right near 80 degrees. >> thanks for joining us. we'll see you back here at 6:00. >> nightly news is next. on our broadcast tonight, moment of crisis. what we've learned about the nation's latest school shooting. a 12-year-old shows up at a middle school with a gun. students are wounded, and a hero teacher, a u.s. marine, is being credited with sacrificing his life to save others. the big chill. marking the arrival of a new season. it's arriving now. there have been wild swings in temperatures, and the snow is already flying ichicago. life-savers. tonight, how one american city is using rapid response to save victims of sudden cardiac arrest. when time is tight. tonight we'll look at how they're doing it. and family farms that look a whole lot more like amusement parks. they are the definition of good, clean fun, and they are finding they're sitting on top of some good extra income. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. tonight we're hearing about what happened just as word arrived of the latest school shooting in this country, including how it is that a 12-year-old brought a gun to a middle school in sparks, nevada. and the story of the teacher being praised as a hero. a u.s. marine who approach ed the young gunman and paid for it with his life, according to the witnesses there. 911 calls and other evidence is helping tonight, as we piece together the evidence and the story of what happened here. nbc's joe fryer starts us off tonight from sparks, nevada. joe, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. police are still trying to figure out why a seventh grader showed up here at sparks middle school and started shooting. investigators want to figure out if there is any connection between the suspect and the victims. meanwhile, police say one of those victims, a popular math teacher, actually sacrificed his

own life to save others. from beginning to end, police say the shooting spree lasted just three minutes. >> can you please send police out here? there's a kid with a gun. >> reporter: for the many witnesses who saw it unfold, it felt much longer. >> i have a victim on the basketball court, left side. >> reporter: students were arriving for class outside sparks middle school yesterday, when police say a 12-year-old boy started shooting. investigators say he got the .9 millimeter semiautomatic handgun from his home, but the motive remains a mystery. >> everybody wants to know why. that's the big question. the answer is, we don't know right now. >> reporter: police say the suspect first shot one student in the shoulder and jose caseres feared he was next. >> he was aiming his gun right at my chest, and i looked at the gun, and my chest, like he's going to shoot me. >> reporter: jose told matt lauer that he ran away as math teacher mike landsberry calmly approached the suspect.

>> he was telling him to stop and put the gun down. and then the kid, he yelled out "no" like yelling at him and then he shot him. >> reporter: the suspect wounded one more student before taking his own life. landsberry, a marine veteran, who was still active in nevada's national guard, died at the scene. but police say he gave other kids time to escape, which doesn't surprise his little brother, reggie. >> it is unlucky. you know? doggone, it's sickening. but in hindsight, thank goodness mike was there. because it could have been a lot worse. >> thank you. i'm sorry. >> oh, thank you so much. >> reporter: today, reggie landsberry got a personal thank you from jose and his mother. >> i'm glad you're safe. >> thank you. >> i'm glad you're okay. >> reporter: tonight, sparks middle school remains closed as students add to a growing memorial for their teacher. students called him "batman" for his love of the comic book character, but in the end they say it was landsberry himself who proved to be a super hero. and police say the two students

who were shot and survived continue to recover tonight. brian? >> joe fryer, covering the sadness there in sparks, nevada tonight. joe, thanks. now we turn to the day's other news, and that means the economy. the september numbers, we should have had three weeks ago about american jobs have finally now been released. they were delayed by the government shutdown, and they're fairly weak. 148,000 jobs created in september. though the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.2%, the lowest in five years. there is widespread worry out there that the numbers should be better. worry about the sluggish pace of the recovery. the number of people discouraged and all but permanently unemployed. and the unknowns about the full impact of this government shutdown. our report tonight from nbc's ron mott in chicago. >> do you have a resume? >> i do. >> reporter: kia gaskins lost her government job seven months ago. >> i'm looking for a wonderful, great position anywhere.

>> reporter: and is out pounding the pavement again at an employment fair in washington, d.c. her frustration growing every step of the way. >> i was making $85,000 a year. and now i'm at zero. and it's just -- it's heartbreaking. it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: a symbol of discouraging news today. how would you grade this report? >> i think it's more of a five than an eight or nine which is what we should be seeing. by this stage of the game. >> reporter: economist diane swan says this is charting new troubling territory. take a look at the plunge jobs took in the last three recessions. each time the economy bounced back. but more than five years after the great recession began, we still haven't gotten back where we started. >> we still would like to see those 4 or 500,000, 800,000 jobs that we saw job gains in the 1980s and you don't get that kind of job gains when coming out of a financial crisis. >> reporter: this report doesn't even factor in damage done by the government shutdown. paulette force is back at the job at the epa, uncertain about her finances and holiday spending. >> i'm not sure i should spend that money, you know, to travel, you know, because my paycheck may be short or delayed again.

