on this tuesday night, jail for cheating. we're in the courtroom as an angry judge throws the book at educators convicted in one of the biggest cheating scandals in american history. sentences of up to 20 years. trapped in the sky. the video from on board as passengers hear an airport worker banging and screaming below them. stuck in the cargo hold. fighting breast cancer. rita wilson says getting a second opinion may have saved her life. tonight the staggering number of patients who aren't getting second opinions even though doctor and salary surprise many our cameras are there as employees learn they're getting a huge raise. some doubling their salaries. tonight how their boss is doing it. "nightly news" begins ri

good evening, there's no good evening, there's no harder lesson than the one taught today to atlanta educators. they were convicted on charges typically reserved f a massive cheating scandal in this standardized test scores at underperforming schools were inflated. the judge told them the conspiracy harmed thousands of children. our chief education correspondent rehema ellis shows us how it all played out. >> this thing was pervasive. it was -- it's like the sickest thing that's ever happened to this town. >> reporter: the judge imposed harsh sentences on eight former atlanta public school educators, convicted of racketeering conspiring to fix standardized test

scores to improve results. >> there were thousands of children that were harmed in this thing. this is not a victimless crime. >> three disgraced educators, former teachers and administrators were sentenced to 20 years, serving seven in prison the rest on probation, the others including a principal and elementary schoolteachers were sentenced to five years, serving one to two of them behind bars. emotions ran high -- as the sentences came down. >> i'm going to put you in jail. if you yell at me point at me. >> it was painful for everyone including the judge. >> i consider you a wonderful educator and that's what makes it so sad. you were under so much pressure -- >> reporter: yesterday the judge heard from dozens of character witnesses pleading for leniency. >> have mercy on my daughter please. >> i'm giving you some opportunity -- >> the judge asked both sides to agree on a fair sentence that included admitting

guilt. otherwise, he would determine a punishment. >> i've got a fair sentence in my mind and it's -- and it's -- it involves going to jail. >> all rise. >> back in court today, only two decided to take the plea which included home confinement or weekends behind bars. the judge admonished the rest. >> all i want from any of these people is just to take some responsibility. but they refuse. they refuse. >> today's sentencing also included community service and thousands of dollars in fines, some criticize its severity others said this cheating scandal short changed some of the city's most vulnerable children who are now years behind in their education. lester? >> thanks very much. >> tonight we're learning a lot more about a midair emergency that was just breaking as we came on the air here last night, a baggage handler who became trapped in the cargo hold of a plane during flight. passengers hearing

banging and screams for help coming from beneath them imagine that. here's our national correspondent miguel almaguer on how this happened and the >> alaska airlines flight 448 departing seattle was bound for los angeles. passengers and crew heard the desperate call coming from the cargo hold. a steady knock for help a panicked voice just beneath their feet. >> he was like help help. >> what? >> climbing to some 5,000 feet the sounds came from a pressurized and temperature controlled space near the front of the plane where pets are often kept. the pilot declares an emergency landing. >> there could be a person in there, so we're going to come back around. >> air born for 14 minutes, the contracted737 in good condition. >> the employee walked off the aircraft and told first responders that he was taking a

nap in the cargo hold of the aircraft. >> alaska says the unidentified employee has a security badge, passed a background check and a drug test after the incident. our policies and procedures were knowingly violated by an experienced employee who hid in the hold of an aircraft to take a nap. aviation expert jack price. >> the irony in this situation is the gentleman who fell asleep is part of that ground crew, who's supposed to ensure there's no unauthorized personnel or items in the cargo hold or in and around the aircraft. >> it's happened before. six years ago, an airport employee fell in the baggage compartment on a jet blue flight from new york to boston. tonight the faa and alaska airlines are in >> tonight airport employees tell us the official who fell asleep on the plane was working with a crew of three others who noticed he was missing and tried to find him. nine and a half hours

into his shift, they figured he had gone home for the day. lester? >> thank you. a reserve deputy is free on bond after turning himself in for the deadly shooting of a fleeing unarmed suspect. he never meant to kill the man. kevin tibbles has more on that. >> today 72-year-old bob bates the part time tulsa deputy sheriff was formally charged with second degr >> i feel they're unwarranted and shouldn't have been brought. >> bates was acting as backup when the suspect in an undercover sting operation bolted. eric harris was selling an illegal gun. a scuffle ensued picked up by police body cam. bates pulled what he says he thought was his taser. instead fired his gun. >> i'm sorry. >> he later died. bates claims in the heat of the moment he mistook his pistol for his taser. there are more than

