nbc's janet shamlian is with us from hockley, texas. good evening, janet. >> reporter: brian, good evening. the corn is burning up and this heatwave is getting worse just as high schoolers are suiting up and spending more time outdoors for band and football practice. at a high school outside dallas, the football field was empty, on what should have been the second day of practice. after a coach collapsed and died monday. the team had just finished its second practice of the day in triple-digit heat. when wade mcclain fell over as he was walking from the field. >> he just became ill and lost consciousness and the doctors are still trying to determine exactly what happened. >> reporter: near atlanta, 16-year-old forest jones is fighting for his life after fainting and hitting his head after a football practice last week. doctors say it was heat stroke. with school just weeks away in many parts of the country, band members and other students are playing and practicing in searing heat. >> the majority of cases who get into trouble with heat

janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. >>> overseas now, this has been one of the bloodiest, most violent weeks yet in syria, where despite international condemnation, the ruling regime has continued an intensified crackdown against anti-government protesters in the city of hama. nbc's martin fletcher has our report on syrians under siege. >> reporter: with foreign journalists banned, local media muzzled, this is what the syrian government does not want the world to know. it is the sixth day of a syrian army assault against a town of hama. water, electricity, internet and phones cut. tanks in the city center. 13 people shot dead today, activists say. with reporters unable to work, these pictures are from protesters' cell phones, showing bodies dumped in the river. around 2,000 citizens killed since march. troops arresting people, more than 15,000 dissidents jailed according to human rights watch. but the syrian government is fighting back with pictures too, saying it is fighting against protesters with guns. it calls them armed terrorists. whose pictures to believe? america has decided. >

janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. >>> it is a somber day of remembrance today in japan.arly, this is not what we should be showing you right now. hiroshima is marking the 66th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack dropped on the city by the united states on this day in 1945 during the last stages of world war ii. the bomb destroyed most of hiroshima. it's estimated as many as 140,000 people were killed. a second a-bomb dropped on nagasaki four days later, killed tens of thousands more, prompting the japanese to surrender. during a ceremony, japan's prime minister said japan should end its dependence on nuclear power. >>> 7:18 now. much more ahead on "today in the bay." the high cost of a college education could go even higher. >>> coming up, making sure there o h paying that huge .inayat ptt bill, even during tough times. >>> welcome back, everybody. 7:21 now. you're looking at a live shot of the fremont festival of the arts set to kick off this morning on stevens place at 10:00 this morning. you can see everybody getting ready for that. the tents are ready

janet sh janet shamlian is -- >> reporter: as we saw, after a two-hour hearing yesterday, the judge ruled he be held, she had the option of 8 days, but she went with 16 more days. this gives prosecutors more time to look for evidence. right now they admit that is an uphill battle. there's very little that ties gary giordano to any crime or the disappearance of robyn gardner. they admit that is tough, because they don't have a lot of clues here. what they submitted to the judge yesterday was that his story does not match up with what they saw on the dahl august 2nd when they arrived at this baby beach. they also have some witness statements, but beyond that, very little evidence. they did request a dna sample from gary giordano, he refused to give one. prosecutors went to a judge, asked for a court order to get one. she granted that, so they essentially took a sample from him, that goes against his claim that he as been cooperating. >> janet, thank you. >>> back here, a manhunt is under way in connecticut after a terrifying home invasion. investigators say five gunmen tied up a family and

. >> nbc's janet shamlian has more from that small town in missouri where the fbi says they are working around the clock to find that child. >> reporter: hi, tamron, good afternoon. yeah, this one has baffled this community and frightened people around here. it's a small town in southeastern missouri. this is a dead end street. this is where breeann rodriguez went missing from. that's her home behind me. she was riding her little bicycle with training wheels with her 5-year-old brother. her brother goes inside the house for a drink of water and the mom comes out looking for breeann saying it's lunchtime and the little girl is nowhere to be found. she was only out here for a short time and this is a neighborhood filled with elderly and children, people around all day, and no one was seen anything. there is a $45,000 reward for information leading to her safe return, but there is no amber alert at this point which is confusing some people. they say why not? well, authorities have said the response is not diminished but because there's no indication of foul play at this time rather that th

nbc's janet shamlian has the latest from aruba. >> reporter: tamron, good afternoon.mentioned, the associated press reporting more about that insurance policy we heard about a few days ago. it's an accidental death payout. we're learning that gary giordano, the man being held in connection with the disappearance of robyn gardner tried to start the process of cashing in that policy within two days of when his traveling companion went missing. in fact, he was still here in aruba. the search was still on for robyn gardner. and giordano was still answering investigators' questions. but yet he started that process of trying to cash in on this policy. by some reports it was worth more than $1 million. giordano for his part remains locked up in prison here in aruba. prosecutors got another 16 days a couple days ago to try to gather more evidence. giordano was questioned by prosecutors yesterday at length with his attorneys present. there's also interesting information about items that have been seized from gary giordano, including his digital camera which by some accounts co