>> reporter: experts worry, the shutdown will slow down an already sluggish recovery, blaming politicians for the shutdown will slow down an already sluggish recovery, blaming politicians for weakening consumer confidence. >> they're losing and then some from the squabbling and uncertainty they create. >> having to do more with less. >> yes, absolutely. >> just out of necessity. >> yes. but we're trying to stay open longer. you know? just to give the public an opportunity, so we increased our hours. >> reporter: at the abbey brown on chicago's west side, owner, deborah cramer, and her small staff continue making designer soaps. business up and down, week to week. >> we're seeing the crunch where we're talking to the people directly. and people will say, well, you know, i didn't get my paycheck. or i'm not able to this week. you know? >> reporter: another lackluster jobs report, concern the next one could be even worse. ron mott, nbc news, chicago. >> again, while the numbers were considered disappointing, they did not drag the market down today. in fact, the dow was up more than 75 points. nasdaq up, as well. s&p rose to a new record high.

and we learned today of more fallout from the government shutdown just ended. the irs is delaying an upcoming tax filing season for one to two weeks because they're now behind themselves on computer programming and testing. of course, that could also mean late refunds for taxpayers who wanted to file early. the season for filing 2013 returns will start in late january or early february. the late start, however, does not change that basic overall april 15th deadline. as we have been reporting, this new website unveiled by the obama administration for folks who want to sign up for health insurance coverage has been a mess from the start. it would be a disaster for any company in the private sector. it's been a disaster for both the administration and the folks trying to sign up. it became very clear today the administration is trying to move fast on a fix. nbc's tom costello has been covering all of it. he is with us tonight from our washington newsroom. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian. the administration is calling its efforts to debug the website

a tech surge, and it's bringing in experts from both government and the private sector to help. obama adviser jeffrey zients will for now provide management advice. experts from verizon and silicon valley also coming in. and we're now hearing from cgi, the canadian company that had the lead on building the website. it says it's doing our part to optimize healthcare.gov and dedicated to shortening transaction times, including data quality. the clock is ticking. december 15th is the deadline for people to sign up in order to have insurance by january 1st. but many industry experts say, insurance companies really need more time to process applications so the website needs to be working by mid november. the concern is that healthy 20 and 30-somethings, the people that really need to enroll, will give up if the website isn't fixed soon. so this is a very high-priority inside the white house. brian? >> tom costello in our d.c. newsroom tonight. tom, thanks. as we mentioned the top of the broadcast, weather is in the news tonight. nothing unexpected, but gets

your attention. the first real cold blast of the season, pretty much right through the center of our country from the great lakes down to the gulf of mexico. temperatures are dropping like rocks, and snow is already on the ground in some places. weather channel meteorologist jim cantore following all of it from inside headquarters tonight. jim, good evening. >> good evening, brian. here it comes. there's no stopping it now. let's talk about this. a cold blast that will dominate two-thirds of the country by the time we get to the weekend. typically, when they're this big, they can take a while to get down, so we'll see this come down in a couple places here. what i've highlighted in blue, temperatures in so 10 to 20 degrees below average. by thursday, our friends in boston will experience one of the coldest world series games on record to start with on wednesday evening. this makes its way all the way through florida, suffering from record heat today in the 90s. we will be in the 70s by time friday and saturday rolls around. of course, with cold comes the snow, blowing over the great lakes, as well as the rain. but it will be the higher elevations that deal with the snow.

right now forecasts for areas northeast of syracuse up to 10 inches. brian? >> jim cantore, for once not out in it. jim, thank you very much for being with us tonight. and sadly, the news from australia is getting more dire by the day. as we have been telling you, exploding wildfires stretching more than 1,000 miles now. hundreds of homes destroyed in all. problem is fire officials there say the worst is yet to come. they say tomorrow is a key day in this fight. that's when high temperatures and strong winds are both forecast. firefighters say that's about as bad as it gets. video from just this past weekend shows the fight up close. as the fire is rolling in and consuming an entire neighborhood, one woman is trying to get in and save her car, but the firefighter steps in, prevents it. he tells her it's just too late for that. it's time to go. she is taken to the only safe place there is, the interior cab of the engine, where the other firefighters have gone to take shelter.

