massive system unleashing flash floods, trapping children in their school bus and spotting at least one tornado. 26 million at risk as the threat continues for days. mystery bullet. who fired the shots heard in dramatic new video of an oregon occupier's final moments? why fbi agents are under investigation in the case. carbs and cancer. could some of your favorite foods increase your risk of lung cancer even if you don't smoke. and what a save. a dad hailed as a hero for his split second reflexes stopping a flying baseball bat from hitting his son. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "ennightly news" with lester holt. good evening. a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll out tonight is showing just how tight the republican nomination is for president.

nationally. trump is at 30%, cruz in second at 27, but inside the margin of error with john kasich and marco rubio trailing behind. the poll comes as republicans are voting today in four states, but it's next week's primaries in delegate-rich ohio and florida that many expect could blow the gop race wide open. democrats, mean phil, are squarely focused on today's vote, in michigan. a state key to bernie sanders' survival. tonight our poll shows hillary clinton leading sanders nationally by nine points. we have it all covered, starting with nbc's katy tur. >> reporter: gop voters casting ballots in four states for four remaining candidates, but right now it's looking more like a two-man contest. tonight an nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finding donald trump and ted cruz locked in a tight race nationally. with six states under his belt the texas senator showing off his texas swagger.

will predict he will engage in more attacks tax. they will be more personal. they will be more nasty. >> reporter: tonight's battle in michigan and mississippi big indicators, both open primary states where independents or democrats can cast republican ballots. >> if donald trump has trouble in michigan or mississippi tonight, we'll see that the establishment's attempts to try and slow his progress are working. >> reporter: now the former nominee mitt romney openly leading an establishment war to stop the outsider today tweeting this attack ad. >> and the best words, this is [ bleep ]. >> reporter: romney voicing anti-trump robo calls for john kasich and marco rubio today. donald trump would lose to hillary clinton. >> reporter: the new yorker meanwhile trading the trail for tv defending his voter pledge on the "today" which critics say evokes nazi germany. >> i'm getting by far honestly until this phone call i didn't know it was a problem. >> reporter: a

former head of the anti-defamation league agreed. >> either he's ignorant and doesn't know what it reminds people of which is pretty sad, or he's very savvy, as he says he is, and he knows exactly where he's going and, therefore, it's dangerous. >> reporter: tonight trump hoping to keep his momentum in the face of what could be a changing race. donald trump needs to win and he needs to win early. if these results come in late that moans it's a much closer race than anticipated and that the attacks against him could be working. lester? >> all right, katy. now to the unfolding democrat story. all eyes on the michigan race where bernie sanders finds himself at a crucial juncture and as nbc's kasie hunt reports, it could be a make-or-break night for his campaign. >> reporter: for bernie sanders tonight voting in michigan is a critical showdown. >> michigan has the opportunity to move this country forward toward a political revolution. let's do it!

>> reporter: today's primary likely his last chance to prove he's a real contender. >> this is a very significant state for me and for secretary clinton. >> reporter: sanders is winning smaller states, but so far he's fallen behind in the big diverse states where more delegates are at stake. >> he's running out of time. as we get into march 15th there's larger and more important states going. he has to have an unexpected change in wind in order to win these states. >> he's close the gan and drawing huge crowds on college campuses and found strong support in union halls, from working class voters hit hard by the collapse. auto industry. >> people are scared. they want to know that the children are going to have a future. >> reporter: as polls open, sanders was on defense and after hillary clinton accused him of voting against the auto bailout. >> michigan voters deserve better than typical washington tactics. >> please go out and vote today. >> reporter: hillary clinton locking ahead in ohio tonight. her husband already in illinois and eager to

general election. >> the sooner i could become your nominee, the more i could begin to turn our attention to the republicans. >> reporter: sanders today dismissing questions about whether he should step aside. >> do you have any real questions? >> reporter: promising his supporters he'll press on. voters are also going to the polls today in mississippi, a state where clinton is expected to do well, and if that's the case she could actually add to her pledged delegate lead even if she struggles in michigan. lester? >> all right, kasie, thank you. let me turn to chuck todd, nbc news political director and moderator of "meet the press." chuck, focus here. what should we be watching tonight? >> we want to see was saturday of anything happening in the anti-trump movement? are there anti-trump forces coalescing, is it around a truds, a john kasich? fascinating that our new nbc/"wall street journal" poll, the big winner out of it was john kasich. can he finish second in a michigan tonight?

