we hope to see you at 6:00. on our broadcast tonight, a chilling warning to the world. the terrorist group isis threatening america after the gruesome execution of an american journalist and now the u.s. responds. city on edge, the nation's top law officer arrives in ferguson. where lawlessness has ruled the night. meeting with the parents of the young man whose shooting death started it all. also tonight, the mother of invention, a frustratemom comes up with an app designed to make her own child return her calls. tonight, how her ingenious invention works. and fever pitch, the breakout star who's been bad news for the boys coming up to bat. she takes the mound tonight, and a record crowd goes wild. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this

is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. the murder on video, which we won't be showing you tonight or ever, shows a gruesome and methodical execution of an american journalist by this terrorist group called isis. we know how brutal they are and how little respect they have for human life, the question becomes after the murder of this american done for the benefit of cameras, will there be more and what threat do they pose perhaps to all americans? there are reports that more american military are headed to iraq because of the threat that isis poses after we heard today from the dead american's parents and the president. it's where we begin tonight with our chief foreign correspondent andrea mitchell. an treea, just tonight, we are learning there was an attempt to save him. >> reporter: yes, the u.s. military tried to rescue foley and either from the site in northern syria.

landing with helicopters and six wing aircraft and engaging isis fighters in heavy fire but the hostages were not there. one u.s. pilot was injured this this failed rescue mission. >> reporter: jim foley was dedicated, passionate, fearless and only 40 years old. mourned today by friends in far corners of the world and in his hometown of rochester, new hampshire, by his grieving family. his mother, diane. >> so many people were praying for jim. and i really think that's what gave jim an unusual courage. jim just could feel the prayers. >> reporter: foley had been kidnapped for 44 days by gadhafi forces in libya in 2011 and spoke about it after his release. >> it's not worth your life, no matter what romantic ideal you have, no matter what ethnic you think you have, you know, it's never worth that. >> reporter: but when the civil war broke out in syria, he was

determined to tell the story of the uprising. today, once u.s. intelligence confirmed that the gruesome beheading video was authentic, president obama called the foleys and vowed to pursue his killers. >> jim was taken from us in an act of violence that shocked the conscience of the entire world. we will be vigilant and relentless. >> reporter: no let-up in the u.s. attacks against isis in iraq. at least 14 air strikes in the mosul dam region overnight. was jim foley killed because of the recently launched u.s. air war? his employer at global post believes yes. >> i think it was clear that the onset of the bombing, which was done for a very good and sufficient reason by our government, perhaps was the thing that sealed jim's fate. >> reporter: for two years global post led a group trying to get isis to release foley. he says isis was willing to negotiate, but after the u.s. air strikes began a final chilling message.

>> there was one communication after the bombing began that went to the family that stated that jim would be executed. >> reporter: now isis is threatening to kill another american hostage, also a journalist, unless the air war stops. >> he always wanted to go over and go on adventures in the middle east. we were always like, i don't really think that sounds too safe, but there was nothing stopping him. it was a passion of his. >> reporter: in april isis released french hostages and others held with the americans reportedly for ransom. but the u.s. will not pay terrorists. u.s. intelligence believes the americans and other western hostages have been held in a prison in northern syria, but that rescue mission would likely result in all of them being killed.

so it has not been attempted. meanwhile in iraq the state department is asking for up to 300 more troops to help secure the embassy and airport in baghdad, all also under threat from isis. brian. >> our worry tonight is about the threat from this isis group beyond just that region reaching into the rest of the world. for example, the isis militant on the tape speaks with what sounds like a british accent. you're about to hear some of that audio in order to hear him. the fear in the intelligence community is how many isis fighters are western citizens with western passports. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is live tonight on the turkey/syria border. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. isis is no longer some fringe terrorist group operating in the shadows. it controls territory, a lot of it. the group actually now prefers to be called the islamic state, and in some ways it is like a state. just a terrible one. the so-called islamic state now stretches over huge swaths of syria and iraq. it has heavy weapons, american-made ones, stolen from

