>> we apologize for the difficulties in the last story that garvin thomas package. we'll see you back here tonight at 6:00. . on this saturday night, one week later. inside the search for dozens of people still missing after that deadly mud slide in washington state. turning point. ships finally retrieve some of those floating objects in the indian ocean. are we closer to an answer in the mystery of flight 370. outof nowhere southern california is shaken by an earthquake da that damaged homes and businesses. knocked out power and rattled a lot of nerves. game changer? after a ruling that college athletes are employees, what does that mean for big-time college sports? and the long road home far dog named sassy thanks to a big assist from a little piece of technology.

good evening. more unsettling rumble this is afternoon, shattering nerves in southern california less than a day after a 5.1 earthquake shattered windows, emptied store shelves and caused some power outages. scientists in southern california say more than 100 aftershocks, including a magnitude 4.1 quake this afternoon have occurred. while damage from last night's quake was light, it was powerful enough to remind us and the region of what lies befeith. we get more tonight from nbc's rehema ellis in los angeles. >> reporter: that was 5.1 earthquake that lasted what residents describe as a very long four seconds. >> all of a sudden you can feel like that seats starting to shift and move and it was really scary. >> reporter: a quake that caused nearly 100 aftershocks. chandeliers swayed.

bottles and glasses broken. this surveillance video showed a drugstore clerk running for cover as a wall of goods hit the floor. the glass entrance of this motorcycle dealership, shattered. >> felt like the building was going to come down. i've never been inside a building where i was so scared. >> reporter: the quake struck at 9:09 p.m. local, just below the whittier fault line that runs 25 miles long between chino hills and whittier. it was centered outside la habra, near los angeles. the quake was felt by residents as far south as san diego and as far north as ventura county. at a bowling alley in la has been -- la habra, more was hers tried to get out. in fullerton, water main breaks forced street closures and nearly 2,000 customers lost power, leaving some to seek shelter for the night. >> it wasn't soft rolling, it was pretty violent and the lights went out and that was it.

>> reporter: at a dodgers exhibition game in los angeles cameras shook and the legendary announcer made the call. >> little tremor here in the ballpark. i'm not sure if the folks felt it but we certainly felt it here in press box row. >> this is an earthquake that is not terribly damaging but should be taken to heart that we can have larger, more damaging aircraft. >> reporter: and experts caution that aftershocks may continue for several days to weeks. >> and now we're having an aftershock. >> reporter: with more aftershock this is afternoon, many fear there are worse quakes to come. experts say there is a 5% chance that yesterday's quake is a sign of a stronger quake ahead, but authorities say it should be a warning for people to be prepared. lester? >> rehema ellis in los angeles, thank you, rehema. one week after a rain-soaked hillside crashed down to a quiet neighborhood in oso, washington, the uneasy realization is

beginning to set in that some of the victims may remain entombed in the mud and debris for a very long time. a moment of silence this morning at the exact moment of last saturday's disaster brought a brief pause to the search operation that has pushed crews to their physical and emotional edges. nbc's miguel almaguer remains on the scene and has the latest. miguel? >> reporter: good evening. much of the day here we saw steady rain, anything but ideal conditions for search teams. tonight, there is real concern over their safety as they push on. >> please join us if a moment of silence. >> reporter: at 10:37 a.m., one week to the moment the mud slide buried so much of oso, search teams paused to remember the victims and those they have yet to find. in small towns not far from this tight-knit community, heart break and tears. >> it's going to take a long time to heal. >> reporter: tonight, the official death toll stands at

17, while more bodies have been found but not identified. 90 people are still missing. everyday search teams make more grim discoveries you say crews are identifying bodies in the field. do you expect your victim total to rise over the next several days? >> it's a very, very slow process. it was miserable to begin with and, as you all know, it's rained hefedly last few days. it's made the quicksand even worse. >> reporter: this is what it looks like for crews on the ground -- a world washed away and flipped up side down. search teams are exhausted, suffering from hypothermia, as chaplains stand by. volunteers salvage what they can. for some, this is all that's left. >> this is a very emotional event for a lot of these people. we have family members digging for their loved ones alongside us. >> today in the rain a flash flood warning in worries all this water could trigger another slide. it's dangerous work that seth

