our broadcast tonight going to extremes. the new numbers out tonight on how hot the year has already been, just in time for the new heat wave that is right now on the move. tax cuts -- the big fight heating up over how much you pay and how that might change in the future. inside syria. richard engel just back from a week in syria. tonight his exclusive report. what he found that the rest of the world hasn't seen yet. road to retirement. 87 years old and living on her own. how technology is revolutionizing life for older americans and for those who worry about them. and split decision. just like that it's over. what we're learning about the sudden end of a high profile, big name hollywood marriage. sudden end of a high profile, big name hollywood marriage. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. the report out just today from the feds, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, reads as follows. the 12 months ending this june were the warmest ever recorded. and to a certain extent that's all you need to know right there. it is hard to over state how hard this summer has already been in terms of weather extremes. and while the miserable and dangerous weather has broken in some parts of the country it's just getting cranked up in others. this most recent heat wave has taken 90 lives across this country and it's now very clear drought is going to emerge as an even bigger story before the end of 2012. we have two reports to start off with tonight beginning with nbc's john yang in nashville, illinois outside of st. louis. john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the sizzling heat has left the midwest. it was about 15 degrees cooler than two days ago here in southern illinois.

look at what it's left behind -- scorched crops, parched farmland, and a human toll as well. across the midwest and northeast the collective sigh of relief as temperatures finally receded from the triple digits. >> love this weather. so much better. >> this is beautiful. >> reporter: in the wake of the heat wave, scores of heat-related deaths, many the sick or the elderly. at least 18 each in chicago where temperatures topped 100 for four straight days and maryland where power crews struggled with the aftermath of deadly storms more than a week ago. not even wildlife was immune. waterways from north dakota to south carolina got so hot tens of thousands of fish died. >> on friday morning we discovered that fish were finally starting to die here. >> reporter: it all adds up to one hot early summer confirmed today by new numbers from the government's national oceanic

and atmospheric administration. the first six months of the year were the warmest ever recorded with 170 all-time record highs tied or broken in the second half of june, alone. last month was the tenth driest june on record. on this family farm corn that should be a foot long now is barely two or three inches -- yields so low it's probably not worth harvesting. >> it's probably going to cost more in fuel than what you'll end up getting out of it. >> reporter: the soybean crop is also in trouble. >> this bean plant should be about two feet tall by now. >> reporter: forecasters say it may not be over. >> the beginning of this summer has been absolutely exceptional for the amount of record highs we've seen and when we've seen these record highs. i would not expect this every single year but the frequency of these events is likely to increase. >> reporter: a prospect farmers are not looking forward to. john yang, nbc news, nashville, illinois.

>> reporter: this is janet shamlian. nowhere is the drought worse than here in arkansas. >> woo, come on. come on, girls. >> reporter: it's a routine karen is used to -- feeding her cows -- but this usually happens later in the year -- october or november -- after the grass is gone. her pastures have never been this brown and barren this early. >> it's just devastating. it looks like what i count the desert. >> reporter: she has sold off 100 of her 250-head herd because she can't afford to feed them. the most severe drought in the state's history could soon claim her livelihood of three decades. >> if no significant rain comes, i'll have to go out of business. i just don't have any grass and won't be able to afford the hay prices. >> reporter: while government scientists say more than half the country is in some form of drought, this entire state is dry. farm equipment sits idle.

there's nothing to cut and bale. the only real activity is at the sales auction, ranchers selling off cattle, a move experts say could raise beef prices by 10% over the next year. >> the bottom line is if we don't have cattle to produce calves then we're not going to have a calf crop. >> reporter: in a dozen years this pond has never gone dry until now. matt has moved his herd to more fertile fields but is running out of those. >> hopefully we'll get rain and this can quit in two or three weeks. >> reporter: but the forecast for that is cloudy, and the cattle will be hungry again in the morning. and they're thirsty, too. with so many water courses like this pond having gone dry, ranchers and farmers are having to irrigate now for their crops and cattle and, brian, those costs will eventually be passed on. >> hate to see suffering like that out there. janet shamlian in arkansas tonight, before that john yang in illinois. thanks to you both. now from the forces of nature to the fight over taxes, today president obama reopened

the debate over those so-called bush era tax cuts. he wants to extend them but not forever and not for everyone. nbc news political director, chief white house correspondent chuck todd is at the white house. >> reporter: president obama laid down his marker on taxes today, trying to create a wedge between middle class tax cuts and tax breaks for the rich. >> i believe it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, folks like myself, to expire. >> reporter: the president called for a temporary, one-year extension of the bush era tax cut but only on households making less than $250,000 a year, saving the debate on what to do about tax cuts for the wealthy until after the election. >> let's not hold the vast majority of americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy. my opponent will fight to keep them in place. i will fight to end them.

