rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. >>> to the news out of the brutal drug war raging in mexico. we learned this week the number of children being used as cross-border drug mules has grown ten-fold since '08. there is a big debate how much drug violence is spilling over to our side of the border. nbc's mark potter has his latest report in our series, mexico, the war next door. >> reporter: in southern arizona, tammy says she and her family want to move because of all the drug and immigrant smugglers from mexico crossing their ranch at night. >> we are being forced off our land because it's not safe out here. >> there is a trail we call it the illegal trail. >> reporter: these ranchers say their property is miles from the border are overrun by mexican traffickers. >> they're stealing my property. they're stealing my rights. i'm not happy. >> reporter: despite widespread reports of smugglers crossing the border, federal authorities say the american side is safe, and the extreme violence of the mexican drug war has not spilled over thanks to increased u.s. law enforcement. >> everyt

>> rehema ellis, nbc news. >>> a lot more to tell you about as we continue, including love and marriage and new stats out bringing a fascinating snap shot of american life. >>> and a symbol of the american west returns. a day that's been years in the making. >>> as we said, there's a new snapshot out of the way we americans live and love. this is from the government. it's got fascinating news in it about marriages. the ones that stay together, the ones that fall apart. our report from chris jansing. >> jeff proposed to claudia in october. a month later, they moved in together. >> we thought our relationship was ready for the next level. >> you promise to love and cherish him in sickness and in health. >> they're part of a dramatic shift in the way we approach marriage. in the late 1960s, just about 10% of couples lived together before tying the knot. now, most couples do, a full 66%. >> you used to have a lot of cultural taboos against cohabitation and those seem to be falling away. >> the number of couples engaged when they move in together last longer than those without the commitment

rehema ellis, nbc news. madison, wisconsin. >>> that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday.'m lester holt reporting from new york. see you tomorrow morning on "today." have a good night, everyone. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good evening. the berkeley police department is at the center

rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. >>> great story. we need more like her. that's our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. >>> good evening everyone. thanks so much for joining us. >> we want to get right to the storm that's covering much of the bay area. wind, rain, and overcast skies are what most of us saw and more wet weather is on the way. monty francis is braving the elements right now and will show us the impact of the rainfall. we begin with

rehema ellis, nbc news. >>> that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday.eporting from new york. see you tomorrow morning on "today." have a good night, everyone. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> rehema ellis, nbc news wroorb. >>> a lot more to tell you about as we continue, including love and marriage and new stats out bringing a fascinating snap shot of american life wroorb. >> and a symbol of the american west returns. a day that has been years in the making. hlee! ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! what were you looking for when you bought your edge? um, i was definitely looking for fuel economy. that's the whole reason we, we wanted to look at the ecoboost. can you talk a little bit about the style of the edge? um, well, i think it's very hip. i even have several guys were like "whoa, do have twenties on those". like, don't even know what that means, but i guess it's cool. (laugh) in absolute perfect physical condition and i had a heart attack right out of the clear blue... i'm on an aspirin regimen... and i take bayer chewables. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. he's my success story. [ laughs ] wow. this is new. yep, i'm sending the dancing chicken to every store in the franchise to get the word out. that could work. or you c

rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. >>> and when we come back, it can be all yours.le town, a piece of the oldest, up for sale. [ speaking in japanese ] yeah, do you have anything for a headache... like excedrin, ohhh, bayer aspirin... ohh, no no no. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my head. no, bayer advanced aspirin, this is made for pain. [ male announcer ] bayer advanced aspirin has microparticles, enters the bloodstream fast, and safely rushes extra strength relief to the sight of your tough pain. feel better? yeah...thanks for the tip! [ male announcer ] for fast powerful pain relief, use bayer advanced aspirin. [ male announcer ] for fast powerful pain relief, and on small business saturday bothey remind a nations of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement... and main street found its might again. and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again. that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express. [ roger ] tell me you have

rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. >>> great story. we need more like her. that's our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank

our story tonight from nbc chief education sport rehema ellis. kreert the resistant journal constitution published a seize of reports claiming test strides were foo good to be true and as extraordinary as a snowstorm in july. a statewide investigation by georgia's governor discovered systemic cheating. principals and teachers from dozens of schools were implicated. the atlanta scandal prompted the newspaper to look further, analyzing more than 1.5 million standardized tests from 69,000 schools nationwide. the ajc found nearly 200 districts had suspicious scores that resemble those that entangled atlanta. >> in some cities, the scores changed so much that there's virtually no chance of it happening. you would have a better chance of winning the lottery. >> reporter: the paper says nine districts show inconsistencies so extreme the odds that they occurred without an intervention are more than 1 in a billion. according to the report at patrick lewis downtown academy in st. louis, 42% of fourth graders passed the state math test in 2010, just before

