i'm tamron hall. we begin with breaking news. look at the live images the scene is a commuter train that derailed in oxnard california 80 miles northwest of l.a. at least 30 people were injured after the metro link train collided with a truck on the tracks and burst into flames. nbc's tom costello joins us with the latest. what do we know regarding the incident. >> reporter: this happened about two hours ago, 5:45 a.m. pacific time when the truck was apparently on the tracks as this l.a. bound commuter train, metro link train coming from ventura county to l.a. hit the truck on the tracks. we are told that seconds before this truck was hit, and it erupted into flames seconds before that happened the driver took off running. he escaped the fiery collision. we have no idea why he took off running. multiple sources, including knbc in los angeles are reporting it. 30 people taken to area hospitals, they were triaged,

treated by oxnard firefighters and ventura firefighters and paramedics, and taken mostly to ventura medical center. many if not most injuries are moderate, and amazingly when you look at photographs, amazingly nobody was killed in this incident. the ntsb is so far on stand by has not yet dispatched a go team. we will see multiple investigations from not only the county but state authorities, probably federal railroad authorities, and perhaps ntsb. we are told the train may have been equipped with positive train control, one of the latest technological developments to ensure trains are, in fact traveling at a safe speed, that is constantly being monitored, but of course there's no way you can prevent this kind of accident if a truck is sitting on the tracks and pulls onto the tracks seconds before the train comes. a train simply cannot brake that quickly. again, 30 people injured on this

commuter line into los angeles. ventura county, california. 65 to 80 miles northwest of los angeles. no fatalities and investigators have only begun the investigation. >> and the investigation continues here but as you well know, this instantly reminds people of the situation that happened in february here in new york when an suv stopped on the tracks, six people were killed in that accident. in this incident we don't know why the truck or driver stopped on the tracks given the person fleed the scene, certainly different circumstances than the driver in new york but we had this incident, also in california, you had an incident i believe ten years ago, january 2005 i think when a truck was abandoned on the rail line created a derailment there killing 11 people. >> and i was at another incident on this very line we are looking at, the chatsworth train crash that happened in 2008. 25 people killed, and 135 injured. in that case that was a head on collision between two trains

when it was deemed the engineer on that train was not paying attention, was texting and running red lights. to your point about the number of incidents on railroad crossings, there's something like 2,000 a year somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 people die every year at railroad crossings. this of course has been what lawmakers have been complaining about for years. then we heard that reenergized call a few weeks ago in new york that there has to be a 21st century way to deal with an upgrade railroad crossing where you don't have the situation so many are killed because of a single vehicle, in the case of new york a single vehicle on the tracks. in that case the driver was killed, then as you mention several on board the train killed. amazingly today in ventura county no fatalities. >> tom, thank you very much. we have more breaking news to report. authorities in nigeria confirm to nbc news that an american missionary has been kidnapped.

the authorities say they're, quote, doing everything they can to get her back. she's been identified as the reverend phyllis sorter of the free methodist church usa. the church posted a photograph and statement on its website, asking for prayers. the statement reads in part reverend sorter was abducted from a missionary compound in central nigeria by several people. the church says the state department and fbi are working with local officials to rescue her. central nigeria has had low level activity by militants linked to the insurgent group boko haram. we don't know who is responsible for her kidnapping. again, we are following the latest developments as confirmed to nbc news that a missionary from this organization kidnapped on monday and as we understand officials are doing everything they can to get her back. we know very little about the people responsible for the

abduction. her church posted this photograph online the free methodist world missions. we will continue to follow this breaking development. her stepson released a statement to king 5 regarding her, that she believes in god, she's doing god's work. he said the news is surreal, just surreal. i can't believe this. we will follow the developments on this through the hour. turning to developments on capitol hill, congress racing to avoid a partial shutdown of department of homeland security which runs out of funding in a couple of days. there's been an intense standoff with republicans, insisting on linking dhs money to gutting the president's executive action on immigration. but late last night, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell revealed a new plan intended to divide conservative and liberal democrats. moments ago, he said he will introduce a bill targeting the president's immigration policy separate from the one to fund