the iraqi army. and isis is imposing its medieval interpretation of islamic law. yet many are rushing to become citizens of this barbaric nation. the last voice james foley heard was of his murderer with what some say sounds like a british accent. >> this is james foley, an american citizen of your country. >> reporter: britain's prime minister, david cameron, was appalled. >> it looks increasingly likely that it is a british citizen. this is deeply shocking. >> reporter: shocking, but not surprising at all. security officials say isis has between 7,000 and 12,000 foreign fighters. hundreds from europe. and one known american. >> we are coming for you. mark my words. >> reporter: he died carrying out a suicide bombing for a group considered more violent than al qaeda. >> even a group like al qaeda which perpetrated atrocities

around the world. regard the islamic state's tactics as being far too brutal. >> reporter: a big reason there are so many foreign fighters in syria is that it's so easy to get there. young men from all over the world come to turkey, they make their way to the border crossing and simply walk in. and turkish authorities are making no real effort to stop them. dmitri botnik crossed from syria into turkey today. he knows a lot about foreign fighters. his own son was one of them. dmitri says he was lured in believing he'd be helping muslims. >> you know, inside step by step they change the minds. >> reporter: radicalizing them. so dmitri, an ex-belgian soldier, did something radical himself. you decided you had to find him yourself. >> that's the only thing i could do. action. i couldn't stay at home. >> reporter: he went and found his son and brought him out. now other parents have asked dmitri to help recover their children. dmitri's efforts are just a drop in the bucket. in over a year he's only managed to bring out a handful of fighters from isis.

and they were quickly replaced. brian. >> richard engel just over the turkish border tonight. richard, thanks. now in this country we turn to ferguson, missouri. u.s. attorney general eric holder is there by order of the president, meeting with members of that community and the family of michael brown. nbc's ron allen is there for us to begin our coverage yet again. ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. those demanding justice for michael brown are relieved that eric holder is here because they simply don't trust the local authorities. a relatively peaceful night with a hope that ferguson just may have hit a turning point. the nation's top cop has promised a fair and thorough look into officer darren wilson's fatal shooting of unarmed michael brown 11 days ago. >> questioning why are you here? my answer would be why would i be anywhere other than right here, right now. >> reporter: attorney general eric holder arrived as

prosecution was demanded. both sides of the courthouse a county grand jury heard its first day of evidence. >> everybody calls for justice. we're for justice too. we want people to just wait until the facts are in before they reach conclusions. >> reporter: holder's main focus, a separate federal probe. more than 100 witness interviews and independent autopsy already conducted looking at whether the officer violated the teenager's civil rights. last night on the streets perhaps a turning point. nearly 50 arrests, but for the first time in days police say smaller crowds, fewer agitators. this afternoon word that an officer seen in this video pointing an assault rifle at a protester after a verbal exchange. >> i'm going to [ bleep ] kill you. >> reporter: has been relieved of duty indefinitely. volunteer peacekeepers. like a local minister. >> our streets are going to clear and people are eventually going to go home? >> yeah. >> yes, that will happen. does that mean there's peace?

no. does that mean things are solved? no. >> reporter: late today holder agreed to meet privately with the parents of michael brown while everyone else hopes for a relatively peaceful night. nbc news, ferguson, missouri. this is rehema ellis. you've seen the pictures, children with their parents in protest. some return to school with lessons learned from the front line. on this bus kids mimicked what's become the rallying cry, hands up, don't shoot. but buses aren't rolling everywhere. in the district where streets erupted in violence after michael brown's death, officials have postponed school for nearly 12,000 students. straight-a student cayla williams and her dad say this puts her future on hold. >> they're doing this over the whole ferguson district over something that happened in one neighborhood. >> it really makes me mad because she wants to learn. >> reporter: but officials say before school doors reopen, they want to be sure the streets are safe. school is normally a safe place for you? >> uh-huh.

