>> gabe gutierrez in detroit, thank you. >>> now to the crisis in ukraine. tonight russian flags are flying in the crimean peninsula following a controversial vote over the weekend. despite a wave of sanctions from the white house and european union today, many are wondering just how far russia might go. we'll hear from richard angle in crimea in just a moment. first we're joined by our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell in our washington news room. andrea, good evening. >> good evening, lester. vladimir putin was defiant tonight. signing the decree recognizing crimea's independence, ignoring economic sanctions today from the u.s. and europe. the russian president still strutting in the afterglow of the sochi games today awarding medals to the russian pair olympians, seemingly unfazed by u.s. sanctions. as crimeans celebrated, u.s. officials tacitly acknowledged crimea is lost. so is a ukrainian natural gas plant nearby, taken over by russia in a helicopter assault this weekend. the white house's new red line, any russian move into the rest

nbc's gabe gutierrez has our report from detroit. >> our whole lives were changed in the blink of an eye. >> reporter: the night brooke melton died, her dad made a promise. >> i whispered, brooke, i will vindicate your accident, because i knew it was not her fault. >> reporter: the 29-year-old was driving her '05 cobalt when the black box data shows the ignition abruptly shut down. mark hood testified for the family in its suit against gm, which ultimately was settled for an undisclosed amount. he says the faulty ignition slipped out of run because of this critical part called a plunger. >> this is the spring loaded plunger that holds the switch in position. >> reporter: it fits into each slot, holding the ignition switch in run or accessory. the problem is, hood says, this tiny part in recalled vehicle was too short, making it possible for the ignition to shift while driving. the air bags are disabled, the power steering is disabled and the power brakes are disabled. >> reporter: during the 2007 model year gm replaced the old part with this one, a longer plunger. the difference, 1.6

we get more tonight from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: it was a surprise sting operation at one of the world's busiest airports, people trusted with handling your luggage led out in handcuffs, one still wearing his security vest. >> this is the first time we have engaged in a very, very long-term extensive operation to try to identify as many people as we can. >> reporter: 14 current and former airport workers detained, six were arrested. they had been contracted by the airport to handle baggage. security says they handled jewelry and other items before they luggage even got to the baggage claim. >> anybody who works at the airport has to pass a security background, which includes, you know, criminal history checks. >> reporter: undercover officers began their investigation months ago after a string of reported theft from terminals, runways and planes. l.a.x. handles nearly 55 million piece of luggage a year. and while police say the reported thefts represents a small portion of, that it's a concern for many travelers. >> i had some shoes stolen from me and other small items. >>

nbc's gabe gutierrez is at gm headquarters in detroit for us. gabe, good evening. >> reporter: lester, we're talking about several gm molds from '03 to '07, including the cobalt and pontiac g5s. according to hundreds of pages of court documents and video depositions of gm engineers, reviewed by nbc news, general motors developed a partial fix to the ignition switch problem back in 2005 and decided not to announce to owners that it was available. general motors is now acknowledging that a potential problem with its ignition switches first surfaced in 2001, that is three years earlier than previously reported. video depositions obtained by nbc news show that nearly nine years ago gm engineers proposed a limited solution to make sudden ignition shut-off less likely, a problem that gm now acknowledges is now linked to at least 12 deaths. the testimony also shows that other gm officials made a business decision not to spend what a plaintiff's expert has described as about a dollar per car on what they called only a partial fix. >> they knew how to fix

gabe gutierrez, nbc news, los angeles. >>> when we come back, remembering an american hero who always said he survived the very worst by living for the moment. >>> jeremiah denton has died, and the most important thing to remember about him is following his release after eight years as a prisoner of war in vietnam, four of those years in solitary confinement, he said it had been an honor. denton was a native of alabama, a father of seven, an annapolis grad and a former test pilot. he was thoth shot down on his 12th mission over vietnam in 1965. he was routinely tortured, often to the point of losing consciousness. but one day when it stopped, he was cleaned up, given new clothes and he suspected something was up. he suspected something was up and he was right. they sat him down for a more or less staged interview with a japanese tv journalist. during his interview, he blinked his eyes to show the word torture in morse code, a signal to the pentagon that americans were being mistreated. following his release he was elected to the u.s. senate for alabama for a single term. the senator a