homeland security. >> these colleagues have hidden behind all manner of excuses to avoid upsetting the far left. well, this bill removes excuses, it sets up a simple political equation. either stand in defense of extreme overreach or stand with constituents and support of shared democratic values. >> at this point, it is not clear how house republicans will respond to mcconnell's strategy. if dhs is not funded by friday 30,000 will be forced to stay home, 200,000 others essential to the nation's safety would keep working but without getting paid. that includes border patrol tsa, secret service agents and fema workers who would respond to any natural disasters. jeh johnson said yesterday that new terror threats make it more important to fund this agency

now. >> a shutdown of homeland security would have serious consequences, and amount to serious disruption in our ability to protect the homeland security. >> this is no way to run a government. >> joining me from capitol hill kelly o'donnell. let's talk about the proposal or idea from senator mcconnell. >> reporter: well it is actually sponsored by susan collins of maine. what this gets at tamron is an opportunity for senators to weigh in on just the november executive actions from president obama on delaying deportations for certain undocumented immigrants, and the reason they're going after this is they've got to find a way from a republican point of view to divide the democrats. democrats have been holding together and blocking consideration of a dhs funding bill that does more than just roll back the november executive order, it really goes after a broader set of issues related to immigration. so can this be done?

a number of democrats from red states who are more centrist or more conservative leaning have publicly said they believe the president has gone too far. mcconnell is trying to push them to take the vote. one of the questions is we don't know how quickly this will even happen because the senate can be slowed down by any one member. this vote is planning to happen but we can't tell you when. that adds more pressure as the clock ticks toward friday when funding runs out. we also don't know how house republicans would react. we have some insight in that speaker john boehner's spokesman put out a note that talks about this. and he is supporting this. but we have seen before how house republicans in their more conservative ranks sometimes don't go along. it reads like this. this vote will highlight the irresponsible hypocrisy of any senate democrat who plans to oppose president obama's executive overreach on immigration but refuses to vote to stop it.

this is a political strategy to try to make democrats say what they think about the specific november executive order. and we just don't know how it is going to fall. and at this point dhs funding is on the line. everyone says they want to see the department funded but how do we get there. we don't have the answer. >> thank you so much. congressman sanchez, senior member of the house department of homeland security and armed services committee joins me thank you for your time. >> good morning. >> i know you said that republicans are playing with fire by threatening to shut down dhs at a dangerous time. we heard comments from homeland security secretary jeh johnson. now there may be some compromise for lack of better description in the senate that could pit democrats against each other here. >> well, i don't see that happening in the senate quite frankly. i think that we understand how important it is to keep immigrant communities together and that's what we want to do.

the congress should really pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. we got one out of the senate but house republicans refused to vote on that bill or anything close to it. and it really has been the problem of the republicans. for mcconnell the gop leader in the senate to come out and say okay, well i've got a solution to this. i am going to pull you apart politically, it goes to show to americans that they're not serious about the dangers confronting america. >> interesting you say the dangers facing america. we heard from the administration and from secretary johnson, congressman thomas massey says it is not clear what the impact is. there are a lot of things funded anyway. the impact may be smaller than we think. what do you see to your colleague there? >> america has to understand the public has to understand that what has been happening every year when we do the

budget instead of facing new problems new types of situations that we see in homeland security, the threats that are occurring, which are changing every time because it is a different way they're attacking us what has happened over the last three or four years is that the department has not had the ability to change those programs as much as it should, because of the way that these republicans have been funding. not with a real bill but rather with a continuing resolution. so now they're still doing the same thing, so it is more difficult for secretary johnson and his department to actually face the new attacks we know are coming our way, the changes in which they've come. so it becomes a very dangerous game even when they do this two week extension or one month extension, until they find a way for them to feed their political

base with respect to the programs the president has said let's keep the immigrant families together. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for your time. loretta sanchez, greatly appreciate it. programming note jose diaz-balart is hosting a town hall with president obama tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern. dhs being linked to the president's immigration action likely to be one of the major topics discussed in that town hall. another story we are following now, veteran's affairs secretary robert mcdonald brought in to clean up the va department is apologizing for a mess he created. he says he is sorry for falsely claiming he served in the military's elite special forces. the incident reported by huffington post took place last month as the new secretary participated in an overnight count of homeless vets in los angeles. comments aired on cbs news last month. >> veteran of service?

