62 at the coast. once we head through the upcoming week, lots of dry time. 70, close to 80 this weekends. san francisco, close to 70. we are ready for spring. >> very nice. "nightly news" is next. plle moreocal news on the bay area. see you then. good night. on this saturday night -- outbreak. life-threatening storms racing across the nation's heartland right now. millions of americans at high risk. a wild day and a tornado danger is far from over. secret service scandal. agents supposed to be protecting the president at a south american summit instead relieved of duty and under investigation. bomb threats mystery. months of scares leaving a major university on edge. students abandoning their dorms and now the fbi is involved. and up all night. working all hours, running on empty. tonight, how those changes to

your body clock may be affecting your health. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. as we come on the air in the pacific time zone, the weather maps across the midwest are lighting up with violent storm cells and tornado watches as an active, dangerous ss it nowow well under way spp owheha's wt w're look at right now. tornadoareas are active wahes. of particular concern at this ho, parts of oklahoma, kansas, nebraska, iowa and missouri. some places a eadylr having seen torrential rains with lightning and hail and, yes, tornadoes. a short time ago, this sight captured on camera. a large tornado on the ground there and moving fast. just one of at least 35 tornadoes already reported today. tonight, some 9 million people are in areas of moderate to high risk of tornadoes.

and noaa is not mincing words, describing possible life-threatening conditions. our colleagues from the weather channel are tracking it all. we start with meteorologist jim cantore in lincoln, nebraska. jim? >> lester, four tornado watches out right now. two of them, what we call particularly dangerous situations, which means the wording in that suggests that we will have long track tornadoes. the problem with that is those go till after midnight, and they will probably includenyma, manya anaha, all the way down to clamahoity. let me show you from southeastern nebraska. mainly heavy rain about 100 miles to the northwest in norfolk. rainfall two inches an hour here, right through this playground. just like a river in through here. and of course, we also have, which is typical with these supercell thunderstorms is hail. hail up to the size of golf balls and in some cases it accumulated on the streets and almost looked like snow covering

the ground. we know it's not because it's severe weather season. in lincoln, we're rain cooled after the rain, but we may still see a tornado threat as we are under that particularly dangerous situation. long night ahead, lester. >> the true danger zone stretches from minnesota all the kwa to texas. smack in the middle of it is the state of kansas. that's where we find mike seidel tonight in wichita. mike, what's the situation there? >> hey, lester, good evening. the winds here have been howling all day long. gusting up over 40 miles an hour. the big storms are knocking on our sdoor. down along the kansas-oklahoma line. we've had over 45 tornadoes last count. they're coming in fast and furious, but so far they've been of the weaker variety. take you out west where most of the action has been all day. this is rush center, kansas. we've had some minor damage to farmhouses. this is a very rural area, so that's the saving grace so far. we've been blesed with that. we had a huge tornado heading

towards selina, kansas, a town of 50,000. that weakened but a tornado watch continues until 2:00 a.m. >> we want folks to be aware of the situation. i don't want them to be complacent. when warnings are issued, the national weather service legitimately feels that there is a threat to their life. and we want them to react immediately. >> and proms and outdoor music events have been moved indoors to safer venues. some of the proms moved to areas where they have fema shelters to keep kids where it's safe. the air force base has moved 15 fuelling tankers. by the way, once the storms go down, these tornadoes are worse. you can't see them. people go to sleep and they don't get the warnings. there's a 2 1/2 times higher of being killed by a tornado at night than the daytime. further south in the capital of oklahoma, warning sirens have

been sounding since before dawn today. meteorologist eric fisher is on the ground tonight in oklahoma city. eric what's the story there? >> well, lester, we're awaiting the storms, but by far, the most active weather in oklahoma? the northwestern part of the state. we can show you incredible video from moments ago. a large cone-shaped tornado on the ground, unbelievable sight here. at one point there were two separate funnels on the ground and a fire has also broken out at the base of that storm as something wases toed by the storm. the smoke is being sucked into the updraft. meanwhile, they're still picking up in norman, oklahoma. unfortunately ten injuries, but nothing serious there. we hope our luck continues. >> dr. greg forbes joins us now from weather channel headquarters.

what are you seeing right now? >> we're seeing the storms are getting more and more organized in terms of the supercell thunderstorms with hook echos. we can see that -- look at this one. this storm is coming south. this is headingma towards place like areas just south of selina in central kansas. particularly dangerous tornado watches. could be long-lived violent tornadoes in some of the areas, nebraska, iowa, missouri, kansas down into oklahoma. those will likely bedi expanded later into the night. we have strong thunderstorms all across this area frommer in the northwest oklahoma up into the kansas area. so we're looking for still a dangerous night. and as it gets dark, the death rate, the danger rate goes up. lester? >> thanks. other news tonight. right now, president obama is meeting with orlando leaders in south america is being overshadowed here by stunning

