valley. and the heat starts to crank up tomorrow. have to watch out for that fire danger as well. more local news right here at 6:00. see you then. on this sunday night, the trump factor. our new poll puts the candidate at or near the top of the republican field in two key states as the race tightens for hillary clinton. desperate search off the florida coast for two teenage boys missing in a small boat. tonight, growing concern and a big reward offered by an nfl legend. warning signs about the gunman in that deadly movie theater shooting and why the governor said he should not have been able to buy a gun. inside syria. our keir simmons is with the people caught in the middle of a widening war with terrorists. and the hunt for a lion on the streets of milwaukee. new sightings reported, and there might even be a cub. "nightly news" begins now.

>> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight, kate snow. good evening. in a crowded republican field and with a long way to go, one man is showing a lot of strength in the polls no matter how inflammatory his rhetoric may be. two new nbc news/marist polls out today show donald trump running strong in the early nominating states. the poll conducted over a period when trump made those controversial comments about senator john mccain. in new hampshire, trump leads the pack. and in iowa, trump places a close second in our poll. in the democratic race, hillary clinton continues to lead big in iowa, but her margin over bernie sanders is smaller in new hampshire and tighter than it was just five months ago when clinton led sanders by 56 points. clinton spent the day in iowa, and that's where we find kristen welker tonight. kristen? >> reporter: kate, good evening. a lot of people

thought donald trump had sunk his chances when he criticized senator john mccain's service last week. that doesn't seem to be the case right now. in fact, he drew big crowds here in iowa this weekend and, of course, lots of fireworks. >> there's a movement going on and it's a very strong movement. >> reporter: donald trump is surging according to nbc's latest poll. in new hampshire he tops the republican pack with a seven-point lead over jeb bush. and in iowa, he's just two points behind scott walker, but 44% of iowans republican voters view him unfavorably. that number jumps to 53% in new hampshire. >> i believe in what we're doing and what we have to do. >> reporter: and today democratic front-runner hillary clinton again tried to turn the page away from her e-mails and back to policies. >> we need to have a democratic president in the white house. >> reporter: but on saturday, she was forced to defend the use of a private e-mail account when she was secretary of

state. but secretary clinton, doesn't the fact that we're having this debate underscore the fundamental problem of using a private e-mail? >> not at all. >> reporter: when you were secretary of state? >> no, because this would be the same debate if it were -- the vast majority of everything that i sent and received was already on the state department system, the unclassified state department system. >> reporter: and the new marist poll shows the e-mail flap could be taking a toll. while clinton still has commanding leads topping sanders by 29 points in iowa and 13 points in new hampshire, 20% of iowa's democratic voters view her unfavorably, and that number gets even higher in new hampshire, 23%. to what extent do you worry that would hurt secretary clinton in a general election? >> i think with republicans, it would hurt her a lot. >> i don't see it

hurting her at all. >> reporter: trump has reportedly slammed clinton for the e-mail issue but today set his sights squarely on his republican challengers. >> i'm not thinking about hillary right now. i'm thinking about a man who's in favor of common core, weak on immigration, jeb bush and a guy like walker frankly whose state is having tremendous difficulty. >> reporter: meanwhile, clinton ignored a chance to take a swipe at him. do you want to comment on donald trump? earlier today, clinton joked that the united states has the, quote, longest presidential campaign in the history of the universe, a reality check the iowa caucuses are still more than six months away. kate? >> and we looked it up, 470 days, kristen, until election day. thanks, kristen. late developments tonight from central florida where rescuers have been searching the ocean since friday after two teenage boys on a small fishing boat disappeared. their worried parents pleading for help. we get the latest from nbc's gadi schwartz. >> reporter: somber news off the florida coast after two days of searching, a 19-foot fishing boat found capsized near cape canaveral, but the search continues for 14-year-olds

