on our broadcast tonight, the investigation in colorado. tonight our look inside the suspect's home. and we look at a new development in that state. gun sales are surging. also a miracle that emerged from the tragedy. the negative campaign is taking a toll. tonight we're debuting our new nbc news poll. and there's been a change in the race for president. inside syria as the violence escalates, a new threat over chemical weapons. high and dry. the place where you can really see the effects of this drought. the once mighty mississippi, where it's getting tough to move cargo. and the year of the woman. even before the torch is lit, these olympic games are making history. a year of firsts and they happen

to be all about women. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. just yesterday we got our first look at the suspect, james holmes, the unsettling sight of the man accused of one of the worst gun massacres in u.s. history. we're learning more about how he lived, where he lived and how it was he purchased an arsenal. we also learned that gun sales are spiking in colorado in the aftermath of this shooting. far to the east in washington today. the house of representatives stood still for a time. a moment of silence for the victims in colorado. one p member of congress from colorado said, since she's been in congress, there have been 23 moments of silence for various victims of gun silence. she asked how many more there need to be until something is done. we begin our reporting tonight with nbc's mike taibbi in

centennial, colorado, good evening. >> reporter: it's happened in other cities where there have been horrible episodes of gun violence. gun sales and permit applications are soaring now. also today, some questions, how did james holmes pay for the arsenal police say he put together in the months before the massacre? >> is there anything can i do for you. >> reporter: at the rocky mountain guns and ammo shop in aurora. the days since the theater blood bath have been the busiest he's seen. >> the day after i showed up and there were 15 people standing out here waiting to get in. >> reporter: for many of baker's customers the massacre is the reason. >> the incident opened up my eyes to what's going on out there. >> reporter: it's not just in aurora, statewide, gun ranges have been packed. and applications for gun permits jumped 43% from the previous week. >> on july 20th, cbi conducted more than 1200 background checks related to firearms purchases.

on july 19th, they conducted around 900. >> reporter: it costs thousands of dollars for the ammo holmes bought. he was in a doctoral program in colorado living on a 26,000 federal stipend from the national institutes of health. could he have usedarsenal? >> it's the national standard for stipends. so they can devote 100% of their effort to their research. >> reporter: he was devoting much of his effort elsewhere. he turned his apartment into a booby trapped killing zone. he registered on at least one dating site. he called himself classic jim. his soul penetrating eyes were his best feet tour and he spends a lot of time thinking about the futu future. a question for possible matches, will you visit me in prison. >> he was one of the best sons

any man could ever have. and i've been honored to know him. >> reporter: two items of upbeat news today. christian bale is in aurora visiting victims of the shooting. no newborn photo. the hospital says mom and baby are doing great. mike taibbi, nbc news, centennial, colorado. >> i'm miguel almaguer in aurora, a community is finding stories of bravery and survival. >> grabbed him by the head and told him, get down. >> reporter: the air force veteran pushed his son michael, jr. and his girlfriend to the ground. >> we have multiple victims. >> reporter: michael jr. was hit, so was farrah. >> seven down.

>> my dad takes off his shirt and he's applying pressure to her. i see her holding her side and holding her intestines in. just make sure she's going to be okay. >> reporter: today michael and his father are out of the hospital. farrah will be release d soon. >> there's guns being fired and there's bats flying across the screen because the movie was still on. it's every child's worst nightmare of being in the dark, and the bad guy comes to get you. >> reporter: stephanie davies refused to leave her best friend hinned. >> she's like, no, i'm not leaving, you stay. >> reporter: ally was shot in the neck. >> she puts her fingers over my artery. the carrotid artery exploded.

i had been shot. everyone's running out. >> stephanie carried ally out of the chaos, across two parking lots and into an ambulance. >> she single handedly saved my life. >> you really learn what your friend ship means. we'll be in each other's lives forever. >> reporter: these are just some of the stories of survival, acts of heroism and bonds of family and friends that are helping to bring this community together. >> mike taibbi before that, thanks. now we turn to presidential politics. in our new poll debuting here tonight has some eye opening findings about the way this campaign is being run. and the effect it's having on both sides. our political director, chief white house correspondent chuck todd with the numbers. good evening.