>> reporter: but you are afraid it might not be a safe place now? >> yes. because it seems like no matter how much security we have, people won't stop. that's messing with my education and other people's education. >> reporter: in a community where 22% live below the poverty level, 75% of ferguson students qualify for the school free breakfast program last year. making food pantries like this one even more important. >> you know, our children need to eat. so i appreciate the fact that these pantries have opened up to us. >> reporter: meanwhile at the public library families pass the time with art projects knowing tonight school is scheduled to reopen on monday. >> i'm excited because we finally get to learn. >> reporter: rehema ellis, nbc news, ferguson, missouri. there's troubling news tonight on the ebola front. the world health organization says the death toll in western africa is now at least 1,350.

that's gone up by hundreds in just the past few days. now to try to stop it liberia has quarantined off a huge village home to 50,000 people where protests have now erupted, clashes with police, growing food shortages as people can't get in or out of there. in this country a record-breaking settlement for a u.s. bank after the mortgage crisis and the reckless behavior by the banks that led to it that caused so many families to lose their homes. cnbc has confirmed tonight bank of america has reached a $17 billion settlement with the feds, $10 billion in cash, another $7 billion in consumer relief, as it's called. still ahead tonight, something every parent can relate to, the mom who came up with an ingenious way to get her kids not to ignore her phone calls. and now how everybody can do it. and later, katy perry and rihanna, what the nfl wants them to do if they want to perform at halftime at the super bowl.

back now with this story that may well strike a chord with parents who can't get their own kids to respond when trying to reach them on their cell phones. one very resourceful mom, who just happens to be a military veteran, looked into how to solve it and built an app just for that. and put it this way, it could go over big among her fellow frustrated parents. our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it's a pet peeve among so many parents, kids never seem to answer their cell phones when we call. do you always respond right away to mom's cell phone messages or her texts? >> definitely not. >> reporter: you don't? >> no. >> reporter: c.j. also ignores calls. >> yeah, i have. >> reporter: you have? >> yeah. >> reporter: for how long? >> maybe a couple hours.

>> reporter: now parents have an answer to that. a cell phone app called ignore no more that disables their kid's phone until they answer. >> i would love it. where do i sign up? >> reporter: really? >> absolutely. as two teenagers, neither of them answer my texts. >> reporter: here's how it works, if a teen ignores a parent's phone calls or texts, the parent can then lock the teen's phone, no calls, no texts, no games. the teen can only call 911 or the parent who can unlock the phone with a code. >> all he has to do is hit mom and he'll start calling me. >> reporter: houston mom designed the app after she got so frustrated one day when 17-year-old bradley didn't answer her calls. >> all that i needed them to do was just to let our poor little dog out. >> reporter: a year later her app has hit the market and it's becoming a big hit with parents. >> parents have actually e-mailed me thanking me for creating this app.

>> from a safety perspective it's a great choice for parents. and it teaches the kids responsibility. >> reporter: but it turns out, and you'll be shocked by this, kids aren't crazy about the idea. >> i don't want this. please. >> sounds like a real -- >> i don't want it. >> that's not cool. >> reporter: why not? >> because it's unfair. what if she doesn't respond to my phone call? >> reporter: it just goes to show you necessity may be the mother of invention, but don't underestimate a mother's frustration can be just as powerful. tom costello, nbc news, bethesda, maryland. >> no comment. we're back in a moment after our next break with word tonight of an upcoming tribute to the late-great robin williams.

former boston red sox pitcher curt schilling says it was unquestionably chewing tobacco that gave him mouth cancer. he's 47, he's coming off six months in the hospital part of which he spent with a feeding tube, undergoing chemo and radiation treatments he says are

so painful he's not sure he'd go through it again. he says he won't preach about the dangers of chewing tobacco and has never asked why me, and says he never will. and jim kelly got some much hope for good news today, the former buffalo bills quarterback is coming off three months of chemo and radiation for sinus cancer. and his doctors here in new york put out a statement today saying he is free of pain, his function has returned to normal and there is no evidence of cancer. billy crystal will present the tribute to his late-great friend robin williams at the emmy awards this coming monday night on this network. the two men teamed up over the years for several live comic relief broadcasts along with whoopi, the emmy awards producer said everyone recognized the need to do something powerful and memorable for robin williams. the nfl's been in the headlines of late for head injuries and issues of punishment of badly behaved players, and now more bad publicity for the league of over all things the super bowl halftime show. specifically a pay-to-play deal structure whereby the halftime entertainment would have to pay

