>> thanks for joining us here at 5:00. >> good night. on our broadcast tonight, danger zone for the u.s. economy as this deadlock in washington now threatens to pull it down. there are questions about the u.s. credit rating with just over a day to go now until the deadline. outrage over the events that led a young girl to take her own life. and who the local sheriff a blaming for her suicide. tonight a warning call for all parents. and act of bravery, captured on camera, an american hero who led his team through great danger now has received the highest military honor in the land. and "making a difference." the great story of a coach who's teaching kids what teamwork really means. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. this was to be expected as the hour nears. but a major credit agency has put the credit rating of the united states of america on a negative ratings watch. just last night, we came on the air reporting that hopes were high for a deal, things were moving. that collapsed today in a pile of noise and hurt feelings in washington. the government has been shut down for 15 days. the debt ceiling deadline is just over 24 hours away now. the world is watching. and the financial markets are clearly watching. and profiles in courage are in short supply tonight in washington. we have it all covered beginning again tonight with the sorry state of affairs in congress. kelly o'donnell has spent yet another day covering it all. good evening, kelly. >> reporter: good evening, brian. confusion and parol sis are all i can say for sure right now. the house had planned to vote on

a bill to reopen government and prevent that default, and then abruptly scrapped that after tea party conservatives told speaker boehner they would not go along. tonight gop aides say no decision on next steps and senators tell me they don't know how this ends. how did we go from this just last night -- >> i'm very optimistic. >> reporter: -- to this today -- >> and it is nothing more than a blatant attack on bipartisanship. >> reporter: hopes deteriorated quickly on a senate plan to reopen the government and prevent a default on the country's good credit when house republicans rejected bishop senate comp mice. mr. speaker can you guarantee to the american people congress will not go past the deadline and push us into default? >> listen, i have made clear for months and months that the idea of default is wrong. and we shouldn't get anywhere close to it. >> reporter: but time is running out fast.

and the mood is so sour, that clergy sang hymns as they roamed from one lawmaker's office to another, praying for a solution. behind these closed doors here in the basement of the capitol, the gop held their meeting. and that is when speaker boehner found out he didn't have enough republicans to make a deal. tea party conservatives wouldn't back down demanding changes to obama care. >> oh, my gosh we have lit up obama care for the whole nation. the rollout was atrocious. this is a fundamentally bad plan. we've made it clear to americans we stand with them on the bill. >> reporter: democrats huddled at the white house late today. >> make no mistake, the bill they're putting on the floor is a decision to default. >> reporter: why the urgency? congress sets a limit known as the debt ceiling on how much the government can borrow. the current limit is $16.7 trillion. like ordinary americans do with their household accounts, the treasury department can move money around to keep paying

bills even after it reaches the limit. but the government loses the flexibility to do that at midnight tomorrow night. and if congress fails to raise it by then, the country faces default. meeting quietly looking for compromise. and john mccain begged democrats to stop bashing speaker boehner for the sake of getting a deal. >> so let's stop this. stop it, sit down, consider the speaker's proposal. >> reporter: but at this point, the gop leadership doesn't have a proposal on the table. the president has been mostly watching from the sidelines, calling the gop strategy a bad strategy. and senior administration officials say we are now at great risk of falling into that financial peril as we get closer to potential default. brian? >> running out of things to say and ways to describe it. kelly o'donnell from the hill tonight, starting us off, thank you. we are seeing now the crisis in washington play out on wall street. stocks took a hit today, all

three major indexes were down, and as we mentioned, top of the broadcast we're getting first signs of serious concern in the credit ratings markets. the fitch ratings agency has put the united states current aaa rating on warning for a possible downgrade if this doesn't get resolved. to talk about that with us here in the studio tonight, andrew sorkin of cnbc and "the new york times." andrew, the public is now aware they're playing with fire and they're playing with company money, our money. what happens if this happens? >> if this happens, we are -- the 2008 financial crisis will look like child's play if we actually go into extra innings. if we default or even if we really get close to the possibility of default, all of our costs are going to skyrocket. people are no longer going to believe we are good for the money. which means if somebody is going to loan you a dollar and you

