"nightly news" is up next. on our broadcast tonight, is it the break investigators have been waiting for? tonight chasing down the under water signals that seem to indicate the missing jumbo jet. taking the stand, an emotional oscar pistorius speaks directly to the parents of the woman he kaled. rescue at sea. a family emergency, a baby in urgent need of help. the u.s. navy goes to the rescue and now the backlash against two patients sailing around the world with two small children. and the epidemic destroying lives and families across our country. tonight, a powerful, personal look at the growing toll of heroin addiction. also tonight, a hollywood legend has been lost. "nightly news" begins now. >> from nbc news world

headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. it's now been one month since flight 370 was last heard from and while the cable news coverage has called it breaking news for 30-plus days now, the first real break came at midday monday in australia with word that the underwater sounds that vessels are picking up are consistent with the sounds of the emergency beacon on a submerged wide body jetliner. if this is indeed the wreckage, it is several miles down and another long process will begin but first, the race to confirm a fading sound deep in the ocean. we begin our coverage tonight with nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it was the australian ship ocean shield pulling a pinger locator that picked up something that sounds like this. [ pinging ] an underwater pinger attached to every plane's flight data and

cockpit voice recorders. the ship heard a constant pulse for two hours 20 minutes before losing the signal. when it picked it up again, it sounded like two distant pingers for 13 straight minutes. search commanders say they could be from the black boxes. >> it could take some days before the information is available to establish whether these detections can be confirmed as being from mh-370. in very deep oceanic water, nothing happens fast. >> reporter: the underwater pings were heard along one of two arcs, identified by engineers to map out possible flight paths. the australian american's team's location is 370 miles north. of where chinese heard pings on saturday. given the distance, experts say it's unlikely they are hearing the same signal but the australian american team is cautiously optimistic. >> we would like to tell the families we found the location. but until we can reconfirm, we should not be too optimistic.

>> reporter: more than a month since flight 370 vanished, search teams have only found trash, not a single piece of plane wrackage on the ocean surface. complicating efforts, that err k area of indian ocean is 14,8le 00 feet. the equivalent would be 14 eiffel towers stacked on top of each other. the very limits of where the unmanned submarine can operate to map the ocean floor. >> they will have to get down with the rov and photograph the entire debris field and try and isolate those areas where the cockpit voice recorder and data recorder might be located. >> reporter: if they have heard the actual pingers from the flight data and cockpit voice recorder, experts say it could take several weeks to photograph the wreckage and pinpoint the black boxes. then a submersible robot with claws would be used for the retrieval. in a best case scenario, the entire process could take at least a month and maybe even longer. brian? >> tom costello in our washington news room tonight.

tom, thanks. it's important to remember there were 239 passengers and crew onboard this flight, and for their families, this has been an awful wait. >> again tonight from kuala lumpur, good evening. >> reporter: family members are trying not to get hopes up. with each new news briefing they are opening up yet another wound especially when they don't announce they found the plane. most of the chinese family members that flew here to malaysia demanding answers from officials have now gone back to beijing where many held a candle light vigil marking one month since the disappearance. meanwhile the transport official minister says once again he's hoping for a miracle a hard thing for many to hear after the prime minister told them to prepare for the worst. brian, without concrete evidence that the plane actually crashed,

many are saying there is no reason to give up hope that their loved ones are still out there, just waiting to be rescued. >> katy tur, rounding out the coverage of our downed jetliner coverage, thanks. we're watching another system of severe weather as it rolled through the southeast. in covington county, mississippi they are assessing the damage from a tornado that hit early this morning. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel is there with us tonight. mike, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian, good evening to you. severe weather pounded the deep south this morning before sunrise and here in covington county, mississippi, the results were devastating. an ef-2 tornado with winds as high as 125 miles per hour touched down in the rural community of hot coffee, mississippi, in covington county, hitting before residents could even react. >> and all i heard was a little noise say boom and then my trailer -- it picked my trailer up and then right on top of this car. >> reporter: the early morning

