 million bond. the five victims, all black males, were shot within hours of each other friday, all in the city's predominantly african-american north side. deion tucker was among the two survivors. >> he started shooting. when he shot me, i jumped off the porch and jumped behind my truck. >> investigators caution against labeling the incident a hate crime, though they're looking at a racially charged facebook posting believed to be by the teenaged england which may indicate revenge as a motive. he writes about the two-year anniversary of his father's death, at the hands, he says, of

a black man. though it's unclear what it means, a later posting on the day of the shooting read in part, if something does happen tonight, be ready for another funeral later. a friend finds it inconceivable england is involved. >> last time i talked to jake, he -- he actually told me he loved me. >> neighbors and the greater tulsa community share the sorrow. for the victims and for the shadow it could cast upon them all. >> this community will not be defined by the treacherous evil crimes of two individuals. that's not what tulsa, oklahoma, is about. >> federal officials have been helping with the investigation, but tonight, say it is unlikely any federal charges will be filed. the suspects will formally be arraigned here in tulsa next monday. brian. >> janet shamlian in tulsa for us tonight. thank you for that.

let's turn overseas now to syria, where hopes for tomorrow's cease-fire are all but gone. syria has unleashed another fierce assault against the opposition, civilians once again caught in the middle. many more sadly were killed today. nbc's ayman mohyeldin has the report. >> a frantic search to save those buried in the rubble. among them, women and children, loading onto trucks and taking to nearby hospitals. for many, already too late. opposition activists say a syrian military shell hit a residential building near the city of homa. nbc could not independently verify the video. the u.n. brokered cease-fire agreement agreed to by president assad and scheduled to begin hours from now, has all but collapsed. >> are we optimistic he's going to meet his commitments? no, but we're going to wait for tomorrow's deadline and take it

from there. >> and for the first time in this conflict, violence spilled across syria's border into turkey. refugees at a border camp were hit when the syrian military opened fire on rebels who fled into turkey. many hoped this day would bring an end to a year of violence, but it's been the bloodiest day yet with no end in sight. >> thanks. north korea tonight has the attention of much of the world. that's because they are preparing to launch a ballistic missile in a dangerous neighborhood and the u.s. and others fear what it might mean and what might come next. our chief foreign correspondent richard engle has been granted unusual access inside north korea. he's been able to join us tonight from the chinese capital, pyongyang. richard, good evening. >> good evening, brian. in addition to that rocket test, there are also reports coming from south korea that this country could be preparing for

an underground nuclear test, and u.s. officials say it is possible. this rocket is poised for launch, north korea says, to carry a satellite into orbit. but u.s. officials worry it could easily be converted into an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the united states. the standoff comes just as this secretive isolated country has allowed outsiders, journalists in for a closer look. in one of pyongyang's squares today, we saw up to 100,000 people express to devotion to kim jong-il as a giant mural of the departed leader was unveiled. the control of this society was immediately apparent. people stood in rows at attention. applauded on cue. and waved pom-poms in a shimmering sea of pink. north korea's vision of a patriotic utopia.

this is an important period for north korea, and over the next two weeks, there will be a series of festivals, parades, and massive assemblies like this one. it's all designed to show national unity and political stability after the death of kim jong-il late last year. the pageantry also has a purpose. it re-enforces the cultive personality around the kim jong-il family and passes it on to his son, the new ruler, kim jong-un. strikingly, when the assembly was over, the school children in pressed uniforms, families, and workers simply left. no trash left behind. they were gone in minutes. thousands of others went to a nearby park. it's also part of the kim family worship, built around the family home of kim jong-il's father. a tour guide here earned her college degree in the history of the kim family leaders. in a department dedicated to

their study. >> you think it's a good system for the people of north korea? >> yeah. everybody that understands and they uphold the line of the pact. >> this weekend, journalists were taken by teams of minders on a luxury train to a military base. a shocking contrast to the barren fields we passed. we saw few tractors, mostly farmers with hand tools. people here are starving. we arrived at the base to see the satellite north korea says it will soon put into orbit, carried by that controversial rocket on the launch pad. north korea says it is going ahead with the launch. a show of strength and determination to preserve this secretive dynasty. this is the first time journalists have been allowed into north korea since kim jong-un came into power, and all of the political theater, some of it quite provocative, seems designed to help ease the succession.

>> richard engle in north korea for us. richard, thank you. back in this country tonight, there are now definitive facts to prove what we all felt was true during this very bizarre winter season just past. some places witnessed summer arriving in march, really. a ton of records fell, and violent weather hit across a lot of the country. our report tonight from anne thompson. >> this is a tornado. >> extreme weather blew march 2012 into the record books. >> it saw almost three times the average number of reported tornadoes. noaa, the national ocean and atmospheric administration said the unusual warm weather created conditions favorable for twisters, and while there's no one culprit to blame for the rise in temperatures, there is a suspect. >> right now, we have a climate on steroids.

green house gases continue to increase in the atmosphere. >> the average temperature this march, 51.1 degrees. 8.6 degrees above normal. this time lapse animation from noaa shows where the 15,000 plus records were broken. every state in the nation set at least one daily record high in march. march brought rain and drought to eastern texas and parts of oklahoma, but above the tree line on the rocky mountains, near boulder, colorado, there's bare ground where there should be snow. colorado's snow pack, just 49% of average. less snow means less water for tim's organic farm. today, he laid down a barrier to hold in moisture for his strawberries, but without water, he may have to make a tough choice. >> we're going to decide to save the fruit trees and have to let go of all of our vegetables. >> noaa's forecast is for this warming trend to continue, particularly in the mid-atlantic and southern sections of the country, and nowhere is it predicted to be colder than normal. anne thompson, nbc news, new york.

