on this saturday night, the investigation, witnesses give new details about the horrific crash of a bus filled with high school students as investigators search for clues. standoff, high drama in the west as a rancher takes on the federal government over the battle in land rights, interrupted into an old west showdown. >> exclusive, a day after resigning kathleen sebelius talks only with andrea mitchell about the health care debacle and her time as secretary. an exclusive first look at rosa park's belongings, writings, clothes, mementos locked in a new york warehouse. this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt, substituting tonight carl quintanilla.

good evening. we're learning more tonight about the collision with a fedex truck and school bus. five adults and five students were killed when a truck crossed into the median and plowed into the bus. now investigators are piecing together details of that crash. nbc's janet is in chico, california tonight with more, janet, good evening. >> reporter: carl, good evening to you. it is going to be a pain-staking process. the intensity of the fire, inferno has left investigators with little to examine. they are going to be doing mapping with 3d technology to recreate how it happened and whether it could have been prevented. it is true detective work for investigators who are still sifting through the accident scene. the inferno and tractor trailer leaving them little more than charred shells may have stolen

vital clues, electronics that indicate speed, braking and overall performance. >> because of the post-crash fire, there is not much of anything left. we will be looking for an electronic control modular that might exist. for example, in the bus we have to look for that. >> reporter: an new eyewitness account could be significant. it comes from a couple who say they were sideswiped by the fedex truck before the accident. >> we were 150 yards down. >> reporter: they say they saw the truck on fire before it hit the bus, something investigators say could indicate mechanical failure. >> it was already in flames? >> it was already in flames, yeah. it wasn't coming from the front, the engine, more from behind the cab. >> reporter: miles hall was sitting behind the driver and saw it differently. you saw it coming towards you. >> coming towards me. >> reporter: it was not on fire at all. >> it was not an fire at all. >> reporter: and was the bus up to code? investigators will look at maintenance records and talk to survivors like 17-year-old brian blanco who said emergency windows did open properly. >> there was a latch to pull the windows. it was not heavy at all, pull

the latch and push forward and jump out. >> reporter: ten people died in the crash, only seven have been identified. among the victims a hand full of high schoolers including marissa serrato, denise gomez, jimenez, they had a future. >> i would like to support the family who lost their loved ones. >> reporter: with his son miles in the hospital, gaylord is pained by the fact he's planning to take his son home while others are planning funerals. >> i can't even imagine him in the middle of the explosion, saved his life and others couldn't. >> reporter: it was a bus load of opportunity that day. so many lives cut short, charles. >> janet, thanks. now to a tense stand off between a nevada rancher and armed supporters on one side and the federal government on the other. at issue, federal authorities say the rancher's cattle are on public land illegally.

all this is unfolding just outside bunkerville, nevada, some 80 miles northeast of las vegas. a report from nbc's joe fryer. >> reporter: it's a stand off like the old wild west the federal government against cliven bundy and ranchers. >> the battle is about who owns this land. >> reporter: for a week ranchers rounded up the bundy's cattle in nevada saying the cattle were graving illegally on the government's land. some came to the family's defense prompting the government to bring the roundup to an abrupt halt. the battle escalated with a confrontation captured on video and posted to youtube. the federal government says protesters were blocking the road assaulting authorities and their dogs. officers then fired a taser at a member of the bundy family. >> they had the weapon. they had the dogs, and we had nothing except us. we were almost equally numbered,

and then they were the aggressors. >> reporter: this dispute dates back more than 20 years, the burro of land management says the bundys failed to pay grazing fees and now owe the government more than $1 million. >> of course, have rules that his cattle are in trespass. the courts have demanded that he remove the livestock. >> reporter: so rangers moved in to impound the cattle but the bundys haven't backed down saying their family ranched this range since the 1800s. >> get off our land. period. give us back our property. >> reporter: on social media they called it a range war with each passing day, more and more protesters arrive to support the bundys, one of them carrying an ak-47. >> i'm willing to lay my life down. >> reporter: today with only about half of the 900 cattle rounded up, the blm ended its operation site citing serious concern about the safety of employees and the public, but the war over who controls this range is far from over.

joe fryer, nbc news. a day after resigning as health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius is speaking out about her five-year stormy tenure with andrea mitchell. >> reporter: she's in the public face of the affordable care act, obamacare, a political punching bag for everything that went wrong. >> she's got bumps, i've got bumps, bruises. >> reporter: 24 hours later, kathleen sebelius talked about the rocky rollout. >> clearly, the estimate that it was ready to go at october 1st was flat out wrong. >> reporter: how did you feel when the thing crashed? >> that was very alarming because that took some real diagnostics in terms of what all the problems were, and then an analysis about whether or not it could be fixed. >> reporter: it must have been so frustrating. >> oh, it was awful a. it was awful, but all you could do is say all right, we're going to fix it. hold me accountable.

