in new york city, this is "nightline," august 25th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. well, we're looking at a historic weather event now. it's rare that storms this big and this violent take aim at major american cities along the eastern seaboard, but that is what's apparentry happening with hurricane irene, now a category 3 hurricane, with winds of 115 miles per hour. irene blew past flolorida todayn its way toward landfall in the carolinas, sometimes early afternoon saturday. the big question, where does it go from there? here's abc's matt gutman for our coverage of hurricane irene. >> reporter: hurricane irene rumbled over the bahamas today, bending palms like rubber, toppling trees and ripping boats right out of the water. mike tice caught the brunt of it in nassau this morning. >> wind gusts around 75 or 80 miles an hour and this wind and rainin combined is absolutely ferocious to stand outside in front of. >> reporter: and even before making landfall in the u.s., the storm was menacing enough for the second fleet to order ships to evacuate its norfolk base inclu

in washington, this is "nightline," august 2nd, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. the story of jaycee dugard shocked the nation and revealed the failures of the nation's legal system in deeming with sexual predators. kidnapped when she was just 11 years old, jaycee dugard was held captive for 18 years. a sexual prisoner of phillip and nancy garrido. probation officers repeatedly visited the home but they never found the missing girl. well, tonight, the prosecutor in this case has released disturbing new home movies that show how the older woman here, nancy garrido, stalked and videotaped other little girls to fulfill her husband's perverse desires. david wright brings us the story from california for our series, "crime and p pishment." >> reporter: convicted child rape is phillip garrido used to play guitar in playgrounds. his wife working the camera would zoom in on the kids. she was more than just the loyal wife of a sociopath. >> you got me real good? >> yes. >> it certainly appears she was involved in procuring the girls for his delight. >> reporter: she was hi

in new york city, this is "nightline," august 26th, 2011. >>> good evening, i'm terry moran. welcome to a special west coast edition of our show. the eastern u.s. tonight is in a state of emergency because of this massive storm, hurricane irene. it is a powerhouse. just take a look. driving waves to heights of 30 feet near its center and creating tropical storm-level winds being felt over an area 600 miles wide. here's the latest updated map. the very latest of irene's expected path. as you can see, the storm is still on course for a direct hit on the carolina coast, new york city, and boston. abc's matt gutman joins me live now from nags head, north carolina. matt, the storm is coming ashore there on the outer banks. what are you seeing and feeling? >> reporter: terry, with each passing hour the storm is intensifying here. just over the past couple of hours a tornado spawned within the hurricane out at sea. you can basically just see a a g patch of white. you can't even see the atlantic. that's how roiled up the ocece is. 30-foot waves out there. it's'setting worse and worse

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfcfden and bill weirn new york city, this is "nightline," august 23rd, 2011. >> good evening. we begin tonight with that 5.8 magnitude earthquake outside washington, d.c. today, which grabbed the attention of millimeters on the east coast. one indication, twitter counted more than 5500 tweets per second. so many people were on their cell phones that some service went out. the white house was evacuated and all the national monuments were closed for safety inspections. lala tonight, the national park service reported a crack was discovered in the top of the washington monument. here's abc's david muir with the east coast unexpected case of the shakes. >> reporter: we were pulling into the train station in washington, d.c. when the station suddenry began to wildly shake. officers yelling to us and to everyone to get out. passengers ran to safety. there were immediate fears here that this was something worse. >> grounun started shaking. people started screaming, running around. >> all of a sudden, everything

i'm terry moran. we begin tonight with breaking news and a developing story about the economy and another dark omen. the credit rating agency standard & poor's downgraded the u.s. credit rating for the first time in history, knocking the country down a peg from aaa to aa plus. s&p said the downgrade was the result of the government taking too little action so far to address the nation's long-term debt problem. the white house quickly objected to this downgrade. but the real effect might not be felt until starting sunday, when the stock markets open in asia. all this, however, could ultimately drive up interest rates and unemployment and drive down gdp. as the national economy teeters and this credit rating fiasco has now added to it, a parallel black market is running strong in this country. police are struggling to stop merchants from peddling counterfeit luxury goods. not only on sketchy street corners but in high-end shopping malls. ryan owens brings us this report from california. >> reporter: the