jeffords knows all too well. >> turn around and come home and it's all gone, the neighborhood, my wife, my family. >> reporter: the volunteer oso firefighter helped find his wife christina and his granddaughter in the rubble. >> i'm going to miss my wife and my granddaughter. i love them so much. >> reporter: tonight jefford shares his grief with families who have lost loved ones wand so many others who are still waiting for someone to come home. a week ago today, seven survivors were rescued from the mud slide. tonight five of them remain hospitalized, they are slowly recovering. lester? >> so much sadness there, miguel, thank you. today for the first time in four weeks floating objects were recovered in the indian ocean

that were suspected to be related to the missing malaysian jetliner. nbc's kerry sanders is following that story for us from washington. >> reporter: it's the first time anything has been fished from the ocean since this investigation began, but almost as quickly as the chinese shared news that their naval crews had located something, officials announced it was not debris, rather just ocean garbage. ten planes from a half dozen countries are again air born today, crisscrossing a new patch of tindian ocean about the size of new mexico. >> we've come across a couple of objects. there are a few orange banners. >> reporter: orange, green, and white items all spotted in the last 24 hours but experts say yellow is the color to find. >> looking at this debris, you'd expect to see anything that's bright yellow, whether it's the emergency escape slides or the life preserver or life rafts. >> reporter: 22 days into this mystery, political analysts say china's government is under extraordinary pressure. >> they want to make clear to

china's citizens that they are doing everything conceivable to find out what happened. >> reporter: tonight, at least 50 family members of passengers are headed from beijing to kuala lumpur where there's yet more confusion. six days ago, malaysia's prime minister broke hearts when he announced there was no hope of any survivors. >> flight mh-370 ended in the southern indian ocean. >> reporter: but this today from malaysia's acting minister of transportation. >> no matter how remote, hope against hope, please we will continue to find survivors. >> reporter: american phillip wood was on board flight 370. >> i'm totally confused. i honestly don't understand why the government has behaved the way it has. the whole way through i haven't. >> reporter: tonight, a high-tech underwater listening

device is enroute to the search zone. it will be towed behind a ship to listen for the flight recorder's pings. those pingers which are right here, is supposed to send out a signal for about 30 days. that means there's about eight or nine, maybe ten days left before the battery dies. lester? >> kerry, thank you. new developments on the crisis in ukraine with reports of tens of thousands of russian troops massing near their border and their intentions not clear. there are renewed diplomatic efforts tonight and a surprise announcement by secretary of state john kerry. nbc's kristin welker is at the white house with more for us. >> reporter: lester, good evening. secretary kerry was headed home from saudi arabia today when he abruptly turned his plane around and headed to europe to meet with his russian counterpart in paris tomorrow. this on the heels of an hour-long call between president obama and russian president putin yesterday about a possible diplomatic resolution. while a senior administration official wouldn't provide details, past proposals have

included encouraging russia to pull its forces back to its bases and allowing international monitors into ukraine. now, tensions have been mounting in recent weeks after russia annexed crimea and amassed troops near ukraine's border. but russia reiterated today it has no intention of invading other parts of ukraine. the white house says it has to wait and see how serious putin is about diplomacy. so far he's been defiant. lester? >> kristin, thanks. one week before the presidential election in afghanistan, taliban militants carried out a big attack in kabul today, the third this week. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is there tonight. >> reporter: good evening, lester. all indications are this is going to be a very violent election. in fact, it already is. today the headquarters of the afghan electoral commission was attacked. there were dozens of election officials inside when suddenly they started receiving incoming rocket fire and machine gun fire. the officials were rushed down

into safe rooms. the attack lasted for several hours. eventually afghan security forces managed to set up a cordon around the area, move in, storm a building about 700 yards away from the headquarters where four taliban militants had taken up position. the afghan swat teams cleared the buildings and killed the four taliban militants. in some ways, this is an indication of what the united states is leaving behind. the afghan security forces today did succeed, but on the other hand, the taliban is increasingly bold and increasingly carrying out more frequent attacks right here in the afghan capital. lester? >> richard engel in kabul. more damage control today from new jersey governor chris christie who spoke today in las vegas, a day after again trying to put the george washington bridge scandal behind him. today he spoke of his own leadership. >> how do you get better? how do you make your people better? and so for me, i think, it's