storm destroyed nearly 30 homes and tore the roof off dozens more, leaving downed power lines in this its wake. seven people were injured. near jackson, mississippi, seven inches of rain turned streets into lakes and forced people to abandon their cars. >> i had to come and knock on people's doors just to get them to come evacuate their cars before it took them under. >> reporter: the heavy rain in mississippi created a flash flood, sleeping a 9-year-old girl away from her parents' back stoop last night. the search continues. in birmingham, alabama, it surged over cars and overturned others. and an apartment come peculiar had to be evacuated. pictures just in this evening of a reported twister in eastern north carolina. at least a dozen injuries reported. back here in mississippi, emergency managers still assessing the damage and a tornado watch continues into the evening hours for parts of florida, georgia, and the carolinas. brian? >> mike seidel reporting on this

outbreak of bad weather tonight from mississippi. mike, thanks. today in south africa, former olympic track star oscar pistorius took the stand for the first time, facing charges he intentionally shot and killed his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp last year, and emotionally addressing members of her family. we have more from mike taibbi. >> reporter: when oscar pistorius walked to the witness box choosing not to give his testimony on camera, he surprised the court by turning to the family of reeva steenkamp to apologize. >> i wake up every morning and you're the first people i think of, the first people i pray for. i can't imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that i've caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect reeva. i can promise that when she went to bed that night, she felt loved. >> reporter: with his family looking on, pistorius struggled with his emotions. he called killing steenkamp by

firing four shots through a bathroom door thinking she was an intruder, a tragic mistake. >> i have terrible nightmares about things that happened that night where i wake up and i smell -- can smell, i can smell blood and i wake up to being terrified. >> reporter: the former olympic track star, said to have a short temper and a love of guns, today told the court he now lives in constant fear. >> i don't obviously ever want to handle a firearm again or be around firearms, so i've got a security guard that stands outside of my front door at night. >> reporter: pistorius will be back on the stand tomorrow, the only person that knows what happen that night. trying to convince the court he is telling the truth. mike taibbi, nbc nightly news. we're happy to welcome the newest member of our nbc news

family, cynthia mcfadden, welcome to you. because this was a big day in this case, in your view, did he help himself? >> well, so far today of course this was friendly questioning, brian. he was trying to present himself as a man of good character, a calm person. i don't think this will matter greatly to the judge. what matters most is what is yet to come and that is cross-examination. will he keep his cool or show himself to be the kind of person who could have in a fit of anger savagely murdered his girlfriend. >> thank you. great to have you here. welcome cynthia mcfadden here with us tonight. >> thank you. a dramatic rescue playing out in the pacific ocean. a family of four sailing around the world got in trouble when their sailboat broke down, and their 1-year-old, the youngest of two children onboard got seriously ill. it's all part of a massive military effort to reach them. the family is on their way home amidst harsh judgments about the

parents. >> reporter: the rescue was dramatic and harrowing, first the california air national guard plunging into the middle of the pacific, the crew boarding this crippled sailboat, then whisking away a young family bringing them aboard a navy war vessel turned rescue ship. >> i think some people like to be alone and some don't. >> reporter: for eric and charlotte kauffman, the journey began as a trip around the globe with 3-year-old cora and 1-year-old lira. >> thanks for watching and hope you have a great day out there, bye. >> reporter: but 900 miles off the coast of mexico, trouble. their 36-foot sailboat lost power and steering. lira was seriously ill. then a mayday call. >> lira is doing great, she is responding well. >> reporter: tonight baby lira is in good condition and we know the kaufmans won't have to pay for the rescue but face a wave of criticism and outrage on social media.