the nfl to play at the super bowl. they've narrowed the list to rihanna, katy perry and cold play. if you're the person at work who never takes vacation because of some fear of work piling up while you're gone or a fear that the place will just fall apart without you, or perhaps a worry that you won't be missed at work, there's a name for it, work martyr complex. the folks who want us all to take as much vacation as possible say 40% of all americans don't take all of their vacation. perhaps because filling an suv gas tank just once can be a $100 proposition. the als ice bucket challenge continues to be one of the defining themes of the summer of 2014. and the best part of all of it it has so far raised over $30 million for lou gehrig's disease. donations continue to pour in.

and while some of us didn't initially grasp the fact that the challenge was meant to be acted upon in 24 hours, the list of charitable people taking an ice bath includes a few bold-faced names lately like our own andrea mitchell whose bucket holder looked a lot like the former chairman of the fed. and george w. bush saying he's going to write a check instead because a bucket of cold water isn't presidential. just then a former first lady dumped a bucket of cold water on his head. he in turn challenged bill clinton. when we come back here tonight, a star is born and the crowd goes wild as she takes the mound again tonight with everything on the line.

finally here tonight from the world of little league baseball, the young woman on the mound showing the young men how it's done at the little league world series. fresh off her cover of "sports illustrated" mo'ne davis takes the mound again tonight to throw her customary heat. and a record crowd has turned out in the heat to see her. nbc's katy tur has our report from williamsport, p.a. >> reporter: at 13 years old mo'ne davis has a mind for victory, and an arm like a cannon. with a 70-mile-per-hour

fastball, philadelphia's star pitcher has been shattering records at the little league world series. her specialty? >> hitting homers. and striking boys out. >> reporter: just ask the boys from nashville who she shut out on friday. the first girl to ever do that in tournament history. also the first little league player ever, boy or girl, to make the cover of "sports illustrated". >> she plays like a girl. >> no, she doesn't. no. >> yes, she does. that's right. high-five. >> playing like a girl's a great thing. i don't see why boys can't play like us. >> reporter: a long way coming for little league in general whose first girl player cut her hair off so she could pretend to be a boy. that was in 1950. last week she threw out the tournament's first pitch here where only 18 girls have had a chance to step up to the plate. 12-year-old cleanup batter

victoria brucker was the first to get a hit in 1989. >> i wait for my pitch to come and then i just swing. >> reporter: today, mo'ne is not only defying expectations. >> girl power. >> reporter: and drawing record crowds, but inspiring an even younger generation. >> you're going to play really hard, right? >> i need to try if i can. >> reporter: mo'ne herself reminded us she's just one player. >> these guys should be interviewed more because it's not just about me. >> reporter: of course on the field it's not about boys or girls but guarding the plate like scott or turning a double play like jack hardcastle. after all, there's no "i" in team. katy tur, nbc news, south williamsport, pennsylvania. >> that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

nbc bay area news begins with breaking news. that breaking news, a grim discovery that's brought the search for a missing teacher to a halt. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. that search for that missing teacher. we have just learned that the national park service has suspended the search for that hiker, this after a body was found in kings canyon national park. at this time, they are not saying if that body is gregory's. we are live in fremont with the very latest.

>> reporter: the national park service just confirmed to us that the body was found this afternoon at 12,000 feet elevation in kings canyon national park. right now, staff is trying to recover that body, and so the search, as you mentioned, for gregory muck, has been suspended until he can be identified. he was scheduled to teach here in fremont. he was going to teach third grade starting on wednesday. he also taught at another elementary school last year. and his friends there say they are devastated. now he taught at gomes elementary school, as we mentioned. and he was nope for his love of nature and sharing a passion for protecting the environment. he graduated from foothill high in pan