on this sunday night, on the offensive. more u.s. air strikes as president obama prepares to address the nation on a plan to hunt down isis militants. deadly floods. hundreds of villages underwatter to night. the race to rescue the thousands still stranded. hooked, an inside look at america's heroin epidemic. how the drug is entering our cities and no community sim mun. the new research on the value of a college degree. some are wondering is the financial risk worth the reward. and remembering joan rivers. families, friends, and celebrities say good-bye to the ground breaking comedian.

good evening. after much criticism for saying the u.s. didn't have a strategy against isis, president obama today said he'd lay out the game plan this week for fighting the militant group. his comments came in an exclusive interview with chuck todd on "meet the press." u.s. warplanes carried out strikes against isis, an effort costing the untcountry $7 millia daflt kelly o'donnell joins our coverage. >> reporter: the president says it's time to go on the offensive against islamic state fighters. that is a big turn from his no strategy comments just days ago. tuesday he'll talk about next steps with congressional leaders from both parties and then wednesday he'll address the nation as he explained to "meet the press" moderator chuck todd. >> i'm preparing the country to make sure that we deal with a threat from isis. >> that threat from fighters has

taken the lives two of americans and thousands of civilians in the reej yovenlt but on "meet the press," the president told chuck todd his response will not be an iraq style war. >> we're going to systemically degrade their abilities, we'll shrink the territory they control. and ultimately we're going to defeat them. >> reporter: today a new round of strikes against isis targets including a check point and bunker near iraq's haditha dam. the president says while intelligence shows no immediate risk to the u.s. homeland that danger is real. >> what i'm going to be asking the american people to understand is number one this is a serious threat. number two, we have the capacity to deal with it. >> reporter: today an expression of relief from the top democrat on senate intelligence who had pushed the president to move faster. >> i want to congratulate the president. he is now on the offense. >> reporter: republicans continue to argue the response has been too slow.

>> but i believe this president has committed presidential malpractice in his foreign policy. >> reporter: in an unusual concession, the president acknowledged critics who said he should not have been golfing right after he denounced the bee heading of journalist james foley. >> after the statement that i made that, you know, i should have anticipated the optics. >> reporter: turning to immigration, fallout over mr. obama's new decision to wait until after the midterm election. br he uses executive power likely to halt some deportations without congressional approval. >> when it comes to the latino community, they're frustrated with the president. i think they're really pissed off with the republican party and what they represent. >> reporter: for the president, the influx of undocumented children raised new concerns about border security. >> yeah, the truth of the matter is that the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem. i want to spend some time even as we're getting all our ducks in a row for the executive

action, i also want to make shurt public understands why we're doing this, why it's the right thing for the american people, why it's the right thing for the american economy. >> reporter: and senior advisors tell me the concern here is that if the president used his executive authority now and democrats lost the senate in november then immigration reform could get the blame for that defeat. making it even harder to put through any changes down the line. carl? >> kelly o'donnell at the white house, thank you. the administration is also following developments in a cease-fire between the ukrainian government and russian-backed separatist as pears to be on the brink. homes in eastern ukraine were reduced to rubble. one woman was killed and others were injured. this comes just two days after an agreement was announce between the two sides. in india and pakistan, monsoon rains triggered the worst flooding that region has seen in decades. to night the death toll is in the hundreds with thousands more still waiting to be rescued. here is nbc's kelly cobiiea.

yand and pakistan haven't seen monsoons like this in over 50 years. 450 villages in india have disappeared under the floodwaters. and in pakistan, raging rivers are triggering mudslides. rescuers are struggling to reach the thousands who are stranded and desperate for help. in some areas, the water is 12 feet deep and moving too fast for rescue boats. in india's cashmere region, the army used ropes to pull children throughout strong currents. this man was saved after clinging to a tree for 20 hours. but in many villages, people had to rescue themselves, forming human chains to save their sons and daughters. more than 300 in india and pakistan are dead and rescuers feel that number will go higher as they reach more submerged villages. schools and offices are closed. camps are being set up for the thousands who have been saved. but more rain is coming. and it's a race against the

weather to reach those still stranded. nbc news, london. now to the severe weather slamming parts of this country from coast to coast. powerful storms have brought heavy rain, lightning, dust storms. michigan and illinois, they're cleaning up while in parts of the southwest, they're bracing for more flash flooding. we have our report. >> reporter: in phoenix, arizona, time lapse video captured the building and blinding wall of sand. a dust storm so massive, much of the city swallowed late yesterday. it was followed by a second punch, heavy rain. a flash flood warning for twod[ arizona counties. too much wind and water, too soon for this drought stricken region. ?i everybody's happy about rain. we're going to get rain because we need rain. and we're all just like please, no. >> wild weather is wreaking havoc across pockets of the country. >> it felt like a tornado.

