we'll average 80 in the tri-valley, 77 in the north bay. >> looks good. that's going to do it for us, "nightly news" is next. on our broadcast tonight, on the move. first one nurse, now the other, transferred away from the dallas hospital where they contracted ebola, as the head of the cdc answers tough questions about the string of errors that exposed them both. the insider. a woman risking her job, revealing what happened inside that dallas hospital, and just how unprepared they were for ebola. cause of death. tonight the autopsy results are out. we'll look at what they reveal about the death of joan rivers. and to the rescue. the scene that played out on live television today as viewers followed the plight of a bear cub stuck far from home, and one very worried mother. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams.

good evening. and let's begin here tonight with a little perspective. ebola has so far killed upwards of 4,500 people in western africa. and one patient here out of three known cases. nevertheless, the presence of ebola in this country has caused fear, in some cases mild panic. and we've learned not all of our medical facilities are ready for it. that was made clear again today. we have it all covered again tonight beginning again tonight with nbc's kate snow at the hospital in dallas. kate, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we have late word tonight from the cdc. they say they cannot rule out the possibility that amber vinson, the nurse, may have been sick when she first flew a week ago on friday to ohio. that means they're now going to be looking for passengers on that flight as well as the second flight that she took on monday of this week. vinson was moved to emory university hospital. and tonight the other nurse, nina pham, is being flown to the nih in bethesda.

today, hazmat teams continued the cleanup at the apartment of amber vinson, the nurse taken to emory last night. nina pham, who's been at texas health presbyterian since saturday is headed to bethesda. the county executive says the hospital here only has three isolation units, and unfortunately they need to be ready to deal with new ebola patients. >> if we're going to have more cases, it's likely that they're going to be coming up soon. >> reporter: sounds like you're worried about that. >> i'm extremely concerned given that i had 75 heroic health care workers who were potentially exposed to the same sort of risk that nina and amber were. >> reporter: on the "today" this morning, brianna aguirre, still employed, described a hospital woefully unprepared to deal with ebola. >> i just couldn't believe it, you know.

in the second week of ebola crisis at my hospital, the only gear they're offering us at that time and up until that time is gear that is allowing our necks to be uncovered. >> reporter: she said contaminated garbage was stacked up in the hallway. >> our infectious disease control nurses had been up and down that hallway. there was garbage piled to the ceiling without so much as even gloves on, without so much as even having their feet covered. and then just walking into other general areas that are supposed to be clean. >> reporter: in response, the hospital referred us to a written statement released earlier this morning, saying thomas eric duncan was moved directly to a private room and placed in isolation. staff wore the appropriate personal protective equipment as recommended by the cdc at the time, and waste was well contained in accordance with standards and it was located in safe and containable locations. skyping into a hearing on capitol hill, a hospital official apologized for how they cared for duncan. >> we made mistakes. we did not correctly diagnose his symptoms as those of ebola, and we are deeply sorry. >> reporter: the director for

the centers for disease control was questioned about amber vinson flying on a commercial plane while running a fever of 99.5. vinson did call the cdc and was never told not to fly. >> she was told by your agency she could board the plane, is that right? i just have one more question -- >> that is my understanding. i need to correct that. >> okay. >> i have not reviewed exactly what was said, but she did contact our agency. and she did board the plane. >> reporter: the ripple effects from the actions of one patient spread from texas to ohio. in belton in central texas, three schools were closed today because two students were on vinson's flight. at two cleveland hospitals 13 nurses on the flight were put on furlough. schools were closed in akron and a cleveland suburb. and anyone who was at this bridal shop in akron on saturday is being asked to call a special hotline. vinson shopped there over the weekend planning for her own wedding. a friend of vinson's defended her on facebook. it saddens me the way the media has portrayed her, she wrote, in

my eyes she is a hero. the pastor for thomas eric duncan's fiancee says she got a phone call today from a hospital official for the first time since his death more than a week ago now, expressing their regret that they could not save duncan and apologizing. brian? >> kate snow at the hospital in dallas starting us off again tonight. kate, thanks. that nurse we just heard from in kate's report, brianna aguirre, believes she is risking her job at the hospital by coming forward and speaking. but as she told matt lauer this morning, she felt she just couldn't stay silent anymore. >> my co-workers, i know a lot of you will be proud of me right now. and i'm sorry for those of you that are not. what i'm doing is not wrong. and i don't believe anyone can argue that. i'm just very concerned about losing my job. it's the best job i ever had. i travel a great distance to work there. i don't live close to the hospital.

