to fund mammogram screening for low income women. and the first couple of ducks across the finish line gets a prize. "nbc nightly news" is next, and then more local news on the bay area at 6:00. good night. on this sunday night, raging fires and floods. extreme weather across america. almost two feet of rain in the southeast and more on the way, and out-of-control wildfires out west. manhunt for a killer. a gunman opens fire at an off campus pool party. tonight, auburn university in shock. the big bailout. world markets set to react after news of a multi-billion-dollar deal for spain. tonight, the ripple effect here at home. brave new world. a new way to find out all kinds of information about your baby before it's even born. why this new test is raising a lot of ethical questions. and musical revival, from quirky to cool.

ukulele, striking a chord with a whole new generation. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good sunday evening to you from west to east. this has been a weekend of dangerous extremes. hot, dry weather is fanning more wildfires in the west. the latest barely 36 hours old has exploded in colorado, driving hundreds from their homes, and is still on the march tonight with zero percent contained. meanwhile, it's rain, historic amounts, that have flooded parts of the gulf coast with up to 20 inches so far. pensacola has suffered at least $20 million in damage, and dangerous rip currents have claimed at least one life. nbc's mike taibbi leads off the discussion.

>> reporter: here is how fast it can happen. from a two acre fire north of fort collins, colorado, to a behemoth growing a day later. >> you never have everything you'd like to have. but you could have had everything in the world. the fire is going to do what it did. >> reporter: what the high park fire did was to drive winds along timber past the best efforts of a dozen air tankers and choppers and hundreds of firefighters on the ground. hundreds were evacuated, some already knowing what was lost. >> my house is gone. and now i'm not going to have a home. and i have no place to go. >> reporter: this wasn't the old wildfire stretching the resources that poured in from around the country. while colorado was one alarming hot spot, new mexico's little bear fire became another when a contained for days was whipped by fresh winds across some 10,000 additional acres.

along the gulf coast, rain. hurricane-caliber rain without the hurricane. a foot and a half in pensacola in one day. it flooded shopping malls and turned shopping malls into lakes. in alabama, two inches of rain an hour washed out roads and thousands of suddenly stranded residents trying to save what they could. >> i got a couple of cows behind the barn. i was making sure they wasn't floating away. >> reporter: it's the western fire, the first responders trying to get the word out that this is a battle. >> i can't count the number of times we had flames looking at the units that were doing the evacuations. >> reporter: and the growth potential of this fire, according to the u.s. fire service, the ominous one-word answer, high. mike taibbi.

nbc news, los angeles. we're joined by weather channel meteorologist mike seidel in the middle of those historic floods in pensacola. mike, how are things there now? >> reporter: good evening, lester. we've picked up two more inches of rain. the area has been able to handle two more inches. 2308 -- following yesterday's rainfall. take a look at the forecast. this moisture will continue to flow out of the gulf of mexico. tropical downpours spreading into the southeast. the gulf of mexico is wide open for business. that cold front which is sparking some severe weather tonight in the midwest is going to spread the juice north. with the worst drought in the state of georgia, the area is going to get as much as two to three inches of rain. that's just what they need. not a drop of rain, with fires burning in five states. lighter winds will help firefighters. but with temperatures continuing average june warmth, and heat, and also low relative humidities of 5% to 15%, those are neither good. the firefighting is still going to be tough. the average high in phoenix is

103. that's typical this time of the year. meanwhile, back in philadelphia, not as hot, but with temperatures forecast in the mid-80s, they think it's hot enough to close schools early on monday. >> mike, thanks. now to an all out manhunt in the state of alabama for a gunman who opened fire near a campus of auburn university, killing three people, including two former auburn football players. three more people were wounded. one of them in critical condition. tonight the fbi has joined the investigation. we get the latest now from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: police say the multiple shootings occurred in an apartment clubhouse near the auburn university campus during a party saturday night. today the town is in shock. >> it's six young people that have been shot. and we're, as you can tell, the community is shaken by this. and grieving today. >> reporter: at the party a fight broke out and police say a young man began shooting, killing three, wounding three others. one of them critically.

vine said he was at the party with one of the victims and witnessed the killings. >> it went to a massacre, for no reason. >> reporter: 20-year-old edward christian was a former auburn football player. pronounced dead at the scene. two others who died later were 20-year-old ladarius phillips, another football player, and mario pitts. among the wounded, eric mack, whose injuries are not considered life-threatening. >> the only connection that the auburn football team has to this is they are victims of a brutal shooting. >> reporter: police identified the shooting suspect as 22-year-old demonte leonard. no link to auburn university. he now faces three capital murder charges. authorities, including the fbi, focused a manhunt on montgomery, alabama, where leonard is from. police would not suggest a motive of the shootings, but news reports say the fight was