>> severe thunderstorms causing destruction from massachusetts to michigan. outside detroit where five were injured when a tent collapsed over 185,000 are still without power. near boston, trees knocked down power lines and almost sheared cars in half. >> all of a sudden, it got óofn1ó%r i base he cannily stopped in the middlest road and then, boom, the tree came down. >> social media lit up with lightning strikes. aâjs(?'uã·3lcci= across the region. two women almost killed after being struck by lightning while at the beach in massachusetts. >> both women were swimming at the time of the strike. the storm arrived quickly and without warning. and they had no time to get out of the water. >> back out west, tonight off the coast of mexico, a hurricane has weakened it to a tropical storm. the moisture has already caused flash flooding in southern

california. now from l.a. to phoenix, they're bracing for what could be the storm's next powerful punch. nbc news, los angeles. and for more on the severe weather and what's ahead, we turn to kim cunningham from the weather channel. good evening. >> good evening. the good news for the east is that we're not going to see that type of severe weather we saw yesterday for little while. but the southwest, we're going to focus on the flash flooding here. we talked about tropical storm norburg. we have the monsoon coming on. we have a lot of moisture into arizona, nevada, california, four corners region. these storms are developing and putting down anywhere from one to three inches of rain in a very short period of time. flash flood warning or watches are up in this area. we could see additional two to three inches at least through tomorrow. we don't catch a break nool at least tuesday in this area. the other big story is in the east. we're going to see fall returning. temperatures will be below average over the next couple of days coming into the upper

midwest and the northern plains. expect temperatures there to be in the 30s for your lows. back to you, carl. >> kim cunningham at the weather channel, thank you. just as kids are getting back to school, mystery virus is sending hundreds of them to the hospital. more than 900 patients in colorado are treated for severe respiratory illness in the last three weeks. health officials suspect the cause is a form of entera virus. the ten states have contacted them for help. for many a college education is thought to be key to securing a good job. but in a tough job market, some graduates are finding degrees just aren't paying off fast enough. now new research has them asking if the price of that education is worth the investment. here is sharon epperson. >> reporter: this woman works 30 hours a week as a waitress. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> reporter: not exactly the job she was expecting to have when she graduated with a masters degree in policy research last year.

>> i never thought would happen to me. i have worked hard all my life. i was in the honors program. i graduated at the top of my class. >> the 29-year-old has applied to hundreds of jobs in her field. but so far no luck. she's struggling to pay off her $70,000 student loan debt. >> i definitely found that i am overeducated for a lot of the positions out there. and it's a very frustrating experience. >> reporter: last yeert average salary for an american with a bachelors degree was $3 $48,000 25% earned $27,000 or less, just $2,000 more than a year than the average high school grad. >> companies are not looking for college degrees to the same extent there were. there are a lot of jobs that don't require a college degree in terms of the skill. >> the percentage of recent college grads working in jobs that do not typically require a bachelor degree has risen in the last decade. the bleak job market has some questioning whether too many are

overinvesting in their education. in the long run, the research finds a college degree is still an important investment to help people prepare for high skilled, high paying jobs. >> for the vast majority of people, college is worth it. just don't get buried in mountains of debt in doing so. >> reporter: like marsy who worries her education may not pay off fast enough. >> i know it's really formed me as a person. but obviously monday takerly speaking, it was a really bad choice. okay, may i see your id snz. >> future graduates should weigh the financial risk against the reward. sharon epperson, nbc news, new york. a memorial service for comedian joan rivers was held today here in new york and it delivered on her wished for a true hollywood style sendoff. everything from a list celebrities to red carpet treatment. nbc's ron not has our report. ♪ >> reporter: the comic legend joan rivers got the final punch

line she wanted. a list guests from whoopi goldberg and barbara walters to sarah jessica parker, rosie o'donne o'donnell, even a musical number from hugh jackman and howard stern. >> howard stern gets up unannounced. he opens with a line that brought the house down but boy was it risky. >> risky in the way that rivers delivered her humor to america for 50 years. >> can we talk? she was a tramp. >> raunchy and wild, no holds barred. >> the world's most beautiful woman. >> in her 2012 boom, "i hate everyone starting with me," rivers joked about her sendoff. >> i want my funeral to be a huge show business affair with lights and cameras and action. i want it to be hollywood all the way. don't give me some rabbi rambling on. ♪ >> outside, tloehrones of fans applauded melissa and her son as

they led the service. >> obviously, you consider yourself a fan? >> absolutely. >> you could really feel her energy. she never nailed it in. she was always authentic. >> hoda shares many a gig well rivers on and off camera. >> we love you, joanie. >> so good to see the two of you. >> it's weird to be smiling after a memorial service. but that's sort of what this entire afternoon was. it was full of laughter and joy. and it was also full of tears. >> the service in one word was irrev rent. it was fabulous. joan rivers would have loved it. ♪ >> a farewell far from, though heavy on leave ti for queen of comedy. >> i'm so happy to have people i can laugh with. >> ron not, nbc news, new york. when "nightly news" continues on this supd, part two of our look at america's heroin epidemic. how the drug is finding its way into this country and why no community is safe.

