on the broadcast tonight high anxiety. the approaching storm and the approaching gop convention in florida and the threat tonight for tens of thousands who could be in harm's way. we'll have the latest on the storm's track. inside the raid that killed bin laden, new revelations, new questions tonight about the navy seal who has broken ranks, allegedly shredded the code of secrecy, and has written a book. super bug. how do the deadly germs spread like wildfire through one of the world's premier hospitals, and has it been stopped? and casino royale. prince harry and the girl and the photos the british press isn't showing because they show a prince in a bad spot. isn't showing because they show a prince in a bad spot. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening.

over 50,000 people are on their way to tampa, florida for the gop convention. the problem is so is a storm in the caribbean predicted to become a hurricane right about when the gathering is supposed to get under way next week. the other location problem is tampa, florida, and the convention center on the water just off tampa bay. it's not good in a storm surge and for that matter in a rain storm. we have it covered tonight beginning with the very latest on the storm, itself. for that we want to start off with meteorologist jim cantore of weather channel headquarters. jim, good evening. >> good evening, brian. we don't have to think too far back to tropical storm debby, a tropical storm which put bayshore drive under water here. we're talking about a potential hurricane here, or something even stronger as we go on in time. let's talk about this. first of all, the only thing that's really changed is the fact that we have really a big hurricane body here that is still -- a very small tropical storm is trying to fit into. it may take two or three days as it moves to the north-northwest.

the path has changed a little bit today but importantly for the gulf coast this has been cut off but this has been added almost all the way to new orleans, now the alabama and mississippi coast also very much in play. let's take tampa for example. regardless of where this winds up in track whether it be very close on the east side or far to the west, there is such a big storm here we're going to be watching what we call the fetch. that's the area of wind over the water. and with the direction of this and certainly where it's heading in a good part of this cone that could mean shoving the water up into tampa bay. enough for eight feet is certainly possible in through here but certainly enough to cause some problems as we get into monday night and tuesday morning. >> all right, jim. we'll keep watching it. jim cantore at the weather channel. all of this brings us to tampa, florida, itself, where nbc's kerry sanders is standing by where preparations are under way we're told. kerry, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. over my shoulder the tampa

convention center. this historic city says it is ready for presidential politics, for protests next week, but the question tonight is, is it ready for a hurricane? at the tampa bay times forum where the convention is scheduled to begin monday, teams today were putting up rain shelters. much of downtown tampa is a tent city, but in a storm that could be a problem. already this week a thunderstorm kicked up 60-mile-per-hour winds knocking down what was supposed to provide shade from florida's 90-degree heat. party leaders calculated even though it's the height of hurricane season this city would be a safe bet for the 65,000 people expected to travel here next week. if there is an order to evacuate, it will come from tampa's mayor, bob buckhorn. >> in terms of an actual evacuation of the city of tampa, that is my call. we haven't been hit by a hurricane in 90 years but we plan for this every year. >> reporter: one thing that makes tampa so vulnerable? it's bound by water to the south and west and in a major

hurricane a storm surge could swamp the city under more than eight feet of water. even if isaac only brushes the area there could be logistical problems. while the convention is in tampa, the majority of the delegates are staying at beach hotels on the other side of tampa bay in pinellas county. the three bridges and causeways make it a short, 30-minute drive. but if winds require closing the bridges the over land route can take up to three hours each way. police who have been training for crowd control for months say one thing isaac may do is keep tens of thousands of protesters away. >> this is declared an unlawful assembly. >> reporter: a federal law enforcement bulletin today warns there is high confidence anarchists will attempt to disrupt the convention. with 4,000 officers trained for the event tampa's police chief says they're prepared and realistic. >> frankly the most worrisome for us or for any law enforcement officer is that lone wolf individual that's not

communicating with anyone else and is coming in to act on their own. >> reporter: more than half of those 4,000 police officers here are on loan from other departments around the state. now, if isaac causes problems in their communities, they may have to leave here to go help out storm victims but the tampa police department says they have a contingency plan and that should not be a problem, brian. >> kerry, thanks. can't wait to get down there and cover it all. kerry sanders in tampa, florida tonight. among the places in the projected path of this storm is haiti where since the earthquake over two years ago now hundreds of thousands of people are still spending every night living outdoors in tent cities many of them right now unaware that a storm is coming to that island. nbc's mark potter is in the capital, port-au-prince tonight. >> reporter: good evening. here in haiti with the extreme poverty and crumbling buildings a direct hit by a hurricane, even a tropical storm, could cause lots of damage and loss of life.