in this country in florida, a high-interest story continues to unfold. the two florida inmates, convicted killers, who used forged paperwork to get out of prison. they are back behind bars, but now prison officials are worried that other felons have tried this same scam and there might be others out there in the world who belong locked up instead. our report on this tonight from nbc's gabe gutierrez in tallahassee. >> reporter: convicted killers, charles walker and joseph jenkins, weren't the only florida inmates who used forged paperwork to sneak out of jail. today, authorities revealed at least six inmates have attempted this same scheme. and jenkins tried twice. investigators fear more cases could be out there. >> we will do everything we can to confirm whether there is or is not more. >> reporter: of the seven attempts, three were successful. walker, jenkins and nadid nashadi, a convicted forger freed for 16 hours in 2009 before being caught. five of the seven attempts were

from the same prison in the florida panhandle. investigators are looking into tips that inmates could buy the fake documents for as much as $8,000. >> i urge those of you who may have helped them to come forward, talk to us before we find you. >> reporter: detectives have not ruled out the escape plots may have had help from someone inside the system and say the orange county clerk's office is a significant focus of the investigation. many of the fake documents were mailed there. dna tests are under way to find out who handled the paperwork. investigators have also seized the computers from the prison library. >> those are u.s. marshals. >> reporter: and they're analyzing the ipad and cell phone u.s. marshals found when they captured walker and jenkins in a tense standoff at a panama city beach motel. henry pearson is jenkins' uncle. >> the disappointment in this family is -- it's truly amazing. >> reporter: forgeries have been used before, to break out

prisoners in other states, including wisconsin, ohio and michigan. capturing this pair's accomplices may prove difficult. investigators say the two men are not cooperating. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, tallahassee, florida. and still ahead for us tonight, arming first responders when seconds really do mean life or death. dr. nancy snyderman looks at how an entire american city has set out to save people from the risk of sudden death. and later, the news tonight from the u.s. capitol. turns out, there is some work getting done.

just about all of us have had someone taken from us by sudden cardiac arrest. when the human heart goes into crisis, and is shutting down and hope is lost for the patient, unless, of course, help can get there immediately. tonight we have a rare look at one entire city that has formed something of a rapid reaction force to save lives. our report tonight from our chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman.

>> the latest measurement here, six inches of snow and counting. >> reporter: when a late spring snowstorm hit minnesota in may this year, 72-year-old army veteran ron cass went out to snow blow his driveway like he always does. >> it's no big deal here. that's what we do. snow was piled up real high. >> reporter: but this time he collapsed. ron suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, and almost died. >> it was police who got here first. >> reporter: ron's wife paula said the police knew just what to do. even before paramedics arrived. they used a defibrillator to shock him back to life. ron is lucky to live in rochester, minnesota. >> get some blood work done for you. >> reporter: the city with the country's highest survival rate for people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital. 58%. >> this is one of the first defibrillators we put into a police car. >> reporter: it's all because of

this man. dr. roger white from the mayo clinic pioneered a program starting in 1990. putting automated external defibrillators, aeds, in every police car and other first responder vehicle in rochester. he wanted to see if survival rates would increase if police were equipped to shock patients back to life within the critical first four to six minutes of an incident. the moments before an ambulance might arrive. >> the time between collapse and defibrillation is crucial to survival. >> analyzing heart rhythm. >> reporter: dr. white keeps track of every cardiac arrest case many the city. you did something very few people have done. you kept data from day one. >> that's been the hallmark of this program. not just to do it, but to analyze everything you do. >> this is portable. >> reporter: other cities have since caught on to his life-saving approach. it's a partnership, first responders say, that just makes good sense. so how do you guys work together?

a cop and a paramedic? >> they're there first and can get there a minute or two before us. >> and then we'll start attaching the aed to the patient and give updates over the radio as this is going on. >> and then as we get there, we'll provide the advanced life support that's needed. >> reporter: you balk by these -- walk by these defibrillators every day in hospitals, in your workplace, and airports. just pick one up, take a look. even think about getting one in your home. these are the things, brian, that make everyday people heroes in your backyard. >> prices are coming down for folks at home. they are great things to have. nancy, thank you, as always. another break. and when we come back, how american opinions are changing fast about a controversial drug suddenly a little less controversial.

here's a metaphor alert. the capitol in washington has cracks in it. something like 1,300 cracks in the capitol dome, and they need to be fixed. in november, scaffolding will go up.

