miguel almaguer, nbc news, pasadena, california. >> nice to hear people cheering for nasa again. >>> up next here tonight marking a turning point for america and the world, 67 years ago today. >>> we're back from london. one more item about that mars rover mission. there is one guy at mission control in pasadena who has developed a following on the web that's nothing short of cultish. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. people are celebrating his hair. people have taken to calling him mohawk guy on the web. his real name is bobeck fredowski. it is impossible to miss the contrast between his style and the guys in old school mission control in the old days. he says he has a different style for every mission and his co-workers voted on this one. >>> harry truman's grandson was on hand today in hiroshima, japan as they marked the 67th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. it was his grandfather, president truman, of course, who ordered the bomb dropped there and in nagasaki the last time nuclear weapons were unleashed on the world. clifton truman daniels said

some of them, along with our own correspondent miguel almaguer, found themselves in the path of monstrous flames today when the edge of the fire made a fast run right at them, at the worst possible time. miguel reports tonight from the fire line. >> reporter: exploding across forest land, moving towards homes, northern california's ponderosa fire blew up this afternoon. >> coming hot and hard. >> reporter: firefighters scrambled, 50 structures have been destroyed, 240 more threatened. with help from a steady air attack and aggressive push on the ground, crews have contained half this blaze. but flair-ups forced firefighters to retreat. breeding on dry forest land for five days now, this fire continues to make runs. crews are worried the next one will be into a neighborhood. this afternoon the mountain town of mineral was placed under voluntary evacuation. at this christian campground, most of the 200 people are seniors. >> if you do have to leave, we want you to be able to do it and be able to get out safely. >> reporter: dangerous and deadly, this wildfire season is also historic. in new

miguel almaguer, nbc news los angeles. >>> you may have heard about this depending on where you live. tonight, federal health officials are warning about one of the worst outbreaks of west nile virus in our country's history, due in part to this unusually warm winter followed by historic drought and a hot summer. and so far this summer, nearly 700 people have been infected. at least 20 of them have died. the situation is now so dire in parts of texas, they've declared a state of emergency. we get our report tonight from our chief science correspondent robert bazell. >> jordan. >> reporter: 14-year-old jordan conner is home from the hospital, where doctors diagnosed west nile virus infection that had spread to her brain, what's called encephalitis. she thinks she knows where she got infected. >> i was baby sitting a dog, and like five mosquitos bit me on my leg. >> reporter: the virus is transmitted by mosquitos and spread by infected birds. this year officials recording a near record number of cases. hardest hit is the dallas/ft. worth area where jordan conner lives. health workers ar

>> miguel almaguer right alongside the fire line there in manton, california. miguel, thanks. >>> tropical storm isaac formed today in the caribbean. and here's why it's news. as one prominent forecaster put it today, i hope the rnc has a plan. that's because hurricanes and political conventions in tampa don't mix well, especially the gop convention getting underway next week. let's get a reality check tonight from weather channel meteorologist jim cantore, who's with us from headquarters. jim, i know these things are notoriously hard to predict. >> they are, especially going six to seven days out. to put tampa in a slam dunk situation is beyond our technology. but confidence grows for florida impacts with each given day. let me show you this uncertainty. it's displayed every day when we have a tropical system in the cone. notice how thin this cone is. it's not very wide at all. we're very confident by overnight wednesday we'll have impacts to the tropical storm. then it becomes a hurricane on thursday, and potentially impacts the dominican on in toward cuba. a

miguel almaguer has been on the front lines with the firefighters. >> reporter: on the front lines in northern california, crews beat back flames. a race to protect three towns. >> the threat still does exist for more than 3,000 homes. feeding on dense dry forest land, the ponderosa fire has destroyed 20,000 acres, reaching the flames isn't always easy. >> with so much of this fire burning in rugged terrain inaccessible to ground crews, the air attack here is critical. just below the water drops, a valley of thick smoke has forced 2,000 people to evacuate. not everyone is left. >> here we go. >> he's not going, i'm not going. that's my dad. >> bill shoemaker and his daughter janet thomas have taken their memories off the walls and packed them in the cars. the 69-year-old just can't drive away from his dream home. >> something i worked for all my life. >> reporter: the ponderosa fire has claimed seven homes, the latest loss is in a fire season that's destroyed nearly 1800 properties nationwide. tonight 35 fires are sweeping across ten western states, nearly seven million acres have bee