austin stephanos and perry cohen. >> our focus right now is finding those boys, and we've got an awful lot of resources out here, and we're going to continue to saturate this area and hit this really hard. >> reporter: the boys were last seen friday in jupiter filling up with $110 worth of gas. this morning the families describe the boys as strong fishermen who regularly went out on the water together. >> they've been through rough water, thin water. it doesn't matter. >> reporter: their neighbor, football legend joe namath, was there also offering his support. he and the family offering a $100,000 reward for the boys' safe return. >> they're so fine, these two young fellas, we just keep on praying, man. >> reporter: austin's family says the boys were not allowed to leave the jupiter inlet. that's where the search started. today they expanded 30 nautical miles out to sea and found the boat near the ponce de leon inlet over 130 nautical miles north. tonight the community is still praying that they might be found

safe and brought back home. gadi schwartz, nbc news. three days after a gunman opened fire at a movie theater in louisiana, the governor of that state said today the shooter should never have been able to buy a gun because of his history of mental illness. we get more on the warning signs tonight from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: today in lafayette, prayers, tributes and questions. >> every parent has dropped their kids off at the movies. >> not thinking something like that is going to happen. >> reporter: as the community remembered the two women killed thursday night, a clearer picture emerged of the gunman, john "rusty" houser. investigators are working to confirm eyewitness reports that he visited at least three other theaters in baton rouge, lake charles, and lafayette in recent weeks. but they're still not sure why he settled on this one. writing in his journal the exact date, time and movie "trainwreck" where he would carry out his rampage.

so far no clear motive. >> he seemed to be an individual who was just ranting and raving about things going on in the government and around the world. >> reporter: in online message boards he appeared to have posted dozens of radical comments, some praising adolf hitler, he also wrote about lone-wolf acts of violence several times. after he lost his house to foreclosure and his wife filed for divorce, houser borrowed money from his mother and checked into this lafayette hotel on july 3rd. >> he was just being polite about stuff, saying good morning as he passed by, basically a normal human being. >> reporter: atf investigators say houser legally purchased his gun last year in alabama, but in 2008, court records show his family had him involuntarily committed to a hospital in georgia. >> obviously, somebody with this kind of history never should have been able to buy a gun. >> reporter: following the 2007 mass shooting at virginia tech, many states strengthened their mental health reporting requirements. now 40 states including georgia authorize or require

the reporting of mental health records to a federal database for background checks. five states use an in-state database only. it's not clear why houser's involuntary hospitalization in georgia did not turn up in the federal database. >> there's still more that can be done, and there's absolutely no reason we can't have all of these records in the system. >> reporter: all this comes as a shock to his family. >> when you're dealing with mental illness, which we've been dealing with for a long time, you know, there's no clear answer. >> reporter: tonight three of the people who were wounded at this theater remain hospitalized. the funerals for both women who were killed are now set for tomorrow. kate? >> gabe gutierrez on the story for us in lafayette. overseas turkey has launched a new major offensive in the battle against isis. that nation now fighting on two fronts, joining the u.s. coalition against isis and also targeting kurdish militants across its borders with syria and iraq. caught in the middle

of all the fighting, ordinary kurds who have been terrorized by isis. nbc's keir simmons has spent most of the last week inside syria. >> reporter: good evening, kate. we've spent the past five days here inside syria, the front line is just an hour's drive away. we witnessed kurdish forces on the offensive against the islamic state. but this weekend, turkey joined the fight and began bombing both isis and kurdish militants in syria and iraq. turkey is getting tough. for the first time, its f-16s pounding isis targets across its border in syria, rounding up over 500 alleged militants. part of an ongoing operation, turkey says, after an isis suicide bomber killed 32 early last week. turkey also bombed the kurdish organization in iraq viewed by it and the u.s. as terrorists. but on the ground in syria, it is the kurds

who are forcing isis back. backed by coalition air strikes and many have lost their homes. we found kurdish women guarding a school where families have taken refuge from isis. this woman we met lived under isis rule for two weeks but somehow managed to escape. she told us she saw a man beheaded on a bus and a group of seven sisters forcibly taken away by isis fighters. she was threatened with beheading if she didn't cover up. another woman says her entire family and people from four surrounding villages fled together, terrified. there are 12 families who have taken refuge in this school. 73 men, women and children, some of them living in these rooms are too terrified to talk to us. they say if they do, their family members back in isis de facto capital, raqqa, will be killed. in another community,

the christians are arming themselves. this morning we attended a service in the language spoken by jesus. but in the past five years, in a region where christianity was born, huge numbers have taken flight. >> 40% immigrate. >> reporter: 40% are gone. many now wondering what turkey's intervention will bring. the front line against isis here is 250 miles long according to the kurdish military. and they say they have 35,000 fighters, but the tension between turkey and the kurds who are confronting the islamic state may further complicate the syrian civil war and the fight against isis. kate? >> keir simmons inside syria. and i know we'll see more of keir's reporting from inside syria tomorrow morning on "today" and tomorrow night right here on "nbc nightly news."

