on our broadcast tonight, the devastation across seven states, entire neighborhoods destroyed in that violent outbreak of storms. at least 27 tornadoes in all, and tonight, the forecast is looking grim again. a firestorm of outrage from women after a crude tirade from rush limbaugh. and as the battle over birth control takes another turn. the coach who risked his own life to save others when the gunman opened fire in that school in ohio. tonight, as students march in a show of solidarity, we hear from the man who showed great bravery. and is it an invasion of privacy? new rules from google about the information they collect. also tonight, how to say "no." information they collect. also tonight, how to say "no." "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. as you'll see in a moment, much of the debris is still sitting right there alongside the homes and businesses that were destroyed. and yet tonight across a wide area already hit by tornadoes this week, there are big worries over tomorrow's forecast and a situation that may be setting up that may bring more severe weather to many of those same places. as of now, the death toll stands at 13, over a total of seven affected states. we now know there were at least 33 confirmed tornadoes in all, 33 of them. our team remains in place here tonight, headed up by lester holt in the hard-hit community of harrisburg, illinois. lester, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. the pace of the physical recovery has been remarkable. people today just fanned out. they came with their work gloves, helped clear off

foundations like this of debris. the electric companies are out here restoring power. as always, it's the emotional recovery that's so difficult. people's lives have been turned upside down. in many cases, mourning the death of neighbors even as they ponder the miracle of their own survival. for every collapsed home here that claimed a life, there are many, many more that lie as hard-to-comprehend testaments to survival. >> roof collapsed on me. i was in there. they were over there. i managed to get out of that somehow and crawl out and just started barefooted. started digging, looking. >> reporter: looking for his wife, adult daughter and grandkids who were trapped in another part of the house. and everybody was okay? >> the 5-year-old had to be taken to deaconess hospital for concussion and head trauma. >> reporter: the unusually powerful tornado tore an ugly mile-long wound through this small town, a wound residents and volunteers were already hard

at work today trying to dress. >> there's really no rhyme or reason to this. we know it was a horrific monster that came through here and took six of our lives. it hit this community right in our heart. >> reporter: there was a cruel randomness about these tornadoes. over here, a house fully intact. walk over here, a house destroyed. in many places, the difference between life and death was just that narrow. >> i heard the sirens. >> reporter: standing in their living room, now fully open to the sky, there are some things bob and miki pavelonis were at a loss to explain. >> you don't have time to think. in a split second, it's gone. and you wonder, why am i still here? >> reporter: but fate was not on the side of the couple's friend and dog walker, 22-year-old nurse jalen farrell, the youngest person killed in harrisburg. must be devastating to hear. >> it is.

we went by the hospital. her mother and dad were there. it was terribly hard. >> reporter: as many storm survivors try to recover what they can -- >> that's things you can't replace. >> reporter: jeff street has already found what he was looking for. tonight, his 5-year-old grandson, injured in the storm, is out of the hospital. and the family reunited. >> it's remarkable. god had to be in there with me and had to be in there with them. >> reporter: folks have been working with great urgency to recover furniture, their belongings as quickly as they can. brian, they fear more bad weather will strike here soon. >> lester, it's an unbelievable scene there. lester holt starting us off. and i know there with you is our friend, jim cantore. we talk about tornado sighting, unconfirmed tornadoes. few people realize the kind of investigation that goes into confirming just what it was and how strong the winds were. >> reporter: yeah, and of course

it's a subjective thing. let me show you what the weather service guys probably looked at when they got here at this strip mall. you take a look at the front of the mall here, these bolts -- this was a 2 x 4 that was bolted down. but whatever was bolted to it was stripped from it. look at this metal with these huge bolts just bent in half. whatever came through here probably blew apart this building in about five to ten seconds. you can see what is left of it. the entire strip mall is a pile. but one thing here is we don't have the debris thrown everywhere. so that's why we didn't get one of those stronger ratings, perhaps 190 to 200-mile-per-hour winds. the winds they estimated here were 170 miles per hour. and that reason is because this thing moved at about 55 miles per hour. it's almost like when you make a smoothie, if you don't leave everything in there long enough, you're going to wind up with chunks rather than everything smooth. that's what happened with this thing. it moved through pretty quick. tornadoes possible tomorrow. check this out. a huge area, including harrisburg, illinois, under the gun. the best chance of tornadoes, from the valley of ohio, dayton, cincinnati, lexington, all the way down to huntsville.

