on this saturday night, fighting ebola. the president says we can't give in to hysteria as the first victim to die in this country is remembered. while in africa we meet a remarkable american helping children orphaned by the disease. direct hit, hurricane gonzalo, the strongest storm to strike bermuda i a decade cutting power to tens of thousands. we're there with a live update. friendly fire, the awful burden of killing a fellow soldier, a former army ranger tells us how he was able to rebuild his own life. and state of the union, just married, they decided to start off by giving back. the inspiring road trip that is taking them all over this land.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good evening. more dots are being connected that may offer insight into how two nurses at a dallas hospital contracted bow la. at a minimum a review of medical records is raising still more questions about the level of precautions taken after ebola patient thomas duncan was admitted to the hospital. painful learning experience in dallas has the cdc tonight working out details of new guidelines to better protect health workers while president obama said to be angered over the early missteps warned today against hysteria over ebola in this country. we have it all covered tonight. janet shamlian starts us off from dallas with the latest. janet. >> reporter: lester, good evening. a county official here says they are getting several calls an hour from people who think they might have ebola. tonight, the white house is

sending a liaison to dallas. the first and only person to die from ebola in the u.s. was remembered at a memorial in north carolina today. duncan's fiancee remains in isolation among a group who had contact with him. most will come out of the 21-day monitoring period early monday morning. tonight, the associated press reports it obtained medical records suggesting duncan's care givers may not have been taking measures to protect themselves early enough. according to the ap it wasn't until september 30th, after duncan's ebola diagnosis was confirmed, that there's any mention of hospital workers wearing hazardous materials suits. nina pham, the first nurse diagnosed with ebola encountered duncan in intensive care 30 hours after he came to the er. but there's no mention of her wearing protective gear on her first entry. there is on later dates. it's unclear whether pham wore the gear but failed to log it. in the first mention of nurse

amber vinson, she's reported to have worn a hazardous materials suit and a face shield. texas health presbyterian hospital says the use of personal protective equipment was compliant with cdc guidelines. as doctors train nurses on how to wear protective gear, the cdc is expected to issue new guidelines to protect health care workers nationwide. >> we need better guidelines. the only way the nurse can be properly educated and trained is if the administrators and the trainers do have the proper guidelines of what to say, what to do. >> reporter: while both infected nurses are now at medical centers outside dallas, the city has become the unwitting face of ebola in this country. in local cafes, residents say there's no panic here. >> day-to-day i really i feel fine. >> reporter: but families with a 14-month-old son are being cautious. >> i haven't been going to public play areas as much. >> reporter: you have not? >> i know that that probably seems a little overkill, but just until everything kind of

calms down. >> reporter: 300 miles south of here in galveston the carnival cruise ship magic is expected back tomorrow morning after being denied a stop in kosomo because a lab worker touched an ebola sample. today a worker met the ship and workers took a blood sample from that passenger. lester. >> janet shamlian, thanks. and dealing with ebola here in this country became a major political issue this week, testing the president, members of congress and state and local leaders. we get more on this now from the moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd. chuck, good everyboning. has this become more of a national issue for the president? >> it's definitely a national issue, lester. look at what the president did today, he devoted his weekly address to the issue of ebola. and on one hand trying to show that the government is taking this issue seriously, that they're trying to ramp up a response. he named obviously an ebola czar in ron klain, that is somebody

though that is not going to serve as the spokesperson on all things ebola and the government's response. instead, he's a behind-the-scenes guy that's trying to get all the agencies to basically speak to each other better. but what the president is concerned about politically is this fear factor. he called it hysteria this morning in his address. but what they're really concerned about is that this is impacting democrats. and don't forget, we are less than three weeks away from election day. it's having an impact there, lester. >> chuck todd tonight, thanks very much, chuck. we'll have more on all this, a special ebola summit tomorrow on "meet the press". we want to update you on the toll this disease is taking. the latest report by the world health organization puts the number of confirmed and suspected ebola cases at 9,216 in seven countries with 4,555 deaths, the vast majority in sierra leone, guinea and liberia. liberia hardest hit with more than half the deaths occurring in that west african country. the virus has orphaned thousands

of children, many of them treated as outcasts. that's where one caring and courageous american woman comes in. we get her story tonight from nbc's ann thompson. >> reporter: just 32 and so full of life, new jersey native katie mylar is trying to stave off death. >> people aren't just dying of ebola, they're dying of hopelessness. >> reporter: here is west point, home to the poorest of the poor in the capital of monrovia, and a growing number of orphans. >> we're super close and now she actually calls me mom. her parents have died, her grandparents died. >> reporter: mercy, the oldest of six, is one of many children victimized twice by this disease. >> the community told her she couldn't use the well to go and get water. that she couldn't use the coal to cook food. so we were able to move them to a safer place.