don't pay back when they think you're going to pay back, they're going to charge you more for the risk. that will impact everything. how much money the country has, a 1 percentage point increase is a $20 billion cost annually, no longer going to go towards goods and services for the taxpayers. it's going to go towards mortgage payments. the payment wills go up. and it will be global. >> on that note, i guess we'll check back in with you tomorrow night. you think it is the in ninth inning? >> i think we're in the ninth inning. i hope we don't go into extra innings, and i think it's possible that we don't. >> all right, andrew sorkin, thank you as always. >> thank you. because of these clashing extremes in washington right now, it is easy to believe the same divides are in cities across the country. and that it might just define our politics these days. but nbc news and esquire have partnered on a new survey on our political landscape that

suggests we are not exactly that. and in fact, according to the data, we are still a nation with a wide political center. our report on that tonight from our chief political director chuck todd. >> reporter: go to any neighborhood in the country and you'll find what we found in our new survey. americans are a lot more pragmatic and nuanced in their political views than washington politicians give them credit for. you've been conditioned to look at american politics in 2d. blue and red, left and right. but that's not what you are. a new survey finds we could all use a new pair of 3d glasses because there's a comfortable center that doesn't fit into the stereotypes of the past. in fact, the majority of the country, 51% falls into the middle lane of american politics. the hard left lane is 26%. and the hard right is only

slightly bigger at 28%. >> it is not necessarily what is happening in the country. >> reporter: the center is as diverse as the country and basically falls into four categories. the minivan moderates are in the suburbs. while the most cynical and apathetic group dubbed the whatever man centrists are largely under 40. emily robliss in miami, an international businesswoman, is a lot like the mba middle. >> i don't think i fit into a box. >> reporter: she is with the 53% who favor gay marriage but also part of the 57% who think it's time to end affirmative action. >> you should get hired or accepted into college on your merit and not on your heritage or the color of your skin. >> reporter: culturally, this is a live and let live group. for instance, 52% are okay with legalizing marijuana. but 79% believe that government is spending too much money. min in -- minivan moderate like

this mother of virginia, a mother of three, sums up the new american center's attitude towards both major parties. >> i have just come to expect that i don't fit. i don't fit in either party. so i have almost become comfortable in the middle. >> reporter: you know, brian, we asked a couple of major political consultants, david axelrod for the democrats, mike murphy for the republicans to analyze the data. here's what mike murphy came up with. he said dogma is out, pragmatism is in. and guess what, all of congress should be listening to that. by the way, folks can take the quiz themselves and find out where they belong. nbcnightlynews.com, use the #whereistand. >> i love the boxes they put us in. >> at least we have more. >> yeah, that is true. chuck todd, thank you. one of those issues we just heard about was in the news today. specifically ending affirmative action. today, the u.s. supreme court agreed to answer the question can voters in any given state

vote to ban the practice? our justice correspondent pete williams with us tonight from outside the court. pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. the supreme court has ruled before that colleges can choose to use affirmative action. now it seems prepared to rule that voters in a state have the power to ban it. demonstrators outside the court urged it to uphold a ruling that struck down a constitutional amendment passed by michigan voters in 2006 ending affirmative action in the state. justice sotomayer says it sponsors said it would bring back segregation. she says it appears to have done just that. but chief justice roberts says why can't you say to the colleges do everything you can without having racial prejudices? the court seems headed for a ruling that would allow affirmative action bans in michigan and several other states to stand. >> pete williams, at the court for us. pete, thanks. it was an emotional

afternoon at the white house as a former army captain became the 79th living recipient of the medal of honor. this nation's highest military honor. u.s. army captain william swenson was honored for his heroism and his complete disregard for his own safety. during one of the deadliest fire fights in the war in afghanistan, some of it was captured on camera. president obama said that swenson is an example of what americans can be at their very best. we get a report tonight from our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: september 2009. a medevac helicopter in eastern afghanistan. army captain will swenson guides the chopper to a landing in one of the worst battles of the war. >> that was a horrible day. >> reporter: swen son and his men walked into a deadly ambush. >> if you tried to get up and move, you could expect to have bullets at your feet.

