saturday. >> thank you, glenn. for glenn and all of us here at nbc 10 thank you for watching. i'm renee chenault-fattah. >> i'm jim rosenfield. tonight picking up the scent, the discovery searchers are calling the best lead yet. the heavy response has schools shut down and locals are forced inside some arming themselves until two escaped killers are caught. breaking news in the tatao to mir tamir rice shooting. finding blind, the co-pilot who intentionally crashed a passenger plane feared he was losing eyesight and saw 41 doctors in five years. why didn't anyone raise a red flag? asleep at the wheel, which sleep aids could double your risk of get income a car crash. nightly news begins right now.

>> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york this is "nbc nightly news", reporting tonight, lester holt. >> good evening. we're watching a flurry of police activity taking place right now practically walking distance from the new york prison where two dangerous cons broke out almost a week ago. today new clues and a fresh scent have forced a massive response. it's perhaps the biggest concentration of law enforcement we've seen yet. it's happening in a wooded area three miles away. guns are drawn, police trying to flush the men out. all this hitting way too close to home for many who live around there who remain locked in their homes, ordered to stay inside. the question on everyone's mind is it another false lead or has this trail suddenly become red hot? we want to go right now to miguel almaguer for more miguel. >> reporter: lester, good evening. the lockdown is well underway. the search is expected to intensify tonight. they are trying to

corner the inmate who have been on the run six straight days. tonight the army and the manhunt, more than 500 heavy-armed officers on the move. >> i believe we will catch these guys. >> reporter: search teams following k 9s like these who tracked one, if not both of the fugitives deep into the forecast. >> officer sweeney, had a possible sighting of a suspect. >> reporter: tactical teams say this is the best lead they have had. now closing in on murderers david sweat and richard matt. >> s.w.a.t. team and they have a positive hit on the scent and hopefully it's fresh. it appears to be and a footprint with some wrappers with food. >> 12-3 be advised marshalls and state place are on scene, also. >> copy, here now. >> reporter: with officers stacked 100 miles apart, teams are combing an area of dense brush 30 acres wide three miles from the maximum-security

prison they escaped from. dozens living inside the police perimeter told to lock their doors. thomas spoke to us from inside his home. >> it's a huge police presence and shotguns and rifles and pistols. >> reporter: jennifer lives on the edge of a hot zone. >> i'm pretty well off. i got a gun on me. >> reporter: you're not scareed to use it? >> no. i took my hunter's safety course. i grew up in the woods. i grew up hunting. >> reporter: with streets locked down and schools ordered closed children are an alert. >> two people broke out of jail. >> reporter: darlene caring for seven kids lives directly next to a check point. >> trying to keep them calm not worry them too much. >> reporter: tonight the massive push is on to find two killers, just outside the very prison from which they escaped. miguel almaguer dana mora new york. this is stephanie

gas gosk who would risk someone to help two killers. joyce mitchell told authorities quote she thought it was love. tonight there are news reports she was pref justly investigated for improper relationship with one of the two inmates. toby mitchell defended his mother earlier this week. >> she's not the kind of person that is going to risk her life or other people's lives to let these guys escape from prison. >> reporter: the two convicts popped out of this man hole cover sometime between midnight saturday and 5:00 in the morning. nbc news learned joyce mitchell was supposed to be their get away driver but when they got out, she was nowhere to be found, and sources close to the investigation say she got a case of cold feet her first husband who hasn't spoken to her in almost 20 years believes she could have been manipulated. >> she's from a small town and everything. she could be just a country girl that got sweet talked by some city guy. >> reporter: mitchell isn't the first prison worker to get emotionally entangled

with convicts. in oklahoma a warden's wife helped a murderer escape. in new mexico a guard admitted he had multiple affairs with female prisoners. >> they will try to get you down that slippery slope. they will ask for a little favor and then a bigger favor and then a bigger favor until all of a sudden they feel they have their hooks, their claws into you. >> reporter: mitchell may have been hooked but in the final hour, it appears she left these two convicts high and dry. stephanie gosk nbc news dannemora. a lot of people have been closely watching the police shooting death of tamir rice in cleveland, a 12-year-old boy shot and killed while he was holding a toy gun. a judge has ruled there is enough evidence to charge those officers but that will not be the final word on charges. ron alan with late details now. >> reporter: this police surveillance video captured the moment last november when tamir rice was shot and killed

allegedly by officer timmy loman. the gun in the 12 year old's hand was a pelt gun. loman will face murder and probable cause of neg janet homicide. the court is still thunder struck by how quickly this event turned deadly. the judge's opinion in response to activist who used an obscure ohio law to sidestep an investigation and asked the judge to weigh in. >> we're asking for an arrest. that's what the statute calls for. >> reporter: the judge's opinion is advisory. prosecutors say they will present the case to a grand jury well aware that grand juries have not charged police in some recent high-profile shootings, rice's mother told us months ago she was trying to be optimistic. >> at the end of the day, he's still a kid, still a kid, 12-year-old kid. >> reporter: tonight

