on the broadcast tonight, the scandal at the u.s. secret service. tonight, is there more? security check. new outrage over airport pat downs and the man who used to run the system now says it's broken. fired for trying to get pregnant. tonight, the teacher versus the catholic school. and up all night. news tonight about how many of us don't get enough sleep and why it matters so much. "nightly news" starts now. good evening. i'm savannah guthrie in tonight for brian. from the moment word broke about misconduct by secret service agents advancing the president's

trip to colombia. some wondered whether it was a one-time incident or part of a larger cultural problem. at the agency. now, one day after the homeened security secretary said she believed it was an isolated snentd, tonight, the secret service is investigating another incident. this one during last year's trip to elval vudore. it's an allegation only, not yet verified, but it adds to the growing headache to the people charged with protecting the president. kristen welker has the story. >> the white house says despite the new allegations, the president continues to believe the majority of secret service and military personnel behaved responsibly and professionally. the nagging questions persist in the wake of the cartagena prostitution scandal. lawmakers and the obama administration acknowledge today investigators are looking into new allegations of misconduct by secret service and u.s. military personnel.

>> i know the allegations first broke about two days ago and the secret service is on it immediately. >> according to a television station in seattle, the reported misconduct occurred just before the president's 2011 trip to el salvador. the reporter quotes an unnamed government subcontractor who claims he joined secret service agents and a few u.s. military specialists at a san salvador strip club for a night of heavy drinking and partying with escourts. the secret service said it takes issue with some of the report's basic facts but will assess and follow up in a appropriate manner. representative peter king said he was briefed by the agency. >> they have gone through the records and there's no trace at all, no indication anything occurred on that trip based on all of the official records. obviously, they're going to talk to the reporters, talk to anyone involved. >> the pentagon declined comment. white house press secretary jay carney skirted most of the questions. >> you're talking about a rumor

in a newspaper that as far as i know is not confirmed. i would refer you to the secret service. >> on tuesday, defense secretary leon panetta traveling in brazil was asked by reporters there about an incident last year in which three marines and an embassy staffer were accused of pushing a prostitute out of a car after a dispute over a payment. >> they were reduced in rank and severely punished for that behavior. >> yesterday, homeland security secretary janet napolitano said she believes the cartagena incident was isolated. >> over the past two and a half years, the secret service office of professional responsibility has not received any such complaint. >> now, all of this made for a rather awkward briefing at the state department where a lot of employees took advantage of bring your kids to work day after introducing the young guests, spokeswoman victoria nuland was peppered with questions about the prostitution scandal. after trying to keep it g-rated,

for quite some time, she eventually said, parents, you can explain all this later. savannah. >> kristen welker at the white house tonight. thank you. tonight, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the death of osama bin laden, the federal government is urging local police to be extra vigilant for the next week or so. our justice correspondent pete williams is in our washington bureau tonight. pete, good evening to you. >> may 1st is the anniversary, and u.s. intelligence officials said some terror groups vowed to avenge bin laden's death, but in an advisory sent to local police nationwide, the fbi and department of homeland security say they have not picked up any sign of a credible threat and no sign of plotting by these groups since bin laden's death to stage attacks here. even so, these officials say terror groups remain committed to attacking the u.s. and there's always a concern that homegrown terrorists could do something on their own, so for now, fbi agents are pulsing their sources and the advice to local police is stay alert. >> always good advice. pete williams in the d.c. bureau, thanks. still in washington,

republicans are turning up the heat on president obama saying his trip this week to election battleground states pushing to keep student loan rates low is pure politics at the taxpayers' expense because it's one issue the two sides mostly agree about. tomorrow, there's a big vote on the issue on capitol hill, and today, the house speaker criticized the president in remarkably blunt and personal terms. nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us now. kelly, good evening. >> good evening, savannah. you know when the president travels, the price tag is big. his trip this week cost $179,000 an hour for everything that goes with him. the white house says it was official business, and so the government, not the obama campaign, paid for it. today, the house speaker called them out and said this particular trip was a political stunt. today, the house speaker's words were unusually sharp and personal. >> frankly, i think this is beneath the dignity of the white house. >> speaker john boehner lashed