about me being a lot more questioning, about things that are going on. it's about sending very clear signals that certain conduct and actions are acceptable and certain are completely unacceptable. >> our political director chuck todd is following all this tonight. check? >> well, lester, it's been fascinating to watch christie over the last four days. let's put into context where christie was today in las vegas. this was a 2016 republican cattle call, if you want to call it that. a bunch of potential 2016 presidential candidates were there. so let's look at this remarkable 72 hours. chris christie comes out with his own investigation that clears him of wrongdoing, does a network television interview, does a massive press conference where the bravado comes back, he starts attacking reporters, trying to basically say you don't know what you're talking about, again proclaiming his innocence and then quickly gets on a plane because he wants to jump start his presidential campaign. he still wants to run for president and that's the biggest lesson here. he wants out of this political

purgatory. but we had no photos released that came at the september 11 commemoration taking place down near ground zero and look who he's with. all of the key players. this is on september 11, 2013. he's with all of the key players from the new jersey port authority and, lester, all those guys, sampson, wildstein, barony, all of them with the governor while the bridge tieup was happening in realtime and, again, of course, governor christie claims he knew nothing of it. but if somebody told him he says he doesn't remember. >> chuck, i know you'll have much more tomorrow morning on "meet the press." thanks very much. when "nightly news" continue this is saturday, playing big-time college sports. the growing debate over whether athletes are really employees. and later, why they're so hooked on candy -- as in the wildly popular video game candy crush.

s

s. the ruling this week that football players at northwestern university can unionize is changing the debate about whether college athletes should be paid. the ritual of march madness drawing more attention to this weekend. we get more tonight from nbc's ron moth. >> reporter: cane colter never became a household name for the things he did with northwestern. >> i believe change is coming. >> reporter: but off the field the former quarter back is becoming just that, a driving force behind an effort that could revolutionize college sports. >> it's a full-time job and we deserve our basic protections and rights. >> reporter: he argued during hearings at the national labor relations board last month that he and teammates devote as many as 60 hours a week to football and players deserve more input

on things like long-term medical care, injury protection and sponsorship deals. in his decision allowing northwestern's scholarship players the right to unionize a regional director for the nlrb called them employees adding "not only is this more hours than many undisputed fum time employees work on their job, it's more than they work on their studies." >> ultimately it will grow into being about money to some degrees because the players know how much money their schools and their coaches are making as a result of the fact that they play. >> reporter: the university said unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the issues raised, joining the ncaa by citing long-held positions that they're student athletes. northwestern plans to appeal the ruling to the full national labor relations board in washington and no matter decision reached there, some experts say the ncaa and its colleges would be wise to negotiate with players sooner

rather than later. >> if i were the ncaa, i would be proactive. the way in which you win these negotiations is not to negotiate but to concreede beforehand. >> reporter: polls suggest a majority of fans dent support paying players even though fans spent big money this weekend on the bonanza known on march madness. >> i think scholarship is going to be enough compensation for the sport. >> i think it's fair that they take home some of the benefit they create for the universities. >> reporter: now training to land a job with an nfl team, cane colter would join a union with a powerful voice having just helped future college athletes with theirs. >> this action and movement is not about whether we're compensated enough, it's about should athletes have a voice in their working conditions and the things that govern them. >> reporter: a legal touchdown for players, perhaps, with the score far from settled. nbc news, chicago. up next, a just-released

image of prince george and his royal family.

he's now eight months old and prince george is quite the young man. in this new image released tonight, he seems quite content in the company of his parents, the duke and dick cheney of cambridge as well as lupo, the family dog. it doesn't get much sweeter than that. it's been a case of sweet success for candy crush. the wildly popular video game that's been captivating tens of millions of fans since it first came out a couple of years ago. this week, the company that makes it went public. nbc's erica hill has more on the craze of the candy crush. >> reporter: it's a game that's taking over smart phones and tablets everywhere.

candy crush saga, a bright, eye-popping puzzle of sugary sweet rewards. >> i can't put it down. >> i love it. it's addicting. i can't stop playing. >> it users create matching rows of colorful candy, crushing their way to the next level. with $700 million games being played everyday, it's in surprise candy crush has inspired treats like the ones in dylan's candy bar in new york. along with socks, jewelry, and phone cases. game maker king admits they didn't see this coming. >> we knew that we had a good core concept on our hands but the popularity we have seen is beyond our belief. >> reporter: king says women ages 25 to 55 are the game's most loyal customers. though some can't believe just how hooked they've become. even celebrities now united in their quest to conquer the crush. >> can't get past this level, it's driving me nuts. >> we'll get through it together. >> chocolate sprinkle ball.