that it gives him momentum in ohio? but i think the big story tonight will be whether trump can win by double digits, as he should in both states. he was favored to, or have the anti-republican, anti-trump forces closed the gap, and does he struggle in both? on the democratic side, it's all about what kasie was just reporting on. can bernie sanders win, if he can't win in michigan, a state tailor made for his issues, anti-trade and tough on those things, if he can't win in michigan where is he going to win against hillary clinton in a big state? big test for bernie sanders tonight. i think it's make or break. >> all right, chuck, thank you. tens of millions are on alert in the south tonight for more extreme weather. at least one person has already been killed by a massive storm system in texas. the violent weather leaving a path of destruction in its wake, and the severe weather threat is expected to last for days. nbc's janet shamlian has the details. >> look at all that stuff flying around. >> oh! >> that's a tornado. >> reporter: the south under siege. 26 million in the path of todays severe weather.

near fort worth in hood county texas. >> i looked outside and i seen the roof coming off and then swirling around and before i had a chance to go get under cover gas gone. >> reporter: jim el hill watched helplessly from his living room. a dozen mobile homes in his neighborhood were torn apart. he pulled people out from under piles of debris. >> i didn't think i was going to find in there alive. >> reporter: slow moving storms started in texas but are moving north, carrying gulf, setting up potentially dangerous tornado and flash flood watches in six states all the way to illinois. in denton, texas, children trapped on a school bus. rescuers wading through the rising water to pull six of them and their driver to safety. in grapevine an 18-wheeler flipped by high winds turned an interstate into a parking lot, and gusts topping 70 miles an hour pulled bricks from the student union at tarrant county college. severe weather and

continue through ought least tomorrow and could deliver in some areas up to a foot of rain. janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. investigators believe a mud slide and a downed tree on the tracks may have caused a passenger train to derail in northern california. the sheer force causing the lead train car to plunge into a creek below. at least nine people were injured and four of them seriously. the accident occurred after hours of heavy rainfall. dramatic new video is out tonight showing one. leaders of the armed oregon occupation in the final moments. state officials say their investigation shows police were justified in using deadly force against him, but as our pete williams reports the video raises a new mystery over who fired shots at him and when. >> cell phone video captures the moment the first shots were fired. >> hang on. >> reporter: oregon investigators release it had today recorded

by robert lavoie finecum, the leader of a 40-day occupation at >> you want a bloodbath, it will be on your hand. >> reporter: taken from one of the cell phones it shows him driving barreling towards a police roadblock when state police fire those three shots. >> hang on. >> reporter: after crashing into a snow bank, finicum gets out and repeatedly gets out and says go ahead and shoot me. >> damn. >> go ahead and shoot me. >> stay down, stay down. stay down. >> reporter: oregon police say officers on the scene had been told that he routinely carried a gun. police say he twice ignored commands to get on the ground and twice reached for what they thought was his gun. the third time two oregon state police officers fired, three shots in all. >> damnit, are they shooting him. >> reporter: did they shoot him? >> striking him in the back and killing him. a gun was found in his left jacket pocket. >> mr. finicum was reaching for that

gun when the troopers lawfully used deadly physical force. >> reporter: still unanswered tonight, investigators say one and possibly two other shots were fired that did not hit anyone. state investigators say fbi agents failed to disclose that they fired them, but the fbi says the agents did not fire. that's now under investigation, too. pete williams, nbc news, washington. an american tourist who was killed today in a stabbing rampage in israel, vanderbilt university says his name is taylor force, a graduate student who was on a school trip. at least ten others were injured in the stabbings near tel aviv before the attacker was shot it happened near an event attended by vice president joe biden. biden condemned the attack on social media terror. two of the jurors who handed erin andrews a $55 million verdict are now speaking out. the sports reporter won her civil suit yesterday against her stalker and the hotel where he secretly taped her. as she is jurors tell

wasn't really a question if andrews would win but how much she would get. >> reporter: breaking their silence. >> she was honest and she was emotional. >> reporter: for jurors like noble terry and terry applegate it was hearing from erin andrews that made the difference. >> erin andrews is going to get the money regardless. it was how much and where was the hotel at fault. >> reporter: what affectled you the most when you were sitting in the jury box? >> a women who has built her career in a man-dominated industry and hats done well and i think outside of this incident her life, her character should be a role model for every young girl growing up, and she said the same. >> girls, high school, college, they tweet me and say i want to be erin andrews except for the marriott stalker thing, and i can't control that. >> reporter: average civil award in tennessee last year

$400,000. andrews won more this week than all. tennessee awards last year combined, but she may not see much of it. since her stalker michael barrett was clear that he made the video precisely because he was broke, and if the hotel appeals, andrews won't see any money until that case is complete. terry applegate says this case wasn't about celebrity, it was about safety. >> it's important that when we walk into hotels or any public building that says they are going to take care of us, that they take care of us. >> reporter: morgan radford, nbc news, nashville. now to the urgent warnings over the zika virus in puerto rico. health officials predict one in five there could become inforecasted. the fda is shipping down blood over fears that local supplies could be contaminated, and tonight the head of the cdc is there calling puerto rico fight against zika in the u.s. nbc's rehema ellis has