>> reporter: that opponent mitt romney in a radio interview slammed the president's announcement as another economic misstep. >> we just saw a terrible jobs report just last week. and now to add a higher tax on job creators and on small business is about the worst thing i could imagine to do if you want to create jobs. >> the issue of small business owners was a criticism the president anticipated. >> the proposal i make today would extend these tax cuts for 97% of all small business owners in america. >> reporter: still, senate minority leader mitch connell said failing to preserve all of the bush tax cuts is in effect a tax hike on small businesses. >> what we ought to be doing is extend the current tax rates for another year with a hard requirement to get through comprehensive tax reform. >> reporter: the white house says the president will veto any legislation that extends tax cuts for the wealthy. it's not clear democrats agree with each other about where the cut off should be.

>> the problem is in my state there are a lot of people who make above 250 who aren't rich. >> now senator schumer said late today he is onboard with the president's proposal but, brian, we should remind people this all comes as yesterday the obama campaign spent a lot of time trying to make an issue of romney's personal wealth. this is all part of the larger campaign. politics was what this event was about today. >> chuck todd at the white house as washington heats up again. thanks for that. overseas now to the syrian uprising. an estimated 17,000 dead now with no end in sight. today kofi annan, the special u.n. representative, said he and syrian president assad met and agreed on a plan for ending the violence, but let's remember we have been here before. tonight we're joined by our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, just back from a week inside syria where he saw some surprising changes that we have not seen, by the way, before. >> big differences on the ground. first of all that peace plan they're working off seems pretty

much irrelevant at that stage. no one is talking about it on the ground. and since this conflict began, the rebels have really been plagued by the fact that they didn't control any territory, and that, now, has changed. the assad forces still control the big cities but they do not control the areas between the cities. that's a big difference. rebels in syria now travel openly on the main highways in uniforms carrying weapons. it was not like this just a month ago. but now the rebels have safe havens -- mostly the rural countryside. >> the army does not dare come out. if they do, our snipers would get them. >> reporter: this rebel leader takes us to marara, one of dozens of villages in northwest syria where residents are now celebrating after government troops were driven out. things are changing rapidly in syria where the opposition is taking village after village.

every time they do, there's a party just like this one. they're capturing territory with almost nothing. ahmed cooks up a batch of explosives. >> this is enough to make two big bombs. >> reporter: before the war, ahmed ran a restaurant. >> translator: we wanted the uprising to be peaceful, but the government started killing us, so we had no choice. >> reporter: but ahmed's inexperience at bomb making shows. after simmering for two hours the mixture of fertilizer and sugar is just too hot. back up, he shouts. as it all goes up in flames. ahmed will have to make more explosives to pack into these water tanks with steel rebar added for shrapnel. this is a rag tag revolution. the bombs' detonators are battery powered and the batteries have to be replaced every five days.

but as rebel video shows, the bombs do seem to work. weapons are in desperately short supply. the 635 fighters in ahmed's unit only have about 150 guns, so they salvage what they can from destroyed government vehicles, like this antiaircraft gun, which they jerry rigged with motorcycle brakes for triggers. rebels say if they had more arms and more money they could topple assad's regime in weeks or less. >> translator: we don't need nato. all we need is weapons and we will free our land. >> you do get a sense, brian, it would not take very much for these rebels to leave the countryside and take the fight to the cities. so far the help from the outside world has not been coming. there's been a lot of money pledged to the syrian opposition but so far it is not getting to the fighters on the ground. if it did, i think this conflict would be over quickly. >> so days ago secretary of state clinton in paris said kind

of flatly the assad regime will fall. >> oh, yes. >> and all the evidence does support that. >> absolutely. i got that impression absolutely that it is a matter of time. and if it's quick, fewer people will die. if it takes longer, he's going either way, more people will die and then the reciprocities and the atrocities in his going would only be worse. >> good to have you back. i know you have a lot more for this thursday's "rock center" and we'll see you for that. thank you. still ahead for us here tonight the struggle and worry of taking care of elderly loved ones and how technology is now stepping in to try to make that better. later, calling it quits. this was fast even by hollywood or new york standards. how did they reach a settlement so quickly?

as more and more americans head down the road to retirement one of the biggest juggling acts

that takes place is when we become care givers for family members. while the worry that goes into the job is tough to calculate, there are ways to bring back a little bit of the peace of mind where elderly loved ones are concerned. tonight our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman reports on better living through technology. >> reporter: 87-year-old dorothy rutherford won't let living alone keep her from staying busy. >> i like to have guests over at the house and i like to go to happy hour. >> reporter: a former waitress and security guard, she is one of 11 million americans over the age of 65 living on their own. >> that's my martini money. >> reporter: like most of them, dorothy's biggest priority is maintaining her independence. >> i don't want my -- my children to have to take care of me. these are my three children. >> reporter: that's why she's participating in a study with oregon health & science university using technology to detect changes in health patterns before there's a problem. her home is outfitted with wireless sensors measuring her steps.