gabe gutierrez, moore, oklahoma. >>> we're back with a big celebration that brought out some legends of country music. >>> the grand ole opry has been the spiritual home of country music for years, launching some of the biggest names in the business and bringing us the world's longest-running radio show. the opry itself has had a lot of homes along the way. last night in nashville, a celebration for the ages as the current opry house turned 40. it was an historic moment, captured on the grandest of stages, a who's who of musical giants and aspiring artists, gathered to celebrate the home of country music. ♪ came down from birmingham on the wabash cannonball ♪ >> we're thrilled to be able to celebrate four decades and if these walls could talk, an incredible story it would tell. ♪ my pappy used to tan my hide >> reporter: a story of legends. >> there's not another place like the grand ole opry. >> reporter: it's the world's longest running live radio show dating back to 1925. this is the opry's sixth home. it moved here from the famed ryman auditorium in 1974. >> it's the first venue

gabe gutierrez, bowling green, kentucky. >> still hard to watch.our broadcast on a wednesday night. thank you for being with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. >>> right now at 6:00, more is better when it comes to wet weather. you're looking at our very active radar as another storm pushes through the bay area. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang in for raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. rain becoming a familiar sight is beginning fall across the bay area tonight and at this point, it is enough to make the roads wet during the evening commute. chief meteorologist jeff ranieri is tracking this latest round of wet weather and jeff, we can take all we can get. >> yes, we definitely can. you can see there is more on the way here, even though we got showers up across the north bay. it's raining heavy here near redding, as well. we'll get a piece of that coming our way, at least throughout the next through hours or so and live radar, it's not overly heavy in the north bay. it's

gabe gutierrez, nbc news, brownsville, texas. >>> that's "nbc nightly news" for this sunday. brian williams will be here tomorrow. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. for all of us here at nbc news, good night. >>> right now at 6:00 we're tracking the latest storm to hit the bay area. from sunshine to scattered showers, seen a little bit of everything today. what you can expect for the w k workweek. >>> the crisis in ukraine. tensions are rising in the region with russian troops on the ground. we'll show you the grass roots campaign for peace starting right here in the bay area. >>> plus governor brown takes a stand against legalizing marijuana. what the state's leader has to say and the way he said it about the future of pot in california. >>> good evening, everyone. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> and i'm diane dwyer. we begin with the weather. this was a claesically bay area type of day with rain, sun and wind depending on the

our report tonight from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: from the air, twisted steel clearly visible on the barge that was carrying nearly a million gallons of fuel. emergency responders and clean-up crews are rushing to the texas coast to contain the oil which now extends at least 12 miles offshore. >> i want to emphasize that this is a significant spill. >> reporter: the coast guard says just one of the barge's tanks, known to carry 168,000 gallons, was breached. >> it has a type of bunker fuel in it, a very heavy oil in it. >> reporter: the barge collided with a ship saturday afternoon near texas city, injuring two crew members. the area around the spill, shown in red, is now blocking access to part of the houston ship channel, one of the busiest in the world. dozens of vessels, including two cruise ships, were stranded, unable to dock. fisherman jeff roberts spotted oil residue on his boat. >> the first oil was going up the ship channel. and then a couple of hours later, now it's coming around the back side of the island. >> reporter: a major concern. the surrounding area is also