i am the breadwinner of my family. and i'm terrified. i'm just like any other, you know, the majority of middle class, working class people. i'm just a couple paychecks away from not being able to pay my mortgage, and i'm terrified about that. and i don't know about my future there at that hospital or at any hospital. >> brianna, finally for you, you're in that 21-day period where you're monitoring your temperature a couple times a day, although i mention there are no restrictions placed on you moving around right now. but if -- this is hypothetical, if you were to start to experience symptoms of ebola, texas health presbyterian hospital would be the recommended hospital for you to go to for treatment. how would you feel about that? >> you know, i've played that situation out in my head. knowing what i know, i would try anything and everything to refuse to go there to be

treated. i would feel at risk by going there if i don't actually have ebola, i may contract it there is how i actually feel. and i would do anything to refuse to go there. >> nurse brianna aguirre today. it's worth noting tonight at least one other staffer from the hospital told nbc news she has confidence in texas presbyterian, feels the hospital has done a good job keeping the staff informed. at the white house, president obama once again stayed put. he canceled a trip, stayed back to discuss the ebola threat. he called in key advisors for another strategy session on this chris jansing at the white house for us tonight. chris, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this is the second straight day president obama canceled commafening. after tonight's meeting, he suggested for the first time that he might appoint someone to see the response of all the different agencies, an ebola czar. >> it may make sense for us to

have one person, in part, just so that after this initial surge of activity we can have a more regular process just to make sure that we're crossing all the ts and dotting all the is going forward. also today, the president signed an executive order. the pentagon calling the national guard and reserves cutting through red tape to get to the source of the disease in liberia quickly. >> chris jansing, thank you. more focus tonight on the commercial flights that the dallas nurse, amber vinson took to ohio and back, as fellow passengers have been told to stay home. nbc's tom costello has more. tom, good evening. >> frontier airlines says it's now reaching out to people who were on five flights after amber vinson was who a plane.

but those five flights used the same plane. they're reaching out to those people out of an abundance of caution. they say the risk to those passengers is thought to be near zero and very little to the people who were on the plane with amber vinson. frontier airlines says the plane that carried nurse amber vinson has been cleaned and thoroughly disinfected out of an abundance of caution. the airline has replaced seat covers and carpet around her seat. meanwhile, health authorities have been reaching out to other passengers onboard flight 1143. >> they told me to take my temperature twice a day and monitor it at least six hours apart. >> reporter: axel good, sitting in 13c, learned he was just three feet from vinson. he's been told to stay home until november 3rd. the cdc, he says, should have never allowed an ebola health care worker to fly. >> and i never would have risked my life. if i'd known she'd been in contact with patient zero, i never would have gotten on that flight in the first place. >> reporter: but experts say it's highly unlikely vinson was contagious or that the virus remained on the plane. a 2007 cdc study found that even

in an ebola hospital ward, the virus did not survive on dry wall, desks, bed frames, light switches, floors, or mattresses. pandemic disease expert says anyone who's at the contagious stage of ebola would most surely be too sick to travel. >> when you're in that infectious phase, you are incredibly sick. and you are in no condition to get up and walk, to do any traveling. >> reporter: but today four more u.s. airports began taking the temperatures and questioning passengers arriving from west africa. >> in chicago, this woman was pulled aside after arriving from sierra leone. >> checked my temperature. made sure everything was okay. question, where am i going to stay, got my phone number, and everything, and then released me. it's a bit embarrassing what we have to go through, isn't it? but it's all right. >> reporter: there are no direct u.s. flights from the u.s. into those three countries directly affected by ebola. most of the people in those countries transit through europe

