on the broadcast tonight the verdict in a landmark case involving the catholic church and charges of a coverup for priests who abused children. and the wait tonight in the verdict in the other big case we're watching, the sandusky trial. gas prices falling fast on the first weekend of summer, a time of year they usually soar. and game changer. tonight the trail blazers who helped break down barriers for so many young women. helped break down barriers for so many young women. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. brian is off tonight. i'm lester holt. as we await a verdict from a pennsylvania jury in the child sexual abuse against jerry sandusky not far away in philadelphia a catholic

monsignor today became the highest ranking church official yet to be convicted of covering up the molestation of a child by a priest. monsignor william lind oversaw hundreds of priests in the nation's sixth largest diocese. he was convicted of endangering a child not by his own hand but by allowing a pedophile priest to be in a position to molest a young boy. it's a case that cuts to the heart of what many see as the most shameful part of the long-running catholic priest sexual abuse scandal. church leaders who look the other way. in a scandal where so many knew so much but did so little to protect children, monsignor william lind is the first senior catholic church official to be convicted of not doing enough. while acquitting him of conspiracy, the jury found lind guilty of one count of endangering a child. an altar boy who was assaulted by a priest, lind knew was a pedophile. >> he's really upset.

he's upset. he's crushed. he's in custody and he didn't want anything other than to help kids. he is crushed. >> reporter: lind was never accused of physically harming a child himself but was investigating abuse complaints and prosecutors said he played them down and sent known predators to unsuspecting parishes. >> there is no verdict that could fix the harm done to the victims of adult predators within the church. there is no apology that can heal the wounds these children suffer. >> reporter: it took the jury 13 days to reach a decision. in a trial so highly charged that before it even began the district attorney ordered an autopsy on cardinal anthony bevoloka lind's boss. he died one day after he was ordered to testify at the trial. earlier this week the jury told the judge they were dead locked, but the judge sent them back. >> we all wanted justice. none of us went off of our feelings. none of us went off of our religion. >> reporter: for an abuse survivors group this verdict

goes beyond the church sending a clear signal to all institutions, protect kids, oust predators, or go to jail. lind's conviction is the latest trauma for philadelphia's 1.5 million catholics. the archdiocese already struggling with a $17 million deficit. >> the jury has spoken and i hope we can move on now and start to heal. >> reporter: the jury in philadelphia did not accept monsignor lind's explanation that he did the best he could but did not have ultimate authority. as one observer puts it today's verdict is a hard wakeup call for the church and its bishops that they cannot look the other way on clergy abuse. lester? >> thank you. now to our other pending case raising big questions of legal and moral responsibility, the jerry sandusky trial. jurors continue deliberating tonight and nbc's john yang is at the courthouse. john? >> reporter: lester, good evening. the jury has been deliberating for more than 12 hours now.

they've sent out at least two notes from the jury room. first they wanted to hear again the testimony of mike mcqueary. he is the former assistant football coach who said he saw sandusky in the shower in the locker room with the young boy known in court documents as victim two. they also had a legal question about some hearsay testimony involving victim eight. sandusky right now is at home waiting with his family for the verdict. his attorney has been here in the courtroom talking to reporters. his attorney is known for speaking bluntly and has said he would die of a heart attack from shock if his client was acquitted of all charges. the jury seems to be settling in for another late night tonight. if there is no verdict tonight, they will continue deliberations tomorrow. lester? >> thanks. nbc's chief legal correspondent savannah guthrie has been watching this case with us as well. there's a lot of counts here. they have to have a verdict yes or no in either one? >> that's right. so even if you had a jury that

bought the prosecution's argument 100% it's still a complicated case. you've got 48 counts. these are different crimes with different elements. you have ten alleged victims, so there is a lot for any jury to work through. in addition to that, the defense gave a rather compelling closing argument. there may be jurors back there who have a reasonable doubt in their minds. there may be division in the jury. what's clear from what we've heard from the jury in the last day or so is they are zeroing in on the two charges for which the alleged victim was never found, never testified in court. so it's interesting that they're struggling with what may be some of the most difficult counts in the case. >> and as john said, they're going to work into the night. savannah, thank you. overseas tonight to egypt, a country on edge as it waits for official word and who its president will be. supporters of the muslim brotherhood candidate fear the election will be stolen from them by the military. tonight the military there is warning against trouble. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us from

cairo, still crowded tahrir square with the latest. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. this weekend egyptian officials will announce the winner of last weekend's disputed presidential election. here in tahrir square are members of the muslim brotherhood. they firmly believe that their candidate mohamed morsi won the election and tonight are already celebrating. if he is declared the winner the celebrations will grow much larger and egypt will begin its experiment in islamic democracy. if the other candidate, the military choice, ahmed shafiq, is declared the winner, these crowds could turn ugly and violence is possible. >> richard, while i have you, another potentially dangerous development in the region tonight i want to ask you about. a turkish fighter jet somehow ended up in syrian air space and was shot down by syrian forces. what do we know about this? >> reporter: we know turkish officials have confirmed that

the aircraft was over syrian territorial waters and was shot down by syrian air defenses. syrians have also confirmed this. the fate of the two pilots remains unknown. turkey says it is studying the situation and will take, quote, appropriate action. the turkish/syrian border has grown increasingly tense. turkey and syria were long-time allies but now turkey backs the antiassad rebels. >> richard engel in central cairo tonight, thanks. here at home president obama was in florida today rallying an audience of latinos with a promise to fight for them in the wake of a major policy change announced last week. that executive order stops the deportation of undocumented immigrants who came to the u.s. as children. the president fired back at critics who say he over stepped his bounds. >> so to those who are saying congress should be the one to fix this? absolutely.