we'll keep our eyes on it. >> jim, thank you very much, along with lester holt, for our reporting from there. in the cleveland suburb of chardon, ohio, today, the teenager accused in the shooting deaths of those three high school students was charged with six counts related to monday's incident at the high school including three counts of aggravated murder. earlier today, students and parents marched to the high school past trees decorated with red ribbons in memory of the three boys who died. the assistant football coach at the high school who's been hailed as a hero for moving quickly with disregard for his own safety, chasing the gunman out of the cafeteria, he spoke today and he directly addressed the families who lost their sons. >> i prayed with them. i wiped their tears and i know god was with them. i don't know why this happened, i only wish i could have done more. i'm not a hero.

just a football coach and a study hall teacher. the law enforcement, first responders that came to our aid that day, they are the heroes. >> classes resume at chardon high school tomorrow. school officials say they expect to have a law enforcement presence in the school now for the remainder of the year. it was another deadly day for americans in afghanistan. two u.s. soldiers killed in an attack by an afghan soldier and an accomplice. these killings come amid the growing anger over the accidental burning of korans last week. since then, six u.s. service members have been killed by members of the afghan security forces. today, this country saw more of what a lot of americans feel is ugly rhetoric in the public square, a lot of it aimed squarely at women. this first started a few weeks back during a debate about birth control and religious freedom. and it's gone on from there. today it took up much of the

talk on capitol hill and it didn't end there. we have two reports tonight. we'll start off with nbc's kelly o'donnell on the hill. >> reporter: a passionate fight for freedom over new rules in the president's health care law, defined very differently. democrats see a disregard for women's rights. >> i cannot believe this battle. >> reporter: republicans push back. >> with due respect, that is absolute hogwash. >> reporter: conservatives claim freedom of religion is under assault from a government takeover. >> only this time, it isn't the banks or the car companies. it's religion. >> reporter: a new obama administration requirement says health insurance coverage must offer free birth control and emergency contraception. today, conservative senators tried to stop that, saying the federal government cannot force employers to pay for coverage if they have a religious or moral objection. democrats argued that would lead to denying other preventive care. >> they would no longer have to

offer breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screenings. all they have to do is say, oh, i'm really sorry, we believe prayer is the answer. >> reporter: the divide was not gender but party. >> this issue has become a sad example of election-year politics. >> reporter: republican women voted with conservatives against the obama rule, except for retiring maine senator olympia snowe. while all the democratic women voted to block the gop measure and they won. big picture? >> send a woman to the senate. >> reporter: democrats see this as a winning issue in november. >> a republican-led senate might pass this bill. a republican president, like mitt romney, would definitely sign it. >> reporter: and, brian, this vote was very close. three democrats did join with republicans and we have not seen the last of this issue. conservatives say they will bring up religious freedom again. they have the support of the u.s. conference of catholic bishops.

and today speaker boehner said it's time for a bipartisan solution, and he thinks it's time to get rid of some of the election-year rhetoric. brian? >> kelly o'donnell, thanks. some may find some of the comments in this next story offensive. but that's really part of the point. there is a growing firestorm over comments made by rush limbaugh about a young woman caught up in the middle of this fight over birth control in washington. tonight, a lot of women are expressing their outrage. we get details on this tonight from nbc's anne thompson. >> reporter: this debate is marked by powerful images. the all-male panel at a congressional hearing on contraception coverage. >> thank you very calling this hearing on women's health. >> reporter: sandra fluke, the 23-year-old georgetown law student, prohibited from testifying. and now incendiary words from one of the loudest voices in the conservative movement, radio host rush limbaugh. >> miss fluke, and the rest of