to come to the united states which makes tracking them and screening them all the more difficult. brian? >> tom costello at dulles for us tonight. tom, thanks. now to the weather system making news. hurricane gonzalo has reached a category 4 churning north in the atlantic and sadly taking aim at bermuda. this is the view from the international space station just today, packing winds up to 145 miles an hour. nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer is in bermuda for us tonight. >> reporter: 120-mile-per-hour wind gusts, concrete roofs ripped from homes. this was the damage tropical storm fay did to bermuda just last weekend. today, this is the calm before the big storm. beach-goers soaked in the last of the sun before hurricane gonzalo bears down on the paradise islands. hotels and residents boarded up homes and businesses. and stocked up on supplies and gas. extra flights were added to evacuate people ahead of the storm. >> leaving. just in time. >> starting friday morning right

out of the gate expect conditions to deteriorate. some of the worst conditions will be in the afternoon and evening hours. >> reporter: eerily reminiscent of 2003 when a hurricane killed four people and caused $300 million in damage. here's the track of fabian near bermuda. here's the track of gonzalo, side-by-side they look nearly identical. bermuda is just a tiny speck out here in the atlantic, but fortunately most of it sits very high above sea level. there's also a natural reef that surrounds the island that really protects it from that storm surge flooding that so many hurricanes produce. >> anything to be prepared for a hurricane. just have your family around. people that you love. board up windows and pray. >> reporter: now, hurricane gonzalo is a category 4 storm with winds at 145 miles per hour. the center of the storm is expected to track 20 to 50 miles to the west of where i'm

standing on bermuda right now. the hardest expected to hit friday afternoon. this category 3 storm will be the strongest storm bermuda has seen in more than ten years. we're also watching tropical storm ana in hawaii. it should remain as a tropical storm as it moves through the hawaiian islands this weekend. >> dylan dreyer on an otherwise beautiful night in bermuda. sadly it won't stay that way. now to a bizarre scene that played out on television last night. this may say more about the broken state of our politics these days than we'd like to admit. the governor of florida and his challenger, a former governor, set to debate last night right before the evening disolved in a fight over a small electric fan. we get the story tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: has to be the first time a political fan took place center stage in a debate. >> the two candidates who were invited to take part in this debate right now are not stepping up on the stage.

ladies and gentlemen, we have an extremely peculiar situation right now. we have been told that governor scott will not be participating in this debate. >> reporter: his objection, his opponent, charlie crist had brought along an electric fan. turns out charlie crist, former governor, doesn't go anywhere without his fan. perhaps he never got over this image, richard nixon sweating profusely in his first debate in 19 skikt -- 1960 with john f. kennedy. the fan has its own twitter account. governor scott finally caved in. >> that has to be the most unique beginning to any debate. >> reporter: who won? programs -- perhaps the fan's twitter account. it picked up a thousand followers. andrea mitchell. >> unbelievable. still ahead, what killed joan rivers? tonight we know the answer. we've learned what went wrong during an otherwise routine medical procedure.

she was a global celebrity. and at age 81, she was still playing more than 300 dates a year. so the death of joan rivers came as quite a shock. and the questions started immediately about her throat procedure and her medical care. and tonight, we now know more about the cause of death. our report tonight from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: the new york city coroner confirms what medical experts suspected. joan rivers died from a lack of

oxygen to her brain while undergoing a throat procedure. the 81-year-old comedian checked into an outpatient clinic in manhattan to find out why she was suffering from a raspy voice and stomach reflux. while undergoing the examine rivers was given the common sedative propofol, a drug made infamous after its use led to michael jackson's death. while under anesthesia, oxygen to her brain decreased. the report concludes that her death resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy. >> they didn't seem to suggest there was any foul play or any issues that were out of the ordinary, although this is a rare event. >> reporter: today the clinic door was locked and the office did not return calls for comment. last month yorkville endoscopy said its chief physician, dr. lawrence cohen was no longer medical director, and was not currently performing medical procedures. melissa rivers released a statement saying, in response to

new york city's medical examiner's report, we continue to be sadden by our tragic loss. no further comment at this time. despite her age, rivers' death took many by surprise. the comedian was as active as ever with a best selling book, a retail line and regular tv appearances. the new york health department continues to investigate the circumstances of her death. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. we are back in a moment with a big job not for everyone.