terry moran has more on the remarkable return. [ applause ] >> reporter: on the floor of the house ofepresentatives, which for weeks has been a well of bitterness and rancor, there she was, a tiny woman, her close cropped hair a badge of her recovery from being shot in the head at point blank range. gabby giffords came back to congress to vote, and her colleagues united for once rose to cheer her. afterwards minority leader nancy pelosi hailed her courage. >> throughout america there isn't a name that stirs more love, more admiration, more respect, more wishing for our daughters to be like her than the name of congresswoman gabby giffords. thank you, gabby. [ applause ] >> even the hardest hearts, which we had a lot of hardened hearts in this debate, just melted when she walked in the room. >> reporter: for gabby giffords, the road to recovery has been long and arduous. her husband, space shuttle astronaut mark kelly, was by her side every day as doctors marveled at her strength and the extentntf her recovery -- >> and liftoff. >> reporter: gabby giffords left the hospital to watch he

terry moran, abc news, malibu, california. ♪ >> it sure is.ter on "nightline." and by the way, he recorded a special song on abcnews. >>> tonight a flaming tanker car, propane fire triggered an. >> zp the price you can pay by using stub hub. >> and the bart protests. how much trouble the protesters are in and a debate over whether bart owes them an apology. >>> a woman inspiring this war memorial. what will happen to the crosses now that she's died? >> and good evening, i'm dan ashley. >> and bart is on damage control tonight. >> after yesterday's messy commute because of a protest, one official is trying to make peace, with another demonstration scheduled there may be more commuter chaos still to come. wayne freedman is live with the latest on this story. wayne? >> we're enjoying the peace and quiet on market street this, time, 24 hours ago a demonstration now it's a

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weirn new york city, this is "nightline," august 10th, 2011. >>> good evening, all. i'm bill weir. an american woman missing in aruba. might sound like a headline from six years ago, back when alabama student natalee holloway disappeared on that caribbean island and was never s sn again. but now a second woman has vanished there, and this time the case is complicated by the fact that those closest to her, including her live-in boyfriend back home in maryland, didn't even know she was taking the trip. here's abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: even before her disappearance became the latest mystery to blemish aruba's coast, robyn gardner's life was already shrouded in secrets and lies. the 35-year-old dental assistant left her home in maryland on sunday, july 31st. she told her live-in boyfriend, richard forrester, she need aid vacation. >> she told me she was going to orlando with her family on a short vacation tuesday to thursday to go to their timeshare. >> reporter: it was the first of a ta

. >> a aouncer: from the global recourses of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 30th, 2011. >> good evening. we begin tonight with a health crisis in a billion dololr business. the adult film industry. where production shut down temporarily on monday, after it was revealed that an actor had tested positive for hiv. a similar shutdown in 2004 led to calls for condoms to be required in all porn productions. but the industry, including its actors resisted such a move. and now it's happened again. here's abc's david wright for our series, "modern sex in america." >> reporter: it's a 10 to $15 billion industry. bigger than professional baseball, football and basketball combined. and again the a alt entertainment industry is at a stand still because an unidentified performer has tested positive for the aids virus. >> animals have more protection in the making of films than porn performers. how many cases do they have to have before taking it seriously? >> reporter: performing porn may be taking your life in your hands. so,

>> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with cynthia mcfadden, terry moran, bill weir and, tonight, juju chang in new york ty, this is "nightline," august 17th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm juju chang. receiving babies is a crime that happens every day on the international black market. it become as sophisticated as it is highly ofitable. tonight, we meet a striking blond, a single mother on a quest to adopt a sibling for her daughter. buff she stumbled onto this underground world. and what she did next is breathtaking. here's abc's dan harris. >> reporter: she's the socialite and single mother who was roped into being an unlikely but highly effective crime fighter. the story started in 2009, when taylor stein, daughter of a legendary new york city rock promoter and a boldfaced name on the social scene, decided she wanted a sibling for her daughter. she looked into foster care and private adoption, but neither worked out. >> i was heartbroken because it was something that i always wanted to do and i was on a mission. >> reporter: but then, she met a lawyer named hilary neima

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 3rd, 2011. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. and we begin tonight with what could be a break in one of the most intriguing cold cases in our country's history in the early '70s, a hijacker calling himself d.b. cooper jumped from a flight and disappeared in the woods of the pacific northwest. his fate remained unknown. his true identity a mystery, that is, perhaps, until now. thanks to this exclusive interview with abc's pierre thomas. >> i'm certain he was my uncle, lynn doyle cooper. >> reporter: this woman has reignited the investigation into the only unsolved hijacking in u.s. hihiory. her name is marla cooper. and she says her uncle is the infamous hijacker,.b. cooper. this is not an alias, you believe that your uncle was d.b. cooper. >> yes, i do. >> reporter: the identity of d.b. cooper has bebe a mystery since november 24th, 1971, when a man calling himself dan cooper hijacked and threatened to blow up a passenger jet flying from port