>> reporter: there were delays in the mandate for big businesses and concessions for small businesses and the promise from the president. >> if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. >> reporter: did the white house over sell it? >> i don't think they did. what we said this was fixing a very broken market. >> reporter: this is washington after all, people are asking were you pushed or did you jump? >> i also thought that at the end of open enrollment, was a logic l time to leave. there is never a good time. >> reporter: now even with the changing of the guard at hhs, the health care issue is still a political lightning rod in the midterm elections. >> i am doubtful of people who suggests you're going to see democratic senators now running to embrace obamacare in tough states where it hasn't been popular. >> reporter: and already today in new hampshire, republican senator ted cruz. >> they will tell you that kathleen sebelius resigning is a

result of obamacare's success. well, if that's true, then i hope every democrat will follow her path and resign, as well. >> reporter: and do you have any regrets? >> if i had a magic wand and could go back to mid september and ask different questions based on what i know now, i thought i was getting the best information from the best experts, but clearly, that didn't go well. >> reporter: there are still big challenges ahead for the affordable care act. making sure people that signed up pay up and that insurance companies don't raise rates in november. and republicans are threatening to use the confirmation of sebelius' successor, sylvia burwell to reopen the debate. >> you can see more of this exclusive interview tomorrow morning on "meet the press". late breaking developments

tonight in the crisis in ukraine. the white house is warning russia against further military intervention and joe biden will travel to the nation's capitol the week after next. armed men seized more government buildings in eastern ukraine and raised the russian flag. to the area where tensions are high. >> reporter: these are the men who now control prorussian militias well-armed and well-trained and now occupying the city's police station. we saw them as they strengthened barricades. molotov cocktails being prepared for battle. are you reprepared to fight? >> if i wasn't prepared i would not take this into my hands. i will fight until the end he told me. they just put up a sign declaring their public, the cloud cheers from the crowd.

they are in control of this area and there is no sign that the ukraine government controls it anymore. where are you getting your supplies from? where are you getting your weapons from, your uniforms? pavlo sarcastically tells me from a toy shop. another pointed in the direction of the russian flag and said from there. at least five cities in eastern ukraine have government buildings this have now been seized by prorussian speariests since sunday. they want to break away from ukraine and from their own new country. we were questioned at a makeshift check point on a highway. it's a sign the ma shiilitmilit presence is growing beyond the city they control. the ukrainian president held an emergency meeting with the national security counsel. move in and try to reclaim these buildings with the use of force, and that can trigger more violence and bloodshed that can be used as a pretext for russia

to intervene. sit here and do nothing, they can continue to lose more buildings in the eastern part of the country. >> aman, thanks. there are unconfirmed reports of a new chemical attack in syria's civil war. armature video of alleged victims was posted online. nbc cannot verify the video but say poison gas was used in a village in syria injuring scores of people and they are blaming each other for the attack. it's said the white house is aware of the reports but cannot corroborate the plans. despitely trying to determine who is shooting at vehicles along the highways of the kansas city highways. the fbi and atf have joined the investigation. the latest tonight from john yang. reporter: outside kansas city, tom mcelderry for lafarla

home when he heard a loud smack against the door. turns out it was a bullet. what did you think when you got out of the car and seen this in your door? >> well, i was pretty surprised but shocked to see what was there. >> reporter: a few days later, his check engine light came on and mechanics found a second bullet under beneath the car. then came the news of more attacks just like his. >> i almost prefer it to be an act of randomness. >> reporter: there are close calls. in one case a bullet stopped inches from where a 3.5-year-old girl was sitting. kansas city police revealed they linked 12 of some 20 cases but won't say exactly how. investigators are looking to see if others fit the pattern. >> everything is wide open, as far as what we're looking for. >> reporter: most of the attacks are south and east of kansas city with the biggest cluster in a highway exchange known as the

grand view triangle. rush hour, traffic can be really heavy. a lot of the incidents took place near exit ramps where a shooter could get off and escape quickly. most eyewitness accounts point to a loan shooter firing from another car possibly wearing a ski mask but another report refers to a car full of suspects passing a semiautomatic pistol back and forth. tom mcfarland still drives past the spot his car was attacked at least twice a day. >> thankfully, nobody was killed or injuried but it's only a matter of time. >> reporter: hopefully they can make daily routines less nerve wrecking. the prosecutor in the oscar pistorius trial takes center stage. what he said to cause the olympic athlete to break down. later, thousands turn out to see william and kate today as their royal road trip continues.

oscar pistorius will be back on the witness stand to face more grueling cross-examination when his trial resumes monday. he's faced three rounds by a veteran prosecutor challenging his story of how he shot and killed his girlfriend. mike taibbi has more from south africa. >> reporter: by week's end gahe

was repeating an exhausted oscar pistorius addressing the judge, my lady. >> you shot the gun knowing she was behind the door. >> that's not true, my lady. >> reporter: in fact, nel started the cross-examination by telling pistorius what to say. >> say yes, i shot and killed reeva steenkamp. >> i did, my lady. >> reporter: after that questions often sarcastically about the athlete's careless love of guns and the deadly affect here exploding a watermelon. [ laughter ] nel occasionally drove pistorius to tears and the trial to a pause when he instructed him to look at a death photo of steenkamp. >> i don't have to look at a picture. i was there. >> reporter: but nel's strategy was to mock all of the defendant's claims. >> you stated in your evidence -- >> reporter: right up to the critical claim he never confirmed where reeva was when he opened fire because he was certain it was an intruder behind the bathroom door. >> she was talking to you. she was standing right in front

