on this wednesday night, breaking news. reports tonight of another black eye for the secret service. allegations of a car crash at the white house with an agent at the wheel. chopper down. a training mission off the florida coast goes horribly wrong with 11 service members aboard. tonight, the military is presuming the worst. resignation. the embattled police chief in ferguson, missouri becomes the latest official to step down after that scathing report on racial bias. and beating cancer. new hope battling one of the most feared forms with a boost shot many of us have already had. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight, lester holt

good evening. as we start tonight we're watching several big stories including the search for wreckage and survivors of the scene of a deadly military helicopter crash overnight off the coast of florida. we want to begin here this evening with what appears to b another embarrassment for the secret service. details just surfacing about an investigation into a possible car crash on the white house grounds involving members of t secret service including an agent assigned to president obama's protective detail. let's go right to nbc's tom costello in our washington newsroom. tom. >> reporter: lester, good evening. a senior administration offici is confirming to nbc news this evening that there is an investigation into the actions of two secret service agents including a top member of president obama's protective detail. the secret service tells us it's looking into what happened on march 4th when two agents drove a government vehicle into a white house security perimeter. and tonigh

fact been reassigned. the officers wanted to arrest them but were told by supervisors to let them go home. package on white house grounds. the agents arrived using their emergency flashing lights, whi may have been a violation of secret service regulations. government officials tell nbc news the secret service is now working with the homeland security inspector general to conduct an investigation. the president is aware of the investigation. and we have learned two employees have now been reassigned. all of this coming after the former head of the secret service was forced out after a series of high profile scandals at the agency. lester. >> all r tonight, thank y now to the other big story we're following here. the families of 11 american service members are receiving the worst possible news following a deadly training accident off the gulf coast of florida. the military says four army aviators along with seven marines were aboard a black hawk

helicopter that crashed during a nighttime training mission near eglin air force base. this is among the deadly military training accident in site. >> reporter: searchers spent t day looking for debris from th army black hawk helicopter whi crashed overnight off the florida panhandle. washed up shore a piece of landing gear with a medical ki nearby and what appears to be window from the downed senior military officials say searchers also recovered most of the human remains in the dense fog. >> as hampering those operations throughout the morning and day. >> reporter: officials say the crash occurred early last nigh in the santa rosa sound. they lost track of the chopper around 8:30 p.m. erica stone lives along the sound and believes she heard t crash somewhere out in the fog. >> we heard a loud sound. you know, kind of like a bombi but a little different.

>> reporter: her husband, jasper, awoke this morning to find pieces of the chopper and jet fuel coming ashore on his property. >> every four or five feet or there was some beach ball size debris. >> reporter: onboard the chopp were seven u.s. marines and fo army national guard crew membe on a nighttime training mission. >> i can tell you they had several thousand hours in that cockpit and they had several thousand combat hours in that cockpit. >> reporter: a pentagon offici says it's feared all perished. the two-engine black hawk uh-60 is the combat workhorse of the u.s. military. it can car a time with a crew of four. ithasrange of 370 miles with a top speed of 170 miles an hour. the marines aboard were from clamp lejeune, north carolina. the helicopter battalion based in hammond, louisiana had neve lost a soldier until now. in iraq it flew saddam hussein after capture in 2006. and after hurricane katrina helped rescue thousands,

plucking many off rooftops. and witnesses say the dense fo that we're seeing now is not nearly as bad as it was at the time of the crash. meantime, officials have not y suggested why that crash occurred. lester. >> mark potter covering that story tonight. thank you. now to a development that protesters have been calling f practically ever since a polic officer shot michael brown dea in ferguson, missouri. the city and the police chief, thomas jackson, have agreed to what they're calling a mutual separation. that means the chief is steppi down effective next week. nbc's ron allen with this report. >> reporter: ferguson police chief tom jackson has faced withering criticism since the death of michael brown last august. his wilson's name while releasing video of brown in a robbery, fueled calls for resignation. the justice department investigation found jackson was running a police department