>> reporter: in this hospital maternity center in puerto rico, there's growing fear of zika expected to affect hundreds of thousands on the island. >> now we have to test everybody and repeat those tests as pregnancy advances. >> reporter: researchers learning zika can infect an unborn baby at any stage of pregnancy, not just the first trimester as previously suspected. cdc director on a three-day visit to this popular tourist destination, ramping up the battle to stop zika's spread to the u.s. mainland. this is the front line? >> absolutely. there are going to be more cases in puerto rico than in the rest many multiples, so this is going to be ground zero for the u.s. >> reporter: can you stop it? >> we don't know how to stop zika. >> reporter: puerto hard because it has the kind of mosquitos that carries the

resistant to certain insecticides. so far 156 cases have been acquired on the island. far more worrisome than the 153 brought to the u.s. mainland by travelers. this woman pregnant with her child cried when she learned she had zika. >> her unborn baby girl is developing normally so far. she's using mosquito spray and hoping for the best. >> my baby is a blessing and i'll have it. no matter what happens i'll have this baby. >> the race to control the virus intensifies on a battleground closer to home. are a homa ellis, nbc news, san juan, puerto rico. still ahead tonight, a question that gave us pause when we heard it. is there a link between carbohydrates and lung cancers? surprising new research raising questions about the foods so many of us love to eat. also, a day at tyou both have a perfect driving record. perfect. no tickets. no accidents. that is until one of you clips a food truck,

yeah. now you would think your insurance company would cut you some slack, right? no. your insurance rates go through the roof... your perfect record doesn't get you anything. anything. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. [ music ] defiance is in our bones.

delicious berries and cream. soft, chewable, calcium plus vitamin d. only from citracal. hey, jesse. who are you? i'm vern, the orange money retirement rabbit from voya. orange money represents the money you put away for retirement. over time, your money could multiply. hello, all of you. get organized at voya.com. (baseball on tv in background) with heart failure, danger is always on the rise. symptoms worsen because your heart isn't pumping well. (water filling room) about 50 percent of people die (dog whimpering) within 5 years of getting diagnosed. but there's something you can do. talk to your doctor about heart failure treatment options. because the more you know, the more likely you are... (dog whimpering)

some important health news tonight about something in the foods a lot of us eat that could be a contributing factor for lung cancer. while the vast majority of lung cancer cases are linked to smoking, researchers say new evidence suggests that diet heavy in certain carbs might also play a role for non-smokers. nbc's tom costello explains. >> reporter: it's a leading cause of cancer deaths in the u.s. more than 150,000 people expected to die

year alone. the vast majority current or former smokers, but 15% are non-smokers. now surprising research has found a potential lung cancer risk factor for them. certain foods that quickly elevate a person's block sugar levels, high glycemic foods. >> they tend to be processed, white kind of starchy carbohydrates with a lot of added sugars. they don't tend to have a lot of fibers or nutrients in them >> reporter: m.d. anderson cancer center studied 1,900 lung cancer patients, the biggest surprise patients who never smoked were more than two times as likely to develop lung cancer after eating foods in foods high in carbs and sugar, the high glycemic food including bagels and upon corn and process the food like pretzels. the spike can aforecast the way the cells grow, something

>> what this does is cause insulin resistance in the south and these lead to the increase in growth factors that are associated with the development of cancer. >> reporter: doctors say it's far too early to conclude white bread leads to cancer, but a lean diet with plenty of fruits, veggies and low glycemic carbs is always a healthier choice. tom costello, nbc i accept i'm not 22. i accept i do a shorter set these days. i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. but i won't play anything less than my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'm going for it. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus it had significantly less major bleeding than warfarin... eliquis had both... that's what i wanted to hear. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke.

don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... ...and it may take longer thanusual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. i accept i don't play ...quite like i used to. but i'm still bringing my best. and going for eliquis. reduced risk of stroke plus less major bleeding. ask your doctor... ...if switching... ...to eliquis is right for you. man: dear mr. danoff, my wife and i are now participating in your mutual fund. we invested in your fund to help us pay for a college education for our son. we've enclosed a picture of our son so that you can get a sense there are real people out here trusting you with their hard-earned money.

we manage people's money. [burke] at farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even "turkey jerks." [turkey] gobble. [butcher] i'm sorry! (burke) covered march fourth,2014. talk to farmers. we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum i do everything on the internet. but it's kind of slow. my friends said i should get fios because it's the fastest...