>> army navy. >> army. >> what unit. >> special forces. >> what years? i was in special forces. >> mcdonald is an army veteran, graduated from west point in 1975, did serve with the 8 2ened airborne division. in a statement he says i incorrectly stated i had been in special forces that was inaccurate and i apologize to anyone offended by my misstatement. the white house also issued a statement this morning, saying he has apologized for the misstatement and noted that he never intended to misrepresent his military service. we take him at his word and expect this will not impact the important work he is doing to promote health and well-being of our nation's veterans. this is the second time in two weeks he was forced to correct his words. on "meet the press" february 15th claimed 60 va department workers had been fired in recent months for problems related to the wait time scandal at va hospitals. it turned out to be 20 had been dismissed. a va official told nbc news

mcdonald misspoke. joining me patrick murphy of pennsylvania, first iraq war vet to serve in congress now msnbc contributor. thanks for joining us. >> thanks tamron. >> let me get your initial gut reaction to this. >> it is unfortunate, tamron. listen, he misspoke. i know bob mcdonald. this guy was an army ranger. he went to ranger school did arctic training jungle training, he trained with special forces. he was connecting to a homeless veteran in the streets of l.a. it was late at night. he is like i was special forces army, yeah and he was connecting with him. he was wrong. he's apologized for it. he came forward. he was the one, secretary mcdonald called himself huffington post said i misspoke i apologize. i think that is important because he is taking accountability for a misstatement late at night on a one on one interaction, a human

interaction, and i think when you look at the broader context, we have 49,000 veterans that are homeless, that gentleman that he was speaking to granted, va has cut veteran homelessness 33%, but there's so much more work to be done. that's my gut level now. >> we just got a statement from american legion. they posted a statement on their website and the head of the legion calls out the secretary for lying. it goes on to say that he made a poor choice of words in an effort to bond with a homeless veteran. second mcdonald told him he was in special forces. goes on to say he should be held to a higher standard. the secretary has apologized, as he certainly should. we hope he can restore the trust that he lost. and they go on to talk about that current membership 2.3 million wartime veterans in the american legion. do you think many of the millions of vets that see it will see it as what was

described as a bone headed statement, what colonel gary bloomberg called it he was a retired army colonel. >> and that colonel who was in special forces said listen this guy, wasn't trying to intentionally deceive anybody, it was human connection. and tamron, i will tell you i am a member of american legion veterans of foreign wars. proud member. but at the end of the day, people have to look at the broader context. this is a man who is full of integrity, who is changing the dynamic within the va been there six months. he is doing his best. he made a misstatement late at night four weeks ago. wasn't like he was saying it in an official bio, in confirmation hearings, it was misstatement that was caught on camera because he invited the press with him for that whole visit. and it is unfortunate. but i think republicans like mike hoffman, iraq veteran who

has been -- said himself shouldn't talk about this the next two weeks. the guy made a mistake, there are a lot of issues on the plate. the fact that 22 veterans commit suicide every day, 49,000 homeless veterans on the street every night. a lot more as a nation we could be doing. let's not get distracted by this. >> patrick murphy thank you for your time. appreciate it. by the way, this is part of our gut check. what do you think? check it out on newsnation.msnbc.com. we will tell you how you can weigh in and read some e-mails. developing now, the "american sniper" murder trial resumed moments ago. closing arguments are set to begin this afternoon. this trial is going very fast. we will have the latest in a live report. plus two popular republicans now in trouble. a judge ruled governor chris christie broke a law he signed by cutting pension payments to union workers, while illinois congressman aaron shock reportedly spent taxpayer money on a lavish life-style.