of the door talking to you when you shot her. >> what the prosecutor is trying to do is trip him up on the details by going moment by moment over the incident and asking tough questions trying to rattle him. >> reporter: prosecutor nel several times and ways, that's not true, that can't be true or you're lying. at one point, the judge called him on his language. >> you done calling a liar, not while he's in the witness box. >> reporter: still a final challenge to a final pistorius claim that the reason steenkamp stayed quiet while locked in the bathroom was she was afraid of an intruder, too. >> she wasn't scared of anything, except you. she wasn't scared of an intruder. >> reporter: outside court friday, a weary pistorius was handed a flower bouquet by a woman who told us she's still a fan. the one grace note for the defendant in a brutal week.

coming up, why the historic items belonging to rosa parks are sitting in a warehouse and have been for years.

it was a busy day in new york friday for president obama. it included an address to the national action networks annual convention where the president took aim at a republican campaign to deny voter rights and sited voter id laws and joked about his own case. >> i know where my birth certificate is, but a lot of people don't. a lot of people don't. i think it's still up on a website somewhere. do you remember that? that was crazy.

[ laughter ] that was some crazy stuff. >> as the president addressed that civil rights group, a lifetime worth of items belonging to civil rights pioneer rosa parks sat in a warehouse just blocks away. as ron mott reports, it's the results of a decade-long legal battle over her will. >> reporter: tucked away in a warehouse in east harlem sit dozens of boxes each carefully labeled and numbered. inside, thousands of items belonging to the late rosa parks, icon of the civil rights movement. >> books from her library, hundreds if not thousands of unpublished photographs. enough to fill one or two floors of any museum. >> reporter: here we see the whole collection for the first time ever. parks wanted to give people access to her keepsakes and learn from her life but a legal fight between her heirs led a judge to seize her belongings from her home in 2005 when she died.

the entire archive will remain in storage until sold for the asking price of $6 million. it's been 60 years since she boarded the bus tired from a day's work and refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. her arrest sparked a 381-day bus boycott. interested in her life and work has not waned over time and this collection is a well spring of memorabilia. there is the pill box hat she may have worn on the bus, the ensemble she wore to meet the pope, her presidential medal of freedom, handwritten letters and journals. >> as i walk to the fountain, one officer said get away from there. you can't drink water from that fountain. reverend king's home was bombed while he was with us at a mass meeting. fortunately, his wife and baby were not harmed. i would rather be lynched than live to be mistreated. >> reporter: all locked away

from the public. >> there is something terribly sad about the fact that this collection languishes in a warehouse unseen by the millions of people who it could have such a wonderful affect on. >> reporter: a courageous and exordinary life packed away in a place waiting to be discovered. ron mott, nbc news. still ahead, kate middleton spreads magic among children in need of good cheer.

finally tonight, nearly the whole town turned out to welcome prince william and kate middleton on their latest stop on their royal tour of australia new zealand and kate going solo for a special visit with children. here is anabel roberts. >> reporter: a roar from the crowd any rock star would welcome. the duke and duchess arrived in cambridge, the small new zealand town, 15,000 people turned out, more than 2/3rds of the population. they paid tribute to the war memorial and the duchess worked the crowd shaking hands, receiving flowers and smiling. though, this baby seemed unimpressed. she had compliments for this six-year-old at rainbow place children's hospital. the welfare of sick children is a cause the duchess has embraced just as dianna did offering kindness and support to the very

ill. p new zealand fell under lady dianna and young prince william visited. kate draws the crowd similar to dianna. >> to me, the shades will gain, some people have been here since 5:30, some camped out for two nights to see the couple. >> reporter: elegant as ever, but kate did tell one well-wisher her husband thought her outfit a bit too bright. the presence of prince george is boosting interest in this 19-day tour. he's now staying with his nanny by day while kate and william perform their royal duties. >> they can return to baby george at night and that's what it is about. then he's seeing them every night and that makes kate feel better. >> reporter: wherever they go, they are a gift for the young prince. here, yes, a bicycle, no training wheels. a souvenir from new zealand. anna bell roberts, nbc news.

>> that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm carl quintanilla reporting. we leave you with a picture of the cherry blossoms in our nation's capitol. a sure sign of spring after that brutal winter. good night. nbc bay area news begins with breaking news. good evening. i'm terry mcsweeney. diane dwyer is off tonight. investigators confirmed to nbc bay area that a woman's body found this morning is that of a hiker who went missing two weeks ago.

monty francis is live with the details. >> reporter: i just got off the phone with the sheriff's department and they have confirmed that the body found this morning is that of 33 year old glenkowski. researchers return after a runner said he spotted her on the hiking trail about a mile where security cameras captured images. this morning dozens of searchers along with trained search dogs went searching and discovered her body at the bottom of the steep ravine. >> the body was located in a rugged, remote area, drainage off of what is considered