nbc's janet shamlian has more for us. >> reporter: it appears to be a travel insurance policy, two ofthat were taken out, one in the name of gary giordano, the other in the name of his traveling xan join, robyn gardner, both by giordano, and it's very possible that he paid more for the accidental insurance portion, accidental death portion of that policy meaning he would get a higher payoff if something happened. now, that would seem like a red flag if something did in fact happen, but that's what investigators are looking at right now. in addition to his cell phone, his internet usage. the photos on his digital cameras, all of which have been sent off to a neighboring island for examination. meanwhile, giordano is here in an aruban prison. they have two more weeks to hold him before they have to go back before a judge, and at that point they need more evidence to be able to justify holding him for 60 days in an effort to prepare their case. so that they can get more evidence they are launching a renewed search, a ground search next week, which will involve multiple agencies, and fran

. >> janet shamlian, thank you for that. >>> and now the pentagon's response to cutting ballooning pension. right now, benefits are given to veterans with 20 years service, and now a new panel says to change it to a 401(k)-type plan with the government making the contributions, and it would give benefits to those with less than 20 years of service. and it would also grant higher contributions to those in combat and higher risk positions. now, earlier today, defense secretary leon panetta warned that cut morgue than $400 billion set aside in the debt deal would be disastrous but with a deficit of this size,ç everything has to be on the table. >> it is the kind of thing that you have to consider in terms of the retirement reforms in the broad form. >> when is the decision -- >> well, you have to do it, frank, in a way that does not break faith with thep troops and the families. >> and joining me now is u.s. military analyst jenb ral barry mccaffery. should this be on the table? >> yes. every agency of government has to get a zero base look and this is a $526 billion a year program and the d

nbc's janet shamlian is live in houston, texas, this morning. janet, good morning. >> reporter: ann, good morning. the demand on the power grid is so great there is concerns about outages. it comes at a time where fans and ac are necessities, not just in texas but all over the south. >> do not take these temperatures lightly. there is nothing -- there's nothing trivial about this at all. >> reporter: in memphis, where the heat is being blamed for the deaths of a police officer and public works employee, city leaders are pleading with residents to look after their neighbors. >> please, just check on somebody. >> reporter: a gardner in santa fe, texas, did just that and saved an elderly man when he spotted him on the floor passed out from 100-degree temperatures inside this mobile home. carla allen is one of thousands left without power in arkansas after a malfunction at the area's utility plant. with no air conditioning to keep cool, she worries for her pets. >> they can't stand the heat. so i don't know what we're going to do. >> reporter: nightf

nbc's janet shamlian is live in aruba with the very latest.d morning. >> reporter: natalie, good morning to you. for people living there and tourists, it's almost beyond belief this is happening again so, similar to the natalee holloway disappearance. an american woman on vacation has gone missing. now, this time it's her travel companion, an american man, who is being held in a jail here. police are saying his story is very questionable. >> i'm ready for the fight. i need to know where my friend is. >> reporter: christina jones says with every passing day she's more baffled by the bizarre disappearance of her best friend, robyn gardner. >> she's a half glass full girl, maybe a lit tool trusting. >> reporter: too trusting of this man, 50-year-old gary giordano, now under arrest in awry ba in connection with gardener's disappearance. >> my client has been detained as a suspect in a murder investigation. he did give the police all cooperation. >> reporter: the mystery began ten days ago when giordano called police in aruba to report his companio

>> janet shamlian, thank you so much. we have agent baker.w4r go >> good morning, ann. >> given the circumstances, a small safe town, a dead end, no sign of the bicycle. what theory are you working right now? >> well, obviously because the bicycle is missing, we, the fbi, are working under the presumption that it was a child abduction. in cases like this where a child is missing and we don't know why, we always work under that presumption that there's been an abduction. >> if you're working on an assumption that there's an abduction why not issue an amber alert and what is it going to take to issue one? >> generally in cases like this where a child is missing and we have certain criteria that has to be met to issue an amber alert, generally you want to have some type of suspect description, whether a description of the suspect or vehicle. in this case we have neither. and so an amber alert has not been issued. but i got to tell you, the law enforcement response is the same, whether an amber alert is issued or not, we respond in the same manne