no arrests for the officers as activists demanded. rice's family may have taken a step closer to finding justice. to the story of an american high school student from virginia facing a lengthy prison sentence after he was unmasked in court today as a recruiter for isis. he threw away his future to further the reach of isis propaganda online. our justice correspondent pete williams ashas the story. >> reporter: a senior honors student from this suburban washington d.c. high school admitted today he managed to use social media connections to get a friend of his over to syria to join up with isis. for eight months he urged his 4,000 twitter followers to contribute money to isis and figured out to how make contacts with isis supporter whose agreed to help a 18-year-old classmate help him get to syria

to join the group. he drove his friend to the airport giving tips. today with his mother watching he pleaded guilty to terror charges in a virginia federal court. prosecutors called him bright and patrolromising but said he was lured by isis social media to become a recruiter. >> it's a tragedy for this community as we have now lost yet another young person to the subdektuctive allure of propaganda. >> reporter: he began the blooding to oppose syria. >> he deeply regret what is he did and is trying to be an example for other young people feeling frustrated by their powerlessness to make change will find non-violent ways to do that. >> reporter: it's rare when a case like this is brought against a juvenile but he was charged as an adult and when sentence in august, he could face a decade in prison. >> thank you.

just a day after the obama administration announced thousands of u.s. troops are headed to attack in addition to the thousands there training the white house is considering establishing new military basis in iraq years after the end of the u.s. combat mission. that potential move is raising new questions about the president's strategy. nbc crist nbc christian welker has details. >> reporter: white house officials provided few details about what is under consideration, deputy national security advisor ben rose. >> we don't have a specific plan to open another base at this time but if we see a need that the iraqi security forces have we have the ability to move u.s. forces either from outside the country or within the country. >> reporter: senior administration officials say if the president decides to open new bases, more troops might be needed but not necessarily. this a day after president obama announced he is sending 450 more u.s. troops to the country for a total of 3550. the white house says the new troops are

authorized to train, advice and assist iraqi forces in the proveince province. isn't this mix creep? >> no this is the mission we've been pursuing to train and assist iraqis. americans are not in combat. >> reporter: supporters in the fight against isis say it's not enough. >> i think it's a step in the right direction, but as the president admitted he has no strategy to win. >> reporter: they said the president broke a promise that got him elected. >> enough is enough. this is how we got started in vietnam and no one is going to say these kids are not being put in harm's way, but everyone knows the president was elected to withdrawal us from this war that we shouldn't be in in the first place. >> reporter: white house officials pushed back against that criticism, noting there were about 150,000 u.s. troops in iraq in a combat role when the president

first took office. now that number is down to 3500 non-combat forces. still, there is no denying they are potentially in harm's way. lester? >> kristen welker thank you. the massive hack into government personnel record is more serious than we were told. some of the stolen data was from diplomats and other workers with security clearances who deal with nuclear and trade secrets. investigators told congress that china's government appears to be behind it as nbc first reported last week. we're now learning more about what may have been going through the mind of the germanwings co-pilot that intentionally crashed a plane. he caught help from dozens of doctors in the years leading up to the moment when he kill the himself and 149 others aboard his plane. our bill neely reports. >> reporter: andres'

victims are coming home students honored with roses, the pain still raw here but is not clear is why lubitz killed him. the french prosecutor said he found evidence lubitz saw 41 different doctors over five years with seven visits in his final month including three to a psychiatrist. by then said the prosecutor lubitz was fighting depression doubling doses of anti-depressants and sleeping only two hours a night and he claimed he last 2 two-thirds of his eyesight. they feared legal problems if they told his airline. for relatives of the victims today, more rain hearing the final cockpit audio recording, some for the first time. they heard the alarms he says the bangs on the door. today the criminal inquiry opened into

whether germanwings or the parent company lufthansa could be liable. they could be charged with involuntary homicide if proved they were negligent in letting him fly. as more bodies are flown home for burial so many questions are still unanswered. bill neely, nbc news london. all eyes on the skies now in northern missouri where a tornado watch is in effect. dangerous looking funnel clouds started forming over the kansas city area. forecast is warning of potential 60 mile an hour winds and quarter-sized hail. a wild night could be in store. a lot more still ahead here tonight, including the warning about sleeping pills that millions of americans take, the potential dangers behind the wheel even when you think you're fine. which one researchers say increase your risk of an accident most. and later, has the answer to the off! outdoor refresher course. gatherings. sfx: ding! extended family, meet crowded living space. claustrophobia, meet bite-ophobia. sfx: buzz!