(man) we're out of 2%. i wonder what else could be better around here? (man) i heard that. now get our best offer ever. super fast 100 meg internet, plus tv & phone for just $69.99 a month online with no annualcontract. 100 meg speeds at a price this good? fios can do that. cable just can't. switch to better. switch to fios sponsors are distancing themselves from mar yar sharapova after the tennis star admitted testing positive to a band substances. sharapova claimed she didn't know meladonium, a medication she used for a decade was added to the list added at the beginning of the year because she didn't open an e-mail link from doping firms. a tv reporter in northern california

himself when this happened live on the air. >> confusing situation. >> reporter: >> a car came barreling right at alex savage and his camera operator who both managed to get out of the way. the car was involved in an accident that sent it careening off the air and amazingly no one was injured and how about this astounding video captured the moment a small plane nearly landed smack on a building on long island, new york. the faa says the plane lost engine power and had to pull off an emergency landing with the plane's built-in parachute. moments later the plane's father and daughter inside were seen walking away from the plane safe good news. you're down with crestor. alright! now there's a way you can get crestor for $3. adding crestor, along with diet, lowers bad cholesterol. crestor is not for people with liver disease, or women who are nursing,pregnant, or may become pregnant. tell your doctor all medicines you take. call your doctor if you have muscle pain or weakness; feel unusually tired;

dark urine or yellowing of skin or eyes. these could be signs of serious side effects. ask for the crestor $3 card. ask your doctor about crestor. we asked a group of young people when they thought they should start saving for retirement. then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. this gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us aren't prepared for retirement. just start as early as you can. it's going to pay off in the future. if we all start saving a little more today, we'll all be better prepared tomorrow. prudential. bring your challenges. we brought you here today to get your honest opinion about this new car.

feels like a bmw. reminds me a little bit of like an audi. so, this car supports apple carplay. siri, open maps. she gets me. wow. it also has teen driver technology. it even mutes the radio until the seat belts are buckled. i'm very curious what it is. this is the 2016 chevy malibu. and it sells for? it starts at twenty-two five. what? oh wow. i mean with all this technology. that's a game changer. huh. introducing centrum vitamints. a new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint... with a full spectrum of nutrients... new centrum vitamints. the microsoft cloud allows us to access information from anywhere. the microsoft cloud allows us to scale up. microsoft cloud changes our world dramatically. it wasn't too long ago it would take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome. now, we can do a hundred per day. with the microsoft cloud we don't have to build server rooms.

the microsoft cloud is helping us to re-build and re-interpret our business. this cloud helps transform business. this is the microsoft cloud. finally tonight, the near miss that's making jaws drop across the country. a spring training baseball game where the fastest reflexes weren't on the field but rather in the stands when a dad saved his son from almost certain injury. nbc's joe fryer has the story. >> for landon cunningham who is turning nine next week it was ultimate early birthday gift, the

to catch a spring training matchup where the play of the game would be made by his own dad. >> he is a hero. >> 3-0, rodrigues runs and the bat goes into the seats. >> you could hear the crowd's reaction on the pirates radio network as a bat slipped from the hitter's hands hurtling towards the third row when landon was looking down at a phone about to send pictures to his moem mom. >> i didn't even see it so i was scared. >> the images captured frame by frame by the "pittsburgh tribune review," just look at the expressions those around landon and look at the calm reaction of his father's sean whose instincts set in like a catcher blocking a wild pitch. >> i didn't have a lot of time to think about it. it just -- the only thing i can describe it as is dad mode. >> reporter: granted this, dad played college ball and was drafted by the pros before getting sidelined by a shoulder injury. now his firefighter, his baseball skills came in handy one more time, saving his son. >> i kind of said

up and tip your camp he held his hat up and tipped his cap and the whole stadium applauded. and he said dad, this was really awesome. >> reporter: as for landon. >> i said is that what usually happens at baseball games. >> reporter: he got to keep the bat as a souvenir, considered a birthday gift he never saw coming. thank goodness his dad did. >> nice save, dad. that will do it for us on a tuesday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for

night. inside erinandrews' $55 million verdict. but will she ever see that money? the "dancing"co-host's peep-hole trial win. >> i had talked to the jury.

against trump's ex-wife. >> i can't imagine wh her life must be like. the poor thing. >> then kim kardashian's new naked selfie controversy. even stars are outraged. you're a 35-year-old mother of two very young children. >> who's telling to stop posting? and it's how she's fighting back. tonight. plus, what's going on with cuba gooding jr.? gone wild, dancing shirtless, throwing cell phones? new eyewitness video. bindi irwin's candid video about her boyfriend. could he be the one? >> me or my family? >> the "e.t." exclusive. back to this touching moment with her father. >> my daddy. >> i haven't seen that. and new dolly parton. her and brad hooking up and why is she stressing over her legendary curves? >> everybody's looking at my belly. now for march 8th, 2016, this is "entertainment tonight."