today, facebook, a seven-year-old company wrote a big check because they can, and they wanted to make a strategic acquisition. they paid $1 billion to buy a mobile photo sharing service called instagram that is not even two years old itself. that billion dollars face book paid, one observer said, it's enough to buy bankrupt kodak 12 times over. on wall street here in new york, a delayed reaction to friday's worse than expected jobs report. as markets reopened after a three-day weekend, the dow, nasdaq, and s & p 500, each lost about 1% on the day. up next here tonight as we continue, the latest news about autism as the american waistline continues to expand, an intriguing theory about a possible link here. and later, remembering mike wallace, an interviewer at one time so feared, he was the punch line in a joke about seeing him show up at your house.

new study out tonight at the top of the broadcast, raising provocative questions about the possible link about obesity in mothers and autism in their children. nbc news chief science correspondent robert bazell has our report. >> who's a smart guy? >> me. >> yes, you are. >> it's one more piece in the gigantic puzzle called autism. scientists have found that women who were obese are 1.6 times as likely to have a baby with autism or some other developmental disorder and twice as likely if they have diabetes. but they emphasis the study of the mothers of about 1,000 kids is an observation, not scientific proof of cause and effect. >> if you are planning a

pregnancy, you may think about losing weight and getting your exercise routine in order, and making sure you are controlling your blood sugar. >> everything is going good? >> dr. anna sanchez in st. joseph hospital in orange county, california, has been working for years to get pregnant women to keep their weight under control. >> perfect. >> because overweight moms can have kids with many health problems. she says the latest results only add to the urgency. >> if people are overweight when they start the pregnancy, they should gain less than the recommended weight gain. >> that's a tall order when two thirds of american women are already overweight and half of those are obese. even if obesity and diabetes were found to be causes of autism, experts say that would still account for only a fraction of the cases. by studying the possible connection, scientists hope to learn more about what causes autism and ways to reduce the risk.

robert bazell, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, a killer sight for lucky people who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

in sports news, bubba won the masters. not that one, bubba watson, who has been described as the golf savant from baghdad, florida. never had a formal lesson or a coach to help with his swing or his mental game. he just knows how and he put on a clinic of his own yesterday in augusta where incidentally, the ceo of ibm was right there, one of the faces in crowd. she just can't currently be a member at augusta if she wants to. jurgin yeah rometty, an avid golfer, yet augusta is a private club with only male members. >> rush limbaugh has new competition. mike hick abe former presidential candidate, went live today with his new radio show at noon, same time limbaugh

goes on air, and it's really aimed right at rush, looking to peel away some of the market, which is clear from huckabee's slogan, more conversation, less confrontation. thousands of kids and their families took part in an annual tradition in washington. the white house easter egg roll. they hosted 36,000 people, though they have a larger than average backyard. president and first lady started things off on this stunningly beautiful day. president also joined the harlem globetrotters for a basketball game that required him to do push-ups for each basket scored. and hundreds of whale watchers got what they were looking for and more off the coast of san pedro, california. a pod of orca whales came up to their boat, put on a show of life in the wild few people get to see on earth. an amazing sight. we put all of the video and pictures on our website tonight. up next here this evening, the man who made a career out of making a lot of people squirm.

he hadn't been seen on "60 minutes" since 2008, but then again, he departed the scene after 21 emmys and after changing television news forever. we learned this past weekend mike wallace had died in a long term care facility in connecticut.

he was 93 years old. two world wars were fought in his lifetime, and in the wars between the networks and fellow journalists, today, former competitors were lining up to talk about one of the tough stz of them all. >> i'm mike wallace. >> he was not always the mike wallace we remember. he was an entertainer. he did commercials for revlon and for golden fluffo shortening. >> i'm mike wallace with a sensational shortening discovery. for better baking and frying. >> he was the announcer for the green hornet. >> he performed on broadway and was a soap actor and then went into television news. and without him, there probably wouldn't have been a broadcast called "60 minutes," and there would have been a lot less tension on television. >> but if you want to develop a style for yourself and carve out a bit of a territory, you purposefully say, all right, i'm

going to ask an abrasive question, a searching question, do a lot of research, be a little tougher. >> his timing was perfect. he slid into the golden airy of television. mostly known for his interviews that were tough and contentious, and they were iconic enough that his very name became a generic term for an unwelcome imposition. >> he made a very successful transition to journalism, however, he never forgot he owed the audience something whenever he appeared. if you made an investment in a mike wallace interview, it always paid off. >> he interviewed presidents, salvador dali, jack kevorkian, frank lloyd wright, malcolm x, barbra streisand, and a ton of shady characters, and he used a kind of detective technique throughout. >> he was a really good writer and a great story teller, and he could have reeled you into the story.

you wanted to know more about the character. >> his name at birth was myron in 1918 in brookline, mass. his parents came here from russia. he went to college at michigan, he served in the navy in world war ii and then into radio and eventually tv. he bravely and openly fought depression for years after a nervous breakdown and a suicide attempt brought on by a damaging lawsuit brought by retired general william westmoreland. about himself, he left us with two quotes. he said he walked a fine line between sadism and intellectual curiosity. he also asked us to remember him as tough but fair. mike wallace, gone tonight at the age of 93. that is 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, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang in for jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. investigators are trying to determine what played a role in saturday's deadly crash which took the lives of a father and daughter. tonight many in the east bay are taking a close look at their own driving habits. jodi hernandez joins us from the crash site where