>> reporter: mylar told me about perlina. >> 3-year-old cute girl in a pink party dress sitting on the steps of the ambulance and turns out she just watched her mother die in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. the community refused to take care of her because they were afraid. she had nowhere to go. >> reporter: mylar who's worked in liberia for nine years is not afraid. she's tested negative for ebola. the governments temporarily shut down schools so mylar turned the girls academy she opened last year into a haven for the kids. the guest house is a quarantine unit. >> we basically quarantine these kids with disney movies and love and ice cream. >> reporter: the library is a warehouse for medical supplies. but mylar knows there's only so much she and her team can do. this is the picture that's on your blog that i can't get out of my mind. it's of a young girl lying outside a holding center. >> she was laying on a bench by

herself. i tried talking to her and she was two weeks before she said anything. she was all alone and can't do anything about it. i'm fighting with everything i can and it's definitely really hard. >> reporter: when are you coming home? >> i am home. i'm home. home is where your heart is and my heart is right here. >> reporter: trying to provide hope in a land of despair. ann thompson, nbc news, new york. we have some breaking news tonight from virginia. authorities announcing this evening they had found a body that could be that of hannah graham, the university of virginia student who has been missing for five weeks. >> chesterfield county sheriff's office search team today that located the human remains. investigators have spent the greater part of this afternoon canvassing the property where the remains were found. this sadly is now a death investigation.

>> the identity will have to be confirmed through an autopsy. graham disappeared in the middle of the night after leaving an off campus party in charlottesville. she was last seen with jesse leroy matthew who was arrested and charged with abduction in the case. graham's parents have been informed of today's discovery. elsewhere, just two weeks or so before the midterm elections, the supreme court issued an order today allowing texas to use a strict and controversial voter id law that requires people going to the polls to present photo identification issued by a government agency. we get more on this tonight from nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: today's supreme court order clears the way for enforcement of a stringent new law in texas which means when early voting starts there on monday, texans will have to show one of seven forms of government-issued photo identifition to cast a ballot. >> i think it's a pretty good law. it's basically they want to make sure you are the person you are. >> i think it is a partisan

trick to try and prevent people from being able to vote. and i'm very, very much against it. >> reporter: supporters of the law say it's necessary to prevent voter fraud. texas attorney general republican greg abbott who's running for governor, called it a legal and sensible way to protect the integrity of elections. but opponents argue there have only been two proven cases of voter fraud in the past decade in texas and say the law is an attempt by republicans to limit democratic vote. >> minority communities in texas disproportionately don't have those forms of id. texas's voter id law stands to disenfranchise over half a million registered texas voters. >> reporter: the state argued in the courtroom those numbers are overstated. since 2011 more than a dozen states have passed voter id laws championed by republicans. texas is one of eight states with the strictest laws requiring voters to show a government-issued photo id to vote. this cycle in texas where there

are a few close races, it could be a different story elsewhere. >> given that voter id laws affect disproportionately a lot of poor and minority voters, that could end up hurting democratic candidates if there is a tight race come november. >> reporter: this is the fourth time in recent weeks the supreme court has weighed in on whether new election laws can be used in next month's crucial midterm. in each case the court has essentially preserved the status q quo. the court has yet to say whether these new laws are unconstitutional. a battle yet to come, lester. >> kristen welker, thanks. in northern syria the control of kobani continues. the pentagon announced two more military strikes on isis targets near the town and a dozen more carried out by fighter planes and bombers against isis targets elsewhere in syria. in this country, a memorial today in new hampshire for james foley, the american journalist who was murdered by isis in august. today would have been foley's

41st birthday. and more than 600 people attended a memorial service in scotland today for david haines, the british aid worker murdered by isis last month. he was 44 years old. when "nbc nightly news" continues on this saturday, friendly fire. an army soldier speaks out about an awful day in afghanistan. and later hit the road with a remarkable young couple who decided to give something back a remarkable young couple who dso i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches?

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the 9/11 attacks inspired a generation of americans to join the military and fight for their country. tonight, the story of two such young men, strangers to each other who would later join up and become elite army rangers. their fates would collide in a darkened ridgeline in afghanistan. one would die celebrated as an american hero, the other who

you're about to meet would be left to carry the burden of a tragic mistake that would turn his life inside-out. it's the kind of war story no soldier ever wants to tell. >> you and i could barely make out as human figures. >> but steven elliot is telling about it anyway about the night in afghanistan where he believes he shot and killed a fellow soldier. what made you fire? >> we'd been coming out of an enemy ambush. coupled with the fact that we had no knowledge of friendly in the area. >> reporter: friendly fire has always been a part of war, but few cases have grabbed the headlines like the 2004 shooting of nfl player turned army ranger pat tillman. now, steven elliot, is making headlines of his own stepping from the shadows to say he thinks he shot tillman. >> in my mind you're not considering even the possibility that if there's muzzle flashes, if there's human figures or shapes adjacent to those muzzle