rampant with racial bias. more focused on raising revenu through the courts than public safety. he had resisted constant calls to step down. jackson followed ger john shaw out the door. >> we expect you to do more. >> reporter: the council approved a mutual separation agreement last night. and the top judge who resigned after missouri supreme court ordered a higher ranking judge to take over. before that the city fired its top clerk and two police supervisors resigned after the doj report linked them to racially charged e-mails. the fallout may continue as federal investigators press for reforms they've said dismantli the police department is not o of the question. in a statement to nbc news, jackson said he's confident th city will pull through these trying times. the ferguson police supervisor will now take over while the city conducts a nationwide search for a new police chief. lester. >> ron allen, thank you. national leaders for the video singing racial slurs say

that the chant is not part of the fabric of their organization. but there are questions tonigh about whether the song or at least the sentiment in it has been heard in chapters beyond the one at the university of oklahoma. nbc's gabe gutierrez has been looking into it. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: sigma alpha epsil today said racist behavior entered its university of oklahoma chapter three to four years ago calling it a horrible cancer. >> we had to cut that cancer before it infects too many other groups. >> reporter: sae's national spokesman says the fraternity has so far been unable to veri reports of similar chants at other campuses. parker rice, one of the sae members in this video, said th song was taught to us. >> when somebody says it was taught to us, we know it was not the national headquarters. it wasn't even something that would be part of our history a all. >> reporter: rice said i am deeply sorry for what i did saturday night. it was wrong and reckless. i admit it likely was fueled b

alcohol consumed at the house before the bus trip. but that's not an excuse. the parents of a second fraternity member in the video levi pettit also apologized, h made a horrible mistake and wi live with the consequences forever. >> it's an old fraternity tradition of singing these typ of songs. >> reporter: andrew who in college was in sae and now outspoken critic of greek life >> racism is alive and well in american campus especially fraternities. >> reporter: active member of the university of cincinnati black student association and proud sae member. >> we do not act like that. bad behavior is not something that we represent. >> reporter: in 2013 the sae chapter at washington universi in st. louis was suspended following allegations that pledges sang racial slurs to african-american students. last year clemson university's chapter was suspended for holding a racially themed part now at ou the growing scandal has sparked a rallying cry. and today the normally silent

statues spoke volumes. all the members have moved out of the sae house here on campu and now the national organization is looking to kic them out permanently. lester. >> all right, gabe, thank you. new developments to report tonight in the controversy ove hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail account for government business. the state department's watchdo said today that many e-mails b mrs. clinton and other officia may not have been saved automatically as clinton claimed. nbc's andrea mitchell has been looking into it. >> reporter: defending her use of private e-mails, hillary clinton said her e-mails to he state department colleagues were saved by them. >> it was my practice to communicate with state department and other governmen officials on their dotgov accounts. so those e-mails would be automatically saved in the sta department system to meet recordkeeping requirements. and that indeed is what happened. >> reporter: but only 24 hours later a new state department inspector general's report say for the past five years most

important state department e-mails for all of the state department were not properly archived. the report says a computer upgrade in 2009 when clinton took office failed to preserve thousands of key policy e-mail for example, in 2011, employees archived only 61,156 e-mails o of more than 1 billion sent. why? inspectors found employees did not receive adequate training. the computer system kept breaking down. and some employees deliberatel avoided creating computerized records that could be searched later. >> the state department just wasn't saving its e-mails. not mrs. clinton's, not all th responsible people for our foreign policy. >> repor being challenged for her claim she never sent a classified e-mail. >> i did not e-mail any classified material to anyon my e-mail. there is no classified materia >> reporter: republicans were skeptical. and even the white house didn'

rush to her defense. >> ultimately i think it will up to all of you to make your own determinations about sort how secretary clinton has resolved this matter. >> reporter: clinton stumbled over how she's handled this controversy have in fact persuaded advisers she needs t speed up her campaign launch n likely in just a few weeks. lester. >> just to be clear, this repo a coincidence the timing. >> totally. they've been investigating for three years. >> andrea mitchell, thank you. heated moments in the nation's capitol when official from the obama administration came face-to-face with republicans who signed a lette warning iran that any nuclear deal that it could strike with the u.s. may not be worth the paper it's printed on. more from nbc's peter alexande >> reporter: with the white house and congressional republicans clashing over a nuclear deal with iran, today direct confrontation on capito hill. secretary of state john kerry blasting the letter sent by senate republicans to iran's leaders this week.