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a big wakeup call for the millions of americans that take certain kinds of sleeping pills including popular brands like ambien. a march joyjor study today shows how they increase your risk of getting into a car accident, sometimes doubling it. we get more from ann thompson. >> reporter: the prescription sleep aid you take at night may cause you trouble behind the wheel. a new study from the

university of washington finds three sedatives nearly double the risk of vehicle accidents among new users. dr. ryan hanson is the lead author and pharmacist. he looked at three popular pills per scribed for sleep. analyzing prescription and driving records, the study finds restoril increases 27% and desyrel ups it 91%. >> they impair reaction and judgment time. >> she hit a tractor trailer in july of 2012 after mistakenly taking an ambien. >> i want to apologize to the driver of the truck who i apparently hit. >> she was found not guilty of impaired driving. the study also finds the risk of accidents increases over time

and can last up to a year after you start taking the drugs. >> it's not just a risk to them if they are out driving, but it's also to each and every one of us on the road with people taking these medications. >> reporter: this problem led the fda to recommend women take lower doses of ambien because they metabolize the drug slower. the medications are said to be safe and effective when used according to the label making sure those on the road are aware of the lingering risk from the night before. ann thompson nbc news new york. up next here tonight, the loss of a legendary hollywood if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me... and you're talking to a rheumatologist about a biologic this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me reach for more. doctors have been prescribing humira for more than 10 years.

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century fox to his son james. the 84-year-old media titan will remain chairman and shareholder which trolls a studio fox network and fox news channel. another son lockland murdoch will become co-founder. the company announced he's stepping down july 1st. dick costolo has been on the hot seat over twitter's sluggish growth since the company went public in 2013. costolo will stay on in another role while jack dorsey will step in as interim ceo. jazz muni six ornett ornette coleman died and his contributions thereupon with the all the-time greats. he won the poll prize for music in 2007 and passed away overnight. ornette coleman was 85

years old. a lot of fans of "lord of the rings" mourning sir crist christopher lee died. including the role so many will remember him for "count dracula" in a slew of thrillers throughout the 1950s and '60s. he played a bond villain opposite roger moore in 1974 as the man with the golden gun and millions of fans loved to hate him as an evil wizard in the "lord of the rings" drill dee. sir christopher lee was 93 years old. when we come back water, water everywhere. could california solve its drought

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and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more. finally tonight, more of our special series going to extremes. some of the creative and controversial measures some are taking to keep the water running in the west where the historic drought has some californians asking, is there a way to tap the water in the pacific? jacob jacob rascone has our report. >> reporter: the monster drought may have met its match. >> this is our well 60 feet below the beach

that's drawing sea water in and pumping it to the plant. >> reporter: the little town of sand city operating the only decell nation plant in the state making the pacific ocean drinkable and not the least bit salty. >> how do you like it? >> it's good. >> reporter: facing historic drought conditions and mandatory water restrictions many are wondering why can't we tap the pacific? in southern california some are going all in. the facility in san diego county is the largest plant in the western hemisphere. >> going to change the way we look at water in california for decades to come. >> reporter: starting this fall, it will pump 50 million gallons of fresh water into the community every day. the sea water is forced through filters that remove salt and particles, left over extra salty sea water is pumped back into the ocean, but many environmentalists are fighting back. >> it's nonsenseble and absurd. i'll go to my grave

fighting them. >> reporter: attorney marp marco gone marco gonzalez sued and lost and et eats away at flag guile echo systems. $1 billion alone for the carlsbad plant. >> we waste so much water in southern california. it's a matter of enforcement, accountability. >> reporter: and what if the drought ends? >> after the last drought, no one ever came back here. [ laughter ] >> reporter: santa barbara built this plant 25 years ago and never used it. but now. >> this drought has been more extreme, more severe and faster than anyone ever thought. >> reporter: santa barbara will rebuild it. >> i think the city residents get it, this decell plant is an absolute last resort. >> reporter: a drought-proof water supply not without critics in a state running out of one and without options. that will do it for us on this

thursday night. i'm lester holt for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. >> carrie underwood's unbelievable body after baby. >> how she snapped back into shape after just three months now on "extra." carrie underwood.

>> carrie underwood the big winner at the cmt music awards and the best body in a white skin tight dress. >> how are you in great shape. >> her new life with baby isaiah and number one fear she overcame. >> i never have been around babies before. >> only "extra" is at the white house for a special exclusive with president obama. >> do you ever come out to rose to garden and come out and smell the roses? >> i do. >> his teenage girls, his final year in office. >> why president obama wants to share jerry's personal story today. >> you pretty much saved my life. >> from d.c. to london renee is with minutemones star sandra bullock. >> it's more me than anything else i played. >> gabrielle union opens her marriage diaries for a look with dwayne wade. >> this is the entertainment capital of