a fire season for the record books. >> nbc's miguel almaguer reporting there.h the emergency declaration california's governor now has freed up more state resources to battle the wildfires. for more on the wildfires there and the latest on tropical storm isaac, let's bring in bill karins. bill. >> good morning, willie. this map behind me hasn't changed much since yesterday. if anything shifted a little bit just to the west but not a lot considering it's five days out. it still looks like florida will have to deal with isaac as we go throughout sunday night, monday and all day tuesday. let me give you a closer view now of the end of the forecast cone. remember, the cone of uncertainty is the storm could be anywhere in the yellow. that's like the margin of error. the center line the most likely predicted path of right now. the hurricane center thinks possibly a category 1 storm. i still think the high end would be probably a cat 2 low end a tropical storm. and they're kind of hedging it in the middle there. it looks like it would be be closest to the keys come la

>> miguel almaguer, starting us off from tucson tonight. miguel, thanks. >>> in the milwaukee suburb of oak creek, wisconsin, investigators are still trying to figure out why that man opened fire in a sikh temple over this past weekend. tonight in colorado his step mother is speaking out. nbc's john yang has the story. >> reporter: when laura page heard police accuse wade michael page of the sikh temple shooting rampage she didn't recognize her former step son. >> he was a happy person and a happy child. what happened, god only knows, because i don't. >> reporter: page was married to wade's father for 20 years and lost contact with her former step son when he went into the army. she is puzzled by his reported involvement with white supremacists. >> when he lived in texas with us he had hispanic friends and he had black friends. you know, there was none of that. >> reporter: he was in two heavy metal bands associated with racist skinheads. law enforcement officials tell nbc news that searches of apartments where wade had lived turned up litt

miguel almaguer, nbc news, pasadena, california. >> nice to hear people cheering for nasa again. >>>next here tonight marking a turning point for america and the world, 67 years ago today. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. metamucil uses super hardworking psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model, but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies,

next on "nightly news," miguel almaguer is on the front lines where several towns are threatened by wildfires. and rosie o'donnell's recent heart attack reminds us that those who don't know they're at risk could be. nancy snyder man wraeks down what you need to know. >>> at 6:00, unsupported and likely overstated, that's how an auditor characterizes chuck reid's $600 million pension estimate. that's coming up at 6:00. raj and janelle, back to you. >>> finally tonight, an actor with family ties is coming back to nbc. michael j. fox has announced he'll be starring in a new show. doesn't have a name yet but he'll play a father of three, dealing with challenges including parkinson's. he left tv in 2000 as symptoms of his parkinson's has gotten worse. he says a new regiment of drugs makes it easier to deal with acting. it will be great to see him back here. >> alex p. keaton lives on. >> yes. >> thanks for joining us tonight. hope to see you back in 30 minutes for more local news. >> good night.

nbc's miguel almaguer is in tucson. good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening.day for the first time jared lee loughner was engaged with the judge. he answered with short answers,

natalie. >> miguel almaguer in tucson. thank you, miguel. >>> police havers arrested the former gunman of michael page, the gunman who killed at sikh. she's not believed to have any connection to the shooting. >>> meantime hundreds gattered to remember the six sikh worshippers killed in sunday's shooting. >>> medical emergency at the bottom of the world. an australian rescue team is hoping the weather will allow them to fly to the research station in antartica to evacuate an american with undisclosed medical problems. it's winter in antartica and getting in and out is difficult. mary is at the new york stock exchange. good morning. >> good morning. the rally on wall street continues with the markets closing higher for the third straight day, finishing at their best levels since may. the reporting agency transunion said the homeowners late on payments dropped 3.5%, housing continued to rise, biggest percentage gain in the last quarter in seven years. back to you. >> all right. thanks mary thompson. girls just want to have fu

as miguel almaguer reports, investigators are still trying to peet together exactly what happened. >> reporter: it happened along a riverbanks a scenic spot. park rangers say 949-year-old victim had been photographing the male grizzly for at least eight minutes. some of the final imaging showing the bear looking slightly agitated, according to park officials who recovered the victim's camera. in the last two photographs, the bear is moving toward the photographer. >> the bear changed from feeding on the vegetation to deciding to attack this individual. >> reporter: spanning more than 6 million acres denali park is home to countless wildlife. >> i wouldn't be real brave and try to get up and take pictures or anything like that of the bear. just give them their room. we're in their backyard. >> reporter: when park rangers discovered the site, the large grizzly was sitting on the victim's body. the bear was shot and killed. today rangers insist the park is safe, describing the attack as a tragic encounter in a region renounce for its beauty. >> rangers say hikers are required to go throu

