nbc's jacob rascon is 50 miles northwest of l.a. in ventura county. jacob, this is a major problem. >> reporter: lester, many california farmers are in crisis mode. they grow about half of all the produce that we eat in the united states, including almost all of our lettuce, as you see here tomatoes grapes and broccoli. it can take 11 gallons of water to grow one pound of broccoli. about 300 gallons of water to grow one pound of rice. and about 2,000 gallons of water to grow one pound of almonds. with less water available to them, california farmers are losing billions of dollars every year that we have this drought. many of them are surviving thanks to groundwater, but they're pumping so much of it so fast that the ground in some areas is literally sinking. many farmers will tell you that's what it takes to feed the country. but, lester, farmland and farm jobs are drying up like never before. >> jacob rascon tonight, thank you. >>> in other news tonight, it's bad enough when kids cheat in school to get ahead but the teachers themselves today in atlant

>> jacob rascon in colorado tonight. thank you. >>> when "nightly news" continues on this sunday a new wave of cuban migrants making the dangerous journey to this country but why now? >>> incredible images of a volcano and fears of another eruption could be on the way. >>> it's an unintended consequence of america's improving relationship with cuba. a flood of migrants trying to reach the u.s. illegally. in just the last week the coast guard stopped 13 boats carrying nearly 150 people. some are making the dangerous journey now fearing a special u.s. immigration policy could soon end. here's nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: from the north coast of cuba the coast guard says it's seeing a steady increase in cubans sailing rickety boats to the united states. the trips often financed by their families in the u.s. last year more than 3,600 were spotted. >> several children and a couple of boats on the pontoons. >> there is a smuggler and a network that's building the boats and organizing what people can go in the boats for each

nbc's jacob rascon was in the courtroom. >> reporter: veronica mosier will always be 6 years old. recently graduated from kindergarten, one of many children inside theater nine that night. >> my two cousins. >> reporter: veronica's teenaged cousin called 911. >> can you hear me, ma'am? >> reporter: veronica had been shot. her mother ashley was also injured. >> i had my hand on her stomach to see if she was breathing. and she was. so i kept telling ashley that veronica was okay. >> reporter: panicked moviegoers sprinted out as officers rushed in. officer michael hawkins noticed veronica almost immediately. >> i picked her out and ran her out of the front entrance of the theater. i looked down at her and i realized she was probably gone. >> reporter: one by one, the prosecution will ask survivors and first responders to relive that night. >> if my cane is the weapon, i can see him with the gun pulled up to his chest, and he was pointing down to the ground, looking for other people. >> reporter: the shooter, james holmes sat practically motionless in court, staring straight ahead, no

here's nbc's jacob rascon. >> reporter: for steve burrin it doesn't get much better than this. >> just part of my life swimming in the ocean, running. >> reporter: but four years ago -- >> i noticed that i was running short of breath and at night i could hear this little noise, a little kind of rattle. >> reporter: he had survived throat cancer eight years earlier but this was more serious. >> they said more than 22 tumors in my lungs and that's when it was looking pretty grim. >> reporter: doctors gave him a year. >> i find him curled up in a ball somewhere and just went down and he said, you know, i just want to die. >> reporter: and then burrin qualified for a trial at ucla. the drug pembrolizumab already approved for melanoma would now be treated or used to treat advanced cancer. 500 patients given by infusion every three weeks doesn't detect the cancer itself. it enable's the bodies immune system to fight it. >> for many patients this is going to be a substantial change from the way we treated it in the fast past. part. >> reporter: tumors shrank significantly or disappeared. dr.

nbc's jacob rascon reports. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> reporter: the officers were ready for a gun battle. >> number 9. >> reporter: what they found was much worse. >> it was a nightmare. >> reporter: patrol cars became ambulances for the most critically wounded. officer natasha cabway took ashley most sure to the hospital. >> she lost consciousness and i really thought she just died there in front of me. >> reporter: i physically helped at least ten probably. >> reporter: behind the theater officer jason oviatt saw someone in full body armor and a gas mask. >> as i got closer i noticed everybody was dog something and this person was relaxed standing by the car not doing anything at all. >> reporter: it was james holmes who didn't resist and asked when there were other shooters said it's just me. >> did he cooperate with you? >> yes. >> did he answer questions that were asked? >> yes. >> did he seem confused about anything. >> not at all. he looked like he was sort of taking it all in. >> reporter: his sanity is the central question in