>> it's on now! i can take out everything with this! >> i think we play the game, a good quiet place to do is the secret rook. >> reporter: tech expert says it scores big by attracting people who wouldn't normally consider themselves gamers. it's easy to get into. >> it starts you very slowly, rewards novice players, makes them feel like they're achieving something so they can keep going. >> reporter: interior designer jane mogul began playing when she needed a little break. how do you decompress? >> i find it very relaxing. it's opposite from my work. >> reporter: she now admits to playing more than an hour a day. often when she's supposed to be spending time with her husband peter. >> we used to play scrabble. >> reporter: do you feel like you've lost a bit of your wife? >> absolutely. >> reporter: users can move the game more quickly if they buy extra lives for 99 cents. still, jane's not rid i do log off for good any time soon. what level are you on now? >> hu? 50, i've been on this level for

a long time. >> time to hang it up. >> no. >> erica hill, nbc news, new york. we're back in a moment with a homecoming, a long wait finally over.

there's been a lot of tough news today so let's end tonight on a happy note. it took almost a year and a half but a dog named sassy was reunited with its owner last night, the result of a chance encounter with a vet who asked the right questions. we get the story tonight from

nbc's jill rappaport. >> when you think that there's no hope at all, there really and truly is hope. you never give up. >> reporter: it's been an agonizing 17 months for cindy romans since her beloved beagle, seven-year-old sassy, who she raised as a puppy, wandered off from a family member's home and never returned. >> we drove up and down the roads looking to see if possibly she had been hit by a car. nothing. you just kind of come to terms with the fact that she's gone. >> reporter: but sassy did survive. first dodging death from a severe injury, then she was sent to a kill shelter but fate had other plans for this lucky hound. sassy traveled from rush, kentucky, to ashland, to huntington, west virginia, and eventually to brentwood, pennsylvania, covering more than 400 miles to find her way into a foster home. >> as long as you're petting her and giving her love and attention she's happy. she's very low maintenance.

>> reporter: but at last week's vet visit, a revelation. >> they said is she microchipped? turns out she was. before that we were calling her "jenny." as soon as they said she's microchipped and her name is sassy, you could tell right away she reacted to that. >> and that microchip was the missing piece to sassy's past? >> thousands of animals every year are being reunited with their owners because of that microchip. >> reporter: it's a small device about the size of a grain of race implanted in the animal. scanners detect the chip and link the pet to a database that links back to their owners. >> sassy! >> reporter: this was a reunion the romans have parade for. >> come here, sass! hi, baby! i've missed you so much! yes. >> reporter: jill rappaport, nbc news. >> my sassy girl! that's n"nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. see you tomorrow morning on

"today" then right back here tomorrow evening. have a great night. . good evening, everyone. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> and i'm diane dwyer. the deadline to sign up for health care under the president's plan is this monday, and the rush is on here in california as well as the rest of the country. today people lined up to get

one-on-one help at several locations in the bay area. nbc bay area's kimberly terry is in the newsroom with more on the impending deadline. hello, kimberly. >> hello, diane. people have until 1:00 p.m. on monday to sign up for the california plan under the california health care act. if you do miss the deadline to apply, you have to pay a penalty. today hundreds waited in line to speak to certified enrollment counselors and insurance agents who were helping people get started. applications will be time stamped and people will have until 11:59 p.m. april 15th to complete the process on line is select a health care plan. >> my job doesn't let me go and do a lot of things, you know, so i had to do this at the last minute. >> a little bit. we have until monday, so that's a relief, but a little bit of relief. it's going to be probably even more crowded on monday. bu