you feminazis, here's the deal, if we are going to pay for your contraceptives and, thus, pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. and i'll tell you what it is. we want you to post the videos online so we can all watch. >> reporter: in 2012, the personal is political. what began as a debate over religious freedom has evolved into what some call a war on women. >> it's certainly an attack on a lot of levels. rights that women felt were settled, i think, for nearly a generation have suddenly become contested again. >> no doubt there are better ways or other ways that one might have phrased it. but then again, he has a huge 20 million listeners and he didn't get that way by being milquetoast. >> reporter: on the internet and twitter, there's a mixture of disbelief and anger. postings like --

"the gop is waging a war on women, let's fight back" and "i vote republican but also realize it's 2012, bible thumpers need to get with the times". tonight 75 members of congress have sent a letter to house speaker john boehner expressing their outrage. the letter calls for republican leaders to condemn limbaugh's remarks. as for sarah fluke, she said she will not be deterred. she will continue to speak out. >> anne thompson, thank you. andrew breitbart died overnight in southern california. he collapsed while out for a walk, the first time a lot of americans saw that surname was on the web when searching an article, it was often direct us to a place called breitbart. that was just the start of what became an aggressive media empire of sorts. tonight, nbc's andrea mitchell has a look back at its namesake. >> reporter: andrew breitbart was the shooting star of the conservative blogosphere. a one-time entertainment writer who worked for both arianna

huffington and matt drudge, only two nighs ago, he was analyzing the michigan results. >> i would argue that he missed an opportunity. >> reporter: today, he was mourned by the republican candidates. >> it's a big shock. what a powerful force. >> reporter: mitt romney tweeted that he and his wife were deeply saddened by the passing of a brilliant entrepreneur, fearless conservative, loving husband and father. breitbart who called senator ted kennedy a villain and worse when he died called himself an accidental cultural warrior. most memorably exposing anthony weiner and grabbing the stage before the congressman could resign. >> the media says breitbart lies, breitbart lies. give me one example of a provable lie, one. >> reporter: one prominent breitbart target agriculture department employee shirley sherrod, fired unfairly after breitbart posted edited video, making it appear she had opposed aiding a white faerm. in fact, she was using the incident as a lesson in racial healing. >> they called me a racist, of all people. they called me a racist.

>> reporter: today, sherrod said her prayers go out to the breitbart family. three years ago, breitbart helped expose community activists in a.c.o.r.n. by mosting undercover videos staged by other conservative activists. andrew breitbart was passionate, fearless and controversial to the end. at the young age of only 43, he leaves a wife and four children. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. still ahead here tonight as we continue, the new rules from google that some are saying is an invasion of privacy. tonight, what they can do to find out how to say "no". and later, further proof that the worst of times brings out the best in people. neighbors helping neighbors, strangers helping strangers, all of them making a difference. s t. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion.

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or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. oh dear... oh dear! ohh dear... i'm not sure exactly what happened here last night. i was out helping people save money on their car insurance. 2 more! you're doing it! aren't they doing great?! hiiiiiii!! come sweat with me! keep going richard. keep sweating!! geico. fifteen minutes could save you sweat! sweat! fifteen percent or more on car insurance. today is a big day at google. the search engine that long a today is a big day at google. the search engine that long ago became a verb, google is now operating under a new privacy policy that can gather a whole lot of data about you and keep it.

that makes some google users uneasy. nbc's mike taibbi has more on what this means and how to say "no." >> reporter: google has always collected information about users who register for its more than 60 products, from g-mail, youtube, android phones and its social networking site. but now, all that information will be in one place. >> it makes google able to provide services to users to low their information that they've trusted google with to deliver better services for them. >> reporter: the other goal, more precisely targeted advertising. >> improving the relevance of that advertising is going to be helpful to the user and improve their experience of the product. >> reporter: and profitable to google and profitable to the advertiser? >> certainly. >> reporter: google's manager for trust and safety has been advising users to, well, continue to trust google. >> we don't collect personal information or share it with others without your permission. >> reporter: but there are skeptics, worried that hackers and identity thieves might now try for one-stop access to everything google knows about you.