out at the president, accusing him of campaigning on the taxpayers' dime. >> it's time for the obama campaign to pony up and reimburse the treasury. >> this boiled over after the president visited colleges in three battle ground states. the issue, student loan interest rates. the current rate of 3.4% will nearly double in july unless congress passes an extension. >> congress needs to act right now to prevent interest rates on federal student loans from shooting up and shaking you down. >> while every sitting president takes heat over whether his travel is legitimate policy or pure politics, today was different. boehner claims the president is, quote, inventing an issue aimed at young voters. the speaker claims both parties intended to fix the problem. >> the president, to make a campaign issue out of this, and then to travel to three battleground states, and go to

three large college campuses on taxpayers' money, to try to make this a political issue is pathetic. >> democrats argue that house republicans did not move on extending the current rate until the white house turned up the pressure. >> hello hawkeyes! >> to travel around the country and bring it up when the other side is blocking it. that's what the founding fathers envisioned. it's just what the president should be doing. >> the house speaker called it pathetic, but the white house responded today, saying they followed the rules very carefully about whether the campaign or the government should cover the tab. and tomorrow, house republicans will bring to the floor a vote about a one-year extension of the student loan rate. >> kelly o'donnell on the hill tonight, thank you. there is new concern tonight about the security pat downs at the airport and what's more, the man who used to run the tsa now says he agrees with the many americans who say the system is broken.

john yang is live tonight at washington, d.c.'s reagan national airport. >> good evening, savannah. kip hawley ran the tsa for 3 1/2 years. he gave us the plastic bags for our liquids and gels. but now he says that ban should be reversed because it's one of the things eroding a key ingredient to an effective security system, broad public support. frequent flyer john brennan spoke for a lot of flyers when he stripped naked at a tsa checkpoint in portland oregon. >> i sent in complaint forms and heard nothing. this was nigh next action. >> outrage has been fueled by parents' anger over patdowns of children, like a 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy in new york city and a 4-year-old girl in kanls canc. in both cases, the tsa said their officers followed proper procedure. the agency's reputation took a further hit this week when officers in los angeles were charged in a drug running operation. passengers today at chicago's o'hare airport. >> we still might be a target, and i feel safer knowing that it's not going to happen here.

>> i'm not so sure it's not just window dressing. >> kip hawley said the system is broken. he ran the tsa from 2005 to 2009 and has written a new book. he argued animosity toward the system is actually hurting security. >> the result of this compounding security measure over ten years has driven the public crazy. and created a huge separation between tsa and the public. >> he sest most frequent flyers' checkpoint horror stories could be eliminated if tsa officers were allowed to use common sense rather than being threatened with discipline for not following preerjss to the letter. >> the effect after three or four years to tell the officers who came to tsa to stop terrorist attacks, we welcome you here but you may not use your brain. >> according to hawley, technology exists that could eliminate the need for the measures people find most annoying, taking shoes off, limiting liquids in a separate bag, and number one on the list,

the pat down. he said all could go away by memorial day without effecting safety. >> you do owe it to the public when you ask them to do something that is hard to pull it out as soon as you come up with a better way. >> in a statement, the tsa said it's using new technology and revising practices to move away from one size fits all screening to progress toward improving both security and the passenger experience. hawley says that progress could go a lot faster, but a big obstacle is political reluct nls to take away any security measures. savannah? >> john yang in washington, thank you. over seas, one of the world's biggest media moguls, rupert murdoch, under sharp questioning, made a rare public apology for the phone hacking scandal at his newspaper, the news of the world, which he shut down in the wake of the scandal. >> the news of the world, quite honest, is an aberration and it's my fault, and i'm sorry i didn't close it years before.