flashes, they have to be bad guys, they couldn't be good g s guys. >> so he and another soldier fired. the forensic investigation determined two weapons were fired, one of which was pat tillman's and one of the weapon you were firing. so where does that leave you in terms of what happened and whether you ultimately took his life? >> that forensic knowledge hasn't changed my sense of responsibility for my portion of the tragedy. >> the road leading up to elliot's painful public admission was littered with the debris of his unraveling emotional state. >> basically, if i didn't drink, i couldn't sleeve. reliving components of the events or reliving scenes of war in the form of a nightmare was very, very common. >> reporter: in the midst of it he got married. >> honestly i didn't even understand the true depth of what he went through until very recently. >> reporter: it was only when elliot recognized that ptsd

tearing him apart that he decided to get help. and he and his wife decided to share his story for the sake of other suffering vets. >> while our circumstances are perhaps unique because of their tie to pat, they're not unique at all with respect to a lot of the trauma people are trying to work their way through. >> he soon found a way to reach out to other traumatized vets as their advocate in this olympia, washington courtroom. >> truth is you've earned a lot of credit with the court. >> a diversion program for criminal defendants with conditions related to their military service. presiding judge brent buckly asked elliot to help. >> i thought it would be really helpful for the folks to hear his story and realize that as bad as their experiences were, here's somebody who's made a real success of their life in the face of those very same experiences. >> this was extensively to help other veterans. was it helpful to you? >> probably the biggest benefit,

it cures you on some level of the myth of isolation. >> as he journeys along his road to healing and redemption, elliot accepts that what happened will always be a part of him. but he says it won't define him. there were ultimately two shooters who were aiming where pat tillman was. if someone came out with the evidence right now that said low and behold it was the other guy's bullet, not yours, would that change anything? >> no. because i still fired there. i still made that choice. all of us felt a level of responsibility of, like, well, i wouldn't want -- if that was the case, i wouldn't want -- >> take your time. >> if that was the case, i wouldn't want trevor to bear that burden by himself.

>> you were both firing in that same location. >> yeah. >> the trevor he refers to is trevor alders who according to army investigators had also fired. elliot ultimately left the army but did not face official charges over the shooting. he has however faced some sharp criticism of his actions that night from some of the soldier who is served with him. we're back in a moment with the latest on hurricane gonzalo. for retirement. but when we start worrying about tomorrow, we miss out on what matters today. ♪ at axa, we offer advice and help you break down your retirement goals into small, manageable steps. because when you plan for tomorrow, it helps you live for today. can we help you take a small step? for advice, retirement, and life insurance, connect with axa. for advice, retirement, and life insurance,

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it was the most powerful storm to hit bermuda in a decade. nbc's dylan dreyer is there for us tonight. hi, dylan. >> reporter: hi, lester, good evening. hurricane gonzalo made landfall last night officially as category 2 hurricane, it produced winds in excess of 140 miles per hour. it also brought in waves at least 40 feet high and produced some heavy rainfall. by the time gonzalo moved away, it knocked out power to about 90% of this island. so we were completely nearly -- nearly completely in the dark. now today was a busy day for crews as they cleaned up. trees were toppled and power lines draped over roadways making nearly everything impassable. but this island was prepared for this storm. by this afternoon most of the major debris was cleared away. and already roads are passable. so this island is back up and running. this storm now is moving off to the north towards new finland. it is still a category 1 hurricane with winds at about 90

miles per hour. so we are definitely breathing a sigh of relief here in bermuda. but i want to quickly point out hurricane ana out near the hawaiian islands. it's still a category 1 hurricane, but it's not going to hit the islands directly. but it is still producing tropical storm conditions. hilo already picked up three inches of rain. this storm is going to stay well south of the island. it's going to continue to move away over the course of the next couple of days. but rain is going to remain an issue for at least today and into tomorrow, lester. >> dylan, see you tomorrow morning on "today." we're back in a moment with an unusual road trip that's making a d ♪ music ...the getaway vehicle!

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career, a chance to help others realize their dreams. but one young couple decided to do it differently, hitting the road with acts of kindness in all 50 states. their story tonight from nbc's rehema ellis. >> reporter: it's smiles all around at the rhode island school for the deaf. this day special gifts, diaries, water bottles, football. >> that's my ball. >> reporter: and with the gifts a simple message. >> what is an act of kindness? >> reporter: the presents come courtesy to make people smile. it started with their wedding. they had planned for an extravagant party, but they were missing an important person. >> we realize my father's not going to be there so we're trying to figure out ways how we can make it somehow in his memory we do something that he maybe would love to see us doing. >> reporter: her father passed away after a charity event he had organized. >> we decided to use all the

funds we had instead of having the big wedding reception to, you know, finance this journey across the u.s. >> reporter: a journey to all 50 states, now with their young daughter in tow. first stop, maryland and a fundraiser for the salvation army. then california to help the homeless. since then they've trekked across the country. rhode island is state number 36. >> thank you. >> reporter: can you show me how to sign the word kindness? this 8-year-old's favorite gift, a bracelet. and now inspiration to do a good deed for her friends. >> even the smallest act of kindness can make a difference. done with the right intention and good spirited. >> this is what makes us want to move forward, visit more states, help more people and help make a difference. >> reporter: sharing the gift of kindness one state at a time. rehema ellis, nbc news,

providence, rhode island. that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today" and right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

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