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heroin deals, the sell certificate woman in the gray sweatshirt. offering $10 bags of heroin to about a dozen buyers waiting anxiously in line with cash in hand. >> i've never seen it this bad. and i've seen what it does to families, communities, educational settings, health care. it's enormous. >> jack riley is the veteran special agent in charge of the dea in chicago. >> this is really the heart of gang territory. >> reporter: he tells us that almost all the heroin here arrives directly from mexico and is distributed by an army of local gang members. >> in chicago, we have 100,000 documents street gang members who large lly make their money putting mexican cartel heroin on the street. >> reporter: riley says heroin bought and sold in chicago comes from opium poppies processes by mexico's powerful drug cartel. it crosses the u.s. border hidden in cars and trucks, usually at el paso and is then driven north. >> this is where they feel

comfortable meeting. >> reporter: ronny took us to a large mexican-american community in chicago filled with legitimate businesses. but where cartel members also blend in and set up shop to oversee their midwest operation. >> it is immense, well financed and security conscious and very compartmentalized. >> reporter: as heroin explodes in chicago, it's also spreading to the suburbs and other cities. this is highway 290. it's also known as the heroin highway. addicts from outside the city come down this road to get off and buy their drugs and then to head right back home. >> it's cheap. it's readily available. >> reporter: this 24-year-old, a recover addict, says heroin is everywhere here. >> i got it from the suburbs. i never had to travel very far. it was within 10, 15 minute drive and had my fix. >> doctors worry about the growing number of young heroin addicts. >> we're losing a part of a

generation, an important part of a generation that can contribute a lot to the society and help us. >> and for people to think that it's not in their community, it's not in their town, they're immune it to, you're living in a fantasy world. >> reporter: heroin, spreading around the country, claiming more american victims every day. mark potter, nbc news, chicago. coming up, a sight at yankee stadium today that was the stuff coming up, a sight at yankee when folks think about the stuff what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

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here's nbc's mike tie eastboundy. >> reporter: it's a novel idea. to turn an actual town into a fictional town called whatever usa and to host and film for the commercials. a free beer fueled weekend party. that's what the makers of bud light did in this town. though painted the district bud light blue and got bars to sell away their products. and they invited 1,000 winners of an online contest and several thousand local residents to experience what they called fully integrated branded materials. for a lot of people in this town, words like that are like finger nails on a blackboard. >> the marketing speak becomes intimidating. it is more of an inside baseball terminology. >> some locals say it's not inside baseball that hurt them,

but the secret process that turned this rustic village of 1500 into whatever. >> the negotiations started for this in april and i didn't find out about it until august 3rd. >> and then despite a few hundred temporary jobs and a half million dollar donation, there are philosophical objections. people come here to enjoy this place for what it is. and the drivers of our economy are not bud light's fully branded materials. >> this has been the talk of the town for weeks. even though big public parties and the consumption of alcoholic beverages are not uncommon here. thousands of skiers flood the streets tlaen are wild flower celebrations and concerts and parades that draw huge crowds. so most here embrace the idea of this party. >> best time ever. >> amazing. >> and the town's young mayor says the hod tubs and sand box and eent beer school, i hope you like bacon. >> bacon and beer products breakfast were in keeping with the town's culture.

>> slif about having fun here. and so in that regard, it's really not that inconsistent with what we're doing. ♪ >> the returns aren't all in, but so far, it was just a party, first of its kind in a real town that already knew how to have a good time. nbc news, colorado. and that is nbc "nightly news" for this sunday. brian williams will be here tomorrow. coming up next, ""football night in america."" the indianapolis colts take on the denver broncos. for all of us here at nbc news, good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

nbc-universal television >> announcer: nbc sports, exclusive home of the nhl, premier league, prime-time's number one show, "sunday night football," and super bowl xlix. a sun-drenched 79 degrees at sports authority field at mile high, home of the broncos, who tonight in the season premier of "sunday night football" host the indianapolis colts. this is peyton manning's third season in denver following 14 as the leader of the colts. of course, this is his first meaningful game since getting blown out in the super bowl against the seahawks. andrew luck, replaced manning in indy and has two playoff appearances in two years and a win in their only head-to-head