president obama arrived in ethiopia today on the second and final leg of his historic trip to east africa. as he wrapped up his visit to neighboring kenya, the president once again spoke of his personal connection to that country as we hear from our senior white house correspondent, chris jansing. >> it is great to be back in kenya. >> reporter: president obama felt the affection of the nation of his father today. tens of thousands of people screaming his name. unwilling to let his motorcade just pass, they ran along. and in a speech before a standing-room-only crowd, he described himself as one of theirs. >> and, of course, i'm the first kenyan-american to be president of the united states. >> reporter: and the president used that bully pulpit to call for change, an end to treating women and girls as second-class citizens. >> those are bad traditions. they need to change. they're holding you

back. >> reporter: and with kenya's president listening, a man once indicted on charges of crimes against humanity, mr. obama pushed for an end to rampant corruption. >> corruption holds back every aspect of economic and civil life. it's an anchor that weighs you down. >> reporter: but he also promised to help lift kenya up. >> i'm here as a friend. who wants kenya to succeed. >> reporter: much has changed since a 27-year-old barack obama first came to kenya and the airline lost his luggage. >> that doesn't happen on air force one. they always have my luggage on air force one. >> reporter: the grandson of a cook, son of a man who once herded goats, returning as the leader of the free world. after the speech, barriers could barely contain the surging crowd. president obama leaves a country at a crossroads, as he describes it, between peril and progress. firmly pushing kenya toward a more

democratic future. tonight president obama is here, the first u.s. president to visit ethiopia, this is a country with serious human rights issues. it's also been a key ally in the war on terror. and both of those topics are on the president's agenda tomorrow. kate? >> chris jansing traveling with the president in east africa, thank you. when "nightly news" continues on this sunday night, dramatic results from a unique program to reduce teen pregnancy in colorado. but controversy over whether to keep funding it.

a report by the cdc this past week found a big increase in the use of the so-called morning-after pill among teenage girls. the increase coincides with a move by the fda

two years ago that allowed use of the emergency contraceptive without a prescription. and in colorado, another move to make it easier for young people to obtain birth control is producing dramatic results, reducing teen pregnancy, but it's not without controversy. our report from nbc's hallie jackson. >> usually most women don't have any issues. >> reporter: when this counselor talks to young people about family planning -- >> haven't had any babies at all. >> reporter: -- it's not just a job. >> that's you right after you were born. >> reporter: -- it's personal. >> i was 17. i was probably maybe four months out of high school when i got pregnant. >> reporter: now her daughter is 17, a basketball player with a serious boyfriend, and while selena hopes tyra will wait to have sex, she helped her get on birth control just in case, through one of the country's biggest experiments with long-term birth control. >> because i'm really not that good, like, remembering to get up, take my pill. >> reporter: so tyra had a contraceptive implanted in her arm,

long-acting reversible birth control that can prevent pregnancy between three to ten years. it costs up to $900, but in colorado, teens can get it free. the results, a dramatic drop in teen pregnancies. down 40% since the state program started in 2009 compared to about 30% nationwide. colorado's abortion rate also down more than 40%. >> in the past, birth control has not been readily available. right now we're kind of in a semicrisis, i guess, if you will. >> do we have any family planning coming in? >> yes, we do. >> reporter: that's because the private grant that pays for the birth control initiative is running out. state lawmakers have rejected funding, and some argue that's the right move. >> it has reduced teen pregnancy, at least in colorado. what's the drawback? why is that a bad thing? >> it is not a bad thing to reduce teen pregnancy. it is a bad thing to have taxpayer-supported

funding. they should be used for appropriate and balanced sex education. >> reporter: but supporters say long-term birth control can help teens whose immediate plans don't involve kids. >> i want to be a state patrol officer. >> i want her to be able to follow her dreams and do what she wants to do in life first, and she can plan her family later if she'd like to. >> reporter: for her it's not just birth control, it's giving her more control of her future. hallie jackson, nbc news. and when we come back, an update on that lion on the loose. there may be more than one.