>> sources tell nbc news, national investigative correspondent michael isikoff that the u.s. justice department is looking into whether murdoch's company news corp which is based in the united states, broke any laws here. we posted a fuel report on this story on our website, nbcnightlynews.com. >> health news tonight, and chances are you may be able to relate to this story. a study from the centers for disease control showed a big chunk of the american work force, 41 million people, get far too little sleep. that's dangerous in more ways than one. here is nbc's chief science correspondent, robert bazell. >> it's a nightly struggle waged by tens of millions of american workers. beating the clock and somehow getting enough sleep. but many of us are losing. and today, the government put a number on it. >> unfortunately, what we found is that about a third of working adults get only six or fewer hours every day of sleep. >> those most sleep deprived are

those on the night shift. among health care workers, just over half said they don't sleep enough. for those in the transportation and delivery business, it was 70%. many studies have shown a lack of sleep increases the risk for all sorts of health problems including heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and it is responsible for 20% of car crashes. the cdc says people who work nights should adopt a regular sleep routine. on the night shift at brigham young women's hospital in boston, some people like nurse steven mcgovern say they actually do better working nights. >> even when i was younger, i was a night person. i would have trouble sleeping at night, i was up all night. >> but most like nurse paula ashy said they never catch up. >> i average maybe four hours a day. and even on my nights off, i average maybe three and a half, maybe four hours of sleep. yeah, so i'm always tired. >> a battle with continuous exhaustion waged by millions

with no relief in sight. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. still ahead as "nightly news" continues, the teacher who said she was fired by her catholic school for fertility treatments. now she's taking the church to court. and later, talk about a rough landing. the plane you did not want to be on. off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. flavor, meet food. introducing swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth in easy to use packets. mix it into skillet dishes, for an instant dose of...

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365 horsepower. let's see what that feels like. so this is 365 horsepower. all while delivering really great fuel economy. so we're getting great fuel economy? cuz that's what i'm thinking about right now. in indiana tonight, a former teacher at a catholic school is suing the diocese of ft. wayne. she said she was fired from her job because she was trying to get pregnant using the fertility treatment ivf. the case could lead to another league showdown over religious and reproductive rights. here's nbc's katy tur. >> it is one woman's battle against infertility, and the restrictions of the catholic

church. emily taught literature and language at this catholic school. she said she was fired for trying to expand her family and has filed a lawsuit claiming the catholic school's monsignor refused to renew her contract. and called her a grave immoral sinner. >> my husband was heartbroken, my family was heartbroken. it's been very emotional and traumatic for all of us. >> at issue was the way in which she was trying to get pregnant, in vitro fertilization. she said she appealed to the bishop. in her lawsuit, she said he called the treatment an intrinsive evil which means no circumstances can justify it. even her circumstances. doctors told her after the birth of her first child, she had become medically infertile. the diocese here in ft. wayne said she was not a victim of discrimination, that it had a right as a religious employer to make decisions consistent with its religious standards. in a statement, the school said it has clear policies requiring that teachers in its schools

must as a condition of employment have a knowledge of and respect for the catholic faith and abide by the tenets of the catholic church. >> i'm sure the church is going to say having a teacher in a catholic school that undermines church doctrine in this way and models that for the students is an undue hardship. >> in january, the u.s. supreme court ruled that church employees who pass on a religious message cannot sue for job discrimination, but she said she teaches only language and literature, not catholic doctrine and therefore should be allowed to sue. >> i'm proud because my 7-year-old, one day he's going to know his mom stood up for what is right. >> she's not only asking for her job back, but compensation for emotional disterous and mental anguish. katy tur, nbc news, ft. wayne, indiana. up next, an extraordinary honor for bob dylan, among others. and the first lady reveals the one thing she would like to change about her job. she would