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let's go to gabe gutierrez in detroit for the latest. good evening, gabe. >> reporter: good evening, larry. you guys have been reporting on the recall. we're talking about several gm models from '03 to '07. according to hundreds of pages of court documents in video depositions of gm engineers reviewed by nbc news, there has been a partial fix back in 2005 but gm decided not to announce to car owners that it was available. general motors is now acknowledging that a potential problem with its ignition switches first surfaced in 2003. that's three years earlier than previously reported. video depositions show that nearly nine years ago gm engineers proposed a limited solution, to make sudden ignition shutoff less likely, a problem that gm acknowledges is now linked to at least 12 deaths. the testimony also shows that other gm officials made a business decision not to spend what a plaintiff's expert has described as about a dollar per car on what they called only a partial fix. >> they knew how to fix the problem or substantially reduce the p

nbc's gabe gutierrez reports. >> reporter: growing up near san antonio, alexis shapiro's smile used towhat most people noticed. >> what we used to do as a family, everything changed. >> reporter: but 2 1/2 years ago, she had a benign tumor removed. it damaged part of her brain that regulates appetite and weight. her diagnosis, hypodylamic obesity. >> everyday life is a challenge for her. >> reporter: her weight grew to more than 200 pounds. she's only xxxvii. >> it's not her fault. it's her brain and her body telling her that she's starving. >> reporter: doctors said she'd keep putting on 2 pounds a week unless she had a gastric bypass, but the insurance company denied the request. that denial drew worldwide attention and support for alexis poured in. $84,000 raised online. >> the support that we've gotten has been amazing. >> reporter: perhaps even more ama amazing, the insurer, tricare, then reversed its decision, telling nbc news the initial request had "no information indicating that this patient had a rare disease." >> i just really hope that this surgery will be a life-changer fo

it's one of the safest sports you can do. >> reporter: gabe gutierrez, nbc news, atlanta. >>> up next putin. >> vladimir, think loosely. we're going to speak to you in a language you can understand. >> this video is one of the things we just thought you should know today, and in just minutes, nsa leaker edward snowden will speak at the south by southwest festival live from russia, but should he have been invited? some are asking, of course, it's our "news nation" gut check. tell us what you think and be sure to like "news nation" on our facebook page. facebook.com/newsnation. [ female announcer ] a classic macaroni & cheese from stouffer's starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese. but what makes stouffer's mac n' cheese best of all. that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. made with care for you or your family. that moment you enjoy it at home. "stubborn love" by the lumineers did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! have a good day at school, ok? ...but what a

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her story has captured worldwide attention and we get the very latest from nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter growing up near san antonio, alexis shapiro's smile used to be what most people noticed. >> what we used to do as a family, everything changed. >> reporter: but two and a half years ago she had a benign tumor removed, and it moderated her weight afterwards. her weight grew to more than 200 pounds, she is only 4'7". >> she is always hungry, it is not her fault, it is her body and brain telling her she was starving. >> doctors said she would put on two pounds a week unless she had surgery, but the insurance company denied it. >> reporter: that drew worldwide attention, $84,000 was raised on line. >> the support that we got has been amazing. >> reporter: perhaps even more amazing, insurer tri-care then reserved its decision, telling nbc news the initial request had no information indicating that this patient had a rare disease. >> i just really hope that this surgery will be a life changer for her. >> reporter: so friday, in cincinnati, the 12-year-old was wheeled into the o.r. for the l

gabe gutierrez, nbcnes nesws, m, oklahoma. >>> and before we go, one last look at what's coming up tomorrowe'll have morning fog for the morning commute. not a lot of fog will get in, but by 8:00, 9:00, we'll see clouds develop. a little drizzle at the coastline. very chilly, 60s tomorrow for daytime highs. >> i'm still having trouble believing that. >> i know, after 80s. >> thanks for watching nbc bay area news. goodnight. >>> you're watching a nbc bay area special. tonight, the interview with raj mathai. >> 160 times i've asked for an interview. >> and i've said no 160 times. >> looking back on it now and all the negative stuff that happened, do you feel that you were unfairly targeted in all this? >> sure, a little bit. >> brian boitano is making his life as a gay man public.