for those who say we should do this in a bipartisan fashion? absolutely. my door has been open for three and a half years. they know where to find me. >> mitt romney addressed the same group yesterday and accused the president of pandering to latino voters with the deportation move. of course, latinos are one of the key constituencies that could ultimately decide who wins the white house. tonight we begin a series of reports in the most fiercely contested battleground states zeroing in on the decision makers. and the issues that matter to them most. tonight david gregory takes us to virginia and some undecided latino voters. both sides are fighting so hard to win over. >> hey, what you doing? >> reporter: mary servent of leesburg, virginia from venezuela originally became an american citizen three and a half years ago. she is still working on her english as she raises two boys and runs a small marketing firm.

in this presidential race her vote counts a lot. >> if the decision was today i don't have the decision in my head. it's hard. >> reporter: what is most important to you when you're trying to decide who you're going to vote for? >> the economy is more important. >> reporter: she says she has confidence in mitt romney's business skills, but agrees with some of the attacks against him. >> he is going to go for the rich people in this country. i don't feel he speaks to me. >> reporter: president obama, she complains, promised too much. especially on immigration. >> i hope hispanic people remember this situation. >> reporter: her husband is decided and is with the president. he argues things are better now and mr. obama needs more time to fix the economy. >> it's not been as fast as we all wish but at least we are not continuing to lose jobs. >> reporter: how important are families like this?

consider this. four years ago here in virginia hispanics made up 4% of presidential voters and the community has only grown, so an additional 1% or 2% could decide whether or not president obama keeps this all important swing state in his column. nationally the president has a huge 2-1 advantage over mr. romney among latino voters. but romney's strategy may not be to win among latinos. he is simply trying to cut into the lead. >> is the america of 11% hispanic unemployment the america of our dreams? we can do better. >> reporter: telemundo's jose diaz vallard says both candidates need to convince latinos they know what is important to them. >> for latino voters the economy, unemployment, the home crisis, the foreclosure crisis, all these issues that affect all of us in the country, have been disproportionately affecting latinos. >> reporter: high stakes. for mary servent it will be her

very first time voting for president. you are the decider in the fall. >> i can't believe it. both candidates trying to find the latino american vote because it's important. it's a power for us. >> reporter: power but for now a tough choice. david gregory, nbc news, leesburg, virginia. >> david's guest on "meet the press" this sunday will be florida senator marco rubio. he has written a new book on his immigrant roots and will talk to david about that sunday on "meet the press." a thousand residents of the town of saratoga springs, utah have been evacuated tonight after a fast-moving wildfire started by target shooters consumed 4,000 acres threatening their homes. conditions are extremely dry all across the west. additional fire crews are being brought in tonight to battle this big one. still ahead as "nbc nightly news" continues we head into the first weekend of summer. gas prices have taken a plunge and are headed even lower. later, new fallout from the video that made so many people so angry.

tonight apologies and an eye-popping amount of money for the grandmother bullied on the bus.

as the world has faced some rocky economic conditions the past few weeks the price of oil has tumbled down 25% in the beginning of may. that of course has pushed gas prices lower, too, bringing some welcome relief to motorists just in time for summer. nbc's miguel almaguer joins me now from los angeles with more.

>> reporter: lester, good evening. california is usually one of the most expensive places to fill up anywhere in the country, but today the state average here in california is well below $4 a gallon. it hasn't been that cheap since winter. and prices everywhere seem to be headed down. for bob, a commuter in los angeles, at last a break at the pumps. >> it's great. yeah. i'm in sales so i drive all over the place. >> reporter: near atlanta, 3.18 feels even better to demario maguire. >> i have a newborn son. it's helping out now. >> reporter: for 11 straight weeks prices have dropped across the country. the national average down 49 cents from a high in february and some analysts believe it could land below $3 a gallon by fall. in south carolina, we found regular already at $2.79. the drop comes when prices typically spike, the start of summer. >> it is encouraging for the

moment especially when you're going in your pocket to pay a better price. >> reporter: in just a month a gallon of regular is down 22 cents. now at $3.45. the drop most dramatic on the west coast where in washington, oregon, and california prices have fallen as much as 43 cents a gallon. >> we're finding problems we had earlier this year have been resolved and also people did lower their demand in response to the high prices. >> reporter: flight attendant casey rittiner says now he can finally afford to drive this summer. >> now that the prices are coming down it's made me reconsider going to the mountains, driving to the beach. >> reporter: one prediction in california? a gallon of regular could drop another 75 cents. that would put the state average at 3.25, a long way from the $5 a gallon prices we saw in february. but tonight while that popular route from los angeles to las vegas may be cheaper, it's not any faster.