nearly 400,000 people are still living in evacuation tents now. and they are being urged by the red cross and haitian officials to seek shelter elsewhere, in the homes of relatives, public buildings, and schools. the biggest fear is that heavy rains will cause flash flooding and mud slides, which in the past have killed thousands of haitians. as relief supplies are being collected now, there is also a worry that those rains could spread the cholera epidemic here, which has already killed some 7,000 people in this, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. brian? >> mark potter, port-au-prince, haiti tonight where perhaps this will focus the world's attention on that nation again. a new book about the bin laden raid by a former member of the navy seal team that pulled off the raid is opening up a torrent of criticism especially in the military community where special operations is supposed to be just that -- special -- quiet, carried out entirely in secret and in the shadows.

the book is scheduled to come out on september 11 and the question tonight is, what will happen if details of an operation that was supposed to remain secret forever are suddenly made public? our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski is there with us this evening. good evening. >> reporter: they are holding their breath over the release of this book and feel betrayed by one of their own. the specific details of the raid on this compound that killed osama bin laden have been some of the most closely held secrets by the u.s. navy seals. it appears now that sacred oath of silence is about to be broken. "no easy day" the first-hand account of the mission that killed osama bin laden is written under the pseudonym mark owen, a 36-year-old former member of seal team 6 who now lives in alaska.

according to the publisher dutton the author gives a blow by blow narrative of the assault and watched bin laden die. he was one of the first men through the door and was present at his death.

the book has already stirred a firestorm of controversy among navy seals who are expected to take their secrets to the grave. >> i have friends at the command seal team 6 who definitely feel this was a betrayal that one of their own got out and immediately, you know, essentially is looked at as selling out. >> reporter: in an exclusive interview for "rock center" mike mullen told brian williams the seals wouldn't even tell him who took the shot that killed bin laden. >> when i talked to the team about that specifically, their response is, we all did it. >> reporter: but there was one guy who put a laser site on his forehead and pulled the trigger and he knows it was his m-4 or whatever weapon they were u house was tak >> we were unaware of this book until yesterday in the press reports about it. >> reporter: and prosecuting the case could prove difficult if not unpopular. >> to drag this person into court, the one person who actually risked his life in order to make sure this operation succeeded, that seems to me to be a huge road block for the prosecution. >> he's right in the inner circle. >> reporter: the book follows a steady stream of leaks about the operation that killed osama bin laden including a movie in which administration officials cooperated with the film maker. after accusations the white house was playing politics, the release of the film was delayed until after the november elections. now it's not clear that in the end the author will make any money on this book. as a seal he had to sign a

nondisclosure agreement which states that he'd have to forfeit any profits made from a release of classified information. quite frankly, it's not even clear the book contains any top secrets. nobody in the military, pentagon, or even the cia has seen a copy yet, brian. >> jim miklaszewski on this book that's rocking the special operations community, jim, thanks for your reporting. on the presidential campaign trail today mitt romney was in new mexico selling his energy plan saying he'd make america energy independent by 2020 with a plan that includes more offshore drilling and said the goal of energy independence by 2020 is in his words not pie in the sky. he also said his plan would create 3 million new jobs. tonight on "rock center" we are devoting the entire hour to one subject, the mormon church in america. on the eve of the gop convention to nominate the man who could be the first mormon president of the united states, tonight we look at the history of the church, the successes mormons have enjoyed in business in this country, and their vast network

to take care of their own. while the mormon church is opening up a bit, most americans still regard it as something of a closed off culture. during our hour we talked to abby huntsman, one of 60 huntsman grandchildren in that prominent mormon family. her father jon ran for president of course. but in our interview with her she recounted how she left the church after she was confronted by her church bishop for dating a non mormon, the man by the way she later married. >> the reason i really left was because of an experience i had with the bishop. >> something you've talked about before? >> yeah, no, it was when i first met my husband. at the time we had only dated three weeks, and he found out i was dating someone that wasn't a member of the church and called me in and said i'm very concerned about you and your life and do you love him? and i said, well, i've only known him three weeks and he's a great guy and at that point i was just, i said, whoever i fall

in love with i fall in love with. i'm not going to live in this bubble anymore. i just need to live my life for me. and he basically said, you know, you're not going to have the blessings. your kids will not be blessed if you end up marrying this man. he is such a great guy and in my heart i just get kind of emotional about it because for a bishop to tell me how i needed to live my life and that i would or would not be blessed because it was very difficult and i know that i'm one of many women that go through experiences like that and i walked out that door and i couldn't go back. >> part of our conversation with abby huntsman, one of the people we talk to tonight during our special hour on "rock center" called "mormon in america" tonight at 10:00, 9:00 central. still ahead this evening as we continue along the way, how a killer super bug made its way through a world famous hospital here in the u.s., how medical detectives figured out what it was, and the risk for other hospitals.

later, those prince harry photos from las vegas and why the british press has been a bit skittish about them.