>> in my reaction to the lette was utter disbelief. >> reporter: that letter warns one of america's enemies that any nuclear deal reached with the president and u.s. allies could be undone if it isn't approved by congress. kerry called it irresponsible and misleading. >> it purports to tell the wor if you want to have any confidence in your dealings wi america, they have to negotiat with 535 members of congress. that is both untrue and profoundly a bad suggestion to make, i think. >> secretary, i know that's a well-written speech -- >> not a speech, my friend. this is not a speech. >> this indignation and breast beating over this letter is absolute nonsense. >> reporter: this morning on "today" rand paul who signed t letter insisted it doesn't undermine the president. >> we're going to have to get this agreement by congress and in doing so maybe the president will negotiate a more appropriate deal. >> reporter: hillary clinton took aim at potential republic opponents in 2016, like rand

paul, tweeting, no one considering running for commander in chief should be signing on. tonight, more than 170,000 people have petitioned the administration to file charges against those 47 republican senators for violating what's called the logan act that forbids citizens from negotiating disputes between t u.s. and a foreign government. with that many petitioners by its own rules, the white house will have to respond. lester. >> peter alexander at the white house, thank you. now to a war that continue to create some unlikely alliances. iran is now playing what could turn out to be a decisive role in the fight against isis in iraq. the battle to win back a major city from isis militants. it's the biggest counteroffensive against isis far. nbc's bill neely with more tonight from northern iraq. >> reporter: it's a decisive moment. iraqi fighters surrounding tikrit trying to drive isis out of a major city for the first time. they've begun slowly to push into the city that gave berth iraq's former dictator saddam

hussein. but outnumbering the flags of iraq's army are those of shiit militias, a rainbow that's alarming the u.s. because these are men armed, trained and backed by iran. directing them from tikrit is the head of the iranian revolutionary guards elite force. america's top general told congress today that of the 24,000 men attacking tikrit, 20,000 are iranian-backed. >> the activities of the iranians to support for the iraqis security forces is a positive thing in military ter against isil. but we are all concerned about what happens after the drums stop beating and isil is defeated. >> reporter: but the u.s. is a onlooker watching iran's men from the sidelines, no air strikes here, no help. the u.s. believes tikrit will

fall. and fears the iranian-backed shiite militias could go on th rampage against its sunni population. isis may lose tikrit, iran intends to win the bigger batt for iraq. and that would be no gain at a for the u.s. bill neely, nbc news, irbil, iraq. there's a lot more to tell you about here tonight includi the story of a simple booster shot one that many of us have had that may have helped this cancer patient live to see her grandchildren. it's fascinating. also news abou who survived a terrible car crash and waters of a frigid river. we'll be back. crash and waters of a frigid river. we doug. you've been staring at that for awhile, huh? listen, td ameritrade has former floor traders to help walk you through that complex trade. so you'll be confident enough to do what you want. i'll pull up their number. blammo. let's get those guys on the horn. oooo looks like it is time to upgrade your phone, douglass.