a as gabe gutierrez reports, they are each blaming the other for the accident. >> reporter: against all odds the two men at the center of these incredible images are alive, and now they are blaming each other. a skydiver about to land when just feet from the ground, a small plane tears right through his parachute at the south lakeland airport near tampa. >> i definitely thought that i was not going to make it. >>er the veteran sky driver john frost who goes by steve is limping, and nursing several bruises, but he thinks that the pilot is at fault. >> our pilot had seen him and contacted h him directly to ensure that he knew that we would be parachuting in the area. >> reporter: and the experienced pilot, 87-year-old sharon trembly is out of the hospital and his wife says that he is alert and is when he flies, and he knew that jumpers were there, but the jumpers were in the wrong place. frost strongly disagrees. >> when you fly into the area with parachutists all over, you have the hypoten shall of killing somebody. >> reporter: and federal authorities are now investigating the collision

nbc's gabe gutierrez is at gm headquarters in detroit. gabe, good morning. >> reporter: natalie, good morning. gm now says it noticed a problem with its ignition switches back in 2001. that's three years earlier than it had previously reported. overnight federal regulators released the updated timetable. gm just submitted explaining what the company knew and when. the carmaker now says it found the problem with an ignition switch back in 2001 during pre-production of the saturn ion. and in 2003, there were reports of ignition switch problems linked to ion stalling. gm had previously said it only became aware of similar issues in 2004. last month, gm recalled more than 1.5 million older model compact cars including chevy cobalt and pontiac g5. the company asked consumers to avoid heavy keychains because they could cause the ignition switches to shut off suddenly, disabling power steering, making brakes less effective and disarming the air bags. the problem is linked to 12 deaths. so why the revised timetable that suggests concerns popped up

nbc's gabe gutierrez is at gm headquarters in detroit.d morning. >> reporter: matt, good morning. an nbc news investigation found that back in 2005, nine years ago, gm had developed a partial fix to that ignition switch problem, but decided not to widely implement it, making what was termed a business decision. four years ago this week, brook melton never made it home. it was her 29th birthday. >> we stay in a constant state of grief. >> the '05 chevy cobalt was among the 1.6 million cars gm recalled last month. according to black box data, her ignition had shut off, turning off the power steering system and anti-lock brakes. >> she hydroplaned, went across two lanes of traffic and was hit in the side by another car. >> i kept thinking, it's her birthday, this can't happen. it's her birthday. >> ken and beth melton are among the families who have sued the carmaker. they've settled for an undisclosed sum. >> i'm still in shock and boiling over with anger. >> from their civil lawsuit against gm, deposition showed that in 2005, gm proposed a

here's gabe gutierrez. >> this morning, alexis has a fresh start. >> hope has been the only thing that'say in cincinnati, the 12-year-old was wheeled into the or for long a waited gastric bypass. an hour into the surgery, the unexpected, her liver too large to expand. >> what we do is remove just about 80% of the stomach. >> growing up near san antonio, alexis' smile used to be what people noticed. two and a half years ago she had a tumor removed that damaged the part of the brain that regulates wastes and hunger she always felt hungry. >> everyday life is a challenge for her. >> at 4'7", alexis weighed more than 200 pounds. doctors said she put on two pounds a week unless she had a gastric bypass. when the insurance company denied the request, alexis drew support from around the world. $84,000 raised online. >> the support has been amazing. >> perhaps more amazing, tri care reversed the decision. the spokesman said the initial request had no information indicating this patient had a rare kdisease. >> i hope this surgery will be a life changer for her. >> alexis is recovering. doctors ex