the national institutes of health has revealed last year its hospital experienced an outbreak of a super germ that couldn't be treated by any medicine and it triggered a frantic effort to stop it from spreading. the story tonight from our chief

science correspondent robert business bazell. >> reporter: on june 13th last year a 43-year-old woman with a lung disease was transferred into the nih clinical center. tests revealed she was infected with common bacteria called klebsiella but a rare and deadly strain. >> this bacteria developed resistance to all known antibiotics. >> reporter: the woman patient recovered and was discharged in july. then in august a 34-year-old man with cancer was diagnosed with the same resistant germ. after that, a frightening average of one patient a month was diagnosed despite strict infection control procedures. >> they weren't sufficient to ensure that there weren't patient-to-patient transmissions within the icu. and that was what scared us. >> reporter: ultimately the resistant strain infected 18 patients. 11 of them died. using the latest gene sequencing technology nih tracked the

spread. a contaminated respirator was part of the problem. so were patients who harbored the bacteria for months with no symptoms. the hospital stepped up its precautions even more. doctors say the nih detective work is impressive but this outbreak shows if it can happen at the nation's premier hospital it can and does happen almost anywhere. the cdc estimates 1.7 million americans get hospital-acquired infections every year and 99,000 die from them. many experts think those estimates are too low. maimonides hospital in brooklyn uses the best infection control -- isolation rooms, gloves, gowns, constant hand washing. but officials say it is impossible to completely prevent infection. >> the best way to avoid hospital acquired infections is to not be in a hospital unless it is absolutely necessary. when it is necessary to be in a hospital to leave as soon as it's indicated to leave the hospital. >> reporter: advice that becomes more crucial as bacteria gain

ever more deadly resistance to antibiotics. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight the cost of good intentions and the very bad results.

it's been a year today since first word of the news we couldn't believe, the quake that rocked washington, d.c., the tourists are still seeing the after effects of the 5.8 earthquake. there is still netting under the ceiling of union station, scaffolding at the national cathedral spire and the washington monument is still closed. it could take another decade and $20 million more. a dinosaur foot print has been found in a highly unusual place on the grounds of the godard space flight center in suburban maryland. it's been identified as the foot print of what's called an armored type of dinosaur upwards of 110 million years old.

the postal service thought it was a great idea a few years back to mark the 20th anniversary of the simpsons with a commemorative stamp. they printed a billion of them and sold only 318 million of them. the extra stamps had to be destroyed because the printed price on them had changed. that wasted $1.2 million. that's the last thing they need. they are on track to lose an estimated $15 billion in operating costs this year. an amateur artist in spain thought she could help restore a century old fresco showing the image of jesus. it turns out she couldn't. the image on the left shows the original and the middle when it was in bad shape. sadly, her work is there on the right. it looks like no one we've ever seen. local officials say her intentions were good. now they're asking her what kind of paint she used to ruin it. they're hoping to restore it once again. up next here tonight the hangover in the press from prince harry's vegas vacation. ♪ viva las vegas

a lot of internet users this week have gotten a glimpse of what you might call the softer side of british royal families,

specifically prince harry as we've never seen him before on vacation in vegas but in this case it didn't stay in vegas. the prince, who, let's remember, is a young, single man with a military background and a better than average benefits package, was playing nude billiards with a young woman and that's not a euphemism. but because of the customs governing british media for the most part the pictures haven't been displayed back home yet. our report tonight from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: a prince with a well known penchant for trouble in a city notorious for creating it. did anyone really think harry in las vegas wasn't going to create a few headlines? it started with an innocent pool side party but got a lot racier. the now famous photos were secretly taken late at night in his hotel room probably on a cell phone. it had been going so well for the royal family -- the wedding, the diamond jubilee, the olympics. but before the glow of the torch could fade a royal scandal.

prince harry just wanted some fun but it's not that simple for the man third in line to the throne. >> you are a member of the royal family whether you like it or not you carry certain responsibilities. in addition, he also represents the british army. >> reporter: back at home now the military helicopter pilot who may soon be deployed to afghanistan could get a reprimand from his commanders. but on the streets of london today -- >> i think it's really cool. >> yeah. he's funny. >> just having a good time. >> having a good time with his mates. why not? >> reporter: do you think people are making too big a deal about it? >> yeah. people are too stuffy. he should be able to do what he wants. >> reporter: even with some popular support the palace has gone on damage control. the pictures they say are an invasion of privacy. with the phone hacking scandal at the news of the world paper still unraveling the british media have shown uncharacteristic restraint. the photos were not in today's british press, not in the papers or on tv. "the sun" printed this slightly

strange recreation on its front page. late today the paper said it would have the actual photo tomorrow. it all leads to a burning question on people's minds here, why didn't harry's security detail take cameras away from his guests? >> it's not up to the protection officer or the body guard to worry or be concerned about the private antics of their charge but you are responsible for the security. in this case nothing happened to him. >> no physical harm, that is, but prince harry may want to keep his next vacation a bit more under wraps. stephanie gosk, nbc news, london. >> that's our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we of course hope to see you back here tomorrow evening and later this evening for "rock center." later this evening for "rock center." good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com