we will dig past the headlines, tell you what both sides say about these stories, today's first read. and major breakthrough for kids with life threatening peanut allergies. surprising new approach doctors are suggesting to parents, creating quite a stir. join the conversation online. find the team @newsnation. and i am on facebook and twitter and instagram. and this is a soda a day for a year. over an average adult lifetime that's 221,314 cubes of sugar. but you can help change that with a simple choice. drink more water. filtered by brita. ♪ and introducing our new advanced filter, now better than ever.

my name is bret hembree. i am an electric crew foreman out of the cupertino service center. i was born and raised in the cupertino area. it's a fantastic area to work. the new technology that we are installing out in the field is important for the customers because system reliability i believe is number one. pg&e is always trying to plan for the future and we are always trying to build something stronger and bigger and more reliable. i love living here and i love the community i serve. nobody wants to be without power. i don't want my family to be without power. it's much more personal to me for that reason. i don't think there's any place i really would rather be.

a crippling storm on the way for the southern u.s. that's already brought the carolinas and northern georgia to a stand still. cobb county georgia, schools went from two hour delays to full cancellations a short time ago, and this is the same area that was paralyzed, caught off guard a year ago by another ice storm that crippled the area.

the response to that one was widely criticized as being too little, too late. now dealing with inside storms. roads in dallas are coated with ice. look at this a tractor-trailer skidded on an ice covered bridge dangled off the side. the driver of the truck was able to get out of that. can you imagine how terrifying that was for the driver. then at dfw airport, an american airlines plane slid right off the runway. passengers are all okay as is the crew. they tweeted out photos of the accident. weather channel's mike seidel has more for us outside dallas. >> reporter: good morning, tamron. from dallas where the city is waking up after yesterday's snow and sleet and ice. roads yesterday almost impossible to navigate just about every school closed. out at dfw airport, more than 1,000 flights cancelled. today is a better flight day, at love field and dfw. at dfw, only cancelled about 160 flights, about 7% of inventory.

roadways are looking better than this time yesterday when they were covered with that sleet. that's either been scraped off or melted off. getting around is much easier activity. we still have some snow and sleet in the middle of the road and you have the ruts. as long as you stay in the ruts you're in pretty good shape. when you change lanes, you can slip and slide. winter is not over with. yesterday was the first bout of wintry precip. another storm coming in after midnight tonight through mid morning wednesday. this is going to be all snow an inch or two. the difference with this once it ends by mid morning or so the sun will come out, by tomorrow afternoon temperatures will be well up in the 40s. so that will melt that slush off quickly. the storm that hit here yesterday hit the atlanta suburbs this morning. numerous accidents on the north side of atlanta. schools delayed, then cancelled after the kids in some places were already on busses. then this storm will head that

direction. in fact, right now, we have winter storm watches stretching from dallas all the way to charlotte, over 1,000 miles. but the bottom line is all of this wintry weather in the southeast and deep south is not heading up the east coast, it just stays cold there the next couple days. tamron? >> cold it is. developing now, the final witness set to take the stand in the "american sniper" murder trial. as that trial is quickly wrapping up closing arguments could start in a few hours. we will get you caught up. also "blurred lines" goes to court, accusing them of copying a marvin gaye classic. that trial starts today. one of the the stories we are following around the "newsnation." well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential.

you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ♪ ♪ i love my meta health bars. because when nutritious tastes this delicious i don't miss the other stuff. meta health bars help promote heart health. experience the meta effect with our multi-health wellness line. ♪ ♪ meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more.

rma. checking your credit score is for chumps. i have great credit. how do you know? duh. you know those change, right? tattoos don't change. try credit karma. it's free and you can see what your score is right now. aren't you a little bit curious? i just got my free credit score! credit karma. really free credit scores. really free. i have got to update my ink. if you can clear a table without lifting a finger... you may be muddling through

allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin. because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. muddle no more™. in small business you have to work hard, know your numbers, and stay focused. i was determined to create new york city's first self-serve frozen yogurt franchise. and now you have 42 locations. the more i put into my business the more i get out of it. like 5x your rewards when you make select business purchases with your ink plus card from chase. and with ink, i choose how to redeem my points for things like cash or travel. how's the fro-yo? just peachy...literally. ink from chase. so you can. arguments are expected today at the trial of the man accused of murdering "american sniper" chris kyle and his friend chad littlefield. today's proceedings just got