>> reporter: swenson led his troops as they ran into the kill zone over and over to rescue the missing and the injured. three marines and a navy man. >> you can never allow a service member to be taken hostage, alive or dead, you bring them home. and that's what we did. >> reporter: swenson desperately radioed for help, but army commanders refused to provide combat helicopters or reinforcements. an army investigation later found those commanders were negligent, leading directly to the loss of lives. the four missing americans were later found dead. >> you could clearly see they had been putting up one hell of a fight. >> reporter: swenson bitterly blames their deaths on tougher rules of engagement, intended to help afghans, not soldiers. but later, more compassion as a helmet cam captures the photo of swenson helping westbrook to the helicopter. in a flash, swenson gives westbrook a kiss. >> in the middle of a war, you

kiss your fellow soldier. why? >> i wanted to make clear to him he had done good. he was going home. >> reporter: it soupds like you were surprised to see him do that. >> yes, but he was my soldier. >> reporter: but you're glad you did it? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: westbrook died a month later. discouraged, swenson quit the army two years ago, but is now working to return to active duty and the brotherhood of soldiers. jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. we also wanted to show you another photo of another heroic american service member that is getting a lot of circulation and comment on the web. it is a photo of army ranger josh hargiss, wounded last week in the attack in afghanistan that killed four members of his unit. he is being awarded the purple heart in the hospital in this photo, a ceremony his commander thought he was unconscious for. until he started to raise his hand in a salute. he struggled to raise his arm

with his doctors and his tubing, but he succeeded. the commander sent this picture along with a letter to hargiss' wife taylor saying grown men wept in that room at this sight. adding it was the most beautiful salute he had ever witnessed. still ahead for us tonight, shock and sadness after the death of 12-year-old girl. a sheriff issues a warning across the country. and later, a coach making a difference on and off the field, by making a extraordinary difference with kids as part of a team.

we are back tonight with a story that is intended as a wake-up call to all families with children, especially their parents. tonight in florida a local sheriff is lashing out at two middle school girls who are accused in the latest case of cyber bullying in this country. this one ended in a suicide. the victim, a 12-year-old girl who simply reached her limit. our report tonight from nbc's rehema ellis.

>> reporter: florida police say 12-year-old rebecca sedgwick couldn't take it anymore. after a year of taking threats. she killed herself. jumped from the top of an abandoned cement plant. >> we've lost sleep over that child dying needlessly. and we want to see things change. >> reporter: today a stunning development. >> we have these wonderful photographs of our two new felons. >> reporter: we're not showing their faces. they're only 12 and 14 years old. charged as juveniles with felony aggravated stalking in connection with rebecca's suicide. >> she should be here. she should be here to see justice getting served. >> reporter: rebecca's mother says after both school and police officials failed to stop the bullying, she moved her daughter to another school.

but rebecca still had her cell phone, and the bullying continued. >> the difference with cyber bullying is that it is etched in stone, that people can access the history of it, review it, rewind it and reread it. and it makes it much more painful for the child who is experiencing bullying. >> reporter: legal experts believe this is the first time that a person as young as 12 has been charged in such a case. and that could pose a challenge for prosecutors. >> this defendant is by all intents and purposes a child. this is someone who may not at this age understand the significance of that sort of cruelty. >> reporter: tonight from sheriff brady judd, a father of two and grandfather of nine children, a stern warning to parents. >> watch what your children do online. pay attention. quit being their best friend and be their best parent. that's important. >> reporter: tonight as the community tries to heal, the investigation into rebecca sedgwick's death continues.

rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. back in a moment with more news. also, tonight's badly needed "making a difference" report.