the trial picks up tomorrow with testimony from first responders and survivors. >> jacob rascon tonight thank you. >>> tonight loretta lynch has been sworn in as the nation's first african-american woman attorney general replacing eric holder in the position. lynch was confirmed by the senate last week after a month's long delay. today she made an apparent reference to ongoing tensions with law enforcement in some communities saying "we can restore trust and faith both in our laws and in those of us who enforce them." >>> still ahead on "nbc nightly news" -- a race against time to find the missing after a storm packing near hurricane force proves too extreme even for seasoned i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most of my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara® it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ...stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starti

nbc's jacob rascon reports. >> 13 miles from where we sit right now 400 people filed into a box-like theater to be entertained. and one person came there to slaughter them. >> reporter: the tragedy in aurora relived in excruciating detail. >> through this door this horror. bullets, blood. >> reporter: a fierce battle over the fate of the mass shooter, today dressed in civilian clothes shackled to the floor. the defense insisting james holmes belongs in a mental institution. >> by the time mr. holmes stepped into that theater, his perception of reality was so skewed was so malformed, that he no longer lived in the world that we live in. >> reporter: the prosecution unrelenting. he deserves to die for his crimes. >> hold him accountable for murdering 12 people and trying to murder 70 others. nearly three years ago the midnight premiere of the latest "batman" movie started when holmes walked into shooting indiscriminately indiscriminately. among the wounded, marcus weaver. >> i was shot in my right arm. >> reporter: marcus watched holmes gun down his good friend and has suffered with de

jacob rascon was in the courtroom. >> veronica moser will always be six-year-old. she was one of the many children inside the theater that night. >> my two cousins. >> her teenage cousin called 9-1-1. veronica can be shot her mother was also injured. >> i had my hand on her stomach. i kept telling ash lee she was okay. >> people rushed out as officers rushed in. an officer noticed her almost immediately. >> i picked her up and ran out of the front entrance of the theater. i looked down at her and i realized that she was probably gone. >> one by one the prosecution will ask survivors and first responders to relive that night. >> i can see him with the gun, up at his chest and he was pointing down to the ground looking for other people. >> reporter: the shooter, james holmes stared straight ahead not speaking. in video evidence a psychiatrist asks him about those he wounded. >> they're like collateral damage, i guess. >> ashley moser would survive but never walk again and her daughter gunned down at a night at the movies. >> well a woman in israel is facing charges a

for "today" jacob rascon nbc news. >> i want to know what the woman on the other side is saying. not that it is okay to say things like that. they were both saying mean things. >> the video was edited. i can say i put in a number of calls to the tow company. one of our main questions was can we see that full video. what else is on the tape? how did it start? >> she was being taunted to. >> you can be that way. >> we would all be upset with the cars being towed. to say hurtful things to the actual person. >> bad situation for sure. >>> all right. we have spoken. >> you know who everybody wants to speak? the royal baby. they want anybody in the royal family to speak. the great baby wait is on. the duchess of cambridge could give birth in a matter of moments or in a days. for all you know the kids make up their own mind. anticipation is building leading up to the arrival of the prince or princess. we have kelly cobiella outside buckingham palace with more. >> reporter: good morning, erica. the party decorations are coming out. the souvenirs are already selling. the duchess is due so

hereby's nbc's jacob rascon. >> the movie premier just started when james holmes entered theater nine heavily armed and dressed in tactical gear. first responders found hundreds of panicked movie goers and dozens of victims. >> you heard mom. >> i'm hearing him and then you just hear the rounds going off, just boom boom boom. >> there was really nowhere to hide. >> holmes killed 12 people and injured om 70 others before his rifle jammed. he told police arresting him he was the joker. nearly three years and 9,000 prospective jurors later, the capital murder trial is set to begin tomorrow in centennial colorado. holmes is expected to appear in civilian with a trimmed beard and combed air. >> the question is does it ride to the level of insanity under colorado law? could he tell right from wrong? >> holmes pleadeds not guilty by reason of insanity saying he was in the throes of a psychotic episode during the shooting. prosecutors say he carefully ple for weeks and apparently wasn't finished. authoritie has to disarm explosives inside holmes' apartment after the rampage. this a was design

jacob rascon nbc news, los angeles. >> all right.here. >>> forget about a bat boy. in one time, minor league baseball fans have seen a bat dog out on the diamond for a decade. >> now it's time for her to move on leaving the game of fetch to interest of the young -- fetch to the younger guys. we have the story. >> reporter: on game day, miss babe ruth knows the drill. it's buckets, bats and baseballs. >> she's our bat boy. >> reporter: she joined the greensboro grasshoppers when she was only ten months old. >> her personality is perfect for the job. the crowd loves her. she gets into it. the more the crowd gets into it the more she gets into what she's doing. >> reporter: like the players, miss babe ruth has a routine -- resting up and practice runs before taking the field. [ bark ] >> she take the baseball to the umpire. she will fetch bats retrieve bats like a bat boy would. couple times a game. >> reporter: she's been a grasshopper for almost a decade. a veteran. >> she's not an old dog, but she's been doing it a long time. you kno