allegations involving agents and officers supposed to be protects him. while one expert is calling this the biggest scandal in secret service history. 11 agents are now on leave. it the scandal is widening to include members of the u.s. military. our correspondent join us from colombia, good evening. good evening. president obama is here to talk about issues like trade and immigration, but this evolving scandal with the secret service is really dominating headlines today and proving highly embarrassing for the agency that's dedicated to protecting him. according to u.s. officials, the allegation involve at least 11 members of the u.s. secret service and five u.s. military service members here in colombia on assignment to protect the president. they are alleged to have brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms. sources say there was dispute over a payment which was brought to the attention of authorities. according to the defense department, the service members are now confined to quarters

here. the secret service says their personnel were sent home before the president's arrival and replaced with others. >> the president was made aware of the incident yesterday. the white house was informed thursday evening. receipt represe . >> reporter: representative peter king has been briefed on the evolving scandal. >> all i know is that two of the 11 were supervisors. i did not ask if they were married or not. all day saturday they were being interviewed at secret service headquarters in washington. so the full investigation has begun. >> reporter: in a statement, the secret service says it takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. the white house press secretary stressed that the president's security was never compromised. >> we have full confidence in the united states secret service. >> and this really is the biggest scandal in the history of the secret service. >> ron kessler who wrote "in the president's secret service" says the incident could be indicative of a larger problem within the

agency. >> mr. and mrs. salahi. >> a problem kesler says was brought to light when two reality tv stars gained sbr eede into a state dinner without an invitation. >> there's a culture in the secret service that's fostered by the management of just nodding, winking, favoritism, what the agency needs is an outside director who can come in and clean house, change the standards. >> reporter: and that alleged misconduct occurred at this hotel, which is about five minutes from where the president is staying. the secret service says it has launched a full scale internal investigation and we should say that prostitution is legal in some parts of colombia. lester? >> kristen welker tonight. treasury secretary tim geithner will be among david gregory's guests on "meet the press."

>>. >> cautious optimism after the first nuclear talks with iran in more than a year. though tensions over iran's nuclear ambitions remain high. >> reporter: lester, for the first time in 14 months, iran sat down with representatives from the u.s., britain, france, germmy, russia and china to try to move toward on the nuclear issue and avert a possible nuclear strike by israel on iran's nuclear facilities. in the first round of talks, they agreed on almost nothing. this time iran said they were bringing new initiatives. expectations for these talks were so low that any development would be seen as a break through. even getting iran to talk about key issues like uranium enrichment is seen as a step forward, but today, iran's chief nuclear negotiator insisted that iran had the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. after almost ten hours of negotiations, diplomats said the talks were constructive. but a senior u.s. official said

they were still not sufficient enough to lift any sanctions against iran. iranian officials said that the u.s. had requested a rare one-on-one meeting which the iranians turned down. but iran has agreed to another round of talks in baghdad next month where they're going to face much tougher questions. lester? there's been a significant development in the crisis in syria. for the first time, a unanimous vote by the supreme court council to authorize deployment of u.n. observers to monitor the situation there. it's the first resolution passed by the 15-nation security council including china and russia since the uprising began more than a year ago. we have the late details. good evening, lester. for the first time since this conflict began, the u.n. security council unanimously passed a resolution that allows for a team of u.n. observers to travel to syria and monitor a

fragile cease-fire there. >> please raise their hand. >> reporter: it's been close to three days since a u.n.-brokered plan to end the year-long violence went into effect. so far the violence has somewhat dropped compared to what it was days ago, although there are still daily reports of demonstrators being ill canned. but some western diplomats and diplomats say the syrian government has fully complied with the plan. amateur footage shows the military still opening fire on protesters and shelling residential areas. if the shaky cease-fire is upheld, a larger u.n. observer team can be deployed in the coming days, part of a plan that calls to the end of all acts of violence by rebels and the syrian government and also calls on a political dialogue to begin immediately on the future of the country. lester? now to north korea, still reeling from that failed long-range rocket launch, a huge

embarrassment in the eyes of the world. but todayen othe 12r50e9s of the north korean capital, instead celebrations are under full swing and you wouldn't know that anything went wrong. richard engel with reports inside pyongyang. >> south korean ships are scouring the waters looking for pieces of north korea's rocket, in familiar its engines and guide anxious systems could provide a great deal of intelligence. here, they're continuing celebrations. yesterday, the government unveiled two colossal statues of former leaders. 50,000 military officers crowded into the main soccer stadium here in pyongyang. they were greeted by north korea's new leader. when he entered the stadium, the officers rose to their feet, they applauded and shoot shoute

hurrah. when he left, the same display of faith and devotion. he didn't speak. they try to maintain an air of infallibility and rarely speak in public. tomorrow, we're expected to see the biggest patriotic display, a military parade. perhaps several hundred thousands of people taking part. we expect to see tanks roll through the streets. perhaps even displays of other rocket technology. this, the culmination of festivities here, despite the failure of the rocket north korea wants to show strength. lester? >> richard engel inside north korea. still ahead on "nightly news" a mystery rocking a major college campus. students living in fear, abandoning their dorms and classrooms. and later, more americans working all hours of the night. how those changes to your body clock may be affecting your health. this is lois. the day starts with arthritis pain... a load of new listings... and two pills. after a morning of walk-ups, it's back to more pain, back to more pills.

the evening showings bring more pain and more pills. sealing the deal... when, hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. it can relieve pain all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lois... who chose two aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. [ female announcer ] try aleve d for strong all day sinus and headache relief. [ female announcer ] try aleve d when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy.