>> we're all entitled to our own opinions. i'm sorry there is criticism. i think sailing with children is just a fine idea. >> reporter: the journey of a lifetime nearly over but there is plenty of drama about this voyage in the open seas. my gel almaguer, nbc. still ahead on our monday night broadcast, the epidemic sweeping across parts of this country. a desperate situation and so many cities and towns caught in the grip of heroin. a bracing and personal wakeup call. later, he was the biggest movie star on the planet for his time. remembering the legendary mickey rooney, one of the all-time greats.

tonight, we begin a series of reports across all platforms of nbc news, examing the urgent and growing heroin problem in our country. the numbers are staggering. over just a five-year period, heroin abuse has nearly doubled in america. tonight, we're going to begin our reporting in new england

because its a snapshot of what is unfolding in communities across the country. it's so bad in parts of vermont that this year that state's governor devoted his entire state of the state to this one topic, the epidemic, calling it a full-blown heroin crisis. we get our report tonight from our national correspondent, kate snow. >> reporter: look past the lighthouses and covered bridges as we drove through, we found another new england where a bucket of used heroin needles at a needle exchange one afternoon measures the scale of the problem in portland, maine. when did you start filling that bucket? >> this bucket was changed this morning. those needles are from today. >> reporter: parents support each other in salem, massachusetts. >> found some needles in the room and it just blew us away. >> reporter: and the walmart parking lot in vermont is known where the place 20 bucks buys a ticket, long slang for a small baggie of heroin. the people dying of an overdose

in vermont doubled in a year. all over the state there are waiting lists to get into treatment clinics like green mountain family medicine. >> it's hard. the downhill spiral, it was so fast that i didn't know what i was doing. >> how many do i have on my list? >> reporter: dr. dean mckenzie says heroin has a grip on the town. >> after awhile you don't do it to get high. you do it to survive. you do it so you don't get sick. >> reporter: his wife is in the same field, a psychologist. they live in a beautiful home in the mountains with their young kids. their older son ryan took us on a tour of rutland. >> there is a couple dealers on this road right here. >> reporter: on this road where the kids are riding their bikes? >> yeah, on the road where the kids are riding the bikes. >> reporter: how do you know that? >> i've bought from them before. >> reporter: that's right. the son of parents who dedicated their lives to substance abuse was secretly hooked on heroin

while living in their home. the bookworm, a bright student started using prescription painkillers and got addicted but pills are harder to come by in vermont. >> my dealer couldn't get them anymore, so i couldn't get them. and then as i couldn't get them, heroin started to move in. >> reporter: she suggested heroin? >> yeah, she suggested heroin, and it moved on from there. >> reporter: when ryan confessed he was addicted, cheryl went through his room. >> found needles and spoons. i was always wondering where my spoons were going and i really thought that maybe -- maybe the kids were throwing them out with their plates. no, that's not where the spoons were going. >> reporter: you're doctors? >> uh-huh. >> we're parents. it's very easy to try to put on your doctor hat. we're parents. we're just like any other parent who's dealing with someone with an addiction. >> reporter: ryan tells us he's been clean for a year as of last weekend. you love your son, clearly.

>> i adore my son. i absolutely adore my son. >> reporter: she loves this state, too, and is working with others across the rutland community to change what's happened here. happening here. >> every time we get to a meeting, it gets bigger and bigger and that's what we need to see happen, people who have addictions to come forward, ask for help, don't be embarrassed. >> reporter: we heard so many times the reason heroin abuse is so big right now people that started abusing prescription painkillers, found heroin as a cheaper alternative. for families dealing with this addiction, there are resources at nbcnews.com and you can share how heroin has touched your life, using #heroininamerica. and brian, tomorrow we'll focus on a miracle remedy for an overdose but it's not legal everywhere yet. so we meet a mother so desperate for this drug she's willing to break the law, brian, in order to potentially save her son.

>> that's the thing about this powerful reporting this week. it's the people we meet along the way that remind us of someone. kate snow, thanks, we'll see you back here tomorrow night and we're back in a moment with the news today about the end of an era.