>> all right, miguel almaguer in pasadena, california. thank you, miguel.rtman a top search on yahoo! following her marriage saturday to black swan choreographer. they already have a 1-year-old son together. the ceremony was reportedly so hush-hush the guests couldn't bring cell phones or take pictures. >>> roseanne reunion also a hot yahoo! search. some of her television children showed up to tape roseanne's comedy center roast. also roseanne won presidential nomination of peace and freedom party in los angeles. a few months ago we brought you the group walk off the earth. ellen degeneres joked it was a good thing all five weren't trying to play a ukulele. another band accepted the challenge. and did them one better. take a look. ♪ she didn't have to cut me off ♪ ♪ make it like it never happened ♪ ♪ and we were nothing ♪ don't even need your love ♪ ♪ treat you look a stranger and it feels so right ♪ >> that is new jersey band, the waffle stompers giving the ukulele a 12-handed workout. they did very well. back over to matt and savannah and al. >> we should

nbc's miguel almaguer at nasa's propulsion laboratory in pasadena, california.'t sure it would successfully land until it finally did overnight. >> touchdown confirmed. we're safe on mars. >> reporter: for nasa, mission accomplished on mars. >> this is amazing. >> reporter: an eight-month voyage for the newest rover "curiosity" topped off overnight by an acrobatic landing, a nail biting moment watched from new york's times square to nasa's mission control in california. these are "curiosity's" first images from the red planet. >> down on mars. >> today on mars, history was made on earth. >> reporter: with "curiosity" herd ling through space at 13,000 miles per hour it's autopilot descent was dubbed seven minutes of terror. the heat shield had to with stand 1600 degrees. the supersonic parachute had to slow as it lowered the one-time rover to the surface via cables. one mistake could have cost nasa the $2.5 billion mission. >> tonight the landing. tomorrow we're going to start exploring mars. >> reporter: a mobile science laboratory, "curiosity" will now spend tw

. >>> tonight on nightly news with brian williams, miguel almaguer will have the latest from the front lines of that ponderosa fire in california. again, that is tonight at 7:00 right after this broadcast. >>> no relief in sight for them, i take it. >> no. >> no storms moving out there that would bring some rains? >> most of though storms are dry storms and don't put down a lot of rain but they to put down some lightning. for us, we've got some rain going on. our rain -- or our storms out there have a lot of rain tonight but not a whole lot of lightning. take a look outside right now. it was just pouring about 15 minutes ago right around the airport and out there towards gravelly point where we're looking at along 395 and out towards the monuments but now starting to see at least a little clearing in parts of the city. as we move off toward the east, there's still a lot of rain out there. 86 degrees the high temperature today, low of 68. most of today has been great and there is more great weather ahead. i really think we're in for a really nice stretch but we have some showers out the

miguel almaguer is there. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. investigators may never know what triggered the attack, the first fatal bear mauling in a 100 year history. the attack happened along a river bank, a scenic spot where grizzlies often feed. park rangers said the 49-year-old victim had been photographing the grizzly for at least eight minutes. some of the final images show the bear looking slightly agitated according to park officials who recovered the victim's camera. in the last two photographs, the bear is moving toward the photographer. >> the bear changed from feeding on the vegetation to deciding to attack this individual. >>> spanning more than 6 million acres, denali national park is home to countless bears, wolves and wildlife. the mauling was first reported by hikers who discovered the backpack, clothing and blood. >> i wouldn't be real brave and try to get up and take pictures or anything like that of a bear. i'd just gaetane room. we're in their backyard. >> reporter: when park rangers discovered the so-called kill site, th