100ry serve deputies with the tulsa sheriff's office nationwide that number is about 50,000. in many jurisdictions reservists make financial contributions to the department. bates has contributed thousands. >> if you have enough money, you get to go play cop. >> the sheriff's office says bates had once been a police officer and has had more than 400 hours of training as a reservist logging 3,000 hours of service. >> he was not playing anything. he was there like the other officers doing their job. that he's play acting? no, he was there to . >> the reserve officers association says some 200 volunteers have lost their lives . >> bob bates was named oklahoma deputy of the year in 2011. he has now been released on $25,000 bail. kevin tibbles, nbc news tulsa. now to another

case we've been following, the friend who was in the car with walter scott minutes before a south carolina police officer fatally gunned scott . fulton was identified monday as the man in scott's passenger seat. he released a saying he doesn't know why scott decided to run off during a traffic stop but he didn't deserve to die. a developing story tonight in salt lake city where an incredibly powerful dust storm turned deadly. blinding drivers and packing winds so high they toppled several tractor-trailerers on the highway. haldy jackson reports. >> reporter: this is what it looked like during a deadly dust storm that killed at least one person and hurt 25 others. zero visibility. with wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour whipping up dust so thick, a semitruck had to stop on the highway. that triggered a chain reaction as many as eight big rigs. a dozen cars. part of the pileup. >> this dust you see.

it was completely blown over with dust. zero visibility. >> at least 16 people have been hospitalized with i-80 closed for nearly 100 miles in both directions. from the nevada border all the way to salt lake city. now bracing for a blow. the airport shutting down temporarily as the dust storm works its way east. hallie jackson, nbc news los angeles. we're witnessing tonight another historic step in thawing relations between the u.s. and cuba. the white house announcing that president obama will remove cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. chris jansen joins us tonight from the white house with more on this. chris? >> reporte good lester. another remnant of the cold wuerffel away this afternoon, cuba has been on that list of state sponsors since 1982 and today's decision to remove them gives substance to the symbolism of the weekend's historic handshake between president obama and raul castro. it paves the way for the opening of embassies and could mean some significant

new economic opportunities for both countries. in his plea to congress today, he said cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism over the last six months and has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future. now, the move does have vocal opponents, including just announced presidential candidate marco rubio, who tonight says it's a terrible decision. congress has 45 days to review cuba's removal from the list but it is unlikely to block it. lester? >> chris jansen tonight at the white house, thanks. hillary clinton made her very first public appearance today since announcing she is running for president. it's been a low key kickoff compared to her last run, yet the media frenzy is in full effect all the same. andrea mitchell is on the tr >> after two days of occasional skrigtings on road to iowa. it set off a stampede of photographers and reporters. >> a guy in the orange pants is pretty quick.

>> how does it feel to be back in iowa? >> it feels great. >> she stopped at a coffee stop for chai tea and conversation where kristen walker found her. >> how do you win this time? your strategy? >> i'm having a great time can't look forward any more than i am. >> she comes out the back door and gets in a van and takes off. >> clinton started laying out why she is running. at a community college where high school students can take college classes. >> i get dual credit. i'll get high school english credit and college credit too. >> you will have 48 college credits when you graduate from high school? >> yeah. >> these days clinton is sounding more like a populous than the new york senator who used to represent wall street. >> there's something wrong when hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses or the truckers that i saw on i-80 as i was driving here over the last two days. >> what did you learn today? what did you take away from all of this?

>> so much good information. so much great exchange about what works, what can work not just here in iowa but i think across the country. >> while her aids have been coraling donors all week clinton proposed the constitutional amendment to limit campaign spending. >> you're going to raise a ton of money? >> we're going to need a lot of money. she's a tough fighter, never one who's going to unilaterally disarm. >> clinton is voters to give her another chance. aids say they will give detailed policy proposals in the coming weeks. it's clear they would like this campaign to be all about the economy, lester? >> andrea thank you. tonight marks one year since boko haram militants kidnapped 200 school girls. the campaign that lit up social media has faded. the vast majority of those girls have not been seen again. our report tonight from s