it will stay up for two years. it will mean, among other things, that the washington monument and the capitol dome, the two most dramatic and visible structures in our capital city, will both be covered up at the same time. last time it was fixed during ike's presidency back in 1959. and, of course, it goes way back. there it is, visible in the background, under construction, during abe lincoln's first inaugural. and beneath the capitol dome, present day, in the house chamber today, a rare honor afforded to very few in our history, specifically those who serve as speaker of the house. in memory of former speaker, tom foley, who died last week, today the speaker's chair and desk were draped in black, the gavel resting upon it. his portrait was also draped in black. foley was a democrat from washington state, proud of his work as a conciliator. let's just say he served in a different era. another raft of apple products was rolled out today. in keeping with their plan to make you think your device, which seemed perfectly cool

yesterday, is no longer adequate. beginning with the ipad air and mini, with sleek new bevelled edges, new macs are out, as well, some of which will, notably, be built in the u.s. for the first time. and there is new and definitive evidence tonight that americans have warmed over the years to the idea of weed. for the first time ever, a solid majority of americans now believe marijuana should be legal. 58% in the latest gallup poll say it should be legalized. that's up a full ten points since just last year, up from 12%, the first time they ever did a poll on the issue, that was in 1969. when we come back, a field of dreams transforming the family farm.

finally tonight, nobody ever got into farming to get rich. it's never going to be confused with investment banking. family farms mean hard work, loving the land, and your stock up early, in bed early, and lean years, to say the least. but lately, more of them have realized their own beauty. and they're watching a growing number of people who are willing to pay money to come and enjoy

the land they work for a living. our report tonight from nbc's janet shamlian in atkins, iowa. >> 3, 2, 1! >> reporter: cheering on the winner at a pig race. or feeding the animals at a well-stocked petting zoo. >> he feels kind of like a warm winter sweater. >> reporter: it would be easy to mistake this for a country fair. >> it's almost like a small amusement park. >> it's $46, please. >> reporter: but the crowds lining up and paying $11.50 each have come not to a theme park, but to a working corn and soybean farm, along a rural iowa road. >> did you ever think you would be doing something like -- >> not in my wildest dream. >> reporter: dave peterson is the fifth generation to farm this land. >> looks really good. >> reporter: but the first to charge admission. it's the farm as entertainment venue. they call it agri tourism and fall is the peak season for attractions like this corn maze. which can bring in thousands of dollars each day. >> we need to back out.

>> reporter: at bloomsberry farm, it stretches ten acres and can take hours to navigate. >> we got lost. austin was navigating us and led us to a lot of dead ends. >> reporter: it's not just the corn belt. across the country, there are hundreds of mazes on working farms, open to the public. at last count, more than 23,000 u.s. farms make extra money from agri tourism, totaling half a billion dollars. at bloomsberry farm, between the price of admission, pumpkin sales, and the extra 20 bucks to ride the newest attraction, a zip line, tourism dollars make up 30% of profits. >> corn is up, down. soybeans, we had a drought this year. this keeps it steady for us, keeps a steady income, because it's grown that much. >> reporter: so much that peterson has 40 people working for her this time of year, some of them actors. because at dusk, there's a whole new paying crowd for fright night. as farmers take advantage of the season. to harvest extra cash.

janet shamlian, nbc news, atkins, iowa. that's our broadcast on a tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams, and of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. good tuesday evening. thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang. >> i'm jessica aguirre. new at 6:00, construction rebound. five years ago the construction industry in the bay area barely hammered along. today, new construction sites abound in the south bay. especially in san jose. where new projects include a 320,000 square foot retail complex, also going up more than 1,700 new apartments in north san jose. that's where we find nbc bay area's marianne favro wh how

the construction is rebounding and impacting a lot of people. >> reporter: it certainly is, jessica. see behind me crews are working to finish those 1,700 new apartment units. projects like this really help our local economy. not only does it bring new construction jobs to our yarea, but those workers are out spending money on housing and food in our area. and on top of that, all these new units, it could impact all of our rents. you may have noticed there's a lot of dirt moving in the south bay to make way for new construction. from crews building a new soccer stadium for the san jose earthquake, to the new levi stadium in santa clara. add in new office space for high-tech companies and more than 10,000 new apartment units and you've got yourself a housing boom. >> we're very fortunate, probably more than any other place in the state that we have good options out there for people. >> reporter: michael miller with the builders exchange of santa clara county says the number of new construction projects is