over a woman. at his news conference, the police chief said society needs to learn the value of life again. mark potter, nbc news, miami. tonight world markets are beginning to react to news of a massive bailout for spain. european leaders are agreeing to lend up to $125 billion to rescue that country's debt-stricken banks. the rescue package is aimed at heading off a catastrophe that could have a ripple effect across europe and here at home. cnbc's brian sullivan joins us now in new york for a little insight into this. it was only friday the president came out and talked about the risk to the u.s. economy if europe doesn't get its house in order. will this be good news for our country? >> it should be good news, at least temporarily. they were trying to prevent a 2008-like bank run on the spanish banks. keep in mind that the economy of spain is bigger than greece, ireland and portugal combined. it was a big concern for the markets. it has weighed on the markets until this week. and spain went out and asked for

a $125 billion bailout. and it looks like they will get it. and it should help our markets, at least for a few days, lester. >> i was going to ask you about our markets, because after a horrible week ago, the last three days of the market were historic highs, at least for the year. what's the outlook? >> the outlook temporarily is more positive. futures indicate higher open monday. the european markets indicated higher as well. the big problem remains greece. they have a huge election next sunday. if that election does not go well, there is a possibility that greece could leave the eurozone, which would cast europe in a new chaos all over again. so especially joy yourself for a few days. the markets will be good tomorrow and maybe for a few days after that, but then greece comes back on the horizon. >> brian sullivan from cnbc with us tonight. the white house finds itself in damage control mode after what a lot of pundits are calling one of the worst weeks for the administration, politically speaking, in three and a half years.

first came a remark about the economy that the president probably wishes he could have back. then came news of an investigation into who's leaking classified information. we get more from our white house correspondent, kristen welker. >> this is very offensive. >> the investigation has to be nonpartisan. >> reporter: lawmakers on both sides of the aisle turning up the heat, demanding to know who leaked classified administration about the cyber attacks against iran, drone strikes on suspected terrorists, and a foiled al qaeda plot to bomb a u.s. airliner. on friday, attorney general eric holder appointed two u.s. attorneys to investigate. senator john mccain called for an independent investigation. and continued to accuse the administration of leaking the secrets, for political gain. >> it's obvious on its face that this information came from individuals who are in the administration. the president may not have done it himself, but the president is certainly responsible as commander in chief. >> reporter: the president firmly denied those allegations. >> the notion that my white

house would purposely release classified national security information is offensive. >> reporter: today, his top aide adviser continued to shoot down accusations of white house leaks. republicans pounced on the president's recent comments about the economy. >> the private sector is doing fine. >> reporter: the president quickly backed away from the statement. but today the romney campaign released this web ad suggesting the president is out of touch. political analysts say with less than five months until election day, the president can't afford many more weeks like this past one, filled with negative headlines. >> this is about as bad a week as a sitting president who is seeking re-election can have. >> reporter: now, obama campaign officials say they will try to pivot this week and take direct

aim at recent comments made by mitt romney in which he suggested the federal government should not increase funding to put teachers and firefighters back to work. romney campaign officials say the candidate was expressing his opposition to big government. lester? >> kristen welker, thank you. more than six months after first arrested on child sex abuse charges, former penn state defensive coordinator jerry sandusky goes on trial tomorrow. we have a preview tonight from nbc's national investigative correspondent, michael is a could have. >> reporter: sandusky's charged with 52 counts of child sex abuse, accused of molesting ten boys over a 15-year period. he has pleaded not guilty. >> given the charges jerry sandusky is facing, a conviction on even a few of these counts would land him in jail for the rest of his natural life. >> reporter: prosecutors have lined up eight alleged victims to testify. all of them say sandusky met them through his charity for troubled kids.

the first expected on the stand, victim four told the grand jury he was subjected to more than 50 acts of sex abuse, and given dozens of gifts by sandusky, including golf clubs and money to buy marijuana. another key witness, victim nine, who has alleged repeated assaults in the basement of sandusky's home where he says he once screamed for help, hoping sandusky's wife, dottie, would hear him. the defense strategy, hammer away at the credibility of the victims by suggesting they conspired with each other in hopes of profiting by filing civil lawsuits. >> at least one of the accusers, that's all the accuser and his family are talking about. what they're going to do with the money they're going to get. >> reporter: proving all the victims are making up their stories is really difficult. >> you'll have a tough time showing that everyone in this case is lying, or everyone else in this case has colluded with everyone else to concoct this story. >> reporter: last week a jury was picked, six with ties to penn state.

that could cut two ways as jerry fisher who once served on the second mile board. >> there's a lot of people who are very upset with jerry sandusky because he has brought on this whole situation for penn state. giving it a bad name. but i think it only takes one juror who was a penn stater that could remember what jerry sandusky did for the football team and university as a whole. >> reporter: lawyers for some of the victims asked the judge to let their clients use pseudonyms to spare them embarrassment. but the judge turned the request down saying there was no legal precedent. when the alleged victims start testifying tomorrow, their names will become known for the first time. lester? >> michael, thank you. overseas tonight in syria, activists say government forces are making another push to gain control of opposition-held areas. activists say dozens are dead after a day of shelling in central homs and other territories. today britain's foreign secretary compared the situation

to the violence in bosnia two decades ago, saying syria is on the edge of a civil war. still ahead, as "nbc nightly news" continues, the new test that will tell you all kinds of information about your baby before it's even born. but this big medical break-through is raising a lot of ethical questions. a chord with the medical news with the youtube generation.