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a promising development to report tonight in battling one of the hardest forms of cancer to treat. nearly 23,000 americans are diagnosed with brain cancer ea year. now researchers have found tha a simple tetanus shot might boost the chances of some patients living years longer than they expected. nbc's stephanie gosk explains. >> reporter: every day sandy hillburn walks and walks. nine years ago a d she had just two to three mont to live. how many miles you walk every day? >> nothing, just two to four. >> reporter: nothing just two four. that's a lot. fwo to four? >> it just feels good. >> reporter: her diagnosis, glioblastoma. >> highly absolutely devasta.

and universally fatal. >> reporter: but she took part in a duke university medical trial that extended her life. so the grandmother of two can now proudly say she is a grandmother of six. the study was small, 12 people altogether. following standard surgery, chemotherapy and radiation all received a novel therapy that uses the body's own immune system. six were also given a dose of well-known vaccine, the tetanus booster. >> if you give patient a boost of tetanus, it sort of puts the lymph nodes as well as the entire immune system on alert acting like a siren to the rest of the cells. >> reporte immunotherapy is given, doctor believe the body is primeight the cancer cells more aggressively. the median rate for the six wh received the tetanus was over six years, that's twice as long as the patients who received standard therapy. hillburn's success exceeded al expectations. and she still has no sign of a tumor. doctors say it's too early to know for sure but they're

hopeful the research can help fight other aggressive cancers as well. >> i have such a good quality of life. and i am grateful for the vaccine for that. >> reporter: sandy hillburn is the walking proof. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. we're back in a moment wit late word in the arrest of the attempted kidnapping caught on late word in the attempted kidnapping c it may seem strange, but people really can love their laxative. especially when it's miralax. it hydrates, eases, and softens, to unblock your system naturally.

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this was the scene on i-94 in michigan today between dearborn and detroit. a tanker truck carrying thousands of gallons of fuel exploded in a big fireball. no one was seriously injured, but the blast caused a day-lon traffic headache in both directions. now an update to a story w brought you last night about this brazen abduction attempt caught on tape. police say they've arrested a 15-year-old suspect. but they're not releasing a na due to his age. he's accused of snatching a 22-month-old from a park and then abandoning the victim after

the toddler's siblings and others gave chase. and an update tonight on that baby girl who somehow survived after her mother's ca crashed into a frigid utah river. 18-month-old lily grossbeck wa reunited with her family today and was released from the hospital four days after she w rescued from the overturned an partially submerged car. she remained upsidedown for almost 14 hours and was able t escape the water. sadly her mother did not survive. when we come back here tonight, why some folks are really happy about getting a ticket from the police. about getting a ticket from the po. introducing... a pm pain reliever

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finally tonight, for anyon who has suffered the aggravati of getting a ticket from the police, this one's for you. harry smith found a police for in new hampshire on the look o for good behavior. >> sergeant driscoll farmington police. >> reporter: when police sergeant brian driscoll walks the beat he keeps an eye out for the activity that goes unnoticed. >> you guys have been using every single crosswalk. >> reporter: new hampshire, they gi citations for good behavior. >> here's a free gift ca pizza. >> thank you. >> reporter: well, not citatio really. but gift cards for a free slic

of pizza or an order of fries. wary citizens quickly warm to the idea. what did you think when the policeman was coming up to you? >> it was just like, okay, wha did i do? >> reporter: the tactic was dreamed up by chief jay drury he watched a man go out of his way to use the crosswalks duri a snowstorm. >> i thought to myself this gentleman deserves a medal. >> reporter: he brought the id to a local convenience store. and they jumped onboard. >> it's given us a different perspective and now we're out looking for good things. >> reporter: while farmington looks like a yankee version of mayberry, beneath this norman rockwell facade is a town hit hard by drugs and domestic violence. >> we end up seeing 10% of the people 90% of the time. >> reporter: so the gift cards help form connections and buil community trust. >> i just wanted to thank you guys for doing the right thing and making my job a little bit easier. >> well, thank you for doing this. this is a neat program. >> you're the reason why we do it. >> reporter: an idea so simple it might just work. harry smith, nbc news, farmington, new hampshire.

and that will do it for us on this wednesday night. i'm lester holt. thank you for joining us. for all of us at nbc news, goo night.

. lights, camera access. how bad did it get? dr. phil/nick gordon moment that no one saw coming. >> please don't put this on tv. as