under way. prosecutors are expected to call at least one more rebuttal witness before those closing arguments begin. ex-marine eddie ray routh pled not guilty by reason of insanity to the shootings two years ago. during the trial, prosecutors played a nearly hour long tape of routh's confession, when asked if he knew the difference between right and wrong, he answered yes. defense witnesses painted a picture of a man deeply disturbed, well before the day of the crime. a forensic psychiatrist who interviewed routh after the crime testified that routh believed pigs were taking over the world and that chris kyle and his friend were plotting to kill him as part of it. joining me now in studio legal analyst lisa green, author of the book "on your case." lisa, this trial moved at a rapid pace that was expected. it is complex when you look at his mental health. the number of witnesses and experts limited. >> limited and we basically had two expert witnesses on behalf of the prosecution. one on behalf of the defense. there's some reporting that

suggests the defense may call that witness back to rebut what i thought was pretty strong prosecution expert testimony, suggesting that routh far from being insane knew what he was doing, then tried to cover it up. >> is that the same expert that said he believed he was faking? >> they think he was faking they think he mentioned pigs they think that may have been a reference he picked up from watching television. so if jurors take that line of reasoning, great damage to the defense case. the defense may want to shore up its version of events by having their expert take the stand again. >> this is the ninth day of testimony as mentioned. we could see this go to closing arguments later today. start with the defense here. we have talked about what you believe has been their strongest proof that this man is mentally ill and did not know right from wrong. as this wraps up what should we be looking for. >> to look for on the defense side a wealth of testimony and sadly from family members of

routh who say this was a very troubled person came back from his service troubled behaved incredibly er rat cli. the prosecution is zeroing in on behavior they think has another explanation. they point to routh's use of marijuana and to statements he made that looked at in another light seem self serving. >> so much of this captured on video, the chase of routh following the shootings, this confession also on tape. so you have in this case routh's own words and behavior there for the jury to see. >> but they're capable as we talked about of conflicting interpretations. and we may never know what led routh to kill these two men, but both the defense and prosecution are suggesting interpretations that help their sides. it is fascinating. we have all of this direct evidence, but don't know exactly what the jury will make of it. >> we also have potential conversation after depending on the decision of whether or not

that trial should have been moved out of that community. >> you know, fascinating in light of the oscars over the weekend. >> thank you very much lisa. back to today's breaking news we have been following, a female american missionary has been kidnapped in nigeria. this news coming down at the top of the hour. going to go to a live report from her hometown to learn more about this woman and work she was doing in nigeria and the latest on this abduction. and two well known republicans under fire. illinois congressmaner in shock, accused of spending taxpayer dollars on planes and concerts. this as chris christie blames judicial activism for a ruling that says he broke state law over pensions for public workers. all in our first read.

♪ you know, i tried one of those bargain paper towels. but i had to use so many sheets per spill... the roll just disappeared. i knew i should've bought bounty. bounty is 2x more absorbent and strong when wet. just look how much longer bounty lasts versus one of those bargain brand towels. with bounty, the roll doesn't disappear and that's a good deal. bounty. the long lasting picker upper. illinois congressman aaron schock and new jersey governor chris christie schock was

criticized for his office decor, there are reports he spent taxpayer money on concerts and on private jets donated by donors. ap says it identified a dozen flights worth more than $40,000 on donors' planes since 2011. he reportedly took interns to a katy perry concert in june. the pac spent nearly $2,000. the pac reportedly spent $1400 on a massage parlor for a fund-raising event. in new jersey a judge ruled chris christie broke the law cutting $1.6 billion from jersey public pension system. governor christie is being ordered to work with lawmakers to restore the funds. joining me now, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. let's start with chris christie. his team pushing back on interpretation of what the judge said there, mark. >> that's right, tamron although it is sort of a bad news for his administration.