>> reporter: in nigeria today, students carried the names of the 219 kidnapped school girls still miss inging. a year after militants seized them from their boarding school at gunpoint. grace is one of the lucky few who escaped. >> to be on camera says she ran from her captors, hiding in a nearby village. she's in oregon now at a private school on scholarship. >> last year reaction to the kidnappings was quick and global. to bring back our girls campaign went viral, speer headed by some big names, but millions of tweets then have become just thousands now. boko haram continues to attack kidnap and kill. >> just last week i spoke with someone whose town had been raided by boko haram. they rounded up all the young men and executed 27 of them. >> nigerian forces have failed to stop

them. >> they've been undergoing intense training. we joined cameroon special forces on the nigerian border. boko haram attacked this same unit. seven of these soldiers were killed. on this anniversary of the kidnappings, campaigners are hoping to raise awareness again. nigeria's new president today vowed to continue the fight against boko haram. but admitted he couldn't promise the missing school girls would ever be found. stephanie gosk, nbc news there is a lot more news still ahead tonight, the announcement from rita wilson revealing she has breast cancer found after getting a second opinion, something so many patients aren't doing. >> our cameras are rolling as a ceo tells his employees they're getting huge pay raises. some of th getting double the salary. it's quite a moment, wait until you hear and i didn't get here alone. there were people who listened along the way. people who gave me options. kept me on track.

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we're back with the announcement from rita wilson revealing she was diagnosed with breast cancer and last week she underwent a double mastectomy. the cancer was found after she got a second opinion. something doctors strongly recommend, but a lot of people don't do. . >> rita wilson is an actor, a sing erer. the wife of tom hanks and now a breast ca telling people magazine today she expects to make a full recovery after a double mastectomy. because i caught this early, have excellent

doctors and because i got a second opinion. that opinion may have saved her life. for years, wilson was monitored for conditions that put her at a higher risk for breast cancer. two recent biopsies showed no cancer. but a friend who had breast cancer urged wilson to get a second opinion on the pathology. my gust told me that was the thing to do says wilson. this time the diagnosis was cancer. confirmed by yet another doctor. you have nothing to lose if both opinions match up for the good. and everything to gain if something that was missed is found, which does happen. a university of michigan study showed more than half of patients who sought a second opinion had their treatment plans changed. >> when you get that diagnosis of breast cancer do you have to move so fast you don't have time for a second opinion? >> no. you have time. you have several weeks, in fact to plan the most appropriate course of therapy.

there's no immediate need to have treatment that day, that week. >> insurance covers second opinions. a gallop poll found 70% of americans were so confident in their doctor's advice they didn't feel the need to get a second opinion or do their own research. rita wilson trusted her instincts and tonight he's thankful she did. anne thompson nbc news new york. we're back in a moment with the famous mountain lion found under a family's house. and the race to track arthritis like me and you're talking to your 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 giving me new perspective. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers

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the average worker one boss changed the lives of his employees with fat raises right out of his own pocket. joe fryer was there when they got the news. >> the business plan at gravity payments has never been convention. >> do you need anything from me? >> dan price started the company, which processes credit card payments in 2004 when he was 19. >> if someone asked you how old you were. >> yes. >> what did you say in. >> i told them i'm 12 and they would laugh, and they thought it was funny, it avoided the question. >> his success is nothing to laugh at. in january price graced the cover of "entrepreneur" magazine. something has been bothering him. >> it's a big struggle for the middle class, and i think part of that is things are getting more expens the wage growth just isn't keeping up. >> his lowt paid workers earn shy of $40,000 a year. >> it is tough, because seattle's a very expensive city especially with the rate it's been growing. >> at a staff meeting, price decided to merge his money with his

mouth. >> we're going to have a minimum $70,000 pay raise for everyone who works here. >> no one saw it coming. before long shock turned into gratitude. about 70 employees will get big raises. some will double their . >> i can move out of my mom's house. >> with this news today, we're going to be able to start a family months before we initially thought we could. >> and single mother alyssa o'neil can now buy a house. >> it just means stability, confidence. life changing. >> to help pay for it price is dropping his salary from about 1 million to 70,000. >> i would like to have this spark a conversation and basically have people start to think about a different way of doing business. >> the income gap might feel bigger than the grand canyon but inside one company, it just got a lot smaller. >> thank you

>> now, that is a good day at the office. >> i'm lester holt for all of us at nbc news thank you for watching .

lights camera access. >> what the [ bleep ] keep going? i am acting here and this [ bleep ] -- >> no question it's a world-class meltdown but is