>> this campaign in the month of july has taken an especially nasty turn, and perhaps it was only a matter of time that voters would express their frustration. that's the biggest takeaway from our new wall street journal poll. the fundamental issues haven't changed. the negative campaign has taken a toll on how voters view both the president and mitt romney. from columbus, ohio to orlando, florida, denver, colorado and richmond, virginia, americans are being subjected to an unusually early flurry of negative tv ads. >> when a president doesn't tell the truth, how can we trust him to lead? ♪ america america >> reporter: and president obama and mitt romney have campaigned at live events they've been just as negative and direct. >> governor romney was at it again. knowingly twisting my words around. >> it's a very strange and in

some respects foreign to the american experience type of philosophy. >> reporter: and the mud is splattering on both candidates, according to our new poll. the president is viewed negatively by 43% of voters. romney's negative rating of 40%,the worst our poll has recorded for him yet. it's a rating that ranks him lower than john mccain in 2008, john kerry and bob dole. it's the economy that continues to be the president's political achilles heel. with a majority disapproving of how he's handled the economy. romney leads the president on who has better ideas for improving the economy, 43-36. it's by the margins people say the negativity has been making an impact.

the hits seem to be taking a greater toll on romney. 46% of voters say they didn't like romney personally. that compares to just 31% who said the same about the president. perhaps mindful of the toll this nasty campaign is taking, both campaigns are out with much softer hits on each other this week. >> sometimes politics can seem very small. >> he tried, you tried. it's okay to make a change. >> you know, today the focus of the back and forth was foreign policy. romney took his turn in front of the veterans of foreign wars in reno. he gave a fiery speech of the president's record. foreign policy is one of the president's strengths. when matched up with romney, he leads him in every major foreign policy area. >> chuck todd, thanks. a program note here, when we see you for tomorrow night's broadcast, we'll be in london, where we'll have an exclusive interview with governor romney, as he starts the first overseas trip of the campaign.

big chains are coming to the new orleans police department long troubled by violence and scandal and under especially close scrutiny since the days of hurricane katrina. the u.s. attorney general eric holder announced an agreement with the nopd, a strict plan to overhaul department procedures top to bottom. a sad first for the catholic church in the modern era. in philadelphia a roman catholic monseigneur was sentenced to three to six years in prison today by a judge who said he turned a blind eye while priests he managed sexually abused children. he's the first u.s. church official convicted of a felony for covering up abuse claims of a priest. the judge told him, directly. you knew full well what was right, but you chose wrong. inside syria, tonight. the assad regime has issued a new threat. it has chemical weapons and

they're willing to use them against ex-tternal aggression. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has been able to get back inside syria, and report from there for us tonight. >> reporter: syrian forces have launched a major counter offensive. fighting for the last 48 hours to maintain control of syria's commercial capital and biggest city. assad is fighting hard here, because he's already lost control of nearly all the towns around allepo. the town itself is sealed off. we managed to enter a town just 15 miles away, now in rebel hands. we were shocked at the amount of destruction. the town is still under attack. 11 people were killed here today by government shelling. on a ruined street, we found this woman with her son killed in front of her. my god punish bashar she cried.

there were 30,000 people in this town, now only the rebels remain. this is it the cost of driving out assad's forces. as this war continues, without outside help for intervention, syria is being destroyed one town at a time. down an abandoned street, a rebel showed me what was the government headquarters and its feared interrogation center. this one with the metal gate was the torture room he said. they used to torture people with electric shocks. >> reporter: but the syrian counter offensive could be much worse. the syrian government on monday acknowledged for the first time that it has chemical weapons and threatened to use them against foreign aggression, but not it's own people. even without such weapons, the assad government has already killed thousands and has now unleashed its army on aleppo, a

city of three million people and all the towns around it. richard engel, nbc news, in northern syria. still ahead as we continue here tonight, the cruel damage from the relentless drought this summer. the once mighty mississippi at near record lows. much of the cargo going nowhere fast, and that could affect consumer prices at the store. and later, a big first for women at the london olympic games and meredith vieira has their story tonight. can our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. to support cell health. for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms caused by acid reflux disease.