they have been touting pension reform as one of the big success stories from christie's time in office as new jersey governor. they did put out good news that chris christie tried to create a truce with teachers to resolve the pension situation. but tamron when you add up bridge gate scandal in new jersey credit downgrade for chris christie a lot of jockeying in 2016 where jeb bush and scott walker are the ones at the top of the polls for republicans, you have to end up saying chris christie when it comes to the 2016 presidential contest isn't a top tier candidate now. things can change yet this story is kind of the latest negative story hitting at chris christie. >> in his statement, early statement from his office they referred to this as liberal judicial activism rhetorical grenades, that statement. that often gets attention of conservatives when you have a republican describe something as liberal judicial activism. >> and tamron you also describe

things as activism whether liberal or conservative when you don't like the ruling at all. that's a bipartisan attribute. when you're saying this is activism usually you mean that you're disappointed with the ruling. >> talk about congressman aaron schock. this downtonabbey, some serious allegations regarding how and where money was spent. >> that's right. usually these moneys and what's paying for what is sometimes a bipartisan affair when it comes to ethics. no doubt that aaron schock has been in the gauntlet of a lot of news stories. where that's going to hurt him more would be on a republican primary challenge if he ends up getting one in 2016. when it comes to general election tamron republicans in this peoria district are pretty much a sure thing to be able to win. aaron schock got 74% of the vote

in his 2012 re-election bid. and mitt romney was able to get more than 60% of the vote in 2012 in that congressional district. so if there's going to be any electoral consequence, it would come in the form of republican primary, not necessarily general election. >> you have this statement he was asked about this responded via e-mail that he stays connected with his constituents and also travels to raise money for campaign committee and congressional colleagues was the explanation of the frequent travel. >> yeah. it is a little problematic. again, that's where he could be vulnerable in a republican primary, an opponent could end up saying he is detached from people in the district. hopping on private planes. worth noting tamron there are legal distinctions on what is allowed under the law, but certainly could come back to hurt him. >> thank you very much mark murray. see you tomorrow morning. back to breaking news we have been following since the top of the hour. an american missionary from seattle kidnapped in nigeria. the woman identified as the

reverend phyllis sorta of free methodist church. more from chris daniels at king tv in seattle. >> play. >> reporter: richard sorta was there, asking for help and answers. >> nobody knows anything except she was taken this morning. >> reporter: sorta serving on and off as a missionary in nigeria, plagued by violence as of late. free methodist church continued with armed men storming the academy and kidnapping her. she had been relishing time in nigeria, and opening of a new school, as she explained in a recent blog post or in a video published by the church five years ago. >> i know nothing can happen to me in my future will ever defeat me with god by my side. >> she believes in god, doing god's work that's all there is to it. >> reporter: he believes religion is not a factor in the

abduction. >> the basis of every religion get along, treat your neighbor as yourself. you know what they're doing over there, it is just crap just crap. >> reporter: he and phyllis' friends for now try to keep the faith. >> that was chris daniels in seattle. nigerian officials confirm the kidnapping in central nigeria where boko haram has not been active. we are working to get more details and something from the state department as we follow that breaking news. coming up dramatic video shows pedestrians literally swallowed by the ground. one of the stories we are following around the "newsnation." and this. >> going to live a comfortable life, not worry about struggling. >> the single mother who has everyone rooting for her after winning the massive powerball jackpot. wait until you hear her story. oh yea, that's coming down let's get some rocks, man.

health can change in a minute. so cvs health is changing healthcare. making it more accessible and affordable with walk-in medical care, no appointments needed and most insurance accepted. minuteclinic. another innovation from cvs health. because health is everything. alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours, but aleve can last 12 hours... and aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. so why am i still thinking about this? how are you? aleve, proven better on pain.