our story tonight from nbc's chief education correspondent rehema ellis. >> reporter: last year, the atlanta struggling school -- it published a series of reports including claims the strides were too good to be true and as extraordinary as a snowstorm in july. a state wide investigation by georgia's governor, discovered systemic cheating. 178 teachers and principles from dozens of schools were implicated. the atlanta scandal prompted the newspaper to look further, analyzing 1.6 million standardized tests, from 6,000 schools nationwide. 200 districts were found to have tainted scores. >> in some districts the scores change some -- >> reporter: in its report out today, the paper says nine districts show inconsistent cities so extreme the odds that they occurred without an intervention are more than 1 in a billion. according to the report, in patrick lewis downtown academy, 42% of fourth graders passed the state math test just before investigators began looking into possible cheaters. the following year, less than 4% of fifth graders passed. district officials acknowledged the strangen

rehema ellis has more on the crime and punishment. >> reporter: dharun ravi shook his head lightly after the verdicts was red. he was found guilty of the most serious, including bias intimidation, a hate crime, invasion of privacy for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate tyler clementi, then texting others to watch. robby's attorney had argued he set up the webcam to keep an eye on his belongings and was caught off guard by what he saw. >> the facts in the law and the evidence showed tyler was targeted because of his sexuality. >> reporter: clementi, an 18-year-old freshman was an honors student and talented musician. he killed himself in 2010, just days after the video of him kissing another man was streamed over the internet. clementi's parents called it a painful trial. >> we wanted to be here for our son and because we believe this trial was important because it dealt with important issues for our society and young people today. >> reporter: one juror called it a tough decision. >> you don't necessarily go in there thinking you want to ruin someone's life. at the same time, you'

our education correspondent rehema ellis has our "making a difference" report. >> olivia is celebrating couple of milestones. she turned 100 years and may be the oldest teacher in the nation, still in the classroom and loving every minute. >> yes, my son drives me crazy. he says now, come on mom, when are you going to stop? >> mrs. newbauer found her calling 80 years ago. she taught dance to neighborhood kids. she went on to be a phy ed teacher. after taking ten years off to raise her own chirp, she realized she missed teaching. she's taught kindergarten and reading ever since. >> reading is so important. if they can't read, they can't really do anything. >> reporter: and while much has changed with computers now in school, mrs. newbauer still teaches the old fashioned way, one-on-one. with remarkable results. >> our kindergarteners are reading by christmas. >> thank you, mrs. neubauer for being such an awesome teacher. i wouldn't be where i am without you. >> reporter: at her church this week, her community stood up to applaud her. >> i enjoyed it so much, it just sticks with me. >> re

for "today," rehema ellis, nbc news, greensboro, north carolina. >> a nationwide effort to get our veteransk on the "uss intrepid" in ft. hood, texas and chicago, and there is a virtual job fair online, as there should be. >> and for more information, go to today.com/veterans. >>> and we're back after these messages. messages. [ female announcer ] it's the lenscrafters semi-annual lens event. that's 50% off lenses, including bifocals, no-lines, even sunglasses made with your prescription. so hurry in. sale ends april 1st. lenscrafters. from centrum. its unique assessment tool... helps you find the multivitamin and supplements... that are right for you. so visit nutritionpossible.com. better nutrition... is within reach. centrum. nutrition possible. >>> let's go back down to washington and check in with david gregory to find out what's coming up on "meet the press." david? >> hey, lester. good morning. questions about race in america resurfaced after the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. and joining me this morning, the president's top political adviser, david plouffe, on that an

here's nbc's rehema ellis. >> reporter: the 20-year-old, former rutgers university student, was foundthe most sear use of 15 charges. they included bias intimidation, a hate crime, invasion of privacy, for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate tyler clementi and then texting othering to wachlt his attorneys argued he set up a webcam to keep an eye on his belongings and was caught off guard by what he found. >> the evidence shows that tyler was targeted because of his sexuality. >> reporter: clementi, an 18-year-old student was an honor student. his parents called it a painful trial. >> we wanted to be here for our son and because we believed the trial was for our son and society today. >> reporter: one juror called it a tough decision. >> you don't go in there thinking you want to ruin someone's life but at the same time you have to think of all the facts and everything and the testimony. >> reporter: ravi said nothing as he left the court. the verdict continues to draw attention to the issue of bullying and some legal experts say it sends a message. >> i don't think it's excusabl