it's become apparent to those of us who cover tornadoes that they're increasingly showing up in clusters. and sure enough the folks at the severe storms laboratory in norman, oklahoma, confirmed that. tornadoes now occur in multiples more often. and increasingly. just in recent years where there's one there are likely to be others. one more weather note from the climate prediction center, they say a repeat of last year's awful polar vortex is unlikely because the climate patterns

needed to cause it are unlikely to form. the old farmer's almanac on the other hand is calling for a rough winter. it is the work of the great architect aero seranin, the tallest arch in the world, tallest structure in missouri, tallest manmade monument in the western hemisphere. and the only way to check its condition and take corrosion samples is to get up there and walk the arch with ropes. the national park service wants the exterior to be positively gleaming for the 50th birthday of the arch a year from now. the headline we saw today was straightforward enough. archaeologists uncovered giant sphinx in the california desert. then we got to thinking that sphinx sounds like it's a long way from home. back at the dig the archaeologists traced the source of the sphinx to 1923 silent black and white movie "the ten commandments." when shooting was over they

buried 21 plaster sprinks -- sphinxes, and now they've been exposed through the sands of time. a little bit of hollywood history. when we come back, the mama bear, the baby bear and the concrete walls that came between them today.

finally here tonight, a slow speed chase through southern california kept people across the country watching the live pictures on tv and the web. this time though it was a story about family, about habitat, about man versus nature and about bears. we get our report tonight from nbc's joe fryer in l.a. >> reporter: news choppers in southern california were not chasing cars today. all eyes were looking down on a baby black bear trapped inside a dumpster in pasadena with a protective mama bear desperate to get her cub out. >> they look cute, but you want to leave them alone. >> there goes mama climbing up to get her baby. look at that. >> reporter: game wardens could hear the mother crying and knew they had to help. so they fire a bean bag at mom to scare her away. >> oh, well now you get out. look at that. >> reporter: then safely coax the cub out of the dumpster. the little one shimmies up a tree to safety calling out for mom.

and before long they're back together. >> awe. that's going to end happy. >> reporter: the story of the pasadena bears was hard to resist, described on twitter as the cutest thing i've seen all day. such sightings are not rare in these foothill communities as bears trek down from the mountains looking for food and water. >> a bear! >> reporter: in august one family found this guy cooling off in their backyard kiddie pool. in 2012 this 600-pound bear became a celebrity named meatball for the food he pilfered. he now lives in an animal sanctuary. now the pasadena bears, spent the day hanging out. experts say they pose little threat to people and should soon return home. >> this is about protecting the animals, getting that mom and that cub reunited. >> reporter: as for the connection between mom and cub, we probably don't need an expert to explain that. some things are universal. joe fryer, nbc news, los angeles. part of our world on this thursday night.

thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. goodnight. nbc bay area news starts now. >> it's simply appalling. it tells us that what is supposed to have been fixed is not. >> right now at 6:00, destroying evidence in the middle of a state investigation. we investigate the secret e-mails. thank you for joining us. i'm peggy bunker. raj has the night off. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. more conflict and more controversy brewing inside the state's public utilities commission. >> insiders leaked the memos to

tony kovaleski. and tony, there is concern about destroying evidence in the middle of a criminal investigation. >> exactly, peggy. the memo raises even more questions about the state's public utility commissions. authored by attorneys inside the puc exposing a failure to communicate and the potential to destroy evidence while the feds and the state are investigating. >> we're stunned. we're stunned. >> reporter: reaction by san bruno's city manager to this memo leaked to the nbc bay area investigative unit. it's written and signed by 13 staff attorneys at public utilities commission. it includes we are concerned the commission has not taken appropriate steps in the past month to preserve evidence. >> what does this say about the culture at the public utilities commission? >> it suggests business as usual. we're extremely troubled by that. >> reporter: the e-mailed memo points to growing internal tension and conflict as the u.s. attorney investigates cozy and back channel