this is me. this is me ten years ago. fifty pounds ago. i was over weight for a really long time. and now i'm not. i'm a weight watchers coach, all of us have lost weight with weight watchers and are now helping other people do the same. you can log into your computer or your phone at anytime and you can chat with me. we understand, we've been there. or still going through it. you're not alone and you can do it. you can definitely do this. i know you can do it because i did it. let's get you feeling awesome! join for free today at weightwatchers.com it's just you and your honey. the setting is perfect. but then erectile dysfunction happens again. you know what? plenty of guys have this issue not just getting an erection but keeping it. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop

in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor if... ...viagra is right for you. welcome back. one of three winners of the huge

powerball jackpot comes forward. marie holmes single mother of four children one with cerebral palsy living in a small town in north carolina. the big winner. she took the lump sum of her share of $564 million, after taxes, that brings this mom $88 million. now she says she and her kids won't have to struggle. >> go to school not having to worry about paying for it. >> are you going to tell them no? >> yes. >> i love that. another winner in texas hasn't come forward. third winner in puerto rico has asked to remain anonymous. some incredible security camera video out of south korea shows two people getting off a bus. as they step on the sidewalk the ground opens up, they fall

through the pavement into a sinkhole. despite that terrible looking fall, we are told the man and woman suffered only minor injuries. well this week several states are making a final push in social media campaigns, aimed at educating teens and young adults about dating violence, in recognition of national teen dating violence and awareness. listen to the numbers. one in three young people experience some form of abuse in their relationship. with young girls between the ages of 16 and 24 experiencing the highest levels of partner violence. compounding that issue over 80% of school counselors report being unprepared to address the silent epidemic. that's one of the reasons states like delaware north carolina new jersey and new york are hoping social media will get teens to open up about this difficult topic. in new york one of the local organizations stepping up to meet challenges of getting teens

to recognize date violence is day one, which is dedicated solely to working with young people. joining me a supervising attorney and destiny, an advocate using her own experience as an abuse survivor to raise awareness. i should note i work with day one in the past few years, we teamed up with them for my shine a light campaign to raise money to put together a psa to talk about this very subject, dating violence. these numbers, i mean when you look at them. 16-year-old girls, andrew 16. >> you know it is funny doing this work it is not surprising to me. we work with many young women who are experiencing dating violence and some young men. it is a phenomenon prevalent in every school every classroom, yet people aren't talking about it. it is not an issue that people feel comfortable talking about often. >> on one hand social media connects you potentially to someone who can help like day one, but on the other hand gives abusers access in a way

they hadn't had in the past. we sometimes miss signals that come through, like repeated calling, cyber stalking and other things. >> yeah. technological abuse is a huge thing. i think these pushes around social media shed light on all forms of violence the reasons people stay leave, and are confused. they're getting messages from friends and family and other places more people are shedding light on this conversation. >> i am so honored to have you. on the commercial break, you said you were nervous. don't be nervous. you have been through so much in your life. your story is powerful. in 2013 you were in a relationship where there was physical violence, domestic violence. then in january, 2014 what happened to your sister. >> my sister kia, my nephew kyler and my niece were found murdered in the house by her husband who then killed himself. all four of them were found dead in their house in south

carolina. >> you had already gone through this physically abusive relationship and survived. did you have any idea was was going on in your sister's home? >> i knew there was a lot of control present, however, i never would have thought that he would have gone to such an extreme to take out the entire family, so that was completely unexpected. i actually spoke to her the morning of her death. she looked fine. she face timed me. i wasn't expecting this at all. >> i have been open about feeling i didn't do enough in my sister's case we knew there was history of violence in different relationships with her and my family still grapples with that. with your family what you learned since then what can you share with other people both as a survivor and as -- i can't even imagine all of the family members you lost in that one fatal moment. >> i would say that experience has taught me the importance of communication and listening more than anything else not just talking and forcing your

opinions on other people. if you even sense that something is wrong, maybe make them feel comfortable enough to come forth and admit there's a problem, because last time i saw my sister, she insisted that everything was fine and i knew it wasn't. >> i know quickly day one teaming up with the youth voices network for this writing contest, it ends february 27th. what do people need to do to enter. >> check out our website. we have some information about that campaign. and again, this opportunity to tell stories of young people about violence about their experiences in the world, and to shed light on the issue. we do this work of prevention and intervention. while i am an attorney and represent people in court, really getting that story out there so friends are talking to their friends, families communities about this issue so that the folks that you know that like destiny and her family's story, it is not isolated and in the shadows, in the dark. >> absolutely. coming out of the shadows. we are still doing our shine a light campaign.