>> feel like there's no boundaries. >> reporter: the attorneys general from 37 states and territories warn the new policy would force consumers to allow their information to be shared without giving them the proper ability to opt out. since the midnight deadline to clear your history has passed, what can you do now? you can use non-google websites and search engines, use google's history page from now on to clear your history, though most users won't go to the trouble. >> given a choice between convenience and privacy, consumers always pick the convenience. >> reporter: or you can use sites like youtube without registering. >> it remains anonymous and will not be associated with you as an individual or with your google account. >> reporter: with information from all your google accounts in one place -- >> let's say my son plays little league -- >> reporter: getting directions to your kid's little league team and sharing it with the whole team might be followed by a google alert that you're running late and should try another route. >> i find that a little creepy.

that's not what i want google to be providing me, with that kind of information. >> reporter: or final option, you could go back to maps and books and those things called letters. mike taibbi, nbc news, mountain view, california. >> and by the way, for a step-by-step guide to how you can limit the data that google collects and saves about you while you search, you can find that on our website, nbcnightlynews.com. when we come back tonight, houston, we have a problem. an embarrassment for the folks at nasa. [ nadine ] buzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz, you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪

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afghanistan, in part because we still have personnel in uniform serving there. well, last night at the white house, the president led an attempt to fix that. he hosted and toasted veterans and their spouses, a small sample of the million-plus americans who serve with distinction in the war in iraq. the london newspaper, "the daily mail" called it a girls' day out for kate, the queen and the duchess of cornwall. they visited the venable store fortnam & masons. it was a rare opportunity for shoppers to see all three women in public together. and, of course, the new duchess still causes a stir wherever she goes. as we mentioned, a bit of an embarrassment for nasa. they've now admitted 48 electronic devices have been lost or stolen in just a two-year period. that includes a laptop computer that contains the unencrypted codes for controlling the international space station. there may be more missing devices because reporting them is voluntary. so if the space station suddenly starts doing barrel rolls or

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where we started tonight, that path of destruction from this week's tornadoes. the aftermath is just awful and a lot of people just don't know where to begin. but something else is happening there, as it always does, thankfully. neighbors are showing up and digging in and they are making a difference without ever being asked. their story from nbc's john yang in harveyville, kansas. >> they're asking you to check in at mission valley school -- >> reporter: when the call went out in america's heartland. volunteers answered by the hundreds. strangers helping strangers. ron snoddy is a retired carpenter and one-time rodeo rider. you're working hard out here. >> well, that's what we're supposed to do, isn't it? >> reporter: missy timber is taking time off from her job as a nurse at a topeka hospital. >> doesn't matter whether you know them or not. it's a small town. it's what you do. >> reporter: retired

schoolteacher mike mikkos worked alongside. does that make any difference that this is a stranger's house you're working on? >> no, because someday i may need it and he may come up there and help me. >> the sound of help. >> reporter: some were armed with chainsaws, shovels and front-loaders. others used just their sweat and muscle to clean up this town where almost half the houses are rubble. volunteers have poured into harveyville from across the region, even from out of state. there are so many that they've tripled the town's population, normally less than 300 people. >> i'm just overwhelmed. >> reporter: those here struggling to pick up the pieces of their lives are grateful. >> the response that we've had, it's just been tremendous. >> reporter: some just couldn't find the words. when you see all these people driving in -- >> it's -- it's great. >> reporter: as an army of strangers pulls together to form a community of caring.

john yang, nbc news, harveyville, kansas. that's our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com for jay to deposit checks from anywhere. easier than actually going to the bank. mobile check deposit. easier banking. standard at citibank.