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while protecting the environment. nuclear--clean air energy. here is a plane you're probably very glad you weren't on as it came in for a bumpy landing in very high winds in northern spain. the planes got swept up in strong gusts. one had to go back up before it could go down again. all's well that ends well. the pilots eventually brought it down safely. there was controversy at last night's texas rangers/new york yankees game, but it wasn't on the field. it was in the stands. a pair of fans grabbed a ball tossed in the seats much to the dismay of a little boy sitting right next to them. the play-by-play announcer for the yankees voiced his disbelief as the couple posed for a picture while the kid sat there in obvious agony. someone from the rangers dugout noticed what was going on and threw the boy his own ball. a happy ending written all over

his face. a lot of kids had a lot of questions for the first lady today at the annual take our daughters and sons to work day. one little girl wanted to know if mrs. obama could change anything about her job, what it would be. >> one fantasy i have, and the secret service, they keep looking at me because they think i might actually do it, is to walk right out the front door and just keep walking. just go right over there and going into some shops and stop and have some ice cream. yeah, go shopping. but i can't do that. i can't just up and decide, i think i'm going to go for a walk, and i'm going to walk to georgetown. so if i could change something, i would be able to sneak around a little bit more, but it causes people a lot of stress when i do that. so i try not to. >> another young visitor asked whether the first lady would ever run for president. her answer, absolutely not. and today, president obama named 13 new recipients of the

presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. the awardees include former secretary of state madeleine albright, bob dylan, astronaut and former senator john glenn, the author tony morrison, and pat summitt, the hall of fame basketball coach who just last week announced she was stepping down after 38 years at the university of tennessee because she is battling alzheimer's. when we come back, a daughter stepping up to the plate for her legendary father and his many fans. legendary fa and his many fans. i had to switch my insurance plan. but then my prescriptions got more expensive. i felt helpless... frustrated. it was very frustrating. then john... maurice... jill stepped in... made some calls... and saved me hundreds of dollars. that's a lot. it meant a lot to me. taking the time to help you with insurance questions. another reason to transfer your prescriptions today. ♪ i'm carol, and i bring all my prescriptions to my cvs.

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finally tonight, his nickname was the splendid splinter. ted williams notched a .406 batting average in 1941 and no one has been able to come close to that since. he was simply one of the greatest players ever and he's beloved by his legions of fans in boston where he spent his entire career. now they have a chance to take a piece of that magic home with them. nbc's anne thompson reports. >> they want to touch them all. the trophies, the uniforms, the baseballs. from the personal collection of ted williams. >> ted williams. most famous red sox player. >> put up for auction this weekend by his daughter claudia.

>> for me, it's almost like a gift, giving it back to the fans. >> players answered the call of duty on and off the field. a marine who served his country in two wars. logging missions in his own neat script. taking five years off a hall of fame baseball career. the last man to hit over .400 only asked for one autograph, and babe ruth signed this baseball. >> you arguably couldn't get a better combination of pieces or players to come together on one autograph. >> claudia, born 11 years after williams retired, knew her father as a world class fisherman. it wasn't until she heard him cheered in an old timers game in fenway that she understood. >> i remember thinking, wow, he must have done something really good on the baseball field. >> a doubleheader. >> today, williams still brings converts to the church of baseball. >> a connection to my father, a connection to my family, and now it's a connection to my children.

>> this is fenway park, and there's not a game, no dreaded yankees, just a chance for fans to walk where their heroes do and did. in his last at-bat, williams homered and still refused to tip his cap. >> author john updike famous ll wrote, gods do not answer letters, but this one has answered prayers. >> as you know, there are two things close to my heart, baseball and kids. >> williams raised millions for kids with cancer through the jimmy fund and will do so again. a portion of the auction's proceeds going to help the charity he loved. >> he was adamant about keeping that alive. anytime anyone wanted to give ted williams anything, he said, you know what, send a donation to the jimmy fund. >> once again, ted williams stepped up to bat for the kids. anne thompson, nbc news, boston. >> and that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being with us. i'm savannah guthrie in new york. brian will be back tomorrow. have a good evening, everybody. .