go to day one, look up my name. we are still working as much as we can to get our message out. thank you so much. i am so appreciative that you came on andstory. you're amazing. >> thank you, so are you. >> we'll be right back. for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, we're not just insuring our lives... we're helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. transform tomorrow.

now with the xfinity tv go app, you can watch live tv anytime. it's never been easier with so many networks all in one place. get live tv whenever you want. the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more.

over the last decade the pref lance of peanut injuries has doubled. a stunning new study published this week suggests that it may not be the best advice the key to preventing reactions can be in regular exposure at a very early age. we're talking infant. the study published yesterday in the new england journal of medicine found babies regularly given peanuts for at least four years, cut their risk of allergy by an average of 81% compared to general who avoided peanuts. i'm joined by dr. lolita mcdavid the university hospital's case medical center doctor. i don't even have children and i

was like what we've been living in fear of peanuts and now this research. what's your take on this? >> well i love peanut butter i have to tell you, it's the staff of life as far as i'm concerned. what we were told was not that introduce children to peanuts before they were 3 years old because we know that peanut allergy are very severe and can be life threatening and even fatal. and we know that peanut allergies have been doubling over the last ten years especially in the united states. this is giving us a totally new way to look at it. they took children -- they did test them first to make sure they didn't have peanut allergies. and then half of them they allowed them to have peanut butter a week and the other half didn't get any. what they found was those who ate peanut butter not peanuts, we don't want them to choke, but peanut butter decreased their amount of peanut allergy. >> so parents will see this and this is one study granted, i

believe it was 60 children tested between 4 and 11 months. what do you tell parents to do? >> this is very cautious. they say do not start introducing peanuts to your children on your own. you do want them to have a skin test to make sure they don't have a peanut allergy. food allergies are often inherited too. then you do it in small amounts and want to do it with creamy peanut butter, the initial work was found in little snacks called bomba and it has peanut butter in a crunchy little snack. why do kids in israel not have peanut aller gees and that's how they got to it. >> it is so interesting. thank you for your time. we greatly appreciate you joining us again. we'll see you soon i'm sure. >> i'm going to have a peanut

butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. >> you're over 4 to 11 months so i approve. i'm tamron hall. up next "andrea mitchell reports." you know, i think about money kind of a lot. money is freedom. money's always on my mind. car insurance. credit cards. preschool. debt. cell phone bills. it's complicated. it's not easy. i am not a good budgeter. unfortunately, i'm a spender. i would love to learn more about finances. savings. investments. retirement. man: the more educated i am, the better decisions i can make in the future. photos are great for capturing your world. and now they can transform it. with the new angie's list app, you can get projects done in a snap. take a photo of your project or just tell us what you need done and angie's list will find a top rated provider to do the job. the angie's list app is the simple, new way to get work done on your schedule. the app makes it easy,

the power of angie's list makes it work. call, click or download the app for free today.

you just got a big bump in miles. so this is a great opportunity for an upgrade. sound good? great. because you're not you you're a whole airline... and it's not a ticket you're upgrading it's your entire operations, from domestic to international... which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. from workforce strategies to tech solutions and a thousand other things. so you call pwc. the right people to get the extraordinary done. ♪ ♪

right now, homeland insecurity, dispute threats to shopping malls, the department of homeland security will run out of money this week if congress can't resolve a stalemate over immigration policy. that could leave hundreds and thousands of workers without paychecks. >> calling on senators to move the bill forward as quickly as possible. so let's get to work. >> we'll hear from the democrats this hour. deal or no deal. >> the policy is iran will not get a nuclear weapon. anybody running around jumping

in to say we don't like the deal or this or that doesn't know what the deal is. >> we'll get a reality check from jeff goldberg. >> a los angeles bound commuter train collides today with a truck. dozens are injured and four in critical condition. >> they extinguished the fires. get the passengers out of the train. >> good day, everyone i'm andrea mitchell in new york. mitch mcconnell has come up with a plan that he says could get around the standoff to shut down homela