the fruitiest and the chewiest! >> you may not know his name, but he is the man to thank for all things gummy. he is the reason it is tougher to get our kids out of the candy stores that charge by the pound. hans regal has died. he put the german candy on the map and introduced the world to the gummy bear. he built his dad's company out of the wreckage of the second world war and grew it into a global success, regal was 90 years old. and a big move in the corporate world, apple has hired away the ceo of burberry, angela ahrendts has received widespread praise for the turn around job she has done with the burberry

brand. she's a native of indiana who came up through liz claiborne and donna karen. and based on what she did for burberry, already the wags on the web are wondering if an iplaid may not be far behind. and if you regard these two women as contemporary giants in the world of comedy, amy poehler and tina fey have agreed to host the next two golden globe awards. both women started in the improve trenches. both were stars at "snl" and they proved a killer combo the last time they hosted. another attempt to end childhood as we know it. an elementary school in new hampshire has banned playing tag on the playground at recess. the principal put an end to it because there have been injuries. several parents protested that it was too excessive. one of them said quote, our kids should be wrapped in bubble wrap and sent to school. when we come back after a break, a special man who is

"making a difference" because of what he teaches about winning and losing.

finally tonight and as promised, our "making a difference" report.

it is about a high school athletic coach in georgia with his own ideas about who should make the team. we get his story tonight from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: on this field, the highlight came before kickoff. >> and my heart just dropped because you know we don't get the opportunity to see our children like everybody else does. god, i can't believe i'm crying. >> reporter: to understand why these parents are crying and their kids are smiling, you need to meet coach scott hamilton. >> i want to make an impact on people. >> reporter: coach hamilton works at parks in georgia. two years ago, he decided to pick at least one player of the day for every home game, each of them with special needs. what do you think it does for the kids? >> it gives them a chance to be part of something they can't do normally. >> reporter: this time he surprised two, austin biel and levi bishop. how much do you like coach over here? >> i like him because he is good to me and the players. >> reporter: they get to wear

jerseys to the pep rally, to the workout, to the pre-game bus. just like the other players. >> i want to show these boys how to be men. you can be a tough guy and still have a compassionate side. >> he opened these players' eyes to the fact -- >> for our boys, it is these kids. >> honestly, i don't even think coach hamilton realizes what it does for them. and us. >> and us. >> reporter: because while levi and austin stand on the sidelines, they are now part of a team. >> it is really the highlight of my day every day to you know watch them come out and run through the tunnel. when i die i don't want it to be on my tomb stone, scott hamilton, a football coach, i want it to say scott hamilton, a good man. >> reporter: for this coach, a score board isn't the only measure of victory. gabe gutierrez, nbc news. and that is our broadcast on a tuesday night, thank you for

being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. right now at 6:00, critical talks at this hour. b.a.r.t. and unions back at the bargaining table. the key players enter negotiations around 1:00 this afternoon. now just hours remain until b.a.r.t. could announce another strike. good evening, everyone, i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm raj matthai. there are problems on two thoughts. ac transit is also threatening to strike so buses could stop running this thursday. we have complete coverage on both strike threats. nbc bay area's jodi hernandez is

tracking the ac transit possible strike. we begin with cheryl hurd in oakland with the latest on the b.a.r.t. stalemate. good evening, cheryl. >> reporter: good evening, raj. b.a.r.t.'s general manager just walked through the doors 15 minutes ago. she had nothing to say to reporters. in fact, we've been here all day long and heard a little bit from the union and heard a little bit from b.a.r.t. management. both of them are saying they're doing everything that they can to avert a strike. and passengers are saying the poibility of a strike ending, they wan to hear that because that can't come soon enough. whether or not b.a.r.t. trains will roll or not is giving some riders anxiety. >> i woke up at 1:00 in the morning to check to see if it was running because basically this job interview would have been canceled if b.a.r.t. wasn't running today. >> reporter: that kind of stress has been constant with passengers as the possibility of a b.a.r.t. strike hangs over