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iowa tonight. john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the drought is a double whammy for mississippi barge shippers. they have less product to ship. and the low water levels mean higher shipping costs and slower traffic. from minnesota to the gulf of mexico, the 2300 mile mississippi river is a critical backbone of american commerce, carrying 60% of the nation's grain, 22% of u.s. oil and gas. 20% of coal. in all, $180 billion of goods. but the drought of 2012 has humbled the mighty mississippi. steve frydel has worked on the river nearly a half century. he hasn't seen it like this in almost 25 years. >> mother nature decides it wants to do something, it doesn't make any difference what man made does. >> reporter: travel down the maritime superhighway and see

the dramatic control. in cairo, illinois, 12 feet low than normal. further south in memphis, it's 17 feet lower than normal. in vicksburg, mississippi levels are off by 21 feet. u usually here in st. louis, it's about 30 feet deep. right now the river is 15 feet deep. >> low water means less cargo to help them ride higher in the water, hauling empty space. costs don't go down. >> it takes up the same amount of fuel to burn, and the same amount of manpower. >> it also means a narrow river channel, turning the mississippi into a one-way street. barges heading north have to wait for travel heading south, sometimes delaying shipments by days, and delays cost money. during the last big drought in 1988, the mississippi got so low that barge traffic ground to a

halt. >> if that river's closed, there's a negative economic impact of $290 million a day, and it grows exponentially after the fourth day. >> reporter: those comparisons to the big drought in 1988 are not out of the question. forecasters don't expect significant rain on the upper mississippi river for the rest of the summer. brian? >> john yang, debuke, iowa tonight. thanks for that report. up next after a break, we first met him as one of arch which i bunker's friends, that was before he moved on up. tonight america has lost a big sitcom star. [ snoring ] ♪ [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] introducing zzzquil sleep-aid. [ snoring ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] it's not for colds, it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] because sleep is a beautiful thing. [ birds chirping ] introducing zzzquil,

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geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. this right here is the definition of a flash flood right before our very eyes. a viewer in tucson shot this video. it captures exactly something we've been reporting on and talking about recently. this happens to be an area scorched by wildfires and note the soil can't absorb the

rainfall. instead it has no choice but to flow right on through. in phoenix it happened again, another one of those massive walls of dust enveloped the city as a severe storm system moved through. weather experts say the stage is set for more of these to occur this week. sherman hemsley has died. no one else could have played george jefferson the way he did, starting on "all in the family" and then master of his own domain with his wife and all the other characters we came to know and love. he got his bearing in the u.s. military. he was an air force veteran who kicked around in odd jobs. he works at the post office for eight years while taking acting classes at night. he was a recording artist and a sitcom veteran. his acting earned him an emmy nomination. sherman hemsley of the east side

was 74 years old. the following is for those of a certain generation. millions of us grew up on weekly reader, it was in our classroom. it's been around since 1928. at one time it had 13 million young readers every week. but the foekss at sclal after theic say they will fold it into their other properties. meredith vieira at the london olympics with what may be the biggest story of the games about to begin. and one particular woman you need to meet 37 those surprising little things she does

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get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org. finally here tonight, as this broadcast gets ready to head for london and the olympic games, a story of people who are already making history even before the torch gets lit. for the first time ever, all 205 nations competing in the games are sending women athletes. and on team usa a first, the women outnumber the men. meredith vieira reports for us tonight on just what may be the year of the woman. >> reporter: even as missy franklin is poised to be the

next american swimming icon, allyson felix is going for gold on the track. >> felix, with a sizable victory. >> reporter: and some experts are saying this could be the greatest u.s. gymnastics women's team ever. the girls at the london games have already made history. >> we have 269 women and 261 men on the team. that really represents a strong group of women. >> reporter: and on the global stage, middle eastern countries will send female olympians to london, for the first time in history every country competing in the olympics will send women. 22-year-old tamina is a sprinter from afghanistan. here you are at the olympics, the only woman on your team. only the third woman ever from afghanistan to compete in the olympics, it's been a hard road for you to get here, hasn't it? >> yeah, it's very hard and difficult for me. there's a lot of people supporting me. there's also a lot of people

that don't like me and they just hate me. >> reporter: what do they say? >> sometimes they say i'm not a good girl because i'm doing sports. >> reporter: are you seen as less of a woman because you're involved in sports? >> in are a lot of afghan women that don't accept me and my ways, thinking i'm wrong. but i am not wrong. >> reporter: it's not just the men, it's the women too? >> yes. >> reporter: she's a practicing muslim and will compete in the olympics in a traditional head scarf and islamic uniform. what do you think the likelihood is that you will medal? >> it's difficult to medal. it's just like a green. but if i medal, i think i will start a new way for the women of afghanistan know that i will strive. on that time they will believe that they can do everything they want. >> meredith vieira reporting

tonight from london. that is our broadcast for this tuesday evening. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams, we hope to see you tomorrow evening from london. good night from new york. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com