the city of milwaukee is still dealing with an animal problem tonight. not a stray dog or a house cat but a big

cat, a lion on the loose. there's been a second sighting, and this time it may have had company. here's nbc's john yang. >> reporter: milwaukee police went big game hunting this morning after fresh sightings of a lion along a creek. they staked out the area, armed with rifles, joined by wildlife officers with tranquilizer guns. milwaukee's been on lion alert since this cell phone video surfaced this past week. >> they were, like, oh, no, this is a real lion. and then something really could have happened to me. something bad could have happened. >> reporter: the latest report started saturday night from people cooking out. it turned this doubter into a believer. >> i thought all the pictures was fake. i really seen it up close now. >> reporter: and it wasn't alone. >> first there was one, and then a baby came out. you know, then it just looked for a little bit. i was really scared, scared as ever. >> reporter: residents are being warned to keep their pets indoors. someone was so worried they accidentally shot this dog in the paw apparently having mistaken it for the lion. the milwaukee zoo says

all its lions are present and accounted for. >> it's either going to be the wild, mountain lion, cougar, whatever that came down from our northern part of the state or potentially a mail-order exotic pet. >> reporter: that sort of thing is legal in wisconsin. police say they last saw the big cat early this morning. they closed in, but the lion outfoxed them again, remaining on the prowl. john yang, nbc news, chicago. and up next, we'll join the kids on a hunt for turtles with a man who makes science come alive.

finally tonight, fair to say summer school is not exactly the way most kids would choose to spend their summer break, but if you live in apple valley near the twin cities, there's a class that kids find irresistible, and we think you will, too. here's boyd huppert of our minneapolis station, kare. >> reporter: the retiree in the house on gantry lane is clearly not the type to yell. >> mine's colorful. >> reporter: get off my lawn. >> i'm making a smiley turtle. >> reporter: but despite appearances, the draw is not the front yard -- >> this is where the turtle man lives. >> reporter: but the back. >> so are you ready to go? >> yeah! >> he's asked the kids if they liked turtles, and we were, like, yeah. what kid doesn't like turtles? >> there's a turtle ready to come in. >> for the longest time we didn't know what his real name was. >> reporter: but one glimpse of an army of tiny heads trooping

toward him from across the lake, and ken wilson earned his nickname. >> we just called him the turtle man. >> you want to go around and see where they sit in the sun? >> reporter: now for the third summer, ken is piloting his turtle love boat. >> i'm the king of the turtles. >> five, six, seven, eight, nine. >> reporter: gantry lane's own floating summer science class. >> do they have teeth? >> no. they have a big jaw and, like, a bony flat. plate. >> he's got a connection with them. there's no way around it. >> reporter: could be referring to the turtles. >> we have a pink turtle here. they're a neat little species. >> reporter: definitely talking about the kids. >> we have painted turtles. >> you know why they're painted? because on the belly, there's a rainbow style. are they eating your hand? >> reporter: two daughters of his own

now grown. and two years past his sales career retirement. >> oh. >> reporter: ken wilson is finding there's still plenty to give. >> girls, girls, girls. >> on my grave stone, it's going to say "turtle man." >> reporter: a testament to the wonder of nature and the beauty of sharing it. >> come here, little one. >> reporter: nbc news, apple valley, minnesota. >> i'm headed to minnesota tomorrow. where do i sign up? that is nbc news for this sunday night. lester holt will be here tomorrow. i'm kate snow reporting from new york. for all of us here at nbc news, have a great night.

thanks for joining us i'm peggy bunker. we start with breaking news in los altos. eco h nbc news begins with breaks ñr news. >> we do start with breaking news. calçó water saying this affects the area only. all homeowners are being told to boil water before using it. cal water says that will notify residents when the water is safe again to dreng.ink. and police shot açó suspected carjacker.i investigators say a man stole a car, got in a car crash,ñr and tried to car