here, they're showing "nightline's" terry moran how they've assembled a weapon out of spare parts. >> this is the doorbell. >> yes. >> doorbell and -- >> key? >> you attach this -- >> this is -- >> you attach this to the rocket? >> yes. >> then you're using the doorbells to fire the rocket? >> to fire. >> yes, yes. >> reporter: nato and some arab countries support them with some air support, weaponry and some training. until this weekend, a coordinated attack from several sides brought them into the capital, into the very belly of the beast. the opposition says it now has most of the capital. although it warns it still does not have control of gadhafi's palace. gadhafi's forces also surround the upscale rixos hotel where we stayed, and where in these final days, foreign journalists have been barricaded in by regime holdouts. but opposition forces have managed to turn the internet back on. and thth afternoon, state tv, long the mouthpiece of the gadhafi regime, suddenly went black. while the opposition has formed a leadership council that's already recognized as the official government

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden d bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 19th, 2011. > good friday evening, all. i'm bill weir. dna evidence and johnny depp. the three convicts you're about to meet had both on their side. and that proved to be enough to set them free from prison today. but 18 years ago, when they were rebel teens in their town, accused of a gruesome, satanic murder of three young boys, dna tests weren't available and there were no celebrities around to take up their cause. here's our jim avila for our series "crime and punishment." >> reporter: it's a case so stunning, so controversial, it became a major cause celebre, with actors and musicians like johnny depp, the dixie chicks' natalee maines, and pearl jam's eddie vedder. >> i'm here to show my support for the west memphis three. >> reporter: speaking out for the defendants. three little cub scouts hogtied and left in an arkansas didih, and three teenagers enamored with satanic rituals arrested. it made headlines all over the country, even b

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline." august 15th, 2011. >>> good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with what increasingly appears to be a murder investigation. it's playing out on the caribbean island of aruba. tomorrow, it will be two weeks since robyn gardner, a 25-year-old woman, disappeared after traveling to the island with a man she met online. he's now under arrest and his troublesome past is coming to light. here's abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: arubans again find their tiny sun swept island the setting another possible murder mystery. with gary giordano, at first blush a bereaved boyfriend who claimed his travel companion had gone missing while snorkeling, now led out of a police station in disgrace. the only suspect in the disappearance of 35-year-old robyn gardner. this evening prosecutors ordered giordano held for another 16 days, here in aruba's kia prison. that's nearly twice as long as they'd originally pushed for. >> it was a good day, yes, but it's no

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 18th, 2011. >> thanks for joining us, everyone, i'll bill weir. so, early in the spring, i checked into a hotel in ukraine and after unlocking my dingy room, the bellman held up a well-worn piece of paper which read, "you want woman?" i was there to do a story on america's biggest international match makers the modern term for what was known as a broker of mail order brides. the bellman, pimp, seemed to confirm suspicions about the romance tour i'd come to see, but we found a story much more completion, one filled with expectation and exploitation, love and heartbreak. friday night, odessa, eukraine. this is what a social mixer looks like on a so-called romance tour. you can tell because the local women outnumber the american men about 10 to 1. and right in the thick of it? that's bob. he just spent 4,000 bucks and traveled 5,00000 miles, not to dance with taller, younger women, per se, though he doesn't mind that part. he says he's come h

i'm terry moran. steve jobs once said that people n't know what they want till yoyoshow it to them. with incredible, almost spooky, consistency, jobs has produced new products that consumers discovered they really, really wanted. well, now just hours ago, steve jobs has resigned as chief executive of apple, the company he built. just a month after apple announced astronomical third quarter profits of more than $7 billion. here's abc's neal karlinsky. >> reporter: it was the resignation heard around the world. that's because steve jobs isn't just a ceo. he's been called one of the great visionaries of our time. a man on par with thomas edison for a new generation. >> the news is pretty shocking. i didn't expect this was going to come today. we know steve jobs has been sick for the last several months and been on leave. but it came out of nowhere. >> reporter: in a letter to apple's board of director, jobs writes, i have always said if there ever came a day when i could no longer meet my duties, i would be the first to l l you know. unfortunately, that day has come. if you have a cell

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 16th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with a crime story worthy of hitchcock. the suspect in the case was after money and he thought he knew how to get it out of a certain rich man. the crux of his plan was to go after the rich man's teenage daughter. not to physically harm her, even to kidnap her, but to threaten her life in an unusually diabolical way. to make her family so afraid they wouldn't even call police. here's abc's ryan owens. >> reporter: it's now wednesday morning in australia and this young heiress is finally breathing a sigh of relief. >> i'm pretty sure we think we've got him. >> we're feeling good. >> no doubt. >> reporter: 18-year-old madeleine pulver believes australian authorities found the man who broke into her home and strap what she thought was a collar bomb to her neck. remarkably, the arrest went down almost 10,000 miles away in louisville, kentucky. investigators collared and charge

. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 4th, 2011. >> thanks for joining us, everyone, , m bill weir. well, the closing bell on wall street was hardly a death knell tonight, but it was certainly an indication of just how sick our economy is these days. and that sickness, only compounded by fear. anyone with a 401(k) can reasonable worry that unemployment might crash that euro might crash, that unemployment could get worse that recession would be our new normal. but in an effort to replace some of that fear with knowledge, we asked some smart people the four big questions of the day. so, how bad was it really? it was bad. the drop in the dow, the worst since the great recession crash of late '08. >> tough day on wall street today. >> today's massive selloff on wall street.t. >> stocks around the world take a major tumble. >> reporter: both nasdaq and the s&p were down around 5% and today caps a brutal couple weeks. the markets have gobbled up almost $1 trillion in wealth over tha

. >>> good evening, i'm terry moran.re was high political drama for high stakes tonight under that grand old dome back there. a battle to the wire over the national debt and a scene of stirring courage and patriotism as congresswoman gabrielle giffords, still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head she suffered in january, stunned her colleagues, casting a vote to help end the crisis. for a moment, just a moment, she brought divided washington together. it was a moment that almost redeemed this whole political fiasco. [ applause ] on the floor of the house of representatives, which for weeks has been a well of bitterness and rancor, there she was, a tiny woman, her close-cropped hair a badge of her recovery from being shot in the head at point blank range. gabby giffords came back to congss to vote. and her colleagues, united for once, rose to cheer her. afterwards, minority leader nancy pelosi hailed her courage. >> throughout america there isn't a name that stirs more love, more admiration, more respect, more wishi

. >> i'm terry moran.yn, coming up next on "nightline" chilling home video from the couple who kidnapped jaycee dugard. what was law enforcement doing while they stalked other little girls? and the glue 10 free diet. -- gluten free diet. is it helpful or a fad? what doctors have to saaaaaaaaaa these sweehoney clustery things have fiber? fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyo recognition. fibeone. >> closed captioning brought to >> closed captioning brought to >>> the debt crisis showdown ended, not with a bang, but with more of a whimper. president obama signed a bill that neither democrats nor republicans are very happy with. it raises the nation's debt ceiling ending the threat that they would tumble into chaos

." >> i'm terry moran.g up next on "nightline" we ride along as cops crackdown on counterfeit luxury goods. all those fake handbags and designer jeans financing a vast criminal under world. and the latest evolution in the planet of the apes film franchise on "nightline." these sweehoney clustery things have fiber? fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyo recognition. fibeone. >> closed captioning brought to >> closed captioning brought to >>> ignition and liftoff of the atlas five of juneau on a trek to jupiter. >> a new solar powered spacecraft left this morning bound for the planet jupiter. it will take five years to reach the biggest planet in the solar system. other jupiter explorers arrived on nuclear energy. t

terry moran, abc news, washington. >> such a moving scene, isn't it? >> it really is.ast night she tweeted, she said the capitol looks beautiful and i am honored to be at work. and after all these past weeks of such intense partisan bickering, i think that was a moment congress needed and maybe the country needed. >> everybody needed that momenen >> absolutely. >>> switch gears now and to the debt debate, which is now settled, maybe now that it is perhaps congress can turn its attention to ending the partial shut-down of the faa. a bipartisan senate plan fell apart last night when some house republicans objected to a few key provisions and congress could go on its august recess before resolving it.t. that would cost the government more than $1 billion in uncollected airline ticket taxes. >>> a sad update on the missing 11-year-old girl from new hampshire. the body of celina cass was found yesterday about a week after she disappeared from her family's home. an autopsy is planned for today as a small new hampshire community mourns. a lot of questions still remain. adam s

terry moran, abc news, malibu, california. >> certainly a legend. album called "ghost on the canvas" and he's going to go on tour, it will kick off in toronto a week from today. he'll use those gifts as long as he has them. the way you go out n your essence. >> a towering talent, that's for sure. >> more news from abc coming up after the break. >>> this morning on "world news now," east coast jolt. the strongest earthquake in more than half a century shakes the ground from virginia to maine and some of the damage was serious. >>> the washington monument is one of the buildings off-limits today because of structural problems due to the quake. it is wednesday, august 24th. >> from abc news, thisiss "world news now." >>> steady, steady. all right. so far, so good. we're all right. >> we're okay. >> good morning, everyone. i'm tanya rivero. >> and i'm rob nelson. this quake, though, was the biggest in the east since world war ii. it caught millions of people from d.c. to new york completely off guard yesterday. inspectors at nuclear plants near the epic