jacob rascone, nbc news. >>> to politics now and presidential contender hillary clinton. after rolling out her campaign this past week in iowa she dropped by a coffee shop, met with students at a community college, held a small business round table discussion all along offering a populace economic message. >> there's something wrong when ceos make 300 times more than the typical worker. there's something wrong when students and their families have to go deeply into debt to get the education and skills they need in order to make the best of their own lives. we've got to figure out in our country how to get back on the right track and i'm running for president because i think that americans and their families need a champion and i want to be that champion. i want to stand up and fight for people so that they can not just get by but they can get ahead. >> joining me now, former ohio governor ted strickland who's announced he will challenge republican senator rob portman for his seat in 2016. i should note former president bill clinton has endorsed your candidacy, with a welc

natalie. >> jacob rascon, thank you. the defense begins its arguments to save the life of convicted boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev. the 21-year-old was convicted of 30 federal charges and 17 of those charges carry the possibility of the death penalty. the defense maintained that he was manipulated by his older brother who was killed in a shoot-out with police. tsarnaev's defense is expected to take up to two weeks. >>> dramatic video after a huge ball of flames engulfed a tanker truck near los angeles hauling 8800 gallons of gas when it jackknifed and exploded on the freeway sunday. the driver was able to escape with minor bumps and bruises. crews extinguished the flames but the accident shut down the freeway for hours. >>> one of new york's most wanted is finally off the streets this morning. a stlans camera recorded new york police capturing a coyote that has been roaming around the city, police cornered the animal at a cafe after an hour-long pursuit. officers tranquilized the female and she was taken to the

jacob rascon is in colorado this morning. >> reporter: good morning. nearly three years later a jury will decide whether he was sane when he did it and if so whether or not he should be put to death. hundreds of people were packed inside that movie theater in suburban aurora colorado when authorities say james holmes entered wearing tactical gear and started shooting. he killed 12 people and injured 70 before his rijammed. police had to disarm his booby-trapped apartment. the defense admits holmes carried out the act but will try to argue he was insane at the time. the prosecution will try to convince the jury his elaborate planning of the attack prove.s he was sane. the trial expected to take several months. the horror of that day to be relived in pain staking detail. >> jacob rascon in centennial colorado thank you. >>> the defense begins its arguments today to save the life of dzhokhar tsarnaev. 21-year-old dzhokhar was indicted on 30 federal charges. the defense has maintained that tsarnaev was manipulated by his older brother tamerlan who was kill

nbc's jacob rascon has more on this fire. dramatic video there. >> reporter: very dramatic video. like it was last night. you can still see the thick smoke for miles. this is burning in an area where a lot of folks own land and have horses, as you saw in the video. when the fire started around 6:00 p.m. yesterday, the winds were erratic, as see see this time of year. it started burning in an area miles from homes. the fire exploded and quickly grew to 300 acres within only hundreds of feet of some homes. and of course mandatory evacuations followed for about 300 homes. firefighters attacked it from the air and on the ground for hours. and then as they always do, they expect overnight that the winds will die down and the humidity will pick up giving the firefighters a chance to get containment lines around the homes. they often work harder when the wind is not strong when it's died down than they do when the wind subpoena. they're fourusely working on con -- they're furiously working on containment lines. overnight they that. they come back this morning and the winds have died down

here's nbc's jacob rascon. >> despite the looks -- >> my eyes light up when i see the babies. >> fornse. his book under water dogs was an instant bestseller. man's best friend like you have never seen him. then came under water puppies and you thought it couldn't get cuter. babies are natural swimmers. >> i have been teaching children to swim at a very, very young age. a few months old or six months old is a great time to introduce the water. >> they only stay under for a matter of seconds, but long enough. >> they have been under water a few times before and you capture that expression and the curiosity and the confidence makes me happy. >> there is 67 babies in this book but i photographed over 750. i took about maybe 100,000 shots. >> 100,000 shots? >> probably. >> here she is. >> oh, my god! >> there so many good shots of her. we had to figure out which to put in. >> that's awesome. so cute. >> cute and potentially life-saving. >> drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children under 5. we can make a joyful book to raise awareness and hopefully encourage people