of course, the big question tonight how teppo and how long will the cuts last? nobody seems to know the right answer to that question, but there's also more good news. a record 42 plus million americans will be traveling this 4th of july weekend coming up in just a few days. they'll find record low gas prices they haven't seen in months. >> those are words we don't get to say very often, do we? thanks very much. we're back in a moment with the apology millions of people have been waiting to hear and some unusual visitors in offices across america today.

more news tonight about karen klein, that grandmother who works as a school bus monitor who was mocked and bullied by middle schoolers on her bus. their taunts videotaped and posted on the internet, watched now by more than 2 million people. tonight police say three of the four boys and their parents have

apologized. one student writes, quote, i am so sorry for the way i treated you. when i saw the video i was disgusted and could not believe i did that. i will never treat anyone this way again, he wrote. and that internet fund raising drive to help klein retire and send her on a dream vacation? it's now collected over a half million dollars. tonight attorneys for lance armstrong have fired back at the u.s. anti-doping agency asking the board not to pursue charges against him because they say there's no evidence to support them. armstrong has never failed a doping test. if they won't agree to drop the charges, armstrong is asking that the charges be suspended until he has a further chance to look at them. right now he's banned from competing in iron man competitions and if he's found guilty he could be stripped of the seven tour de france titles he's won. the celebration went late into the night in miami, a city that knows how to throw a party. the heat are nba champions beating the oklahoma thunder,

erasing memories of last year's collapse in the finals. president obama placed a congratulatory call, even the mayor of cleveland, lebron james' hometown city he shunned to go to miami offered his congrats. the same probably can't be said for a lot of cleveland fans not ready to forgive and forget any time soon. today the european debt crisis played out on the field as underdog greece took on germany in the euro 2012 match play. the greeks put up a good fight but, alas, no bailout this time. they lost to the germans, 4-2. toward the end the greek fans consoled themselves by yelling at the german fans. they said, we'll never pay you back. you may have noticed at your place of business today it's take your dog to work day. today.com got a look at how it went from a couple tough looking partners just waiting to protect and serve to a reminder that on a day like this you might need a drool protector for your keyboard, to those who look at

home sitting in the boss's chair everybody seemed to be enjoying the togetherness. when we come back here on this friday night they fought and won smashing through barriers for generations of women. ♪ i am invincible i am woman

40 years ago tomorrow president nixon signed title ix. just 37 words long the landmark law rewrote the world of education and fully opened the world of sports to young women. tonight we share insights from three women all trail blazers in the fight for women's equality. >> when i was in college at california state university at los angeles, i was working two jobs like handing out equipment and i thought i was living large, 30 miles away arthur ashe had a full scholarship to ucla. i did not have the same opportunities my fellow tennis players had, and the reason was because i was a girl. >> they did get cut from boys' all star teams simply because i was a girl. and my dad used to say, you know, he told me outright air you are getting cut because you're a girl. the only way to make that team is to be the absolute best player on the ice. i'm going to prove you wrong.

i'm going to work harder and longer and prove that i belong out on the ice. >> the people of the community pretty much frowned on, you know, girls participating and playing with guys. in fact, i remember one grandparent that would say, if you play sports like i was playing that you would get knots in the legs. the knots were muscles. >> when i played bobby the whole reason i wanted to win the match is because i knew it was about social change and i wanted to start hearts and minds of people to start matching up with title 9. >> without title 9 i do not know where i would be today. >> look at this. right around in front, score! >> coming from a working class, blue collar family, my parents didn't graduate from college. and here i am having the opportunity to play at harvard university, get the education of a lifetime in part because of sports. >> it was important for me to

win in the game of life to make sure that these young women know, yes, you are. you are somebody, not to be thought of as second class citizens. >> we are in this together. it's very important that we take care of each other. it's very important that we have equal rights and opportunities for both men and women, boys and girls. >> people that are against title ix, i get frustrated because it shouldn't be boys versus girls. it should be us as a society thinking, how do we educate the youth of tomorrow? >> this is good for us. this is good for our nation and all of us are better people because of it. >> iconic athletes on title ix at 40. that's our broadcast for this friday night. thank you for being with us. brian is back on monday. i'm lester holt. i'll see you a bit later on for "dateline" and tomorrow morning on "today." "dateline" and tomorrow morning on "today." good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.co

good friday evening. we begin with follow-up to a story we first brought you exclusively two weeks ago, we were the only cameras there as the very first tesla sedan was delivered to an investor. now the rest of the world is getting a chance to see the highly anticipated car. and tesla handed the keys to the very first eight customers.