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back now with a deepening mystery at the university of pittsburgh. someone has been making bomb threats to campus buildings and dormitories for two month. nearly 100 threats in all disrupting classes and causing dorm evacuations on a near daily basis. that's leaving some students to abandon campus all together right in the middle of finals. we get more now from nbc's michelle franzen. >> reporter: at the university of pittsburgh, college life has turned into this -- heightened security and routine evacuations for students and faculty. a result of nearly 100 bomb

threats the campus has received since february. >> it's really weird to be around here right now. because everyone has the feeling of what's gong to happen next. >> reporter: the most recent evacuation this morning with alerts posted on twitter, bringing even more anxiety and mystery. >> people are getting frustrated about that. but now it's turned from frustration to kind of uneasiness. people don't know why anyone is doing this. >> reporter: investigators, including the fib feb say they don't know either university officials say the threat started with a message scribbled on bathroom wall but have evolved into hard to trace e-mails, making it more difficult, experts say, for investigators to separate pranks from real threats. >> that's the challenge for law enforcement, who is doing it and what's the mote i for doing it. >> reporter: this past week, there appeared to be a possible break in the case. police arrested a former pittsburgh university professor who has been charged with sending threatening e-mails to faculty members.

he's not yet entered a plea and calls it a misunderstanding. despite the arrest, the threats continue. university officials are now giving students who feel unsafe the option of leaving before the end of the term. some are so frustrated by the daily threats there are opting out of receiving campus alerts. >> reporter: that prompted a plea from student affairs in this youtube message. >> think of the bomb threats. >> please do not unsubscribe from pitt's emergency notification service. >> reporter: now they're faced with the challenge of responding to each threat and balancing the concerns of students. up next, important health news about those who work the night shift. [ male announcer ] every day thousands of people

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we're back with some disturbing health news for anyone we're back with disturbing health news for anyone working the night shift. there's no new evidence showing how the graveyard shift can actually make your stick. we get the story from robert bazell. >> 21 million people are working nights when others are getting sleep. >> i average maybe four hours a day. and even on my nights off i average 3 1/2, 4 hours of sleep. i'm always tired. >> reporter: she works at a research hospital in boston where there's new evidence about how harmful shift work can be. scientists put 21 volunteers in the sleep lab for three weeks. by talking away clues about time, they altered the normal body clocks. within just a if uh days when

the volunteers ate, their bodies respond eed differently to food. >> glucose levels stayed higher for hours because of increased insulin release in the pancreas. >> reporter: several studies have sthoun that shift workers are at risk for diabetes, heart disease and other problems, but this study is one of the first to show exactly how the body is harmed. the diabetes risk was so great that three of the healthy people in the studies became prediabetes during the experiment. three weeks after the shift in wake cycle they returned to normal. for paula and her co-workers, they know how difficult that can be. >> it's busy. we don't go on regular work breaks. >> you tend to eat more shujunk.

>> reporter: robert bazell, nbc news, new york. >> tonight, the fda says a salmonella outbreak in 20 states have been linked to yellow tuna sold in stores. nearly 60,000 pounds of frozen raw tuna has been recalled by moon marine usa corporation of northern california. there's word tonight from london that beegee's singer robin gibb is in the hospital tonight. he has battled cancer for several years. in recent days he's been forced to cancel all engagements including the premier of his first classical work. and ryan o'neal announced he's

been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer. his diagnosis comes three years after the lost of his long-time partner to cancer. we'll be right back with that update on severe weather. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne,

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we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. we're back now with that outbreak of tornadoes. how are things looking, jim?

>> well, lester, we still have a long night ahead of us. a lot of the storms are still spinning and producing tornado as we speak and will continue to chug to the east. as a matter of fact can, the storm we actually dealt with in lincoln has what we call a bow echo on it. it has an area ona damaging wins racing across iowa. that may even come into chicago overnight tonight. so even though we're not in that tornado watch there, we have a chance of severe weather. we have kansas city, wichita, kansas, oklahoma city to go. major metropolitan areas. tornadoes after dark. death toll can go up as high as 60%. >> jim cantore. we'll have updates and what's ahead tomorrow morning on today. in the meantime, that's "nbc nightly news." i'm lester holt. i will see you tomorrow morning on today. and then, of course, right back here tomorrow evening. thanks for watching, everyone. have a good night and a good saturday.

good evening. i'm diane dwyer. we begin tonight in san jose where police are investigating the deaths of two p