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add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues& great terms& let's close. our best ever value plans for business just got even better. now with free broadband for a whole year. the people who track the stats on airlines performance say despite worsening airline performance lost bags are down these days because of an increase in apathy among us passengers that come to assume performance will get worse every year. we put the entire list of airlines on our website but for second the second year in a row, virgin america was rated best, while american eagle fell four spots on the list and placed last. somebody went smart car tipping in san francisco, believed to be just a prank and not a brooder statement about smart cars. if anything, of course, the bay area is known for being so

environmentally cautious. but that didn't stop a group of young men, spotted by one witness, huddling around one of the smart cars and as he put it, setting it on its hind legs. police are investigating. though no one in the industry actually believes it will really happen, barbara walters who announced a year ago she is retiring has now set a date. her last appearance on "the view" will be may 16th. she's 84 and will continue as executive producer. so retirement may remain a relative term. the 8-month-old future king of england who is taken to be called gorgeous george arrived in new zealand. he made his public debut on foreign soil with his mother wearing the color red that harkens back to diana's visit. they were greeted by an extraordinary warrior with tattooed legs and not much else, and it was great to see prince

william carrying the coveted kangaroo backpack. when we come back, remembering a legend and a career spanned more than one lifetime.

>> finally here tonight, he was

durable. he outlived and outlasted most of his peers. and he was indelible. there was nobody else quite like mickey rooney, and when we learned late last night that he had died, it meant the end of a nine-decade career that spanned just about the entire recorded history of motion pictures all the way to present day. >> reporter: he outlasted pretty much everyone from what people adex f affectionately call hollywood, and until the end, people picture mickey rooney as a young enthusiastic guy with a twinkle in his eye. back in the day he was known as the most famous teenager in america, back when it meant a lot to spend a quarter to go to the movies, he meant a lot to depression era audiences. >> i'm just a lucky individual who had the opportunity that god gave me to be in a business that i adore and love and get paid darn well for it. >> reporter: to call him a child

star was an understatement. he was on the vaudeville stage as a toddler, shot his first movie at age 6. when full grown he barely cracked 5'3" which was fine when he was playing young guy with hopeful faces but later he said he would have given anything to be six inches taller. mickey rooney's life was often a rambling wreck, interrupted by moments of great success. he made and lost a fortune several times over and famously spent a lot of time looking for love. he married eight times, ava gardener among them. on screen his material ranged from shakespeare to the modern-day muppets, and played alongside elizabeth taylor and judy garland, his co-star in three films. in so many interviews, he wore his heart on his sleeve and spoke the truth about hollywood and ageing, and late in life he enjoyed wearing his world war ii medals on his chest, including a

bronze star for entertaining the troops in combat zones. he was nominated for an oscar four times, but the role that brought him an emmy and a golden globe came late in life when he played a man named bill who spent 46 years in a mental hospital. >> applause no one gets tired of. we all like to take a bow in life. ♪ i wish i were in love again >> reporter: he was remembered today as impish and ir repressable. he was a man who always found work because it all went back to putting on a show. >> the indelible and durable mickey rooney was 93 years old. that is our broadcast on a monday night as we start off this new week. thank you for being here with us, as always. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

nbc bay area news starts now. right now at 6:00, a big fire in a south bay neighborhood known for its architecture. three homes catch fire, sending a thick black plume of smoke across the county. >> we begin with that developing story. let's show you. the fire broke out at 3:00 this afternoon in a san jose neighborhood near the west gate shopping center. it started in one home but then quickly the flames spread to two others. 12 people who live in that

neighborhood still out of their homes, evacuated because of a broken gas line. is that gas line finally capped? >> reporter: yes, that gas line is finally capped. but before they were able to cap it and before they can repair it, they needed to let it burn in order to dissipate the gas so that there wouldn't be a danger of any sort of explosion. now that evacuation is related to the fact that those three homes are now, one of them is not livable. take a look behind me. can you still see the work crews behind me on the scene. they are now in what's called cool down mode. one home was completely destroyed by the flames and pretty quickly i may say. another home was affected by the fire, another was scorched. now luckily the families who were home at the time escaped without injury, and there were no injury to firefighters. so right now the focus is on trying to remove some of that debris and manufacture things