her visits to the refrigerator and when she takes her medicine are also measured. interactive computer games monitor her memory and response time. >> you have a video call from kaylie cooper. >> hi grandma. are you home? >> reporter: she is even testing a robot allowing a care giver to check in from far away. >> you look really good. we can see her and see her emotions and know if something is going on. >> her heart rate -- >> reporter: dr. jeffrey kay has been analyzing the data for more than 450 households since 2004. these dots represent time spent in bed, the bathroom, on the computer, or phone. they're all clues indicating areas of possible decline. >> good to see you, honey. >> reporter: the ultimate goal? arming doctors and care givers with information a patient may not mention or remember. >> knowing as early as possible what's happening and what the options might be becomes very important. >> reporter: with a rapidly growing older population, in

home monitoring technology might be able to delay hospitalization and reduce health care costs. >> the majority are willing to give up a little bit of privacy in order to stay independent in their homes if that's what it means in terms of using technology. >> technology can be as simple and inexpensive as skyper e-mail. that robot you saw costs about $7,000. sometimes really wired houses can run up into the hundreds of thousands, but increasingly, insurance companies are willing to pay for some of those costs because it's cheaper to keep an older, active person in his or her own house than it is to put them in the hospital. brian, as you know, my parents are now 85 and 89. think about this all the time. a simple ipad connected them to their grandparents, photos, revolutionized how my parents have stayed, frankly, younger and more connected. >> absolutely. if privacy, a little giving up a little bit of that leads to more freedom, most people would -- >> i would urge people to get over the privacy part because your life would be fuller and richer if you get over that

part. >> interesting story, nancy. thank you. >> you bet. up next here a close encounter of the great white kind. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas.

there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs.

use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ perhaps the most notable thing about ernest borgnine who died yesterday in hollywood was his ten years in the u.s. navy including destroyer experience in world war ii. he was that kind of guy. he never planned on being an actor. his mother talked him into it and out of a job with an air conditioner company. he won an award for his role in the film "marty" and his career included projects from "the dirty dozen" to "the wild bunch" to "sponge bob square pants" on tv. he never had boyish good looks. that wasn't what he was. it was never part of his ruddy charm. he was often cast as a thug. he was the son of italian immigrants who settled in connecticut.

among his five marriages the shortest was to ethel mermen. it lasted six weeks. his last marriage lasted over 35 years. he was 95 years old. a national symbol and huge tourist attraction in washington is going to be closed for a while longer. we learned today because of the damage from that wild and rare 5.8 earthquake last august it may be 2014 before the repairs are done and tourists are allowed back in the washington monument. the cracks found in the structure were far more extensive and expensive than first thought. if you're among those who contend that life is just made better by a dog, well now there is proof in the form of a new study that shows having a pet in your house, especially dogs, could help make your baby healthier. the study followed almost 400 children for the first year of life and found those with pets have fewer colds and other common illnesses. the effect was most pronounced with dogs who spent time outside.

somehow the stuff they bring in helps boost the baby human's immune system. this will make you paddle faster. this photo is quickly making the rounds from this past weekend on cape cod, and that is a great white shark considering an oer d'oeuvre with a kayaky after taste. a guy by the name of walter salt jr. of new hampshire who later said, quote, i just turned and paddled. there were apparently hundreds of people on the beach watching and shouting to get his attention, and just like in the movie "jaws" it wasn't enough to close the beach. well, this looks like a vista in the american southwest, but it's far from that. this is the view from the mars rover "opportunity." this one picture is actually 817 digital images pasted together the result of four months of hard work of photography and it's hard to believe we have such a crisp view from another planet.

up next here tonight, the split, the settlement just days apart. now tom-kat is no more.

finally here tonight, just like that it's over. just days after they split, tom cruise and katie holmes among the most watched celebrity couples in this country announced today they've settled their case. they're walking away. they've formally agreed to end their five-year marriage. our report tonight from nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: the end of the marriage came as quickly as it started. >> have you ever felt this way before? >> reporter: tom cruise who once jumped on oprah's couch to announce his whirlwind romance today issued a joint statement with katie holmes asking for privacy and expressing respect for each other's commitment to each of our respective beliefs. >> i think when they make reference to each of our respective beliefs, they're really talking about scientology and the fact that katie was never very much onboard with tom's religion. >> reporter: cruise the world's most famous member of the controversial church of scientology. holmes was raised catholic and portrayed in the tabloids as a woman trapped in a controlling marriage. today she was spotted taking

6-year-old daughter suri to a museum and divorce experts say the split and settlement within two weeks may have been perfectly played by katie. the pair had lived here together in los angeles, but holmes recently rented a place across the country in new york. where she was often photographed over the past few months and where she filed for divorce. >> the courts in new york are going to be more favorable to women on issues of child custody. they're going to be more conservative about religious issues such as scientology, probably, and so this was a carefully and perfectly orchestrated campaign on katie's part. >> reporter: in the end the quick settlement saved both sides from a drawn out and very public court battle, though it's unlikely to stop the rampant curiosity about the fairy tale romance and lightning fast divorce for the couple formerly known as tom-kat.

kristen dahlgren, nbc news, los angeles. that's our broadcast on a monday night as we start off a new week. thank you for being here with us and my thanks to natalie morales and kate snow for sitting in so i could take off for a while. i'm brian williams. of course we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. right now at 6:00, searching for votes, why a google housing project could be doomed a edoom. and hans riser returns to court. the new reason why he says he killed his wife. and alarming report for anyone with a cell phone. good monday evening, thank you for joining us. >> we begin with your cell phone, not as private as you think. law enforcement authorities are tracking many of us wit