we're back with medical news making headlines. a new test taking blood and a swab to tell you things about an unborn baby, including the risk

of developing certain diseases. it could be a break through, but some warn it could be a host of ethical dlem as. more with dr. nancy snyderman. >> there are many things they wonder about. >> eye color. >> a new medical break-through could provide answer to those questions and serious genetics disorders. universities mapped the dna of a fetus simply by using a blood sample from a pregnant mother and saliva from the father. >> tests today, in order to definitively diagnose a genetic disorder prenatally, require the use of an invasive procedure, such as amniocentesis, and so what this test would allow one to do is get to the same information, but not invasively. >> reporter: the new test could one day be a routine screening tool for more than 3,000 genetic disorders, including down syndrome, huntington's disease and cystic fibrosis. >> many of those are treated

after the kids are born, and you can imagine by potentially supplementing them in utero, it might improve outcomes. >> the ability to identify chromosomal abnormalities, some find these advances open the door to a host of ethical concerns. that's because parents could potentially get information on genetic markers that might increase the risk of heart disease or certain types of cancer. >> what about hereditary deafness? we can tell you that your fetus is going to be born deaf. some might say, i don't want a deaf child. other people will say they're otherwise a normal child. where do we draw the line. >> this technology is not ready to go next year. as a consequence, i think that kind of buys us some time. >> reporter: enough time to have conversations about how a screening tool like this, and the information it provides should be used. >> we need to respect parents' choices, but there may be limits where we say, for screening for homosexuality or intelligence

that's someplace we don't want to go. >> reporter: in the meantime, the technology is moving forward with the hope that soon doctors will be able to diagnose and treat a problem before it ever appears. dr. nancy snyderman, nbc news, new york. we're back in a moment with something that happened today that hasn't happened in nearly 40 years. something that hadn't happened

in 39 years. the tournament didn't end on sunday. play was halted due to rain during the final with rafael nadal leading djokovic two sets to one. joke vich up a break in the fourth. maria sharapova tomorrow the women's championship yesterday. catch the conclusion to the men's final tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern on the nbc sports network. britain's prince philip is out of the hospital, back at home tonight in time to celebrate his 91st birthday with his family. the queen's husband spent five days in the hospital, being treated for a bladder infection.

he missed part of his wife's diamond jubilee celebration, marking her 60 years on the throne. this weekend a rare public appearance by former congresswoman gabby giffords in arizona for ron barber, one of her former aides. he is running for the seat she gave up earlier this year. giffords now lives in texas where she is still being treated for the injuries she suffered in a deadly shooting rampage almost a year and a half ago. when we come back, singers, movie stars and average joes. even one of the world's richest men saying aloha to an old favorite.

finally this evening we end with a happy note, thanks to an old instrument that's one -- once again is striking a cord. nbc's kevin tibbles with a little night music. >> reporter: okay, so close your eyes and listen. instantly carried away to the tranquility of the hawaiian islands? you're not alone. it seems a lot of people want to feel that way these days. because the ukulele is officially hip. however you pronounce it. sure, the questionably hip tiny tim played one. but these days, everyone from actress and singers, even warren buffett have taken the four-string plunge. so are lots of others.

this weekend in new york, hundreds ukeed it out with workshops and ukulele vendors and concerts. >> i think it is a bond for many people, in what are somewhat uncertain times. >> reporter: they're buying them, too, at chicago's old town school of music. >> that's a nice little size to hold on to. it has a nice little sweet sound. >> they've been selling like hot cakes. >> reporter: and they're lining up, so the aptly named aloha le can teach them how to play. >> i have ceos, i have doctors, i have so many people in terms of their careers, who come to take ukulele lessons. i think it's therapeutic. >> therapeutic? >> you can't be sad when you play this thing. >> reporter: this isn't the first time ukuleles have been in vogue.

they were popular in the early 1900s and then again following the second world war. these days folks are seeking a little relief from the daily grind. >> it's my creative outlet right now. >> i'm having a blast. i really am. i'm loving it. >> reporter: and, hey, anybody can play. and i mean anybody. >> you're hired. >> reporter: we may not all be able to live in the south pacific, but with just four strings and a tune, for a short while we can all imagine it. so it's aloha from the windy city. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. that's "nbc nightly news" for this sunday. brian williams will be here tomorrow. in the meantime, i'll see you again shortly for "dateline." i'm lester holt reporting from new york. for all of us here at nbc news, good night.