it's one of the safest sports you can do. >> reporter: for "today," gabe gutierrez, nbc news, atlanta. >> i've seen those photos now a hundred times, i can't believe neither of those guys was more seriously injured. >> let's move over to carson. what's everyone talking about online this morning? >> well, good morning, everybody. "girls" star lena dunham made her "snl" debut over the weekend. we'll have highlights and reaction coming up in the next half hour in the orange room. back to you. >> thanks very much. >>> coming up, the father of the sandy hook gunman adam lanza opens up publicly for the first time. why he decided to speak out and what he says drove his son's downward spiral. >>> plus, what caused a distraught oscar pistorius to become violently ill at his trial today. we'll have that, but first, this is "today" on nbc. bc. >>> a humorous approach to a serious problem. a growing number of pot users who get behind the wheel high. >>> and are you guys ready? guess who is joining us for trending. steve harvey. >> all right. >> have to sort through everything after your local new

but first, here's gabe gutierrez with more on their story. >> reporter: 9-year-old cameron renfro neverbring. she shaved her head in support of her friend delaney clemens, an 11-year-old with an incredible smile who was enduring chemo. >> your hair doesn't tell your personality. >> reporter: but what shocked so many is that cameron's charter school in grand junction, colorado, suspended her. the dress code said shaved heads are not permitted. the story went viral. among the tweets, common sense, anyone? and i've never been so disappointed in the colorado school system. on tuesday, the school board voted 3-1 to let cameron to come back to class. so who was the dissenting vote? >> i believe that we as a country have succumbed to making decisions based on emotion as opposed to logic and critical thinking. >> that's one way to look at it. here's another. >> these kids taught the adults a lesson, caring and compassion is far greater than what the hair on your head is doing. >> now these friends are sticking together to support the girl who this morning is refusing to frown. >> i just love to

here is nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> online, she's known as the cute convict.nd miss demeanor. but this is megan simmons' mug shot splashed all over the internet after police in florida arrested her for dui in 2010. simmons is now suing a website called instantcheckmate.com claiming the background company is using her image for commercial purposes without her consent causing her to feel humiliated and embarrassed and suffer mental pain and anguish. no stranger to social media, simmons' booking photo exploded on countless websites with comments like, guilty, of taking my breath away and, can i have her cell number? she initially told wtsp -- >> it was flattering at first, but now people know where i live. >> they deny the claims saying the booking photo was a widely published public record that did not suggest simmons endorsed any product. simmons' attorney. >> the only issue really involved in our case is the narrow use of her mug shot to promote this particular product in a way without her consent. >> online, more private citizens are seeing their images repur

it doesn't shake my confidence at all. >> reporter: gabe gutierrez, nbc news, detroit. >>> bunny melon thousands of dollars to john edwards, money used to hide his mistre mistress. she died monday at the age of 103. >>> a texas man and his dog are safe this morning after a dramatic coast guard rescue. the two were trapped on top of their capsized boat near po port o'connor in rough weather and managed to hold on long enough for rescuers to get to them. >>> and another sign spring is coming. baseball's opening day less than two weeks away, and the rough winter left behind a big problem, a frozen field, as you see there. they have already scooped up tons of snow off the white sox's u.s. cellular field, but the ground is frozen solid. 30 inches down. so now they're using tarps and lots of heat in hopes of getting the field ready to play ball. spring is just a day away. let's send it back outside to matt, savannah, carson and al. guys? >> huddle and stay warm. >> freezing. >> it is so bad out here. >> your eye is crying again. >> the people, i love it. >> let's go down to al with a check o

i'm not sure if you had a chance to see this from gabe gutierrez.am engineer was testifying in a case related to the case involving the faulty keys. did general motors choose not to make a fix in order to save money? make a business decision? here's the deposition. here's what the program engineer had to say. >> it made a business decision not to fix this problem and five months later sold her a vehicle with the problem, didn't it? >> i object to form. argument, lack of foundation. >> you can answer. >> that is what happened, yes. >> you heard him there at the end. he said that is what happened, yes. you take that tape along with what's been happening here on this recall situation over the last month, joe, and there are a lot of questions coming up about how rigorous general motors has been or failed to be when it comes to initiating recalls. >> i saw it, phil, i watched it last night and every night, gabe went to the gentleman's house. i don't know if you saw that part. >> did i see it. >> and confronted him at the house. in the report, he also sai